The Happy Hasselds: Overdue *sigh*

I thought I had a post ready to go about last SUMMER, but alas, I didn't. And now it's January. Mid January. I'm a loser. Let's move on.

May 2016

We had some Mommy-Ryan time when Bella was over at Grammy & Grandpa's. This kid is adorable.

And then we went home to watch the NASCAR race. Every.single.Sunday.

I got to take a picture of Ryan as he turned SEVEN.

And here are his two cakes.

Always fun lovin' on this little peach.

We got some Mommy-Bella time while the boys had time together. We painted a plate together.

June

My adorable and hard-working strawberry pickers.

Mmmmmmm.....

The last day of school for this 3rd grader and 1st grader!

Bella is NOT happy about leaving her teacher and friends (notice the Christmas lights shorts. Love.).

Ryan is excited to move on! No clue about why he's pointing to his McDonald's gift card.

Frozen yogurt to celebrate! It always cheers Bella up.

This boy. What else is there to say?

The plan is to take this shot every year we're in the house. Missed last year. Ooops!

A walk in the park. Literally.

This sweet little one washing my windows at the gas station.

Ah, Missouri. Fortunately, Joshua got to go with us this year! It's always more fun when it's all of us.

I'm so glad she didn't actually want to buy the blingy, rhinestone cross baseball cap!

As long as they're in the water, these two are happy campers!

My man getting some much-deserved down time.

We went to Bass Pro Shops in Springfield and Bella made us "Buckle up, people!" in the ATV before I decided to do a photo shoot. Love Ryan's face in the 3rd shot as Joshua tickles him.

Teaching my kids to love cemeteries! And this had Civil War soldiers interred - double cool!

We finally rode the Ducks - the vehicles that drive down the main drag in Branson and then float down Lake Taneycomo. The kids were ecstatic to finally do this - although probably just as excited about the duck quackers we bought them (that were not allowed to be used in the back of the car on the trip home!).

Some day she won't want to sit anywhere near me, so I've got to soak these moments up while I can!

My two favorite men in the world.

Ryan driving the duck.

Bella at the wheel!

Dairy Queen after the ducks! Doesn't get much better than that!

No wait - yes it does. Glow in the dark mini golf after go karts!

These are the reasons (besides my parents, of course!) that I love MO - peaceful views on the water. It always calms me to just sit on the dock and watch the sun set.

Bella wearing the "drunk goggles" to simulate being intoxicated. Plus also she just looks funny.

After having visited the cool Camaros, we surprised the kids with tickets to the SIX show. They were blown away (they went before but were 18 months and three and a half). We got to meet the guys afterwards. Super nice Christians with amazing talent!

Of course we fished...

And spent a crazy amount of money at the arcade...

And drove Papa's boat...

And fed the ducks...

And went to the Butterfly Palace...

And a new thing -we drove to the Missouri-Arkansas state line! Bella and Kate in two states simultaneously.

And back home again in Indiana, summer resumed.

Bella and Sasha had a sleepover in Bella's room.

Ryan found these goofy binoculars.

We fed the fish in the pond out back.

We went to the spray park on a really windy day!

Ryan didn't mind a bit.

We stopped for snow cones after a morning at the park.

We went geocaching and found "treasure" (and mosquitos!).

July

Lots of trips to parks.

4th of July hooplah! Watermelon at Grammy & Grandpa's,, the parade in Carmel, and Westfield Rocks the 4th.

Cupcakes are Bella's love language.

Ryan's always happy to eat anything!

Bella had a sleepover for her 9th birthday and we got smart and only invited 7 girls. Two were able to make it. Bella was bummed there weren't more, but they had fun anyway. And the noise level was much better!

Skipping down the street to the pottery-painting place.

Bella unwrapping her sewing supplies and cash haul from Maga.

The minute my baby girl turned 9!

We don't get to enjoy a giant Bass Pro Shops here, but we do have Cabela's, which the kids enjoy quite a bit.

Imaginary ATV rides are always fun, despite the looks on their faces!

Ryan tries "elk nachos" for the first time.

Surprisingly, Bella like them too! We ended up having elk burgers for dinner one night. Yum!

There was lots of this going on. Building. With just brains and hands. Ryan did this track all by himself!

Bella worked on her times tables watching videos (it sort of helped).

There is a farm just a few miles down the road that has a farmer's market and horses. I emailed the owner asking if Bella could work for a bit to learn about horses. The kids and I ended up spending 3 hours there! Kevin, the owner, taught the kids how to tie up a horse, how to brush them, how to clean their hooves and general horse information - they did everything! They even scooped poop! As a reward, they got to have rides.

Kevin introduces us to Cochise.

Bella is in little girl heaven!

Cleanin' hooves.

The not-so-fun part...

Reward!!

He also has goats, so the kids got feed the kids! Ha!

My kids in their "pools". Little nuts.

The last day Mr. Muffin's Trains was open. We will miss them!

We decided to dip our toes in the Brickyard 400 waters this summer and see the Car Hauler Parade. They had some other fun stuff for the kids too.

Ryan comparing shoe hizes to a Pacers player. I'm sure at some point his feet will be that big.

So all the trucks roll into town blowing their horns (that are unique - one sounded like a train whistle).

He was in heaven. He would yell the driver as the trucks turned the corner a half a block away.

This is his face when he found out we were going to the practice the next day!!!

Jimmie Johnson hat - check. Ear protection - check. Backpack full of goodies - check. Ready to go!

