The Fab 4 Celebrate Christmas

Yesterday was a special day. Donovan got picked up for his friend's birthday sleepover so there was a whole lot of girl power going on in the Hein house. 

Earlier in the week we decided it would be a perfect day to invite Emmerson's best friends over for a little holiday fun. 

Of course, Taylor got to partake in all of it and she was here for it, my friends. 

 Emmerson asked me a dozen times... "Is it almost time for them to come over?" I tried my best to keep them busy as we waited. We made sugar cookie dough that would be ready to roll out, bake, and decorate with our besties.

Emmerson set up a festive outside craft table complete with homemade cards for each of her friends. 

 Kayla was the first to arrive!

And not long after, Ruby and McKayle came, too. First step was rolling out the dough and getting our cookies in the oven. I have never had so many helping hands in the kitchen. So much giggling and over the top cuteness. 

 Then the Fab 4 worked on their ornaments. I got a picture of the four of them printed and they decorated large popsicle sticks to frame it. 

 The glitter and glue was out of control, let me tell you. But listening to these little ladies chat was priceless. I heard Emmerson whisper to the girls that she "saw Brayden at a birthday party last night." All of the girls started to giggle. When I asked from the kitchen, "Emmerson, are you talking about boys?" All of the girls said in unison... "Her ex boyfriend!" Oh, geez! It starts young, doesn't it? 

This get together could also be titled Glitter for Dayyyyys. 

 After the popsicle sticks were decorated, I sent the girls off to play. They could run circles around any group of boys I know. They each had a walkie talkie and began playing a serious game of cops and robbers, running from the backyard, through the house, and into the front yard and back about 20 times. Taylor was trying her best to partake in every bit of it. So much so, that she took a nice big fall on the rock wall in the back yard. But hey, for a no nap Saturday full of this much fun, I think we made out pretty well. 

We also broke out a package of make your own headbands that Emmerson had received at Saint Nicholas. The girls designed them and then did a headband fashion show. 

 Last, but not least, it was cookie decorating time! Do you spy a frosting eater in this picture? 

This child must have consumed about a gallon of frosting last night. She's sneaky and she has a sweet tooth like no other.  Also, note the forehead injury. ;) I love my wild girl to pieces. 

 And that, my friends was a very fun filled friend event. 

I sure hope this becomes an annual tradition. 

The Lady Gang

Meet Kayla, McKayle, and Ruby. These are Emmerson's very best friends and have been since they started preschool at the age of 3. I will never forget Emmerson's very first day of preschool. She nervously walked into her new room where she was met by Kayla, wearing the cutest Minnie Mouse dress who walked right up to her and said, "My name is Kayla. Do you want to be my friend?" And they have been... ever since. 

(This picture was the precise moment when they became besties.) 

 When they're together, they do nothing but giggle!

 And giggle. 

 And giggle. 

 They're all on the same soccer team, too. 

 I love these little ladies so much! Emmerson is so lucky to have such kind little girlfriends. I hope they will always remain so close. 

"I jumping!"

This child of ours loves to jump lately. He jumps any chance he gets. So when his neighborhood bestie, Jordan, had a bounce house for her 2nd birthday party, I knew Donovan would be in jumping heaven. He LOVED every minute of it! 

 His Daddy jumped with him too!

 Squealing in delight.

 We could barely get him out of this thing even after the sun went down. 

It was such a fun party with yummy food, Pinterest worthy party details, and lots of laughs with friends... Thanks Flood Family for such a fun day celebrating with your birthday girl. 

wedding weekend

Carrying on with the theme of busy, busy, busy... this weekend Dustin and I shot up to northern California for one of his very best friends' weddings. It was a whirlwind of a weekend but it was so good to spend time with some of our very favorite people. Here are a couple snapshots from our weekend up north. 

And if you want to know what my favorite little man was up to this weekend... read about him here. 

My Mommy Heart is Breaking....

This week has been an exceptionally busy one around here. Our students begin school on Monday and Dustin and I had to report back to our classrooms earlier in the week. That means our sweet Donovan was off to daycare once again. You'd think my heart was breaking because he screamed relentlessly when we dropped him off. Quite the opposite. Donovan LOVES daycare! He was so excited to be back with Miss Cindy and his little buddies. For that I give HUGE praise. What's really breaking my heart is that as I sat down to write this post I decided to look back at last year's first day of daycare picture...

How in the world did he change so fast? He went from baby to full on big boy in one short year. Dustin walked in as I was looking at this picture and I just couldn't help but bawl my eyes out! If he changed that much in just one short year, then he'll be off to college in the blink of an eye! Sometimes I just wish I could rewind a bit and freeze time. I miss that tiny baby with his bald, fuzzy head. Staring at this picture is just a great reminder to soak up every minute with our sweet boy! Okay... I'm still crying... time to move forward with this post. :) 

 I couldn't resist including Dono's big sister Molly in one shot too. Can you spot her?

 As the week came to a close we were exhausted. Not easy getting back into the swing of things again. Yesterday was my handsome hubby's 30th birthday. Even though we'd had a long week, we couldn't forgo a little celebrating. Donovan's Grammie came over to babysit and we were off to the beach to camp with some friends. Notice how we camp: beer, playing cards, and iPods plugged into cheap speakers... not a whole lot else. But we love it that way. 

 Plus, who needs fancy camping gear when you have views like these? There must have been 20 dolphins playing in the water down below us as the sun was setting. It was gorgeous!

 A sort of sleepless night, breakfast on the pier in San Clemente, an afternoon spent cleaning the house and enjoying pizza and birthday cake with family and now we're winding down for the night. Dustin's running a half marathon downtown in the morning and then it's really back to the grind as we prepare for our official first day of school. Wish us luck!

Beach Day

Guess what's even better than playing in the yard... Playing at THE BEACH! 

Yesterday was our first time playing at the beach since last summer. What a difference a year makes. Donovan LOVED playing in the sand. He laughed at the waves as they rolled in and he was so excited to hang out with his buddies. 

 Aren't little boys in swim trunks the cutest?

 Here's Charlie, Banks, Joe, and Donovan playing in the sand. 

 And Mommy loved the chance to catch up with her girls too. I'm hoping for lots more of these kinds of days over the next few months. 

P.S. If you're a mom of a child that will absolutely not wear a hat... any advice? Is there a tried and true hat you can keep on your child that they're not smart enough to know how to tear off in 5 seconds? Please, pass on your wisdom! I need help. Ha! 

Mud Run

 The days just seem to be flying by lately. There's just 4 days left of school and I can hardly believe it! We have been keeping very busy around here. This weekend was especially jam packed. We had my end of the year work party on Friday night, followed by a Mud Run early Saturday morning and then we camped in the desert with some friends last night. Today we are exhausted and resting up for the week ahead. 

Our friend Chad just sent these pictures from our Mud Run yesterday. They cracked me up! I have been dreading this run for months now. I like to run... leisurely. But racing isn't really my thing. Especially not when it is a 10K full of mud and obstacles at a military base. I have literally been having nightmares about this thing for weeks. But it actually turned out to be so much fun! The boys have run it together before, and this year the wives decided to show them what we're made of... so we signed up too. 

 Here was the whole group together before the race started. Bright and early in the morning. 

 A map of the race route and all of the obstacles. 

 I have no clue who these people are... but this gives you an idea of what the race was like. At the very beginning there were firemen spraying down the runners with their hoses. 

 lots of trails with plenty of hills. 

 Mud pits.

 And more mud pits.

 Lots and lots of muddy water. 

Giant hills with hoses spraying you down while you climb. 

But we all made it! We even had a great time doing it. 

The count down is on. 4 days and then summer vacation. I think I can... I think I can...

Have a wonderful week everyone!