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.