Valentine's

We had another nice weekend and a fun Valentine's Day. Natalie and Owen had Valentine's parties at school and came home with lots of loot. We all were very excited about our gifts at home too. Mom got her gift Wednesday because Dad couldn't wait, so the celebrating started early. The weekend was pretty much our typical routine: running around to ballet and Gymboree and Owen's haircut on Saturday, and working outside on Sunday. We had some big storms on Sat. night and we were proud of Natalie for being a brave girl and staying in her bed. Owen continues his daring stunts around the house and terrorizing Natalie in true little brother fashion. Henry is enjoying adding fruits to his repertoire of foods and he's been cracking himself up looking in the mirror and cooing to himself lately. The corner of a bottom tooth has appeared in his mouth too, and the drool and chewing along with it.

Solids!

Henry had his first solids over the weekend. His first couple of bites resulted in the typical tongue push ("what are you sticking in my mouth?"), but by the 5th or 6th spoonful, he had his mouth wide open, ready for more! Natalie and Owen were very excited about the whole process. So he's been doing well since then. We'll be trying some fruit in the next few days.





We had a nice weekend. The weather was beautiful, so we spent a lot of time outside working on garden and landscaping projects. Natalie helped by watering everything Mom planted, and Owen pushed his lawnmower around and collected sticks from the yard. Dad planted twenty-some bushes along the fence. We were tired on Sunday night!! On Saturday, Mom and Natalie went to ballet and then to a "Princess & Prince" birthday party. It was very cute. The kids dressed up, and the girls had their hair done and make-up applied, while the boys also had fun hairdo's and got temporary tatoos. They also had crafts (make a tiara or visor and build a sugarcube castle with frosting mortar), storytime, dancing, and, of course cupcakes with "tea" in real porcelein teacups. Natalie looked great with her up-do (with pink sparkles in her hair - Mom nixed the pink spray coloring (after Owen's hair stayed pink for months last fall!)), pink eyeshadow and lipstick, and pink fingernails. We don't have any pictures because Dad had the camera at Gymboree. Owen had a blast again. He's building his confidence (and getting more daring with climbing and jumping). We're sure there will be a cast on some body part in his future. He came home with 6 Gymbo stamps on his body (both hands & feet, his shin, his tummy...) Dad had to drag him away or he'd be covered head to toe!

Natalie's Birthday

Natalie had her 4th birthday on Saturday. It was a packed weekend, with lots of cake and presents - which means it was a great birthday!!! Last week, Dad had another out of town trip, and he came home Friday morning, just before Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Tom arrived. Friday was "bring your tricycle to school" day for Owen and he was very excited about that. It took Mom about 40 minutes to drop Natalie & Owen off at school Friday morning, what with getting them to their classes with their bags, then getting the tricycle out of the car, all while carrying Henry around in his carseat. He is getting very heavy! Saturday was very busy. Mom and Grandma took Natalie (and Henry) to ballet and then to the airport to pick up Karen. Dad and Grandpa took Owen to his first Gymboree class (and Dad forgot the camera). After the morning running around, Mom and Karen did some last minute birthday party preparations. Mom had to get additional cake decorations for the massive cake for Saturday night. Mom put Dad in charge of ordering the cake (which Mom planned to decorate), and we ended up with a 1/2 sheet of cake for five adults and two kids!!! So we needed more icing and princess decorations. We had an early dinner at Carrabba's for Natalie's birthday (to beat the crowds), and the wait staff sang to Natalie (and brought her a chocolate-covered cream puff!), which of course made her shy side appear. After dinner it was present and cake time. Natalie is very excited about all of her gifts. She loves her clothes and new Princess items: a throne, "laptop" with games, and art set, to name a few. Owen got some cool new toys as well, but as always he is more interested in Natalie's goods. There have been some battles over the throne. And he loves to come press as many keys of the laptop keyboard as possible when Natalie is in the middle of a game. We all enjoyed the enormous cake on Saturday night. Sunday was Natalie's birthday party with her friends from school. Karen had to get home, so we took her to the airport after breakfast. We had the party at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. It was a butterfly/bug theme. The kids did some crafts, got to pet a lizard and a snake, enjoyed some of the butterfly exhibits, and had yummy strawberry cupcakes to end the party. Sunday night we were all tired, and Mom ended up being the only one awake to watch the exciting Giant's victory in the Superbowl.

So we've been getting back into the normal routine around here. The weather has been gorgeous and we are looking forward to getting out and working on some landscaping and outdoors projects. Henry continues to work on his skills - he's been enjoying practicing sitting on his own. He continues to discover new toys to shake and chew on. He's getting so big - we're moving up in clothes size again.