Birthday Boy

Henry opened this card from his great-grandparents yesterday. He saw a dog on the inside (before I did), and promptly said "Doggy. Woof woof."


Opening a present from Grandma Fleming (he carried around the Saints book and would open it and "read" to himself in a whisper... he also does this with a book about Mary):


Opening a present from Grandma Panning (the cd's were a huge hit, by the way... we had barely started playing one of them when Henry went crazy dancing and laughing with the music!):


And playing with one from us (okay, yes... we bought it tonight and didn't bother to wrap it).



But of course, the main attraction came after dinner: the cake!

It was widely predicted, based on Henry's eagerness to eat (and make messes) of most things offered to him, that he would dig right in to the cake. Well... he got off to a slow start:


I wasn't sure he'd ever make it past the frosting (which was pretty tasty). But then he found the cake. Mmm... yummy AND squishy!

Did I mention squishy?




All done! No, of course he didn't eat it all. He threw most of it on the floor (and walls, table, bookshelf, etc.). But he did eat quite a bit of cake. And then took a bath. And brushed his teeth. It was a good birthday.

Henry Philip, one year later

And finally, Henry's birthday breakfast this morning:

More to come from the cake and presents later!

Mommy's pedicure

I was standing here reading something online and felt Henry tapping my toes with something. I looked down to see what it was... yep, his nail clippers! I clipped his toenails yesterday. I'm always surprised by the new things he has learned just by watching us do things. Such a smart boy!

July

We of course made it home from our vacation and were very happy to see Daddy again. While we were gone, he tackled a fairly significant project in our home: repainting the living room/hallway. I'm so glad he did this while we were gone; painting with a little toddler around doesn't sound like something I'd want to attempt. Since I don't have pictures, here's briefly what happened: we kept the darker of the green colors, but moved it to the non-green wall. The other walls are now a light yellow/gold (what can I say... we like yellow!). It's a great improvement, trust me.

As he had to move a lot of the furniture anyway, Matt also took on a couple of other small projects with the painting. He moved the small bookcase with the cd's/dvd's into our bedroom (and out of Henry's reach). In place of the bookcase, he put in a small shelf for my computer to sit on. This is a great improvement to it's haphazard arrangement on the couch before. Plus, it's high enough that I can stand at it and type (as I'm doing right now). It might not be as relaxing as lounging on the couch, but it keeps me up and moving around (quite) a bit more while I'm at home. This is a good thing.

Finally, he moved the shelves up on the big bookcase (again, out of Henry's reach), creating this "reading nook" for Henry. He loves it!


Although by the end of the day, the shelf is normally completely cleared and the basket has found quite another use. (Henry is very into anything that can be readily climbed into or on top of)


And so we're passing time, getting ready for this little man to turn a year old (in less than two weeks!). Pretty amazing how quickly it has gone!

Long Lake Part III

Your third, and final, installment!

Henry and I made our way back to my parents' house in Ann Arbor this evening, where we'll spend another day or so before driving down to Virginia. The remainder of our vacation time went well... not a lot of improvement in the weather (some credible sources have proclaimed it the worst week there of any summer in 35 years!---maybe 35 isn't the right number... a long time, though), but we were grateful for the entertainment provided by the little guys, who didn't seem to mind the gray, chilly days. On the bright side, at least there was little need to worry about sunburns, and we were wearing enough layers that bugs weren't a problem. Of course, it is supposed to be beautiful tomorrow. Even as I was driving home, the skies were clear and it looked lovely. Had I been driving the coastal route, I *might* have stopped off to let Henry run around in the sand in the evening sun.

Enough of that. Here's what you wanted to see: