Christmas Pop-In

Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis (which I'm pretty sure only consists of my parents) may have noticed that I don't post here any more.

Life has become quite busy this year and most of my daily updates are now generated through Instagram.

I will always treasure this blog and what it has documented over the years, but for now, it's become more of a chore than a joy. And I've got enough chores in my life right now - Ha! Ha! Ha!

So, while there may be a day that I have more time to post on a regular basis, for now, I am planning on only using it to document big things like vacation summaries, birthdays, etc.

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To sum up the past month, we have been thoroughly enjoying the holiday season on every level!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at my brother and sister-in-law's house. The food was delicious and the cousins had so much fun swimming, playing, and wearing each other out!

Annual matching Christmas jammies from my mom.

Then we surprised the kids with a trip to the Tradewinds Resort on St. Petersburg Beach. Even though it was late November, we had beautiful, warm weather!

It was truly one of my favorite family vacations we've ever taken.

After Thanksgiving, we rolled right into the Christmas season. Lots of parties, lots of cuddle time on the couch watching Christmas movies, and lots of yummy food!

Parker had his Christmas performance at school where they all dressed up and sang about the "King of Kings" and the "3 Wise Men." It was so cute! I'm so thankful my in-laws were able to come into town to watch the program.

Parker is top row, middle - he's not smiling, but I promise he had a fun time!

Cutest Wise Man ever!

 Payton also had a school performance where he got to play guitar. He did a fantastic job! I can't believe how well he is playing the guitar these days!

My Mom came into town to celebrate her birthday (and possibly do a little daytime babysitting for me!). We went to our new favorite brunch place, called Oxford Exchange in downtown Tampa. It was so delish.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and the following morning, our house will be filled with squeals of joy from the boys, and lots of our beloved family members. We are counting our blessings. Truly. This holiday season has been one of the best yet and we are not taking a single bit of it for granted.

I wish each and every one of you a wonderful, joy-filled, Christ-centered Christmas. I pray that you are touched by the story of how God came to earth in human form to teach the world about pure love and holy sacrifice. Jesus' birthday is one to be celebrated for more than presents and food. More than the gathering of family and friends. It is the celebration of a real man who was born to save the world. Happy birthday Jesus. Thank you for your love & sacrifice.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Cruisin' With My Besties

In my second year of college at the University of Florida, I pledged a sorority.

I knew I wanted to be a part of a sorority to help make the massive campus seem smaller in a sense. I knew that I wanted to be a part of something special that would give me that feeling of "belonging" when I didn't really feel like I belonged anywhere at that point.

Little did I know that when I accepted that bid at Chi Omega, that I would not only gain a lifetime of memories, I would gain 8 of my closest life-long friends.

There are 9 of us, including myself, and we fondly call each other "The Toolshed."

I could go into a lengthy, hysterical (or at least we would think so) story about how that nickname came about, but I'll spare you.

The thing about this group is that I never feel judged by them. I always feel loved by them. And we always, always laugh till we cry. It's that kind of group. And I treasure them so much.

So, when one of our beloved Toolshed members got engaged last year and then announced that she would be getting married on Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas cruise ship, you better believe all 8 of us immediately booked our tickets.

Last month, all of us traveled to Port Canaveral and joined our sweet Chi O sister, Jill, as she walked down the aisle to join the love of her life in marriage.

I've never seen Jill look more radiant!

Of course all of us enjoyed the wedding - and I'm sure we made it quite apparent that we were planning to have a fun time!

We took this while we were waiting for the wedding to start (i.e. why Jill is not in the picture)

After the beautiful ceremony and reception, Brian and I headed to our room to unpack and get changed. Our room was very spacious and comfortable. We had a balcony this time, and boy did that make a difference!

Obligatory balcony selfie.

We had a little time to kill before the lifeboat drill, so we all relaxed out on the pool deck.

 

As I mentioned, our room had a balcony, so most evenings, we would pour a glass of wine and enjoy the gorgeous views while we got ready for dinner.

I mentioned to our room steward that I liked "a lot of pillows" and this is what we came back to that night!

We also took full advantage of the balcony in the mornings. We would order room service (included of course) and enjoy coffee and an array of breakfast foods while watching the sun come out. We felt quite spoiled!

(Don't worry, the bacon, eggs & hash browns are on the other table)

Of course we weren't all fancy and civilized the entire trip. :)

One day we spent the entire afternoon poolside enjoying the hot tubs and people watching. 

When the activities director announced they were having a belly flop contest, we somehow talked Keri's husband, Sam, into participating (what a good sport he is!!).

Sam in mid-belly flop!

Of course our group was hootin' and hollerin' from the hot tub and we managed to be obnoxious enough to vote Sam into 1st place.

Great job Sam - you deserved that medal!!!

One afternoon, a few of us went on a snorkeling excursion. This was the boat we took:

 Snorkeling was amazing! I truly felt like I was in a gigantic fish tank. The fish were so colorful and plentiful! We even saw an eel peeking out from behind some rocks. It was a fantastic experience.

On our way back to the cruise ship after snorkeling

Every night we would all get dressed up and meet up somewhere on the ship before dinner. It was so fun and relaxing to know that no one had to cook or clean up and that when we returned to our room that evening, it would be all tidied up with the bed turned down just waiting for a good night's sleep.

