Kezia's Heidi Anne Adventure!

My friend Lela has two adorable little girls! Kezia is three years old and Amelia is roughly 18 months old.  Kezia is three-years-old and has been a fan of this blog since she was born. Kezia this post is dedicated to you!

The Far Right Building was ours

I've been friends with Lela for seven years. When I first got married and moved to Cache Valley, Lela was a classmate of Char's (in many of his classes) and became one of my first friends in Logan. A few months after we moved in she moved in the apartment below us.  (I still feel bad about our apartment flooding her's that one time).

The layout of Aggie Village

Kezia has been wanting a Heidi Anne adventure of her own for such a long time but we lived in Cache Valley and they lived in the Salt Lake Valley. Lela's husband is in the military so he is frequently overseas. Lela is very involved with support our troops organizations and travels frequently with her two girls. Saturday was their lucky day! We got to bring the girls to our house for a play date! According to Heidi Anne "Kezia is here to play with me but we are babysitting Amelia because she is a baby."

We drove down to pick them up and Heidi Anne sang songs with Kezia and played Peek-A-Boo with Amelia the whole drive back home. The back seat was filled with little girls' giggles and made up songs. The first thing the girls did when we got home was to dump out all the baby toys. Everyone had fun playing with the toys, watching and singing Tangled, making each other laugh in the process.
We had some waffles for lunch, I forgot how much a little baby can eat! Kezia wouldn't take off her cute pink jacket, she wasn't cold, she just liked it snuggling her. After we ate lunch I thought Kezia and Heidi Anne would like to play without Amelia. Amelia stayed with me in the living room while the girls played in Heidi Anne's room. 

Thus began a new game for Amelia. We would be happily playing in the living room when she would get this grin. Quick as a wink she would get up, run to the hall, (wait for me to follow), then start booking it for Heidi Anne's room, laughing the whole time. I would pick her up and she would smile and do a pretend "Eeek!". Then it would start over.  

I love this picture below, I went to check on the girls, came back and Amelia had this surprised face of "Wait. How did you get here first!?!" 

I didn't get many pictures of Heidi Anne and Kezia playing together. They would hide when I tried to get a picture. They had fun playing camping, kitchen, house, doll house, collecting leaves, and getting into the "snow" when I tried to put Amelia down for a nap. I was worried Kezia wasn't having much fun since she wouldn't talk to me much, apparently she had a wonderful time. I know Heidi Anne was in high heaven and now wants some sisters, which would be fun. I'm Not announcing anything!

Char's Cousin's Only Halloween Party

A little delayed in posting but I'm making a recovery! Back in October Char's family had a "Cousins Only Party". I think this is what happens when parents keep their children at the "Kids Only Table" past the age of 12 - once they are older they have their very own Holiday Party. Sadly, this year I couldn't make it. Char and Heidi Anne went to the party (plus they had a Cousins Zoo Adventure earlier in the day with one of his sister's family).

This year they decided to have a Cousins Only Halloween Party. There were a lot of people there, but most of the adult age cousins played "Dodge the Camera", here are a few who weren't fast enough!

They had dinner, got together to hang out, and the younger cousins and the kids of the older cousins (i.e. Heidi Anne is the one with the pink flowers on her shirt). Just had fun getting to play with each other.

It's also a great time for the new mommys' in the family to show off their adorable new babies! This little lady is named Elizabeth Jane, I think her outfit is adorable and fits her perfectly!

Baby Elizabeth Jane

Baby Hannah

Besides getting together, having dinner, showing off cute babies, letting the kids just have fun, they carved pumpkins.
 








 

Heidi Anne got so exhausted from playing that she wasn't able to finish her pumpkin. I'm sad I missed it but at least they had a wonderful time!

 

From Trains to Planes

Back in Cache Valley we lived about 2 houses away from train tracks. Whenever possible, Heidi Anne and I would run outside as soon as we heard the train coming. As it was came closer and closer we would sing make up lyrics to the tune of "She'll be coming around the mountain."

 As the train came within view we would jump up and down waving at the engineers, always getting a smile in return and even got to hear the train whistle. When the train moved beyond our sight she would hug me and say "I love my mini train adventures!"

