Valentine's 2016

Both Brooklyn and Cayleigh had their school Valentine parties on Friday. Since Cayleigh didn't want to be picked up early and go to Brooklyn's, she requested her Daddy come get her and that was a treat since he is never off that early in the day. Meanwhile, Morgan and I joined B for her ice cream sundae and card exchange. Fun times for all!

Unfortunately, Cayleigh had battled a cough and fever earlier in the week which was then passed to Brooklyn by Friday evening and then Morgan. Gamma and Gampa Hein's annual Valentine's sleepover was no longer going to be a sleepover for our 3 sickies. Highly disappointing for all of us because Aaron and I had to cancel dinner reservations for Saturday evening and a couples massage for Sunday morning.

We headed to Stride Rite on Saturday to get all 3 girls new shoes since it was time and had lunch out together. The girls loved the place because they each got a piece of pizza dough they could form and the restaurant baked them for you to eat!

Cayleigh and her heart-shaped pizza dough

It was a dance party this year for the big Valentine sleepover, so we dropped the girls off for a few hours at Gamma and Gampa's to have a bit of fun! It was adorable and Gamma made the decorations, food and time so special! They absolutely LOVED it!

Uncle Nate and his fiance, Marissa, were the "bouncers" for the dance club!

Gamma sure did have a rockin' party!

Matching PJ's for the Hein cousins
(Morgan, Sully, Cayleigh, Claire, Sydney, Remi, Brooklyn)

We returned home around 8;30 and fevers were spiked, especially Brooklyn. We battled that for a bit before Aaron and I finally crashed too. Sunday morning and the remainder of Valentine's Day was super lax followed by a homemade sweet treat and very early bedtimes.

These sweet valentines are so cute even when they are feverish and sickly!! We started a tradition this year with posting things we love about each girl for the 14 days leading up to Valentine's Day! Aaron and I are so blessed to be chosen as their Mommy and Daddy!

Tiresome Weekend

I signed up Brooklyn and myself to run the Dallas Hot Chocolate 5k on Saturday. We were fortunate enough to have a neighbor friend offer to give us her hotel points, so we got to stay Friday night at the Renaissance Hotel in Dallas. This was Brooklyn's first 5k and she had no concept of the distance of the race. Sadly, the whole experience ended up being one obstacle after another. Her and I both slept poorly the night before, the traffic to get there and park was horrible, we had to walk a mile to even get to the start of the race which made us very late for the start. B was already pretty pooped even before the actual race. The temperature dropped as the race went on and of course, my old and not-awesome-totally-crappy-kinda phone died literally 3 minutes after we began! Ha!!

Honestly though, it was quality time with my big girl. She expressed interest in working on running to be able to do more fun runs like this again. We ran in very short spurts but walked majority of the  time. They had a "chocolate chip" station that Brooklyn stopped at loaded up on a handful of. We completed the 5k in 56:42 minutes. We got our Hot Chocolate Mug and headed straight back to the car as it was beginning to halfway sprinkle very cold rain. B enjoyed her cup of hot chocolate and fondue spread on the way home (seriously, amazing chocolate with tons of goodies to dip in it)!

Snapped this picture as we walked towards the starting line

Daddy took our finisher picture at the house. So proud of this sweet girl!

Saturday afternoon was a nap-filled time for all of us. Brooklyn and I were especially tired and we were all going back to Dallas that evening to watch the Stars play, so we needed to rest before our late night out. We met up with Gamma and Gampa Hein, Uncle Jonathon and his fiance Gabby for the hockey game. We watched the players warm up and had a really good time. Bummer that the Stars lost.

The whole gang minus Gamma before warm-ups

B and C with Gampa

Morgan with Gabby

Silly Blackhawk fan Uncle Jonathon

Love our crazy family

Us and Gampa

Well, after getting home and into bed around 11pm, the girls semi slept late on Sunday morning. But, they couldn't hang until Super Bowl 50 that evening. My girls have NEVER been ones to fall asleep in random places. Car seats, yes, but never anywhere besides their beds. Cayleigh was about to fall asleep at dinner at 4:45! Aaron took her to bed at 5 and she fell asleep talking to him!! Oh my! The littlest one walked to the couch after leaving the dinner table and instantly was asleep on the couch at 5 also!

And Brooklyn fell asleep in Aaron's arms by 5:30!! These girls were completely exhausted! It was a quiet house for Super Bowl watching.

Growing in Numbers

The feeling this time around was one of ease and contentment. God's got the wheel. Prayerfully and thankfully, we will be adding 10 more fingers and 10 more toes, a tender belly button and 2 beautiful eyes to our family of 5! I am officially 12 weeks pregnant with baby Hein #4 (#7); due in the middle of August. We have been blessed with wonderful views of a healthy and growing baby so far.

I can't help but think of a phrase I heard from a comedian, "it's like when you're drowning and someone throws you a baby!" Good thing God's the master of every rescue! In all seriousness, Aaron and I are beyond thrilled and as I said earlier, are at complete ease with His plan for our family and baby.