The Heckman Family: On "Giving Yourself Permission"...and a waffle recipe.

This past weekend we barely left our house.

No one was sick.

No one was injured.

We just enjoyed the quiet, laid-back nature of doing very little.

Friday night we had some of our dearest friends over for dinner. They have 3 little boys, so when our boys and their boys get together, it's a night of non-stop giggling. They all get along so well, it allows us adults to really enjoy each others company. We ate and talked and ate and talked and before we knew it, it was almost 9 p.m. and all the kids were up past their bedtimes.

But sometimes, letting the kids stay up a little late because you're having meaningful adult time with awesome people... it's worth it.

Saturday morning I literally didn't get out of my bathrobe until 11:30 a.m. I felt a little guilty about it, but then I remembered something I read recently by the author Aidan Rowley... she said, "Are you giving yourself the permission to do the things you really want to do?"

It resonated with me on many levels. But in this instance, I realized that I was kind of looking to Brian to give me permission to have a lazy morning - making homemade waffles, enjoying a third cup of coffee, learning how to use a Silhouette machine. All things that I really wanted to do.

Of course Brian was perfectly happy with the slow pace of the morning and probably didn't think twice about the fact that I still hadn't brushed my hair by the time he and the boys left to go to Lowe's...I had to stop and tell myself that I was giving myself permission to do something I really wanted to do. No guilt allowed.

And I did.

And it felt great.

Of course I don't live in la-la-land, and by 2 p.m. I had run several loads of laundry, cleaned the floors, run to the grocery store and soothed a 3-year old's meltdown (multiple times). But the point is, I did take some time - some non-mommy guilt time - to do something I wanted to do.

My prayer for you is that you make some margin in your life for the things you really want to do. And then give yourself the permission to do them.

Oh, and those waffles I made on Saturday morning? They were THE BOMB! Seriously.

The recipe is a bit odd. It involves beating the whites of the eggs separately before adding them to the mix, but I think that's what made them so light and fluffy on the inside, yet slightly crisp on the outside.

I'm tellin ya... make them. Your family will thank you. Here's the link to the recipe. Enjoy!
.............................................................................

And for my sweet family that still reads this blog, here's a recent kid photo dump...

I took Parker to the zoo last week with one of his classmates. Although he really enjoyed viewing all of the different animals, he mostly just wanted to play in the water areas. Maybe I'll try the zoo again when he's a bit older. :)

With all of the nice weather lately, we've been trying to take Mocha outside more. She's still not super calm when we bring her out, but I think she enjoys it on some level... at least I hope she does.

This picture makes me realize what similar facial structures the boys have. Same. exact. chins.

We also had the chance to hang out with our good friends in South Tampa who are moving out of state soon. We are so sad to see them go, but have promised to make trips to see each other.