Hege Highlights: January 2012

Friday, January 27, 2012

The Princess Has a Prince

Now that Jack is up and walking, he has now become Anna's prince for all of her princess escapades. Whenever he sees her coming with the red cape, he starts running because he knows what he is about to get roped into! So funny!

Snow White and her prince!

A Visit to Nana's

Will's grandmother, Nana, is starting a downward decline with her health. She was diagnosed with metastatic cancer back in May and it was so prolific, they could not find a source. She is forever the southern belle and her response was, "Well, now I don't have to sit and wonder what I'm going to die from." I love her! After a round of radiation treatment for a mass in her groin, she was doing pretty well, but I think that palliation is beginning to wear off and she's starting to be in a lot of pain. We have been making a concerted effort to make it over to visit and to let her see the kids. This past Saturday, we headed over there to take her some homemade soup and to visit for a bit. She was in pretty good spirits. I gave Cathe a break and gave her her daily insulin shot. Will did some handy-man chores around the house for her while we visited. She cracked us up because beside her chair in the den was a book titled Being Dead is No Excuse: A Southern Lady's Guide to a Fabulous Funeral. She is hysterical!

Anna and Jack love her singing bears that Abe gave her.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Jack is constantly trying to get a sip of our "adult" drinks.
Sorry, pal, your excitement in the beverage department
is going to have to be whole milk right now!

Will said there was something wrong with this,
but for the life of me, I can't figure out
what it could be! ;)

A Fancy Nancy Tea Party

One night before bedtime, we read Anna one of the Fancy Nancy books about tea parties. Nancy gives examples of ways to make your tea party extra fancy. Anna wanted to have a tea party "just like Fancy Nancy does", so the next day we did! We bejeweled placemats and flatware and fixed finger sandwiches and fruit kabobs and brownie bites. We even got down a pretty pitcher and put some flowers in it, just like Fancy Nancy did. Daddy had helped at the Samaritan Inn the night before, so he slept through most of the preparation. But, he was lucky enough to be able to join us for a tea party lunch! Anna was so excited and so proud!

I have to admit, it was pretty fancy!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Technology Addiction

The other night after the kids went to bed, Will got ready to sit down in his spot on the couch to watch football on TV. While he went to the fridge to grab his beer, I had to snap a picture of this. Does anyone else see a problem here?

The TV remote with internet access, his cell phone with internet
access, and his iPad with internet access.

**He complains that I never blog about him. Does this count?? Love you, Honey!

Big Boy Changes!

Since Jack can now walk and crawl up the stairs and be so stinkin' cute as he figures out everything he can get into, we've had to make some obvious changes. We've started closing the gates when we go up or down the stairs. (He did sneak up the stairs by himself one evening while I was fixing dinner and about scared me to death. I thought I had closed the gate, but then I hear the banister upstairs and he's standing up looking down at the den! I continue to send a big "thank you" up to those guardian angels that were watching out for him because he still tries to go down the stairs head first!). We've also had to put some locks on some of the cabinet doors and make sure the bathroom doors stay closed. The biggest change came last weekend when I decided that it was time to switch his car seat around. Now I realize that it is two weeks shy of his birthday. However, the boy weighs 25+ pounds and is so long that he has to sit frog-legged because his feet hit the seat. He fusses every time you put him in the car because he's just not comfortable. For those of you who are following the "rear-facing until you're 55" bandwagon, have at it. I am not driving with a miserable child for that long. You and I would be safer if we rode rear-facing, too, but how long do you think that would last? Anyway, Will switched his car seat and then we went for a family drive to try it out...

At first he was all grins...

...then he became serious as he tried to figure all of this out...

...and then he started throwing his arms up in the air and blabbering,
like he was saying, "Look guys, this stuff is moving!"

I am looking forward to a much happier rider now that he is more comfortable. And he can see the DVD player, now, too, so trips should be a piece of cake. Welcome to your big boy world, Jack!

Perfect for a Fort

The house that Jack got for Christmas makes a pretty snazzy
front door to a fort. The fort lasted several days until Daddy
reached his limit of it taking up half of the den.
I'm sure there will be many more!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Our Anna

Anna is simultaneously cracking us up and aggravating us to death at this age. My mom has a theory that kids go through phases that line up with their birthdays--around the birthday is a better time while the 1/2 year is not so fun. We're approaching 4 and 1/2 and I'm really starting to be a believer in Mom's theory. Anna has definitely gotten the attitude down to a science: the arm crossing, huffing and puffing, stomping, sticking the tongue out, and cutting the eyes. We make sure she doesn't get whatever she's after when she does these things, but it's not quite kicking in yet that it's not to her advantage. At the same time, though, she can be so stinkin' cute! The other night in the bathtub after a fairly bad attitude day, she looked at me with those sweet brown eyes and said, "Mommy, I'm going to be sweet now and do what you ask me to." I could just eat her up!

