One More Makes Four

MN Children's Museum

2012-02-07T13:42:00.000-08:00

I think the Habitot room was his favorite and I felt best about him being in there since they can't just walk out and everything is at their level. That room is for ages 4 & under.

This slide is in the Habitot room as well. He can get in some good crawling, climbing & sliding in this room. He likes all the other rooms too, it's just harder to keep an eye on him when he's so short and fast.

I need to say he is short instead of small because he got mad at me the other day and told me he was big. He wants to be big, not small. Short seems to be acceptable (for now.)

Of course the room with water & bubbles is always a huge hit.

Playing in the water.

This "factory" always cracks me up watching the kids work so hard to get the blocks through their part of the assembly line and have no idea that they are moving the same blocks over & over.

This was in the Storyland exhibit. They boy wouldn't slow down enough for me to get a decent picture of him in here. His favorite part of this exhibit was walking over the "snow" from A Snowy Day and putting the letters up the coconut tree for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

Cocoa with Santa & Mrs. Claus at the Art Center

2011-12-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

You have seen several of these on sister's blog, so I will try to tell you something new on this one.

Henry is really not so fond of strangers these days, especially men. I was just happy that he did not scream or cry when he was on Santa's lap. This was the best picture we could get of them with Santa.

Sister had to tell Santa what Henry wanted because he was scared and wouldn't say anything. But when Santa showed him his special pocket watch (it had people on a horse drawn sleigh in the snow being pulled around in a circle to music) then Henry started to warm up to him.

Henry did enjoy the cookies they had there. I think they each had three. Oye!

Henry with his bell, which he lost before we even left the Art Center.

Like I said, Henry is scared of strangers right now. So, he was unhappy about being so close to Mrs. Claus. I think next year it will all make sense to him that they bring him presents and he will like them a whole lot more.

Henry with his candy cane from Santa.

I have to say, I enjoyed this Santa event. I liked that there was a story (which Henry & I did go sit down for), and that Mrs. Claus was playing Christmas carols on the piano and there was hot cocoa & lots of cookies, and Santa took his time with the kids. Even though we waited a long time to visit with Santa because we waited until the line was almost done before we got in it because we didn't want to stand there for so long with Henry, plus the Art Center is so pretty. I would go back to this one again.

State School Orphanage Museum

2011-12-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

Henry didn't get very much out of this except to see how much trouble he could get in to and if he could give daddy some more gray hairs

Decorating Sugar Cookies

2011-12-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

Instead of making a bunch of cookies all at once, we just spend all December making them and eating them. We might not get to all varieties, but we get to what we get.

This was from last weekend. Sister helped me cut out sugar cookies and then we all decorated them, and ate them all of course.

Next up for cookies was Nutella Blossoms rolled in powdered sugar (so they were like Peanut Butter Blossoms meet Snow on the Mountain Cookies).

Currently, chilling in the fridge is gingerbread cutout dough that we will make later today. I am plan to get to spritz cookies next weekend because I have volunteered to contribute those for the cookie exchange I arranaged with a bunch of other moms. So, we will soon have many more varitities to eat.

And I do need to make some candy, divinity and cashew brittle for sure! Probably not fudge this year since one of the moms is contributing that for the exchange.

Snowflake Crafts

2011-12-08T08:46:00.000-08:00

Some of you might remember the paint snowflake from when I did it with sister. He had fun with these projects, but he doesn't have quite the sustained interest as his sister does. But we did get them finished, I just had to approach the white salt snowflakes from a different angle. Rather than spinkling salt on, he was more interested in it if he poured it all on and messged it around with his hands, then pour off & repeat. Just another reminder to me how much the children are different in their learning styles, personality & interests.

First Snow of the Season

2011-11-19T15:04:00.000-08:00

Budding Artist

2011-11-18T13:05:00.000-08:00

At one of our recent playdates we hosted, the boys were allowed to paint with acrylics on canvas. These paintings that they did will be featured at the Kids ArtsVenture at the Art Center on Tuesday night. This is our third month of participating (well, sister has done it 3 times, Henry will have done it 2 times.)

They seemed to have fun painting and mixing all the colors.

Ice Skating

2011-11-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, this was Henry's first time on ice skates. You can watch a short video of him HERE. Or daddy had posted a different video on Facebook (hopefully you saw it).

We went skating for about 1.5 hours and Henry skated most of it. The first 20 minutes Henry would skate and fall down on purpose (like in the video) because he thought it was funny and was getting him attention. After a while I think falling on his butt (even if on purpose) was not feeling so well, so he stopped.

He did not want to take a break, even when offered cookies. He just wanted to skate, skate, skate. It would be nice if we have a good year for skating and can go often to our ice park or to Morehouse Park in Owatonna, because both those places are free to skate and we already own skates for all of us. Really hoping we can get to our ice park in our town often because it will most likely be the least busy of all skating places and we can let him skate around without us hovering. I was always so afraid someone would knock him over and then he would get his fingers skated over. Freaked me out!

Look how little he is out there!

Wait until we take him sledding! He is REALLY gonna like that this year.

Ag Power Tour

2011-10-14T12:25:00.000-07:00

Henry has such a blast "driving" the tractors. Then the let the kids take real tractor rides and Henry got to sit on the managers lap and help drive. He is going to love when we go to grandma & grandpas next week. He couldn't get enough of tractors. And while we were there, one of his friends bought a toy tractor for his birthday present, so we'll see that that is in a couple of weeks.

Open Gym Gymnastics

2011-10-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

We are pretty happy (& lucky) that one of our area gymnastics clubs holds a preschool open gym gymnastics times. It is a great way for kids to get rid of energy and have a fun time. I know Henry has been loving going here and getting mom all to himself. We love to go down the TumbleTrak and jump onto the big squishy foam mat at the end.

Fall Toddler Time

2011-10-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Henry gets together with two of his friends on a weekly basis for a Toddler Time Themed Playgroup. It is a group of 3 families and we rotate hosting responsibilities and whoever is hosting picks the theme and plans out a storytime, craft, activities, snack or whatever else they want on their chosen theme.

This was last Friday and the theme was Fall (leaves, bugs, pumpkins). The kids received ample outside time.

Of course there were leaf piles and lots of silliness going on with them.

Inside we did a couple crafts. One of them was making leaf imprints (which the older ones were better able to do, the younger ones just wanted to color their paper and tape leaves on, which is ok too.)

Here you can see Henry coloring away. He loves to color, which I am very happy about. Maybe I will have two little crafters. :)

The snack was a ladybug made out of a grape, strawberry & mini chocolate chips. Very clever.

The previous playgroup themes were Planes (we hosted this one) and apples. This week we didn't meet because our larger playgroup had a tour at Ag Power (will be posted soon) and next week is MEA, so we won't meet again. But the Friday before Halloween we will be back together again.

Faribault Waterpark

2011-08-19T13:26:00.001-07:00

Beaver Lake Beach

2011-08-17T14:13:00.001-07:00

This morning we went to Beaver Lake Beach. It's a County Park beach about 20 miles from our house. It was our first time there. It was a nice little beach, on the small side but very clean and at the end of summer that is pretty important because lots of other beaches start to get gross.

Zollman Zoo

2011-08-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

My friend Carrie & I took our youngest kids to Zollman Zoo in Oxbow park today while the oldest to were at Vacation Bible School. It was hot & sticky, but the kids really enjoyed getting to see the animals and not competing with an older sibling for mom's attention.

SCFF

2011-08-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

Mall of America

2011-08-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

MN SEALife Aquarium

2011-08-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

SCFF Art Projects

2011-08-12T14:06:00.000-07:00

Last Day of His Cast

2011-08-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

Sister reads to Brother

2011-07-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Slide & Slide Fun!

2011-07-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

Henry's Bedtime Routine

2011-06-13T20:10:00.000-07:00

Sister wanted to take over bedtime routine duties tonight, so I let her. She "read" (by read, I mean she looked at the pictures and made up a story to go along with them) him 8 stories, then she sang him 4 songs with him facing her with his head on her shoulder and him hugging her (just like he does with mommy & daddy). Then she tucked him in and stroked his head and she sang to him some more. It was all very sweet!

Video of her reading to him.

Video of her singing to him.

Bay Beach

2011-06-11T19:57:00.000-07:00

Visiting Grandma & Grandpa on the Farm

2011-06-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

Super Saturday with Henry

2011-06-05T06:14:00.000-07:00

Started out with some park & picnic time at a park we have never been to in Faribault.

Then we headed to a barber shop so that Henry could get his second haircut (mommy trimming up above ears & eyes don't count). He wasn't really sure about what was all going on, but he sat there the entire time and did great. He looks like such a little boy and not a baby anymore when his curls are all cut off.

The other big thing for Henry today was that we set up his toddler bed. He slept in it for naptime after mommy had to go up there 3 times to tell him to stay in his bed and go to sleep. But at bedtime, even though it took a while to fall asleep he at least stayed in his bed the whole time.

After the haircut, I took the kids to the candy store to pick out a treat while daddy got his hair cut. They both got Tootsie pops and candy necklaces.

After nap time, it was pool time with our blow up pool. Last year we had the blow up pool out much earlier because it was warmer earlier. Oh well. The community pool, which we have a membership to, open next Sunday. So, we are looking forward to going to "our" pool all summer.

