It is SO worth it...

This was on my heart so I linked up at the "On Your Heart" linky party found HERE

*Disclaimer:  This post is sappy.  But it's true and it's on my mind.

I was talking to a dear friend last night about having babies.  She does not have any babies yet, although when she is ready, she will be the most loving and wonderful mom you know.  She was expressing how she was nervous about a future (no not yet) pregnancy and childbirth.  She was stating all of the things that I used to be nervous about too, things that I think every single "not yet" mom thinks about.  I think you know what I'm talking about....

Anyway, I purposely DON'T give a lot of details about birthing experiences (especially my first one) to nervous future moms because they can be scary.  My birthing story with my second was hilarious and embarrassing from start to finish, partially why I've never shared it online.  Typical me, with no filter, the queen of awkward, was telling that story and I think I freaked her out more.  So I got to thinking about it.

Having a baby is beautiful, natural, and wonderful.  But it can also be scary, leaky, and sometimes embarrassing.  What I want to exaggerate today is why it is so worth it to go through a short amount of weird.

Dear sweet friend, and any other future moms who are worried out there, I'm not going to tell you that it's not hard, but I am going to tell you that is more than worth it.  When that part is over, you get this:

My first picture with my new guy (after he was wiped down)

If you're like me (and I can't be the only one) You may not have a darn clue what you are doing, but it's okay.  You really do figure it out.  It still hurts a little (or maybe a lot).  You're sensitive emotionally and physically.  No, nothing will ever be the same again.  While it seems slow, your brand new sweet baby very (very, very, very) quickly develops into a wonderful personality.  You're cracking up:

And it doesn't matter what you do because you can't stop it.  You can't slow it down either.  In fact, as much as you want to freeze it, you also can't wait to see what's next.  You can't wait to see who they become and love them more and more every single day.

Oh and this:

Oh man.  This gets to a whole new level of love.  You're in this together and it is the hardest, but sweetest journey that you'll be on.  When you see them together.  Forget it.  You melted into butter before you could do anything else.

If you're like me, and it's what you want, you then get blessed to do it all over again.  It's similar, but it's totally different.  After all, you have another completely different person.  It's leaky and embarrassing again.  But very soon, you have this:

This picture apparently became a tradition.

Who also develops a wonderful personality all too quickly:

Only this time, you get this along with it:

Those moments grow into these:

Even when they do the most basic things, you think it's the greatest thing ever.

It's not always easy.  They leak:

They're very messy:

But you love them.  You love them so much.  By now, you don't care WHAT you did in that labor room.

You're tired, but you're strong and so in love.  The next thing you know, you have these wonderful little people who take over your everything and you love it.  Memories of a birthing area are there, but they're fond, even when they're embarrassing or yes, sometimes traumatic.

That's because they're yours.

Those memories and those times; those belong to you and they are unique to you, just like my experiences here are all unique to me.  They are the moments that start it all.  And from my experience, they are SO worth it.

TGIF

                                                                 Hey Girl. Happy Friday to you!

Spring Break 2014

Well,  Spring Break, what can I say?

We had big plans.  Lots of outdoor time.  Lots of sunscreen.

It just didn't totally work out that way though did it?  It was cold, it was wet, there was vomiting involved.

At the end of it though, today being Sunday, the sun shining beautifully, I look back on this week as a total blessing.

Some much needed R&R.

This is legit sleeping

A family road trip to Georgia to see family and farm.  (Post here)

To celebrate.

Lots of time to just do nothing with my guys.  Chuck E Cheese, bowling, jumping with great friends.

                                                                                                                    


To even read a book that's been on my list for a long time!  (The Help- I know, I'm behind, but it was SO worth the wait!)

Lots of time to get to a few Honey-do list/school list items and a 10K family run.

Maybe it was rainy and cold last week so that I could appreciate just being.

Well played Spring Break.  Lesson Learned.

My Heart Sings

The Sun is up

The sky is blue,

It's beautiful,

and so are you.

