Family Fun Festival

Yesterday Jason left for DC with a group from our church to attend a building seminar. He won't be back until this evening. So it's been just me and the kiddos for 2 days. We did have a pull-out couch party last night, but it wasn't quite as lively as some of our other ones have been. I was tired! But we did make cookie popsicles and watch movies on the pull-out. The kids went to bed around 11pm and woke up around 7:30am. Then this morning there was a Family Fun Festival at Daniel's school. We will be resting this afternoon. :) The festival was a lot of fun....and best of all it was COMPLETELY free!! They even fed us pizza, icecream, and cake! Of course we drove up only to see this right at the entrance....
I really didn't know if we'd make it to anything else. But eventually we did. They had a little station set up for the kids to pet a turtle and a frog...

They had lots of different stations set up where kids could color different things....

They had different stations for the kids to play with toys...

And they had games the kids could play to win prizes...

This was another petting zoo like station. They had a little lamb, little ducklings, and little 3 day old pigs. Here's Daniel petting the little baby pig...

Then we sat down to eat some pizza...

And of course cake and icecream followed...

Here they are at a little playdough station...

There were so many other things the kids got to make, but I of course didn't get a picture of everything. Austin as always was into everything. One of the things the kids made was a mouthful of teeth and a toothbrush out of baby marshmallows. Austin dumped out all the marshmallows.....and dug his hands in the little stick on letters the kids were using to write their names on the toothbrushes. He really was pretty good most of the time, but towards the end he got a little bored and resorted to these kind of acts for entertainment I'm assuming. It was a lot of fun watching the kids. And of course we came home with 3 bags full of things they made and colored and prizes they won. Fun day...and again FREE! I was very pleased. It was a great way to entertain the kiddos especially while Jason was out of town. Ok...so that's all for now. It's time to put an end to the 3 beach balls flying around my living room and take a little nap! :) Happy Saturday!!

Pittsburgh

Ok, I know...I get so behind on the blog. I go through good spells, but I still have several pictures (one including DANIEL'S BIRTHDAY...yes it's in December) from awhile ago that I want to post about. But...one step at a time. So about 2 weeks ago I went to Pittsburgh with several ladies and youth girls from our church to the Revolve Conference for teenage girls. We had a lot of fun!! The conference was really good AND I have never been to Pittsburgh before, so that was fun too!
We ate at Five Guys for lunch. Another first for me! It was yummy!!

I took all my pictures from my iPhone, so the quality is not fabulous, but it will do. This was either while we were waiting for someone to come on stage or during one of the concerts. The music was a lot of fun...the praise band was good, and of course we enjoyed KJ52 and Jamie Grace. The speakers were good too; and spoke about issues that teenage girls face every day.

The teenagers...

And a group shot afterwards...

It ended up being a lot of fun! AND another plus...we ate at Chipotle for dinner. Oh, man was it good! I have been craving it ever since. I actually tried to copy-cat one of their burritos one night this week. OH...and we stopped at Krispy Kreme on the way home and I had my first ever "hot off the belt" Krispy Kreme donut. "It's like eatin' a baby angel!" (Tim Hawkins on Krispy Kreme donuts). I promise, even though I really enjoyed the food, it wasn't my most favorite part of the day. I really did enjoy the conference and the fellowship! Every girl needs some girl time! :)

It's A.......

So today was the big 18 week ultrasound where we found out the gender of our little baby! You know I'm going to blabber a little bit before I tell you right? Ok, good. We have been waiting for this day for a long time. The kids have been counting down the days! So of course...we scheduled the appointment for after Daniel got out of school. Here we are in the room about to get started...the picture quality is poor due to the dark room...
Ok, ok....so without further delay, I will finally spill the beans. We are having a baby.....BOY!!!! The whole process was so much fun. The kids were so cute watching the lady squirt the gel on my tummy and seeing the little guy for the first time! This little fella was moving all around and kicking like crazy so the sweet ultrasound lady was having a hard time figuring out the gender for awhile there. I was starting to get nervous....and the kids kept asking, "When are we going to find out?!" Daniel was pretty excited that it's a boy. He kept saying, "I KNEW IT! I WAS RIGHT!" Lily was just a little less enthusiastic at first...I think she was in shock because she was really expecting a girl. But now she keeps telling us she is excited it's a boy. Austin is still a little young, so he didn't get into it quite as much. My sweet husband took a little video of the kids as we were telling them it was a boy. Enjoy!


