Night-night stories

 Whether it is an Elmo story or reading about Tuna & Mahi-Mahi in Daddy's Sports Fishing Magazine, getting cozy with night-night stories & her Daddy are one of her favorite things.

 

Easter-ready!

 

Friday Night Leftovers (the Tom & Jerry edition)

• This springtime weather we are having is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  There is no other way to describe what we have going on up here.  Highs up to 40 each day.  Straight sunshine.  Snow melting by the inches each day.  Streets & sidewalks as dry as can be.  Kids by the droves have their bikes, big wheels and scooters out.  Ours are no exception.
• We are roughly 90 days out from our last military move.  Any military spouse knows full & well that means it is time to start the purging, organizing, donating, & most certainly, planning.
• I'm trying to keep up with how quickly my baby girl is growing.  As soon as Abby outgrows her clothes, they go directly into Marilyn's dresser drawers.  No storage bucket necessary at all.  Matter of fact, there is only about a 3-4 lb difference between the two of them.
• The kids love watching the classic cartoon, Tom & Jerry.  We have a DVD 2-disc set that has been watched at least a 1/2 a billion times and each time they see it (which as of late has been nightly), they each let out uncontrollable giggles, snorts & laughter. 
• It's become that time of year again where it is essential that we use the dark out shades.  We are up to 13 hours of daylight, baby!

Have a fantastic weekend with your loved ones.  Happy-Almost-April.

It's all so bittersweet

I made things official this week by telling the wonderful and amazing folks that I work with that the Heck Family has decided to retire from the USAF and return home to Florida this summer for good. I'm completely convinced now that this was much, much harder than I had anticipated. Telling people that you have chosen to leave, despite the fact that you love where you work, what you do, & the people you work along side of, is no easy (emotional) feat. I work with some pretty amazing people and have been so grateful & privileged for the awesome opportunity.

It's all so bittersweet.
 

Wordless Wednesday: Heck Barber Shop

 

Biting us in the butt

Let me start with saying that Marilyn has always been a rock star sleeper.  Period.  We are blessed and I totally know it.  OK, enough said.

For many months now, Marilyn has slept in first, her own toddler bed and now, her own "big girl" twin size bed.  For all of these months, we have encouraged her to not just call for us when she wakes up, but instead, get out of bed & come out of her room on her own each morning or afternoon (after naptime).  Ya know... like a big girl. 

For all of these months, she has continued to call out for us each morning & after nap time. And although I love to hear her sweet voice call out our names, I want her comfortable getting up from bed & out of her room when she needs to go potty as she feels the urge.  We have been working on Marilyn staying dry at night for a while now, and this is important for her to get over this final potty training hurdle.

Guess what?

Last weekend, after she woke up from nap time.  She quietly opened her bedroom door, slipped out from her room and sweetly said hello to me as I was working in the kitchen.  I praised her for having a great nap AND coming out of her room after she woke up.  I was hopeful that we had turned the corner after she did the same thing the following day.

But guess what?

She's staying dry all night long?  Oh no, that would make too much sense & be too easy for mommy & daddy.  Instead, she thinks its a game to get out of bed several times after we tuck her in at night.  The "reasons" she has are plentiful:

• I have to go potty... again. 
• I have this boo-boo on my finger... again... and I need a Band-Aid on it.
• I need another kiss and hug goodnight.
• It's too dark in my room.
• Can I change PJs?  These don't feel good.
• I need another drink of water... I'm thirsty... again.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that this whole "encourage her to get up herself" is now biting us in the butt.  I'm pretty sure I should have seen this coming.  I feel like I've made such a first-time mom, rookie mistake.  Fingers crossed that this too passes soon.

Spring Break - The last of my favorites Part III

Part III, the last part of our Florida vacation - back to Grannie & Pop's house to visit with Aunt Jenn, Uncle Keith and cousin Jake!

Here are the last of my favorite moments:

 

Spring Break - My favorites Part II

Part II of our Florida vacation - Nana's house with Auntie Jen & Uncle Ash.

Here are many more of my favorite moments:

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Break 2014 - My favorites Part I

 Part I of our Florida vacation - Grannie & Pop's house.

Here are a few of my favorite moments: