Happy Birthday Henry!

Today my little man turns 3! Henry is so excited that it is his birthday - he tells everyone that he is "free" now! We started the day with hosting his playgroup this morning and tonight we are going to see the Harlem Globetrotters (Hopefully he will enjoy the spectacle even if he doesn't understand the game...). We will have his birthday party with family and friends on Saturday.

Here is a new and improved list of Henry's Top 10:

1. Henry gives the best hugs and loves cuddle...at least for 20 seconds at a time.

2. Henry is a talker! He has so much to tell us.

3. Henry is obsessed with certain DVD's, especially Ice Age. He doesn't necessarily need to watch them but he like to talk about them and carry them around. He takes 3 or 4 in his backpack when he goes to Grandma's house.

4. Henry loves to eat Macaroni and Cheese, PB&J's and Chicken Nuggets...and not much else. (Except for breakfast when he does eat oatmeal most days.)

5. Henry is very concerned with whose turn it is to go to Grandma's house, Emma's or his - this is one of his favorite topics to talk about!

6. Henry loves driving over railroad tracks. Nothing makes him happier than when we go out of our way, just so we'll have to go over them. If we see a train in the process, Henry's life is complete.

7. Henry sleeps with about 6 stuffed animals and his aquarium in his bed. He is very specific about "who" he wants there and knows instantly if "someone" is missing.

8. Henry holds my face gently between his hands when he really wants me to listen.

9. Henry has to cry every time he is dropped off at school - but only until Daddy or I has left his line of sight...then he is fine and has a lot of fun.

10. Henry is the sweetest, most loving little boy in the world - how did we get so lucky!?

I was thinking back to when Emma turned three. I thought she was such a big girl then. Maybe its because Henry is the younger sibling but I still see him as being my baby. I suppose that will change after these twins come...

That elusive "perfect" picture...

Every year, I struggle with getting the "perfect picture" to send out as Christmas cards. I realize that with two small children (and sometimes a couple of adults and/or a dog thrown in there too) this is a losing battle. Still, I try.

On Sunday, we went to a Santa Brunch. I thought this would be a great place to get that perfect picture I've been dreaming of. There would even be live reindeer to pose with - how could we go wrong!? Well, as you can see from the results above, perfection wasn't quite reached. Emma tried so hard to smile sweetly while putting her arm around Henry...Unfortunately, Henry wasn't exactly cooperating.
Today we tried again. We have fresh snow on the ground - great for Christmas picture taking! So, what I finally realized today was that Henry has no idea how you smile on command...The above picture shows Henry "smiling" (I know this because when I told him to smile he said - "I am!") What he was doing was squinting his eyes and holding his breath. Sometimes he would open his mouth wide a stick out his tongue as well. Poor guy, all he needed was a little coaching in the art of smiling!
In the end, after dozens of pictures, I think we ended up with something pretty good. (Thank goodness for digital cameras - however did we survive before that wonderful invention?)

One more thing checked off my to-do list!

'Tis the season...

This is what we woke up to this morning. Talk about a couple of happy children! I feel that if it has to be cold, it might as well snow - it makes everything so much prettier! (It's easy for me to say that since I don't have to do any shoveling...)

Looking Back....July, Part One

Continuing with our look back, July is next up. We started the month at home where we had lot's of fun before our big trip to Sweden (more on that in Part Two!).

Emma loves the Fancy Nancy books and went to a Fancy Nancy party at the library with Grandma. Emma was all dressed up in her finery, just like Fancy Nancy - the character, not the Grandma :) They read a book, had refreshments and learned a little bit about table manners - I hear it was all very cute!
I just love the picture of Emma with the oversized tub of popcorn - who can eat that much popcorn?! Our family of four could not finish it! We took the kids to see Ice Age III - talk about heaven for little Henry. He continues to be obsessed with his Ice Age DVD - hopefully Santa will bring him the latest release for Christmas!

Fourth of July was a blast! Mitchell was here visiting which made it all the more fun for his cousins. We started the day with the parade in our little town. In the afternoon we went to a carnival with lots of rides and games. Emma was fearless on those rides! I wouldn't want to go on some of the things she went on! Later, dinner was at Aunt Eileen's house. Emma and I started a new tradition - we made an American flag cake with strawberries and blueberris on top that we brought to dinner. I'll have to get a picture of it next year! As darkness set in we watched fireworks and played with sparklers - I was sure someone (read Henry) would get burned but we made it through without any injuries! By the end of the night, we had some very tired kiddos - and parents too for that matter...

Nutcracker Tea

Emma, Nancy and I went to a Nutcracker Tea yesterday. It was the cutest thing! First we saw a performance from the Nutcracker by some amazingly talented dancers. Then we had our tea, complete with finger sandwiches and cream puffs shaped as swans (see picture below - Emma was just tickled by this!). Next was supposed to be a make up and hair styling session followed by a photo op with one of the ballerinas. For some reason Emma did not want to do this and had a brief, but intense, meltdown. On to the next thing - arts and crafts! Emma loves anything having to do with coloring, cutting, gluing and stringing so this was more to her liking and the meltdown was over. She made an adorable little Christmas tree ornament out of buttons (sorry Mormor!). Our last activity was a mini ballet lesson that Emma participated in with gusto. It was especially sweet when Emma ran the opposite way from everyone else in the circle - she didn't seem to notice but was smiling from ear to ear. The sparkle in her eyes is something to see! Thank you to Grandma for a wonderful morning!!

All dressed up for the big event.

With two beautiful snowflakes.

Emma was a very enthusiastic ballet student!

The swan shaped cream puff!

My house is beautiful right now...

....not!!! But when the painters are finally done, I will be so excited!!!

Family Fun!

Our Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful. Emma and Henry played with their older cousins, who the really look up to! Rachel, Naomi and Mitchell were great with the little ones and they all had a good time. It was like having babysitters around all weekend which made it very nice for Dan and me!

Of course Thursday night was Thanksgiving dinner at Eileen's house...check out the kids' table with the beautiful bread basket:

Dinner was fantastic as usual. My favorite is always the stuffing - I should really get the recipe!

On Friday morning we all went bowling. I wish I had remembered my camera for this event because it was so cute watching Emma and Henry try to get a bowling ball down the entire length of the lane. Eventually someone took pity on us and in addition to the obligatory rails, we also got a ramp that the kids can rest the ball on and then let it go so it will have enough momentum to make it to the pins. I had never seen this before but it was fabulous! It's great that you really can take the whole family out bowling, even the "babies". Another cool feature (I get excited about stuff like this!) was the fact that the rails could go up and down automatically, depending on whose turn it was to bowl. This way, the adults don't have to have the rails up while the kids can. Anyway, it was a fun activity for all of us!

Saturday brought a lot of errands around town and lunch with all the kids. That night Rachel and Grandma made lasagna for everyone and we celebrated David's birthday.

It was a very fun weekend that I was completely exhausted from when it was over!

Now onto the next holiday...