A Picture Says a Thousand Words

I love this picture of Kate! This about sums up Christmas for us. Kate LOVED the wrapping paper! She could have taken or left the gifts that were inside, but the paper--what a treat that was! We had a lot of fun watching her open gifts. Some of her favorite gifts were a doll from Gigi, a new toothbrush, a Veggietale DVD, and a container of blocks. We are still opening a few remaining gifts - her attention span isn't that long these days.

Brenden received an incredible toy train. It's big enough to sit on and ride around the room. Papa took some video of Kate on the train, so we hope to get that up soon. She actually figured out how to operate the train. I was amazed watching her. She's not a little baby anymore. She's so smart - figuring out how to do things on her own every day. Boy do they grow up fast!

Christmas Wishes

One Christmas tradition I look forward to is the arrival of Christmas cards! I really do get excited when they arrive. A few years ago, I started displaying them on our pantry door as part of our holiday decorations. I love to see how kids have changed, to remember friends from various seasons of life, and be reminded of the love of family both near and far away. As the door slowly fills up over the weeks of December, I am often overwhelmed with gratitude at the richness of our life: so many friends, so much love, so much to be grateful for.

We hope your Christmas is full of love and gratitude for all God has blessed you with- starting with the birth of His son -- the miracle that makes hope, joy, and love possible.

Merry Christmas,

Love the Henrys

2008

Ho...Ho...Ho

I say Santa, Kate says, "Ho...Ho...Ho". That's about all she understands about the concept of Santa Claus. Now her cousin, Brenden, gets the idea fully. We say Santa, and he says, "I want a Choo Choo Train." He is so excited about Santa, we think he's going to crawl out of his skin. Rumor has it that Santa has even made a telephone call to Brenden to check in on his train request. Kate's just not there yet. But in honor of tradition, Kate went to sit on Santa's lap for a photo this week. She held her hands out to me the whole time (hence Santa's hand on her arm). But all in all I think it went pretty well for a 16 month old who doesn't care for strangers.

We were pretty slow getting out tree up this year. Seems the Christmas spirit has alluded me a bit, but slowly we're getting there. Our tree was put up on Tuesday night. Josh and I finally decorated it tonight. And I must say it looks beautiful! I love sitting on the couch and seeing the white lights glow from across the room.

Speaking of the tree, Josh has been messing with Kate's mind. Our tree lights have an on/off button that you can step on to easily turn the tree off. Well when we first put it up, Kate got all excited and started clapping. So Josh turned the tree off when she clapped, and back on again when she clapped again. (CLAP ON...CLAP OFF...) So now my poor little angel stands in front of the tree clapping and can't understand why the lights won't come on! He's tormenting her. Isn't there a verse in the Bible about father's not exasperating their children? Poor, Kate. Anybody receive a Clapper this year in a white elephant exchange? We could use one.

Tagged Again...

Okay, I've just been tagged again for a little blogging game by my history loving, teacher friend, Judy. Funny thing is I was simultaneously tagged by Alycia too! This tag was actually a unique one I hadn't heard of yet. So I thought I'd play along.

The Rules: Go to your sixth picture folder,
find your sixth photograph and
blog your memories of the photo.

~~~~

So here's the photo: Kim at Colour Lake in Frederick, Maryland, taken in the summer of 2005.

Although this photo was taken almost year after the event, this marks a very special place for Josh and me. On September 24, 2004, after much nervous pacing from Josh around the front yard and the inside of his apartment, Josh and I decided to go to for a drive. We headed over to this little "lake". (It really was just a dirty duck pond that use to be a cool ice-skating rink in days gone by. But it is nestled in an old historic neighborhood in Frederick and really still has that quaint atmosphere.) Anyway...back to the story. After walking around the lake at least twice with Josh obviously very nervous, I asked him if he wanted to sit down on this bench. After another 20 minutes of nervous chatter this is where he asked me to officially start dating. And the whirlwind romance began. Engaged two months later on November 25th. Married a little over four months later on April 1st. Ah...those were the days!

The setting was more romantic that night in September under an oak tree with just a little light from an old street lamp. The humid August summer day photographed above doesn't really capture the romantic nature of the evening. Yet, I dragged Josh back to the park that summer so I could officially document the event for our scrapbook (which I haven't even started!). Here are a few more shots from the park (taken in August.)

After the park we headed over to Rita's for some gelato. I had to capture this memory as well.

Other random things I remember about that night:

1. Josh had borrowed a co-workers John Mayer CD in order to familiarize himself with the kind of music I like. And he surprised me by playing it on the way to Rita's.


2. I thought he'd never ask me...I knew it was coming all night but he was so nervous. I actually had to ask him if there was anything he wanted to talk about while we were sitting on this nice bench!


3. I went out to dinner with my dad and my friend, Stefanie, before Josh and I went out. I had a feeling that Josh was going to make things official and I was so excited that I couldn't eat anything at dinner.

~~~~~

Okay, now it's my turn to tag a few friends. I'm tagging Holly because she's such a good sport at these things, but she just had a baby on Dec. 8th (yeah Mia!!) so there's grace. She may play along in a month or two! However, I hope the rest of you will jump in sooner rather than later. Sarah, my Baltimore gourmand ~ Lindsey, my cousin who I miss a lot and think of often ~ Allison, Josh's friend now turned my friend who is much better at blogging than I am ~ and Jen, who has no chance of a white Christmas in Georgia!

Surprise from Papa Henry

A package arrived in the mail from Tacoma, WA addressed to Kate. There was also a second package that contained some gifts for Christmas from Grandma Ann and Papa Henry, so we decided to let Kate open the surprise package early.

Papa has begun learning a new hobby--sewing, and he made this bear just for Kate.
Be sure to catch her reaction at about the 1:55 minute mark.
THANK YOU PAPA!

(Pre) Christmas Toys at Gigi's (More Videos)

Christmastime is a VERY big event at Papa and Gigi's house. The yard and house are both decorated and festive. Kate loves it over there!

Every time that we drive up to the house these days, Kate gets really excited when she sees the lights in the yard. She is still learning the word "Penguin" but when she sees the lights, she starts waving her hands and talking really fast.

Many of the Christmas decorations at Gigi's house have lights and sound and are powered by batteries. When Frosty sings, Kate likes to dance. Kate was so fond of Frosty the Snowman, that he now lives at our house. (And the batteries keep going, and going, and going...)

And here is another animatronic toy at Gigi and Papa's house (thankfully, still at their house):

Videos

It has been a while since we've uploaded some videos, so this post has several videos that were taken in the last month.

One of the Henry family traditions is feeding ducks and geese at Christmastime. This is something that I remember from way back--all the way back to feeding the ducks with grandparents at the park in Boise. This is the first time that Kate has ever been this close to the geese, and standing her full height, she looks them right in the eye. By the way, this was also the first time that Kim has been out to feed the geese. I think that she was a bit nervous, especially if a goose got within ten feet of her. As far as Kate, I think that she rather enjoyed the outing. This video is a bit long at almost 7:20 minutes long.

Kate is so cute! Besides being cute, she really likes to have fun and laugh. One of her favorite things lately is to play in the curtains in the kitchen. She loves playing peek-a-boo in and out of the curtains.

One of Kate's favorite things to eat is "apple." Usually for her this means applesauce. However, she does know what an apple looks like, so when Kim unpacked some apples the other day, Kate was very insistent in asking for an apple. This is what she did with it.

Baby's Best Friends

Kate loves animals. She sleeps with her froggie and often her duckie too. Her teddy bears line the shelf in her bedroom. Her turtles and ladybugs greet her on the changing table. Her giraffe is downstairs every morning waiting for her affection. Kate also loves books that have pictures of animals. She knows most of her animal sounds - she roars with the lions, moos with the cows, and quacks with the ducks on a daily baiss. Just last week, Kate informed us that she knew the word wombat! (I guess Baby Einstein's trip to the Outback was educational!)

Shayla is Kate's best playmate. And the older Kate gets, the more fun she has chasing Shayla around the house. Kate even likes to wrestle with Shayla from time to time. (Don't worry we're very close by when this happens.) Shayla often wants to find a safe hiding place from Kate, but in general she is very gentle with Kate.

