Catching up

Tonight I am playing catch up on this past week/weekend and into this new week. Goodness, that's a lot to catch up on. :)

Well last week was a good one for us here in the Hejl house. I will say that others had a different end to their week here in the Whitney area. Last Thursday (September 8Th) a fire broke out on the Whitney side of the Dam and spread quickly. Many homes were evacuated, some were lost, and over 300 acres, I believe, was destroyed by fire. The sight from just up our road in the Church parking lot was a scary one. It went on into the night, and even today, 5 days later as I drive over the dam I see smoke coming up from various hot spots. What a scary time for many, and a time of devastation for those who lost all they knew. Prayers are with them.

Leaving that subject, and on to our weekend this past weekend. It started with a nice visit to Crawford, TX to watch my cousin Haley Daily (a Senior) play in a Volleyball game. It's not to often that I get to see her play. Between Matt's schedule, Mason's new bedtime during the week, and Gas prices, our traveling has become minimal. They won, easily, and I was able to visit with my grand ol' Uncle Bobby...Love that guy, along with the Daily kiddo's whom I adore!! They are ALL getting way to big for me, and WAY too fast!! After Haley's game we went and had dinner with Bobby and all but Haley at the Coffee Cup Station (I think that's the name of it) :) Then we headed back home.

Saturday morning, I woke up to get ready for Zumba with my bestie! Tierni had never been to Zumba so it was super exciting having her go with me! She loved, and loved so much that we went back Sunday after church. :) Sunday was a great day, with Church, Zumba, and then what ended up being a relaxing evening due to a picture cancellation.

This week has been grand. Mason is continuing to do well in school and still loves it. I even heard him last week as Matt was tucking him in, Matt said "I'll see you in the morning when we get ready for school" Mason replied with "I love school". That sure makes me happy! :)

Cool new updates in the GREEN FOLDER.. yes my favorite part of his back pack EVERY DAY!! The teacher now sends home little post-its with what I have heard to be either a smiley face, straight face, or a sad face. Smileys of course are a good thing. Meaning your child did good that day. Straight face, not as good, but not terrible. Maybe a little bad behavior in some instance (really not sure), and the sad face.. NO BUENO!! :) It think the sad face is a big no no!! So, This past week, (Monday holiday, so Tuesday) Mason came home and in his bag, in the Green Folder :) was a little post it with a smiley face!!! :) I really don't think he even understood it, but I talked more to him about it, and what we expect from him and such and now he is excited too about his smiley faces. :) Not sure how I will handle anything other than smiley faces, but I am sure the day is coming as we are not perfect.. everyday. :)

As for my little Micah man... Oh, that little boy. He is really SOMETHING ELSE!! I absolutely adore him, and his little voice. He greets me in the mornings with the sweetest little kisses and "Time to wake up" morning calls. I just love him... that's all. Not a fancy word for it.. just LOVE!!!

That is about it for my "catch up" post. :) I know there is more, and lots of fun cute things they have said and do, but this post has to end somewhere. :)

Extended Weekend

The Hejl house had a great extended weekend! Started off with some 6-man Friday Night Lights in Abbott, Tx, followed my some additional 6-man football in Aquilla, TX. Both Abbott & Aquilla won so all was well with the world Friday night. :) The boys ran like crazy at both games and had such fun just being boys. Kadence, a friend of ours little girl, took to Micah quite fondly. :) I told Matt "Lets take a picture of them for when they are married one day" he said "Wouldn't that be crazy" :) LOL, we shall see.

Saturday morning I woke up and headed out to the Allen's home in Whitney to take part in their first ever "Family Portrait" on the Heath side of the family. :) This family is very near and dear to me as I have grown up with their daughter, Amy. We played sports together from 7th grade up until we graduated. Then lived together for a year while both attending Tarleton State University. We have made lots of memories, shared in happiness, sadness, good times, and bad, and I feel SO blessed to still call her my friend. :) Her family has always been some of the sweetest people I know. So to be able to take these pictures was such a joy for me. Amy is now married, and has become a Pharmacist. Her Husband, Nick and herself have an adorable baby boy, River Bland. Once we finished the family session, I took a few of River. He turned 4 months that day! :) I have had baby fever... ohh... since I delivered Micah, and being around this sweet boy did not help. Although I want a little girl, seeing little boys this cute can make my heart melt quickly. :)

Once the pictures were over I headed home to spend some of the afternoon with my boys and get some things done around the house. I just love coming home to my family. I can't get to the door quick enough to get in and see how excited the boys get when I get there. You'd think I'd been gone for weeks, when all it has been was a few hours. They sure know how to make a mommy feel loved. :)

Later that afternoon, we loaded up and headed back to the Allen's for the family's Friend/Family dinner they have each year. We were so blessed to have been invited, and to share in their time with them. The food was phenomenal, the company was great, and the evening could not have been more perfect in terms of weather condition. Although, we did get a call that a few fires had began, and they were initially thought to be close to our home. Turns out they were quite a ways away, and the wind was blowing them in the direction away from our house. Which the direction away from our house is towards my mother-in-law's house. When we left the Allen's, we called, and all was well. The fires were not close and were blowing west of her house.

