Some news

Life has been a little surreal here at the Heldt homestead for the past few weeks. This is because...

We're moving! To Denver! Sometime next month!

It honestly doesn't feel real yet...because nothing is different...hasn't really sunk in that life is changing in a major way! I don't know whether to be excited, or sad, or something else (?)

Kevin's been offered a great job with an engineering company near the Denver Tech Center. I'm so proud of him! He's a hardworker and a good engineer.

If you know me in real life, and didn't know this was on the horizon, ever since we moved to Santa Maria (a little under five years ago) we knew we'd move sooner or later. We didn't know where but piece by piece we've been figuring it out. Kevin doesn't want to commute 67 miles anymore, we want to live in/near an urban area, we want to be close to some cultural opportunities for our boys, we want to go do something new. Maybe later I'll share more of our thought process, how we chose Denver.

We're both TOTALLY excited about living in a city for a lot of reasons. (And yes we do know it snows there, and that it gets cold, and that there's no ocean. :) )

Kevin, Kaitlyn and I are flying to Denver next weekend to find a home to buy. We're planning on making an offer on one today actually, contingent on us seeing it when we go. Our realtor looked at it for us earlier this week. (Oh and we're moving to Denver itself, not a suburb.)

It's been strange dealing with all of this and not really talking about it with anyone or blogging about it. We didn't want to say too much in case it fell through. Our family and close friends have known for awhile, but otherwise we haven't discussed it much. I think I'm excited but feel really sad to say goodbye to friends and family.

We're both excited about living close to Mike and Rachel and their girls, and Woody and Tanya and their girls. I'm thrilled that our kids will get to play and grow up with their cousins!

Okay that's enough for now. I'll keep you posted on any further developments. But yeah, we're moving to Denver. (Pictured above.)

Little known things about me

Four jobs I have had in my life:
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (no I didn't eat the chocolate all the time)
Taco Bell (haha, I actually liked it better than RMCF b/c my bosses didn't hate me! Even if I did have to wear a chili pepper nametag and a dorky hat.)
Assistant in the Ag Ed department at Cal Poly, SLO (good job but the receptionist intimidated me so I dreaded going)
Office manager for Assemblyman Abel Maldonado (best job by far, and I "got" to meet lots of strange people who had nothing better to do than bug the government)

Four movies I've watched more than once:
You've Got Mail
When Harry Met Sally
UHF (haha, this movie is hilarious)
Pretty Woman

Four places I've lived:
Creston, CA (one of my favorite places in the world)
San Luis Obispo, CA (another favorite spot)
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Maria, CA (currently living here)

Four TV shows I watch:
The Office
Seinfeld
Friends
Frasier
(wow I guess I'm stuck in the '90s of NBC!)

Four places I have been:
Ethiopia
Ensenada, Mexico (on a cruise, so it hardly counts)
New York City (can't wait to visit again)
Boston, MA (oh how I love New England!)

Four favorite foods:
fish
bbq'd anything
ethnic anything (Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Ethiopian, Italian...)
deli sandwiches/salads (especially from High Street Deli in SLO!)

Four places I'd rather be right now:
taking a nap
tropical island with a drink in my hand
anywhere with Kevin
New England

Four things I'm looking forward to this year:
at some point having my sons potty trained
watching my kids grow
a white Christmas :) (how's that for being deliberately vague???)
having a few days with Kevin next week to recharge without the older kids!

Four places I love to shop (Mostly just window shopping):
Pottery Barn
Anthropologie (when we lived in Santa Barbara I LOVED wandering around that store!)
GAP
Target (does it get any better than this place?!)

Okay, if you want to do this survey on your blog (I think we've all probably done it before but oh well!) consider yourself "tagged." :)

Home with your kids

Confession: sometimes I feel like my day is really, really long! Kevin is away from home for 12.5 hours on weekdays...and I occasionally find myself wondering what other at-home moms of little ones find to do all day.

What are your schedules like with your kids? I'd love to hear how you all are doing this thing we call mothering.

Simply Saturday

No plans today, just being together, making blueberry pancakes, drinking coffee, being lazy. I love quiet Saturdays at home with family!

Nothing to blog about

--As you can see by my title, I don't have anything to say.

--I feel tired tonight--could it be my twin three-year-olds running me ragged? Boys have a lot of energy, especially boys who don't want to sleep at naptime, and who share a room. It drives me nuts that they won't just lay still and be quiet on their beds for two hours, but then I think that for them, that might be expecting too much (when they're in there together). I'm going to split them up during naptime from now on. That always does the trick.

--For some reason I feel lately like I can't get into a good routine with the kids. Not sure why. And the time change has really thrown me for a loop too.

--I've recently discovered a fun magazine that I LOVE looking at--Cottage Living. (I like to pretend I live in a historic old cottage or bungalow with lots of wainscoting and crown moulding...instead of a Santa Maria tract home that I've never taken the time or money to decorate the way I'd love to.)

--I also recently discovered that it's a good thing we don't have cable or satellite...When I visited my mom and dad while Kevin was out of town a couple weeks ago, my mom and I stayed up until 1 a.m. watching all these shows on HGTV.

--Okay, that is all. Like I said, I really don't have anything to say, but for some reason, I'm blogging anyway.

"I don't have a family"

Happened across this blogpost today. Thought I'd share.

And it begins...

Anna started her new 4s and 5s Sunday School class on Sunday. On our way home from church, out of the blue, she earnestly asks me if she can bring her own Bible to Sunday School next week. Because all the other kids bring THEIR own Bibles. And she didn't have one.

WOW. Could I have felt ANY worse that my kid was Bible-less? (And are these kids even able to read yet?!)

Then she brought it up again tonight. I assured her that next week she could take one of the two small kids Bibles we have, with a handle for carrying. Nope, she told us we HAVE TO GO TO THE BOOKSTORE to buy a Bible like the OTHER kids had, "with Jesus and his friends on the cover."

Um...isn't she four?! Isn't it too soon to be thinking your mom's ideas are totally dorky? (Come on now, a Bible with a handle--it doesn't get much more practical than that!) So we assured her that we would send some sort of Bible with her on Sunday (most likely one with a handle), and take a look at the ones the other kids have, so we can know what kind she wants. She seemed satisfied, and informed me that she'd ask her friends if it'd be okay if she showed her mommy and daddy their Bibles.

Whew. Something tells me that fifty years ago, parents weren't having to deal with this sort of Bible snobbery!

Easy muffins for kids

Found this great recipe for muffins in a parenting magazine a few years ago. My kids (and I) love them! (I've even got some baking in the oven right now.)

Makes 12 regular-sized muffins
Ingredients:

16 oz. canned pumpkin
1 box (18 oz.) cake mix (chocolate or lemon work best)
Flax seed (optional)

Mix pumpkin, cake mix and flax seed together, spoon into sprayed muffin pan and bake at 350 degrees for several minutes (I set the timer for 25 minutes and check them, then bake longer if necessary. And flax seed is a great way to get some added nutrition. I put it in all sorts of things--pancakes, waffles, cottage cheese, cream of wheat, and biscuits!)

Pumpkin is full of fiber and vitamins, so this is a pretty healthy way for your child to enjoy a treat--and each muffin only contains 3.5 grams of fat. Enjoy!

Mondays

Back when I used to work in a California legislator's office, the mailman would bring the mail inside to us daily. Every day I'd ask how he was, and every single Monday, without fail, he'd answer, "Not bad, for a Monday!"

For some reason Mondays just "feel" weird to me! I always seem to be a little out of sorts--the weekend's over, Kevin's back at work, I'm maybe a little in denial about the week starting up again. I have a hard time getting motivated.

