SUPER SIX!

During all of the chaos of moving and Christmas, we celebrated Henry's sixth birthday.  He was so excited to turn six, and thoroughly enjoyed his special day.  We had special meals, he got to play the Wii, he took a long, hot bath all by himself, a play date with a friend, and he pretty much relished in the attention and "free pass" for whatever he wanted.  That evening, we had a special dinner, and cake and ice cream with the family as well as some neighbor children.

There are so many wonderful characteristics of this boy, but instead of them all coming from me, I thought it would be fun for the whole family to join in on.  I asked each member of our family what they loved best about Henry:

William: "uuuummmmm, Henny pay bashiball"  (Henry play basketball)

Sean: "him playing basketball games.  He plays Sequence with me."

Daddy: Henry is always quick to say, "Dad, I missed you while you were at work today" or  "Dad, I love you very much."  A smile that both lifts me up and melts me away to nothing.  He constantly amazes me with how fast he picks things up, whether it's a game, his school, or how Jen and/or I are feeling.  Love cuddling on the couch watching sports, his devotion to Nebraska and Gonzaga (though I don't care for how quick he is to cheer for the other team when they lose :)  I'm so excited to continue to make all those father-son memories I had with my dad.  Love you, Big Man!  

Mommy: this kid is fantastic, and I just couldn't narrow it down to one, so here are SIX things that I love about Henry

1.  Henry is always eager to learn new things, and master new skills- something I appreciate in him, but don't naturally relate to:)

2.  He is always willing to help, and he has been a HUGE help to me these last few months as I gradually get less productive & less mobile.

3.  He really WANTS to do the right thing, always.

4.  Henry is a sensitive boy.  I sometimes worry about his fragile heart as he grows up, but right now, I just love how he cares about others.  He is the first to give me a complement, as well as notice something new around the house.

5.  From all of the stories I have heard, pictures I have seen, and Josh's personal memories- Henry seems to be VERY similar to his Dad as a child.  Even though I know they are two seprate people, I feel like I get to "know" Josh as little boy through him.

6.  Lastly, I love Henry because he is Henry, and I am just smitten with him, and he is my first born child which is a special and unique position to hold in a family.

one more thing....

forgot this video of Sean dribbling the basketball....

Boys heart sports

Here are a few pictures of Henry and Sean playing football outside during our hotel days.  Yes, it is full-on tackle, and they take the game very seriously.  A few times other boys have joined in, only to have their parents yank them from the game a few minutes later after realizing that H & S are ROUGH.

The boys are now in basketball, and loving it!  Thankfully, they understand that basketball is NOT a contact sport, and we haven't had any ejections from the games yet!  Sean's "games" are more of a practice that will eventually lead to games.  They take place on Friday evening, and the boy is in his uniform within three minutes of waking up in the morning.  He LIVES for Fridays!  He is already dribbling with either hand and a scoring machine!

After only a few practices, Henry started weekly games.  He seems take more after his mom, and appears to be a defensive specialist!  He is doing great, and improving weekly.  It is amazing how much joy it has brought us watching him in his first organized sport- I cried the entire first game!  Here he is in his first game:

Oh, and his first game was extra special, Uncle Kelly was able to come watch him play!

Merry Christmas!

We have been busy around here....

We FINALLY moved into our home on the 22nd of December!  It is so good to be in a home again, and Henry officially declared, "I really like living in New Jersey now"- I guess our transition was wearing on all of us.  Anyway, we had the best group of guys unloading our stuff.  They were so patient with the boys running around, as well as the big fat lady on the couch telling them where everything went, and then changing her mind a few times!  We all laughed about that crazy lady, and we assured them that that big fat lady was extremely hormonal and frustrated by her lack of physical mobility, and she was barely sane after living in hotels for almost five months- they really were great!  Josh and I decided that it would be in the best interest of all of us, for him to NOT attempt carrying me "over the threshold" into our new home.  We joked about him borrowing a dolly from the movers and getting a picture of him "wheeling me over the threshold," but unfortunately with the chaos, we forgot to capture that special moment.  I am sure it would have been a pathetically funny photo, just use your imagination....

