A couple of weeks ago we took the kids to the drive in. We saw a double feature with Kung Fu Panda and Get Smart.The kids brought blankets and pillows so they could lay down in the back of the van. It was about an hour drive. The one we went to was the only one I found where you could buy a food pass and bring in food. They were all about the same distance away,so we decided to pack a cooler and drive the hour to get there. It only cost $20 including the food pass. Ean didn't do so well, but it was late. After the first movie Connor and Ean fell asleep. Aiden is a die hard and stayed up until we headed for home. We didn't get home until 1:30am.
Last week the kids and I went to a play group at Don Fox. It's a park that has a large castle play area and a wadding pool with fountains to play in. We hopped back and forth between the playground and the pool. For lunch we found a shady spot under a tree laid down a blanket and had a picnic. We played a little more and then got in the pool right before we left to cool off. It was a great day. I just wish Israel could have been there to enjoy it with us. It has been so nice the past couple of weeks. Highs in the upper 80's. I can't remember the last time I have enjoyed a summer so much.
We had a great 4th of July. On Friday we headed down to Chapel Hill. We stayed through Sunday. Gary and Adria bought so many fireworks that it took two nights to shoot them off. Friday they had friends and family over. The adults got into a water fight. It took 3 women and 2 men, but we almost had Israel in the pool. We put him down so he could take off his shoes and he got away. There was a feast of Lobster, shrimp, fish etc... They just came back from Boston, where they ordered a ton. Their family is a hoot. All the kids played in the rain. They were already in there swim clothes and it wasn't storming, so we let them. They had so much fun. Good times!
My sister called me on Saturday to tell me that she was in town. The boys and I went down Thursday to spend the day with them. We all went to chuck e cheese because it was raining. We didn't want them to be cooped up in the house all day. When we got in the car to leave Aiden started to tear up and said he missed Rowen. I wish we could have spent more time with them and I really wish they could live closer.
The rest of this week the kids and I haven't done much. It has rained a little and the highs have been in the upper 90's. When it gets this hot I really don't care to go outside.
We have made reservations to go to the mountains before school starts. We're going to stay in a camping cabin. It's cheaper than a hotel. It has electric, air conditioning, a little fridge, double bed and bunk beds and a grill outside. It has a nice bath house. Israel wanted to tent camp. I think he forgets how hot it gets here in the beginning of Aug. I also like the idea of being able to lock up our things instead of leaving them at a camp site. He keeps calling me a wuss We are staying for 4 nights, so it will nice to have a bed too. We'll go to the theme park one day and the water park another. Gary and Adria and their boys are going also. We'll take one day to hit the outlet malls. I need to get Aiden some school clothes. I'm not really sure how this trip will go with 3 little ones. Aiden and Connor will be fine. It's Ean that I worry about. He is just at a hard age.
Well, I typed this up pretty fast, so if it doesn't make any sense...you know why. I'll try to post some pictures later. Yes, I know...I keep saying that. :)
The other day the boys were having lunch while I loaded the dish washer. I had my back to them, but I knew Aiden was doing something I had told him not to. I told him to stop doing...whatever it was. After a pause and me refilling a drink or two, Aiden asked me "How do you see your back?". I wasn't really sure what he was asking, so I preceded to ask questions. I finally came to the conclusion that he wanted to know how I saw behind me. He couldn't figure out how I knew that he was doing something he shouldn't. He truly believed that I could see behind me. I told him it was a gift....
Last week the boys and I went to a play group. Connor's hair has grown out quite nicely. It's getting a little long and looks like a beach bum. Many people have commented on his hair and how cute it is. His looks have really changed now that he actually has hair. ...I will post some pictures soon.... I've decided he will probably keep his hair a little long to cover up his Jimmy Neutron head. Anyway...getting off subject.
My friend ,that lives down the street from us, was at the play group with her little girl and baby. (She is the brave sole that kept the boys while I was in Canada). We haven't seen them much lately. Her little girl is a few months younger than Connor. I have watched her a few times. She is probably one of 3 kids that Connor plays with on a fairly regular basis. After being at play group for a while, Julianna walks up to Connor and says "Hey Connor! *slight pause* What happened to your hair?". I think it was the fluctuation in her voice that made this funny. She was just like...oh my gosh...he has hair. I guess I don't notice how different he looks because I see him on a daily basis.
