The Royal Phoenix Family

Looking to our Future

2012-02-01T11:37:00.001-08:00

Today on the way to my mom's group, Savannah and I had a very enlightening conversation - for both of us. It went something like this:

Savannah: Mom, what's outer space?

Mom: It's where the moon and stars live

Savannah: Can we go to the moon?

Mom: There are people called Astronauts that get to go to the moon and travel in space

Savannah: I want to be an Astronaut when I get big!

Mom: Good! You would make a wonderful Astronaut!!

Savannah: Could you go to the moon with me?

Mom: My job is being your mommy, I'm not an astronaut.

Savannah: Yeah, but when you get big, can you be one with me? And Finley too? Then we could go to the moon together.

Mom: That's a great idea.

Savannah: Can Triniti come to the moon too? We could have fruit snacks!

Mom: I think we should ask her if she wants to be an Astronaut too!

Savannah: And Angela and Arianna too! But we might drop our fruit snacks on the ground

Mom: If we dropped our fruit snacks on the moon, they would float instead of fall because there is no gravity, (attempted to explain gravity)

Savannah: Can we see gravity?

Mom: No, it's something we know is there because we don't float away, but we can't see it - only feel it. Just like God. Can we see God?

Savannah: No

Mom: We can't be we still know he is with us, don't we?

Savannah: Yes!

This kid blows me away!! I couldn't believe the kind of questions she was asking and the way she was comprehending our conversation. I think the stand out point to her was floating fruit snacks...but still, she made my day with this little exchange.

Oops!! Let's Not Forget the Brune Wedding!!

2012-01-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

I posted a bunch about our time in Portland at the beginning of the month, but never got around to blogging about THE wedding! I took a million pictures, so I felt a little overwhelmed. Most of the pictures are posted on Facebook, so I don't think there's anything new here, but I didn't want to neglect one of the best weddings, EVER!

Kimberly and I stayed in a hotel downtown the night before the wedding. It was a blast having a calm sister night and hanging out. She worked on writing her vows and I worked on writing my speech. We finished some shopping, went to dinner, and then of course stopped for some candy to bring back to the hotel. I shouldn't mention I was asked if I was her mother...it still hurts too bad.

The next morning my mom came to the hotel and we walked over to Nordstom's to get our make-up done. Soon after we got back, the rest of the bridesmaid's came to the hotel as well and we started getting our pictures done.

Michelle brought her kiddos, and I am not joking when I say; they are the best behaved children - ever! I couldn't even imagine how miserable my kids would have been couped up in a hotel room and lugged around down town. That's why I hired a nanny for the day :) My friend Kristen was a SAINT and watched my girls all day, brought them to the church for pictures and the ceremony, took them home shortly after and got them to bed...phew. It must have been a long day for her!

Yeah, we crammed 10 bridesmaids, a bride, a bride's mother, two kids, and a photographer into her hotel room...it was cozy!

Getting ready!

Beautiful bride with her gorgeous brooch bouquet

Since I was in the wedding, and most people I steal my pictures from were also in the wedding, I didn't get any ceremony shots and actually didn't take too many pics before my girls were escorted off the church property.

I did get some cake shots - and they were not nice. Not nice at all to one another!

Christian was a champ being a chair for my little sis. And Oliver was NOT speedy at taking the garder off! His mother came up after a little lingering and sped things along!

Oliver and Kimberly made a time capsule to open in 25 years. They each included a letter to one another and a bottle of wine from the year of their marriage. I thought it was a beautiful idea. Melanie, Oliver's sister said it wasn't exactly a German tradition, but it has been a common practice the past several years.

Don't you just love the scruff? He shaves it off for work, but I always beg him to grow it out over long holidays and vacations

Dance Party, Dance, Dance Party!

Bye Bye Mr. and Mrs. Brune!

Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Heihn (#3)

2012-01-30T15:18:00.000-08:00

This weekend my sweet brother in law, Daniel, married his beautiful bride, Theo. They were married in a friend's backyard around a pool and had a fun reception at a hotel in town. Matt was a groomsman and Savannah was a flower girl with Theo's other nieces, Brittany and Sophia.

We couldn't get out of town until after Matt got off work on Friday, so we missed the rehearsal and barely made it in time for the rehearsal dinner. So the girls and I showed up an hour early to walk Miss Sav through the wedding, but she knew the drill.

Savannah was waiting so patiently to throw flowers!

Finny Lin was helping people to their seats before the ceremony

I used a little fruit snack bribery to keep them occupied and out of the pool before the wedding started

Look at that handsome groom waiting for his bride

Ah, my sweet husband

Heihn's

I love this man!

After the ceremony, the girls had a great time playing in the beautiful yard before the reception

Savannah did not want to be left out of picture time, so she stole some, "Bride Time". Theo took Savannah over to look at some other parts of the yard, what a kind auntie!!

Uncle Daniel took some time out of picture time to help feed Finley some fishies.

Little Jockey - does this remind anyone else of Home Alone??

Yah, cupcakes!!

My girls were dancing machines!! They didn't like the idea of breaking for their meal, but I reminded them they needed a little fuel for their dance moves.

Savannah was non-stop, and during one of the songs, everyone circled around her and let her dance in the middle. She was ecstatic!! Not that she likes to be the center of attention or anything...

The next morning we packed up and headed out of town after a little stop for breakfast with the family. There was a play area so Natalie got roped into taking Savannah down the slide

We love you Shark Grandpa and Kitty Grandma!

We love you too, Aunt Kelle!!

16 Weeks with Harper

2012-01-30T14:50:00.000-08:00

I was 16 weeks, (4 months) with Harper on Saturday. This weekend we were in California, so I didn't get a chance to take a tummy picture - so here it is, just a few days late...

Savannah Joy - 16 Weeks

Finley Noelle - 16 Weeks

Harper Grace - 16 Weeks old

(I had just gotten back from a run, so don't mind the attire - also...Harper is wreaking HAVOC on my complexional. Thanks, just another awesome side effect from pregnancy).

I think there is a huge difference with how I am carrying Harper. I feel like not only has she popped sooner than the other girls, I feel like I am carrying all over as opposed to just out front with the other pregnancies.

15(1/2) Weeks with Sweet Harper Girl

2012-01-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

We are a little late for this posting, but here we go - all three of my girls at 15 weeks, (and Harper at 15.5 weeks). My baby girl is the size of a navel orange this week. I am starting to feel totally normal now that I am in my second trimester. I have more energy and am getting so excited thinking about all of the preparations and most of all, holding this precious girl for the first time.

Harper's sister's like to talk about her a lot lately too. Finley looks down my shirt when looking for the baby. Savannah speaks into my belly button. Both girls are going to be awesome big sisters!

Harper 15.5 Weeks

Finley 15 Weeks

Savannah 15 weeks

She's My Kicking Baby!

2012-01-25T09:04:00.000-08:00

Last week I felt Harper kick for the very first time - at nearly 14.5 weeks! I was pretty certain I was feeling kicks, but surprised at how early it was. I looked it up online and generally speaking, they say you can feel the baby for the first time between 16-22 weeks. But then I looked at some message boards and people were saying they were feeling their 3rd, 4th, 5th babies moving way earlier - some even saying 8 weeks!! (I would hate to deny them that pleasure, but my guess is they had a major case of G-A-S!!).

I had a doctor's appointment two days after my initial kick and asked her if it really could be, and she said yes! She said since you generally grow fast with each pregnancy and know what to look for, women typically will feel the baby move sooner. I was excited to know I was really feeling my sweet babe.

Even better than hoarding all the baby love to myself; Matt got to feel her move around last night too! It was VERY slight and only a few times, but he was definitely feeling her. It makes him feel so special to be included in the baby bonding.

She feels pretty active - what if Harper is my wild child and what I have felt was active before was a piece of cake? Oh Lord help us all!!!

THE Party

2012-01-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

Yahoo!!! 3 is the best! Savannah had an AWESOME time at her birthday party yesterday. Thank you to everyone who made her day so special!!!

The girls woke up from nap time with a big surprise...a jump house in their back yard! By some crazy miracle, the set up crew was able to walk through the gravel side yard...inches from the girls windows and set up the bounce house without waking the girls up! So it was very fun to take them outside before anyone got there and get a little pre-party jumping in!

This is one of the only shots of my poor Fin from the whole day. She had a great time celebrating her big sis and chowing down on some sweets!

Matt really enjoyed sharing the pop rocks with all the kids who hadn't tried them before. Caden looks a little concerned here, but he loved them! Big sis, Olivia thought it was pretty funny :)

This food was part of Savannah's uniform for the day, a sucker and pizza crust! She was a very happy birthday girl!

All of our friends were so generous in what they gave my sweet girl. She got lots of fun new toys and cute clothes!!

We really did have a great time at the party because it was such a great group of friends!

Bounce house!!! Through out the whole afternoon, there was only one big bonk, and the boys were fine after a minute. The kids all played GREAT together and really had fun!

Lightning McQueen and Buzz's spaceship were a hit

Savannah LOVES to be sung Happy Birthday too, to those of you who know her KNOW she doesn't shy away from any extra attention!

Unfortunately she really wasn't a pro at blowing her candles out. She preferred to extinguish the flames with her spit. Luckily it was a cupcake and she didn't contaminate a whole cake!!

Kissy face from the birthday girl

Ayden LOVED the car! He was a happy boy to be eating a cupcake in the car of his dreams

Lucas and Addie chatting it up at the kid table

Sweet Avala girl with her balloon and cupcake

Crazy bounce kids!

Loving on our Lucas friend

Thanks again to everyone who made it to the party and helped us celebrate out, "Big" girl!!

Adventure is Out There!

2012-01-22T17:20:00.000-08:00

January, 16th was Savannah's third birthday, and on Saturday we had her party! We had an UP themed party with 150 balloons and a bounce house. I feel kind of silly posting all of the detail pictures on here, but I spent a lot of time putting things together, so I thought I would share.

I had a picture of Savannah's party invitation on here, but decided to take it off because it had our address and my phone number on it. I'm pretty sure the people who will be looking at this is just my family...but I still don't feel comfortable having it out there!

We had a dessert/candy bar at the party and had this sign laid out on the table...just in case any one got any ideas!!! Snipes will NOT leave you alone if you start to feed them; you know what they say, if you give a Snipe a cookie...

I made rainbow cupcakes in mason jars - I saw this recipe on pinterest and was actually the inspiration to the party. I only had 12 jars so I made cupcakes the regular way with the rainbow batter. They turned out yummy and looked super cute!

For Finley's 1st birthday party I decorated an, "F" and it turned out really cute, so I decided to decorate an, "S" for Savanns. Turns out, it's easier to decorate straight edge letters! I ended up gluing ribbon on the, "S" and then cutting out yellow sparkly paper on the edges and blue sparkly paper on the back side. I cut balloons out of the sparkle paper and tied a ribbon to the bunch at the end. I rolled up blue ribbon for a cloud near each bunch of balloons. I mod podged the whole letter when I was done.

View of the dessert bar including all kinds of candy and treats no parent ever wants their preschooler to eat!!! (suckers, pop rocks, pixie sticks, skittles, sixlets, mike and ikes, chocolate dipped marshmallows, and cupcakes).

This was in our front living room and what the guests saw first. It is also the party favors. The sign was really small, but read, "Adventure is Out There" (Charles Muntz's famous quote from the movie). I had old fashioned adventure prints lined on the side of the table, Disney 3d cut outs of the floating house, Carl, and Russel, color crayons covered in construction paper and meant to look like an adventure back pack, a vintage suitcase I made out of a shoe box, and adventure books that were also for the kids to take home.

This is a close up of the back packs - I think it was lost on the kids because they were just excited to open them like a present. I had attached two straps on the back for the detail. The adventure book was a journal covered in construction paper with, "My Adventure Book" printed on the front with a world map. The sign said, "Please take an adventure book for your own adventures"

This is a close up of the 3d prints from Disney. They were so cool! I just printed them out from online and glued them together.

I wasn't sure how this would turn out, but I ended up liking it! I covered the box in construction paper and then lined it with brown for the trim. I added a handle, destination tag, and vintage travel stickers. I was able to hot glue the pieces together and I placed the adventure journals inside for the kids to take. Luckily Matt took a look at the suitcase before the party started and realized one of the travel stickers actually had a swastika on it!! I edited it immediately!!

These are the adventure posters which I found online. The website sells modified prints from Pixar and Dreamworks pictures for an insanely expensive price. There was one print of the house in the clouds on sale for $700!!! Obviously I did not pay for these! I just saved the image to my computer and printed them out...is that legal? I glued them on the back of blue stock paper and put corners on them to make them look finished.

This is the food table. Matt picked up pizza right before the party started, so this just has the drinks for now, (beer was outside and was not allowed in the shot).

I didn't get any shots of outside before the party started. We had balloons in our front yard hanging off our lanterns. Matt also had the great idea to tie balloons off of one of Savannah's toy houses that looked just like the house in UP! It was a great way for people to walk up the path! Matt felt very proud of his contribution :)

In the backyard we had the jump house and a few other outside toys. We rented a couple of miniature tables from the bounce house rental company. The kids loved sitting at a table that was just right for their height!!

The party was a blast and it was really fun to put together. Although, now I have all of these UP decorations and no where to use them...if anyone is going to be throwing a kid party and is interested in the stuff, let me know!!

A Great Day to Be Three

2012-01-16T20:15:00.001-08:00

Savannah woke up her general chirpy self, but after she was reminded it was her big day - THE big day, she was down right giddy. Her daddy took her to the store to pick out her breakfast. The breakfast of champions? Cheeto's and donut frosting...that's right, she doesn't even bother with the bread part of her chocolate sprinkly donut. She thought a cupcake post breakfast was appropriate, but I had to set the limit somewhere.

Finley was appreciative of this very special day. I tried to feed her as much fruit and oatmeal as I could before the bad example...I mean, her big sis got home. Apparently it doesn't really matter if you've had much to eat before, there is always room for cheeto's and donuts!

We did a little Face Time with Kitty Grandma and Shark Grandpa. Savannah clearly explained to them that, "I'm not two like this anymore, (putting up two fingers) I'm THREE like this!! (putting up between 3 - 5 fingers).

After a failed attempt to nap, we went out to dinner at Red Robin with Aunt Aimee and Uncle Byron. Savannah was very impressed with their generosity in the balloon department and also didn't mind being made a big deal of when they sang to her. In fact, after they finished singing to her, she stood up in her seat and sang on the top of her lungs, "Happy Birthday to MEEEEE". She's a funny girl with a lot of sugar in her system.

As soon as Finners figured out how to take the balloon off her wrist, Aimee had to be on guard catching the balloon before it flew into the ceiling fan.

Oh, the Happy Birthday to me episode...forgot I caught this on camera

Finley with her special Auntie

Savannah with her special Uncle

Happy birthday, my sweet and very special girl!!

A Letter to My Little Girl

2012-01-16T19:56:00.001-08:00

My Dear Sweet Savannah,

What a blessing and privilege it has been to be your mother for three years. Really it has been longer than that - three years and 9 months; because the moment I found out you were growing in my tummy, you were my baby and I was your mommy and I would have laid down my life for you. Sweet baby girl, I can remember seeing you for the first time three years ago and having my breath taken away. You still do that to me now. Everyday I see you grow and grow and I am amazed at the little human being that you are. You are beautiful. You have the best smile and eyes that twinkle while you explore this world. You are funny. You make me laugh with your little jokes and huge imagination. You are smart. The things you learn and your attention to detail never ceases to amaze me. Most important of all, you have a kind heart. You love people; your family and every other person you come into contact with. I pray that your sweet spirit will show God's love to every person you come into contact with.

Every morning I wake up and am deliberate in my parenting to you and your sister. I want to be the kind of mom you deserve and the kind of mom God has created me to be. Sweet girl, I'm not perfect, but I hope you know I try because I know you deserve the best.

These have been the best and most challenging three years of my life. Thank you for helping me grow and I promise to you I will continue to grow - always!

Love,

Mama

Week 14

2012-01-14T19:15:00.001-08:00

Alright, here it is; new baby, new time line, new comparison. I will post a picture of each pregnancy to compare the, "pop".

We are officially at 14 weeks, and baby Harper is the size of a lemon. Considering how I'm feeling and looking, I will assume she is like one of those softball sized lemons.

Savannah Joy, 14weeks

Finley Noelle, 14 weeks

Harper Grace, 14 weeks

Savannah Joy, post delivery 2 years and 363 days

Thanks, Baby Sis!

2012-01-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

Savannah has been wanting a boy baby from the time we told her there was a baby in my tummy. She was pretty adamant about it, too. She said she wanted to play with the baby boy's trucks...which is silly, it's not like we keep her from playing with certain toys because they are boy toys. Anyhow, she was pretty certain she knew what she wanted. So when we found out Baby C was a girl not a boy, we started thinking about how we could break the news to big sis.

We ended up stopping by Target on our way to Angela's house to pick up the girls. We bought a little toy truck as a gift from Baby C to Finley and Savannah. We told Savannah the doctor got to look inside my belly button to take a picture of Baby C - we showed her the ultrasound picture...not super impressive. Then we shower her the truck - that did the trick! We told the girls that Baby C wasn't a boy baby, but a girl baby! Baby C likes to play with trucks very much and she gave us the truck to share with her big sisters until she popped out of my tummy and could play with them. Savannah was and still is very satisfied with that explanation.

So, when Harper Grace Heihn is born on or around July 14th, she is going to have two big sisters who are very excited to share their trucks!

Wedding Rehearsal and Dinner

2012-01-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

Thursday night we all went downtown to rehearse for Kimberly and Oliver's big day then headed back to my parent's house for the rehearsal dinner. It was very fun spending the evening with some of the people I love most.

Love my sis

Two of the five flower girls kissing their auntie

She loves her motorcycle grandpa!

Beautiful

This daddy loves his daughter! I love seeing my dad so mooshy with all of his girls!

LOVE

She sat through the whole rehearsal...who's kid does that? NOT MINE!

Yeah, he's all mine.

Aunt Na is FUN!

Boyfriends

Prodigy?

Another fun auntie!

Lothar, Oliver's dad, gave a beautiful speech!

These cute cousin friends LOVE each other!

Brune-Middlebrooks

2012-01-09T19:13:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday, Oliver's family came to Portland to start the wedding festivities. They had flown into Vancouver, B.C. to spend time with other family and then drove to Portland from there. We had moved in with my grandma, but stopped by after dinner to crash the party for a little bit.

We had such a great time meeting our new family and we look forward to many years to continue to get to know them better.

Christmas on New Year's

2012-01-09T18:47:00.000-08:00

The Middlebrooks side of the family got together on New Year's day to celebrate Christmas. This is the first time Matt and I have made it to a Christmas celebration as a married couple - I think it may have been 6 years since the last time I had been able to celebrate with them.

It was great to see my family, enjoy good food, and watch the kids go crazy in Xander's VERY fun play room.