Matt and I decided to be "Fire Chasers" and go and see what we could see. I took a few pictures that night, and it seemed they had it contained pretty well. When we woke up Sunday morning before Church we had gone back out there to see how it was coming and it looked much better. Once we left church, we took the boys out there to see what we could see (fire truck, smoke.. little boy things) we could not see much, and headed back. Then we looked in our rear-view mirror and saw black smoke billowing out of the tree's. We then turned around and went back and sat and watched the fire take off yet again despite the attempts of the volunteers/workers. The wind Sunday was NOT in favor of the workers. It was blowing fiercely, even so much that the Lake looked like an ocean with the wave it was producing (no surfing of course, but definitey some waves).

Once we left there, we got home, let the boys play... Jake, Mason's Buddy, was here with us so they all played. I got to take part in Zumba for the first time in about 3 weeks, and I am still feeling it. :) After Zumba we headed up to the Church for some more great food, fellowship, and a send off party for Tiffani & Jack. It was a great Sunday, and we were able to enjoy it with some of our favorite people.

Monday came, and of course no school. Matt had practice that morning, but once he got back we all just relaxed. :) I got all the clothes washed, floors mopped, and things ready for the week.

Mason started the 3rd week of school today, and he is still loving it as am I! :) Wooho

So that is about it for our extended weekend! :) It was great, and we were abundantly blessed with lots of family, friends, food, and fellowship. That is what it is all about really.

A Happy Heart

We are winding down the second week of Pre-K, and Mason still loves it! He will usually sing me a song or two each day, and talks quite a bit about his friend Tanner. :) He enjoy's having Matt come and visit for a few minutes each day during lunch. :)

Not much went on yesterday other than Micah peeing ON THE FLOOR! He has been using the potty for about 2 months now, I have not bought diapers in about 2 months or more. He does have accidents, usually as he is running to the potty. He sometimes does not get there in time. Although, this time was not as he was running to the potty. I came in his room, and there was a HUGE puddle... We do have 3 dogs currently living in the house right now, one of which is on a day to day basis and has not mastered the whole puppy pad/outside potty training. So when I saw this, I first asked if the dog tee tee'd... then when I saw that you could float a boat on that puddle I realized It had to be from a child. I asked Micah if he did it, and in the background Mason says "I didn't do it because I use the big potty" Micah responded with "Maten did it"... Little turkey has alreayd began the blame game.. Anyhow, I had a little talk with him, and hopefully he doesn't pull that move again. Oh, and today... I had Peanuts I was munching on. Micah wanted some so I gave him a few in a bowl. A few minutes later this is what I spot ----->

Little guy is SO sneaky!!!

Ok, now on to my Happy Heart. :) Note that the beginning story is not the happy part.

Recently I learned of a family that lost their home, and everything inside it to a house fire. I have been doing what I can to get clothes together for the family and their children, 4 children under the age of 4. A HUGE thank you to Aaron's Self Storage, China Spring location on donating a 10x15 storage space for the family to use to house the things donated. Last night I met with a few who had things to donate and came home and got it all bagged and ready to take.

Well this afternoon, I was explaining to Mason what had happened, and mentioned that he should look through his toys and see if he can find something that he could give to the little boys (they have 2 boys and 2 girls). His initial response crushed me as a parent. He didn't take to the idea very well. He said "What if I run out of toys"... This is not what I wanted to hear, at all. I explained to him as best I could that these children now did not have any toys at all, and how would he feel if all of his toys were gone... Anyhow, we really didn't get anywhere and the conversation fizzled out.

