best year yet : saying no to the party

Because I am generally exhausted these days, I really didn't want to throw Henry a 'friend' birthday party this year.  So, I used my most enthusiastic tone of voice and convinced him that going to a movie with some of his friends would be way more fun.

Today, we took three of his friends to go see Planes and then to McDonald's for ice cream cones.  It was a genius move, if I do say so myself.  The boys had a blast.

With Pinterest as my witness, I promise to rededicate myself to the cause of throwing awesome birthday parties for my kids.  

Next year.

best year yet : my henry

Today my boy turns 5 years old.

One of the best things about this past year has been being this kid's mother.  We have our share of challenges, you know we do.  But on the whole, I just can't believe how wonderful he is.

He is so smart.  He reads everything he lays eyes on and we rarely have to help him with a word he can't figure out on his own.  He tested into kindergarten early with flying colors and is absolutely loving it.  His favorite app these days is one called Barefoot Atlas.  It has tons of images and facts about different countries and cultures.  Because of this app, he will randomly ask us things like, "Have you ever been to Nepal?" and "Did you know that the Caribbean islands are in the Gulf of Mexico?".  Also, because this app, he has decided that he would like to serve a mission to either Micronesia or Utah.

He loves his friends and cannot get enough of them.  Really, I think he would have every single friend of his move in with us if he could.  Whenever they come over he turns into this crazy goofball of a boy, and tears are often shed when loved ones have to leave. He has already made new friends at school, too.

We have never been very consistent about having Family Home Evening until recently, and Henry is eating it up.  It's one of his absolute favorite things.  He would have us do it every night if he had his way.  His favorite lesson was the one on controlling anger.  Matt did the object lesson where you hammer nails into a board to show how losing your temper might hurt others and do permanent damage.  I think it was Henry's favorite because he got to use the hammer.  His least favorite one was the lesson on tithing.  Guess we didn't do such a swell job talking about how much obeying that law blesses us all.

He has such a sweet heart.  He really just adores his sister.  He loves being with his dad.  Adjusting to school is kind of wearing him out, and so he was quite grumpy this evening,  But, a quick ride on dad's back made everything right again.  Henry says the sweetest things, just out of the blue.  We have these letters on display on our shelves.  The other day he said to me.  "Mommy, you have to make the J lean on the H.  Because we love each other." 

I do love him so much and am so proud of the wonderful little boy that he is.

oh yes, we are in for it now

Matt has, of course, introduced Henry to video games before.  But the boy has finally discovered the passion for himself.  His buddy next door, Cameron, introduced Henry to the Lego Star Wars XBox game, and it's pretty much all we've heard about since.

I think it was one of Matt's proudest moments as a parent when his best-friend-since-he-was-14 told him that he was impressed at how quickly Henry picked up using the controller.  

Also, don't you love Henry's high-waters?  He is a beanpole.  When the length of a pant is right, the waist is usually too big.  So, we tend to let him wear his pants until they are pretty short on him.  And sometimes we call him Mr. Chicken Legs.

all lovey dovey

We felt very loved this Valentine's Day.

We began the day by feasting on candy in bed and opening our cards to each other.  

I got a surprise package from my Maren, which was wonderful and so very sweet of her.  The package included Henry's mustache treat below. 

My Matthew got me these lovely flowers.

I ate two of these cupcakes from the neighbors.  (Matt doesn't really like cake...  It's my duty.)

This was funny to me, being a child of the 90's, of course...  Henry wanted to write 'Daddy' on the envelope, but when his first 'D' turned out to look more like a 'P', he just kept writing.  So, of course, I call Matthew 'P Daddy' from time to time.

The best part of Valentine's day was when it was time for Matthew to put Henry to bed.  They made up a new game.  They took turns telling each other 5 reasons that they loved the other.  You can imagine my heart melting as I was listening from the other room.  

I do love my boys.

because he sticks out his lips when he's concentrating

And I think it's so cute.