Happy Valentine's Day

Here are our Valentine pictures from 2010. The girls were pretty cooperative when I wanted to take them and even managed a bunch of smiles for the camera.

When did Maddie get so big?? I got some prints of these pictures and I couldn't believe how big Maddie looks in them, maybe not so much big as just older.

She's even cute with her snotty nose

Emma being cute Emma
Emma bringing the cheese- she does love to smile

Lilly wondering why we always have to take so many pictures

Lilly catching flies- this is her normal smile

The three actually looking at the camera- Maddie looks like she was out a little too late the night before (do you know how hard it is to get a good picture of the three of them)
Let's try a different pose- this time it was Emma who was out too late

This is the point where Maddie was done wanting her picture taken- check out that stone face


Here are the pictures that I know at least Anne has been waiting for. Maddie, Emma, and Lilly all on their first Valentine's Days, all wearing the same shirt, all looking very much the same.

Maddie- Febraury 2006

Emma- February 2007

Lilly- February 2010

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Princesses Everywhere

I had told you that we had gone and seen Princesses on Ice a weekend back (the 6th to be exact). Grandma had gotten tickets, so Maddie, Emma, myself, grandma, Mrs. Tickner and her granddaughter Lauren when down to the MECCA. I know it isn't called the MECCA any more, but that is what I will always think of it as. I took a ton of pictures so I won't bore with all of them. Emma loved it- she didn't know where we were going until we got there. Maddie actually was pretty entranced the whole. Even for someone who doesn't like princesses that much, it was pretty cool. I think she would have been more disappointed if she wouldn't have gotten to go. The set was amazing and just to think what they have to do in-between each story to change it. The girls got to pick one thing during the intermission. They both can't decide and of course theyare just trying to get everyone through the line as quick as possible. I made sure that they knew what they wanted when we got to the front of the line. They both walked away with a snow cone in a cup they got to keep. Maddie's was Mickey Mouse and Emma's of course was Cinderella. So overall Princesses on Ice was a success and I am glad that the girls got the chance to go. So here are a few pictures from the afternoon.

Here they are as the show is starting

This is what Emma did as soon as Ursala from Little Mermaid came out

Now you can see why she was scared, the costume was big and when the end scene came it was even bigger.

Aladdin and Princess Jasmine going on a magic carpet ride

The Seven Dwarfs goofing around the dinner table


Snow White and Dopey doing a little sweeping

Belle trying to ignore the Beast

Cinderella's castle

Cinderella taking her carriage ride

Cinderella getting to the ball

Mickey and Minnie all dressed up for the ball

The whole cast doing the final dance at the ball

The whole cast at the castle waving good-bye

A New Princess

Okay so we went to see Disney Princesses on Ice this past weekend, but this isn't a post about that. There will be more on that later, but I wanted to say welcome to the world of pink to Julie and Bob who welcomed a little girl, Rachel, into their world of three boys. For you Texas readers, Julie is Christa's sister and so now Faith has another girl to play with. Rachel was born on January 31st, I have a feeling that if her birth was any indication of her style, there will be a lot of waiting for Rachel to finish getting ready (you know doing hair and make-up). It sounds like everyone is doing great- we will get to meet Rachel next week after the families make their rounds. I get the updates from Bob while he is on drop off duty for school. So here is a pic of Rachel.

January in Review

So catching up from last post- Lilly is on the move, she is getting faster everyday. Pulls herself up on everything. Has the one handed hang on down, tries to let go and stand by herself. If she is just right, she can sometimes manage for a couple of seconds. She has also figured out how to cruise from one thing to another- she is still a little unsure, but has no problem attempting it.

So where did January go?? I have no idea- isn't that what always happens?? So we left you with the crawling of Lilly and from there it has been basketball, work, and school.

Basketball took us to Iowa over MLK weekend. Since everyone had off on Monday, we loaded up the van- the 5 of us and uncle Ben and uncle Kurt and made the trip to Iowa. Uncle Kurt was lucky enough to sit in between Maddie and Emma the way there and back. We spent most of the weekend at Trinity Cedar Rapids watching basketball- Hannah played great, they got third place. We got to hang out with the Jonasson's- played DJ Hero, Beatles Rock Band, shared a few drinks, lots of laughs, and good times. We headed home Monday morning, since Chad had practice in the afternoon.

That week I also started a new job. I am working part time at Lutheran Special School and Educational Services. There is a self-contained classroom at Milwaukee Lutheran for 3-8th graders, 3 resource rooms at grade schools in the area(one of them being Our Redeemer where the girls go), programs at Milwaukee Lutheran and Martin Luther, and they have a teacher consultant for all the schools. I am not in the classroom, but do see some of the kids most days. I am working as a development assistant. I am helping with the events they plan and have. They have two large events, the gold outing and the auction. The golf outing is in May, so we are going gung ho with that right now. I am enjoying it, the girls like that they get to go to day care once a week. We are still adjusting to the new schedule, but everyone is getting better.

