Henry had a great birthday yesterday. Sarah and I woke Henry up by singing happy birthday as we walked into his room. It didn't go over very well. He's like me and needs a few minutes to wake up. And by a "few" I mean 30. We started the day off right with a couple of presents and breakfast on the red birthday plate.
Later he and Sarah played in the sprinklers. Well, not exactly. Henry got a little freaked out by the moving sprinklers so he spent most of the time sliding his bum down the driveway. I don't get it either. I didn't take any pictures of that because I was trying to plant flowers at the time and Henry never did anything but whine.
I finished his cake during his nap. This time it was actually harder than it looked. Getting frosting to stick to Oreo crumbs is a little tricky.
Justin brought home balloons. Always a hit.
We had his party at the park and my parents, sister and her family, aunt and her family plus Justin's parents, his 2 brothers and their wives came. It was a lot of fun.
Snitching some frosting before we sang.
He knew just what to do after we finished singing. He didn't even notice that the candles had already blown out from the wind. So we lit them again and he blew them out (with a little breezy help).
Happy family
Henry finally got to lick off the car.
These cars from my mom were one of the first presents he opened. He didn't want to put them down to open anything else.
His first look at Henryville.
He got this rocking motorcycle from Justin's parents. It has caused some drama around here. I hope the novelty wears off soon so my kids can be friends again.
He's obsessed with motorcycles.
Isn't the day after your birthday the most fun?
I just want to throw in a few pictures from Monday.
For FHE we planted our garden. My kids love dirt.
Doesn't this just capture his two-ness?
And here are some photos from last week that are no longer secret.
Lest you think my kids are just so cooperative, here's how most of them look. You can divide the remaining 100+ pictures into three categories.
Henry smiling but not looking at the camera.
Henry looking at the camera but not smiling.
Or just pulling funny faces and not holding still.
Sarah tried to "help" Henry hold still.
Sarah, on the other hand, knows just what to do to get pictures over with and get on with our lives.
But this was her after the billionth try of getting Henry to smile and look in the general direction of the camera. I guess everyone has their photo limits.
There's a little bit of her dad in her after all......
I'm in the middle of baking Henry's birthday cake, washing 6 loads of laundry, setting up visiting teaching appointments and starting dinner. Why not throw a blog post in there?
How was your mother's day? Mine was pretty darn good. I woke up to a French toast breakfast and this little masterpiece.
I love my little kiddos. Sarah was super cheesy all day giving me extra hugs and telling me happy mother's day. I liked it. The fifth mother's day song plunked on the baby piano got a little old though.
We saw both of our moms and talked to Elder Dallin on the phone. Plus I ate a lot of good food which always makes for a good day. And now I have a recipe rock.
This morning was Sarah's preschool graduation. She's not the youngest in her class but she's nearly the shortest.
Henry loved being there. You'd think he'd like nursery but no.
Sarah said her favorite part of preschool was reading stories and she wants to be an engineer when she she grows up. I hope this shot doesn't foreshadow any beauty pageants in her future.
They made these books for them with samples of their work and some photos of their time at preschool. I love it!
Her cubby.
Teacher Lavi.
Mrs. Crandall. I think she told me to call her Kathryn but I can't. She was my 8th grade foods teacher so she will always be Mrs. Crandall.
She's so ready for kindergarten but she's my fall baby so she's got another year of preschool. She was so sad all weekend knowing today was her last day. But then she was such a stinker this morning to get her out the door. Maybe she needs a summer break too.
So I did end up feeling guilty that I didn't post much about Sarah last time so to be an equal-blogging parent, here is my favorite daughter. First I had to be super obnoxious and get up in her grill and get some pictures of her.
To get her to clean up, we play the "What's Missing?" game. (From Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, where I get all my parenting skills.) One person puts away 2-4 things then the other person comes back in the room and guesses what the person put away. It makes cleaning take a lot longer but there's no crying or whining (usually).
Sarah's trying to figure out what I put away then it will be her turn. (When it's her room we're cleaning,she's always the put-away-er.)
Here's some more Sarah. See, you're loved, little lady.
And some more. She was actually getting tired of me.
I think she makes it pretty clear how annoying I was being with the camera.
I got the kids some sunglasses since Sarah lost hers again and Henry might be old enough to not snap them in two the moment I hand them to him. It's been 2 weeks and so far, so good. Henry wears them right-side up 50% of the time now. Progress!
Justin's brother Nate and his wife Melissa and Braden's wife Kristen all graduated from BYU.
There's Nate somewhere.
Oh wait, more Sarah. We were waiting to leave the fieldhouse.
Sarah was very excited that Nate doesn't have to do homework anymore.
Here are the graduates and spouses. It was a good day.
Our little future graduate. She's going to be an engineer just like her dad and "build houses and churches and temples and I'll even use pipes too!"
We had a bbq at Justin's parents house that evening. Like any good Dye family gathering, there are multiple kinds of meat.
This, my friends, is 9-Square. The king is in the middle so has to defend from all sides. It's intense and hilarious and gets ridiculous.
Like when the king can call special rules like everyone has to play with chicken wings. Or hop on one foot. Or make animal sounds or name a cereal.
Henry's watching the game while sitting on a basketball and eating cream puffs that he just discovered he can't live without.
And to make a rainy day a bit less dreary, we made a cushion cave. Here's Sarah giving a tour.
Can I tell you how many times a day I clear cars off the stairs and my kitchen table? And off the couch and my bed? And out of Henry's bed and out of pockets? 51.
Random picture. My tree makes me happy.
And just to end on a Sarah note, here's preview of the pictures I took of my kids for Henry's birthday/spring/mother's day. You'll have to wait until next week for the rest.
Next week we've got Sarah's last day of preschool, Henry's birthday, my dad's birthday, then we leave for Disneyland. Woohoo!!!
I'm pretty sure the moment I knew I was having a boy, I knew I wanted to make a car mat but then I had to wait two more years for him to fully appreciate it. My little brother had one growing up that we played with all the time. And Justin had one his parents made for him. So those, along with some I found online were the inspiration for Henryville. I tried to think of places that Henry likes to go around town along with creating places he can use his other little toys. He still has to wait a couple of weeks until his birthday to see it. All the blocks were made individually and then sewn to a 3' x 4' piece of dark grey felt to create the roads. It's made with mostly felt but there's some other fabrics, ric-rac, a shoelace, and some buttons around town as well. Someday if I'm feeling ambitious or if I have another boy, I may make another that lines up with the roads.
First stop, the woods. Henry is getting a set of little forest animals for his birthday as well. They can hang out here. The tent is big enough for a hotwheel to be tucked inside since I figured that's what Henry would try to do anyway.
This is the farm for his little tractor to plow the fields and a corral for his horse. Notice the fruit trees?
And a lake for his boats.
This is the church although it looks nothing like the church building we attend. I don't like the look of our decades old stake center so we get a generic building instead.
Here's Spanish Fork library and the playground behind it.
And what would a car town be without a gas station and car wash?
Ice cream store, toy store, and the all-important Chuck-a-Rama. I needed some more ideas and asked Sarah where her favorite place to go was thus the inclusion of Chuck-a-Rama
A construction site for all the trucks.
Nana and Papa's house, my parents' house, and our house. I think I did a freakishly good job capturing these houses in felt.
And the all-important Macey's. See the grocery cart, flowers, and tower of oranges? This was my first and favorite block.
Sarah played with it every step of its creation so I'm pretty sure it's going to be a hit around here.
