Snowy Day

On December 29th, the day before we departed for Las Vegas, we were fortunate enough to have a snow day!  I can't tell you how much I was wishing for this.  Last year it barely snowed at all and on the one day there was enough snow to play in Charlie was sick.  And knowing there was about a 0% chance of a snow day in Las Vegas I was so thankful for the beautiful white blanket of snow.  Even better we got to share Jocelyn and Charlie's first snow day with my parents, Mike and Jill.

We knew the snow was coming and despite searching around I couldn't find snow pants for Charlie.  We bundled up his chunky legs in girls leggings (yep- girls leggings from Walmart) and track pants.  And although he was freezing, cold lips and chattering teeth, he was not too happy when it was time to come inside.

 The snow was perfect for his first snowman, first snow angel, first snowball fight and...

Tia took Charlie on his very first ride on a sled!!  And although he enjoyed it, he was much more interested in helping Uncle Mike shovel the driveway.

 Jocelyn even got in on the action.  Nanny bought this snowsuit when I was pregnant with Jocelyn last year.  Thankfully I packed it for my parents house just in case!  As you can see she was happy to play in the white stuff as well.

The poor little stuffed marshmallow basically couldn't move any part of her body and although she is a little butterball she didn't weigh enough to make a snow angel.

I certainly won't miss driving in snow, but I will miss the opportunities for my kids to play in the snow.  Keeping my fingers crossed that we score another snow day when we come home next Christmas!

Friends Like These

Life is good when you have friends like these!

In one way saying goodbye to these lovelies was incredibly hard and in other ways not so much.  When you have complete faith that distance won't ruin your friendship, than the only part that makes you sad is knowing you won't get to spend as much time with the friends you love so dearly. 

I'll be the first to say in my high school days and even somewhat in college, I struggled to find true friends.  This of course was through no ones fault but my own.  I was insecure.  Fortunately a few great ones were able to see me for me.







These two lovelies here however, I met after college. The three of us were introduced through a mutual friend. When I met these lovelies I was no longer   insecure.  I felt confident in who I was and never once have I felt the need to be anything other than me when in their presence.  This is a true testament to how great our friendship is and what I believe friendship should be.

It didn't take long before we were spending countless weekends together.  Once upon a time these weekends consisted  of wild nights out at the bar followed up by breakfast the next morning and piecing together the previous nights events.

My how things have changed!!!  But great friends grow with you.   They aren't just a phase of your life.

Together we've celebrated some of life's great milestones.   30th birthdays!  Buying houses!  Weddings!

I distinctly remember a car ride to the beach when we discussed who would be in our wedding.  This was still early in our friendship and none of  us were engaged.  In fact, I may have been the only one with a serious boyfriend.  I can recall telling them that if you had asked me two years ago my answer would have been very different.  In my head and heart, I knew that one day I would feel honored to have these two lovelies standing by my side when I said "I do."




And it wasn't too long ago that we started welcoming babies into the mix of things.  Truly one of the hardest parts of moving is physically not being able to share in the milestones of my two great friends.  Just a little over a week ago Mindy had her first baby, Madelyn Paige.  I desperately wish I could hop in my car, drive over to her house and snuggle with her little love.  And it makes me so sad thinking I won't be there when Maryanne gets engaged.  But I am confident she knows I will be doing a celebratory dance for her!

I think everyone deserves to have friends like these. And when you have friends like these make sure you tell them how thankful you are that they are a part of your life.  Make sure you appreciate them and you
 cherish the time you have together.  Life continuously gets busier and its full of ups and downs.

But life is good when you have friends like these!

Book/Cooking/?? Club

On December 28th the kids and I got together with these lovely ladies below.  Kennett School District gave me a great job, teaching in great schools with fantastic colleagues.  What I never could have anticipated is making amazing lifelong friends.  These ladies are truly incredible and we've grown a lot over the years.

So this picture is a little off center, but when you know that a 4 year old took it, it is pretty amazing!  Thanks Elizabeth!

I knew Daddy would love to see Charlie pushing around a pink girly stroller.

At one point this little group of ours was a Book Club.  Which looking back now, I feel  like that ended soon after I joined.  Then we evolved into a cooking club and shared some great recipes.  But after a while, I think we all realized our cooking would always be sub-par to Dabundo's.  Even our husbands continuously voted her best cook.  And now we've evolved to playdates and some of the best Ladies Night Out!

