A Day Out With Thomas

On Saturday, Marianne and I took the boys to "A Day Out with Thomas" in Hood River. Jeff and I took Henry last year, but I think he enjoyed it more this time. Being a year older makes a big difference, but the fact that it was about 15 degrees cooler this year made a huge difference too!

The boys enjoyed the 30 minute train ride on Thomas.



After the ride they played in the bounce houses together.


They got to pet goats and llamas. Henry told me that his favorite part of the day was the petting zoo.
They also loved the hay maze, and ran through it over and over, until we practically dragged them away.
Even though both boys have their own train tables at home, they wanted to play at the train tables with the hordes of other little boys.
We ended the day with a late lunch at a restaurant in Hood River. There was a cool fountain right outside.
It was a fun day! We might go one more time next summer, but I suspect after that they'll be too cool for Thomas.

A Day at the Park

We went to a cool park last week. It has two play structure areas, a huge sand area with a water stream, grassy fields, and two covered picnic table areas. We'll definitely be going back there!

Buddies

Henry & Nathan have been spending lots of time together lately. Even though there are the occasional struggles, pushes, and pinches, they have been having lots of fun together.

They had fun at Nathan's birthday party at Pump It Up a few weeks ago.

The fountain at the Beaverton Farmer's Market was fun even though it was really cold out that day. We'll have to go back on a nice sunny day.
They even took a bath together one evening. Cute!

Happy Father's Day!

I know I'm two days late, but I couldn't let Father's Day go by without acknowledging Henry's wonderful daddy. Not only do I love Jeff, but Henry is crazy about him!

Jeff is the kind of dad who gets down on the floor and rolls around and tickles and chases Henry from room to room. But, he's also the kind of dad who covers Henry's face in kisses and tells him "I love you, son" over and over. Jeff takes Henry for walks in the wagon. He buries him in pillows and blankets on our bed. He spends hours building elaborate train track configurations that Henry promptly destroys. He takes Henry to the store and buys him two donuts. Henry may someday have uncertainties in life, but he will never have to wonder whether his dad loves him. Happy Father's Day to Henry's Daddy-Dadders!

The Levi Train

Last Sunday we went to Levi's 4th birthday party. It was at a large scale model train station where people could ride on the electric trains. The kids had a blast riding around (and around and around) the tracks!

There's Levi in the front, Henry in the gray sweatshirt, and Jeff right behind Henry. Henry and the adorable Avery waving as they rode past.
Jeff and Matt...I don't really know what to say about this one!
Birthday Boy Levi got to be the engineer and drive the train.The cupcakes were delicious!

Big Boy Bed!

Henry got bunk beds today!


Tonight is Henry's first night in a big boy bed. Jeff took apart the crib and moved it out into the garage, and I feel kind of sad that Henry's babyhood is officially over. But, at the same time, it's exciting that he's growing up and doing new fun things.


We bought the bunk bed, both mattresses, two superhero Pottery Barn sheet sets and two Pottery Barn comforters all from a lady on Craigslist. Great deal!

My Little Astronomer

Henry gets super excited whenever he sees the moon, so I was super excited to capture his excitement on video!

Can you SEE this video? I'm trying Blogger's video feature instead of YouTube, and I don't know if it's working. Someone please let me know if you can see it. Could you see the video that I posted two days ago? I need feedback! Thanks!

A Few Quick Pics

One of Henry's current favorite books is Corduroy. He likes me to read the book over and over and over. He loves Corduroy's green overalls, and he started calling his green tank top green overalls. "I have to wear my green overalls. I need my green overalls!" I looked on ebay and found something a little closer to Corduroy's overalls than the green tank top. Now Henry wants to wear them every day. When he's wearing the green overalls, we have to call him Corduroy. He insists.

Last weekend we had some friends visit for a barbecue, and they brought over Henry's future girlfriend, Zoey. They were so cute together, and Henry has asked several times when Zoey will come over again. Too bad they live in Texas!

"Hey Zoey, like my wheels?"

What a cute couple!You can tell Henry likes Zoey because he let her use his prized Thomas umbrella.

Henry and Nathan are quickly becoming Best Buds. They play so well together lately and Henry says that Nathan is his "best fwend."

