Family Pictures

Who doesn't have great memories of taking the family picture? For once it wasn't a miserable experience. Our great friend Jan graciously took some pictures of us first thing in the morning on Saturday (Kenny's real birthday, he was psyched). Here are a few of my faves.

Our day so far

I'm trying to think of something constructive to do since the kids are still asleep. Whenever they both take a really long nap (I think it happened one other time) I get excited and try to think of something to finish, but usually end up wasting time on the computer. I had originally turned it on to look up advice on planting pansies...and keeping them alive. However, I still haven't done that.

A few things that have happened today:

Every morning before going to the YMCA I talk to Trey about how we should greet the nursery workers. When I say "Trey what are we going to say to your teachers at the Y?" he is supposed to say "Good morning!". This morning he didn't feel like going and said "I'm going to say Good Bye".

I hit bath and body works to buy some soap and other stuff since I had a coupon. I came home, super excited about my pumpkin wall flower scent. I opened the package, and must have been a little too excited, because I dropped it on the tile floor and it shattered. Not only does my house smell like pumpkin I also have a big greasy spot that I can't seem to get cleaned up. Yeah.

I bought the kids cookies while we were at the mall and Trey slowly ate his while he slowly walked by the stroller. Grace doesn't really like cookies (yet) and just sucked on hers. Trey noticed that she hadn't eaten hers and that his was gone and took it from her. She didn't even care. I instructed him to break a few bites off for her which he did lovingly.

Kenny met us in the play area. Someones kid escaped and made it all the way to the escalators, a women brought him back and no one claimed the poor kid so Kenny loudly called out. "Attention, is this any ones kid?"

Trey brought me the potty book and had me read it to him, then danced around and talked about going potty, and then disappeared into his closet and went there instead of the real potty.

A Major Award

Similar to the famous high heal lamp, as seen in the movie A Christmas Story, my hubbie also gets the occasional "major award". He forwarded me the email stating that he would be receiving a major award for finishing among the top Flextennis players at his skill level during the summer 2008 season, but I quickly forgot about it. When I returned home from a weekend away the package was waiting. He opened it that night and would not let me forget about his accomplishment, he also asked me to note his big accomplishment on my blog. Between Kenny and Swede asking for entries on my blog I can barely keep up with my household responsibilities....that's why the house is in disarray, right. Good job Big K, maybe if you got that tennis ball machine out you could win it all.

Speaking of that darn ball machine. It had to be moved the garage the other day. It had been sitting in the office collecting dust, but a couple weeks ago Trey and Grace were being curious and from a couple rooms away I heard a real loud noise. They had figured out how to turn it on. I ran in just in time to be grazed by a tennis ball. Ouch, just what I needed, more broken veins.

Spidey Spectacular

Trey wanted a spiderman birthday party and that is what he got. We put out the bounce house for the crazy 3 year olds, ordered pizzas, I decorated cupcakes with spiders and webs, and we all had a blast. Trey is very into superheros right now. He never watches the cartoons or movies, but he loves their outfits. In fact, he requested to be batman for halloween and he is already wearing his costume. Sweet Grace gets to be Robin. I tried to think of other super hero combos that involved a girl, but the costumes were a little.....what's the word....slutty.

P.S. finally, my 100th interesting post.

State Fair

Today I got a call, I didn't recognize the number so (of course) I screened the call. The message on the answering machine told me that they were stalking my blog and demanded that I update it with fascinating pictures and hilarious Henry family tales....something like that. So, this one's for you Swede.

Last Thursday we got to go to the State Fair of Texas. Swede had called our house the day before and I told him what we were doing and invited him to come along and he actually took me up on the offer. It was great, he was so helpful and the kids LOVE him. He does this trick with a banana that Trey adores. He pretends to put it in his ear....you have to see it. So, he hopped in the M.V. with us and we headed to the fair. FYI, if you go on Thursdays and bring a coke can you can get in for $4, if you are over 60 you get in free.

We did all of the fair stuff. The second we walked in Kenny began scoping out the place for Corny Dogs and Swede had me take a picture of his first bite. Gracie tried a little of mine, but Trey would have nothing to do with the fried food fest. We then went to check out the cars. Trey and Grace loved sitting in them and pretending to drive them. Swede asked Kenny for Grace at one point and then he walked over to a girl while holding Gracie and started talking to her, unfortunately she didn't live anywhere close so he wasn't able to score a date. Once we saw all of the cars we could stand it was off for more food. Trey had a push-up pop, brings back memories. Grace went for the Dip 'n' dots. I tried the fried cookie dough and Kenny had to try the fried bacon. You could tell we were in Texas, the fried bacon stand had the longest line by far. I'm sure it was taking away business from the corny dog vendors.

After gaining 10 pounds collectively we visited the animals. Trey and Grace loved looking at the collection of animals. They had everything....kangaroos, giraffe, goats, and even alpacas (has anyone else seen the commercials? I keep telling Kenny that his parents should raise those on their ranch). After the animals Trey tried out his first "ride". I rode with him on the airplanes, he liked it for the first half and wanted off during the second half. However, it did not stop him from wanting to try out a few more rides. I forgot to mention that there was another food stop in there somewhere and more corny dogs were consumed by Kenny and Swede. I had wanted to get a drink, but Kenny used up the rest of our tickets. No more tickets meant that our day was over. So long until next year Big Tex!

3 plus a few weeks

The first birthday party in K.C.
His gift from us, a bounce house. What a lucky kid! I was excited to find a gift that would burn energy.
His Spiderman Birthday in Dallas, more pictures to come.

My how the past 3 years have flown. I love having a kid who can talk to me, it certainly makes things more interesting when they learn to talk. I am trying to think of how I would describe sweet Trey, so that I can look back at this and remember him at this age.

-He is shy but okay with participating in new things.

-He is very loving towards Gracie, but also gives her a reason to stand up for herself!

-He is constantly trying to do the right thing and gets very frustrated when he can't quite get it right.

-He says what's on his mind.....what 3 year old doesn't?

-He is not sure about using the potty.

-He is a very picky eater, but seems to be getting over his aversion to some foods. Today he actually tried oatmeal without telling me first how he doesn't like it.

-He loves to "watch a show". His faves: Diego (Ego), Word World, Little Einsteins, and Scooby Doo (He loves to watch this one with Grandad Ken, it's their thing).

-He will play at any park for hours. He is not afraid of heights, he will try out any slide.

-One of the first things he asks me in the morning is "Where are we going" or "What we going to do".

-Every night before bed Trey picks out one book, he says a prayer, and we sing a song. He usually chooses to sing Jesus Loves the Little Children. I love how he pronounces world, "wurd".

-He is attempting to master the art of procrastination prior to bedtime. The funniest example yet: he suddenly becomes famished, because I want him to eat more I cave and give him yogurt. He them begins to make comments: "Mommy, that is a pretty watch. What is on that spoon, oh cars, I love that spoon. (He finishes his yogurt) Good night mommy. Oh mommy, thanks for buying me that car spoon, I love it, I sure do. Oh mommy, thank you for my spiderman birthday party. I love the Buzz Lightyear that I got. I love the sounds he makes, do you want to hear them?."

Oh Trey, we love you, we sure do!

Fried Food

So many things I need to update...Trey's birthday, our first road-trip to Kansas City, Trey's glasses were found (yeah)....that's about it. I'll post those once I get the pictures downloaded, but for now I leave you with a list of the foods we will be trying tomorrow on our annual trip to the State Fair of Texas. Kenny's psyched about the Chicken Fried Bacon. Seriously, a little bit of throw up came up when I thought about eating that.

Fernie’s All-American Fried Grilled Cheese Sandwich. White bread sandwich with American and cheddar cheeses dipped in egg-and-milk batter, coated with bread crumbs, and fried.
Chicken Fried Bacon. Bacon with seasoning, battered, breaded, deep-fried, served with ranch or honey mustard sauce.
Fried Banana Split. Banana and honey peanut butter rolled in balls, battered, and deep-fried, topped with powdered sugar, caramel and chocolate syrups, peanuts, whipped cream, banana split-flavored ice cream bites, and cherry.
Texas Fried Jelly Bellys. Jelly Bellys rolled in funnel cake batter and fried.
Deep Fried S’mores. Marshmallow and chocolate chips sandwiched between two graham crackers, dipped in batter, fried, and dusted in powdered sugar.
Fire & Ice. Pineapple ring, battered and deep-fried, topped with banana-flavored whipped cream that’s been frozen in liquid nitrogen so it smokes.
Fried Chocolate Truffles. Dark chocolate truffle rolled in cocoa powder, battered, deep-fried, dusted in cinnamon, sugar, and cocoa powder.
Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Waffle Balls. Strawberries in chocolate shell, dipped in waffle batter, deep-fried, custed with powdered sugar, served on a stick.
The winner of last year's contest was the Fried Cookie Dough.
UPDATE: The bacon won.
Source: State Fair of Texas