Post Lasik

Have I mentioned to you yet how much I LOVE Lasik!!  Here is a picture of me 8 hours post-op (maybe) and while the smile may look hokey - I loved it!  I had to wear these lovely eye shields for the first day of the procedure and then each night for a week after.  Tim thought they were lovely :-(  But, they were too protect me from inadvertently rubbing my eyes at night so they had a good function!

The surgery wasn't bad at all and for anyone that is considering Lasik - do it!!  Don't delay.  Seriously. I wonder why I was so nervous.

As for post op care - there were and still are many drops that I put in my eyes.  I use rewetting drops every hour and man, I can tell if I don't put them in.  Plus, every night around 9 I am ready to go to bed as my eyes are tired, but that isn't really a bad thing either!

And - here I am today... and hopefully sans glasses for a long, long time!!

The Da Vinci Fest

So - it appears that we have an artist among us!  Miss Emma was nominated from her class to show her artwork at Da Vinci Fest, which is an art show for the Stillwater District Schools. She was so excited and honored to be nominated.  So, of course - we had to go and check it out!  There were a few kids from each grade that had artwork there. Emma had only one other classmate that received the nomination as well.

A close up of her artwork

It was a neat little festival that showed artwork, sculptures, video's and other artsy stuff. Plus, they had tables for all the unique groups that Stillwater High School house.  We looked at lake cultures under a microscope, played "operation" with a medical group from the U of M, and looked at jewelry made from the art club to name a few.

It was fun and Emma was so proud!

Boo...

The Packer's lost... as I am sure most of my loyal blog readers know.  Valiant effort - horrible ending.

Evan has decided that he is a Packer Fan - Yea!  One more in the household as Emma has declared herself a Viking Fan.  so, Evan and I watched the game this afternoon.  He off and on, asking a few questions along the way and doing the "Packer's Rule and Vikings Drool... right Mama?"

He is wearing a Packer shirt of mine as he doesn't have one on his own, but really wants one. So, I figure I will go and buy him one as Emma now has a Viking shirt and a Viking hat.  He really likes my Aaron Rodgers jersey, so I am thinking one of those.  Anyway -

We watched the game... and then I became depressed.  Toss that in with the subzero temps and it isn't good here in Heuer land.  Oh well... here's to another year!

Before the deep freeze settles in...

We tried to get as prepared as we could this weekend for the deep freeze that is heading our way.  Right now, the air temperature is -14 and the wind chill is -35.  Lovely...  I am happy to report that the kids do not have school tomorrow, so Tim will be staying home with them. I, however, will still be driving in to work. Thankfully I do not a long drive to work in the morning now.  Anyway....  To prepare for the cold, we tried to get everything possible done early Saturday before it got unbearable.  So I went to the grocery store to stock up and Tim plowed the driveway and shoveled the sidewalk.  The kids played outside both Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon as I told them they wouldn't be outside again until Tuesday.  (Which I lied of sorts as we had Sunday school today. It wasn't too cold out yet this morning)

Saturday afternoon, the Kellogg's had the same idea and came over to do some tubing.

Kristen and Kate about to head down our hill

Emma enjoying the afternoon

Kyra helping out with the tubes on the way up

Evan

Emma getting ready to snowboard

Evan heading down the hill.

Of course, nothing goes better with sledding than hot chocolate so we headed inside once our cheeks were too pink and warmed up with hot chocolate and Christmas cookies!  Then, the kids played with the new toys for a bit and we settled in for the rest of the evening.

I am glad we made it out and am hoping it doesn't get as cold as the weathermen say it will.

And Finally... relaxation

Happy New Year!

Wow - 2014.... I cannot believe we are here.  I cannot believe it has been 12 years since I graduated from college and (gulp!) 16 years since I graduated from high school.  I have been married for 10 years and will have an 8 year old daughter this spring.

Sometimes I cannot believe how fast time flies.

Or - how fast the holidays fly by.

We had a very relaxing past few days.  Saturday, Dec. 28 we headed down to my parent's farm for the Brunner Christmas.  We ate appetizers, the kids opened more presents, and we had the sledding party!  (which both of my kids were SO excited about.) My parents live next to a great big hill and my Dad had out the snowmobile so imagine them constantly going down and Dad driving them back  up.  The perfect scenario for sledding.  Tim and I were still a bit under the weather for this party, so while we had fun, we were still pretty tired and suffering from some weird stomach stuff.

Sunday, Dec. 29 was Tim's family Christmas.  So, mid-afternoon we headed to his sisters (loaded with 48 cupcakes, 5 different kinds) for fun, family, MORE presents and the Packer Game!!  The Packer game, unfortunately, was fairly brutal as I was surrounded by Viking fans. Thankfully, it ended up well.  Tim and I were feeling a little better this day and could get into the holiday a bit more (and enjoy one of the cupcakes I made!)  The kids got some walkie-talkies from their Aunt Jill & Uncle Dave and enjoyed playing with these for the rest of the week.

Finally - finally, some quiet time with just our family. Monday, Dec. 30 - the four of us headed up to the cabin for rest and relaxation.  By now, Tim and I were almost back to our normal selves, the kids were exhausted from the past few days and we were ready to relax.  I downloaded a Jane Green book to my tablet and actually read a book - a fun, chic-lit, non-business school book! I was in heaven.   Emma's cousin Jordyn was up at the cabin and they are only 3 years apart and they played so well together!  Jordyn stayed over night and they both had a great time.  Evan played with them some too, which only helped out with my reading :-)

Jorydn and Emma: 2 peas on a pod over the weekend.

Unfortunately, it was bitter cold up at the cabin.  So, no sledding... no ice skating... no cross-country skiing. Since Emma was busy playing with Jorydn a lot, we had to keep Evan occupied for most of the time.  " MOM!  Who am I going to play with??"  

So we started a new puzzle:  (only 550 pieces, Mom, with many different colors & characters, so much easier!)

Relaxed with Sage:

Tried out some bowling:

Played Big Buck Hunter

We had a great time.

Tuesday we got out the ice fishing shack.  Evan waited as patiently as he could, but eventually, it looked like this.

Somewhat patient waiting for Tim to get things set up (Sage too for that matter)

And going crazy because he was getting hot and Tim just wasn't moving fast enough.  And no, my suggestion to take off the winter gear wasn't received well by him.

They went out on Tuesday and Tim got a fish or two and Evan, unfortunately, didn't get anything.  Emma didn't want to go, so we did this:

Skip Bo!
Try to ignore the ugly shirt she is wearing  :-)
She claims to be a Viking Fan, but I am sure that is just so she can disagree with me.

New Years Eve night, we headed over to Tim's sister Pat's house and enjoyed homemade pizzas and strawberry mojito's.  I didn't make it to midnight, not that I really care anymore.  I needed my sleep.  :-)  

The next day I was bummed as we had to go home later that day.  The holiday week just seemed to go by too fast for my liking and I could have used a few more days of relaxation.  We cleaned the cabin and then went out ice fishing:

In the sled, being pulled out to the lake.

Emma caught one!

Evan unfortunately got skunked again, although he did get a bite.  Thanks to portable heaters for keeping our little shack somewhat warm!

We made it home on Wednesday around 5:30, with enough time to fry up our fish, play with new toys and get ready for our normal/non-holiday lives to begin again.

And - for my small bit of news - Say goodbye to glasses!  I am hoping to have a Lasik surgery planned for mid-January to say goodbye to my glasses.  I have been wearing them now for over a week to prepare my eyes for Lasik and I am already sick of them.  It doesn't help that my work requires me to wear eye protection OVER my glasses...  So - wish me luck.  I think I have waited long enough, have saved up some money, and hope to go to Hawaii in a few weeks without contacts & glasses.  More to come on this one!

What fun!

Christmas is such a fun time! Especially when you have two little ones to enjoy the holidays with.  They were so excited!  I believe my last post was Christmas Eve.  

Christmas Day started like this.... I woke up at 6am to the pitter patter of little feet heading down the stairs.  Then I heard the same little feet jumping for joy and then race back upstairs to his sister's room.  "HE CAME! HE CAME!!"  I heard Evan yell and then more pitter patter of feet downstairs.  "HE CAME!  HE ATE OUR COOKIES!!" and then racing upstairs and storming into our room to wake us up.  More jumping for joy in our room and excited voices saying "Santa was here! There are tons of presents!  He ate our cookies!  Santa came!"  A whole chorus of little excited voices. Then the  "MOM!  Get out of bed! We have to go open presents!"  "Come on! Come on!"

So - at about 6:05 we were downstairs.  Tim got up about 5 minutes after and by that time, the kids has already sorted through the presents and had sorted them and had piles for each person.  Yes, excited was an understatement.

I didn't get a lot of pictures on my phone of that morning, but here are the kids before the sorting had started.

Both kids love everything they received.  Emma got a BB Gun and a Barbie and walking horse from Santa.  From us, she received a Justice gift card, some books, a doll.  Evan got a LeapPad and a BB gun from Santa.  Then from us, he got some Rokenbok toys, and some Disney Planes toys.

I think the presents were all unwrapped by 7am for sure. Then, it was Cinnamon rolls, playing with toys, and watching Christmas movies.  Eric, Jordan, Gaebriel, and Seth arrived around 10:30 and we exchanged presents with them, had breakfast, and relaxed.

Later that afternoon, we drove down to my parents house where they were hosting my Dad's family for Christmas.  So I got to see a lot of extended family which was great and had supper.  We played games and enjoyed the fun ruckus when we all get together!  We left the kids there as both Tim and I had to work on Dec. 26 and Dec 27.

For me - I was very, very happy to open up a pair of cowboy boots for Christmas from Tim!  They are so awesome!

(not the best picture - but you get the idea)

Emma picked out some pretty yellow jewelry for me and per Tim, Evan was certain that I needed a big diamond ring for Christmas.  So, Tim picked out a lovely one at Kohls for me.

We had two other Christmas celebrations this past Saturday at my parent's house and today at Tim's sisters house.   We had a sledding party at my parent's house yesterday and I think that was one of the highlights of the vacation for the kids.  It was warm outside, which was good for the kids, but made sledding down the hill a bit sticky. 

It has been a whirlwind week of rich food, presents, family, not-so-healthy- tummies, and many wonderful memories.  The kids this year were more excited for the holidays than I have seen them yet and it was so fun!  They were literally bouncing up and down when they saw that Santa had came and that energy and excitement is infectious.  They both had a pile of presents in front of them and were tearing into the paper and were opening up boxes and laughing and having a great old time.  It definitely makes the shopping, busy stores, and long nights of wrapping worth it!

The Magic is in the Air

AHH!  I Love Christmas Eve.  But, not as much as my kiddos. Evan got out the cookies and the milk around 6pm - so we wouldn't forget.  And then after supper he wanted to go to bed right away because he know that Santa came when he slept.  Emma was playing it a bit more cool, but was just as excited and giddy when she laid down.

We had a great Christmas Eve.  We had the kids Christmas party today, which the kids always look forward to.  Evan woke up this morning wondering where Santa was (he didn't quite get the Eve thing to today) and Emma was happy that I let her wear her jammies for awhile.  We watched Christmas movies until about 9:30 this morning and then did a quick clean of the house and awaited the Kelloggs and Nana and Papa's arrival.

First on the docket?  Running around and acting excited.  Second?  Making a gingerbread village!!

The sign Emma put on our front door to greet the Kelloggs

The crew

Emma's gingerbread house

Happy Helper Evan

Kate had a great time decorating

Kristen got into it too

And - this is how it turned out!  Our Christmas Village!

Evan insisted on eating his.  He took off every piece of candy on the roof.

After the gingerbread houses,it was our lunch. An appetizer lunch that consisted of chicken wings, artichoke dip, mini hotdogs, jalapeno poppers, mozzarella sticks, texas cavier, mini tacos, cheese & summer sausage.  Needless to say if someone left the table hungry, they weren't trying hard enough.

After lunch the Kelloggs headed home for quite time for the twins.  The Heuer Household went to church to try and remind the kids what the actual season is about!

We got back by 3:30 and after that it was a sledding party!  A brief sledding party, but fun nonetheless.  It was a lot colder outside than we anticipated, so we sledded for about 30 minutes at the most and then headed inside for hot chocolate!

Then - presents!!  Evan was excited to get some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle stuff -

Emma was delighted with a craft kit that had 3 pairs of socks and markers to decorate them!

After more running around, the Kelloggs headed home.  Nana and Papa headed home and the four of us sat down to watch some Christmas shows.

We feasted on clam chowder and crab legs, watched more Christmas shows, and wrestled the little kids up the stairs to get ready for bed.

Tomorrow is a big, big day!

A busy weekend

Last weekend was a great, holiday filled, hustle bustle of a weekend.

We made Christmas treats - peanut blossoms, cut-outs, banana bread, the Pioneer Woman Sweet rolls, and chocolate chip cookies.

In the middle of that, Emma had a playdate and Kristen and I did a baby-sitter swap so her and Craig went out on a date Friday night and Tim and I did the same on Saturday night.

There was an event in Lake Elmo last Saturday night "Light up Lake Elmo" that we went to as well.  Many well decorated trees were there, along with treats for the kids, and Santa!  Emma was excited to see Santa. Evan, not so much.  He cowered behind my legs.

 Sunday was more baking and Evan's Sunday School concert!  While he did NOT want to go, he did okay.  He somewhat did the hand motions and sang to "Away in a Manger" but seemed to get into it more for the next two songs.

And that was pretty much our past weekend in a nutshell. Evan has been fighting a stomach virus or something that has him pretty tired and complaining of a tummy ache and headaches. Thankfully so far, no other symptoms have come up, but he has been afflicted with this for the past two weeks or so. We called a nurse, who didn't provide much more info other than let him rest, give him liquids and if it gets worse with a fever, bring him in.  Hopefully he will be completely healed by Christmas.

Emma's new do

With  a new year almost upon us, Emma decided a change was needed - so, we got her a haircut.

She went with the "Kit"cut again and loves it!  She got it cut tonight and throughout the night I would see her tossing her hair and running her fingers through it.

Pretty cute!

What happens when Evan steals my camera --

There are two different sequences here -- One in the living room (before the first time I told him to not grab my camera)

trying to figure it out 

getting a quick smile in there

One more

not sure what this one is.

And then I grab my camera away and tell him not to play with it.  So - what does he do?  Less than a half an hour after I told him, he is doing this sequence on the steps.

Let's see... how did I do this the first time?

Hmmm..

I maybe don't have this 

Nope, Totally Nailed it!

(And -- my favorite pic!  Blurry, yes, but so cute!)