Kenny's Little Henrys

State Fair

2010-10-24T18:05:00.000-07:00

A year just can't go by without the Henry's feasting on some of the famous fried food the fair has to offer. We were VERY sad that Swede and Brooke could not join us this year, but there is always next year, and the next, and the next....This was Emma's first year out of the womb to enjoy the festivities, and she did enjoy them! We weren't able to take a whole day to truly experience the fair this year due to being busy, but Kenny surprised us by coming home a little early on a Wednesday and we headed to the fair and got the after 5 special. We were excited and not really prepared, meaning we didn't bring ANY cash with us, so when we drove to the fair grounds and realized that there were no ATMs in sight Kenny boldly drove up to the parking attendant and asked if they took checks, ha. The guy took pity on us and let us park for free, which is huge since parking is $15 or more. After that we were paying who knows what for Corny Dogs and 1 minute rides. We did it all in about 3 hours, which was about the amount of time Emma was willing to be patient. She is everywhere right now, but not walking, and her preferred method of crawling is sliding around on her stomach. There weren't many acceptable areas to unleash her so we took turns holding her, putting her back in her stroller, holding her etc. Trey and Grace had a great time and Kenny got his yearly corny dog/fried oreo fix. I was just impressed that we managed to go this month. I will have to post the pictures separately...they aren't loading for some reason.

cupcake madness

2010-10-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

With all three home I am always trying to think of ways to make the house sticky, messy, and chaotic. Oh wait, they manage to do that on their own on a daily basis. Yesterday I was on the phone for awhile and during that time Trey and Grace made an "experiment". It involved yogurt, oranges, soap, really old grapes, and water. I knew it was going on, but was choosing to ignore it due to the fact that I wanted to finish a conversation. I later discovered several sticky spots around the house (including a very sticky door knob) which led me to the garage refrigerator where the experiment was placed (and will probably remain because I never seem to clean out that fridge).

So I decided to have some controlled messiness today while Emma took her morning nap and we decorated cupcakes. Please stop by if you are in the mood for some sugary germs.

He's FIVE!!!!!

2010-10-18T06:03:00.000-07:00

September 21st was a big day in the Henry house. Trey turned 5. He told me the plan for his party and I carried it out. We went for a buzz lightyear theme this year. The main activity was a scavenger hunt which ended with a pinata. The poor buzz lightyear pinata never had a chance. It somehow came loose from the thing holding it to the ceiling so Kenny had to hold it while every kid swung at it with a bat. That is real love.

A few things I love about my 5 year old.....
*He is determined.

*He loves his sisters.

*He is always trying to be better.

*He has a great memory.

*He is fun to talk to.

*I am watching him soak in every bible story and then he will retell them to me. I love his questions and his desire to know more about God. It is such and encouragement to me.

*He sneaks up on me in the mornings and scares me every time. He is so light on his feet.

*Yesterday I went to take a meal to friends and he asked to go with me. When we got in the care he told me that he just wanted to spend some more time with me.

*He says everything he is feeling.

*He loves spending time with Kenny. Kenny is doing his best to get Trey to be a baseball fan. They made it to several Rangers games this summer where Kenny fed Trey everything I don't feed him, sweet memories for Trey....literally.

*Trey loves for us to play baseball with him. This is totally out of my comfort zone. I have to remind myself to keep my eyes open when I pitch balls to him. He is getting good and several balls have left giant welts on my legs.

*He loves his preschool. When he gets in the car he will usually start telling me what they learned that day without any prompting. This has been especially entertaining over the past few weeks because they have been doing safety talks.

The list could go on. He is incredible and I feel so blessed to be his mom. We are already talking about next years party (another thing I love about him).

Back for now

2010-10-18T05:32:00.000-07:00

Rich and the kids at a wedding we attended in San Antonio.
Preparing for Halloween, Emma LOVES to wear hats and wigs.

Trey and Grace on their first day of preschool.

So, having another baby has been a little more work than I expected (and of course a lot more fun!!!!). The days are going by way too fast, but it is so much fun watching Emma become a person. She has so much personality and spunk for an almost 10 month old. Trey and Grace love her (really, who couldn't?), but she has definitely changed their world.

Trey and Grace are back in preschool. Trey is giving soccer another try this year. It was a rough start, but he is starting to like it. Kenny's parents took him to his last game and he actually made it through the whole game without running off the field and, get ready for this, he scored a goal right as Kenny walked up the field. He is also taking piano this year. I would have never thought to start him this early because I have such horrendous memories of piano, which involve a Russian piano teacher who never thought my fingernails were short enough, but April got us started with a teacher who is amazing. Grace is going to start soccer in the spring with some girls who will be in her kindergarten class. She did a dance camp this summer, but didn't ask to do dance this year, so I am going to wait on that. Honestly, the thought of dropping her off and then waiting around with Emma and Trey for her to take a lesson didn't sound fun. My plan is to sign her up next year when Trey is in kindergarten all day, then I would only have Emma to entertain.

We are still doing MOPS and I take Emma to bible study on the Tuesdays that she isn't sick. I also like to make a weekly visit to the pediatrician, so I always have to fit that in somewhere. Seriously, we have gone there at least once a week for the past 6 weeks, I don't know what's wrong with us. We live for Kenny coming home at night. That basically sums up our world right now.

Funny

2010-05-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

We were sitting in Trey's room and I see Grace eyeing something that looks like a bug. I look at her and she begins to bring it to her mouth....
Me: Grace don't eat that it, looks like a bug.
Grace: It's all right, it doesn't have eyes.
Then by all means, let me know how it tastes.

Happy Birthday Princess Grace!

2010-05-10T05:31:00.000-07:00

Our little princess, with her big personality, turned 3 on May 1st. Oh how we love her! I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday and she told me to invite all of her friends over. It was such a fun day. I have to say that putting together a pink princess party was a little more fun for me than the spiderman theme that Trey has had for the past 2 years. We enjoyed dressing up, decorating jewelry boxes, chick-fil-a, cup cakes, the bounce house, and just being with our friends and family.

I know every parent talks about how they can't believe how fast the time goes, and that they can't believe that their child is ___ years old....but now I understand. Where did the past 3 years go? I still remember holding her when she had colic and wondering when she would stop crying, getting up to feed her at 2 am for 9 months straight, nursing her for a year because she refused to take a bottle, and being excited when her hair was finally long enough to hold a bow. She is now in full girl mode. We laugh because we never know when she is going to make a wardrobe change. I think she changes clothes once every 30 minutes or so. This came in handy with her potty training herself, but it is hard to keep up with her need to change clothes constantly (including her underwear).

She is still pretty good about trying just about any type of food, and then letting you know whether or not she likes it. She loves her preschool class and her teacher Miss Nicole. She has adapted so well to sharing a room with Emma, hopefully that won't change! She still sleeps with her "white" blankie...which is actually more of a dirty pink, and she now brings a pair of shoes and a brush to bed with her (in case she needs them in the middle of the night, who knows). She loves Trey, but has no problem standing up for herself and screaming if he is close to hurting her in any way. She pretty much only wears dresses right now. I bought her a t-shirt and shorts and she told me that t-shirts were for sleeping in....and the shorts don't twirl. She really appreciates it when I dress up, one day she didn't like my outfit so she brought me some clothes from my closet to change into.

I am so thankful for you Grace. God has definitely blessed me with 2 very special girls (and one awesome boy)!

Easter Eggstravaganza

2010-04-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

Easter lasted an entire week this year. We got to enjoy 5 Easter egg hunts, 2 Easter dinners, 1 Easter service, and for the first time Trey really seemed to understand the story of why we celebrate Easter...he also loved every bite of sugar he was able to inhale in a weeks time. We are slowly getting him off of his sugar high.

Emma also decided to bless me a little bit by sleeping through the night a few nights in a row....I don't want to brag, I'm sure it's just a phase, but a full nights sleep is always nice. Next week we are getting phase 2 of the hardwood floors installed in our house, it still seems like we just moved in, but I will get to say good bye to a little bit more of the carpet and 70's tile. I also must have been a little bit delusional because I decided to sign up for a 5:45 am boot camp that begins on Monday. Hopefully I will live through the week.

We are also in the process of preparing Trey and Grace to be in Swede's wedding. Grace is beside herself thinking about the opportunity to dress up in a white dress and throw flowers. I bought her the white shoes to go with her dress and she actually slept in them, she calls them her slippers. Hopefully Trey and Grace won't get stage fright on the big day.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter, we are so glad that Spring is finally here!

3 months old already?

2010-03-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, where did the last few months go? To sum it up here is what has happened over the past 3 months. Had a baby, celebrated new years, went through the big adjustment of bringing a new baby home, had some baby blues, saved Emma from far too many pokes to the face, watched the entire season of Glee way too many times while trying to figure out when to put Emma to sleep, I gave Emma her first bath (forgot to take a picture), Aunt Amy came to visit, she saved me by holding a crying baby a lot of the time, my mom Halie and Sarah came to visit, Kenny took Emma to the ER in the middle of the night, Emma had RSV, Grace got a double ear infection, Emma got another cold, Trey got a cold, Grace got another ear infection, I got a cold, Emma uses a paci, Emma slept through the night, Emma stayed up all night, Emma started to smile at 6 weeks, she rolled over somewhere around that time period, we spend way too much money on diapers, Grace potty trained herself, Trey helps her out when I am busy nursing, my sweet friends had a girl's night out for me and Emma, Emma barely uses the paci because Trey and Grace keep taking it away, Trey Grace and Kenny have a new night time game which involves Kenny acting like a dinosaur that chases them through the house, I usually pretend to nurse in the bedroom with the door locked during this game and somehow miss putting them to bed most nights, we drove to San Antonio, Emma barely cried (hallelujah), I started checking my email again, we resurrected the white crib for a third time and Grace and Emma are sharing a room, and I have started cooking dinner again. Phew, that's about it.

I have to get back to blogging because I use this as my baby book and I don't want to forget all of the things that they say and do. Trey is learning to accept the fact that he has two sisters. For the first few weeks after Emma came home Trey would ask me when I was going to get around to having a boy, since that was what he really wanted. He sure does love Emma, sometimes a little too much. He loves to hold her and talk to her. I think he is going to be great with her once she is a little bigger. He just wants to play with her like he plays with Grace and that sometimes involves wrestling.

Grace likes to interact with Emma, but she also forgets that she is around. The biggest difference about having a 3rd has been the fact that we had to get right back into a routine. There were days when I felt really overwhelmed, but it helped having Trey and Grace to remind me that I couldn't just sit around feeling sorry for myself, they were depending on me to keep up with our schedule, and feed them more than goldfish and cheerios. I am still nursing Emma, mainly because it takes her FOREVER to take a bottle, but I am so thankful that she will take a bottle. Trey has his own word for nursing, he calls it "milking". Grace also likes to help me, I really used to enjoy having personal space.

Happy Birthday Emma

2010-01-05T12:06:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday Emma, and Happy New Year! Emma Jane Henry was born on December 30th at 4:35 PM, she weighed 8lbs 5oz and was 20.5 inches. She has the same birthday as my gramy (her great gramy) Mary Jane Mason. I spent more time thinking about baby names for Emma than I ever did with Trey or Grace. I liked the name Emma because I read in one baby book that it was another version of the name Amy and they meant the same thing "beloved". So, she was named after my friend who I have been friends with since grade school and Gramy. The transition from 2 to 3 kids has been...a transition. It still doesn't seem real that she is here with us, but she is. I really don't remember the past 7 days or so, I guess I am sleepy, but they are just running together at this point.

I did get induced this time, and I am so thankful that I did, 8 lbs 5oz, yikes...what if we had waited another week. When Kenny told me she was a girl I could not believe it. We both really thought she would be a boy, but she wasn't. I had moments where I would imagine she was a girl, but I kept thinking she was a boy...so, obviously I do not have a sixth sense (or whatever that is). We were so blessed to have one of Kenny's friends that he grew up with as our nurse during the whole birth/delivery. She was kind and encouraging, and we could not have been happier with our experience in the hospital (aside from the contractions, but I guess you can't get past those).

So that was it, no hurricane or premature birth, I guess this is what a normal child birth is like. Hopefully I will wake up from this fog before long and download our Christmas pictures and new baby pictures...oh wait I haven't seen the camera this week. Luckily I have a husband who stood by me at the hospital and took pictures, so I know it all happened at some point. I have been so thankful for all of the help we have received. Our family members looked after Trey and Grace while we were at the hospital. My mom is helping out with the night shift, and attempting to organize my disorganized house. Kenny stayed home for a few days and did everything with the kids (including a trip to the science museum). Next week I will get to try this thing on my own, so we'll be praying that I can handle that.

For the time being we are working on getting everyone fed, keeping them sort of clean, getting Emma to realize that daytime is not nighttime and visa versa, and we are beyond grateful for another healthy baby. Since we spent new years eve in the hospital I kind of forgot it ever happened, I'm pretty sure I put 09 on a check today, so happy new year from all of us! We are looking forward to our year as a family of 5.
*I know there are more pictures somewhere...I remember lots of cameras flashing, and Trey appears to be MIA in all of these pictures along with Kenny's parents.

December already

2009-12-09T12:46:00.000-08:00

While we have been busy, busy, busy with the holidays, time still seems to be standing still. It might be because every move I make right now is incredibly difficult. I really think this has to be the hardest pregnancy of the three. Or, God is so good and just helped me to forget that this all happened the last two times.
Some observations about this pregnancy:
I get tired really quickly

I sleep in hour and a half increments (just like a newborn)

I have two things that keep me awake: I can't breathe or my back hurts

My shoe size has gone up a half size (this is a first), and my feet are not swollen.

I love to eat crunchy things like ice, pickles, and celery. I also have some other strange cravings but Kenny told me not to tell people because they are too strange.

I am extremely forgetful right now.

I can get myself worked up very easily....this really isn't a new thing, just a little more exaggerated right now.

I feel the need to be prepared, so most of my Christmas shopping is finished. I am usually starting right about now.