Song Lyrics by The Beatles

Cotton Ball Painting

* I linked this post up to the Linky Party found here.

Yay for Spring.  Yay for spring break!

Last week I was reading the Bower Power Blog (this post). She and her son did this very same project and I completely got the idea from her, but I wanted to share it with you!

We started with some plain brown paper taped to our fence:

While shadows of clothespins danced above their heads

We chose 3 seasonally appropriate colors of paint.  This next part probably wasn't my best move, but it wasn't too bad either.  I used acrylic paint and watered it down a bit.  That made this into a craft that was done by the artists in their underpants to avoid staining.

We dipped the cotton balls into the paint and got them pretty saturated.  We wanted them to be heavy enough to throw.  Then we got them out and had a great time pitching them at our canvas.  Some of us stood a little closer than others.

Look at that spring sky!  Ooh la la!

We also got out some paint brushes in case we wanted to add that texture to our painting.  Which we did.  In the end, we got this:

Wow, this picture turned out dark....

Later while it was drying, C said, "It looks like flowers."  I agree.  Especially in the bottom right, it looks like flowers on a stem.

He then went on to say, "and people, and a horse."  Apparently it's abstract!  I do think that this was a super fun painting activity.  It was very satisfying to see the cotton balls splat up on the paper and stick there.  We also were able to re-dip and throw the same cotton balls again.

On my summer bucket list:  Giant ice cube toy excavation

3/14

Today is March 14, 2014.  This video shows you what I was doing on March 14, 2011, exactly 3 years ago.



C Laughing from Kelly Hefty on Vimeo.

Why did I choose to sing Spice Girls circa my days in 5th grade, 1997 to my 7 month old?  I have no idea.  But I am so glad that I did.  If you're wondering why it's bouncy, just know that some really good dance moves surely accompanied this amazing rendition of that song.

As a baby, C was happy, but he wasn't always "laugh out loud" happy.  His laugh today is still from the soul and super contagious.

That gummy smile.  His happy eyes.  Those pointy ears.  His bald head.

Apparently more than just my heart felt like singing on March 14, 2011.

We're Groupies

C and I have totally been taken down with a case of the Disney Magic bug.  I am so glad to have him to share this with. (319)

                      

T, eh.  Maybe when he's older, but so far he doesn't care about the rides and dislikes the characters.  He's still pretty young though.  I can't wait to find out what he and I can share together!  Perhaps it will be Disney, perhaps it won't, either way it will be ours and I will love it.  Until then, he can look at me like I'm crazy while we take a picture with weird giant mouse-like people. (320)

C is obsessed.  We talk about Disney every day.  and he LOVES the characters!  He doesn't even need to know who they are.  If you are a Disney character, he will find you and love you.  He'll even chase you around the dance party until you do the Hokey Pokey with him, even if he doesn't know the Hokey Pokey.

Not in connection to Disney, I have been calling this stage of my life, the "Peter Pan" age anyway.  Everything is made of magic and watching the world, real or fantasy, through their eyes has been such a treat.  (321)

Relating to Sunday's post:  I GET to be their Mommy, I GET to teach them every day and I am so blessed with how much they are teaching me.  (322)

Menchie's Night (301)

This week Team Kara and Team Kelly teamed up with Menchie's Frozen Yogurt in Northeast Park for a fundraiser night.

20% of all of the proceeds went to our Autism Speaks fundraising efforts plus they let us put out a "spare change for Autism Speaks" tip jar.

I was so impressed with the whole night.  The staff was remarkably friendly and not just easy, but pleasant to work with.  I couldn't believe they would forfeit their tip jar for the evening! (302)

Also, Menchie themself (himself?  herself?) made an appearance which one of my guys was ALL over! (303)

The younger one appreciated from a distance.  This was indicated when he backed up to the chalkboard wall and emphatically shook his head NO!  I love how they can both be so different!  Their personalities make me well up with the lovelies. (304)

Menchie's did not ask me to write any of this, but I wanted to:

1.  Give you all an update on my fundraising efforts (see yesterday's post) and
2.  Share what I feel is a great local company that I would be happy to work with in the future.  Their enthusiasm was remarkable and I almost felt like family.  Plus I loved the kid friendly atmosphere, and of course the Froyo!

