Too Much Stuff

There has been too much stuff that we have done in the past three months so that makes us have more pictures than I really want to put up here at a time, because seriously it is going to take an hour or two just downloading all this stuff onto here. I am going to time it starting now: 8:54 to 9:19 so not too bad I guess. 

This is a really long post. 

4k

This was Wesley's first year of school, well three hour school, called 4k. The first picture is the way he looked on the first day of classes Sept. 4th 2013.

 This picture is the way he looked on the last day of school which was June 11th 2014. Eh. I think he still looks the same. We'll have to keep doing this picture comparison. Maybe he will look older next year. It will be subtle. Wesley had a wonderful school year and loved his teacher Ms. Pirkle and the co-teacher Mrs. Fass. He made some good friends and starting to be more literate.

 

 Picnic

 This picture happened sometime in late March/ April. We had a picnic at Chris' office most likely on a Sunday afternoon since that is the day we venture over there the most. We are glad to have a famous Heit sub-sandwich recipe for such occasions.

I know, this is such a mother thing, but look at how well the girls draw stick people now! They are constantly drawing! 

Kate is only three, but seriously this girl is going to be into fashion. She only wants to wear dresses, and she changes her clothes several times a day. She asks all the time to get her nails painted even though I may paint mine like three to four times a year on average.  She painted these ones herself. It's not finger nail polish, it's just finger polish. Actually, she wasn't too messy right?

Kairi has to copy her of course. Let's not mention Wesley. His finger nails and toe nails are both painted as of right now. People always comment on it. I assume he will grow out the nail painting phase one day, but for now...well why not? 

Children's Museum

At the children's museum this year we decided to love a cow. This is Kairi. 

 Kate is in the pink.

 For some reason this year, this animal was named "Sven" and he had to pull a large cart through the snow towards the top of the mountains while he was being chased by hungry wolves. His passengers were Anna, Elsa and Kristoff.

 Hi Wesley!

What can I say? If Chris catches the camera in his direction there is always a face he makes.

 Water time.

 Alright, so this was new. If you get lost at the museum just look out the window. The signs will tell you where to go.

There is an oval hole here in the table. You can see the one in the top of this picture a blue shirted kid is standing in. Then you can understand how small this hole is. All three of my kids fit into it. 

Wesley got to  make a rocket ship and a black flower out of duct tape and straws. 

 Here is Kate's flower.

 Here is Kairi's flower. She put the most petals onto hers.

 After the children's museum we got some Jamba juice. Yikes, just look at those coats. It was still cold back then! We had a high of 81 today I believe. Anyway, here is where Kairi chose to drink "my" Jamba juice.

 It was warm enough at least at the time, that the live chickens were walking around the roof top. I had never seen the chickens roaming free before so I had to get a shot of one.

 Kate will lie down anywhere.

 Don't worry cow! We will see you next time!

 We might even collect some milk.

 Silly Hair Day

 Wesley had a silly hair day at his school, so naturally all the kids had to do something for it. Here is Kate.

 I messed up Wesley's hair with mousse. I was out of gel. He had asked me to die it blue I believe, but this was as far as I would go for that one.

Kate, Wesley, Kairi

Guess the sign

 My kids ask me to take pictures of them. Here was one from a backyard photo shoot. Wesley grabbed a plastic bin lid and held it up. It's just dying for some original slogan to be Photoshopped on the front. I'll give you two virtual thumbs up for the best words for the sign. Please write something in the comments below!

Easter Egg Hunt

 This was our first Easter egg hunt that we did at a ward members home. 

Kate is in silver.

 Kairi is in black.

I have no idea when this was taken, but I think it's cute! Judging from the fence behind her, it was taken before we had gotten a new fence. 

 We dyed Easter eggs with Uncle Allen and Aunt Michelle.

 Kairi says "cheese!"

Anniversary!  (Year 6)

 Chris and I had a fabulous anniversary thanks to the loving, caring, helpful, diligent, fun, perky, couple who volunteered to watch our kids for a night. Chris and I went to this hotel. We already forgot the name of it. Oh well. It was memorable in other ways for things besides it's name. First off we were pretty sure the receptionist guy had been drinking wine. He must have been having a fun night. He was very very talkative, although informative as well.

 

 We spent at least ten minutes trying to open up our door. I was just about to go back down the elevator (not the 7 flights of stairs) to ask for help. In the end you had to turn the key the opposite direction from what you would expect and with the key still in the lock grab the door handle and push open the door.

