Super Bowl Sunday + More Baby Shower Pics

So, yesterday I went to an awesome Super Bowl Party! It was hosted by the wonderful Matt & Bobbi McCormick. They throw a great party! They had three TVs on throughout the house. My favorite one was in the garage with the ping pong table. Plus, it was cooler in there (temperature-wise) and I need to make sure that at 8 1/2 months pregnant that I keep myself cool.

Now, I have to ask... Is it strange that I went to a Super Bowl party without even knowing who is playing in the game??? I honestly had no idea until Matt told me. Then I think I didn't even watch the game at all, perhaps a few seconds. Watched the half time show for a moment and then we left.... Definitely not a football fan, here. :-)

BUT I definitely had to grub while I was there!! You can't go to a McCormick Party without getting some GOOD food! They were really smart about the food planning. They let everyone know that they were making Chili with ALL the fixings and then for everyone else to bring their favorite sides/dishes and drinks. It turned out great!!

Here's an overview of the spread. All kinds of good stuff... fruit assortments, veggie assortments, Inside out pizza, wiener dogs, chili, cookies, etc, etc.... and more stuff came after this pic was taken!!
Here's my first plate. :-)
Here's Tyler's first plate. I think I forgot to mention that I brought Tyler with me.
Here's my 2nd plate minus the fruit because I almost didn't take a picture... shame on me.

Here's Tyler's second plate.
And let's not forget a picture of the beautiful hosts!! I have been loving these two more and more everyday... such wonderful people!! I am ABSOLUTELY blessed to know them!

MORE BABY SHOWER PICS!!

I do have to say again that I was so blessed by everyone that came to my baby shower. I was overwhelmed by the amazing turn out. I only wish that I could have to talked everyone so much more while they were there. And I do apologize to anyone if I didn't get a chance to talk to you much. I'm so sorry!!

So, here are some pics of the awkward part of the shower for me. Again, I don't know why but I just feel so strange with everybody just staring at me opening gifts. But I guess I can deal with being awkward for just a little while since everyone blessed my family so tremendously!! I couldn't possibly post everything I received but I did want to put up a few pics because I got so many nice things! :-)

This was an amazing blanket that a lady from my dad's church made. I thought it was so awesome!
I also thought these duck outfits were so cute. Perfect for a boy or a girl!

This whole basket of stuff was awesome!!! I love this bib. "Let's Do Lunch. It's on Me" How cute!

In addition to all the items that are like these are just oh so cute, I also got some great necessities.... like baby monitors, a breast pump, a stroller/car seat combo travel system pack, baby bottles, etc, etc, etc.... I HAVE TRULY BEEN BLESSED!!!!

Have a wonderful Monday everyone!!!

Baby Shower!! Baby Shower!!

So, yesterday I was just thinking that I should do a weekend wrap-up for last weekend... but then I realized it was already Friday and the end of the week and time to do a week in review. I never got to writing that post but I can't believe the week just flew by like that!! It is Saturday night and I am absolutely EXHAUSTED!!! Last weekend I went to a baby shower that I really wanted to post pictures for but I am feeling WAY too lazy right now. But it was a great shower with lots of GOOD food and interesting games. It was for my friend, Teresa, who I wrote about in a previous blog. And the rest of the week has been pretty busy - filled with Dr.'s appts, work for wire harness company, work for the school district, coaching basketball, dates with friends, planning for the baby shower, and of course the ever-important family time. I honestly don't know how I made it through the week. But here I am, dragging through the end of my Saturday. So, here it is... My Baby Shower!!! :-)

I must say I was SO nervous about throwing a baby shower because I have never done it before and I have only been to a couple of them myself. But I think that in the end the shower turned out pretty good - I hope. I have to definitely thank my wonderful mom and dad who were so instrumental in getting the shower together. My mom cooked ALL the food which everyone loved and my dad set up the room at the church where he works and did much of the heavy moving of tables and such for set up and clean up. I have also to thank my awesome friend, Grace, who was wonderful enough to run the show. She led all the games, passed out the cake, and wrote down all the gifts that I received. So, here's some pics from the party.