Tonight just after I got off the phone with the Sister of the family, I was getting ready to load everything up, Mason came to me and said "Wait, I need to look at my toys and see if I can find something for the boys". :) My heart was happy! Them Micah, who obviously has no clue said "Micah go find something"... I said sure and off they went. Then a few moments later Mason came in with a Lightning McQueen Hauler and a Lightning McQueen. He said that Micah picked out the Hauler, so he picked out the Lightning McQueen for them to have. Then he asked if he could come and watch him open it. Sweet little thing thought we were going to wrap it up. I had told him he couldn't come because he had to stay home and get ready for bed. I told him it was great, and I would let him know how the boys liked it. I was in a hurry because the family had called and needed me to meet earlier, and as I was leaving he said Wait, that's only one toy. I explained to him that having the Hauler, and the McQueen could count as two. He was content, and I was a proud mommy. Despite his initial response, he had obviously thought about this after we talked about it, and wanted to help. Parenting can sure be a challenge, especially in instances like this, but the rewards are greater than the difficulty first endured. :)

Here is a picture of the Sunset coming home from dropping off the items donated. It has been a long time for me to see a sunset with actual clouds around and such. It seems to usually be just the sun going down... nothing added. I soaked this up as much as I could.

Katy Train Depot

Week 2, day 2 for Mason was a great day! Easy wake up, breakfast, a little Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and out the door. The only Hiccup in our morning was that as we were walking out the door and I was reminding Mason that he would not have a lunchbox today because I was letting him get a Corn Dog, he told me he wanted a lunch in his box. So, luckily I had a few Lunchables (some missing Oreo cookies thanks to the younger brother). So I grabbed his box, tossed in one of those, some applesauce, a cheesestick and his juice. On they went!

After I had picked him up, I had an errand to run in West. So we headed that way, and took care of my errand. Then went over to the Family Dollar there in town. Right accross the street is the train track. So of course, when we were finished in the store, we headed over to scope out the tracks.

Once we finished there, I told Mason about the Train Depot down the road. We headed down to check it out. I had already known that it would not be open (It is only open on specific days/holidays), but I told Mason we could look around. For not being able to go inside we sure did do alot of looking around, talking, picture taking (of course).

The boys enjoyed it, and I did too because I was able to take some pictures and listen to them ramble about the train. The only downfall was that I was using my phone, which was having a moment today and would freeze up after every picture. Mason is already not a fan of pictures, as you can probably tell in most of these, so him having to wait for my camera to come to was NOT his favorite part of the day. :) Then it died and I wasn't able to get the last few pictures I would have liked to have gotten... Eh, oh well.

After we were finished we headed over to Sonic to load up on some Water. We nearly broke the bank but $.87 later we all had our own water. :) On to the house to finish out our day. The boys played, argued, cried, laughed, as I edited a few pictures and then got dinner ready. Matt has a game tonight, so it was just us this evening.

Boys are asleep, and the Rangers are on the TV. My kind of relaxation for the evening.

Goodnight!

Chocolate Milk

Week 2 started, and a great start for Mason! I took a picture this morning, but I didn't pay attention to the picture at the time, and well, it was NO good! :) Better luck tomorrow morning. :)

So, on to the fun part. After Matt & Mason left for school, I had gone back to bed. Last night we went to bed late, Micah woke up a few times (one of which he had came to my room with the left over smoothie -- 1 am). So sleep was on my agenda. :)

When I got up the first thing I did was look at my phone, it was right at 10am. My first thought was, WOW Micah has slept a long time. Then I spotted the open fridge door from my bed. Not a good sign! So I got up, came into the living room to a real cute, chocolate faced 2 year old with a lunchable in his hand asking "Can I hab dis??" (Micah Language)

Once we got that squared away (no of course) I noticed a puddle of chocolate syrup ON THE COUCH!!! Laying in this puddle of chocolate syrup was a blanket. Although, the chocolate syrup was not in sight. So I went looking and found it. :) Just after finding that, and cleaning it up, I spotted an opened lunchable that seemed to ONLY be missing the two Oreo Cookies.... Little turkey!!

Sooooo, I got the couch cushion cover off, the blanket, OH, and the pillow case and took it out to wash. :)

I love that little guy, and as oddly as it seems, things like this make me love him that much more. He is SO mischievous, smart, funny, cute, and KNOWS how to work mommy.... Just don't wake her up and you get away with anything! :)

This bottle of Mason's was also part of the mess. This was opened, on the couch with the puddle of chocolate. Inside was just pure chocolate syrup poured into this container. I told Matt that I was glad he could not reach the milk or we would have really had a MESS on our hands. :)

This was all washable, and all was and is well! :) The cutie is in bed, and I will not be going to sleep tomorrow morning. Or if I do, it will be in bed with him so I know when he wakes up.

Gearing up for Week 2

What a great weekend we were blessed with.