If you were able to make it to that night, THANK YOU!  I had such a blast hanging out with everyone and I felt so supported. (305)

This night also put me at just under $50 left before I reach my goal of $1250, that is so close to what used to seem so far that I can taste it!  I am so pleasantly surprised and happy with everything! (306)

If you'd like to see for yourself, here's my Autism Speaks Link:

events.autismspeaks.org/disneysprincesshalf/heftykel

Exactly What I Want

Over a month ago (pre-minivan, post T's ER trip) Lukas and I had the honor of watching our friend debut as a St. Pete debutante.  We got all dressed up and had so much fun.  I'm not going to lie, we looked pretty snazzy. (293)

When our babysitter arrived we tried to find an area of the house to take our "formal" picture.  We stood here and took this shot.  Meanwhile, I was thinking to myself that I would have to crop the "house" out of the picture later.

Then I saw the picture.  Immediately, I knew that I didn't want to change anything about this shot whatsoever (except maybe that it was taken on my phone and could be slightly more clear. 294)

This is what our life looks like right now. No matter how dressed up we get.  Toys are strewn about, sippy cups are always in weird places, our furniture is either over-sized or miniature.  And I love it.  I love it all. (295)

Balls are SO fun, don't get me wrong.  We had a blast (and took other pictures too).  But I am so grateful for the ball that I get to have here at home. (296)

Now hopefully I can remember that feeling the next time I step on a puzzle piece.

Floridian Snow Day

Our school's PTA is pretty awesome (290)! One could say that they're cool haha, I'm punny. Anyway, our school had an Olympic Snow Day and it was Awesome (with an intentional capital A). Once the kids at the school all had their turn, I brought our guys back for the fun and fun we had! (291)

I melt!

Cheese!

A Clean 2014!

I love Christmas.  Really, I do.  I love the decorations and the memories and just everything!  I did want to share the decor around the house with you.

276

The real point of today's post however, is that I LOVE January 1st.  That is clean up day in our home.

I wanted to title this post, "Naked" but I thought that title would bring in viewers of a genre that I didn't intend for.  : /

But naked is how I describe the January 1st Hefty home.  I spent yesterday doing a serious purge.  We don't have a whole lot of stuff to begin with, but we still managed to have unused items anyway!  I didn't even add any decorations because what we had was enough!

My two purging rules/mantras this year were:

1.  If I haven't used it in 2013 it's going.
2.  "Have nothing in your house that you don't find to be useful or believe to be beautiful."  (William Morris)

I think that deep down, I am a wannabe minimalist when it comes to decorating.  I think that what it really is though is that I'm a minimalist when it comes to cleaning.  For example, I have entire pieces of furniture that I'm kind of like, eh, do I need that?  The truth is, I really just don't want to dust it.

Either way, January 1st just feels good.  It's a wonderfully fresh new start, even for our little house and home.  (277)

Make sure you check back tomorrow to see about some 2014 goals that we have.  :)  

Crafty Christmas Part II (475)

Whaaat?  2 posts today?!?  Who is this blogger?  I just have so much to share!

I shared with you how I am not very crafty this morning.  I enjoy crafts, but my brain is just so much more creative than my hands and my time schedule!

Either way, here is a gift that I gave to some of our best friends this Christmas:

We were able to watch their 2 guys one evening this Christmas season (they are our boys best friends).  While my guys were in the bathtub (being supervised by their father), these 2 guys and I got our craft on.

Their boys are 5 and almost 2.  They enjoyed having their feet tickled with the paintbrush.  I wrote the letters on with a Sharpie Paint Pen and left it very simple.

