Changing of the Guard

'Tis the time of year when we jump from one holiday to the next. Or if you're like some retail stores, you just skip right from Halloween to Christmas and forget all about Thanksgiving. Even though Rick is at work today, it was my day to mentally switch from Fall, leaves, pumpkins and Thanksgiving to Winter, lights, Santa and Christmas. To make that switch, the outside of our house needs to change so that every time I drive into our out of our garage, I can see that it's almost winter time! So, it goes. And we switched from this....

....to this....

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE having a big porch!! I think every house we buy will have to have a big porch....I don't know what I would do if I couldn't decorate outside. Happy Holidays!

Thankful Day

It's funny how throughout the year you forget to take time to really think about all that you have to be thankful for. Or maybe it's that we THINK about it, but may not take the time to tell someone about it. Today, however, is our day to make sure we talk about all that we are thankful for in our lives. So, here we go.

I am thankful....

(and this is in no particular order....)

1. That my husband is sleeping on the couch right now so I can be blogging instead of doing something that I should be doing.

2. For my trip back to Wisconsin earlier this month. I think about it so often and am still very thankful to Rick for arranging his schedule so that I could go and to Melanie for watching the kids while Rick was at work.

3. For antibiotics that magically make you feel like a $1,000,000 after being in your system for only a couple days - and to the doctor that prescribed them for me!

4. For mornings like this morning.... outside with my family and seeing them all laugh! It's the best thing that a mom can see. A wonderful husband that is also an amazing dad, and kids that are smiling, laughing, and enjoying time with that amazing dad!

5. For empty dishwashers. I got home to a disastrous kitchen because I was making things until we had to walk out the door today, but with an empty dishwasher the mess was cleaned up much faster!

6. For our family back home whom we miss so very much. Even though we are gone, they give us the support and love that we need! And never ever pressure us as to why we aren't coming home for the holidays! We would love to be there all the time, but they know that's not feasible and don't make us feel guilty because of it!

7. That Rick didn't have to work AT ALL today!! Not even an email sent out (or at least that I saw anyway). It's great on normal everyday days to have him home, but it's even more special when it falls on a holiday.

8. For our friends here that have be come our family away from home! We love and adore you all and hope you know that you make our life here absolutely wonderful. From those that we see every day to those that we see in passing, to those who we get to spend holidays and birthdays with to those who we love to have "play-dates" with. Without you we would not be enjoying our time here as much as we are! So we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

9. For betimes and quiet moments. (enough said)

10. For my MOMS group and our church. I absolutely loved the past 8 weeks with these amazing women and hope that I can continue to see them on a regular basis and be more involved in our church because of it. I love hearing the sound of the church bell... yes, after all these months, I still love hearing it.

And finally (not that this is all that I'm thankful for--there are SO many things, but I have to end this at some point otherwise my husband will wake up and see me blogging away (ha))

For this blog. It allows me to show you all the fun, and some not so fun, things that are going on in our household, in my head, and in our life. Without it I would be forgetting so many little things and would not be able to show our family and friends back home all the craziness that goes on with the boys and with our life amidst the mountains.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and remember to take time out every now and then to acknowledge all that you are thankful for and to count the blessings you have in your life. We all have them... we just need to take the time out to acknowledge them.

Terrific Tuesday

OK - maybe it wasn't terrific, but it was definitely much better than Monday. I still had my moments with the kids, but come the end of the day I was happy to say that I had fun with the boys and we actually did stuff together. I didn't have to say, "Will you please find something to do in the other room" to them at all that day. I would have liked to, but I refrained and managed to get through the day!

We had fun going to Story Time at the library. Ethan loves all the little songs they sing there and was singing "Shake, Shake, Shake My Sillies Out" the rest of the day. We made banana-strawberry smoothies to have with lunch. That was not planned, but when Trevor wanted a banana that was a wee-bit mushy I decided to make smoothies instead. Actually, it was very mushy and I didn't have the heart to make him eat a mushy, mushy banana. It worked out as the boys love them and it make lunch time a little bit special compared to most days. After naps we played downstairs together and before dinner we started our Turkey Craft in order to finish it after dinner. A little incentive to eat well is always a good thing to have. If you don't eat your dinner you don't get to finish the craft tonight! That was the winning ticket for dinner that night. So, we finished our turkeys and this is now our decor in the kitchen for a few days.

Ethan's Turkey


Trevor's Turkey

It was a much better day and I am looking forward to each day of this antibiotic I'm on making things a little bit better in the Heck Household.

Monday - Not Much Better

Monday didn't bring any accidents to our vehicles; however, Monday (night) did bring me much disappointment in myself and how I acted during the day. My morning started off just as normal. Brought Ethan to school and then ran a couple errands with Trevor. I had my final meeting to wrap things up with the MOMS coordinator and then decided that I was going to head to the Urgent Care since my doctor was booked solid all day. I am still battling with the crappy congestion that I've had for the last week and that I've had 4 times since mid-September. That is just too much for me to handle.

I went to Urgent Care and the doc there said there was probably some sort of sinus infection based on the amount of times I've had it and the amount of drainage I had in the back of my throat (I know, nasty thought). I just wish I was a guy and could get rid of it easily and then it wouldn't be such a problem. Anyway, he gave me an antibiotic to take and hopefully this will rid me of my congestion that COMPLETELY stops airflow from going in or out of my nose! Seriously, just imagine plugging your nose and then trying to swallow, eat and talk... that's what I've been dealing with off and on during the day and night with this "thing" that I have. Hopefully this drug will help.

I came home after picking up Ethan and all was good. After naps is when things, for my poor kids, took a turn for the worse. For some reason, this "thing" settled in my one ear and every little screech or scream or "Hey, Mom" being said in a louder voice than needed set me off. It was like someone was putting a bull horn to my ear and talking. AGH.... I was nice in the beginning but then I just became a Mom that I never want to be again. I didn't play with them. They colored and then found things to do on their own while I was making a grocery list and trying to figure out what to make for dinner. However, the playing was not with the best behavior. There was hitting, there was yelling at each other for taking this or taking that, there was pushing, there was "typical brotherly love" going on. As this was all going on, I said things like, "Will you please just be quiet?", "Will you go find something to do in the other room?", "No, Ethan, you CAN NOT help me with this." and the list goes on. The breaking point was when it was close to bedtime for Trevor and Ethan hit him because Trevor kicked the basketball that he was playing with. I didn't even hesitate, I just picked Ethan up and told him it was time for bed for him, too because "I was sick and tired of the hitting that was going on throughout the evening!" No warning, no talking and explaining nicely why I was angry. No letting him say goodnight to Daddy. Nope. Just picked him up and walked him upstairs to start the bedtime routine.

Ethan wailed! And wailed! He wanted nothing to do with me and cried for Daddy for the rest of the night. Of course, Rick came to put him to bed, but it was just a really crappy ending to the night. And one that I probably could have avoided had I controlled my actions! I really am sorry boys. You weren't doing anything "out of the ordinary" but I just couldn't deal with it last night. I promise today will be better and we will have some fun. Maybe Story Time at the library or playing outside or a Thanksgiving craft. I promise I will be better today and I hope you will forget the way I acted last night to you both.

I love you so very much and hope you love me just as much today as I know you normally do!

Sunday Start

The day started before I even knew it today. Rick has "business as usual" today at work because of the upcoming holiday and trying to get the partners some time off. Not a surprise, I knew that was happening. However, what I didn't know is that my trip to pick up the pizza last night put today's start in a very bad place. You see, with having 3 vehicles in our driveway we tend to neglect one of them for a little while. Lately, that has been our dear ol' truck.

So, yesterday, both of us mentioned that we needed to drive it a bit more. Rick took it to work during the day, I took it to pick up the pizza last night and I assumed that Rick was going to take it to work again this morning. Well.... that was my mistake... assuming something! Because of my assumption, I parked the truck in the driveway awkwardly. Half in one parking spot, half in the other. Not such a terrible thing unless the "other half" is in the way of a little green Cavalier that's in the garage. You see, Rick probably didn't want to scrape windows this morning at 5am (again, I'm assuming, but I think it's a pretty good assumption this time) so he decided to take the car. Unfortunately, that means that he got in the car, backed up as he normally does with nothing to stand in his way.... but that was not the case today. Today, the black truck's bumper happened to be in his way. He just didn't know it until he heard a "crash" and couldn't move the green car in reverse anymore because the brute of a truck was in the way.

I am so sorry, Rick. I will take blame for not parking the truck where it normally is. If it makes things any better, I was going tell you last night when I walked in the door that the truck was there. I just happened to forget in the time between getting out of the truck and walking in the door. I know, that's not a very long distance, but it happened. Can I blame it on my cold and my mind just not working right?? Whatever the reason, now we have some new "battle scars" on the car and the truck! I have not seen the car yet, but by Rick's description, it sounds worse than the truck. The truck has just a couple scratches on it which is not a huge deal, but the car has a dent and some paint missing.

So, if anyone knows of a good, cheap bodywork person to fix the damage please feel free to let me know!

Is it Monday yet???

Sing a New Song

Ethan has been learning lots of new songs at school lately; however, this one has stuck in his mind all week and he has been singing it quite often for me. We had several takes to get this video.
Take 1 - He was questioning what song I wanted him to sing.
Take 2 - He started the song out with the wrong note so told me to stop.
Take 3 - During the last word of the song he had a "surprise" burp come out and we both immediately laughed until we cried (unfortunately, I missed his belly laughs because when I started laughing I hit the stop recording button).
Take 4 - this is what you see (I think I said "take 3" on the video, but it was really "take 4".) He messed up a bit, but it was the best one of the 5 we recorded.

Thanks for the giggles tonight, Ethan - it was just what I needed to end the day!

(once again, mute the photo slide show on the right to hear the video)

Mr. Babysitter

Last Wednesday I had my final night of MOMS at church and so Rick was home with kids. In the afternoon, a good friend and fellow member of the MOMS group, called to see if Rick would mind watching their 2 kids as well. Isaac is a few months younger than Ethan and, Katie, is a few months younger than Trevor which makes for some good play time buddies. Rick graciously agreed since their dad was out of town and the babysitter who comes to MOMS couldn't make it this week. It was Rick and the 4 kids!

He did a great job and the kids were all in one piece when we got home. He even managed to get a video in of them watching a little cartoon during "slow-down time". And can you believe what is keeping the attention of 4 kids under the age of 5 and is making them laugh... the good ol' Tom & Jerry cartoon!

(mute the picture slideshow on the right to hear this video)


Thanks so much Rick... it made things much more relaxing for Michelle and the rest of our MOMS group!! And we know the kids had a blast, too!

Breakfast Time with Pleasantries

Saturday morning was Trevor's morning. He got up earlier than everyone else and was hungry. It was a cool morning and he delightfully let me make him some warm oatmeal to heat up the insides. It was amazing. He sat so nicely as it was cooking. He said "thank you" after I gave it to him at the table. He ate it all up and even asked for "Mo Oa-meal, Mama". It was such a pleasant breakfast for the two of us. Thanks for sharing that part of your day with me, Trevor!

Needle in a Hay Stack

Or... maybe it should be called

A

In A...

Yep... that's right, I had to search for mine this past weekend as my heart, stomach and every other organ was in my throat! As we started some yard work Saturday afternoon I realized that my wedding ring was not on my finger. INSTANT PANIC!

I took the garbage can of leaves up to the driveway and started sifting through it little by little. I was on a mission and felt bad when a neighbor walked by and I didn't talk much. I told him what happened and he graciously asked if there was anything he could do. Unfortunately, it was my mistake to let it slip off my finger so I needed to rectify it by finding it myself. Sorry, Keith, if I wasn't too hospitable to you and Sari!

The good news... I found it! I only had to go about a 1/4 of the way down in the leaves and I found it. Did I put it back on... you betcha... but this time it went on my middle finger so it wouldn't fall off! Winter is a terrible time for me and my ring -- looks like I need to do something about it this winter season!

Blonde?? I Don't Think So...

Just to give you a mental picture before beginning, I am sitting here in front of the computer with the biggest grin on my face and knowing that I am doing something totally wrong! Oh, but it's so much fun to do posts like this! And so begins my little story...

Last night, Rick and I were going through the normal routine getting ready for bed . Moving stuff off the bed, taking Ethan potty, covering Trevor up, brushing teeth, and so on. However, this night was anything but normal! You see, Rick has always made fun of the gray hair that continually pops out of my head. Even though my gray hair comes from dealing with him he still has little to NO sympathy for me being in my early 30s and having to either highlight my hair or try to pull them out when I see them. And he has relished in the fact that with lighter brown/blonde hair that it will be quite difficult to see a gray hair on his head! That is NOT FAIR in my book!

But HA! Last night that ALL changed! He came into the bathroom, as I was brushing my teeth, in just his shorts that he wears to bed. Nothing unusual there, but the one thing that was unusual was the gray hair that was on his chest amidst all the other darker ones!! I told him, no actually, I looked closer, then exclaimed while doing a little dance, "Ha - look what I found! You have a gray hair!!!" He completely denied it and didn't believe me saying, "Ah... it's not gray, it's just a blonde one." "Uhhh - no." was my response to that! In order to prove my dear hubby wrong and finally not be the only one who is "getting older" I took my tweezers out and plucked that beautiful gray hair out of his chest! And low and behold, he could not argue with me... it was definitely a gray hair. The hair didn't come from the top of his head, but that doesn't matter. He has joined my ranks and can no longer make fun of me!!!

