"I'm NOT Henry, I'm 'fill-in-the-blank'" and other Warm Weekend Musings

Nathan: "C'Mon Henry, lets go sit on the potty.."

Henry: "I'm NOT Henry! I'm a Walker" (from Star Wars)

Nathan, caught off guard: "Ok Walker, lets go sit on the potty."

Henry: Sits and stares at Daddy with a slight grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye. His upper cheek/lower eye dimple goes in out of dimpledom...

Nathan: "C'mon Henry, I don't want you to peepee in your pants. Lets go try."

Henry: "I'm NOT Henry, I'm...I'm...a dinosaur." Then gives the look/dimple exercise.

Nathan: "Ok, I don't care who you are, if you don't go sit on the potty....."

And then we all just start laughing. He is SO 3 years old! And very into mind games as of late. We need to come up with a parent game plan as to not be overtaken by our small children.

It was a beautiful weekend and we spent the majority of it in our outside living space*.

* Backyard

We are slowly transitioning the outside living space from the winter pooping field (the dog, not the people) it becomes from November to April, into our extended living space of sprawling (by sprawling, I mean your standard 100 x 50 standard Portland lot...but when your house is small, that leaves LOTS of room for "sprawling".), green grass, lawn furniture, and every outside toy ages 0-5 you can purchase. It becomes pure summer heaven if you are under 5 or if you like to watch those little people under 5. If only it had a pool, or hot tub, or a gardener...but we take what we can get and are thankful for extra shaded space during warm weather.

Here is some of the family fun from the weekend:

Why is the grass so darn hard to toddle in??
And cue the DRAMA:
Is it wrong that Charlie's dramatic moments actually make me laugh and that I take the time to take a picture, or five, because I think it is so cute? Didn't think so.

My favorite summer look. Hopefully, there will be a lot of this in the next 6 months:

And a lot of this:

So that I can take a lot of these kind of pictures:

Oh my, are those CURLS? You see, I come from a long lineage of STRAIGHT hair, as in straight as a visor that can shade your eyes...so when this one little itty bitty curl reared its precious little head this weekend, I squealed. Literally. Now, I may never cut this poor boys hair. Ever.


And next, for your viewing pleasure, is what I will call...
"Popsicle Montage" or maybe better named "Look at my absurdly long one-year-old eyelashes Montage"

But not to be outdone by my other long-lashed baby. It is so hard to look at these little tiny beauties, because it makes me miss them so much. I hurt when I am away from them.
The "Happy Henry" whose eyes smile like Daddy's when he smiles!

Saturday, we spent the morning cleaning up the yard (theme here?) and the played a little before we wagoned the boys down to Alberta Street for some lunch. And then our new refrigerator came!!!! I am in appliance heaven! It had been so long that I actually forgot that milk isn't supposed to be frozen when you pour it in your cereal.

I completely realize that all parents SAY this and probably FEEL that their kid is excelled in some way...but Henry had taken a self-propelled liking to certain sports. I really don't know what a 3 year old is supposed to be able to do, but this boy amazes me when he can hit a ball that is pitched to him, can swing and hit a golf ball and it soars (!) and can dribble and shoot a soccer ball into a goal. He is happiest when he sports-it-out in the backyard.

Saturday night, we took the boys to a sports store to check out their golf clubs (because Henry snapped two of his plastic clubs in half). Henry loved being in the putting practice area of the store and claimed that it was his "stadium" (he was surrounded by clubs and was on an elevated green)

In the end, he chose a pint-sized baseball mitt which is too cute for words. But what is even cuter is when he falls asleep with the mitt on his little hand at night. Sigh.

Sassy can now get on and off his bike all by him self. But since it is on the grass, cannot go anywhere, but seems happy nonetheless.

Going toward the light....

I hope it is safe to say that Spring Sprang and we are so happy about that!

Love, B

A Fine Easter Sunday

But first, the beautiful birthday flowers among other loverly birthday treats from my wonderful husband:

Henry on a one track mission to FIND THE EASTER BUNNY droppings....droppings? leavings? treats is probably a better way to word that. Charlie was just going in for the morning hug and got stiff-armed by bones.
All dressed up in my Easter finest...cracking eggs and getting my first taste of M&MS.
At Grandma & Grandpa's (NEW!) house, Charlie gets straight to his chores with his vacuum.
It's cousin Bodhi!

Wrestle-time! Henry and Cousin Wyatt:


A simple picture that speaks a thousand words. Charlie in the background doing his own thing, hair a-flailing. Henry taking care of the bad guys and Wyatt on a rampage.
The little brothers want to participate SO BAD! A typical scene in our house, and apparently in Aunt Mimi's too! Another stiff-arm followed by tears.
The dudes...just being dudes.


Easter Brunch in the NEW kitchen - so big & beautiful!
Crazy kooks!
If you can't tell (hehe)... those are bunny ears and bunny teeth
"THE CAKE", after which the kids all fell fast asleep because Grandma made it with LOTS of grand marnier. Kidding. Just a little grand marnier, and the just got super wired.
Love, B

Egg Hunt and Look Ma, I can use a fork!

Aaaahhhh! I hate being so back-blogged! I lie awake at night writing in my head - but that is so counterproductive, I suppose. I really need a brain-to-text converter to help me stay afloat with all that I love to do!

Needless to say, I have some catching up to do on the photos. We will start with the first weekend in April. Henry's daycare had an Easter Egg Hunt at the owners farm in Sandy. It was a delicious muddy mess that Henry just loved. But, since it was so muddy, I had to carry Charlie everywhere which isn't as easy as it sounds because he REALLY wanted to participate. So picture me navigating muddy tractor treads in my clogs, walking a 1/4 mile up hill with Charlie doing EVERYTHING he can to get down - backbends, forward bends, pulling my hair, etc. It wasn't pretty. Next year, Charlie-bear, next year. It will be so bizare when I attend a social event and I don't sweat perfusely. I wonder what that is like....Hmmm.

So, here are the Three Amigos: Rye, Atticus and Henry. "The troublemakers" or "The Boys" as they are affectionately known. They are rarely separated at school. I don't often have the chance to just sit and watch these guys interact with each other, but I did get a glimpse into their crazy world on Easter Egg Hunt day. They are all close in age, about 3.5, so they don't have "conversations" rather they are like a school of fish. They are relatively silent and just run, but they run and chase each other, run into each other, dog-pile, change course and do it all again...like a school of fish might. And all without words, just laughter and squeals of delight.

And I just cannot resist....This is father and son...doing the Hokey-Pokey. I played like I was taking pictures so that I didn't have to partake, but secretly I was laughing at how cute these two were! Here you would be viewing: "Put your right foot in" or maybe "put your right hand in" or maybe Nate is just having a hard time following:
Many posts ago, I talked about Henry's "Kevin & Winnie" relationship from the Wonder Years. Maddy is Henry's Winnie. She is the cutest little girl I have ever seen, and is so incredibly smart (she is the little squirt who used to freak Nate out by clearing saying "Hello, Henry Barton's dad" when she was something like 18 months old. It was quite freakish, but adorable! Henry and Maddy always hug each other when they see each other. We think her parents are trying to have an "arranged marriage" discussion with us. Which we are secretly completely open to.


And this here folks..is Jo-Jo. I have always wanted to meet this character. Every once in a while, Henry will do something so out of character for him (like, slam his knees together and growl "POWER MEES" (power knees)) and I'll ask, after I stop laughing, who does that?? Its always Jo-Jo. We have all kinds of Jo-Jo-isms in our house now. I wish Henry would copy him and actually look and smile at the cam-ee-ah (as Henry says).
This super-creepy easter bunny followed me around everywhere and no matter where I was standing, it was staring at me...just STARING. Freaky thing. But the kids liked it.
Just me and my brother, sitting on a log, not smiling for the camera, nope, not even a grin.
This child has NO FEAR of animals. You name it, snakes, bugs, horses 100 times his size!

He fed this poor horse about 30 carrots - and NOT flat-handed. I couldn't watch.

You know you have had a GREAT meal when your eyes roll to the back of your head and you end up naked. Am I right?

He's holding a balloon in the picture below, which was so funny and adorable to see him waddling around with red sauce in his ear and obviously all over his face. I've had many a meal like this Charlie, you are not alone.
Hey, wait, what am I wearing? Where is my transformer sweatshirt? or my "Good Guy" fleece? or my pajamas? What are these civil looking threads on my body? Henry actually dressed up for me on my birthday and then again on Easter. It was painful getting to this point, but how handsome are you????
And my other handsome fella! Charlie is still my doll and will gladly wear whatever ridiculous get-up I feel is appropriate for the day. Thank you Charlie.
I will wear this, but I will not like it.

Up until now, I have always fed Charlie finger foods directly on his high chair tray. First, because he will throw a full plate on the floor without hesitation and second, because forks are for big kids who you do not fear will poke their eyes out, or the dogs eye, desparately staring for a scrap.

As with many things thus far, I underestimated Charlie. I set a baby fork on his tray one morning and the kid picked it up, poked his food and shoveled it into his mouth like he had been doing it for years. I was shocked! Even Henry stood right in front of him watching him and said "mom, charlie is a big boy now".

Yep, it is documented now. Charlie is completely civilized, ok, not completely, but very, very close. He even eats off a plate now and only threatens to throw it when he is full. Whats next Charlie? If only he would wipe his sticky fingers BEFORE he logs on the MAC or the TI-81 (I know, we are so 1990's!). More to come soon! Love, B