Merry & Bright???

The holiday prep is in full effect at our house. Baking, cooking, cleaning and organizing are all (presumably) happening while both kids run around like lunatics. Perhaps not as productive as I'd like it to be but still we're getting ready, slowly but surely. Will helped me make spiced nuts, cookies, and puppy chow for our friends. He's actually quite helpful...until the cookies are ready to eat, then he mysteriously disappears. Hmmmmm. As you can see above, Archer likes to "help" in the kitchen too. He snatched the bottle of chocolate sauce out of the fridge and ran around the house sucking on it. Messy, yes, but at least it kept him busy for a while!

Will's last day of school was Friday; they capped off the year with a cute Christmas program. The 4 year olds, 3 year olds and Kindergarteners sang several songs, including "All I Want for Christmas" and "Silent Night" among others. In the past 2 years, Will's time on stage has been spent picking his nose, turning around to look at his classmates, putting his hands down his pants (eek!), and a tad bit of singing. This year, as a very mature 4 year old, he actually sang most of the songs. He did seem to go into a daze a few times but for the most part he was all about singing. He did a great job. And, just for the record, I think I went into a daze a few times too; his music teacher insists on singing solos (SHE sings them) and doing duets with chosen students, which gets a little old after a while. But overall a very cute program.

It hasn't all been fun and games at our house lately. Since Will is out of school, he's been acting up a bit more (as to be expected). He got mad at Keith the other day so on his doodle pad, he wrote a letter U, put an international no symbol around it, and gave it to Keith. Translation: no you. Hahahahaha! I guess he was mad at his dad. Of course that's rude but it's hard to get mad when he's so clever. I had to remind him that the Elf on the Shelf is watching...

As for the adults, we're trying to be good too. Keith had his last day on the USS Truman as a Shooter and has since checked back in to the C-2 RAG to get his flying qualifications. Hopefully it will be a smooth (and quick...haha) process. He *should* be done by mid-March in preparation for our April move. I anticipate much jolliness from Keith once he's back in the cockpit. :) I was able to head north to NYC for my friend Kristin Manning's baby shower. It was a short trip but so fun to hang with the Mannings and friends and celebrate baby. We spent an evening in the city looking at all the Christmas lights and store windows. It was great. I even got to see Mandy while I was there, which was a special treat. Jill, Matt and Mandy will all arrive here in the next few days so I should get to cleaning! Merry Christmas!

Holidaze

We are in full holiday mode at the Heyen house. Why oh why is this time of year SO busy? (I shouldn't complain...we usually move around this time so it could be worse!) After our Thanksgiving trip (and a week of being sick for me), it was time to decorate the tree. Oh boy. I usually do this during nap but thought they could "help" this year. Wrong! As Keith slipped quietly outside to hang lights (thus abandoning me with my two little elves), I struggled to get any ornaments actually on the tree. I eventually gave up with only 1/2 of my decorations up but that will have to do for this year. So far, only one ornament has been broken beyond repair (Will) and a few have had to be put back together and rehung...in a much higher spot. Archer's loving the tree; he brings me ornaments like they are little treasures and then seems confused when he gets in trouble. Poor guy.

We took the boys to see Santa at the fire station on Saturday. This has become our little tradition; anything combining Santa (ie: presents) and fire trucks is right up our alley! Both boys sat on Santa's lap. When asked, Will said he wants a Rock & Star Elmo. Hmmm, that's not what he's been saying for the past two months! (He's not getting it...that thing looks SO annoying!) Archer just nodded "yes" when Santa asked what he wanted. He's so easy to please! :) Will is very concerned with being on Santa's nice list this year. Our Elf on the Shelf, whom Will named Tram last year, has been a great bribery tool thus far. Excellent parenting? No. Strategic parenting? Yes! I plan to use this to my full advantage. Tram is watching.

The boys continue to entertain and somewhat amuse on a daily basis. Archer loves to show off his words now. He will pretend anything is a phone and have an entire conversation, nodding and using hand gestures throughout. :) Will's Christmas concert at school is next week. Pretty sure I've already heard the concert all the way through. Practice makes perfect. Keith was off for a few weeks so I kept him busy painting and doing projects around the house. Will really wanted to help, as you can see. It will be great when he gets to the age where his "help" is actually that!

Guests are the best

How is it possibly Nov 20th already? Where did this month go? It flew right by at our house; we had lots of guests this month, which of course means we had lots of fun. First Kristin and Brian Manning came to town. We played games, went to the Children's Museum and watched Will play football. The boys had so much fun preparing the Mannings for parenthood. Luckily they didn't go home swearing off kids forever. Well, too late if they did! (Baby M is due in January.)

Next came Grandma Gigi, who is a regular visitor at our house...which we love. But this time she also brought a special guest, Aunt Karen! How fun! The boys had a GREAT time hanging with Grandma and Aunt Karen. I don't think they heard the word "no" for a whole week (except from me)! Aunt Karen brought the movie Rio so she and the boys watched it a few times. Aunt Karen also got to watch Will's last football game. Grandma and Will made cookies, she played outside with the boys, and read them plenty of bedtime stories. It was really nice of Aunt Karen to take her "vacation" time to come visit our rugrats when she has her own rugrats at home (doesn't seem like much of a vacation to me!) We really appreciate their visit; we had a great time.

The boys are both doing well. Archer has started giving hugs and kisses, although his kisses are more like open-mouth assualts. Wet and sloppy. He's very proud of this. Will has started learning Christmas songs at school in preparation for the Christmas concert next month. He's been walking around the house singing "All I want for Christmas is my tooth, my teeth. My tooth, my teeth." hahahaha Keith tried to tell him that it's "my two front teeth" but Will said that doesn't make any sense! Maybe Miss Cathy should work on perfecting the lyrics before the big day.

As I mentioned, Will finished his flag football season and got his participation medal. He had a great time. Keith even got to step in and coach the last game, which was probably one of those Dad moments he's dreamed about. Guess he can mark that off his list! Keith is off for a few weeks so I plan to keep him quite busy with projects around the house. He got to go to Will's Thanksgiving party at school though, which was a rare occasion. Fun for them both. We spent Thanksgiving up in DC with Aunt Jill and Matt. We had a great time but are glad to be home. Now back to the usual until Christmas arrives! Below are a few pictures of Archer; he is quite the character.

More Candy!

We had a lot of Halloween fun this year. The theme of the day was definitely "more candy." Will started asking for candy when he got up in the morning and went to bed that night with a Snickers clutched in each hand (okay, not really...don't call the dentist on me!) But plenty of sweets were had by all; Archer even ate his first candy bar (Butterfinger crunch) and rather enjoyed it. As we were Trick or Treating, Will was running up to houses yelling "more candy", which I'm pretty sure is exactly what he did last year. When I tried telling him it was time to go home, he said that we couldn't go until his candy bucket was full. *Sigh* (Guess who has eaten most of that candy...hint: it's not the kids.)

The boys sported some sweet costumes during their trek for candy. Will wore his Husker football jersey (courtesy of Grandma Charma...thanks!) and Keith was able to fashion a helmet using a bike helmet, cardboard and masking tape. Keith and (soon-to-be) Uncle Matt really got into the helmet project and their handiwork turned out pretty well. Unfortunately this is not Husker football country so many people confused Will for a Redskins player and several others didn't respond too kindly when they figured out he was a Husker. (Side note: people take their sports WAY too seriously!)

Archer was a little puppy; my friend Christine handed down a cute puppy costume. He was the best looking Dalmation I've ever seen! He was a tad on the sick side that night so he was a bit of a sad puppy; luckily Matt was able to hold him and let Archer sleep on his shoulder. (Second side note: Matt is definitely the fan favorite with Archer, much to Aunt Jill's dismay.) He did participate in the candy getting though; no child of mine is ever too sick for candy!

We had a great Halloween weekend with Aunt Jill and Matt helping us celebrate. Next year we'll be on the search for candy in California!

Getting ready to go.

Everyone liked the football helmet, even the puppy.

Will at his Halloween parade at school.

Fall Fun

We're really enjoying the fall weather on the east coast. October is my favorite month and luckily (and strangely!) Keith is actually home to share it with us this year. We've picked pumpkins, gone on a hay rack ride, painted said pumpkins and more. It's really been great having family time. We're gearing up for Halloween too! Will is going to be a football player (Nebraska, of course) unless he decides last minute to wear the horse costume our friend gave us. Hmmm. I'm thinking we should stick with fb player. Archer is probably going to wear an adorable (and hilarious) dog costume another friend passed down. I'm not sure he'll wear the headpiece that goes with it but it's pretty cute anyway. Aunt Jill and Matt are coming down to spend the weekend with us so I'm sure we'll have plenty of fun for all.

Will had a fall festival at school last week. They got to pick their own pumpkins, drink apple cider, and get their faces painted. Will was proud of his ghost. Booooo! But he was very concerned that he couldn't see the ghost so I had to take some pictures for him. Pretty sure he thought if he moved his eyes far enough to one side he'd be able to see it. :)

Archer's been practicing his spooky skeleton skills.

Painting pumpkins together!

Good messy fun...although Archer didn't get near as dirty as Will got when he painted at this age.

Mini Picasso

Mini mini Picasso

Say it again!

We are a household of talkers. Keith and I chat, Will talks non-stop, and now Archer is babbling up a storm and throwing out some new words. Archer seems to get fixated on one word and decides to use it to its full extent. His current word is "this". He started using it last week and now when he wants something, he point and says "this? this?" over and over again. The problem is that I'm not sure which "this" he means. Is it a toy, his milk, the phone? Who knows! But at least he's learning. He is infatuated with our phones, both the home phone and cell phones. He knows how to work our smart phones and can even unlock Keith's screen. That's some solid security feature if a 15 month old can crack it! At least he's not asking to play Angry Birds...yet. So if you get some weird text or call from one of us, you know AD was busy on the phone.

Will continues to be quite the linguist. As a big 4 year old, he's certainly picked up some new vocabulary, some of it positive...some not. We were eating dinner the other night and in his ploy to not eat, Will entertained us with all sorts of stories. He's quite a storyteller these days. He makes up elaborate tales about people needing help, being rescued, getting lost, finding new friends, etc. The other night he told us he either wants to be a firefighter or a cat when he grows up. LOL! Or maybe a firefighter cat, which seems the most realistic to me! Will wasn't a fan of the dinner I made the other night and told me, "Mom, this dinner is a distaster." hahahahaha The honesty is priceless!

Are you ready for some football?

Football season is in full swing in our house. Not only have we been tuning in for the Husker games (which have so far resulted in some tears from all 3 Heyen boys), Will's flag football season is off to a great start. They were actually a little delayed due to our overly-wet September but he finally had his first game yesterday.

Will's team is the Cavaliers and they wear Navy blue shirts. He's #8. It's quite amusing to watch, as most of the boys are so little that their flags almost drag on the ground while they run. His team is for 4 and 5 year olds so there is a range of abilities and sizes but his 3 coaches do a good job of letting everyone play. During yesterday's game, there were some moments of confusion on the field. Popular themes seem to be grabbing the flags of one's own teammates, running the wrong way on the field, and forgetting the "flag" in flag football and tackling others during the game. I'm sure with a little more practice, things will even out.

Will is becoming quite the football expert in the meantime. The other day he told us all about the "defense" and the "refence" and the "hut hut guy". Those sounds like technical terms to me! I think he could probably teach me a thing or two about the game.

Grandma Charma came to visit last weekend and was nice enough to watch the boys while Keith and I went to the Centennial of Naval Aviation Ball in Virginia Beach. It was a big affair this year and we had fun dressing up and seeing our friends. Grandma had a great time with the boys; they were both sad when she left. It's never easy saying good-bye!

School Days

Will finally went back to school last week. Yippee! I say 'finally' because it seems our little preschool went back much later than the public schools AND other area preschools. I don't say 'finally' because I was just counting the months/weeks/days until it was time for him to go back. No. Nope. We had a great summer. But I guess if I think about it, I'm relieved to have the preschool teachers to share the, uh, fun. Okay, more than relieved. Happy, I guess. Perhaps even thrilled. So, really, bless those sweet preschool teachers who deal with 20+ 4-year-olds on a daily basis and don't have to drink during the day. Really. They rock.

Anyway, Will's also happy to be back at school. I was feeling a little overwhelmed by my decision to send Will 5 mornings/week this year. He's only 4!! But once I saw how much fun he's having, I felt much better about the situation. (read: less guilt!) He has some of his old classmates in his new class, which makes the transition easier. He's also meeting lots of "new friends", although he seems incapable of actually learning their names. Hmmm, I'm a tad suspicious. New this year: homework! Preschool homework only consists of one worksheet per week so it's not too demanding. But still a departure for us. This week they focused on writing the letter 'L' and learning the class rules. Perhaps I should slip the teachers some of my rules for home and see if they can work those in as well. Above he's standing next to his picture (red car) on the "car wall" that his teachers put up. They have a whole car theme this year...Will's hoping he doesn't end up with a "pit stop". That's preschool code for time-out.

Archer's also doing well! We're enjoying having more one-on-one time, although I think he'd like to go to school with his big brother. In the past few weeks, he started pointing, a lot. He points at the cats, he points at his milk cup, and he points incessantly at my cell phone because he thinks he should be able to play with it. Is it cool or scary that 14-month-old baby knows how to drag his finger across the phone screen to make it do stuff? He is jabbering up a storm, occasionally throwing out some new words. Mostly he loves following Will around and doing "big kid" stuff. He's growing up so quickly. It's fun to watch yet sad at the same time. My baby's getting big!

