Happy 2nd Birthday Kendall Bug!

Happy 2nd Birthday Bug! We love you!!!

Ellie Claire

Happy Belated Birthday to Ellie Claire who turned 2 yesterday!! Her and Kendall were almost twins :-) Happy Anniversary to Bess and Jones (her mommy & daddy) as well!!

Pictures from Kendall's Party

Happy Birthday Chay Chay!

Busy,busy,busy

What a crazy weekend! Mom & Dad got here early Friday afternoon to help us with party preparations for Kendall. We visited while we were doing things around the house and getting the food ready. Kendall's party was a smashing success (of course I have pictures and I will post them soon!) I had a great time visiting with everyone and it was much more relaxed than last year since I had an extra 3 adults here to help with food, Kendall, clean-up, and visiting. Of course I still feel like I didn't get around to talk with everyone enough but I am always that way when I am hosting an event.
Kendall's actual bday is tomorrow. I think that we are going to go to 2 playgroups tomorrow if we are up to it to celebrate.
Today we of course went to church & then went to another b-day party for Kendall's friend Chayton. It was at the marina on the air station so the kids were having a blast. I think that mom and dad are pretty tired but having a good time. I am sure that they are ready to be back to their normal schedules!
Stay tuned for pictures from this weekend!

Anniversary time

We want to wish a happy 5th anniversary to Josh & Jen! And also Happy Anniversary to Joyce and Scott!

Wise words

This is today's bible verse and I felt compelled to post a blog on it because I feel that it fits a lot of situations and that many could benefit from it. Enjoy!
He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. - Proverbs 21:23

"Army Wives"

I just got finished watching last Sunday's episode of Army Wives (let me just insert thank goodness for DVR!) I have to say that I know at first there was some controversy over this program when it first came out....at least here in J'ville some of the Marine wives took offense to some of the things that were on the program. Although it is heavily Hollywood dramatized, I find that it has brought me to tears too many times to count because a lot of the underlying issues are the same for every military spouse. I think that this is a worthwhile program for anyone that is a civilian (and of course a military spouse) to get a small grasp of what life is really like on the homefront.
Just this season it has had me thankful that for the first time in 3 years I will have my husband home with me for an entire year and not in a combat situation, (although many of our friends are still having to leave very soon so I feel connected that I understand how they are feeling right now) just how much a group of friends can pull you out of any given circumstance that the military can throw at you, and an underlying lesson of how a little conflict (between friends or husband and wife) can change many lives.
Anyway, I just wanted to sound off on this and let ya'll now if you are bored with summer t.v. and want to check it out........

Kendall's New big girl room

Here is Kendall's room so far. We are still working on it as far as a few decorations/shelves/etc but for the most part it is ready to go. She loves it and to tell you the truth it is my favorite place to hang out with her right now. I sure that my mood will change since we have started Isaac's room as well!

Full of praises.....

It's been a long haul getting to this weekend but we are finally on a bit firmer ground! Let's see....

We already posted the pictures of the new car. It was a long time coming.....mostly to the point that we had looked at so many cars and dealerships we were tired of it all. We are so very thankful that God lead us to this car and ended our search.

The grass is really taking off and we have had rain yesterday and today that was much needed to suppliment our daily watering of it. Ben put out fertilizer on a hunch that our ground is so nutrient deficient that the grass was just dying off. It appears that he was right and we are starting to become happier with where the yard is at.

Kendall is doing soooooooooooo very good about the transition to her big girl room. I was very worried that she would be upset about leaving her old room but that hasn't been the case. I think that I have been more sad about it than anything. I can't believe that we are approaching her 2nd birthday. So much has happened in such a short time!

We got the rest of the bedding/room decor for Isaac's room at the Babies/Toys R Us grand opening. I was pleased as I was worried that we were going to be missing pieces of it. I can't wait to see how the room turns out. I also finally got Ben out to make a decision on material for Isaac's car seat/diaper bag/ and other embroidery items that we are getting done. I am super excited to get the material to my friend Stef so that she can give it to her friend Mandy that is going to do all of it for us.

Other than that we had a good visit with some friends at church last weekend and this weekend. In everyone's busy schedule, it is so hard to find time for all of us to get together and visit!

This week will be full of preparations for Kendall's bday party, mom and dad's visit, and of course our upcoming trip to Missouri.

Our newest family member....

.....to our car family that is!

