Henry's Birthday Weekend

Henry's 2nd birthday was last weekend (the 19th) and we jammed a lot into the weekend! On Saturday, we had a lot of errands to do and the boys were way overdue for haircuts. After all of the running around, we had lunch and everybody crashed for naps. Owen had his first T-ball game on Saturday evening, and it was fun to watch. Owen did great - he had three hits and he scored a run! I also enjoyed watching Ike - he was really concerned with Owen being where he needed to be and he checked on him in the dugout a few times. After the game (which ended in a tie 13-13), we grabbed dinner and went home for Henry to open his presents and have cake. Henry was really excited about the present opening this year. But we were getting passed bedtime, so we kind of rushed him through it: "Oh look at this! Wow! Okay, on to the next present, you can play with these tomorrow!" But he had fun. And he blew out his candle on the first try! We all enjoyed the cake, then it was off to bed to rest up for Sunday. On Sunday, we drove down to Kemah Boardwalk on Galveston Bay. It was hot, but we all had a good time. Poor Henry was a little too small to ride a few of the rides, but he was able to go on the train and the airplane ride, and those are his favorites, so I think he was happy. Natalie is the daredevil and wanted to go on everything. I talked her out of the super-spinny-backwards-crazy motion thing (only because she had a stomach bug on Friday and I didn't want her to lose her breakfast on Ike!). She did go on the high swing-thing and loved it. Ike went with her and he said it was pretty high, but she was beaming the whole time. Owen, on the other hand, gets excited about rides, then he gets his "ride face" where he looks petrified. They went on a kiddy drop thing and he was freaking out a little. I called to him from the ground to scream everytime it dropped, and that seemed to help a little. I tried to get pictures of it all. The before-ride and during-ride pictures on the drop ride are pretty funny. Also, it's hard to see Ike and Nat on the swing ride, but Ike's red shirt and dangling feet are visible. After lunch, we did the squirt gun game, and Henry won a Scooby Doo. So it was a fun day, but we were all wiped out when we got home. The past week was the same as usual except that we have all been suffering from a stomach bug. This past weekend we were low key. Owen had another T-ball game on Saturday. He had three hits and a run again. They won this time 13-8. We're hoping for some cool weather soon. We're still hitting 90 or higher and we're ready for Fall.

Owen's Birthday and Other News

Owen had his birthday last week - we can't believe he's four!! His birthday was last Tuesday, the 8th, and we had his party over Labor Day weekend. The weekend before, after Natalie's first week of school, Grandma Laura came and we all went to Austin for my cousin Jenny's wedding. We all enjoyed the wedding - Natalie and Owen hogged the dance floor as long as they could, and we all had a really nice evening. We wish the best to Jenny and Jason. Natalie and Owen kept talking about the princess bride, and Owen especially was constantly concerned with her whereabouts. Henry spent the entire evening asking "what happened?" because the fountain in the hotel lobby turned off for the wedding ceremony. Natalie just enjoyed strutting around in her floor length dress. The following week was a short school week for Owen and Henry - school closed Thursday and Friday before Labor Day. So Owen had playdates on Thursday and Friday with Katherine, Natalie's friend Madeleine's little sister, who is in his class. (Just like Natalie and Madeleine had playdates the week before school started.) On Thursday Katherine came to our house and we took them to the zoo. It was hot and we were happy to head home for lunch. After lunch they had rest time and then spent the afternoon playing until Katherine's mom came. On Friday, Owen went to their house and they played and went to the downtown aquarium. Also on Friday, Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Tom arrived for Owen's birthday weekend. Saturday was the big party. He wanted it at the gymnastics place again, and he had a lot of friends come. Afterward we all had a bit of rest, and Ike, Grandpa, and Owen headed to the Astros-Phillies game (a gift for Owen). They stayed into the 8th inning, but missed the Astros' comeback. They had fun though. On Sunday, we headed down to Galveston for a morning at the beach. We stayed long enough for the kids to splash around a while and wear themselves (and us) out a bit. That afternoon, Grandma, Natalie, and I went to paint pottery since Nat had missed out on the ballgame. Sunday evening, Owen opened his presents, and he was very excited about all of them. Grandma and Grandpa headed home on Monday, and we had a low key day for resting and errand-running. Tuesday was Owen's actual birthday, and we celebrated with cupcakes and presents from us. We had another birthday-filled weekend this past weekend, with four birthday parties between the three kids. Owen was really excited to go to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate his buddy Connor's birthday (me, not so much). Now we are getting ready for Henry's big day on Saturday.