Only the best of friends eat dinner in the buff and/or in underwear.

Taking a Bath in the Dirt!

I don't like dirt, but Henry sure does!

The only thing that distracts Henry from the dirt is fire! Scary!

More than half-way through May??

I really can't believe it's already May 19. The past few weeks have flown by in a blur, and I have not been blogging at all. I really have no excuse for not blogging. Well, I have had the flu for the past few days, but that only gives me an excuse since maybe the 16th. Not a lot has been going on. I'm counting down the days 'till summer break (16 school days), swamped with work, tired of cold and sickness, and trying to enjoy time with Jeff and Henry whenever possible. I'll try to give a brief re-cap of some of the highlights of the last few weeks.

Nathan and Greg came over for a barbecue a couple of weeks ago while Marianne and Peyton were in Arizona for the weekend. The boys had a lot of fun running, chasing, laughing, and playing in the castle.

Stella's 5th birthday was on May 2. Since I bought cupcakes for Rocco's birthday in March, I couldn't let Stella's pass by without recognition. Whenever we mention that someone's birthday is coming up, Henry says, "I have to eat birthday cake!" I was leaving for the store when Jeff requested that I buy birthday brownies. Since dogs shouldn't eat chocolate, I bought brownies for the humans and special fancy dog food for the pugs. Henry blew out the candles, but I'm sure Stella made a wish.

We got Henry's hair cut pretty short for the summer. I love his long curls, but it gets to be pretty unruly after a while.

I had a really nice Mother's Day. There were flowers and a nice card from Jeff and Henry waiting for me when I woke up. Jeff made us a great breakfast, then sent me off shopping by myself for my own Mother's Day gift. Then Jeff made a great steak barbecue dinner for Marianne and I (Greg was out of town) before he had to go to work. I have a very sweet husband! I forgot to have my picture taken with Henry on Mother's Day, so I took it myself that night. Not the best, but it's me and the little one who made me a mommy.

I took Henry to my school's carnival on Friday evening. The highlights for him were the bouncy houses and definitely the snow cone!

This May weather has been crazy. We've had cold rainy days when we've had to bundle up, and then beautiful sunny days when we've worn shorts.

I bought a blow-up pool on Saturday when it was in the high 80s, and Henry had fun playing in it while Jeff and I sat in the shade watching him.

Right now the pool is outside being rained on.

Henry's potty training is pretty much the same. He wears underwear during all awake time and pees in the potty all the time. But, he still won't poop in the potty. He says, "I need a diaper to poop in" and he will NOT go on the potty. We're not quite sure what to do at this point. For now we're just waiting for him to be ready, but that could take a while.

I just have to get through the next month of work, and then there will be LOTS of fun summertime blog posting! I promise!

Cinco de Mayo

On Sunday we went downtown to go to Portland Saturday Market, but once there, we saw that the Cinco de Mayo carnival was going on. We got lucky because the weather was sunny and dry the whole time we were there.

Last summer Henry did not enjoy riding on carnival rides at all, but on Sunday he loved them. For his first ride of the day, Jeff joined him on the balloon ride.

As soon as that ride was over, Henry HAD to go again... "all by myself!"

Next, he went on the airplane ride.Then he took a ride on the rapids in a canoe.

There were practically no lines at all. We just walked right up and got on most of the rides.Next, Henry went on the fire engine.He was the only one on the fire engine, and even though it went WAY up high, he said it was his favorite ride.Henry drove a dumptruck around and around...

Interesting sign. Maybe it was written by the "Carnies."I joined Henry on the tiger roller coaster, and we had fun whipping around the little track at a pretty quick speed. We were the only ones on the ride, and I think they let us go around quite a few extra times.The next stop was the motorcycle ride. Before we left, Henry and Jeff tried out the Strong Man hammer game and won a blow-up hammer. We were a bit disappointed that Henry wasn't tall enough to ride on the big ferris wheel. We were all going to go on that together, which would have been fun. But, I'm sure he'll be tall enough by next year.

Henry had a great time! I think we'll have to hit all of the carnivals and fairs this summer.

Sneaky

About a week ago, Henry's Auntie Kath was visiting.  We went to Costco with Henry and I ended up buying, among other things, a throw blanket.  It's kind of an odd time of year for a throw blanket, but when I let Henry feel how soft and fuzzy it was, he loved it.  Once we got home, I brought the blanket out into the living room and draped it over Henry and myself.  I thought it was kind of sweet and cozy to be sitting under a blanket with my little boy.  Henry, however, did not want to share.  He kept trying to pull the blanket off of me and saying things like, "Mommy has to go away!"  Nice.  We've been trying to stress the importance of sharing, and not letting Henry have everything his way, so I didn't want to give in on the blanket sharing.  He was getting upset by me not letting him have the blanket all to himself, so I decided to go for the "distraction technique."  Jeff plays a game with Henry on our bed, where he buries Henry under the covers and then Jeff runs away and hides while Henry un-buries himself from the covers.  So, while Henry was trying to pry the blanket off of my lap, I grabbed it and threw it over his head and said, "I'm going to bury you!"  He immediately started laughing and instructed me to go hide.  I jumped up and ran into the other room to wait for him to find me.  As soon as I settled into a hiding position, I heard Henry say to Auntie Kath, "I have it all to myself!"  

I had to laugh at his sneakiness, but I also took the blanket and put it away since he wouldn't share.  He's a funny one!

The Easter Trifecta

We went to three Easter egg hunts over the weekend. The first one was a HUGE egg hunt at a HUGE church in Greg and Marianne's neighborhood. There were hundreds of people (and probably thousands of eggs) there. Marianne and I had to keep telling the boys to pick up eggs because they'd pick one up, and then want to open it, and then want to eat the candy...slowly. Meanwhile everybody and their brother were gathering up the eggs at lightning speed. We're pretty sure they were doing their Easter shopping there.

Henry's checking out his loot.

"Can I be done now, Mom?" (Check out the lady in the background with the FULL shopping bag of eggs. Now she won't have to go to Target on her way home)The boys taking their sweet time.Nathan is happy with his egg.Henry is scrutinizing the candy. "Sixlets? Are you serious?""All right, I guess I'll eat it if I have to..."Back at Greg and Marianne's house.After Egg Hunt #1, we went out to lunch. Then Henry and I went on to Egg Hunt #2 at his daycare. By that time he had the hang of the egg hunting.

"Do I see an egg in there?"

"Yes! Here it is!"

Having fun! We should do this every weekend! Henry was pretty excited to find his Easter baskets waiting for him on Sunday morning.He got lots of Mickey Mouse stuff and plastic eggs full of colorful rocks (which he loved) and eggs full of candy (which he wasn't terribly excited about).The Easter Bunny brought him some cool glasses!On Sunday afternoon we headed out to my dad's house for egg hunt #3. We took all of the candy-filled eggs that we had collected so far and re-hid them for this hunt. We came with 60 eggs and left with 8. That was a good thing!

All dressed up in his Daddy look-alike outfit, and headed out to the back yard for the hunt.

After finding one egg, he had to stop to eat the jelly beans out of it.The three youngest cousins had their own separate egg hunt on the tennis court while the older cousins found their eggs on the grass. Henry (saying "CHEESE!") with Oliver and Nathan.

We managed to time our egg hunt perfectly between rain and more rain. Henry wanted to stay outside, but the downpour began.I think it's impossible to get a good family picture these days. Believe it or not, this was the best one.O.K. The picture overload is over. Happy Easter!

A Beautiful Day...Finally!

Today was definitely the most beautiful day of the year so far. It was warm and sunny and perfect. Henry (Mickey) and I went to a nearby park, where we met up with Marianne, Peyton, and Nathan. People were actually wearing shorts and tank tops. We weren't. But, some people were! Henry was, of course, wearing his Mickey ears. It's been getting harder and harder to get a good picture of Henry. When I whip out my camera, he says "NO PICTURES!" Or he runs away. Or refuses to look at me. Or looks at me with an expression like this one...

We went to Camp Rivendale park at Jenkins Estate. I love this park. It has the BEST play structure. It has picnic tables, walking paths, a big grassy area, clean bathrooms, and you can bring your dogs (but we didn't). It has three different kinds of swings. Baby swings, regular swings, and deluxe swings. Even Peyton had fun!

This kind of day really makes me look forward to summer! We only have 10 more weeks of school left. I'm sure it will start raining again this week, and those 10 weeks will seem like 20. But, for right now, I'm going to bask in the glow of a beautiful Spring day.

Nathan can taste Spring in the air!

Marianne & Peyton were sporting their shades.The boys had lots of fun running and playing and climbing, but the highlight may have been when Henry insisted on peeing on a tree even though there were perfectly good bathrooms there. Typical male.

I'm not sure what this thing is, but they played with it for a while.

Hopefully we'll have lots more sunny days to help get me through the next 10 weeks!

Mickey Mania

Henry is the kind of kid who is always obsessed with something. He was in love with Thomas the Tank Engine for about a year. He watched nothing but Thomas on t.v. He played with his trains every single day. He constantly asked us for new trains that he didn't already have. He practically ate, drank and breathed Thomas. Then one day, he was over Thomas. All of a sudden it was nothing but Little Einsteins. The show, the toys, the books, the t-shirts. Henry constantly quoted the Little Einsteins and talked about their adventures. I scoured the internet for Little Einsteins underwear (to no avail) in hopes that it would help with potty training. Quincy, Leo, June and Annie were his new best friends. Not anymore. They, too, have been replaced. Now Mickey Mouse is IT. Henry watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He plays with Mickey Mouse toys, has Mickey Mouse pajamas, a Mickey Mouse cup, and for the past 2 1/2 days has constantly worn his Mickey Mouse ears. They've only come off for sleep or baths. A couple of weeks ago, we went to a friend's house, and their daughter had a pair of Minnie Mouse ears. Henry wore those ears the entire time we were there. When we left, he didn't understand why we couldn't just take the ears with "Hannah" embroidered on them in pink to our house. My friends suggested that we check the Disney Store for them. So the next morning I called the store, only to find out that the ears are only sold at the theme parks. So, we hopped on a plane and... No. We didn't. I looked online and sure enough, you can buy them from someone who probably buys a bunch at a theme park and then sells them for double the price to poor suckers like me. The ears arrived on Thursday, and by Friday they were stuck on Henry's head like glue. He even kissed them goodnight. He now prefers to be called Mickey. He walked into the room wearing the ears and said "Hi Mommy." When I answered with "Hi Henry," he quickly corrected me. "It's Hi MICKEY MOUSE!" If anyone is going to Disneyland anytime soon, please let me know. I have a feeling we'll need a backup pair. Unless he moves on to something else soon.

Funny Stuff

Just a few random funny things that I've been meaning to write down for the past month...

A few weeks ago, Henry was sitting on my bed while I was getting ready for work. As I put on my solid stick deodorant, Henry asked, "What is mommy doing?"

I answered, "I'm putting on deodorant."

"And glue!" He replied.
Great. How long before he tries putting glue stick on his underarms?

The other day I reminded Henry to tell me when he needed to go potty. He's usually really good about going when he needs to, but I give him frequent reminders just in case. So, after I reminded him to go to the bathroom, he stopped and looked at me (somewhat annoyed) and said, "I DO NOT WISH to go potty in my underwear!"

I was putting Henry to bed several nights ago, and as I kissed him and laid him down, he said, "He plopped his head down on the pillow and he squeezed his eyes shut." Funny boy!

Henry doesn't seem to get the concept of answering the question "Why?" Recently he came to me crying, and we had the following conversation.

Me: "What's wrong?"

Henry: "I'm crying!"

Me: "I see that. WHY are you crying?"

Henry: " I AM!"

Me: "I know you're crying, but WHY?"

Henry: "Because I'm crying!"

We have similar conversations almost every day.

Future Best Friends?

I was super excited when Marianne and I were both pregnant with boys and we realized that Henry and Nathan would only be 4 months apart. I was even more excited when they moved from Minnesota to Oregon last August. Since Henry is an only child and Nathan is much younger than his sister Peyton, we've talked about how nice it will be for the cousins to grow up together. I've thought about how much fun they'll have playing, having sleepovers, riding bikes, hanging out together.

So far they haven't cooperated with my best friend/cousin fantasies. They haven't been terribly interested in each other. They usually play in the same room, but not really together. They often fight over toys. Henry has pushed Nathan several times, and Nathan gets irritated with Henry. We've been hoping that in time they will learn to play together and start enjoying each others' company.

Well, last week, they finally seemed to be friends! We went over to their house for dinner, and Henry and Nathan had a great time together. Nathan was making Henry laugh hysterically. They were both playing with the same toys...together! They chased each other around. They played outside together. It was really sweet to see them interacting and enjoying each other. I was so happy that they were finally friends!

Budding Artist

Henry LOVES to paint. I brought all of the supplies home from my classroom last week, and we had a great time. He created several masterpieces, and only stopped because we ran out of paper.

Painting is messy, but fun!

Look for our gallery opening soon. Get your bids in early!

Happiness is...

a cupcake!

Potty training has been going well. Henry is pretty much 100% potty trained when it comes to pee-peeing. He's been wearing underpants all day long except when he's sleeping. Going #2 on the potty is another story. But, he responds really well to rewards, so we've been having lots of cupcakes! He may gain 10 lbs, but he'll be potty-trained!

Happy Birthday Rocco!

Rocco turned 5 on March 1, so we celebrated with some cupcakes. One for Rocco, and one for each of his party guests, Henry and Stella.

Henry helped by blowing out Rocco's candles.

Rocco really enjoyed his birthday cupcake!Happy Birthday to the Friendliest Dog Alive!

Where in the World?

This video clip was from January, but I forgot to post it until now. I put it on my Facebook page, but neglected to put it on the blog!

Henry is very interested in globes and maps, and loves to talk about where things are in the world. He learned most of these facts from his favorite show, Little Einsteins.



Pretty smart for a 3-year-old, huh?

Big Boy Bike

Henry got his first "big boy bike" on Sunday. I've wanted to get him a bike for a while now, but with an October birthday and a VERY wintery Christmas, it hasn't been the right time to buy him one as a present. I've been debating (with myself) whether a bike would be too big a gift for Easter, or whether we should start celebrating Henry's half-birthday in April with a new bike. While I was scheming a good reason to get Henry a bike, Jeff suddenly decided to buy him one at Target on Sunday night. Problem solved!

Jeff put the bike together on Monday, and when I brought Henry home from daycare that afternoon, he was very excited to take his new bike out for its Maiden Voyage. He really loved pumping up the tires!

He's getting the hang of pedaling and braking in the garage.Daddy's a good helper."Look, Daddy! I can ride my bike!"

Happy 40th Birthday to Jeff!

Today is Jeff's 40th birthday. He insisted that he didn't want a party. Not even a small party. So, Henry and I gave him some gifts and bought him a yummy cake. Later this evening we're going out to dinner with Greg and Marianne. Even though I love birthdays and parties, I had to settle for a low-key birthday for my sweet husband.

Henry wore a "My Dad Rocks" shirt for the special day.

Coincidentally, the same month that Jeff is 40 years old, Henry is 40 months old!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful husband and the best daddy that Henry could have!

Maestro Henry

Henry really loves music. He's been humming and singing on-key since he was a little baby. Now that he watches way too much Little Einsteins, he's even more into music. He's very interested in instruments (like Little Einstein's Quincy), so I bought him a plastic trumpet. When I gave it to him, his face lit up like it was Christmas. As he played with it, he kept saying, "Thank you Mommy for my trumpet!" I had thought about offering the trumpet as a potty-training reward, but I ended up just giving it to him. When I saw how much he loved the trumpet, I told him that I had given him the trumpet to make him happy, and I asked him if he would go pee-pee on the toilet to make ME happy. After six months of boycotting the toilet, he went! He's gone 2 or 3 times since then. Hooray for the trumpet!
His second favorite new toy is the Dollar Store recorder that I brought home from school on Friday.
Henry also likes to "conduct." Lately he's been carrying around a plastic xylophone mallet that he calls his "conducting baton." He flaps his hands and arms crazily to the music. I tried to catch him on video, but he wasn't as into it as usual. I do like how he requests a different song by humming it for me.


Maybe he'll be conducting (or playing in) the symphony someday!