Halloweeny ’08G’pa D. helped Asher carve his first pumpkin. Asher thought he should really get his hands on that thing. PRONTO. So he had the honor of holding the top. As you can see, he thought that was very VERY cool. Then he chewed on it for awhile. He was quite pleased. Then we went next door to visit The Best Neighbors in the Whole Universe. Miles and Asher got some great loot. (Asher was going to be a puppy, but I couldn’t find his costume. So we cut the legs off the fireman costume from last year. Yes, I’m currently quite disorganized, I lose costumes. But I’m no fool. A scissors is good for lots and lots of things.) (Oh! I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you. (I’m sure you can’t tell.) That’s Miles, not the actual real Spiderman.) Then we were off to city hall for the annual Halloween bash where […]
It was a crazy-busy whirlwind weekend for the EO family. You see, my Dad turned 60! So we had a visit from Nanny and Bapa. We went places and did things. I only made a complete fool of myself once (that I can remember). I’ll get to that in a moment. First, I must say Happy Birthday, Dad!I love you like crazy, even if I did make that joke. You know, the one where I said I needed to practice feeding you, now that you’re 60. That was uncalled for. Please forgive me.But try to remember that I must have gotten my sense of humor somewhere…Look how young this man is! He can’t be 60! (say that in the comments, he’ll like it.) Miles got to ride with Nanny on this way cool carousel.Watching made me want to puke. Am I 60?___________________Then we were off to Cousin O’s 4th Birthday party.Or no, wait.We […]
Does it mean I’ve officially lost my mind if I have moments here and there of thinking it would be a good idea to have another baby? What a difference a year can make. Last year at our annual day at the orchard, I was a complete wreck as the mother of a colicky newborn and a toddler. A toddler who was very mad at the colicky newborn for ruining his life. Let’s just say it totally stunk. Here I am (last year), pretending to have a lovely timewhen I was really pretty much completely insane. (niece, E also pictured) Yesterday, we were back with Ryan’s family for our annual trip to the orchard. It was absolutely beautiful outside. We had a ridiculously good time. I wasn’t pacing around with Asher attached to me, praying that he wouldn’t start screaming. He was content, maybe even peaceful. It was a beautiful thing. And Miles […]
Yesterday I had lunch with a friend. We met at noon and it was almost 3:00pm before we knew it. We laughed and joked and wavered between silly stories and serious heart to hearts. This is a new friendship, but meeting this new friend has been an immediate blessing to my life. We can talk like we’ve known each other for a very long time. I absolutely love that. We got into a conversation about the stress and strain of life. How it never seems to get easier. My friend admitted feeling angry about that. Confused. Frustrated. Wanting more answers. I felt like what she was asking me was, “where is God?” Because even if you’re a person who looks on the bright side, in awe of the good things in life, there is still that question that arises when things are hard. Or when it seems the “Big Guy Upstairs” has gone […]
I’m sitting in a motor home backstage at Sonshine Music Festival. I am dog tired. I made more turkey and vegetable wraps for the artists today than I could count. Yesterday I cut up about a zillion apples. For the artists. For a fruit salad. Then I was a part of a human assembly line, passing boxes from one refrigerator truck to another because the first truck broke down and quit it’s tiring, “keep the food cool” job. It was a random and beautiful moment, as simple as it was. All of the team working together, laughing and talking while hoisting boxes of food in our attempt to save the day. All the while there’s the thump thump thump of the bass coming from main stage, and the roaring of the crowd, anxiously shouting for their favorite band to come on and rock the party. (If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, this […]
I have been away from the computer for two days. I thought that I would take a break to gauge how addicted I am. Turns out I’m not that addicted, barely gave it a thought. Then again, I was busy. Maybe if I was stranded somewhere with no hope of an internet connection and not much to do, I’d lose my mind. I’ll have to try that sometime. (But I don’t really need to, since I’m totally not addicted.) Over the last few days, hanging with the family, we’ve played a few rounds of the game Loaded Questions. What a hoot. It’s a very simple game with lots of funny personal questions. You just have to guess who answered what. And laugh. That’s all you have to do. Great game. When the question, “If you had to dispose of a dead body, how would you do it” was asked, there was nothing but […]
Miles’ shooting stars did their job. Yesterday afternoon my grandpa Glenn was shot straight to Heaven, just like Miles suggested. My family and I were all there, singing to him as he left. It was a beautiful and unforgettable thing to be a part of. We are relieved that he can finally be done with his many years of struggling. But we’ll miss him. I don’t really know much about my great-grandparents. I hope that reading this will teach my boys a few things about their Great-Grandpa Glenn:He was the most faith-without-a-doubt person I have ever known. He loved ice cream.He acted like he might stop breathing if he didn’t lavish love on his family.He was truly funny and his whole body would shake when he laughed. He loved to sing.He had the hugest garden I have ever seen. My favorite-raspberries. He called his wife “my beloved.” He really stunk at Wheel of […]
This morning I called my mom to find out what time she and my dad would be getting here. The plan was for them to come and spend some time with us for Mother’s Day. But my mom had received a call that my grandpa, who lives in a nursing home nearby our house, was not doing well. So instead of spending the day shopping and eating, we spent the day by my grandpa’s bed. Before I left the house, Miles was drawing and I asked him if he wanted to draw a picture for great grandpa. I explained that he’s extra sick and it would be nice to make him something, even though I knew that my grandpa is far past the point of being able to enjoy the scrawling artwork of his great grandson. After he was done with the picture I asked what it was and he said, “It’s shooting […]
