Pirate Attack – May 22, 2010

I hadn’t done much in way of Birthdays, so I figured for Gary’s sixth we should do something a little extra.  He chose the pirate theme, and somehow things just fell into place.  I found plates and napkins, and a treasure chest, and hats and patches.  It was lots of fun hunting all these items down.  

On Gary’s special day, we opened some presents (new clothes to get dressed)  then headed out to a special breakfast.  Then it was time to get ready for the party.  Gary and Bram played while Larry and I got busy.  Larry filled up 200 blue water balloons for canon balls.  We also hung the Jolley Roger (flag) and a sail for the ship. Our backyard deck made a great Poop Deck!

 

The cake came next.  Luckily we had received some Lego Pirate booty and this made the cake a cinch.  

There was a treasure map which sent the kids all over the front and back yard, as well as through the doggy door, I mean Seamans Cave!  There was Lightning Sand, Grave’s End, Hangman’s tree, Mermaid Lagoon, and the Fire Swamp!

The kids all had a blast throwing water ballons off the deck at the adults, I have to admit, the adults had lots of fun too!

 

Then it was time for cake and ice cream and gifts!  It was so much fun seeing Gary with all his friends around him and how happy he was.  All the effort was definitely worth it!  Once the party was over we took the boys to the water park (Wild River Country.)  It was 6 at night, but it was such a warm day we swam until 8.  We came home and tucked our sweet little big boy into bed.  Couldn’t believe it had been six years since that sweet boy came into my life. 

Texas (or as my children like to say “Dexas”)

 

We arrived at our Friends house Thursday evening.  The next morning we headed out to a vintage kiddie park.   All the rides were so cute.  Bram loved this horse and Buggy one.  He rode it at least a dozen times in a row, changing carriages each time.

Gary’s in front and That’s Bram in the back.

Luckily the rides were all in the shade.  But by 12 it was hot and time for some refreshment.

Something so good about snow cones when it’s 100 degrees out!

Time to hit the quarters. 

Even the trash can was in theme.  My kids were actually willing to throw their trash away!

The next day we hit up Sea World.  The kids were so excited and Bram could use his newest saying, “Did you know that Orca is another name for Killer Whale?” 

Our friends spoiled us, they watched the kids and bought us ‘quick queue’ passes and Larry and I rode all the rides.  It made me feel young again, but then not so young when I stepped off and was completely dizzy.  But not so much that we did it again. And again. 

Wish we had gotten some pictures while we were there, but the camera was too big to lug around!  The best ride was the ‘Journey to Atlantis’ and Bram was able to go on the ride as well.  I just told him the louder you scream the more fun you have, and sure enough he screamed his heart out.  I wish I could describe the picture etched in my mind the first time we went on the ride and went backwards, it was a look of pure “what am I doing all the way up here”  combined with the highest pitched scream I have ever heard.  Adorable. 

Thanks to our friends in San Antonio for such wonderful memories!

Now off to Dallas!

After a busy day of shopping at Ikea, we all needed to put our feet up, except for Bram who was in heaven with all the new toys at his fingertips. 

That night we stayed up late playing games and being extremely goofy and reminiscing about our days back at the Y.  The next day we realized we had purchased the wrong mattress and so we headed back to Ikea, corrected our mistake and headed back home. 

Good Times!  Thanks Dallas friends. 

Swimmin’ Time

 

Around here it is so hot and humid that hanging out at the pool is the only way to pass the summer.  My kids love swimming and they both did swim team this year which was a blast!

Fun on the waterslide.

Gary and Bram getting started at their swim meet in Hilsborough.

 

The Big Race.  Gary swam freestyle and breast.  (although his father might say he swam breast in both races ;D)  Bram didn’t compete in this one and he was pretty bummed to not race, but the pool was HUGE and the water was freezing.  I don’t think I will be able to hold him back next year though.

 

Swim Team Party, Jumping over the seahorse.  This was the last hoo-raw for the swim team.  We ate lots of  hotdogs, chips, watermelon, and cookies.  We swam in the very warm pool (it had been over 100 degrees the last two days)  and just horsed around. 

Are we tired of swimming yet?  No way, we still have a few weeks left to get in our daily swims.  We even venture up to Wild River Country, the local water park, once a week for more soak time! 

Backin' Up and Catchin' UP

Since it has been so hot here, I thought I should post some pictures from January 2010 when we had a bunch of snow days. It was lots of fun staying home and lazing around in Pajamas while building various Lego creations. Also a wee bit messy, but I didn't mind, for the most part.

 

T-rex (which took two hours one day, and another two the next) and Tow truck which was really easy!

Getting ready to head out

 

Trash can lid for an impromptu sled :)

Almost makes me wish for Winter again.

This is how they work together to get things in High Places.

Jumping in undies

The boys were out jumping today. Enjoy!

Here's the boys jumping just last week

Oh, Little Rock weather...

We were surprised to find in the local section of our paper yesterday some familiar faces. Holly and Bram were at story time earlier this week and were captured having a good time.

Happy Holidays

So, we haven't been very good at maintaining our blog this year but we can hope to do better next year. We are doing well. Gary just finished his first semester of kindergarten (do they call it a semester?) and had a great time. He was awarded the "Terrific Tiger" award last month for not getting his card pulled (for being bad) for an entire month. He is enjoying learning how to read and has lots of good friends at school. Bram is still sad to not be attending school with his best friend but he sure enjoys all the one on one time with his mother. Together, they love to play with their Transformers and are really hoping for an Optimus Prime for Christmas. Apparently it's their favorite thing but so are the many other things they see on TV and at the store so who really knows. They enjoyed having their Grandma Cornia visit in November while Larry was in China doing cleft lip and palate surgeries and walking on the Great Wall. They also enjoyed having their Grandma and Granddad Hartzell come visit recently for the first time in 2 years after being in Japan for most of that time on their church mission.

They also had a great time recently having their cousin Beatrix and Callum visit with Holly's brother Reed and his wife Shelley for Thanksgiving. Gary had an especially great time doing EVERYTHING with "B" - they were quite the duo!

Holly is just glad to finally have Larry back home for a little while after a few months of lots of traveling and meetings. She continues

to work on lots of different sewing projects for the house and friends. She is so creative and gifted!! (at least according to her adoring husband). Her latest project however has been trying to get Larry into shape (what's

the big deal that he now weighs 10 pounds more than he ever has???) by doing workout routines that involve running up and down our steep hill mixed in with some weights, pushups, situps,

etc. She has even gone as far as to encourage our home teacher to

invite Larry on moutain bike rides instead of coming by for hometeaching. She'll get him into shape one way or another!

Larry is now a chief resident in ENT and is enjoying all the surgeries and experiences he is having. He will be starting a 2 year fellowship at the conclusion of his residency in July to focus on pediatric ENT which will include cleft lip and palate surgery as well as advanced ear surgery and airway reconstruction among other things. The best part is that this will be done at Arkansas

CHildren's Hospital which means

no moving in June!

The house continues to consume a disproportionate amount of Larry and Holly's time. This year,

all 3 bathrooms have been remodeled in one way or another, about half of the ceilings had the

popcorn scraped off and of course painting. We hope this year won't be quite as crazy!

So, that's our family update. We hope all you, our friends and family, have had a great year and that the coming year will be wonderful. Most of all, we hope that Christ's spirit and perfect light

will brighten this holiday season for you all.

Love, The Hartzells

Happy Birthday Bram!

It's weird to think that 3 years ago today Bram came out screaming into this world. We can't believe that he's now 3!! He is still our little baby with his bright curly blonde hair and pretty blue eyes.

The morning started out very bright and early at 6 when

the boys decided to wake up and by 7 they were outside screaming while jumping on the tramp - waking up the neighborhood including their father who was on call and trying to catch just a little bit more shut eye. Holly baked some coffee cake which all except Bram enjoyed and got things ready so we were only about 1/2 hour late to church (there goes our record of 3 straight weeks of being at least 5

minutes early to church!!). After an uneventful day at church, we

rushed home, cleaned things up a bit and had some friends over for a low-key gathering.

Bram's favorite toy of the day, as we might have guessed, was the remote control train track set.

He might have been most excited however with the superman wrapping paper

on one of his "educational" toys.

He's now on his way to bed, already having visited the downstairs once and hopefully his last. He's still not sure how old he really is as when he is asked he'll vary from "25"

"6" "2 1/2" and "5 1/2" and getting those middle 3 fingers to show the age is quite the skill to develop apparently.

New Blog

Yes, Larry and Holly have finally joined the blogging world!! Hopefully, at least on a semi-regular basis, we will be able to keep you updated more easily this way on our crazy life as we wade through the trials and joys of residency and raising our two wonderful boys.
To get things started, this past week was a very busy one for our family. Larry switched from the relaxed lifestyle of being a resident at the VA where the day typically starts at 7 and ends at 5 with a very manageable pace of clinic and surgery during the day - typically. He is now back at the University hospital as the chief resident of the service and his days, at least this week, started before 6 every day and ended after 8. As you might guess, this week WORE ME OUT and fell asleep Friday night while reading Gary The Whindingdilly on the couch (he was the last one up that night) at about 8 pm and waking up to the tears and laughter of our boys at about 7 am. I'm still not fully recovered but am getting there... But who knows what this week has in store. Saturday, Larry spent the afternoon once again working on the bathroom (pretty much a weekly project ever since April) and things are now set up for laying tile hopefully next Saturday. A new ceiling light was also installed in the kitchen and he barely managed to get the house cleaned before Holly and the boys returned home from their day trip down south where they rode canoes and horses and played with their friends (the Sharpe's, Griffin's and Tobler's).
Holly has continued with her sewing projects and was able to make a variety of new pillow cases to match the quilt she previously made as well as a couple other inventive things for around the house.
Gary just finished with his second week of school and has quickly realized that school is not for having fun but for learning (which is what he explained to Bram one day as his younger brother was upset he couldn't go to school with Gary). It is a little different how even in kindergarten they only get 20 minutes of recess right after lunch and otherwise they're in different learning activities ... all day long. Poor Mrs. Jones! Gary loves his Transformer toys (much to his mother's chagrin), even more than his Star Wars toys (much to his father's sorrow).
Bram is enjoying having his "mama's" undivided attention for about 7 hours a day starting from when they walk Gary the mile to school in the morning until they pick him up with the stroller in the afternoon. Holly still hasn't figured out how to use this "one child down" status to her advantage but she's working hard on that.
Well, that's it for us for now. We'll try to be as faithful bloggers as possible!