Wow - Two days in a row...

Now that I figured out how to compress the video and the best way to load it for blogspot, I've got Henry's second talk all ready for you.

Again, the video quality isn't the best.  I was trying to watch him, video, take a picture, and follow along all at the same time.  The video drifted a few times.  Also, sound quality is bad again.  If you want to follow along, it was 1 Chronicles 11:1-14.

From my completely biased perspective, he did AWESOME!  I must say I was very nervous, though. 

It started with a breakdown on the way home from school with exclamations of being scared.  I reassured him that it was totally NORMAL to feel scared.

Then, dinner and the stomach ache.  Nerves in all their glory.  He had the fidgets horribly as we tried to get ready.

When we arrived at the hall, he was a ball of energy.  He kept telling me that he was too scared, that he was going to pee his pants, that his tummy ached.  I kept reassuring him, at the same time questioning if I had pushed him too hard. 

Then I reflected that I had not pushed him at all.  I had told him it was his choice and to only join if he was ready.  I explained that this was a long-term commitment, not just a one-time action.  I questioned him and challenged him if he was really ready.  And to make sure, I made him approach the school overseer on his own versus doing it for him.

For all his nerves, they seemed to disappear the minute his foot hit the stage.  All of my coaching about waiting until the podium was adjusted and the microphone put in place had been applied.  My encouragement to pace himself and not rush through the reading was taken.  And at the end, the radiant smile of someone quite proud with himself.  At the seat, a huge sigh of relief and a "whew, I'm glad that is over".  After the meeting, there were exclamations of "that wasn't so bad, I can't wait to do it again".  And me, beaming with maternal pride.  It couldn't have gone any better.

Hello, Remember Me?

Hi.  Yep, Henry and I are still alive.  Life has been hectic.

We had a very active summer, and fall has been pretty busy, too.

I thought that since Henry has his SECOND bible reading tonight, I should go ahead and post the video of his first one.  The sound quality of this is BAD.  If you want to follow along, he was reading 2 Samuel  22:1-20.  He practiced for weeks and weeks and did an awesome job.

Tonight, he'll be in the front school...on the stage...with a microphone.  I'm hoping he doesn't look up and chicken out.  (Note to self:  Talk to school coordinator and make sure he has a plan in case Henry chickens out.)

I did it myself...

So this morning was a big milestone for us.

As I've posted before, we have a pretty standard routine that we follow every morning before school. We end up heading downstairs for breakfast at about the same time every day. But today, for the first time, our schedule was a bit off.

First, I didn't want to get up myself, so was a few minutes late rousing the boy (somehow his alarm clock accidentally got turned off this week and I keep forgetting to turn it back on). Then, when I went to get him, he also didn't want to get up. After a little cajoling, he got up and climbed in the shower.

This just seemed to set our whole upstairs routine off by a few minutes. When it was time to head downstairs, I remembered that there was something on the computer that I needed to email to myself for access on my work computer. Of course, the computer was acting up and needed to be rebooted. So I sent Henry off in search of his shoes downstairs.

After a few minutes of messing with the computer, I realized how far behind schedule we were, so I called down to Henry to make sue he was picking his breakfast so he could eat as soon as I got down. He called back, "I already did it myself." Hmmm, curious.

When I arrived downstairs a minute later, I found that he had

• Gotten a bowl from the upper cabinets and a spoon from the silverware drawer
  
• Picked a pack of oatmeal and emptied it into the bowl
• Got the measuring cup (from another upper cabinet or dish drainer -- not sure which)
• Measured out 2/3 cup of milk and added it to his oatmeal
• Put the oatmeal in the microwave and set it to cook for 2 minutes
• Put the milk away
• Threw away the wrappers from the oatmeal packet

So there was the perfectly cooked oatmeal in the microwave, just waiting for me to lift the hot bowl out and add the frozen blueberries. I had no idea he could do all of that on his own. And he didn't make a mess and he cleaned up after himself. Wow, I must be doing something right!