 Sometimes I am glad that I'm kind of small. I would not have wanted to bump into the heater while using the toilet. The bathroom was a little on the small side. 

 The elevator could fit perhaps four people if you wanted to stand close. Oh, but the best part about the elevator was that it had a metal chain link door on it that you pull closed. That was nifty. Also the buttons inside could spin! When we first got in one of the numbers was turned upside down.

 Here is the shower. I never did try standing in it. 

 Here is the hallway. We had to park our van in a parking garage and walk to the hotel perhaps a block. The hotel was in Evanston not Chicago. Have you ever seen Chicago's pricing for hotels? Yah. So we went here, and took an hour train ride to our eventual destination. 

The Shedd Aquarium

 My favorite animal was the balooga whale. Did you know these ones are adults? They look gray when they are babies. I came back to see these ones three times. I spent so much time here, that we practically raced through the front exhibits in a half hour before we dashed out the door so we could make it back to relieve our babysitters. Our train rides were decent. We got a seat each time at least, but we had to go rather slow through some parts where the rails were under construction.

 Enjoy a picture of a sea dragon. You're welcome.

This is what I expected my favorite creature to be. I really like jelly fish, but the balooga's were cooler this time around. Sorry guys! I visited the jellies only once, but they are still a good second favorite. 

 Here were the two people who watched our kids for a night and day! See how cute they are? Thanks pals! Oh, that our 6th anniversary.

Wall

 I posted a picture up on facebook, but here are a few about the front room wall that we painted.

 Yes! The floor looks clean in that picture!

 The kids did amazingly well while they waited a full day for  us to get this done. I can't recall them complaining too much, but then the girls were running around in their swim suits. They just love those things. 

Fence

 Our poor fence was having trouble standing. One panel had broken down and there were more that were threatening to do so, not to mention that this whole side in this picture wobbled horribly. I really wanted to kick it down several times just to see if I could do it. However, we hired some help. 

 Here is Kate behind the gate.

 We put in white vinyl. So far so good. 

Mothers Day 2014

 For mothers day we went on a nature walk with our very own handy man. If we're going on a walk, you can bet the boy in the back wants to dress up. Just wait for the other pictures below. You'll see. 

Above try to spot the turtle.

Kairi is in the purple dress, Kate in the yellow dress, Wesley in costume. 

Particle Man

 Have you ever heard the song "Particle Man?" If not than you should watch it on youtube. Kate did this drawing based off the video there and she did a fair representation of the characters. I can't recall when I first heard this song, but let's face it. I hear all songs from Chris. I never listened to music until I met him in college. Don't ask me the band name for a song. I won't be able to tell you except on a few that I may get lucky on.

 

 Dance Show!

 Kate and Kairi took a Little Gym dance/ gymnastics class this year. They learned tap, ballet and gymnastics in an hour. Most of the time, they did well in the class. They were consumed by stage fright the first half of the performance however. I am working on getting up their videos. I seem to have..... uh hem... lost them. Chris is doing something fancy with recovery data, and Grandma and Grandpa Heit, who were there, are sending me a few clips. I'll be posting these soon-ish.

Fun Visit and Wesley's Birthday

 Grandpa and Grandma Heit came out to visit us the beginning of June. They both took turns on the trampoline.

 While they were here, Chris had ordered this three in one table that Grandpa and Allen helped us to put on the stand. It has air hockey, table tennis, and pool. Yes, we have been using it. Yes, we still get Lego's on the floor around it. 

Chili's

 Wesley wanted his birthday at Chili's where he ordered macaroni and cheese, orange slices and orange juice.

 Near the end, Kate took control of the camera. Most of her pictures were like the one below, but she did get a few rather good ones like this one where she did not chop heads off, or only shoot a person's arm or pants.

Wesley  had his birthday party on the Saturday following his birthday. Just so you know, he is 5 years old. 

 The kids played a toss the ball at the other person's pirate ship blanket game. 

They colored pirate flags made from card stock and paint can stir sticks. 

They went on a treasure hunt that had them climbing over the waterfall slide, over the crocodile bridge and the pirate's plank. 

They found fools gold and watched it fizz into real gold doubloons. It was baking soda mixed with water to make a paste ball around a plastic coin that was then dropped into vinegar in case you were wondering.