 We live in Washington Terrace (a city that is surrounded by Ogden) and is less then one mile away from Hill AFB. Now we get to hear the thunderous sounds of the 388th Fight Wing practice in their AWESOME F-16s! They normally fly in packs of three we hear:
Fighter Jet 1:  SSSSSWWWWOOOOOAR!!!
Fighter Jet 2:  THHURRRSSSDOOMMMM!!!
Fighter Jet 3:  BBBBBOOOOOOMMMMM!!!

Often by the time you hear them they are long gone. The trick is to hear a small "Hissss" or have an open, elevated spot with a great view of the sky. We can see them almost every day at Heidi Anne's school when I go to pick her up in the afternoon. She loves to play "Fighter Jet Pilot." Running up and down with her coat spread like wings singing "Into the Wild Blue "Wonder", flying high into the sky!" (I know it's yonder, but it's soo cute!"

Heidi Anne's Halloween Adventures! Pumpkin Walk, Pumpkin Picking, Halloween Trick or Treat!

Heidi Anne Picked a Pumpkin!

First is the Pumpkin Picking! Every year since Heidi Anne was born we've gone to a Pumpkin Patch to pick a pumpkin and to the Pumpkin Walk. Well Heidi Anne got to pick her own pumpkin. We thought about going through a corn maze with her because she had fun playing between some corn rows. But we'll take her next year.

Heidi Anne at her 6th Pumpkin Walk!

I was so sad that our little family's tradition of going to the Pumpkin Walk in Cache Valley may end since we moved.  Char had a surprise for us. He traded shifts so we were able to go the Saturday before Halloween. (Which is very lucky because a winter storm smashed many of the displays the next day.) The theme this year was 80's. Apparently, it was in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the Pumpkin Walk. These were some of our favorite displays.

Carebears! 

Back to the Future! -- You Have 2 Years Science!!

Little House on the Prairie - Heidi Anne loved the Kittens

Super Mario! 

M*A*S*H

Princess Bride! 

Hello, My name is Inigo Montoya. You Killed My Father!

Heidi Anne wants to be "Heidi" Next Year

Minon! 

For Halloween Heidi Anne dressed up as Cindy Lou Who!  I got some pictures of her before she went to school. Sadly, I forgot the camera when we went trick or treating. My sister's in laws had a Dr. Seuse theme going. It was Heidi Anne's FIRST time really trick or treating. She LOVED it! She's always gone to our office going desk to desk. She and her cousin Kayla would run house to house. Since I forgot my camera I will use some pictures from the Pumpkin Walk to show what the rest of the family were dressed as. (She did ask me if she could borrow Kayla's Grandpa until her's came back). It was so much fun! 

Heidi Anne AS:

Cindy Lou Who

Kayla was the Lorax!

Kayla's Grandpa was the Red Fox (from Green Eggs and Ham)

One of her Uncles was Horton

Her other Uncle was the Orange Fish

 Another Aunt was The Cat in the Hat

Her twin girls were Thing 1 and Thing 2

Her other Aunt and her baby girl were Birds from Sussicial the Musical

My sister was "This one has a Green Star"

I was "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" (I got lots of Heidi Anne's things from around the world)

 Rykken had the cutest vest and a Fedora Hat. I kept thinking "1920's Mafia"

Smart Kid

Jeff Foxworthy once said "Man, sometimes there is nothing worse then having a smart kid, nothing gets past them."

I believe Heidi Anne is one of those children he talked about. Heidi Anne is learning to read and spell. As most children, she'd rather be outside playing, dancing, sneak in extra shows like My Little Pony or Magic School Bus. (Side note, it's so weird to see her watch the exact same shows I did as a kid. I wish they would bring back "Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego?"). 

We sat at the kitchen table and she was having a hard time focusing. I said, "Heidi Anne, if you read 3 words, you can have a treat!"  She perked up and innocently asked "If I read 5 words can I have some ice cream?"  Knowing that wouldn't happen I told her "Sure thing Sunshine. You read five words from this stack of sight words and I will put sprinkles on your ice cream." 

She takes the stack of cards from my hand, reading them as she laid them on the table like rapid fire.
"See"
"Go" 
"The"
 "I" 
"A"

 Then quickly added, "Those last two are letters but they are also words." She looked up at me with a grin on her face "Momma, would you like some help getting my ice cream?"