Oh Greta

Oh, how Henry does love that sweet little Greta!

Who doesn't enjoy a good Truck book before night-night?! Great choice for storytime Opa.

Hugs and more hugs for Greta :)

MOA & LegoLand

Henry's really been practicing his tower-making skills lately with his Lego Duplos.....well, ok, maybe Daddy had a hand in making this tower too.

(Note, Henry's "smile-face" he's showing you. He smiles on command now and it makes me LOL every time still.)

Anyway, he was gearing up for his visit to the Mall of America and LegoLand today (and also a lunch date with his Auntie Sonja)!

An entire wall full of Lego pieces, it was so neat-o!

Then they had the perfect spot for the kiddos to test all the Legos out.

I had to get this one down off the Lego table more than once during his play-time there :)

Smile-face (up close.....even better)!

And of course a kiss from Auntie Sonja after lunch :)

Henry and Owen

Can they get any cuter in their matching moose hats?

Pond Hockey

Henry loves to say "brrrr" lately whenever he touches a window, whenever the door of the car opens, or whenever I ask him if it's cold outside, and he certainly had a reason to say "brrrr" today when we visited the Pond Hockey Championships at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis (our old stomping grounds)! We didn't last all that long, just too cold out on that big pond :) Henry was quite the hit when he was sledding through the crowds though.

Brrrr, I think I'd rather play hockey in my basement!

Time to go home, where's my driver?

Eagles Nest

We checked out the Eagles Nest yesterday, another indoor playground, this time at the New Brighton Community Center.....us and about a million other people who had that brilliant idea for their MLK-day-off! It was a zoo in there, sock-footed kiddos running everywhere. Henry's cheeks were as rosy as could be after an hour of non-stop running, he loved it!

What kid doesn't love a good ball pit, right?!

His other favorite of the day, the slide of course!

Up the steps.....

.....down the slide.....

.....whoa, too fast!

Hey, this wild man is 19 months old today!

DIY

I'm digging my projects that I (I say "I" loosely, Phil had to do the manly work of course) just completed in our loft, aka Henry's upstairs playroom! Thank goodness for the world wide web, huh, don't you just love "borrowing" ideas from other people!

Here's the first one.....a way to display kids' artwork (rather than taping everything up on the fridge). This project in the end cost a little less than $10.

1x4 pine boards from Home Depot

leftover stain from when the house was built

3 boxes of metal clips from Walmart

wood glue (to glue the clips onto the boards)

6 nails from Opa's tool box

Ta-Da

Here's the other one.....a magnetic surface for Henry to play with his Fridge-Phonics (and any other magnetic letters, numbers, etc) as our poor fridge was already getting scratched up from these toys.

All it is is a large metal drip pan from Walmart (screwed into the wall by Phil) for less than $10!

Celebrity Sightings

I tell you, Henry just cracks me up lately!

So, the last issue I got in the mail of UND's Alumni Review magazine had my picture in the "Celebrations" section in the back due to one of my great gal-pal, Megan's, wedding to her beloved Aaron. Well, I showed Henry that my picture was in the magazine and he loved it! He would often go back to it and flip though it until he found me, then say "Mamamamama" over and over.

This soon spread to other magazines. Apparently one weekend when I was at work, Henry grabbed one of my US Weekly's from our magazine bin and flipped through it, looking for me. Well, when he came upon this picture of Kate Winslet, he thought he hit the jackpot and found me while I was at work! This wasn't just a one-time thing, he went back to this picture numerous times afterwards, saying "Mamamama" :)

When last week's US Weekly came, I gave it to Henry and asked "where's Mama?" He went to the same spot where Kate Winslet was the week before and he got so excited when he identified me as Connie Britton (who the heck is Connie Britton?), but luckily I was able to sway him towards Carrie Underwood instead, yeah!

My new US Weekly just came today, can't wait to see who I get to be!

In other celebrity sightings.....

One morning this week, Henry and I were having breakfast together and he spotted this person, Mariana D., on the back of the Special K box. Apparently, this woman resembles Henry's Oma! This was no fluke, as it happened the next two mornings, "Oma-oma-oma-oma." Well, we finished the box of cereal and so naturally I put the box in recycling. Henry couldn't bear to put his Oma's picture in recycling, so he now has an empty box of Special K with his toys so he can see his Oma whenever he wants :)

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

Henry was hard at work at Home Depot this weekend, building his "savings shed" aka piggy bank (yes, his father was so proud). He didn't quite get it all done at the store, so we brought it home to put the finishing touches on it (yep, pj's and a Home Depot apron). LOVED watching everybody hammer and swinging that hammer around himself :)

Henry needed some relaxation after all that hard work, so we decided to go to Family Yoga at Blooma on Sunday.

He really liked the feng shui of the room :) Doesn't he look soooo relaxed after class?

I think there was one day last week where there was actually snow still on the ground! Henry and his neighbor-buddy Ari LOVED making their own tracks in the empty lot next door, fresh snow!

These two manly-men sure do enjoy watching this house being built. They can't get enough of it! I think they watched them for 40 minutes that day.

Swimming Lessons - Take 2

Henry is into his second session of swimming lessons, and this time we're trying out the Shoreview Community Center! His 5 month hiatus from the water (oh how he misses the splash pad and the beach) is over, and he's pretty pumped about it. I told him last night that we were starting swimming lessons today and he started dancing in his bed, still tucked into his blankets and everything :) He'll be a little Starfish for the next couple months!

Brrr!

Thank goodness for an unfinished basement / sports-world to occupy Henry when it's freezing cold outside!

Someone can't get enough of his new trike :)

If only I could find a pair of skates small enough. This will have to do for now.

Umm, I think that would be high-sticking.

Can't forget about the trusty lawn-mower.....

.....and the good 'ol wagon.

Happy New Year

Henry got to ring in the New Year (at 6pm of course) with his lady-friend, Finley. He enjoyed a pizza party, some noise makers, and a New Year's kiss of course :)

Finley got a new trampoline for Christmas, complete with a protective netting and all. Oh what fun they had!

Party animals!

Auld Lang Syne.....Cheers to 2012!

Earlier in the day on NYE, Henry was celebrating with Lucy! Lucy got a new bed for Christmas, but I don't know who likes it more.

Earlier this week, Henry and Finley met up for Pajama StoryTime at the library. Here they are creating their winter snowstorms with chalk. I think Henry wanted to take his chalk home because it was actually Crayola and not that RoseArt stuff that we have at home:) It's much easier to make a bright snowstorm with Crayola!