Holiday Fun with the Girls

Though Amy has been held back quite a bit...she would not let the holiday season go without doing some fun stuff with the girls. She's a great mom...what can I say? (I on the other hand, do very little!)



And since we were in the house for extended periods of time, Amy played cards and board games with the girls. This is the JR version of Monopoly. There are different rules (I think) and they didn't know them. But they made the best of it!



And after they worked on the cookies...and then we found a gingerbread house! So the girls and Amy took the time to put that together! Fun stuff for the holidays...and I am sure delicious!

Mad Props

It's been a while since my last post so naturally people have asked how Amy is doing. She is doing quite well...and is recovering nicely. I know I posted a thank you to all who helped during Amy's recovery...but that has certainly continued.

And the other night, as Valerie Miller and Jenny Coffman brought us a great meal, Valerie asked if she could get "Mad Props" on the blog! The fact is, being a hip, trendy, cool guy, I TOTALLY knew what that meant!

So I looked it up. It seems that I am supposed to give her a "shout out" on the fishizzle my dizzle!

So "Mad Props" to all that helped! You knows who you is!

True dat!

What A Sight!

This evening also had a beautiful full moon as the sun began to set. It was brilliant enough that I felt compelled to take a picture.



This is fine...but I am always amazed at the human eye! This is a fine picture...but the real thing is even better!

Holiday Greeting

As the holiday season has kicked off, I wanted to take just a moment to say "Happy Holidays" to everyone who reads this blog!

Thanksgiving was a great day for us as we were able to spend some time with family. We weren't on our normal "tour" as we had to be a bit cautious with Amy's stamina...but we did get to see quite a few!

And we even had our picture taken...and it looks as though we might have found a good one!

With a heart of gratitude...

When people ask me why I chose to come back to Coshocton to live and raise my family, I often struggle to put the reasoning into words. That's probably because there is more than one reason...some of them concrete and some abstract.

But in the aftermath of my wife's recent surgery I can point to a reason that I didn't even know existed. Let me explain.

Amy and I have been blessed with good health. So we have not "needed" the kind of community outreach that I have seen and heard about. But the response we received from family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, service club members, etc. was truly overwhelming!

I am glad that we have not "needed" this sort of attention before. And I sincerely hope we don't again. BUT...wow! For those of you who brought meals, flowers, well-wishes, and so much more...I can't thank you enough.

Those of you who know me know I don't really do sincerity. But really thanks! I know...you were doing it for Amy! Hell...I like her better too! But thanks anyway!

As an update, Amy is still recovering. She is not "better" yet. But she is on her way thanks to you!

Late Night Fun at the Hassemans!

This is a continuing series on testing Kirby's mettle as a dad and husband!

It's been an interesting couple of days here at the Hasseman house. As you may have read below (and if not check out the pictures!) my wife had surgery to remove a fibroid tumor. It was so large, particularly considering where it resided, that I have considered naming it Howie!

Since Amy returned home I have done my best to play the role of Mr. Mom. She is of course, recovering. And if she wants that recovery to happen quickly, she needs to rest and let me do the housework. It's killing her! And though I think I have done a respectable job, it's not been flawless. And as I mentioned the other day, I can't keep the house clean to my standards...it has to be close to hers. Otherwise she will feel the need to do it herself!

On Monday night, after falling into bed in the post-work, running kids, cleaning, exhaustion, I heard a voice. It was my oldest daughter's voice.

"Don't worry mommy," she said. "Daddy...Jade threw up all over the room."

"Awesome," I heard myself say. And I wiped the sleep from my eyes (glancing at 1:30am on the clock) and went upstairs.

Those of you who have done this before know the wave of rancid odor that hit me as I walked through the door. Jade had not made it far out of bed so she was surrounded by nastiness. And God love her...she had not moved in fear of making a bigger mess! She just stood there--in the middle of Lake Vomit--and waited for me to clean her up.

Needless to say it took some time to clean up the mess. And I dare say I have to use the carpet cleaner tonight. But it was another emergency averted by "Super Dad."

Wow...I can't wait until Amy is better!

Amy's Home!

I am very excited to report that I brought Amy home from the Hospital today. She seems to be feeling well and is resting comfortably!

Thanks to all who visited, called, prayed, or just thought really hard! We appreciate all the kind words, caring, and flowers and gifts. Not necessary of course...but appreciated nonetheless.

And the good news is she is already bossing me around...so she MUST be feeling better!

What a Day!

Warning...this post will discuss the surgery of my wife...and will include pictures. This will either seem awful or super cool to you...but either way...be warned!

So on Wednesday November 7th, my wife Amy went in for a hysterectomy. She had a fibroid found in her uterus and--after careful consideration--it was decided that it would be best to remove it.

For those of you who read this, you know she is also the Executive Director of the United Way of Coshocton County. So the surgery was pushed back quite a bit to make sure the campaign was not affected. Now that the campaign has been kicked off, she decided now was the time to have it done.

The reason she decided to have this done was the size of the fibroid. It was noticed at the size of a golf ball...but now had grown to the size of a baseball. For those of you who know Amy, she doesn't have a ton of extra room for something that size to reside!

We arrived at the hospital at 5am and the surgery took place at 8am. All went very well and she is recovering nicely.

We asked the nurse on the way to surgery if we could "take a picture" of the fibroid. She actually physically turned around to look at us and said, "Picture of What?" We told her we wanted a picture of the fibroid. As my wife pointed out, "We bought the tickets. We might as well see the show!"

The surgeon complied! And guess what? It was even bigger than I thought! Can you imagine this being inside of Amy? Dr. Lenko even put her hand there to give it some perspective!



And then she went one further and got out a measuring stick!



I mean this is probably tough for some to look at...but how cool?

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

A Victorious Election Day

Congratulations to all the members of the Coshocton City Schools Levy Committee! Though there have been some bumps recently when it comes to local levies...the latest renewal levy passed with 71% of the vote.

As we discussed, we felt it was important for our community to have a victory...for something to be proud of! Hopefully this will simply be one victory of many to come!

Clean Up Day at the Office

The beautiful fall leaves have been falling at the office creating a less than spectacular mess. So after our drive today we took the girls to clean it up!

I got the leaf blower out and moved the leaves toward the road. The girls got a rake and did there best to help. And then it just turned into a fun fest!




Jade was having a great time...then Skylar joined the game!

A Nice Drive

Amy and I had a rare occasion today...nothing planned. It was a cool, beautiful fall day so we decided to take a drive.

I had been wanting to go and visit Apple Valley near Mt. Vernon. I had decided that it would be great to have a place at a lake nearby. So we headed off to check it out.



It was great and we took just a moment to take a picture! Jade was a bit afraid of walking out on the dock...but I absolutely love the water!

RENEWAL Levy on the Ballot

For those of you in Coshocton County, you likely know there is RENEWAL levy on the ballot in Coshocton City. I capatalize the word RENEWAL simply because I want to highlight that this is not a new tax.

Please join me in making a positive statement about our community by supporting the Coshocton City Schools on this RENEWAL levy!

For those of you who didn't know there was an election coming up...well...never mind!