I still love ya, Sweetie, even though you are becoming "old and gray". I may love you even more now since I won't have to glare at you when you decide to pick on me. Now, I'll just be able to smile, laugh and remind you of our findings on the night of November 12, 2008. It might take another few years to find another one, but that doesn't matter because I've already found the first one... the next ones will just be icing on the cake.

Thanks, Jeremi

This past Saturday we had a new family picture taken by Jeremi Broadhurst. She took our family picture last year and also did Trevor's new born pictures 2 years ago. She happened to have an opening at short notice and we took advantage of it. Thank goodness we did because on Sunday we had rain/wind and that has continued today along with some sleet like snow! Here's a sneak peek at some of the photos. (I have no idea what is up with the lines in my jeans, but it's not something she did -- I went back and looked at them and they really are there and were highlighted even more with the camera! Oh well, I'm sure there are others where you don't see them quite as much.)

Ethan was a treat during the photo shoot; however, Trevor wanted nothing to do with smiling and he's the reason we wanted a new family picture. He has changed so much over the past year! He wouldn't even laugh at Ethan or Daddy which he ALWAYS does at home! 'Tis the age!
Thanks so much, Jeremi. It was great to see you again!

Ethan's Funny Words

Similar to the "wonderful" thing he was saying on Halloween, Ethan has been saying some very cute and innocent things that just make Rick and I look at each other and laugh. Thought I'd share some of them with you since not much else is going on around our house this week.

--As we were getting breakfast ready one morning Ethan asked for some more milk. The first time around was lacking a few manners so we asked him to ask again. "Dad, can I have some more milk, please", was the resulting change. Much better than before and we were sure to tell him that. His response, "Well, I'm a good asker for milker!" (the thing that made it more funny is that he knew it was silly and started giggling to himself immediately after he said it.)

-- At church last Sunday a little girl was getting baptized. Everyone gathers around the baptismal font to see and to be a part of this special moment for the family. That day was a somewhat unique baptism because they decided to do a full body baptism rather than just blessing the top of her head with the Holy Water. After we returned to our pew, Ethan leaned over and told Rick, "That baby got to dive in the water!"

-- "I'm sick of getting up to go potty. I'm just sick of it!"
Ethan's sleepy response, as he's standing at the toilet for the 2nd time in one night.

Thanks for the laughs Ethan!

Trick-or-Treat 2000-Eat

The morning after and all the sugar from last night has worn off - thank goodness! We had a lot of fun night last night with the boys. Ethan was all about going to get some yummy candy and had a fun time being in his NY Jets costume. Trevor opted to be the Yummm...Nummm...Nummmm Cookie Monster and did a great job keeping the eyeballs on top of his head rather than behind his head.

We started the night off meeting up with our friends, the Allen's! They were absolutely adorable - all 6 of them dressed up!! What a feat that is to have everyone dressed and ready to go at Trick-or-Treat time. Here's a picture of 5 of the 6 kids - we're missing the littlest one, Cannon. (not the best picture, but at least they're all in it...to see all of the Allen's in their costumes, click here.)

After a little while, our friends had to venture to see Grandma, but we kept going, and going and going. We took a break at a neighbor's house to chat and have hot dogs (Trevor decided on a sucker instead), but we went into the darkness of the night and the kids had a blast. We had the least amount of candy of all 3 years we've been here (thank goodness, again). The boys had fun simply walking around and being outside later than usual. Trevor was continually left in the dust from his big brother, but continued to drag his pumpkin right along.

Some of "interesting" parts of the night...

1. Trevor finally got the hang of trick-or-treating around 7:30pm... an hour an a half after we started.

2. Ethan decided to tell everyone that tried to give him chocolate that he DIDN'T like chocolate and then tried to look for something different in their bowl. (we had a little talk about that after it happened a couple times... "just take what they are nice enough to give you, say thank-you and we'll sort it out at home!")

3. After figuring out what trick-or-treating was all about, Trevor decided to scream every time Ethan picked out a piece of candy for him... he wanted to do it himself!

4. On top of not wanting chocolate - Ethan let everyone know when they were trying to give him something that he already had!! Sometimes he even said "thank-you" and just turned around without taking what they were trying to give him. Probably why we ended up with less candy this year.

5. The cream of the crop for the night - when we first started, one of our neighbors didn't answer the door right away (I'm assuming that's why Ethan did this), but he decided to open the door himself and then proceed to say Trick-or-Treat! Oh my, what a very "proud" moment that was. I wanted to crawl in a hole! I'm thankful that it was just us and the Allen's around at the time... they were able to laugh at it with us!

Such a fun age for Trick-or-Treating, but also the worst age in some respects too. Happy Halloween and I hope you all have a fun time fending off the kids from the candy for the next 2 weeks!