Uncle D is here!

So Grandma, Uncle D and Aunt Ricky made the 1000 mile journey through snow and ice.....to see baby Cora!  It stinks to be so far from family but on weeks like this when it'll be 9 degrees in the IL and 59 in FL, I think most of ya'll understand.  The kids are looking forward to playing with Uncle D over the next week and I'm sure we'll get plenty of pics.  This was one of the calmer moments of the night ;-)  Did I say the kids were excited to see Uncle D?

Uncle D is my (Dale's) little bro and just turned 16 a couple weeks ago.  He is a volunteer Jr. Firefighter in the small town of Amboy, IL.  He's been through basic EMT training and went out on his first house fire call a couple nights ago.  I don't know if I'd have volunteered to go out at 12am, in freezing temps, to fight a fire.  At 16!  And then..... to hear on their way down today an old timer fell asleep at the wheel, just in front of them on the interstate, and crashed pretty bad.  Uncle D was the first on the scene checking vitals and making sure everyone was ok (I think they were).  Pretty impressive.

It was a long run...

But illness has hit Hasting house. It's been months though, so eh, we'll take it. It's just colds in Amelia & Nick for now. Amelia is great....she knows how to enjoy a hot bath and chicken soup. Sick Nick is.....whew, a 24 hour a day test of patience and parenting endurance.
I don't know about posting a pic of the family watching tv (sound of music on TiVo delay) but it's pretty cute to look over and see Nick cuddling his baby next to Brooke and Cora :-) btw, we noticed the name Cora Baird in the opening credits to Sound of
Music. So, there really are (or were) other Coras out there.

Winter's here!

The berber carpet just didn't flow well with this one.

Fishing over on the intercoastal waterway, facing Ono Island.

Went out a few times over the last week but still no fish.

Nick is the only one that'll go out sailing EVERY time I ask :)  We had some great weather this week and with the new boat, we stay dry!  Lookin forward to getting you out there mom.  Think the dolphins have left for warmer waters, but it's still pretty darn fun.

This one really showcases my photo taking skills.  That advanced photography class is really paying off.

Weekend fun

I suppose citrus fruit picking. Our buddy Jim has a bunch of fruit trees that are ready for picking. Talk about the juiciest, tastiest oranges I've ever had.










Me and Nolan rode bikes over to the intercoastal to do some fishing today. Didn't catch anything...... And we ended the trip with an hour of attempting to the brand new reel to work. Fishing is one of my favorite things!



Nick and Cora from a few days ago .



Cora from one minute ago in my arms.

Happy birthday Mark!

Hope you're having a great trip

Chrismas Sailing

Christmas Village

Last night the kids put on a Christmas play for us with the help of our neighbors.  Nolan was the director and Nick and Amelia were the actors.

Here is the Christmas village at Dot and Mark's house that they worked on all week.

The night was finished off with refreshments.  A fruit platter and of course, Christmas cookies!
Thanks for your help, Dottie...the play was a lot of fun!

Tough to bump the angel...

But have to get a couple Nick pics up here.  We got to take out the sail boat this afternoon for a short trip.

Enjoy the snow!  I mean it....December snow was always fun :-)  It was the January/February/March/April snow that always got me.

Our Sweet Angel

Cora is so peaceful.  She mostly sleeps, but when she is awake her movements are so calm and slow.  She loves to be held and cuddled, and she doesn't mind being passed from one kid to the other.  We are still taking it easy at home, but things are getting more back to normal.  Here are some more pics of our beautiful baby!

We're Home :-)

Sorry it took so long to update the blog.  We're home......with 4 kids!  Brooke and Cora are both doing great.  Nolan & Amelia are loving their new sis and it's a race every morning to see who will get to be the first to hold her.  Nick, did AMAZING while Brooke was in the hospital.  Now that we're home.......hmmm.  He's either getting a tooth, sick or possibly having a tough time with not being the baby any more.  We'll all get things figured out soon enough

Cora is clear to go :)

Brooke and Cora got some good rest last night. Even depite the fact one of the nurses thought Cora was a bit jaundice. Blood test came back ok, so fortunately she's been cleared to go today. Memories of Nick under the lights... And that stinking billi-blanket kept me up last night. I'm very happy we won't have to experience that again.

Now just waiting on doc to clear B. But could she look any better?

More fun :-)

Brooke and Cora are doing great! No billi-lights, looks like we'll be out 2moro.

She was born yesterday (12/3/09) at 1:33pm.

It's a GIRL!!!!!

Cora Grace Hasting 8lbs 0oz

Brooke is doing well, she did great!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family.  No baby yet.  Probably guessed that, cause yeah.... I'll definitely post baby pics before a shot of the Cracker Barrel.  This was our first stop of the day.  We were all looking forward to our first ever Thanksgiving meal out.  We had to wait a bit, but had a great time and had some great food.

And then to top off the day of good eating, Mark put together this feast of culinary perfection.  Turkey is perfect...stuffed with the best stuffing I've ever had :-)  Thanks Mark!

We are all getting very excited for this baby to show up.  Brooke is starting to get a bit tired....about time now that we've hit week 41.  Top of my things I'm thankful for list is my amazing wife.  I've been thinking recently about what she went through when we were first married with the Crohns.  How sick she was, I could never have imagined the times of good health to come.  Let alone that we'd be blessed with 4 kids!   I can't wait to see her with baby #4 very soon.

Dale

The Johns!

Here's a pic of us with our neighbors who are leaving for New Jersey.

We became good friends and will miss them a lot.

John, Cathy, and Johnny

Nick giving Johnny a hug....he sure will miss him.  They were learning to play really well together toward the end of their seven month stay.

Have a safe trip, Thomas family, and enjoy your time in Jersey!

New Cat

Dale's new catamaran with the neighbor boys behind him. The old catamaran pretty much degraded beyond repair...it got sailed to death! It was a beautiful day and we were able to take it all the way across to the other side of the bay.

De da Leda de da da leed da

Nintendo fun o pass some time

And more pics.

This is what we're lookin at. About 2' away from coming over the causeway (at it's lowest point). At low tide :( We have plenty of time to get up to a hotel.....so we'll see.

Angry Sea

Not looking too bad.

Last years tropical storms brought the tides up to these pavilions. So far so good.