Christmas 2017

This past Christmas was so much fun with the kids. Our Christmas celebration starts right after Thanksgiving when we take family photos with Jennifer's family. 

These two kids are my favorite little people in the whole world. I am so blessed to have them call me dad.

Christmas pictures wouldn't be complete without a little milk and cookies.

Jennifer's family.

This year I had a couple of kids that wanted to help me put up the Christmas lights.

Landon wouldn't be happy until he got to climb up the ladder because his sister did it.

My two favorite little "helpers". Even though it sometimes takes me longer to accomplish things with them I wouldn't have it any other way.

One of my favorite traditions is decorating a gingerbread house. This year the kids were considerably better.

Landon did almost all of this himself. Sometimes he just had trouble getting the icing out of the piping bottles. We used a kit as well as some of the kids left over Halloween candy to decorate.

If you can't tell I am very pattern orientated with my design.

Landon decorating the Christmas tree.

Brinley putting up a few ornaments too.

Short wife problems. Not exactly the safest way to decorate a tree, but what ever works!

Each year Jennifer and I get a special ornament. This was a tradition that we started right after we got married and have been doing it ever since. Usually if there is something big that happened that year then we get an ornament that has something to do with it. Since our big event this year was the marathon. Jennifer found this pretty awesome runDisney shoe at the race expo. They didn't have an ornament for a Dopey Challenge so Jennifer just made me one.

The kids with their ornaments for the Christmas tree, Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps.

The kids and I enjoying some hot chocolate while waiting for the Christmas parade to start. It was a really cold night!

Ever since the kids were born we have made a trip to the Southern Lights at the Kentucky Horse Park. Mimi came along this year for all the fun. We happened to unfortunately pick a really cold night to go see them.

Mimi and the kids as the Frozen sisters Anna and Elsa along with Olaf.

Our two little penguins.

The kids with Frosty the Snowman at the Horse Park.

No matter how cold it is I will always be rocking the shorts and sandals. Here we are with a very beautiful poinsettia Christmas tree.

We also heard about a couple of insanely decorated houses here in town so we just had to go check them out. This one was the kids favorite one.

Since people are always sick during the holidays and our jobs don't always allow us to be off from work, we have become very accustomed to celebrating Christmas morning with the kids on different days. Usually we just pick a day that both Jennifer and I are off from work and celebrate it then. This works well for now because the kids have no idea what the actual date is, so they never know what day is actually Christmas until we tell them.

This year we celebrated on December 22. The kids picked out and helped make some chocolate chip cookies for Santa. Then they put out the reindeer food in the backyard. The little gingerbread house in the picture is one that Brinley made at school a few days before.

Look what Santa and mommy and daddy brought the kids. Ever since the kids were old enough to ask for something from Santa we have made it a point that they can only ask Santa for one gift. Santa also drops off a stocking with some things in it, but otherwise everything else is from mommy and daddy. I hate that this mythical person gets all the credit for everything that the kids get. 

The kids didn't take long to open up all of the gifts and immediately wanted to start playing with everything. That's good because that is why we got it all.

This year we didn't make all of our traditional Christmas candies and treats because we knew that it wasn't good for us to have all of those sweets around the house. Landon loved it and was really excited about helping me dip the treats in chocolate. He was also pretty excited about trying them out too!

The two treats that we made were homemade turtles and dipped ritz crackers and peanut butter.

It was awesome to be able to attend the Christmas Eve candlelight service. The kids were so excited about getting to hold the candles and then Landon had some wax drip on him and he was not happy about it getting on his shirt.

Only person missing from the family picture is Uncle McKinley. He was unfortunately still at work. After church we headed down the street to the only place that we could find reservations, a hibachi restaurant. 

Family picture. It took many attempts to even get this picture.

Heflin siblings on Christmas 2017.

The next day we took a little trip downtown to the Chocolate Holler for hot chocolate. I had a cup of my favorite, the Elvis, which is a peanut butter banana hot chocolate. It was delicious! You should definitely try one if you are ever in the area.

We also met up for a Breakout Games adventure. Two Christmas' ago we were supposed to do one of these games but as we all know dad got sick and we had to postpone it. So, this year as part of my gift to the family I paid for us all to try and breakout. We broke out with 11:30 left on the clock. That makes the 3rd time that we have broke out together.

A couple of gifts that I received this year that may not mean much to anybody else, but these are a couple of special ones for me. The Christmas tree is a replica of one that my Mamaw used to display at her house every Christmas. It was the only tree that I actually remember my Mamaw ever having in her house. The little tin has even more history than the tree. Every year around the holidays when I was growing up my Mamaw would make loads of batches of peanut brittle for almost all of her friends and family. Everyone had high praise for my Mamaw's peanut brittle, including myself. When I was around 4 or 5 years old I got this tin filled with peanut brittle from Santa Claus. I apparently made a comment that Santa's peanut brittle was better than Mamaw's. They got such a kick out of it that they just kept doing it every year. Each Christmas morning after opening my gifts I would search around the living room until I found my special tin of peanut brittle from "Santa". When Mamaw passed away I just kind of assumed that so would this little tradition. However, that next Christmas to my surprise I found the little tin full of peanut brittle. Since then it is probably one of my most cherished gifts that I get every year. It acts as a reminder of my childhood and all the good times that I had growing up with my Mamaw. I am so thankful for this little tin and all the memories that go with it.

Each year since the children were born we have made a special hand or foot print ornament for the Christmas tree. Some of them have turned out pretty awesome. This year we made their hand prints into little elves. Here is Brinley's little girl elf.

Landon's little elf. Each year we make 3 sets of each hand prints and the grandparents both get their own set. This might be our last year making the ornaments because their hands and feet are getting so big. 

These are just a few of the ways that we like to spend our Christmas season. It is always such an exciting time for the kids and this year it was a lot of fun to see the joy on their faces. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Sledding

Two winters ago it was a relatively mild winter and the kids didn't get to go sledding at all. However, this winter when there was a decent snowfall I knew that we needed to find some hills to take the kids sledding. There is a spot in our neighborhood that looks like they dug out for a basement but then decided to not build. It is a smaller hill but we decided that it was the perfect size to start out on. The kids school had been called off so we bundled up and headed out.

Brinley laying down in the sled waiting her turn to be pushed down the hill.

Landon about to head down the hill.

Jennifer didn't want to sled this day with us but she took some pictures of us. Here are my two sledding buddies.

The next day school was cancelled again but I wanted to try out a new sledding hill. We made the trip over to Jacobson Park to see if they had any bigger hills for us to go down. We found one and made the climb up to the top and were all excited to go down the big hill.

Landon on his first run down the big hill. The second time he went down the hill he thankfully decided to go down feet first instead of head first. His sled ran straight into a big tree at the bottom of the hill. It broke his sled and got him really upset. Thankfully he didn't get hurt at all. I was just glad that he wasn't going head first on that run down the hill. He didn't really want to go sledding anymore by himself after that.

We finally got mommy out on the sleds with us!

After Landon's accident he only wanted to go down the hill with someone else. So we took turns going down the hill with Landon. 

The next day the kids had school, but afterwards I asked the kids what they wanted to do. Surprisingly Landon said he wanted to go sledding again. His only request was that we didn't go back to the big hill, only the small one. Deal! So, the girls decided to do something else while the boys headed out for another day of sledding.

Happy little guy. Sledding the small hill.

Heading back up for another run down the hill.

Thumbs up from the little man. Since he had the accident of running into the tree I tried to teach him how to slow himself down and help steer his sled a little. Learning because he doesn't ever want to hit another tree.

Just a couple of Heflin boys.

He talked me into dragging him back up the hill instead of him having to walk up.

It was really windy and the sun was getting close to setting so we called it quits after about 30 minutes or so. We then headed back home to warm up with a cup of hot chocolate.

I am so glad that we got the opportunity to finally get out and sled together. Besides the tree it was a great three day stretch of sledding. Maybe next year we can find a bigger hill without any trees at the bottom. I have also thought that we might try to take them snow tubing sometime in the next few years. I have never done it but I think the kids would have a blast. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Louisville Slugger Museum and Kentucky Science Center

Last year I won a basket full of goodies in a silent auction. It included passes for the Louisville Slugger Museum as well as tickets for the Kentucky Science Center. They are actually just a block or two apart in downtown Louisville. After the kids were out of school for Christmas break we decided to make a little day trip over to Louisville. Our first stop was the Slugger Museum. 

Family picture out front with a huge baseball bat.

We got there right on time and were quickly told to head over to the factory tour. Unfortunately, there are no pictures allowed during the tour so I can't show you how they actually make the bats. It is really neat and quite a process to make a bats. They started with showing us how the bats were originally made before modern machines and it would have been a really long and tedious task. However, with modern inventions they are able to crank out any where from 3-5 thousand bats a day. It was pretty neat to see how they have the whole process down to an exact science. The kids actually enjoyed seeing all the things going on in the factory tour.

They had some original game used bats by some of the famous major league players. A few that I picked up, with gloves on (since it was mandatory), were Albert Pujols, Ken Griffey Jr., and a replica of a Babe Ruth.

 After the factory tour you could go around and tour the museum. This was not as interesting for the kids. They kept running around and weren't interested in letting me read all the little details and facts that they had everywhere. However, I was able to talk them into posing with these replicas statues.

Landon doing his best Babe Ruth impersonation. Too bad Landon had his hands on the bat as a righty and not a lefty. Pretty funny picture.

Jennifer ready for the pitch just like Mr. November himself, Derek Jeter.

Doing my best Ken Griffey Jr. impersonation in my shorts and flip flops. Griffey was always so much fun to watch play ball.

By far my favorite impersonation is Brinley kissing the bat like Ted Williams. It is just so funny to me. Part of the factory tour also included these little mini bats. The kids were really excited about them but they quickly got them taken away when they started hitting each other with them.

Sitting in the dugout. We are ready coach. Put us in!

They even had an area where they built some scale models of a few ball parks out of Legos. They were pretty amazing! Here was Wrigley Field complete with ivy on the outfield walls.

This was a neat little sculpture/art/bench in the lobby area. 

After a quick lunch we headed down the street to the Kentucky Science Center. This place was really neat. It had all kinds of things to play with and without the kids knowing they were actually learning about science.

Here the girls were building a little wooden structure. 

The kids trying to climb sideways on the wall. Both kids eventually finished it after multiple attempts. Jennifer was also able to finish as well, but I couldn't get a good foot hold with my sandals on.

Landon climbing around the little play area.

One last picture before hitting the road back to Lexington. We will definitely have to come back and explore some more at the Science Center. Behind us is a huge spherical mirror comprised of a lot of small mirrors put together.

I would recommend both of these museums for anybody that is going to be visiting in Louisville. Clearly the Slugger museum would be great for any that loves baseball while the Science Museum would be great for kids of all ages. There are plenty more places for us to explore in Louisville and I can't wait to go back for another little day trip adventure. Thanks for reading and God bless!

YMCA Basketball

After playing soccer last fall we decided to go ahead and try out a new sport, basketball. This sport is one that I know quite a bit more about. Unfortunately, all the games are played on Saturday mornings and with the current weekend work schedule that I am on I didn't know if I could be one of the coaches. That made me a little upset, so each week I would try to be helpful and be an assistant during practice because it always looked like the coaches were out numbered. Ten little kids for just 2 coaches was just not enough. 

Our little players were numbers 11 and 12. Here Brinley is going for the shot. The whole game is so cute because most of the kids don't know how to dribble, or actually any rules of the game of basketball. So, Brinley and Landon would both get the ball and run down the court without any dribbling and then throw up a shot. Thankfully both kids scored during the season which was more than they did in soccer. They were both so excited too!

Our little 4 year basketball player. He was one of the only 4 year olds on his team that actually scored a goal. He tried so hard, but was so worried about trying to get more goals. Towards the end of the season he actually got a lot better at defense. I told him that he should just take the ball from the other team like he takes toys from his sister.

Brinley did really good for her first season of basketball. I was surprised at how quick she jumped out in the first game and actually scored 2 goals. She spent the rest of the season trying to score more than that but it never happened. She was the only girl on her team that scored all season.

Most of the team was at the last game of the season and they were all excited about getting their trophies. They won the majority of their games on the season, although they didn't keep score. I think that it is funny that Landon is the only kid looking at me.

Proud parents of our little ball players.

These two couldn't have been any more proud of their trophies.

Basketball is something that both kids really enjoyed and were both fairly successful for being their first time playing. I definitely anticipate that we will be playing basketball again. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Game Night

With the kids being so competitive I decided that we should try to harness some of that winning spirit and put it into a family game night. The kids have some favorites that they keep wanting to play, but we recently got some new games for Christmas that have really been a lot of fun. 

