September

 Preschool: Taylor LOVES school! The very first weeks she told me that she was so sneaky and broke every one of the crayons in her crayon box at school. When asked what her teacher said when she saw it, she said, "She didn't see it because I hid them back in the box real fast when she came to check on me." So... there's that. :) 

She is learning prayers that she insists on reciting every night at dinner. "God our Father, God our Father to the tune of "Where is Thumb-kin" A Hein family favorite since 2013 and beyond. Taylor brings back so many memories of her brother and sister. I am very thankful to get to do this phase one last time around.

She has a friend named Beckett at school that she told me she is going to marry. She also told me that once they get married she will show him her belly button "cause that's what you do when you're married." ???? I often wonder what he teacher thinks about her given how verbal and forthcoming she is about EVERYTHING. 

She got in trouble for singing the "Trick or Treat. Smell my Feet" song one too many times after her teacher asked her kindly not to keep repeating the part about pulling down your underwear because it wasn't very respectful. She did not earn her Kangaroo Buck that day. 

But, good news: she earned enough Kangaroo Bucks this week to earn not just one, but TWO plastic rings. So all in all, things are going really well. 

The majority of my month is spent looking at this: 

We have big highs and big lows. The most common phrases of the month would be: "Oh honey, we can't hear you... can you unmute yourself?" And in a much more stern voice, "I have asked you so many times to stop yelling into the microphone, you need to STAY on mute!" 

I am a nerd that geeks out on learning and have read so many books and articles about classroom conversations and how to provide an environment with very little restrictions to engage learners in authentic talk with their peers. In theory, I was so prepared for this year... and then the reality of a 7 year old unmuting themselves intentionally to shout things or to scream into their microphones or to say, "I'mmmmmmm boooooreeeeed!" happened. 

Yeah. It's not easy. But there are also the sweet moments and the getting to know my kiddos and their families and lots of laughs and the brilliant things they think and say when we do have productive conversations. So basically, yes... highs and lows. 

We celebrated Oma Oma's 98th birthday! What a joy it is to continue to celebrate her. She is nothing short of AMAZING! The cousins surprised her. Each birthday, she usually enjoys her very favorite meal of lobster at a fancy restaurant called Jake's at the Beach with my parents. Due to pandemic restrictions, we brought Jake's to her. The kids marched around her with signs and dolphins and a sunset. 

And then thanks to Grampie, we served her a divine lobster meal right in our backyard. 

98 looks great on her, don't you think?

The girls are OBSESSED with horses. Obsessed. All day, every day it's horse stable set up and take down. 

At night they read this horse catalogue and decide which pony they would be and which horse the would ride and....

Dustin shaved his beard that had been growing for over a year. 

And I decided to bring the bangs back and cut my hair for the first time in over 9 months. 

Fall kind of felt like it was in the air for a bit... Until this week when we hit another heat wave. The kids and I were giddy to begin decorating. Fall is always my favorite and I just can't help myself. 

Last Friday night we had the most lovely impromptu fall evening watching Coco outside in the backyard and eating homemade chili and sweet honey cornbread. It was dreamy!

The downer of the month came right toward the end when we all got sick for the first time in a long time. 

It started on Thursday morning when I had to pick Taylor up from preschool because she had a very runny nose. That was an interesting morning of trying to occupy my kiddos online long enough to be able to run to preschool to get her and set her up here at home for the day which we were all teaching and in school ourselves. She was home for a full week with a lingering cold. 

Grampie planned the most epic overnight camping trip for the boys in the desert that Friday. Donovan was SO excited! It was all he could talk about all week. 

Sadly, after they set up camp for the night, Little Man started to throw up and he kept on going morning and day and into the next night. Dustin and I almost took him into emergency on Saturday night because he just couldn't keep anything down and every episode was paired with an awful nose bleed. It was just the worst. 

Thankfully he woke up the next morning feeling so much better. Truly a gift from God after a sleepless night of praying over him. 

Taylor also hadn't been sleeping well with her stuffy nose and cough so she was getting up several times in the night crying. 

After so many exhausting days looking after the kids and teaching at the same time, I came down with the cold and so did Emmerson. I wasn't fearful that it was Covid, but it did cross my mind as I was achy, sore, had a sore throat and later a cough that sat right in my chest. I think it was just a yucky cold. But seeing as it had been months and months since any of us were sick, I had forgotten how tiring it was to recover from it all. 