I will definitely miss my regular get togethers with these ladies.  We had a great brunch on December 28th at the Lewis household.  Even with all these wild kids running around, I loved every minute of catching up with these ladies.

Charlie wasn't sure what to do, while Mallory went in for a first kiss. Too CUTE!!

Not only is Elizabeth a great photographer, but she is also a fantastic babysitter at just 4 years old!  Jocelyn happily sat  by her side.

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From left to right: Dylan Walls, Brayden Walls, Mallory Sellers, Charlie Miller, Ella Lewis, Emma Shaffer, Matthew Lewis, Elizabeth Shaffer, and Jocelyn Miller.  Love these kiddos!!!!!

A Very Merry Christmas

Par for the course, our Christmas was CRAZY as usual!  Before having kids, Kirby and I both said once we had kids we wouldn't be running all over the place for Christmas.  Then when I was 7 months pregnant with Charlie, we swore it would be the last Christmas of the rat race.  The following year rolled around as well as talks of us moving to Vegas, so we agreed to do the run around again.  But this year as Christmas rounded the corner we embraced the crazy.  We were thrilled to soak in every second of the run around and the opportunity to see family.

On December 21st the holiday festivities began.  We celebrated Christmas with Kirby's mom side of the family. This included Kirby's grandmother as well as his Aunt Donna and Uncle Gary.

After a great dinner and some present opening, we capped off the night (or so we thought) by playing cards.  In the middle of the game Charlie woke up a few times and was crying.  When I went upstairs to check on him, it was quite a scene.  My poor little munchkin got sick.  And it continued all night long and when I say all night I mean ALL night.  Uncle John was kind enough to set up an air mattress so Kirby and I could take shifts.  We had anticipated a long night ahead of us because Jocelyn had been having some sleep issues, but this was more than we expected.  The last time our little love got sick it was 7am. Both Kirby and I managed to get 2-3 hours of sleep and all I can say is What a Night!

Ding Ding Ding Round 2!

Even Rascal liked the Elmo slippers

In the morning we opened presents with Kirby's immediate family. And once the kiddos went down for a morning nap (not Charlie's usual but he was recovering) we did our Elfster exchange.
Then in the afternoon/evening we celebrated with Kirby's Dad's side of the family.  And this would be a whole slew of people!

I know Kirby was very greatful to see everyone.  Late that night we returned to my parents house and on the car ride back Kirby was reminising about the regular gatherings his extended family would have at his grandmothers house.  He was also very thankful for a great gift from his cousin Todd, which was a picture of all the Miller boys at Kendra and John's wedding.  

We arrived back at my parents house, transferred the kids to bed and within moments my Dad returned with my brother from the airport.  We all chatted for a while but I could hardly keep my eyes open.  

Sunday the 23rd was a down day, which we desperately needed.  By the late afternoon Jill and Mike made there way over to my parents house and we all planned on camping out there until the 26th.

In true Heck tradition we had Christmas Eve dinner then took a family photo before heading off to Christmas Eve mass.  In my opinion this is one of our best family photos in quite some time.

And I managed to get a great photograph of Jocelyn with her Uncle Matt that night too!

Before heading off to bed, Charlie left cookies and milk out for Santa Claus.

Once you have kids of your own Christmas morning takes on a whole new meaning.  We knew of course that Jocelyn would have no interest in gifts, but we expected something completely different from Charlie.  Well, we were in a for a bit of a surprise.  Charlie would have been thrilled with just two or three presents.  Once he opened his first toy it was like pulling teeth to get him to open any other.

Matching pajamas bought on Etsy!

Once Jocelyn went down for her morning nap we did our Elfster exchange with my immediate family.  Elfster is essentially a Secret Santa website.  My family and I have been doing Elfster for seven years now.  One of the highlights was Jill getting these granny pantys from my Dad.

Early Christmas afternoon my Dad's side of the family came over.  Which like Kirby's Dad's side is a whole slew of people.  And in this case was a total of 28 people for Christmas dinner.

Do most sisters at 30 and 26 still try to dress alike?

Or better still do these same sisters buy their husbands matching shirts and make them sport the shirts at the big Christmas gathering. Hahaha!!!

 It was a crazy busy Christmas and our two little loves were spoiled rotten.  Even with Charlie getting sick, we enjoyed every minute we go to spend with family.  We were blessed to be surrounded by all those we love.