Heidi Quotes

Recent conversations with Heidi:

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Heidi: "Are we going to baby Jesus' birthday party tonight?"
Mom: "No, we went to a birthday party for him at your school last week. But we celebrate Jesus' birthday on Christmas Day this week."
Heidi: "Will Mary, Joseph and the animals be there?"
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(We have had a roof leak - Jason recently sealed where he thought the leak was. Jason went up in the attic to check the status of the leak.)
Heidi: "What are you doing Daddy?"
Daddy: "I'm looking for water."
Heidi: "It's in the sink."
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(One of Heidi's favorite places to go is Home Depot. And recently, when we've been, we've looked at their Christmas decorations they have for sale. We were about to go drive around looking at Christmas lights and go to a local light display.)
Heidi: "Where are we going?"
Daddy: "We're going to go look at lots of Christmas lights!"
Heidi: "At Home Depot?"

Santa Claus

Christmas is just a few weeks away! But Heidi has been talking about Santa Claus for several weeks.

For the last 5 years, we have gone to the Lockheed Tree Lighting to see Santa. A local elementary school chorus sings holiday songs, they "light" a large Christmas Tree, and Santa Claus shows up on a fire truck! :-) It's a good time!

So we were planning to go this past Tuesday night. Earlier in the day I told Heidi we were going to go hear kids sing, see a big Christmas tree, and she'd get to see Santa! Well, she started whining a bit and said she didn't want to see Santa - that he scared her. I said "OK" and nothing more about the man in the red suit.

About an hour later, she asked if we were going to see the kids sing. I said yes. To which she said, "maybe you can just leave me here." Then she said, "how about we go see the kids sing and the Christmas tree and then you can bring me back here." :-)

No more talking of Santa.

It was a chilly evening, but we all enjoyed the kids singing, the free popcorn, cookies and hot chocolate, and got to see the big Christmas tree.
Then they mentioned Santa was coming... PANIC. Heidi started looking for one of us to pick her up and Emma was saying, "Santa's coming! Santa's coming! Woo hoo!!" Yet another way these two are opposites. :-)

Santa arrived on the fire truck and Jason held Heidi a "safe" distance from Santa (determined by her). Whereas Emma was reaching out to touch Santa's hand as he walked by. (Emma is in the pink hat on the right with my mom.)

We waited in line to have a picture taken with Santa. This Santa travels with his wife, Mrs. Claus. So when it was our turn, we put Heidi on Mrs. Claus' knee and Emma was on one of Santa's knees while Rachel was on the other in the middle. Heidi didn't panic, cry or run away - she just sat there.
After the pictures, Santa asked Emma if she had been a good girl this year and what she wanted for Christmas. He then turned to Heidi and asked the same question. She didn't say a word - just looked at him. You could maybe say she glared at him. To which he said, "you look terrified." They hopped out of the laps and we got a stocking of goodies they give to all the kids.

After the festivities, we went to dinner. At the restaurant, my mom asked Emma what she told Santa she wanted for Christmas - she said "Treats." Then she turned and asked Heidi what she had told Santa. Heidi said, "I didn't talk to him because I was not happy to see him."

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So that was 2 days ago. Well today we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch after picking her up from preschool. In addition to Santa Claus, Heidi is also scared of the Chick-fil-A cow. As we were getting out of the van, she saw her worst nightmare - a Chick-fil-A cow dressed as Santa Claus! :-) He didn't approach us or even get close to our table - but she was quite bothered by his presence. She did ask if there was a Mrs. Claus Cow - and said she might not be scared of her. :-) We'll have to submit that request/suggestion to Chick-fil-A corporate headquarters.

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Finally, this afternoon I asked Heidi what she wanted for Christmas. She said "Dogs. Dogs and sheep." OK. Emma said she wanted, "games, toys, and maybe some candy." ;-) But Heidi says she doesn't want Santa to come visit, so he can just leave her dogs and sheep in her stocking.

Stay tuned for more Santa and Christmas adventures!

November

OK. So November came and went really fast! It's hard to believe it's already December. This post probably should have been broken in to several throughout the month, but... Thanks for bearing with me on this long post. There are some cute pictures! Enjoy!

Here are the highlights:

Rachel is smiling more and more these days - which is great fun!

Rachel is almost 3 months old now. At about 2 1/2 months, I finally let Emma and Heidi hold her. My thinking was that if I let them (primarily Heidi) hold her, that would open the door for thinking they/she could pick her up whenever, carry her around, etc. Heidi had been asking to hold her for quite awhile. She just kept saying, "when she gets bigger, then I can hold her." :-) So here are the proud sisters!

Heidi really LOVES holding her. She generally doesn't care if she's crying or wiggly. Although yesterday when she was holding Rachel and she started crying, Heidi said "your turn." :-)

Rachel has also started cooing and "talking." Here we are having a conversation.

The weekend of November 13-15, the US Boomerang Team Trials were held in Conyers, GA. We were kind of the hosts (even though Conyers is about an hour from our house). But it was a gorgeous weekend and the event went well. Teams were selected to represent the US at the next World Cup to be held in Rome, Italy next year. Jason was selected to be a member of Team 3. These pictures were taken by a newspaper photographer and posted on their website.

I am desperately trying to get back to exercising. I go jogging with our friend Jim two mornings a week, and then a group of us often meet on Saturdays to exercise. Anyways, Jim is gracious enough to push the jogging stroller if Heidi and/or Rachel go with us in the morning. This particular morning, Jason was in to work early, so Heidi and Rachel went with us. It was kind of chilly. But here is Rachel bundled up for her first early morning stroller ride - the first of many. :-)

In November we celebrated Thanksgiving! Both the girls were out of school the whole week of Thanksgiving. So, the Thursday before, they both had "Thanksgiving Feasts" in their classes. Rachel and I went to Emma's class for their feast. All the kids dressed as either pilgrims or Indians. Emma was a pilgrim. Unfortunately, I was not prepared and did not have our camera. Another mom took some pictures that I need to try to get. But it was a delicious feast and lots of fun to participate with Emma.

That same day, I went to pick Heidi up at preschool and all of them were dressed as Indians! Very cute! So she wore her costume home and I got some pictures once we got home.

Insert cute Rachel pic here (at 11 weeks):

The week of Thanksgiving, I took Emma and Heidi to get their hair cut. This was Heidi's first haircut. Yet again, I was not prepared with a camera. It didn't even cross my mind 'til we were done, had eaten lunch out and were headed home. But here is a picture of the end result.

Thanksgiving Day we had a really fun, low key time up at my parent's house in Dahlonega. We enjoyed a delicious meal together, went on a walk in the woods, browsed Black Friday ads, and the kids decorated gingerbread houses. It was a fun day with my whole family. And additionally Jason's brother Nate and his wife Laura came down to join us.

It was a real treat to have Nate and Laura spend Thanksgiving with us and to spend a few days at our house. The girls very much enjoyed having them here. And Aunt Laura is a wonderful playmate and jungle gym. :-)

This was also the first time Nate and Laura had the opportunity to meet Rachel.


They also planned ahead and brought our Christmas gifts (I wish I was that on top of things!!!). So we had an early Christmas before they left.

Rachel's first Christmas gift! :-)

Lastly, Rachel is getting more and more used to "tummy time." She's doing quite well holding her head up.
Then she just face plants when she's done. :-)

Hopefully I'll get several posts done during December - otherwise the next one will probably be REALLY long.

Happy Halloween!

Heidi was Cinderella.

Emma was a monkey.

Halloween festivities started Thursday when Heidi had a Halloween party at school. They were encouraged to wear their costumes and the party was at the end of the day. Rachel and I went to the party as well. They played Halloween themed games, made a Halloween place mat, read a Halloween story, and had Halloween cookies.Heidi with some of her classmates

Heidi with her Halloween place mat

Saturday, our neighborhood had their annual Halloween party in one of the cul-de-sacs. Despite the drizzly evening, there was a good turn out. One of Emma's classmates, Morgan, was there and they enjoyed playing together. And Heidi's friend Natalie was also there.Morgan, Emma & Heidi