So, I'm not so good at blogging. LOL! I am even worse about mailing out pictures of the kids. I have envelopes full of pictures that have been addressed since last may *blush*.Um that's May of 07. Yes...horrible!
Since I blogged last, we have been really busy. Aiden is out of school. Connor is completely potty trained (whoo hoo!). Soccer is over and the summer heat is here.
Last week we went to a Nashville Sounds baseball game. A vendor that Israel works with does a family night every year. They have food, drinks, ice cream etc. I was afraid that we would get hot, but this week has been nice. I actually started getting cold toward the end of the night. We managed to stay for the entire game because Aiden wanted to run the bases. The sounds games have a bunch of fun things for the kids to do. The game ended late. Ean was tired, grumpy and ready to go home. We had a fun time as a family and I got to see an old co-worker. It's always neat to run into people.
Fathers day weekend we went to Chapel Hill to visit some friends. Their 3 boys weren't home, so we traveled down Saturday night. We put the boys to bed when we got there and hung out for a while. Sunday, Gary and Israel went golfing. They played 18 holes, so we were there most of the day. We always have a blast with them.
Today the boys and I met up with Cordy, her Mom and sister at the library park. Cordy and Aiden played like they were getting married. Aiden had a slight panic look on his face. Afterward Cordy said to him "We aren't getting married for real silly. We'll get married when I'm an adult." LOL! Just thought I'd share.
Our neighbors hot water heater busted a few weeks ago and soaked through to our carpet. It was finally the motivation we needed to buy new flooring. Israel has all of the floor and baseboards installed. We still have the quarter round and some painting to finish. Everything is moved upstairs, so that's where we have been living. I can't wait to get finished and have a living room again. Our main computer and the phone (vonage) has been disconnected for a couple of weeks now. Once we get the computer up and running I will download pictures of the progress and post them.
Israel had a busy week last week. Tuesday night was the sounds game. Wednesday he went golfing. Thursday and Friday night he helped a friend tile his bathroom and this weekend he wanted to finish the living room...but decided he needed to rest instead.
I recently decided to resign from chorus. I have signed up for a home study course with the New York Institute of Photography. That's about it for me.
Hopefully before another month passes, I will blog again and post some living room pictures. :)
I don't have much time, so I thought I would just post some quick pictures. The school year is over and here is a picture of Aiden with his teacher. I included one of Connor and Ean so you can see how big they are getting. I will try to blog when I have a chance. :)
The boys often say or do something that makes me crack up. I'm going to try to start posting them here. There are so many things that I wish I would have written down. I may even start posting some funny memories that I have too. We'll see how it goes.
Yesterday, Aiden was playing with a McDonald's toy. Right now they are little plastic people. They are promoting American Idol and when you raise the hand it plays music. Each little person is dressed a certain way and plays music according to that genre. Aiden had a girl with a peace sign around her neck. He asked what it was and wanted to know what it meant. I told him that peace meant calm, no fighting (trying to use words that he'd understand). Then he looks at me and says " No. Cordy's Mom said it means that she hugs trees and flowers."
Here is what Cordy's Mom said when I told her about it.
"That is so funny. I was saying yesterday that it sounded like hippy music. He asked what hippy was and I was babbling saying a hippy was a tree hugger or a flower child. He’s got a great memory. I didn’t even think he was paying attention to my ramblings. That cracks me up. I was rambling on about the punk one too, sounding like Devo. I wonder if he’ll pull that one out one day. "
LOL!
Time sure does fly. Before I know it, a month has past since I have blogged. Soccer is now in full swing. Israel and Aiden are both enjoying themselves. Aiden even scored the first goal at the first game. He is doing so much better at school and hasn't had a bad day in several weeks. They had a field trip to the zoo today and their class chicks hatched. The school year is getting close to the end.