We are just so excited!! I can't believe I am going to have 3 little boys!! Oh, what a blessing! Yes...I guess I was kinda hoping for a girl...but I truly am thrilled to be having another little boy!!! My heart is just overwhelmed with joy and I'm so thankful to our Lord to have the privilege of carrying this precious baby and I just can't wait to meet him! And on that note...neither can the kids. I am thinking they actually may ask me, "When is the baby going to get here?" everyday until the end of August. Oh, fun stuff. Well, so there you have it...Heath baby #4 is a little BOY. Precious!!

Friends

Well we've been in Maryland for about 4 months now....not too long, but long enough to get to know some really sweet people. Among some of those people are the Thommans. Our kids hit it off right away...especially Lane and Daniel. But an even bigger blessing is when you meet a family where not only do the kids like playing together, but the parents have a lot in common and enjoy each other's company as well. The Thommans are one of those families for us here at our new church. Sadly however, they are moving back to Illinois where they are from. Although we haven't known them for long, we will still miss them. So today as they pack up and head back to Illinois I thought I'd share some pictures from last Friday when we kept their kids for a little while so they could get some things ready for the move. We let Daniel stay home from school that day to play with his sweet little friends.
Lane had fun with Buzz Lightyear, Austin of course played ball, and Nora went straight for the stroller. She piles as much as she can in there and pushes it around. :) Lily kinda looks like she's being the little over-seer/mommy. She also kept saying all morning.."Nora really likes my toys!" I think she really took pride in that...it was cute.
It was a beautiful day Friday, so we couldn't stay inside for long...

The girls took a break from driving to check out their shoes....they are all girl!

And Lane and Nora brought over their gator so we'd have lots of power wheels to drive...everyone had a seat!

After awhile Daniel and Lane started chasing each other with sticks. Don't worry...they never hit each other with them. I think they just enjoyed running and roaring with them. Gotta love boys!

There's a little sand box out back at this house we are renting and the kids really enjoy playing in it as well...

Look at this big stick! They are so strong...

It ended up being such a fun day. The kids had a blast together. Brandon, Molly, Lane and Nora...even though our time with you guys was very short, we really enjoyed all the time we did have with Y'ALL :). Y'all are such a sweet family and we will miss you greatly!!

More Pinterest Meals!

Ok, so as I've stated many times before...I pretty much do all of my cooking from Pinterst these days. Before Pinterest, I was so in that rut where I had tried almost all of the meals in my cookbooks that didn't require tons of ingredients/was super expensive. Cooking was becoming such a burden...not because I didn't like it, but because I got so tired of coming up with budget friendly ideas for meals! And then came Pinterest. And now cooking is fun again. I've had lots of ideas and nothing I've tried has been an absolute bust. Most everything I've tried I can see myself making again. So here are a few things I've tried lately.
#1. Bourbon Street Chicken...
This was very good....I slightly over-cooked the chicken (I am VERY picky about dry chicken)..but that is easily fixed and the flavor was great. However it was too spicy for the kids. I cut down on the red pepper in the recipe, but it was still pretty spicy. The best part...it didn't require real bourbon!

#2. Fruit Tea...

This was delish. I made it twice. The first time I followed the recipe exactly (requiring me to puree a peach). Not that it was a hard task, but the second time I didn't feel like getting the blender out, so I left that part out. Definitely was better with the peach..but despite the lacking peach flavor we still drank the whole gallon.

#3. Ham and Cheese Sliders...

Oh, boy...these were good. MOST definitely will be making these for lunch again. Basically its just your hot ham and swiss sandwich, but on yummy Sister Schubert rolls and with a very yummy poppyseed sauce poured all over the top. Sooo good!!

#4. Ranch Pork Chops and Stuffed Zucchini...

Yes we had potatoes too, but those aren't from Pinterest (however they are still very yummy and a family favorite). The pork chops only require 3 ingredients and are cooked in the crockpot. They had great flavor however the meat was a little dry for me (again though...I'm extra picky about that). But the yummy sauce really helped with that...plus the meat was falling off the bone. I think my favorite consistency of meat is grilled (on a grill or in a pan) just until its done. (Just trying to give you a thorough review). Now the stuffed zucchini...we've already made it again since this. It was absolutely wonderful. We will make this a lot this summer!

#5. Alice Springs Chicken and Zucchini Parmesan Bites...

This meal was delicious. I will MOST definitely be making both these dishes again. The chicken, modeled after Outback Steakhouse's Alice Springs Chicken, was wonderful and fairly easy to make. The sauce was made with ingredients I already had on hand. The only thing I needed to buy was the mushrooms (I usually have the cheese and bacon on hand as well). The zucchini was good too...but I let them bake a little too long. A little less time and these will be super good!

#6. Grilled Bacon, Guacomole, and Cheese Sandwiches...

Oh. my. word. Need I say more. I am craving these right now. Of course for me...guacomole is simply wonderful by itself. So adding melted cheddar cheese, bacon, and two buttery grilled pieces of bread can ONLY create something utterly delectable.

I have tried quite a bit of other recipes as well but don't have pictures for them. They include...

--Twix Bars....really? Need I make a review on those? Ok, I will anyway becuase I must talk about anything chocolate...they were wonderful. Next time however, I will be adding peanuts and a little more caramel to make them even better!

--Cheesy Bacon Potato Rounds...Very yummy. Again I baked them too long (I think my oven cooks faster than others)....but oh man...great flavor. Again, can you go wrong with potatoes, bacon, cheese, and butter? I didn't think so.

--Rosemary Garlic Chicken Skillet...I made this awhile ago, and can't remember if I blogged about it. But it was sooo delicious as well. Definitely will be making it again too.

--Mongolian Beef...This was a good meal. The beef was really tender. The sauce was good, but a little sweet. I might add a little less brown sugar next time.

--Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup...This soup had a great flavor. And it was SUPER easy. I even stuck the chicken in there frozen and it turned out just great!

Ok, so that's all I can think of for now. As you can see, I've been cooking Pinterest meals almost every night. And its been extremely fulfulling....probably even more so since I'm pregnant. Oh, and since I'm talking about food, Saturday I went to Pittsburgh with our youth girls and some ladies from the church for a conference. When it was over, we ate at a place called Chipotle for dinner. Basically (for those of you southerners like myself) its the same thing as Moe's. Oh yummy! I got a big ole' chicken burrito and am ashamed to admit (but not really) that I ate the whole thing... (well I did leave about 3 bites). My stomach literally felt like it was about to pop. But it was worth it (and so was the pound I gained the next day). Ok, so enough about food for one day. Now I need to go plan my meals for the week. :)

Party Hardy!

It seems that we've started a little trend. Everytime one parent is going to be gone for a night, we have a party. Sounds like we are celebrating one of us being gone, but I see it as quite the contrary. It's something fun for us to do to get our mind off missing (in this case) daddy....who was at a youth lock-in. So basically we get lots of junk food (basically the kids pick the menu) and we sleep out on the pull-out couch. Our kids think it is the greatest thing ever. The idea for these parties came from the infamous "No Parents Allowed" parties that Grandmaw used to throw when we lived in Dayton (and I'm sure she will still throw when we go visit...or she visits here). Anyway...at this particular party we decided our main events were going to be making cupcakes and painting. Let me first say...allowing the kids to crack eggs and blend things with the blender goes against everything in my personality. But I am really trying to let loose more and let them get in the kitchen and help (well...at parties anyway). Maybe one day I'll be better about letting them help with dinner on a nightly basis (baby steps). But I will say....I am SO glad I let them do it. They had a BLAST and actually did a really good job for the most part! So here we go...(oh, and warning...this post contains a LOT of pictures). To bake a cake you first need a cake mix...
(I must add that after dumping this in, our innocent little Austin proceeded to stick is hand into the cake mix, grabbed a handful, and tried to eat it....he's always making things more interesting....gotta love him).
Then oil...

And water...

And eggs...

(Isn't it perfect that a cake mix requires 3 eggs? I think so too). Then you need to blend it all together...for about 3 minutes (again...perfect)...

Then, you of course need to lick the utensils you are done with (only two of those...not as perfect)...

Pour the batter into muffin cups...

And then lick the bowl....somehow I don't have a picture of that. So while the cupcakes were baking we painted...

Can you tell what Austin REALLY wanted to do with the paint?

We had gotten some magnets a while back and had never painted them...so we painted those too. Daniel did a really good job on his turtle!

And every girl needs a pink and purple kitty cat magnet...

After we painted we ate M&M's...

And swirly cheese puffs...

I know, I know...pretty bad. Remember we also make the cupcakes (chocolate with chocolate icing). But...I will say, #1...they ate a good dinner before the party, #2...they brushed their teeth after having all their sweets, and #3...granted they had the M&M's and ate every one of those, but they didn't eat a lot of cheetos AND by the time they iced their cupcakes (they had already eaten the other stuff) they only ate about 2 bites of them. PLUS....what's a party if you don't do stuff you normally wouldn't do, right? Right. Ok, so enough of me justifying my cramming my kids full of sugar and junk. Then we pulled out the couch and watched a movie til we fell asleep...

(As you can see, Daniel didn't last very long). And one last sugary treat was left for the next morning...

Donuts. So there you have it...Partytime Heath Style. I can honestly say...even though it required a bit of clean-up...I REALLY enjoyed this time with our kids. (And the clean-up wasn't too bad b/c I did a lot as we went). We really need to have a big party soon with both parents present....that really would be WAY fun (considering Jason and I are so cool). :)

Shopping!!

Yesterday was a big day for the Heath family!! First of all little Daniel had his first big field trip to the ImagineOcean! It was a puppet show of ocean creatures done with black lights. Daniel was hilarious! All week he had been talking about this trip. His teacher had told the class they had to be at school about 20 minutes early, would not have time to eat breakfast at school, and needed to pack a lunch that day. Let me first say...that Daniel usually rides the bus to school (so he is usually already at school 20 minutes early), and about 95% of the time he takes his lunch to school. He does eat breakfast at school usually (it's free and he loves eating there), so out of her 3 instructions...only one altered his usual school schedule. However, Daniel felt it very necessary to remind us about each and every instruction. The night before he kept saying, "Daddy, we have to get up really early tomorrow, because I have to be at school early!!!" Jason kept asking, "Do you want me to take you to school?" He kept saying, "No, daddy...Ms. Spencer said she'll wait on the buses." It never dawned on him that Jason could get him there at the same time or before the buses. I didn't get much sleep the night before, so I was still in bed while he was getting ready. He came in almost 30 minutes early to hug me goodbye. It was so cute watching him be so anxious and excited about his big day. This time they said there was not enough space or tickets for parents to join, so I didn't get to go with him. However...Thursdays are Jason's day off, so we decided to take the other two kids and go on an adventure of our own! There is no mall in the city we live in...the closest mall is about 45 minutes away, but it's really small. So we decided to take a 2 hour trek to Hagerstown, MD to the big mall! Lily and Austin were super excited about going to the mall! Especially Lily...the night before Lily said.."I have a question. I need to buy some new clothes at the mall. The kind of clothes I want are like pretty dresses....and I also need to buy some shoes that I don't already have." We were sitting there wondering where the question was. That child is ALL girl! So needless to say, Wednesday night the kiddos were very eager to go to bed (for once)! Here are some of the shoes Lily thought were pretty...

And Austin found some he liked too...
However these shoes were at the Finish Line....which means they run about $45. That wasn't happening. I think we went into every shoe store in the mall. And every time Jason went into a store he liked Lily would say, "Can we just go into a girl store?" That child loves the mall....she even walked the entire time in time without complaining. At the end we found a little play place and let them play for a little while before lunch...
And then we had lunch.....
At LONGHORN!! Oh, yes! Wild West Shrimp as an appetizer (oh my word...YUM), salad with honey mustard dressing, loaded baked potato and grilled chicken with a stuffed portabella mushroom on top. Ok, so don't worry, I didn't clean my plate. And of course, we shared the appetizer. But I will say, one thing I LOVE about being pregnant, is not having to suck my tummy in after eating a big meal! :) Here is Austin waiting patiently for his mac-n-cheese and salad!
Their food came with some orange slices...they got a little silly with those...


And then while Jason got a few things at Lifeway, the kids and I decided to go to the beloved Target. We of course looked at clothes! And I looked at adorable baby clothes and thought before too long I will be buying something like this....
Or this.....
Oh my goodness, so cute. You would think clothes shopping would be boring for kids. But not Lily! Even Austin was super excited about a pair of shorts he wanted! Here is what our buggy looked like after about 5 minutes...
Yep..they are all "pretty dresses." Of course we were not buying all these dresses. I told Lily she could put them all in and then pick her favorite out of all of them to buy. And she did great! She was totally fine with putting all the other ones back. So a full day of shopping! Each boy got a superhero shirt and a pair of athletic shorts and Lily got a Hello Kitty shirt, a pair of shorts, and a little sun-dress. Daniel was super excited about what we brought him home...and he had a wonderful time on his field trip. It ended up being a very fun day...and we were all ready to crash when we got home (some more than others). :)