Here are a couple pics from uncle Kurt's games, we have been keeping up with those most weekends and even a couple weekday games. He has a couple tournaments coming up at the end of February.

The rest of the month we have been keeping warm and keeping busy. Chad has about a month of basketball left, we have been to a few games, but they aren't very good, so it is a little hard to watch. We are suppose to be going tonight, but we will see how naps go this afternoon.

We had a baby shower for my cousin's wife. They are getting ready for their little girl to join them at the beginning of March. They are going to join the world of girls.

It always seems like the month goes by in a blur and then I try to think of what we did and I can't seem to remember anything that exciting.

This past weekend was the first weekend we didn't have anything to do- so what did we do, took the girls to the movies. Chad took Maddie to Princess and the Frog, Emma had already seen it and so her and I went to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. In the evening Chad and I took Lilly up to CUW to watch the last couple game of CIT. We saw a few people and got a chance to talk and catch up. Sunday we actually did take a day to do nothing.

It is back to the grind and trying to not get too far behind in February.

Crawling Video

Per her godmother's request, I took a video of Lilly crawling. I posted it on Facebook for those people to see, but figured I should also post it here. So she was about 3 weeks behind her sisters at crawling. They were both crawling at 7 months, but Lilly decided to wait just a few more weeks. She is getting faster everyday and is already pulling her self up on things, you know like the tv stand or anything that she could bonk her face on.

Lilly's New Year Resolution

Lilly decided that for the New Year, she would actually start crawling. She has been rolling, going from all fours to sitting, doing the bear crawl (you would be proud uncle Phill), to honest to goodness all fours crawling to get places. She also has decided that because she can crawl she should already begin to start trying to pull up on stuff. She pulls up to her knees and then usually finds something more interesting to do.

She also has a mind of her own, because she thought that at about 7pm on New Year's Eve would be a great time to start this crawling. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. (procrastination- that she gets from dad)

Heffelfinger Christmas 2009

So Christmas morning it was off to grandma and grandpa Heffelfingers for church and seeing all the cousins. After church they played and played and played. There weren't too many fights and overall everyone seemed to get along. Some of us watched a movie and just had way too much fun poking fun at it. My brother thinks there should be a Cheesey Movie channel and it would just suck people in, I have to agree. The living room was a little like Mystery Science 3000. We all headed down to Susie and Kip's house in the later afternoon. The kids had fun running up and down the stairs. They played and played some more. We managed to get a game of Trivial Pursuit in. It was the Pop Culture Edition- so we knew most the answers. We had another great day of celebrating with family. The girls were having so much fun with their cousins, that they didn't even open their presents from us until Saturday morning. They were too involved to even worry about it. It was really nice and made me feel like they weren't all about the presents, but enjoyed being with family.

Now Saturday morning, they ripped their presents open and again loved them all. They couldn't wait to open everything. Saturday we just relaxed and then on Sunday we headed over the the Country Springs Hotel where Jana, Mike, and Nolan were staying to have a couple of hours of playing at the indoor waterpark. Lilly enjoyed splashing in the pool. Maddie and Emma had fun taking turns with Daddy and uncle Mike going down the big slides and Nolan could have cared less about being in the pool. We ate some pizza with everyone and then headed home. Christmas weekend was over, but the girls still like each other (at least 75% of the time). They have been playing with their new games and toys, and even sharing them with others.

We still have the week of break left and so we will see what that brings.

Janetzke Christmas 2009

Chad had his last day of school on Friday the 18th, but Emma and Maddie still had school the following week. I helped his mom at Trinity with their Christmas Shoppe and so that meant that Chad had to be the 4K helper on Monday. He had an exhausting day, but he made it through with no one throwing up on him. (last year someone blew chunks on him) He even took Maddie to the doctor after school. She had quite the ear infection with fluid in her ear. She got on her antibiotics and is back to her normal self. Tuesday he took Emma and Lilly to practice with him while Maddie was at school. Wednesday we headed up to Germantown. We baked some cookies and hung out for the afternoon. In the evening my cousin Alex came over to watch Emma and Maddie while the rest of us went to a funeral. Chad's mom's cousin passed away the weekend before Christmas. Thursday we all hung out during the day, got ready for church and then came back home for celebrating. We ate and opened presents. The girls were having tons of fun. They loved everything they got. After they finally settled down, they hit their pillows and were fast asleep. We had a great time celebrating with the Janetzkes.

A little part of Texas in Wisconsin

So the Tuesday before Christmas we got a chance to hang out with Christa, Paul, Isaac, and Faith who made the trip from Tomball to see the rest of their family up here. We met over at Julie and Bob's house (Christa's sister). It was like we were part of a little Kasten get together. Julie and Bob go to Our Redeemer and their Carter and our Emma are in the same class. Julie also was Jana's roommate in college. Then you have Christa and Paul who were at Concordia while we were there (Paul is also Chad's college baseball coach's brother). Then their brother Luke went to Westland High School which is where Chad went. Not only are all the Kasten kids linked with us, but Mr. Kasten is one of Lydia's teacher's at Living Word. What a tangled web of the Lutheran world we weave. We had a great time just hanging out, the kids played with every toy in the basement while we all just talked. It was a relaxing evening and fun to get to see how big Isaac and Faith have gotten. The "big" kids spent most of the night downstairs, so there are just a few pics from that evening.


