Mama, blah, blah, blah Jack

This is what was discernible as Henry was practically yelling on about the 4th row of the Kingdom Hall. You see, he had fallen asleep during the meeting. Since it was freezing in the KH, I had moved him to my lap because he was using my shawl as a blanket. At one point, he stirred and called out Mama, some jibberish, and then Jack. Guess he was dreaming of playing with his buddy Jack.

A few minutes later, he did the same thing, except this time he was talking about how hungry he was. So I finally picked him up and moved to the back school for the rest of the meeting. After the meeting, he woke up and looked around. "Why are we back here?" he wanted to know....uh, because you kept yelling in the front hall.

So in the car, he again insists that he is starving and wants to know if he can have a snack when we get home. I ask him what he wants and he begs for carrots and dip. Every mother's dream.

The Responsible Train

I don't have much for you today, just a few cute things the boy has said in the last few days.

Our "Family Day" is coming up next week. He and Leslie have been conspiring because they've decided to use part of his allowance to let him pick something to get for me. Leslie assures me the things on "his list" are things that are his idea. Of course it is hard for a 5-year-old to keep a secret, so he let it slip that he is getting me 3 things. In his words, "one is sweet, one is special, and one is loving." It makes my heart melt.

Last night, we were sitting by the chiminea as we sipped on tea and had a few bites of dessert. I cut Henry's slice of Key Lime Pie so small that it was gone in two bites. So he was up and playing. At one point, he had laid his hockey sticks on the ground and was standing on them. He said they were his skates and he was pretending that he was skating around the backyard. Leslie noticed he had his little watering can with him, too. Without skipping a beat, he explained that was in case he skated past any flowers that needed to be watered.

And finally, just before we came in, he was sitting in his little chair right in front of the fire. Of course he was pretending. So he announces that he is driving a "responsible train". When asked why it was "responsible", he explained that it was a very fast train...faster than any cars, and so we needed to buckle up with three seatbelts. He then proceeded to buckle his three pretend seatbelts, complete with sound effects and was not happy until he heard Leslie and I do the same. The then pretended to take us for a ride on the responsible train. Personally, I felt like I was on a train to no where....

The button saga continues

Well, the conversation continues about the button school. Henry has lots of ideas where and how we should build it.

Anyway, he wore another pair of his new pants today. I helped him with the button this morning and he decided we make a good team. "Mama, you can hold that part for me and I will push the button through!" He was so proud at his successful efforts this morning.

Here he is preparing one of his favorite breakfasts: oatmeal. I think if it ever came down to it, he really could prepare it all by himself with no adult supervision (not that I plan on testing out that theory any time soon!).

Slumber Party!!!

Friday night, we had the wonderful fun of having David Leigh spend the night. Henry really had his heart set on having the baby sleep in his room. So, we set up the pack and play in his room and the two boys enjoyed a slumber party. They both did well and they had a lot of fun together.

Field Trip - Dewberry Farm

Yep, that's right. Henry had his first field trip of the year and I was able to take the day off and join the class. We went to Dewberry Farm, just northeast of town.

It was interesting watching the inner workings of trying to get approximately 75 3-6 year olds onto two buses. Parents were not permitted to ride the buses, so there was quite a caravan of minivans following along behind.

Some of the fun things we got to do was visit the barn (where Henry picked out one of the baby chickens as himself -- "Mommy, I'm that spotted chicken over there"); duck races (which involved pumping water into chutes to float the duckie to the trough at the end); a hayride; and playing in the playground.

Below are a few pictures commemorating the day. Here is a picture of him on the bus...he can hardly see out the window and he was NOT happy that he didn't get to sit by the window. Sometimes sharing is hard for little boys.

I thought he looked too cute in his little Levi's.

Here is Henry taking his turn at the Duck Races. He was a bit disappointed that he didn't win, but to his credit, he maintained a good demeanor and even cheered on his buddies as it came their turn.

Here he is watching the rest of the duck races take place.

A few years ago, we missed the first field trip to Dewberry Farms, so we had gone on our own. Here is a picture from then:

And one I tried to stage to be similar this time around:

In the end, a good time was had by all.

Ready for the Meeting

While I was getting myself ready for the meeting, Henry was hibernating in his room working on a project. Soon, he emerged from his room with a "picture" that he had made for me. He then decided he needed to find the perfect place to hang it up so that I would be able to see it. So he wedged it into the cracks of my headboard.

Here is him with the picture:

If you will look, you will see all the letters that are used to spell his name. He doesn't quite have the concept of writing them in a single line yet. And, he's been working on the letter "R", and that is why there is an extra one. The other highlights of the drawing is the heart he drew especially for me; and the flower...a new item in his drawing repertoire.

And here is a shot of him styling with more of his new "wardrobe". He loved the race car (as I knew he would and why I made the shopkeeper dig in the back room to find it).

Update on the button class

Okay, apparently, I totally misunderstood Henry's request regarding the "button class". Yes, he wants the class to learn how to button and unbutton his new school pants. But apparently, he thinks "we" need to build the school to house the class. While he was getting dressed this morning, he asked me where we should build it. Having no clue where he was going with this whole thing, I suggested we build it in the backyard.

He looked at me like I had two heads. "In the grass?" he asked me, incredulously. "Yeah, sure." I responded. "But where will I play soccer, then?" Okay, I guess the grass in the backyard is out.

Anyone got any ideas on a good location to build a school that will teach little boys how to button and unbutton their pants?

Mom, I need to take a class

This is what I heard from Henry as he was doing the pee-pee dance around the bathroom. I had my hands full (literally) and it took a few moments before I could get there to help him out. When I asked him what he needed a class about, he said to help him learn to button and unbutton his pants. Too cute!

Saturday - Fun in Kansas City

Saturday, we had an absolute blast. After eating at the hotel, we headed off to Union Station. This is an old train station that has been converted into an entertainment complex.

We hung out there for a bit until Brian, Maria and Joaquin joined us. There were model trains and I think if we left them to their own devices, the boys would have spent the entire day watching them go around and around.

From Union Station, there was an air-bridge that took us to another shopping area. As we started discussing lunch, Brian described a restaurant he had noticed when they had made a bathroom run to change a diaper. It was decided that we give it a try and it was a big hit.

The place was called Fritz's Train Station Restaurant. The concept was really cool.

There is a telephone in the booth. When you are ready to order, you pick up the phone and place your order. There is a train that runs around the perimeter of the restaurant that carries and delivers the food to the appropriate table.

And here is the boy wearing his Fritz's train hat:

And the boys together at the train in front of the restaurant:

After lunch, we decided to strike off to the Hallmark tour. Hallmark cards are based in Kansas City. It was interesting to see a bit about the history of the company and the demonstrations they had about making the cards. There was a machine there that made bows and we each made our own souvenir bow to bring home.

From there, we decided to head back to Union Station and take in a 3D movie at their IMAX. Based on the schedule, the only choice we had was one about Whales and Dolphins. However, it was quite interesting. Henry is not typically a fan of the 3D movie, he gets too freaked out with the things seeming to come out of the screen at him. I must say that he did pretty good. There was a part where one of the whales was waving his fin and with the 3D glasses, it did seem like it was going to slap us in the face with it. Henry didn't like this part but I worked with him to get through it. I think it finally convinced him that while it "seems" like things are going to come out and get you, nothing really does. He was totally fine for the rest of the movie. Here we are sporting our special glasses:

After the movie, we all piled into our rental car (a Mazda SUV with 3rd row seating) and headed off across town (and as it turns out, into another state) for the surprise dinner venue. As the GPS tried to direct me onto the interstate bypass, I just couldn't find the entrance ramp it said should be there. As a result, I ended up in downtown Kansas City. As we pulled up to an intersection, we noticed a pool of policemen on motorcycles, all with their lights on. The streets were all lined with onlookers. It only took us a moment to realize that we had stumbled upon an Obama siting (we had heard earlier in the day that he was in town for a rally). As we sat there, the policemen gave the go-ahead signal and took off. Following them were several dark SUV's, one containing presidential candidate Barrack Obama, waving at the crowds. Right or wrong, we all felt that we had stumbled upon a chance view of royalty.

Once the traffic dissipated, we made up our own alternate route to get to the interstate and off we were to the next stage of our adventure. We crossed state lines from Missouri into Kansas and landed at another shopping/entertainment area called Legends.

