Moving on....

Our first blog entry was Feb. 23, 2006...now almost 6 years later of posting the good, the bad and the ugly of our life here @ thehatfields.blogspot.com we've run out of space to post on this site, so it's time for moving on to Embrace the Journey/Part 2.

***When you get there I would love for you to sign up as a follower.  I know some of you encourage me and let me know you enjoy checking out "what those crazy Hatfields are up to", but there are others of you who check out the blog that I don't know about.   Though my ultimate purpose is to provide a journal of sorts for our family to look back on and see from the beginning the story God is writing, I would also love to know who chooses to join us on our journey.

So your first order of business is to head to the bottom of the page and sign in as a follower.  The second order of business is to go to the follow by e-mail part where you can type in your e-mail and get notifications of when I have a new post.  Pretty nifty, huh.  That way you don't have to keep checking back and get frustrated that yet another week has gone by with no post :o(.  Ugh.  I really want to work on that.  I get it.  A month is entirely too long for you to wait to know "what's up" and it's entirely way to long for me to try to catch up on. Here's to moving on to 2012 and looking ahead to a new start.

So head on over to Embrace the Journey/Part 2 @ www.thehatfields2.blogspot.com to check out all the fun adventures the Lord will see fit to allow our family to enjoy for the next leg of our journey.

Christmas song...

In years past I wouldn't have classified myself as a lover of Christmas music. This year might just be a turning of the tide. During the Christmas Eve service at Luke's parent's church we sang many of the favorite, classic Christmas songs. It really brought satisfaction to my soul. This year I appreciated the simple truths they spoke of Jesus. Obviously they aren't anything new, people have been singing them for hundreds of years, but this year they were powerful reminders to me of who this Jesus really is that we're celebrating and how He came into the world. One of the last songs that we sang was Silent Night. The lights were off and the candles were lit. I sat in awe at the thought of how perfect, mighty, calm, and precious that moment was then when the ultimate gift of all time was delivered and how His saving power hasn't changed over 2000 years later. We serve an awesome God!

Another favorite this Christmas was "Winter Snow" by Chris Tomlin and Audrey Assad
If you get a chance...check it out.

Ataly's pose

4 days old...

(she was really sleeping with her arm up in the air like that)

breaking out the same pose at almost 4 years old.

Ringing in the New Year with Grandpa and Nana...

Grandpa and Nana stay at a local hotel which allows the kids to go swimming (and they LOVE swimming and they more LOVE the fact that Grandpa and Nana are in town :O))

Ready to go...

Nana swimming with the little fish.

Ataly jumped in, rolled to her back and calmly floated around.

Traeger going for it...

half way in...

all in!

The kiddos intent on the book Nana is reading.

Busted...

Grandpa Tim caught me "resting my eyes" while Nana read bedtime stories.

We played lots of games while they were here... Nertz and Blockus were the games of choice on New Years Eve.

Doesn't she just look so proud to call Traeger her brother?!

Ataly just loves her brother so much. Sometimes she'll walk around the house saying, "Traeger I just want to be with you."

The Hatfield girls

I promise, Nana really isn't choking Ataly.

Then there are these crazy kids :O)

We really enjoyed our breakfast date with Grandpa and Nana before they headed back for home.

Traeger has cards and isn't afraid to use them...wherever he is.

Christmas tree face

Snowgirl

Grandpa and Nonnie visit

Grandpa Bruce and Nonnie's visit went by so quickly we didn't even get a picture. This picture clearly displays how we felt with our time in between Christmas and New Years. It was all good stuff, just simply BUSY and kind of a blur. My parents were here Monday night late 'til Thursday morning (the K girls came the morning my parent's left) Our time back home from Christmas vacation got started Tuesday afternoon taking a girl (who we didn't know) to a bus station in Abbotsford and while we were in motion to taking her, a hitch hiker asked if we would give her a ride too. So the kids, my parents and I along with the one girls three garbage bags of belongings and the hitch hikers 7 luggage bags we headed for Abbotsford. About a mile outside of Abbotsford the hitch hiker demanded to get out of the van so we did as she requested and dropped her and her 7 bags of luggage on the side of the road. Sometimes God doesn't ask us how we want to serve, He just demands our obedience. So this day we walked in obedience and hopefully were able to show God's love to these two ladies. I certainly can't say we live a boring life. Wednesday Luke and I had an appointment in Marshfield so we loaded in the van once again and spent the day there. Thanks mom and dad for always being willing to serve and love others in whatever way God calls for the day. You two have always been helpful examples to me of what flexibility and servants hearts look like.