Will just started flag football last week so check back for some football updates. After only one practice, I can tell you that it is bound to be an interesting season!

Dear Aunt Jill

Dear Aunt Jill,

My mom said you're in Switzerland or Ghana or somewhere (I might be able to find it on my map but you got me the US map, not the World map so...) and she said I should write to you and tell you what we've been up to. Good thing you always let me play Angry Birds on your phone and Dora games on your computer or I'd have no idea how to run all these electronic gadgets.

Anywho, not much is going on here. Mom says it's the end of summer but it doesn't look like the end of summer to me. It just looks like normal summer outside. She also says I'll soon be going back to school. I'm pretty excited about that. I get bored being at home with Mom and Archer all the time; they don't play all the cool games I like. Plus Mom gets upset when I constantly ask who is coming over or where we're going. Doesn't she understand I need CONSTANT entertainment? I've been keeping busy playing Super Will, cars, and trains. I like it best when Archer isn't boddering me.

Anyway, back to school....I think it starts next day. Not sure. I hope all my friends from last year are in my new class. I also hope to get a new lunchbox with something cool on it but Mom says I may only get a plain one. But I don't WANT a plain one. Ugh! I also get to play football soon; I think it starts next day too. I'm really excited to play football like the Huskers, even though I don't think I get to wear a helmet, which isn't very fun. I'm not sure if I get to tackle anyone either; I may just try it to see what happens.

Archer is good too. He is walking all over the place; he gets upset if anyone tries to hold his hand. I like to help him walk but then he usually ends up sitting down and screaming at me instead of walking. I don't think he really understands how to walk at all! Mom says he likes to copy me and that I shouldn't do things that I don't want Archer to do too, like climbing up on the fireplace. But Mom doesn't get it...I like it when Archer climbs up there with me. She's the only one who doesn't like it. Silly Mommy. Archer's been biting a lot lately too. He even bited me! Mom says his new tooth finally came through so the biting should stop but I'm not sure I believe that. I'm sure I never bited anyone when I was a baby last day.

Well I hope you're having fun in your city. Is it in California? We are moving there; Mom says it's far away. I hope I get to ride on the airplane to get there. I'll see you when you get back from your trip.

Love,
Will

F-O-U-R

It's hard to believe but Will turned 4 earlier this month. Where has the time gone? I still remember bringing newborn Will home from the hospital in San Diego. And now, as we prepare to return to San Diego, I have a feeling our experience will be entirely different. But in a good way!

Will's really in to the Busytown show; it's based on the books of Richard Scarry, which I remember from my own childhood. Naturally he wanted to have a Busytown birthday party. Unfortunately there are no Busytown decorations to be had so I was forced to get creative (for instance, using game pieces to decorate a cake!). We ended up celebrating with his playgroup pals, enjoying pizza and cake, playing Pin-the-Bowtie on Lowly Worm (one of the characters from the show), and even solving our own mystery: The Case of the Missing Candy. It was not quite as imaginative as the show but the kids had a good time. But that's not all the birthday fun! The weekend prior, we celebrated with Aunt Jill and (soon-to-be Uncle) Matt at the beach. It seems that beach birthdays are turning into our new custom. Not a bad one at all!

Since he's turned 4, Will is really interested in things he can do now that he's a "big boy" that he couldn't do before. Flag football is one of those things. The Y offers a flag football program for ages 4-5 so he's going to play. I'm pretty sure he'll be the smallest one on the field (no linebackers in this family!) but maybe he'll also be the fastest. Or maybe he'll transition to kicker or water boy really quickly! Either way, I'm sure he'll have a great time.

Will's imagination continues to amaze me. He loves coming up with new uses for everyday things. Hence, the picture of him "cutting" Matt's hair using his superhero cape and a caterpillar toy. Makes complete sense to me! (Matt's a very good sport; he earned his beers that day!)

Will is also starting to read, which is fun for me to watch. He's really interested in words and knows a few sight words already. He is starting to sound out words (man, I love phonics!) as well. I hope they expand on these skills in preschool this year. He goes back the week after Labor Day. He'll be going 5 mornings a week...such a big boy indeed!

Archer Dean is doing well also. He is starting to walk more, even without our prompting. As you can see, he's quite pleased with himself! He continues to babble a lot and practice the handful of words he's got down. Unfortunately he continues to scream a lot as well. Ugh. The kid has got some lungs. It can be utterly ear piercing. I was hoping this "phase" would be quick but it's been here a long time already. Oh, Archer!

Finally, I ordered Will his very own personalized superhero gear for his birthday, thinking he'd be really into it. Alas, he's not at all. But Keith thinks it's pretty cool!