Flashback: Christmas in Arizona!

Since we stayed in Utah for Thanksgiving, we went to stay with my parents in Arizona for Christmas. It was SO NICE! Utah gets pretty cold in the winter, so we hadn't even played outside in what seemed like forever. Then we get to Arizona and it felt like paradise in comparison. Occasionally we needed light jackets while outside. Henry was in complete heaven!! He loves being outside, so to be able to roam free without layers and gloves and hats and all that nonsense was perfection.

Now, for some pictures :)

hello, cutie

someone partied too hard on Christmas...

you know, just doing some important construction work

Grandpa and Henry had a blast playing with trucks

Christmas PJs. Sometimes this is the best picture you can get...

Obviously Christmas isn't just about presents, but oh my goodness it's cute to see reactions to presents :) Henry got seriously spoiled (thanks grandparents!) and LOVED all his new trucks and toys.

"present?"

George, always the happy camper, was content to just hang out. But don't worry, he was spoiled too!

baby George playing patty cake with monkey George

As fun and amazing as Christmas celebrations can be, it can really tire a person out. And someone (I'm not naming names...) may have had a little too much fun...

too! much! CHRISTMAS!

One of the highlights for Henry on the trip was the neighbors house. They are an older couple that is obsessed with Christmas. I've never seen anything like it. The lady even said that on her Christmas list she had asked for blue Christmas lights. That's dedication. They had lights everywhere, and played Christmas music outside from speakers. Their long driveway was paved with different light-up Christmas decor, just one after the other. Henry was amazed, and to be honest I was pretty impressed too. Henry kept yelling "lights! lights!" and pointing at each new thing. While we were looking at everything outside, the couple saw us and came out to say hi. Then they invited us inside to see the rest of their Christmas collection. So...I thought outside was intense. Every inch of their entryway, dining area, and living room was COVERED in Christmas. [[I took a ton of pictures, but lost them when I broke my phone a couple months ago :'( ]]. I think they had every sort of dancing/singing Christmas characters ever made... and they played every single one for Henry (they were so sweet to him!). There was even a life size Santa that sang, as well as a life size snowman that sang and danced (Henry was kind of scared of that one haha). Anyways, that was the Christmas house, and it was awesome. And yes, we visited more than once on our trip ;)

large mouth bass!

Of course my parents had to get into all sorts of shenanigans while we were there. They said they were going to play with Henry outside, and next thing I know I get this picture sent to my phone:

riding in style

When I went out to see where they were, I found them a couple houses away looking at horses. Yup, best trip ever!

sweet brothers

We had such a great time, and it was nice to get away to the warmer weather. I might just have to go live there for a few months every winter!! The summer there kills me, but I could definitely get used to the winter weather. Thank you so much Mom and Dad for letting us stay with you! It was a fabulous time, and made for some fun memories ♥

Flashback: Henry turned TWO!

On December 15th, my little baby turned two years old. WHAT THE HECK!?! I just can hardly believe that he is already two. I love Henry to pieces, and although we try each others' patience sometimes, I am completely obsessed with him. He still loves Elmo, so I decided to throw an Elmo themed party. And at the time, his favorite foods were zzaa-zzaa (pizza) and ah-kee's (cookies).

the invitation :)

I checked out the Dollar Store to look for Elmo balloons, and I completely lucked out. They didn't have any hanging on their display wall so I got a little nervous, but then I asked someone and they found a whole stash. I got ten. (Which, funny enough, was the same price I could have paid to get ONE Elmo balloon at Sesame Street Live!).

they were a big hit

I made Henry a Happy Birthday banner. And wow...that took forever. It seems so simple, yet took SO LONG! I'm keeping it and totally plan on using it for future birthdays. Because for real, it was pretty labor intensive haha.

I got Sesame Street stickers and decorated party hats because I couldn't find a store that sold Elmo party supplies... Doesn't Walmart know that Elmo is still huge, and parents don't want to do anything?! Get with the program, peeps!!

he didn't like the hats so much...

Mimi and Bear came to town for the weekend to celebrate. We loved having them here, and they got him a big Hug Me Elmo. It talks, sings, and gives hugs. Which means it's inherently a little bit creepy, but Henry loved it ;)

see the fear in George's eyes? toys that talk on their own are totally freaky ;)

Some of our friends were able to make it to the party as well, and Henry got spoiled with toys. IN FACT, I think I've decided I'm never buying Henry a birthday present ever again. He got SO MANY toys that it was kind of insane. I think Josh's head might have exploded from the OCD-induced panic that comes along with a house overrun with toys. (Totally joking...sort of...). Henry was having so much fun playing with all his new toys that we decided just to give him a couple small presents from us, and keep the bigger ones for Christmas. He didn't even notice the difference.

