Week of No Sleep

The last few weeks have been quite eventful. The last weekend in January we celebrated my birthday with my parents, sisters, and our good friends. Henry and Walter were really excited to finally give Miss Addie her birthday present (a few months late) and see Mr. Charlie (who is growing up so quickly!).


Walter wasn't so sure that he wanted to share any puzzles...



Henry - I can't remember the last time I have been able to get a picture of him without any funny faces or pillows!


Henry and Addie had fun playing Little People together.

The real fun began when Walter woke up the next morning with a fever of 103+ degrees. So the boys watched "Finding Nemo" in their favorite chairs at Mama and Boppa's house.



What a little sweetie.

The next week-and-a-half involved 2 sick boys, a number of visits to the doctor, x-rays, lots of coughing, nebulizer treatments, 2 bottles of children's Motrin, and very little sleep. Walter started improving just as Henry got sick, but he's asked to go to Target almost every day. :) Truth be told, going to the post office sounds exciting to me! So, over this past weekend we took out the old computer Mimi thought the boys would like to take apart on a winter day. It occupied them for a good hour and they love getting to use tools.







My two sickies a few days later. Yes, Henry is sleeping upright - coughing all night is exhausting!


Henry and Walter learned how to play Uno a few weeks ago and want to play all the time (and, I have to say, they are pretty good players)! Playing a few rounds this morning...

Reading with Henry

I love to read with Henry and Walter, so it has been such a treat to watch Henry learning to read. Here he is reading, "Mat."

Interview with Walter

We're trying to get a little interview of each of the boys. Here's our first try, Henry will be next if he cooperates:

The Two Week Christmas Marathon

December was a full month! The last two weeks felt like an endurance race...and we survived. I didn't get a lot of good pictures, but at least we'll be able to remember a few moments.

My first stint as a room mom involved the Christmas party for Henry's class. We started with singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and having some birthday cake.


Then we made thumbprint reindeer ornaments to take home...


...and played some games. It was fun to spend a little time getting to know Henry's classmates and to see him in action.


That afternoon we drove to my parents to spend the night and on Christmas Eve morning (after a visit to the Target Minute Clinic to rule out strep) we headed to Wisconsin with my sister, Erin.

The gadgets came out while the lutefisk dinner was being prepared.








Getting ready to read the Christmas story and open presents.




Gus relaxing


Grandma


Working together


Toy assembly...these four made an effective team.






Looking pretty snazzy.


We got back in the car the next afternoon to drive back to "the cities." We enjoyed a delicious Christmas pancake and waffle dinner before opening presents.


It's always more fun to open presents together.


That looks like peppermint bark...


That IS peppermint bark! (Love W's expression.)


Enjoying a cuddle with Mimi and some Mike and Ike's...


And some cotton candy (low sugar intake day, right?)


We woke up early the next morning and headed back home for a Christmas celebration with Nate's Grandma Josie, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Unfortunately, I left the camera in the car so I didn't get a picture of Grandpa A being wrapped up like a snowman during a friendly competition.

Probably the most memorable moment was Walter telling us that he had a dirty diaper and then realizing that he wasn't wearing a diaper! That meant there was a dirty diaper some where in the church...thankfully, he is a logical thinker and left it on the floor in the men's restroom!

I took the boys with me for a quick trip to my parents' on Wednesday and enjoyed dinner with my sisters and cousins. We turned around the next day in order to get ready for visitors, make my first green bean casserole, and celebrate Christmas with Nate's family. Unfortunately, almost every picture I got didn't turn out - so here are the two that did:

With the cousins - they love being with their cousins.


Opening stockings


Henry was thrilled to stay for the cousins sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house that night. The next morning, our friends drove in to spend the day with us. As soon as they walked in the door, the kids ran off to play together. We really enjoy our visits with T Family, so we were glad that this last minute get together worked out.

Making japchae for lunch resulted in quite a mess,


but the kids gobbled it up - no leftovers.


Everybody seemed a little tired, so we took a Veggie Tales break while Walter took a nap.










Saturday morning we decided to celebrate our family Christmas with a yummy breakfast.
While we cleaned up, the boys played. Henry came in the kitchen and told us he used the Banana Grams tiles to spell his name - with an extra letter or two.


I tried to get a picture of the boys in front of the tree with pretty typical results!


The presents were pretty simple this year, but they have been well-used so far.












On to the stockings...


Just what he needed - more candy - and it looks like he's not planning on putting them down anytime soon.




Nate and Henry enoyed building with the Construx set.


They thought this was the perfect spot to eat their rice...


And one last attempt at getting a picture in front of the tree...


"That's it! No more pictures!"