We start with the signs that pointed people to where the party was... They are nothing exciting but I just liked them :-)
Then there is the room after being decorated before anyone else showed up.
The table with all the party favors and the prizes for the games. My party favors are little To-Go boxes with ribbons. Very inexpensive at wrapwithus.com. I don't know why these pictures turned out so dark. My apologies.
Here's the spread. I actually forgot to take a picture of this first and this after people already devoured much of the food.
Here's my plate. My mom made some AWESOME filipino food, which included lumpia, pancid, chicken adobo, and fried rice. I also got some pineapples, watermelons, veggies, and a macaroni pasta - which were not filipino but OH SO GOOD!! :-)
Here is the party cake. It is marble cake with chocolate frosting from Stater Bros. It was so good... at least I thought so. :-)
Here's my slice of cake. Mmm... :-)

The winners of the games:

Vickie won the game where you have to make as many words out of the letters used in "Baby Shower". She came up with 31 words!! And she won a gift card to Starbucks.
Bobbi won the game "How well do you know the Mommy-To-Be?". I guess she knows me pretty well! :-) That earned her a gift card to Jamba Juice!
And then there is Daylie. This little girl is vicious. As you can see, she won the game where you take everyone's ribbons if they say the word "baby" or cross their legs. Well, she obviously was watching everyone like a hawk. And that earned her a gift card to Cold Stone.
The winner of the diaper raffle was my cousin, Beverly. She won a dinner and a movie fun pack, which included a $25 gift card to Chili's, two movie passes, and some good movie snacks. She said she's going to use the prize to take her mom to dinner and the movies.

After the diaper raffle we went to the part of the party that I always find to be the most awkward. I don't know why but I have always HATED opening presents in front of people. Well, apparently at baby showers, you HAVE to open the presents while your guests are still there. I don't totally get it but I guess that's the rule. And I was going to post some of the pics of the stuff that I got but I will have to save that for tomorrow because I am exhausted and don't have the patience to wait for the pictures to download. So, tomorrow there will be more pics from the baby shower. Good night everyone!! :-)

A Week In Review

So, I was supposed to post again on Monday and all of a sudden it is already Saturday. The week just flew right by!! I can't believe how fast it has been going. Sometimes the days seem long but the week just flies right by. As of this week I am OFFICIALLY 32 weeks... That's 8 months!! I feel like it was just yesterday that I announced that i was pregnant. I must admit that I have had such an easy pregnancy! I have been so lucky with this one. I hope the labor is just as smooth! Here is my 32-week picture. I am definitely looking prego now!

Tuesday: This week my girls had a basketball game and they played AWESOME!! I must say that this was probably their best game all season. They played SO much like a team. I was so proud of them!! :-) I have no pictures from the game cause I am certainly to busy being in to the game but I will have to get someone to take pictures soon as the season ends mid-February (unless we go to play-offs, of course).

Wednesday: On Wednesday I went over to my friend, Teresa's, house for some pancakes. She is 3 weeks behind in her pregnancy. She has been having a bit of a rough pregnancy and is currently on bed rest so I was happy to go over there and make some pancakes. If I would have been thinking a little bit more clearly, I would have certainly brought my camera. But I'm not that bummed because the pancakes didn't look like anything special. She is stuck on her couch all day, everyday, so I am going to try to go over there every Wednesday morning and either bring her breakfast or make her breakfast. Teresa is an old acquaintance from high school. I say acquaintance because I don't think either one of us would say we were friends in high school. We got along but I we didn't ever hang out. But shortly after I became pregnant we reconnected and have been bonding and building a relationship as we go through our pregnancies together. Another hilarious thing is that her husband's name is Todd and they are going to name their daughter Taelyn. That's all T's - just like us!! Cool, huh? Perhaps that's only cool to me. :-)

Terecita & Teresa. Can you believe my name means "Little Teresa" but I am the giant. Believe it or not, I am 3 weeks ahead of her. :-)

In addition, our adoption social worker that has been doing our home study came by to see us and he gave us our "official" letter stating that our home study was approved. That is so nice to have. And a brief update on the court case is that birth rights were officially terminated on December 14th of 2009 and we have since then just been in the 60-day waiting period to see if the birth parents appeal. As of today, neither parent has appealed. YAY! If after the 60 days no one has appealed, then we can probably finalize by March/April!!! However, if one of the parents do appeal, there will be a minimum of a 6-month appeal process. Grr... So, I really hope they don't appeal.

Friday: On Friday morning I had to go in for a 3-hour glucose test. That meant that I had to get blood drawn FOUR times in 3 hours!! That was not fun. I had to fast before-hand and I was not allowed to eat or drink anything for the whole 3 hours. I also was not allowed to leave the building. Lucky for me there was another pregnant woman that had to do the test, too, that came in shortly after me so we pretty much talked the whole time which made the time fly by. But by the time the test was over, I was HUNGRY!!! So, I decided to treat myself to a pizza from The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe (a local pizza place). This place is a little bit expensive but I felt that I had earned it after getting a needle stuck in my arm four times in 3 hours.

Friday night is usually family night. So, we decided that we were going to play with some Play-Doh. I'm sure that doesn't sound to exciting but we had a good time with it. Here is what we made:

This is mine. It was a pond with rocks, and grass and tress.

This is hubby's. He made a house with a walkway, driveway, trees, his truck in the driveway, and him pushing the lawn mower out front. (He's a landscaper)

And here is Tyler's. He also made a house, with furniture inside, and his bike outside.
We were all sad when we had to take them all apart. :-(

After that, and after putting Tyler to bed, my friend invited me to go with her for a mommy's night out. We basically went to another ladies house and made cards. It was kind of strange for me cause it's not the typical thing that I do but I got some good cards out of it. Here a few pics:
Now it is Saturday and we did absolutely nothing. Tyler had apparently lost his mind last night while I was gone and so today was full of consequences... Bummer. It was such a nice day outside that it sucked to be stuck indoors.

So, that is my week in review. I tried to keep it brief - which wasn't too hard since my week wasn't too exciting. Tomorrow I hope to post some of the goodies that I made as Christmas gifts since I never posted them. I know it's a little late for that but I really wanted to get them posted on the site.

Have a great weekend!!

How Do You Daily Bloggers Do It?!?!?!?!

So, I have been recently just been cruising through everyone's blogs because I haven't really been able to post any blogs myself due to time, energy, and laziness... So sad, huh? The hard part was that I actually things to post since my last post but I have been struggling to get the time. I had lots of baked goodies to share with you from Christmas - but I certainly feel that is way to late to post. I have my son's birthday, my birthday, my baby belly, and so many other things. i couldn't even begin to catch up on the last few weeks as I would have liked to. However, I really would like to get back in the groove again because I certainly miss it. I owuld love to hear any tips that you wonderful bloggers might have to help me stay consistent in blogging. Sometimes, I just feel like the days just pass by so fast. I don't know if it has to do with the pregnancy-lack of energy thing but I really hope to get posting again. Tomorrow I will definitely have another belly pic as this week I will be 32 weeks - EIGHT MONTHS!! That is so crazy. It has actually gone by so fast. I must admit that I have actually had a pretty easy pregnancy. I didn't have major morning sickness in the beginning like many do, and I don't have a lot of the aches and pains either. I am starting to have a hard time sleeping but my body pillow definitely helps with that. :-) I have also been lucky enough to still have energy and kind of be able to exercise. I was still low-level basketball with my team in my 6th month (and a little in my 7th). Now I still am pretty active at work and exercise-wise. My son and I are supposed to start going on walks together this week but it is predicted to rain a lot this week so we shall see. :-) Anyhow, this post has been a lot of rambling without any bit of structure. I do apologize for that but I felt the need to post right now. I truly hope that everyone is experiencing blessings and I will look forward to posting again tomorrow.

Holiday Newsletter

This year we were going to mail out a holiday newsletter but I lost almost everyone's address when I lost my cell phone. So, instead I decided to post it and email it out. Hopefully, everyone gets a chance to read it. Merry Christmas!! Here it goes:

We hope that as we write this letter, you and your family are healthy and thankful for the blessings that you have. This year has flown by so fast that we can’t believe Christmas is right around the corner! This has been an especially trying year for us but also a very rewarding year. Many of you have been so important to the survival of our family and we truly thank you for everything that you have done for us - prayers, gifts, encouragement, support, a shoulder to lean on, and often an ear to vent to. You are all such blessings to us. Let us give you a brief update on what the Heppenstall Family is doing these days:

Taylor: Taylor is running his business in this slow economy. Business has definitely dropped due to the vast economical struggles but God continues to provide enough business to keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. This year Taylor has really been reaching out to our homeless community. He feels that God has called him to minister to them so he has been organizing food, clothing, and hygiene supplies to be given them regularly. For those of you that know the struggles that Taylor went through at the end last year and the beginning of this year, we want you all to know that he is doing MUCH better!! Praise God!!

Terecita: Terecita is working at a small manufacturing company that makes wire harnesses for old cars. The job is very simple and not that exciting but it certainly provides the opportunity to bring in some income while being able to be home with Tyler when he gets out of school. Terecita recently started coaching a basketball team at a small high school in Redlands and it has been quite an interesting experience so far.