The final day of the cruise, we were supposed to go to the private island. A couple of us made it off the boat and onto the island, but not long after, they ushered us back to the cruise ship because of high winds. The ship was having difficulty staying stable and the tenders became unsafe.

But we were able to snap a couple pics before heading back onto the ship.

And although the cruise home the last night was super rocky due to the high winds, we still managed to have a wonderful time.

I am so grateful for the memories we created on this cruise and so happy for my girl, Jill! It was a fantastic trip and we're already planning our next vacation together to celebrate all of our 40th birthdays. Cheers to great friends!

Catching Up:Halloween Pictures

Phew! October was a busy month! I have barely had any time to post anything on my poor neglected blog. Between the zillion Halloween parties and being out of town, I feel like the month just flew by.

On Halloween, our evening was spent with a house full of friends eating chili and passing out candy. Payton went trick or treating on his own this year with a group of his friends (yikes - this mama was nervous!) and then met back up with us in our circle for a few more houses.

Both boys had a blast as usual, but I was secretly glad to see the holiday pass. It seemed that there were a LOT of activities during the month of October, so I was ready to move on to a slower-paced November and enjoy catching up on a few things (like my blog).

But before I say my official "goodbye" to October, I thought I'd post a few pictures for posterity sake...

Parker & his pal Riley at a Halloween carnival. Gender roles anyone??

My cuties at our local pumpkin patch

Making our annual Halloween gingerbread house. I love this tradition!

Payton and I ran our first 5K together. He did great and beat his goal time. Way to go Payton!

Halloween Night

Brian dressed up as a 90's Gator Fan for Halloween. Jean shorts, mullet, Blueblocker glasses and all.

Our good friends got in on the wig fun!

Had to serve our annual chili buffet for Halloween night.

Getting ready to head out for trick-or-treating. Parker in his panda costume and Payton was a "cereal killer."

Close-up of my cute panda (wondering if this will be his last year of cute costumes?)

Sorting and trading candy the next morning. One of my favorite things as a kid!

Okay, now that I've got Halloween recorded in the books, I can move on to another fun topic... our cruise! I will post all the pictures and details on our recent cruise next time on my blog. Stay tuned!

A Look Back: Heckman Halloweens of the Past

A blog that I follow recently posted all of her family's past Halloween costumes; and I thought it was such a cute idea that I'm totally copying it. 

I love looking back at old photos. Like, an hour can go by and I don't even notice! So this was a really fun post for me. And I know the grandparents will love it as well.

As for the rest of you... sorry if it's just a big ol post filled with pictures of my kids. :)

Halloween 2005

Sweet baby Payton dressed up like a little gator (insert "Awe!!!!" noise.)

2006

Gator football player... of course! :)

 2007

Sadly, I do not have these photos saved on my computer. They are all saved on an external drive. But I assure you he was cute as a button!

2008

Totally & completely obsessed with Thomas the Train.

2009

Tim Tebow... possibly the best costume ever.

2010

Moving into the stage of video games. This year he was Mario (and Parker is a little bun in the oven in this pic!)

2011

Recognize Parker's gator costume? We've seen that one before!
Payton is now into Pokemon and dressed as "Ash" with Pikachu on his back.

This picture was just too funny not to post. Look at Parker staring in disgust at Brian's fake mustache!!!

2012

Payton is now into scary ninja's and swords, etc. We still had control over Parker's choice, so of course he is a Gator football player. :) At least we're consistent!

2013

At this point, we've lost all control of the kids' costume choices. No themes. Nothing cute. Parker is Spiderman and Payton is some sort of dark creature/zombie thing.

I tried to make it sort of themed by dressing up as Robin. Even though Parker wasn't Batman... I tried.

2014

Finally got  everyone to agree on a theme again. Last year it was Star Wars. We had a variety of characters going on, but it was fun to be a collective group again.

I even got Brian to dress up... sort of. Not sure why i have such a tight grip on his hand, but I'm sure it was warranted. :)

Here's hoping everyone has a safe and fun Halloween! 

Recipe: Breaded Oven Baked Salmon

I tried out a new salmon recipe this week and promised to post it if it were a success.

Well, it was a HUGE success, so here it is...

Typically I bake salmon about once a week. I use the same recipe almost all the time because I know the kids love it. But the main ingredient in that recipe is soy sauce, and when I went to make it this week... we were all out of soy sauce! Oops!

Off to Google I went.

I found a few "oven baked salmon recipes" that sounded delicious, but I was missing at least one ingredient in almost every one. So I improvised and created this delectable creation:

Breaded Oven Baked Salmon

Ingredients:

• 4 Salmon filets
• 1 cup Italian bread crumbs (or Panko bread crumbs with some seasoning would also be great)
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon Honey
• 2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 4 Tablespoons melted Butter
• EVOO for drizzling

Directions:

1. In a shallow dish, whisk together honey, Dijon mustard and melted butter until combined.

2. Place breadcrumbs in another shallow dish

3. Dredge salmon fillets in mustard/butter mixture making sure to cover all sides, then place in breadcrumbs and cover all sides with breadcrumbs. Place in a greased shallow baking dish.

4. Sprinkle any remaining breadcrumbs over salmon fillets, then drizzle with EVOO.

5. Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes or until salmon is easily flaked with a fork.

Serve with a green veggie and some brown rice and you have a delicious, simple, healthy dinner.

(Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of the cooked salmon, but this is exactly what it looked like)

YUM!