Heidi Shares Her Melon Obsession

More Lessons From Heidi

Imitating Heidi

I came home from canoeing last night to find these images on my camera. It looks like someone is taking climbing lessons from big sister!

Canoe Ride

Part of the Wagenhoffer clan gathered here this evening. Some of us were able to enjoy one of our family's favorite activities, canoeing. Heidi was one of the lucky participants, and she took her role as a big girl quite seriously (Hannah stayed home with Grandma and Aunties). She made sure everyone had on a life jacket, would periodically issue warnings like, "Be careful of the sweeper!" or, "Watch out for the eddy!", wanted to paddle along with the rest of us, and entertained our guests with stories, such as, "Right there where Dave and Justin go in the water last time we went in the canoe!" (they were flipped by one of those sweepers).

Three is by far the best age so far for taking little ones canoeing. (That being the oldest age I have experience with) At one, Heidi screamed most of the trip, not exactly a fun ride. Hannah's first ride had quite a few tears as well. At two, Heidi was terrified of the rapids and would cling to me and whimper, that combined with my rather pregnant self made it a hard to be of much use in the paddling department. But this year, Heidi is loving it and asking to go out every chance she can get. Karl and I are excited, we just might be able to have her enjoy the water along with us. Now... if only I could find a place to teach her how to swim.

Father's Day Family Picture

It's a rare occurance, but on father's day we had all four of us together, plus a photographer, and we had a camera along!

Heidi's Birthday

Heidi requested a trip to the city for her big day. As I had quite a few errands to run there I complied. I let her choose what to wear, and naturally she chose her favorite - her "wedding dress". I was kept laughing all day as people would say to her, "You look so beautiful! Is that your princess dress?"
"No" she would reply, "It's my wedding dress"
"Oh, are you getting married?"
"No," with a hint of condensation, "when I get older I get married. I going to marry my Daddy"
(I do think she has good taste in men, but I'm sure she'll realize by the time she reaches that "older" stage of her life that Daddy is already taken and she'll have to find someone else.)
Our first stop was to visit some kittens and it was almost our last as she didn't want to leave. I was originally going to bring one home for her birthday, but couldn't find any that met our qualifications that were weaned, so we have to wait for a couple weeks. I let the girls "drive" with Mickey Mouse at a store. They don't know the ride's supposed to move yet, so this is a very inexpensive way to add a bit of fun to a shopping trip.

The chocolate shop in the mall caught Heidi's eye and I told her she could pick a special birthday treat. She chose marshmallows dipped in caramel and chocolate and rolled in sprinkles. It was the sprinkles that really grabbed her.

After all that shopping, I felt Heidi needed some active time before the long car ride home, so we headed to McDonald's for the first time in her life. She thought all the other children at the play structure were there for her and was quite disappointed when I told her they wouldn't be coming home with us.

It's not every girl who spends her birthday playing at McDonald's in her wedding dress!

Happy Birthday Heidi!

It's hard to believe it's been three years since we welcomed you into our arms. I'm so very thankful God chose to bless us with the wonder of you. May you grow to know and love your Creator with all your heart, soul , mind and strength!Daddy getting to know his new little bundle
On the Oregon coast just after Heidi's first birthday

Picking flowers for Momma at two

Nearly three!

Heidi's Birthday Interview

I thought it might be fun to start interviewing my (verbal) children each year around their birthdays. Originally I was going to be boring and merely record this in her journal, but Heidi's answers were just too fun, I had to share.

How old are you?
I going to be six... in just a minute.

What will you be when you grow up?
I going to be a doctor when I get older... I going to be a farmer when I get older too. You can be my nurse Momma.

What's your favorite color?
I like purple. Actually, I would like a monkey!

What's your favorite thing to eat?
Popsicles! ...and grapes and strawberries. (The Popsicles are just my smoothies, frozen, shh... don't tell her)

What is your favorite song?
Heidi starts making up a song, "I've never heard that one before", I say. "I know", says Heidi, "it's a new one, I'm teaching you."

What's your favorite book?
My Huckle book (Richard Scarry)

If you could go anywhere, where would it be?
To Heaven.

What's your favorite thing to do?
To dance.

Who is your best friend?
Hannah, Christopher Robin, the Lions and Gordon (all but Hannah are imaginary)



I know it probably shouldn't have, but the Heaven answer surprised me. We had just been talking about family, and I was expecting a "California" or "Ethiopia" answer. I guess she's thinking more rightly than I am. Is it selfish to say that as much as I want her to go to heaven, I hope it doesn't happen to soon?
Apparently I need to start studying for nursing school and researching what it takes to have a pet monkey.
Anyone have any questions I should add to the list?

