Henry's 3 Year Old Birthday List

My little boy is now three. He is turning into quite a little charmer, with a great sense of humor to boot. He has gone through several phases (obsessions) this year starting with the Nutcracker before Christmas, then he switched to the Peter Pan phase (wearing his Halloween costume almost every day) and now he is into the Toy Story phase (Toy Story 3 is in the theaters right now, so there is lots of merchandise in the stores and our house). He has a wonderful imagination, likes to do projects of all kinds, and especially enjoys evening swim trips to the pool with Vince and Eleanor. Hen can almost swim and has no fear of jumping right into the deep end, with Vince there to catch him of course.

1. What is your favorite color?
Green.



2. What are your favorite toys?
Buzz, Woody, Aliens. Um, soldiers.

3. Where do you like to go when we go outside?
On the walkway.



4. What is your favorite book?
Toy Story.

5. What things do you like to do or play with?
Read. Play with Buzz and Woody.

6. Who are your friends?
Sammy. EVERYBODY!

7. What is your favorite food?
Nothing. [Too true.]

8. Anything else you want to say?
Uuuum, I want to love treats. Um, soldiers. Um, applesauce. Um, Adelaide.

Three Kids at 5 Weeks

Eleanor at about 5 weeks:


Henry at about 5 weeks:


And, our most recent addition, Adelaide at 5 weeks and a day -- first with a sleepy smile and then another sleeping shot (for size) in my arms:

Adelaide Louise

Ok, folks. I finally uploaded the pictures to Flickr of our little Adelaide's arrival. For those who haven't heard the details -- she was 8 lbs 7 oz, 21 inches and pink as anything. She is doing well, sleeping quite a bit, nursing easily and generally really sweet. Labor and delivery, as well as most of the pregnancy for that matter, were quite drama free -- a really nice way to have a baby. We arrived at the hospital about 6:30 or so, they had me walk around for a while, my water was broken at 11:00 am, I got an epidural at 3:00ish (7 cm-ish) and at 3:30 we were ready to roll. After about 15 minutes Adelaide was born -- 3:44 pm! If I had more energy I'd write a more detailed post but we are officially outnumbered around here and I am trying to rest as much as possible before Vince heads back to work.

Snow, Round Two

Here are some pictures from our second snowstorm. We had at least a foot on top of last week's dump. It is pretty white around here. I am already a bit nervous for the flood we may have when it all melts. I guess we will deal with that when it happens.

Adventures in Snow

It has been a snowy winter for our area. The past few days we have been without power but luckily have great family and friends who have been helping out in many ways. Thanks to Grandaddy for getting us situated in a hotel those first couple of cold nights. Thanks to our neighbor up the street for using his mini loader to clear the road so we could get to the hotel. Thanks to our next door neighbor for clearing out sidewalks and drive with his snow blower and bringing us bread from the store. Thanks to everyone else who offered warm houses and words of encouragement. We are safe, warm (almost too warm, since we fear we may loose power again with the predicted accumulation tonight) and doing quite well in terms of morale. Anyway, here are a few pictures from our adventures. More to come as I get organized and download the other camera.

The New Baby

So, I am about two months behind on posting this but here is the ultrasound picture of baby #3. A girl. We are very excited to have her here with us in the spring.

Christmas 2009

We had such a lovely Christmas with family and friends, but only barely made it to Michigan before a historic snowstorm hit the DC area and all of the airports were closed. I won't recount the whole flight switching/rushing to the airport in (also historic) traffic/barely making the flight saga but needless to say, I hope never to have to do it again.

We decorated cookies with Grandma:



We decorated a gingerbread house with Nana and Aunt Glee:





We opened...



and enjoyed lots of presents:



We managed to get a decent Christmas Eve shot with everyone in it using the timer:



We played in the snow -- a meager amount compared to what was at home, but very fun nonetheless:



We made snow angels:



And went sledding:



Finally, though I don't have a proper picture of it, one of the kids favorite things this holiday season has been to put on full length, full costume productions of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Eleanor as Clara, Henry as the Nutcracker Prince and whatever adult is handy and willing as the "Mean Rat King". There certainly is some magic about this music and story, which has fully and completely infected the hearts of Eleanor and Henry. I took Eleanor this year to a community production of the Nutcracker and look forward to taking both of them next year.

Thank you everyone for a wonderful Christmas season. Regrettably, I haven't gotten Christmas cards out this year -- maybe I'll be able to get my act together by Valentine's day. Whether or not I end up getting cards out, please know that we love you all and miss those of you who we don't see often.

Eleanor's 4 Year Old Birthday List

Eleanor is 4 now. I can hardly believe it. I am sure I write that every time a birthday passes, but it is true. She is confident and chatty but still somewhat observant in new situations.



