What we've been up to this week.....

Let's see.....

splash pad

beach (it's like his own mini construction site "dig, dump, dirt")

park ("more slide")

turning lights on & off & on & off (he can reach the light switches now, yikes)

Burley-bike rides

fawning over the construction site across the street ("man working")

water table on the deck

homemade popsicles (frustrated him more than anything when the fruit was frozen inside the popsicle)

wagon rides

making the big switch from whole milk to 2%

playing at my Oma's house

Lucy's birthday ("sheven")

reading books

StoryTime at the library

coloring (very minimal, I might add)

trucks, trucks, more trucks ("play outside")

shopping at Target

art projects (5 minutes, maybe?)

jello (as you can see below, we thought it would be cool to eat jello out of Little People blocks)

and one good lookin' haircut!

whew, the boy's been busy this week, can you tell he LOVES summer!

art project vs construction site

We decided to bust out Henry's new 'painting smock' for our afternoon art project today (after a full morning of the park, splash pad, and the beach with Henry's buddy, Harrison).  The plan was to make bubble paint, which of course I found on Pinterest!  All you do is put food coloring in bubble solution and then blow the bubbles onto the paper to make some beautiful artwork :)  As you can see here, all is well, we're making art!  And check out that fancy bubble blowing gun, too!

And we've had enough!  Take this paint smock off and give me my front end loader, please!

Come on, how can I possibly come up with an art project that would compete with THIS going on across the street.  Yes, we have our very own construction site right outside Henry's bedroom window, the boy was pumped (to put it mildly) when that excavator showed up today.

When the workers left for the day, all I heard the rest of the night was "more man (that's what he calls the workers), more dump, more fill, more dump"!  

Definitely his fav right now.....construction sites!

A picnic & puppets in the park

The Shoreview Puppet Wagon was out in full force on this past Monday evening, and a beautiful evening it was.  We enjoyed a picnic at Bucher Park while catching a puppet show (or "papa show"), super cute!

Henry got to meet the "actors" after the show.  Here he is, wondering where all his furry little friends went?

Well, we liked it so much that we have July's Puppet Wagon performance marked down in our calendars, I wonder if it will be the same cast?

The big 0-2

Henry's actual birthday was this past Sunday, aka Father's Day as well!  We headed to Stillwater for the morning with Grandma & Grandpa Olin and Sonja too.  

First stop, Teddy Bear Park of course!  I think he ran, literally ran, for 45 minutes straight :)

More water, more water!  So parched on this hot day :)

Starving now!  Must have snack.  Must sit with Daddy on Father's Day!

Then we hit up Leo's for lunch (they claim to have "the best burgers in the valley", and boy would I definitely agree; and the malts/shakes = deliciousness).   Henry's choice for his birthday lunch.....a hot dog and mandarin oranges.  Chowed it all down, just couldn't get enough.

Check out the super cute dessert they brought the birthday boy!  

We had the big 2-year check-up at the doctor's office today.  Here are the stats.....

Weight 26 pounds, 12 ounces = ~50th %ile

Height 34.5 inches = ~50th %ile (Dr. Sakkal didn't believe this measurement.  He asked me, "Was he, how do I say this, 'uncooperative' for his measurement?"  Of course he was squirming around!  The doctor said, "He's always been tall and skinny and he still looks tall and skinny to me."  So his guess was that Henry was more like in the 90th %ile as in his previous visits.  Apparently, the height of a child at 2 years can predict their height as an adult.  The doctor believes Henry will be 6ft, 1in - we'll wait and see :)

Head Circumference 19 inches = ~50th %ile

All in all, no concerns from the doctor.  He asked me if Henry eats his fruits and vegetables.  I told him that he would eat fruit all day long but veggies are a no-go.  He said, "We don't tell the kiddos this, but as long as they eat fruit & meat and drink their milk, we don't care" so that sure made me feel a little better!  

One big BUS party

Henry's love for school buses came to life as we celebrated his 2nd birthday.  I know everybody says this, but holy crap, he's 2 already?!  Where did the time go?  Henry was absolutely pumped, all of his friends in the same place at the same time, could it get any better than that?!  He was running around like a crazy person, lovin' every minute of it!  

We had our wonderful families and all his little buddies over for brunch on Saturday!  We were hoping for dry weather (as the forecast told us it would be) in order to play outside, but it rained and rained and rained, which forced us all inside (side note - Henry's a big fan of the "rain, rain, go away, come again another day" song lately).  No big deal, with nine 2-year-olds running around, they easily entertained each other :)

Trying to get a group photo was pretty much hilarious!  Here we have Harrison ("HoHo"), Rohit ("HoHo"), Dya ("DeDe"), Finley ("FiFi" - that's baby "FiFi" in the background too, Finley's little sister), Owen ("Oweeeee"), and Henry.

The big boy blew out his own candle and everything :)

Rohit, Dya, Henry, Finley, Owen, Greta ("GaGa"), and the Budija brothers - Joe and Jack in the back.  Oma's holding baby Fiona.

More "dodo" please!

Is it just me, or is Finley looking at Owen and Henry like, "These boys are crazy!"

"Bussssh" party!

Harrison, Rohit, Dya, Henry, Finley, Owen, & Greta.  I think that's Jack popping up behind the couch and of course that sweet little babe, Fiona in Oma's arms.  (I don't think that beautiful girl made a peep the whole time!)

We had such a SUPER FUN party, thank you to everybody for coming and helping and eating and drinking and all that good stuff!  

Happy Birthday to Henry

Two years ago, today.

Today.

Happy Birthday to our little wild man!

Happy Birthday to Greta

Oh boy, did we have fun traveling to Perham last weekend for Greta's birthday party, as she turned the big 0-2!  It was a Pretty Pink Puppy Party!  The day was filled with excellent food, great company, a cotton candy machine, lots of playing, and swimming in the "pooooooo" at Oma & Opa's hotel!

Do I see somebody trying to sneak in front of Greta on her own swing-set?!  

What pretty pink puppy would be complete without his pretty pink puppy ears?!

The big reveal, hahahahahahaha!

Uncle Brian was spinning the cotton candy, well done!

Pretty pink cake, yes please, made by that lovely Tante :)

I'm going to guess this was Henry's highlight of the weekend.  We brought his new lifejacket with to test out in the "pooooo" before we bust it out at the beach this summer.  LOVED swimming with his new freedom, jumping off the edge, just strolling along the water!

The birthday girl had quite the day, check out those red cheeks!

Happy Birthday to "GaGa"!

Whoa

Somebody sure was a fan of his dinner tonight, Pizza Casserole (from my Pinterest page, check it out)! Apparently, a fork was over-rated tonight.

 3 helpings later, looking a little on the full side.

On a side note, favorite food this week would definitely be "bluebies" or blueberries.  The boy may have eaten an entire pint in 2 days.  "More bluebies please" :)  For every meal today I would ask him, "What do you want for breakfast (or lunch, or snack)", and all I would hear is "bluebies!"  

Baby Oweeeeee

Here we are, painting up a storm on a beautiful morning over at Baby Owen's (or as Henry says, "Oweeeeeee's") house.  I wonder when we're going to stop calling him Baby Owen, hmmm.

Sweetened condensed milk and food coloring makes some finger-lickin' good paint to work with!  It takes quite some time to dry, but it's so glossy, very professional looking, Henry.

Shocking, Henry's had enough painting and is off to play with Owen's trucks :)  Owen, on the other hand, couldn't get enough!

Ta-da, aren't they beautiful (foot prints, gravel, and all)!

My little pony

The Budija's went all out for Cowboy Jack's 3rd Birthday, they had pony rides for the kiddos, how cool is that?!  The whole drive down to Shakopee, Henry was saying "po-pee, po-pee" (pony) when we said there were going to be ponies at the party.  

Mama: "Henry, are you excited to ride the ponies?"

Henry: "Yeah" (picture his mouth wide open with a huge smile, nodding his head up & down)

Here we are, Step 1: Place carrots/apples in the bucket, feed the pony, then put the bucket away.

Step 2:  Hop on the pony.....maybe not!  

I've never seen him latch on to Phil's neck so hard in my life, no thank you!

Let's try it again.....no thank you, again!  Couldn't get close enough to Daddy.  He did keep wanting to go back to the pony to "pet, pet, pet, pet."

Third try.....LOVED IT!  

Couldn't get enough, "more po-pee, more po-pee."  This pony's name was Simba, riding along with his buddy, Jack.

 I swear, he did enjoy it :)

After all the pony riding, what's better than a cup full of cheese-balls?  Thank goodness we don't have any of those at home!

Yee-haw!

Oh yes, can't forget your certificate.....Henry Krump has successfully completed his first pony ride!