Never underestimate a First Grader

First, here is a picture of the boy dressed for school this morning:

Whoa, you say. Wait, he's still wearing his jammies! Yep, it was pajama day at school today, in celebration of the last day of school before winter break. Much time and deliberation was spent picking the perfect pair of jammies. In the end, sports won (versus the "Total Knockout" pair that I picked) and he chose the baseball themed pajamas.

I met him for lunch and it was cute to see all the kiddos decked out in their pajamas.

And as for the title of this post, I am truly amazed at what Henry can figure out. In celebration for our Family Day this year, I decided to give Henry his own iTouch. He's played on his cousin's and uncle's iPhones, and took to it like a fish to water. At 6, he certainly has no need for a cell phone. But I figured the iTouch would be a nice thing to have for many reasons. I figured I could download some inexpensive games and it could be used for entertainment at home and under certain circumstances away from home (like on long car trips or air travel).

More selfishly, I was tired of dealing with the CDs that he listens to at bedtime. I got him an alarm clock that has a docking station on it so that he can charge and listen to his iTouch through it. I have been able to load an incredible amount of content to his iTouch, including bible stories, Arthur and Junie B. Jones books, and various types of music (including Taylor Swift) that he can listen to at bedtime. The alarm clock provides a sleep option that automatically switches it off after 30 minutes.

Also, it's become kind of a family toy. The adults have been known to pick it up and surf the web using it, since it has wireless capabilities.

And speaking of it being wireless, I am not always good at disabling the wireless after I've finished using it. Yesterday, Henry was excited to show me how he could go to you*tube and watch videos on his iTouch. YIKES! Fortunately, the video that caught his eye was the recap of a soccer game. Needless to say, I'll be much more careful about disabling the wireless when it is not in the hands of an adult. Otherwise, I'm sure he'd figure out how to shop in the iTunes store and start downloading a bunch of Star Wars games.

What I've learned so far in First Grade

First Grade in public school has been an interesting learning experience. After the newness of a different school and schedule settled in, I started meeting Henry for lunch every Friday. I think we both look forward to this lunch date every week. And it's given me a peek into Henry's day that I would typically be clueless about. His school doesn't seem to be big on parents helping out in the classrooms so I don't have an excuse to go and hang out there during the day (beside which, I don't think my employer would be happy about that).

It's interesting to watch the dynamics between Henry and the rest of the kids. He definitely has some kids that he considers friends. And then other kids, he doesn't even know their name yet. Since he packs his lunch most days, he ends up sitting next to the same group of kids. They have pretty strict rules in the lunch room. You're not allowed to save seats and you have to sit next to whoever you are in line with. The kids that pack their lunch come in, grab their lunch box, and then sit down. Each class sits down one side of a long stretch of tables. If you are buying your lunch, you have to go and get in line and those kids end up at the other end of the table. If parents or grand-parents are visiting, they sit across on the other side of the table.

Henry attends school with a very diverse group. As a matter of fact, he is the minority and may be the only Caucasian student in his classroom. This was the case in his last school, as well. So Henry does quite will with the diverse types of names his classmates have, such as Mohammed, Aban, Monsie, Abdul, and other assorted names. He doesn't think they are strange or different. So far, Henry doesn't see skin color or ethnicity as a way of identifying people. While conversations at home include references to people being Asian or Middle Eastern or African American, Henry just hasn't seemed to make that connection yet. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but for now, it is what it is.

The other interesting thing is the terms and phrases that they use. Here are a few that I've picked up on:

• Our voices are off; our lips are closed; our volume is zero: these are all ways of saying that the kids are expected to be totally quiet.
• Our seatbelts are on: this means that the students are walking with their hands grasped behind their backs while they are walking down the hall
• High five: this is a way to get the kids attention...when they hear this, they are to stop what they are doing and raise one of their hands to show that they are paying attention
• Check Yourself, Check Yourself, Foul: This is a communication between students. If one student is doing something that another finds irritating or offensive, they do a hand sign and say "check yourself" as a way to ask the other student to stop. They give two warnings and then call foul, which means they tell the teacher.

We've had our struggles with First Grade. But it seems we're moving in the right direction. Henry's teacher has been absolutely fabulous in working with me on some very specific strategies and goals that have proven to be very successful. I daresay that we've had the best week of school this week. Henry and I agreed on some very specific long-term and short-term goals for him for the last two weeks. He earned two of the three rewards that were put out there and it has left him feeling quite proud of himself. We'll be heading to Target tomorrow for some new Star Wars gear!

About the time I get first grade down pat, he'll be in second grade!



PS: I also learned that Junie B. Jones is not just for girls. Henry absolutely loves the book series. I tend to agree that Barbara Park has done a great job at capturing the spirit of first graders!!

Happy Ending...

It tickles me to see the way that Henry's brain works.

This morning, on our way to school, I was griping about the car that cut in front of me right before the light. Since I was hoping to turn right on red, I wasn't too happy this car cut over since he was going straight and kept me from turning until the light actually turned green. Then, immediately after we turned right, we have to make a left turn across three lanes of oncoming traffic onto the street his school is on with no light. My griping was "tame" in nature, but Henry decided I needed encouragement to have a better attitude about it. Here is the conversation that ensued:

H: Mom, you could have turned right on red.
M: Yes, I know. But this guy pulled in front of me and he is going straight.
H: But that's okay if he wants to go straight.
M: Yes, but now I can't turn until the light turns green. And now I have to wait for all of this traffic.
H: But Mom, see right up there? There is a clear spot and you will be able to cross there.
M: You're right. I will wait for that clear spot and then turn, just to make sure we're safe.
H: See Mom, Happy Ending. Just like in the stories, Happy Ending.
M: Do the stories all have happy endings?
H: Yes, the princess gets married, or they have a baby, and then, that's it: Happy Ending.
M: So getting married or having a baby is a happy ending? Just like when you came into my life, happy ending?
H: Yes, and just like in Robin Hood. Robin Hood and his wife (because I don't remember her name, so I'll just call her "his wife" {and this is exactly quoting Henry}) got married at the end of the movie. And then they had a baby. And they named the baby Henry. And that's me. Happy Ending!

Okay, I have no idea where the Robin Hood connection came from. He hasn't watched Robin Hood in months. But it was interesting to see his concept of happy endings.

The Perfect Weekend

Fall has finally arrived here in Southeast Texas. That means the weather has finally cooled off to the point that long sleeves can be worn. And we enjoyed that to the full for our fun, autumn weekend.

On Saturday, we had matinee tickets to see Mary Poppins. We had been looking forward to this for quite some time and decided to make a day of it. So, after a bit of a lazy morning, we headed off for a late breakfast/lunch that we enjoyed at Mama's Cafe. Before heading out, we had a mini photo shoot in the yard:

After breakfast, we decided to spend a few minutes at what Houstonians call the Water Wall. It may have a more formal name, I'm not sure. But I'd never taken Henry before I thought he would get a kick out of it. And he did:

As it's name indicates, it is a wall with water cascading down the side. We got a bit wet standing there watching it. But it is a bit mesmerizing. It also gave Henry a chance to run around a bit and burn off some energy before being required to sit still at the play.

Here is Henry looking adorable before the show:

He loved the play and reported his favorite part was when everything fell apart in the kitchen. His second favorite part was where Mary Poppins flew across the stage (which she did a total of 3 times). My favorite scene was the tap dancing, especially when Bert tap danced across the ceiling.

After the play ended, we ran a few errands and ended up in the part of town where the sole Macaroni Grill in the Houston area is still open. We decided to dine there and experienced another great meal.

On Sunday, we found ourselves a bit discombobulated from the time change. This seemed to give us a nice stretch of time in the middle of the afternoon without anything else to do. Henry decided he wanted to ride his bike since he has the goal of removing the training wheels. After riding for a bit, I realized that there was very little time where one of the trainings wheels was actually touching the ground. So I decided there was no time like the present and off they went.

