The Writing on the Wall

I was in Jenelle's room, gathering the pieces to a puzzle I had just put away (Clayton's really into puzzles, but this one is too hard for him) when I looked over at Jenelle's bunk bed. There on the wall were big purple "0"s with lines through them. In total, she had drawn 13 of them in her room, Clayton's room and on the hall walls--with a crayon, thankfully. When I saw them, I took her to go tell Mike immediately. He came in and took care of her and the walls. We're thankful for that new semi-gloss he used to paint their rooms! (Of course, that didn't help with Clayton's closet door and the flat paint in the hall . We don't know where she got the zero with a line through the middle. Maybe she's starting her own gang.

Jenelle loves to have breakfast with her daddy. Wearing the crown from last night's family date, here are the princess and the king dining on Fruit Loops and Honeycomb.

They were playing so nicely together and having fun.

Sweet Moments

Clayton loves to play and loves to touch glasses. Here are a few pictures of my dad with Clayton.

A brief hug

It's fun to see and hear the laughter

Webcam

About a week ago, we purchased a webcam. It has been pretty neat to be able to talk to my sisters and see them as we talk. Since Mandi is visiting Shelle in Oklahoma this week, she was able to give me a tour of their home on her laptop webcam. That was cool. Neat for the kids to see their aunts and cousins, too. Jenelle wants to see her Christensen cousins, too. That would be fun if they got a webcam, too. Keeps family close at any distance.

Ice Cream Cones at Home

Since the kids ate dinner so well and so quickly, they got ice cream cones. It was Clayton's first ice cream cone to hold by himself. Notice the hole in the bottom of the cone. Shortly after these pictures, I transferred his ice cream to a bowl and he used a spoon to finish it up. When Mike took Clayton's cone to lick up the potential drips, he was very offended, so I offered to take it for him, but he decided to take it back.

Saturday (a week ago)

It was so nice that we got to go to Mike's parents' to swim, eat, and watch the race. Jenelle and Clay got to wear their new swimsuits. Clayton's is a floater one, but he looks like an old time muscle builder.:)

The Hekman boys relaxing in the spa.

Jessica was the lifeguard that day--looking beautiful.

Ethan loves his feet and hands. Good entertainment.

Me with the kids

Jenelle and Mike braved the swimming pool water--a bit too chilly for my liking. Clay didn't like the spa (too hot) or the pool (too cold). He prefers his bath water.:)

Lunch with my dad

We get to have lunch once a week with my dad--and he's willing to be seen out with us in public. It keeps him humble. This was yesterday at McD's. We got three more Speed Racer cars. Yeah.

Clay and me

I was lying on the floor and Clayton climbed on me. Jenelle said, " I should take a picture. " She had permission to get the camera and she took this picture. Then she put the camera back up.

Singing together

I thought this was cute of them singing along to the Steve Green Bible song--"Give Thanks to the Lord."

A slice of Clayton's life

We have had SO many flies around lately. He alerts me every time he sees one--either inside or outside. He sees me attempting to use the fly swatter with success. On the occasion that I actually hit the fly, he says, "Aw fly?" I say, "Dead." Today, he took the matter into his own hands using a bat. The video ends abruptly because, instead of the hitting the ground or a fly, he got his toe.:(

Painting the Fence

Mike replaced the missing fence beam (the one closest to the street) and decided to paint the whole fence. Jenelle wanted to help and Mike, being the good, patient dad that he is gave her a brush to help. Clayton really wanted in on the action, but that didn't happen today.

Jenelle reached as high as she could. One of her favorite parts was going to wash off her hands or whatever part on which she accidentally got paint.

These pictures were taken before Jenelle stepped in the paint tray on her way to wash off her foot. Whoops. I would've said, "Thanks for your help. Maybe you can try again later." But Mike wins the Dad award for today. He let her continue to help. She learned an important lesson--paint washes off if you get to it while it's still wet. :)

Fun with Peanut Butter Jars

We eat a lot of Skippy Natural Peanut Butter around our house. I saved the jars--plastic stacking possibilities. They each had a separate tower as high as he/she could build it. I think it's funny that Clayton is wearing 6 month shorts and a 24 month shirt.
Jenelle is holding onto her tower and if you look closely, you can see Clayton's jars flying through the air. Of course, the fun of building the towers is knocking them down. (Side note: I cut Jenelle's hair last night. Can you tell?)
Even though this picture is blurry, I thought it was so cute to show Jenelle being proud of her accomplishment.

I got my MMCFL

On Friday (finally) I went through Starbucks and ordered my MMCFL. It was hard to remember what to order since I'm so used to saying "Caramel Lite Frappaccino with no whip cream, double blended and extra caramel." I had to think what still applied to my new (old) drink. No extra caramel and no whip, but still double blended. So many things to think of, no wonder I also order my "usual" at all the restaurants I go to! Anyway, after a few sips, I got used to it again and it is quite a refreshing drink. A new thing for this drink is the CHOCOLATE whip cream they have available. I asked if they have fat free and the gal said, "Whip cream isn't supposed to be fat free." Anything chocolate is tempting (even if it has nuts or coconut attached to it!), but I declined. The only downside it it costs 30 cents more and that gets to me. Oh well, I'll just have to enjoy it 30 more cents worth.

Side note: Mike saw it in the fridge this morning and said, "It looks like death by chocolate." I said, "Lite death."

