I'm back!

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.

Happy Belated Valentines Day!

Happy Belated Valentines day!! This month has been super busy for us. Since the last time I blogged I have had 3 Dr. appointments and a dentist appointment Israel also had a Dr. appointment and a dentist appointment. Oh...and Aiden had strep and had to go to the walk in clinic. Among all the other stuff.

We finally had a snow day!! On the 13th they closed schools for snow. I had Aiden dressed and ready to go. There wasn't anything outside. For some reason (maybe a glimpse of my psychic abilities *snicker*) I decided to call the snow hot line. Sure enough they were closed. I was actually shocked and called back to make sure that's what I heard. Within an hour or so the ground and roads were covered. The kids were excited. Aiden and Connor went out and played for a few mins. They couldn't handle that cold for too long. LOL! I'll try to put up some pictures.

My quartet (and 10 others) did singing valentines as a fundraiser for the chorus. Israel took Valentines day off so I could participate. I left the house at 7 in the morning and got home at 7:30 that evening. We had a great time, but were worn out by the end of the day. Friday the 15th I left for chorus retreat. Israel had fun with the boys on Saturday and ended up at our friends house in Chapel Hill for the night. My retreat was 5 min. from their house, so it worked out for him to pick me up on Sunday.

Aiden was out of school on Monday ,the 18th, for presidents day. We met up with his friend ,Cordy, for a play date at the kid park. He met Cordy at mothers day out last year and loves getting together to play. She also has a younger sister (Sidney) that is Connor's age. Also, Aiden has been doing good at school the past three weeks. Yay! His teacher has started a new system with him that lets him know how he is doing through out the day.

There really isn't much to say about Connor. He is such a "go with the flow" kind of kid. We did finally get his hair cut and yet...he still has some sort of strange birds nest on his head. Toward the back, around the crown, a big curl has developed. ??? I think that is the cause. It takes some work to get it to stay down. LOL!

Ean is a stinker. He says " I want my Momma" pretty clearly. I think he tries to say banana and of course Aiden (Adan), Connor (Onnor), Momma and Dada. He is into EVERYTHING!!

Israel has been staying busy with work. In fact he has been working tonight since we put the boys down. He got my lap top working and yet...I'm on the PC. hmmmm... He bought me my camera for an early valentines day present. It's the Canon XTI. It's wonderful and I can't wait to play with it more.

I go Monday for my results to my last Echo. They did an IV so they could see better. Hopefully it'll be good news. I also go for a sleep apnea test in March.

BTW...Tina, tell the kids thank you for the valentines. It made their day getting mail. :)

Ean and Connor's Dr. appts and stuff

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.

What a morning!

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.

Oh Heck

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.

Backstage Pass

Our official quartet name is Backstage Pass. We registered last week and had our first rehearsal on Saturday. We have already had 4 offers to sing this christmas and we don't even know any songs. LOL! We did sing a song last night at the TuneTown Christmas party. We got tons of compliments. Our director thought we had a really good sound. It is a pretty big thing if she compliments you because if she didn't like it she wouldn't say anything or would tell you what was wrong in a nice way. By the way...our director is the sweetest women ever!! But...to confirm that she really thinks we have potential , we were offered a chance to have a coaching session with...one of the best. I'm a little over whelmed by that. I don't really feel that we are ready for it, especially since we don't even know any music...or have any picked out to learn. It is an opportunity that we really can't pass up. He will not coach a chorus until they reach a certain level and has coached MANY international winning quartets. He coaches our chorus and has an opening for a quartet session when he comes in Jan. or Feb. (we aren't sure which yet)...we are hoping for Feb.. It's exciting, but overwhelming. So much to do and so little time. Regional competition is in March. Of course our goal is to not be in last place. :)

Happy Thanksgiving and Connor is 3

Finally, I get to sit down and blog. I have tried several times in the past week, but only got a sentence or two typed. Last Saturday (Nov.17) was Connor's 3rd birthday. We had a small party for him and Ean at McDonald's. Connor was grumpy all day despite the party and gifts. Out of all the parties we have had, McDonald's was a really great price and fun for the kids. They even supplied a cake ,hats and goody bags. I wanted to make the party as separate for the kids as possible. I made Connor a Scooby Doo cake (at his request) and Ean got the McDonald's cake. We made sure that they each had their own chance to blow out candles and open gifts.
For Thanksgiving we went down to my Grandfathers in Hohenwald (about a 1 1/2 drive). My family from Louisiana was up and it was great seeing them. The boys play with all my cousins kids and had a blast ruling the basement. We left there around 2 and headed to my Dad's in Chattanooga. We decided to take the back roads...that I got from map it. I am usually a good navigator but this time...it didn't work out so well. Grrr...darn map it! It took us a very long time, but ended up being a beautiful drive. Luckily the boys watched movies the whole way and traveled really well. They always look forward to going to Grandpa and Meemaw's house. Meemaw makes them cake and cookies and gets them all sugared up to go down to the barn. Grandpa gets the tractor out and gives Aiden rides. Connor isn't so sure about the tractor. This trip they had the neighbors horses in their pasture. The boys got to give them carrots and pet them. Connor was actually the one that did good holding the carrots and not being scared. It is strange for Aiden to be scared of something. Connor is usually the scaredy cat. We all had a good time.We stayed two nights in Chattnooga at my Dad's and just got home. Aiden has been really worked up and wild. He gets so excited about things. I'm afraid that he may be this way all through Christmas. Please pray for what's left of my sanity. At 5:00 we really wanted to put the boys to bed , but decided against it because they would be up way too early in the morning. Not that Aiden won't be up early anyway. There have been several mornings that we know he was up before 5:00 and I think that could be aiding in his craziness. 5:00 is just way too early! Connor is still working on using the potty and he is already working on writing his name. Ean,well....he bites and falls a lot. Yay, it's getting close to bed time!