Henry's 5th Birthday

On Henry's birthday, he woke up to balloons, Skylanders masks, and chocolate chip pancakes. It was a school day and Henry had been looking forward to celebrating with his classmates. He was very particular about the type of cake that he wanted - chocolate chip cookie cake, blue and green icing, Skylanders rings for all the students, and Skylanders toys that he would get to bring home and play with. And he had just that. After school, he chose to go to Moe's for his birthday dinner. Everyone ate a good dinner, but John was the true taco monster. After dinner, we came home so Henry could open some gifts from us and his grandparents. Henry received all of his favorites - books, legos, Avengers, and Star Wars. We topped the night off with ice cream sundaes. Henry requested chocolate oreo ice cream with more chocolate syrup on top. Even Peter had a little baby sundae. What a wonderful birthday for our big 5 year old boy!

Henry is 5 years old!

Likes: Building with legos, reading chapter books, pretending to be a ninja, going to school, anything related to Star Wars, Avengers, Skylanders, Berenstein Bears, or Ninja Turtles, doing math problems with my counting chips (Daddy says we shouldn't call them poker chips), asking a lot of questions about how things work, taking naps on rainy days, playing tennis at school, eating vegetables, hotdogs, tacos, sausage, pasta, cheerios, raspberries, cherries, and blueberry applesauce, making Peter laugh, playing silly games with John, and being crazy with my best friend, Tucker.

Dislikes: Getting a boo-boo that bleeds, stinky bananas (that's what I call them), being woken up by John, having my picture taken, having my hair combed, watching Thomas the Train on TV if it's John's turn to pick the show, eating messy foods, being dirty (I will insist on clean clothes), and broken lego creations.

Growth: I weigh 44 lbs., and I am 46 and 1/4 inches tall.  This puts me in the 75th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height.  My projected height as a man is 6 feet 4 inches!

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We conducted Henry's 5 year interview a few weeks ago when Grandma and Papou were in town for the reptile party.  It's fun to look back and see how much his answers have changed.

33!

I celebrated my 33rd birthday with my boys, handmade cards, balloons, and Gabriel's Red Velvet Cake (thanks Nanna!). The boys sweetly sang to me. But Peter couldn't be bothered with singing. He was too busy swiping fistfuls of frosting.

A Monkey-less Vacation

Gus and I left the three monkeys at home for the first time and took a vacation to Highlands, North Carolina. We stayed at the Old Edwards Inn and Spa. It rained a lot but it did not matter. I read a book cover to cover for the first time in a year. I spent two entire afternoons at the spa. We slept in every morning, and we dined out at every meal. By the last day, we were refreshed and ready to go home to the boys.

Nanna and Aunt Mary did a wonderful job taking care of the boys for four days. We brought treats home for everyone from the local mountain bakery. The boys were as happy to see us, as they were their pecan brownies. That evening, Peter celebrated our homecoming by taking his first steps! He walked from me to Nanna just as we were getting the boys in the bathtub. And he hasn't done it again since, so I'm sure it was just because he was excited to have us home.

Let's go to the movies!

Henry has started reading a lot signs while we are out.

"Mama, what's the Picture Show?"
"It's a movie theater. They play movies on a big screen there."
"How big is the screen?"
"Bigger than our garage! And they turn off the lights during the movie. And you get to eat snacks."
"Well, how can you see your snacks then? I bet that's messy since you're not eating in the kitchen with lights."

And so it started. Every time we passed the theater he would ask if there was a kids' movie playing. Last weekend Big Hero 6 was playing, so Henry and I went on our first movie date.

"Henry, would you like to go to the movie theater?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!  Mama, I just love you so much!"
"I love you, Henry! This is going to be so much fun!"
"You can say that again!"

Henry and I shared a tub of popcorn that was the size of a small child. We barely made a dent in the tub because Henry was more interested in the gummy candy. He had his first taste of a slurpee, too, but he didn't like it - "Too spicy, Mama." Once the movie started, Henry put down the snacks and intently focused on the film. He is a very serious moviegoer. No laughing. No crying. He takes it all in. During the last fight scene, he watched without expression, his little hands clenched.  I leaned over to ask if he was okay, and he shushed me.

#4!

On October 20th, Gus and I will celebrate our 8th anniversary, and this year we are getting a wonderful gift. 4 under 5 1/2, here we come!

We told the boys last week and their reactions were darling. They were very excited. And then just like that, it was over with and time to talk about their daily boo-boos.

Easter Fun

We have been celebrating Easter for the past week. Last Sunday we went to the neighborhood egg hunt. Before hunting, the boys sat for a photo with the Easter bunny. No one cried, but no one was too impressed either. I can't blame them.

The Easter egg hunt lasted all of three minutes. Henry took off with his friends and came back with a basketful. John had Grandma and Papou helping him and the help paid off. Peter wanted two eggs to shake together and then called it a day. If all the candy wasn't enough, Grandma and Papou gave each of the boys their own Easter book too.

On Easter Sunday, we put on our Sunday best and went to mass. The boys were bribed with Easter baskets if they were quiet during mass. The bribery paid off. When we got home, the boys ran around the backyard to search for their baskets. Henry and John were most excited about the fruit snacks. Peter wouldn't set down his box of cookies. Then Nanna showed up with even bigger Easter baskets for them.  And the boys had a big box of Easter goodies that Papa, Mimi, and Zia had sent them in the mail.  All of the boys' grandparents are professionals at spoiling!