Lilly showing Faith how big she is.


Faith doing a great job sharing her toys with Lilly


Cousins Faith and Owen playing.

Lilly just hanging out with all the adults while the big kids ran around down stairs.

Thanksgiving, Sprecher, and Everything Inbetween

So here is what began our Thanksgiving vacation. Chad had a student help day and practice on Wednesday, but we then headed up to Germantown to go to church and enjoy some sibling bonding. I was determined to for everyone to hang out, I mean come on we are all almost adults and we are always going 17 different directions when we are all there. So after church the outlaws: Scott, Christina, and myself went down to the Sportszone on Mequon to have a couple beers and hang out. While we were gone, the originals got some little kids to bed (meaning our girls and the boy cousins) and just started the party. We laughed, talked, played some games, laughed some more. I think that everyone had a good time, if you didn't then you can correct me. I think most of us were on our way to bed by about 12:30, but there were a few (those without children) who stayed up even later.

Some people gathered in the kitchen to have a drink and talk.


Others played Clue on the back porch.

Thanksgiving morning came way to quick, at least for me, I know I am old. I made a run to KMart, you might think I am crazy, but I got some really good deals on some things the girls really wanted. It is hard to pass up buy one get one on things like v-tech games, barbies, and baby toys. We all managed to fit on the back porch for dinner. That's right all 17 of us and we only had to add a card table at the end. The little kids minus Lilly were sitting at their own table. It was pretty impressive if I do say so myself. I am guessing that that may be on of the last time that happens. Maybe we need to get some banquet tables for the back porch, you know the ones like they have at church. We actually headed home that night to have cake for my dad's birthday which landed on Thanksgiving this year. Before we left we did do some Christmas gifts for the kids, since Kathy and Scott will be in Saint Louis for Christmas. It was fun to see them try to figure it out, they knew it wasn't Christmas, but believe me they weren't complaining.




Friday morning I did venture out to three stores, Wal-Mart $3 pajamas, Target $5 Barbies, and KMart $7.99 Christmas dresses for the girls. I left around 5:45 and was home just before 8. I knew what I wanted, I didn't need anything that bad, so I wasn't mad if they were all out. The rest of the weekend we hung out since the girls were feeling a little under the weather.

Sunday was the first Soda with Santa at Sprecher Brewery. It is this really cool thing they do, they have been doing it for the last couple of years and I hope that they continue it. So we were down there with Sprinklefingers to do some cookie decorating for the kids while they were waiting for the soda to be done. What happens is you come in, get your picture taken with Santa, go on the Brewery tour and while you are on that, they put the picture you took with Santa as the label of root beer bottles. It was fun watching all the kids and their reactions to Santa. There were a good number of criers. We did that for three weekends. The girls came down the second weekend. Emma wanted no part of the picture, so we have a case of root beer with just Lilly and Maddie. Then after the tour started it kind of clears out, so we thought that maybe she would do it if we all were in the picture. She did and the bottom picture is one that is now on 6 bottles of root beer.


The man who plays Santa is an employee of Sprecher and does such a great job. This past Sunday was the last one. There were 2 week old twins, then my favorite kid of all three Sundays: I think most of you have seen Elf, you know when they announce that Santa is coming and Buddy yells "Santa- I know him" this kid yelled Santa the exact same way and was shaking with excitement. I could not stop laughing. There were a few who brought their letters for Santa and then another favorite who brought a picture from a magazine of what he wanted.



We also Maddie's Christmas program thrown in there too. It was back on the 2nd of December. At Our Redeemer they break up the grades and do their Christmas programs as the Advent service in the evening. It is kind of nice so you don't have 500 people at one program and there is more opportunity for the kids to sing more and be involved more. She did great and sang out. The people next to her weren't squishing her this time, so she was able to do all the action.

So we are now about 10 days away from Christmas. We are going to Woodstock this weekend to celebrate Sammy's birthday. Chad is done with school this week and the girls have two days next week. Since he is off on Monday, he gets to be Maddie's helper. She is so excited that dad is going instead of me. The Keipers from Texas are coming and so we are getting together with them either Tuesday or Wednesday evening. Maddie cannot wait to see Isaac. She told me the other week that she is going to marry him. What a goof.

Also don't forget to watch Amy on A Home For The Holidays (it is an adoption story) that airs on Wednesday the 23rd on CBS. It is either a 7pm or 8pm thing. You would have to check your local listings.

Thanks for sticking with me and this long post. Here is a goofy picture of Lilly trying to get her whole fist in her mouth.