Tyler: Tyler is currently enjoying the 4^th grade. He is getting great grades and has had perfect attendance so far this year. This is the first time in his school career that he has ever gone a whole month without missing a day of school! Many of you know the struggles we had when Tyler first moved in with us and he has practically become like a whole new kid! He has made so much progress in his behavior!! He is enjoying lots of sports and he loves all types of art. Tyler has been struggling recently with the fact that his siblings were adopted in November and our adoption with him is still not final. If you remember to pray for him and his anxiety with that, please do!

Little “T”: That’s right!! If you didn’t already know, we are expecting our first baby in March! By the end of December Terecita will be 7 months pregnant. We have not found out yet if we are having a boy or a girl and sometimes we feel like we should just wait and be surprised. We do have a name picked out if we are going to have a boy but we are struggling with a name for a girl. We would like to keep the “T” trend going but we have not been hearing any girl names that we like. We are certainly open to suggestions. As of right now, baby checks out to be completely healthy! Praise God!

So, that is a very brief update on the Heppenstall Family. We wish we could fit in everything for the year but that would take too much space. We truly are blessed to have you in our lives and we hope that you have an amazing Christmas and New Year!!

With Love,

Taylor, Terecita, Tyler, and Little “T”

The Heppenstall Family

Baby is A-Okay!

Just a quick update before I go to work! :-) I just got back from the Dr for my baby check up. My belly measures just as it should and the baby's heartbeat is strong. The doctor got the results back from the sonogram and baby is healthy! Woo hoo!!! And you may not be able to tell but I am now 24 weeks (at least I will be tomorrow). I still do not know if we are having a boy or girl but I will find out before Christmas. Here is my picture of 23 weeks and 6 days. I know it might not look like it but I'm actually 6 months!! It's so crazy! I hope everyone's Wednesday has started off right! And I will look forward to writing my next update. And I think I'm FINALLY starting to feel the baby move. :-) Right now it just feels like bubbles in my stomach. :-) Have a great day everyone!

December is Here!!

It's officially December! I think this is my favorite time of the year - probably because Christmas is my favorite holiday! This year we are really trying to start some of our own family traditions now that we have had Tyler for over a year and we have a baby on the way. In previous years we have always gone to my parents' and in-laws' and done whatever they do. But I think this year that we are going to stay home and make our own Christmas Family Traditions. I can hardly wait!! Last year, we already started one - which is to have hot chocolate with warm bread for breakfast on Christmas morning. We just dip the bread in to the hot chocolate. It probably sounds really weird but I really like it and always have since I was a kid. Mmmm!!!

And I think one of our new traditions that we started this year will be decorating on Thanksgiving weekend. We had our Staycation on Black Friday and we started our decorating on that day. And then we put up our Christmas Tree on Saturday. It was great! :-) I think that's the way to do it again next year! Much better for us than going out with all the craziness in the stores. We didn't do a lot of decorating but it is enough for us.

Our Christmas Tree with stockings hanging next to it. (I apologize for the bad picture. Trying to get use to the hubby's camera - very different than mine.)
The dining room table. Very simple but nice.
We also have some garland hanging up in a couple of various places and some Christmasy towels and oven mits in the kitchen as well. And we got some pretty cool Snowflake candles at the 99 Cent Store. They are great!

And since I already had marshmallows and Rice Krispies, I couldn't help but make another batch of Rice Krispy Treats! This time I added a couple of big spoonfuls of peanut butter. They were pretty darn good - although that slightly takes away from the ooey gooey-ness. But still very delish!

Another thing I love about Christmas is giving gifts. The reason that we celebrate Christmas is certainly not for the gifts but I still can't help but love to give gifts. It probably makes me feel better than the person receiving the gift when I know that it's exactly something they wanted. This year we are pretty tight on money so I'm trying to think of things that I can make for people. Some of the best things that I received for gifts in the past were things that people made. I just felt that someone put so much thought and effort in to the gift. I'm thinking about whipping up lots of cookies, brownies, and rice krispy treats to start with. But I know there's something else I would like to make for people that they can use. I can't wait!! :-)

Now, on to the reason for the season... I don't know where all of you bloggers' beliefs are but I am a firm believer that Jesus Christ is the reason why Christmas should be celebrated. I fully believe that Christ died for our sins and rose again three days later. He was the ultimate sacrifice for us so that we may join Him in Heaven. I truly believe that is the ultimate gift of sacrifice and the least we could do is celebrate His birth. Although, I must say that we certainly don't celebrate His resurrection enough. Perhaps that should change... hmmm...

What Christmas traditions do you love to do with your family and/or friends?