Today we got our first official dusting of the winter. It was light and by the time Henry woke from his nap it was pretty slushy. The Birkholz men wasted no time and headed out for some snowman making. Best part was when Bill shouted in to me that he needed a carrot for the nose.
Presenting the newest member of our family, Henry the snowman (named by Henry the boy)
All we had was a 2t snowbib that was quite short but the boots were tall enough to cover up his legs. He also had some hot pink and black gloves!
The Henry's
Henry thinking about getting rid of his friend Henry. We decided to come in and have hot cocoa instead.
So last night I took the world's best video of Reese and then I accidentally deleted it. I was so sad. She does this thing where she shakes her head back and forth and I love it. So here is my attempt at getting it on film again, but I have to admit it is not quite as great as the one yesterday :( Here she is today while eating lunch. The blinds behind her are closed and you hear a cracking sound because their is a man behind it replacing the window, yes we are finally getting new windows!!!!
This is a little long but totally is what Reese is all about these days!
Here is a video of Henry using his new drinking glasses on Christmas morning, I love this one so much!
Here are my misfits having a snack together. I love how Henry gives her one and then takes one himself. They had no idea I had pressed record on the camera.
Last but not least I found this one of Christmas morning. Very quiet and short but I love how engrossed Henry is in his new toys. Also if you look close you can see his face is covered in chocolate from his m&m breakfast!
*New year, new look. Also new pictures on picture site :)
This may sound cheesy but we truly did have an amazing and magical holiday season. We were lucky to have visitors celebrate with us and Santa definitely delivered for every member of our family.
We began our official holiday celebration with a visit from Grandpa Steve. We had a wonderful couple of days with him and the kids enjoyed the constant playing and trip to get ice cream! Here is a trip from one of our park adventures!
We also got a visit from Lauren and she of course brought lots of smiles and took lots of pictures. This is my absolute favorite! She even put it on her blog. In case anyone didn't know Lauren is pretty awesome, here is her new website: www.laurencrew.com
Our next guest was Nana and she got to stay for a whole week and celebrate Christmas with us and we had so much fun. She got to join us in our annual trip to the Microsoft holiday extravaganza and also helped Henry make his gingerbread house. Her patience and attention to Henry was a highlight for all if us and she and Reese shared in many smiles and kisses. Nana was afraid we would kick her out and here is the reason below:
hard to tell but it is a kid size firehouse tent, he loves it!!!!!
Though we were surprised by he enormity at first watching how much Henry and Reese loved it is totally worth it! She also got him a megaphone which was most annoying not when the kids were using it but when Bill became fond of it :)
The huge snow globe at Microsoft, Henry and Reese loved it!
Making a gingerbread house with Nana
Christmas eve and day were nice. We relaxed and played and hit the park. Made some cookies and played lots of games with Nana. Reese ended up spending her first Christmas with a fever. She remained her happy little self at first and was just zonked out. I finally took her to the emergency room Christmas Day and she had a Christmas ear infection! Poor thing got a lousy gift in that respect but she did get lots of cuddles and kisses and was quite a trooper. To be quite honest she really didn't even know it was Christmas :)!
Christmas morning was magical. The look on Henry's face when he saw the police/firehouse he had asked Santa for was priceless. He saw that Santa had eaten the cookies and milk and the reindeer had eaten the carrot and this made him very happy and you could just see the wheels turning in his head! I think the look on his face will forever be in my memory.
Making Santa's cookies on Christmas Eve
cleaning the chimney!
Santa brought Henry a police/firehouse. He played with it from 6am until he went to bed!
Reese and her new abacus! Here she is with a 102 fever (nothing phases this girl!)
New Years was spent at the beach with lots of relaxing. We are looking forward to a great year filled with many blog worthy moments!
This morning we went with doughnuts in hand to our local fire station 12 to meet the firefighters and say thank you for all that they do. We also went because Henry is all fireman all the time. As I write right now he is pretending to fight a fire.
We were greeted by 3 of the nicest firefighters in the world. They showed us the trucks, hoses, turnout gear and basically all the cool stuff. The only thing was that Henry did not say one word or even look at the firemen. He was so in awe he was speechless, which is not very common for our Henry. It actually looked as if we were punishing him by taking him to the fire station...pretty funny.
Better luck next time I guess. The firefighters did say we were welcome back anytime :)
Trying on the turnout gear. The whole outfit weighs 70 lbs!!!