Yet, my brother's dog, Maddison is a gem of a dog. This huge Saint Bernard is any child's best friend. The kids climb on her, pull her fur, ride her back, yank her tail and even nap on her. Maddie takes it all with a gentle stride. Kate and Collin played with Maddie for quite awhile the other day. Here are a few shots from their day with the dog.

Can we turn up the heat please?

I came down stairs the other morning to find Kate in her PJ's and her hat. She loves this new hat and insisted on wearing it all morning. Personally, I think it was her way of telling us it was a bit cold in the living room. She's so cute --we love her so much!

A Day in the Park

Well, Olympic National Park that is...


Since it was the first day that the rain has stopped since we arrived in Washington, we decided to hop in the car with Josh's parents and go on a little adventure for the afternoon. We thought we'd head north to a little quaint touristy town called Poulsbo. But as we reached our destination, Kate was fast asleep in the car. And since our Little One has been sick most of this trip and not sleeping well, no one wanted to wake her (especially me). So we kept driving north and ended up in Washington's northern peninsula. It was a beautiful drive, one Josh and I have taken before when we headed up to Port Townsend. But today we went farther and found ourselves in Port Angeles at the base of the Olympic Mountains. Unfortunately the main road to Hurricane Ridge was closed from the fresh snowfall. But we still managed to get close enough for some beautiful pictures.

Josh and his mom used to hike a lot together. They have visited numerous National Parks over their lifetime. Many of Josh's favorite memories involve hiking and camping. Grandma Ann bought Kate her very own National Parks Passport Book. And Kate received her first stamp from the Olympic National Park. She'll be too little to remember this trip, but this is a place we'll come back to. Breathtaking scenery...simply breathtaking.

The leaves were almost as big as Kate herself!

This tree segment was huge! It began its growth in the year 1349.

We found normal sized tress to play in too.

Round and Round we go...

Josh, Kate and I happened upon a carousel this week. I have always loved riding the carousel, and I was so excited to take Kate on her first ride. She laughed the entire time and yelled Weee over and over again! She has her daddy's adventurous spirit and loved the speed. What a fun way to spend a rainy evening. I'm not sure who had more fun...Kate or me!

Trick or Treat

Well Kate had her first taste of Trick or Treating this year. Last Sunday (the 26th of Oct.) we met up with my parents, Shaun, Debbie and the cutest nephews ever! Our church had a special event called "Trunk or Treat" where the kids go from car to car around the church parking lot. The cars are often decorated in themes. It was cute. I personally think Collin's chubby cheeks are adorable in his cow outfit. (Unfortunately, my pictures of Brenden are on my computer, and I'm using Josh's to write this post. So I'll add more photos in a few days. Sorry, Little Buddy!)

Then, on the 31st Kate got a real treat! She was able to go out with her Seattle cousins and her Uncles Joe and Bryan who gallantly dressed up with the kids. Let's see, we had a bunny rabbit with real carrots (Hannah), a cheerleader (Briella), Robin (Silas), Ironman (Kaleb), a mummy (Samuel), a Mario Brother (Alex - sorry Alex I can't remember his name!)

Oh, and Daddy even dressed up too. (The pants he's wearing are his grandfathers! And they fit (really well actually)! Mommy came too, but stayed in the background and just pushed the stroller. She let Daddy show of his little Lady Bug!

Carry on Baggage

We headed up to the airport O' so early on Thursday morning for a visit with Josh's family in the Seattle area. Kate did great on the airplane. We stopped in Minneapolis for a brief layover, but she slept on both flights and was a fabulous traveler! (Thank you for all those prayers!)

Josh's parents haven't seen Kate since she was about 6 months old, and some of his family have never met her. We're excited about showing her off and letting her get to know the rest of her family.

New Videos of Kate

Well, it has been a little while since we've posted some videos of Kate here on the 'Homestead Blog. Here are four videos that we've taken recently.

Kate is fascinated with things that have lights or blink or have buttons to push. She sees me holding the camera, and she want to see it. Here is the result:

This video is of Kate's newest thing--she has figured out how to climb the stairs. I just installed the kid-gate so she wouldn't fall down the stairs, but her interest isn't in going down, it is in going up.