We go to see the cars in the garages while the XFinity Series racers were on the track.

Seats in the paddock! Apparently Bella had Fred stowed in said backpack, so here she is covering his ears with a bandana (also in said backpack).

And then some friends of ours surprised us with tickets for Joshua and Ryan to attend the race! It's all Ryan talked about for DAYS, all he wrote about at school for WEEKS. Although I made Ryan write them a thank you note, they will NEVER know what a special thing it was that they did for him.

This is one of my favorite pictures of these two!

And the rest of July was random things we did.

Daily goofing around was mandatory.

Lots of pillow and blankies for movies.

Bella got a new bike!

The kids got blizzards with Ryan's birthday gift cards.

We enjoyed rainbows.

August

My and my girl. I have "Don't Moose With Me" jammies and she has what we call her "Crabby Pants" on. They're three sizes too small but she refuses to donate them.

Seriously. How am I to get anything done?

One of my house "wish list" items was a big front porch. But this house had everything else. One day while it rained, we decided to improvise. We all jammed on our tiny front porch with our folding chair and our pooch.

Giant smile, giant feet.

Nobody loves Sasha like Bella!

Fun at the park. We actually biked to this one. With the dog. It was a mile and half one way. We were tired!

First day of school! Bella in 4th grade (what?!?!) and Ryan in 2nd (already?!?!).

I even got in on the first-day-of-school-picture action.

Mid-August we all went to Chicago to see Jeff and Donna's new house, hang out as family, and celebrate the July and August birthdays in our family. We visited a zoo while we were there!

She's holding a snake skin. Nope. She's not my child!

Honestly that girl kills me. They're standing at a war memorial at the base of a flag pole.

September

One of the joys of my job: seeing my kids during the day. I got to see Ryan as king in the Chinese version of Cinderella his class performed.

A glorious weekend! We reinstituted "Screen Free Sundays" and went to the park.

Bella showing her Branson pride!

Ryan shows off the new Lego Star Wars ship he built.

Ryan jams at Sam Ash!

Family photo celebrating my and Joshua's birthdays!

October

Football season!

Bella and Kate looking cute.

4th graders bake two loaves of bread; one to enjoy, one to donate. Bella was SO proud of her gluten-free loaf!

Fall break trip to Missouri! We did this one without Joshua, but still had fun.

Ryan and I heading up the mountain slide!

We visited the Smallin Civil War Cave. It was very interesting!

Kids feeding the chickens while waiting for our tour time.

Entrance to a smaller cave on the compound.

Looking toward the opening.

A see-through, blind crayfish!

Panning for gems at the other cave - Talking Rocks Cavern.

Bella is a professional.

The kids rocking out after their go-kart rides.

At Silver Dollar City. I love these pictures!

Puttin' 'em to work washing and waxing our car.

Leave it to my mom to hand my kids spray paint!

Decorating the pampas grasses out front.

Holly Hobby goes fishing.

He's patient and quiet. For about 3 minutes.

Beautiful fall walk along the trail.

Walk = happy pooch!

Halloween! Bella was "Kitty Cheshire" from a book series she's been reading, and Ryan was Iron Man, to go along with his Marvel's Avengers obsession.

November

Final game of the season. His team lost most of the games, but it was fun to watch him play!

Sasha turned 2! We got her a pupcake and a new toy.

My kids. Playing in boxes. I love Bella's with a mail slot and cat door.

Carriage ride! The same people from the horse farm in the summer bought new horses and a carriage, and offer rides for a donation. We piled in under blankets one Sunday afternoon and toured our own town!

This is "Little Pete" a Belgian.

They were only a *little* excited.

And hot chocolate afterwards to warm up while we waited for Kroger to get our groceries ready!

Every year I forget to take pictures of everyone. Mom and Dad and Jeff and Donna joined us Hasselds and Nana for Thanksgiving.

Craft time! Aunt Donna is always great about doing these things together.

Bella playing the sadistic Twister game Jeff thought up. Whenever the spinner landed on a line, he'd make up something like, "Left ponytail on blue" and Bella - the trooper!- would do it.

Yay! We were one of those people with a live tree strapped to the roof! Picking out our first real tree.

December

Just love this picture.


Annual bell ringing for The Salvation Army!

Our church had a photo booth up for Advent, and I had the kids get in. I think they turned out great!

First snow of the year picture. I take one of these every year.

"It's A Wonderful Life" while we decorate gingerbread houses.

We did a new thing this year - lights at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! Very fun to drive ON the track and see lights at the same time!

Bella's American Heritage Girls troop raised money for laying wreaths on graves at Oak Hill Cemetery here in Indy. We went on a cold rainy/snowy Saturday on the first day of Christmas break!

We visited the graves of fallen police officers first.

The girls freezing without coats and hats (mostly) long enough to lead the pledge.

Bella saluted each grave after she laid the wreath.

We didn't have enough wreaths for every grave, but we got quite a few covered. Maybe next year!

Christmas Eve photo booth shot!

Christmas Eve jammies!

So, I did this beautiful sign on the white board in our dining room. Then the kids added their special flair. What was meant to be festive and simple became a glorious group work of art.

"My" part - the "O Come Let Us Adore Him" and the greenery.

Bella added a manger scene and how can you not love Baby Jesus and the angel?

And Ryan's addition! I love the shepherds with their crooks.

Bella combining sacred and profane...

Christmas morning is one of my "treat days" - it begins with this beautiful thing - a Trader Joe's chocolate croissant. Okay! Two! It begins with two! They're that good!!