Like the Ketchup

Charles Richard Heinz

2008-11-11T08:49:00.001-08:00

Arrived right on schedule (at least for his scheduled c-section date) at 7:55 AM on Halloween morning. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 3 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long. He was my smallest baby and by the time he left the hospital on Monday he weighed 7 lbs. 5 ounces. He has been a great baby so far and has not been that much of a problem sleeper. He alternates between good nights and bad nights. Ben and I are adjusting to the interruptions. He hardly ever cries and is easily pacified when he does. His big brother and big sister have adapted well to Baby Charlie and have been big helps. We are looking forward to a great winter together. Hopefully I will be up and about by next week and able to do things on my own. We were grateful to have my mom and ben's mom as well as some close family friends always available to help out. Here are just a few pics for the time being.
Baby Charlie about to head home.

New baby Charlie laying on the bed.

Baby Charlie with Big Brother Connell and Big Sis Clara.

Second Half of football Season Begins

2008-10-28T05:44:00.000-07:00

Well our stellar performance in the first half of the season with a 3-1 record has now fallen to 3-3. With two games left to go. Luckily we have an off weekend this weekend so we will get to rest for my last week at home before we add another little one. Here are some pics from last week's game. Apparently Connell could be heard from the sidelines calling one of the opposite team's members a Midget. Not sure exactly how tall Connell thinks he is. Check out how tall the kids are around Connell. It's one of my favorite parts about the game is who they put Connell next to.

The next picture is one of number 30 who Connell was up against. I handled it well and Connell held his own. My mom doesn't handle it quite as well, but that's her grandson.

I love this next picture. I like to call it Sideline Advice. Now what exactly they are discussing who knows.

The thing that I've enjoyed most about football this season is after every practice and after every game no matter the injuries, no matter the loss, you can ask Connell if he had fun and every single time his answer is yes. He might not get much playing time, but it truly doesn't matter to Connell. He's part of a team and he loves his teammates.

Fall Days

2008-10-28T05:36:00.000-07:00

It is finally beginning to feel a little more like fall down in Mobile. Of course being nine months pregnant skews your temperature just slightly since Ben has been telling me for weeks that it is cool. I am just now feeling it. Here are a couple of pics of the kids enjoying fall activities

the tooth

2008-10-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

There were a lot of things as a parent that I was prepared for. I knew there would be tough questions down the line that I would have to answer. I knew there would be hurt feelings, bad grades and times when I knew I would have to be stern but all I really wanted to do was laugh.
I was not prepared for what occurred tonight. I was talking on the phone when I was interrupted by hysterical screaming and sobbing. I got off the phone only to yell at connell for whatever could possibly be the reason for this outburst. I think the below picture explains it all.

Apparently Connell had bit into a hot dog only to lose his top tooth in his food. So with two weeks left in my pregnancy and not feeling that great, I was stuck digging through chewed up hotdog searching for the missing tooth, because as all parents should know, "No tooth, no money." To say that Connell was hysterical is to put it mildly. Ice, Ice Cream, TV, and Sprite did not settle him down so we drafted this letter at his request. I feel certain that the Tooth Fairy will answer his letter just not sure what the appropriate amount the Tooth Fairy will bring.

Yo Ho Ho--A Pirate's Life for Me

2008-10-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

At Clara's 4th Birthday Party there seemed to be a recurrent theme of pirates. There were so many pirates, we decided to include some of our favorite pirate pictures from the party.

Here's the best Pirate faces of them all.

Clara's 4th Birthday Party

2008-10-13T06:57:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Clara's 4th Birthday with a costume party at our house. We had it in our front yard and front rooms (sometimes it pays to have not bought furniture yet). We had coloring, storytime, a slide and a pinata. This is what our front yard looks like for the party and what Clara's cake looked like (made by Gigi).

Here are some pics of the Birthday girl and her guests.

Here are some pics of Clara blowing out her candles.

