Some things I love about eating out are:eating food I didn’t have to make that’s super yummy.being with people I love to be with while I eat the super yummy food.relaxing.chatting it up.looking around at all the other people and wondering about them.the ambiance.the sounds.the smells.the drinks.The list goes on, but I’ll stop there. I just love it. I LOVE to eat out. I don’t do it as much as I used to, but this is what I would rather do than anything else on an evening out with friends or family. I’ve gotten to go out TWO times this week. I met up with Kelly, Sabrina and Sara on Thursday. It was so good to see them and talk Christmas, eat good food and laugh. Thanks for the invite ladies! I like Bon Xai (did I spell that right?), it’s another good place for me to frequent. And you can’t get better […]
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 […]
Our friend’s Mackenzie and Caleb had their baby today!! I’m so excited to go see them in the morning, I can’t stand it. Happy Birthday, little Ellorie! Baby girl Bjorklund was born at 4:30pm this afternoon and weighed 7lbs, 7oz. Kenz and Caleb have two little girls! I’m sure Olivia is super happy to have a girl! That’s just what she wanted. I believe it is no coincidence that they have two girls and we have two boys…. Miles doesn’t fully understand Christmas yet. I’m sure it’s a strange concept in many respects. But he’s still excited at the prospect of having Jesus cake and seeing his cousins. Ryan and I are more than excited to watch him this Christmas. He’ll have such a good time. He’s such a bright little boy, if I do say so myself. I think Asher may be on that path too. Both of our boys have always […]
Last night I went to run errands and by the time I got home, Miles was in bed. He wasn’t sleeping yet though. He talks for a very long time in his bed after he “goes to bed.” He was being kinda crazy in his room, so I came in to remind him that it was time for sleep and to say good night. I was all business until he put his hand on my face and said, “thanks for coming home, mommy.” Then he reached up and hugged my neck. That’s all I need for Christmas. Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
I wrapped a few gifts today. And I got my haircut. And I stopped and picked up a gift for our neighbor, Tom Mr. Nice Guy. That’s what I got done today. So now all I need to do is:make cookies (after I go get the ingredients so I have something to make), wrap the rest of the gifts (after I finish shopping so I have something to wrap), pack for our trip to Spicer (after I do laundry so I have something to pack), attend an extended family gathering…. STOP! STOP listing it, I say! STOP!Okay I’m losing it. I just love to be organized and prompt and I just can’t be anymore so I need to just stop making lists. Lists are overwhelming. But if I don’t make the lists than I might forget something really important, (like my mother-in-laws gift) and that would be bad. So not writing lists can […]
When it’s gloomy outside like this, the barometric pressure does something to me. So if it does something to me I’d have to guess it’s doing even more to the small people in my home. We’ve been tired and cranky today. Maybe it’s all that hustle and bustle too. We’re worn out. Thankfully, we go to church on Wednesday mornings. Miles gets to play with his friends and I get to eat and drink coffee and visit with other moms while Asher smiles at everyone. Katie comes with us and it’s one of my favorite things all week. Afterward, Katie comes over for lunch and helps me with the boys. The two of us can really talk. I love it. Not only is Wednesday my favorite day of the week, but talking with Katie is one of my favorite things in life.Last night we had G’ma Mary and G’pa Ken over. When we […]
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? […]
( Ryan doing the breakfast hustle bustle – check out that hat!!! Yup, it’s a robe too!) I really don’t like Holiday hustle and bustle. And I can’t handle too much of it at home either. But I do love it when the hustle and bustle, stressful or not, includes loved ones feeling comfortable enough to join us in our home. Boy did we hustle and bustle last night. I thought about it afterward and smiled because I love it that our friends and family feel at ease enough in relationship with us to show up, anytime and do anything. Starting at about five, things got pretty crazy around here. Asher only had catnaps all day so he was losing it. Miles gets pretty wild starting at about five too, so even if it’s just the four of us, our house is “bustling.”At about 5:30 Mackenzie called to see if she and Caleb […]