Friday, I was able to photograph an adorable family that I hadn't had the chance to before. Hopefully the opportunity will come again one day. While photographing this family, we spotted a dog (that I thought was a cat) across the river and in the woods. I went over after the session, and the puppy would not come to me. So I went on to my car, and just after talking with the family and getting in the car the little thing ran way across the road and right over to my feet... strangest thing ever.

His name is Clifton (but it is negotiable if you want him) :)

So once I got home we kenneled him and headed out to watch our Nephew play a little football. It's not to often we get to get to many of his games so that was nice.

Saturday came, and we had a busy Saturday. Matt had games that morning/early afternoon, and the boys and I headed out to Waco to get a few things (Target & HEB) and then to Landon's 2nd Birthday. :) They had a blast like usual, and Landon TORE UP some presents now. If it was anything other than a train or a truck he threw it out of the bag and moved on to the next thing.. SO Cute!

After Landon's party we headed home, and geared up for UFC fight we had here at the house. We haven't watched a fight in quite some time, and hadn't hosted one since we have lived here. Now that our living room is re-modeled we have more room, oh and the TV makes it nice too. :) Anderson Silva won, again, so all was well and worth it in my book! BIG thanks to those who came and made it fun!

Today, Sunday, we were up early for church. Mason loves going to the "room" at church (big kids nursery) I LOVE that he LOVES it. :) He still won't go to the front to listen the the children's lesson/song (sometimes song), but he has no trouble going to the room. So thats nice! After church, My BESTIE offered to take my little guys home with her so that I could get things done. AH-MAZING! Matt and I went to Wal-Mart after church to get what I needed for the week. It was great to do this kid-free. :)

Came home, our kids came back, we took naps, got up played, took baths and off to bed. I actually was able to get out and run tonight. :) Hoping to get back into the swing of things with my running! :)

Kids are asleep, I just made Protein shakes and we are watching the Rangers!

Ready for the week!

1st week completed... OH, and Poison Control

So, today was the FIRST Friday of Mason's School journey! Today was also the "toughest" morning, if you want to even call it that. Basically, he was tired and little things annoyed him this morning. For instance, our dinner table. He wanted a different one... ok, I'll get RIGHT on that. :) He wanted a sweater because he was cold, then he didn't want the sweater. Then he wanted a blanket. Well, I got him a towel because I did not want him spilling milk on a blanket and then having to wash it and he wasn't happy with that. Finally, he ate his breakfast. Once we got past breakfast all was well. Back to our usually, easy child.

Next on our agenda... Poison Control

As I was editing this morning, Micah asked for a Vitamin. I told him no because I had already given him his vitamins. Well, he had other plans. He snuck the vitamins to the living room where I thought he was watching Little Einstein's. So, I went to put his clothes on him so that we could leave to go get Mason. There was the Vitamin bottle with the lid no where in sight, and only about 15 or so left. There were probably 30-40 in there. ( Ugh... So I called the Dr. - Mind you this is my first go at this whole "poison control" thing. In the almost 5 years Mason has been alive, NOTHING of this nature has taken place. Mason would never think to do this.

Micah, is NOT Mason.

I called the Dr's office, the said to call poison control... I'm thinking GREAT... lets basically call someone else and tell them about how I am an irresponsible parent :) So, off I went to call Poison Control. :) It went smoothly, they were VERY nice, helpful, and put my mind and heart at ease. Because the vitamins I give them do not contain Iron, they were not concerned. Then also said even if he ate the entire bottle of vitamins WITH iron in them it still would probably not be near the "Toxic" levlel... WELL... thats a scary word.. thanks for the input! So, Micah was fine, they said he may become sickly, but he hasn't, and we even got a call from them to check up on him a little while later. Very nice! Does this face look sick to you? -->

Ok, so now that we have got that all cleared up, we head out to go get Mason. I take Micah without shoes because we don't get out. It's like a drive through pick up. I pull up, they put him in, buckle him and off we go. Well, you know today would be different. :) So Matt sent me a text as I was waiting in the pick up line "Ya'll come to the gym for a bit". Well that little bit turned into a play time for the boys, and Mason (and Micah's) first ever official Pep Rally!!! Micah loved it, of coarse, and Mason didn't... of coarse. :) The "bear" aka Panther Mascot was a little much for Mason. As Micah was giving it a high five, Mason was SCREAMING under my legs on the floor... Classic.

After all was done, Mason still under my legs begging to go home, we loaded up and headed home. :) GO PANTHERS!

One week down... How many more to go? Not sure how many this little guy can take!! :)