And we ended the day with roasted marshmallows, although Henry didn't want his roasted. And we had a nice long storytime out by the fire before bedtime.

Sister's Rainy Bday Party

2011-06-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

Henry thought it was fantastic to play in the park while it was raining. The slides were really like water slides, very slick.

Baby Animal Day @ MHS

2011-06-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

The high school FFA sponsors a baby animals day every year in the spring where children from the community and classrooms can come and meet and pet the baby animals. This year there was a couple different kids of goats, piglets, calves, puppies, kittens, ducklings, chicks, & bunnies. Henry loves animals so much, so this was really great for him!

Various Photos

2011-06-04T12:01:00.000-07:00

On the morning of Memorial Day, we went to the RAD Zoo to check out their new exhibit that just opened called the "Danger Zone". Lots of new crocs and alligators and also some predator fish.

Henry at Dartts park while sister is at her sports skills class.

Henry having some birthday brownies at sister's family birthday party.

Beach Time!

2011-06-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

These two collages are from Memorial Day when we went to the beach as a family, all four of us.

These bottom two collages are when we went to the beach with one of our playgroups yesterday.

Water Fun with Jayden

2011-05-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

Playgroup with Henry's Friends

2011-05-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week we hosted a playgroup with Henry's friends (aka Baby Mamas). They all had a good time and enjoyed all our outdoor play toys.

Lego Kidsfest

2011-05-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

MN SEALife Aquarium

2011-05-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Henry just loves all things to do with animals. He thinks the aquarium at the Mall of America is fantastic.

Rainforest Cafe

2011-05-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. They seated us in the area where all the monkeys are and they get active & loud every 20 minutes. Henry liked looking at them and all the other creatures, but when they were active it was a little scary for him and he felt safest in mom's lap with her arms wrapped around him.

Nickelodeon Universe

2011-05-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

A couple week ago, I took Henry on the Carousel at Nickelodeon Universe and he loved it. I knew we were going to have to take him on rides with us for Isabel's birthday. He was good about only going on a few rides. He was also to go on Ghost Blasters, the Carousel & the Diego ride (can't remember the name of it).

When we cam back to NU after lunch, he was pretty tuckered out and fell asleep for 20 minutes in his stroller while his sister went on more rides.

Outside Play

2011-05-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

Henry had a good time playing outside at our friends' house before they made us a very nice Mother's Day brunch. We had a very good (impromptu) visit to them this weekend. Although, Henry didn't sleep very well for naps the last 3 days or bedtime last night, so hopefully he gets a lot fo good sleep tonight.

Hotel Pool

2011-05-08T18:51:00.001-07:00

Onalaska McDonalds

2011-05-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

What a difference a few months makes when kids are this little. When we came to this McDs when going to WI Dells, Henry couldn't make his way through the tunnels because he could reach far enough to pull himself up in side the steps in there. Now he can. Although, he was still scared to go down the slide (normally he isn't, but I think he was overwhelmed in there), so mommy had to sneak in & go down with him. They don't allow adults in the tunnels at this one.

18 Months Old

2011-05-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

I took this picture today in our friends' yard. It was a nice backdrop and I was able to get some picture of both kids. So, this is the picture I am going to make copies of to give to friends and family for 18 months.

BBQ Playtime

2011-05-07T18:57:00.000-07:00

Mommy's friend Elizabeth invited our family over for a bbq at their home. We had a good time and Henry had a good time playing with Tommy.

Golosi Gelato Cafe

2011-05-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

Great Serengeti Waterpark

2011-05-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

Just some fun pictures of Henry at the Great Serengeti Waterpark. Lucky boy got to tag a long to a birthday party that sister was invited to.

Henry's Colorful Collage

2011-05-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

This is from his 1 year portrait session. We had Skye make one for Isabel and also one for Henry. These will hang in the downstairs playroom.

18 Months Old

2011-04-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

Henry is 18 months old today. In a few days we will have his 18-month well child visit and find out where he is at for weight and height. It has all really slowed down since he turned one. Currently he has 14 teeth; he recently has pushed through his canines on the bottom but we are still waiting on the top. You can see the points, so it is only a matter of time.

Te celebrate his half birthday we went out to eat at Country Kitchen. Taking him out to eat can be such a stressful event. So much easier to go some place like McDonalds or Pizza Ranch where there are things for the kids to do and it's ok for them to be out of their seats. After dinner we went to Alexander Park. Henry really has no fear. He is willing to try pretty much anything at the park. The higher and faster something goes, the happier it makes him.

Pump It Up

2011-04-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Henry is FEARLESS! He just started running to get on this. He just doesn't have long enough legs to boost himself up on to things. The first slide (a quite tall one!) he went down by himself, but after that I made him go down with me so he wasn't waiting for me on either end. He had so much fun and ended up taking a 3 hour nap today, normally it's a 2 hour nap. He moved non-stop and only stopped for 10 minutes when we had snack. This was at the Burnsville Pump It Up!

Shaving Cream Bath Paints

2011-04-14T14:42:00.000-07:00

This is something super easy to do and super fun. You just mix food coloring in shaving cream. I knew it was going to be messy and since it was too cold outside to take this activity, I decided an early bath time was in order. It was used as both finger paints and brush paints on both the tub, the tub wall, and their bodies. Easy clean up when it's in the tub!

Alpaca Show

2011-04-10T19:11:00.000-07:00

The Alpaca Show had free parking & free admission (& free candy at different booths!) and lots of free fun for Henry. He just loves animals. He was so happy and giddy and could stop laughing and chatting to the alpacas. He seriously talked more to all of them than we ever hear him talk at home. Non-stop chatter.

April Water Fun

2011-04-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

Henry got a little taste of what summer is like and he thinks it's fantastic (not that he used those exact words, but close).

When sister got on the kiddie pool with his he just thought it was the perfect place to kick back and relax was on her. They were too cute!

Day Trip to MOA

2011-04-10T18:48:00.000-07:00

Henry loves animals so he enjoyed looked at everything. Although the "touch" areas are not reachable for him and all he can do is splash water (& get in trouble for that.)

The MN SEA Life Aquarium (formerly Underwater Adventures) added this play area at the end for kids 5 & under. It was perfect for Henry. At first, Isabel was a little bored with it until her friends finished getting through the aquarium and they could do some imaginary play with the play area, but Henry loved crawling, climbing & exploring.

We also checked out the new Legoland. They have a section of 4 tables with Duplos, but because sister was with the small lego pieces that is where he wanted to be. But mainly he just wanted to crawl all over the benches while sister was busy building a tower.

Playing Outside

2011-04-10T18:09:00.000-07:00

It has been nice out lately and these are pictures taken from a couple days last week fo Henry playing outside. He loves anything with wheels and is frequently on the trike or in the car or asking to ride in the toddler seat on the bike.

Spending Xmas Money

2011-04-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

Henry chose a 10-pack of Hot Wheels as something he wanted to spend some of his money from Christmas from Grandma & Grandpa S. He loves playing with cars/truck/tractors/anything with wheels. The whole ride home from the store he kept studying the box and look at the cars. He was very excited when we got home and he could finally open it and play with them.

RADZoo Visit

2011-03-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

Henry visits some of his favorite animals at the RADZoo. He loves the MN turtles in the big pond, Big Al (the 12-ft. alligator), the skink & bearded dragons and the the tortoises and any other turtles.

Slide-a-Palooza

2011-03-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

Mommy & Henry Morning

2011-03-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

Since daddy & sister were having their own day, we had ours too. Earlier in the morning he kept bringing me his jacket, snowpants & boots, so I figured we needed to leave. We went to a fabric store where I bought a Thomas & friends panel to make a toddler blanket. It has the train friend Henry on it, so that is why I bought it. Then we went to a craft store and he helped me pick out some felt to use to make his Easter shirt, well, the felt is used to embelish it.

Then we went to Bernie's (we have never been there before) for lunch. I ordered him a Little Tikes breakfast and he loved all the fruit on there (everything else too, but he really loves fruit!) and then to the Sweet Spot to get some candy. He fell asleep in the car on the way home, but luckily transferred to his crib.

RADZoo

2011-03-01T12:04:00.000-08:00

Sledding with Henry's Friends @ RBNC

2011-02-16T19:39:00.000-08:00

42 Degrees on Feb. 13th

2011-02-13T18:32:00.000-08:00

It was a beautiful day at 42 degrees in February. It's a nice break from the cold & wind and we are supposed to have this kind of weather all week.

We got to Straight River Park to go sledding and play on the playground. We miss the park.

This aftenoon, some friends came over to play with us in or yard and we got out the bikes & other ride on toys, some balls, chalk, swings in the garage. It was good to be able to play in the driveway again without worrying about slipping on ice.

Timberland Play Park - Round 3

2011-02-08T19:18:00.000-08:00

Water Dome - Round 2

2011-02-08T19:07:00.000-08:00

Timberland Playland - Day 2

2011-02-07T17:14:00.000-08:00

Our second time back to the dry play park. Henry got out there a little bit, but he was a little clingy today.

WI Dells: Wild Waterdome

2011-02-07T11:29:00.000-08:00

WI Dells: Wild West Waterpark

2011-02-06T12:46:00.000-08:00

Here is a bunch of pictures of Henry at the waterpark. He liked it, but wasn't feeling the best this morning since daddy wasn't careful about watching him near the fireplace in the condo and he put his hands on it and burned his hands a bit. It looks like he might have one small blister as a result, but other than that he's ok. It just hurts for a while.

Well, as soon as the kids wake up we heading to the Timberland Dry Park.

WI Dells Vacation

2011-02-05T12:39:00.000-08:00

We decided at the beginning of the week to take a 4 day vacation to WI Dells. We came back to the Wilderness again (3rd year in a row). We really like all the options we have here of 4 indoor waterparks and 1 dry park. Tonight we went to the waterpark in the same building as our condo called Cubby's Cove. It's a waterpark geared towards families with young children.

On the way here we stopped at the best McDs play place we had ever been to. You can read mroe about it on sister's blog.

Spin Me!

2011-02-04T12:43:00.000-08:00

I watched Henry as he crawled up on his activity table and into this spinning car toy and try to make himself spin in it. It didn't workout so well and it made me think that I should go get the sit-n-spin out of storage. I had stored it since sister never took to it, but he always seems to like the toys she didn't. Anyways, he loved spinning on it with my help, but couldn't do it himself. But what he could do himself was stand on it and dance to the music it makes when you press a button.

RADZoo & Frbo Mall Playground

2011-02-03T12:31:00.000-08:00

The kids and I took a couple of afternoon trips to fun places by ourselves this week. We went to the RADZoo, where we have a membership. The kids got to pet a Kingsnake this time. Henry's favorite thing to do on this visit was rump up & down the ramp that goes to the MN Turtle Pond. He finally figured out how to bend his knees to go down hills & ramps. So, he had to keep practicing it over & over & over again.

The other place we went to was this indoor playground in the Frbo Mall. A friend told us about it. It's nothing too special, but it's free and it's a place indoors that kids can get some large muscles movements in. They had a good time and we will definitly remember to go back and check it out again when the kids are in need of some space to climb & slide.

Tomorrow we will also go to open gym gymnastics. That's not free, but I buy a punchcard for $45 for 10-punches and it's a punch each time for the entire family. So, $4.50 for an hour of them using gymnastics equipment is pretty good. We don't do gymnastics with sister anymore because it got too expensive and frankly, we got too busy and she had chosen swim & dance as her activites. Although, right now we are not in swim lessons again until the summer.

Henry's Friends

2011-02-03T12:23:00.000-08:00

I decided to take some pictures of Henry at his ECFE class in Faribault. I decided we would take it this trimester since I missed us seeing the Baby Mamas, but then after I signed up one of the moms organized a formal playgroup for us so we see them once a week for playgroup & another time for ECFE class. We probably won't take this ECFE class next trimester since it is kinda pricey. But you get an idea of some of the activities they have set out for the kids to do in the collage above.

Henry was so curious about baby Dina. This was taken a few days earlier (well, actually a week earlier). He kept patting her head and wanting to look at her. I was so surprised at how interested he was in her. Since then he scopes out babies whereever we go and wants to look at them. He seems very fond of babies.

This was a week earlier too. It's not the best picture since I only had my phone with me and my new phone doesn't have as good of a camera as my old one. There were also a couple more families that joined us for this playgroup too. We met at the Faribault library where they got a whole bunch of wonderful new toys and really made a play space for the kids to come & enjoy. It's very inviting and so nice to have it.

Ice Skating & A Bonfire

2011-01-29T12:16:00.000-08:00

Even Henry joined us out for some ice skating with friends in our playgroup. We would pull him around in his toddler sled while we skated. He also enjoyed some roasted hotdog & marshmallows as well. It was a good time. Although, now we need to get the bonfire smell out of our jackets.

When the Windchill is Frigid, We Stay Inside

2011-01-21T11:17:00.000-08:00

We were under a windchill advisory starting yesterday at noon. So, we stayed inside that afternoon & evening. But staying inside means providing some other activities that are new so that they don't get bored.

So, I made some glittery playdough, which sister thought was great to have silver glitter in their playdough. They had fun playing with that. It's different watching them play with it. Henry likes to pick off small pieces and put it into a pile. And when I would make him balls, he would grab the ball of playdough, like he would grab any ball, but since his hands would sink in he would look at it like it was junk and throw it away. Sister liked rolling & shaping the playdough into different letters.
Another thing we did was play with the dot markers. And finally, I also found a couple of large-ish boxes for them and got out the large cardboard tube and a sheet and let them play & imagine.

Sledding at West Hills

2011-01-19T09:45:00.000-08:00

We went sledding with our playgroup at West Hills. We had actually planned to go to a different park to go sledding, but apparently the city chose not to maintain that park for sledding this winter. But because of the convenience of cell phones we were able to get information of the location change to everyone planning to come. We had an ok turnout with 4 moms and 1 dad and 8 kids, but that is what happens during the winter months when you have a playgroup with a variety of ages of kids, some of the little ones just can't be outside too long in the cold and moms are reluctant to deal with all the extra clothes needed and the extra work of pulling kids around in a sled. But we didn't let that stop us. We had fun and it was such a perfect January day to be sledding; I wish more days were like that one.

After Supper Projects

2011-01-14T12:29:00.000-08:00

Henry has been plagued by the witching hour between 4-6pm. Even though he just had a snack at 3:30 & just woke up from his nap at 2:30, he walks around the house whining and crying and putting his head on my nap and coming to me for extra hugs starting around 4:15, every night!

If I hold him, he is fine, but if I let him loose on his toys he just seems at a loss (even though any other times he can find lots to play with.) It has become difficult to make supper because he is either being held or trying to crawl up my pant leg to get to my arms. But then I feed them supper around 5pm and he will go play for about 10 minutes after supper until it starts again.

So, last night since I had a project planned for sister, I thought I should get him up in his highchair and give him some projects of his own. While the coloring & playdoh held his interest, he did good and we made it to 6pm. At which point I let him go play with his toys again and he seemed to be fine.

Then we all went upstairs to play & put clothes away and he was fine. And before we knew it, it was 6:45 and Henry needed to get ready for bed. But that 4-6pmm witching hour is for the birds!

** So, this was taken last night and you can see the mop of hair that was cut off this morning.**

Henry's First Haircut

2011-01-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

I took him to Hair-i-tage Salon to have his hair cut by Kelli. She also did sister's first haircut (although, she was almost 3, whereas he is 14 month.)

He sat by himself for a while and then he had to sit on mommy's lap. He kept trying to slide down & out the chair, but she he was sitting on mom's lap he was being held on to.

Thy did put a lock of hair in an envelope for me to take home and made a certificate to commerate his first haircut.

Front View

Side View

Back View

As you can see from the back view he still has some curls. It just naturally curls up in the back and he will have a little something there to twirl.

Rocking Horse

2011-01-14T09:23:00.000-08:00

Henry loves his little rocking horse. My kids were always too tall for the cute little fuzzy Eeyore one I bought them to use it with the motor skills they needed. By time they had developed the motor skills, they were just too tall. But this one is really nice because he can lean back and won't fall off when he really gets it rocking. Check out the video of him rocking.

Snow Play

2011-01-11T11:14:00.000-08:00

So, here are Henry's pictures. He's still not sure about the cold & snow, but it's growing on him. He loves to be pulled around in his sled. Yesterday I had to switch his to Isabel's old pink Columbia gloves (not pictured) so that he had warmer, thicker gloves on when he is touching the snow. He doesn't care that they are pink and I just care that they are warm.

McD's Playland with Henry's Friends

2011-01-11T11:01:00.000-08:00

This time we had a playgroup with Henry's friends from the Baby Mamas (I inadvertently named us this as I kept referring to this group of moms we knew from his ECFE class as this and it stuck.) Anyways, one of the moms volunteered to take the lead on establishing us as an official playgroup. There are other older siblings for some of the little ones, but they have morning preschool, so Isabel gets to be the only sibling at some of these functions.

McD's Playland - Abbotsford, WI

2011-01-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

Christmas at the S Family

2011-01-06T12:29:00.000-08:00

The weekend after Christmas we celebrate it with mommy's family. Henry was really too much on the go and didn't care too much about opening presents. I was lucky to get him interested in this first present. I think I need to set my camera to action shot all the time with this boy.

Christmas Morning

2010-12-28T20:15:00.000-08:00

Henry was only mildly interested in his presents from Santa. I think they only thing he was REALLY in to was the chocolates in his stocking.

RADZoo Visit

2010-12-28T20:11:00.000-08:00

I took the kids to the RadZoo this morning and this afternoon. These are pictures from this morning. We went back in the afternoon to see them feed the animals. We had seen them feed some of the smaller animals and have been able to feed tortoises & turtles ourselves (which we got to do again today), but we had never seen them feed the really big snakes & the 12 ft. alligator. It was pretty cool.

Coloring

2010-12-24T19:02:00.000-08:00

Henry is wearing some new jammies he received for a Christmas present from mommy & daddy in this picture. He & sister are having fun sitting at their picnic table coloring. I like that he likes to color already.

