Happy 2014!

Happy New Year from the Hefferly Family! I actually stayed up until midnight which may be my first time since having kids! I did drink my champagne at 8pm though in case I didn't make it :)

We had a great week with my parents in town. The kids finally got to open the last presents under the tree, a high priority on their list!  Mike started back to work and Jackson started his new school on the 2nd while I went back to the gym to try to undo the damage from the holidays! Mom and Dad's visit was short and the weather wasn't ideal, but we had a great time. The kids had to show them around every room in the house and took advantage of new company to play with. We did manage to squeeze in time for outlet shopping and an evening in Wilmington, NC. Dad helped us out with some handy work and taking down Christmas decorations. It's amazing how much holiday 'stuff' we've acquired in just 7 short years of marriage! On Sunday we celebrated Mike's 33rd birthday and took my parents back to the airport. They had a rough day/night flying back home, but thankfully made it home safely and just in time before bad weather hit. Here are the pics from the week:

Jackson slept in his new tent from MiMi & PaPa the whole time they were there.

Trying our their new scooters!

First day of school - Jackson loves the silly pig outside the school.

Yea for Harry & David's Christmas clearance section!

Nothing says Happy Birthday like a donut!

Enjoying the view in Wilmington.

Aren't they cute!

Mom loved all the old architecture!

Favorite Things: Master Bedroom
It has been so nice to have a space to call our own. Our last house, believe it or not, didn't have a master bathroom, so we all shared. Not to mention that our room was right next to the other two rooms and we could hardly watch TV without waking the kids up. In this house, our room is downstairs and has a huge master bathroom. We have a 'his & hers' closet and vanities, a shower, toilet closet, and jetted tub - it's seriously heaven!

The kids love the new bathtub too!

Christmas Time!

My apologies to all my friends and family for not being better at keeping up with the blog this past year. One of my New Year's resolutions this year is to be better at not only keeping up with the blog, but keeping up with people in general. I've gotten really lazy/bad at that recently, but I'm hoping now that we're all settled in North Carolina that I can be better.

Speaking of North Carolina, we absolutely love it here and are settling in as if we'd never left 3.5 years ago! We all really love our new house and I'm already dreading the day the Air Force tells us we have to leave it. I will be featuring a different room in the house on my 'Favorite Things' portion of the blog each week over the coming weeks to show you around. However, anytime you want to come up and see it in person, we'd love to have you!

This was the first Christmas that we were home and didn't have family here with us or weren't traveling back to TX, so I'm glad we were able to spend it in the new house. We wanted to go back to Texas to be with everyone, but the $3000 price tag was a deal breaker. We did make it up to D.C. to see Mike's Grandmother, Aunt Debbie, and Aunt Michele. You can see the pics from that visit by clicking here. Below are some pics from our Christmas celebration. My parents fly into NC today and we are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with them this week.

Quick snapshot before Mass. 

Siblings!

Santa came!

Helping Daddy put together the trampoline!

Nothing cooler than the trampoline box though!

It was a great Christmas. Mike and I also celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on Sunday. The day started well, going to Mass then our weekly trip to Sam's. Then we came home to find our trampoline had blown from behind our house across the street. Thank goodness it didn't damage anything or anyone. The trampoline isn't in the best shape though. Poor kids only got to enjoy it for 2 days before it bit the dust :(

Pre-Christmas fun in D.C.

Mike's grandmother and two aunts live in the Washington D.C. area, so we decided to make a quick trip up there before Christmas to spend some time with them. They hadn't met the kids yet and we weren't even out of the car before the kids had already warmed up to all of them. We all had a great time and can't wait to go back again. Hopefully the weather will be better next time.

The kids loved playing with Aunt Kathy's Olympic medals!

Yes Ladies, I'm married to this good lookin' guy!

The kids loved playing with the aunts!

Flashlight Freeze Tag!

Jackson educated Grandma on corndogs!

Giving loves, Jackson kept calling her Hefferly Grandma instead of Grandma Hefferly!

Playing on the stage at church!

They love having an audience.

Peek-a-boo, I see you!

Helping Grandma get her exercise!

Chef Michael!

Taking in some of the local sights while the rain let up.

First time seeing the WWII Memorial.

Mike drinking brandy, all he needed was a cigar and smoking jacket!