A post for Papa

Hey Dad, this post is dedicated to you.  It will make you proud to hear that my boys seem to love two of your favorite locations...
Henry was playing with Josh's wallet a couple of months ago and found a $10 bill.  After he tried putting it in his pocket, we reminded him that it was his dad's money, and then we asked him what he would do with it if it were his money...
Henry: I would take it to Church, and I would give it to Father
We posed the same question to Sean...
Sean: I going to Tosto! (Costco)

A quick update

First of all, I want to say thank you for the prayers, well-wishes, phone calls, cards, and cookies that we received from after I posted about Sally.  It has been a very sad and difficult adjustment, but we are doing well. 
It seems as though winter is not going away anytime soon, but we are making the most of it.  Josh took part 2 of national boards a few weeks ago, so up until then, we didn't see too much of him.  I do have to say that I am so proud of him...he does an amazing job of balancing all of the demands of being a husband, father, student, friend, etc.  Josh and I have started the many home-improvement projects we have to do to get our house ready to sell.  I can tell already that selling a home is a very detaching process!  Henry is still loving school, and he is a huge sponge when it comes to learning new things.  Sean's latest milestone is being potty trained.  Thanks to my cousin's recommendation, the method we used was quick and successful!  William is working on three more teeth, and he has discovered that rolling can actually get him somewhere or to something....time to block the stairs! 

In Loving Memory...

of our "dog-ter"

SALLY BEAR CONWAY

June 21, 2005- December 30, 2009

Sally was a fun-loving English Mastiff, who had no idea how large she was.  She had a huge heart, and loved being loved.  Some of Sally's favorite activities included: trips to the park, neighborhood walks, tug-of-war, chasing the boys, posing as a mountain to climb and/or a horse to ride, riding in the car, playing in the hose & sprinkler, and most of all...laying curled up in a ball on someone's feet.  Sally loyaly served her family with unconditional love, affection, excitement, protection, forgiveness and most of all, patience. She leaves behind many wonderful memories.  Sally is survived by her human family: Dad, Mom, Brothers- Sean & William, and Brother & Best Friend- Henry.   

Please pray for us as we mourn our loss.  Thank you.

Birthday Boy

Today we celebrated Henry's 4th birthday.  It is hard to believe our oldest "baby" is already four years old! 

We all had such a fun day.  Josh helped the boys build the wooden model airplanes that they got for Christmas.  It came with A LOT of screws, and Henry was a trooper and screwed them all in himself.  At one point, he informed Josh that he needed to lie down (and he did), but he kept on turning that screw driver!  The rest of the morning was filled with other special activities, as well as many phone calls for Henry....which he loved!  FINALLY, at 1:30 Henry had a birthday party with some of his friends and family at Boingz (a local bounce house).  Everyone seemed to have a great time, and I think we successfully wore out all of the kids.  

Josh made Henry a Cars cake...it was really cute, and he loved it.  Here is a picture of Henry's face while we were singing to him.  

After the party, we came home and had dinner.  Henry requested eggs for dinner, so that is what we had.  I did add some bacon and pancakes, but even with that, it was a pretty simple request!  Following dinner, we had ice cream cones, and we all looked at Henry's photo album, and told him stories of his earlier years.  

Henry was pretty excited about the gift we gave him....his very own camera. 

Henry,

Happy Birthday, Son.

You have brough us so much joy, and we feel so blessed to be your parents.

You are such a caring and loving boy, we look forward to see what God has

planned for you.

Love, Dad & Mom 

Merry Christmas

We have had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas this year.  In spite of the blizzard, we were able to make it to a Christmas Eve Mass, spend time with family and friends, eat a LOT of great food, and there were a few gifts exchanged as well.

After Mass on Thursday evening, we opened our family gifts.  Henry gifted Josh and I with a clay handprint that he had made in preschool. It is precious.  I was most excited to open that gift, even though I had a strong feeling what it was.  I remember making my parents the same gift as a child, and it was so special for me to be on the receiving end of that moment for the first time...

Sean was just as happy to see one of us open a gift, as he was to open one himself.  That boy can really get excited!

We had to wake Henry on Christmas morning.  Santa visited and brought the three boys a keyboard.  Henry has been creating wonderful music, and Sean has surprised us with some new dance moves!  After gifts, Josh spent the rest of the morning shoveling a narrow path in the driveway so we could go to his parents for breakfast...which turned into lunch by the time we all made it there.  We still arn't sure how much snow accumulated, but because of the winds, we had a four foot wall of snow up against our garage, and an even higher wall at the end of our driveway.  Normally a situation like this would have had us frustrated by the inconvenience of such a large quantity of snow, but we have been able to enjoy every moment knowing that next year at this time we will be cleaning sand off of our sandles!

Bed Time

Our crib was included in the recent recall, so we are without a crib until we get a new one.  Even though  Sean climbed out of the old one, we kept him in it, and all was well.  Now he is sleeping on the crib mattress, on the floor of his room, or is he?  He has explored all sorts of places to sleep in his room, here are a few examples:

We have tried putting Sean in Henry's room so eventually Will could sleep in the crib, but that has been put on hold while Josh and I regain our sanity.  To be continued.....

The good news is that even though Will is our third son, he will get at least one new thing in his life....A BRAND NEW CRIB!!!

Henry Says....

"Mom, when I get bigger will I clean toilets and make lunch like you?"