Overwhelmed with boxes, we did our best to get as settled as we could before it was time to take a break and celebrate the birth of Our Lord.  Our celebration lacked some of the "bells and whistles" of previous years, but had the basics and really tried to focus our attention on the true meaning of Christmas.  We did  get a tree and decorated it (it was Sean's year to do the star), we had our traditional meals, and we were spoiled with presents.  It was wonderful, and what a way to start the new memories in our new home!
Aside from a few wall hangings and a couple of curtains, we are pretty much settled!  Along with unpacking boxes, we had to go through clothes bins for the boys (and me) to find bigger, and more weather appropriate clothing.  Henry and Sean were excited about their "new clothes" however, William is increasingly showing signs that he doesn't care for change much, but he is warming up to the idea of (or forced into) wearing something other than the two outfits he had been wearing the past few months.
Now that the majority of our belongings are in their place, it is time to prepare for the twins! The first step was getting our van detailed.  Josh and I treated ourselves to this luxury after we realized that the sand and mess in that poor car was more than we could handle.  It is beautiful and it smells great!  After we had a clean van, Josh successfully figured out how to fit three car seats across the back seats (we had to buy some smaller ones) to make room for the babies in the middle row.  I will definitely post a picture when we are all loaded up....five car seats in all!  Next on the list: cribs, clothes, diapers, diapers, diapers!
Here we are with the last load of belongings, leaving the hotel (the photo is blurry, and appropriately so, we have all compartmentalized that time of our life, and now it is just a blurry memory)

Oh, another tradition that we were able to uphold this year: Josh driving home hanging on to our Christmas tree through the sun roof.  He is faking a nice smile, as he HATES that this is actually a yearly occurrence, but I thoroughly enjoy it.

Some pictures of our Christmas celebration:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I have a few more updates to come, but I had to add that we are officially ready for babies, although we hope that they don't arrive any time in very near future.  We owe a huge thanks to my sister, Chrissy, who, along with two of her children, drove 11hrs each way to help us accomplish this.  We shopped, ran errands, washed clothes, and she made & froze meals for us, sewed, cleaned the house and did some baby sitting.  I am so grateful for everything she did, and it was so fun having girl time- we talked and laughed our way through each and every task.  Sisters are the best.  I love you Chrissy, cccccooooommmme bbbaaaaaaacccckkkkkkk!

Feast of St. Nicholas

Happy Feast Day!!  


The boys were highly anticipating this day, and they reminded us multiple times to put our shoes out the night before.  We did, and St. Nick was able to find us in our new, temporary location.   The boys came running out of their room this morning to see the contents of their shoes....chocolate gold coins, a new toothbrushes and Jan Brett's The Night Before Christmas book for them to share.  Josh got honey roasted cashews, and I was excited to get Andrea Bocelli's Christmas CD.  I wonder if the entire hotel is tired of hearing it already....probably not!

Happy Advent!

Evening shopping with boys

Back in early November:  out of sheer desperation, we attempted an evening shopping trip AFTER Josh got home from work, and BEFORE dinner.  "Stupid," you are thinking, I know, but let me explain....
1.  We live in a hotel, and after a few days of bad weather that kept us cooped up inside the room, the boys and I were starting to go a little crazy.
2.  Henry told me that his heel hurt.  Upon inspection, I noticed a blister from shoes that were WAY too small.  Poor kid, but seriously, I think we had just bought him those shoes.  I have to quit feeding these kids:)
3.  #2 inspired me to inspect the other two boys' shoes.  Yup, too small. We do have a shoe bin full of various sizes and styles, but unfortunately, it is in storage and inaccessible for another 6 weeks(at the time).
4.  The rest of our week did not allow for shopping, but did require shoes for the boys.

So, out we went to the outlet mall excited to get out, and I was super excited for new shoes, even if they weren't for me:)  Nothing around here is within a convenient location, so 30 minutes later, we arrived at the mall.  For some unknown reason, William was furious at the idea of having his feet measured and trying on shoes, so he screamed and wrestled us through the process and for the duration of our outing.  The other two boys were so excited about their new "very fast" shoes, they ran, and ran, and ran around the store like a bunch of track stars.  We had no control over our children.

We justified another store stop to find William a new sweatshirt.  I left Josh behind to pay at the shoe store with a screaming 2 year old, and took my track stars to the next store down the sidewalk.  As I am desperately looking for the correct sized sweatshirt for Will, I hear him coming (still screaming) and I ignore Josh and Will like they don't belong to me.  Henry is next to me observing one of the store workers assembling a new shelf to display winter hats, gloves and scarves.  Sean is next to me jumping, "Okay, they are fine, "I think to myself.  Next thing I know, the worker has finished her task, and Henry, oh, so curious Henry, immediately disassembles the shelf, hats, scarves and gloves to tumbling all over.  "Don't worry Mom, I know how to do this" he reassures me.  I look away from this huge mess, to get a visual on Sean.  I don't see him at first, and then his head pops up from within a clothing rack that he has climbed- on top of.  As quickly as I can, I clean our mess, and bury my head as I grab my boys and officialyl declare our shopping trip over.  I join Josh, who left the store shortly after he arrived, and interrupt his wrestling match with William to inform him that we are done.

Once again, shopping, or going out in public period, is only a good idea with well-rested, well-fed and well-exercised boys, no matter how desperate the situation.  Lesson learned, again.  This shopping trip pretty much sums up the boys...
Henry- always figuring out how things work, and how to assemble/disassemble things (that is why the boy LOVES legos and such toys)
Sean- sees the world as some sort of physical sport or challenge to either win, climb or defeat
William- he has a mind of his own, and isn't shy about enforcing his opinion on all those around

Maybe nobody noticed that I am pregnant on top of the three monkeys we already have.  If anyone would have asked, I would have denied it, and claimed obesity (sorry babies).

Now for some success...
Henry is the proud new owner of his first pair of tie up shoes.  He was very eager to master the task of tying shoes, and after a quick lesson, he is an old pro.  This new skill has another benefit...tying my own shoes has become quite a task, and on the more uncomfortable days, Henry is happy to assist me and tie my shoes.  What a sweet boy.

William has also learned a new skill....potty training!  With the upcoming arrival of our twins, we felt the urgency to eliminate some diaper use in our home!  Back in mid November on a particular Saturday, the two older boys and I headed to a friends house for a few hours, while Josh (my hero) stayed back to train William.  Here is our big boy in training...

A few weeks later, and he is still using the bathroom like a champ.  Will had never eliminated on the toilet before "training day" and so after Josh set him on the toilet, he stepped out of the bathroom for a moment to hear Will exclaim, "Its WORKING"!!  Yes, son, it does work!  He continues to declare this every successful bathroom trip since....except, somehow he has developed a German accent, so it sounds more like, "ess voorking".  I really have to stop calling him Wilhelm...

Halloween

Here are the boys getting ready to trick-or-treat.  Our hotel is right next to Commander's Row on base, so thats where we headed to collect candy.  This was the most generous neighborhood that we have ever visited on October 31st- we got MANY full sized candy bars and three very full bags of candy.  The boys had a blast, and once again, Josh and I enjoyed watching them.  Please don't notice that William is not in costume... and if you must, I would like to tell you that he refused to wear his costume just to make myself feel better, but that would be dishonest.  He had a blast anyway, and chances are, he would have refused a costume.

The boys have been extremely generous with sharing their treats with the twins.  They seem to be very sympathetic to their younger siblings' cravings for sweets.  Even though the babies have been more active than ever since Halloween, I am afraid the majority of the treat-aftermath has stuck with me.

We did our best to do our regular Fall/Halloween festivities without home and belongings, but unfortunately we didn't get too many photos (our camera is running out of battery, and the charger is in storage).  We did attend the Medical Group's Halloween party, and that was another opportunity for food, games, friends, costumes, CANDY, and lots of fun.  The boys are already plotting Halloween costumes and fun for next year!