A few photos

Weekly Update 10.16.11

It's been a month, not a week. Sorry about that. We've been super busy with things like: Pretending to be pumpkins Golfing Go-karts Bumper cars Getting lost in giant haunted mazes

Napping
Sewing
Feeling fall breezesAnd getting ready for our baby girl to arrive But all that fun stuff aside, it has been a challenging few weeks. Gigi and Grandpa were in Europe for two weeks which gave Wade and I a taste of what it would be like to be a split shift family. It was hard. Upon returning from his trip, Grandpa came down with a stubborn case of pneumonia. Send prayer and good thoughts his way, please. And while you're at it throw in a few for Nana who is also recovering from surgery.
Okay, let's break it down:

Papa: Papa is currently napping in the other room. He continues to be super busy at work, staying late and working on the weekend occasionally. He is still playing music and working hard to do all the things that I can't do (the list is long) to get our house ready for the baby.

Henry: Henry is doing great at school. He was in a play last week: Noah's Arc. He was the dove and did a very nice job! His school is right across the street from a park, so we like to go to the park everyday after school for a little while. (Henry just entered the room, and has some things to say) - Also, I was in parade 2 weeks ago and I got lots of candy. I liked it a lot. It was fun. I have been building a super mega bionical, or some people might say a Lego robot. He has intelligence of a 10, very smart, very tough because he is the leader, very strong, he has awesome weapons and that's it. Grandpa has ammonia. But I think he's starting to feel better because he set his oxygen to a 2. I can't wait for Halloween. Who0Oo0Ooooo..... (that's a ghost sound, scary!) I am going to be Optimus Prime and I'll have tons of candy that I will cut in half with my battle sword. I mean, it's not real, I'm just pretending that it is a real battle sword. I am reading a book about how my body works. It's 330 pages long. I've read 23 pages to my Mama. We have learned about eyeballs and hair follicles. I'm excited to learn about the bones, muscles and the body parts. That's all I have to say.

Mama & Baby: Mama and the Pipp (that's what we call her for now) are doing fine. I'm feeling those last month of pregnancy pains. By the end of the day my ankles are swollen and I'm asleep by 9 every night and up every few hours to use the bathroom, but we are healthy and happy so I really shouldn't complain. I start going to the doctor every week next Tuesday. So far we're measuring right on track, so I doubt that we'll get to have another sonogram before she's born, which is kind of a bummer, but that's okay. She's kicking like crazy and I spend far too much time watching my belly roll from side to side or feeling her hiccups. I can't wait to see her and get to know her even more.

THE END OF THE STORY. TO BE CONTINUED.....*

* Said by Henry. Have a great week. I promise to be back next week pumpkin patch photos. : )

Weekly Update 8/22/10: Mini Version

And so begins Henry's last year of preschool and Laurie's last semester of college.

This is going to be a quick update folks. We are fully immersed in the chaos of school and work, so much so that I only have a few minutes to post. 5 day preschool seems to be going well. Henry has some buddies and is having fun. He obviously (see above) is growing like a weed. At this point he is mostly just legs and a blond puff. He has grown 3 inches and a whole shoe sizes since May 31. We ran into a friend at the grocery store this weekend and she asked Henry how old he is now. His response, "4 and 3/4 plus 3 inches."

On Saturday Henry went downtown with Papa and Rachel and Estrella and they put up fliers for his show this week. Henry really likes Estrella. They are close to the same age and Henry loves holding her hand. After their visit downtown Henry said "Well, I have 4 girlfriends now and the good news is that when I get to 5 we are going to have a parrrr-teee." Ridiculous.

I spent most of Sunday in the kitchen preparing for the week. I feel like the only way that we are going to get through the next 15 weeks of me being on campus 9 hours a week, plus my full time job and Henry in school every day, plus Wade playing 3 shows in the next month (whew!) is for us to be super prepared. I am trying to make some dinners to freeze for busy nights, plus get all of my beans soaked and my tomato sauce made so that I don't even have to think about those things during the week. Speaking of tomatoes, heirloom cherry tomatoes are one of the only things that make mid-August in Kansas bearable. I grabbed two pints at the farmers market this weekend. Yum. While I was busy stocking up the freezer like we were about to be snowed in, Wade and Henry made plans to shoot some hoops at the park down the street. It was hot but Henry was ready for action. I acted as ball chaser/paparazzi while the boys played. We also hung a Henry "H" above his bed. Here is he pretending to sleep. Enjoy the rest of the week blog peeps.

Weekly Update 8.8.10

Hi party people. Well, we have just completed the birthday weekend extravaganza. I had a great day on Saturday with my guys and my little sis. Henry and Wade gave me some beautiful flowers and I got to spend some quiet time on the front porch planting and enjoying the breeze. Quiet time doesn't happen much at my house. :) (A blurry one, sorry. It's all I've got. )
After a relaxing breakfast and a trip to the garden center, Wade and I sipped on coffee with one hand while playing transformers with the other and contemplated going to the fair. But then we realized that we were insane and that it was 100 degrees outside, so we called up Henry's buddy, Rosa, and headed for Aunt Lillie's pool. Henry jumped in by himself several times. He had two floating rings on at all times, plus a life jacket, so I'm pretty sure that he was actually only in the water from the knees down, but hey, everyone has to go at their own pace. And by the end of the day he was blowing bubbles and feeling very brave. Then Henry and Wade headed to another friends house for a bike ride. While the boys were out I threw together a birthday cake that ended up looking better than it tasted. Henry coated it in about 3 layers of sprinkles, so it had a nice crunch. We went to The Burger Stand for dinner. Kelly joined us and was kind enough to share her truffle oil fries. Henry had his first corn dog. He is a fan. Papa had a beer. He is a fan. After dinner we headed home, way past Henry's bed time, to sing Happy Birthday and eat a very tiny sliver of cake. Henry was concerned about the fire hazard of having so many candles on one cake. I was not amused. At bed time Henry asked for an extra hug, because I am the birthday girl, and he told me that he would always love me and always be my friend, even with my stinky armpits.
Since we goofed off all of Saturday, we spent Sunday playing catch up. Right now I have about 8 loads of laundry to fold on the bed. Wade is out for a super run to combat the all the treats we ate this weekend. Including a lovely Sunday dinner downtown with Gigi, Grandpa and Aunt Kelly. Henry got some smelling markers and drew pictures of robots, bulldozers and crocodiles with Grandpa the whole time. Kelly gave me a slice of one of the best cakes I have ever eaten and Mom and I planned our strategy for trying to mimic the recipe at home. Other items of note during the week:
Henry ate an entire 8 inch sub. His feet fell asleep half way through so he had to stand up. We skipped the fair and opted for a ride that was in air conditioning. It's lame, I know. We've promised Henry a trip to Worlds of Fun in the fall to make up for it. And last but not least, we got a lovely card from Wade's grandmother, Nana, on Saturday with a photo from her mother's 102 birthday. This is Henry's Great Great Grandmother, Eva. There are 5 generations alive in his family, which is so very special. When she celebrates 103 next summer, we are going to be there. :)

Weekly Update 7.31.10

This past week has been jam packed full of fun with family in from out of town. Henry was ecstatic to see his Aunt Annie last Saturday. His primary objective was to spend as much time educating her in the ways of Transformers, and I think he accomplished that goal. I am fairly sure Annie walked away with a solid knowledge of the major players in the world of Transformers and I personally witnessed her successfully transforming level 2 (age 4+), which is better than Mama or Papa did after just a few training sessions. Aunt Annie does have a PhD, which could explain it. Next time we see her, we'll work on the level 3's. Henry also spent a lot of time playing with his Aunt Susie and Uncle Ted. I think he really enjoyed having the whole family together.

But playing Transformers with Papa is also pretty great. Unfortunately, I managed to go all week without taking a photo of Henry with his Aunts. This is all I've got, a crappy, camera phone photo of the ladies getting their toes done. Notice the wee little bean running the massage chair controls on Aunt Annie's chair...Note to self: pedicures are not as relaxing when a 4 year old has control of the massage chair. One of the ladies pointed out that there were little treasures hidden in the brick wall on the North side of the room and Henry had a great time finding the treasures and taking pictures of them with Annie's phone. Other things to note:
-Henry loves root beer. Real beer, however, tastes like "trash". Let's hope that sticks.
-I completed my Microbiology coarse on Thursday by taking a 3 hour final exam. I learned a lot. Now, go wash your hands.

-Wade has been busy at work this week. He had a Turnpike interview on Friday night so if you have local channels, check it out. I can't watch it because it makes me nervous, but I hear he's pretty good at it.

-Henry has taken to calling people by their first initial-Dog (example: Papa is P-Dog) thanks to the creative efforts of Kelly and Cooper. He called Grandpa G-Dog and Grandpa became very confused and asked What is happening with the dog? Does Henry want a hot dog? He also gives the peace sign when he leaves.

-Tomorrow Wade is helping his sister move to Lawrence. Our lucky little boy with have another fabulous family member living near by. I tell you, this is one lucky kid. Surrounding by people that love him.

Well, off to bed. Later Dogs.

Dinner Attire

Happy 4th

Holiday weekend fun