There, we ate dinner at a restaurant called T-Rex. It is the same concept as the Rainforest Cafe, except with dinosaurs. Since Henry is currently totally fascinated by dinosaurs, we thought it would be a hit. However, we were a bit worried since he currently refuses to eat at Rainforest. We knew we were okay as soon as we walked up to the place. Henry was so excited that he could hardly utter an undertandable word. There was a huge animatronic t-rex right inside the front door. He was mildly nervous of it, but totally fascinated.

The restaurant, along with a gift shop, had a build-a-dino (think: Build-a-Bear) area where Henry chose to build a pteranodon. One of the steps in this process is to name your new 'pet'. He chose to name his "Cutie Pie'. Later, when explaining why he chose that name, he stated "Because he's a cutie, and he likes to eat pie". Makes perfect sense to me. All in all, it was a great hit with Henry, and the adults didn't mind it either.

The evening was finished off with ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. We headed back to drop Brian and Maria off at their car (left at Union Station), where we said our good-byes. Then it was back to the hotel.

Sunday morning, we again had to get up very early to pack and catch our flight. We found ourselves ready with an extra 40 minutes to spare, so we headed to Cracker Barrel (right behind our hotel) for breakfast.

We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Henry was again sporting his pilot gear and was again being asked about flying the airplane. Our airplane was configured with one seat on the right side of the aisle and two seats on the left side. Henry decided he wanted to sit by himself on the right. He seemed so grown up sitting over there. The flight home was pretty much a repeat of the flight there, except no muffin.

The main event - Dwight gets married

Next on the agenda for our KC trip was the main event...the wedding of Dwight and Belkis.

When we arrived at the hotel, it was pouring rain. Our thoughts were with the bride and groom as we knew they'd have various tasks that they would now have to do in the rain. However, when we re-emerged from the hotel, we found the rain had stopped, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful Friday afternoon.

We headed to Kingdom Hall where the wedding would occur. As we arrived, we spotted Dwight striding across the parking lot. Henry took off at a trot and gave him a HUGE hug. We followed shortly behind and got/gave our own big hugs. (Good thing, too, as this was the only quality-time we had with the groom.)

We spotted Brian, Maria and Joaquin and shared hugs and kisses with them, too. Soon, the ceremony began. This was a small crowd (by design) and it had a nice, informal feel to it. Belkis' children, Luis and Natalia served as groomsman and bridesmaid. Luis escorted Belkis' mother (his grandmother) to her seat, then Dwight escorted his mother. Next Natalia came down the aisle. Finally, Belkis appeared. Dwight looked on with a huge grin. Belkis seemed a bit nervous. After taking their seats on the stage, the ceremony began. It was short and sweet, punctuated with some funny stories, and funny moments (Dwight and Belkis' attempt at reciting their vows). In the end, they were pronounced husband and wife:

After the ceremony, we hung out in the parking lot for a while. It really was a beautiful day and the landscaping at the hall was wonderful. Here are some pictures to showcase the new outfit (I blogged about last week) Henry wore to the wedding:

At the reception, everything was lovely. The head table and the cake table were both outfitted with lights connected to the table under the tablecloths. The effect was really cool. We also met up with Brad, and his wife and daughter. We had met Brad many, many moons ago (actually, I met Brad the same weekend I met Brian and Dwight). It was interesting catching up with him. It's amazing how much can happen in 12 years. While their daughter was only 21 months, Henry took a shine to her. And when the music started, the two could often be found together on the dance floor. It was hard to tell which was leading.

At some point in the evening, we were able to get a group picture taken with the Bride and Groom, always a must when the gang gets together.

The only thing missing in the photo was Joaquin. And because he is just the most adorable baby in the universe, here is a shot of him dolled up for the event:

And a shot of the two best looking boys at the wedding:

And the final shot of the day was when we returned to the hotel. Henry wore his snuggly (can't see my feet) jammies. Leslie was also outfitted in her warm flannels. Together, they make a great pair.

Friday morning...our travel to KC

We spent this last weekend in Kansas City. We covered a LOT of ground in a short time. Rather than a single, hugely-long post, I am going to try and break the weekend down into segments.

For the first segment, I'll cover our travel to Kansas City. We had to leave the house at 6 a.m. to catch our morning flight. We all went to bed earlier than normal on Thursday evening. I was a bit worried about waking Henry as he doesn't usually do well when he has to wake up before his time. However, I was pleasantly surprised. He jumped up and was ready to go. I guess the excitement of the trip helped in this area.

