maddie's 2nd birthday

Today is my niece, Madison's, second birthday! I can't believe she is two years-old. Time sure flies by! I remember visiting her shortly after she was born. She was so tiny! Much tinier than my chunky-monkey! Now, she's talking and running and acting a mess like any two year-old should. I'm so proud of my sister, and I love my niece! Tonight, they are going out to eat for her birthday at Red Robin with Grandpa and Grandma Reynolds. I am so jealous! I would love to be there, too. I am glad I get to see them at the end of June. At least I have that to look forward to! Me with Maddie pre-coming into the world! Me with Maddie during her first couple of weeks of life. Wasn't she just the tiniest? Madison Jayne ... the two year-old ... she's so pretty! Happy Birthday!!!

Here's what we got for Maddie for her birthday. Shopping for these things made me so excited to have a little girl! I love buying dresses and cute outfits. They have cute outfits for boys ... but it's just not the same. First of all, I always get her a book or books. I guess being a teacher, I feel like every kid should have plenty of great books on hand. I love Sandra Boynton, so I had to get her at least one of her books! I got this strawberry outfit at Gymboree. They have SUCH cute clothes! I must stay away from there when I have this little one. I do get great coupons there a few times a year ... that's when I need to stick to buying clothes there. It just so happens, I used one of my great coupons for this adorable outfit. I love the strawberries!
We found this dress when we were in Thailand in January. Isn't it so adorable!?! I love the little elephants and the ruffles. I hope she can wear it this summer. I just couldn't pass up such a sweet dress when we were traveling. Doesn't she look cute with it? I think it will be perfect!

Last night, we had another successful dinner from the garden. I am trying to eat down our pantry, so we had breakfast for dinner: brinner. It was delicious! We had hash browns and omelets. The omelets were filled with peppers and tomatoes from the garden. It was so yummy!

After dinner, Billy, Colton, and I played the Wii. Colton LOVES to play with it! He likes to play baseball and bowling ... and he can't get enough of watching Mario. He will come up to me and say, "Mario, Mario, Mario!" He wants to play again. Billy's just worried that he will fling the control across the room, so he straps it on Colton's wrist really well.
Colton swinging the control like a bat. He even got a hit! Great job, Cole! He loves his sports.

This is Colton bowling. The ball rolled really, really slowly down the lane, but he did a decent job ... even if he lowered Billy's character's score.

Today, I got a FABULOUS thing in the mail that I have been waiting and waiting for! For Colton's first birthday ... so it's severely delayed (nearly 6 months to be exact), I made a book documenting his first year of life. We got it in the mail today, and I LOVE IT! I am excited to show our families. I will do this for Sissy Wally, as well. I hope they will enjoy it when they are older. It is something that I worked really hard on, and I wanted to represent everyone in their lives that loves them, as well as, tons of pictures of themselves! It looks like we got a new MacBook Pro. I wish! This is the front of the book. This is a sneak peek of the inside! And this is the back of the book.

It turned out just how I wanted it to. I am so glad that we did this! This is very special for all of us.

I'm so excited about tomorrow evening! I got a gift certificate for Christmas from a dear friend, and I am going to use it tomorrow for a haircut. I am sad, because I'm not going to my usual guy ... but who can pass up a free haircut!?! Definitely not me. My friend's hair always looks fabulous, and she goes to this salon. So, I'm sure it will be great. I love getting my hair cut. Nothing drastic here ... I don't want my pregnancy hormones to dictate this style, or who knows what I will end up looking like! Just needing some new layers to cut down on the bulk of my hair. It's so big! I have a lot of hair. I'll post pictures when it's over. I can't wait!

"one, two, three, four, five!"

Colton has been working on counting! It used to go this way ... ME: "One ... " COLE: "Two, Three, FIVE!" ME: "Four ..." COLE: "FIVE!" Now, when I say, "Let's count. One ..." Colton will say, "One, two, three, four, five ... six, seven, eight ... six, seven ..." ME: "Nine ..." COLE: "Nine, TEN!" I am so proud of him! He loves to count, and remembers the numbers from songs and books that we sing and read. What a sweetie! I can't believe how fast he's growing and how much he knows. Today, I sneezed. He said, "Bless you, Mommy." Wow! He really is a little sponge! He, also, has 11 teeth, and I see several more on the verge of breaking through. He got 3 molars in an instant! Two on the bottom and 1 on the top. Before we know it, he'll have a mouth full of baby teeth ready to fall out again! I'm, also, pleased to see him eating more vegetables. He loves carrots. He'll eat peas and tomatoes ... suddenly, he's asking for cucumbers. I keep giving him all kinds of veggies in hopes that he'll munch away. Billy asks me why I'm so paranoid about it ... I just want him to be healthy. I don't think it's possible for a mother not to be paranoid about what their kid eats!

Speaking of eating, he's been a little sneaky boy. Yesterday morning, I was making breakfast, and Colton was playing. After a while, I didn't hear anything. I called for him. He didn't make a sound. I went around the corner thinking he was in entry way. He wasn't ... he was standing behind the side table, quietly munching on jellybeans he found in a candy dish ... that he's not supposed to get in to! His mouth was full of jellybeans. The look on his face was definitely an "I GOT CAUGHT" look. Such a sneaky boy!

For dinner last night, we had an amazing treat from our garden: fresh tomato and cucumber salad! Look at all of our goods! Don't they look amazing!?!

It was delicious! Colton kept begging for some cucumbers! I was very proud of him. We are really enjoying the fruits of our labor from the garden. Tonight we are going to have some garden fresh green beans! Yum!

I just had to throw this picture in for my dad. He used to have this table growing up, and he told me that he used to play with the corners ... because it looks like the bow of a yacht. So, I find Colton, also, loves to play with the corners of the table. He likes to stick his fingers in the holes. It just reminded me of my dad.


This week, I am trying to get things done that I need to finish before we leave for the midwest next week. We have about 9 days before we leave. I have a lot to do ... so I guess I better get cracking!

a busy week

This has been one busy, but fun, week. We picked blueberries and strawberries TWICE! The last time we went, we picked 12 quarts of blueberries and 6 quarts of strawberries. That's a lot of berries! We have had them on everything ... and you don't even want to see what Colton's diapers have looked like. It's incredible how many blueberries he's eaten this week! We've also been in the pool a few times. Colton was really getting into the pool the last time he was out there. I guess the water is getting warmer, so he is getting more comfortable.

On Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to be able to use my spa gift certificate that I got for my birthday from my sisters-in-law. I went to Blush Day Spa.

I got a one hour massage. Then I got a customized one hour facial. I ended my morning with a manicure and a pedicure. All-in-all, I was there for 3 1/2 hours, and it was amazing! I'm so glad to have been able to use the gift and get a relaxing morning. It felt wonderful! Here's what my nails looked like when I finished.
Everything was wonderful, but the real treat was the facial! I had no idea they were so amazing! My certificate was good for 3 services. I definitely wanted a massage, and I knew that would be incredible. I haven't had a pedicure in forever, so I was for sure getting the mani/pedi. I just couldn't figure out what the third service should be. I finally settled on a facial. I thought it would be okay. It ended up being a mini-massage/facial that lasted one hour! It was so wonderful ... I'm very happy I chose the facial.

After my morning of relaxation, I enjoyed a delicious treat ... I got a decaf-coconut mocha frappacino from Starbucks. It was wonderful! I saw that my friend, Steph, had enjoyed one over Mother's Day weekend, and I was curious to find out what it was like. It was very tasty! My expectations weren't let down a bit. It was a wonderful Wednesday!


On Friday afternoon, my friend, Mellie, invited me to go to Fire Me Up, a paint your own ceramics place in Winter Park. I was excited to go and release my creative abilities. This is me with Mellie after our creative afternoon!

She always makes piggy banks for her nephews (and will for her niece next spring) when they turn one, so she decided to make one for Mei Li, who turns one on May 25! I painted a puppy dog bank for Colton. It took me FOUR hours! I am way too particular. Plus, you have to go over each color 3 times! I felt so bad, but I did have a good time with Mellie and her friend, April, who came and painted a truck for her son ... who is just a little bit younger than Colton. We had paint out everywhere ... and may have broken the rules of using paint bowls. Oh, well! Here is our work station.


This is Colton's bank before ....

I think I picked something that needed a lot of detail, and I really went at it. I have a problem just letting things go ... if I mess up, I try to fix it as best I can ... then I take as long as I can being careful. It looks nice, but you never know how glaze will turn out once it's fired! Here's how it looked four hours later.

This is Colton's bank after the painting but before the firing ....

I can't wait to see what it will look like when it's fired! I hope all of the colors turned out like I expected them to. It was fun having an afternoon to hang out with a friend. What a delight!

Today, we went to church and had a fun time with Colton's friend Mateo at Sabbath School. Of course, Colton got to see Mei Mei, and since it was when we had stepped out of the church service (for lack of his ability to pay attention), he was running from and chasing Mei Mei ... and of course, squealing with great delight. He just loves her. That makes me so happy to see ... I think he'll be a great big brother to a little sister. Colton is enjoying what little church he made it through with Grandpa Heinrich.

After church, we went to eat dinner at Brenda and Gerson's house. Colton fell asleep on the way home from church. I brought him inside to change his diaper. He didn't wake up. I flopped him on the couch after I changed him. He didn't wake up. I took him in and out of the car 3 times. He didn't wake up. I laid him in his pack'n'play ... he burst into tears and didn't sleep for the rest of the afternoon! What a silly boy! It rained pretty hard this afternoon, so we stayed at Brenda's until about 4:20 p.m. When we got home, we put Colton in his crib ... he's been fast asleep for the past hour and a half!

I'm not sure what we'll be up to tonight, but I'm sure we'll be seeing family and playing games somewhere. Either at our house or Brenda's, I guess. They don't have power there, so unless it comes back on, it will probably be here. It's hard to play games by candlelight.

It was a busy ... but a good week.

blueberryays and strawberryays

As I told you all yesterday, Grandma and Grandpa Heinrich arrived last night for a visit. This morning, we went early to Pappy's Patch--a pick your own strawberry and blueberry patch. We got there 10 minutes before it opened ... it was an early morning for the me! I think I got up at 6:58 a.m. I suppose I better get used to that ... but God will grant me the energy when it's time with Sissy Wally ... but for now, I am usually dead asleep until at least 7:30 ... which I still feel is an early morning when I don't get Cole up until 8:30 a.m. But it's okay to have change every now and again ... plus, it was worth it for the fun at Pappy's Patch. We were the first pickers to arrive, and we got started on the blueberries.



When Cole says blueberry, it sounds like "blueberryay". It's very funny! And strawberry, of course, is "strawberryay". He learned very quickly to pick only the purple blueberryays. I feel kind of dumb for making him wear a bib, but the last time he went strawberry picking, he ended up red all over. I thought I would save a stained shirt and put on a bib. He filled up so much on blueberries that he didn't eat too many strawberries ... so the bib wasn't really necessary. Oh, well. Anyway, we picked 5 quarts of blueberries! And the berries were HUGE! They were so delicious ... we may have eaten a few pints while we picked. We were only going for blueberries, but when we saw the strawberries, we had to get some of those, too. We picked 4 quarts of strawberries! They were a smaller variety, but they were so sweet ... no sugar on these berries! There wasn't an ounce of tartness in these berries. They were all sweet and juicy!



When we go home, we enjoyed egg pancakes with sliced strawberries, fresh blueberries, homemade whipped cream, and maple syrup. Delicious! Of course, we munched on them all day long. Not wanting the berries to go to waste, we had sliced strawberries, blueberries, angel food cake, and homemade whipped cream for dessert after dinner tonight. It was worth every calorie, and I think Sissy Wally really enjoyed it. She bounced around all evening thanking me for the yummy berries! Colton ate his own pancakes for breakfast, but he mooched off of everyone's dessert after dinner. I think he got berries and cream from almost everyone! I guess no one can say no to a, "Strawberryays, blueberryays ... please!?! THANK YOU!"

Of course, Grandma played and played with Colton this morning after breakfast. They must've read every book ... possibly twice! He is enjoying this extra bit of attention.

This afternoon, we swam in the pool. It was a pretty hot day! Billy and Dad H went on a hunt for a used part for the Pontiac, but Mom H, Cole, and I took a dip in the cool water. It was really nice! Colton likes the water, but he also just likes to run around the backyard. He takes munches off of our blueberry bush! I didn't get any pictures of our afternoon, but Mom H did ... maybe I'll add some later.

This evening, Grandpa read Colton a book or two and fed him plenty! They are becoming real good buds. Colton likes that Grandpa feeds him little treats! Grandpa even pushed Colton on the walk tonight.



We had a good and BUSY day today. Tomorrow ... will be a relaxing one for me, as I decided to cash in my spa day gift from Brenda, Debbie, and Cherrie. I am very excited!