After some wheeling and dealing on Saturday, we came home with this 2006 Suzuki Forenza. While it is not the sportiest or the most loaded car, it will get about twice the amount of gas mileage that Ben is getting right now with the truck. Since work is approximately 50 miles each way, 5 days a week, this will come in handy! It is very weird seeing it out in the driveway with our 2 other huge beasts! We are so extremely grateful that our search is at an end so now we can concentrate on more fun things like the final touches on Kendall's room and starting to paint Isaac's room. (Shortly to be followed by the crown molding and chair rail in Isaac's room!)

Breaking news!!!!

Kendall slept in her new big girl room and bed last night for the first time!!! She was a champ in a full sized bed without rails! Both Ben and I are so very tickled and sad at the same time that she is transitioning so well. I guess that it is the end of her "baby-hood" era and most definitely onward to toddler-hood. We have her room completed minus a few decorating things and a bit more of organization. We are hoping to work on painting Isaac's room to get that process started as well. (Don't worry Stef we aren't going to wait as long as ya'll did! :-) LOL.)

We are pretty certain that we have our "new" car. We brought it home with us last night from the dealership to peruse it at our own discretion. I will let ya'll know this afternoon if the deal was right!

Woodlands Park Playgroup

Yesterday Kendall and I went to our playgroup which met at Woodlands Park. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures because I was busy yapping! We love this park as it is never crowded and it is shaded so in this weather it is good for the both of us! Today we are going to the grand opening of Toys/Babies R Us here in J'vile so we will see if Kendall behaves enough with any of the characters for pictures :-)

Kendall's Korner

• She has learned how to help with her seat belt buckle but not quite to the point of undoing it herself....thank goodness! Also, knows how to climb up into the burb by herself so that is helping out dear old sweet mom who is the size of a small house right now!
• Dancing continues only we have moved onward to all music instead of just the keyboard. She loves to do it so I see some classes for her in the future!
• Still working on numbers, colors, and letters.....she seems to want to problem solve more than learn these but I am trying not to get frustrated!
• We peed in the potty for the first time and loved it!! (We finally broke down and bought her the potty seat for the big girl commode and she LOVES it.....you would have thought it was the best present in the world!)
• She has a "boyfriend" at the child development center on base where she goes while I am at work. His name is Mason and she gives him a hug plus will tell him bye at leat 10 times before we leave.....it is going to be hard on them at the end of the month as she will move to the toddler rooms instead of the pre-toddler!
• learned that sitting in a pile of dog poop in the backyard is not something that you want to do!!!

We have a lead.....

We went car shopping again yesterday afternoon. (We hit 3 dealerships last weekend and another 3 yesterday.....plus the 3 that Ben went to by himself.) We are taking our time and being careful about our choices since we had so many problems with the suburban when we got it. We found a car that both liked so we are going to look some more today, tomorrow, and hopefully purchase on Saturday! Thanks to everyone on your advice!

Rare treats......

• Kendall letting us sleep until 0645
• Ben being there when we woke up since he is scheduled for the simulators today
• Kendall coming to my dentist appt with me today & being so very good! (And interested in what was going on!)
• A brief rain shower today to suppliment us watering the grass
• Family coming to town soon!!!!
• getting off work on Monday 4 hours early!! (for me at least...)

Pics from our father's day

The playset

Benny did a great job on putting the swing set together almost all by himself!

Kendall resting in our bed waiting to go play on her play set!

Our weekend thus far....

Thank-you for putting my swingset together Daddy! You're the best!

I left with a diaper cake for Shelly and came home with one for Isaac. Thanks Kim!
Shelly's diaper cake.....I am getting better and better at these things :-)

Who knew that car shopping was so exhausting!

Happy Father's day

We just want to say Happy Father's day to Benny, Dadoo, Pa Beach, Pappy Heider, and all of our other friends and family celebrating this awesome day :-)

Car question....

Like many of our friends, we have decided to park the truck for the time being since Ben is making such a long, costly trip to work everyday.....So we are starting our search this weekend for our fuel economical car. Does anyone have any suggestions on what is cheap, great on fuel, family-oriented, large trunk, and possibly a roof rack?

Blue Angel Weekend

Pictures from Colbi's party

Recovered!

Yesterday was spent mostly inside for us Beach girls. We ventured out in the morning for me to go to my OB appt at Naval and Kendall to go to Kidz Bizz. I passed my test.....I have graduated back to being a "normal" pregnant patient so I don't have to have so many appointments! I had an MD that looked like he was barely out of high school so it was a little hard to take him seriously but he seemed very informative!
Kendall had a blast at Kidz Bizz as usual. She didn't want to leave and didn't give me a problems when I dropped her off...just ran in after she washed her hands :-)
We spent the rest of the day cleaning, organizing, and playing! It was refreshing to be in the a/c and not deal with all of the heat.
I finally watched the season finales of Greys Anatomy & Desperate Housewives. I loved both of them but biggest on my list that I completed was watching the season premiere of Army Wives. I spent about 20 minutes bawling my eyes out (so that means it was really good!) Those of you that watch those shows know what I am talking about!
Benny found out that the super triathlon is closed for June so he is of course bummer but he is looking into doing another 2 sprint triathlons.....August 1 in Goldsboro and then an October tri in Emerald Isle.
Today had both of us working. Ben with his normal stuff for the wing and me hanging lots of chemo.
Still trying to beat the heat!

Verbose posting.....

........on our weekend!
Even though it was crazy hot here in NC, we spent a lot of time outside this weekend. Saturday morning, we went to our home owner's association meeting. Ben stayed and I took Kendall home because she was pretty rowdy. Good news came out of the meeting....they had projected that each family was going to have to fork over $500 for retaining ponds in our neighborhood. Turns out the HOA (a.k.a. us) is not responsible for it so we are extremely grateful not to lose that money!
Saturday afternoon, we enjoyed Colbi's bday party and some great fellowship. The kids spent a lot of time in the pool, sprinklers, and with water balloons & water guns.
Sunday after church and sunday school we decided to go to the air show at Cherry Point. I was so very excited to see the Blue Angels fly again. When we got there, the car thermometer read 98 degrees with a very high heat index. (Probably making it feel about 110....so Heider family coming to the OBX....take note!!) Kendall loved seeing all of the aircraft and really didn't startle at all with all the loud noises. I ended up sitting in the handicap tent a lot and also in Kendall's stroller. (Don't ask!) Needless to say, we had a great time minus me almost passing out several times & not getting to see the whole Blue Angels performance.
Let's see some other updates......
Congratulations to Josh on his new job!
Happy Anniversary to Aunt Donna and Uncle Truck.
Ben
We actually found out that there were 125 participants in the Cherry Point Triathlon. Ben's ranking was actually #8 overall since they had included relay people in the original #11 ranking. What a great job :-)
He is working towards doing a super sprint triathlon on June 29th. I believe that it goes like this for those not familiar with triatlons..... 350 meter swim, 1.5 mile run, 10 mile bike then back through transition for another 10 mile bike, 1.5 mile run, and ending with 350 meter swim. I am sure that if I got it wrong he will correct me :-) I am extremely glad that Mom and Dad will be here to help me with Kendall for this one!
Other than that, he is doing a great job of keeping up with all of the house stuff and trying to help me out when he has time.
Kendall
Hard to believe she is going to be 2 this month! It makes me so sad to think that she is a little girl now. She is learning something new everyday. Not too much news right now on her!
Isaac
We decided to go with the second set of bedding. I am pumped to start his room but we are still working on getting Kendall into her new room before we can start that project! I have another OB appt today that I am hoping will put us back on a normal schedule!
I am going to try to learn how to hook the camera up to Ben's laptop so that we can post pics from this weekend's bday party and air show!

Another bedding option

Ok so when we were out shopping this evening we found this bedding at Babies R' Us that Ben liked a bit better than the other. What do ya'll think? Keep in mind we ordered the other bedding on May 31st and have heard nothing from the company. I am going to call them again bright and early in the morning and see what the hold up is.....then we will probably change the paint scheme quite drastically from the current plan. Let us know :-)

Last day of school, dancing, & black widows return...

Yesterday was Kendall's last day of PMO or school as we have been calling it. Just so she gets used to going there and liking it :-) Her teacher and assistant were so wonderful this past year and did such an awesome job with her. I can't wait until this September when she gets to go again. I am quite sure that I will not do an adequate job at keeping her up to date with all of the art projects that she is used to.
To celebrate her last day, one of the little boys in her class gave her a hug & kissed her on her cheek.....she promptly grabbed his face between her little hands and kissed him on the lips. (Yeah she is taking after Taylor Stef!!) Ben said that he needs to have a serious talk with this boy to see what his intentions are for our daughter!
They had a picnic there but decided that it was too hot to take the kiddos out. Boy was it! I think that the car thermometer read 98 degrees.
It was not too hot for Benny though....JK babe! He went outside (despite the heat and my warnings of heat stroke) to use some unexpected free time to seed the grass some more out front and work on putting more of the slate rock that we "imported" from PA into the flower beds.
Also, he had his work cut out for him in killing some more black widow spiders. I spotted a web in the back yard that I knew was one & he confirmed it when he saw the spider. He also killed another 3 or so as the day wore on. Those of you who know me well....know how much I hate spiders & the fact that I had to deal with these stupid things last summer. Today I am going to call our bug exterminator to get them to spray the yard since Kendall is always into everything. We called our vet because we worried that might have been the cause for Mo's problems last week. He called back to let me know that he didn't think that was the cause. Thank goodness for that!
Kendall has started liking to really shake her booty. The funny thing is it is not normally to regular music. She likes to hear the preprogrammed music from the keyboard that Jim & Chris gave me. It has started to become a little bit of a tradition for us to be shaking our booty with Bug. What a great girl!
I am going to take our other laptop into be looked at....Ben thinks that it has crashed. I am praying that if that is the case that the computer specialist can pull our pictures off of it because I don't have all of them saved or printed out. So for the time being we probably won't have any pics on the blog :-(
Let's see.....today we are hoping to go to the kiddie pool with our playgroup. We will see how that goes :-)