We had a few falls and many, many tears. But in the end, he mastered balancing the bike quite well. Now, steering it is another matter all together and the topic of our next bike-riding lesson.


Here we are having a bit of pep talk...

And here is proof of him riding on his own!

Wordless Wednesday

June...where are you?

Wow, can it really be the 9th already?

Okay, I knew June was going to be very busy going in. But now that I am in the midst of it, I had no idea.

I probably won't get a whole lot of opportunity to post. And here is all of the things that are going on:

Last weekend, we had our Special Assembly Day on Sunday. Now, this would normally be a great photo op of the little boy. But, alas, he didn't even get to go.

My parents are (were) in town to help/participate in the activities that we had planned. However, due to happenstance, there was an unanticipated death in the extended family. This required them to travel back to the Chicago area.

As things would work out, I was (am) scheduled to participate in a "girls only" trip to the House of Mouse (Disney World)later this week. Henry was to stay home with my parents. After a mad scramble and an attempt to find reasonably priced airfare, it was finally determined that my parents would leave the next morning (Sunday) and travel by car. After examining all possible scenarios, I decided to let Henry travel with my parents back to Chicago. They fully anticipate to return to Houston the same day I return from my vacation. But it means 3 extra days of separation between me and my Henry.

I'm happy to report that they made it back to Illinois safe and sound. Henry is so busy hangin' with his cousins that he can barely carve out a minute or two to talk to me when I call.

When we each get home from our respective trips, a few days later, we will attend our District Convention. It seems like it has totally snuck up on me. I haven't even thought about what either of us will wear yet. But, after we get home, I'll have 4 whole days to figure that out, make sure they are clean and pressed, and start backing the bookbags and lunchbox.

The week after the DC, Henry is scheduled to attend Zoo Camp. He did this last summer and really enjoyed it. However, it does mean a drive downtown to the zoo each morning and afternoon. Fortunately, Nana and Papa are here this year to help out.

Next, we have an Astros game...no biggie, just a Saturday evening event. But nonetheless, something that we must plan around.

Then, during the last week of June/first days of July, it'll be a hectic time as I attempt to pack a month's worth of supplies for both Henry and I as we prepare for our second annual "Chicago in July" event. It went so well last year, that Henry and I will again be spending the majority of the month of July visiting in Chicago (well, Henry will be visiting, I'll actually be working from our Wheeling office).

So, you can see that we have quite a busy month of activities. I'll try to post when I can, but please bear with me when I don't.

My phone conversation with Henry

I had to take an overnight business trip this week. Henry got to spend this time with Nana and Papa. When I called home from the airport shuttle to check on him, here is the conversation:

Me: I am on a bus that will take me to the airport. Then I will get on an airplane to come home to you. When I get home I will check on you.

H: Yeah. I will be fast asleep when you get home. So please tiptoe quietly into my room and give me a kiss. When I wake up in the morning, I will feel that kiss on my face and know that you are home.

How sweet is that? No questions about what goodies I might have acquired for him...just the request for a kiss on the cheek when I get home.

Man, I love that little boy!

I need a barn!

We went to a really cool place with an indoor water park this weekend (I'll try to get some pictures up soon). On the way home, we stopped for dinner at a place that had a cute little gift shop.

As if he hadn't been spoiled enough all weekend long, Henry talked Leslie into getting him a stick pony. After much discussion, he settled on naming him Buster Brown.

After we got back into the van, he needed to have Buster Brown close to him. After a few minutes on the road, I hear "Mom, I need a barn for my horse."

After suggesting several closets that could be used as a barn, he still wasn't happy with the answer. Finally, he decided that a shed would make a fine barn for Buster Brown. I reminded him that we did not have a shed. To which he responded "but you could buy him one!". Uh, no, but thanks for playing along.

Spring Break

This week is Henry's Spring Break. He could have stayed in school as an "extended day" student, but I decided that a week off sounded like a great idea for both of us. So we've planned (or haven't planned as the case may be) a bit of a staycation.