Here is a picture of the boy in his travel gear:

Of course, his outfit garnered him many cute glances as we walked the concourse at the airport. Several asked him if he was going to fly the plane, to which he responded "No, I don't know how to fly yet. I'm too little. My feet don't reach the pedals yet!" Regardless, everyone got a chuckle out of him.

He did well on the flight. Such a rule-follower and such a seasoned traveler. He knew to wait for the little ding after take-off to know when he could play with his Leapster. The flight attendant brought him a muffin and glass of apple juice. After taking a bite out of his muffin, he told me "This muffin is yummy" and ate the whole thing. After a while, he turned off his Leapster, put his head down and slept for about an hour.

When we arrived in KC, it was chilly (at least to us). Henry enjoyed donning his hat and mittens and settled right in to the rental car:

Thank goodness for Leslie's GPS. Off we went to the hotel. We'd have just enough time to change clothes and get ready for the big event.

An "awwwww" moment

This morning, I let Henry sleep late. We had our dentist appointments set for this morning so we were being a little slower-paced getting ready.

While I sat and put my makeup on, he decided he was going to get a jump start on packing for our trip this weekend. He dragged a suitcase out to the middle of the floor and claimed it as his. Then he ran off to his room to start gathering things to put in it.

He came back with the first armload of things to pack, which included: Precious, his stuffed dog, his bible, and his "Young People Ask" book from the convention this summer. How can you not say "awwwww" to that?

Next, he decided to get some jammies and undies. He decided he wanted the kind "where I don't see my feet". Since the temps in Kansas City will range from the 40s to the 60s, this seemed appropriate (think footed blanket sleeper). He also brought back his boxer shorts with palm trees on them and made them dance for me.

Finally, he asked if he could bring some cars. I told him he could only bring a couple. Off he dashed back to his room to pick the cars he would bring. He came back announcing he had "three groups" that he wanted to bring, and indeed he did. He had a "group" clutched in each hand, and another "group" tucked in the nook of his elbow.

At this point, we moved downstairs and he headed off to pick his brekkie. He came out of the pantry with the box of oatmeal and the request that I tell him which flavors we had. After he selected the one he wanted, he decided our supply of oatmeal was low and needed to be added to the grocery list. He got the list off the fridge along with a pen, and asked for assistance in spelling "oatmeal". After he was done adding it to the list, I took a peek expecting it to be scrawled across the available space. Instead, I found oatmeal written neatly on a single line, right under one of the other items that was already on the list.

We had a great visit at the dentist, who was quite surprised that my little guy had already lost his first two teeth and predicted that his 6-year molars will probably erupt in the spring. So we have that to look forward to.

My Sunday Project...Disney Style

So, now that the recipients have received these, I can blog about the project that I was working on so diligently on Sunday. It was a lot of fun and I am anxious to do this again once we set a date to take Henry to Disney World.

My sister and sister-in-law made these a few years ago when they went to the parks. They told me they were a great hit and that they were constantly stopped by others inquiring where they could buy a similar shirt.

This is my first attempt to tie-dye, so I apologize to the group that received them as they probably aren't the best that they could be. But overall, I was happy with they way they turned out.

The concept is to create a tie-dyed t-shirt with a Mickey Mouse head front and center. I bought the supplies and t-shirts months and months ago as my friends' trip was scheduled to occur in April. It ended up having to be re-scheduled to October, giving me more time to procrastinate. So here I was, the weekend before departure, finally making good on my offer to make these t-shirts.

You start out by tracing a MM head on the front of the t-shirt. (Fortunately, I had a magnet that we used on the door of our Disney Cruise that was the perfect size.) Next, you baste stitch the outline of the MM head.

After you have the stitching complete, you cinch up the threads forcing the MM head to pooch out.

Next, you place a rubber band around this section making sure that only the MM head is included. I then wrapped this section in plastic wrap and tape to protect it and keep it white. I then layed out the shirt as flat as possible. I swirled the shirt and placed three more rubber bands around the shirt to divide it into 6 sections.

Finally, I did the dying. This is the area where I didn't really know what I was doing. I would have liked for the shirts to get a bit more saturated.

And here is what the final product looks like: