January Week 2

Thumbs Up:

• Jackson absolutely LOVES his new school. I can hardly tear him away from it at the end of the day. It's amazing how much knowledge that little sponge of a mind can soak up in just a few short hours each day. 
• It's really been a win win situation having Jackson at school because it gives me some one on one time with Kennedy. She is so much fun to be around and quite entertaining. This week she has decided to call me Mom. Up until now she and Jackson have called me Momma or Mommy. The even funnier thing is that she literally says it at then end of every phrase..."what's this Mom," look at this Mom,"...I've heard my name more than I can count this week. How can I be annoyed by that super sweet little voice though!
• Mike managed to fix our trampoline despite the damage sustained during the storm after Christmas. The kids are back in heaven again and I have to say it's a pretty good workout for these old bones too!
• I actually read a book this week, didn't take me long either. Mike's been begging me to read Lone Survivor now that the movie is out so that we could go see the movie soon. I read it in no time at all because it was too intense to put down. The amazing strength this guy and his team had is insane. I can't wait to see the movie and I highly recommend anyone that hasn't read the book to buy it and read it today! I fully expect to need a box of Kleenex during the movie like I needed during the book.

Thumbs Down:

• Jackson has pink eye and had to stay home from school today. Guess that's what happens when you assimilate back with kids again! The worst part is giving him his eye drops. I have to pin him down and force his eye open while he screams and kicks, the whole bit. It's miserable! I've never seen him throw such awful tantrums. He must really hate having stuff put in his eyes.
• Our deep freeze, which is only two years old, decided to quit this week. We literally threw out more money in food than the freezer cost. Mike had just stocked it with a huge brisket, lamb, pork tenderloin, all now in the trash! 

Favorite Things: Kennedy's Room

Kennedy has become such a big girl and has a big girl room to match!

We switched out the red for pink, purple and turquoise, but kept the black from her old room. She loves her new big girl bed!

This is her little dress up corner. So happy she gets to play with my great grandmother (Nana's) old hats just like Carey and I did growing up.

Mike added an extra bar in her closet just for dress up clothes. She and Jackson both love playing with all the costumes. 

Here's the crib that Carey and I used as babies and also used for our babies. Now Kennedy can use it for her Cabbage Patch babies!

This is super special to me. My mom cross stitched this back in 1988 I think and I put it a new frame to update it a little; it fits right into K's room!

Yep, she's right at home!

Playing dress up!

Kennedy likes to mix it up a little!

Too cute in her outfit Aunt Carey gave her!

Had to throw in a picture of my handsome boy too!

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 :(