Halfway Point in the Season

2008-10-13T05:55:00.000-07:00

Connell's CYO Team is halfway through their season bringing their record to 3-1 with a heartbreaking loss to St. Pius. I wanted to update with some of my favorite pictures from the first half of the season. Connell's second game was against his dad's alma mater St. Dominic's. It was a special treat, because Mimi, Joseph, Henry and Aunt Dottie made the trip to watch. Connell was chosen as one of the captains of the game. Here are some pics of him during the coin toss.

The next two pictures are what I like to refer to as the stance and the huddle.

Even Ben has gotten into the action of being a football parent. Here are a couple of pics of him participating at games both as waterboy and chain boy.

The next picture is one I like to call trash tallking. I may never know what he is saying to this St. Ignatius kid, but I can only imagine.

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures in CYO Bantam Football.

Community Helper Week

2008-10-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

The past two weeks were Community Helper Week at Connell and Clara's school. One day Connell had to dress up in a costume as a Community Helper. Both Connell and Clara liked the police officer costume the best. Unfortunately when Clara wore the costume she resembled another kind of community helper that we are really hoping she doesn't grow up to be.

Beginning of School Days

2008-09-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

August 12th marked Connell's first day as a big first grader. He is loving school and really enjoying being a big first grader. Clara started at her new school on August 14th and has adjusted beautifully. She loves her new teachers and makes sure she gives lots of hugs everyday before she leaves for the day. Here are some pics from their first days.

Jamboree Day--September 6th

2008-09-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

September 6th marked the kickoff of Connell's CYO football career. Jamboree Day was held at St. Dominic's school and Connell played two practice games. They beat both St. Dominic's and St. Ignatius. Here are some pictures from those games.

Are you ready for some Football?

2008-09-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

Connell had his first official game on September 13th against Corpus Christi. They ended up winning 22-18. He is playing offensive line for the most part. He had to go to weigh in the other day and he weighed in at 60.5 lbs. He is playing for the 2nd grade team even though he is a first grader. Let's just say unfortunately for Auburn his game was much more exciting than their "victory" over MS State. Here is the rest of his schedule for those that might want to come watch.
Sept 20th--9:45 AM--McT Front Field vs. St. Dominics
October 4th--11:00AM--McT Front field vs. St. Pius
October 11th--9:45 AM--McT front field vs. St. Ignatius
October 18th--9:45 AM--McT front field vs. Corpus Christi
October 25th--8:30 AM--McT front field vs. St. Dominics
November 8th--9:45 AM--McT front field vs. St. Pius
November 12th--5:45 PM--at the Lip vs. St. Ignatius.

I will keep everyone updated with all the adventures in football. But for now here are some pics from the game.

Swimming Advances 2

2008-09-08T16:47:00.001-07:00

Not to be outdone by big brother, Clara made significant strides in the pool this summer as well. In the beginning of the summer she was barely getting off the steps. Then she got brave and began jumping off the side into the shallow end. By the end of the summer she was jumping off the diving board and swimming to the steps and even a few times the length of the pool.

Swim Team 2008

2008-08-31T10:45:00.000-07:00

Connell joined the Heron Lakes Swim Team this year and in the beginning he was fairly slow. By the end of the season he was really getting the hang of it. It was amazing how much he had grown and accomplished as a swimmer by the end of the season. These are some of my favorite pictures that I took with my new camera. Notice the form.

This next pose is an Ode to Michael Phelps fans. A lot of people say he has the same physique as Michael.

This is one of my favorite backstroke pics. It was one of his favorite strokes.

At the end of the season we had a Trophy presentation for all members of the team. Connell also got the award for Most Improved Swimmer for his age group. After the Coach's comments I was almost brought to tears. Connell was the first one there everyday ready to swim. And if you would have seen him 2 years ago when he refused to get off the steps you would have known how far he's come.

Beach in July

2008-08-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

We went down to the beach the 2nd week of July for a conference. It worked out well though, because Katie and Colby and their kids were vacationing the same time we were down there so we got to spend some time hanging out with them. I was thrilled because there weren't any fights between the kids. Here are a couple of pictures from the vacation.

Perspective

2008-07-22T07:29:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I arrived home after a long day at work. As most working moms, I didn't even take my shoes off before I had checked the mail, brought the recycling bin inside, moved the wash into the dryer, unloaded the dishwasher, loaded the dishwasher with the dirty dishes from lunch and wiped down the table. Then I took a look around and saw about 4 pairs of crocs, blankets, crumbs and two children who couldn't keep their hands to themselves and continued to scream at levels that I am quite sure only animals at night can hear. I moved into the living room to discover a rotten banana. At this point when I sat down to return some phone calls I was interrupted no less than 5 times before I got off the phone. By the time Ben had arrived home at 6:30 I was folding the laundry that was in the dryer and had already taken away TV privileges for my two screaming kids. We finally sat down as a family and the kids continued to scream and fight. We have been working on not yelling at them so I calmly told them that they are not going to be able to behave this way once the baby comes. I told them that I will not bring the baby home when they are acting like this. To which Connell responded, "so you're going to sell it?" No was mine and Ben's reply and we explained that Mommy and the baby would just go live somewhere else until they learned to behave. Clara with crocodile tears welling up in her eyes and her bottom lip beginning to quiver responded, " But Mommy who's going to do the laundry?" And that is perspective.

HALLOWEEN

2008-07-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

You all are probably wondering okay how do we get from the 4th of July all the way to Halloween. I went to the doctor yesterday and they have scheduled baby Heinz's delivery for Halloween. Our little goblin will be here on Halloween morning unless he or she decides to come earlier. There have been suggestions of Hallie, Elvira, or Ichabod for names, but I think we will stay away from those. The doctor did make me promise that I would not have a pumpkin cake every year for the baby's birthday. So anyway the countdown is on.

4th of July

2008-07-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

The Fourth of July was my 32nd Birthday. We celebrated by having my family over for lunch and a little bit of pool time. It was one of the most relaxing birthdays I've ever had. Here are some pool pics.

After everyone left we hung out around the pool and swam with the kids for a little bit before heading up to Heron Lakes to enjoy the fireworks. Here are some pictures of the fireworks I took with my camera.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of Clara at HLCC waiting for the fireworks. She also stole the camera and took one of me and Ben. She took a lot of others which were deleted, but this one somewhat turned out.

Pappy's 70th Birthday Party

2008-07-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

July 1st was Pappy's 70th Birthday. We celebrated with a pool party at our house. Here are a couple of pics from that day of Pappy with his grandkids.

Sharks

2008-07-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

Over Father's Day weekend when we were at Orange Beach we saw a shark just a few feet off of the beach. We were able to take this short video of it.

Father's Day Weekend

2008-07-01T15:02:00.001-07:00

We spent Father's Day weekend at the Beach with Ben's parents, Liz, Maggie and Johnny. We stayed at Seachase Condominium and had a blast. When Hurricane Ivan hit, it did a substantial amount of damage to the condominium. Since then they have totally redone the outside of the condominium complex. They have fountains, baby pool with a mushroom waterfall, four pools and a couple of hot tubs. I highly recommend it for anyone with kids. Here are some pictures of John Hunter and Clara in their floats that Mimi bought them, a picture of Connell and Johnny at the pool, Maggie and Johnny by the pool and Connell trying out his snorkle.

The next couple of pictures are pictures of Clara playing in the sand and a picture of Ben's attempt at a sandcastle. I think this explains why he went to law school instead of architecture.

June Pool Time

2008-06-27T18:26:00.001-07:00

We had lots of visitors in the month of June who stopped by to hang out with us in the pool. So much so that one night we even had a party so all our friends could hang out and swim. Here are just a few pictures from the month of June at our pool.

Cecilia hanging out in the pool.

Anna Witt in the pool.

Maddie and Uncle Ben.

Clara our bathing beauty.

Joe Joe, Connell and Brady.

