Heslop Grandkids

It's official - Jeff, Jessica, Hazel, and little Genevieve are gone! They moved to Illinois last week for Jeff to start a four year specialized fellowship. The next time that all of the grandkids will be together again won't be until MAY 2014!! We decided to get them all together one last time to take a photo. We got this photo above printed on canvas and gave it to Joan and Clair as a special gift before Jessica left with the girls. We are going to miss them so much and next time we see those little girls they will be so much bigger. But thanks to Joan, at least Hazel and Lily can keep in touch and be little pen-pals with their adorable stationary gifts from our Tea Party.

 

We thought we would get a cute head shot of everyone laying in a circle, but the sun made that a little impossible since none of them could open their eyes. But it was a sweet little effort that they made. 

A Tea Party

We had a tea party for the Heslop girls (so sad that Holland couldn't make it) and we all had so much fun. It is nice to celebrate just being a girl sometimes with some cutsie decor, frilly pom-pons, adorable miniature foods, and of course a no-boys-allowed kind of policy.

Jeff and Jessica will be moving next month to Illinois for FOUR years!! It is so sad and crazy to think that little Genevieve will be Lily's age when they are done with Jeff's work there. To celebrate and help maintain the little cousin relationships that Lily, Annie, and Hazel have, Joan put together the sweetest gift to each of the girls. They all got a "friendship" necklace that will help them think of each other every time they wear it. They also got some cute stationary with the letter of their name so that once Hazel moves, they can write letters to each other to help them remember each other. At this point all of us girls almost broke down right there. It was one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever seen and it really put into perspective how much is going to change in the next four years and how much we will miss Jeff, Jessica, Hazel, and Genevieve!

We all had so much fun and I truly hope it becomes a tradition among the Heslop girls! Joan did an amazingly beautiful job with everything. I know that all the little girls were in Heaven.

Tulip Festival

All the Heslop girls went to the Tulip Festival last week. It was so refreshing to spend some good 'girl time' and see the exciting signs of Spring. It hasn't felt much like Spring yet because the Winter is dragging on forever! It was been so cold, but luckily, we had blue skies and sunshine on our outting to Thanksgiving Point. The flowers were beyond gorgeous. It inspired me to plant at least a few flowers in our yard this year (still working on getting that done)!

Lily and Stewart were in heaven spending some outdoors time. They loved roaming around and hanging out with the little cousins. Stewart of coarse was mesmerized by the water fountains and would have jumped right in had I let him!

It was a great day and hopefully we will make it a tradition with the Heslop girls! Thanks Joan for making this day possible for all of us to be together!

Dear Paul, we have a FOUR year old!

We miss you! While you are out working and traveling the world, our little girl turned FOUR!! I of course knew this day was coming, but I can't believe our little red-headed "monkey-bean" of a baby is now a little person. I can't help but think of that night at the hospital exactly four years ago holding that sweet, perfect little babe and wondering what kind of a person she would grow into. And looking at the pictures from our day today, she is perfect! A little more quirky than I thought, but I guess she gets that from you :)

So glad we could celebrate as a family by doing one of her favorites - swimming at the "bubble-gum". Even though work can sometimes put a damper on things, I am grateful for times like this when you can spend a Friday afternoon hangin' out with us!

So since you've been gone, we've been up to movie nights, popcorn, and kissy action. You did miss out this night, it was pretty fun, there were kisses all around!

This whole week has been leading up to this - the actual birth date! I am glad that she got to open her presents in front of you, although it was slightly depressing, but better than nothing! I know that she was glad you got to be a part of it.

Although it's a Sunday, I wanted her to feel like it was her birthday today (or at least as much as the days leading up to it). So we had the cousins over for a birthday breakfast bash! Stew downed 3 entire pieces of French Toast!! That's my little boy!

We love you and miss you like crazy! Your going to come home to a whole new little person...a four year old!   LOVE - Larz

Halloween: part 2

I love this time of year because it is full of PARTIES! It is crazy and hectic and busy, but it is so fun to create these memories with friends and family. Grandma Stewart's Halloween party is always a blast for the kids. She always has creative crafts and fun treats for them to make and take home. And I love that she dresses up right along with them every year. All these little ones have the greatest Grandma in the world!

I love this time to mingle and laugh with my brothers. I think that I have the greatest brothers ever and I always enjoy when I get to hang out with them. They have the quirkiest quirks, and I think that is makes people. And little Stew Stew was looking up at me with those precious eyes most of the night. He was holding as tight as he could. Sometimes it is hard to have a mama's boy, but sometimes it is fun :)

Halloween: part 1

Grandma Heslop's annual Halloween party is my favorite Heslop tradition. It is always a blast and helps kick off the Halloween holiday. This year the theme was the 50's...or the 60's, I'm not sure if that was ever clarified, but, all the same. However, our costumes were to be of our favorite characters. So after much begging on my part to do a whole family costume theme, (I have been trying to get Paul to be one board with that since we were married!) we were the cast of Tangled. Lily was Rapunzel with gorgeous braided hair down past her toes, Stewart was her side-kick, Pascal, Paul was Flynn Rider, or as Lily kept saying all night, "Eugene!?" and I was the flattering floating light. My costume only lasted about 4 minutes, just enough time for pictures. But the other three were so adorable and that is what really mattered. 

Danny was Peter Pan, very fitting since he always seems to look like Peter Pan. Holland was the Nintendo character Kirby, which went well with her adorable 2nd trimester tummy. Grandma and Grandpa were dressed in the 50's. They got into the true spirit of their character's as they danced and boogied all night. Jessica, little Hazel, and Jeff were so creative! They were all from Monster's Inc. - Mike Wisouski, Boo, and Sully.

Grandma decorated so well, as she always does, with a true 50's atmosphere. We had a malt shop set up and groovy music all night as we ate and played games. And no Heslop Halloween party would be complete without the famous monster mash potoates, dinner-in-a-pumpkin, broomstick breadsticks, and a goulish green drink! So yummy! Stewart was devouring the broomsticks, he was in heaven.

After dinner, it was off to play some 50's inspired games. First was the "drag-race" where we raced each other around the kitchen on blankets. It was quite the work-out for the drag-er. (I know because someone had the bright idea that the wives should pull the husbands, thought I was going to have a heart-attack, but our team won that race!)

Then we had a "sock-hop" aka three-legged-race. Paul and I had worked over a great plan on syncrinization and how we were going to dominate, but once that whistle blew, it all went out the window! We did terrible! But had a blast... Lily liked the idea of just running around in a circle with someone, so she was exempt from having her socks tied.

Normally Dracula (best game EVER!) would come next, but we got a late start on everything and had to call it a night without the terrifying, hair-rising game. But there is always next year for that...

We are already looking forward to Heslop Halloween Bash 2013!