A Brief History of the Crib

I’ll be the first to say I shed a few tears when Nathan took the crib down. And so, as I am emotional about this milestone marking the baby years gone by, here’s a brief history of the crib… in pictures. First, let’s not forget a few of the infamous crib moments… Jack cutting the inside of his lip when he was a baby and bleeding all over the place, Henry biting almost all the way through his tongue when he was a baby and bleeding all over the place, Jack throwing up in the middle of night when he was almost 2, the crib being recalled twice (which accounts for the change in color) and both of them chewing on the paint and coming away with little black paint chips around their mouths much to my dismay. I have loved checking on sleeping babies and almost big boys every night for the past almost 6 years, snug in their beat up and well-loved crib.

Henry’s Big Boy Bed

Henry is doing a great job with his new bed. He was very excited the first time he got to sleep in it. He’s doing pretty well staying in his room at bedtime and naptime and waits for me to come and get him in the morning. Such a big boy!

Snow Days!

Yesterday was our first big snowstorm of the winter! That means Jack and Nathan have been home for two days, and Jack is out of school again tomorrow. We love snow days! So far, we have:

Built a fort


Played in the snow 3 times so far














Done a workout video because we can't get to the gym. Henry's weights are soup cans.


And made snow ice cream.





After naptime we are taking down Henry's crib and putting up his big boy bed (and taking all toys out of his room until he gets used to it). He's going to be pretty excited!

Uncle Will's Visit

The past two weeks have been great because Uncle Will has been around... he stayed with us for a couple of days a week ago and then we got to see him some more last week and this weekend. Now he is back in Ohio, getting everything ready to leave for his one-year tour in South Korea.

We loved spending time with him. Highlights included a trip to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art with both boys. They were both irrationally afraid of the mummy, but had a good time other than that. Pizza at the Godfather's Buffet was another favorite; specifically cinnamon streusel pizza. It was great to just have time to hang out around the house and let the boys have time to play with Will. Yesterday Mom and Dad had a big brunch for all the family to say goodbye. Jack's favorite part was eating three of Aunt Sherry's enormous cinnamon rolls. Sadly, Henry and Nathan missed out because Henry was sick. We managed to finally take some pictures yesterday. We love you Will!

Sick Henry

Poor Henry has pnemonia! He woke up sick yesterday morning and has a nasty cough, so I took him in this morning. Despite not feeling that great, he polished off a chocolate cupcake after lunch.


Jack decorated the cupcakes for our Super Bowl party (which we had to cancel because Henry is sick). He was very proud of his football cupcakes. We used white icing on some others and Jack drew either a B for the Broncos or an S for the Seahawks.






They also had a fun weekend of wild playing with Daddy.

Paradise Park

Before Jack went back to school from Christmas break, we took a trip to Paradise Park. It's a great kids' place with a huge ball pit and indoor playground, pretend bank, pizza parlor and grocery store, and a big water table. There's also an art room and face painting station. We played and had lunch, and then they listened to a story, made a craft and took a cooking class. They had a blast!

100th Day of School

Jack's 100th day of school was last Friday. They did all sorts of fun activities at school and they also had to do a 100 days project at home. He wanted to make a gum ball machine. We bought a big jar of real gum balls at Walmart and he counted out 100 of them. Then we hot glued them on the foam board and he decorated it with glitter glue.



At school they decorated 100 days glasses and hats and also made a necklace from fruit loops. Another favorite activity was an experiment in counting how many licks it took to eat a tootsie roll pop.

Henry's 3-Year Checkup

Henry had his 3 year well-child visit this morning... he's in the 75th percentile for height and weight. The funniest part of his visit involved Henry going potty in a cup. He was quite excited to be able to do it, because Jack told him that's what big boys do. So after the excitement we went back to our exam room to fill out his developmental screening. One of the questions I had to ask him was, "What do you do with a cup?" His immediate answer was, you guessed it, "potty in it."

Lebanon Christmas 2013

We arrived in Lebanon just in time to unpack the car, get ready for church and attempt to get a good family picture…

Then we were off to a lovely Christmas Eve service made even better by Aunt Lindsay’s singing, along with hot chocolate and cookies during church! The boys were amazed. After a yummy dinner made by Grandma Sue the boys unwrapped their Christmas jammies and got ready for bed. Jack also left cookies for Santa. He decided that he would believe Santa was real if the cookies were gone or bites taken out of them.

Christmas morning started with presents from Santa and stockings, and then lots more presents.

The boys got us presents this year that they picked out all by themselves at a kids’ shopping event at our old church. Jack got Nathan a Chiefs cup and pens, Henry a flying saucer toy and me a necklace and ring. Henry picked out a Sudoko keyring for Nathan, cars for Jack and gloves for me.

That afternoon we went to Marshfield to celebrate with Grandma Donna and Grandpa Dee, and Aunt Christy and Uncle Kevin. The next day the boys got to ride horses and drive the tractor at Kevin and Christy’s. And, Jack also shoot his first gun with Daddy that afternoon. He was proud to tell me he hit the target. Our final celebration was the next evening in Marshfield with all the aunts and uncles and cousins. The boys had a wonderful time playing with everyone and learning new games and general mischief. And, we got a great picture of the three boys!

We got home Saturday after lunch and Henry promptly fell asleep for a long nap. Much more surprising was finding a sleeping Jack on the floor in his room on his brand new sleeping bag. A fun-filled Christmas week was over and they were worn out from so much fun.

Christmas Eve Morning 2013

We had a busy and fun Christmas Eve this year. We started the day off with everyone coming to our house for a Christmas brunch... Grandma Pam and Grandpa Glen, Great Grandpa Bill and Great Grandma Pat, Cheryl and Zeke, Regina, Glenny and Will. We ate and then opened presents.








Henry got a stuffed Curious George from Grandma and Grandpa, and had a very serious conversation with George (Grandma) as soon as he unwrapped him.





Before everyone left we took a family picture. This will be our last Christmas with everyone together for a couple of years since Will is leaving for Korea and then Germany.


Will and Dad are too cool for the silly picture. Then everyone else went back to Baldwin and we hopped in the car and headed for Lebanon.