Dear friends and family...please update your bookmarks and blog settings to note that our blog has moved from here to http://heatherlynnhartman.blogspot.com/.  I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but blogger had some options we were looking for.  In any case, we're giving you lots of incentive to check out our first post...pictures of our NEW BABY...so you'll definitely want to check it out...

Elliot LOVES Dr. Seuss books.  I must admit that I enjoy the silly urgency of the rhythms of Dr. Seuss, too.  So much so that I read a lot of Dr. Seuss when Elliot was a baby.  I guess it rubbed off because by the time that Jeff and I got tired of reading our Dr. Seuss collection, hid them, and tried to add the variety of other authors, Elliot was already hooked, searched until he found them, and protested until we brought them out again.  Now, 90% of the time we give Elliot the choice of a book, it's from the Dr. Seuss collection and since we have them memorized from reading them so much, we don't even have to look at the book to read it.  :)

All that to say that another of Dr. Seuss's loves has rubbed off on Elliot...the love of hats.  If you visit the Seussville website, you can read Dr. Seuss's (aka Theodore/"Ted" Seuss Geisel and Theo. LeSieg) biography and you'll learn, among other things, that...

"The Geisel's were excellent hosts, holding weekly dinner parties that included extensive and varied guest lists.  These parties often took on lives of their own; Ted's penchant for funny hats, for example, would weave its way into a dinner party theme or two, and guests were expected to wear their funniest headgear - or risk Ted's assigning one from his personal collection."

So, here's Elliot with his stuffed animals (aka "the boys") wearing almost every hat he owns:

Elliot showing off Elmo's hat...


Elliot posing (reluctantly) with the boys...


The boys posing much more cooperatively...


Elliot indoctrinating Daddy into "The Boys Hat Club"...

Uncle Super Heath came to visit last week.  Jeff, Elliot, and I had a great time visiting with him.  Here are a few pictures illustrating his time here.

Heath is very construction savvy, so we worked on a few home improvement projects while he was here (and got as much done with him in 2 days as we would have in 6 months or more without him).

Elliot's making his first attempt at climbing a ladder while helping daddy install a new light fixture (not too bad).


Elliot spent most of his time "helping" with the projects by coveting and stealing tools.  In this picture, he's coveting a chisel (and perhaps wondering if our floor would ever be one piece again...in case you're wondering, it is).


We didn't work too hard, though...we had plenty of time for tickling and play, too!


One of the things Heath wanted to do during his visit was check out the local dairy farming scene, so here are a few pictures from our trip to Dalhart, TX. 

One of my artistic shots of an irrigation rig (an essential piece of equipment on the dry West Texas farming scene).


Next, the landscape of a local dairy farm.


The farm inhabitants (cows)...though I think these are beef cows not dairy cows (sorry for the lack of continuity in the story, Heath!).


And, lastly, Elliot's impression of the 5 hour car ride.


One of Uncle Super Heath's parting gifts was some "deer jerkey."  Elliot sampled some and realized that he liked it...a lot.


What he did not like was the actual parting, as Uncle Super Heath loaded up his truck and drove away, Elliot was very sad.


But, I bribed him with getting to lick the beater of some chocolate muffins and, while it didn't fix everything, he perked up.