Sleepover, donuts and projects galore

While our friend traveled to a sister's wedding in TX we loved on her girls for 2 days.

They all have pillow pets so they zonked out with animals on their heads....

Donuts were the choice for breakfast.

The kids spent lots of time working on building forts out of sheets and masking tape. When they weren't concentrating on that task they were creating oodles of paper projects.

Here they are working on their graham cracker and frosting creations adding just the perfect touches to finish off the goodness.

Hatfield Christmas 2011

We drove down to the Grove Tuesday night (20th) in time to get situated and then had supper with Nana and Grandpa Tim.

The kids digging into their presents that I wrapped for them to open before bedtime.

They were pumped to find their Christmas jammies!

Reading and snugglin' with Nana is such a sweet blessing.

I'm so thankful Nana felt up to the task of making Christmas cookies with the kids.

Nana showing Ataly how the rolling pin works.

Concentrating hard on frosting the goodies!

Yeah God for our dear Nana and the special memories made baking Christmas cookies!

Grandpa and Nana treated to a fun filled afternoon for the kids to run around and bounce to their hearts content at a bounce house gym of sorts. The highlight for me this trip was recognizing and catching up with students (who were working at the bounce house gym) that I used to work with at G Elementary. They now are Sophomores and Seniors. They recognized me and I recognized them, I just needed help remembering their name. Where did the time go?!

Lots of fun.

Buddies

(they are one month apart in age)

Cousins are a great blessing!

Christmas Eve....

The kids making piles for everyone.

Cousins oldest to youngest.

T:5 AM:5 M:4 A:3 J:3 E:1

Traeger helping out.

The dads breaking into the presents

Ataly proud of her robe

Working on rippin' into a present for the both of them

Traeger fascinated by his book from Grandpa and Nana

I'm thankful for the constant present of a loving, godly, fun, wise, calm, patient, strong, and compassionate husband.

After lunch the cousins broke out a game of uno.

This was our best attempt at a family picture on Christmas eve.

Christmas morning...

Christmas is an occasion to CELEBRATE LIFE. My heart is filled with joy at the amazing, most precious gift ever that we have in Jesus. Jesus coming to earth as a baby is a clear picture of His humility and grace. I'm thankful that because of Jesus I (and you if you choose) can have life that starts now and lasts forever because of His amazing gift. We truly have much to celebrate!

The stockings all lined up for Christmas morning.

Good morning Hatfield kids...are you ready to open your presents?

We were sad to see our fun time celebrating Christmas at Grandpa and Nana's house come to an end. After opening stockings and chowing down on cinnamon rolls for breakfast, we got ready, packed up, cleaned up the toys and headed for home. On our way home we made a spur of the moment decision to stop by my family to say "Merry Christmas." The kids and I decided to stay through Monday to celebrate Gideon's 12th birthday while Luke drove the rest of the way home (in my parent's car) after the Packer game. Luke was the Pastor on call this year so he needed to get home. My mom and dad were planning on coming up so they just rode back with the kids and I Monday evening after Gideon's birthday celebrations.

The cousins were pumped about the surprise visit.

"Mom look at me, I'm a little peacock"

Day after Christmas...

Happy 12th birthday Gideon.

Birthday donuts all around

I learned this was a tradition I started over 10 years ago and I didn't even remember.

The undercover FBI duo

For the third year in a row, the birthday movie of choice was a Chipmunk show.

I love this girl and that snuggles are still appreciated!