Last night, my friend Carrie let me know, as we had dinner, that she was a little afraid to spend time with me cause she’d probably end up blogged about. Well, certainly!The title may be misleading, because Carrie is really quite genuine. But her maiden name was Crockford, so she became “Crock.” I always have such a good time with this lady. She’s witty and bright and tells a great story. She’s got lots of stories since she spends most of her time with her three-year-old twin girls. And those girls are the cutest, smartest, funniest little people you could ever meet.It is so good to get out of the house and speak grown-up. And laugh and eat good food. I told Ryan this morning that I can’t believe what great friends I have. I don’t say that just because Carrie paid for the meal (thanks again), but because of who she is. […]
Miles vocab. update: Tato – Playdoh Axis*cent – Accident Ribber – River These are about the only words that he doesn’t pronounce correctly. Except for licorice. He has some trouble with licorice. Other than that, the kids got a better vocab. than a lot of adults we know. Okay, maybe I’m biased, but he really does know a lot of words. Tonight we were reading a book and he said, “you’re getting tired mommy.” Well, he got that right! I was reading pretty slow too. Smart little guy. Asher is flippin’hilarious these days. He gets a HUGE kick out of Tia. When she plays fetch with Ryan, Asher just cracks up, hysterically laughing. We’re not even sure what the joke is, but it is so great to hear that boy laugh. He’s also practicing being a talker like Miles. He doesn’t speak english, but he sure does go on and on. Ryan’s home […]
I kind of enjoy being home-bound the first morning after a big snow. The end of the driveway is always way too full to drive through and it takes awhile to shovel it away. Ryan and Miles are out there working on it right now. Well, Ryan is working on it and Miles is eating snow. Don’t worry, we’ve explained to him that he should avoid yellow snow. It’s funny how things get translated in his busy little brain. Now he says “we can’t eat the yellow snow cause Tia goes pssss on it.” I don’t know how he came up with sound effects, I promise it wasn’t Ryan or I. Except maybe when he was sitting on the potty chair and I tried to help him understand what sound it might make when he actually goes potty. oops. I can just imagine what it will be like at school when he walks […]
* * Actual christmas tree not shown We only had to go about five blocks to get our tree this year. That was good due to the weather and the small people we brought along. Miles wasn’t too sure what the heck we were doing, but we loved watching the “wonder” in his eyes: He kept saying that he was cold and I would ask if he wanted to get in the car and he’d say no as if it was a silly question. How could I miss this, mom? Asher didn’t really get to partake in the festivities due to his newness, but he did come along:We had such a good time doing this today. I don’t know what it was. Maybe the beautiful snow that was making it feel all Christmasy. Or maybe because Miles was so excited to have a Christmas tree since it would have lights on it. We […]
Yup, he said it. While changing his diaper yesterday, I couldn’t believe my ears as I lifted Miles’ legs high in the air and he said “my butt is grumpy.” Well, I have to agree. It did smell grumpy. Today we went to see our dear friends Mackenzie and Olivia. Mackenzie is VERY pregnant with baby #2. Olivia is three months older than Miles and they’ve been buds their whole lives. When Miles got up from his nap I told him we were going to Olivia’s house. He said “ooooh, she’ll make me feel better.” You just never know what he might say or what he might mean by it. I love the ever-expanding vocabulary stage we’re in. Tonight when Miles was going to bed, we prayed and then talked about how God made him. He said “my fingers, my foot, my head, my tummy, my zipper.” You just can’t get any better […]
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 […]
I told Ryan today that I can’t stand not having structure. It used to be that I had a very routine life. I got up, went to work, came home, ate dinner, went for a walk, watched some TV and went to bed. Then we got married and we did those things together. Then we had Miles and we worked hard on him having a schedule so he and we both could benefit from a routine together that left us all rested and feeling good. Then we had Asher. The end of structure. He cried and cried and we couldn’t even figure out when to eat or how to give Miles a bath. He’s not crying all the time anymore, but he still has a lot of difficulty sleeping. He catnaps throughout the day and frequently wakes up in the night. Don’t get me wrong, this boy is SO loveable, we couldn’t possibly […]
Yesterday was an interesting day for me. Ryan had told me to do whatever I wanted with the whole day. To say the least I needed to have some alone time to stop being a crazy person at home. I had plans to meet Kim in the morning for coffee to catch up and plans to have dinner at Kelly’s (I’ll get to that later) in the evening. Other than that, I had the whole day open. So I met Kim and it felt so good to see her and her round pregnant belly. We discussed everything baby and had tasty drinks. Borders has a gingerbread latte that I could drink all day long. It even has a cute little gingerbread man on the whipped cream. Yum… Anyway! After meeting with Kim I got in the car and had no idea what to do. It felt so weird to not have to hurry […]
