Happy Birthday, Henry!

Three years ago today, at 3:23 a.m., we welcomed our oldest son Henry into the world. :o) It was love at first sight for the two of us, and I can't even believe three years have gone by already!

We celebrated Henry's birthday on Sunday with his grandmas, godparents, and Aunt Jena, and here are some highlights of the day:

Henry lurrrves him some Spiderman. Here he is saying, "Oooooooo!" (too cute!) as he opens his new Chutes and Ladders game:


Here's the birthday boy in his cowboy shirt:

And here's the awesome cake that my friend Steph made for Henry's big day. I sent her a picture of the decorations, and she used that as inspiration for her design. :) Check out more of her work on her cake blog HERE.

Here I am with my sister, Jena:

And helping Henry blow out the candles on his cake... pretty much doing it myself to avoid having it slimed by a three year old. ;)

And here is Henry with his favorite part of all... the "ah-bawoons"!

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy!!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Boy, I've really been slacking on the blog lately! Yikes! So sorry for the lack of posts. Here are some pictures we took a few days ago at Grandma's birthday celebration. :)

They're baa-aaaack...

Every year, for about a week in May, our lakeshore area is plagued with these pesky little bugs called Lakeflies. They look like a big mosquito, but (thankfully!) they do not bite. They just fly around in huge swarms, and then die off. It's really all very pointless, and annoying. When I was a kid, we had a TON of lakeflies. I mean, I can remember driving through the park with my mom, and they were so thick at times that we had to have the windshield wipers on! The houses on the lakeshore were totally covered with the bugs - white house especially. There were so many bugs on those houses, they actually appeared grey from the street. Then in the late 90's, something happened, and they were gone. We went through about five years with very few bugs at all. But then they came back, and now it seems to get worse every year (though still no where near as bad as when I was a kid).

Henry and I went to the zoo on Saturday, and the lakeflies were out, but they weren't too bad. They mostly stuck to the bridge and buildings, and weren't really swarming. I knew it would be worse yesterday (Sunday), but decided to risk it, and took my camera with me. The lakeflies were HORRIBLE! The entire time we were there, you could hear a hum in the air around you, because there were so many bugs buzzing around. And before you think I'm crazy for even going, you should know we weren't the only people there! Everyone had their hoods up and their noses and mouths covered (well, except us, because we're strong.... or stupid... lol!). The animals HATED the bugs. They were all hiding in their houses for the most part. Here are some pics of our annoying little friends in case anyone is interested. Here's a close up of a few on the fence. There were literally hundreds on the fence, this just a small 3" square space:


This is what the sky looked like:

I know what you're thinking... why did you go? And I don't know. I didn't think they'd be as bad as they were, so we drove over. When we pulled up, I knew it was going to be horrible, but Henry started to cry at the idea of being there, and not getting out. I tried to bribe him with all kinds of things... ice cream, McDonalds, etc. No luck. He wanted to go in. So, we went. But we went fast! The bugs didn't bother him in the least... typical boy!

Here is one of the zoo buildings, and more of the fence. All of the little black spots are lakeflies:

The cafe (appropriately named) was open... Blech. Who wants to eat with all these things flying around?! All of those black spots on the sign are lakeflies:

Look at all of the dirt on the side of the road....

But guess what? It's not dirt. It's dead lakeflies. They live for about 24 hours, then die, and collect in the side of the road (and smell like fish - it's fabulous). When I was a kid, they piles of dead lakeflies were so thick you had to shovel them to clean up. Nasty. This is nothing compared to what it used to be like!

So, I don't think we'll be going back to the zoo for about a week. They only stick around for about 7 - 10 days, then we'll be in the clear again. :)

Aren't you glad I shared?!

Goal #1

I just wanted to give a little update on the Pound for Pound challenge. If you remember, I pledged to lose 28 lbs between January 5 and May 5 this year as part of the PFP challenge that was hosted on The Biggest Loser. I was doing really well until I hit a plateau mid-April and couldn't get past it for the life of me. I finally did end up breaking through the plateau, and just in the nick of time, too!

