Reegan is 6

Reegan is 6... I can't believe it. This last year has a been a huge year of growth for this girl. Kindergarten has been amazing for her. She now reads and writes and loves math and tests. She looks forward to going to school every day and loves to come home and tell me what she's learned. She loves gym and library class. Also likes computer class because she gets to play games on pbs.org. Her teacher tells me that she is a leader in the class and everyone likes her. She also sits by a special needs kid and takes the initiative to help him with his work and is very patient with him. 

I told her I wanted to take some pictures now that she is 6 and she posed herself in these photos. If she wasn't so shy around strangers I would think modeling is in her future!

 We had her checkup yesterday and she is just shy of 50 pounds (74%ile) and just shy of 4 feet tall (83%ile). WOW, she is growing like crazy.

Reegan likes to sleep in a little bit in the morning and I have to wake her up for school just about every day. I wake her once and she asks for a couple of minutes to lay in bed. She lays there and wakes up a bit and 5 min later when I come back she is ready to get up and dressed. She likes to pick out her own clothes and has her favorite outfits. If she could wear dresses or skirts to school every day she would.  To bad its winter and that requires pants. She is also particular about her hair. She wants it how she wants it. She also doesn't have much of an appetite in the morning. I think she would be fine if I sent her to school with no breakfast, but I just can't do that. So, I make her eat at least a little something in the morning.

 After school she seems genuinely excited to see her brother and sister and want to play. She is often overly excited and therefore doesn't listen to instructions. I think she is mentally tired which makes me happy we did half day and not full day. We do lunch time, play a little, read (our daily homework is to read for a minimum of 20 minutes) and then do rest time. Reegan never takes a nap anymore (even when she really needs it) and instead spends some quiet time in her room. Most days she either does crafts or puzzles. She always asks to watch Netflix on the iPad and sometimes I give in and let her have it. Somedays she goes downstairs with me and we bake or play games.

Reegan is a good eater and likes healthy food.  Or food that she thinks is healthy. Chicken nuggets is healthy to her because it's meat. She loves veggies, salad, cucumbers, peppers, etc. Also does great with fruit. She loves salty snacks, chips, pretzels, popcorn and doesn't enjoy sweets as often. Ice cream or cake she picks vanilla over chocolate every time.

Reegan love arts and crafts, has found a love for cooking (thanks Masterchef Junior), working on school stuff, reading, playing barbies, and being outdoors. She is a perfectionist and doesn't enjoy new things. If something doesn't come natural to her she doesn't want to do it.

Reegan is one amazing girl! She is smart, kind, beautiful and wise beyond her years. We can no longer spell things we don't want her to hear because she has called us out on p-a-r-k, i-c-e c-r-e-a-m, etc. She is very sensitive and cries if we raise our voice or if she sees something sad on tv. She says and does things almost every day that surprises me. She is growing up and I can honestly say that I am enjoying it all!

She has lost 3 teeth and the top 2 are loose currently. Can ride a bike with no training wheels and learned how to roller skate in gym class. Loves watching dancing with the stars and cooking shows. Tells me she is going to be an artist like Nana when she grows up. Still loves to cuddle, but only on her timing. Takes baths but its a matter of time before she starts showering instead. has an incredible imagination. Loves to read, we are currently working through the magic treehouse books and when we stop at the chapter breaks she says she just want to keep reading, I see a book worm in our future! She is a great big sister, loves to hold Emerson while she sleeps and taking care of her. Gavin is her best friend but they are starting to butt heads more and more, however when they are getting along it is so great.

We love you Reegan! Happy 6th Birthday!!!

11 months old

I'm trying to deny it, but my baby is 11 months old. That's almost a year...almost walking, almost starting kindergarten, and then off to college. Where is the time going? 

Emerson is amazing, she's perfect! We love her more and more every day. 

Emerson now has 8 teeth and loves to eat food. She nurses, takes baby food and loves to feed herself whatever we are eating at each meal. If she is hungry or sees one of us eating she starts grunting and crawls over as fast as she can to get a bite of whatever it is we are eating. Reegan especially loves sharing her food with the baby. She gives her the tiniest bites and is so helpful.

Every month I say it, but Emerson is just the sweetest girl and so happy. She smiles all the time and is so content to play by herself on the floor and explore the big kids' toys. She does like to sit and cuddle but is happiest off playing. She makes a mess, empties baskets and rummages through toys.

Emerson takes a pacifier when she wants to go to sleep, but whenever I give it to her she cries and tries to push it out with her tongue. Once I can convince her to take the pacifier (usually only a min or two) she starts sucking on it and her eyes roll back into her head and she is out. She is fairly predictable and easy to read. Every day she takes a nap between 9:30 and 10 for 45 min or so. Then another nap around 1 and sometimes an evening nap around 5. The 1:00 nap is a struggle for us right now. She falls asleep hard for 20-30 min and then wakes up. Most of the time I can get her back to sleep (will only stay asleep if she's being held), but sometimes she never will go back to sleep. Those days are tough for me. She's tired, I'm tired, blah. I know this, like everything else, is all a phase. Soon we will be back to our 2+ hour afternoon naps...at least I hope so.

Emerson's new favorite activity is pushing her walker all around the house and just smiles and smiles! The big kids help her turn the corners and off she goes again. She is also starting to become braver and has attempted to start climbing the stairs. I'm trying to keep this from happening for as long as I can, so we quickly grab her and move her back to the living room.

Emerson is quite the speed crawler. She can get herself all around the house. When she is headed someplace she shouldn't go (usually the stairs) and I call her name she takes off and moves even faster. She is such a stinker!!!

Emerson says mama but only when she is unhappy and whining. She can also clap her hands, wave, and shake her head nonono

Reegan and Gavin are the greatest big brother and sister and Emerson loves them just the same. They can make her laugh much more than Jason and I can. Her eyes light up when she sees them and starts kicking her legs and grunting because she wants them to pay attention to her.

Emerson keeps getting more fun, we love her to pieces. I can't believe these 3 are mine! Its fun, stressful, loud, crazy, and exciting over at the Heine household.

almost 4

Gavin tells me all the time how he is almost 4. I only sometimes remind him that he is just barely 3 1/2. My kids always talk about when they are older and seem to want to speed up time when all I want is to slow it down a bit. I love their excitement for now and excitement for the years to come.

For now I would like to bottle up this 3 1/2 year old boy who I adore. He is wild and crazy and equally sweet and thoughtful. He drives me crazy because he is so hard-headed and doesn't like to listen when I discipline him and the next moment is telling me how I look pretty or giving me kisses. He is trouble :)!!!

Gavin loves to make people laugh and will do anything to get a smile. He is ham in front of the camera. His preschool teachers always tell me what a quiet, sweet boy he is and don't believe me when I tell them how loud, wild, and still sweet he is at home. I love that he is totally comfortable with us to be completely be himself. And he loves to eat, but mainly just wants to eat snacks not meals.

He is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. He has these gorgeous blue eyes, fair, soft skin and blond curls. Almost every time we go somewhere people comment on his hair and tell me how cute it is. I plan to never cut it short again (much to Jason's dismay). Gavin is so tall and thin, but he eats plenty so I think its just his body style. He has thick, large feet and hands and his thighs are solid! I think we've got a big boy on our hands.

Gavin goes to preschool Wed and Fri morning from 8:45-11:15. On those days we drop Reegan off at school and then sit in the preschool drop-off line for 20ish min and spend some quality time being goofy and listening to the frozen CD. He loves to play with his school friends Ben, Will and Evan playing cars and playdough. He tells me every week that he wants me to be snack helper, I have to share with the other parents so I am scheduled 5 times this year. I pick him up and he walks so proudly back to the car, waving and smiling at me. My heart bursts every time.  I am so proud of him and just love that little guy so much.

Days off school we either stay home or go out with friends. At home, once baby is asleep he always wants to play playdough or do arts and crafts (markers, stickers, stamps, etc). He also loves to bake with me. When we go out he wants to go to the park or chick-fil-a to eat and play.

Some fun facts:
-he knows his left and right better than some older kids I know
-wants to go to starbucks with me to get scones
-food is his love language (sweets not healthy stuff)- donuts and ice cream are his favorite
-tries to sound out words (he hears Reegan practice her reading and wants to do it too, but just hasn't figured it out yet)
-knows all his letters and can count to 40 or so (does skip a number here and there)
-likes to karate things- kicks doors closed and pretends to karate with me
-loves his sisters and is such a great brother. He likes to hold the baby and wants to carry her around (we don't let him) and loves to play with Reegan (he lets her boss him around most of the time)
-loves superheroes (specifically spiderman), trains, cars, trucks, sports, legos, and dinosaurs. Stereotypical boy!
-Wears 4T clothes. We do have a hard time finding jeans that are long enough for his legs. He outgrows them quickly! He can dress himself, sometimes needs help buttoning his pants and sometimes getting his shirts off.
-Likes to be a big boy and independent and other times wants to be a baby and have me do everything for him... take off his pants, feed him dinner, etc

We just love this little boy so much. Life is better with him around!!!!

activities

The weather turned cold for a few weeks so I decided to find some indoor activities to get us out of the house and a change in scenery. There's a near by church that has open play for toddlers on Thurs morning for free, so we've made the trip a couple of times so far this year. This is the face of a girl who woke up and is very confused as to where we are!

Gavin ditched the basketball and inflatable trampoline to spend a little time playing with the baby toys and his little sissy.

 We headed to the mall on another morning. I can't believe its a matter of months before this little one will be walking and running all over the place.

I had the honor of taking Gavin (just us 2) to see marvel live. He loves superheroes and calls them "the nice guys". He had a great time and I loved watching him watch the show.

The following Saturday morning we headed out for some family time. Started the morning at a scavenger hunt at a local art museum and then lunch at Winsteads for burgers and milkshakes.

The chiefs were playing that afternoon and we were dressed and ready.

Baby led weaning is going really well. Here Emerson is eating a grilled cheese sandwich and cherry tomato pieces. Obviously loving it all!

Playing with the rocking horse that Santa brought for christmas

My goofy boy, with the most beautiful, blue eyes, in the drop-off line for preschool.

At home and still just as goofy.

"working" one Saturday morning

Enjoying a nice afternoon in their "tree house"

Craft time one afternoon with Reegan while the little kids were supposed to be napping. Gavin cooperated but this one decided she only needed to sleep for 45 minutes and was pretty happy when I gave in and brought her downstairs to hang out with us and eat a snack of peas and raspberries.

Afternoon play at the park, I love babywearing!

2016 has been good to us so far!