Yesterday, our first day, we were just kind of getting our bearings. The day was spent running a bunch of errands. It's amazing how long it takes to get things done. When you have a whole day ahead of you with "nothing" planned, it seems like the possibilities are endless.

But then, the day gets filled with sleeping in, a quick visit with a lawyer, a short visit with Nana and Papa, one last "work thing" that needs to be finished, a trip to the car wash, a lunch stop at Taco Bell (Henry's choice), a quick run through Wal-Mart, a stop at CVS to order some prescriptions, a run back home to pick up the grocery list, the weekly grocery shopping, and whew...back home at 4 p.m. to start having fun. Wait a minute, we're having guests for dinner. Time to start the donuts...I mean the dinner. Then there was that minor issue with the potatoe peels clogging the pipes. Good thing Papa was only a few minutes away and "available". Time to put the salmon on the grill...whoops, the propane ran out. Good thing there was a backup tank in the garage. In the end, we had a lovely "dinner party" with Nana & Papa, and Grandma and Grand-daddy (as Henry refers to Leslie's parents). After dinner, we finished the day off with a round of our favorite dice game (10,000...check out the rules here) and a dish of Nana's homemade tapioca.

We decided Tuesday would also be a low-key day, and then we would actually try and go somewhere and do something each of the rest of the days of the week.

Tuesday started with The Boy sleeping until well past 9 a.m. Glad he gets the concept of sleeping in. After that, it was a rush to start our day. We had an appointment at 10:30 to get his silhouette made at a local children's clothing store. Here's a picture of him sitting patiently, and then the end result.

After we finished there, we went to the toy store a few doors down. We had already spent a few minutes in there because we were early for our silhouette appointment. Henry had spied out a few things he wanted to spend his allowance on. It's funny, when we first went in, the first thing that he looked at was the thing he "had to have". After a bit of encouragement, he spent some time looking around at the rest of the toys and in the end, decided on something completely different.

From there, we decided to go to Mr. Fuzzywiggs Candy Factory, down the street. It really was a block away. When I asked if we should move the car, Henry insisted that we walk: "C'mon Mom, it's such a nice day...let's just walk down there!" I couldn't have agreed more, but had to feed the meter a few more quarters. And off we went. On the way, we stopped by the fountain.

And then I let Henry run, since there were no streets to cross or traffic to worry about.

Again, as we entered the candy store, Henry stopped at the first thing he saw. I again encouraged him to shop a little more and take a look at what there was. Again, he totally moved off that first item. He selected three things: the colorful mints with the sprinkles on them (non-pareils??), a stick with sour powder in it, and a package of colorful licorice. Thanks to the generosity of Aunt Courtney, he had a gift card that covered his selection, and has enough left on it that he will be able to make a similar visit in the future. Here he is with his loot:

From there, we made a stop at The Dessert Gallery, where Mama got a treat. I had a piece of delicious lemon cake (before LUNCH!!!) and a cup of coffee. I nibbled on this while Henry ate his licorice.

After this, we made our way back to the car. On our way home, we stopped at the local Regional Airport to watch the airplane activity. There wasn't much going on, so we didn't stay long.

And this was all accomplished before noon. The rest of the day won't be quite as exciting, but I'm hoping we'll make up for it as the week progresses.

You just need to work it out...

So, in the spirit of getting back into the habit of blogging, rather than catching up on everything that's been missed, instead, I'll share a recap of our weekend.

We had a special Mommy/Son day on Saturday by attending the Children's Symphony. The theme of the event was "Rodeo". And that was quite appropriate, too, since the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo opened last week and runs through later this month. Henry enjoyed the music, which included a song from Toy Story 2. He also seemed to enjoy the song and story dealing with Billy the Kid, as he tried to repeat it later to Aunt Leslie.

After the concert, we attended the activities provided for the Junior Patrons. It included face/hand painting. Henry never wants to get this done...I'm not sure why. But I talked him into it this time and he really seemed to enjoy getting the cowboy boot painted on his hand. (Of course, later in the car when I wasn't looking, he used a bottle of water to wash it off and get the paint all over his new outfit!) So maybe next time I won't push for the face/hand painting quite so hard.

