Family traits

On Thursday I had yet another ultrasound and the technician took a few great 3D pictures of the baby girl. I just can't get over how much she looks like Henry. Here's the latest pic of baby girl beside one of Henry when he was about 20 days old - same little nose and lips!

Train Museum

Sam and Ed's little guy Jack is obsessed with trains! Henry has a love of them too, but not like Jack. So when Sam had heard about the Greeley Freight Station Museum and invited us to go along, we figured why not!

I really had no idea what to expect, but it was actually the coolest thing! A gigantic warehouse with the biggest collection of model trains I've ever seen! There must have been a dozen volunteers that ran the trains and the displays. They also had a collection of train memorabilia; signs, lights, tools, hard hat, etc. as well as an actual train car you could walk around in.

To add a little fun, they have a list of things to find in the displays as well as 5 dinosaurs that are hidden throughout as well. We had so much fun finding everything and exploring the museum!

Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Henry's best smile all day, he didn't quite get the whole 'look scared' idea

Over Christmas break we took Henry to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to see the animatronic dinosaur exhibit. I think Henry was actually a little scared when we first went in, the dinosaurs moved around and the sound effects made it sound like we were in a jungle as soon as we walked in. But after we explained that they weren't real, he thought they were pretty cool.

We also spent a lot of time in the taxidermy animal exhibits, Henry just loved pointing out all the animals he knew and asking the names of others. We were thinking how even at the zoo, it's not uncommon for the animals to be hiding towards the back somewhere, where here they were all right up front and holding still so it was easy to spot them!

We were right in the middle of potty training Henry during this visit and we were so proud of him for warning us every time we had to make a quick trip to the restroom.



Henry was also pretty stoked about the dinosaur bones and we spent a good amount of time wandering around this area.

We ended our trip in the Mission to Mars area, and Henry absolutely loved the astronaut pretend area. He looked so darn cute in the tiny jumpsuits and backpacks! And of course there was lots of buttons to press, so he had a blast!

Air Show!

Hahn and Henry went to the Airshow with Doug and Kate. It takes place at the Air Force base up in Cheyenne that Doug used to serve at. Henry has been interested in airplanes lately, so Hahn thought he would like it, and man, did he ever! He got to sit in many of the planes, and pull on levers and gears. I think this is something we'll be doing again next year!

Henry and his very own (LEGO) airplane!

Henry's First Baseball Game!

  We took Henry to his first

Rockies game this Spring! It unfortunately was a cold and rainy day, but at least we had seats tucked back out of the rain.

The Wranosky family joined us and I think, overall that we all had a good time. Not sure that the boys actually even noticed that there was a game going on. ;) Henry's favorite thing to do during the game was to "clean" the peanut shells off the ground under our seats. **ick**

Children's Museum

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Sam and I were determined to get the boys to the Children's Museum this year. They had both turned 2 just a couple months earlier and it couldn't have been a better time. They LOVED it!

The fire truck in the beginning was popular, as we would have assumed, but the boys really like the old school pay phone (that showed how 911 worked) - they are so used to our flat rectangular iphones, they thought the big metal buttons were the best!

All us adults were a little disappointed to find out that the grocery store, which we all have fond memories of, was closed for renovations. But they certainly didn't realize that the temporary space wasn't as cool.

The bubble lab and painting room were also big hits! We ended the day with a picnic outside before heading back home for nap time!

Henry just loved this firefighter! It was lucky that I got a picture of him in the gear, it only stayed on for maybe another minute! :)

Bounce house!

Yippee!

 Sam and I decided that it was a worth while investment to just go ahead and buy a bounce house! We found one for a great price on Craigslist and rest is history! Now if only the boys didn't have February birthdays! :P

Auntie Marge having a grand time!

Rockstar!

Henry has mastered the art of dancing, and loves to run into our living room and turn on the radio so he can rock out! Now any amount of music, be it a ringtone or a commercial and he starts dancing!

If that wasn't enough, Henry has also become quite interested in guitars, I think once he gets a little older, we're going to have to get him in some music classics!

Henry's First Road Trip!

