His team mates call him 'Cali'

So here's Josh taking a much needed water break. His debut in Saturday's scrimmage was pretty impressive. The first time he had his hands on the ball he ran it in for a touchdown. The scrimmage was short, only 45 minutes. Josh had 3 carries for 75-80 yards. It's going to be a very fun season for him.

Still Here!

Just to let you all know I haven't disappeared. Things have been very busy around here. Josh is now living with us. That is going great. The kids just love him. Between running him to football and getting him established with a new school...and getting my kids schooling figured out...and trying...albeit..not very well to help Mark at the plant....life is just plain busy! But...we are all having fun. It won't be long before Debbie and her family..and Dineen and her family will be living in Eugene as well. That's about all I have time for today. Daniel's health is excellent. I'm off to run errands all over town! I will try to update soon with some pictures.

August 16th

So much happening in our world. There are two more Charest members moving to Eugene. My sister Dineen and her family, and my sister Debbie and her family. Our nephew will be playing football for one of the local high schools. It has been a very busy summer with just absolutely wonderful weather!
Mark has been very busy running the plant while I try to keep things going here at home. The kids are enjoying their summer break and spend most of their time with friends from the neighborhood.
Daniel has now been healthy for over 12 weeks! What a joy!

Happy 14th Birthday to Katie!! 

Mommy and Katie 

Katie, Mommy and Daniel 

Necklace from Mom and Dad 

Cupcake candle from Grandpa and Grandma Donna 

Glass dolphin from Grandpa and Grandma Donna 

New Pictures

These recent pictures were taken by our photography instructor. I love the one of Mark and the kids at the beach. Our class was lots of fun..and we always took the kids with us on our fieldtrips.
Daniel and I entered some pictures in the visitors center contest and we both one prizes. Daniel won 2nd place for his photo of the snake. I won a 1st place for a photo I took while shopping at the antique shops in Coburg. We are both entering some photos in the county fair.
Katie turns 14 in 4 days! We are planning lunch out and a small cake with just the immediate family.

Not the most flattering picture of me....but heck...can you even tell who it is?? :-) 

Photography fieldtrip to Strawberry Hill on the coast. 

Mommy and Daniel point out the golpher snake to Katie. 

Photography fieldtrip to Brice Creek. 

Houses

So...some of my running friends have inquired about our houses. It's funny..cause some of you know us in the VA house..some in the WI house...and some in the OR house...maybe even some in the MO and CA houses. As those of you who have visited know we pretty much go in and decorate like crazy before once again moving on. So..I am going to attempt to put together some pictures of the decorations from the current house..and the houses past. You'll have to allow me some time though. I 'll probably put them on the picturetrail site.

Oregon house 

Wisconsin House 

WE DID IT!!!!

Okay so we can finally scratch 'running a 5K' off of our to do list. Yesterday Mark and I ran the Nike Run Hit Wonder in Portland Oregon. It was fantastic! He and I sprinted across the finish line together. Our times were identical. 32:59. I know..not the fastest runners in the world, but the important thing was that we ran the whole race without stopping and finished side by side! What a blast. Now we are looking for the next race. I think we may do one here in Eugene on August 6th.
Daniel is doing great! 9 weeks now! Perhaps the ear surgery is what is making the difference? Naahhhh...we know it's God!
Katie is looking forward to her birthday in just a few weeks. 14 years old. Oh my! How can I have a 14 year old. I'm waaayyyy too young for this!
Okay..that's enough for today!

7 Weeks!

Okay everyone, Daniel is now at 7 weeks of no episodes! He feels great and we are just so thrilled to be back to some normalcy.
This week is a little hectic around the Hart household. We have a neighborhood vacation bible school taking place at our house M-F during the day, and our church vacation bible school during the evenings. I will be once again taking all the pictures for the church VBS, and this year I am also running the sound booth.
The weather has been beautiful, in the high 70's. We've been doing lots of yardwork. I just had to mention for Dad Hart's sake..that I moved 5 yards of pea gravel...by myself, while Mark was at work! I guess that shovel handle fit okay after all. :-) Actually the kids helped too. Katie's muscles are still sore! Mark was pleasantly surprised!
Hope all is well with everyone. I'll have some more pictures to post soon.