Pop the Pig is a quick fun game to play. You shove cheeseburgers in the pigs mouth and then press on his head the number of times that was on the cheeseburger that he just ate. The winner of the game is the person that "Pops" his belly out. As a nurse I can only think of the practice dummies at CPR certification when the kids are pressing on his head because it makes the same sound. 

My mother got me a new game for Christmas too called Blokus. It is one of my favorite games that I have picked up from playing over at my brothers house. Did I mention that my brother is slightly obsessed with board games? The game says that it is for 7+ year old but both of the kids really enjoy it. For a while I was actually undefeated. Now I spend so much time trying to help the kids find a perfect spot that I have actually been dethroned as the champ. 

The kids really like this game where you have a big board full of Disney scenes and you have to find certain objects within the pictures. You have to find random objects like plates, fish, bridges, etc.

Uno is our new go to. It is fairly quick and the kids were really quick to pick up the rules. The only issue the kids have is with trying to hold their cards. They try to build a barricade or some device so that nobody sees their cards. They have actually been pretty resourceful with how to block people from seeing their cards.

Another game of Blokus!

Oh no! The Yeti is about to fall into the spaghetti.

Yeti in my Spaghetti is another quick and easy game that the kids like to play.

Not every game night has ended well. With two kids who are really competitive it sometimes means that when someone wins that the other one is really sad. For some reason it doesn't really matter if Jennifer or I win. It is only a problem when the sibling wins.

Family game night has been a lot of fun for us and I am so glad to see the competitiveness that the kids are learning. I sometimes have to remind them that it is in fact ok when you don't win. The world is not going to end, but rather that there will be more games to play. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Puzzles

About 18 years ago Jennifer and I got a gift of a jigsaw puzzle for Christmas. Since then I have absolutely been a jigsaw puzzle addict. I will go periods of time where I will do them all the time and then other times I will go months without doing one. Well, as it turns out my kids have developed a love for puzzles too, especially Landon. So, over winter break I had a desire to start a puzzle, maybe because I had gotten one for Christmas. The kids said they wanted to help so I started them out with the grunt work of sorting through all the pieces to find all of the border. They were actually very helpful!

Many years ago I started dating and labeling the last piece of the puzzle. I thought it was just a cool way to see which piece was the last one since I have glued all of the puzzles that I have ever put together. This was the first puzzle that I ever completed that I got to include the kids initials. They weren't as excited about this as I was.

The first puzzle experience was so good that I immediately decided to start another one. This one was a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Here the kids and Jennifer were again helping with the border pieces. 

Even though I do most of the work on the interior of the puzzle I still think it is cool to let the kids help me with finishing the puzzles. Here all 4 of us are putting in the final piece to the puzzle, a true team effort.

The kids were struck with puzzle fever and got out one of their own puzzles to put together. Here they are almost finishing up their USA puzzle.

I decided to get a couple of smaller puzzles at the store because I wasn't wanting to do another 1000 piece puzzle again just yet. So, I picked up a 4 pack of Disney themed 500 piece puzzles. I sorted this puzzle by myself and when I do I usually pick out all similar looking pieces. Here Landon was putting together a little picture of Mickey and Minnie. 

Here are all the puzzles that I did in the first few weeks of 2018. I did a 1000 piece, a 750 piece oval bald eagle and then 4 500 piece puzzles. Not too bad of a way to start off the new year!

I have around a 100 puzzles that I have done over the years and I have glued every one of them. I had always told Jennifer that I wanted to have a puzzle room in our home where I could display all of them. That has never really worked out, but I was tired of having all of those puzzles sitting under our bed collecting dust. So, I went through them all and found some of my favorites as well as puzzles from places that we have been to on vacation. I hung these up in the laundry room and I was really excited about how it turned out. A nice little reminder while doing the laundry about some of the fun adventures that we have been on.

Seeing all those puzzles under the bed made me realize that we probably shouldn't glue all puzzles any more. So, from now on I am going to decide if it was worth keeping and putting up on the wall. If it doesn't make the cut then I am going to take it back apart and maybe pass it along to someone else so that they could maybe enjoy it too. I am however going to keep my tradition of putting my initials and date on the last piece. So, maybe someday you will get one of my slightly used puzzles. Thanks for reading and God bless!