Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Spring Break Part 1


Love these boys!

Erick turned 35! The Littles decorated his cake.

Happy Birthday!



Ava is enjoying a little music.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Lunch with Nanny


Exploration Place fun!


My beautiful girl.





Nanny and Ava enjoying the tornado

Just a little construction.



Photo bomb!

Building a little tower!


She said she's a rapper. She even said, "Yo."

Brecken and Mommy Night!

I was so excited to be able to join Brecken at Mom's Night at preschool. It was fairy tale themed, so I wore a crown (the tiara from my wedding) and B-man wore his Jake the pirate costume. It was super fun! The staff did an awesome job putting everything together and I had a wonderful night with my little man.
Before our night out!

Love this little man!

Photo Booth

Making the houses of the 3 little pigs.


Our Little Gymnast

Ava participated in her first non-competitive gymnastics meet in February. She loved it and decided that she wanted to start doing gymnastics twice a week instead of once. She starts that next week. It's so fun to watch her learn new things and smile the whole time she's there!









Thursday, February 6, 2014

Randomness

 
Ava was Student of the Week for her class! So proud of her and I am so happy that I got to attend the assembly and watch her get her award. I love that they keep it a surprise for the students and that they invite the parents to the assembly. Makes it so much more meaningful!

To celebrate the award, I took the Littles to the school skating party that night. It was super fun!

My nieces on ESPN!

Ava and I did a little face painting of our own while Daddy and B-man were at Dad's Night at preschool.

Heart Girl and the Daughter of Frankenstein

Loves to pose!

A little froyo after the dentist.

Another Student of the Week award! This one is from the P.E. teacher! We are so proud of Miss Ava. Her favorite part about this award is that it says "Rock Chalk Jayhawk!"

We took Nanny to the basketball game!

B was exhausted and passed out at the end.


Playing school

Sibling love.
 
Dad's Night at preschool...B was so happy to be able to take his daddy to school!

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Snow Days!

Snow Day #3 tomorrow! Yahoo! What will we do with ourselves? Ava hasn't even been to school once this week because she was coughing with a fever and feeling pretty yucky. Talk about cabin fever! :)
We got out once yesterday for the doctor and once for about seven minutes this afternoon to play in the snow. We came in when our faces hurt and Ava started coughing like a crazy woman again.
We have watched cartoons, Good Luck Charlie, painted, made Valentine cards, made snow ice cream, jumped off furniture, wrestled, and watched more Netflix. Not sure what we will do tomorrow but I think we'll need to keep busy!
Making Valentine cards

Sent the hubs out to gather snow for our snow ice cream.

Ignore the mis-matched pj's

Yummy snow ice cream! Ava was in bed feeling yucky, so she didn't join until it was all made and on the table.

Snow Day #2 and day #3 of Ava being home. She was ready to GET OUT! And so was B-man.






Run, Daddy, run! Ava suggested we get a whip for him to make him go faster. :)


I NEVER get the hubs to smile like this. LOVE IT.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Our New Year's Eve Reflection

1. What was the single best thing that happened this past year?
Erick: Making progress on selling the house and actually pulling the trigger to do some stuff.
Heather: Paid more attention to our finances.

2. What was the single most challenging thing that happened?
Erick: Figuring out health issues.
Heather: Ditto

3. What was an unexpected joy this past year?
Erick: Paying off back HOA dues and going to the Shocker game the other night. The kids really got into it and it was really fun.
Heather: Feel like there were little downs through the year (financially or other) and they got me down. Then, it seemed like someone was looking out for us and all of a sudden something good happened. Good things happening are always nice. :)

4. What was an unexpected obstacle or not so great thing?
Erick: Uncle Bob and Uncle Dave passing away.
Heather: All of the issues with my grandparents' health and my stepdad's health. Some not so unexpected, I guess, but still not great.

5. Pick three words to describe this past year.
Erick: Growth, progressive, joy
Heather: Busy, strong, fast

6. Three words to describe your spouse's year.
Erick: I would describe Heather's year as...challenging, blossoming, and maturing
Heather: I would describe Erick's year as...full of challenges, growth and initiative

7. What were the best books you read this year?
Erick: Wolf of Wallstreet, The Forgotten
Heather: Wife 22, The Kitchen House

8. With whom were your most valuable relationships?
Erick: Heather, Ava and Brecken
Heather: Erick, Ava and Brecken

9. What was your biggest personal change from January to December of this past year?
Erick: Learning how to mix family life and professional life with my job. It's tough for me because when I'm on a trip, I'm the one in charge and then I come back home and have to work myself back into the family unit.
Heather: I don't feel like I've had a big change. Is that sad? I know changes I would like to make, though!

10. In what way did you grow emotionally?
Erick: Rediscovering emotions that I haven't dealt with.
Heather: I feel like I have gotten stronger emotionally. With Erick's job, I have to be on top of things and sort of like a single mom on occasion. It's made me more independent. Sometimes that's been good, and sometimes not so much.

11. In what way did you grow spiritually?
Erick: Relying on God more and waiting for His plan.
Heather: I feel like I grew spiritually while on our Marriage Retreat last February but did not continue that journey as much as I would have liked.

12. In what way did you grow physically?
Erick: I had an eye opener and am taking better care of myself.
Heather: Nope. Got nothin' for this one. I suck.

13. In what way did you grow in your relationships with others?
Erick: I haven't done this. I would like to rekindle relationships with old friends.
Heather: I feel like Erick and I keep getting stronger and continue to communicate more and act as a team. As people in my family get older, I feel like I am becoming more of a person that needs to take care of them instead of the other way around. I'd also like to have stronger relationships with a couple of girlfriends.

14. What was the most enjoyable part of your work (both professionally and at home)?
Erick: Surprise, AZ was enjoyable for me because it was the second biggest opening and I was on fire! At home, going to Holiday Island, having dance parties, just having time.
Heather: Professionally, I enjoy seeing the kids in my class grow, change and learn. It's kind of the same for home. I love being with my family and love doing things for and with them. I think it's awesome to see the kids learn so much and have so many great ideas. I absolutely loved our summer this past year. It was the best yet since having kids! It seems like we got to spend so much time together as a family and that's my favorite thing in the world.

15. What was the most challenging part of your work (both professionally and at home)?
Erick: Figuring out the traveling schedule and making sure my wife trusts me.
Heather: Being a single mom when Erick is out of town and working on not being such a control freak at home. At work, it's just keeping my patience and love for teaching while still doing everything else I need/want to do in my home life.

16. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this year?
Erick: Drinking
Heather: PINTEREST! Holy hell, it just sucks me in!

17. What was the best way you used your time this past year?
Erick: Spending it with the family.
Heather: Any time spent with my family was very well spent. Time spent budgeting with Erick was also really good...even though I hate it.

18. What was the biggest thing you learned this past year?
Erick: I've learned how to take care of things in a timely manner.
Heather: That I can do a lot more than I think I can.

19. Create a phrase or statement that describes this past year for you.
Progress!

Questions from theartofsimple.net

10 Questions for a New Year's Eve Reflection...for the Littles!

Questions from theartofsimple.net

1. What was your favorite thing from this past spring?
Ava: I liked Easter and collecting eggs from the Easter Bunny.
Brecken: I liked Easter and eating chocolate.

2. What was your favorite thing from this past summer?
Ava: Holiday Island!
Brecken: I liked going to the zoo.

3. What was your favorite thing from this past fall?
Ava: I liked trick-or-treating and getting candy.
Brecken: Going to school!

4. What was your favorite thing from this past winter?
Ava: Playing in the snow.
Brecken: I liked to do snowball fights.

5. What was the hardest thing that happened?
Ava: Going to Hyde and making new friends.
Brecken: Learning and stuff.

6. What were the best books you read this year?
Ava: Biscuit in the Winter
Brecken: Gus Loses a Tooth

7. Who were the important people in your life?
Ava: Mommy and Daddy
Brecken: Ava

8. What was your favorite thing that you learned this year?
Ava: Vowels...some letters make different sounds. A, O, I...ummm, I don't know the rest.
Brecken: I liked doing jobs at my school, doing circle time. I like doing the weather.

10. How do you hope this next year will be different for you?
Ava: I am going to try new things!
Brecken: I don't know, Mommy.

GOALS FOR THE YEAR:
Swim more-Ava
Find a tree to climb-Ava
Climb a tree-Brecken
Go to the park-Ava
Play baseball-Brecken
Dig a tunnel in the ground-Ava
Get bigger so I can lift a car-Brecken
Learn yoga-Ava
Keep my room clean-Ava
Learn to play my ukulele-Ava