birthday boy

today was the day to celebrate our precious two year old. henry bug is a sweet, curious, quiet, loving, relaxed, yet spunky and active little boy. he loves cars, trains, babies, his big brother, cuddling, reading books, eating, climbing, jumping, running, puzzles, and coloring. he is definitely a daddy's boy and managed to wrap daddy around his little finger quite easily. he talks up a storm and has the most adorable little lisp. he can count and recognize numbers up to 10, knows all of his letters, and is working hard on colors. we are always entertained by his goofy antics and funny one-liners. he brings a smile to everyone's face.

we love candles and singing happy birthday around here and so we did that twice today.
once at breakfast:

and once at dinner:

this weekend we will have a party to celebrate all things henry.
for today we say, happy birthday little bug. we love you to the moon...and back.

planes, trains, and barbie dolls?

sharing the classroom with one of my best friends has been a blessing.  we get along great, share similar beliefs about teaching, and lean on one another for mommy advice.  unfortunately, it's rare that we get to see one another, let alone each others kids.  we were lucky to have the girls spend the day with us recently when kate needed some back-up daycare. so, while she went off to teach our 28 third graders...I got to spend the day playing with four adorable little towheads. 

anyone who has a house full of boys will tell you that, besides the random baby doll here or there, there is nary a pink frilly barbie doll in the house. kylin and grace showed up each toting an american girl doll and a giant pink box jammed full of barbies...including all of the tiny little shoes, brushes, dresses, crowns that come along with them.  I was in heaven and the brothers were fascinated.  I should mention that they came with the entire entourage of Disney princesses...all part of some very popular movies in this house.  so while the brothers played barbies, the sisters built a pretty impressive train track city.

as for this next shot...let's just say that henry will love me for this at his high school graduation.

I could NOT resist!
after an early lunch, we set out on a little walk. keep in mind it's january folks.

good thing we brought along the stoller, we needed something to haul around all our our hats & mittens.  geesh.

what's that, you say? why those would be GOLFERS...no coats...no snow...january...in minnesota. 

let's take pictures by the tree, miles!

these two crack me up. they are both rugged little ones who love to climb and try all things "brave" - especially if their older siblings say they are "too little"


but sometimes they are too brave. case in point: just moments after I snapped this picture of an icy puddle, mr. "I-don't-need-a-coat" ended up like this:


it was a great day with the girls and we look forward to our next play date!

january fun

normally, january in minnesota means sledding, shoveling, snowman building, bundling up, and all other things winter. minus one good snowstorm early in the the month...

we've have a serious lack of snow.  we've had to improvise on ways to beat the cabin fever that is inevitable once the post-holiday season sets in.  luckily, we had no trouble finding fun in our community.

starting with pip squeaks - an adorable (and CHEAP) indoor play place for little ones.  what can be better than a gymnasium full of toys followed  by a kid friendly lunch at mcdonalds?

there has been plenty of living room fun around here:

puny pirates v. captain hook (the cap'n didn't stand a chance):

reading books to our stuffed friends:

dress up:

making breakfast:

celebrating a special little one year old:


SIDE NOTE: back in december, henry managed to ram into the upholstered arm of our living room chair. we noticed immediately that his front tooth had pushed back slightly. I was terrified that it was going to fall right out and my sweet (not yet) 2 year old would be left with a gaping hole in his smile for the next 4-5 years. lucky for us, it stayed intact...but did begin to discolor a few weeks later. here you can see that it's now a lovely shade of gray.

the dentist said there's a chance it will lighten up a bit, but we aren't holding our breath. we just figure it's a battle scar and shows how "brave" our little climber is. gotta love that big ol' smile!

to fondue or fondon't...that is the question.

I think we have started a new new year's eve tradition and you know how traditions make my heart happy! the boys LOVED dipping all sorts of yummy treats into the vats of cheesy or the chocolatey goodness.

we snuggled everyone who didn't meet the 5 foot height requirement into their beds by 8pm and then played a game or two before needing to get up and WAKE up in order to ring in the new year.

two pregnant mommas make for quite the exciting evening. (and if you're wondering...yes that IS sparkling juice...oh how I missed my bottle, er glass, of champagne!)

we seriously considered counting the live east coast ball drop celebration as "good enough" so that we could be home and tucked into bed by 11:30. alas, we decided to tough it out and ring in the ACTUAL new year surrounded by those we love.

one extra little buddy decided to join us at about 11:45. he wasn't too awake, but took notice of the man hosting the times square celebration in a pair 2012 boxers. out of nowhere miles says, "that man is only wearing his underpants!"


we welcome 2012 with open arms and great anticipation for the arrival of our third child. it's bound to be a GREAT YEAR!