I am carrying this baby straight out and really high. This is the first pregnancy where I have had many people comment (usually strangers) that I look like I am either carrying twins or a huge baby (luckily only 9 or 10 lbs by their estimates). Whenever I tell them my due date they insist that I won't go that long (I hope they are right....if they are I will forgive them for making the comments about how HUGE I am).

I am even more excited when Kenny gets home. I do appreciate his help more than he will ever know, but I also like spending time together with just the four of us while we have the chance.

As with the other pregnancies I am usually done with moving around the house at about 8:30, so we have become a little more serious with our TV watching lately. I have managed to find two new shows, The Good Wife and Glee, and Kenny is the best because he will watch them with me.

Thankfully, we have made it to this point. Kenny figured out last night that if this baby decides to come early like Grace then it will come this weekend...of course, I am assuming that this one will just keep holding onto my rib cage until one of my ribs finally breaks off due to the babies enormous size (I'm kidding, hopefully). In all seriousness, I know it's timing will be perfect, and I can't wait to see if it's a boy or girl. We still haven't decided on a name, it looks like Kenny is going to let me see the baby first so that we can decide "together" what it's name should be. So, until our precious baby makes an appearance we will be filling our days with play dates, preschool, a Christmas performance, a few parties, family time, and whatever invitations come our way. We did make a trip to Kansas over thanksgiving. It was quick, but I'm so glad we decided to make the drive. Trey and Grace love to see Halie. They basically spend the entire time in my parents basement watching Care Bears or Cinderella and finding things to get into that are not toys.

Well, I need to tackle some of the laundry that never seems to go away. The ever present reminder that I have a family that needs me!

Baby Talk

2009-11-12T04:37:00.000-08:00

Trey: "Mommy, let me pick that up, you're baby might fall out."
Grace: (in reference to covering up my exposed tummy), "shut the door, it might come out".
Trey: "you're going to the dr., are they going to take the baby out yet?"
Grace: She loves to carry around her own baby (which she loves for us to wrap up in her blankie like an "angel"....I don't know where she came up with the angel part, but she will ask for her baby to look like an angel), The other day she asked for me to put her baby in her jacket so it would look like mine. The babies feet were sticking out, and Trey commented that she didn't look like me because my babies feet were still inside, thank goodness.
Trey: "I just want baby caroline (who is our friends baby) to come home with us". To which I respond, don't you want our baby to come home with us? "No, just caroline, she is really cute".

Frightening Festivities

2009-11-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

Phew, we made it through the first of the holidays....now we just have thanksgiving and Christmas and then we will be able to see this sweet baby who keeps kicking me in the ribs. Trey finally decided that he wanted to be wolverine for halloween (he has no idea who he is, he just liked the look of his fangs) and Grace was content being a princess. Her dress was really raggedy and I really wanted to buy her a different one for trick or treating but Kenny said it would be fine....always the voice of reason (good thing he wasn't with me when I went shopping the other day). Kenny and I also dressed up. I wore a t-shirt with a bun on it and Kenny dressed as a baker....get it. He requested that instead of just writing "the baker" on his name tag, he had me put "big daddy baker".

We had so much fun this past week being with friends and enjoying all sorts of family activities. On Wednesday I took the kids to the Pumpkin Park, I actually meant to go to the pumpkin patch but I got confused and ended up parking at the pumpkin park. There were only a few people at the pumpkin park so it ended up being fun because they let us do everything for free and the kids never had to wait in line. It was really cold and muddy, but Trey and Grace are still talking about how much fun the slides, bounce houses, pumpkins, and rides were.

On Thursday the preschool had a Harvest Party and they brought home more pumpkins and kept talking about how they got to eat frosty's and cookies. They love the sugar aspect of halloween. That night Kenny took them to trunk or treat at the Y.

On Friday we went to the Lake Highlands football game with Swede. I actually got cold for the first time in 7 months, so I am guessing everyone else was freezing. Trey and Grace love to watch the half time show and pretend to conduct the band, which always impresses Kenny.

On Saturday we went to our neighborhood party and then to a party hosted by our small group. Once it was dark we took the kids trick or treating in big groups. Trey and Kenny went with a couple older kids and Grace and I went with the younger kids. Kenny told me that Trey and his friends would not say trick or treat at first, but eventually they caught on. Grace knew exactly what to do, it was like she had been practicing all year. She would wait until all the kids had gone, march up to the door, hold out her bag, say trick or treat and then wait for them to give her multiple pieces of candy. If they tried to give her just one she would stand there holding her bag open and smiling until they dropped something else in. I am thinking she will be a great sales women, she is so persistent.

What a week, October went by so fast. I am torn because I want to enjoy the next couple months as a family of 4, but I am also getting excited to meet this baby that we have known about for so long! From the minute we found out we were pregnant I have been feeling him or her, whether it was morning sickness, rapid weight gain, or the powerful kicks (never a flutter) we have know that you are with us. Yesterday Grace asked to see the baby, so I showed her my stomach and she whispered to it for awhile. When she saw it kick she told me to shut the door (put down my shirt), she gets really creeped out when she sees my belly move. Trey keeps telling me that he thinks it is time for the baby to come out and see us. Hopefully they will be just as interested when he or she is here. I am interested to see what type of baby this will be, with so much "womb action" I can only imagine what he or she will be like when they make it out of the confines of my belly. Well, I'm off to eat some more of the kid's candy. For some reason they completely forgot about their candy stash, I had planned on giving it to Kenny to take to work, but I might hold on to it for a little bit longer....I think the baby likes twix the most.

finally...a prize

2009-10-27T17:22:00.000-07:00

I was changing Gracie's diaper today and when I opened it a bunch of change fell out. It's about time that something good came out of a diaper change....of course the diaper was dirty so I'm not sure about keeping the prize money.

Happy 33rd Birthday Kenny

2009-10-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to you! Kenny is celebrating his 33rd year by not being with us....I totally understand. He asked if he could go to the Cowboys game for his birthday gift. Of course he didn't want to spring for a seat, I am very lucky to be married to a VERY frugal man. He decided he would get a party pass and go on his own. Well, the game starts at 3:15, guess what time he left to get a spot...11:00. Apparently you have to get there about 3 hours early to find a spot and then never leave to use the bathroom or get food/drink for the entire duration of the game, and you get to stand, but he says it is worth it. He really is a true fan, I told him he should paint his face, but he said his jersey would be enough. We "celebrated" yesterday by making birthday brownies and then Kenny's parents watched the kids all evening so we could go out. Since I'm about to turn into a giant pumpkin we only made it to dinner, but it was fun to be by ourselves. We then rented an uplifting movie, Sunshine Cleaning (it's about some women who clean up after crime scenes), and enjoyed a night where the only person that could wake us up during the night would be the baby inside me...which meant Kenny slept really well and I just don't really sleep anymore.

Kenny you are so special to us, we love you!

The pictures...the kids had just taken a bath and someone forgot to brush their hair and Kenny and I were still walking around in pj's at that point so lucky for everyone I'm not in the pictures.

Princess Grace

2009-10-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows Grace knows that she is the girliest girl around. She has loved dressing up in her princess costume this year, so much that I had to hide the costume for awhile to preserve it for all of her upcoming costume party events. I impressed myself by repairing the hole ripped on the seam of the waistline. I had to glue and sew it shut....they just don't make princess dresses like they used to.

The picture of Grace and Kenny was taken right before Anna Kate's princess party. Kenny took her as his date, he was the only dad dressed in a tuxedo. Trey and I took a picture in our normal clothes as well...I looked and looked but I couldn't find a pregnant princess dress.

A Fair to Remember

2009-10-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

It's that time again.....the State Fair of Texas. Aside from Trey's birthday it was one of the number one topics of conversation around the Henry House this year. We put a great deal of importance on events that glorify fried foods. This years attraction was the fried butter. Kenny couldn't do it, but Swede and his beautiful girlfriend gave it a try and said it tasted like a fried biscuit (I think that's right). Oprah also joined us last Sunday and she too loved the fried butter. A funny story, Swede and Brooke were waiting in line to purchase the butter (they had been patiently waiting their turn for about 15 minutes) and they got up to the front and the guy said that they would be needing to shut the stand down since Oprah was about to come over. Swede wouldn't take no for an answer and finally got his fried butter. I'm sure if Oprah had known people were being denied fried butter she would have waited her turn, yeah right.

A few other things we tried this year: corny dogs (of course), fried oreos, fried snickers, a fried caramel apple, and Trey's one request, cotton candy. Grace really liked the oreos and Trey liked the caramel apple, he actually took all of the breading off and just ate the apple....which was kind of healthy. They both really liked the cotton candy. They also rode rides together this year and LOVED them. We also went to the dog show, petting zoo, car show, and bird show. A full day that left us all wiped out. We can't wait to go again next year, oh wait Kenny is taking them again tomorrow beccause he didn't get enough.....I plan on putting my feet up and enjoying the silence for a change.

I love you

2009-10-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

I was telling Trey this morning how much I loved him. He looked at me and smiled and then said "more than Gracie?". This is not the first time he has asked that. I told him that I loved both of them so much and that I loved them the same (that's the right thing to say...right?).
Then he said "do you love me more than air?".
I said, "Sure Trey, I love you more than air".
Trey replied, "Why do you love me more than air?".
my perfect response to that was "ummm, you are just that special to me".
Trey's final comment "Don't you need air to breathe?"
He doesn't miss a beat.

Accident Prone Pregnancy

2009-10-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

I am pretty clumsy even when I'm not pregnant, but throughout this pregnancy I have found myself bumping, falling, and colliding into more and more objects. Last Sunday I just fell over in the parking lot while carrying Grace, luckily she broke my fall (just kidding), but really I didn't even trip...I just fell over. Yesterday I managed to slam the microwave door into the side of my eye. For a moment I saw stars and would have started crying but Grace was standing right beside me. However, that didn't stop me from laying on the floor in the fetal position for awhile. Today, in an attempt to make Trey's take-home preschool project a little more colorful, I burned my fingers with a hot glue gun. I learned that it is really painful to peel off hot glue from burned skin. Kenny has instructed me to not fry any meats while pregnant....not that I had any intentions of frying meat for him. I will also, most likely, be allowing him to do most of the decorating for Christmas, since me climbing a ladder these days would be a recipe for disaster.

Poor Baby number 3, you still don't have a boy or girl name. I told Kenny that we might as well just wait until you are born to name you, but he didn't like that idea because he knows that if we wait until after the birth I will get to choose on account of the fact that I just gave birth. How did he see through my plan? It must be because he is such a great business man. So....I think we have about 10 more weeks, give or take, to come up with a boy and girl name. I really feel like I have been much more committed to coming up with a name this time around, not to say that we didn't put a lot of thought into the other names, but I have spent a lot more time thinking about it. That could have something to do with the fact that I spend a lot of time not sleeping at night, so I spend a lot of time looking at baby name websites in an attempt to make myself so sleepy I forget all of the aches and pains of carrying a child.

Oh, I am so excited to meet you baby, and I will do my best to avoid injury over the next couple of months.

I'm 4 and I have a light saber

2009-10-11T22:17:00.000-07:00

Oh my, I am behind. I just wrote a long post about why I was behind on EVERYTHING, but it sounded whiny so I will just keep that to myself for now and hope to catch up this blog one day.

The day after Trey turned 4 he woke up and said to me "I'm 4 and I have a light saber". This was definitely the first birthday where he understood exactly what was going on. He has been talking about his party for the past 6 months or so, giving us all sorts of gift ideas, talking about his cake, who he wanted to invite to his party, where he wanted his party to be. He is so similar to Kenny in this respect. They both like to have lots of "people/party time". If there is an occasion to have a party then they are there. Grace and I would just be sitting at home playing with dolls if wasn't for Kenny and Trey.

Trey kept asking if he could have his party at Pump it Up, since I haven't exactly had tons of energy I thought that idea sounded great. So, this year, we let someone else do all the work for us. It was so nice to have someone clean up after us. He is still talking about his party. I think the memories of it are even more fun for him since he isn't caught up in the excitement of it all.

How can I describe my newly turned 4 year old....

You are intense and definitely a perfectionist.

You have an eye for detail and a really good memory (which is even better right before bedtime).

You and Grace play together all the time. I love watching you both come up with your own games. You are usually the bad guy in these games and Grace is the mommy, it is extremely entertaining to watch. There is always some crying involved, but far more moments of laughter these days.

We are working on expressing how you feel....appropriately, and I am learning a lot about myself through that. Every time I talk to you about being patient or selfless I know I need to be listening to my own words.

You really admire older boys. Actually, you get a little shy when they are around, but you constantly ask me about your older friends and would love to be one year older just like them.

Your best friend is Anna Kate. You all are perfect for each other. Whenever we go to preschool you ask Miss. Elaine if Anna Kate is going to be at school. You two also like to tell her that you have play dates after school even when you don't.

You are very interested in the new baby and have asked a lot of questions. The other day we were all in the car (Kenny included) and you were really wanting to know how the baby comes out. You were not satisfied when I told you that it comes out of my stomach. You said "but what hole does it come out of".... I can't even remember what we said after that, I was laughing and Kenny was just trying to ignore the conversation. I love that you are so interested in our baby, and I hope that you will love him or her even more when they arrive.

You are thoughtful.

You like to sing along to songs in the car and you make up hilarious dances.

You love to go to the park, you ask to go several times a day. You are committed to being able to do everything at a park, there is no slide too high, no ladder too challenging, and no jump too dangerous (much to my dismay).

You love fairy tales. Your favorite movies right now are Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Not because of the princesses, but because of the violent plots, disney movies can be scary.

You are stubborn at times, but willing to learn when you have had time to think.

You love going to preschool and MOPS with me.

You like to dress up and pretend you are a superhero.

I can't imagine my life without you. I love that you will still crawl in my lap and tell me that you love me. Every minute of lost sleep, every frustrated moment, every challenge is worth it because you are in our lives. We thank God for you every day Trey.

(the only downside to a bounce house party, the kids don't ever sit still for pictures)

Some things they have been saying and doing....

2009-09-17T10:28:00.001-07:00

Trey: (In regards to the veggie tale movie Jonah) Daddy, why did Jonah not get digested when he went inside the whale? (This was a result of watching magic school bus, the human body, hundreds of times)
Trey: (in regards to digestion again) Does the food go through the large intestine? When does it go through the extra large intestine?
Trey: one more quote courtesy of magic school bus, "is your baby afraid of the white blood cells"?
Trey and Grace: I was thinking out loud about baby names and I asked them if they liked the name Paige. Trey looked at me and said, "Paige, like page in a book, no I don't like it".
Grace: I want a pink baby on my birthday cake.
Grace: I want to be a pink dog for halloween, no a pink princess, no a pink cat
Trey: (interjecting while Kenny was singing a beautiful lullaby)
Kenny: "Lullaby....
Trey: "and sword fight"
Grace: "where's my pack pack" (back pack)
Trey: "I like those red shoes (talking about a pair of red shoes I was wearing), they are just like the ones Caillou's mom wears". Thanks, I will go return them now.

Yesterday, the house was quiet (never a good sign when there are two kids roaming around). I started to search the house and heard murmurs coming from Trey's room. I get closer to the room and the smell of mint quickly hits me. I walk in and Trey and Grace are sitting in the dark unwrapping rolls of Kenny's breath mints and quickly popping them in their mouths before I can take them away.

Two Big Mamas

2009-09-10T04:07:00.000-07:00

I love this little girl. Grace came up to me with her bear stuffed in her shirt and informed me that she had a baby in her tummy also and we should take a picture. Thankfully my baby's feet are not hanging out of my stomach like Gracie's baby's feet, but sometimes I feel like that might be the case.

So far this pregnancy has been filled with cravings, they usually last a couple days and then I feel sick and they change. Here are the ones I can remember: Sushi, chicken pad thai (it used to be from flavor but they went out of business and then Kenny drove around the city until he found royal thai which is even better), pineapple, french fries from wing stop, bean burrito from taco bueno, iced coffee from mcdonald's, chicken salad sandwich from jason's deli, cranberry slushy from sonic, a very brief love of hot dogs that ended quickly and violently, powdered sugar donuts, and that's all I can think of right now. Notice how none of that stuff is homemade. What does that say about me? Thankfully, the dr. keeps telling me that the baby is healthy, even though I am feeding it a smorgasbord of the area's finest fast food.

School Pictures

2009-09-10T03:46:00.000-07:00

They were really in the mood to take a good picture.

Thank you, thank you for preschool. After a LONG summer it is time for us to get back on a schedule. Trey and Grace had their first day on tuesday and loved it. I think that we were all ready for a little separation. They are both going to go two days a week, what will I ever do with myself? Oh I know, be alone enjoying my personal space, until it is invaded once again in January (which, of course, will be a blessing).

Trey has been talking a lot about the classroom rules. Apparently one is that the kids are not supposed to talk when the teacher is talking, he takes rules very seriously, so he informed me that when she asked him what his favorite color was he just nodded (and didn't talk). When I picked him up that day she did tell me that he was very quiet, so his story was probably accurate.

Grace had a great time as well. When we walked into the building she marched straight into her classroom, dropped her stuff at the door, and found the doll house. She never even turned around to say goodbye. By 2:30 she was glad to see me. Her teacher said she did great. She was one of the few who took a nap, which could have been because we had gone out of town for labor day weekend and she was sleep deprived, but her nap mat did get some use that day. I even had to take it home and wash it because her diaper leaked, thank goodness it was actually washable, I really had no intentions of ever putting it through the laundry.

My day was spent running errands and not cleaning up the house. It is amazing how much you can get done in 5 hours when no one is holding you back.

Boys

2009-09-03T17:31:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Trey went to play at his friends house and they emailed us the picture of the two. Apparently Trey dressed himself and they managed to find swords when none were available. For the record, I started out thinking that we would have no toy weapons in our house. We don't let Trey watch violent television (unless you include some the disney movies, those can be a little scary), the only guns we have are water guns, and Kenny and I never talk about weapons. However, the "weaponry talk" coming from little Trey's mouth might make outsiders think the opposite (that and the fact that he is always telling me which toy gun he wants for his birthday). You would think that Kenny sits in the kitchen cleaning his rifles every night. Today when we were visiting his teachers he kept trying to make every toy into a gun. On one hand I applaud his creativity, he can make a pretty believable lego gun, but it's becoming a little intense. We are trying to channel all of this "energy" into sports, or art, or something socially acceptable. The other day Kenny asked if the Y offered a fencing program for kids Trey's age...yeah that's what we need a sword fighting class.

It's a......

2009-09-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

I'm glad to see that even when I accidentally post nothing I still have an audience. We were trying to put a video of Grace singing to Bandit, but it didn't work....Kenny said he would work on it, but obviously he is still thinking about it. Well, I went to the dr. and I found out that it's a.......I still don't know.

Kenny was supposed to come to the appointment, but had something come up at work (I guess it is important to go to your job when you are expecting a third child) so he had to miss the big sonogram. When I got to the appointment I told the women doing the sonogram to put the picture in an envelope and not tell me. I really don't know why I did that since we had already discussed that we weren't going to find out. I am already an indecisive person, but apparently pregnancy brings out the worst in me. I actually felt fine just having the power to know, but Kenny couldn't handle it, he made me decide between opening it and shredding it and I chose to shred it....because I really don't know why. So, we are waiting, and now I feel fine about it. For the record I think it's a boy, so we will see in 4 months, I really don't know how I can do this for 4 more months. My stomach is as tight as a hot air balloon.

2009-08-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

18 week appointment

2009-08-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

Everything looks good for baby Henry. I had my make-up appointment yesterday for the one I missed about 2 weeks ago. I can't believe how forgetful I have become! Let's be honest, I have never been a super organized person, but that was the first time I had ever just forgotten about a pre-natal visit. Apparently I am trying to be one of their least favorite patients. Last time I went in I had been given the task of filling out forms online PRIOR to the appointment....well, I just didn't do it, so I spent 45 minutes filling out my online paperwork in the nurse's office. Seriously, I remember when I was pregnant with Trey, I would have never forgotten to fill out paperwork or missed one of his appointments.

Nothing eventful at the appointment, the doctor said that my uterus is growing just as it should, nice and big (I took it as a compliment), and that there is nothing to worry about. My next appointment is the sonogram. Now, I have been telling everyone that we are waiting to find out the gender until Baby Henry's birthday. We did it with Gracie and it was fun to not know, but now all I can think about is finding out the sex of the baby at the next appointment. I am going to try to have the will power to wait, but I don't know if I can rely on my will power at this point. It's a little shaky right now...for instance: I have eaten cookies for breakfast the past 2 mornings in a row and today I inhaled Trey's happy meal fries without sharing any with him. We will just have to see what happens. I do know this, with each day that passes we grow more and more excited to meet our 3rd baby. I feel so blessed!

Pictures I Forgot to Post

2009-08-03T14:47:00.000-07:00

Lost Pics I:

Grace participated in swimming lessons with Trey for the first two weeks. She liked going the first few days, and then she got a little bored with the whole thing. She was much happier on week 3 when she got to go to Gaga's house and play with dolls while Trey went to his lesson. By the end of the two weeks she could do some floating, she could dunk her head under the water, she could blow bubbles, she could kick, she could make barbie swim in the water, and she knew exactly how to get Miss Rosie to give her candy. On the last day of lessons they "perform" for the parents. Grace kept crying and they told her she could have a piece of candy if she stopped crying. She loved it, once she finished her candy she would start crying again. I just love everything about her! She is so clever, and I can't help but relate to her love of candy. That story aside, her teachers said she was a great participant, especially for being 2.

Lost Pics II:

This is from Trey's big soccer game. The first one is Trey on the field, at that moment he spotted me taking his picture. He quickly ran off the field and was tearing his jersey off at the same time. The second picture is Trey after he ran up to me and realized that I was there to save him from the heat. The third one is him taking a long dramatic drink of water, and at that point he decided that his 3 year old soccer career was over. He decided that his team could play the rest of the game without him, luckily he wasn't the goalie. Yes, he was the only child who decided to not play in the game, but it was really hot. The last picture was his favorite part of the whole week, getting ice cream at McDonald's.

South Carolina

2009-07-31T13:48:00.000-07:00

Way back in May we flew to South Carolina with Kenny's parents. It was such a relaxing week! Unfortunately, it was a little colder and rainier than expected but that didn't stop everyone from having a great time. We had just found out that we were pregnant and the morning sickness was just beginning, but we were able to enjoy most of the trip minus the nausea that was definitely present on our trip to Florida.

Thank goodness we took the kids to the beach the first day we were there, because that was the last day it was nice enough to play in the water. Trey loved seeing the beach for the first time last year and it was no different this year. He immediately jumped in the water and rolled around in the waves. Grace seemed to prefer being held (from what I remember) and wasn't as fascinated as Trey was when he first saw it. She actually showed more interest in the cat compound/rescue area that Kenny's parents had discovered a few years back.

While we were there we ate lots of great seafood, the kids loved watching/helping Ken fish, Trey had a couple of intense golfing sessions with Ken which he absolutely LOVED, Kenny and Ken played golf, Grace ran around quite a bit, I read a book, we saw alligators everyday....and I know we did some other things, but when you wait a couple of months to blog about a trip you forget the details.

However, I do remember this, when we were in the Georgia airport getting ready to fly back to Dallas Grace discovered some stuffed animals (which she calls babies) in the gift shop and really wanted to have one. I decided that they could each pick out an animal since we hadn't gotten any souvenirs. Kenny went and paid for the animals and right after that happened Grace walked over and saw a stack of pink bears. She immediately took her new stuffed animal and put it back where she had found it and then took the pink bear and started to walk out of the store with it. Thankfully she wasn't arrested for shoplifting and I totally caved and exchanged the animal for the bear to avoid a scene. I learned that Grace needs the opportunity to look around before buying, and Grace learned nothing from that experience.....oh well, maybe next time. So, we are the proud owners of a pink bear that says Georgia, which is funny since we didn't even stay in Georgia we just visited the airport. It was a great vacation, I wish we were back there right now.

After 3 Weeks of Swimming Lessons.....

2009-07-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

He can't swim laps, but he is doing more than I would have thought possible. The first two days of lessons I had to physically hand him to the instructor because he was trying to run away, but on the third day he decided it wasn't terrible and looked forward to going. This video is from his last day, they had been asking him if he wanted to jump off the board for the past two weeks and he had told them that he would wait until next year. However, he saw some older boys doing it on the last day and decided to give it a try. We're so proud of you Trey!

Baby Names and our 6th Anniversary

2009-07-26T18:38:00.000-07:00

Kenny loves to ask Trey and Grace if they have any ideas for baby names. Most of the time Grace will answer "Baby", because that is what she names all of her baby dolls and stuffed animals and Trey will say "Caroline", because that is the name of April's baby. Tonight he was being creative despite suffering from a stomach bug. He came up with a boy name and a girl name.

If it's a girl the name should be Pot Henry
If it's a boy the name should be Hot Boy Henry

My personal favorite is Pot for a girl. Kenny and I also got to play the Dora game tonight. I got to be Boots, Grace was Dora, and Kenny and Trey were Swiper. This was how we spent our actual anniversary, Kenny also got to clean up some vomit.

Actually we did get to enjoy some time away from the kids, thanks to his wonderful parents (who unfortunately also had to clean up vomit). We spent the night at a hotel downtown called the Jewel. It was in a really neat area that is being revitalized and is apparently a popular place to go out. So, we did get to listen to quite a bit of bumping and grinding until about 3 in the morning, but it was nice to sleep in and then go out to brunch. We also went out to eat the night before and then went to see the movie the Ugly Truth. We went to a 9:30 movie, I don't know the last time we have gone to a movie that started that late, it was a completely different audience than we are used to. It reminded me of when we were dating and would go to late movies all the time, except this time I was pregnant. It's been a great 6 years Kenny, or should I say Swiper. We never would have dreamed we would be at this point 6 years ago, but I wouldn't want it any other way. Well, it might be nice if we could figure out where that smell is coming from in our bathroom and Gracie's closet, but other than that we live a pretty great life!

Trying to get back to normal

2009-07-15T12:32:00.001-07:00

A quick trip to the farm with friends!

4th of July

I am almost 16 weeks along and still feel sick, but it's better than it was a few weeks ago. I keep telling the baby that I know it is all worth it in the end. Kenny keeps talking about how excited he is to meet this baby, and I am starting to feel the same way too....but I'm glad I have some time with it inside and contained. I am still trying to envision life with 3 kids. Here is my hope, Grace is definitely in the terrible 2's right now, much different than Trey at 2. He was sooooo relaxed and easygoing (most of the time). He didn't become "challenging" until 3, so that means that they are both going through those stages together right now.....so, maybe it will be over by January and we will be one big happy and helpful family, right. Maybe helpful in the sense that they like to "help" mess up the house all day long. I also forgot to add that Grace needs to be out of diapers by then as well. Trey suggested that I should give her some candy and then she might get rid of her diapers. Anytime I ask her about it she says "no, I'm a baby, I wear diapers". You aren't a baby anymore if you can speak in sentences Grace.

We are still enjoying our summer together, however I am realizing how much I value preschool. The laundry, oh the laundry, has never piled up quite like it has this summer. In fact, today we had so much that we made a mountain out of it and they took turns jumping in it. I might as well just keep it that way for a few more days, they really had a good time.

They don't start preschool until September, but here is what we have managed to do in between my bouts of baby sickness. 2 vacations, 1 week of soccer camp, 2 weeks of swimming lessons, multiple trips to go swimming (more than I can count at this point), daily slip and slide/hose/baby pool sessions, maybe a little too much PBS and NOGIN, play dates, Tuesday morning bible study, and my mom came to stay with us for a week.

For the rest of the summer: Trey is going to VBS this year (I loved going to vbs when I was growing up), Trey is taking another week or two of swim lessons because he LOVED them so much, we are driving to KC for a week in August to spend some time with Halie, and I am sure more trips to the pool and play dates. I personally enjoy schedules, so it will be nice when September rolls around, but until then that's what we are up to. Hopefully I will get with it and post the pics from our vacations this week. Happy July!

slacker

2009-06-29T12:41:00.001-07:00

That's what I have felt like for the past 3 months...hopefully it will get better. We have been on two fabulous vacations and I have wonderful pictures of these great times stored in my camera, but only recently have I been back on my computer. I never knew morning sickness could last all day everyday, or could prevent me from reading or watching tv because it made me nauseous. This pregnancy has been unlike either one in the fact that I have become a blimp that sits around waiting for someone (Kenny, his mom, or my mom) to help me. I am remembering Grace's pregnancy and recall doing spin 3 times a week without ever feeling sick. I made the mistake of doing a 2 hour spin class with this one around 7 weeks and I think it is the cause of my all-day sickness being worse. So, I pretty much go to the gym for the pure fact that the kids are being watched by someone more energetic than myself and I usually just sit on a bike and take a cat nap. I can't wait to see how much weight I have gained already, I'm sure it will be a record. Surprisingly an all carb diet packs the pounds on even when you only keep half of it down.

Hopefully I will get back on the blog wagon and upload my pictures from south carolina and destin so that my kids can look back and remember actually going on these trips. I know I will never forget them...I love traveling with small children and one in utero who makes me throw up on a regular basis. In all seriousness both trips were really fun, it is just the process of getting there and coming back that can be a beating.

Last week my mom came to stay with us and did everything for me. I didn't even try to help, I would have hated to get in her way. She organized all of our closets and managed to do our laundry and cook for us. The week before Kenny's mom took the kids swimming by herself several mornings and cooked dinner for us every night. I feel so blessed!

While my mom was here Trey went to soccer camp. I quickly discovered that he hates being hot. It was the hottest week of the year and the camp was 4 hours long for 5 days, but the first thing he said to me when I picked him up the first day was "it's too hot here I want to do tennis camp, I think that would be inside". On the last day of the camp they had a game. I made the mistake of telling him we were going out for ice cream with friends afterwards, so when I walked up to watch the game he ran off the field, tore his jersey off, and told me he was ready for ice cream. When I told him that he needed to finish the game he just looked at me and told me he was too hot and that he would just sit out. So, we watched everyone else play. His friend Eli was an awesome player, Trey went up afterwards and told him what a great job he had done. I loved that Trey didn't need to be in the spotlight. He reminded me of myself and Amy. When we played soccer growing up we were the defenders who would do cartwheels and pick flowers while we waited for the ball to come our way. When the ball did come towards us I'm pretty sure we let the goalie do the work.

Today, swimming lessons. We tried the Y last year and he never let go of me, so they are both going to Miss Rosey's to try lessons with just the two of them. I am supposed to leave for the lesson, which I think will work much better. Apparently Miss Rosey is concerned about Grace because she is only 2, but I think she should be more concerned about Trey. I'll let her decide for herself.

Before and After

2009-05-12T11:06:00.001-07:00

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I can't believe how different this house looks after 2 years. We haven't done anything major, just a really big face lift....and of course there is still plenty more we could do. However, the kitchen is done (aside from some lighting issues, paint touch ups, and a new oven at some point). I love how it turned out. I would have loved to get new cabinets, but then we would have never been able to do it, so painted over cabinets worked just fine. Besides, I didn't want to take away from the integrity of the house, HA!

I'm Three

2009-05-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

Not really, Grace just celebrated her 2nd birthday but she insists that she is 3, she will also tell you that her name is GG. We love you Gracie, what would we do without you? You make me smile, laugh, sleepy, joyful, frustrated, and blessed beyond words every single day. You are the perfect compliment to Trey, the exact opposite is more like it! You are silly and determined. You love to put on all of your accessories and shoes every day, but you also love to get very dirty on a regular basis. Most days you go through 3 outfits. You appreciate a little bling and you are saying everything. Your favorite sentences are: "Where you going Daddy?" and "What you doing Daddy?", you will ask those questions over and over again even if you get an answer. You are always trying to keep up with Trey and he is usually good about coming back and getting you. You all may not always get along, but whenever you see each other after you have been apart you give each other a big hug.

We had a little family party and hung out with friends throughout the week in honor of Gracie's birthday. Trey has LOVED sharing her gifts and she has been pretty good about letting him take turns, aside from declaring that everything in the house is hers...the word "mine" is definitely her favorite word right now. Two years, how did that happen?

Catch Up

2009-05-06T04:02:00.001-07:00

The camera charger was never found, but we are back in business thanks to the replacement part. The only problem now is the broken space bar key on this computer. Someone (my guess is that it is one of the toddlers living in this house) pried off the space bar key one day and then just left it that way. Kenny managed to put it back on, but it could easily pop back off and it often does two spaces when it is supposed to do only one. Which has made the thought of blogging less appealing. However, I woke up early this morning, for some strange reason, so I thought why not. I think I woke up early because of the excitement of winning at recipe club last night. That's right, I'm a winner of a recipe club...I never thought it would happen, but it did.

So, the pictures....we are all the way back at soccer. Trey got to do a soccer clinic with Kenny as a reward for deciding to be potty trained. I'm pretty sure that's how it worked in the end of the potty training battle, I backed off and he decided that it would be okay. So, we were very proud of him and I signed him up for soccer at the Y. Since he's only 3 he still can't play on a team, but he could do the parent/child clinic. I wasn't surprised that he was hesitant and spent a lot of time in Kenny's arms, but they did it together and his only memories are good ones.

Swede accompanied us to his first practice and took pictures while I went to work out, I could see them from a window...that was my excuse. He then went with us to chick-fil-a afterwards. Trey and Grace LOVE Swede, how could they not, he plays with them and talks to them when he comes over. As I mentioned in one post Trey really looks up to him. So, when Swede offered to share a milk shake with Swede, Trey couldn't refuse. Basically, he started drinking the shake and never stopped. Trey will tell anyone his favorite food is "treats"....so, thanks again Swede.

The rest of the pictures are random. Trey just woke up and is telling me about how he is a big kid now and he dreamed about older kid things. That is the phase he is in now, he wants to be older. The magic ages: 16 and 6 and a half. I am off to talk about older kid things.

The winning recipe:
Hot Chicken Dip
2 cans of chicken or 4 chicken breasts chopped up
1 cup of mayo
8 oz. cream cheese
2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese
1 can of green chilies

mix together and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve with chips.
Super Healthy and now award winning!

An Excellent Easter

2009-04-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter. It seemed like we only stopped to let the kids take naps, I don't remember every having such a busy Easter. Miracles really do happen, because Kenny had Good Friday off (sort of). He did spend about half the day on the phone, but he did it while following us around. We started off the day with a "Easter Hunt" (that is what Trey called it) with our MOPs group. It was cold and since the camera charger is still lost I have no pictures. However, it looked a lot like last years Easter egg hunt because it was at the same park. The kids were allowed to collect 12 eggs. Grace would pick up an egg, look inside the egg, sit down for awhile, and then I would find her another egg....so she got about 5. Trey was on the older end of the age bracket and he picked up around 30, so Kenny would drop a few back on the ground as they went along.

We then went on to the lighting store where Kenny spent a lot of time on work calls and the kids ran around lamps plus while I tried to figure out what lights we needed for our kitchen. Luckily we found an electrician while we were there who has already come and installed our under cabinet lighting and has given me all sorts of new ideas for the lighting on our kitchen ceiling. I didn't realize that you could get rid of the lighting monstrosity that I will soon have a picture of. There is hope for our kitchen to soon be free of fluorescent lighting (if Kenny goes along with it).

That night Kenny's parents watched the kids and we went out to Houlihan's, Wal-Mart, and then to a really nice movie theatre in Plano. We usually stay in Dallas to see movies, but I would say it is worth the drive to go see a movie out there. The theatre was really clean, the seats were nice, people weren't yelling and throwing things at the screen...definitely a ghetto-free movie viewing experience. We saw a really wholesome and inspiring movie, I Love You Man (I'm being sarcastic), maybe not quite the same experience as seeing Slumdog Millionaire.

Saturday morning: Trey's Soccer thing, a late breakfast at chick-fil-a, and then we prepared for the Easter party we were invited to that night. Now, if the kids didn't get enough eggs at the first hunt they were definitely set at this hunt. Sarah and her husband had filled something like 160 eggs and then more were added to that number...and there were only 8 kids hunting and two of them were toddlers...so they pretty much all scored. It was a fun night. Trey's best friend Anna Kate was in attendance and there were some older boys that he attempted to keep up with (basically lots of gun fighting, he came home and quickly made a gun out of some plumbing materials..maybe I'll break down and buy him a toy gun one of these days). During the egg hunt Grace practiced the same tactic she tried at the first hunt, find and eat, find and eat...Well she discovered that she loves jelly beans but hates the licorice flavor (one of the pictures shows this episode). It was a very fun evening.

That night was one of the first big spring thunderstorms, and guess what, our kids hate thunder! Around 3:30 I heard muffled screams coming from Trey's room. He was hiding under his covers, when I lifted them off of his head he screamed "I'm scared of the funder!!!". So, he ended up spooning in bed with me until about 5 when Gracie started crying. I got her and we went and slept together in Trey's bed. Every time it thundered she would crawl back on top of me and when it stopped she would go back to her sleeping position. Later that morning Kenny told me how Trey had heard thunder at one point and realized that I had left the bed, he quickly began scrambling/crying and Kenny told him he was still in the bed with him so Trey crawled over to his side and quickly got into the spooning position and dug his little toes into Kenny's back. Sweet memories.

Well finally it is Easter Sunday! We got up early and went to the early service that we have NEVER made it to. The kids sat with us and listened to the music and then went off to Sunday school, we stayed for the next service and taught, and then we headed back to our house to prepare dinner for Kenny's family. On a side note, we have been teaching Trey's Sunday school class this year and I can honestly say it has been fun. It is so helpful to know what they are learning about and then to talk about it throughout the week. He kept asking about Jesus dying on the cross this week and it was really neat to go over the story with him. It made me feel like he is starting to understand what Easter is about.

So, back to our Easter Sunday. Kenny's family came over that evening after naptime. Trey was in rare form, I think it was a mixture of too much excitement and candy, but he really did enjoy having everyone at our house. Kenny and I enjoyed hosting his family this year, thankfully Ken provided the meat and Gaga made a cake that Trey was obsessed with. They left it here for him, but I'm pretty sure Kenny and I ate most of the leftovers. That night we all crashed and slept better than we have in a long time.

Enjoy the pictures from the Easter party and soon we will have a new charger and I can download before and after pictures of our new kitchen!

WARNING, very random and lots of run on sentences

2009-04-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since my last post that blogger tried to tell me I needed a new cookie, or something like that. My reason for not posting....a kitchen face lift is in the works and it happens tomorrow. I hosted recipe club tonight, and Sarah reminded me that I needed to take a before picture, but of course my camera charger is missing so Eka took pictures for me. So, stay tuned for the before and after transformation.

We have just been keeping busy toddler style. Trey is "playing" soccer now. It is not a soccer team, but it is a parent/child clinic. Kenny, Trey, and Swede went to the first practice together so now he has it in his head that Grace and I are not allowed to go (oh nuts). Swede and Kenny got worried because they looked like a couple with a son when they took him to the practice together. I assured them that they were the only ones thinking that. Trey was just excited that his friend Swede came to watch him play.

We just spent another week looking for Trey's glasses and he actually found them on his own today, or he know where they were all along, who knows. Grace will be 2 on May 1st, 2....I really can't believe it has been 2 years. So that makes me also remember that we are getting close to summer. I am trying to figure out what we will do once summer arrives and all of our scheduled activities go away. It makes antsy to think of all the free time we will have. On another note, Trey is convinced that I am pregnant (I'm not) and that I am carrying the babies in my chest (by his calculations I am about 3 months along).....so I worry a little that he will bring that up at preschool.

Grace is her own cute self. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES babies. She is fascinated with baby Caroline (April's new baby). She loves to watch her, touch her, and talk about her. Today I found her reading to one of her dolls. This is the part that has been so different from having a boy. Her shoe fetish continues. I bought her some basic white sandals the other day to go with her Easter dress. My mistake was that they were not shiny or sparkly or pink. I presented them to her 3 times and on the third time she said "no mommy new shoe". I was worried I was going to have to sprinkle glitter on them for her to wear them, but then she realized that they had a small flower on the side and she has worn them a couple times but they are definitely not a favorite.

Not much else going on that is blog worthy. I'll post pictures once I find my camera, charger, and brain.

The time change....

2009-03-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

is really not a good thing for little kids and their parents. We did remember that the clocks were to spring forward on Sunday, but we were still running behind, about 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave for church we were still in our p.j.'s and no one had finished eating breakfast. We decided to have church at home, or something like that. Today has been no different. Trey, Grace, and I all slept late (poor Kenny had to get up and go to work). I didn't even get them down for a nap until 2:30. I'm looking forward to the two weeks it takes to get used to the time change.

Over the past week we got to meet Swede's beautiful girlfriend, my mom came in town, we saw my BFF from college Mandy, and we ate dinner with the Joseph's. A fun week filled with lots of food and friends.

Projects: I abandoned the painting of the hall. Actually I will take a picture of my finished portion.... I am going to wait until we can hire someone to come and finish it. I am just burned out on painting rooms. That being said, I started painting the kitchen chairs to match the table (it will all be black). Somehow it is different than painting walls, this is my first attempt at painting with oil-based paint. I am really enjoying how hard it is to get off of skin. Trey is convinced that I am dirty because I have black paint stains all over me and he says it smells. We also picked a fabric to go on Kenny's grandma's old sofa that we have been meaning to have recovered for 5 years. I'll make sure to post before and after pictures of that. That's all for now, I probably should go wake up the kids, it's about 2 hours before they need to go back to sleep if we are ever going to get back on the same schedule!

The Arboretum

2009-02-25T18:21:00.000-08:00

We have been missing Anna Kate and J.R. this week, they are visiting their grandparents, so it has been up to me to entertain Trey and Grace. It was beautiful on Tuesday so we headed to the arboretum. It was one of our first outings where I actually thought it was easy to have both of the kids with me. For the most part they walked beside me and followed instructions, we only dismantled one poor Pansy...I'm sure it was in need of pruning, and we saw all of the cool things that will be opening up once it is officially spring. Definitely an activity worth repeating. Maybe next time I will consider running a brush through their hair before taking pictures of them.

self conscious already?

2009-02-23T12:48:00.000-08:00

The other day Swede came over to eat lunch with us. Before he arrived I had asked Trey if he wanted to listen to his wiggles CD, he said "yes, but you need to turn it off when Swede gets here". I just laughed, but when Swede walked in he came over and whispered, "turn it off, just turn it off". He has told Kenny and me that he thinks Swede is "awesome"....so, I guess he was just trying to impress him. However, I'm sure Swede listens to the Wiggles all the time, am I right?

My Little Valentines

2009-02-17T11:44:00.001-08:00

My little monkies. This is their latest trick!

I found Grace "pretending" to sleep in the laundry basket.

I am hiding out in the office trying to ignore the screams of two kids who weren't quite ready to go down for naps. We just visited Kenny at the galleria. The kids enjoyed playing in the play area and then we all ate lunch together. It is so nice that we have the opportunity to meet up during the middle of the day. I have a chance to talk to another adult, and Trey and Grace LOVE getting to see Kenny during the day, the evenings go by quickly once he is home...by the time we eat it is time to get ready for bed.

We had a great Valentine's day weekend. Kenny and I laugh because when we were dating we seemed to always fight on valentine's day....who knows why. Luckily that tradition ended once we got married. We actually got to go out two nights in a row, it really did feel like the pre-kid days for a little bit. Friday started off with Trey going to preschool. They had a sugar packed valentine's day party. When Anna Kate's mom asked him about it he filled her in on all of the sugary treats. He LOVES desserts, on a side note whenever I give him a dessert he starts to lick his lips, it is so cute. After the partying was done we came home, the kids took a nap, they woke up and Kenny and I shuffled them off to their "valentine's day party" at the Y and we went to see shopaholic at the studio movie grill. Kenny picked the movie, HA!

On Saturday Kenny's parents offered to watch the kids. So, after a day of family fun they went to spend the night at gaga and ken's and we went out to eat. We had a great meal, but cut the evening short because I was having trouble staying awake. Apparently benadryl makes me really, really, really tired. I took one before we left because I was having some allergy issues and I realized on the way to the restaurant that I was dozing off. I ordered coffee with dinner, drank 3 cups of the regular stuff and still fell asleep on the way home. However, we did turn on a movie once we got home and enjoyed sleeping in the house with no kids. Sometimes it is just easier to sleep knowing that no one is going to need anything in the middle of the night.

So that's what we did this weekend.

On another side note: while we were at the galleria I decided to stop in old navy to look around. I hardly ever take the kids clothes shopping, because it is pretty much always a bad idea. However, today the kids thought it was funny because all of the mannequins were missing heads. That entertained them for the most part while I was browsing. So instead of doing what I usually do, just guess my size and try it on at home, I ventured into the dressing room. Trey's comments were hilarious. I tried on a skirt and he told me "don't get that people will laugh at you". He was right, it looked awful on me. I tried on another shirt and he said "hey that looks like one of my shirts". Meanwhile Grace got out of the stroller and started stashing shirts in the bags underneath the stroller. Who knew, Trey's a style expert and Grace is a shoplifter......that can't be good.

conversations with Trey (and a picture of Grace yelling at the camera)

2009-02-06T11:23:00.001-08:00

I don't know how many pictures I have of Grace yelling at the camera, I will have to make a collage one day....I'll do that after I finish Trey's one year scrapbook.
Amy found these "meat stickers" and gave them to Kenny for Christmas. They were really realistic.

I still vividly remember being pregnant with Trey and holding him for the first time and now we are having conversations, I love it! Yesterday he was getting ready for his nap, actually I was getting him ready for his nap. He still really needs to take a nap everyday and always falls asleep within minutes of me shutting the door, but still resists. If he could only know at this age how little he will get to sleep as an adult I think he would appreciate nap time much, much, much more.

Moving on, he says to me "mommy I need to have a conversation with you about something very important". Okay Trey tell me, what do we need to talk about?. Mommy I have been thinking and we need to build a house. We do? "Yes, we need to build one and this is how it will look, it will have spider man in the front, and then there will be a room for Batman, and we really need to have a door in the back that Bandit can go in and out of." End of conversation. It really is great getting to hear all of his random thoughts. I know there will be a day when he will cut me off and I won't hear his every thought, but I'm glad I will get to read this and remember that at one point I was the person he told everything to.

First Sentence....almost

2009-02-03T12:32:00.000-08:00

Grace's vocabulary seems to double daily. Today she had her baby and told me "baby shirt on". I knew what it meant. I had taken babies clothes off to go through the wash and Grace does not like for baby to be naked. Way to go Grace!

Trey is also stepping it up. He has been using the potty all the time lately YEAH! Maybe I should have a weekend away from him more often. We had had a conversation last Thursday and I explained to him that if he didn't start using the potty he couldn't do big boy things, nothing like putting pressure on a 3 year old. However, he really likes to do big boy things....so maybe that worked. Or it could be that he is hitting the 3 and a half mark. For those of you who don't know what big boy things are it includes everything that Trey likes to do: go to the park, eat dessert, play with friends, go to Sunday school, go to preschool, play dates....Maybe I am finally learning to speak his language. HA!

Another milestone, (in my opinion) he found his own glasses for the first time. Anyone who has a kid with glasses knows that they get taken off in random places every once in awhile. Well, this time he found them in our back yard buried in dirt. I am very sure that I NEVER would have found those.

30th Birthday Celebration....

2009-02-02T20:44:00.001-08:00

Pics of the girls (and one with Big Ken). Thanks Amy for always being so organized!

2009-02-02T15:35:00.000-08:00

I am behind on posting pictures, mainly because I had so many from our trip to Kansas City and I haven't had the time to go through them since we got back. That always surprises me that I can't find time to do things like that. I stay at home, you would think there would be loads of time for that, but things like sick kids, dirty dishes, play dates, phone calls, daily responsibilities/activities, and things like that become consuming. I finally got a slide show of Christmas up and I will put a few pictures of our rocking new years eve party. Thanks to Amy we got to dress up and go to a FUN, FUN, FUN party and thanks to my parents we had babysitters.

Upcoming pictures (when Amy sends them to me, of course I found my camera right after she left) from my 30th birthday surprise slumber party. Kenny is the sweetest husband alive. I did not want a celebration, I just wanted a night without kids. It almost didn't happen and probably wouldn't have if he wasn't flying in my sweet friends. The kids were sick all last week. Actually Grace got a stomach bug and had it for a couple days and then Trey got it and then Ken and Gaga GRACIOUSLY let them come over so that this weekend could happen. So, I will post those when I get a chance, but thank you Kenny for putting so much time and effort into planning a special celebration that you knew I would love and thank you Amy, Mandy, Emily, and Julie for coming to see me and thank you April and Emily for coming along for the celebration. You all are the best!

2009-01-27T11:51:00.000-08:00

Trey's favorite things about going to our small group (in order):
Drinking Capri Suns
Eating cookies
Playing with guns
Playing with his friends

Why I am kicking myself right about now: I taped off the hall and laundry room and bought some paint. Why do I do this to myself? I only have 2 hours....actually 1 hour and 40 minutes to finish it before my helpers wake up. Also, why have I spent 20 minutes playing on the computer?

I'm supposed to be preparing dinner...

2009-01-23T16:14:00.001-08:00

The kids are playing outside in the bounce house with Kenny and I am supposed to be fixing our Mexican fiesta. We have been reading the book Chicks and Salsa (thank you April) and every time we read it Trey and I get hungry for Mexican food, so tonight we are trying the Wild Hog Nachos. I had sent Kenny a text at work telling him I was at target buying the ingredients and he was VERY disappointed when he heard that there was no wild hog actually in the nachos (in the book the hogs like to eat the nachos, which are meatless). Kenny told me that he thought his dad might have gotten some wild hog and given it to me to prepare....really could anyone see me cooking with wild hog?

Anyways, I just needed to record two things Trey has said to me in the car over the past two days.

Yesterday he announced "I just wish I was older already" these are a few of things he can't wait to do when he gets older: drink coke, use a real phone, go to work (thank goodness), and work out. He used to want to be a mommy but Kenny has hammered into his head that boys become daddies. Really, I was flattered.

Today he announced "You are a nice mommy, even when you are mean to me". I asked him how I was mean and he said something about how I smash his hair on the floor. Maybe he was thinking about something Grace had done to him......funny boy.

Never a Dull Moment

2009-01-21T18:41:00.001-08:00

So far this year.....

-Grace is no longer allowed to wear two piece pajamas. The girl is like clockwork, every morning she has a dirty diaper, well she is VERY interested in helping out with diaper changing and is desperately wanting to use the potty so I guess she decided to take on the dirty diaper herself last Monday. My guess is that she had about 30 minutes to be creative.....and then I pretty much had to hold back the vomit while I cleaned up that mess. The worst part about it was cleaning underneath her fingernails.

-After waking up one morning Trey walked out of his room and announced that he had had a nice 40 minute nap.

-We were getting ready for church on Sunday and in a matter of minutes a strand of beads and an entire thing of eye shadow were all over the bathroom floor.

-Grace and her shoe fetish...pictures to follow. She usually changes shoes every hour. She switches from her fur-lined crocs, to her uggs, to her stride-rite pink shoes, to Trey's cowboy boots and every once in awhile she will try out the patent leather mary-janes. She really prefers name brands as well, I had bought her a fake pair of uggs and she would have NOTHING to do with them. She wouldn't even try them on. Gaga and Ken took her to Nordstroms and they picked out some uggs for her and she strutted around in them like she was a baby model.

-Anna Kate was over eating lunch with us and Trey announced that he needed to use the potty so Anna Kate asks "Trey do you need help" Trey says yes and she proceeded to help him use the potty.....I think she gave him the basic potty tutorial.

-Trey wanted to put the toilet paper on the roll so Kenny gave him a roll. He then manually began to roll the paper onto the toilet paper thing attached to the wall.

-While I'm on the topic of using the bathroom....Grace has been watching Trey as he has gone through the potty training process. She now mimics him every time she goes into the bathroom. She sees his little potty then lifts up her shirt and tries to pee standing up.

-Trey was watching the inauguration with me last night and right when I turned the TV on he saw Obama and announced, "Hey, that's Barack Obama". Good work Kenny!

-Anytime Trey sees my phone laying around he will bring it over to me and say "mommy here is your blackberry".

-I drove to the grocery store today and was talking on the phone (this should teach me to not talk on the phone while I am driving). I get there (still on the phone) and can't find my purse...I realize that I must have left it at home. Drive back home and run into the house, unable to find my purse (still on the phone) walk back to the car and realize it is sitting on the seat next to Trey.

The first thing Kenny and I did this year.....

2009-01-16T09:20:00.000-08:00

The very happy chef!

The blasted instructions required to put that kitchen together.

I thought it would be a great idea for my parents to get Trey and Grace a kitchen for Christmas. The kitchen I love is the pottery barn kitchen....but really, I think it retails for the same amount as our current kitchen. I also wanted one small enough to put in Gracie's room. I found a cute wooden one at target that I fell in love with. I bought it and stored the box away until we could get a chance to assemble it.

That is the problem with buying gifts for your parents that require assembly.....we ended up getting to put it together. I really don't mind putting things together, I actually like it. However, this was the most labor intensive project we have ever attempted. I usually do these things on my own, but Kenny was off work so he thought it might be a fun activity to do together. 5 and a half hours later we finished. If you ever think of purchasing this kitchen be warned that it is a very difficult project, that might require a few cuss words to make it through to the bitter end, and it really does take at least two people (one to figure out how to read the directions and find the parts and one to screw everything together). I guess it was worth it to see the look on their faces when they saw it the next morning....I guess.

Some things I learned in 2008

2009-01-15T08:13:00.000-08:00

So, it is 2009 (happy new year) and Kenny and Amy have informed me that I have been slacking on my blog duties. I am going to figure out how to use the slide option and post all of the Christmas pictures.
For as much as I love the Christmas season I am glad it is over. My kids (like most) need to be on a schedule and the holidays interrupt our regular routine. I feel bad, I didn't make a big deal over Santa and didn't even talk to Trey about Santa coming on Christmas Eve because I wanted him to sleep. Trey was really into opening presents this year....more into opening them than caring what they were. By the end of the Kansas City Christmas he was in full selfish 3 year old mode asking to open every present in sight. It was a wonderful opportunity to talk about how it is better to give than receive.......pretty sure we will have to go over that concept again.

So some things I learned in 2008:

I learned how to text message

I learned that potty training is a very long process for some kids, but rewarding when he tells me that he has to go and makes it to the potty before having an accident. Kenny and I are really enjoying the ongoing conversations we have with Trey about using the potty, very informative and full of too much information.

I learned that I am very thankful for preschool and that I look forward to Wednesdays when they are both well taken care of and I have a chance to be free (not that I think having kids makes me a prisoner....just sort of).

I learned that having a minivan really is practical and wonderful.

I learned that it is important to hang around our house every once in awhile. I do prefer to be on the go, but I know that it is important to show Trey and Grace how to have some down time (another thing that I learned is how overwhelming the list of things I want to teach them is).

I learned that the Chick Fil A play area is a great place to go when you have NOTHING else to do.

I learned that I am already ready to repaint most of the rooms in my house. That is actually part of my birthday present this year. Kenny is going to help me re-paint some hallways/rooms/a bathroom.....he mentioned hiring a painter but what would be the fun in that.

I learned that the idea of organizing my house is a lot more fun that actually doing it.

I learned that once you have 2 kids having only one kid around seems like I have no kids around.

I learned that it is VERY important to go out on dates (with Kenny). Thankfully Kenny's parents are here and have been so nice to watch the kids and we found a great babysitter when they aren't available.

I learned that when you have the chance to go away with your BFF from grade school you should do it. Gracias Amy!

I learned that the second child picks up on how to do naughty things much faster than the first one did.

I learned that a bathroom sink provides at least 45 minutes of entertainment...which has allowed me the opportunity to create this entry, however I just went and checked and realized that they were using part of Trey's little potty to create their "swimming pool" I'm pretty sure that is not sanitary.

