SAAANNNTTAA!!! I know him!

We visited my favorite Santa at Evan's Gatehouse in Orem last Saturday. We tried putting Henry on Santa's lap--needless to say, that didn't go well.  He cried, as we expected, but he also arched his back and squirmed which made it impossible for Santa to hold him at all.  Oh well!  The kids received candy canes, and told Santa what they really wanted for Christmas (Ben had a much longer list than Sylvia), and Henry stayed a safe distance away in Dad's arms.  Fun was had by (almost) all!

Henry Is One Year Old!

Henry doesn't trust Grandpa Bill at all.

The three crazy kiddos :)

Henry loved his cupcake!

Henry had a birthday yesterday, we celebrated with cupcakes!  We went up to Grandma Susan's house to enjoy our cupcakes and ice cream, and I made everyone wear party hats.  We bought Henry a Fisher Price Chatter Telephone for his special day.  So far, he really likes it!

What Henry's Up To At One Year:

• He is a screaming machine.  Henry will scream when he's happy, excited, sad or scared.  Sometimes its hard to tell what emotion he's trying to convey.  He screams all the time!
• Still eating baby food, but we're adding in sippy cups of milk, and lots of other big people food.  Henry especially likes noodles.
• He's still not sleeping as well as I'd like, but I'm more comfortable letting him cry for a few minutes when he wakes at night.  Usually, the kid cries for only a few minutes, and then he'll go back to sleep. Baby steps, right?
• Henry's new favorite activity is opening drawers.  I came in the other day to my bedroom, and he had emptied one of Nate's dresser drawers all over the floor.  This means a lot of extra clean up for Mom!
• We've discovered he really likes Sesame Street - especially Elmo.  This buys me precious time to take a shower :)
• Still a little baldie in the front, and he's getting more and more handsome every day.  Seriously, this is one cute kid.

So Sweet.

A little note from Sylvia's friend, Sophie.

I love that Sylvia is a social butterfly.  She has a lot of great, sweet qualities that I would look for in a friend.  I am not surprised at all at how many little friends she has--she really is one of the nicest and happiest kids that I have ever known.  Boys and girls alike flock to her, and I find it fascinating!  Now, sometimes I have noticed that Sylvia can be a little too nice, and she ends up being a door mat.  That is something I have to keep an eye on, because her feelings can get hurt by kids who are a little blunt, or who have very dominant personalities.  But overall, Sylvia is a child who excels at making and keeping friends.  I love that about her.  Not only does she occasionally bring home notes like this, but she also brings home pictures that her friends have drawn for her, and sometimes they even give her little gifts like necklaces and bracelets.  So so so cute.

Henry is 11 Months Old!

Rawr.

What Henry's Up To At 11 Months:

• Henry is no longer interested in crawling.  He is a fast walking nightmare!  He looks adorable running around, though.  He has taken to walking a lot quicker than my other two.  His coordination is also improving by leaps and bounds every day.  If he falls down, he crawls to the nearest piece of furniture, or a wall, pulls himself back up and steadies himself, and then he's off again.  Amazing. 
• He's still letting me spoon feed him, but he needs a minor distraction to get the entire meal finished.  Thank heavens for matchbox cars and measuring spoons.
• He slept all night last night (hooray!).  Sleeping through the night is still not a regular thing, but we are crossing our fingers that all night sleeping happens soon.
• Is now liking being read to, which is great!  Henry also loves to play "This Little Piggy" with his cute little toesies.  And he still loves to play patty cake and peek a boo.
• Absolutely loves to play with his siblings.  And they just accept him and incorporate him into their play.  It's perfect.

Halloween Cuteness

The kids wore cute costumes.  We carved pumpkins, ate yummy food, went trick or treating, and we visited some great grandparents.  In short, Halloween was fun this year!

The Halloween Parade

Hi Mom!

It is always fun to visit the kiddos at school, especially on fun holidays like Halloween.  As you can see, Sylvia is a red devil, and Ben is Spiderman.  Ben has a really cool mask that goes with his costume, but there aren't any masks allowed at school.  So, mom improvised and broke out the face paint.  Note:  I am definitely not a professional face painter...

Anyway, the kids looked adorable today, and as a bonus, we all got to watch the 5th and 6th graders perform the Thriller dance.  Very fun!

What We Do When Dad's Off Hunting

We eat some yummy In-N-Out Burger

We collect stick "swords" at Bridal Veil Falls

We go on the carousel at Provo Beach Resort

We eat ice cream and Dole whips.  Yum!

We play in the pirate ship

We slide!