Connor is no longer Connor. He has become very brave and independent. I'm still not sure that it's a good thing. I've been picking on him. I keep telling him I'm going to call him by a different name every day. Elroy, Frank, Bob, George, Susie...he didn't like any of them and made sure that I knew he was Connor. He also has found a new love and asks for candy all day long. First thing in the morning...Connor:"Can I have some candy?" Me: "No!" Connor: "But WHY?" Me: "Because it's breakfast time." Connor: "But I don't want breakfast!" Me: "Tough!"...he eats his breakfast. 10 Min's later..Connor:"Can I have some candy?" Me: "No!" Connor: "But WHY?" Me:"Because you just had breakfast." Connor: "But I'm hungry!" Me: "Tough." 20min later...Connor: "Can I have some candy?" Me: "NO!" Connor: "But WHY??" Me:"Because it's too early!" ect...you get the point.
Ean is a tough little boy. He already has Aiden beat on injuries. He falls ALL the time and usually just gets up and goes about his business. He doesn't trip over things, he just falls. He doesn't try to catch himself or anything. The other day he fell and hit his ear on a chair. He hit the top cartilage of his ear and it really swelled. I have never seen a ear swell like that. I even called the Dr. office. It is still purple and red, but he's fine. Ean already climbs out of his crib. He pulls himself up by his gigantic arm muscles and just lets himself fall on his head. Yes, again...he is tough! He can climb over baby gates. Oh...he even broke through the window screen in the kitchen. Luckily I was watching closely because Aiden and Connor were out front playing. He knows how to nod yes and no. He tries to sing the ABC's (which is super cute) and tries to copy quite a few words. He thinks he's big!
Israel is excited to be playing golf again. He is doing really well at work and has won 3 prizes so far this month. He really likes coaching Aiden's soccer team. He is so happy to finally be getting out of the house some. Ummm...I think that's about it for him.
The weather has been really nice lately. They have been doing some major road construction close by and we have received some unexpected visitors. We currently have birds in the attic. They drive me crazy, because they are not quiet birds. Israel wants to wait until the babies leave the nest before he destroys their home. We also had our very first mouse. I saw him run behind the tv and I screamed like a 3 year old little girl. I went to wal-mart at 11:00 at night to get some traps. Everyone that knows me, knows that if I leave the house at 11:00pm...I'm dedicated. The mouse ran to one corner under the book case. We decided to set up a blockade and put sticky traps as the only paths out. We would see him come out and look at us. Finally one of the sticky traps disappeared behind the blockade and he was caught. We are pretty sure that was the first time he had come in and he was gone before we went to bed. Israel killed him quickly so that he wouldn't suffer. We felt bad, but sorry little mouse...it's our house.
Israel's birthday was last week. A friend of his from work, gave us the name and number of the girl that babysits their kids. They have 3 kids about the same ages as ours, so I gave her a call. She came over on Saturday night so Israel and I could go out. We went and ate at the Palm. For those of you that have never heard of The Palm, it's a very expensive restaurant. They have free valet parking, so we valeted the mini van. It was actually quite funny because in front of us were a Jag, Hummer, Land Rover and then...the mini van. LOL! We had tickets to go see Bill Engvall, but it got cancelled. :( It worked out, because we ended up spending the money I had budgeted for dinner plus the money the tickets cost, on dinner. We ended up going to Books a Millon and walking around for a while afterward. It was nice to be in a store without kids. Israel and I haven't been out anywhere without kids since last May when John and Arleen came down. We had a great time. The boys really liked the babysitter. She is 15 and seems really sweet. They played monopoly, hide n seek and with play doh. She said they were very good, so hopefully we can have her come over again. :)
Hi all! I finally have some tension lifted and found time to blog. This weekend was our chorus and quartet competition. Our chorus was once again number 1 in the region. I got my first medal! We will get to compete at international Nov. 3-9 of 2009 IN NASHVILLE!! We are all very excited. The first place quartet was Fiddlestix which has two members from our chorus...one of which is our director. They get to compete at international in Hawaii this year. The second place quartet was Last Minute...the young women's quartet (who are awesome!) from our chorus. My quartet (Backstage Pass) came in 16th. We had a ton of fun. We had two goals. One, was to not wet our pants on stage and two, was to not be last. We met both of our goals and I think the performance went well. There were about 22 or 23 quartets competing. We have only been doing this 3 months and some of these quartets have been together for years and years. We had some positive feed back from the judges and some things we needed to work on...which we expected. One thing about this hobby is that there is always more to learn. I put a picture up of my quartet.
Israel is going to coach Aiden's soccer team this season. He is pretty excited. They will be having their first practice this Thursday. Starting April 12 they will have a game every Saturday through May. He is also excited about the weather turning nicer so he can start golfing again.
Aiden had spring break this past week. We got to do some fun stuff. Monday Aiden had a dentist appointment. and I had a cardiologist appointment.. Fun..fun...right?!? LOL! Aiden did great at his appt. and had another good check up with no cavities.Tue. we got to meet up with Cordy (Aiden's best friend) her Mom and sister. We went to the Discovery Center and then to McDonald's for lunch and play. Wed. we had a play group at a place called the Monkeys Tree house. The boys loved it. Especially Ean, because he got to run around everywhere...with me following his every move. I left Thursday for Chattanooga, so the boys got to play at a friends house for a few hours until Israel got home. Israel has gotten a couple of X-box games to play with the boys. They have spider man , shriek and they played Lego star wars. I really hate getting the boys into video games, but it is something they all enjoy and can do together. We just try to limit the time. Aiden is pretty good and Connor is catching on. Ean has his own controller, that doesn't work. He gets it and sits like he is playing along. Occasionally he will figure out that it doesn't do anything. He'll get mad and try to take Connor's. Ean already messes with Connor. If Connor is playing with something Ean will come and sit right on top of it just to irritate. He is SO much like Aiden. If I put him down he just takes off. He doesn't look back, slow down or anything. He just goes. Lord help us!
Just a quick medical update. My heart is the same as it was. No change like they had hoped, but at least not any worse. I had a sleep test done a few weeks ago and they found that I have sleep apnea. It could be the cause of a lot of my problems. I go back next weekend for another test to find out how much air pressure I need from my CPAP machine that I will have to sleep with. My cardiologist is hopeful that this could help my heart. I'm just ready to feel better. So, I'm a little excited to get my machine and hopefully join the world of the living again.
Today Connor and Ean had their 1yr and 3yr doctor's appointments. Connor really didn't want to cooperate. He doesn't like new people. He is very shy and will answer NO to any question. He doesn't want to do anything willingly. We weren't able to get his blood pressure, ear test or eye pictures. It’s not a big deal. I did make him get on the scale so she could weigh him. He weighs 31 Ibs and is 38 In tall. He is in the 50th percentile in height and between the 25th and 50th in weight. His body mass index is in the 25th percentile...I've never seen them do that before.
Ean weights 24 Ibs and is 30 In tall. He is in the 50th percentile in both. His head...well, it's in the 95th percentile. Connor always had a big head too LOL! They must get that from their Daddy. Ean had to have 3 shots. :( They both fell asleep in the car and are still sleeping. Yay! Actually I think Ean is waking up.
Aiden had a good day at school on Wed. he got his 14 check marks that he is suppose to get out of 17 possible. Then on Thursday...he only got 6. Yes...6. That means he got 11 frowny faces!! What am I going to do with this child? Any ideas? Anyone know of a good kindergarten military school? LOL! Just kidding! He is just very active and doesn't like to listen very well. *sigh* We just keep working on it.
Israel is changing positions at work...kind of. He will be doing the same job, but for better accounts. I think he will miss his team because he has been with them for so long and had them trained the way he wanted. He is starting to work on his next career move and is hoping to get there within the next 12months.
