It's been awhile.

Henry @ 13 months

Aunt Ea and Emrie Ann

It seems as though I have nearly fallin' of the blogging band wagon, huh? No I haven't, I have thought many times that I should sit down for a brief update on this or that, and that is the end of that.

Highlights

HENRY IS WALKING!! He walks like a pro! Thanksgiving day he decided that he was going to take off and now I rarely see him on his knees! Good job buddy! Sis thinks it is pretty awesome to walk holding hands and even play Ring Around the Roses together.

Emrie gave herself her first hair cut. Last Sunday morning I had the scissors upstairs in the bathroom to cut tags off of some new clothes...in a hurry, leaving for church, left them out. (Scissors are always locked away under the kitchen sink) We come home later that evening and I think nothing of Emrie going upstairs to go potty until she is quieter than normal and been missing for a few minutes longer than a typical potty break. I dash up the stairs with a gut feeling that I am about to see something terrible, I open the bathroom door and she smiles. Just a tiny bit of hair on the floor, no big deal. The next morning while combing her hair lots of clumps begin to fall out and that's when I notice the little spike section of her hair that she has chopped.....Oh no! It really isn't the worst at home hair cut I have seen a little one do, but depending on how I style her hair it is sometimes quite noticeable. It is growing fast and now a week later her spike is almost laying down!

Henry is a fan of the blues. Daddy has a new favorite blues artist he likes to listen to and Henry likes it to. The best is when Henry stands and sways his little body back and forth to the bluesy rhythm. He has defiantly got Papa Mikes musical sway!

Thanksgiving was yummy! Mom prepared a feast and I enjoyed every single bite!

Praise God for a time of Thanksgiving with my wonderful family, and ample delicious food!

Attitude of a 3 year old.

Henry gently greets Baby Jesus.

Slam Dunk Emrie!

Why is it, at every turn Emrie attempts to get away with something she knows isn't right? Last night when she was in her bedroom I could hear her say "stupid, stupid, stupid" So I went in and reminded her that we don't say stupid, and as I exited the room she whispers "stupid, stupid, stupid", I sigh and then go in for the punishment.

Today I was sitting at the computer checking my email when Emrie walked up beside me and said "I have nothing in my mouth." I now know that she just snuck a nibble of sugar cream pie. When I go to check she says "I just had a small taste mom." That small taste resulted in lots of little nibble marks. "It is tempting for me as well but together we must leave it alone until dinner time tonight." I tell her.

Henry is a baby who likes to hear a good song with a groovy beat. Emrie was never so much that way, but I love that when a tune comes on Henry's little body moves right to the beat. Sometimes the music moves him so much that his arms go straight out to the sides and he swings them back and forth rapidly. Tootsee Roll by 69 Boyz gets him like nothing else!

Praise God for a boring Tuesday afternoon.

More Birthday Fun Pictures

Emrie Ann enjoying Henry's new drum...hasn't been very quite around the house lately.

Henry's friend Micah, enjoying some of the yummy caterpillar cupcakes.

Henry looks pleasantly surprised with everyone singing Happy Birthday.

Big Sister leading Henry around, as usual.

Praise God for the bond between big sister and little brother, and for my big sister too.

Birthday Party Success

We had a fun evening Saturday with friends and family celebrating Henry's 1st B-day. Henry has had loads of fun riding his new quad from Uncle Jim, Aunt Beth and Jeremiah. He hasn't figured out the steering therefore he runs into whatever is directly ahead, & he seems to enjoy running into things.

Praise God for time to celebrate birthdays with friends and family

Milestones

Betch'a thought from the title of this blog Henry has started walking...Nope, not yet. He is holding out on us, I know he can do it!! No I was making reference to the fact that Emrie now colors mostly in the lines now. She has never been crazy about sitting down and paying attention to detail, but within the past week or so she has taken a liking to controlled coloring. Yay! I was beginning to worry that all her artwork would be abstract. Don't get me wrong, I cherish each and every work of art she creates, now she has a great sense of pride in the work she is accomplishing. While she diligently colored in her room today she summonsed me numerous times to see this or that which she had just colored. Bravo Emrie!

I have also been meaning to write down that Emrie is still a lover of belly skin or any skin that is extra soft. It does not matter to her in the least where we are or what we are doing if she feels the need for skin-she seeks it out. Pushing a grocery cart with her along my side, yeah she lifts the bottom of my shirt just enough to give my belly a rub...poor passerbyers. She can be in the midst of playing or watching a show and SNAP she needs skin. I can see it in her eyes, it is so funny and a little weird too! Almost every child has a "comfy" item of sorts and each child thank goodness grows out of it. If that were not so Aunt Ea would still be carrying around rubber night crawlers rubbing them on her face. That's right I said Rubber Night Crawlers! Yep that is weird too, huh? Aunt Ea turned out great, so I bet Emrie will too!

Also, today Henry showed me how much he loves to kick the soccer ball. I was holding his hands as he walked around the house and when he found the ball he kicked and chased after it just to kick it once again. Hmmm, maybe daddy will be playing him on the field next year, that is if he is walking by then!

Praise God for a night at the salon, and daddy who took care of the kids!

You've got to be kiddin'!

November Already? Last week flew by without a chance to sit down and put the happenings into my blog. The kids got hair cuts on Wednesday evening. Henry got his first professional cut, I didn't get the opportunity to video it or even take a picture since I was holding him in the chair. He didn't seem to be to worried about the strange lady taking scissors to his head. It took a long time to get him all trimmed up because he just wouldn't sit still, there was so much to see at the salon. I was sad to see all his dark tips of baby hair go, the stylist said it was so unusual for the dark tips to stay that usually the dark baby hair falls out. Emrie was next and she did a pretty good job of sitting still while she got her cute little bob style hair cut. She was so very proud of her hair do!

Greg had a disappointing championship loss with his 8th grade soccer team and a jerk referee that made it all worse. You win some and you lose some but this one hurt for sure. I am happy though that soccer season has come to an end and that Greg will have a little bit more free time...for a couple months anyway!

Saturday we spent the afternoon at Mama Jane and Papa Emery's. We dressed the kids up in their Halloween costumes and took them down to see Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Howdyshell. They were happy to see the Jeremiah dressed as and Indian Chief, Emrie Ann as Little Miss Muffet and Henry the Spider. The kids were happy to get a Tootsie Pop! Mama Jane spent the afternoon making huge pots of veggie soup and chili for Henry's 1st birthday party next weekend. Yummy! Thanks Mama!

Henry had a fever off and on all weekend long from his 1st year check-up shots. He also has several one year molars breaking through the surface, ouchy I am sure.

Sunday afternoon we took the kids down to the Logan Halloween parade. Emrie was wide eyed looking at all the kids and all the costumes. She was not a bit afraid of some of the scarier looking ones. Henry didn't seem to care or notice that anything special was going on he just enjoyed the stroller ride. After coming back to the house Henry took his afternoon nap we sat on the porch steps and handed out lots and lots of candy to lots and lots of kids. We didn't take Emrie Ann door to door, she seemed to be enjoying handing out candy as much as anything else. She did get lots of oooh and ahhhs on how cute she looked. Kudos to Mama Jane for making her bloomers and hat!

While tucking Emrie into bed last night our usual "Goodnight!, Sweet Dreams! & Buenas Noches!" was followed by "Happy Halloween!" What a fun time for a 3 year old!

Praise God for fun days!