They also got to decorate a paper cut-out of a cowboy boot. And they had a sawhorse steer that they got to rope. All in all, we both had a good time.

Last night, at about 12:30, I heard the pitter patter of 5-year-old feet running into my room. The little guy jumped into bed with me and announced that he had a bad dream. He then decided he needed to "use the facilities". After that, he crawled back into bed with me, rolled over, and went back to sleep. There were a couple of times during the night where I needed to remind him that he could not put his feet on my head, but other than that, the rest of the night passed uneventfully.

So, this morning, I decided to discuss his dream with him to see what constituted a bad dream for Henry. He advised me that he had a dream about a tornado and that he got stuck somewhere and his house blew down. But some nice guy came along and helped him to get un-stuck and helped him to rebuild his house. So, he told me, it all ended well.

At this point, I asked him if the next time I had a bad dream, could I come and crawl into bed with him? To which, I was told "No, Mommy. You just need to work it out."

I agree with Henry's new favorite phrase: "Hrmph! It's just not fair!"

Wordless Wednesday

One more day at home.

I decided to keep the boy home one more day. Overall, he was fever-free yesterday (although he was up to 100 at bedtime). But he is still coughing badly and has no appetite. That's just NOT normal for him. I thought the day at school might just be too much for him to handle.

So he is nicely ensconced in my bed, eating Apple Jacks, and watching Donald Duck's "A Duck Tale". He's happy as a clam.

So we went to the doctor...

And came home with a prescription for 'tamiflu'. The doctor isn't absolutely sure he has the flu since they were out of the test strips that they use to confirm. Seems everyone and their brother has the flu, so the test strips are in short supply. But based on my description of the symptoms, she felt this was the best course of action.

I must say that the boy that spent the day with me today is completely different than the boy that laid in bed and watched TV all day yesterday. When we got home from the doctor, he asked "can I go outside and play?" Music to my ears...."of course, sweetheart!"

He's been fever-free all day, so unless something happens tonight, he's got the green light to return to school tomorrow. Yippee.

Thanks for everyone's well wishes.

Oh, and he was disappointed that he never got around to watching Episode III. I turned the TV off before lunch and it hasn't been on since. (I'm still not convinced that I am ready for him to watch Episode III, as my B-I-L reminded me that it is the most graphic of them all. Perhaps I can talk him into starting over with IV again...)

I have a sickie on my hands

Yep, my poor baby boy got sick over the weekend. At one point, his fever climbed to over 104 yesterday. I'm so grateful that he responded well to the tylenol that I gave him. So I will probably need to run him to the doctor today. It's been a long time since he has been this sick. He usually saves this up for when we are out of town.

His first winter home, he contracted RSV that landed us in a hospital for six days. That was while we were in the Chicago area for what was supposed to be a 4 day visit. I call that my Gilligan's Island trip to Chicago.

The very next winter, we went to Hot Springs over the holidays. There, we ended up in the ER and had to cut our trip short. The worst part of that was that we had driven for that vacation and had to make the drive home with an extremely cranky boy that required some kind of medicine every 2 hours.

Needless to say, after ending up at the hospital 2 years in a row, we decided to stay close to home for the next winter holidays. And, of course, had no issues.

Unfortunately, this weekend was our Circuit Assembly. We did get to go on Saturday, but had to miss the Sunday session. We'll see if we can make it up on another weekend.

During Henry's downtime, he has focused on watching the Star Wars series. Yesterday, we finished watching VI. We were also able to watch all of I and II. I had decided that the best way for him to watch them was the way that we all watched them. Therefore, we had started with IV (back when we were in North Dakota). We had also watched V while there. Since he seemed so taken with it all, we picked up the whole series at Target last week. Anyway, I was worried he'd be confused when we started back at I. I explained to him what we were doing and that the little boy Anakin would eventually grow up to become Darth Vader. He seemed to get it. I must say that I have been kind of enjoying watching the whole thing again, but fell asleep through a large part of II.