Christmas Eve: Family Presents

2010-12-24T18:57:00.000-08:00

Well, Henry is showcasing his favorite presents. He was kinda tired when we were opening and ended up taking a nap afterward before dinner, so he didn't have a high interest in the present opening. So, his favorite present of the day is a hot rod big wheel from mommy & daddy. He is also wearing the hat mommy made him as a present in one of the pictures. Sister game him some new bath toys. The other presents he received were his puzzle blocks & counting (rice) bags (both homemade by mommy), a couple books, a couple puzzles, pajamas, a Toy Story piggy bank and a sock monkey.

Christmas Present from Kendra

2010-12-20T20:01:00.000-08:00

Henry's First Trip to the Dentist

2010-12-20T19:21:00.000-08:00

He actually did really well at the dentist and didn't need his paci until the very end. Through most of the appointment he sat on my lap and let the hygentist and dentist look in his mouth and poke around. They said everything looks good and couldn't feel the molars yet (He has 8 teeth in front so far). The dentist said his bottom teeth are a little crowded, but he wasn't worried because often the jaw grows at a different time than teeth come in and then they will separate more. The top teeth had some nice separation so far. The hygentist showed him all the tools and the light while he sat on me, but the the last thing we did was let him sit in the chair by himself & ride up & down. He did not like that (most likely due to the stranger & separation anxiety stuff he is going through.)

Holidays Joys & Tears

2010-12-20T19:15:00.000-08:00

Well, we found out Henry LOVES mint (his sister does not!) and does not like Santa. It might be because he is in the middle of a separation & stranger anxiety phase, or it could be Santa too. We did not know we would see Santa this day since we thought we were just going to storytime, but it was a surprise. There weren't too many kids there, but Henry was the only one who cried.

On a related note, about the mint. Today, I watched Henry walk over to the tree and take off a candy cane. Then walk back over in front of me with his back to me and break apart the candy cane (he's figured out that's the best way to get the wrapper off the candy & into his mouth.) The whole time I kept calling him name (normally he would turn around and answer). Then he stuck a piece in his mouth and walked over to their little table and placed the rest of the pieces on there, then he came over to me with a big red grin and a piece of candy cane sticking out of his mouth. Too smart for his own good I tell ya!

Christmas at the M's

2010-12-20T19:12:00.000-08:00

Grandma & Grandpa M wanted a picture of them with the grandkids. This was the only picture I had taken that night.

Loves Coloring

2010-12-20T19:05:00.000-08:00

He is one smart little boy. He has got scribbling with crayons down. He was having a great time today coloring. I decided I better give him some paper because he kept taking sisters crayons and trying to color the couch. He has his own thick triangular crayons. And after he was done using them he would put them away.

The other thing he has learned us how to hold on to the bar in the tub (the one mid way up to use to hold on to) and start crawling his feet up the side of the tub. Might have to put this boy in gymnastics when he is old enough to do a class, although he does get to do these things at open gym gymnastics. He hasn't done anything exactly like this, but he has seen other kids.

Also, he is trying to crawl up the magazine stand int he bathroom on the main level. And the other thing he almost has figured out is how to open the gate at the top of the stairs. He's just no tall enough to actually see what we do, but he reaches up there and moves his hand around trying to figure out what we do to get it open. Too smart for his own good.

Toddling & Chatting Video

2010-12-12T08:16:00.000-08:00

He is getting quiet good at walking, but watching him toddle around is just so darn cute. He prefers to walk places now instead of crawling. He chooses to crawl when it involves obstacles (like climbing over piles of pillows & blankets sister puts on the floor), stairs, or if he has to get somewhere really, really fast. But even then he has been choosing to walk sometimes and is getting much faster. Last night he was walking toward me and I I pretended to come at him to tickle him. He turned around and tried to "run" away from me, really he was going to same speed was when he walks, but he thought he was running away from me and was just giggling away. Anyways, here's a video of him toddling to me and then chatting away.

He does speak some when he chooses. He says mama, daddy, more, doggie, kitty, moo (when he sees a picture of a cow), and hi. We haven't been able to get him to say anything to call his sister yet. She is anxiously awaiting him to say Bel or sister. I haven't done as much with signing with him, but he will sign more & all done. I've been working on the sign for bath with him and I think he is getting that one too.

Christmas Crafts

2010-12-08T18:57:00.000-08:00

Henry got to participate in one of the crafts, the fingerprint lightbulbs. I drew the strand and helped him with making his fingerprints. His is the top one.

Ninjas

2010-12-08T18:56:00.000-08:00

St. Nick's Day

2010-12-08T18:50:00.000-08:00

It's so fun that Henry can enjoy the Winter holidays and not just a baby sitting there. St. Nick brought him a christmas plate, a christmas book, some christmas ornaments, some candy and some wooden vehicles.

Although, the price labels were still on the bottom of the wooden vehicles and Isabel had to tell me, "Santa bought these! Why did he buy these? Why didn't he make them?" I said it was probably because they ran out of time because the elves probably needed a day off with the stomach flu like she had. Funny. Anyways, note to self: take all packaging and prices off Santa presents.

Family Fun Fridays

2010-12-03T13:36:00.000-08:00

Daddy has off every Friday in December, granted two are because of the eves Christmas & New Years (& the actual holiday falling on a weekend). I am hoping we can do some fun things on each of these Fridays. This Friday, we went to downtown Minneapolis and met grandma & grandpa M there to go to the "Sleigh Ride" concert that the MN Orchestra was performing. It was a good production and I was so proud of the how well the children behaved. They were actually very well behaved for everything. I was very proud of them and there were so many opportunities and reasons they could have misbehaved or thrown tantrums.
Next we went to the Macy's 8th floor display of "A Day in the Life of an Elf". It was the same display as last year, but we had never seen it. And at the end the kids were able to meet Santa. Santa gave each of the kids pins that said they were there. Not sure why Macy's gave little kids sharp point objects. They should have just given out a sticker that said the same thing.
Lunch was at Potbelly's and we had some great sandwiches, chips & smoothie.
And they weren't in the car for more than 5 minutes before they both fell asleep and slept the entire ride home.

Cabela's Visit

2010-11-22T19:43:00.000-08:00

How Do I Move in This Stuff?

2010-11-13T20:21:00.000-08:00

Henry was just in love with the snow when he would watch it from the window fall in front of him. He was very excited to go outside, but was not a fan of all the stuff he had to put on. He couldn't figure out how to move in it. Poor boy. He did like being pulled around in the sled and really liked when I would run while pulling him and his sister. I can't wait to take him sledding at the park. He went inside while Isabel was sledding down the neighbor's hill.

Ag Power Tour

2010-11-09T14:10:00.000-08:00

Since Henry can't really climb on the big stuff (yet) he just gets placed on things for photo ops.

Toddler Tuesday, Underwater Adventures 7 Lunch @ Famous Dave's at MOA

2010-11-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

Table & Things

2010-10-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

This is Henry's birthday gift from grandma & grandpa S. They made him an activity table. They did a really good job on it and I am glad they made it so heavy duty, because sister keeps sitting on it when she plays.

Cousins & Calves

2010-10-31T19:25:00.000-07:00

Henry got a chance to play with his cousins when we went back visit mommy's family in WI. The ages in order in the picture are 1, 2, 3, & 4 (well, Isabel is really closer to 4.5, but the rest were close to their whole birthday.)

Right before we left I took Henry out to the barn. And he was super excited and started babbling a lot. I think he was saying "What? Their are animals here! Why have you been holding out on me?"

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T19:15:00.000-07:00

The top picture can also be seen in the collage below that was taken at our playgroup Halloween party. Henry wore 2 costumes that Isabel had worn when she was 17 months, a pumpkin & a mouse.

This collage is from when we attended Isabel's preschool halloween party. I thought it would be fun to bring him dressed too.

Last year, when Henry was 1 day old, we took him trick-or-treating to one house (closest neighbors). This year he got to do all the neighborhood trick-or-treating with his sister (until she got cold.) I pulled the kids around in their wagon.

We also took the kids to halloween event at RBNC. And daddy also took both kids to the haunted house put on my our high school SADD group. And I brought the kids to a Halloween/Monster storytime to which I let them go dressed in their costumes for.

More Birthday Pics

2010-10-31T19:05:00.000-07:00

The top collage is actually the after than the one below is the before. He wasn't too happy about the candles & not being able to touch his cake and started having a toddler breakdown.

We had his big birthday party last weekend when we were in WI by mommy's family. The kids have 2 cousins their age there, so it's more fun. We brought a long our bounce house as a fun activity for the party since Henry loves the bounce house. We decorated with a homemade banner I made, streamers & balloons. There were goodie bags for all the kids. And I made spaghetti & pizza & fruit (Some of Henry's favorites) for 14 people for dinner. And I also made him some lego cakes (see below). It was actually kind of a pain to make them. I went much simpler in the cake department for this weekend. Right now I just don't have the time to do elaborate cakes when I have two little ones tugging at me all the time, maybe some day. And of course we did some presents.

Happy 1st Birthday!!!

2010-10-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

I snapped these two collages while Henry was getting pictures taken by Skye. Tomorrow we will be doing family pictures & some more individual pictures of the kids.

This afternoon we had a birthday lunch for Henry and Grandma & Grandpa M. came over to join us. Here the kids are playing with the toy he received from them for his birthday (in combination with the toy Isabel gave him for his birthday). He is currently napping as I type and later we will have birthday cake with him (2nd time today since he had some this morning.)

51 Weeks

2010-10-22T19:44:00.000-07:00