 There was party food.

 There was a game where the kids had to bail out a sinking ship, alright it was simply water in an ice chest, into a bucket using plastic cups. Kids love moving water. They also played a cannon ball game where they took that blue ball in the background and knocked over a stack of those plastic bins too.

 Pirate cake! Happy Birthday Wesley. 

Blue Mounds

 For Father's day we took a picnic up to a blue mounds camp ground. I had heard about climbing these towers there and I wanted to check it out. Of course when I heard "tower" I pictured a stone monolith rising into the horizon, but these were cool too.

 See if you can guess what costume Wesley wore for this nature walk. 

 Family photo! We needed another one of these! Wesley, Kate, Chris, Amanda, Kairi.

 We took a "one mile hike" on this trail and ended up hiking for two hours. Somehow we kept getting off track. At least Chris had the trial map and his gps on his phone. The kids did well for the most part, although we ended up carrying them for a time. This was also the girls first experience with using the bathroom in the woods. Sorry trees! But hey, we found a butterfly!

 Alright, you can see it kind of in this photo. Welsey was dressed as a teenage mutant ninja turtle for the hike and kept saying "turtle power!" when people passed us. 

Wesley made these in school. 

Cave of the Mounds

 This past weekend we went to the Cave of the Mounds. We had gone three years ago (something like that) with Wesley and thought we should give it another go.

Chris carried Kate.

 Amanda carried Kairi. (It's really weird when you talk about yourself using your name.)

April Fools!

 This is really out of order, but it if from April Fools day so it's fitting right? It can go anywhere! 

Wesley loves to create April Fools jokes like this. We've had a clown lego mini figure appear in the fridge two years in a row. This year we got lots of figures.

 Here is a car the girls sat in at Menards. I love this. This is how Kate will feel when Kairi drives her around some day.

 Wesley got a lava lamp, and it's getting late over here. I'm going to up past my bed time talking about pictures on the blog. You should feel special. 

Take kids to work day

 This year at the "Take Your Kids to Work Day," the kids got to go fishing.

Wow, alright that is all they did. No actually, they colored some pictures, got some goop, ate food, took a family photo dressed as space men where I am blinking so you're not going to see it, and had fun.

More with Lego

 Here is something that I made based off of a picture in a Lego book. It is mostly copied, but on a slightly smaller scale. I thought it was good.

Construction Day

 Someone this year hosted the first annual construction day at "castle" park. So we went on over. We got to build lots of fun things.

 Kate and Kairi wanted to see the Home Depot man.

 We learned how to mortar bricks, and color homes.

 This was not at the construction day. I just put it in here to throw you off. Have you ever noticed how Kairi ends up at the drivers seat? They are at Toys R Us in this one.

Little Bunny Foo Foo

 Here is one of the bunnies that was growing in our back yard.

 Here was the bunnies nest of fur. You can make out one eye on the bunny on the left here. The other five are huddled together in the three inch hole. 

 Oh, this was my birthday cake from May. It was a raspberry cheesecake. Happy Birthday to me!I am now over a quarter way to 100.

 Here is me with Lindsey Sterling! 

She is a violinist who has performed with The Piano Guys and others. We were going to go to her show except Chris was going on a work trip and she moved the show up a few days. Well, she went to my ward and I got a picture with her at least. Check out her songs on Youtube if you have not heard her play anything in your life yet. 

 This was taken on Wesley's birthday. He got to go on a school field trip that day to Elver Park. 

 This is at Olbrich Garden's which we walked when The Parents where here with us.

 Kairi is in the front. She is also at the top of this tower. This is located at Wesley's school. He's never climbed to the top, because he insists that bees live up there.

I got bored and took the kids bowling. Needless to say by their "smiles" that they loved ever minute of it. They were done after the first five rounds, but managed to not whine for the whole second half. I can't really tell you who won, since everyone helped push the balls down the ramp thing. Kairi got me two strikes that way! Thanks kid! My score looked awesome after that!

 Wesley got a hair cut yesterday, or the day before, but this time he did not cry one single bit!!!! I was so thrilled. He usually cries like he's going to die even if Chris is there trying to distract with books and stuff. I cut it myself in our bathroom in case you wanted to know. I even used scissors. He's "lived" through a hand held vibrating thingy once, but he prefers scissors even though it is slower. 

Whew! The End! 

11:10 pm