Unfortunately, we ended up showing up to the party nearly an hour late. While I was making my appetizer I took off my wedding ring and band and threw it on the counter. They got moved over to the desk with my phone, but my engagement ring went missing. My parents and sisters and I literally took apart the kitchen searching for it. We went through the trash twice, moved out all appliances, and took the stove apart, still nothing. I was in shock, I had no idea where it could have gone and I was so sad. Matt wasn't there when it happened, so when I saw him at the party I was trying to avoid him. I knew he wouldn't be mad, but I didn't want to start crying - and I knew I would when he told me everything would be ok...I did. After the party, Matt and I went over to Michelle and Luke's house to hang out. I took off my boots and looked down at the floor. My ring had fallen into my boot and I saw it laying on the rug. PHEW

Look at all of those kids!!!

Savannah got a Jessie doll and hasn't put it down since - she is giving soft loves!

Merry Christmas/Happy New Year/Happy Birthday Xander!

Taking Care of Our Pups

2012-01-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

While we were out of town in Portland for nine days, we hired a dog sitter for the first time. He was referred to us by our friends and we fell in love with him! He came twice a day and played with our boys and made sure they weren't getting into any trouble. We tried to get the boys used to the dog door before we left. The girls were good at giving the dogs an incentive of their crackers to come in and out of the door!

Race Car Drivers

2012-01-09T18:34:00.000-08:00

Trying out their new rides in the Arizona sun!

Party Bus

2012-01-09T18:02:00.000-08:00

Kimberly and Oliver had a joint bachelor/bachelorette party the week before their wedding. We met at Melissa and David's house and a party bus came to pick everyone up from there. The plan was dinner and then clubs. I was so excited to go and have a night out! We stopped on the way there to pick up some more drinks, and as we drove out of the parking lot I got SICK! I felt nauseous and by the time we made it to Melissa's house I was GONE. I had definitely caught what my girls had a few days before. I literally had to call my dad to come pick me up from a party...good thing it wasn't for drinking too much! He rushed to my cousin's house and took me home to a nest made on the couch. My mom got me all tucked in and kept me company while I was awake.

I was bummed to have missed this...

But it's nice to be taken care of mom and dad - even when you are almost 30!

Somewhere in the World There is a Very Happy Girls Basketball Coach!

2012-01-09T17:50:00.000-08:00

Today we went for our first trimester 3d ultrasound. When we went to Finley's appointment like this, we were able to find out the gender - so we had high hopes. I had a feeling I was pregnant with a boy...Matt assumed we just made girls. We were finally able to end the debate.

Matt told the tech his theory; as she was checking, he asked her if he was getting a surprise...she just looked up at him and shook her head. She said she couldn't be 100% certain it was a girl because it was so early, but the baby wasn't giving her any reason to believe it was a boy.

So the Heihn Girl legacy continues! Matt said, "Somewhere in the world there is a very happy girl's basketball coach!"

Baby girl Heihn #3, we can't wait to welcome you and couldn't ask for a better way to finish out our family!!

I'm so Sorry, World!!

2011-12-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

I feel like I have been hoarding something and I'm starting to feel guilty. I have the BEST recipe in the WORLD for cheese bread. It's my mother-in-law's recipe and now it can be yours.

If you want to be the hit at a party when you bring an hors-d'oeuvre, then bring this

If you want to bring peace and joy to anyone, bring them some of this bread

If you need to say, "I love you", what better way than cheese bread?

Now a disclaimer; if you are a vegan or care about your figure, then this might not be for you. But if you are normal and not annoying in that way, then try this!!!

5 cubes margarine or butter, (YES - as in 5 full sticks of butter!!)

1 lb. grated mild cheddar cheese

1/4 lb. romano cheese grated

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. paprika

2 drops tobasco sauce

2 tbs. Worchestershire Sauce

Beat all ingredients with an electric mixer until mixure

is the consistency of peanut butter

Spread on bread and broil until toasty brown

If you want to use this for an hors d'oeuvre, you can

use the smaller bagette bread.

As you can see, it is essentially just butter and cheese; two ingredients I could solely live on. That is why I love it so much.

I halved the recipe last night for a Christmas dinner of 6 adults and one very appreciative almost three year old, and I still had a ton left over...which is fine because it's just as good the next day, or the next, or the next! So be prepared for a plethora.

Enjoy and thank me later!!!

Christmas Evening

2011-12-25T19:29:00.000-08:00

After celebrating the morning with our family and getting plenty of play time in, we headed over to aunt Aimee and uncle Byron's house for a Christmas dinner. We are so thankful to spend some time with our Phoenix, "family!"

Savannah and Finley LOVE their auntie and uncle, (we do too, of course)

Happy Finley being a cuddle bug with aunt Aimee

Savannah was pretty particular with this photo op. She decided she could be photographed if she was sitting in her own chair several feet from Aimee! Haha, and then she refused to look at the camera as well...we get what we can from this kid!

Uncle Byron and his Savannah girl

When Savannah was in their room searching for the poor cats - who were hiding from her (!!) she found these little gems...Byron's bear slippers! Obviously Savannah felt the need to take them for a little spin

This is one of her many signature awkward dance moves

Just a happy picture from a happy girl

Thank you Aimee and Byron, and Mike and Debbie for letting us crash your Christmas!

Christmas Morning

2011-12-25T19:02:00.000-08:00

Today was honestly the best Christmas of my life. Everything was so much fun to see through the eyes of my girls...especially now that they are starting to understand more. Savannah asked the other day; "is Santa a girl like me or a boy?" It is so funny to see the wheels in her little brain start to turn. Of course I told her the answer to that is no, because we live in a male dominated society...

;)

The stockings hung by the fire place

Santa gobbled up his cookies and drank his milk!

He didn't leave without leaving a little note for the girls!

The morning was so calm and relaxing. They were excited to open each present and took the time to fully enjoy each gift before we had to remind them there were more presents to open!

Happy Girl

Taking a little hot cocoa break mid stockings

We couldn't forget this girl! Her daddy and her ran to starbucks when they woke up to kill time before Finley was up. We didn't want Savannah to go into the living room without Finley and we were having a hard time stalling!

Love this sweet girl

And this girl!

Shark Grandpa and Kitty Grandma bought the girls a table and chairs!! Finley couldn't think of a better gift!

Kisses to our new teddy!

Happy Christmas girls

Daddy was helping our girl open up what she thought was her very lasts gift.

After all of the presents were unwrapped, we took the girls in the other room while we pulled out their big gift...

The girls got new cars today!!!

The girls are spoiled!! Not by us, but by grandparents, uncles, aunties, and friends! Thank you for all of these gifts!! And most importantly, Happy Birthday Jesus!

Christmas Eve Presents

2011-12-25T18:35:00.000-08:00

Every year, Santa comes a day early to drop off two presents for the girls; one ornament and a pair of Christmas jammies.

Matty boy was opening his ornament first. He got a beautiful Christmas tree as a reminder of what our tree should look like next year, since ours was such a dud this year :)

Savannah got a whale ornament because she likes to make whale noises! I told her it was the whale from Nemo, the one who swallowed him up. She quickly reminded me it wasn't Nemo who was in the whale's tummy, it was Marlin, his daddy!

Finley wasn't sure what was going on yet, but she was a happy girl!

She got an elephant ornament!!! Elephant noises are her favorite!

Next, Sav opened her cute Christmas jams

Then Fin, sis helped.

Two cute girls in cute Christmas jammies ready for Santa!

Christmas Story

2011-12-25T18:33:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve, Matt used our Little People nativity set to tell the girls about the Christmas story.

Finley thought the camel might be tasty. It wasn't.

They loved to hear about baby Jesus and sing him Happy Birthday!

Cookies for Santa

2011-12-25T18:05:00.000-08:00

My girls are suck-ups. They wanted to make sure Santa was fat and happy when he came to visit us this year, so we made him cookies!!

Savannah felt like she could be most creative when wearing just a shirt and her skivvies. She didn't want to be inhibited, so off those pants came off...and there was nothing we could do about it!

Finley was the official taste tester. She let the sis do all the hard work while she sat back and gave constructive criticism.

One piece of criticism was to stop eating all the sparklies...straight from the bottle!

"I suppose you are doing an OK job, sis...let me try that blue one..."

There's always room for more sprinkles. And chocolate chips, don't forget the chocolate chips!

One thing to beware of...

The finger licking! Shhh, don't tell Santa!! Oh, and don't forget this picture if you are ever to eat a cookie from the Heihn Residence. Savannah is not the only one to do that!!

Hip Hip Hooray for Santa cookies!!

Dad popped in and out and helped decorate a few cookies as well.

After we finished decorating cookies, we headed off to church for the Christmas Eve service. It was beautiful,and we were so glad we made it.

After church we made our way to Moon Valley to check out some of the Christmas lights. The neighborhood is amazing, everyone goes all out! The streets are lined with luminaries, so all of the cars turn off their head lights. There are several square miles of neighborhoods with tons of lights. The girls even got to see Santa before he got on his sleigh to deliver presents!!

Once we got home from the lights, we put Santa's plate together

There was one runaway...

But most of the cookies made it to the plate along with a big glass of milk

Savannah was very excited for Santa to come to her house, eat his cookies, bring the girls presents, and kiss the ouchie on her foot...yes, she wanted him to kiss her foot.

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!!

2011-12-25T18:03:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone had a very wonderful Christmas with family and friends!!!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Snow Day!

2011-12-25T11:41:00.000-08:00

On Friday, we celebrated our 3rd annual, "Snow Day" in Flagstaff, AZ. We packed babes up and as many warm clothes as we had and headed up North in search of snow!!

Savannah and Finley started the trip out great! They had some books in hand and were ready to roll!

Finley prefers to read her books upside down...she's original like that

Once we got to the snow and ate some yummy lunch, we bundled up for the chilly weather.

