raising heller

so today i was watching asher eat and i thought to myself “how did his eyes get soooo blue?”
then i looked at lily and jackson and thought …..

“how did all three of them come from this?” if i wouldn’t have been there, i wouldn’t think they could be mine. i mean they are all have such extremely light eyes and hair and i have never had either. after the many biology classes i have taken through the years, i have always walked away from them thinking that if i get a blue eyed child it will be really random. well, i guess i have really random genes. if anyone understands the science behind this, please let me know how this could happen.

every night while we say prayers asher usually just runs around and does his thing. we haven’t really tried to get him to fold his arms and sit still because he usually gets mad and yells. well the other night i said to the kids it’s time to say a prayer. the next thing i know, asher walks over with his arms folded and his head down. i couldn’t believe it! it is amazing how much children learn when you don’t think they are even paying attention. now, anytime i say anything about praying he folds his arms. i am not sure if you can tell but this is a picture of him folding his arms.

i thought this was a funny title because he literally gets into anything he can and he also gets into everything! here are a couple of shots that i got the other day. the kid loves to get out everything from the cabinets and drawers. i can’t tell you how many times i have had to take away the aluminum foil, the apple peeler, put the plastic bags back into the box and if ever he gets into the fridge or pantry he takes the first thing he sees and makes a run for it. as we speak he is trying to push all of the buttons on the keyboard. i am sure some of you are thinking, “why don’t you just baby proof your kitchen?” and i say “where is the fun in that?”

sadly after snagging this photo, he fell backwards and cracked his head on the cabinet.

he loves getting in the block bucket. he also turns it over and uses it to climb on the side table or anything else that he wants to get on.

so today i thought to myself, “i have to get these kids out of the house!” i got onto the computer and looked up hiking or walking trails close to my house and this is what i found. it was awesome and less than 2 miles from our house! i forgot my camera and had to use my phone so the pictures don’t really do it justice but it was so beautiful there. most of the trail was covered by trees and ran right along side the cedar river so even though it was pretty hot outside it felt cool the whole time we walked. we passed a few other walkers, joggers and bikers but for the most part it was so peaceful and serene. even though we were just walking the kids really enjoyed themselves. jackson kept saying, “i’m getting my exercise!” lily picked up a gob of leaves and rocks and they asked questions about everything. ashy had to ride in the stroller the whole time but he even seemed to enjoy just looking at everything and pointing at all the trees he saw. i am glad that i ventured out and found this place, maybe well go back with steven.

ashy and lily on a bench we found along the way.

this is the river that the trail runs along.

well it has been 3 years since we have seen jayd and his wife tauni. in that time they have had baby coen, are raising 17 year old kayla and are pregnant with their 2nd baby while we have had two kids ourselves. taking 4 kids a teenager and 4 adults actually all over the city surprisingly worked out pretty well. it was so fun to see them and get to know tauni, kayla and coen a bit better. it is too bad that we don’t live closer to one another because we would have a lot of fun together. they were only here for two days but we were able to see places that we have not yet ventured out to see like freemont and the university district. the university of washington has the most beautiful campus. our visit to freemont was the only time we remembered our camera so here are some of the pictures.

i just thought this was pretty. we were standing on a bridge that we soon realized was a draw bridge when we took these pictures.

the mcferson clan

no, jackson is not wearing a crop top.

lily and jackson loooooved kayla. lily couldn’t get enough of her and cried at the thought of her leaving. “why does she have to go?”

isn’t this the cutest picture? look below to see what they are sitting on.

in freemont they have this troll sitting under the end of a bridge. the kids loved it. the ground is covered in sand so everyone was filthy when we decided to leave.

this is the bridge that the troll lives under.

thanks for visiting us, we had a blast!

grandma and grandpa hondorp found three of these big tonka trucks at a garage sale for really cheap and immediately thought of jackson. he has literally been outside all day yesterday and today minus the mandatory food and nap. lily has actually been pretty into them as well and they have spent very long periods of time playing nicely without any fighting. i love it! i am not sure if it is because he watched his uncle dave and grandpa working on houses in spokane but jackson loves diggers and dumpers or as he calls them scoopers.

i finished reading this yesterday after church (all 754 pages.) i started it at 1am saturday morning after i returned home from the release party at borders. i am sad that the series is done but i am happy at how it ended. i would say more but i don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t finished reading it yet. for those of you that haven’t read these books, i am sorry for this post or maybe i am not sorry and you should just go out and read them.

well let me start by saying that a couple of sundays ago steven left church during sacrament because asher was sick and lily, jack and i stayed until church was over. unfortunately for me, i have never seen jack as crazy as he was in sacrament. at one point, i had to hold him in my lap and pin his arms down because he wanted to run around and be loud. well needless to say, i couldn’t wait to get him to nursery. i then dropped lily off and headed to my classes. after church i went to pick up jack and one of the moms stopped me in the hall and said, “i have to tell you that you have a very special little man.” i said thank you and she continued (she has an 18month daughter) “my daughter has been having such a hard time in nursery and he was so sweet to her today. when she was crying, he would go up and hug her and tell her how pretty her dress was. i really think he made her feel special and i have to say that today was the best day she has had in nursery. i can’t believe how mature he is.”

isn’t is amazing how different your children can be from one minute to the next? durning the sacrament, i wanted to (well i won’t say what i wanted to do) but after hearing this, i was so proud of how sweet he was to this little girl in nursery. thanks for being such a good boy when i am not around, it almost makes up for how crazy you can be when you are with me (as he is crying upstairs because i won’t put one of lily’s dress up dresses on him. i normally would but he is about to take a bath.) i love you jackson.