Beach Baby

We got home from Florida last Saturday. It was such a great vacation. We all had so much fun. The weather was almost perfect (only two days of rain), the beach was beautiful and all of the rest and relaxation was wonderful! Henry-to our surprise- was very cautious of the ocean and acted very suspicious of the waves washing onto the shore. He would stand on the edge of the shore and when a wave started to wash up he would run as fast as he could in the other direction. He wasn't crazy about the pool either. But he LOVED the sand! Most of our time was spent playing on the beach in the sand. Patrick and I made lots of sand castles and Henry knocked lots down! He also loved having his feet and legs buried and he loved chasing the sea gulls. It was such a great time and I loved to watch Henry having so much fun playing there. Our friends Emily and Brandon's baby, Charlie was such a good boy. He did great traveling and he absolutely loved swimming in the pool. He was so brave and would swim for hours in his little floatie or kick around wearing his water wings.

During one of the two rainy days, Patrick and I took Henry to the zoo. As you can see in the picture below, we were able to feed giraffes! It was a very different zoo...the animals were living in their natural habitats so we could observe them and see what it would be like to see them in the wild. Of all of the animals we saw(including zebras, gorillas, chimpanzees, hippos, rhinos)Henry's favorites were the ducks which he loved feeding.

Our Weekend with Dan, Sara & Gabe (and the Maus)

Last weekend we went to Chicago to spend the weekend with Dan, Sara and Gabe. We had so much fun visiting them and meeting their new additions...the maus! We also got to see my Dad, Sandi and Cory who came in to Chicago for the day on Saturday. It was so much fun to spend the weekend together and to watch the boys together. They still don't seem to realize that they're best friends! They don't spend too much time playing together, but I guess that's pretty normal for this age. On Saturday morning we walked to the farmer's market in Oak Park and ate delicious fresh donuts, and that afternoon after the boy's 3-hour naps (!) we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo and ate at the Rock 'n Roll McDonalds. Dan and Sara are such great hosts and we loved having the chance to see my Dad, Sandi and Cory, too. And Gabe is such a doll! He is becoming quite a chatterbox and is so fun to be with. We are always so sad to say goodbye...

Friends!

Here is Henry with his friends (from L to R) Charlie, Emily and Caroline. We are so sad because Emily and Caroline are moving to Florida. This picture was taken on Sunday when we got together with them and they left for Fl on Monday. John who works for State Farm was transferred there. We are going to miss them all so much. Henry and Emily are 2 months apart (Emily is 16 months), but they've always kept pace with eachother over the months. They've both always been chubby babies and big for their age, and both were late crawlers. They've been good friends and we're sad to see them go.

Fall Fun!

Last Sunday we went to the apple orchard with my mom, Sara, Gabe, and Norma (Sara's mom). We missed Dan though who was in New Orleans for work..a mentoring conference I think. It was Henry and Gabe's first apple picking outing. I wasn't sure if they would understand the picking concept, but they really got it! Gabe loved picking apples and putting them into the basket (and clapping for himself!) and then carrying the basket everywhere (with a little help once it got heavy). And Henry would pick an apple and then instead of putting it into the basket he would try to put it back on the tree. It was really funny watching them. We got lunch there and then after we picked our apples we let the boys play in the play area, which they loved. It was a beautiful day and we had lots of fun!

Eating on the run

Yesterday at lunch Henry wasn't eating very much while he was in his high chair. He was acting not very hungry, so I let him get down, but I left his bib on him. As a test I put some sandwich pieces in the pocket on the bib and then he would eat them. I guess he just wanted to eat on the go. He's back to eating in his high chair today though!

Discoveries at the Discovery Museum

Henry is just loving the Children's Discovery Museum in Normal. It's not too big, but it's really the perfect size for him. It's definitely someplace he will grow into--as he gets older he'll understand the exhibits more--but for now he just loves being able to touch everything and run from place to place. I love not having to pick up everything that he leaves behind, although it took me some getting used to! His very favorite things are the car exhibit with a little steering wheel and buttons with car noises, and pushing the little grocery carts from the market place all over the museum.

On Tuesday we went with my sister-in-law Sarah and Henry's adorable cousin (my niece) Hannah. They both had lots of fun.

Henry vacuuming

Henry is fascinated with the vacuum cleaner...ours is super-mini since we don't have much carpet in our house to vaccum. Here he is "helping" me vacuum the living room!

More Zoo Pics

Here are a few other pictures from our zoo visit. We waited in the big cat "house" for a while for their 4:00 feeding time because we thought Henry would be really excited to see the tiger come in from outside and see it up close and personal. Well after a long wait the tiger finally came inside for its feeding time. It knocked over a barrel with its food on top of it, the barrel came crashing down and Henry took one look at the tiger and started bawling. It was so sad...but funny and unexpected. We had waited for awhile so we were at the very front of the crowd so we had to push his stroller with him crying through the crowd to get out of the tiger exhibit. He was fine once the tiger was out of sight. Too funny! The coatimundi's were his favorite. (It's the thing that looks like a raccoon that he's bent down looking at.)

Pointing, pointing, pointing!

Lately Henry has been pointing at everything! He finds just about anything and everything very fascinating. My mom and I took him to the zoo (the local Miller Park Zoo-very small, but good for a child his age) over the weekend. In nearly every picture, he's pointing at something! No time for pictures...too much to see.

Working at the car wash!

Saturday afternoon Henry "helped" Patrick wash the car. He ended up just as wet and squeaky clean as our car did. Grandma and Daddy helped spray him with the hose. His favorite was the mist setting..he loved it and kept standing directly in front of it trying to drink it!

A simple solution

I love the magazine Real Simple. Thanks to Sara I've gotten the magazine subscription for the past two years and I always find so many helpful tips in them. Here's one of my faves from this month...save old tissue boxes and use them to store plastic grocery bags. This keeps plastic bags tidy and stashed away neatly, and they're very handy when you need to grab them. It keeps them from overflowing all over your drawers. I'm doing this now and I just love it!

Some Personal Goals

Fall is coming (despite my resistance), and with the start of school I'm feeling like starting some things fresh, too.

I've been brainstorming about some goals that I have for myself, mostly to live intentionally and not let days, weeks and months just pass by. With Henry months fly by since we are counting that way (sidenote:he's 13 months today!). Also since I'm at home for most of my week I want to have direction for each day and not just get through it and then think, what on earth did I get done today. Granted, there will still be days like that. This probably seems really dorky, but I'm a big list-maker and I will get more done and feel like I've accomplished more if I have goals that I can measure.

Here's what I've come up with so far:
1. Daily quiet times
2. Keep a prayer journal. God is doing so much and answering so many prayers, it will not only help me remember who/what to pray for, but also help me to see how God is working in my life and the lives around me.
3. Weekly meal planning/weekly grocery shopping. We always grocery shop for the month and then half-way through we are running out of things and when I'm making dinner I'm always missing a critical ingredient or two...then I have to run to Jewel and it ends up adding up through the month. I'm thinking I'll plan the menu for the week and then grocery shop for the week...I also can get more fresh produce that way that we can eat througout the week.
4. Cleaning/laundry schedule. This will help me to remember to clean every room of the house every week and keep things better picked up.
5. Activities with Henry. I know, I know, he's still little, but I want to make sure we're getting out and about and doing things in the community throughout the week. Even just going to different parks and letting him play.

I'll add more if I think of any others! Mostly I'm just excited about the weekly meal planning and shopping for weekly needs. I think this is going to help me get so organized, save money, and get excited about cooking dinners again. Has anyone tried this?

Henry's excited face and smacking his lips!

Just today Henry started smacking his lips together. While I was trying to capture that on this video, he is getting really excited about the camera and doing his excited face. I'm happy that I got that on video, it's something he has done since he was a little baby (probably 4 or 5 months) and I don't know how long he'll do it..so I'm glad this video captures it.

Cousins Play at the Park

We took Henry and Gabe to a park for an early Sunday morning stroll. Here they are out of their strollers and walking around together. They are both so busy!

Henry with the sheep at the McLean County Fair

Here's a video that I finally got uploaded to google with Henry looking at the sheep. It was his first sheep experience!

More cute pictures!

Blogger only lets me post 5 at a time, so here's a few more to share...

Henry and Gabe

This weekend we went to Rockford and had the chance to visit with my Grandma and Grandpa which was great. We haven't seen them for quite a while, so it was nice to catch up and spend some time together. We also got to see my Mom and Dan, Sara and Gabe. As always it was fun to have both of the boys in the same place. Now that they're both walking, things are very busy! They still don't seem to really play "together". But they occasionally take notice of eachother and Gabe gives Henry kisses and hugs or is "nice" to him (by patting his head or arm..so sweet!). Here are some pictures from our weekend together. Sunday morning we went for an early morning walk in a park around a path. The boys were still in their pjs. They are just too cute together!

Patrick "watering" Henry

This video is from a few weeks ago when we were having a really hot spell. I was inside doing the dishes, so Patrick brought Henry outside to help him water the plants and Henry ended up getting soaking wet while he was the one being "watered" on the porch. It looks so mean, but Henry was loving it..he is a little fish!

Henry pushing his new bike

Henry's new favorite thing to do is to push his tricycle up and down the driveway. He loves pushing it and will only ride it for a few seconds, then he wants to jump off and push it some more! Here he is outside with Daddy pushing his new bike in the driveway.

Henry's First Fair

Today we took Henry to the McLean County Fair. It was his and my first Central Illinois fair experience. Henry got to see and pet cows, sheep, pigs and horses. He also got to watch lots of fair rides and was intrigued with the different games and booths. Of everything he was most fascinated by the tractors/other farm equipment on display, and as you can see, he loved sitting in the tractors and "driving" them. It was really fun to take him. Definitely much more fun than Patrick and I would have had alone! Also, we shared an ice-cream cone and Patrick and I had a lemon shake-up. It was yummy...my first one! Does anyone know what exactly is a lemon shake-up and can I make one at home?