Savannah and Finley's daddy took the girls for a little sled ride. Savannah went down the hill one time, but preferred attempting to build a snow man and playing on the park toys

Fin was so interested in this cold, white, "stuff!"

Savannah needed a daddy hand to help her maneuver the tough terrain.

This park has awesome play equipment!! Glad we drive two hours to play on it :)

Daddy lovin on his Finners

Daddy lovin on his Vannah

SWINGS!!!

My rag dolls

And we're spent...

2011 Nutcracker

2011-12-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

For the fourth year in a row, Aimee and I went to the Nutcracker. It was so beautiful, and as fun as always!! We grabbed a delicious dinner at Sam's Cafe, downtown and then walked over to the symphony hall.

I'm already looking forward to last year!

New Sleeping Habits

2011-12-15T08:44:00.000-08:00

Finley is definitely going through a huge growth spurt. Don't be surprise if the next time you see her, she is 6 feet tall. She has been sleeping like a mad woman! She goes to bed between 6:30-7 and hasn't been waking up until 9:30! That's straight sleep with no interruptions! She has also been taking 2.5 hour naps, (which is long for her, she had been napping for only about 1.5 hours). It's nice, I suppose, because I have been getting tons of Savannah one on one time. Although, I do start to miss my girl when she sleeps the day away.

Civitas Christmas Party

2011-12-15T08:27:00.000-08:00

Last night we had our church group's Christmas party. We have been a part of Civitas, which is a group for young families since the beginning of fall. Last night was a lot of fun to hang out with friends from our old Bible Study and new friends! They had us play, "Minute to Win It" which is a bunch of random games you have to do in a minute. Matt and Tyler represented our table. They had empty tissue boxes tied around their waists with bells inside. They had to figure out how to empty the box without using their hands. They competed against anther table and lost :(

Each table also had to get a ginger bread cookie from their forehead to mouth by only using their facial muscles. Kevin finished first and was able to record the rest of us trying. I was last...it was hard.

Cuddle Bugs

2011-12-12T09:15:00.000-08:00

I love these girls, a LOT

Christmas Decorations

2011-12-12T09:01:00.000-08:00

Since not many people have seen our house, much less at Christmas time, I thought I would post some of our Christmas decorations. This house has a lot of decorating potential, so it's been a lot of fun this year! I have had to curb my enthusiasm for buying more decorations since it's not in the budget this time of year...maybe after Christmas when it's all 75% off! Although, I have MADE some decorations this year. Yes, me, I made them. I put all of my garlands together and made this little gem:

I can never figure out what to do with my Christmas cards. I love getting them in the mail and there is never enough room on the fridge, so I made a card holder! There's only three on there now, but it will be fun when it gets all filled up!

We have so many cubbies and places to hold the little decorations now - we would quickly run out of space at our old house. We have our nativity set under the light and it looks really pretty. We also have accumulated our 5th Christmas picture. I have a picture of our family framed each year.

The girls have their own nativity set that kitty grandma and shark grandpa bought them last year. It's a hit!! They play with it all the time - grant it, baby Jesus is usually taking a ride on a pink plane...it has still given us many opportunities to talk about the real reason for this season.

Baby C also has a matching stocking, (I bought three all at once for Savannah's first Christmas, I wanted to make sure they matched!). His/hers isn't going up this year, though.

Excuse the book shelf! Finley is a reading machine, but she lacks the ability to put them BACK correctly. Oh, and I guess it's easier for me to clean up by just throwing them back in there without stacking, I yiyi, what has become of me??

This is our very sad Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I know I've complained about it already, but it's just so sad looking. I have tried a couple of different ways to fix it up, but alas, it is destined to be ugly. It doesn't help that I've moved all of the ornaments half way up the tree! I was fine with the girls playing with them at first, but they kept pulling really hard on the tree and I feel like it might fall over...so now I have moved the ornaments from their grubby little grasp.

We haven't gotten around to doing lights outside of the house yet. Actually, it's probably too late for that now...there's always next year!

One of Many

2011-12-12T08:48:00.000-08:00

The Holiday season is in full swing! We just celebrated our 4th Christmas party last night...there are still many to come. This time of year is so much fun, because we get caught up with people we haven't had the opportunity before, or haven't in a while.

Last night our small group got together at one of the families homes in New River - if you are unfamiliar with the area, it's about 45 minutes North East of us near the mountains. Once we got of the main road, we drove for a few miles on a dirt road through their, "neighborhood". It was beautiful out there with lots of Horse Ranches, (which helped pass the time for the girls on the way there). The neighbors actually fed the javelina's like Ferrell cats! Matt took the girls to go look at them. Generally they are really aggressive and can be dangerous, but since they were being fed, they were pretty passive.

There were probably 15 kids there, and the girls LOVED it! Finley found a friend about 3 months older than her named Cade and she fell in love. She would go up to him and give him gentle, "love pats" across his face and then go in for a giant bear hug and scream! Poor kid! He was a good sport, just seemed a little skeptical about my girl.

Matt's phone got spotty reception, so he was barely even able to check the football score, he suffers mightily.

After dinner the kids made ginger bread houses. I say, "made" very loosely; Savannah ate more than she actually put on her house.

Thanks to the Ellis's for letting us have the party at your house!!

Camp Out Heihn Style

2011-12-10T08:41:00.000-08:00

Matt's parents brought us their tent when they were down last month. Matt had been promising to have a camp out with Savanns ever since. Last night she cashed in on that promise and they set the tent up.

How cute are they?

Big Sister

2011-12-08T17:50:00.000-08:00

Guess who is going to be a big sister??

THIS girl!!!

That's right, baby #3 is going to make his/her appearance sometime on or around, (hopefully before) July 15th. Finley will be 23 months older than baby...just old enough to cause a LOT of havoc. She is up for the challenge and looking forward to it!!!

This is how we told the girls...mostly we just told Savannah. Finley sat in the corner and munched on her dinner unaware of how her world is going to be rocked in 7 months.

This is how Savannah told Kitty Grandma and Shark Grandpa on Thanksgiving morning

Q&A

Q. Are we finding out the gender

A. Yes, we are not annoying. We will find out the gender and not only share that information, but also share the name of the tiny person growing in my belly.

Q. Are we hoping for a boy?

A. That's offensive and makes it sounds like we don't value our beautiful girls that we already have.

Just kidding. But really, Matt wouldn't be opposed! Although, three girls would be awesome. We find out January 9th!!

Nine weeks down, 31 to go!!

Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-06T11:43:00.001-08:00

Saturday was a home/jammie day for the Heihn girls. We didn't do much during the day other than donuts in the morning. After dinner I was ready to take the girls to look at some Christmas lights near our house and Matt suggested stopping to get a tree. We pulled up to Home Depot and he hopped out to grab one as fast as he could...the girls and I were not in a, "picking out a tree" mood.

We got home and started to decorate!

We pulled out the ornaments and within minutes the girls had broken quite a few. They were so excited to play with these new toys!

Just a funny picture of a funny girl

The tree topper!

This picture was all for show. Matt had to cram it on the top and it still isn't staying very well.

It was fun to get the tree and pull out all of the decorations with the girls. Unfortunately, our tree is a little bit of a Charlie Brown tree :( Matt has picked better in past years...maybe next year we can get a pretty tree!

A Children's Christmas

2011-12-05T21:23:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Highland Church's Children's Christmas Musical. The 2's and 3's were Angel's in the end of the production. Last night Matt said, "you know Savannah is going to be a disaster up there, right?" I told him I know, but all 2 year old's are going to be...that is why it is so funny! Well, Matt was right and I was wrong. Our, "Angel" was one crazy, and very curious lady! Please see video's below.

When we showed up 30 minutes before the start of the show it was utter chaos. CHAOS!! We dropped Savannah at the nursery, or "holding tank" for the Angels before their big debut as the parents went to get seats. There were Angel's EVERYWHERE and it reminded me of the beginning scene in Home Alone because no one knew who was in charge. Stephanie was trying to keep the peace for a little bit before she also slipped away.

Our sweet best friends, Avala and Triniti!

My sweet Angel. Her halo didn't make it to the big show, but at least she looked cute as we walked into church.

Best Aunties, ever!! Thanks Jessica and Aimee for supporting our little actress :)

No childcare for this monster, so she ran rampant during the show, (it started at her bed time, hence the sleepy eyes and fit that was thrown mid-play).

Fin had fun playing by our feet for a few minutes!

Stephanie is the baby whisperer, so Finley was content eating fishies, playing on Stephanie's phone, and watching big sis

After baby Jesus was born the Angel's were queued to make their big debut down center stage. Most Angel's sat very nicely on the stairs waiting for their song.

Not MY Angel. She took it upon herself to check out the stage area - notice her by the Shepard's...the Heavenly Host had already sang to the Shepards about the good news!! Angels were suppose to be SITTING!

These pictures are kind of like a Where's Waldo book...Where's the run away Angel??

Good job, Avala Angel!

Guess who found the microphone???

One of the helpers managed to wrangle her up for a minute...

And off she goes for the finale!

Daddy rewarded his little Angel with a Christmas cookie after the show.

Good job Highland's Children!!!

She may be my crazy girl, but she's my Angel and I LOVE her!!

We were trying to get a shot of the three girls, but they were having NONE of it!!

There's our Triniti. Oh, and Savannah's booty.

It was so great seeing the kids up on stage singing...or at least having fun running around! Thank's for the entertainment!

Cute Pictures of Cute People

2011-11-29T12:53:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Dinner

2011-11-29T12:42:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was so much fun and so much food!! We woke up and had a relaxed day of cooking and hanging out. We ate our yummy dinner around 5, (don't worry it was only 1 1/2 hours behind schedule...math and turkey cooking combined is not my strong suit!). We were stuffed to the brim with yummy food and enjoyed the day together as a family.

After a big dinner and yummy dessert, we were all wiped out! We got the girls in bed and proceeded to take it extremely easy the rest of the evening.

Lucky Lady

2011-11-29T12:36:00.000-08:00

Savannah and Finley are blessed to have so many people in their lives that love them so much! When Savannah moved into her big girl bed she needed a new blanket that would stay on her long spindly legs all night long, so Kitty Grandma came to the rescue! I sent her the fabric from Savannah's bumpers and some ideas and Anita came to Phoenix bearing the gift of a gorgeous new comforter that she had made!!!

This is one happy almost 3 year old!! The blanket is a flannel polka dot on the back side and a soft pink on the front. Savannah adores her new blanket and can't sleep without it. Anita's special trade mark on the creations she has made for my girls is a little heart. Anita sewed a heart on the corner of Savannah's blanket and told her this is to remind her how much her grandma loves her. After Bruce and Anita left, Savannah and I were cuddling under her beautiful new blanket and Sav found the heart. She said, "grandma made me this blanket because she loves me SO much". I was so pleased to see she understood the concept!

Good Parenting

2011-11-29T12:27:00.000-08:00

My girls are inherently good helpers. Man, we must be doing something right :)

Finley unloading the dishes

Savannah unloading the dishes

Both about the same age

Another Zoo Day

2011-11-29T12:19:00.000-08:00

I feel like I have quite a few posts dedicated to zoo days, but I always remember my camera and always get cute shots of my girls...so, here we have it - another post about the zoo!

We started our zoo trip out with a little sistery love. Forced? Maybe. Cute? Yes.

Savannah was in charge of the stroller, or so she thought.

Not a real zebra. Who goes to the zoo to see real animals anyway?

Fin's slightly unimpressed with posing for pictures

Love these two

The fountain was the hit of the day. Maybe we could have just walked to the fountain down our street...

Making a wish

And trying to drink the water

Finley was anxiously awaiting a carousel ride with big sis. This was her first time braving the treturous ride and she didn't make it for long. Matt ended up jumping on right before it started and holding her on one of the non-moving benches - lame. She didn't even like that! Matt didn't either, so I guess they are a good match.

Cooking with Gillian

2011-11-29T12:17:00.000-08:00

Gillian came to stay with us a few weeks ago and we had a blast! We went out to dinner and a movie, hung out around home, watched a little football, did a little shopping...basically we had a great time. I love spending time with my sisters. Unfortunately I am horrible at taking pictures. Gill wanted to help cook dinner, so here is my sassy sis cooking up the meat :)

Days Like Today

2011-11-29T12:15:00.000-08:00

Sometime there are days with a 15 month old that you want to fast forward through. Today is most definitely one of those days. I just needed to post a few pictures of the girl I know and love and just pray she comes back to me tomorrow...

Yeah, She Dressed Herself

2011-11-29T12:11:00.000-08:00

This picture explains it all...

Grandma and Grandpa Time

2011-11-29T12:06:00.000-08:00

Matt's family came to town over the Thanksgiving weekend. It was very fun to have them and we realized Bruce and Anita had not seen the kids since February! It was long overdue, especially with how much Finley has changed in 9 months. They soaked up as much time with her as possible.

Finley took a little while to warm up to everyone, but she loved cuddle time with her Grandma!

Finley has been going through some major teething, so her tongue has been out constantly. She thought it was so funny to mimic her grandpa!

Finley's favorite activity EVER!!! And Grandma bought her heart by bringing her a bunch of new books.

Bruce and Anita brought a bunch of Matt's old toys, including a train conductor's hat. Savannah got right down to business in playing and Grandma and Grandpa were game!!

Messiest Eater

2011-11-29T12:04:00.000-08:00

Maybe I have said this before. But every meal I am blown away by how messy my baby girl is! She is a disaster and finds pleasure in getting food into every crevice of her body. Not only is she so messy, she hates clean up.

If I didn't love her so much...

A Little Dog Love

2011-11-29T11:53:00.000-08:00

We had a storm a few weeks ago which ripped a bush off the wall in our yard. If we were owners, Matt would have gotten right out there and fixed it. HOWEVER, we are not owners, we are renters. And home maintenance is a glorious thing about renting! I called up our property management company and asked them to come fix it for us, (along with several other things that could use a little TLC). They said no problem, they would have a landscaper out to us asap. That was last week before the holidays. This morning as I was looking outside my window at the bush and thinking they must have forgotten, so I need to recall them.

Fast forward to about an hour ago. I had a FUSSY 15 month old screaming in my arms and I was literally in her room to lay her down for her nap when there was a knock at the door. It was the landscapers. They hadn't called to see if we were home, to see if today was a good day, or even give me a chance to put my dogs away. The dogs were going nuts and I was trying to box them out as I opened the door but Artezurkses, (Sneaky little bastard) got out between my legs and went right up to the unannounced landscaper and freaked him out! I wasn't feeling very badly for this man since I was so annoyed at his presence at that specific time of day with no prior notice. It took me a minute to get Zurkses back inside. I showed the landscapers the backyard and told them I was putting kids to bed and needed them to be quiet.

Anyway, poor Zurkses and Max were doing their dog duty of protecting their family and I was so mad at them!! I felt like I needed a little dog post.

Love you guys!

I guess after rewatching this, it's not so cute of the dogs, but it is of my daughter and husband...so it will have to do.

Girl Party!

2011-11-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

We finally had a little girl party this afternoon with our good friends, Avala and Triniti...

OH! And, let's not forget Aurianna!!

So many girls to play with, it was a blast!!!

The Scary Thing About Halloween

2011-11-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

It's not the haunted houses or the scary costumes. It's not the skeleton grave yards in people's front yards. It's not even the scary movies that play the whole month of October.

No.

The scariest part of Halloween is on November 1st. It's when every human in your house is over tired, over stimulated, and sugared out!!!

November 1st, please end soooooon! I'm SCARED this is the way my children will be for the rest of the holiday season!!!!!

Educated Guess

2011-11-01T12:26:00.001-07:00

If I were required to make a guess right now as to what my children's career path would be, it would be an easy guess.

Savannah: Garbage man

Or, if we are being politically correct; Sanitation Engineer

She LOVES the garbage man! When we hear him early in the morning she asks, "think that's the garbage man? Is it the blue man today?" Of course the color is referencing garbage versus recycling. Whenever we are out for a run she asks me to run to catch up with the garbage man - even on non-garbage collection days. I had to break it to her easily that her mama is not THAT fast of a runner.

Finley: Plumber

And, I'm pretty sure, "plumber" is the politically correct term...correct me if I'm wrong

Finley loves to watch potty go down the toilet! She sticks her head down as far as is sanitary, (I have to monitor the head level) and shouts out, "bye bye poo poo!!" If I am running to take Savanns to the bathroom and I want to have Finley with me, I just ask her to come say bye bye to the potty and she stops in her tracks and runs to the bathroom to try to beat us, (she loves to get a good look in the toilet before it's used - kind of a comparison, before vs. after).

The 12 Days of Halloween

2011-10-31T21:51:00.000-07:00

Halloween is the best, I mean really? How many holidays are there when EVERYONE wants to throw a party and you get to celebrate non-stop from August, (when they start putting out all the decorations and candy) all the way till Oct. 31st, all the while eating as much candy as you please and dressing up?? We had a blast this year!!!

On Wednesday, my mom's group at church threw a Halloween party for the kids. It was so much fun! I had been out for quite a few weeks, so my understanding was, we were to bring some pumpkins for the pumpkin patch and the kids would decorate them. I was wrong! They made it so special and fun for the kids! There was dressing up, a hay ride, (pulled by a golf cart, this IS Arizona, people!!), pumpkin patch, face painting, a room full of activities like play dough, pumpkin decorating, mask creating, a full yummy buffet, and to top it off? We went trick or treating in the pastor's offices!!

The girls had a blast! Finley was on some form of crack, (not even sugar induced - just stimulated!!) she was running around the room like a mad woman. She could not be stopped, so I didn't. Savannah sat and played play dough with one woman for nearly 30 minutes! My kids switched roles on me momentarily...It was so fun for them and we had to scream at the top of our lungs the whole way home so they wouldn't fall asleep in the car, they were pooped!

Hayride with our sweet Rachel keeping all the toddlers in check!

I'm pretty sure Savannah is tattle telling here, caught on camera!!

And Fin is eating play dough, naturally.

On Saturday night, our church hosted a huge Halloween Festival at West World. It was amazing and the turn out was huge!! There were so many people there that we didn't even see many people we knew. The kids had a blast and we really enjoyed it!

Sully was there to greet us at the gate! Savannah's Monster's Inc name is Sully, so she ran up to him saying, "It's MEEEE!!!" He didn't get it, but we did and had a good giggle at her expense.

Our little octopus liked Sully too!

A sea horse and her dad

An octopus with her mama

I'm pretty blessed!

Savannah took the firetruck for a little spin.

She also put out a few fires with the hoses and nobs

Clifford!! We don't really know him, but we know we like dogs...especially big ones!

And of course...on Halloween night we went trick or treating!! We had Aimee, Byron, and Jessica over to help us keep our 2 kids in line :) Finley made it around the block with two pieces of chocolate and was done. Savannah on the other hand was a pro! It was like she had been trick or treating her whole life! She was polite, personable, and into showing off her costume! She would go straight up to the door and help them open their screen. She would say, "trick or treat" in one of the cutest voices I have ever heard. She would watch them with huge eyes as they put candy into her pumpkin and say; "Thank you, happy Halloween!". She made many friends and got lots of candy!!