Trophies and Parties

2008-06-21T05:33:00.000-07:00

After the official end of the t-ball season, The Angels had a party at Springhill Swim Club. There they were presented with team trophies. Connell's coach said to a Lefty who really came through with some big hits, Rootbeer Heinz.
Here's a picture of Connell's team.

After that party it was announced that we would have to play the Yankees for the division championship. After that game, Connell was presented a trophy from the park for winning their division. Again he was called out as RootBeer Heinz. I realized then with much certainty that he will forever be known as Rootbeer.

Notice the hat in the last picture. Our beloved Casey Pup Rocket Rock-n-Roll Star Spiderman Heinz decided his hat needed some character before he even played the first game.

Yankees v. Angels

2008-06-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

Connell's team made it to the playoffs for T-ball this season. We had to play the Yankees which is his friends' Jack and Gavin's team. It was a close game but they pulled through. In the end all that really mattered was what kind of snacks they had. We did celebrate all together at Moe's that night. I've realized that with kids eating out consists of Moe's or Wing's or other kid friendly restaurants.
Here's a picture of Gavin warming up.

Here are a couple more of our Angel with his Yankee friends.

End of the School Year

2008-06-16T18:10:00.000-07:00

May 30th brought about the end of a school year for the kids. Connell is headed to First Grade and Clara has left her school to attend school with Connell next year in K-3. I thought it would be a nice tradition to not just take pictures on the first day of school (like all good parents do, even though their kids hate it) but also take pictures on the last day of school. Attached are a couple from the last day.

Neglected Blog

2008-05-26T05:30:00.001-07:00

Okay so there is no real excuse for the fact that the blog has been neglected so I won't make any. I will try to do better. The past few months have been filled with the typical Spring outings and we've been busy. First there was Easter. Connell and Clara went over to Anna Witt and Wesley's house to dye easter eggs.

Then there was the Easter Egg Hunt at Heron Lakes. This is about the only picture we got of Clara since she was not at all pleased with the big blue bunny. She said if he would have been purple like last year she would have gotten down. Easter is one of my favorite holidays so you can imagine my disappointment when Clara refused to hunt eggs and Connell came back with a whopping two eggs. Ben was embarassed when I announced out loud that they weren't my kids.

The kids did manage to pull through on the obligatory Easter morning picture though.

Spring brought about Field Day at St. Mary's, a first for Connell being a kindergartner. It was very exciting for us as parents and in fact we postponed flying out to Durham for Ben's 10 year reunion until we had seen Connell at Tug-of-War. Even with Connell anchoring the team they couldn't pull through. One thing Connell has learned through all of his sports is how to be a graceful loser. Still working on the graceful winner part though.

We made one more additional trip so far which has been plenty after almost missing our flight to Durham. We spent Mother's Day in Memphis. We went up to see AJ's performance as Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast. We had a great time. AJ was fabulous and the kids loved it. Here's a picture of Ben's parents with all their kids.

As if our Spring wasn't busy enough we are expecting an even busier summer with swim team and the Fall looks like it won't be slowing down any with the addition of a 3rd Heinz kid in November.

Root Beer

2008-05-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

This has been Connell's first year playing t-ball. So far his team is 9-4-1 with two games left in the season. He plays for the Angels at Municipal Park. It is amazing how much he has progressed since the first game. When we got to the first practice game, one of the Team Mom's asked Connell, "now what is it I'm supposed to call you?" Ben and I looked at each other trying to figure it out--con, connie, thinking of nicknames that we call Connell, but nothing came to mind. That's when Connell replied, "rootbeer" The Mom replied back oh yeah and from that day on, everyone on the team, their parents, grandparents and anyone else at the game has called Connell Rootbeer. Often there are chants from the stands when Connell gets up to bat, "hit it hard rootbeer, run rootbeer." and so on. So you might be wondering, why rootbeer? So are Ben and I and maybe one day we will figure it out but for now, he's rootbeer and he probably will be for life.

Cleptomaniac

2008-03-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

We have been on a little bit of a hiatus from writing, but we do have a legitimate excuse. It seems as though our little cleptomaniac Clara struck again and hid the digital camera. What good was writing when I couldn't attach pictures. So to fill you in on what's been going on the past month--February began with Mardi Gras. After Mardi Gras we signed Connell up for t-ball. I had no idea it was going to be as time consuming as it has turned out to be and he hasn't even played a game yet. March brought about the BBQ contest. Last year Connell slept out at the fairgrounds with Ben and ended up getting sick from drinking AMP and gatorade and proceeded to throw up under the tent while everyone else was eating. Well this year was not to be out done. I was pleased when Connell and Clara arrived home on Saturday night tired, but Connell had not yet thrown up. We tucked them into bed and went to bed ourselves. At 1:45 am, Connell arrived back in the room and proceeded to vomit all over our carpet. I ended up sending Ben to the grocery store to get carpet cleaner at 2 am. Did I mention that this was the weekend of the time change? Made for a very long night. We are looking forward to our t-ball games this year and the beginning of Spring.

Connell's First Mardi Gras Parade

2008-02-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

Connell paraded as a Clone Trooper for his school's RIF Mardi Gras Parade. The kids threw harder than the adults. We had a crew there to watch. Gigi, Pappy, the D'Anella family and Liz and Patricia all made the rounds. Here are some pics of Connell and his Kindergarten teacher and Clara enjoying the festivities.

Casey in the Sun

2008-02-02T13:01:00.000-08:00

Casey loves to lay in the sun outside. We let her inside the other day and she found the one spot in the kitchen where the sun shines in and laid down on the floor to fall asleep.

Visit from Ted

2008-01-29T05:17:00.000-08:00

Last night Ted spent the night with me and we enjoyed many adventures before I had to send him back to school. Here are pictures of us.

Mardi Gras in full swing

2008-01-26T12:45:00.000-08:00

Mobile Mardi Gras is in full swing at our house. We have already attended two Dauphin Island parades, two downtown parades, one school parade and one neighborhood parade. The prize catch so far is a giant Brown bear that connell has begun to sleep with. We also managed to catch Casey a cheeseburger squeaky toy which she has thoroughly enjoyed. We have had one really cold night and today was a wet neighborhood Mardi Gras parade. We weathered the rain and got out there and caught some beads. Connell will be parading at his school on Friday and we already have a huge bag of items to throw. We have already been to one float inspection. We almost didn't make it since Clara let Casey out the door and the family along with two separate neighbors chased Casey down the block for about 30 minutes. Included you will see a picture of the kids with Casey prior to her escape. You will also see a picture of Connell with some of his friends from school at the float inspection. Hopefully the weather will clear up. Ben has been checking the 10 day forecast and he assures me it should be nice by next weekend. Here's hoping at least.

The Smurfs are making a Comeback

2008-01-15T07:21:00.000-08:00

Ben is not happy and I couldn't be more thrilled about the Smurfs impending comeback. Apparently there will be a new movie by Paramount Pictures coming to theaters soon. It will have more female Smurfs. I am most excited about all the toys and games that may be coming out with the movie. I think there is great possibility that Clara could become a Smurf Addict and join the rest of us that love the Little Blue People. If only my mother didn't sell my Smurf game at that garage sale, I could have made a ton on Ebay. I know Ben is cringing as he reads this.

The Tooth Fairy

2008-01-10T08:27:00.000-08:00

January 9th was a big day in the Heinz household as it marked the very first lost tooth of Connell Heinz. His bottom tooth has been loose for about two months now. He would not allow anyone to pull it and he was insistent on losing it at school. You might be wondering why anyone would care whether they lost it at school or at home. Apparently, when you lose a tooth at school you get a treasure box to put the tooth in to take home. We had to be careful not to lose the tooth during Christmas break since we would not have access to the $.10 treasure box to put it in. He told both his dad and I on Tuesday the 8th that his tooth had really gotten loose that day because he had eaten a popsicle he received for picking up trash on the playground. Well one bite of an Andy Capp's hot fry at after-school care and that was all that tooth needed to come out. There was a mad rush to the office for fear of it being closed and not having the opportunity to claim the most important treasure box for the tooth. They made it in the nick of time. His after-school teacher told me that if the office was closed, she was going to have to break in just to make sure Connell had that treasure box for his first tooth. He placed the tooth in his special tooth fairy pillow and was thrilled to find $2.00 from the tooth fairy the next morning. Clara is a little upset that Connell won't share his money with her. After all, he has 2 $1.00 bills, why can't he give her one? The big question becomes, "What on earth will Connell find to spend his $2.00 on?"

Mardi Gras 2008 Kicks Off

2008-01-09T05:04:00.000-08:00

We kicked off Mardi Gras 2008 with our first parade on January 5 on Dauphin Island. We were worried that we weren't going to make it on time only to have about 1 1/2 hours before the parade made it to where we were standing. Mimi and JoeJoe made it down in time for the parade and we met up with the Veaseys and Cookes. We caught a fair amount and it has now magically disappeared into a bag we like to refer to as "rethrows" that Daddy can load on his float on February 5th to give to all the other deserving children.

2007 in Review

2007-12-31T11:00:00.000-08:00

2007 brought about many changes for our family. February brought about Mardi Gras.

In March Ben and Connell spent the night out at the fairgrounds competing for the BBQ championship only to end with Connell vomiting all over the tent the next morning. In April we celebrated 6 months in our house with "Hanging Out with the Heinzes," a good old fashioned crawfish boil--I'll leave it to the imagination how this one ended, but let's just say after what Ben's mom saw she'll never be the same. In May Connell left his old school and we tried out a summer babysittter. In June the impossible was accomplished by our babysitter and her magic crown and Clara became potty trained. In July we headed to the beach with Nick, Dottie and their clan.

August brought the dawning of a new era for our family called: KINDERGARTEN. With each day a new exciting revelation came from Connell.

In September Ben and I headed out to Arizona and the infamous Seafood Tower.

October brought about Clara's third birthday

and the anniversary of our first year in our house. While there are too many stories to tell and hence the need for the blog the most exciting news of 2007 is that at the ripe old age of 5--Connell got engaged. Apparently while I wasn't looking Connell took both my engagement ring and wedding band to school with him. While it was missing I naturally blamed Clara. For two weeks we searched high and low for the ring until finally Connell confessed to his proposal. His love interest Kaitlyn apparently received his gift and threw it on the playground. Connell dropped his ring playing basketball. Ben, MaryJo (who I am convinced is the reason that two weeks after he snuck my ring out of the house and finally confessed in front of her--surely mom wouldn't beat him in front of his grandmother visiting from out of town), Liz, clara, connell and I set off to the school to search high and low for the rings. No such luck. Fortunately for Connell this story has a happy ending. A parent had found my wedding band at the Blessing of the Pets and had turned it into the school and Kaitlyn, his betrothed pointed out to their kindergarten teacher two weeks later where she had thrown the ring. To everyone's amazement the ring was found exactly where she had thrown it. As the teacher's aid told Kaitlyn, "you can always get rid of the man but never get rid of the jewelry." In November we all piled up in the minivan and traveled to Memphis to celebrate Thanksgiving. When we returned Santa sent an Elf named HoHo to stay with us and report back to Santa on the kids behavior.

December was packed solid with Christmas programs, Connell's birthday and of course Christmas.

Santa must not have gotten the message about the ring, because he still brought Connell a Wii for Christmas. Clara got baby things and Dora things as she calls them but she was distraught over no sleeping bag under the tree. She wanted to be more comfortable when she comes down in the middle of the night and sleeps next to our bed.

So as we end 2007 this blog begins (one of my New Year's Resolutions--check that one off). I'll let you know later how the weight loss, fitness training, scrapbooking and the refraining from yelling at my kids goes later. I hope you enjoy hearing about the next crazy year of our lives.