On Tuesday I got an e-mail that our chorus had been contacted and asked to audition for America's Got Talent. It's a TV show for those of you who may not have seen it. I caught one or two episodes last season. We managed to get 73 of us together to audition last night. They will probably use us when they show the Nashville auditions. The people that get a call back will be contacted in March or April. The ones that get a call back, get an all expense paid trip to LA. With that said...I can't see them paying for 90+ women. I hate to be negative so, on the upside, they knew how many people we had when they called us. I wasn't real happy with our song selections. With new people and some people not making it, we were a little limited. Also, we just had a riser placement a couple of weeks ago. They needed to pick something that the chero was the same no matter where you stand. They also contacted one of our quartets to audition. A group of young women ages 21-25. They have been together for several years and are really good. They are also a very cute group of girls. The funniest part of the evening was when the quartet went to change for their audition. Right after they left, we were asked to leave the risers for something. When we turned around...there they were...changing behind the risers. I know they were embarrassed, but it sure was funny. They just grinned and tried to hide themselves. They were good sports and laughed about it too.
Aiden is home from school today because of Martin Luther King Jr. day. The boys have been really rowdy this morning. Since it has been so cold here we haven't gotten out to do much. They usually get a little crazy when cooped up for several days.
Ean has been walking for about a week now. He is so proud of himself. I think he is going to be my really clumsy child. The other two are clumsy too, but Ean actually hurts himself. This morning he fell and hit his mouth. It scared me because of him knocking out that one tooth. He has a deep cut on the inside of his lip and is bleeding on the outside. Looks like it almost cut all the way through. Poor guy. The bleeding is stopping, but he will have a very sore fat lip for awhile.
Julie (most of you know Julie) called me this morning. They found a mass on her Mom's lung last week and found out that it is cancer. She has fought brain cancer twice, so this is really scary for them. Please say some prayers for their family.
It's been over a month since I have posted. We have stayed busy, yet haven't really done anything. Imagine that. Aiden was out of school for 13 days and Israel was off of work for 11. I had several things that I wanted to get done around the house. None of which was accomplished. Connor and Ean had pink eye for a few days so we were stuck at home until they got better. Because of the pink eye we were home for Christmas with no visitors. The boys played all day and we made a big breakfast and dinner. We were able to go to the park a couple of times while they were home because it was nice outside. We went down to our friends in Chapel Hill between Christmas and New Years. Ean cried the entire night so Israel and I didn't get much sleep. I believe he may have had an ear infection. We met up with Nana for about 20min. at Burger King on the way home. We also made it to Chattanooga to see Grandpa and Meemaw. Israel went back to work on the 2nd and Aiden returned to school on the 3rd. Aiden was excited about going back to school, however Israel was not quite as excited about returning to work.
The weather here has been record highs. The other day it was in the 70's. I had the windows open and the boys played outside in short sleeved shirts. A couple of days before that we got some nice snow showers. I really wish it would stay cold. I want some snow.
Oh Heck...Looking through the local phone books you don't see many (if any) Heck's. Aiden asked me the other day if ...since our last name was Heck...it was ok for us to say it. Oh yes...the light bulb comes on. Ya see, here in the south, heck is a bad word to many people. You know like awww heck instead of awww ...well you get the picture. I was also talking to one of the other mothers from his class. She was asking what our last name was because her son was talking about Aiden Heck and she told him that wasn't a nice thing to say. He told her it was Aiden's last name and I guess she didn't believe him. LOL! Now we know why not many Heck's live in the Tennessee.
Most of you haven't seen Connor in a while. The last time you saw him he probably had very thin blond hair. Well, he now has a birds nest on top of his head. His hair is getting darker, has thickened and since he wouldn't let us cut it last time... it's all kinds of crazy.I'll try to post a picture later. He has developed his wonderful 3 year old attitude. The other day I told him he couldn't have something because he had not touched his sandwich. He reached over and put his finger on it.
Ean still isn't walking. He'll take a couple of steps and fall. He seems to be perfectly happy crawling because he's fast. He has finally started to get in another bottom tooth. Now he will have two teeth on the bottom. The better to eat us with..is what I'm sure he's thinking. He has also decided to take one nap a day instead of two. I miss our afternoon nap.*sigh*
As most of you know we were planning on selling our house soon. Our plans have changed. We are going to stay here a while longer. Could be a year or two. We hope to keep this house, rent it out and buy a new one. Financially, it's the smart thing to do. We are going to replace the carpet, paint and do some other things to make us more comfortable here since we'll be staying for awhile.