Only picture I could get of the sisters. How cute are my ocean babies?

Can you see her french braids? Two of them! Doesn't she look like such a big kid now?

Thanks for coming, chaperons! It was so fun to have Aimee, Byron, and Jessica with us while we went trick or treating! :)

Notice the chocolate down Finley's costume and the hood on Savannah - we told her she wouldn't get candy unless she left her hood on. It worked. I think she would do nearly anything to get some candy!

This is one crazy girl on one super sugar high!!! She stayed up way past her bedtime with way too much sugar in her system! My strategy to keep her from eating all the candy in the next day or so? Eat it myself. So far I'm feeling pretty accomplished!

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

Phobia's

2011-10-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

Savannah has several phobia's.

To be honest, some I instilled in her on purpose for the sake of;

1: my own enjoyment and

2: for her safety

Samples of said phobias:

Our fireplace or plants

why? Because I have told her bee's reside in those locations. It keeps her from 1. messing with the rocks in the fire place and 2. from getting into bushes who legitimately have bee's in them from time to time

The Street

I am afraid of car accidents and my child being hit by a car, so she will NOT go into the street without my hand. In fact, nearly every time we walk into the street or parking lot, or near cars, I ask her, "can cars see 2 year olds?" And she replies, "no, only big mommies." I don't prefer that term but I do prefer her to believe she is invisible to cars

Anything Spicy or Hot

She does not appreciate adult toothpaste or salsa!! If I am eating something I would prefer not to share, it is categorized as either spicy - or hot, because temperatures are off putting to her as well

Her newest and most fearful of all phobias...

Finley Poo'ing in the Tub

I'm not kidding you when I say, she is scared out of her wits of sharing a bath with her sister. The first time she freaked out about getting into the tub with Finley, (3 nights ago) I was super annoyed and put her in for a quick bath anyway. She screamed and the look on her face told me she was not messing around, she was scared!!! Finley had poo'd in the tub twice in one week - so she wasn't off base by being concerned, but her fear is real. So, we have made some accommodations and now bathe the girls separately. Savannah watches Finley bathe from outside the bathroom and gives her commentary about when or how she believes Fin will do a do.

Finley's Baby Dedication

2011-10-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we dedicated Finley at our church; Highlands. It was very important for Matt and I to stand up in front of the church body and commit to raising our children in a way that is pleasing to God. We also wanted to ask for guidance and support, because despite popular beliefs...parenting is HARD! We have been so blessed with our church and their desire to be a part of our children's lives and giving us the support that we need as parents who are trying to learn continually how to have a Christ focused home.

Over the Moon Photography - By Lisa Eggebrecht

2011-10-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

Lisa has done it again - here are some pictures of my sweet babes..

Pumpkin Patch in 90 Degree Weather

2011-10-29T15:48:00.001-07:00

Last year we went to McDonald's Ranch for the first time because they have a pumpkin patch and hay rides in October. We had so much fun we decided to go back this year - with our cousins! It wasn't exactly, "pumpkin patch weather" being in the 90's, but it was still fun.

We all crammed in the car for this outing!

Horse rides were first on the agenda. These girls love to ride horses!!

Savannah was pretty excited about the helmet. That was the thing she talked about most when we brought up the topic of riding a horse!

Sweet cousin friends!

Peter Cotton Tail and his brother!

Zoo is 4x the Fun with Four Cousins and an Uncle

2011-10-29T15:26:00.000-07:00

When Michelle, Johonna, Baylor, and Daniel were all in town, we took a trip to the zoo! The weather had momentarily cooled down, so the girls were even wearing 3/4 length sleeves! It was a beautiful day to see some animals and run around!

Feeding the giraffes was the highlight of the zoo trip!

Proof that Baylor was in fact at the zoo with us

Oliver, The Photographer Brother

2011-10-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

Oliver is an amazing photographer. He had just gotten a new camera and was trying it out on my girls!

The Craziness that was the Heihn Household

2011-10-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

For five weeks straight we had guests at our house or were guests in someone else's house. It was VERY fun and VERY exhausting. The first night we had to ourselves we almost didn't know what to do!

Daniel, Matt's brother, flew down to Phoenix to stay with the dogs while we went to Portland. The girls and I were gone for 2 weeks and Matt was gone a little over a week, (he had a business trip before he could join us in Portland for a long weekend). It was less money to have Daniel stay at our house than to board two dogs.

While he was down here he decided to start a job search and see if he could find something in Phoenix! We were very excited about the possibilities of having family in town. He ended up being offered a job at a church in Brawly, CA. It is the church his fiance's parents go to and it was an awesome opportunity for him. Although we were sad to see him go, we were excited for him to get started in a career as a pastor.

Kimberly and Oliver came to stay with us for 5 days right after we got back from Portland. It was awesome to have one on one time with them and hog them in our nice sunny weather.

Michelle and the kids came down a few days after Kimberly and Oliver left. They were able to stay with us for a week. 4 kids 2 and under is hectic, but it was a blast! We could make this sister wives thing work...considering we weren't married to my brother...

We have our next guests coming in for Thanksgiving - we always like to have something on the calender so we know we can have family/friends coming to visit!

We Love Our Cousins!!!

2011-10-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

We live so far away from our cousins, we start to get withdraws when we haven't seen them in a while. Luckily, we got to spend 2 weeks of quality time with them in Portland. It was madness, but so much fun!!

Sassy Jo and Savannah in their matchy outfits, (we bought them together to wear for photos take by Over the Moon Photography later in the month).

Cassandra didn't find Savannah very entertaining - she slept right through her chatter!

Naked Pool Time!! Sorry if naked babies are offensive, but I find them adorable!

Bath time cousins

Love that baby Bay! We thought he wasn't up for the crazy bath time being had by his girl cousins

Fin looks like she needs a little color!

Dancing with Cassandra

So many cousins to chose from!

Naomee is the chaperon...wait,that sounds scary

Watching a movie on the phone

Three bucket babies

What a good big cuz, Cassandra is helping Finely build a block tower!!

Cowboy rides with the big cousins

Savannah is loving on her newest baby cousin, Baylor - the first boy in 9 years!!

Longest 3 Hours of Our Life!!!

2011-10-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

Savannah is really into trains lately. We have a light rail here in Phoenix, but no where near where we live, so I thought I would take her on a little trip while we were in Portland. I was just envisioning taking her a few stops down just so she could experience the ride. My mom had the idea to take all of the kids, (4 kids 2 and under and 5 teenagers!!) to the Nike employee store and then on to the zoo. We realized it was a long ride, but we weren't quite ready to experience the 3 hours of train riding in rush hour - crazy's and all!!

After we got to the employee store, (1.5 hours on the train!!) we found out the zoo was already closed! So we made the best of things and had a picnic on the lawn by the store to get some wiggles out. The girls had a blast being chased around by their aunties! Then we realized...it took 1.5 hours to get there, it was going to take that long to get back home, too.

It may have been poorly thought out, but it was fun none the less, at least I think that now that I am looking back at the pictures :)

Stroller number 1

Stroller number 2!

Crammed in the handicapped section since the strollers wouldn't fit anywhere else.

This girl loves her grandma!

YAWN...if we only knew!

Picnic

Love this Baylor man!

Sister time with the African

She's going to be a runner just like her mama! Check out those shoes and of course the running shorts!

Kimberly, there is plenty of time to sleep on the train!

These are some happy girls

I think Savans is laughing at her sister's pain

Sweet 16

2011-10-29T14:15:00.001-07:00

I love this girl.

She is sweet, loyal, fun, funny, smart, beautiful, a great friend, AND she is 16!!!

Happy Birthday!

I love you Gilly Bean, but I would feel safer if you took another couple of years before you got your license ;)

Kimberly's Shower

2011-10-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

After Chris and Rachel's wedding was over, it was time to start showering Kimber with wedding bliss! She has been engaged since May, but it's hard to do wedding stuff when she is globetrotting on the other side of the world! We were able to do a final dress fitting, organize more thoughts about the menu at her wedding, find decor, and many other things. We also got to give her a big shower! Since Oliver and Kimberly will be traveling indefinitely, (but hopefully someday end up settling in Portland...hint, hint!) they are hard to shop for. The are registered at REI and a honeymoon registry. They are practical, huh? :)

Her shower was very fun!

There was a full house!!

Love this beautiful girl!!

Kimber was showing Xander her giant piece of gum! He was pretty interested!

Michelle did a game for Kimber where she had to answer questions about Oliver. Anytime she answered the question incorrectly, she had to eat a piece of gum, (size was based on my discretion, and I'm sure you know how big sisters are!).

Kimber and Ashley having a great time at the shower!

I love this kid....and those yummy marshmallows!

Kimber with Aunt Sally

Aunt Ricka and Aunt Jenny

My oldest best friend!!! We have been friends since I was 6 weeks old!!

Sheila, Aunt Stephanie, and Stacey - we saw so much family during this trip because of all the wedding stuff!!

I adore my grandma!!

Welcome to America!

2011-10-29T13:50:00.001-07:00

We finally got a chance to meet Oliver Brune, Kimberly's fabulous fiance!! He was such a good sport with our crazy family! He met over 40 people who all had something, "witty" and potentially culturally insensitive to say to him. He handled us with grace and a sense of humor. I am happy to welcome him into our family.

We were lucky enough to have Kimberly and Oliver come down to Phoenix just days after we left Portland. It was nice to have a little more one on one time with the happy couple and get to know Oliver better.

We can't wait for January, 7th!!

P.S. there is sure to be another amazing flower girl performance!!

Chris and Rachel are Married!!!

