here are just a few more pictures from the waterworks gardens outing…
p.s. – much thanks to ruth for the photoshop help.
words
i know that jana has already posted her valentines day wrap up, but i thought i’d throw mine in as well (read hers first below, for reference). it was cool to be able to go on a walk as a family. it seems like with work and school and all of the different things that we have going on in our household, that we don’t have much time to just have FUN together. the renton waterworks gardens were pretty cool (though i bet it would be a little nicer in the summer) but, more than anything, it was just nice to get out of the house. the kids were able to run around and not worry about being too loud.
to jana: you’re by far the hardest working member of this family. i can’t even begin to fathom how you do all the things you do. my life would be a WRECK without you in it. you’re the bestest! I LOVE YOU!!!
photos, words
so, i’ve been listening to some alt. country stuff lately and have kind of been getting into it. for those of you who are crying “heretic!”, don’t worry it’s not that kind of country. just some good poppy stuff. anyway, i’ve decided i want to try my hand at writing a country tune, so here’s the result. i figured it had to be about something sad, so don’t take this as a reflection of my marriage or anything. anyway, here you go…
[audio:Steven_Heller-Country_Break-up_Song_(Demo).mp3]
to download, right-click here and choose “save as…”
heller family tunes, music of the week, steven's side project
i know this is a little late but i guess that is better than not posting at all! i thought that i would post some of the new things going on with each of the kids so here it goes.
lily belle
1. she is loving preschool as well as her new primary class.
2. when at a recent doctor visit, the dr thought she might have a lazy left eye and suggested that she see an eye doctor. we went to a children’s eye doctor last friday and she does not have one but she only has 20/30 vision in that eye as well as an astigmatism. the doctor said that for now she is fine but wants to see her back in 6 months and if there are no changes she will have to get glasses to try and correct it. i guess we will see!
3. loves puzzles, drawing and sending letters to people.
4. she is trying to learn to read and is doing pretty good figuring out what words start with. it will be so fun to see her reading to herself as well as her brothers which i am sure she will want to do. she loves being the oldest.
jackson jet
1. he is finally potty trained! yah for me. i have had 2 kids in diapers for the last 3 years and for the first 4 months after asher was born i had three in diapers. he still wears a pull-up to bed at night but i am ok with that.
2. jackson was invited to join a little preschool group with kids from church and loves it. he goes on tuesdays and thursdays for and hour. he is a little bit of a momma’s boy and never fails to tell me he will miss me when i drop him off.
3. i have been noticing in the last year that boys have way more energy than girls. jackson never sits still and always has something to say.
4. his new thing is running around the house slaying dragons. they like watching sleeping beauty and that is his favorite part. it is amazing to see how lily love all the singing and when the prince rescues the princess but jackson can’t wait until the dragon appears and the prince kills it. i guess boys will be boys.
asher sparks
1. loves eskimo kisses. steven recently taught him that and i think he prefers it to the normal kiss.
2. loves jumping and will try and jump on or off anything. i have to keep a close eye on him to make sure he doesn’t get on things that he can fall off of.
3. the kid loves food. he eats almost anything and thus he only weighs about 4 pounds less than jackson.
4. he is talking all of the time, he just hasn’t decided to use to many words that we understand. momma, grandma, go, no yes and thank you are pretty much what i have heard him say. he also tries to say “here you go” when he hands you things which is kind of cute.
5. this kid has the cutest personality and a lot of it. he definitely needs naps and since church is at 1 o’clock (his normal nap time) now i think the nursery will have a run for their money (unfortunately for them they don’t get paid).
these are two of my favorite pictures that we were going to use for christmas cards but…we never sent anything out. the first one was steven’s choice and the second one was mine. i thought they were both pretty cute.
jana's journal
so my dog morgan has been acting a little weird for the last few days. she has been really clingy and acting a little bit scared. finally on Wednesday night she was coming down the stairs and she missed the last one and fell. this was really strange and afterward when we looked at her, her eyes were different colors than each other. the last couple of years her brown eyes have always looked green because her pupils were always dilated. well when we looked at her, one of them was brown again. after this, i noticed that she was running into things and that she couldn’t see. the next morning i took her to the vet and $230 later i found out that both of her eyes had two separate issues. her left eye will most likely be saved with antibiotics and time but her right eye is another story. if we want her to see again from it, we have to take her to an ophthalmologist to have her lens removed for around $1500. sadly we don’t have the money to do this and so i took her home hoping for the best for her left eye to get better. currently she is on pain medication and napping on the couch. we have to give her antibiotics every 4 hours which means we have to wake up in the middle of the night to give it to her (yes we do love our dogs).
when we first brought her home.
a couple years ago when her eyes still looked brown.
today.
jana's journal
well we had every intention of going to spokane for christmas but due to unforseen crazy snow weather, we were unable to go. that means that we spent all of christmas 2008 just our little family. it was actually kind of nice but we did miss having our family around. the kids were nice and woke up about 7:15 and were opening presents by 7:30. we didn’t leave the house all day. we played games, did crafts (well lily did crafts) read books and watched movies. i made french dips and sweet potatoes (actually yams) for dinner and ate a costco pumpkin pie for dessert. besides the occasional whining from too much candy, it was a pretty nice christmas.
this was the only nice picture we got of asher today. the kid is impossible to photograph. almost every picture we take of him is blurry because he is constantly moving. i love the big ol’ drool hanging off his chin. we keep debating cutting his hair a little. it is amazingly long. you can’t really tell here but when it is wet it is sooo long. what do you think we should do?
lily and jackson were so cute when they got up this morning. they were so excited but not too over eager, though i did finally have to get steven up because asher was ripping the paper.
jackson playing with asher’s little tykes guitar (for anyone looking for a toy guitar, this one is really good. both of the boys really like it) . i thought this picture was so cute of him. steven taught him how to hold a guitar and now he is so into it. i like that he holds it left handed.
jana's journal