First of all, before I forget. The pumpkin recipe from yesterday’s post: It makes lots of batter, a little much for a loaf pan. I put it all in a regular larger sized loaf pan and it spilled over. So use your smarts if you make this recipe and don’t put all the batter in one pan – maybe two smaller ones? I don’t know, I’m clueless about that sort of thing.Next, I want to give some props to some wonderful mothers in my life. I’ve learned endless amounts from my friend Kate, mother of Caleb-6 and Ella-5. She is an excellent mother. Mostly she teaches me how to respect my children, because after all, they are little people. My friend Carrie (mother of twin girls, Zoe and Eden-3) reminds me often that these little people are not robots. Sometimes you need to hear that when you’re caught up in trying to get […]
So this look may not scream “TAKE ME FOR A WALK!!!” to you, but over the last three years we’ve come to decipher these looks from our dog, Tia. This one means… “you haven’t been paying attention to me and I’m sick of it – take me for a walk or I’ll never stop staring at you again.” With two kids, I find it quite difficult to have much time for Tia’s needs. I have dog guilt. Mostly because she’s a really good dog. Even if we don’t walk her as much as we used to, she mostly just deals with it by going to bed. Sure, she sheds too much and gets underfoot here and there. Sure, she begs for people food like the best of em, but that’s the extent of her naughtiness. Okay, so she did eat the stem off Asher’s pumpkin but I figured she owed us that one […]
Somebody help us!!! We haven’t been out much lately and we’re losing our minds. Since Ryan, Miles and Asher have all been sick and I then got mastitis (if you don’t know what that is, no worries, it’s a nursing issue that I won’t get into here), we have been pretty much home-bound for over a week. This makes for mush brain and a sense that the world has stopped, even if we know it hasn’t. Ryan said, “today has been really weird.” And I said “yeah, I know; like one big bunch of busy nothing.” Sometimes life with two small people is a lot like the movie “Groundhog Day” where Bill Murray keeps waking up and repeating the exact same day over and over. My friend Kate said this to me after I had Miles and I couldn’t agree more. Get up, feed little mouths, dress little bodies, play, scold, chase, diapers, […]
My mom really wanted some good new pics of Zach, Max, Miles and Asher but they all happened to turn out like this. Miles had just gotten up, was getting a cold, and thought the “fun” in the leaves was pretty dumb. We couldn’t wipe this look off his face to save our lives. And Asher wouldn’t wake up for the photo shoot. Oh well, isn’t that how it goes? I love the furrowed brow look Miles has anyway. At times he is just so serious, you can’t get him to stop turning those wheels in his head for a second. You have to wonder what he’s thinking. Then he can be a total clown too. He has that reputation at school – the one to make all the others laugh. I love that. Miles is finding out he really does like fall. He talks about the colors of the leaves changing on […]
Miles has three grandpas so sometimes it can be confusing for a little guy. When he was smaller, he thought of my dad, Mike, as Bapa Pocket. This is because my dad almost always has a shirt on with a breast pocket. In that pocket you can always find a pencil and gum. Nothin’ better than that when you’re a toddler! It’s Bapa Pocket’s birthday so we’re heading out to Spicer. Miles LOVES to go to Nanny and Bapa’s house. There’s a four-wheeler and the neighbors have horses and that could be even more exciting than a pocket with gum in it. But I think what all four of Bapa Pocket’s grandsons love even more than all of these things is the man behind the pocket. He doesn’t have to do much to win their affection. Or mine. Or my sister’s. Or my mom’s…. he’s just one of those people. You know the […]
Good news everyone! It appears that our “little” Asher is on the road to recovery. He’s finished his twelve step “stop crying” program and has joined us in the land of the smiling. These may have been the longest three months of our lives, but isn’t it something how trials can also then feel like the best times in life. We have more character now! Or maybe just another character in our family. (: Asher is a joy to have around. Miles continues to want to eat him up with love and affection. Miles is talking up a storm. He just walked up to me and said, “mommy, I’m right here, look at my bring, I need to take a bath, hey, how do you get this thing off? My flashlight, I find this thing apart.” Um… okay honey. I don’t know which part to respond to really. Maybe you could clarify…. These […]
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 […]