2011-10-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

I know this happened about 2 months ago, but I still wanted to post some of the pictures and say how excited I am for Chris, Rachel, Richard, Thomas, Christina, and Cassandra! It was so fun to be a part of their party and see two people who are very much in love, excited to start a new life together! I love you Rachel and Chris!!!

So, it turns out, weddings aren't quite the same when you are bringing a toddler and a preschooler. Especially when the ceremony starts 30 minutes before their bed time! I will admit, they were a super challenge. Once we got food in them and let them go crazy on the dance floor, then they did alright.

Savannah loved to dance with her pops!

Look at those handsome groomsmen...

And the most beautiful bridesmaids!

Such a beautiful ceremony!

Finley loved the candy buffet!

A daddy and his girl

Love these four :)

Savannah and Johonna had the honor of being flower girls for the wedding. Savannah had been talking about it non-stop! We practiced at home and at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We tried on our dress all the time and even talked about the special treat we would get if we went down the isle nicely. Johonna was told she was going to be a flower girl just days before the big event. From the video you can see these two girls personalities SHINE! Savannah is going to be the, "do what you can quickly to get the prize at the end." Johonna is going to be the, "diligent worker, and it's not about the prize but the journey" type of girl! This was the best flower girl moment in history!!

Two Months Ago...

2011-10-29T13:25:00.001-07:00

I use to blog. I use to think of funny little things to post about and then sit down that night and write it out. But it has been nearly two months without any news from the Royal Phoenix Family. I suppose anyone who reads this has stopped checking for updates a long time ago. I am sitting here now, during nap time, with some motivation to start catching up on what's been happening. Although, you know how it goes when you have good intentions to get stuff done while kids are napping - kids wake up. Wish me luck!

Friend Day

2011-09-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

We had a good time spending part of the day with Ayden and Maddi!

Do you know how hard it is to get four kids 3 and under to look at the camera, much less smile? It's hard.

Beast!!

2011-09-05T16:39:00.000-07:00

Savannah was given a potential halloween costume/dress up outfit from a friend. She LOVES it and hates to take it off. It is a Beauty and the Beast Fairy outfit, although she calls it herBeast outfit because that is what she calls Belle.

This is the face of one excited girl!

New House!

2011-09-04T23:24:00.001-07:00

After what feels like a very long summer, we were able to move into our new house! We are so excited to spread out, be as loud as we want, and most importantly - put the dogs in a fenced backyard!!! So, here is a video tour of our new place!

Make Your Mommy Proud!

2011-08-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

What is it a one year old can do to make her mama so proud? Be a cleaner and be an organizer. That's right, it's in her genes and she is doing it. This child will neatly stack objects into a container for up to 15 minutes. She will sit there nicely, minding her own business and put all of the balls back into the bucket. Or all of the tiny board books back into their case. Or all of the little guys back into their home. She enjoys cleaning. And THAT is why I am one proud mama :)

Love These Faces

2011-08-23T10:17:00.001-07:00

...Even when they look like this :)

Quiet is Not Always a Good Thing

2011-08-23T10:13:00.001-07:00

Sometimes as a mom I CRAVE a calm and quiet household. Why don't my kids just sit down nicely and read a book...by themselves?? Maybe my expectations are a little high for a one year old and two and a half year old? Yesterday it WAS quiet. Very quiet. I caught myself indulging in it for too long. When I finally got up the courage, I walked into their newly cleaned room and found this.

9 More Days

2011-08-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

Our time left in the apartment is SLOWLY ticking away. I wish I could say it hasn't been so bad this summer, but truth is; it has been very trying on all of us. Luckily we only have 9 days left before we can move into our new house!! I can't wait to spread out a little bit and to have Savannah out of our room! On Saturday, we stopped by the house to take measurements and plan how we will arrange the furniture.

Savannah was pointing out how much happier her mama will be once she has this nice big closet!!

Look, a kitchen where more than one person can be in it at once!

Unlucky for us, (but actually, lucky for Matt!) the owners had this build in installed in the family room and our TV is too big to fit. It really is too bad, because not only does it take up a lot of space in this room, it just isn't practical for us. So the only option Matt could come up with is to buy a new TV that fits and then move our current TV into our bedroom - which I have strongly opposed for over 4 years now! Some guidelines have been set, and in 9 days we will try it out.

Do you think our neighbors are nervous for us to move in??!

Why Stop Celebrating??

2011-08-23T09:33:00.001-07:00

So what if we celebrated Finley's birthday last week at her party; we had to celebrate this sweet girl all over again on her ACTUAL first birthday! Her daddy and sister started the celebration day with a trip to get a birthday donut! This is Savannah and Matt's morning Saturday routine that typically takes place before Finley and I wake up, but on Finley's big day they invited 'lil sis along for the ride. She was happy to oblige as it meant a yummy donut she could chow down on!

One happy 1 year old eating a pretty pink donut!

Sav was happy to celebrate Fin's big day by munching on a, "sprinkly" donut

I added some fruit to the breakfast so I could justify the donut she inhaled!

After breakfast, the girls and I dropped Matt off at his Fantasy Football draft - something he has been planning, talking about, and generally obsessing about for months. We decided to head over to Scottsdale Quarter to check out the new splash pad. We hadn't been there before, but it ended up being a lot of fun!

Savannah hopped right in and enjoyed every second...

Finley was a bit more reluctant

Eventually she got to the point where she could stand next to sis and watch her run through the fountains, but mostly she hung out in her mama's arms.

Before we headed home for nap time, we took a seat in the pretty grassy area and had a little picnic

Best buddies share water...or at least that is what Savannah told her baby sis when she desperately wanted a drink out of the pink cup!

Finley Noelle, you are the love of my life! This past year has gone by in a blink of an eye, but it has been a beautiful and fabulous year. You are one of a kind and melt my heart everyday. I am so thankful to be your mama and look forward to seeing all of the amazing things you will do in your life!

Animal Noises

2011-08-18T10:46:00.001-07:00

Who needs words when we can use animal noises??!

Staying in Character

2011-08-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

Savannah is a hoot!

My kid cracks me up ALL the time. Lately she has been assigning character names from movies to her family members. Not only are we labeled with a different name, she expects us to respond to those names and ABSOLUTELY call her by her newest name.

For example:

When we are a family of dogs:

Matt: Shrek

Me: Lucky

Savannah: Sparkles

Finley: Pumpkin

When we are a Toy Story Family:

Matt: Buzz

Me: Jesse

Savannah: Woody

Finley: Stinky Peet

When we are a Monster's Inc Family:

Matt: Randall, (he always asks for a new name because he doesn't like to be the bad guy but Savannah adamantly refuses).

Me: Pink Silly Sully (A made up character which furthers Matt's frustration that he has to be the bad guy and I get something new)

Savannah: Sully

Finley: Green Guy, (Mike Wosowski)

What a nut!

We Love Our Friends!

2011-08-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

On Monday we got a special surprise Ayden visit! His sis had to go to the doctor so he stopped by to hang out with us! Finley was asleep for most of the time while he was here, so the silly big kiddos got to hang out and have a little dance party!

Happy Birthday, My Very Hungry Caterpillar!

2011-08-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet, sweet baby Finley! My baby is about to turn one...my BABY! How did this year pass so quickly? How cliche, I'm sorry! But it is true.

Next Saturday is Finley's actual birthday but we celebrated it a week early. Since we are in an apartment, (for 19 more days, but who's counting??!) our friends, Angela and Joe offered to let us throw Finley's party at their house. We were so grateful to them!

I was on stumbleupon.com about a month ago and saw, "A Very Hungry Caterpillar" concept for a birthday party and knew I wanted to recreate it for my hungry baby. I know it's pretty nerdy, but I posted pictures of what I made for the party. After everything was over it was sad to just throw away all my work, so I wanted to post it so at least I remember what I did!!

I have been working on fondant cake toppers for a week and a half! They may not taste very good, but I think they turned out pretty cute.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar ate fruit on Monday - Friday. The fruit was the cupcake toppings.

On Saturday he ate cake, and pie, and pickles, cheese, ice cream, a cupcake, and lollipop. Those were the cake toppers, (he also ate salami and a sausage but that sounded pretty gross to put on the cake - even if they were made out of sugar!).

I made a Birthday Banner to go along with the theme as well. I used pictures from the book of food cut outs between the letters and put them between every few letters. I also hung the butterfly in between Happy and Birthday

I bought a decorative cardboard "F" from Joann's and covered it in green scrap booking paper and added a little caterpillar to tie it in with the theme. I put it up near the food for decoration.

For party favors I got little bags and glued on a picture of the caterpillar and typed in, "Caterpillar Food" and put some little treats in for our party guests.

The finished cake! I wish I could frost a cake without it crumbling underneath

I cut up fruit for each day of the week and labeled them with pictures from the book

Birthday girl, Lisa, Aimee, and sweet Addie.

This is the only picture I took of the banner I made. Between the letters were cut outs of the yummy food the caterpillar ate.

Happy Birthday, Love Bug! She didn't make it five minutes in the SET up without getting messy from a cookie! It was a sugar day for sure!

Savannah was getting Jessica a spot of tea - her newest favorite activity.

Addie serenaded us on the mini grand piano

Finley could have sat in the high chair all day eating cheese and crackers!

The, "big girls" had fun in the backyard playing on the slip and slide, kid pool, and climbing toys!

Savannah kept asking for, "one more sugar?" This meant one more sucker or smartie. One day when we were at the mall I bought candy out of a quarter machine. The next time we walked by she asked for more and I told her she already had too much sugar. So now she calls candy, sugar. She definitely had plenty of sugar today!

Yum!

I love Finley's daddy!

Finely was having fun with her cousin Jessica!

Happy birthday, baby girl! She didn't waste anytime going after the decorations!

"Seriously, for me?"

Her first bite of cake was a butterfly cupcake, (see the symbolism? She is turning into a beautiful girl...I'm deep like that even at a baby's birthday.)

Sis had to help her out. Glad she can count on Savannah to teach her the ways of the world

"Here, let me just..."

"Oops, sorry sis!" Savannah quickly ran off to finish her cupcake and leave her sis with the upside down one. Finley actually didn't even take a bite of the cupcake. I think I stuffed her too full of cheese and crackers before hand! Who's child is this??!!!

Addie tried to chow down on some of the fondant...I warned her it was pretty sweet and I think two bites in she agreed.

Girl time in the pool!

Opening some presents! Woo hoo, thanks for all the goodies, everyone!

The party was a blast! Finley seemed to have a great time, and so did the other kids! We were wiped out when we got home! The girls went down a little later than normal since they had far too much sugar in their system, (especially Savannah!). We are taking it easy tomorrow to recuperate from a crazy day!

Yum. I won't lie, Matt and I both got the girls in bed and had another piece. Oh, how I love cake.

I Knew There Was a Way!

2011-08-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

I finally figured out how to get Matt to change the channel from football! Curl up on his lap naked, grab his face, and whisper; "Monsters, please?"...Oh, and be his two year old daughter.

*The naked part is just circumstantial...he doesn't require it from Savannah - realizing that sounded a little unsettling.

Geppetto

2011-08-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning our church's young family's group, (Civitas) met at Dunkin Donuts for some breakfast and then over to Home Depot for a kid's craft. Home Depot offers a kid project on the first Saturday morning of every month. If you haven't done it before - do it! The employees are great and have a fun time with the kids. This week they, (parents) put together a pencil box. The kids got to help and when the box was finished the painted the box. As if this project wasn't fun enough, they also gave out balloons - which is Savannah's favorite thing on earth!

Our little handi-girl. She loves the apron and insisted on wearing it the next day to church. I need a pin that says, "I dressed myself today" because between the apron and bright pink Minnie Mouse boots, I just can't take credit.

Here are some diligent kiddos working hard on their pencil boxes!

Our Angela and "T"

Avala and Stephanie

Matt had to watch himself, Sav has a violent streak!

Paint time!

Savannah is an artistic genius. The way she painted her box green...unbelievable :)

Laundry Terrors

2011-08-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

Everything I do, I have to do twice! Sometimes I just give up...

Our Secret Language

2011-08-12T14:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had to take Savannah to the pediatrician in the morning for a yeast infection. She was appalled at the doctor who wanted to take a look at her, "kay - kay". She fought it big time and kept repeating, "you be so very soft." Poor baby, I don't like that kind of appointment either! We were prescribed some meds and we were off telling her she was all better.

When we were at the cardiologist later that afternoon they were taking her blood pressure. Towards the end of it she started to get upset. The tech said, "look, it's done! You're all better!" Savannah looked at him and said, "my kay-kay not all the way better yet!"

I'm so glad she speaks in code.

A Mended Heart

2011-08-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took Savannah to another cardiologist appointment. They have seemed at times to be somewhat routine, but it doesn't matter how many times we go, I could never sleep the night before and I have a pit in the bottom of my stomach until it's over. Yesterday was no different. Savannah had an echo cardiogram as well as an EKG. She did awesome. Both techs were so good at their job and made it easy on Matt and I. They laughed at Sav's craziness and she didn't mind it as much as she had in the past.

Dr. Lindblade has been Savannah's cardiologist since she was 4 days old; when we first discovered her VSD. We adore him and he seems completely vested in Savannah as well. He was able to tell us good news, finally! Savannah's sweet little heart has completely healed itself! The hole is not only closed up, but it's stronger than ever and there is no blood crossing paths between the ventricles. He said it had been a really long time since he had been able to give good news like this in a case like Savannah's. We were shocked. From the beginning he had said if it was going to close on it's own it would do so by the time she was 2. If not, it would most likely be a condition she would have for the rest of her life and would need to monitor it completely. We were not expecting to hear such great news! We never have to take Savannah back to the Cardiologist again!

After the appointment Matt and I realized it was the first time in 2 1/2 years that we could breath easily. A VSD isn't the scariest heart condition- it is far from it! If you know much about them you would maybe even think that sounds a little dramatic. But as Savannah's mom it was always in the back of my mind. I was always afraid of the possibility of open heart surgery or a complication having to do with her heart. I never have to worry about that again and I am so thankful to God!!

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

2011-07-26T11:35:00.001-07:00

This video is nearly 11 1/2 minutes long; far too long for the average blog reader. This post is primarily for grandparents and those who have very little to accomplish today. It has a little bit of Finley walking, Savannah running/dancing/chatting, some doggy/kid interaction, and overall goofiness from my babes.

Jog-a-Thon

2011-07-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

Conversation with Savannah:

Sav: Need my running shoes!

Me: OK, let's go get them on.

Sav: I'm going running! Need my goggles!

I help her prepare for her run

Sav: I'm going running outside!

She proceeds to run around the apartment in circles and then comes back

Me: What a big runner, (while patting her back)

Sav: Don't touch me, I'm stinking from running!

Appropriate running attire, right?

Over the Moon Photography - By Lisa Eggebrecht

2011-07-21T10:06:00.001-07:00

These girls melt my heart

Baby Whisperer

2011-07-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

Today as I was in the bathroom with no privacy - something I used to believe was a basic human right, Finley started crying and clinging to my legs. Savannah was in the bathroom by my feet, playing with some toys. She suddenly stood up and started waving her arms around Finley's face in a mystical way saying, "Easy. Easy!" in a whisper. Finley started to laugh, and so did I.

Whenever Savannah says something crazy or weird, (which is quite often!) I have to think back to a time I said something similar that she was just parroting. But, I was pretty sure I never treated my daughter like a wild animal when I tried to calm them down! She told me that was how Rapunzel calmed Max, the horse down.

This made me realize two things.

1. I need to make sure she is only watching appropriate movies

2. There is a lot to learn from Disney movies. Apparently.

A Chat with a Two Year Old

2011-07-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

This is a super long video of a little chat Savannah and I had earlier today. She is just silly and comes up with random things so I thought I would secretly record our conversation to anyone willing to watch 8 minutes of two year old chatter.

Monster - Part II

2011-07-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

Finley is taking after her sister; being a monster...all the time! No drawer, cupboard, or neatly put away ANYTHING is safe from this monster baby!

Steps 1, 2, and 3

2011-07-14T09:23:00.001-07:00

Finley took her first, second, AND third steps yesterday!

She still needs to get down the whole, "one step in front of the other..." at the rate she's going, she's going to be walking in circles!

I Really Don't Want to Forget!

2011-07-10T17:23:00.000-07:00

What do they say about your second child? After that you quit doing baby books, writing in their journal, and taking pictures? No, that will never happen to me....wait. I have been SOOO bad lately, not just for Finley, but for both of my girls! There is so much funny going on in my household right now! I don't know how many times my girls make me laugh and I wish so badly someone was there to laugh with me! So, while I am sitting in my kitchen avoiding cleaning up dinner, I think I will record some of the goofiness from around here lately.

We had some left over cut up tomatoes on the cutting board in the kitchen. Savannah ran in, naked - because we don't do it any other way, and started munching on the tomatoes while she was spinning in circles in our teeny tiny kitchen. She started yelling out, "This is AMAZING!!"

We were all laying around in our room with Savannah and Finley on our bed. Matt patted Sav's booty and she turned and looked at him, "THAT'S MY BOOTY!!"

Savannah has been ULTRA whiney lately that it is driving me mad! I tell her I can't respond to a whiney voice so she must ask me in her big girl voice. Her request usually comes at a super whiney voice saying, "Not a wwwwhineeeyyyy voice anymore!!!" And then she proceeds to ask for what she needs - still whining!

Finley LOVES to stand all by herself. Usually she will just be hanging out while she stands and if you give her any praise and get excited for her, (which I do constantly :)) she starts clapping and breathing in and out of her nose really fast and then falls over.

Savannah gets emotionally upset if Matt forgets to give anyone of us a noggin before he leaves

There is so much more, I really need to get better at writing these things down!

Fun Fact

2011-07-07T10:20:00.000-07:00

Did you know at any point of time in the Heihn residence, it is very likely to find at least 50%of the population in the buff? Unless you count the dogs, (because it's too hot for them to wear doggy sweaters) then it would be more like 66.66666%

Sht p!!!

2011-07-06T17:56:00.001-07:00

This is Savannah, the ENFORCER!

Savannah LOVES the Goofy Movie. I DESPISE the Goofy Movie. The kid is super disrespectful to his daddy and says, "stupid." We talk about how important it is to be so kind and use nice words. Sometimes that back fires on me. Like, today when I was venting to Matt about something legitimately STUPID. Our little enforcer got big eyes and said, "OH, Mommy, not kind! Bad Mommy!"

Haboob

2011-07-06T16:49:00.000-07:00

*giggle*

No, serious, that is the real name of a giant dust storm. Phoenix had an insane, haboob, last night. We are on the opposite side of the valley, but it was pretty messy up here. Our car was disgustingly dirty and the apartment pool is GREEN! Even walking outside this morning you could feel the dust in the air. Hopefully we will get a solid rain to clean the air.

This first clip is time lapsed and short, it's the better of the two but I didn't know how long it would be up online.

http://vimeo.com/26045314

This second video is longer and not time lapsed, so it's super long.

My Runaway

2011-07-02T22:58:00.001-07:00