I am in shock that my little baby is 9 months old! Even in more shock that she weighs in at 23 lbs 13 oz and is 28.5 inches long. That is 100th% for weight and 90th% for height...WOW! Henry weighed the same at this age but was 1.5 inches taller.
her hair is red and falls in a natural mohawk!!
she loves to stand by things!
So time to eliminate the afternoon bottle which I do not think she will mind because she is loving solid foods so much. She does love to eat but is not really motivated by food all that much unlike her brother at that age!
She does have the same love for being busy and constantly moving like her brother. So maybe her chunky monkey form will come in handy to keep up with her constant on the go mentality. A question that is often asked in our house is "Where is the baby?" She loves getting into everything and some of her favorite activities include, but are not limited to:
*opening all the kitchen drawers and emptying them *following her brother around the house while he crawls too! *crawling into her brothers room and trying to get into the bed *pushing her way into any room in the house and looking for trouble *grabbing the dogs and climbing them *grabbing her brothers toys from him *screaming and laughing if no one is looking at her *babbling and yelling all sorts of sounds *and my favorite throwing her water off of her highchair once every 30 seconds!
Here is a video of her just hanging out. Sorry for all the shaking :)
She truly is a delight and 9 months may be my favorite age ever! She is always smiling and chatting. She adores her brother and daddy. You should see her little face light up when either of them come into the room. She and I have a special thing going on too and I find her to be my little zen maker in the household. She is just the perfect little daughter and personality. She is so mellow and sweet but if you push her or try to get her to do something she does not like watch out. I like that about her and think it will take her a long way in life. She and Henry continue to be so incredibly different. One thing they have in common though is that they both are perfect (I can say that because I am their Mom) and I have never loved two little people more!!
trying to get brothers toys and get into his bed at the same time
bedtime snack with her boys and dogs! Stay tuned because tomorrow morning we are bringing the fire men doughnuts!!!
We have been having so much fun enjoying this holiday season. Our advent calendar is in full effect and this year we have tried to incorporate some experiences into it rather than just a toy or candy. This has been a challenge because Henry lacks patience but as the days go on he is getting into it a bit more. We have gone and looked at lights, made Christmas cookies, went on a shopping trip to buy Reese a present, etc! Believe me we have had our fair share of hot cocoa and treats too, baby steps!! It has been great and as they get older I would like to make it more about helping others and doing holiday activities...one day I hope.
Thought I would catch you up in pictures because my time is limited now that Reese is on the move and into everything.
Went on a play date with our friends the Faw's. The boys are so funny together!
Reese and Waverly hanging out!
We went to a Santa's breakfast with the Hubert family. We met halfway at the Mcmenamins in Centralia and it was so nice to see them.
The whole gang. Funny how the 9 month old is the only one looking at the camera.
Can you tell which two kids were bothering Santa the most at the breakfast. This was after each of them had time with Santa. They stood there and harassed him for a good while.
The littles, they love each other and it shows! The bigs, they are trouble and it shows!!! It was sweet to see them together again and they both have grown up so much!
we picked up this snowman, who Henry named Jackine, in Centralia at a consignment shop. He now lives in our front yard.
The Birkholz men hanging lights. Bill says it looks a lot more fun in the picture than it was.
Most days around 4pm we get a bit stir crazy and have the 4 o'clock rock block. Here below is our party in full effect.
We also play band
and in general we just hang out and wait for Bill to get home. By the way Reese thinks everything Henry does is funny.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Anyone who knows Henry knows that he is constantly in motion. He even dances and jumps most of the time when watching the TV. So in an attempt to make Henry's day we took advantage of the nice weather (no rain) and headed out to the park. Reese has had a horrible cold which had made us a bunch of cooped up chickens!
As we walked I definitely felt the chill of winter setting in which made me think of the hot chocolate I bought at Costco yesterday :). Once at the park I was amazed at how much my little Henry has grown in strength and ability. He can do anything at the park!! He was a climbing machine and also showed some great balancing as he played on all the stuff we used to consider the big boy stuff. I guess I realized how fast he is growing and how he truly is one of the big kids now. As much as I wish he could stay my little boy forever I also realized an insane amount of happiness and pride come when watching your kid do something new! I literally was jumping up and down saying "Hooray!!", thank goodness the park was empty!
Here are some pictures of Henry in his element.
crossing the bridge
hooray I did it!!!!
the spiderweb, we may have been singing spider man theme while he did it!
Reese joins in the fun just as any little sister should!
