2011

It's been too long since my last update. Hmmm... Update for the last 6 months. Emma has grown taller and more 2 then ever! lol. She sleeps in her big girl bed, and enjoys all of her dolls and blankets with her. Emma was a cowgirl for Halloween and now wants to go trick or treat every night. :) She was a good girl for the year and during Christmas got to see Santa. She received a letter from Mr and Mrs. Claus as well. Emma's favorite thing about Chritmas were the lights on all the houses. She grows bigger and smarter everyday.
Josh and I learned in October that we have a new addition to the Haar family on the way, and due 6/4/2011. Jan 11, 2011 we found out we are having another beautiful little girl. Her name will be Elizabeth Denise Haar and we plan to call her Ellie.
2011 looks like it is going to hold lots of changes for the Haar family, but we embrace the change.
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." - Charles Darwin

June

June has been a good month for the Haar family. Josh got his R.M.L.O. license. It stands for Residential Mortgage Loan Officer. He can now process loans for everyone in Texas :) He set his mind to it and made it happen. Watch out world here he comes!

On the 26th of the month we celebrated Emma's 2nd birthday with a little party at Jungle Java. An indoor playground here in Austin. On her real birthday the three of us hung at home and had cake. I look forward to the remaining months in 2010. I know good things are in store for the Haar family. :)

Beginning of 2010

2010 has been a great year so far. Emma and Josh helped my celebrate my 27th birthday. Josh and I went and visited New York City, and we see Elton John live on Saturday. Our lives are pretty busy these days. Emma continues to blossom and grow. Josh and I enjoy our time with her. As we grow closer to her 2nd birthday she learns more things and we learn more. Here are some of the things we have learned in year 2 of Emma.

1. Learning how to put on her clothes means she knows how to take them off. She loves to be free. :)
2. A pig says yum yum yum. Not oink oink.
3. Mac n Cheese, Grilled Cheese and Cheese slices never get old.
4. A normal book is read once a day, but a favorite book is read at least 10 times.
5. She's a big girl and she can do it!

We look forward to the next day that we get to do it all over again. I hope everyone is having a great 2010.

Love as always The Haars

Can you see the Magic?

I choose this very candid, funny photo of Emma to not only make us all giggle, but to show you what she's like when the camera is off. She is very silly. She loves to play, draw and say animal sounds. She has been growing leaps and bounds. Her hair is a little past her shoulders when it isn't curled tight to the back of her neck. She says plenty of words mixed in with her own language. That seems to sound like french. She is beginning to play well with others. (Toddlers will be toddlers) Her favorite things include a stuffed dog, Spot and other books, and her blanket.
We are very thankful for our Emma and love being parents. We get to sit back sometimes and be kids again with her. I know that she has shown me that magic of Christmas that I lost for a while. Sometimes in the hustle of the season you forget what it is truly all about. Tuesday we went to the Zilker Trail of Lights. Zilker is a park in Austin and it has a moon tower that is made into a huge Christmas tree of lights. After we walked the trail, spun under the tree and had some hot chocolate we started our walk back to the car. As I pulled her in our wagon I looked back to see the happiness in her eyes. No presents, no big show of Christmas bling, just the three of us on a cold night buzzing about our time together. Someone recently asked me what my favorite memory of Christmas was. I told them how on Christmas Eve that my family would get in the car and go look at the lights on Christmas Eve. It's the simple traditions like these that mean Christmas to me. We get to make our own now with Emma as a family.
I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year. I will add the Zilker pictures soon for everyone to see.

NC's Pearls

A while back I was given my grandmother NC's pearls. I was beside myself with joy and cherish them with all of my heart. Today Josh and I went to our friends wedding. The wedding was held at the same place Josh and I were married in 2003. It was very good to be there again and remember the day. The house is still as beautiful as ever and always holds a special place in my heart. I was very happy to have the chance to be there again and to wear the pearls again. It became a tradition in my family to share these pearls and each girl in the family was given the option to wear them at thier wedding. Beginning with Jennifer, then Lindsey, then Debbie, then me and then Tanya. All of us proud as ever to be part of our family and to wear this beautiful necklace. The story, letters and photos were put into a photo book by my Aunt D'ann and it really shows the love for them. As I now hold these pearls, I think of what it felt like to wear them on my wedding day. I can only say I felt like a light shined through me. A light that was shining through the pearls onto everyone that looked at me. When I put them on this morning I held them to my skin and felt radiant again. As to quote my grandfther's card that was with the pearls "The pearl darling, is supposed to be the symbol of beauty." I can't agree more.

Back from the North

Josh and I just returned from our second trip to South Dakota this summer. I can only wish it would have been for better reasons. Sometimes trips like these take you on a path you didn't see for yourself. We can only learn from these and try to move forward as there is no going back. Some of these lessons I have learned before and try to help others understand.
One is you should never take anyone for granted. This is a very hard lesson as it is hard to slow down and take time to cherish the people around you. Our society has us wrapped up in work and various other things that our doorway to our loved ones is half way closed. After Denise passed this lesson slapped me pretty hard in the face. I was a young adult who was too self centered to get off my butt and spend more time with my sister. I will always regret this. I vowed from that day to never leave my brothers alone even if they got annoyed with me. I do have to say as these 6 years have gone by that I have lacked some, but hope to get back on the wagon.
I hate funerals and memorials so much because they are the stop sign in a life that could have gone on. However, funerals and memorials give us that open doorway to see our loved ones and make a change. One of the other things we must learn is how to function without this person. As we grow and expand our lives we gather people along the way, so when one is missing everything feels wrong. This process of moving forward is one that I have not done yet, but have been one this road for a while. I can only hope to help Josh and provide the comfort and understanding he needs to heal.
The final thing I have learned is no matter what you never forget these people, and their memories have an odd way of popping up. The other day before Josh and I left we cleaned through some clutter in our book shelves and I came across some photos. There laid a photo of my uncle Jim. It was at Josh and my wedding. He was asleep in a chair at the bottom of the stairs, eyes closed and a peaceful look upon his face. It is one of my favorite photos of that day. I looked at it and felt very happy that I knew him. I have to think that sometimes things happen for a reason. Like finding a photo that should have been in our wedding album where I placed it, but ending up somewhere else.
As I remind Josh often, it is all about the little things in life. We were very lucky to have been able to make the trip to South Dakota in July, and that Josh's dad met Emma. We, as you know, are very proud of her and it was not a shock to us when Jim (Josh's dad) had very good things to say about her in the little amount of time they spent together. His memorial on the 15th was very nice. The song Amazing Grace was sung, a flag was presented, and some meaningful words were spoken.

So here is to James (Jim) Donald Haar.

August 1st

This past Sat. we took a trip to Waco. My dad and mom( nana and papa) went with us. We went to the Cameron Park Zoo. Emma had a good time and we got to see all the animals before it got too hot. I was very thankful for the air conditioned spots! They had a bunch of animals to see and would enjoy going back. After the zoo we went over to the Dr Pepper museum which was really cool. I just wish we would have been able to get a Dr Pepper at the end from the Soda fountain. Oh well, next time. We had lunch in Waco at George's. It was really good trip that only took half of the day!