Toilet Talk

We are finally seeing a bit of success in our potty training around here. I thought I had Heidi nearly trained last year, but she met with a six week bout of diarrhea, making success an impossibility. She got discouraged. Since then, there has been no desire or determination, and for her, that is necessary. I haven't pushed the issue, knowing it would be an uphill battle if I did, that she would really only do well once she wanted to. This has been the week that has happened. We're seeing daily improvements and I'm tentatively excited that I may soon only be changing one little darling's diapers.
Heidi was helping me clean the bathrooms yesterday. When I pulled the toilet brush out of its container, she noticed there was water left behind.
"What's that Momma?" she asked
"It's water"
"Where it come from?"
"It's from the toilet."
With complete awe and incredulity, she responds, "The toilet went potty! All by itself!"
And there you have it, I have my very own potty trained toilet... and hopefully a little girl soon to follow.

A Little Too Quiet

Working on cleaning house today, I was thrilled that Hannah was quiet and content playing by herself...

You would think I would know by now that it's not necessarily always a good thing.

Somebody To Play With Me

Last year at this time, Heidi wanted somebody to play with her. She was greatly anticipating Baby's arrival and every day she would tell me all of the things Baby would do with her. At the top of the list was swinging. I told her Baby wouldn't be able to play on the swings right away, but she was undeterred. "It's okay Momma," she would say, "I will wait for Baby". All that waiting finally paid off. Hannah is big enough to play and swing this year. I know from personal experience that it's a wonderfully good thing to have sisters!

Climbing the Walls

Yesterday was a difficult day. Hannah was teething, Heidi was testing authority, Karl was gone from early in the morning until, well, early this morning, and the mosquitoes were too thick to want to spend much time outside. About 10:30last night I was thinking, "I'm about ready to start climbing the walls." Immediately after that thought passed through my mind, Heidi sweetly asked, "Momma, please may I climb the walls?" I laughingly agreed, a bit curious to see exactly what she had in mind, and thanked God for reminding me to maintain my sense of humor.

American As Apple Pie

Well... okay, she is half Canadian, but she did make an apple pie mostly by herself. We scored a rolling pin of her very own at a recent yard sale and she was anxious to try it out. She rolled it out before her nap, it baked while she was asleep, and it was ready to eat when she got up!

Hardworking Helper and Sitting Sisters

Heidi LOVES her chore of helping Momma water the plants

Hannah couldn't be prouder of her own chair that we got at a yard sale this weekend!

Heidi's 3rd Birthday Party

The invitations: Not exactly what I had originally planned, but when I realized at 10:00 Saturday night that pictures probably wouldn't get printed before church in the morning, Heidi and I quickly made these. They read. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth... Later He made me, and now I'm turning 3! Please come celebrate God's wonderful creation with me". Heidi loves all things God created, so we made nature the theme of her party. (It ended up being a little heavy on butterflies because I found them easy to make).

I tried making animal ears for the kids to wear, but was told, "Silly Momma, those aren't party hats!" So it was plan B again. These met with approval.

The boys got alligators and the girls dragonfly place cards.

I tried to get some pictures of the girls in their new dresses, but somehow it didn't happen until after nap time, during which Heidi didn't nap, so her hair's all a mess. Of course, she was too squirmy to get anything good.

I had planned to hold most of the party outside, but the mosquitos were too thick, so inside we went for all but the games.

We made terrariums for a craft/favor, but of course I was too busy with that to get pictures.
For supper we had snails (hot dogs wrapped with dough which was then piled on top to make a shell), ants on a log and watermelon served in the shell cut to look like a June bug. Dessert was "sticky rice crispies" as Heidi calls them, cut into butterflies, and ice cream with "dirt" and gummy worms on top. She's not a big fan of cake, so I made something she would like.

Hannah was pleased to be in on all the festivities.

Heidi was in her element. She had looked forward to the "cake" all week, telling me, "The children will come and all the people will sing, happy birthday dear Heidi, happy birthday to you!" They did.

Whoops. Somehow I uploaded the wrong photo, this was supposed to be of the treasure hunt.

Instead we only get one of Heidi hunting on her own.

The presents were very exciting, the best part being the unwrapping. We had to keep repeating that action and all the kids got in on it. Amongst the loot was a bundle of bubble wands which had to be played with right away. I had a nicely soaped floor by the end of the evening.

Hannah making her getaway

At the end of the evening Heidi told me , "That was my most favorite exciting birthday!" Now we jut have to figure out how to do a follow up performance for her real birthday next week.