I learned two kids can go through a pack of pez in 2 minutes

I learned Grace can down a juice box in one minute and 15 seconds.

I learned that having two kids who can walk and sort of talk is great because they can play and fight with each other.

I learned (will always be learning) that I am grateful for what God has given me a wonderful husband, a happy home, healthy kids, family, and friends.

Happy 2009....I will soon be posting one of the first things Kenny and I learned how to do in 2009. I know, the suspense is killing you.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2008-12-15T18:54:00.001-08:00

at the Henry house!

Thanks to my mom I have a completed Willow Tree Nativity scene which I absolutely love! Trey and Grace love it too, so much that I had to move it to a higher location. Unfortunately one of the little lambs lost an ear when it was being chased by Mary, that's how the only witness (Trey) described the incident.

We've actually had a few cold nights lately which means hot drinks. Kenny likes a little whip cream on his coffee. He even takes a can to work and uses it during the day....only Kenny.

Santa Clause at our local Y. I just haven't had it in me to brave the mall Santa this year. Grace wouldn't go near this Santa, I can't imagine what she would do if she saw the mall Santa, probably crawl up the walls like a spider monkey to get away from him. She just doesn't care for strange men, which doesn't bother me one bit. Trey was a little timid at first but after he saw Kenny talking to him he walked over and hopped in his lap and asked him for an airplane.

Our 2nd year with a Christmas tree. I haven't tried to keep this one looking pretty. Trey and Grace love to redecorate it on a daily basis. I'll save the designer tree for their teenage years.

The stockings are hung, maybe one day Santa will bring me a mantle or even better a new fireplace like the one I saw in Southern Living.....something to think about Kenny, I mean Santa.

December is the one month of the year that I get the mail, Kenny takes on the other 11 months. I made that snowflake Christmas card holder at MOPS, I thought it turned out really cute.

Christmas sweaters, Christmas place mats, Christmas cheer, and apparently a lot of beverages for little Gracie.

The annual Christmas box from Andy. This box has every kind of candy you could imagine. We are always thankful for his thoughtfulness and generosity. Thank you again Andy!

Merry Christmas from Trey and Grace

Shout out to Big K

2008-12-11T11:37:00.000-08:00

Kenny thank you! You have been such a big help always, but lately you have gone above and beyond. Over the past 2 nights you have helped clean up the kitchen, fished poop out of the bath tub (I still want to vomit over that one), listened to me go on and on about Christmas presents, re-hung the drapes, checked out the attic space situation, drove us around to look at Christmas lights, got out of the car in freezing cold weather with both kids to actually look at the lights on the trees (while I stayed in the car), you have put both kids to bed, you always offer to rub my feet at night, always offer to pick something up on the way home from work, and you do all this after working hard all day long. Thank you so much, you constantly tell me how blessed you feel, but I want you to know that you have always been and will ALWAYS be a blessing to me. Love you.

Thankful

2008-12-09T11:39:00.001-08:00

Grace "helped" us decorate for Christmas once we got back from our Thanksgiving trip.

We spotted this crazy haired person in the woods. Oh wait, it's Kenny.

The classic Christmas picture with Kenny's parents. Why do kids stop smiling once it's time to take a Christmas picture?

There were tons of armadillos out this year. At one time Kenny, Grant, Beau and Trey were chasing them.

Just hanging out.

No description needed.

Trey fell asleep in Gaga's arms after a very long day of playing.

Beau and Trey

Grace reading a book, most likely trying to get away from the big kids.

The kids table. Kenny's mom found the cutest plates and silverware for them to eat off of. We no longer "rough it" when we go to the ranch. She has done an amazing job of transforming it over the past few years.

We went to Comfort, TX for Thanksgiving and had a great time with Kenny's family. His whole family plus extended family made it, which was fun for the adults and kids. Trey had a GREAT time playing with Beau and Brooke. His cousin Beau is 6 and sweet as can be. He played with Trey the whole time! I am missing a picture of everyone, but hopefully I can add it once it makes its way to my email.

In addition to enjoying Thanksgiving Kenny and I decided to head to the ranch a little early since he had a few days off. The car ride was....not fun. I don't know why. I think it was because we got a really late start and it took longer than expected. We hadn't mentally prepared for 8 hours in the car. For some reason I always think it takes 5 hours to get to the ranch. The day after we got there we headed to Natural Bridge Caverns. Many Texans may have seen the billboards from the highway, well we can now say we have been as a family. Kenny had been when he was little and had fond memories, I'm sure we canceled those out for him. It actually would have been fun if we had not had the chattiest tour guide ever. Trying to keep a 19 month old and 3 year old quiet while someone explains the history of a stalactite just doesn't work. However, Trey thought it was cool to climb and look at everything....just would have been better without the commentary.

The ride home was much better. Trey was doing awesome with potty training and we even had a miraculous moment on the car ride home where he asked to go to the bathroom and went at the gas station. However, we seem to be backtracking a little now that we are at home, ahhh life with a 3 year old. The first day back we dug out the Christmas decorations and got to work. It has been so much fun to see how excited both Trey and Grace get when they look at all of the

decorations and lights. They love to talk about Christmas and everything that it is about. Hope everyone is enjoying the season!

Blog Guilt

2008-12-03T13:53:00.001-08:00

I don't know where all of my blogging time has gone. I was going to post our thanksgiving pictures, but can't find my camera....so another day. Maybe once Christmas is over I will get back into it. I got ambitious today while Trey and Grace were at preschool and started cleaning out our office. It is an even bigger disaster area now than it was a few hours ago. I am definitely kicking myself right about now for unleashing this beast. However, it should have been done about a year and a half ago when we moved in, but there were so many good excuses to not put everything in order. Now, it is just a mess and the garage and a few closets have become a mess so it is time to take control. My greatest fear is that someone will nominate me for a messy/cluttery house show. However, I wouldn't mind being nominated for What Not to Wear. I would gladly give up all of my clothes for a new wardrobe.

A few things Trey has said lately that I don't want to forget for his wedding rehearsal speech:

"I like this train park, it is part of my life"
"don't touch me, I'm special"
" when are all of the trees going to get Christmas on them"
when asked whether he wanted to wear a pull-up or big boy underwear "I want to wear a pull-up so that I can pee in it"

I can't leave Grace out. She is saying more words every day. Phew, for a while there we didn't know if she would ever decide to speak. Yesterday she learned the word no and said it about 100 times while we were in the car. I hope she got that out of her system. She also likes to say, apple, baby (she is in love with her baby dolls), mama, dada, Tay (trey), kitty, bandit, kay (okay), ball, cowboy, doggy, shoe, train....... She is amazing!

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. I'll post our pictures from the ranch soon.

A few of my favorite things......

2008-11-07T05:19:00.000-08:00

Tractors, who doesn't love a big rusty tractor.

Pumpkin patches, it looks like fall, even if the temps are in the 80's

Gracie's new coat.

My least favorite thing, daylight savings...sheesh, each day they get up a little earlier.

Super Hero Spotting

2008-11-06T11:46:00.000-08:00

na na na na na na BATMAN and ROBIN.

What did we do on halloween? We went to a neighborhood party complete with a bubble machine, snacks, friends, and a fun hill to roll down. We then joined up with Anna Kate and J.R. and trick or treated on one block and then ended the night at Gaga and Ken's house, where neither Trey or Grace were in the mood for any more pictures. Despite our best efforts they consumed quite a bit of candy, but that did not keep them from crashing when we got back home. I'm interested to see what Grace will want to be next year, something tells me that she will choose a costume with a little more bling.

Did I mention we went on a road trip?

2008-11-03T11:47:00.000-08:00

Trey and Grace playing with Amy. Your welcome Amy, I know you will love this pic.

Grace just loves when Uncle Rich holds her.

Grace is mooing at the cows, and trying to get into the pen while she is at it.

Grace loves goats.

Trey hates goats.

I guess it's been about a month, but who cares. I couldn't not document our first real road trip with the kids. It started on a Friday morning around 5:30 AM. We realized that, for our family, it works well to start driving at the crack of dawn. The trip to Kansas took about 10 hours, once we included two 45 minutes stops. One thing that really, really, really helped was letting the kids run around when we stopped to eat (instead of making them spend 30 minutes sitting down to eat). I mean really, they eat snacks non-stop while they are sitting and watching DVDs in the car, who really needs to sit and eat a meal after doing that. We were only there a few days, but it was a great trip. We went to a farm (as seen in the pictures) where we encountered some feisty goats (my dad had to wrestle one by the horns), saw a few cows, played on a really neat playground, we got to see Amy and my brother Rich, Kenny and I got to go out a couple of times, and we got to spend some quality time with my parents. We also picked up a "new to us" kitchen table that my mom repainted black for us. We then got back in to the car and enjoyed another 10 hour trip back to our house. Driving always sounded awful to us, but after dealing with airports so much we realized that going by car (at least while everyone is in car seats) is so much easier. So, next time you are on the open road and see a cool silver minivan, check to see if it is us. Family Road Trips Rule!

Family Pictures

2008-10-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-14T08:09:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-09T19:38:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-01T20:53:00.001-07:00

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

What's hot for fall?

2008-09-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

She's hitting the runway with some of her favorite accessories.....Trey's hand-me-down green Crocs, stretch pants from Gap found on clearance, floral long-sleeve shirt from Gap (hand me down), bib from Las Vegas, tie from Kenny's closet. Her make-up, clear colored snot...it's all the rage. This is sure to be trend for this season.

Still not found

2008-09-15T12:28:00.001-07:00

I was talking to Kenny on the phone and he said he would be digging through the trash tonight (the trash that has been sitting out in the bin since Friday night) to see if they were "accidentally" thrown away. When and if we find them I will be stapling them to Trey's head.

Missing

2008-09-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

One pair of glasses that fit the two (almost three) year old that lives in this house. Evertime we ask him where he thinks he might have left them he says "ummmmmm, I don't know". AHHH! Whose idea was it to put glasses on toddlers. I'm hoping that once he turns 3 he will be much more responsible, Ha. My guess is we will become much more responsible when we have to purchase another pair of glasses.

Random

2008-09-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

The week started out with a fun visit from Gramy and Aunt Lousie. Those two crazy ladies took a road trip to KC first to visit with my parents and Sarah and Halie. Then they drove back to Tulsa and then drove to Dallas to see Jan and Gary, our family, Gramy's brother, and a college friend. I hope I'm making road trips when I'm in my 80's.
Gramy loves to share her walker with Trey and Grace they had me push them around the house for about 30 minutes while they sat on it and laughed.
Aunt Lousie was kind enough to read to Trey and Grace before they headed to bed. Thanks for a fun visit!
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I keep reading about hurricane Ike and hearing about evacuations and can't help but think about myself...that's terrible, actually I am very concerned about all of my friends in Houston and hope that they won't hesitate to stay with us if they flee to Dallas and need a place to stay...but it brings back memories of September 21st 2005. I can't believe it has almost been 3 years since we escaped Rita with Trey. I know that anyone else who sat in traffic for hours upon hours praying that they wouldn't run out of gas remembers it just as clearly. When we finally got to Dallas Kenny kept telling everyone "Please don't call us evacuee's, we are displaced Americans"...or something like that. I also remember the dr and nurses watching the hurricane report while I was trying to get Trey out. Ironically Kenny was just in Houston and flew back early so that he wouldn't get stuck. Can't wait to see you Big K.

I also have a new favorite day, it is Wednesday. I got so much done yesterday. I ran errands and actually ran them quickly, but took my time when I felt like it. It was great. When we got home they both took a 2 hour nap and then it was time for dinner. You can't beat that! Grace had a fabulous day (so I was told), but apparently when she spotted Trey in the car pool line she realized what had occurred and then when she saw me she began to scream. Why do kids cry when they see their parents after they have had a day of fun?

Lastly, Trey and I were praying for his food today and afterwards he looked at me and told me that God never says anything back. It is a hard concept to understand when you're so little. He's almost 3....it's becoming more and more challenging. I realize every day new behaviors of his that I need to correct. However, the fun part of this age is his imagination. He can have an entire conversation with himself about nothing. Today he was King Luke and he was in his castle (which was my bed) and went in a cave (under my covers) and then slept in his king bed (the laundry basket). Fun times.

Yeah for preschool!

2008-09-09T11:57:00.001-07:00

Last Wednesday was Trey's first day of school. He seemed like he had fun, however on Friday his bff Anna Kate joined him and he had an even better time. I don't know what it is about those two, but she brings out the social side of him. Every time I talked to the teachers last year they told me he did well, but he never said a word. Apparently it was the same thing on wed., but on Friday they said that he participated and talked and had a blast. It's funny how having one good friend around can help you be more confident. He definitely takes after me. I remember not talking to anyone and then clinging to my more outgoing friends.

Now for Miss Grace, she takes after Kenny in so many ways! I was not planning to put her in any sort of program this year, after all she needs me. When we were at the meet and greet at Trey's school they told me there was an opening on wed. At first I said no, then I reconsidered and talked to Kenny about it, then I thought no again. Then Kenny stayed home with us over Labor Day weekend and after Monday was over thought I was crazy to not let her do that for one day. So, I kept her at home with me on wed. after I dropped off Trey at preschool. I thought she would love being with me....no, she spent the day sitting on Trey's train table crying. I physically wrestled her into her car seat every time I had to run an errand. Guess where Grace is going tomorrow?

I can do this....

2008-08-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

HA! Is there going to be a full moon or what? Grace has been screaming, crying, or yelling for about 4 days. It has be her teeth, nothing else is wrong with her (that I can tell, but I'm not a doctor). What happened to that sweet, cuddly, happy baby? She hit the 15 month mark and learned how to throw the best tantrum I've ever seen, she is now able to bite, and is very unpredictable with her moods. Trey doesn't usually help matters. When she is finally content he finds something to annoy her with. For instance, I finally got her to sit and look at books and he went up to her and started smothering her. I don't know. Good thing I love them so much or I might put in my two weeks notice right about now.

In other news, we get to say goodbye to some linoleum and carpet this weekend. We are getting the kitchen, bathroom, a hallway, and laundry room tiled. I'll miss the fake brick pattern and carpeted bathroom, but this should look a little bit better.

That's all for now, I'm just holding my breath until 6:00....or whenever Kenny decides to brave Hurricane Grace with me.

Saying good-bye to paci

2008-08-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

So, Trey is almost three and it is time (I know it has been for quite awhile) to get rid of paci. I have been dreading it. He has only been using it to sleep since he was about 18 months old, but he LOVED it (he still does). A few nights ago he spent the night at Kenny's parents and his paci was lost so he had to go to sleep without it and did fine. Once I heard that, I gathered up all of his paci's and cut the ends off of them before I could change my mind. I was hoping he would not ask about them, but when I put him down for his nap at home he immediately began screaming "PACI, PACI, where is my PACI!!!!!". It was super dramatic, but I would expect nothing less for dear paci. So, I gave him a "broken paci" and explained that it was time to give them to the baby ducks...we had talked about giving them to the other babies, but he insisted that the ducks would like them better. He said he wasn't ready and clung to the broken paci for his nap and then again that night, and then announced the next morning that he was ready to give it to the baby duck. I forgot to mention that the reward for getting rid of it was to go to Build-A-Bear and make a bear to replace paci.

So, we made the bear last night. Much to Kenny's relief he picked out a black bear and dressed it in a Mavericks outfit. After watching Super Nanny and seeing that the kids on that show forgot about paci, I was expecting to never hear about paci again.....WRONG. He is still asking for it, but crying less and less. So, I would just like to close this post by giving a little tribute to paci.

I feel like this is the end of an era. You were there for us so many times. You helped Trey sleep since they day he was born. You were a comfort to him when we evacuated. You gave him something else to suck on besides me. You helped him be quiet so that I could shop at Target just a little bit longer. You helped to make him happy when we moved. You kept him entertained when we took Trey with us to the hospital after my water broke at 4 in the morning. You always have germs on you which has helped build up Trey's immunity (not to mentions Gracie's since she was constantly stealing you from Trey's bedroom). Everyone on every Southwest flight thanks you. You will be missed by all of us, but it is time.

Cozumel

2008-08-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

Has it been a week already? It was really nice having the opportunity to be away with my BFF for 5 whole days. Besides unintentionally cutting her food into small bites and reminding her to use a kind tone when she talks to me, I was able to slip back into the role of of having no kids pretty easily. I'm glad to be back home, but it was nice to spend a week laying out by the pool, eating whatever I liked whenever I wanted to, sleeping in, reading, talking.... It was great. We did one of those all-inclusive trips, which I would highly recommend. One of the best surprises was the entertainment staff. There was one guy in particular that we liked to watch whenever we got the chance. He was just so flamboyant. We also learned to salsa dance and I snorkeled for the first time. Our only mishap (if you would call it that) would the ferry ride we took from Cozumel to Playa. Apparently I really do get seasick. Sweet Amy wasn't feeling great either, but she held my head while I willed myself not to vomit. We also almost missed the last ferry ride back to Cozumel and were confronted by the Mexican police, but no worries we made it back. Worst case scenario would have meant we had to stay up until 6 am for the next ferry ride. That would have been no problem since we are always up late partying..... right. It was fun. I've enjoyed the memories of the trip this past week as I have gotten back into my mommy role. Today's highlight was that Trey pooped in the potty....yeah. Thanks again Amy for a great vacation, thank you mom for coming to stay with the kids, and thank you Kenny for saying it was okay. Love you all.

5 years

2008-08-07T21:15:00.001-07:00

We celebrated 5 years of marriage almost 2 weeks ago...how the time flies. I had hoped to get a picture of us all dressed up prior to our date, but we were running late and it never happened. I actually think that picture is pretty heinous, but it make me smile to remember convincing Kenny to run with me in the thanksgiving day race in KC in 10 degree weather, just one more reason why I think he is the greatest. Anyways, I think we had our best celebration yet. Amy had come in town for our trip so she kindly offered to babysit while we went out for the night. Trey really wanted to join us (me) for dinner, but Amy convinced him that he would have more fun eating chicken nuggets and fruit snacks with her. We went to a nice restaurant that ended up being great for people watching. We talked about what the next five years would look like. We talked about how much had changed and how we would have never imagined already having 2 kids at this point in our lives. We reminisced about how last year when we celebrated we had approximately an hour and a half to be away from Grace since she was refusing to be fed by anyone but me. We ate lots of interesting food...Kenny had some kind of smoked meat platter (of course). It was fun and it made me realize a few things. For instance, I like that we are living a different and better life than I could have ever imagined. I love that I have two kids who remind me so much of Kenny. I am more in love with Kenny every year.....just imagine how on fire we will be in 50 years, yikes! We love spending time together, as a family and especially alone. I really did marry my best friend. Love you Big K.

Watch out world.....

2008-07-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

Attempting to escape.
She found this picture of Kenny when he was gone and walked around holding it one day yelling "Dada, Dada". I would call his voicemail and play his voice and she would get even more excited.

She was annoyed about something....I can't remember what it was this time.
Trey's death grip on Gracie. He loves to hug her. This usually ends with someone crying.
Gracie already loves purses. She was ready to leave for the Y, blankie and purse in hand.
Everyone says girls are easier to potty train than boys. She is doing great!

Gracie is now moving at the speed of light (sort of). She is a destructive little thing when no one is looking. I used to wander why/how parents let their kids do things like dump the cat's water all over the floor, play in the toilet bowl, undo the toilet paper roll, climb on chairs to get to things much higher.....

Now I realize that most people do not let their kids do these things, it is just impossible to keep up sometimes when they are faster and more energetic than you will ever be. Think about it, she takes two naps a day (usually), getting about 4 hours of sleep during the day and then sleeps 12 hours at night. No wonder she can move from room to room being destructive without me realizing what's going on. I am constantly one step behind putting things back in their places.

Ouch

2008-07-16T19:10:00.001-07:00

Trey's first real injury. The culprit....our coffee table. Trey was excitedly bounding over to show me something and tripped. His lower lip hit the coffee table and the blood began to gush. Once the bleeding stopped I was able to look at it and his teeth did not go all the way through his bottom lip, but he has had a swollen lip and a huge blister on the inside of his lip for the past few days. He keeps chewing on it, which isn't helping, but likes the fact that he can eat popsicles all the time. I was grateful that a friend was over at the time to help keep me calm, I was able to call Kenny's dad and he assured me that everything would be okay, and I am relieved that I could handle the blood situation. Splinters make me queasy, needless to say I was dreading the day one of my kids would bleed. By the grace of God I didn't hesitate to start wiping off the blood and looked right at the injury, trust me that was a big step for me. Hopefully this will be the only injury this summer.

My Tiny Messes

2008-07-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

The other day I was venting about how I am the ONLY one who cleans up any of the messes. It seemed very important in that moment that the house be completely spotless. HA! With a 1 and 2 year old that is a virtually impossible task if you plan to live in your house. Kenny, being the constant voice of reason, reminded me that things do not need to be perfect and that we (I) should move past that desire to have the house look perfect.

So today, I decided that I am finding joy in all of the messes that my crew makes. Maybe I'll start capturing more of them on my camera instead of cringing when I find chalk crushed on the new hardwood floors, a whole box of cheerios dumped on the floor of the bathroom, puddles of pee in front of the TV (also on the new wood floors), a constantly messy playroom and an even messier office....this too shall pass, right? Yeah for all of the messes in my house!

4th of July at the ranch

2008-07-06T17:26:00.001-07:00

We broke in the m.v. with a nice family vacation to the ranch. It now smells like diapers, food, milk, and stickiness. We left on Thursday after Kenny got off work and arrived around midnight. Trey made it the whole way without falling asleep, we were so proud. Grace on the other hand fell asleep around 9 and except for the occasional yelp she slept until we got there (that was the plan).

We went to a parade in Comfort on the 4th and after the parade Trey made his way to the bounce house and went wild for 20 minutes. He finally came out bright red, sweaty, and crying to go back in. Last year I tried to get him to try a bounce house and he wouldn't have anything to do with it. It's funny how those things change. Kenny's parents arrived later that day and we all got to eat dinner together. The kids were asleep before any fireworks began, but Kenny and I were able to walk to the top of one of the hills at the ranch and watch 3 fireworks shows once it got dark.

The rest of the trip was spent playing outside, eating, shopping, eating, sleeping, eating, chasing Trey and Grace around, Kenny and his dad shot guns at something, and just having fun. As always we were so grateful that Kenny's parents were gracious enough to have us and feed us and help with the kids, even though we see them all the time at home it is still fun to meet up with them at the ranch. We left on Sunday at 11 am and made it back around 4:30. That DVD player is a treasure. Trey was captivated for most of the trip by the movies and it even settled Grace down at one point when she decided she could not be in her car seat for one more second. It was totally worth the negotiating at the car dealership. We look forward to many more adventures in our family ride.

Mom and Dad

2008-07-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

What is up with my 2 year old calling me mom? It started out every once in awhile, maybe when he just for got to add the "y", but now he corrects me when I call myself mommy or Kenny daddy (not in a rude way...just like maybe I forgot what my own name was). If he is scared or sad he might call me mommy, but he is definitely in a phase where he prefers to call me mom. I figure that if I ignore it he might start calling me mommy again.

So, today he said "mom, where is my trumpet?". Can anyone tell what his "trumpet" really is?

I'm in love with my new minivan

2008-06-26T13:23:00.001-07:00

That's right, we did it. We bought the dorky minivan. We immediately gave up any cool points that ever existed when we signed all the papers, but hours later Kenny turned to me and said "I love this car" and I agree. It is so much easier to cart two kids around in than the Tahoe (which we like to call the Taco...I don't know). The doors slide open with the push of a button, it seats 8 people, it has a DVD player, there are built in sun shades, the trunk holds a double stroller and a single stroller and lots of groceries...and there is still room. We feel old and dorky, but we love our new car! Many think that we are getting rid of the Taco with 200,000 miles on it, but no it's ours. We have to get rid of my cute Volvo which Kenny has been driving around in for the past year. Funny story, he came to pick Grace and I up at the hospital and we realized that he could not fit in the car when there was a car seat in back of him. So, we had to trade cars so that we could all drive together as a family on the weekends. Like a trooper Kenny has been in a little clown car for the past year, but is excited to get his big gas guzzler back.

The Hair

2008-06-18T12:31:00.001-07:00

Many may be wondering how in the world Kenny manages to tame his wild mane of hair. The secret is White Rain Mousse. I think that we bought out every Dollar General while we were in Sugar Land and now Kenny is searching Dallas to find all of the remaining White Rain Mousse products. I would say he goes through about a can every week (yikes, looks like we only have a month until we need to find some more). So, if you ever see some will you send it our way and we will pay you back promptly!

Henry Happenings

2008-06-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

Trey warming up to the idea of participating.

Trey and Anna Kate found the jumping wall. I wonder if we can get one of those in our playroom?

I just can't help myself, I love this music!

Here is what we are up to. Trey (and I) started swimming lessons this week. Sure he is about a year behind, but there was no way I was putting my post-pregnancy body in a swimsuit last year, YIKES. He really does like it, as long as no one but his mommy touches him. He will blow bubbles in the water, kick, splash, and jump off the side to me. He also loves all the songs and games they play. He is in a class with his best friend Anna Kate and one other little girl. It's great because they get lots of one on one instruction. Actually, Anna Kate is teaching herself how to swim and the other 16 month old and Trey are benefiting from the instruction. We also started going to a "music and movement" class on Fridays. I know it is a little girly, but Trey and Grace both really liked it. Gracie loved it so much that she began standing up on her own while the music was playing. Maybe she really will walk one day. She is at the point where she is crawling so fast that she doesn't want to slow down to learn how to walk (at least that is my guess).

Lastly, my best friend from grade school and I just booked out trip to Mexico. We are going the last week of July during the work week and my mom is flying here to take care of the kiddos. I can't wait! Sadly enough Kenny has to work, but how lucky am I to have a husband who will send me on a week long vacation and a mom who will come down and take over all of my responsibilities for 5 days. I promise that I will come back a better wife and mom!

Procrastinating...

2008-06-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

I need to finish a list of projects that I started but left unfinished, I need to clean (a lot), I need to organize a couple of our closets, I need to water the flowers, I need to make some phone calls, I need to take a shower, I need to clean out my car, and I need to put away the laundry, but I'm not feeling up to any of those things at the moment so I'll waste time blogging and looking at other peoples blogs. Maybe I would get more of those things done if I hid the computer during the day.

Can you see the resemblance? Strange how they both took after only one parent.

Trey playing quietly wishing he were still the baby and Gracie crawling around yelling, that is definitely a typical day at our house.

The things he says......(and does)

2008-06-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

Trey's prayer last night: "Dear God, thank you for
families.....water....sprinkler...AMEN.

Almost every morning: "I want Gracie in my bed"

The other day: "Gracie you look so pretty"

Today after Gracie's nap: "Gracie we missed you so much, Daddy, Trey, Mommy, Trey, we missed you so much".

During almost every meal: "I want a special treat"

A couple days ago while we were outside (let me preface this by saying he was naked playing in the sprinkler): "Mommy, look I water the grass for you"
When Kenny came home from work and walked outside to see what we were doing: "Daddy I'm going to water your shoes".....I should add that by water he means pee.

When he wants to know someones name: "What his name is?"

Today we made blueberry muffins together. He had to eat his lunch before he could have a muffin. I told him to eat one carrot (he HATES to eat any vegetable) so he began eating it and kept covering his mouth to cough...how strange he usually isn't that polite. He "finishes" and I look down on the ground and there are tiny pieces of carrot all over the floor. Next time I'll tell him to swallow.

One of those days

2008-05-28T13:56:00.001-07:00

It is one of those days when you remember waking up to a semi-clean house and you look around and it doesn't seem like that was ever a possibility. Every mess that I cleaned up has been replaced by another one, both kids are a little on the whiny side (hard to believe, I know), they both have snot running down their faces, I have snot stains all over my clothes, I am having to use lots and lots and lots of patience, it is really hot, it is only 4:00 at least 2 hours and 15 minutes until help arrives, I have no idea what to make for dinner, the lunch that I made both of them was not a success. Wait, that's pretty much everyday! Gotta love the beginning of summer, stay tuned for all of our fun summer adventures.

South Carolina...this is basically what we did

2008-05-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

I started this post the day we got back, but spent the week getting everything back to normal. I'm now playing 52 card pickup with Trey and Grace so that I can finish it before I forget everything.

We're back from our first family vacation. Kenny's parents were kind enough to invite us to join them in South Carolina. I honestly don't know how we would have enjoyed a vacation without having them with us. The plane ride there was uneventful, thank goodness, and after getting our car and meeting up with his parents at a restaurant we were off to catch the ferry that would take us to Haig Point. As the ferry left we looked at the beautiful water and saw dolphins swimming along the side of the boat. Once we got to the island we got on a golf cart (that was the main mode of transportation for the week) and headed to the house. I can't describe how peaceful the whole area was. It really was incredible, especially coming from an area where police sirens are background noise.

When we arrived at the house Trey said "that's a really cool house", and it was. Ken and Linda gave our family the whole upstairs. Trey loved sleeping on the fold out couch and the closet in the master bedroom was big enough for Gracie's crib. They both adapted quickly to our new set up...not like it was that hard. We explored the area the first day there and in the evening we made it to Marshside Mamas where we enjoyed great food and a very interesting ambiance.

The next day Kenny and his dad played golf and that evening Ken and Linda were gracious enough to watch Trey and Grace while Kenny and I went on a date. We went to a great restaurant and then walked on the beach.

The next day was full of firsts for Trey. He went fishing, rode on a horse,and spotted some alligators (actually we saw alligators everyday, but I had to add that in somewhere). That evening we rode the water taxi and went to another seafood restaurant.

Our last day we managed to take Trey to the beach. He loved playing in the water and sand. I was surprised how much he enjoyed all of the new experiences. He usually takes awhile to adapt to any kind of change. We had so much fun on our vacation. It was one of those experiences that you wished would never end. We definitely hope that we are invited back again next year.

Mother's Day Weekend

2008-05-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

We are at that stage with our kids where most days are pretty great. They both sleep through the night (when they are healthy). They are both on a pretty predictable schedule. We have an idea what they will and will not eat. They both still take naps. Trey says all sorts of adorable things throughout the day, often for no reason at all. He told me yesterday that his special blanket could talk, he nicknamed Kenny Cheesy, and he can now do a somersault. I love when he tells me that he loves me out of the blue, it just makes me want to freeze frame that moment and then be able to bring it back when he is 15 and possibly telling me something not so nice. Sweet Gracie...she doesn't talk, but she makes enough noise that one might think she is trying to talk. She is a bundle of energy and always smiling. I could go on and on. The point of this post was to talk about mother's day weekend, which was so fun, but makes me realize how unbelievably happy I am to be a mom.

Basically we spent the weekend together and Kenny hung out at home and babysat while I ran errands. We did get the chance to see some of our friends from Sugar Land who are briefly living in Kaufman. It was fun to see our boys together, they never really played together while we lived there (since they were both babies), it was fun to see them both as toddlers interacting. Kenny, Trey and Grace sent me flowers and Kenny also took it upon himself to order out for all of our weekend meals, he couldn't stand to see me slave over the stove on my special weekend. On Thursday we leave for our first real vacation. I am excited to get out of here for awhile, hopefully Trey and Grace will be up for the adventure.

Tubetastic

2008-05-12T12:19:00.001-07:00

(This picture was taken before the tubes, she was not in the mood for an "after" picture)

Gracie got her tubes on Friday and everything went well. They did her surgery at a really neat kid surgery center. We had to wake her up around 5:30 am to get to the place by 6:10, but she still had fun rolling around in the play area before it was her turn to go in. She was a little ticked off when she woke up, but I think it was the drugs talking. After a long nap she woke up like her happy little self. Hopefully we will get rid of those nasty ear infections now! A side note, Kenny was a little disappointed that he could not actually see the tubes when he looked in her ears....I guess it is nice to see what you just paid for.

I leave them alone for one minute

2008-05-07T13:14:00.001-07:00

Why in the world do kids like being in the bathroom so much? I was finishing up a load of laundry and noticed that the location of the little voices had changed. I noticed a closed door and quickly opened it to find Trey singing to himself on top of the sink and Grace madly unrolling the toilet paper (I am going to pretend that she did not fish in the toilet.....yuck). Trey really likes to be in the bathroom, he loves to stand on his step stool and brush his teeth, wash his hands, and basically stare at himself. He even likes to sit on the potty and have books read to him. No, he is not potty trained, he just likes to sit there and be read to (we are taking the laid back approach to potty training, at least until this summer). I guess that their fascination for the bathroom should keep me motivated to keep it really clean.

Oh, and I know that many will be wanting to know where in the world I found the beautiful bathroom wallpaper. It was original to the house, so I'm not sure if they still make it, but isn't it pretty?

a few more pictures from last week....

2008-05-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

The tradition continues, I failed to get a picture (on my camera) of Grace eating her birthday cake. It is on video however, maybe if I could ever figure out how to download videos I could prove that she did have a birthday cake! We miss you Halie, Nana, and Gramy (I especially miss the laundry service and babysitting....and your presence of course).

We have a 1 year old!

2008-05-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

We just celebrated Gracie's 1st birthday. We had a little family party for her on the actual day and she loved all of the attention. Trey loved eating her cake and opening her presents. We also had the pleasure of having my mom and cousin Halie stay with us for the past week. It was almost like having twins and a toddler. Trey LOVED sharing all of his toys, HA. Actually, he was often conflicted because he likes having people around but doesn't want to have to share all of his toys. One day my mom told him he could go play in his room with his trains and she would keep the babies away. He went in his room, got bored, and quickly came out to tell her that the babies could play in his room. I love the indecisiveness of a 2 year old.

Grace just got back from her one year check up and is sleeping off all of the shots. The last time we went she didn't even notice the shot, this time she couldn't stop crying. She only stopped so that she could eat a fruit snack and then kept whimpering the whole way home, it was pitiful. We found out that she is in the 25th percentile for height, 40th for weight, and 80th for head size.....she is really smart. She gets tubes this Friday. It will be a nice change to not be going to the dr. every other week for ear infections. That's pretty much it. Trey has his last day of preschool on May 21st, yikes, what are we going to do all summer!

Classic Kenny

2008-04-19T08:22:00.001-07:00

So, last night I did something I rarely do, I left the house without anyone else. Our small group had a girl's night out. I told Kenny that I would be back around 9, but we were having so much fun that I didn't make it back until 1:30 (needless to say I regretted it at 7 AM when Grace started yelling to get out of her crib). I figured that Kenny would be fast asleep, he likes to fall asleep around 9:30 if I am not around. However, when I pulled into the garage he walked out to greet me. I thought, how sweet he waited up for me. The first words out of his mouth were, "I'm getting tired, I have been waiting for you to come home so that you could put the sheets on the bed". Oh Kenny......I'm so glad you can't live without me!

Bluebonnets and Spanish

2008-04-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

The picture of the kids in the bluebonnets is from last weekend. Kenny came home from going somewhere and told me that he had found the perfect spot for a bluebonnet picture. I had to make sure we did it this year....it is a Texas tradition and 3 out of 4 of us are genuine Texans. We never got around to it last year....probably had something do with moving and having a baby. However, we did do it when Trey was around 7 months old. It was one of those moments Kenny and I look back on and laugh at. I had Trey dressed in a onesie that was the color of the bluebonnets and also brought out the blue in his eyes and I was excited to get some pictures of him. Well, we get to the bluebonnets and discover the bees. Kenny started freaking out and we only got a couple of pictures, he also informed me that we couldn't get anymore pictures because of the bee situation. We got in the car and didn't talk until we got home. So, this time there were still bees, but we were a little more laid back. Actually, Trey kept running away and breaking the law by picking the bluebonnets, so there were other things to stress out about.

Oh, and the Spanish. I was saying "hola" to Grace last night and she kept repeating it back to me. Maybe I should start listening to my old Destinos tapes and try to teach her Spanish as well. I think she could pass for a Hispanic baby with her beautiful skin tone, most people question whether or not she is actually my baby when they see her next to pasty white me.

11 months

2008-04-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

She's crawling, pulling up, babbling, grabbing, yelling, crying, laughing, smiling......basically doing what babies do. The thing that impresses me most is her appetite. It is like heaven when we feed her. Especially when we are feeding Trey at the same time. Here is what it is like.

mommy: "Trey if you eat one bite of chicken you can have a banana"

Trey: "No, I don't like this chicken"

daddy: "Don't you want to be big and strong, like Captain Carlos" (that's right, we have resorted to using TV characters to get our child to eat).

Trey: "No, I not hungry" (how is that possible, he barely eats and then runs all day long)

mommy: "just one bite, here watch me eat one bite"

Trey: "I want to feed you"

daddy: "okay"

mommy: "Kenny, don't eat all of his food"

Trey: hmmm, they don't know what they are doing

Grace: sitting there with her mouth open waiting for the next bite

That is the gist without me adding in the parts where I lose my patience. All that to say she will eat anything you put in her mouth, or that she finds while she is exploring the floor of our house. Yesterday I saw her sucking on something and I finally managed to get it out and it was a piece of cat food. Gross. She must have been sucking on it for awhile because it was pretty worn down.

Only a few more weeks and she will be one. This year has flown by, I'm grateful to be out of the teeny tiny stage, but it makes me sad to see how fast a year can go.

First Prayer

2008-04-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

Going, going, going.....that described our Sunday. Trey never got settled down to where he could take a nap. Anyone who has a 2 year old (that still naps) can understand what the "behavior situation" is like when they have not taken a nap. He was definitely having his ups and downs at the end of the night. Kenny had needed to go to work so I told him I would bathe Trey and Grace and put them to bed. We finished baths, had a bedtime snack, and headed to bed. I started to say a prayer with Trey when he started his own:

Dear God, thank you, thank you for the playground........amen.

The perfect end to a very chaotic day.

So long March.....

2008-03-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

2 seconds later the toddler ambushed Maddox and Grace, I think it was out of love.
Happy kids!
This is part of our garden at home, just kidding.
Trey's version of "horns".
Trey participating in one of the games. He was supposed to put the flag in a bucket, but he didn't really want to do that.

What a month. Children passing disease, ear infections, more snot than I care to remember, feeling like I was a hostage in my own home, experiencing the terrible two's, two kids teething, a roof leak which resulted in the need for a brand new skylight, the expiration of a home warranty....that night we discovered that the air conditioner had stopped blowing cold air. I am ready to see March go. The light at the end of the tunnel, a trip to the Arboretum with friends. We couldn't get away from the terrible two's, but we will choose to remember the happy moments......right.

Sick of being sick

2008-03-26T12:54:00.001-07:00

(Trey and Grace fishing)

First Trey got it and then Grace got it (by "it" I mean some gross virus that makes my children snotty, grumpy, sleepy, and sick). We have been trapped in our home for almost 2 weeks. Thank goodness my mom and Grammy came in town last week....I don't know what I would have done without their help. Today I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Trey woke up and actually seems normal, I kept him home from preschool so that he wouldn't catch something else (at least not this week) and Grace seemed happy as well. Since Christmas she has had ear infections on and off. She is, once again, on antibiotics for her fifth one in the past 4 months. She actually likes the taste of the antibiotics, kind of sad. We are hoping to actually go and do some fun things this weekend. I know some other moms are going through the same thing, based on attendance at the doctor's office I would guess half of Dallas is sick with something.

Easter

2008-03-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

I don't about anyone else, but we have encountered more sickness this year than normal (or at least in my 2 1/2 years of being a mom). So, of course, they were both sick on Sunday. However, Trey seemed to be "well enough" to make an appearance at church, and Grace and I stayed home so that she could take a nap. After church I dressed Grace in her adorable Easter outfit and we went to Grandada Ken and Gaga's house for a wonderful lunch.

By the grace of God Trey sat through lunch without melting down, he even managed to eat a little bit of real food and a lot of cake while we enjoyed eating our lunch. The day was perfect, despite being sick, we spent time with family and we were able to reflect on God's greatest gift to us....his son. My hope for next year is that Trey will begin to understand that Easter is not about creepy bunnies and candy, but about a savior who died for our sins so that we could have eternal life. I hope that everyone else enjoyed a perfect Easter.

The Bunny

2008-03-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

What are the odds that this bunny is some kind of predator???? Can't they find a way to make the bunny costume look a little less creepy?

10 months old

2008-03-12T13:36:00.001-07:00

I love this age. Gracie has so much personality. She laughs at herself, she laughs at us, she laughs at the cat, she laughs at anything. She can crawl and pull herself up. She loves to pretend that our house is a giant obstacle course, I usually find her under a table or in a laundry basket. She can say bye bye, mama, dada, and she attempts to say kitty. She has 2 teeth. She seems to get an ear infection every few weeks, but that doesn't really phase her. She finally loves to sleep through the night. She also loves to eat. So far there is no food that she won't inhale. I can't believe that in two months she will be one!

Funny Boys

2008-02-28T13:08:00.000-08:00

Kenny and Trey always make me laugh.

Imagine a 2 year old monotone voice. Trey enters the room, "Here I am, ta da", jazz hands.

The other day Kenny was telling me that he liked the new hand soap I bought him. It is some kind of ocean smell. He then said "the only problem is that when I take a shower sea horses come out of my butt"....maybe you had to be there, but it still makes me laugh.

2 nights ago I go in to check on Trey before I went to bed and he has his flashlight on, pointing directly into his eyes, fast asleep.

Trey's favorite food is "birthday cake". He makes a funny smacking noise anytime he has cake near his cute little face.

Trey loves to color in his coloring book. Kenny came in and was trying to "teach" Trey colors. He asked Trey what color one of the crayons was and Trey said purple. Kenny said, "no, it's green". I looked over and the crayon was purple. Maybe if you are color blind you should check the label on the crayon.

Kenny and Trey, I love you so much. Thank you for making each day fun!