Kim loves me dearly, but she has had to learn how to deal with and tolerate my stubbornness. From all the early signs that Kate gives us, it would appear that she takes after me in this regard. At the beginning of this video, watch her technique in standing from a head-plant position.

This final video is at the request of Papa Henry. He was making Kate's birthday present, and wanted to surprise us all. In the video, we open the box, and then explain the significance of the gift.

How about those Red Sox?

Wow! What a game! What a game! In typical Red Sox fashion they pulled a win out of thin air keeping the ACLS battle alive between Boston and Tampa Bay. Red Sox Nation is known as some of the most loyal fans -- loyal to the end. And frankly one must be because until the end of the last inning you never know what the Sox might do.
The Sox won game one of the ACLS championship against Tampa Bay. However, Tampa Bay came back with a vengeance to win game two at 2 a.m. in the 11th or 12th inning. (I fell asleep around 1:30 and missed the conclusion.) I skipped Tampa's win in game three due to the disappointment and fatigue of game 2. But before turning in for the night, I fell victim to the call and tuned in to game 5 to see if indeed the Sox were saying good-bye to another year of post-season ball. In the 7th inning the score was 0 to 7 - Tampa Bay. I gave a long sigh and agreed with the commentators that perhaps Boston's Swan Song was being sung this evening. As I busied myself in the kitchen cleaning up the last of the evening dishes, Josh called for me to come in to the living room quickly. The Red Sox had gotten one run - so as tradition has it - there would be no shut out at Fenway in the post season. Now there were two men on base and Big Pappy was up to bat. Although, he had not hit well in the last three games, there is always hope. Pappy can hit with the best when he's on! And maybe it was the magic of post-season or the electricity of Red Sox nation screaming their hearts out on home field...or the knowledge that it was do or die -- whatever the motivation, David Ortiz delivered a beautiful, glorious home run in the bottom of the 7th to make the score 4 to 7. And with hope renewed again, the game took off with one of the biggest comebacks I've ever seen. The scoreboard read 0 to 7 in the 7th inning and by the 9th inning, the Sox had clinched victory 8 to 7. Amazing!

Now the story is not over. The boys travel to Tampa today and resume the series with Game 6 on Saturday. It's best out of 7, and the Sox are not out yet. Last night, the Sox were down in this series 1 win and 3 losses, just like in 2004 against the Yankees. Then, they turned a 1 to 3 game losing streak around against the Yankees to win 4 games to 3, so there is always hope. Now, we stand at 2 wins for the Sox, with 2 more to go before reaching the World Series again.

As for us, we're ready to cheer them on. Kate and her special Bear from the West Coast cousins are eagerly awaiting this weekend's face-off. The cousins sent Kate this special Red Sox outfit for her birthday. And in all honesty, I think it's the bear that was the magic touch last night.

Sleepy Head

Kate is not quite herself today. She has another horrendous diaper rash, and she's running a little warm. (Not quite a fever, but enough to make her cranky and clingy.) She woke up early due to the discomfort of a dirty diaper, and after a quick breakfast, she easily went back to bed for a brief cat nap. I had to work this morning, so she played with our dear friend Connie for a little while. Around noon I put her in her highchair for lunch and planned to get her upstairs for a nap by 1 p.m. at the latest. I guess she couldn't wait until 1:00. We'll finish lunch when she wakes up... poor baby.

Tag...I'm it!

Okay, this is the first I've heard of a blog "tag", but as I understand it, I am supposed to post six quirks of little known facts about myself and then "tag" six people to do the same-- which I will do formally, but I think everyone who reads this blog should leave at least one of your own quirks in our comments box for some interesting reading. So have at it:

1.) I love to sing in the car -- like really sing-- loud and off key. (No comments, Holly!) My favorite CD's for sing alongs are longtime favs such as the soundtracks to Les Miserables, Moulin Rouge, and John Mayer. My more recent favs include Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Gavin Degraw and Daughtry. And yes, I still love John Mayer even despite the Jennifer Anniston break up and bad press he's been getting. I don't know, I just hear his voice, it's just like a friend has come over for the evening.

