henry goes to the park

Alright, it's decided: Everyone should take Henry to the park once in their life. He is just sooooo much fun!

And, yes, we have a covered bridge at our park. We do live in Winterset, after all!!

better late than never?

Henry turning one is old news by now, but I realized I didn't do the official 12 month post. I actually managed to do one for all the other months, so I had to complete this project. Phew. Here are the latest Henry stats:

• he sports 7 teeth...4 on the top, 3 on the bottom. he has suffered with some of them, poor guy, but still continues to be the happiest little buddy
• he has an interest in anything that he can unload. cupboards, dressers, toy boxes, grocery bags...you get the idea.
• he has taken just a few steps without holding onto anything but he still definitely prefers crawling
• current likes: phones, trips to the grocery store, Rufus, his toy drum, bath time, watching out the window for Daddy, sticking his left pointer finger into small spaces, climbing the stairs, spoons...and things that look like spoons, light switches, balls...and things that look like balls, music, smoothies, going to see Daddy at work, playing peek-a-boo, books
• current dislikes: getting his diaper changed, getting his face wiped off, sleeping, sitting in his high chair, most of the food we try to feed him, being told 'no'
• he is more of a social butterfly than ever. when we're in public, he can spot anyone under the age of 4 or over the age of 70 from a mile away and makes it his mission to get that person's attention. this could result in trying to engage them in a game of peek-a-boo, pointing at them and repeatedly gasping, or holding a 'so-big' pose until they finally notice him
• he says a few words or parts of words. examples: book, ball, spoon, boo (for peek-a-boo), star, dog, what's that, nose, da-da, duck. and he knows signs for more, all done, and milk
• he got his fifth haircut on saturday
• he has a really good memory! example: one of his lift-the-flap books has a page where you find the baby's belly button. one day i showed him my belly button and now every time we read it, he tries to find the bottom of my shirt to look for it again.
• and now for a photo year in review. :) i'm trying to decide which month he changed the most. i think it's between 8 and 9. or maybe 2 and 3?

You Know Your Husband's A Band Director If...

• Your Friday night date to Olive Garden is interrupted by a phone call from a 16-year-old kid asking what color socks he's supposed to wear the next day.
• while opening your one-year-old son's new percussion set and sorting through the instruments, he excitedly exclaims, "Castanets?? Are you kidding me?!?" (if you're asking yourself 'what's a castanet?' don't worry...i had no idea either.)
• while kicking up his feet to watch some t.v., he often conducts the songs on the commercials with his big toe.
• your autumn-time alarm clock is the sound of your husband's voice on a megaphone, as it carries across town
• while telling your husband how much our son likes his new mini piano, he interrupts you to explain that it's not actually a piano because the hammer is not actually hitting the strings. The technical term would be clavichord because you can't adjust the volume of the note. (*Okay, so that might be far from his actual quote because I'm pretty sure I started to zone out during that whole exchange.)
• your child's favorite weekly event is going to Monday night jazz band rehearsal.
• 75% of the kids working at the local Fareway know you. That means you should probably remember that you're going to be embarrassed if you go there in your pajamas.
• when asked, "What does Daddy do at work?", your son waves his arms around in true conducting fashion.
• your son is getting really cool experiences that i often take for granted...going to marching band contests -- how cool is that??

In all seriousness, I love being married to a band director! But it's quite possible that Henry loves it more... :)

it's all fun and games until yogurt hits the fan

After my last post about looking for ways to stay entertained during the winter months, I had several good suggestions from friends. One was a reference to this website that has tons and tons of great ways to play with your kids and give them hands-on learning experiences! Seriously, it's a good one. BUT do pay special attention to the photos that accompany each play activity. They're important.