She is skipping and hopping on one foot and generally enjoying life. She doesn't nap very much anymore, but by bedtime seems to have greatly needed a bit of rest. Eleanor and Henry play little games of imagination together all the time and it just melts my heart to see. They are both excited about the arrival of their sister in the spring. My intention is not to let so much time pass before the next post, but we'll just see how things go. Without further adieu, here is Eleanor's 4 year old list. My questions, her words below.

1. What is your favorite color?
Uh...blue and pink.

2. What are your favorite toys?
Mmm...all my birthday gifts. [Birthday gifts included a princess dress, crown, high heel shoes, fairy wand, and many more.] My pink bike. Mom, I have a question for you, I want Henry to share Wall-e a little bit more with me because I haven't played with Wall-e much yet. So, Henry is going to go to sleep early tonight and I am going to play with Wall-e a little bit. I have another question for the computer, I like, also, also favorite colors are red and yellow.


[Playing Sleeping Beauty in her new dress.]

3. Where do you like to go when we go outside?
Mmm...play in the snow. Play in the car and the backyard.

4. What is your favorite book?
Mmm...Little [Brown] Bear and the Little Bundle of Joy [by Jane Dyer]. [Thanks to Lilly for this very appropriate birthday gift.] The Three Little Pigs.

5. What things do you like to do or play with?
I like to play with my princess balloon [thanks Nonna]. I really like to do, uh, I really like to, mmm, ah, play ball with my Daddy.

6. Who are your friends?
Vivian and Lilly and Riley and Talan and Kalie.

7. What is your favorite food?
Cinnamon bread [which we just had for lunch], applesauce, just regular bread.

8. Anything else you want to say?
Yes. Uh...to play soccer with my Daddy. And I like watching trains. And I like going to the Metro with Daddy. Well, I have another friend to tell you Mom, computer friend, I mean I am saying it to the computer, can I please say another friend? Someone who has long hair I am thinking about. It is Luke. [Me: He doesn't really have long hair.] I just said him because I like men and women. I've got another book to tell the computer. The one about the Nutcracker. I want to tell Ms. Paula to the computer. Ms. Paula is a little bit growly, her voice. I'm going to sing ABCD and you can write it. I want to say something else to it. I have another favorite color, I do, I do, I do! Green. And, red and orange. And, pink is my last favorite color. And all the colors in the world. I got so much stuff. I want to say something about...that I want Henry to play ball ball with me. I don't have any more stuff to say. No Mom, I don't.

California Trip: Day 2 -- Muir Woods

Our first full day in San Francisco we were up early and headed in to the city before traffic was to heavy. We found a little corner coffee shop and I had rhubarb pie for breakfast. The perfect way to start your day!



Then we headed to Muir Woods National Monument, a wonderful place to see the magnificent redwoods.





The kids enjoyed the walk, particularly looking for wildlife and reading the signs posted along the trail.



Two notable discoveries were the deer:



and the banana slug:



I found it particularly interesting to learn that the redwood sorrel is so accustomed to low light that it closes if too much direct light filters through the trees.



On the ride home, we took a different path and crossed the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge for the first time.

California Trip: Day 1 - San Francisco

I am going to go back to our California trip and try and put down a few thoughts, more likely though it will be a good deal of pictures. Since we have SO many pictures, I'll try and go day by day.

The kids were amazing on the long flight. They played lots of games, the favorite was probably using the old disconnected telephones as boats for their "guys". That took us through the last wiggly hour without any sort of meltdown at all.



Our first afternoon in San Francisco, we went down to Golden Gate Park and had a little walk around, to try and keep the kids awake so they could switch on to California time. They played hide and seek in the very different vegetation, which I couldn't help mentioning over and over.



We also stopped in for a snack and a visit at the de Young Museum's sculpture garden, where Eleanor and Henry made a good impression on the security guard by looking but not touching the sculptures. Eleanor even did a few sculpture impersonations herself.



We checked in to our hotel, which was perfectly situated slightly outside of the city but close enough to walk to Trader Joe's and a few other shops. And, everyone even slept reasonably well.

Henry is Two!

My sweet little boy is two years old. He talks a blue streak in amazingly understandable English. He runs, jumps and climbs all over the place, just as one would expect. He is a snuggly, lovey, sweet little boy and I am so happy to have him in our lives. [I may put a few more pictures up once the computer issue is resolved, we have a bunch of nice shots from our trip.]



What is your favorite color?
Brown

2. What are your favorite toys?
Mmm. [Thinking.] Mmm. Mmm. Wicker dicker toy. [Henry has been saying "wicker dicker" and "ocker docker" a lot lately. Not sure what it is about but it is pretty funny.]

3. Where do you like to go when we go outside?
At store. [With Eleanor in the background saying "to the farmers market!"] I want to see a train.

4. What is your favorite book?
Mmm. Wicker dicker book. [I think he likes the Chalkbox Story by Don Freeman, Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, and anything about trucks or trains.]

5. What things do you like to do or play with?
Wicker dicker like play with. [I notice him playing with his "guys", cars, trains, trucks and his new scooter that Vince got him for his birthday. And, any kind of pushing toy. He is very happy to play along side Eleanor, for the most part.]

6. Who are your friends?
Mmm. I want go down on the floor, Mama! [He is getting tired of my questioning. I would say his partner in crime is definitely Anna and he also hangs out with Eleanor's friends.]



7. What is your favorite food?
Mmm. Wicker dicker food. [I think he is just saying wicker dicker because now I laugh every time he does. Henry seems to like pizza, milk and anything sweet. He has my sweet tooth for sure.]

Crash.

I have a lot of posting to catch up on. We have taken two major trips, celebrated a 95th birthday, a 2nd birthday, and a wedding. We also have pictures of the garden and I need to get Henry's 2 year question and answer post up. However, our desktop with all of our pictures has crashed so it may take a bit longer. I was feeling sick about it this morning but we are just going to see what we can do to recover the pictures and move forward from here. Our laptop sort of works, however, I do not trust it nearly enough to download all of our pictures from the trip. So, for those of you who are eager to see images from our California adventure and Mike's wedding, please be patient and we'll be with you shortly!

Our Memorial Day Visitor

This morning we had a visit. I was sleeping (the kids have been sick and up in the middle of the night/waking up early) and all of a sudden I heard Henry crying and "HOLY S&!$!! MOLLY GET OUT HERE." I know when Vince uses my name and that tone of voice something is seriously wrong. I imagined a loss of limb or some other horror. As I rounded the corner to the back porch, I heard "Henry got bit by a snake." Then I felt a moment of complete panic. Henry and Vince were both freaking out and there was a four foot long black snake on the porch inches from the door leading inside.



We checked Henry for bites and comforted him. I didn't see anything that looked as if it might be a bite, so I took a moment to size up the snake. I had recently heard that some of our neighbors had spotted black rat snakes around the neighborhood up to seven feet in length. This snake fit the bill, it was long and skinny with a thin head, back in color with a whitish belly. Really beautiful and shiny, though somewhat scary as well -- especially if you are barely three feet tall, I imagine.

Anyway, we got everyone calmed down, opened the back door and watched the snake explore our back porch before finally making his way back out into the yard. Eleanor decided she wanted to name it "Eleanor" and Henry thought a good name would be "Henry". Whatever the name, it is somewhere out in the wilds of our backyard.



Edited to add Vince's perspective. He sent this out to a few but I thought it should be included here as well:

A story –

So on Monday, Henry and Eleanor were sick and the kids and I were watching cartoons on the couch while Molly was taking a nap. Henry gets bored with the cartoons after awhile and heads for our screened-in porch to play. After he’s been away a few minutes, he starts crying this really sharp, I’m-hurt-come-and-help-me cry. I thought he must have been stung by a bee, and I rush for the porch. When I get there I see the following snake coiled up next to him. From the crying, I assume he’s been bit. I was totally freaking out and called for Molly, who was very calm about the whole thing. We checked Henry out and he was OK (no bite marks). But it sure scared me. I was feeling phantom snakes crawl across my feet the rest of the day. The snake is a black rat snake, apparently pretty common around here. It’s a non-poisonous constrictor that eats rodents, but has been described as “snappy” and will bite (and can break skin) if cornered.

In the Big Bed and Potty Trained

Henry has, for the past several days, been sleeping in a twin bed. He has had a few middle of the night wake ups and a few running out of the room while trying to fall asleep giggles but generally has done really well.



And, Eleanor is completely out of diapers. Hooray!

The Garden is Growing

Well, the garden is managing to grow a little bit. Hooray! We have some potatoes planted in the garden and also some planted in an old kids bathtub -- an idea we got from the fantastic book Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots by Sharon Lovejoy. Also, from the same book we planted a Sunflower House, which will hopefully be a place where the kids can hide out while I putz around in the garden. We also have some peas (shelling and snow), which are sprouting nicely. We have a nice patch of mesclun lettuces (growing well) and some arugula (slow starting). Hopefully, we will also have some tomatoes, beans, peppers, and who knows what else...

Anyway, here are a few pictures.

The potatoes:



The lettuce:



Where the Sunflower House will be (hopefully!):



And, Henry calling, "Are you worms?" [Where are you worms?]