I am so proud of the work I've done in the past four months, and feel sooo much better! I have way more energy, am winded a lot loss frequently, and don't have ANY of the pains I had been having in my heel, knee, and back! I am planning to continue losing weight and exercising (Bob Harper kicks my arse on a nightly basis via DVD!). Click the pictures to see a larger image... and ignore my eye in that bottom pic. It looks like I have a black eye, but I don't! It must have just been the shadows... I now weigh less than I did when I got married almost 10 years ago. Another 5 lbs, and I'll weigh the same amount I did when hubby and I met back in early 1998. So, that little (or not so...) five pounds is my next goal. Then I'll set a new one from there and see where it all takes me.

Thanks so much for the encouragement here and on my other blog, and a big thanks to all who joined the challenge with me. You guys rock!

As a side note... I actually weigh 70 lbs less right now than I did at my highest (albeit during pregnancy) weight... and 28 lbs less than I weighed before I got pregant (both times). Woot!!

What Big Brother Doesn't Know....

This little red Radio Flyer car was a birthday gift for Henry last year from Grandma, and it's one of his most prized posessions. It's hard to believe that at 3 yrs old I'm already hearing the words, "Mum! Bee's trying to get my car!" coming from my oldest son. LOL! Well, technically it's more like, "Bee's fwying to dit my car!" ....but you know what I mean.

The problem is, Jack LOVES the car. A lot. So, sometimes when Jack wakes up early in the morning or after naps, or when Henry is outside with Papa, Jack gets to take a spin. Here he is, in all his glory:

......how *you* doin'? ..........

bwa ha ha ha! :o) At least he has a nice ride!

Ice Shoves

We live a few blocks from the shore of Lake Winnebago, one of the largest inland lakes in the country. As long as I can remember, it has been a ritual every spring to go down and look at the ice shoves. As the ice melts, the waves push the broken ice to shore, and it piles up almost like a snowbank. Sometimes the shoves are taller than the nearby houses. This year they're actually pretty low, but still fascinating (at least I think they are!).

Here is a picture of Henry sitting on a chunk of ice. You can see how thick the ice still is (about 15") when it shoves up on land.

Another picture of Henry in front of a larger pile. This tree root is right on the shoreline:

The ice breaks off almost like shale, in these long, thin, pieces:

The shoves are strong enough to push boulders inland:

Here you can see the shoves up against the shore. Beyond that, you see some open water and what looks like flat land. That part that looks like flat land is actually more ice waiting to come to shore. Just past that you see a darker line that might look like a treeline far off in the distance. That's the shore on the other side of the lake.

We took these pictures on Sunday, and when I was out at the park today, as far as I could tell all of the ice that had still be in the lake had now either melted or come to shore. The piles are melting fast, but are still pretty substantial.

Interesting, or no? I think so!

It's Bee's Birtay!

On Sunday, March 29, Henry woke up and came downstairs to a house filled with Winnie the Pooh. The first thing he saw at the bottom of the stairs was our table, all decked out (sans food, at that point):



In the cutest, most amazed, voice a child of two and three quarters could muster, he said, "It's my birtay!!" :o) hee hee. I said, "No honey, it's Jack's birthday!" I thought maybe he'd be sad that all of the fanfare wasn't for him, but instead he just repeated in the same voice, "It's Bee's birtay!" Seriously, a.dor.able!

So, above you can see the little luncheon we had. That was only about half the food. I kept forgetting to put stuff out. Doh!

See those bumble bee cupcakes? I made those! Here's a close up:

They are actually "diet" cupcakes (one box of cake mix + one can of diet coke, then make and cook per package directions) with non-diet toppings. The base frosting was tinted yellow, then I piped the three brown stripes on. The wings are made of white chocolate. I drew a template on a piece of paper, and then put waxed paper over the top and traced over the template with melted chocolate to form the wings. I let them dry all afternoon (the day before), and then peeled them off and stuck them in. It was a little tricky, and I did break a few (in case you're wondering the broken pieces went in the garbage - if there's one thing I won't eat, it's white chocolate!) in the process. The white part of the eyes is a miniature marshmallow (cut in half) with a little more chocolate frosting piped on top. Cute, no? I was happy with how they turned out!

Unfortunately, our camera battery died after only a few pictures. We did get quite a few pics from my mom, but they're all from a film camera, and I don't have the patience to scan them, so all you get to see are the few we got before the battery died, and one that my cousin emailed me.
Jack and Mum:

Here we tried to blow out the candle, but Jack was more interested in dipping into the taco salad:

And my favorite, Jack's great-great-great (!!!) Uncle Dan jammin' out on Henry's "ahtar"!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

My mom celebrated her birthday on Monday, so we had her over for some cake and showered her with birthday gifts!

Here she is with her gift from Henry. I helped him pick it out. ;o) He looks very pleased with my decision though!



Great-Grandma and Jack watched from the chair:

Here's mom with the bottoms to the jammies that hubby and I bought her. My mom lives in jammies when she's home, and it's hilarious, because she is so particular about them. They have to be two pieces, and those two pieces have to coordinate. She would not be caught in a red top with purple bottoms. Me? I wear whatever I grab first. Her? Not so much! You can see the coordinating tank top over her knee there. She loved them!

And here's mom with the birthday cake I made for her. One of the moms I chat with online suggested Paula Deen's Butterscotch Delight, but mentioned that she'd also seen it made with Oreos, so I combined a few recipes to make this Oreo Delight:

Does it look yummy? Because IT WAS! Holy man... you have no idea. It was soooooooo good! Quite possibly the best tasting dessert I've ever tasted in my entire life!

Here is the (combined) recipe I used:

Oreo Delight

1 (20 ounce) package chocolate sandwich cookies
1/2 cup butter

Crush cookies into bite size pieces. Reserve 1 cup for top. Melt butter and mix with rest of cookies. Press into 9x13 pan.

8 oz. Cream Cheese, at room temp
1 cup Powdered Sugar

Beat these together in a bowl.

3 cups Heavy Cream
3/4 cup Sugar

Whip these together until it forms stiff peaks.

2 - 3.4 oz packages Chocolate Fudge Instant Pudding Mix
3 cups Milk

Prepare pudding according to package directions using the 3 cups of milk. Fold 1 cup of whipped cream into cream cheese mix and spread over crust. Spread the pudding over that layer, and cover the whole thing with the rest of the whipped cream. Sprinkle the top with the reserved crushed Oreos. Chill overnight.

I have to tell you, it is NOT like me to go through this much effort for a recipe. I am the kind of person who will usually only try recipes if they include 3 or less ingredients and 2 steps. I found the Cool Whip variation of this recipe on allrecipes.com, and there was a day when I would have just made that.... but now I know why people go through the extra effort. If my mother's words ever came back to me, it was while tasting this recipe because it's totally true: you get out of it, what you put into it. Although I'm sure it's much easier, I'd lay money on the fact that the Cool Whip version doesn't taste nearly as good as this does!

If you decide to try it, leave a comment here and let me know how you liked it!

Nekkid Bebe!

When it's time for a bath, we've always undressed Henry in his bedroom and then let him streak down the hall to the bathroom yelling, "Nekkid Bebe!" as he goes. Today he had a little accident (explosive diaper - damn antibiotics!), so I had to strip him mid-day. He really could have used a bath then and there, but I didn't have anywhere to put Jack that he would have been content, so I had to do the best I could with cleaning him up. Anyhow, after I put his diaper on, I went to get him some clean clothes and he ran after me shouting, "Nekkid Bebe!" over and over. tee hee. :)

I had to grab my camera and snap a few pictures.

Down Time

Jack started running a fever last Wednesday, and it continued through Monday, when he also started to develop a bad cough and was gasping for air. We took him in, and he was admitted to the hospital for a day with croup and stridorous breathing. He needed several treatments to get his breathing back under control.

