Life Lately...

I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I last posted on here! It's been kind of nice not having to think about the blog, but to be honest, I've also missed documenting our family life. I guess after so many years of doing it, it became part of my routine; so when I decided to stop blogging for the most part, it felt like something was missing.

I'm not going back to posting regularly on here because most of my family members get lots of family updates through my Instagram account. But I do occasionally want to pop in and say hello.

My last post was a little before Christmas, and since then I've turned the big 4-0!

It's funny, because I remember when I was little, I thought 36 was "old." Now that I'm 40, I don't feel old at all. Seriously, sometimes I still get nervous when I get carded for buying wine...and I know I look older than 21!

My 40th birthday was a week-long celebration and I soaked up - and enjoyed - every. single. second.

On my actual birthday, my neighborhood girls surprised me with day of pampering starting with pedicures at my favorite local salon and then they decorated one of their golf carts and came and picked me up for a late-afternoon happy hour up at our community Village.

When they dropped me off back home, Brian and the boys had decorated the house and were waiting to take me out to dinner (Brian even splurged for some fancy champagne and beautiful long-stemmed roses!!).

Kinda looks like a streamer jellyfish!

Then a week later, once the holidays had passed, my parents came into town and I had a few friends over to enjoy some more birthday fun at our house. Needless to say, the next morning, I definitely felt 40!

My mom and I spent the day shopping and had a fancy lunch at Nordstrom

"Cheers!!"

Turning 40 was everything I had hoped it would be and more. The celebrations, the generous words of love and support from friends and family, and the true feeling of contentment. I really feel like God has blessed me so much; and even though life is not perfect, it leaves me feeling very peaceful when I lay my head on the pillow at night.

After all of my birthday celebrations were over, then we switched gears and started thinking about the boys' birthdays. Never a dull moment!

The boys enjoyed a family party with both sets of grandparents and two separate small celebrations with a couple of close friends. We didn't do a big party for them this year, and it worked out really well. They both got to do something they wanted with just a couple of their closest friends, and we didn't break the bank on either one (it's ridiculous how expensive birthday parties can be these days!).

As everyone knows, I love celebrating birthdays!

Can't believe these boys are now 11 and 5! They are the light of my life.

One thing Parker has always wanted to do on his birthday, is have a pinata. Since we didn't do a big party, I invited over his favorite neighbors and we did a pinata in the backyard. It was HYSTERICAL and he had SO much fun knocking the snot out of that thing!

Just moments before there was candy EVERYWHERE!

Another major milestone that we recently celebrated was my mother's retirement. She has worked for the same group of banking partners since I was in middle school! It was definitely time for her to retire and enjoy life without an alarm clock!

My brother and I arranged a surprise dinner for her at my one of my brother's restaurants and she was so excited to see all her grandchildren together.

Such a special evening to celebrate such an amazing mom.

In other news, we experienced our first broken bone this month. Our wild child, Parker (a.k.a. Hank the Tank) fell off the rings next to the monkey bars at our park.

Thank God, the fracture was so minimal that after 5 days in a temporary cast and 1 week in a sling, he was back to normal. He's a tank, I tell ya! :)

Here are just a few more fun pictures to document life at the Heckmans lately...

So proud to give "Paca" his perler bead popcorn creation.

Birthday boy!

Cinnamon roll "birthday cake" for Payton.

BB8 cookies for him to hand out to his classmates.

Artist of the week. He was so proud!

And Mr. Harry is being loved on just as much as ever. He is definitely a member of the family and is the sweetest, most patient dog I've ever seen!

So that's life around here lately in a nutshell.

It's been fun to pop in and update the blog. I've been thinking about doing a "beauty regime" post. Now that I'm 40, skincare products and "procedures" are way more important than they ever used to be. If that's something you'd be interested in reading about, let me know.

I also have some recipes to post, so keep an eye out for those.

Until next time...

Cheers!

- Stac