MMCFL

I found out yesterday that the Mint Mocha Chip Frappaccino is back at Starbucks! Very exciting! That is the first drink I got at Starbucks (which was about 3 years ago) and I was VERY disappointed the first time I went to order it and found out it was a seasonal drink. That was about 2 1/2 years ago. Today or tomorrow, I'll probably get to taste my MMCFL (L for lite) again. Yippy.

Jenelle's writing

Recently, I have been using a highlighter to write letters (a trick I learned from the Kindergarten teachers back when I taught school) and then putting a dot to show Jenelle where to start making the letter. We started with her name and she did so well that we worked on Clayton's name, too. Now she is learning all the letters for Mommy, Daddy, Jenelle, Clayton, and Wally. She is doing so well. She loves doing it. She's even doing better than some of the second graders I used to teach! (That could be a slight exaggeration, but only slight--honestly).

She completed her paper.

Notice the concentration, the proper hold on the pencil and the careful way she makes her "d". I'm a proud mommy/teacher!

Mother's Day

Mike bought me a coursage and I wanted to keep the orchid looking nice, so we kept it in the box. We are quite the pair, huh? He wanted to take the picture and I actually posed for it! He did a great job picking out one that matched my skirt. He's so thoughtful!

After church, we went to my parents' for a yummy BBQ. I took a fruit salad and some raspberry crumb squares and my parents provided the rest. It was such a beautiful day. Mike took this picture of the kids and me. I wanted it to fit in the MOM picture frame that Jenelle made in her class at church.

My mom and the kids--at least my mom is looking at the camera.:)

On Sunday evening, after naps, we all took a family walk--Wally included. It was a nice day.

Legoland

On Saturday, we went to Legoland for the first time with some friends.:) We had a great time. Here are some pictures of what the kids most enjoyed. This first one is just a play area where they could run around. Clayton loves to stick his head out of places and say, "Hello." I love this picture!

Jenelle and Clayton could have been happy here all day playing in and around the water. The musical instruments would start playing and shoot water when you stepped on the sensor.

This was us in the boats. I was a little embarrassed in this picture because Jenelle and Mike were in the boat behind us, but Mike being the racer he is, bumped into our boat and turned us around. I had to have verbal help from the professional boat guy. Here I am the adult and I did the ride wrong! Mike wasn't upset at all. He was having a great time.

I had fun with this picture of Mike and Jenelle relaxing and reading the map. Mike didn't realize what was behind him until I showed him the picture. Einstein snuck up on him.:)

Jenelle was quite brave at Legoland. She went on a roller coaster two times (once with Mike and once with me). She drove her own little race car on which she had to push the accelerator and steer--quite intricate for a 3 year old. She also wanted to go on this bouncy ride with Mike--twice.

The end of a fun day!

Questions

We just pulled into the garage and I realized I was tired of thinking. I told Jenelle, "You can stop asking questions now." She said, "Why can I stop asking questions?" Ugh!

Thursday

Ethan came over to visit this morning and was partly entertained just watching Jenelle and Clay. They enjoyed having their cousin here, too.

Jenelle and Clay were proud to be seen with Ethan--who has learned to sit up quite nicely.

Here is Jenelle rapping Scripture.:)





Jenelle, Clayton, and Ethan playing together.

Creative Kids

The kids have been playing together today--nicely at times. Here, they put their little yellow chairs on top of the couch to have elevated movie seats.:)

They were building with Legos so nicely. I love when they do that!

On Saturday, we had a wonderful family day at Redlands Christian School's Holland Festival. They have it every year on the first Saturday in May. We enjoyed the games, Dutch imports and, of course, the yummy food.

Mike and Jenelle waiting in line to get on the big blow up tiger slide. She loved it and went on her own after this. Grandma and Clayton enjoying the beautiful sunny day at the Holland Festival.

Three Hekman men amused during the live auction. It was fun to be with family and friends.

Grandma, Papong and Jenelle during the live auction. It was a long, but good day.

You have to turn your head sideways to see this. Jenelle is climbing the stairs. Watch how fast she comes down--no fear! (If anyone knows how to make this appear right side up, please let me know.)

Clayton's latest talking

On Saturday, I took Clay's poop from his diaper and he watched me flush it down the toilet. Then he said, "Ah poo?" (Where's poop?) He answers, "Ah gahn." (All gone." He says this many times through the day with correct phrasing and his hands out to the side to show "all gone." Cute--maybe just to his mom.

Jello Surprise

I made lime jello on Friday. I looked in the fridge after Mike got home and this is what I saw.

Mike's and Jenelle's accomplishments

Mike mentioned wanting to put flowers planted in the front. I thought that meant putting flowers in the front. What he actually meant was rototilling the meandering path you see here, digging out the weeds, poisoning the new weeds that grew, putting in our new automatic sprinklers, putting in a plastic boarder between the dirt and the grass, forming the dirt, putting the weed deflecting paper down and brown gravel on top of that. So where are the flowers? Well, he's going to be planting those in the midst of the brown gravel! He started this in February. He's a hard and VERY thorough worker. We've received complements from our surrounding neighbors. I'm proud of him.

Jenelle has learned to write her name! She earned this white board this morning (for saying, "Okay, Mom," 25 times in the last 2 days) and wrote her name without any help from me at all.