Birthday Boy!

Henry had his long awaited Construction Party the Sunday after his birthday. It was a great time! We had lots of family come, and all the kids had a blast. They loved digging in the sandbox with Henry's new digger, jumping on the trampoline, and knocking down the homemade wall with our makeshift demolition ball. I have to say it was a great party, and it will be hard to beat next year. Thank you to everyone who helped make it a success!

The Construction family - Clay who was sleeping


Our birthday tables

chasing Dylan

Henry's new digger from Mommy, Daddy, and Clay


Our demolition game


Henry's backhoe cake. Made by me! (idea from Family Fun website)

Not afraid to dig in! I also made cupcakes with worms and dirt.



Enjoying cake

Opening presents

Rainger on the 4 wheeler

playing baseball

jumping on the trampoline

playing with Dylan

Madison and Clay

Lisa, Richard, and cousin Tilly

Henry with Aunt Leslie and Uncle Jamie

A Week of Fun

I have got to catch up! A couple of weeks ago Jeff was out of town so we decided to fill our week with fun. We took a class at The Core, took a class at Gymboree in Columbia, went to the playground, had our birthday fun snack at school, and ate birthday lunch at Pizza Lane with Nana, Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Jay (who has the same birthday as Henry), Tyler, Dylan, and Molly.

The Core was great. The instructor had stations set up that Henry and I could explore together. We worked on balance, retaining information, shapes, colors, and hand-eye coordination. Henry liked the big swing they had and the rock climbing wall the best!

Gymboree was fun too. We met my Aunt Linda there with my cousin's daughter, Mia. Her and Henry are almost a year a part. We got there early (doesn't happen much when you have two kids and you have to drive 45 minutes) and decided to go in Barnes and Noble to read and play at the train table. This could have been a trip in itself. I think Henry likes B&N almost as much as Mimi! The class was great. A lot of using your imagination, balancing, and taking risks. We went to Mia's house afterwards for lunch and more play, and had a blast!

Henry celebrated his birthday at school on Thursday. While his class was on the playground I set up his cupcakes and other snacks. He was so surprised when I met them outside. He loved all of the attention and his teacher made him feel so special by making him a hat, a necklace, a place mat, and giving him a book about reptiles. He even got to show off for me by standing up in front of the class to sing a song, talk about the colors they had been working on and pointing and identifying his numbers. A proud mommy moment! He is not shy!

On Henry's actual birthday (Saturday) my mom watched the boys while I ran last minute birthday party errands for Sunday. When I came back, we had a special birthday lunch at Pizza Lane (Henry's choice- he likes that you can watch cartoons while you eat and they serve ice cream at the end). What a great week and we haven't even had his party yet. Talk about stretching out your birthday!


Birthday snack with wormy cupcakes


His sweet little class



Leading the class in the fish counting song complete with hand motions

Counting the fish



Playing at Gymboree

Not so sure about the hug from his cousin, Mia

Can never get bored with a train table


A few pictures of Clay in his jumper

Henry Day!

Henry will turn 3 next Saturday! Where has the time gone? Jeff will be gone next week so he took the day off Friday and we took just Henry (hence the Henry Day) to the aquarium in Charleston. Jeff and I both went to school there and haven't been in so long that it was fun for us too!

We ate lunch at Kicken Chicken one of our musts when we go to Charleston. Very yummy, but not the healthiest in the world. I won't tell you what we ate, just that I had to run extra hard this morning!

Henry loved the aquarium, especially the wooden boat the children could play on. Henry is not shy. He immediately put on a life jacket, took the wheel and said Arrr Matey. He informed us he was the captain and he was going to an island. When other children tried to get on the boat he thrust a life jacket at them and asked if they wanted to be his Matey. A little on the bossy side...

He loved the touch tank, snakes, sharks, and huge sea turtle. We got to see a diver clean the rocks in one tank, which was pretty neat. The children's play area had a huge tank with Dory's and Nemo's which was a hit too!

We ended the day at Ben and Jerry's where Henry left with a cookie's and cream ring around around his mouth and all was well! Happy Henry Day!

Next week week we have lots of fun activities planned along with Henry's fun snack for his birthday at school and his construction party on Sunday!

3 months

Clay was 3 months on the 9th of February. He is doing great! Definitely a big, happy, healthy baby! He is doing great at tummy time, lifting his head for long periods of time. He loves to lay on his mat on his back and try to grab the animals. Right now he just punches them with his fists, but he really concentrates at trying to get them. He loves to laugh and smile, but gets really upset when his brother yells or talks really loud. He loves looking at Henry and watching everything he does. He loves to make noises (talk) when you talk to him and is constantly jumping up and down when you stand him on his feet. I think Clay will be just as talkative and active as Henry!

He is eating every three hours with his first feeding at 7, and going to bed around 8. He still doesn't have definite nap times, but he takes several during the day and usually a longer right around the time that Henry does. Hopefully we can work on more of a schedule in the next couple of weeks. I can't say enough about how happy of a baby he is! We are so blessed to have him in our family.

I still don't have a lot of pictures of him and Henry together. Henry loves his brother, but he wants to be around him on his own terms. If you want him to hold him or them to sit together his answer is usually no. He loves his brother and kisses him before bed, but that's about the extent of their relationship right now. Hopefully we can get them together more soon!

I can't believe we have a 3 month old and an almost 3 year old! Time flies! We love our very talkative, very active, sweet boys!


Look at me!

Ok, that's enought mom!

Worn out!