Heidi, Emma, Morgan & Natalie

After leaving the neighborhood party, we returned home and Jason took the girls trick-or-treating on our street. They went to some of the houses on our street (about 6-8) which was enough with the rain and the fact that none of us need to eat the candy. :-)Soggy monkey and soggy Cinderella enjoying one of their favorites - lollipops

Daddy and Cinderella

Rachel slept through all of the festivities. She didn't even make it in to her Halloween sleeper outfit. She'll just have to wait 'til next year and make her costume debut. But I did take this picture Thursday.Now that Halloween has come and gone, 53 shopping days 'til Christmas! :-)

No More "Pacy"

So Jason and I started talking to Heidi about giving her "pacy" (pacifier) to the baby before Rachel was born. We mentioned how babies use pacys and that big girls don't need them. Since Rachel's birth, giving her pacifier to Rachel has come up a few times and she has always said "in a little bit."

Well, on October 22 (2 days before she turned 3) at bed time, it came up again. Now she decided that Rachel was too small for her pacy, but that she could give it to cousin Becca (who is 3 1/2 months older than Rachel). We asked if she wanted to mail it to Becca and she said yes. So we talked about finding a box the next day and mailing it to Becca.

Jason happened to receive a package the next day - in a box. Heidi took the box from Jason and went upstairs, got her pacy and put it in the box. Then she asked me for tape to close the box. We closed it up and she and Jason walked it to the mailbox and put the flag up. :-)

She hasn't mentioned it any night going to bed. However, it was a bit of an issue when she woken up during the night and at nap time for a few days. But I think we are over the hump and the "pacy" is gone. :-)

I actually did mail it to Becca today - that way no one has to lie later. ;-) 'Cause I'm guessing Heidi will ask Becca or Aunt Kirsten about it the next time we see them - even if it's not 'til Christmas!

Catching Up

So let's just say that life has been busy, crazy, and more busy. I'll try to catch you up on the last month.

Emma has lost her first two baby teeth - the bottom front two. They were quite literally pushed out by the big girl teeth coming in from below. So what is the going rate for the tooth fairy these days?

Here are some pictures of Rachel after her first bath - awhile ago now. :-)
I'm sure you all saw news of the flooding around here in late September. While we live in one of the counties that was hardest hit, we live on the east side and it was the west that got hit the hardest. However we did wake that morning to a garage full of about an inch of water. Jason and my dad spent the majority of the day with the shop vac sucking up the water. We have a couple of ideas of how the water got in, and thus have some projects to take care of so it won't happen again. We generally use our garage for outdoor type stuff, so thankfully nothing of any consequence was ruined or lost.

Emma turned 6 on October 9. We celebrated by taking cupcakes to her class at school that Friday and then as a family going out to dinner for one of her favorites - pepperoni pizza!

Heidi is 3 today! This morning we went to her school's Fall Festival where they had pony rides, inflatable jump houses and slides, and various fair games. We all had a good time. We'll probably let her pick what she wants for dinner and go out as a family.

We did have a family birthday party for them last Sunday. Grandma and Grandpa were able to come down from Ohio for the weekend and Aunt Kirsten and cousin Becca also came for the party from NC. Grammy, Papa, Great Gram, Aunt Michele and cousin Lindsay were also here. It was a really fun time. What a blessing to be surrounded by such loving and supportive family.

Heidi picked out the party hats.

Heidi had a Thomas the Train cake and Emma had a sprinkle cake. I had asked Emma what kind of cake she wanted, and she said, "a cake with sprinkles all over it." So that's what she got. :-)It was a treat to have cousin Becca here. It was the first time we had met her. So we had to get some pictures of all the girls...Not bad for a 6 year old, almost 3 year old, almost 5 month old, and 6 week old. :-)

What a difference 3 1/2 months makes!

Finally, Rachel is doing great! At her 1 month checkup, she weighed in at 7 lbs. 9 oz. She is now 7 weeks old. She is sleeping for longer stretches at night (4-6 hours) and what's really fun is that she is starting to smile in response to us. We'll have to try to catch one on camera. But in the meantime, here are some cute pics.

So this isn't representative of her demeanor very often, but couldn't resist, given the shirt (Thanks Uncle Nate & Aunt Laura).

Daddy and his girls.

So hopefully it won't be another month before I post again, but we'll see.