Gingerbread Fun

Last weekend Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Anthony and Luke visited us for the weekend. Luke’s favorite part of our house was the stairs! We were lucky because we got lots of Luke time during the weekend.  He went to MOPS with Henry and I, and we got to babysit him while Lindsay and Anthony went to Anthony’s work Christmas party.

We also decorated gingerbread cookies and made a gingerbread house. I’m quite sure Henry ate all the marshmallows and M&Ms sitting next to his cookie.

And here are some pictures of a cute little elf who helped me at Jack’s school Christmas party yesterday.

Henry’s 3rd Birthday

Our sweet Henry turned three today. We started his birthday festivities on Wednesday with a trip to Legoland. He had a blast and really liked racing the lego cars and building a huge house with Daddy. Then we took him to Manny’s for supper, where he got a special birthday dessert and discovered he loves whipped cream. This morning he opened presents after he woke up and then had sprinkle pancakes and bacon for breakfast. The funniest moment during presents was when he opened a waffle-knit shirt and said, “Oh, a dish towel.” He was not impressed.

After breakfast he and Jack had time to play with his new birthday toy, a swimming pool playset.

Next we were off to T-Rex Café for his birthday lunch. We’d been talking about going there for quite a while, so he was excited… until we walked in the restaurant. It took about five seconds and he was sobbing. He was so scared of the huge t-rex robot. So we quickly changed restaurants and had a fun lunch without dinosaurs.

For supper, he wanted spaghetti and chocolate cake. Jack and Nathan built lego ninjas to decorate the cake.

We are so thankful for Henry. He is a sweet and caring boy. While he definitely misses Jack during the day, he is my little buddy. He is a laid-back little guy and rarely gets in trouble, but we are starting to see a bit of a stubborn streak now and then. And he loves to sleep. He sleeps until 7:30 or so most mornings and takes a 2 1/2 to 3 hour nap. About once a week he won’t nap and around dinner time he starts telling me he’s tired. He has all sorts of little friends at church and he and our next-door neighbor, Beau, have a playdate, every week. As soon as Beau walks in, Henry goes over and grabs his hand and takes him to play with something. He does everything Jack does, the good and the bad. They really play well together for the most part. Their favorite game right now is restaurant. Jumping off the furniture is a close second. He sleeps with his dog Ruffy, along with an assortment of other stuffed animals, lovingly called his “boys.” I just can’t believe he is three! He is so precious and growing up so quickly. Here’s his birthday video, complete with several of his famous knock-knock jokes.

 

Cards from Jack

Today Jack and I had a rough time after school. He said things like, "You're so mean to me" and "I want to leave this family." His flair for the dramatic has only increased since starting kindergarten, due to exhaustion at the end of the day and learning all kinds of new phrases from his friends. Throughout this hour or so of being upset, he mentioned a card for me that he started at school and needed to finish. After supper, he got around to finishing it and then made one for Nathan and Henry too.



I love you Mom you are the best mom ever. And you are really respectful and your love is the best. You are the best.


You are the best daddy. Your drawing is the best. You make me happy daddy and your pictures make me happy. Your love makes me happy. I love you.


You are a brother. You are a brother. You are sweet. You are sweet. I love hugs. I love hugs. This is the song. This is the song. Henry is a sweet boy. I love him. I love love love your pictures Henry. You are sweet. Your party that you made right now is the best. Henry I love you. You are the best.

His sweet, sweet cards reminded me once again that he is still so little, and he is learning to control his emotions. Sometimes I think he should be so grown up now and forget he is still learning so much every day, from how to write sentences to how to interact with others. So even on the hard days, I am so thankful for Jack and his sweet heart that is filled with love.

Cookies with Santa

Tonight was our annual Cookies with Santa night at MOPS. The kids all wore their pajamas, enjoyed lots and lots of cookies and punch (red and green) and played games while they waited to see Santa. It is great because you don't have to wait in line. We just put our name on the list when we get there and they call you when it's your turn.

The boys were excited to sit on Santa's lap. Henry said he was going to kiss him, but then he forgot in all the excitement. Jack told Santa he wanted a rocket ship and Henry wanted a motorboy (that's Henry-speak for a motorcycle). It's called a motorboy because girls can't ride it. And Jack is wearing his new candy cane scarf (a gift from his choir teachers last night at Hanging of the Green). He also decided to try out a a new smile and show me his teeth.

The New, White Kitchen

The month of October was filled with sanding and painting for me, lots of painting. But the end result was a new, white kitchen that I love. Nathan thinks I spent about 70 hours on this project! I'm glad I did it, but I'm ready to not paint for awhile. Here's what it used to look like.









And here's what it looks like now!

Birthday Fun

Yesterday was my birthday, and Nathan and the boys made it extra special. Henry and Nathan kicked off the week with surprise flowers on Sunday. Highlights yesterday included a birthday breakfast (picked out by Jack) of s'mores poptarts and chocolate donuts. They also made a delicious cake and took me to my favorite restaurant, Blue Koi. Nathan and I used to go there a lot before we had Jack, so it was fun to go back with the boys this time. We were proud of them for trying the food. It was a little different than they are used to, and they really liked it, especially the dumplings and bubble tea. Next time we go I don't think we'll be able to trick them into eating dried apples while we eat the delicious dumplings all by ourselves!

Fun in the Leaves

Leaving are falling and our backyard is a sea of yellow. We make a big pile this afternoon say the boys could play in and throw the leaves. In other news, I’m finally done painting the kitchen! We’re waiting for a few more hinges to arrive and we’ll be able to put everything back together. So by next weekend we’ll have our kitchen back.

Halloween 2013

Trick or treat was a great success. The boys had a blast and got tons of candy.

Here they are with their loot. Henry would not look at the camera because he was putting all of his M&Ms in his hand so he could shove them all in his mouth at the same time.

We tried something new this year and the Halloween fairy came to visit. They got to eat a ton of candy when we got home and then they chose 10 more pieces to keep. The Halloween fairy took the rest and replaced it with a toy on Friday. Translated: Nathan and I took out the candy we wanted after they went to bed and we threw the rest away. And they haven’t asked for a piece of candy since. Success!

Uncle Bill

We think Henry has too many Bills in his life… He has Grandpa Bill and Great Grandpa Bill. And now his new name for Will is Uncle Bill. When Will was at our house a couple of weeks ago, Henry kept calling him Bill and it cracked me up. I don’t think anyone else thought it was as funny as me. Maybe we need to come up with some nicknames for all these Bills!

First Family Camping Trip

Nathan was on vacation a couple of weeks ago so we decided to take the boys camping at a nearby state park. Jack has been camping twice before with Nathan, but it was the first time for Henry and I to come with them. Our only concern was the weather; we knew it was going to be chilly sleeping. That concern ended up not being a big deal as we were all very warm. Instead, it rained all night! Henry is the only one of us who slept. He slept great all night, while Jack, Nathan and I didn’t sleep much at all. Despite that, it was a fun time. We could not have fit one more thing in our car.

Our campsite had a great climbing tree that the boys loved. We quickly realized we had to watch Henry because he was getting up a little too high by himself.

We went on a little hike after setting up the tent and then it was time to start the fire and eat supper. Our hot dogs, baked beans, doritos and s'mores were delicious.

Next came bedtime, which was hilarious. Around 7:45 we got the boys in their two layers of jammies/sweatpants/socks and hats. Then we tucked them into their sleeping bags and told them to go to sleep. Too bad that’s not what happened. They were quiet for about one minute and then the giggling started. It was so cute to listen to then – for the first 15 minutes or so. By then the giggling had progressed to Henry running around the tent and Jack yelling at him to be quiet and lay down. 15 minutes later and many warnings to be quiet and go to sleep, I went in and tried to make them go to sleep with me. That didn’t work either. Finally, about 9, Nathan came in and of course they were both asleep 10 minutes later.

The morning consisted of a quick breakfast of Poptarts, and taking the tent down and loading the car. Henry was sad so he sat in the car and listened to Veggie Tales.

We stopped at McDonalds on the way home for more breakfast and they played in the playplace. If you ask them their favorite part of the camping trip, that would probably be what they would say. We got home about 9:30 and we were finally done cleaning up all the camping stuff about 4 since we had to set up the tent again to let it dry out from the rain. We figured out we spent almost as much time packing and then putting stuff away than we did camping. Hmmm… at least we made some memories! We’ll try again in the spring.