Almost!

We've been having quite a struggle with Parker learning how to "self-soothe." He doesn't take a pacifier (despite me purchasing at least 7 different brands), and he can't quite coordinate his hands enough to suck his thumb. So... he still prefers to suck on my pinky finger, which is fine sometimes, but in the middle of the night, or when he wakes up during a nap... not so fine. Today however, I saw a very brief light at the end of the tunnel. It didn't last for long, and he didn't do it again for the rest of the day, but it gives me hope that someday soon, this is how he will happily soothe himself during car rides, naps and bed time...

Awwwww.... isn't he just the cutest?!?!?

End of the Year

It practically brings me to tears to think about the fact that Payton is "graduating" from Kindergarten in a little over a week. We've had the BEST year ever with Mrs. Scaglione at Westchase Elementary, and we simply could not have asked for a better teacher. He's had such a wonderful experience in Kindergarten, I am almost worried about the transition into 1st grade. Crazy, I know.

Mrs. Scaglione had the children put on an end-of-the year program for the parents and once again, she did an amazing job teaching them all sorts of songs and teaching parts. The theme was "America" and she even made t-shirts and visors for the children to wear. Payton did wonderful and remembered all his lines! Plus, he got to dance and do his speaking parts with his "girlfriend" Emily (see picture to the right).

My mom was fortunate enough to be able to come for the performance and help me out with Parker so Brian and I could turn all of our attention towards Payton. Of course, all the kids wanted to talk to Parker when we first arrived in the classroom before the performance started. It's so cute how infatuated they are with him (here I am in the picture to the left holding Parker in front of all the students)! 
And of course there was a huge spread of food for all the parents and family to enjoy!
We were so proud of our little man and the incredible job he did. And we just can't thank Mrs. Scaglione enough for the incredible job she's done this year encouraging, loving, teaching and growing these children. We love you Mrs. Scaglione!

Mother's Day

As you can imagine, this Mother's Day was very special for me. It's the first time in a long time that I had a total sense of contentment on Mother's Day. I wasn't longing for something - or someone - who had not joined our family yet. I just spent the weekend enjoying the two amazing boys God has given me. They are both total miracles in my eyes and I feel so fortunate to have a special day each year to reflect on what it means to be their mother. It is such an honor that God allows me to be their Mama. And fortunately for me, they were very excited to celebrate me as well. Here's a little snapshot into the weekend...

We started off on Friday with Payton's Mother's Day program at school. Once again, his teacher went above and beyond! She had a whole breakfast set up for the moms complete with Starbucks coffee (love that woman!). The kids came and took us by the hand and led us to our seats where we had a special flower pot and a "Royal Declaration" declaring us the "Best Moms" complete with a paper tiara. After we were seated, the kids all lined up in the front of the classroom and performed several songs and poems that they had memorized. It was so precious!

After the program, my mom and I took Parker out for a day of shopping and lunch at Nordstroms Cafe (my FAV place to eat at the mall). Then Saturday morning my boys all took me out to breakfast at one of my favorite little greasy spoon restaurants - delish!

Sunday morning, I woke up to all sorts of little goodies. An arrangement of flowers and a little cake that Payton had picked out and a little gift and card from Brian. 

I had treated myself to a little Mother's Day gift the day before, which I excitedly dressed the boys in for church on Sunday... their 1st matching outfits! I mean, come on... how cute do they look?!?! Unfortunately, I was taking these photos by myself and couldn't manage to get Parker to smile and take the photo, so he looks a little "shell shocked" in the photo. But you can see how adorable they looked in their outfits.

After a nice, long day of lounging around the house on Sunday, Brian cooked me my favorite dinner - cedar plank salmon, asparagus and cous cous. Fortuantely, both boys cooperated and were asleep during our nice, quiet dinner. The perfect ending to a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. I hope you all had a great Mother's Day weekend too!

Parker videos

Some of you have been asking to see videos of our little guy. Here are some random ones that I've uploaded onto YouTube:

Dada's version of "Patty Cake"

Payton's version of "This Little Piggie"

Mama giving Parker lots of kisses

Enjoy!

Finally!

We've been waiting a LONG time for this tooth to fall out. Just in time for Mother's Day!

My Boys

So the other day, out of no where, Payton says, "I'm going to read Parker a book." I thought, "Well, isn't that sweet?!?" But I had no idea how much Parker would really, really love it. You could just tell he was so interested in whatever Payton was saying. It was one of those moments that I'll never forget for as long as I live. This is what it's like to have siblings... I always knew it would be amazing...

I love how Parker is looking at Payton in this one...

 

"This is my favorite part!"

 

"Whoh... I really like this page!"

 

Easter Weekend

We had a wonderful time celebrating Easter this year. Payton is old enough now that he really understood the real meaning behind Easter. I will never forget his precious prayers thanking Jesus for dying on the cross and then rising from the dead for us. There's nothing more gratifying to me than seeing our little boy's love for Jesus shine so brightly. 
Here's a little highlight reel from our weekend festivities...

Dying eggs

Payton loved dying eggs this year as he could finally do it on his own without any assistance. 
Of course everyone had to have their own personalized egg for the Easter bunny to hide...

If you can't read them, from left to right they say "P-Dog, Parker, Mama". Dada's egg is in the second row... sorry Dada. :)

Easter morning, Payton woke up to an Easter egg scavenger hunt. The Easter bunny got creative this year and hide clues inside of the eggs instead of candy and led him on a huge hunt throughout the house to find his Easter basket. He had so much fun searching for the eggs. I sure hope the Easter bunny makes this a new Heckman house tradition!

Here is Payton reading his first clue:

 Here are the remnants of the opened eggs with the clues that were inside:

And here is Payton's Easter basket - complete with a Mario toy!

 Payton and Parker also got gifts from the grandparents including a Target gift card, a life-size "Pat the Bunny" for Parker and a new water football for Payton:

 Time to dig into that chocolate bunny! (Poor thing didn't even live to see dinnertime. Payton and I devoured him!)

After opening all the gifts, we had a few quiet snuggle moments to thank Jesus for the special day:

I had full intentions of taking a photo of this delicious (and SUPER easy) breakfast egg casserole, but it was so yummy I forgot to take the photo until after breakfast. Oh well, you get the idea. Here's the recipe if you want a super easy brunch casserole.

At church we had real live bunnies...

And a not-so-real live bunny...

Plus, Payton got to participate in both egg hunts since we were there for both church services. He thought he was in heaven! After church we went home and rested (e.g. everyone except Payton napped) and then we went to our good friends, The Allinder's for dinner. 

Here's how I spent most of the night...

Here's how the boys spent a good portion of the night...

And this is what I ate after dinner, and maybe another slice the next morning with breakfast. :) Yummy cake, Jen!

One last thing... I was asked to participate in the church service this weekend. I'd love it if you'd take a moment to click on this link and check it out. After the church web site appears, you should be able to just click the play button on the video, or you can choose the Weekend Message titled "Plan B: Shattered Dreams." I come on stage during the song "Amazing Grace."

Happy Easter everyone!!!