Snack Time

Snack time is about sharing...

... picking the best ones
...putting some back for later

... and ultimately ending with a very, very, messy dinner.

Thank goodness it was tubby bath night.

Crocket anybody?

We finally pulled out one of last Christmas' presents this morning... animal crocket. Now, we have never played before but I can tell you the animals were a hit (no pun intended). Thomas & Abbigail couldn't wait to set out all the different animals around the yard and pick their designated ball and crocket club. You can see that Thomas was very serious about trying to play...

... Abby was more interested in the taste. After awhile though... even the animal crocket game lost its appeal and the troops resorted back to the "tried & true"... cars & trucks.

Chop Stick Creation

Although not interested in sushi, Thomas & Abbigail both like chop sticks. Abby uses the chop sticks still "sealed" together (so they are still one), whereas Thomas wants to be able to use them the way they were intended... as he says... "to squeeze & pick things up." So... Daddy & all his creativeness, worked his magic and made a little boy very happy with the final Chop Stick Creation. Even if it was only to eat apple slices with.

Friday Night Leftover (Still Stuffed from Thanksgiving Version)

I'm sure we have all gained a few pounds, just in the 24+ hours since Thanksgiving; If you haven't and you were "good"... then please refrain from reading my blog and being my friend (just joking). But seriously, in a way, I'm glad that this Eating-Holiday is behind us now and we just have one big holiday left to tackle in terms of weight gain possibilities. Anyway... a few random thoughts on this post-Thanksgiving day:

• My "few" pounds might actually equate to 5 lbs. Oh that is so bad. Does being pregnant count at all here people?
• On a positive note, Abbigail has been having more and more good reports at school lately... I'm just wondering why this is happening when she hasn't even hit the Terrible Twos - Heck, we aren't even at 1.5 years old yet.
• I have failed at starting my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. I didn't even indulge or partake in Black Friday shopping... although I was quite tempted to do some online shopping. Time just got away from me.
• These last few days off have been a welcome school break... especially mentally.
• Ziggy has his annual appointment complete with shots/vaccines tomorrow morning. My hopes are that he has lost some of the 10 lbs that he packed on the year leading up to last year's physical. Fingers crossed. Additionally, we will be scheduling a small surgerical procedure for him to have a growth under his neck removed in the very immediate future.
• Hoping to convince my Hubby that next weekend should be our Christmas Decorating weekend... fingers crossed. He's probably going to try and devert and postpone even though last year it all rested on my schoulders to do tree, lights, and decorating because of the deployment... auuughhhhhh! So glad it will be a team effort this time.

On a different note, we spent the evening with some great friends and got a chance to have a long standing traditional "Burn" (with a fire pit); the temps dropped quickly but we still managed to get cozy next to the fire all the while roasting marshmellows and making S'mores to snack on. The kids loved it. Heck, the adults loved it. What a way to end a busy (and filling) week.

Leaf Attack

Words are really not needed to describe the fun that Thomas had visiting Grannie & Grandpop last Saturday.  He was put to "work" raking leaves... but as you can tell... it was all fun & games!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving 2010 certainly was a wonderful day to give thanks - we had loved ones surrounding us and we were blessed to enjoy a delicious meal that everyone helped prepare.  Sorry that this Thanksgiving wish is a day late... there was just so much going on yesterday from sun up to sun down (including a 6:15 am Walmart visit for some missing items).  The Heck Family is certainly hoping that all of our friends & family too enjoyed their turkey day and was able to celebrate with friends & family all around.  I know this year's holiday was especially meaningful because Brian was home & able to enjoy it all with us.  We are eternally grateful for that and all those who are separated from loved ones this holiday season.  God speed.

 Happy Thanksgiving from the Heck Family!

As yesterday was not only Thanksgiving, but also my "Thankful Thursday" entry (both of which I missed)... let me just take a moment and give thanks for/to:

• all the love that surrounds me
• my most handsome & caring husband
• my two beautiful & healthy children
• being so blessed that we are going to bring another child into this world soon
• my dear friends who stand by me through all of the ups & downs in my life and who give me the support I need to endure
• my health
• my career... teaching is a passion and I'm so glad that my flame has not even begun to burn out.
• the military... although it is difficult everyday to be a member & spouse in a military family, it this same organization that gives us our strength, our livelihood & the courage we need to take on each day.
• my students who teach me something everyday & make me a better person.

Third time is a charm?

Or at least I would have thought.  I'm talking about being pregnant for the third time.  I would have thought that having had two relatively easy pregnancies with Thomas & Abbigail, as well as just knowing what to expect, would mean no surprises.  Wrong.  Now don't get me wrong... I'm not alluding to anything serious, but rather things that I just either forgot about or didn't think it would effect me because I've "been here, done that."  Wrong.  Michelle.

• I'm not in maternity clothes yet... although N-O-T-H-I-N-G fits (or fits the same anymore)... at this point, I just feel fat.  Actually, anyone who doesn't know I'm pregnant... probably also thinks I'm just getting fat.

• Exhausted is an understatement to how I have felt up until recently.  There have been evenings when I feel like I'm in a walking coma of fatigue and I'm already passed out on the couch (or on some lucky nights in bed) by 7:30pm.  Talk about non-productive nights there.  I guess I ultimately shouldn't complain... I've been blessed with now 3 pregnancies with NO morning sickness.  I guess this is my punishment instead.
• Now into my 2nd trimester, it is quite real to me that there will be a third Heck baby to come along.  Still convincing myself that Abbigail won't be the baby of the two of them, but I'm so excited because I know how wonderful of a big brother Thomas already is & my hopes are that Abbigail gets to have the best of both worlds as a little sister to Thomas and now a big sister to Baby Heck.

At 14 weeks, this week's big developments for Baby Heck include: can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his/her thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his/her facial muscles are getting a workout as his/her tiny features form one expression after another.  Baby is stretching out too. From head to bottom, he/she measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and weighs 1 1/2 ounces.

Free Willy

Video Clip - The other weekend, Thomas & Daddy went fishing out on our neighbor's pier/dock. After a while, Abby & me walked down to see what all the fun was about and to see if they had caught anything. As they were starting to pack up their things, Thomas decided that he had plans for the little bait fish and shrimp. Watching him do this was so funny, it hurt to laugh after a while. Meanwhile, be sure to notice how interested Nosey Nelli (aka: Abbigail) is with everything going on. If only she could get in on the action - it would make her day.

Escape Artist

Video Clip - Abby has finally figured out (with encouragement) how to "escape" when I put up the gate. Actually, the gate is more for keeping Ziggy out of the back bedroom area rather than keeping them in. Please don't think that I am operating some juvenile delinquent center of something. Anyway... here is the new escape artist.

I certainly hope not...

Funny conversation tonight with Thomas:

Thanks to my in-laws, Brian & I enjoyed a relaxing late afternoon at a friend's promotion party and then went out on a date night to dinner with some great friends. After picking up the kids from Grannie & Grandpop's house, we kept the music & the conversation soft in the car ride home since it was dark & we wanted the kids to hopefully fall (back to) sleep. Out of the blue, Abby started squealing with delight, making all kinds of zurburt sounds and giggling.

Mommy: "My goodness Abbigail, are you delirious or have you been drinking tonight?"
Thomas: "I've been drinking tonight!"
Mommy & Daddy: (after a round of cracking up) "I hope not Thomas."
Thomas: "I HAVE been drinking tonight!"
Daddy: "Please don't tell the officer that if we get pulled over tonight."

Never a dull conversation with Thomas.
We still haven't learned to watch what we say... even the things we are joking about.
Lord, please help us learn a lesson.

Thankful Thursdays (Surprise! New Edition)

There is truely nothing I am more thankful for than my family & my health. Not only do I have my family (parents & sister as well as extended family), but also my husband's family who love me unconditionally. Even more, I have MY FAMILY... my loving & wonderful husband and two beautiful children who are the center of my world. I have said before that I am blessed; Brian and I are blessed; so blessed to have true love in our lives... each other, our children & our families.

Now we have blessed yet again. We are pregnant and are expecting Baby Heck #3 in mid-May of next year. We are just beginning our 2nd trimester (at 13 weeks along) and are very much looking forward to a good prenancy and welcoming a new little Heck in the late Spring. Oh does this baby know what madness already exists in the Heck Household?

My mouth hurts

I stayed home from school today because I was a bit under the weather. Instead of me having to drive to pick them up after daycare, Daddy picked the kids up and brought them home which I'm sure was a refreshing change for Daddy. When they got home & Thomas got out of the truck, the first thing he said to me was, "My mouth hurts Mommy!" Apparently, this is how the tail end of the conversation went on the way home between the two of them:

T: My mouth hurts, Daddy!
D: Why? Is it because you talk so much?
T: Yes, its because I talk a lot.
D: Well make sure you tell Mommy when we get home.
T: OK.

And this is one reason that Daddy has nicknamed Thomas, "Mouth of the South." He's a talker. By the way, I was being slightly sarcastic about the ride being a refreshing change for Daddy - Thomas talked the entire 40 minute ride home & Abby cried & whined most of that time too. Ha! Welcome to Mommy's world.
He-he!

Happy Birthday Nana!

Last weekend, we got to celebrate a milestone (aren't they all) birthday with Nana.

Here is my favorite picture EVER taken of my mother on her birthday morn... love you Mom!

After endulging in a delicious dinner, we celebrated with presents & homemade birthday cake complete with singing led by Thomas. Here is Aunt Jen, Thomas & Mommy ready to have dessert!

Grannie & Grandpop also were on hand to celebrate with us!
And of course, Daddy's little girl getting (and giving) plenty of love with Daddy.

Happy Birthday Nana!

Not a shoe lover... until now!

We think Abby has been converted.

Finally.

The girl just has not liked shoes. At all.

I guess I can't blame her... she is a Florida girl afterall.

Thomas was the same at her age. But he learned to conform when necessary.

All it took was the right pair of shoes.

Um, well... not shoes... Crocs.

Daddy bought Abby her first pair while he was in Colorado at REI. Thank god they were on sale because I'm not a proponent of expensive shoes for kids. Around $10-$15 is what I am willing to pay. Thomas also got his first name brand pair of Crocs (usually he wears the Dollar Store brand). I know, what a cheapy.

Anyway... these two kiddos are beside themselves about these shoes. Especially Abby. Unfortunately for me, she can't wear them to school (not very good for the playground) so I still have to force her to wear her little sneakers. That doesn't always go over well with her. I stand corrected... that rarely goes over well with her.
At least I know at home and on the weekends, things will be easier for us when it comes to putting the final touch on getting dressed and getting out the door.