I've Moved

Due to technical difficulties my blog address has changed. Please update your information and visit me at www.simplyus-nikkiheinen.blogspot.com

I hope to start a Word Press account someday, but until then I am sticking with Blogger. I will be deleting this account shortly, but all the content has been transferred.

Blizzard Fun!

We have lived in Kansas just over 10 years now. The snow we see in Kansas is nothing compared to the snow we see in Iowa. Very rarely do the girls have more than an inch or two of snow to play in during the winter. Every year when we go back to Iowa for Christmas we have to take our snow clothes with us to let the girls play. This year was the same, except we got a nice Blizzard in Iowa, which made it much more fun! And I guess we got snow in Kansas too, but only 6 inches compared to the 12-18 inches they got in Iowa! I am not a fan of the Iowa winters. To be honest, I could do completely without them. If it weren't for my family and friends being in Iowa I am pretty sure I would choose to move to a much warmer climate close to the beach! The girls (and Dana) had a blast playing in the snow though and if they are happy then so am I! As we were packing our clothes for our trip I mentioned to Morgan that she would get to play in the snow and maybe even build a fort. She asked, "What is a fort?" Poor girl didn't even know what a snow fort was! Well....she does now because her Daddy helped her build one! Actually, it started out as a cave and then fell in on top of her when they were trying to make it into a tunnel. After the cave-in it became a fort! I think Morgan and Dana played in the snow about 4 hours the first day we went out!

Who doesn't love being King of the Mountain?

King of the Mountain, building snowmen, snow caves & forts, making snow angels, eating icicles off the house, making snow cones, running in the snow the snow blower shoots out, making slides from big piles of snow, snow ball fights........what is your favorite activity to do in the snow? I think my girls like them all!

Merry Christmas!

Our trip to Iowa could have been a difficult one with the blizzard warnings in the state of Kansas and Iowa. Luckily, I was off of work early on Tuesday and Dana was also able to get off in time for us to leave by noon. We beat the storm and were able to spend 3 fun days at my mom's despite the freezing rain, snow and blizzard like conditions! We weren't sure we would make it to my brother's on the other side of the state, but thanks to Dana's driving abilities we made it without difficulty. We did see a few cars in the ditch and one on it's roof! Many people were without power and lines were down all over the western side of the state. We are thankful that we were able to spend a warm Christmas inside with our family. We are now at my brother's until Monday morning and the kids are having fun playing with their cousins. Unfortunately, we were unable to see my dad this year (so far anyway), but hopefully with us living closer next year, we will be able to see our family any time we want! Merry Christmas to all our family and friends! We hope you were able to beat the storm and spend it with those you love.

Happy Holidays!

This weekend we took a break from packing and getting ready for our 2 week long trip to Iowa to do a little holiday baking. Morgan invited her friend Kaylen over to help! The girls had a blast decorating sugar cookies, dipping peanut butter balls in chocolate, and making peanut caramel clusters. Of course I had a picture in mind of how everything should turn out, but when the kids are helping things turn out completely different!! We all had a blast though! When they were bored they would play with the Wii a little bit and then come back and help some more.

If we are scheduled to come to your house for Christmas I can't promise that there will be cookies or candy left. For some reason, Dana and I keep snacking on them, but we have to try and hide our little treats from the girls! They ask and we keep telling them, "no it's for Christmas!" I never did share well!! Here's wishing all my family and friends a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! We are anxiously awaiting our trip and can't wait to see everyone. The girls will once again get to see all of their grandmas and grandpas and cousins this trip!

Graditude

Dana, the girls and I went back to Iowa for Thanksgiving. We got to spend a long weekend with wonderful friends and family. This time of year it is very difficult to live so far away from family. This is the first year in 10 years that we have gone back to Iowa for Thanksgiving. Morgan and Ava had so much fun playing with their cousins and seeing grandparents, aunts and uncles. We also took this opportunity to get some Christmas pictures taken for cards at one of our local parks back home. The older Ava gets the more difficult it is to get the "perfect" picture of both of them smiling and looking at the camera at the same time, but it was fun anyway! Morgan even found some "seashells" in the river!

So what am I thankful for? I have so many things to be thankful for, way too many to list here, but these definitely make the top of my list:

Healthy, happy children

A husband that supports every decision that I make (even if they are crazy sometimes!)

Family and friends ready to welcome us back home

Morgan's creativity and kindness

Ava's love for anything her sister is doing and her persistence to figure things out

My ability to step outside the box and take risks and stay positive while doing it!

My children still believe in Santa Claus and the magic of Christmas!

What are you thankful for this holiday season?

Storm 2

I finally broke down and did it! I bought myself a Blackberry (or "crackberry" as some say, "dingleberry" as my husband says!). It is sooo shiny and pretty!! Honestly, I don't know how I lived without one all these years! Some people choose not to have them because they don't want to be bothered or "connected", but I am lost without being "connected". When I am connected I can chat with my friends and family who are so far away! It makes the days go by quicker. Not only do I have a really cool phone, but we also have unlimited texting and WAY too many minutes!

I also bought Morgan a phone today. It will be wrapped up and put under the tree. I know, she's not yet 8 years old (almost), but when you don't have a landline it gets a little tricky. If we ever have a babysitter or if she wants to go to her friend's house, we have a way of making sure she is safe. And the coolest thing is these very awesome cell phones have tracking devices of some sort on them. We haven't subscribed yet, but let me tell ya, my kids will not be able to get away with anything when they are teenagers!! :-) I bet my parents wish this technology existed when I was a kid!

So...what will I be doing on this very cold, wet, rainy day? Playing with my new phone of course! If you have my number, feel free to text me!!

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween! It is one of my favorite holidays and in my opinion, rates right up there with Christmas! I usually put a lot of time and effort into decorating for Halloween and planning costumes for the girls, but this year was different. It's been hard for me to get into the Halloween mood not being in my own home. We didn't decorate this year and didn't even carve our pumpkins we bought a few weeks ago at the pumpkin patch! Morgan even had a couple rough days and I threatened to take Halloween away from her! Yes....you heard me! CrAzY!!! I know! Lucky for all of us we compromised and she was able to earn it back!! We have also been fighting colds around here and Ava missed a couple days of daycare. Luckily she was well enough to enjoy the fun today!

We started our day at Boo in the Zoo, then had some supper, did Trick or Treating at the Mall, enjoyed a Trunk or Treat and visited a couple sorority houses. Then we parked our car at home and hit our neighborhood. As usual we ended up with WAY to much candy and a terrible SUGAR HIGH!! Talk about cRaZy kids!! Overall it was a fun night and both girls did well. Ava caught on quickly and we had to chase her down because she was running off without us!!

And in case you needed a reminder there is only something like 54 days till Christmas! I am sure we won't be decorating much then either, but we will be spending 1 1/2 weeks in Iowa over the Holidays! Can't wait!!

I Love Weddings!

Dana's little sister got married last month! We were so excited to have another excuse to make a trip back to Iowa. Dana and I don't get to dress up often, so took the opportunity to get some family pictures. His mom also asked me to take pictures of his siblings' families so she could send off to another family member. I have to say that I had fun playing photographer for the day, just wish it wouldn't have been raining so I could take them outside!!

The Friday night before the wedding was the rehearsal and dinner. Most all of the family was at the church and it was nice for the cousins to see each other again. Dana decided to play photographer and tried to get a picture with me and the girls, but Ava wasn't cooperating.....so here I am with Morgan. As you can see she wasn't cooperating either!!

And here is the happy family! Aren't they adorable??

I don't think we have had a picture taken together like this since we were married 12 years ago!

And our family.......Morgan looks a little squished and the lighting was horrible! Maybe someday I will have real photography equipment to use!! :-)

For the Love of Harleys!

In September, we travelled back to Iowa for my Sister In Law's wedding. We stayed in Waterloo at Dad's house. When he found out we were coming back he bought a helmet for Morgan to wear so she could go riding with him on his new Harley! She had a blast! So much that I think Dad has her convinced she wants a Harley for her 16th birthday instead of a car!

Louisburg Cider Mill

Dana and I took the girls to the Louisburg Cider Mill today. We all had a blast! It was busier than we would have liked because it was a celebration weekend, but still fun! It might be nice to go back when it's not so busy. They had vendors set up and the Country Store was PACKED! We had a hard time even walking through the store to stand in line and order our apple cider donuts. The pumpkin patch and corn maze seemed less crowded but is was more of an open space than the store! The girls had a fun time walking though the pumpkins and picking 2 perfectly round ones to bring home. We are hoping in our new neighborhood they won't get stolen! They also played in the Straw Castle, corn bin, fed goats, chased ducks and walked through the 10 acre corn maze! We ate yummy apple cider donuts, drank apple cider slush and root beer made at the Cider Mill. It was a perfect day!


After we were finished at the Cider Mill we went to a local winery and sampled a few to bring home! The wine was really good. I might have to go back and buy some more! I also bought a candle that was the same flavor as the wine.....YUMMY!!

Goodbye House!

It is October 1st! Almost 2 months ago Dana and I made the decision to move back to Iowa! We have accomplished a lot over the last 2 months. We have sold our house (closed on Sept 23), send in my application for my Iowa teaching license, updated our resumes, moved into our new rental and started job hunting. We have also made 2 trips back to Iowa. One was in August to visit friends and the other was last weekend for Dana's sister's wedding. It is always nice to see our friends and family!

About a week ago we said goodbye to our house that we have lived in for 10 years. This is the house that we started our family in. It was a little sad, but it was never the house that we planned on living in forever. It was just WAY TOO SMALL! I guess when I thought about selling my 1920 Bungalow I thought it would be when we were ready to move into our dream house on a piece of land outside of Emporia, but instead we moved into a rental. I am not sad to be leaving Emporia, but we definitely have a lot of memories in that small house and Emporia. We put a lot of hard work into making that house a home and a home we felt comfortable in. It was a home that showed my personality and other than being too small for a family of 4, I loved it! It will be missed, but we are ready to move on. Our home was sold to a young bachelor ready to move out on his own. Hopefully he will have lots of experiences to come in our old home.

Dining room

Living Room

Kitchen

Girls' Room

We like our rental. It is much more modern than our old house and the layout makes more sense! The master bedroom is huge compared to what Dana and I are use to and our king size bed fits much better and we have walking space to spare! We also have a walk in closet and 1/2 bath in our bedroom! We have NEVER had so much storage space or 2 bathrooms!! Very exciting! :-) It's always a challenge getting use to living in a new space. The kitchen has more storage, but the stove and dishwasher are outdated and difficult to use. I guess we will just have to deal with it for 9 more months!

Girls' room in rental

Living room with fireplace

Entry

Kitchen

Of course there are no decorations on the walls and we have put A LOT of things into storage, but that will make it easier on us when we move!! Next steps for us, continue to organize and weed through junk we don't need and look for jobs!!