Ben

              I like to play with my cuosen Ben.I like to play in the play house with Ben.

        Iwish I coude show you all of the pickshrs but

   my mom said I cuodint so Ididint

      Irt's rily fun to play with him.

                                                         This is at my olld house I miss my olld house
                                                            and I miss Ben.

                                                              Ben liked to play with cars.
                                                           we made a cool track.
                                                                 tonite we are going to warch videos of Ben.
                                                          It will be fun!!!Today we lit a candol for ben.I LOVE BEN!!!!!

More fun with Gram and Gramps

Kiara, Mckenna, Gramps, and I went to the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.  We went into the mall at 12:15 on a beautiful sunny day.  When we left at 3:30 there was more than an inch of snow on the ground and it was snowing so hard.  It was awesome coming out of the theater to a blizzard!!  We came home, changed into our snow gear and went outside to play. 

Our snowman family!!

We enjoyed a great lunch at Five Guys!

Kiara and Gram.

Gramps, Mckenna, and Ava.

We played games with the kids (lots of games), went shopping, read books, played on the IPad, watched shows, made A LOT of snow cones, and laughed a ton!  At night the adults played train and laughed a lot as well :)! 

For Christmas Gram and Gramps got Kiara and Mckenna an easel that they really wanted.  It was used as a scoreboard as well as a place to draw for the first two days.  The last 2 days that Gram and Gramps were here, it was used for a message board between Kiara and Gram.  I didn't know this was going on until they were leaving but have learned that there was at least 20 messages passed between the two of them during this time.  Kiara's final message to Gram and Gramps read: 

I love Gram and Gramps.  I wish you could sta.  Good by Gram and Gramps. 

I relly wish you could sta.  I love you so much.

Above is a picture of Grams final message.  Kiara didn't see it until we got home from the airport and has not wanted to erase it since. 

Christmas 2011

Christmas was wonderful.  Gram and Gramps got to Ohio on Christmas Eve around 7pm.  Tom arrived close to the same time from Baltimore.  We met back at our house where the festivities began. 

Setting out cookies and chocolate milk for Santa.

Having Gram and Gramps here for Christmas was so much fun.  We loved that they got to see the kids faces when they came downstairs. 

Santa did good!

We took our time opening presents, had a big breakfast, and just enjoyed being together.  Everyone was so great to Kiara, Mckenna, and Ava.  The most amazing part was that it was very obvious by the gifts given to the girls that everyone knows them SO well.  As more time passes that we are away from Seattle, we worry about everyone growing apart from our kids.  Seeing the thoughtfulness that went into every gift, every stocking present was pretty amazing!  So thank you all for your generosity, and thoughtfulness - it doesn't go unnoticed.

The most used gift of the day was a snow cone maker that Mckenna gave Kiara.

Christmas snuggles for Ava.

Our First Snow

It was a dusting really.  A few weeks ago is snowed a little bit but enough for Kiara and Mckenna to head out to make a snowman and play in the snow for over an hour.

They did this whole thing by themselves. 

 I stayed inside with Ava and it was so much fun to watch them play.  Last year Mckenna didn't last more than a few minutes outside without Tom or I and not a lot longer with us.  I think this is going to be a great snow season for the Headlee's!!!

All I want for Christmas is........

My two front teeth!!!

Christmas at the Headlee House

We began getting our house decorated when Grandma and Grandpa were here for Thanksgiving.  As we continued decorating after they left, we realized that it is kind of sad that not everyone gets to see our house decorated for Christmas.  We are so glad Gram and Gramps will be here with us to celebrate but wanted to use this blog to share with you our house.

The Tree. 

Our stockings all hung by the chimney with care. 

We bought two new stockings and decorated them for Gram and Gramps.

Art wall.

Our snowman bathroom.

Santa pics.

Merry Christmas!!!

Key Bank Rocks!!

I have no personal experience with Key Bank however I have three reasons to back my statement that Key Bank Rocks!!

#1)  The Seattle branch hired my dad, which makes them very smart.
#2)  Key Bank's headquarters are in Cleveland, Ohio.
#3)  Key Bank sent Gramps to a 2 day conference in Cleveland - whohoo!!!

After the conference on Friday, Gramps came to our house for the rest of the weekend!

Gramps is awesome!  He reads, plays, draws, cuddles, gets on his hands and knees with the kids, does puzzles, takes walks (lots and lots of walks) to look at lights, is encouraging, is funny, and engages (which I think is one of his best qualities). 

On Friday night, Gramps came with us to the Browns Christmas Party.  The highlight of the party was seeing santa.  For Kiara and Mckenna it was exciting, for Ava is was stressful and that is a nice way to put it.........

Saturday was spent doing all of the things Kiara and Mckenna requested to do with Gramps.  We only had the day, so we had to be specific about how we wanted to spend our time.  It was important for Kiara to spend time drawing with Gramps, Mckenna wanted to play people and do art, and Ava got to spend a lot of cuddle and walking time with Gramps.  My favorite part was going out to dinner.  At this point in my life I am a little afraid of being in a restaurant with our kids (mainly Ava) but we ventured out with Gramps and it was wonderful.

Look how much fun Ava is having!

Kiara had tears after dropping Gramps off at the airport.  She tries so hard to hide them and be brave.  "13 days" is the phrase we repeated the whole way home and the whole rest of the day.  13 more days until Gramps comes back for Christmas and Gram is coming too!!!!!!  See you soon Gram and Gramps!



 

Grandma & Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa arrived at our house around midnight on Tuesday night.  That did not stop them from being in our living room to see the girls bright and early on Wednesday morning.  Kiara and Mckenna did not have school, so the four of them went to an 11am movie.  That started off the week with Grandma and Grandpa in a very good way.  After the movie, Katie, Kiara and Mckenna worked on a Turkey project that Katie brought all the way from Seattle. 

Every part of the week with them was awesome.  The days were filled with parks for the older girls, art, games, setting up Christmas lights outside, walks, books, and baking.  On Thanksgiving (Thursday) Tom traveled to Baltimore to scout the Ravens.  He didn't fly home until Friday, so we had planned to celebrate our Thanksgiving on Friday.  On Thursday, Kiara, Grandma, and I went shopping in the morning and then we spent the whole afternoon outside, putting up lights and playing.  The weather could not have been more beautiful.  Sunny, 60 degrees, and barely any wind. 

Mckenna helping out Grandpa with the lights on the big tree.

Last year Rob had a great idea to put red and white lights on our light post to make it look like a candy cane.  Kiara and I had fun putting up these lights this year.

Mckenna loved digging for worms.  Thank you Grandpa for this pic :).

Aren't these cute??  Katie brought all the supplies and they made 7 of them, one for each of us.  Kiara came up with the idea to make acorns out of paper and have them sitting on them.  Kiara and Mckenna put these on each of our plates when they set the table for Thanksgiving.

On Friday "Our Thanksgiving" (as Kiara liked to say), Tom and Katie took Kiara and Mckenna shopping and to a park in the morning.  They came back in time for lunch and to get the Turkey in the oven (since I have no idea how to do this myself :)).  The rest of the day was spent playing, setting the table, putting up more lights, - really just enjoying ourselves.  Tom got home at 4 and we had an AWESOME meal at 6.  The day, the company, and the food made this one of my top Thanksgivings ever!!

Look at those muscles!!!

Here is the dessert that we created.  Rice Krispie Treats, candy corn, and Fudge Striped cookies - what is not to enjoy!

Katie found this cute "I'm Stuffed" bib for Ava to wear.

Saturday the kids went to another park and we went to pick out our Christmas Tree that afternoon.  On Saturday night, Tom and Katie watched the kids so Tom and I could go out to dinner.  After dinner we went to a bar to watch the Apple cup.  Tom and I don't get to go out all that often, so it was very, very fun to spend some alone time with him!

Our Tree!!

On Sunday, Tom was able to be home for the whole day.  Katie and I went shopping in the morning and I cannot tell you how nice it was to go shopping without any kids and with another adult.  We watched the Browns in the afternoon and then Grandma and Grandpa took Kiara and Mckenna to swimming lessons.  On Monday, Grandma and Grandpa picked up Mckenna from preschool and took her for special time, and did the same for Kiara after her school got out.  As for Ava, she spent more and more time walking as the week went on and Grandma and Grandpa got to see her walk all the way from the living room to the far side of the kitchen on her own!!!!  She is now spending more time on her feet than on her hands and knees which is very exciting for all of us!  Here are the rest of the fun pictures from our week with Grandma and Grandpa.

Thank you Grandpa for all your help on the lights!!!

The Candy Cane light post.

Grandpa reading with the girls. 

The visit wouldn't have been complete without a performance by Mckenna.

And Kiara and Ava.

Smile girls!!

Grandpa hanging with Kiara and Mckenna on "our Thanksgiving".

We have learned that it is difficult to put into words on a blog what a trip or event meant to us.  This picture says it all.  If you look closely at the girls, at their faces, where their hands are, it is very easy to see how much fun the girls had as well as how much their Grandma and Grandpa mean to them!  We love you Grandma and Grandpa.  Thanks for a great week with us!