So what are your Mondays like? So far today I've cleaned out my fridge, unloaded (and reloaded) the dishwasher, made the kids breakfast, gotten them ready for the day, and figured out dinner for tonight, shredded BBQ pork sandwiches...but not a whole lot else. I think we'll play outside a bit and maybe walk to the park, and I have plenty of laundry to keep me busy--if I can just get going!

Happy Monday!

One year ago today

Happy first birthday Kaitlyn!

We love you so much and are so glad you're our daughter!

Pass the dressing, please.

Okay remember this post? How I was gonna attempt to do this? Well, so far I've made ONE smoothie, with romaine lettuce in it. It was tolerable. But then I got to thinking: I love salad, and I love smoothies, but why try to mix them? If I can eat a big salad with my dinner, and I can drink a yummy blueberry smoothie for breakfast...isn't that the best of both worlds? Why suffer through drinking liquified lettuce if I don't have to?

Thus went Brianna's Green Smoothie Experiment. Am I a quitter? Heck yeah! (But at least I'm not drinking lettuce.)

Nearly 1

Katie Jane turns 1 on Friday! Can this really be? Has it REALLY been a year since she was born? Where is the time going???

I feel like it's been a pretty hard year, with all of her medical issues, recurring infections, etc. But she's doing well, and is so much fun, and a true blessing to our family. She has brought me more joy than I can describe!!! I remember being pregnant with her and having someone at church (who I don't know) ask if she was an "accident" and when I said politely (biting my tongue, because who really likes being asked that question about the baby you love growing inside you?!) that she wasn't, this person just couldn't believe why on earth we'd add a baby to the mix with three toddlers. All I can say is, I'm glad that we did because I just can't picture life without this little girl!

Whatever you think of family planning, I assure you that timing isn't everything, that blessings come in all different forms, and while I know many probably question our timing and sanity on a regular basis, we, and the Lord, think it's just fine! It can be hard sometimes seemingly going against the grain, but when I look in my baby girl's eyes I know that I am blessed.

Don't you see that children are God's best gift?

the fruit of the womb his generous legacy?

Psalm 127:3

just chillin' with our little sister.

Whoever said no girls allowed?! (And check out our shirts--these belonged to our dad when he was a little boy!)

February 10, 2004

Every girl turning four should start off her birthday with a special bubble bath...

With princess soap...

And lighted candles...

And several onlookers...

If your whole family and most of your friends get really sick and your guilt-ridden mom has to cancel your small birthday party, Andy, Jeannett and Henry will save the day...

Daddy will put up the streamers and balloons they brought and you will be so happy...

(Your brothers will be happy, too.)

You'll blow out four candles on some leftover brownies with frosting...

And then your bestest friends in the whole world will eagerly watch you open your gift...

As you find out that somehow the Gibsons knew that Snow White is your favorite.

But the next morning, you'll end up with a high fever, too (and so will your brother).

(And so will your other brother.)

I guess we take separate vacations now

I'm back. We've been out of town, but in different places. Kevin's out in Denver and I've been at my parents' house with the kids (about one hour north of here). Both of us left Thursday morning.

Not sure about you but I really don't like being apart from my husband! This is the longest we've gone without seeing each other since being married--three nights and four days. I know, I know, that's not that long in the grand scheme of things, but it FEELS long, and I miss him!

I'm excited because we're picking him up from the airport tonight.

Me and the kids had a blast with my parents, and also got to spend Thursday at my dear friend's house--we've been BFF's since third grade. :) She has two sweet little girls that my kids love to play with, so we spent the day outside jumping on the trampoline, taking a walk, etc. They live on lots of acreage and it is SO beautiful! (My kids are total city kids, it cracks me up. Anna's petrified of getting the least bit muddy, Yosef was flipping out because his hands got dirty...hilarious. Guess that's what happens when you live in tract housing.)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing the husband later. I hope you all had a great weekend!