The following day, Henry also developed a fever, and was diagnosed with pneumonia when we took him to the pediatrician. This pic was taken on day 1 of his sickness as he snuggled with Grandma.... on day 2, he was flat on his back on the couch for 14 hours straight, and absolutely refused to move for anything (this was the day I took him to the Dr., which he fought... "I no like my dotdor.... I not feewing so good.... I no like my dotdor"). The Dr. gave him two shots of antibiotics, and by this morning (day 3) he was up and about again, and thankfully feeling much better.

I will be so glad once the sickies are out of the house for good!

What do you see?

Here is a short video of Henry looking at one of his favorite picture books. For as long as we've been reading together (basically all his life), I've asked him what he sees on every page of every book. I'm trying to get him to notice the little things in the background in the hopes that he will grow up to be more observant of the things around him than some men I know (*ahem* lol!).

The theory doesn't really apply to this book since all that's there are pictures... but at least I explained my title. ;o)

No, Mama...

I didn't eat any Cheerios. I promise I.....

What?

Oh.... that.

I can explain...

*Sigh*

So, my original goal with bringing out the camera yesterday was to capture Jack's (a.k.a. "Bee")army crawl. Henry was just fascinated with the camera though, so that didn't really work as planned. Here's another clip... This was my first attempt. :)

Army Crawl

Here's a quick video of Jack's army crawl. He's been doing this for about a month now (maybe a little longer?), but has recently picked up speed. He's pulling himself up some, too. I have a video of that to share another day. Stay tuned!

You can also hear Henry in the backgroun on this. He is enthralled with the camera, but only wants to be on the back side of it so he can see what's going on in the little screen. :)

Pardon the Christmas music in the background. Henry has a National Geographic video of Santa telling him about all of the different animals at the North Pole, and he just loves it. The songs are all about the animals, but set to the tune of various carols. He loves his, "Santa wif ameals" (i.e. "Santa with animals") :o)

Halfway There

If you've been paying attention to my sidebar, you know that I've been participating in the Pound for Pound Challenge that was issued on The Biggest Loser. I pledged to lose 28 lbs during this season of the tv show, which ends around May 5th. As of yesterday, I'm down 15 lbs. I thought it would be fun to do a little comparison photo, so I had Darrin snap one of me last night.

I can totally see the difference in my face between these two pictures! I also am loving that more of my favorite clothes are starting to fit. As of today, I weigh one pound less than I did when I got married 9.5 years ago! Woot!

Although I am over halfway to my PFP goal, I still have quite a ways to go to my overall goal, but I'm trying to focus on one step at a time and stay realistic about everything. Big thanks to everyone who has encouraged me this far! Keep it up! You have no idea how much your words mean to me.

Your crib or mine?

The boys are starting to interact more, and Henry is saying "NO!" a lot less when he is placed next to his brother. lol! He never has really shunned Jack per se, but has always enjoyed having a little distance between them. After nap time, I usually grab Henry first and then he runs into Jack's room yelling, "Bee! Ha-woah Bee!" (say it outloud, you'll get it.) For whatever reason I decided to get Jack first this particular day, and set him in the crib with Henry while I put some clothes away and cleaned up in Henry's room. They played nice for a good 10-15 mins before it got old. Hey, I'll take what I can get!

And yes, before you ask, my almost three year old is still in a crib. Could he be in a toddler/regular bed? Sure. Will he be in one by his birthday? Maybe. Right now he's content in the crib, and I'm happy as long as he is. ;o)

Bath Time!

These pictures of Jack were taken on New Years Eve, but I forgot to post them. I just found them today while I was flipping through my photo folders, and thought I'd share.

I love baby toes. :) And baby toes in water and just as cute as can be!



What's cuter than baby toes? Baby fat! Isn't it sad that fat doesn't remain cute into adulthood? lol.

The only way we can keep Jack happy in the tub is to let him chew on this lid. And yes, it has to be *this* lid.

My blue-eyed boy: