back to catching up

back in august (whoops) three of the hedin boys came to visit. this was a highly anticipated trip for the guys and my husband. why? well the pga was being held right here in the good ol' state of wisconsin not too far from where we live. and if you know the hedin boys, they love to play and watch golf, so they couldn't pass up this opportunity to go. of course they did manage to squeeze in some other activities while they were here besides golfing. they also didn't want to miss out playing with our kiddies.

we hit up a local restaurant in our area that has some good food and a fun atmosphere. and the balloons are always a hit with the kids. those come in handy right around the time the kids start getting bored and antsy.

andy decided that maybe, just maybe, med school might be worth it just for the white med student coat.

the boys happened to come into town right during the state fair, so we went to gorge ourselves on all of the deliciously disgusting food, see the sites and check out some of the animals.

i think we were all eating fried oreos, and boy were they good. i didn't think oreos could be any worse for you (apparently they can be) or taste any better (apparently they can).

i told katelyn to smile. i guess this is the best she can do when there is too much going on around her.

i love these two pictures of katelyn with her grandpa hedin. she sure loves him and his adoring attention. he loves to make katelyn happy and spoils her and did so by taking her on the slide.

probably the grossest food we found at the fair that day. a krispy creme donut with a hamburger patty inside. yup, we bought and tried it. not worth the money folks, not worth the money.

the running pigs again this year. i don't think our pig won once. maybe next year.

we definitely tried other deliciously disgusting food while we were there, but it's been so long i can't seem to remember it all.

we don't have a single picture from the pga. you aren't allowed to bring in cameras at all, so they didn't even bother. the only picture i got of that momentous day was of poor little katelyn who ended up getting sick that day. our first experience with a throwing up child and most likely not our last.

luckily she wasn't too miserable for too long. she doesn't even look that sick in this picture (but she was).

until next time boys!

p.s. can you tell tanner looks like a hedin next to all of these hedin boys?

leaves, leaves, leaves

remember my last post how i promised to post about our leaf activity? remember how i promised to post it soon? yeah, that didn't happen, but at least i'm eventually getting to it.

this leaf activity was so fun. i saw this idea in the family fun magazine (always has great ideas in it by the way) and decided to try it. which led us to getting outside, taking a walk, taking lots of pictures and eventually back inside to our art project. normally i just get katelyn started and tidy up the kitchen while she's working, but like i said, this project was pretty fun, so i joined in and painted with her. i highly recommend this project for next year if you're interested.

katelyn knows the routine now. spread newspaper at the end of the table, put the art smock on, wait for mom to get paint, water and paper towel ready and start project.

i ditched the kid paint for this project and let her use my paints from the craft store. they worked perfectly on the leaves.

the finished product.

playing in the leaves

the weather here has been fan-tas-tic. no rain, no snow, just sunny skies. and boy is that awesome for this time of year. we are not complaining that's for sure. of course since the weather has been cooperating, we have been taking every chance we can get to be outside. the kids love that, and so do i. in fact, tanner begs me to play outside everytime we return from an errand and cries and cries if i don't let him.



the incredible hulk playing in the leaves. does his jacket not make him look puffed up?




katelyn is just happy not to be napping.



they started playing following the leader. well, mostly katelyn was just following tanner around.



some sisterly/brotherly love. a parent's favorite thing to see i think.



these two were yelling at each other. ah...ah...ah...ah back and forth with some giggles in between.



we decided to take an impromtu walk around the neighbor hood and happened to find some gorgeous leaves. we picked them up for a special project we were going to do later.



katelyn resfusing to look. she just wanted to walk.



this is the tree where we found our leaves, and no, i did not edit this photo. that's how pretty the leaves were.

i know this song is overplayed but my kids like to dance to it

Kids Dancing from brooke hedin on Vimeo.

birthday boy

tan the man is one. and what an incredible year it has been (and an incredibly fast year it has been as well). his actual birthday was in september, so i'm a tad bit late.

tanner is our kid that is so full of character. he is full of spunk and energy and excitement all in one. he loves to grin and laugh and loves to make us laugh. for the most part he is very laid back and loves to do his own thing. he also loves to pull funny faces. this was a favorite face a couple of month ago.



tanner is our kid that loves to roam around the house. as long as he has something in his hand to keep him occupied, he is happy. tanner also keeps us laughing by doing silly things like putting his head down and crawling around as fast as he can.



tanner is our cheerio lover. at one point you could keep him quiet for almost an hour with cheerios. those days are over now though because he is onto bigger and better things.



tanner loves to eat and eats pretty much anything (thank goodness). tyler and i were astonished the first time we gave tanner some table food, and he ate it. katelyn never did that.



tanner is our binky boy. i never realized how great binkys can be for soothing until tanner took one. he is also our animal lover. he loves to roar, moo and quack around the house. sometimes he'll also imitate some of the silent animals as well.



he is also our loud child. if he wants our attention, wants food, wants to be picked up, basically if he wants anything, he lets us know...loudly. we weren't planning on teaching him any sign, but i think we are slowly changing our minds.

for the most part though, tanner is so laid back and loves to do his own thing. we love this kid a ton.

now for the birthday celebration. obviously he had no clue what was going on, so we kept the day pretty simple. we found some of those punch balloons for him to enjoy, gave him some blueberries, bananas and strawberries to enjoy cause they're a favorite and made spaghetti for dinner (also a favorite).

tanner opened his presents from us and from the grandparents. here is playing with some of his toys he got.





and of course we finished the day with a nice big cake. tanner had no reservations about digging in. he took one taste of that cake and frosting and was sold. i had plans to let him dig into his cake outside so i could get some decent shots. too bad it was stormy that night, so i had to resort to using flash. at least i have some pictures.





the next morning i decided to snap a shot of him again with some better lighting. he didn't think my "photoshoot" was as great as i did. katelyn was a big help at making him laugh.



but that didn't last too long.

trying to play catch up starting with fourth of july

fourth of july was, as it always is, a very fun holiday. after teaching my little second graders about our founding fathers and the freedoms we posses in this country, i developed an incredible love for this nation. by my third year of teaching i could barely wait to teach this unit. i loved watching those little 7-8 year olds singing their hearts out to i'm proud to be an american. i hope one day to instill the same love i feel about america to my own children. one day.

enough with that, i'll move on to the pictures. the schows and jacobsons were so nice to once again invite everyone over to watch the morning parade on their front lawn. they had quite the crowd over at their place. always a good time.


don't be fooled by katelyn's worried look. she had a great time.




tanner was up for posing...not katelyn.


my personal favorite. the dancing grannies.

tanner couldn't stand it. he was out by the end.

of course we had a ward activity as well that day but i didn't manage to take a single picture.

we ended the day with the good ol' fireworks which tanner loved. katelyn liked them as long we were plugging her ears. i can't believe we only have one more fourth of july here. it's gone by too fast.