Hefferly Happenings: Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down

Up:

We had such a wonderful Christmas in The Woodlands with Mike's family. It was significantly warmer than Idaho too which was a nice bonus! The kids loved playing with all their cousins. The best part about was Christmas was getting to spend some much needed to with Mike. He'd been so busy with work that we hadn't spent much time with him at all, but a whole week of having Daddy around all the time was so wonderful!
Mike and I basically had an entire day kid free for our sixth anniversary. We went to the movies and saw Les Mis which was every bit as good as I had imagined it would be. It was special too because that is the same musical we saw on Broadway for our honeymoon. Then we ate at my favorite restaurant - Brio. After that we had an 'adult' night out with Mike's brothers and sister and some friends from college. It was very nice!

Adult night at the Goose's Acre in The Woodlands.

The kids were so good on the flights home, but that could be because Pa (Mike's dad) was flying our first plane home and let Jackson and Kennedy see the cockpit and sit in the pilot seat! Definitely every little boys dream!

Exploring the cockpit with Pa!

I love turning over the page and starting a new year! It's like a new beginning every 365 days to accomplish goals that you didn't quite accomplish in the previous year. I definitely have some resolutions this year, but I'm not typically one to share them. I like the silent victory of meeting my goal without the added pressure of others knowing my goals.

Down:

Unfortunately this new year brings some sadness and anxiety with it as Mike will deploy again this year. It's nice to have time to prepare ourselves mentally for the fact that he will not be around, but it's still so hard to think about. The kids and I plan on moving in with my parents while Mike's away. We are looking forward to Texas and warmer weather, but obviously we would trade that any day to have Mike with us.
We had to say goodbye to our wonderful neighbors - the Trimboli family yesterday. We've had so much fun with them and wish them the best of luck on their next Air Force adventure. Hopefully our paths will cross again.
Two weeks and counting - all of us have had this nasty cold/cough stuff going on. I'm so ready to be well again and not blow my nose a billion times a day or suction the kids every 5 minutes. It just seems to be lingering and doesn't show any signs of leaving us anytime soon :(

Here are some pics from our Christmas vacation: