Henry is 5!

This little guy turns 5 years old today! I don't really want to say "I can't believe my little boy is already five years old"...but of course it's true...time flies and it's a bit scary... Not to Henry though - he is super excited and let us know that his new favorite number is 5! We had the traditional birthday breakfast consisting of waffles (in the shape of snowflakes - not the easiest thing to pull off) with real whipped cream and strawberries, topped by a candle. As you can see by the picture, Henry has now learned to pose for photos, although this smile isn't half as fake as some he gives me.

After breakfast Henry, with the help of Emma, searched through the house for his presents with the help of sticky note clues. This has also become a tradition and the kids really love it. Dan and I have almost as fun as the kids, just watching them get excited when they figure out a clue and eventually find a gift. I think Emma enjoyed it as much as Henry, even though she didn't get any presents.

Grandma and Grandpa came over for lunch and we had cupcakes with more candles:

For dinner Henry requested crab legs, which suits us all (except the twins perhaps) perfectly.

Anna and James liked the cupcakes though!

We will have a birthday party with all of Henry's friends next weekend, so stay tuned for more party pics!

Henry's Holiday Program

Henry's preschool had their holiday program last week. Our little boy had been practicing for weeks for this performance, at school and at home. He sang all the songs over and over again and was so excited to be able to show us what he could do! Just look at his precious face - you can tell how proud and happy he was. He was extra excited to see his daddy in the audience as we hadn't told him ahead of time that he would be there. The photos aren't of the best quality here - it's hard to take pictures with so many people around while trying not to miss a thing at the same time...

Check out the little boy holding his ears!

You can even tell from the back how big Henry was smiling!

Singing like the angel he is...hehe!

Happy boy!

What happened here?

This morning I walked into the kitchen to find this, an open and completely empty drawer. I normally keep our plastic cups, plates and bowls here. So where, oh where could they have disappeared to?

I walk into the living room to find a very happy little boy, contentedly sitting in a pile of what used to be in that drawer. He seemed very pleased with himself...

Of course this is precisely why that drawer contains all of our plasticware...at least it is harmless if they get thrown around a bit, even if it means they have to be washed constantly!

Lucia

Today is the offical Lucia day but we celebrated a few days early. Emma was in her first Lucia show on Saturday with her Swedish school class. It was great! Emma loved it and smiled from ear to ear the whole time. She sang along to all the songs, even though she didn't know all the words, and she said her memorized verse just right (she actually kind of whispered it - it was adorable!). All the kids also sat on Santa's lap and each got a BIG bag of candy - Anna was in heaven and ate way too much candy. Then we danced around Christmas tree and finally there was a raffle that Emma and Henry thought was so exciting - we won twice! All in all it was a very successful outing. Emma is already talking about doing it again next year!

Letters to Santa

Emma and Henry were very excited to write letters to Santa yesterday! They thought long and hard about which three things they most want for Christmas this year. Emma actually had a very hard time coming up with three things. When I suggested this must mean she already has everything she suprisingly agreed with me! Henry on the other hand insisted we add a fourth item to his list... We had a really good time filling these letters out (which I found here) and the kids can't wait for Santa to see them!

Nutcracker Tea

Grandma took Emma and me to the annual Nutcracker Tea this past weekend. It was lovely, as always. First we enjoyed a sampling of the Nutcracker, performed by the ballet's second company. All the children were able to sit on the floor up close to the dancers so they could really see every detail. I know Emma loved seeing all the beautiful costumes. After the performance came a little arts and crafts time where Emma made a pretty snowflake. Next up was a mini dance lesson. It is so fun to watch Emma and see how much she has progressed in the four years we have been coming to this. Going from having no idea what was going on when she was two and a half to knowing all the positions before being showed at age six and a half. Yet another reminder that our little girl is growing up! After dancing it was time for make up and a photo shoot with the Supgarplum Fairy (see below). Emma opted out of the make up session for some strange reason - she loves playing with her make up kit at home... At least we did get the photo, which is more than we got the last two years! Our final activity of the morning was the actual tea. We just love coming to this event every year. We are looking especially forward to next year when Anna will be two and a half and able to join in the fun! I can just imagine how Emma will love to show her the ropes!

Emma and the Sugarplum Fairy

The bag lady

Our little Anna is quite the bag lady - literally! She carries around as many purses, bags, buckets and baskets as her little hands can manage. The bags are sometimes empty and sometimes hold an assortment of treasures such as hair clips, bracelets, magnets, crayons, Squinkies (why oh why did I ever start buying those!?) and various snacks. It's really quite adorable. Just don't try to take any of them away from her!

Girl's outing

Here is one last post from our trip to California.

Emma was so excited to get her first pedicure! Sofia, Siena, Emma and I went to a nail salon and then out to lunch (the girls picked sushi!). It was a lovely time for just the ladies. Emma picked a sparkly blue (blue being her favorite color at the moment) nail polish for her toes and got little pink flower stickers on her big toes. She was so proud of her feet and now she keeps asking me when she can have her next pedicure. I think we've created a little diva!

Emma looks pretty happy, don't you think?

Two more happy girls!

Siena choosing her lunch from the conveyor belt

I think Emma is searching for the edamame - she just loves it!

Emma and Moster Sofia. Check out Sofia's green nails - she was a green super hero for Halloween

 

Siena and Moster Terese

California Trip, October, 2011

It wasn't all about Halloween during our recent trip to visit Sofia and her family in California. We managed to sneek in some other fun things over the weekend. We took a day trip to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium and drove through Pebble Beach and Carmel on our way to dinner at a restaurant overlooking the ocean and the bridge at Big Sur. Such beautifaul scenery! As usual, my camera didn't come out nearly enough on our trip but I did manage to take a few pictures this day.

I love this picture even though it is so blurry. Henry's hand against the glass almost looks like an alien's with the jelly fish in the background.

Anna loved looking at all the fish!

I think Henry wished he could be inside the tanks!

Anna with Moster Sofia - check out their matching outfits!

Emma on the beautiful beach

James with Daddy - they match too!

I'm shocked Henry didn't get soaked!

The whole family

A very friendly (and very fat!) squirrel!

Gorgeous coastline

Bixby Bridge at Big Sur

Pictures of sunsets, especially through glass, never do them justice - but you get the idea. The food wasn't all that but the view more than made up for it! 

Advent calendars

I spent hours last night wrapping 96 gifts for the kids' advent calendars. I love this tradition that my parents started for my sister, my brother and me when we were growing up. I don't know which is better - being little and so excited about opening a small gift every day or being a parent and watching your children excitedly opening their gifts. It's definitely worth a little sleep deprivation to get it all put together!
Notice that I have not finished started the twins' calendars...I hope they don't mind having their gifts in a bucket this year...