Happy 2010!

Man, have we been blessed recently! Well, every day really, and one of our goals for this year is to keep a journal of God's faithfulness every day. Each morning when Joshua gets home, we will read the Bible together, and list out things we are grateful for, as well as the crazy/funny things Isabella and Ryan say and do. So on this family "snow day" I update our blog. I was feeding Ryan the exact minute he turned 8 months old this morning. (No surprise I was feeding him. For those of you who haven't gotten the update in a while, he's 19 pounds and almost 29" long. He is as big at 8 months as Bells was at 11 and 12.) He's a big boy, constantly on the move and constantly smiling. Okay, so he's not smiling right now because he's stuck in the playpen. When he gets really mad and cries he rolls his r's-I think it's a nod to his Irish roots. We have nicknamed him "Hooligan." In any case, here's what's been going on with us since last month.


There's no point in even trying to print a sign, because he's just going to rip it out of my hands and maul it, but I try anyway. I got this shot just because his chicken hair is so completely adorable. Love that.



And here are pictures from our big family event yesterday: Joshua's graduation from the IMPD Police Academy. He began exactly six months ago on July 6th, and completed it all yesterday to many smiles, prayers of thanks and tears of joy. He will be in the field training portion; working with another officer who can show him the ropes. He will begin next Tuesday working 3rd shift (9:30 pm-6am) on the southwest side of Indy, a rather "rough" patch of town. He's excited because at least he won't be bored! He's on that shift for a month, then changes districts and shifts every month. After four shifts with his FTO (Field Training Officer) he will be in a car on his own for two more months as a probationary officer, then in July he'll become a regular patrol officer. We're so excited to see God move in this next part of our lives!

The class began with 62 and ended with 48; that's how rigorous it was. It has been fun to get to know some of these guys and their significant others. They now refer to each other as family and it will be a weird adjustment for Joshua not to see them after having spent every day for 6 months with them. Pray for each of the guys (and three women) as they head to different parts of our city to serve and protect.

This is the best shot I could get of Joshua heading over to receive his "diploma" and shake the Police Chief's hand and the Mayor's. I cried happy tears, so that I got this shot off at all is a blessing!

The Mayor, who made a poignant yet blessedly short speech. :o)

I'm sure they were ordered to be serious, but it's probably also the realization that their training is finally over and they're heading into the streets.

And a big change for Bella recently was her big girl bed. Just last Christmas we put her in her toddler bed! She's such a crazy sleeper that we felt she'd sleep better if she wasn't always hitting the sides of, or falling out of, her toddler bed. I love that she has both Dora sheets and a Lightning McQueen blanket-shows the two sides of her perfectly. She hasn't fallen out yet, and more importantly, hasn't woken up in the middle of the night to crawl in with us and thrash around like a fish out of water.

Christmas ended up being a week-long celebration extraordinaire. We exchanged gifts with our friends and they bought Isabella a light-up princess outfit. I had to get pictures to prove that my daughter does have some girly in her!

And then it was the last Sunday before Christmas so we got the kids all decked out in their Sunday best (thanks for the dress, Mom!) and got pictures by the tree. Joshua probably took 20, but these are the best ones.

So after church we had the Hasseld family Christmas. Nana and Volere wait for gifts to be passed out. Ryan is keeping a close eye on the proceedings.

There was a staggering amount of gifts. I sat with Bella and Joshua helped Ryan with his.

One of Bella's favorite gifts was a race track. I love that she's running the cars and Ryan is her pacifier-sucking pit chief, holding the gas pump.

And what parent hasn't spent money on toys just to have their kids play with the box? Ryan is no exception and he messes around with the container his teething rings came in. Love the sly smile.

Isabella is forever telling me that she's going to be a "p'lice offider" and drive a p'lice car. So it only seemed fitting that we buy her a police uniform. Daddy makes sure she has everything on properly, and she loves walking around saying, "Oh, I'm adorable!" and "I look like Daddy!"

The next day we picked up Joshua from the academy and headed to Missouri for almost a week. Being there is always just heavenly. And not just because my Mom took my kids at night so I could get a solid 8 hours. And not just because I got to take a shower all alone. And not just because, having emerged from said solo shower I was greeted with a rack of warm chocolate chip cookies. Well okay, it was all that, but it was the sheer joy of being with my mom and dad; of eating and laughing, joking and talking, watching It's A Wonderful Life for the nine millionth time, of seeing their faces light up playing with the kids, and seeing the kids' faces light up playing with mom and dad. No offense to my in-laws, because I love and cherish them too, but there's something about being with your Mom and Dad, especially at Christmas.

Joshua and I began a tradition last year of putting together a gingerbread house. We included Bells on it this year, but she was more into eating the candy than in actually attaching it to the house.

While there, Mom took to the scary task of cutting Ryan's hair for the first time. It was getting long and no longer "chicken-hairing" (totally making up that phrase!) so I wanted it cut. Fortunately, April (my niece) was there to keep Ryan busy. More enamored, I'd say, based on this picture. You can almost hear his thoughts, "Wow, she's beautiful!"

Here he is pre-haircut with a giant apron my cousins made my mom that says, "World's Best Cookie Baker." I agree.

One of Ryan's gifts was this outfit; khaki's, a brown shirt about being an aviator, and a brown bomber jacket. I think he's just adorable in it.

Christmas morning in new jammies (also a tradition). He's sporting the scab under his nose from when he fell face first into his stacking cups. Ouch.

One of the highlight gifts of this year was this bike for Bella. I was shocked to see that my little girl was actually big enough to ride it by herself! The smile says it all...

And to finish off the post, one of my new favorite pictures of Ryan. He's so impish! See you all next month!