Grandma, Dad, Asher, Birthday Girl-Shelly, and Zach Miles and MaxZach and Max There is something I just LOVE about this picture. I don’t even know what it is, I just love it. My sister had a birthday today and Miles, Asher and I were able to go spend part of the day with her and her family. We met Grandma and Dad at Dave and Shelly’s. It was good to see everyone. Miles is so crazy about his cousins, it’s always good for him to get his dose of them. Family is such a good thing. I can see an understanding of what family means unfolding in Miles. Maybe an understanding that they’ll always be there and that his cousins are forever friends. An understanding that people like Nanny and Bapa and his Aunts and Uncles are connected to him in a special way. He’s just starting to understand how his grandparents are […]
Miles and Tia like snowy Easters: This was the first time I have ever made an Easter meal. It was just so so if you ask me and just wonderful if you ask my kind and careful husband. Uncle Kevin was our guest The party got out of hand when Miles stripped and asked why he has nipples. Then he punched Kevin. So it was time for the Easter party to come to a close. Had we been at a bar (or drinking for that matter), we would have been asked to leave on account of being naked and rowdy. Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
We’ve been away for a couple of days. To Spicer we went on Tuesday, with Mackenzie, Olivia and Ellorie. We came back today after a whirlwind of activity and time with Nanny and Bapa. They are good to us, and we are thankful.Mackenzie and I got to see friends Jenna and Kelly for dinner last night. Jenna shared her BIG news – she’s pregnant with number 3!!!! It’s so exciting. Wow. Mackenzie said, “you are so brave.” And that’s just it. She is. That is one of the many words to describe Jenna. She is brave, and she’s a great mom. Another baby will be happy to have her!The boys and I also got to see my Grandma, who was brave enough to travel snowy roads to come and see us. Thanks G’ma! It always feels so good to see her and laugh with her. This time, she gave me the giggles when […]
My brother-in-law just sent me this photo from Christmas. My parents are in the middle, my sister’s family is on the left and obviously, we’re on the right. My huge head is blocking Ryan quite a bit. It made us realize that our boys might have big heads not only due to the King side, but maybe there are large noggin genes on both sides! Poor Ryan can’t even see over the top of that sucker. Then you take a look at Miles and Asher and see that history has definitely repeated itself! Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
Little Snowman Hello! We’ve had a whirlwind of a few days and we’re just now settling down. Kind of. Christmas was good, in the sense of seeing family and sharing good times and good food with them. What we’re learning, is that we just can’t fit that much in anymore, due to having our busy little family. I don’t know how we can change it. We want to see everyone as much as they want to see us, so it’s hard to know what to do. I sure would like it if there were more time to relax and take in the moments though. Ryan read in the paper yesterday “twelve things to do after Christmas.” One of them was to write down what you’d do different next year. We know something has to give, but we haven’t figured out what it is. By next year, we may forget how stressful it was […]
We’ve been busy little elves over here at the King residence. Nearly no time to blog! We had a hectic Sunday of church and family gathering. We went to Grandma Mary and Grandpa Ken’s (Ryan’s parents) to take some family photos for their Christmas card. I have included some of the hilarious attempts at capturing the perfect moment below: All I can say about trying to get lots of people to look sane and pretty all at the same time is completely impossible and everyone should stop trying and just send out xmas cards with pics such as these on them. This is who we really are anyway. And we’re cool and funny (: Then yesterday we had friend, Braden over because his mommy and daddy needed a hand with him. He is a sweet little boy who adjusted quite well to this new place with new people in it. Isn’t he cute? […]
I title this post with the old Thanksgiving standby “Gobble Gobble” simply because that is all we have done since Wednesday. I honestly believe I may have gained five pounds. I’ve got a real problem with self control in this area. People call me skinny. I call me lucky. If not for my father’s metabolism being passed on to me, I would surely be in line for next season’s “Biggest Loser.”We just returned home from Spicer (and yes, it was a bit nicer). It was relaxing and fun to see a lot of people we haven’t seen in quite some time. Ryan was in my parents home from Wednesday afternoon until last night (Sat.) when we went to the new Mexican joint in Spicer. He was pretty proud of that. He did go outside here and there to run the dog. Now when I say “run the dog” you may picture Ryan literally […]
We spent the morning yesterday at Aamodt’s farm in Stillwater. Miles was in apple heaven. Not only was he sorrounded by apple EVERYTHING (donuts, pie, muffins, jams…) he was also with some of his favorite people! We met Aunt Laura, Ella, Otis, Uncle Kevin and Katie, and Uncle Pat. Miles got to ride little tractors, work a hay maze, throw apples and giggle his head off with the cousins. When we got to the car there were no objections, that boy was TIRED. Asher too, poor guy was so worn out he SCREAMED all the way home. Even though he slept most of the time, he practically spoke english with his screams, “It’s hot! I want my bed and some peace and quiet, people!” Along with the screams came Miles’ little voice asking, “where’d Otis go?” And then a few minutes later, “where’d Otis go?” Sometimes riding in the car is one of […]