Proud of the boys....

I wanted to give a shout out to the Pens for their awesome season. Even if we didn't get to bring the stanley cup home to the Burgh again, those guys played their hearts out. I esp. wanted to give props to Sid the Kid and Malone. Those of our viewing audience from Pittsburgh that watched all of the playoffs will know why!
Next year guys :-)

Yummy!!

Great homemade maple syrup tapped from my family's camp! It goes great with Benny's homemade pancakes and waffles. Thanks to the Hardy Gang!

Go Pens GO

All I can say is that I am truly amazed and grateful that my boys will be back in the 'Burgh trying to beat some Detroit tail!!!

I graduated.....

.....well from Dr. Wright's (the maternal-fetal specialists) care. I had my last appt. with him today. Now that I have his clearance hopefully the Naval OB will clear me so that I can stop going to the MD every 2 weeks. Gosh you would think that it is time for me to deliver already.
A few snippets from the visit....
Dr. Wright said "great, beautiful heart" I know not super exciting but that was what we were there to look at on Isaac.
The ultrasound tech was quite a bit more colorful. The first question that I asked her when we started was "is it still a boy?" Quit laughing at me!! I had to try.....her response, "this right here is his winky & this is his hand right beside it." Of course being that I am a little bit of smart alack my next response was "oh it starts early doesn't it?" LOL. Ok so she did all of her measurements and such to find out that he is about 1 pound and 13 ounces right now. He is between the 60th and 70th percentile for in utero growth. (I had no idea that they could do this so I was amazed!) Yep he is still a big boy.
The rest of our conversation was quite colorful so read with caution. She said near the end... "big brain, big lips, big hands, big feet, big winky.....someone is going to be proud." I about choked on my own saliva. So he is taking after the Beach side with the big, pouty lips and after daddy with the big hands and feet.......and well we'll just leave the rest of it alone!

I am so thankful that he is healthy. We do have a prayer request for this arena though..... Ben has to go to California with his new squadron from September 1 -October 1. Chances are that they will let him come home but what I am hoping and praying for is that Isaac will hold on until his daddy gets here for delivery. I would like for Ben to be able to see one of his children come into this world. If you could just keep that in mind when you are praying we would greatly appreciate it!
Let's see onto emails, comments, etc. the turtle is still alive and well. He hangs out under the storage shed pretty much nonstop...guess there is a plethora of bugs and shade under there! We do get him out about twice a week for Kendall to see but no more than that as I am sure he would be traumatized!
Momo is doing great. Thanks to everyone asking about him. He was even outside chasing the water from the hose like his old self!
Kendall is also back to her old self and sassy! I have to get her a followup appointment this week sometime.
I am also doing better...just fat and pregnant!
Thanks to ya'll for all your kind words, emails, and prayers!

Kendall's Korner

Pushing her own lawn mower around the house

Hiding in her "new" toybox
New ways to eat fruity pebbles.....

Benny's triathlon

It saddens me to say that due to all the family members that were ill in this household, I missed Ben's triathlon yesterday. It is the first since he started doing them in 2003 that I wasn't there running around like a maniac trying to take pictures of him in the transition areas. This was another sprint triathlon in Cherry Point. He did really well placing 2nd in his age bracket and 11th overall. (He is not sure how many there were in the race yet....somewhere between 75-100) So here are the pictures of him with his trophy.....I must say he looks better in these pics than he normally does all sweaty and exhausted!

We are all on the mend here and feeling better thank goodness!

Ben and I went after church and got a lawn mower. The reel mower that Ben had bought for me before the deployment last year just wasn't cutting the mustard. Ben said that he would be better off just weed-eating the whole yard. He is about to put it to good use as the yard hasn't been done since before we left on vacation. (The spots that are actually growing need done about twice a week now thanks to our crazy tall fescue grass!)

Happy Birthday to Ashlyn yesterday too!!