Family Time in Podunk

We have been enjoying our time here in North Dakota. Coming here is as good as going to a cabin in the middle of the woods. But it's even better in that we get to visit extended family.

During the days, we have little outside influences to entertain us. Therefore, our week has been consumed by playing games, doing art projects, baking and decorating cookies, watching movies, putting together puzzles, and playing video games. Oh, and how can I forget...cooking and EATING.

We have spent our evenings visiting with my grandmother. She is 88 years old and currently in pretty good health. She's had some scares over the last few years and there is more family strife than an 88 year old woman should have to deal with. But we found her alert and chatty and enjoyed our evenings with her. Here is a picture of her with the kids:

And here is a picture of 4 generations: Grandma, my dad, me and Henry.

There is a theater here in town, but it is only open Friday - Sunday. We all got extremely excited when we found out that the bowling alley would be open from 3 - 6 p.m. on Christmas Day. We arrived promptly at 3 and set up in two of the 8 lanes available. My aunt and her family arrived and took two more of the lanes...so our family hogged half the bowling alley for 2 of the three hours they were open. Here is a shot of most of the gang at the bowling alley:

The weather has improved and it actually reached up into the mid-20's today. The kids are outside now building a fort and a hill to slide down. I'm glad that Henry got to have the "winter experience". He has a great memory and thoughts of our time here this winter should carry us for a long time before we need to repeat the experience.

One of the movies that we watched this week was Star Wars. Henry had never seen it but Trevor had shared bits and pieces with him. So before the movie even started, the kids grabbed sections of the newspaper, and with a little help from some scotch tape and markers, fashioned their own light sabres. They then ran around the house pretending to cut off each others limbs. Nice, huh?

We are planning a mini-family get-together at the bar uptown tonight, our last night here. Apparently, the bar is the only place you can get a decent pizza. We've been assured that there is a room in the back that we can hang out in so that we aren't actually in the "bar". We've been packing all day...amazing how much stuff gets so strung out all over the place in such a short period of time. The goal is to head out in the morning. We're keeping a close eye on the weather and may wait until a bit later to actually leave, depending on what we find when we wake up.

Podunk

Podunk: A small isolated town, region, or place that is regarded as unimportant.

Other than the connotation of "unimportant", that pretty much describes where we are spending the week.

We left at 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning, with the goal of reaching Kansas City, MO to meet Dwight and Belkis for dinner. The temperature gauge in the van read 63 degrees as we pulled away, but would reach a high of 68 by the time we reached Dallas. We made a pit stop there for some Starbucks. Henry had fallen back asleep after our departure and was now awake.

Soon, we reached the Oklahoma welcome center. This is a new state for Henry, so we stopped and snapped this picture:

We had determined that we would try to push through as much as possible, so we had packed a nice little booty of snacks to munch on for lunch. After a tasty lunch/snack of cheese, sausage, crackers and apples, Henry took an afternoon snooze:

We arrived in KC right on time and pulled into the parking lot just as Dwight and Belkis were walking in. They were walking hand in hand and giggling to themselves...the perfect picture of newlyweds (remember the posts from just a few months ago when we attended their wedding). Here is a picture I snapped of them after we enjoyed a lovely dinner at a local Mexican restaurant:

The next morning, we got going at 6:45 a.m. after enjoying a little breakfast at the hotel. We anticipated that the weather wasn't going to be as amicable as it had been on Friday, and it's a good thing.

Here is a picture I took with my phone as we drove down I-29 through either Northern Iowa or at some point in South Dakota. I don't really recall exactly when it was, but it looked pretty much the same all day long. It was not snowing on us, the but the wind was blowing hard and the snow drifted across the road, sometimes reducing the visibility to almost nothing.

Henry's favorite past time during the trip was to watch the thermometer display. He kept a very watchful eye on it and made regular announcements of changes. We watched it fall from the 68 degree high we had in Dallas down to -14 as we arrived at our final destination. Talk about culture shock!

