Just Hanging Out With Henry

Where's Waldo? Can you spot Henry in his new fave hiding spot?
Daddy getting some rare Henry cuddles.
This picture is from our visit to see Santa at SF on Saturday. Henry was terrified of the whole experience and definitely wouldn't sit on Santa's lap or let Mrs.Claus hold him. The pictures that they took of us are of me holding Henry standing next to Santa with Henry looking away from Santa and shaking his head NO! Those should turn out cute :-)

These pictures are from our weekend. We were mostly snowed in..so we just had some fun around the house. Henry played with hangers (probably very unsafe...we supervised!) and hid behind some holiday decorations. We also went to see Santa. Those pictures to come..SF mails them to us.

Like Father, Like Son...

Here's a few pictures of Patrick and Henry hanging out at the Discovery Museum last weekend. We took Henry to play there on Saturday after we got his picture taken with Santa at State Farm. He had lots more fun at the museum than he had visiting Santa!

Snow Day!!

Helping Daddy make snowballs
Frustrated because he's stuck
Trudging through the snow
Ready to go outside

We had our first big storm/snow of the year starting yesterday and going through the night into this afternoon. I'm definitely more of a summer girl, but the best part about the winter is a surprise snow day! I love it when you think you'll have to go to work and then it surprisingly gets cancelled. Both Patrick and I both ended up being off today. Yes, State Farm was closed today...a big shocker.

Henry was fascinated by the snow this morning when he looked outside. He kept going to the window and pointing outside. When it warmed up a bit, we bundled him up and took him outside to play. He didn't know what to think at first and didn't love it too much. He still wanted to push his trucks around and when they got stuck easily, he got frustrated. I think he'll warm up to it though...he didn't want to come inside, so I think he started to like it more towards the end.

The Saga Of The Tree

Ok, so the post below is the story of how our Christmas tree came into being. Or at least how it became ours. Well, normally the story is the same from there for all...the tree comes home, gets decorated and shines bright with Christmas spirit. Not so much with ours.

I should first explain the way that the trees from this particular tree farm are expected to stand. The workers drill a massive hole into the bottom of the stump and then the tree is placed on a giant spike and stands up this way. It's not put into a usual tree stand with screws to hold it. Ok, so we got our giant (meaning bushy) tree home and Patrick put it on the spike and brought it into the house on the stand. We cut it open and very National Lampoon's style it poofed out and became much larger than we expected. They always look smaller when surrounded by other, larger trees. Anyway, it was up and decorated with lights and ornaments on Friday. Henry touched it once, made a face and then didn't bother it anymore which really surprised me!

Fast forward to Sunday night at 12:30, we were all sleeping when Patrick and I heard a huge, glass-shattering, bang/crash. Patrick immediately ran down the stairs and once I heard that he wasn't fighting off a burglar, I followed. Our Christmas tree had tipped OVER! And it was laying on the floor along with several broken ornaments, some lights, and lots and lots of water. We cleaned it up and put it on the porch, lights and all!

Monday night Patrick discovered that the hole drilled was crooked and the tree had probably been subtly leaning for 2 days. He decided to saw off enough of the bottom to make the stump narrow enough to fit into a normal tree stand. Well, after he sawed and stood the tree up in the stand, I was taller than it! It was less than 5 feet tall! It was so sad, but I decided to just decorate it and live with it this Christmas and realized maybe I was having too much pride in our tree. However, once it came back into the house it still wouldn't stand. It just kept tipping over. After a swift kick, Patrick took it back outside where we planted our miniature tree in a big planter we had mums in during the Fall. It also blew over once outside (yes, again), but once Patrick tied it to the porch it has been fine. We decorated it with Christmas lights and decided to put an artificial tree in our house this year. Apparently the other tree just wasn't meant to be!

Going On A Tree Hunt...

Last Friday we went to the Christmas tree farm (where Patrick worked during the winter in high school) in search of the perfect Christmas tree. It was a warm, sunny, beautiful day. At only 9:30 it was already 60 degrees! Henry had a lot of fun, mostly running around and weaving in and out of rows of trees. We really had to keep up with him or he could have gotten lost! Because it was so warm, the usually frozen ground was super muddy. By the time we cut our tree down and were heading back to the car Henry's pants and jacket were covered in mud. Both had to be taken off before we left for home, so he rode home in his shirt and diaper! It was all worth it though when we found our perfect tree (more to come on the tree...). Even the workers at the farm commented on what a big tree it was...we were very excited and proud of our find!