New shopping cart. New vacuum. Ready to go!

We had to force him to open each new toy, since he was still busy playing with the last one. #toddlerproblems

Overall, the party was a really fun time. We had pizza (obviously), lots of cookies, and a cookie birthday cake. Because it was Bear's birthday weekend too, we also had a second birthday cookie cake for him too :) We really like our cookies around here!

birthday collage!

His birthday party was a great time, and Henry had an absolute blast! Thanks to everyone who helped make it so awesome! And a big thanks to my mom who came up and visited the weekend before, since she couldn't come for his birthday weekend. :)

On December 17 we went to the pediatrician for Henry's two year appointment. Here are his stats:
Weight: 28.4 lbs -- 56%
Height: 35.5" -- 79%

bff's

We love you so much Henry! It is so fun to see you grow up and learn and explore. Happy second birthday!

Flashback: Christmas preparations

In early December we had a church Christmas party that we attended. Santa was also in attendance. Last year Henry did not do well with Santa, so we were interested to see how he'd do this year. We tried to hype him up a bit and mentally prepare him ;) Unfortunately, that didn't really work...

Poor Santa ;)

George is so chill and happy that he was just looking around. Compared to Henry's experience, it was a cake walk for Santa. He almost seems bored in the pic...

I had to work on convincing Josh that we needed to put up Christmas decorations. Which is funny because it used to be the opposite: I was scrooge and Josh would have to talk me into doing anything Christmas-related. I think it comes along with the territory of having kids: now I want to have memory-making stuff for the kids, and Josh doesn't want to deal with the mess that comes with combining kids and decorations. In the end, we put up the tree and decorations! The ornaments on the tree almost made me lose my mind... because Henry thought it was the coolest thing ever to take the ornaments off and throw them on the ground. I'm just glad the tree didn't fall over. But man those ornaments were practically the death of me. By the end of the month Henry had gotten much better about leaving them alone, thank goodness.

the cutest present ever

kitteh?

Because Henry's birthday is December 15, the presents under the tree were both for Christmas and his birthday. Surprisingly Henry mostly left the presents alone. Every once in a while he would get curious, but we'd just ask him to put them back and he did a good job. Such a stud :)

Flashback: Sesame Street Live

When I saw that 'Sesame Street Live - Elmo Makes Music' was coming to our city, I knew Henry would really enjoy it. He's never been to any kind of show or movie, so I was a little nervous. But Elmo was involved, so I had hope!! The show was on November 13th, and I was almost foolish enough to try and bring both kids by myself. Then I smartened up and asked a friend if she could watch George, and thankfully she was able to. That made it so I was able to just focus on Henry having a blast!

Ready to go!

In the theater. "What is this magic?!"

The show was actually really cute and fun. They periodically had the monsters come out in the audience and wave to the kids and interact. I was a little miffed because the row in front of us was empty, but the monsters couldn't come down it because someone put their car seat in the way. Way to ruin our fun, stranger!! Sorry, I digress...  At one point a random monster (pictured below) managed to make their way close enough to us to give Henry a high five. While I think Henry was a bit taken off guard, he thought it was pretty cool. I didn't really get a picture of that moment, but you can imagine it ;)

Henry got to high five this beautiful monster. [Also see lovely fun-blocking family two rows in front of us...grr]

At first I had Henry set up in the chair next to me. But that got a bit distracting, as it was one of those movie-theater style chairs that was trying to eat him. I ended up sitting him in my lap--where he stayed for almost the entire time (over an hour!). Impressive, I know.

Happiness.

There were a lot of different musical numbers, most of which were about making music. One or two might have been about finding lost instruments or something. [Insert joke about Sesame Street beating a dead horse by making music about making music, which adults find monotonous but children find amazing].

Henry was literally ENTHRALLED the entire time, which actually made it really fun for both of us. It's an awesome feeling to see your child be so happy, and to be able to share that moment with them :) Even if it's over seeing Elmo and the rest of the Sesame Street gang dancing and singing in real life.

Captivated. Maybe there was some sort of subliminal brainwashing going on.

singing & dancing

I think Elmo came out near us maybe once or twice. But like I mentioned, the car seat family...

Rockin robin birds with Big Bird

I will say something about this production... they definitely know how to make money. They have it down to a science. More like an art form, really. For example: they have an intermission, and the second those stage lights start dimming, people come out with giant bunches of helium Elmo balloons. Cue kids yelling saying "Elmo! Balloon! Oooh!" and cue parents thinking *Aww, maybe I'll be nice and get a balloon for my kid, that would be cute*. So the balloon guy comes closer and you overhear someone ask how much the balloons are. Cue balloon guy saying "ten dollars", and then cue frazzled parents attempting to steer their balloon-craving children away, resulting in heartache and tantrums. In public. You can all see where this is heading... Cha-ching!

We went out in the lobby during intermission to see what else they were selling. Everything was outrageously priced, so instead of purchasing anything I just took pictures of Henry and Elmo in front of the merch booth ;)  

"What's up, Elmo?"

After intermission, Henry started to get a bit more antsy. He stayed in my lap for about ten more minutes, and then stood up in front of his chair for the rest of the time (about 15 minutes). All the dancing and singing [combined with my ample supply of Goldfish] kept him from wandering away. ;)

They did cool black light stuff where only shoes lit up on stage

It ended up being a really fun experience, and it was completely worth the money, time, and child-geared acting. Henry was completely in awe of the whole show, and if they come back to our city next year I'm sure we will be going again! :)

flashback: October fun

October was a fun month around here. George turned one month old. He was still in the newborn stage (sleep, eat, poop, repeat) until he was about 7 weeks old. He was such a fatty that I didn't have to worry about waking him up in the middle of the night to feed him. He would often sleep for 6 hour stretches overnight, which was awesome!! His 7th and 8th week were not quite as lovely, as he started to "wake up" and break away from the newborn stage. He got a bit more grumpy, especially at night before bedtime, and his naps were pretty short. Thankfully this grumpy stage only lasted about 2-3 weeks, and then he turned back into a sweet little angel (although naps didn't really get much longer...but at least he's such a happy baby that it makes it easy to handle).

The weather stayed pretty nice for October, and we would often take trips to the park on the weekends. George would get bundled in the Ergo, and we'd go chase Henry around the playground. Our favorite is Discovery Park, and here are some pictures from one of our many visits there:

cutie in action

this little bridge is his favorite--he runs back and forth over and over

heading to the toddler section of the park

boo!

king of the slide!

scary selfieeee ahhhhhh!! ;)

In October we went to church for the first time with George. We stayed away for a few weeks to avoid germs of course. He was about 6 weeks old, and I got him dressed up in an adorable outfit (lent to us from Darci, thanks girl!). He was so chunky that it was almost too small already, even though it was a 0-3 mo outfit.

looking dapper

Since George was born, I have LOVED seeing how Henry interacts with him. He is so sweet, and such a loving big brother. He gives him love and hugs alllllll the time. If he hears George crying (ex when he wakes up from a nap), he'll say "Oh nooo! Baby!" and then go with me to make sure he's ok. Sometimes at bedtime I'll put George in Henry's bed. Henry thinks it is the funniest/awesome-est thing ever. It really is adorable.

babies in bed

And how does George feel about all the attention? He loves it. He is constantly entertained by his brother, and never complains about the often occasional smothering love. ♥

pumpkin patch

Well it's been about a month since this happened, but oh well. Better late than never, right? ;) Last month we went with our friends Ryan and Natalie and their kids to a pumpkin patch in Parowan. First we went out into the field and looked for pumpkins. At one point Henry tried to pick up a bigger one and couldn't, and started crying. It was sad but also really funny at the same time ;) So then we gave him a little one to hold on to, and he just tried to eat it.

trying to sneak a bite...

or two...

the gorgeous Elle

more attempts at eating baby pumpkins...

I gave him one to hold, and once again he tried to eat it. Apparently he wasn't getting it ;)

the next picture. note his look of disdain, haha!

love these boys

rotten pumpkin that looked like a smiley face

After the pumpkin patch we went and looked at their little petting zoo, and then the kids enjoyed the bounce house. It was a fun little set-up, and we all had such a fun time!

Henry was a little uncertain of anything that wasn't a dog

he LOVED the bounce house!

"kittyyyyyyyyy!!!"- Henry

We ended up going home with a medium sized pumpkin and two baby pumpkins. Because all Henry was interested in doing was trying to eat them, we just put them out by our front porch and called it good ;)