July 4th

Hello everyone! Happy Independence Day! What a privilege to live in a country with so many freedoms. We are going to be spending the day with my parents.
We are so excited about Daniel's continued health. Yesterday was 6 full weeks without a cycle! This is such a blessing for him and us.
The past two days Mark and I have been working like crazy in the back yard. The playground set is almost completely done. Mark built a border around the outside to contain the pea gravel. The sandbox is full with fresh beach sand. The underlayment has been spread out and tomorrow we start filling it with gravel. Who would of thought we would still be utilizing a playground set at our kids ages, but yesterday we ALL had a blast in the sandbox! So I guess it still has some purpose to fill.
Next week our church has it's Vacation Bible School, and I will once again be taking the pictures. Katie is going to help out with skits, and Daniel is still young enough to participate.

Kitchen Before 

Kitchen After

No Pictures today

Busy..Busy..Busy...
That's how we describe life. On the upside the weather has finally turned nice! Well at least right now, at this very moment, it's nice. Who knows what another half hour will bring. It seems to like to rain here on the weekends.
Daniel is doing great. We are charting new territory! He is past 4 weeks and if he makes it til Sunday that will be 5 weeks with no episodes!
Katie has been busy babysitting and cat sitting. What will she do with all that money? Hmmm..I think Mom and Dad need a loan. ;-)
We had a fantastic time camping at the coast, and I did get some fun shots. When time permits I'll post a few.

Oh so handsome! 

A smirk for Mom 

Katie play Belle during Be Our Guest number. 

Rachel and Katie following her performance. 

Katie displays her graduation cake while Rachel, Kortney, and Kelsey watch from behind. (L to R)

Surgery Day!

Daniel's surgery went well. The Dr. had to custom fit his tube because of the limited space in Daniel's middle ear. He's hopeful the tube will stay in and will help stabilize the pressure in his ear. Daniel had no problem with the anesthesia.
Katie's graduation party was a big success. She had a great time! The weather was gorgeous! There were some great volleyball matches going on in the backyard. Today Katie has dress rehearsal for her play. Tomorrow night is the big event. She's excited
***Quest for the 5K*** Mark and I officially registered for our first 5K in July. It will be in Portland. I'm a little nervous, but excited as well!

Another Healthy Day!

Hello All. Well it was enough healthy day here. That is so encouraging for us! We went to the Prefontaine Classic track meet and had a great time. The highlight however was later in the day when we were invited to a friend's house for a bbq and visit with their friend, Olympian Bernard Lagat. He actually goes by the name Kip. What a great time! He and his wife and 4 of his very good friends, 3 of whom were from Kenya like himself, were there. I'll post some pictures soon. Oh, they had us laughing our heads off! Their stories about their first weeks in the States were so funny. We stayed up until 11p.m. They had an early flight out of Eugene. 5a.m. So I'm sure they were exhausted. He was such a humble man and his wife was just precious. They had their 'baby' with them. Miss Piggy. A cute little pug puppy. Katie had a ball with her! It was a night to be treasured for sure. We look forward to visiting with them next year when the Prefontaine once again comes to town.

Graduations

Would you believe we have a boatload of graduations going on in our family this year?
Tamika, my niece, is graduating from COLLEGE! (How old am I?)
Tyler, my nephew, is graduating from High School
Ross Thomas, my nephew, is graduating from High School
And finally, Katie, our little Katie, is graduating from the 8th grade and moving on up to High School. When will it end? I'm so proud of the lot of them!

 

A Good Weekend

We were able to accomplish quite a bit over the weekend. Mark and I put the playground set up and the kids are loving having it back! Daniel is well. We are about 9 days past the last cycle. We pretty much just hold our breath and pray he continues to stay well.
Mark and I had a nice time on our photography hike. The instructor was very informative. We get to bring our pictures back to him on Thursday..for some 'constructive criticism'. Mark actually got some really great shots with his digital. I've got to get my pics developed today and then we'll see how mine turned out. (OKay..so that's one area where the digital certainly beats my film camera..but I still love it!) Mark took the picture of the frog on the hike.

Friday!