Crafty Christmas Part I (474)

I'm not crafty.  I'm pretty bad at it.  Having said that, I got a teeny tiny bit crafty this Christmas.  Nothing over the top.  Nothing eye roll worthy.  Just some simple and sweet things.  Let's face it, sweet and simple, (and inexpensive) were the things that met my fancy here.

Like this:

This is really lovely at night with the lights from the tree lighting it.  But this "not a photographer" hasn't quite figured that out yet (see here if you don't believe me!) You can kind of see the lights twinkling in the reflection on the bottom left corner of the frame.

Here's what I needed:

1.  Computer print out with letters you want to use.
2.  Pretty paper of your choice
3.  Scissors
4.  String (I used baker's twine)
5.  Tape

Here's what I did:

1.  Find a font you like.  I tend to stick to a really chunky font with very few hard edges to cut around.
2.  Make the letters large enough to fit the letter sizes you want and print.

3.  I created a stencil out of the letters that I was going to use often using the cardboard from inside the package of paper that I used.

Because the paper that I was using was sparkly and textured, I turned it over to the backside and traced the letters BACKWARDS so that when I cut them out, they were facing the right direction and any pen marks were left on the back.

 4.  With the letters that were only used once, I simply cutout the paper with the font on it.  I did this on the front side of the paper because it didn't matter without the tracings.

.
5.  I kept count of the letters that I needed and crossed them out as I created them.
6.  Then I cut, cut, cut until I had all of the letters.
7.  At that point, I was ready to hang my banners.  I put frame hanging nails on either side of a large picture frame in the living room and tied the string on.
8.  Craftier people may have done this next part differently, but I used Scotch Tape to attach the letters.  Even looking at it right now live and in person, I can't see it.

And there you have it!  I wish that you could see the sparkles that are brought out in the letters, but you'll just have to use your imagination!  

Food Challenge Wrap Up

Let's face it.  I got bored.  Writing down my eating habits for a week was boring for me to write, so I can only imagine the reading.  I tried to keep up the momentum, it just wasn't sustainable for me I guess.  Speaking of sustainability:  I have updated my count and after this post we are up to 472!)  You can go back and see the count for yourselves.

Good thing that this is my blog and all.  I get to mess up, I get to jump around and find out what works for me and what doesn't.  Thank you for letting me do that.

I don't want to leave it open ended so I will say this:

Thursday was as planned and clean.  Actually, Thursday, Lukas had to work late and I still didn't go to Chick fil a and cheat, I cooked anyway.  So that was pretty exciting! (467)

Friday, we took C to a Busch Gardens Christmas event (468) and all I did to cheat was have a sip of hot cocoa.  Really, just a sip!

Beforehand, we cooked a whole chicken in the crock pot with potatoes, onions, and carrots that day.  That is always so easy and yummy!  I like the smell of the house and the warmth that it brings.  If not for the food challenge, this girl would have planned fast food prior to an evening like that. (469)

The event was wonderful, but it did take the place of our Friday grocery shopping.  That means that the weekend was not planned.  That's a recipe for disaster!

Baby jail?  No, the Santa Parade.  Next time, I'll try to take the picture when something is actually going by.

Saturday, I forgot to eat breakfast and we went to the Santa Parade (470).  I was actually starving.  Like, having symptoms.  That just goes to show you that good eating requires planning.  We went to Panera for lunch.  Big cheat, yes.  But did I regret it?  No.  I knew that I didn't plan out the weekend and that was where my flaws came in.  Again though, I chose healthier than I would have and eating one lunch at a restaurant for the week was a lot less than I'm used to, so I'm focusing on what I did do well.

So what now?

• Our home meals are still clean.  If it's in our kitchen and I am cooking it, it is mostly clean.
• We will schedule home meals for every meal, every day.  If we are going to go out, it is going to be pre-planned and on our schedule.  Will this go perfectly?  No way, but it's a start.
• Planning the food ahead of time is a huge part of the plan's success.  We even write our plans and our meals on Sundays onto a whiteboard that is on our fridge.  Sure a super cute chalkboard would make me giddy, but for now this works.  
• Coke and restaurants are under complete management at this point.  This week anyway.  Those were my two biggest goals.  