Always a princess!

Anna and all of her friends...
there's still a little bit of room for her to sleep!

Jack and the Spoon

Jack's eating habits have changed so much lately! A couple of days ago he boycotted getting fed with a spoon. He just wouldn't have it anymore and I would get the hand or the arm and a quick head dodge if I tried. He wants to do it himself! Then he started reaching for the spoon. So, I filled the spoon with the sweet potatoes I was trying to feed him and handed the spoon to him. He got the biggest grin on his face and ate what was on the spoon. I asked him if he wanted more and held my hand out for the spoon. He gave it back to me and we continued this little game that he found highly amusing. As long as it's not a runny food, he does pretty well getting it in his mouth. I can't believe he's using a spoon already!!

Mommy Almost Had Bangs

The other morning after I got out of the shower, Anna wanted to play with my hair. One of my favorite things in the world is having someone play with my hair, so I eagerly agreed. I sat there, lost in my bliss, pretty unaware of what she was doing. A few minutes later, she kept yanking on the comb she was using and finally said, "Mommy, I can't get the comb out." Sure enough, she had wound little sections of my hair around the comb. I went to the bathroom and tried to untangle it, but it wasn't budging. I had a small panic attack as I envisioned me with bangs from having to cut my hair out of the comb! Then I started laughing and had to snap this picture. After 20 minutes and some vegetable oil to help it slide, I finally pulled the comb free (along with a some of my hair). I guess I need to pay attention when Anna is playing with my hair. After it was all over, Anna said, "Mommy, I'm sorry I got your hair stuck. I was just trying to make it look like Rapunzel's!" And "tangled" it was!!

Jack and the Grilled Cheese

For lunch the other day, Anna and I decided it was a perfect day for grilled cheese and tomato soup. I fixed our lunch and then pulled off several bite-sized pieces of grilled cheese for Jack and gave him some cut up bananas, among other things. He kept fussing and reaching for my plate, signing "more". I could not figure out what he wanted, so finally just handed him my plate. He immediately grabbed the other half of my grilled cheese and took a big bite, happy as a clam. "Forget these pieces, Mom, I want the whole thing!"

The Way My Kitchen Looks

When we redid our kitchen a couple of years ago, I rearranged my cabinets so that all of the "safe" items were in the bottom cabinets and all of the breakable things were in the top ones. That way, we wouldn't have to deal with all of those silly door contraptions to keep the kiddos out. Several weeks back, Jack discovered the tupperware drawer and now one of his favorite things is to empty it while I'm working in the kitchen. Anna loves to come "help", too. Between that and the magnets from the refrigerator, my kitchen floor is a veritable mine field. I pick it up more than once most days. This is how my kitchen looks multiple times on any given day...Gotta love it!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Winter Outside Fun

After the holidays were over and everyone was on the mend, we all just needed some fresh air! It was a beautiful day, but probably one of the coldest of the winter so far. Mommy was determined, so we all bundled up and headed outside.

Jack practiced his walking back and forth on the driveway.

Anna tried out her new water bottle and helmet.

Watch out! Policeman Jack is on patrol!

Anna mowing the...driveway?

Then Anna decided to get her car out and take Jack for a spin.
Jack wasn't quite sure what to think about that.

When our hands and toes and noses were about to freeze off, we came back inside for a perfect lunch of tomato soup and grilled cheese. What a fun morning!

Jack is 11 Months Old!

Can someone find a pause button, please! Time is going way too fast! Look at our big boy!

Meal time is my favorite!

Daddy and his boy watching football on a Sunday afternoon.

Walking Jack!

So proud for doing it by himself!

Let me show you, Mommy!

Happy New Year!

We shared so much over Christmas, including a nasty stomach virus that went through the majority of the Collins family. Anna and I both fell victim to it and were MIA for a couple of days. Fortunately, Will and Jack escaped scott-free. Since we were still a little puny and waiting to see if anyone else was going to get it, we had to adjust our New Years plans a bit. Since Sarah and Jason had already gotten the virus, we felt like it was safe to hang out with them! Jason brought over his new Xbox Kinect and we spent the night footballing and dancing our hearts out (four and five stars, baby!). After the ball dropped and we said our "Happy New Year!"s, they woke Caroline up and headed home.