Henry's BirthMonth

Henry's BirthMonth started out at the

Ranger's Opening Day tailgate.

April 5th

Since several of our family members were going to be there (some from out of town), I thought it would be a good time to have a family "birthday party".

Nothing says party like a pinata.


Just what the kids needed the day after Easter- more candy!


Henry was very excited about the 2 pieces of candy that he got!

I made him this birthday cake. I really need some lessons on icing! I will no longer judge the Great American Cookie Company's skills- it's hard!

And I made these cookies.

It was so windy that we tried to shield the candles from the wind.

PawPaw finally got them lit and we quickly sang Happy Birthday.

Henry's actual birthday-April 12th

Since Tom goes into work so early, we woke up Henry at 6:30 to give him his present.

My parents and we gave him this train table.

I have a really sweet video of Henry's initial reactions to the table- but it's too long to upload.

At first he just stood there. Then he picked up one of the pieces and said "Broken". Ha.

After he finally woke up, he pushed the trains around the track. Whenever a sound would go off, his mouth would drop- he was awestruck!

Jenny had a great idea for Margaret to give Henry one of the pieces of the train set as her present to him. (The thought hadn't even crossed my mind)

Here is Margaret giving Henry her present:

Continued:

Love how Henry introduces the helicopter to his doggie. :)

PatPat came over later that day to give Henry an awesome musical instrument set. Henry loves music. (We'll be driving in the car and he'll recognize different instruments in songs)

She also gave him a couple of CDs of songs they use in BSF.... we listen to them all. the. time. :)

Since Tom couldn't have breakfast with us, we had breakfast for dinner. I'm thinking about making this a tradition for Henry's birthday.

After dinner, the Woods surprised Henry with ice cream.

Thanks, Kate and Brent!





April 17th

We were supposed to go camping with our Sunday School class that weekend, but it got rained out. (Whew, we were pretty glad about that... not sure how that would have gone)

Instead we got together at the Nelsons for an evening of fellowship.

Of course we had to sing Happy Birthday to Tom (since it was his birthday) and Tom shared the song with Henry.









And last, but not least

April 19th

I had the worst time trying to think of a theme for Henry's party. Then it came to me! Henry loves, loves, loves his doggie (that Liz gave to him when he was 3 months- thanks, Liz!) so why not celebrate that love! :)

I wanted to keep it simple- a playdate party with a small group of friends... but the little details of a puppy dog party were too fun to pass up!

Amy drew Henry's dog for the invitation. Super cute, if I do say so myself!

It was very hard to keep Henry away from his cake before the party. I totally stole the idea of this cake off someone else's blog.

I found the book at Half Price Books right after Henry was born.

Some dog-ish touches

Party favor bags included some caramel "pupcorn", dog stickers, and bubbles.

Each kid also got a bouncy ball

(You should have seen me trying to buy these all at once, while pushing a stroller and corralling a tired 2 year old)

Some of the food:

Got to give Liz the credit for the "Ruff-les" idea

Party Pics

We played a pass the bone game... when the music stopped, the kid holding the balloon won

What did they win?? A rocking paw print stamp on the hand! (I had to make it seem exciting so the kids would think it was cool... Henry loves stamps, but I wasn't sure about the other kids)

Brinley and Ava enjoying their lunch

Audrey coloring in a Dog coloring book

I was so excited that Megan and Jackson were going to be in town for the party.

Megan was such a great help with Margaret!

Brinley really got into the dog theme and ate some dirt out of a potted plant :)

I had visions of pictures of all the kids wearing these doggie ears... didn't happen.

Ava was the only one to happily sport them :)

(Thanks, anyway, Jenny!)

Jackson

Playing around

(Too bad it was so wet outside!)

Good buddies!

I love this pic of Luke!

Cooper

The musical instruments PatPat gave Henry were a hit with the kids

Michael
They also loved the train table that takes up all of Henry's room

Gifts

Henry started to lose it during present time... luckily the pics don't show that :)

Time for Cake

Amy made the little fondant dog :)

MMMM, Coco Puffs

It was a great party! Thanks to everyone who helped out!

(I'm exhausted)

"Baseball Game, Baseball Game"

Going to 3 baseball games in one week will make your 2 year old think that he should be going to one every day. Every day he says "Baseball Game" about 20 times.

It started with a preseason game. The organization gave us free tickets because they took so long refunding our money from purchasing playoff tickets... which the Rangers never went to... this year, it's going to be a different story.

Margaret sported Henry's old onesie that was made for him.

It was a good game, slow, but we did end up winning. Beautiful weather for sitting outside.

The next two pics are totally random. (they were taken the morning of Opening Day)

Brent makes fun of us for blow drying Henry's hair before he goes to bed.. this is what happens when he goes to bed with it wet:

Front view

Side view


Back to baseball...
Opening Day

We got there early for our 3rd annual tailgating

At the tailgate we celebrated Henry's birthday, but I'll post those pics later.

This Opening Day was special because my parents came!

Henry did surprisingly well... considering he didn't have a nap.

Margaret slept most the time... even when her daddy almost caught a fly ball while holding her.

the kiddos

For the 3rd game, the kids and I went sans Tom. Luckily, PatPat came along to help out.

Jack was in town and his friend's mom got him access to a suite. Let me tell you, that's the way to watch a game when you got kids.

Kate spoiling Henry with Mike & Ikes

Margaret Gray got to meet her Aunt Alex

(more on why Jack and Alex were in town, later)

Kate, Jack, Leigh, Leigh's mom, and PatPat

Thomas and Henry enjoying the benefits of having a suite

We've had lots of fun at these baseball games... hopefully it won't be too hot this summer and the Rangers will keep doing what they're doing- we'd like to go to lots more!