Now, here we are welcoming one of my favorite months of the entire year!

I am so thankful for renewed health and energy for each of us. 

And other than the 100 degree temperatures that have introduced the month to us, I am a happy camper. 

Let the fall festivities begin!

October. Waving the white flag.

Hey ya'll. October is flying on by and I'd like to say that I am here for it. It's my favorite month, after all. But this last week was like the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. A rollercoaster of germs and emotions. Let's start at the beginning. 

Monday. Tay broke out in a rash which we knew was Roseola. A little girl from her daycare had it the week prior. In hindsight, she was super clingy on Sunday and seemed a little extra whiny. Then the rash came on Monday, so there is was. 

 As the week went on, her rash seemed to get worse and worse. Red bumps literally from cheeks to toes. 

On Wednesday in the middle of the night, Emmerson crawled into our bed crying hysterically and oh, man, she was boiling hot! I gave her some Motrin and hoped for the best. She had a fever all day on Thursday and was luckily able to stay home with Grammie. On Friday we had her stay home again since her fever had carried on through Thursday afternoon. But she was definitely more like herself on Friday: silly, good appetite, bright eyed and full of giggles. 

Saturday morning we were off and running. Two early soccer games back to back. It was a toasty morning and this time, Taylor was the unhappy kiddo. 

 She looks cute here. 

 And here. 

 But legit, 90% of her day was spent like this. Melt down central. 

The second Emmerson's game was wrapping up, I did a double take but yep, she had broken out in the Roseola rash too. Yikes! I didn't think big kids could get it. Especially because the bigs already had it as babies. But there it was... red dots on her cheeks, chest, back, and stomach. Even though it looked bad, she still seemed to feel okay so we kept on keeping on. 

Immediately after soccer we ran to Target to get a gift for a birthday party that Donovan was going to.  The day just felt go, go, go and it was super hot. 

 I didn't let the hot weather get me and my fall plans down. The bigs and I did our best version of some wannabe Pinterest treats. 

 Mummy Oreo suckers

 and Rice Krispie monster treats. 

 Basically any treats that we could use candy eyes on. 

 So far, so good. 

These are all of the "jack be littles" that we grew in our garden. We have 20 something in a whole variety of colors. Aren't they so cute! I was so happy with our pumpkin growing this season. 

So we had a grand Hein plan for Saturday night. The kids showered/bathed and put on their jams. Dustin and I loaded up our wagon with treats and decorations and some blankets for Tay to snuggle in. Then we were going to take a walk around the neighborhood "booing" all of our friends. 

 Unfortunately after everything was locked, loaded, and ready to go, Emmerson had an absolute meltdown and refused to go. She was absolutely hysterical and totally unlike herself. I was SO bummed. We all were. I took her straight up to bed and tucked her in still irritated that our fun plans took a screeching halt. But the more I laid with Emmerson who was still crying and saying she didn't feel good, the more God captured my heart. I gained perspective about how fast I was rushing through the weekend and almost forcing things to be, when all I really needed to do was hold my babies close and rest. We all needed it so badly. 

Emmerson's fever ended up spiking again a few hours later and we were forced to surrender Sunday to doing what we needed most. 

 I kicked off the morning making our new favorite pancakes with these two helpers by my side while Emmerson was cuddled on the couch watching cartoons. 

 And the rest of the day was spent building Legos, reading books, painting nails, and drawing Halloween pictures. I also felt the need to detox our whole house by thoroughly cleaning it from top to bottom. Whenever the kids are sick, it makes me feel so much better to deep clean it. Not sure if it actually does anything but somehow it brings me peace of mind. 

So that was the week. So thankful that this peanut seems to be on the mend and that this week, so far, has started off much healthier than last week. Also thankful for God's reminder to stop pushing through all of the activity and to instead be present in the moment. 

I feel like I need that conviction constantly in this season of life. 

Catching up- May 2019

Originally started this post in mid May and never finished it up: Let's play a little catch up, shall we? 

This may perhaps be the most random post. Here are a bunch of phone pictures and memories from the past two weeks. 

Taylor is getting so big all of a sudden. She is spending much more time hanging out with Emmerson which is good because it won't be long before these two become roommates. 

I celebrated my teacher of the year ceremony. I was SO nervous! I always get super anxious with that sort of recognition/attention. It was such a nice evening. Dustin totally embarrassed me by doing his best Elf impression when they called me up on stage, "I KNOW HER!" I love how he balances me out. I would rather hide and he's the life of party. Love that man of mine, so much! 

This week was also the week of sick kiddos. It started with Taylor getting pink-eye, then Emmerson, then Donovan and I snapped this picture to send to Dad while waiting at Kaiser during my lunch break to have his ears checked. He ended up needing an ear flush and then also developed a pretty hefty cough and cold. Taylor had the same. We were soooo thankful to have Grammie here with us to keep the troops in line that week. 

In the midst of a really cold rainy May we have been dreaming of the warm summer months to come. I caught the girls singing along to Kenny Chesney videos in our bedroom. Nothing says summer like a little country music. 

Our next door neighbor inherited this gorgeous 1958 Chevy Corvette. He was so sweet to take each of the bigs out for a little ride. PS Don't mind the mustaches... birthday party favor. ;) 

Last weekend Donovan had a double header scrimmage in Carlsbad. It was SO cold and SO rainy! I actually stayed home with the girls for the day but the bad weather didn't keep all the grandparents away. I LOVED this picture that my mom sent me of the boys waiting out a downpour. Donovan has spent a whole lot of time with this group of boys both last year and this spring. I just adore all of them so much! That's D on the far right. 

Meanwhile here I am at home trying to get Taylor down for a much needed nap. Girlfriend continues to rebel against sleep lately. She's always up SO early in the morning. She stands right here at her open door, behind the baby gate and shouts and shouts for me to come get her out. If I don't do it, she'll start calling for Grammie downstairs. "Gram, YOU come get me out?" "Gram, come get me out from here!" On this day, I scooped her up off the floor and tucked her into her bed and she never even flinched. She cracked me up tonight when I tucked her in, too. She asked me to scratch her back and then she kept trying to fight falling asleep telling me with her finger pointed in the air, "I just sleep 5 minutes. Okay? Just 5 minutes." Momma needs more than just 5 minutes, Taylor. And let's shoot for an after 6am wake up time. Okay, Little Miss? 

Oma and Grampie came home from their month long trip to Europe last week! We were so excited to have them home and also to celebrate their 44th anniversary together. Emmerson is my favorite party planner! She made them cards and put on all of the hair accessories she could find for the special occasion. 

Oma and Taylor passed out some sweet souvenirs from their trip. 

This little face! 

Emmerson and I baked Oma's favorite, coconut cupcakes. Donovan helped us decorate them with little flowers. 

Back to the work week. This girl is a reader! She's reading me books every night when I tuck her in. It is the sweetest thing. On this night, I had taken a while to tuck Taylor in. When I crawled into Emmerson's bed, she was reading to her horse and pointing out how the horse in her book looked just like her. 

Emmerson also had a fun field trip to the Safari Park last week. I wasn't able to go, but her chaperone texted me pictures all day. It made my heart so happy. It was another cold and rainy day, but the kids all had a blast! 

Her teacher took this on the ride home. Isn't that the sweetest? 

It was a long, busy work week. We were so grateful for the start of the three day weekend. Friday evening kicked off with the start of a baseball tournament for Donovan. We played a Carlsbad team who invited us all out to pizza with them after the game. Grammie was home with the girls who were so tired after the long week. Dustin, Donovan, and I closed this place down! These kids had THE best night ever... and the grown ups did too. 

And then 5:30 am came and guess who was ready to party? 

Super Grammie went out on the rainy morning and got everyone donuts. 

We had a nice, lazy Saturday morning at home. We played in the yard and enjoyed not having anywhere to go. 

In the afternoon, the skies cleared up just in time for Donovan's baseball game. 

Our non-sleeper finally gave in to a little rest during Donovan's game. Thanks Oma!

This tournament was Donovan's last games with the team he'd been playing with all season. They will continue on together through the All Star season, but we opted not to have Donovan try out this year, knowing that our summer vacations would impact his ability to join the team for some of their tournaments. He was disappointed, but understood. I loved their little All Star team banner where they so kindly added Donovan's baseball for the final games of the Memorial Tournament. 

My little cheerleader greeted me after a chilly afternoon jog. 

One little girl is napping and one is pretending. I'll let you guess which one's which. 

And last but not least, my final outfit pics of this work year. 

And there you have it, a mid-May catch up.