4th of July

What a fun 4th of July in Lebanon and Marshfield. It was hot, hot, hot so we swam a lot. Jack loves his water wings and got brave enough to jump off the diving board all by himself while wearing them. He is now going underwater a lot and even played the color game with me. It involves lots and lots of going underwater so I was quite impressed. Henry had lots of fun in the water too, and after he saw Jack go off the board he had to also. Both boys were all tired out after the parade (complete with kettle corn), swimming and fireworks on the 4th. Jack slept until 9:30 the next morning!

Jack got to ride a horse at Aunt Christy and Uncle Mizzou’s house. And he drove the tractor (he steered all by himself!) and got to climb on the hay bales.

Henry got to spend some quiet time with Grandpa Dee after he woke up from his nap and ate his snack.

And he wore silly hats with Daddy. Or at least I think they are silly.

Bubba

Henry starting calling Jack “Bubba” a couple of months ago. He can’t say his “j” sound yet, so Bubba is easier than Jack. Every morning when I go in to his room to get him, Henry asks for “Dada” and then “Bubba.” Just this past week they started playing so well together. But now Henry is getting a tooth and quite cranky (he woke up 3 times last night). So today they both did their fair share of crying and fighting. Jack also woke up 3 times last night. However, despite a bit of a rough day today, they have had some great moments lately.

They discovered it is really fun for Daddy to rock them in the rocking chair.

They dressed up like superheroes.

We bought a whole watermelon at the Farmer’s Market yesterday morning so they got to eat slices instead of having it cut up for them. I usually buy a quarter of a melon at the grocery store and just cut it up all at once.

And the cutest thing they have been doing lately is naptime. This week Jack started reading Henry his books before naptime and then singing him his songs. I just sit on the floor and wait for them to be done and then I put Henry in his crib. Jack even did Henry’s stories and songs for bedtime one night. It is so sweet.

We had VBS this week, so we were all a bit tired out from that. I taught 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade Bible study, Jack was in his own class and Henry got to be in his own toddler class since I was a volunteer. We all had a great time, but I am glad it just lasts for one week. Henry made his first little friend, named Archer. They are in the same class on Sundays too, but apparently they bonded at VBS. I had several people tell me they were playing so well together. And Henry can say his name too. If he hears you say the word “friend” he’ll immediately say “Archer.” Jack enjoyed the week also and all the kids sang a couple of songs this morning at church.

The Best Slip-n-Slide Ever

Our neighbors set up a homemade slip-n-slide in between our houses today. Jack loved it. Henry did not.

Conversations with Henry

The last time I posted about Henry's vocabulary he was just beginning to figure everything out related to talking. One month later, he talks all the time. So I'm going to need to start recording the funny things he says or we'll forget them. Here's a conversation from last night, about 15 minutes after he had been in bed. He was yelling, "ouchie" so I went in to investigate.

Me: "What's wrong?"
Henry: "Trash truck hit me"
Me: "No, a trash truck didn't hit you"
Henry: "Ghost hit me"
Me: "Ghosts are pretend. Lay down and go to sleep."
Henry: "Night-night little pookie"

This is funny for many reasons. One, the trash truck comment. Nathan took him on a walk recently and Henry tried to run into the street. So they had a very serious conversation about not going into the street because a car or truck could hit you and smash you. Two, he talks about ghosts all the time. Jack started it by telling him a ghost was chasing him and now they play the ghost game all the time. Three, he has a library book called, "Night-night Little Pookie" and he loves it.

This morning he comes up to me and we had this conversation:

Henry: "Feel cranky"
Me: "You feel cranky right now?"
Henry: "Yeah. Feel cranky."

Then he went and had to lay down on the floor in my room for a little while. He just cracks me up most of the time.

Entertaining Ourselves During the Storm (Vacation Post, Part 2)

As Heather mentioned, we got caught in Tropical Storm Debbie during the last couple days of our vacation. We were luckier than most – it didn’t do any more to us than freak Heather (a lot) out and get us pretty wet. We took advantage of the rain and did some fun indoor things.  But by the last day, we’d pretty much run out of indoor things that seemed worth doing if you knew you’d arrive from the parking lot completely soaked.  When you’re stuck in a non-child-proofed house for several straight hours (on the last day of vacation) waiting for a 6pm flight, options are limited.  The boys watched more TV Monday than they’ve probably watched all year so far.  There was lots of wrestling and running around and other things that typically wouldn’t be approved inside activities.

And then a snack before leaving for the airport seemed like the thing to do.

The Time I Almost Didn’t Bring An Umbrella

We got back from sometimes-sunny Siesta Key yesterday. What a fun trip to the beach, capped off with the most rain we (and several long-time residents of Siesta Key) have ever seen due to Tropical Storm Debbie. Luckily, Nathan put the umbrella in the suitcase before we left.

Before we forget, one of the most highly anticipated parts of Jack’s vacation was flying in an airplane.  We had to have answered “how much longer until we get on the airplane?” one hundred times Monday between 5 and 7:40am.  Once we were off the ground, he quickly shifted gears from the wonder of flight to the snacks mommy had packed in his Lightning McQueen backpack. Henry did great on the plane, and was entertained by massive amounts of snacks and stickers.

The week in Florida started out with blue skies and sunshine. We enjoyed the beach and the pool, right in our front yard. We stayed in a little Florida-style house that was about a 5 minute walk from the beach. Grandpa Bill and Grandma Sue stayed in the attached (but separate – luckily for them) bungalow for the first 5 days of the trip.

Here’s Jack and Grandpa Bill enjoying the sunset over the Gulf the first night of the trip.

Jack loved the beach right away, but Henry had a little trouble at first. He did not care for the feel of the sand on his feet and whined whenever it got on top of his toes or a wave touched him. But he got used to it and eventually was digging in the sand and running and stomping in the water. Jack loved the waves and trying to jump over them, as well as building sand castles and digging holes to China. He also made up a game called hopstone that he thought was pretty cool. To play, you started on the beach and ran into the water leaping over the waves. But if you ask Jack to explain it, you’ll get many more details. We went to Siesta Key Beach three times and once to Turtle Beach. The sand at Siesta was white and fine, and not hot at all. At Turtle Beach the sand was so different; it was just shells crushed up so it didn’t work for sandcastles.

We buried both boys in the sand, something they both liked for just a little bit and then they were done.

After the beach in the morning, we would come home and do naps and then swim in our pool. Jack loved swimming around with his water wings and Henry’s favorite thing was Nathan throwing him in his floatie. He also liked being able to kick himself around the pool in the floatie.

Another morning we went to nearby Myakka state park and went on an airboat tour around the lake to look for alligators. We saw several. The captain told us there are 600-700 alligators in the state park! On Sunday morning it was raining so we went to an aquarium and saw sharks, dolphins and sea turtles. Other favorites things were getting mini-donuts in Siesta Key Village and getting ice cream at the ice cream store down the road from the house.

We were able to go to the beach Saturday morning. It was overcast but it was probably the boys’ favorite morning at the beach. The storm started getting worse Saturday afternoon and by Sunday afternoon it was raining like crazy. There were lots and lots of tornadoes all around us and the weather people were on TV all afternoon and evening with the latest on the storm. We never had a tornado warning for our county, but that did not help calm me down. I was a little freaked out by the storm and not at all happy when Nathan decided he would go down to the beach to check out the storm. I might have even suggested we pack up all of our stuff and “head for higher ground.” And I might have gotten up in the middle of the night Sunday to make sure our house wasn’t flooded and Henry wasn’t floating away since he was in his pack and play and closer to the floor than the rest of us. We had a little canal behind our house and by Monday morning it had flooded and there was lots of standing water around the house. Thankfully, the weather cleared Monday afternoon and we were able to fly home on time. And I almost forgot another highlight of the trip for the boys – Jack would be sad if I didn’t mention his new toy dolphin named Stickers and Henry’s shark, Pancake.

Henry's First Sentence

"More cake."





Nathan

First Times

What a fun week we've had, filled with lots of first experiences for both boys...

We ate ice cream cones, a first for Henry.


We ate popsicles, another first for Henry. He recently learned the word "hot," so he told us both the ice cream and the popsicles were hot.


We made homemade play dough and Henry got to play with it for the first time ever. I planned to take pictures but wasn't able to because I had to watch him very closely so he wouldn't eat it. We used fruit punch kool-aid in it, so it smelled pretty good and he thought it would taste good too.

Then we filled up the water table on the back deck and put dish soap in it to make bubbles. We do the water table all the time in the front yard, but I'd never thought to bring it back to the deck. It is so much better on the deck -- it's completely in the shade and we can put warmer water from the sink in it. They loved it and were too busy to look at me for a picture.


Jack and I made a fire station from a cereal box. He had a great time decorating it and setting it up in his room.


Jack woke up one night and had a hard time getting to sleep again, he was probably awake two hours. So the next morning he slept late and then he got to eat his breakfast in the living room while watching Sesame Street. That is a big time first (and probably last)! Henry thought he needed to do it too. He also still closes his eyes when you tell him to smile for a picture.


Jack's biggest first this week was getting his face painted this morning at a local nursery. They have a garden party every year and have activities for kids. We met our friends there and all the kids (except Henry) got their faces painted like tigers. Jack watched Sophie and Porter go first. Seeing them helped him build his courage up -- he's never wanted to get his face painted before today. I also explained to him that the paint washes off and that helped his courage level a lot. Poor guy -- I think up until now he's thought if he got his face painted it would be on there forever. What a cute tiger.


Oh, and yesterday at Hy-Vee we were getting some hot dogs and Henry started say it over and over again. He was very proud of himself for saying "hot dog." He's starting to say more and more words. He was also walking around yesterday saying "uno" because Jack and I had been playing it earlier in the day. And by the way, Jack beat me seven times in a row, fair and square. How did that happen? Nathan, the king of all games, had declared me the worst game player in the family. I'd say he's right, unless we're playing Taboo with mom, Regina and Cheryl.

What I come home to...

(you'll need to click the link and go to the blog page to watch the video)

He Did What?

Yesterday afternoon, we were all playing outside in the backyard... Then a certain someone, who shall remain nameless, drops what he was playing with and takes off running for a tree (the one in the middle of the rocks in the backyard). We were only mildly interested in what he was doing; little boys take off running for no reason in our backyard all the time. Next, we hear "Mommy, I'm watering the tree." Ah, now it all makes sense. We all know that's not the only time "tree watering" is going to happen in the backyard. I'm a little surprised he hasn't done it before yesterday.

Meanwhile, Henry discovered yesterday he can jump off the footstool, and he loves it a lot. Not only that, this morning after breakfast he learned he can jump from the footstool to the couch. Before we went to the grocery store he realized he can climb onto our bed. After the grocery store he wanted a spoon, so he climbed up the drawers in the kitchen and hung on like a little monkey to get a spoon out of the top drawer. Wonder what he'll climb after nap?