We decided to take our first family road trip to Santa Fe this summer to visit Henry's Uncle Skip and Aunt Claudia. On the way we stopped in Colorado Springs to visit Skip, Kathy and Emily and also take in the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. This was Henry's first trip to the zoo and we couldn't have picked a better one! If you have never visited, you should make it a point, it's a wonderful little secret!

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Henry wasn't sure what he thought about the giraffe that could walk right up and eat from your hands, but he did love the noisy monkeys and wandering peacocks!

Hanging out a Skip and Kathy's

 From Colorado Springs, it was still a good 3 hour drive to Santa Fe and Henry did terrific! He slept for a good portion and got to watch a movie, so it wasn't too bad at all!

Our first day in Santa Fe we spent the morning touring the galleries on Canyon Road. The weather was perfect and coolish, and Henry was quite the trooper, we definitely wore him out!

 Henry was immediate best friends with his Aunt Claudia!

 

Henry  Also got quite the kick out of the dogs Kajeta and Castro. Even though there was a small incident when Henry got in the way of Castro's must-chase-ball instincts. He got toppled over and managed to scrape up his forehead, but he a good sport and was back to playing with them in no time. 

We had a great time visiting and spent a lot of time just chillin' out at the house and chatting away. We can't wait to go back and visit again soon!

Summer Fun!

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Being able to walk definitely made this summer more exciting for Henry. We had many an adventure to the park nearby to splash in their water features.
And a few days when it was just to darn hot outside, Sam and I took the boys over to an indoor play place called 'Cool Beans'. As you can see in the above photos, they had a great time!

Just taking a rest to cool off for a second!

Daddy, check out this fountain!

Walking!

Just after he turned 16 months in June, Henry finally got the hang of walking. And now nothing can slow him down! He's realized how much easier it is to carry around his toys and push around the bigger ones!

Momma likes it too, because now Henry can walk around when we are out and about. We stopped by Barnes and Noble the other day and he had a blast running around on the stage. The only downside is that with the walking came the independence to not want to leave! He also just mastered the art of running away!


Here's Henry with his lawnmower toy. I was impressed that with his new balance he was able to pull the mower out, push and even reposition it. Of course then he decided to sit on it, which was probably a silly idea. :)


And here's Henry walking across the yard!

Happy Easter!

Easter was again at Ann's house this year and we had a great crowd! Joining the usual family was Mike & Carly, Tony, Karen and Carl and Grant's new girlfriend Kelly. We had a wonderful meal and the weather was great. We played on the playground with the kiddos for awhile after to lunch to burn off some calories. Tony and Mike and fun chasing Mason around, and Henry had fun going down the slides!

For Henry's Easter present I found a ball pit on Craigslist and just couldn't resist. It is ridiculously huge, but he seems to love it! Of course his favorite part is sitting in the pit and throwing the balls out onto into the room!

Egg hunt!

Sam and I decided to have an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos on Saturday. We were trying to go to the park, but it ended up getting windy and chilly, so we moved it to our living room at the last minute. We had a good turn out: Henry, Ajax, Mason, Aidan, Gunnar (Sam’s neighbor across the street) and little 2.5 month old Natalie (the lone girl) joined in the fun!

It was pretty much chaos. Henry’s favorite part seemed to be throwing the little plastic eggs. And once they all realized that we had filled them with Cheerios and Chick and bunny crackers, they quickly figured out how to open them!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY HENRY!

On February 1st, Henry celebrated his FIRST birthday which also happens to be his Golden birthday! In honor of his nickname 'King Henry', I decided to have a royal theme.

I found this adorable plush crown for my little king and we also had paper crowns for the guests to decorate. We had a great turn out and the house was complete chaos, but the babies all seemed to have a great time playing together.

We had to move fast through the gifts to keep Henry occupied. He sort of figured out the whole 'unwrapping' thing, but was definitely entertained by the things inside!

Natasha made the cake and it was both delicious and beautiful! She even made a special '1' shaped personal cake for Henry to smash. And boy did he!

We got one nice posed picture with his crown, pre-mess. Marion & Seth (who's 2nd had just had her fist birthday party the day before), provided us with the wise advise to strip Henry down. It was definitely a good idea!

We gave Henry a quick rinse-off bath after cake, but he was still stained blue and smelled of sugar for the rest of the night!

Click below to watch as we sing 'Happy Birthday' and Henry smashes his cake!