Last post of 2010

Wishing that the dawning of this New Year fills your heart with new hopes, opens up new horizons and brings you promises of brighter tomorrows. May all my friends and readers have a fantastic New Year!

Wordless Wednesday

Winter Break... or is it?

The busy bee in me won't let me just "be" when I have vacations from school, so even though it is winter break, and I have been exhausted from the past couple of weeks with the kiddos - I've been keeping busy.

Yesterday I had my yearly doctor's appointment - just a check up to make sure things are as they should be. I have been blessed with fairly good health, and other than a cold here and there, I haven't really been sick in quite some time. I also did a bank run - to take care of something that had been bugging me for a while, and even grocery shopping for a few things to tide us over until Herman's next paycheck.

Today my neighbor had a sick kitty, and so I went over to her house for girl time. I finished crafting homemade Christmas presents (pictures to come after people have opened their gifts), and had a few delicious cookies - she was baking. YUM! I feel much better than the presents have all been made - now to see about delivering them!

Tomorrow the plan is to get up early and go shopping with my little brother - then spend the rest of the day laying on the couch watching sappy chick flicks. then spend the rest of the day writing and mailing late Christmas cards, and adding finishing touches to the homemade presents so they can be wrapped. Depending on weather, I may take Mukluk to the dog park again (he was a bit naughty there today).

So, that in a nutshell is the news from the Hartman home -

Until later -
    Nikki

'Tis the Season...

Our Lights...

Entry Table

Mantle Decorations

Mukluk checking out the tree

Yes, it's that time of year - when the decorations come out, and our dreary winter is brightened by lights, thoughts of snow, and Christmas cheer.

More to come, this is just a teaser :)

xoxo -

The Hartmans

A few from Fall 2010

Halloween 2010

Mukluk's post turkey nap

Pies

Thanksgiving Bounty

Family and Friends eating

One side of the family

Other side of the family

Thanksgiving Table

Holiday Decor

Mukluk's Day at the Beach

Mukluk enjoyed sniffing and checking things out...
Not a fan of water that moves
Playing in the tidepools
Sitting and resting with Daddy
Mukluk and Mommy

A glimpse of our lovely vacation in Hawai'i...

We went to Pearl Harbor
Matsumoto's in North Shore for shave ice WITH ice cream
Byodo In Temple
Gorgeous Beach Views
Luau fun

Hanauma Bay for snorkeling
many beautiful beaches
O'ahu - the lovely island

Click here find many more pictures...we had such fun!

Mukluk's Summer Adventures...

He destroyed toys in less than 1 hour...

Took lots and lots of naps

played at the dog park every day

Won awards at the Forest Grove Dog Park - 1st place for singing, 2nd place for best trick.

played at Dogs At Play Doggie Daycare

and while Mom and Dad were looking for a little brother/sister - he even fell in love

Overall, a great summer for our pup. We'll miss him while we are in Hawaii -

Summer's Almost Over? Oh no!

Well the summer is winding down, and boy was it a doozy! Herman was in Alaska fishing, and I was down here working as well.

I did something this summer that I've never done before. I rock climbed. I white water rafted. I was adventurous. It was quite the experience, and while it was scary, I am proud of myself for doing it. The kids whose group I lead also had a blast, and it was fun to see them so happy.

In all my spare time, I did some projects around the house. I organized the pantry, I cleaned and organized the office, gardened, and most tranformative of all, I re-did the guest room. I am pretty proud of the results.

This is the Guest Room before

Here are the guest room "after" pictures
Notice the paint change (that was an ordeal)
The fun bookcase where I was finally able to showcase Herman's travel books

The artwork

Overall I'm very proud of all the projects I've completed this summer.

July 29th was our 3 year wedding anniversary, and Herman surprised me by coming home early. He just walked in the house early in the morning as I was letting the dog out.

As many of you know, when we got married we never got around to taking a honeymoon. His anniversary present to me is a trip to Hawaii - and we leave in 2 days!!! I am so excited. We will be staying with family and friends down there, so it is not a true "honeymoon", but nevertheless, I'm really looking forward to our get-away.

Mukluk also had much fun this summer - a post about his adventures coming soon!

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend is the traditional kick off to summer, and for us, it is no different.
Herman leaves in a week to fish out of Bristol Bay, AK for 2-5 months. That leaves me home alone (except of course for the puppy and the kitties), all summer long. Of course I will be doing summer school again this summer in the afternoons, but the mornings and weekends get long, and I will need something to keep me busy.

I have decided to (money allowing) start and complete several projects around the home over the summer, so that it is more homey when Herman returns in the fall.

The first project, a garden, began officially today. Herman made the 8x4x1 garden bed and I water-proofed it with a special solution, and we put it in a few weeks ago. We then had to track down dirt to fill it with, and transport said dirt home. That happened, and this weekend, our garden officially began to grow. We spent Saturday prepping it, and planted our crops. We planted cucumbers, purple bell peppers, cayenne peppers, basil, tomatoes, chives, spearmint, and oregano. I am really excited to have tomato basil mozzarella sandwiches/pizzas/ whatever this summer.

Here are some pics to start my summer projects off right.Other projects include, but are not limited to:

• Re-doing the guest room - paint, curtains, furniture, textiles, art
  
• Organizing the office -with an eye for design as well as functionality
  
• Organizing the linen closet - donations to Goodwill
  
• Organizing our master closet - just need Herman to buy me a bar
• Bringing some design elements into our dining area
• Creating a cozier living room

Wish me luck! (and money!)

I'll keep you posted -

new home, new life, new pup

So we are all moved into our new place. :)

The inside is essentially finished and put together, and we have been working on the outside the past couple of weekends. We are putting in a raised garden bed for tomatoes, peppers and herbs this summer. I've also done a lot of weeding and the flower gardens look great!

Mukluk is settling in well. We take him to the dog park almost every day and he is very social. He has come out of his shell and plays well, romps well, and is the talk of the dog park. I always feel like such a proud mama when I hear other owners commenting on how pretty he is.

My contract got renewed for another (3rd) year in my district. This means that after next year I will no longer be a probational teacher! Plus, my administrator gave me rave end of the year reviews, so I'm excited. I will hopefully find out this week what I'll be teaching next year.

So, in a nutshell, life is going well, the weather is beautiful, and we are happy.

New Pup!

Introducing the newest member of our family....

MUKLUK!

Hard Rock Cafe: Seattle

Herman and I went up to Seattle this past weekend to check out the new Hard Rock Cafe that just opened up downtown. After wandering around Pike Place Market for a bit, we ended up at the legendary cafe, hungry and ready to eat.

However, there was a 45 minute wait, so we waited....
Lindsay and I waited...
The boys waited...
and finally we got in!
While we waited for our food, the boys played with the in booth TV screen.
A motto for us all to live by:
So, all in all, it was a fun weekend. We watched some Olympics, did some furniture shopping, and hiked all around downtown Seattle.... IN THE SUN! It was great