Funny Henry

Happy birthday to our baby boy!  Although he likes to remind me that he's not a baby... just a little boy.  (Because he says he's not a big boy yet either.)

 He is just a silly, cute, helpful boy.  And he's definetly the youngest of 4 boys.  Sometimes he gets to be a little bit of a bully with those big brothers--he's got to defend himself against them!

Here are some of the funny things that come out of that little mouth:
"I'm not ____________ (funny, sweet, cool, silly, awesome, etc), I'm HENRY!"

"I'm keepin' my eye on you."

"Dang it."

"What the heck is going on?"

And he always wants to be the one who says family prayer.  Often, he won't he give us hugs at the end if he isn't the one who says it!

  
What is your favorite...
color? purple (so true!  he won't drink out of any other color of sippy cup!)
food?  purple grapes
toy?  Batman
show? Grover (Sesame Street)
animal?  bear
book? The Monster at the End of This Book
song? Batman song
What do you like to do?  read books
Who is your best friend?  Mom
What do you want to be when you grow up? ninja
Do you have a girlfriend?  no

I am - a ninja
I am afraid of - monsters!

I like - monsters

I like to eat - green grapes

I don't like - when William and James are mean; and when I want to say prayers first! (and he doesn't get to)

I know - "I'm going to fart!.... I fart."  (I know gross... but that's what happened.)

I want to be - a good Henry

I like to watch - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

My hero is- Mom

I cry when - I fall on the floor

Mom gets mad when -

Mom is happy when - 

I can't wait for - Jake cake

Something Mom says to me - Happy Birthday!

Something Dad says to me - "battle, begin!"

My favorite place to go is - Old Mormon Fort

My Mom and Dad make me laugh by - telling me to laugh like a monkey

I know my mom loves me because -she makes the couch a fort

I know my dad loves me because - he gives me kisses

Oh we love this sweet little boy!  Happy birthday, Henry!

Summer Bucket List--Make Homemade Ice Cream

Since it was Optimist's Day we decided to cross something off our Summer Bucket List and make some homemade ice cream to celebrate.  We use the easiest recipe--with no ice cream maker required!

We made one with chocolate and another batch of vanilla.  Alex chose to add a few drops of peppermint to his--because mint ice cream is his favorite.  He said it was delicious!

Gilcrease Orchard

I've been wanting to head up to the Orchard for a while and we finally made some time to go one Saturday morning. 

After taking the really long way to where we wanted to be we made it to the apricot trees.

I'm glad we made it because those apricots were the best I've ever had!  Maybe I'll be able to convince everyone to head up with me again to get some peaches next time!

Goodbye little fish

Back in November William got some goldfish for his birthday.  Well, at the start of the month we woke up one morning to find little Fred floating along the top of the bowl. 

William found a spot in the garden to bury Fred.

I'm glad that William took such good care of his little pet and continues to take care of his remaining fish.

Father's Day

For Father's Day the boys showered Rich with gifts... a personalized guitar pick, a book of reasons they love Dad, Batman socks, and a book called "Darth Vader and Son."

They also worked all week long memorizing this poem.  (I wish I had put the camera up closer to the boys so you couldn't hear me!)

I got one quick shot of all my boys before church.

You might have noticed Rich's nice beard from his week at scout camp.

And then shaved it down to a mustache.  Blech.  It was gone by the evening though.

I'm so glad that I found a wonderful guy to marry and who turned out to be the greatest dad to our 4 boys!

End of the School Year

The end of the school year always brings with it lots of fun activities.  Both William and James were recognized for their hard work at the end of year assembly.

James had a great year with Mrs. Humphrey and made some wonderful friends as well.  He really excelled in reading this year.  William would hardly touch a book in first grade and wouldn't read for fun at all... but James couldn't get enough!!  James is reading far past his grade level and it's fun to see him love it so much. He continues to love math and work hard at everything--including speech!  (I think he may only have a trimester left!!)

He was recognized for Above Average Growth on Discovery Reading Assessment, Exemplary Citizenship, Perfect Attendance all Year, Governors Exemplary Attendance, and A/B Honor Roll all Year.

William really, really lucked out in school this year.  I was really worried about him with this last move since he had clicked so well with friends and school in North Carolina.  He ended up in a class with a ton of kids from church which was amazing.  And I'm pretty sure that Ms. Dorbeck is the best 3rd grade teacher at the school.  She was perfect for him.  He's finally started to like reading for fun.  And he just doesn't read little easy books.  He read all 5 books of the Percy Jackson series and is now reading the Heroes of Olympus series by the same author.  They are big books.  I think it was a combination of a little healthy competition with James (who got to go to the first trimester AR barbeque and William didn't), a series he enjoyed, and the fact that we let him stay up 30 minutes later as long as he was reading.

William was also recognized for Above Average Growth on Discovery Reading Assessment, Exemplary Citizenship, Above Average Growth on Discovery Math Assessment, Governors Exemplary Attendance, and A/B Honor Roll all Year.

They were both super excited for the end of the school year but are sad that they don't get to see their friends quite as much.

For a last day of school treat we got some drumsticks and popsicles to eat.  (William isn't there because he was at a swim party.)

Alexander and Henry are super excited to have their brothers home with them during the day now! 

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day we decided to head to some fields behind the elementary school to play a little bit of baseball.  (We miss the days where we could go play on the high school field in Piedmont!)  We probably should have headed over first thing in the morning... but we made the mistake of waiting til the afternoon.  It was HOT!  And that nice green grass?  Not grass... just turf.  Really, really hot turf out there in the mid-day sun.

The boys were good sports though and would alternate hitting balls and resting in the shade.

James bought a cool bow with his money and brought that along too. 

We made sure to bring lots of water along with us.  Rich filled a bottle with ice. By the time we left the ice was melted and was warm.  Too hot!