Happy Birthday Clay

Clay celebrated his 6th birthday last week and keeping with tradition we planned to meet my sister and her family on his actual birthday (it fell on a Wednesday this year) to have a small celebration. His best friend Jake came over early in the afternoon and got to spend the day with him too. We had pizza for supper and then all of us went to meet my sister at Harter's ice cream. She planned to get there a few minutes before us so that she could set up decorations for Clay. (Have I mentioned how special my sister is to me? She is so good to my kids.) When we arrived she had set up a few streamers and balloons, and also had presents waiting for him. She really made his special day extra special!


On Saturday we celebrated with family and friends at Run Jump and Play. I scheduled the 'Cosmic Glow' Birthday party. The kids got to play 'glow' golf, 'glow' bowling and bounce around in one of the bounce rooms too. After that it was on to the party room for cake and presents.

It's hard to believe that he is already 6 years old. Time flies by so quickly. Happy Birthday Clay! We love you so very much buddy.

Clay is loosing more teeth and playing baseball..... it's been a while!!

So as the title states, Clay's teeth have been falling out...left and right I might add....and the little guy is playing baseball.  I must apologize for my 'lack' of blogging.  It's not that we have nothing going on, because believe me, we do, I just feel like I have been caught up with being 'busy'!  The biggest thing keeping me busy is cleaning our house and getting it ready for showings (we are trying to sell it), followed by taking care of the boys, brushing teeth, making beds, doing laundry, fixing breakfast, lunch, and dinner, doing dishes, packing lunches for Carlie, picking Carlie up from school everyday, busy with homework when she gets home, you get the picture, a whole lot of 'busy' going on around here.  Nothing extraordinary, just ordinary life.  All you Momma's out there can relate and some are a lot 'busier' than I am!  And please don't think I am complaining about it because truly, I am not. 

Ok, Clay's teeth.... as I write this I am trying to think back and remember if I have even blogged about his teeth.  And I can't remember.  Isn't that horrible?  I know that I have taken pictures when they have fallen out, and I also know that he has lost teeth on the top and bottom of his mouth.  There are definitely 4 or 5 baby teeth that are gone.  As I continue to write here I am also consciously making the decision to blog more often as I can't seem to remember anything anymore and it will be nice to have 'something' to look back at for memories.  Geez. 

Now let's talk about baseball.  Or t-ball, or coach pitch, or whatever you want to call it.  Clay decided that he would play this year.... and it was an easy decision for him to make once he found out that Daddy would be assisting the coach.  His team is called the 'Ninja's' and is made up of 5 and 6 year old boys.  I have to say, for only having 2 practices before they started playing games, the kids are doing pretty well.  It is such a sweet thing watching him play.  He is often distracted while 'fielding' the ball and seems to show more interest in seeing how much dirt he can fit in his glove, and then seeing how high he can fling it in the air than the actual 'fielding the ball' part of it.  I am sure that a lot of this has to do with his age because there are a lot of dirt flingers out there.  Ha!

Carlie's Big Day Out!

For about a year or so Carlie has been wanting to get her ears pierced.  She actually made it into the chair one time last year and jumped out of it because she was too scared.  She came home from school one day and said "Madeline got her ears pierced and now I am ready to get mine done!".  I called my sister and we got a plan together.  She met Carlie and I at Panera Bread at Deerfield Towne Center for lunch and then we headed over to Claire's.  Carlie was so excited and a little nervous too.  While standing at the ear piercing station and looking at her choices a girl came up and asked us if we were wanting to get ears pierced because if we were, we couldn't get it done today.  They were out of forms.  You are kidding me right???  But no, she wasn't kidding.  I wanted to cry.  We ended up driving down to the Kenwood Mall and thankfully, they had the forms.  My brave, little, dear hopped up in the chair after making her selection and let the girl pierce her ears.  She even got a wallet from Aunt KK because she was so brave. 

Christmas with Mom and Dad

Wondering how many Christmas posts I am going to have?  Haha!  This is the last one, and that is only because we weren't able to make it out to Illinois this year to celebrate with the extended Heap family.  Mom and Dad came down on the Wednesday after Christmas and brought our cousin Ellen with them.  Ellen is such a great girl.  Patient, helpful, thoughtful, I really could go on and on!  And guess what???  It just so happens that my kids LOVE her and she loves them!  We had a lot of fun during their stay.  On Saturday we got together with my sister's family for our Christmas.  Since it was New Year's Day we made sure to incorporate pork and cabbage into the meal so that we could prosper in the New Year!  Carlie has been crying that she misses Ellen since she left.  And I really don't need to explain the love that we have for Mom and Dad.  The kids are nuts over them, and every time they leave I get choked up.  This time was no different, especially when Casey says "Grandma, I want to go to Coolville with you and Grandpa.".  He said it in his sweet little Casey voice.  I am sure it's even harder for Mom and Dad to hear than it is for me.  I love you Mom and Dad.

Christmas morning

After staying up waaaay too late wrapping presents the night before, we were finally ready for Christmas morning.  Carlie was the first one to pop her head out of bed, followed by Clay who then went in to wake up a very grumpy Casey..... grumpy because he didn't want to get up yet.  I could hear Clay saying "But come on Casey, you  have to get up, it's Christmas morning!".  It was so sweet, and those words must have been music to his little ears because he got right up!  After they opened their presents we had a very lazy day.  We enjoyed leftovers from the night before, the kids enjoyed playing with their new toys, and I even got to enjoy a little nap!

Carlie's Christmas Party at Mars Hill









Carlie's last day of school was on the 18th of December. My friend Carey came over and watched the boys so that I could attend her party. Her teacher Mrs. Stollberg likes to make it really special for the children. The kids went out in the hallway to hear a story while their classroom was transformed. The desks were pushed back, decorations were hung from the ceiling, a table was placed in the center of the room and beautifully set with real china, crystal and glass goblets for drinking, cloth napkins, and candle light. This was all a surprise for the kids, the only thing they knew was that they would be having lunch. After the room was transformed, the kids were invited back into the classroom. The looks on their little faces were priceless! They were invited to find a place to set at the table and then the parents served them their food. They dined on pizza, salami and cream cheese roll-ups, veggies and dip, fresh fruit, cookies, and cupcakes. It was a very special day for them!





Christmas Eve with the Heap's





On Christmas Eve Josh's parents and siblings came to our house for dinner.  Every year Billie, (Josh's Mom or Mimi as the grand-kids call her) likes to do special things with the kids to reinforce the true meaning and importance of Christmas.  She comes prepared with sing-a-long sheets, christmas bells for the kids to ring, she has the grand-kids sing songs and recite scripture, and we always have a birthday cake for Jesus.  Gracie got to come up and spend a couple of nights with Carlie before Christmas.  The girls had a wonderful time together and we all had a great time celebrating the birth of our Savior!