It's been a good week. Daniel has wanted to eat everything in sight. He actually gained 6 lbs this week. We met with the ENT today and have scheduled his surgery for June 13th. Just a tube for now.
The weather was beautiful here all week! We have enjoyed being outside. Tonight is another 3.5 mile run. Running is a real love hate relationship. I hate it when I start and love it when I'm done! Drop us a line sometime!

Monday

Daniel is feeling back to his old self today. (Praise God!) He is eating now and has tons of renewed energy. He will see the E.N.T. on Friday and we will schedule his ear surgery..(not related to the CVS).
Life is busy. The rain has turned to sunshine and the yard work is in full blossom! We are hoping to get the kids playground set up this weekend. Oh, Mark and I are also attending a wetlands photography hike. I can hardly wait!
Well, it's off to cook some meatballs. Daniel has requested them for supper. Mark and I will run our 3.5 miles tonight, along with doing some much needed Costco shopping.

Saturday

We ended up bringing Daniel to the ER to have his fluid replenished. It only took a couple of hours. He still isn't eating any food yet..just the liquids. He's a little slow coming out of it this time around.

Friday Morning

Daniel is just about through with this episode. We visited his Dr. yesterday and she said he was a little dehydrated but seemed to be okay and it would be our choice if we wanted to bring him in to the hospital for a few hours to have his fluids replenished. We are going to see how this morning goes. He's thrown up once this morning. He tried to get some yogurt down, but it just didn't last. So it's back to Gatorade and Pedialyte Pops.
Katie has volleyball today. She really enjoys that sport. We are looking forward to a weekend full of sunshine and lots of yard work!

 

A few more pictures. I'm thinking of creating a
photoessay documenting one of Daniel's episodes.

Tuesday, May 17th. Daniel is in day 3 of this
episode. We have an extra mattress at the foot
of our bed where he sleeps. He feels more com-
fortable being close, and Mark and I are able to
take turns during the evening assisting him with
whatever he may need.

Monday...

Well, this Monday isn't quite as nice as last Monday. Daniel is in day two of a cycle. His vomiting has slowed to about every 1-2 hours. His attitude is fairly positive, although he is getting very bored of lying around on the couch. He doesn't really have much desire to do anything and too much movement causes his nausea to worsen.
Katie and I will focus on getting as much schoolwork in as possible this morning while we can. She will work this afternoon with Mark at the plant after music lessons.

Daniel begins another cycle

It had almost been 4 weeks! We are thankful for the short reprieve. Unfortunately Daniel began cycling again last night. It was a very long night with him continually tossing and turning and vomiting every 5-10 minutes. Needless to say this morning we are all a little tired.
We had a wonderful week with Mark's Dad and his wife, Donna visiting from California. Amazingly enough we had great weather with no rain! We enjoyed picturesque hikes in Henricks park, and stunning views from Spencer's Butte. Saturday the girl's spent the morning antiquing in Coburg, while the boys stayed at home and did some much needed landscaping around the new house. It looks fabulous!
Katie received her National Test Scores back on Friday and was very pleased to learn she had scored in the 96th percentile! Her highest scores being in Math. (All the credit goes to her very patient and understanding Math teacher...Mark)
I will try to keep the blog updated this week with news of Daniel's progress.

A great Monday!

Hello all! Well it's Monday the 9th..and Daniel has now gone 3 whole weeks without an episode and in my book that makes for an absolutely fantastic Monday! We had a great weekend, with the surprise visit of my brother and his wife from Clovis. They literally called from the airport in San Francisco Friday night and asked if they could come for a visit. We had such a great time!
Mother's Day was also a joy. My family lavished me with such well thought out gifts. Mark certainly hit the nail on the head with my gift of a Camelback waist pack for when I run. No more having to carry water bottles! The kids wisely presented me with a visor organizer to keep my cd's and coffee cards organized in the car. I am blessed.

Our Girl

So this is Katie. She grows more beautiful with
every passing day. She's 13 and loves music,
reading, volleyball, and hanging out with all of her
friends.

Our Girl

Still Going

We are so excited. Daniel is still healthy. No episodes yet. Things are starting to feel 'normal' again. Whatever that is! Mark and I were able to start our running program again training for a 5-K hopefully in July or August. The house is really pretty much finished. I am so happy with how our bathroom remodel turned out. Pictures are coming soon. I will probably just shoot some with the digital.