471

Day 2

Tuesday December 3, 2013

Breakfast:

Same as yesterday, still super yummy.  I am so surprised at how well the pancakes freeze!

Today I went to BITTS Boot camp at 5:30am so I gave myself a smoothie similar to (but not the same as) the one I posted about here awhile back.  I left out the cinnamon and coconut oil.  Also, I use mostly coconut water as my base with a splash of OJ for flavor.  I did this for extra hydration after an awesome workout.

Lunch:

Today I had a pita sandwich.  I used a Turkey lunch meat from Earth's Origins that fit the criteria, as well as sliced organic white cheddar cheese and Dijon Mustard.  The mustard was technically a cheat because it had 7 calories.  I went ahead and ate it for flavor because one of the ingredients was water and I knew what all of the ingredients were.

Snack:

Also same as yesterday.  I also made the boys some natural popcorn and ate some.  I thought it was delicious!

Dinner:

We had a DELICIOUS Mac N Cheese meal from 100 days of real food.  (Recipe) It was super easy, creamy, and yummy.  I also cooked some organic frozen peas (Cascadian Farms) and turkey bacon with fewer than 5 ingredients from Earth's Origins.

You guys, this was so good and super easy.  Based on my terrible photography per yesterday's post, I spared you a picture, but I think that the recipe link has one.  :)

How do I feel?

I feel like I love breakfast and dinner but I need to get more organized for lunch time.  I don't feel inspired by those meals and I just think about other foods that I'd rather be eating.  Plus I feel sleepy adjusting to a week after vacation and good sore from a new intense workout.

If you want to see where I started go here, day 1 here

Food Challenge Day 1

First:  Please go checkout my Tampa Bay Mom's Blog post today.  It's a really good one about an AWESOME local charity called Babycycle.  It goes up at 1PM EST

Second:  If you're wondering what this post is about, check out yesterday's post (yes, I posted on a Sunday, no that is not normal, nor will it become normal.)

Third:  Okay, "Food"tography is DEFINITELY not my thing!  Oh my goodness, I was laughing at myself while taking these pictures, and after last night's debacle I'm surprised I even kept trying.  I do however have an apparent keen talent for making what is actually a really yummy food look disgusting.

Don't worry though, I only posted one more meal after today.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Breakfast:

See what I mean?  Hahaha!
I PROMISE that pancake was delicious!  Go see the 100 days picture from the link below.

 Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes (Recipe:  we took her advice and froze them on Sunday and they were SO yummy every time!)
Green Tea
OJ - I drank more than what is pictured here
-Note:  I looked at the syrup and there was sugar added so I did without and I still liked them!

Lunch:

I am glad that this photo has water, because while I did sit down and drink it with lunch that day, I was also drinking it all day.

Egg and Kale Pita:
1/2 Pita
1 Organic Egg with Organic White Cheddar cheese melted on it
Kale (which was gross on my sandwich-even though I love it in my smoothies)
Grapes

Snack:

Organic Dried Cranberries (Publix in the publix packaged snacks section- I did read at the end of the week though that there was Organic Cane Juice in them so I accidentally cheated but it does go to show how easy it is not to read ingredients labels)
Organic Raw Cashews (Also Publix)

Dinner (this picture was the WORST, seriously, I spared you here):
Tilapia with avocado spread- This is a recipe that I cleaned up from the Publix Apron's recipes.  Maybe I'll post about that later...This is one of my favorite meals!
Brown Rice
Broccoli

How do I feel?

I felt surprisingly full today.  I didn't have caffeine withdrawal because of the Green Tea from breakfast and I feel motivated still.  Woo hoo!

My kids had a different lunch that day, but they ate pancakes for breakfast (I think we gave them syrup anyway), snacks, and the same dinner as us, yes, the fish.