After reading the post about Yogurt Play, I just had to try it. Like, immediately. So I stripped Henry down to his diaper, drug his high chair into the kitchen, brought the space heater along to keep him warm, and plopped a big 'ol dollup of yogurt onto his tray. The idea is that you use yogurt and food coloring to let kids experiment with mixing color and touching/spreading the yogurt is a good sensory activity. Henry was very hesitant at first. He kinda poked the yogurt and then made his 'yuck' face. I tried to help him along by spreading it around his tray a little. And then, just as the 'I'm all boy' lightbulb clicked, he raised his little hand above his head and SMACKED it down right into the pile of yogurt. All at once, yogurt hit the refrigerator, the cabinets, the oven, the floor, and the mom. My brain said 'panic' but I knew I needed to embrace the mess. The blog post said so! SMACK, SMACK, SMACK. The yogurt is flying as I nervously laugh and scoop a little of the excess off his tray. I grabbed the camera, snapped a few shots, and then off to the bathtub he went with Daddy so I could mop the kitchen from ceiling to floor. Afterward, I reread the post to see just how messy her kid got cuz I failed to notice that the first time around. And that's when I saw it. Her kid having yogurt play on a tarp in the backyard. Ohhhhhhhhhhh....now I get it.

finding fun

Now that January is here and winter seems to be in full swing, we're having to find other ways to have fun besides loading up the stroller and walking to Frostie's. Dang. Here's what we've come up with lately...

Playdates with friends (sorry about the blurry. those little guys don't hold still. like ever.)

Cardboard box forts

Digging through and unloading Momma's purse.

I just noticed that Henry is definitely wearing pajamas in all three pictures. That's another theme around here, regardless of the season :) I will admit that I am feeling a little bit of cabin fever these days. Last winter was similar in that we were home most of the time, but different in the fact that Henry was tiny and usually sleeping. Now I feel like he's joining in the stir crazy with me. So, I'm curious. What do/did you do to keep your 13-month-old busy during the winter months? I'm open to any and all suggestions. And hurry! He's is, at this exact moment, biting my pant leg and panting like a puppy.

photo recap

I have fallen behind on documenting all the celebrating we've been doing lately, so I thought I'd put it all together in one looooong photo post! Hope you don't mind :)

On December 17, we headed north to Cedar Falls for Dameon's graduation from UNI. He is now official Master's Degree in Principalship holder. (is that the right word? holder? i dunno...i'm not the one with the master's degree.) It was a long and grueling two and a half years for him, writing paper after paper, going to three hours worth of class every Wednesday night (plus way more in the summers), and going through lots of life changes along the way. We are all so proud of him for finishing and finishing ON TIME! It was especially neat to have Henry there, since he was just a dream of ours when the whole thing began back in August of 2009. After the ceremony, we went out to lunch at one of our favorite Cedar Valley restaurants: Bourbon Street. Yum!

The next day was the much-anticipated birthday party. We bustled around all morning decorating the fabulous Madison County Dessert Factory for the occasion. We were so very grateful to the Bonham Family for letting us use their space. And their cake? Outta this world! The party was a great success and we were so appreciative to our friends and family who made the trip to celebrate with us. Of course, Henry didn't like all the attention one bit. ;)


On the actual day of his birthday, I took Henry to jazz band rehearsal (per our usual Monday night routine) so he could celebrate with Daddy and the kids. An extra bonus was that we got rid of all our leftover candy and cupcakes. Dang, those kids can eat!
The week of Christmas was spent preparing goodies that I hadn't had time to do up to that point, wrapping gifts, and catching up on laundry. On Thursday we were supposed to take Henry for his one-year pictures and then we had planned to have dinner with the Lafrenz's. About a block from home, the realization that we may not have escaped the stomach flu set in as Henry got sick in his carseat. We turned the car around and canceled our plans, but still had hope that it was just a one-time thing. Nope. Henry continued to get sick off and on for the next few days. Then, as much as we tried to think positive, Dameon and I both got hit on Christmas Eve night and spent the entire night sick and trying to take care of the little guy. It was bad. On Christmas morning, Henry was seemingly on the mend, so we let him open a few gifts while we layed on the couch. I did manage to snap a few pictures of the poor guy...


THANKFULLY my parents stopped by our house on their way home from my grandparents' and took Henry to their house for the afternoon so Dameon and I could catch up on rest. We felt so bad sending him away on Christmas, but it just had to be done. I'm sure he had more fun anyway. Our families were kind enough to postpone their Christmas gatherings for us, so on the 26th we headed to Zach and Jess's.



Then on to Boone for Christmas with my family on the 27th. Here's Henry on his refurbished trike from Uncle Blake. He loves it! Especially the bell that says "I love my mom."

Some Christmastime bedhead for your viewing pleasure...

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The countertop ice cream maker!
Not too sure what he thinks of Santa just yet...