2.) I am the world's worst housewife. I love to cook and at one time was thought to be pretty good at it, but lately my meals have been disastrous. How do you burn pasta or ruin pancakes? I'm not sure myself, but I have! It's something about trying to cook with a one year old climbing up your leg that doesn't work so well. But besides my poor food these days, I can't clean to save my life. I never have. (Sorry, mom!) I don't know where to even begin some days. I spot clean at best to keep up appearances, but my house is so dirty and I truly wish that wasn't so. Holly, can you teach me how to correctly clean a bathroom?

3.) I love the wind. There is something magical about the gentle breeze that caresses your cheek or the power of a wild gust that moves your entire being. I remember breezy summer nights at my parents house sitting on their porch in the darkness and not feeling alone when the wind was there.

4.) I love daffodils in the spring. Tulips have always been my favorite flower, but I am moved when I see a cluster of daffodils dancing in the breeze. I attribute my fascination to a Wordsworth poem I studied in college. But still, to this day, I pause and take in the scenery of spring daffodils dancing in the sunlight.

5.) I could live in Ireland. There are days when I wish I did. Have you ever gone somewhere and knew you just belonged there? That's how I felt in Ireland-- it was like coming home.

6.) I love books! I have huge collections of classical hardcover books that are unfortunately hidden in our attic until I have that grand library I've been dreaming of. I collect cooks books too, but only cookbooks from chefs that I highly respect or of specific regions of cuisine. (I do have these on display in my kitchen.) And I collected kids books long before Kate ever arrived. Dr. Seuss is a favorite in the kid genre, but he takes second place to the endearing Toot and Puddle! My favorite Toot and Puddle adventure is Wish You Were Here!

That's my six quirks. I officially "tag" Holly, Jen G., Sarah H., Jecholia, Alycia and Christy. But even if you're not on the tag list, go ahead and leave a quirk for us all to read.

Happy Birthday, Josh!

Today is my husband's 38th birthday! Whew...he's' getting old! (Just kidding, babe.) I'll let him post and tell you how he spent his special day, but feel free to leave a birthday wish in the comments for Josh to read!

Turtles and Butterflies

We've had several days of rain here in Maryland, but today it mostly stopped raining. Pretty much this means that it is just muggy, with high humidity that just feels like it should still be raining. Despite the humidity, I had a nice surprise this afternoon when I stepped outside to see a customer out the door: I found a wee-sized baby turtle. With the ground wet and steaming, it seems that turtles like to come out of their hiding places to wander around to find things to eat.
Now, most of you know that I already have three box turtles in the back yard (well, there are at least two anyway (Otis and Emily)--I haven't seen Amos for about 6 weeks), but this little guy was a baby water turtle. I think that his species is called a 'slider' turtle, probably an 'eastern painted slider.' His markings were brilliant orange on the bottom, and very detailed greens and yellows on the top and body.
I found this baby turtle right on my doorstep, trying to hide in a corner. My first thought was that I wanted to keep him, but I just don't have the right set-up of a terrarium in the house. I also remember having a water turtle when I was much younger and how if you don't change the water regularly, it begins to stink. Another thought was that he was so cute at this size (slightly larger than a quarter), but he'll grow to possibly 10 or more inches across the shell. I made the decision that all I would do to him was take some pictures and then walk him over to the ponds nearby and let him go. When Kim and I walk the paths around the ponds, we regularly see many turtles sunning themselves and sticking their heads out of the water. I have a feeling that someday, I'll see this little guy again sunning himself on a log in one of the ponds.

Now, I'll let Kim tell of her butterfly adventures this afternoon:

At a park by our house (Black Hills Regional Park) there is a nature center. Annually, they release monarch butterflies to make an annual migration to Mexico. My mom and dad took Kate and I to see the big event. Every ten minutes they tagged the wings of a monarch and let a child hold the butterfly and release it. The Universtiy of Kansas then tracks their migration to Mexico.

Kate fell asleep before we reached the park, so she missed most of the releases. However, she woke up briefly just in time to see one more fly away (and get her picture taken in the funny butterfly frame). It was a fun afternoon for all of us.