We finally arrived around 8:30 p.m. (after stopping for dinner) and we were all very relieved to have arrived safe and sound. We were also extremely grateful that Uncle Donny had come to the house earlier in the day and turned on the heat and plowed/shoveled the driveway and walkways.

Now, all that was left was to wait for the cousins to arrive. They were on their own adventure driving for the Chicago area under blizzard conditions. Happily, they arrived about 90 minutes later, also safe and sound and grateful for the warm refuge awaiting them.

Pot Luck....what's been going on

Yeah, yeah...I'm way behind and it does seem like a lot has happened since the last "real" blog entry.

SNOW

First of all, it snowed last week. That's a big deal here in the Houston area. That just doesn't happen that often. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos, but it was real snow. Huge, chunky flakes. I have a snowball in my freezer to prove it.

MEGAN

We were invited to dinner at Allison's on Friday. Megan was cooking. We saw this as an opportunity to help Henry appreciate the nuances of being invited to someone's home for dinner. So we allowed him to select the flowers that we would take as a hostess gift for Megan. He was quite picky and looked everything over quite carefully before selecting a small glass vase bowl/vase, with just roses and a few carnations "floating" on top.

Henry had so much fun playing with the other kiddos, even though they were all much older than him. Fortunately, he is quite used to playing with his older cousins, so just fell right in step with whatever the older kids were doing. He jumped on a trampoline in the backyard...a first for him. Towards the end of the evening, the kids all ended up in front of the TV and Henry was right there among them. Here are a couple of pics:

Oooooh, and I don't even know where to start on dinner. Megan had prepared one of the most yummiest of Chicken Picata's that I've ever been privileged to get to eat, complete with the lemon butter, capers and artichoke hearts. It was served with a side of angel hair pasta, steamed veggies, and a lovely garden salad. (There was supposed to be garlic bread, but we forgot it in the oven, so we ate it as a pre-cursor to dessert). Oh, and speaking of dessert, it was my most favorite...creme brulee. Megan had made it from scratch, complete with torching the sugar on top. Here she is in action:

MISCELLANEOUS

Here are a few pictures of the boy that I've taken over the past couple of weeks:

Here he is at bookstudy with Nana and Papa. This will probably be the last official "bookstudy" since we will be out of town for the next two weekends. When we return, it'll be the first of the year and we'll be under the new program. The end of an era...

Here he is dressed for the meeting one night. I think he looks so cute with his t-neck and sports coat:

And here he is dressed for the children's symphony. Not that I'm biased or anything, but I think he was one of the best dressed young men in attendance. Especially when he was wearing his coat:

JOKERS AND PEGS

For those of you that have never heard of Jokers and Pegs, you are missing out on one of the best games. You can check out more about it here. Anyway, after another yummy dinner at the house of one of the families in our congregation, we decided to finish off our Sunday evening with a round of J & P. Now, we've been playing this for the last two winters while my parents are in town (and other times, too). Henry is always relegated to "helping" someone, or playing on his own terms, with his own cards, board, and pieces separate and apart from the adult game.

Since he is such a game-playing little boy, I had decided to see if he was up to playing on his own. He was so excited when he realized that he was going to have a spot at the adult table, get to play on the "real" board with his own pieces and his own cards.

Before we started, I wanted to see how much of the game he understood just from observing all of the adults playing for the last few years. I started in with my questioning:

• Me: How do you get one of your guys out of start?
• H: With a face card!
• Me: What do you do with an 8?
• H: Move backward.
• Me: What do you do with a 9?
• H: Move one guy forward and one guy backward.
• Me: What do you do with a 7?
• H: Move a guy 7, or split it between two guys.
• Me: What do you do with a Joker?
• H: Knock somone off.

Okay, wow, he seemed to have it down. This is the first time I've played without having my trusty little cheatsheet to help me remember what all of the rules were. He actually played fantastically on his own. I did kind of keep an eye on his cards, but there was only 2 times that I needed to intervene with any kind of guidance in what he should or shouldn't do. Unfortunately, he didn't win his first solo game of J & P, but he (and all of the rest of us) sure were proud of how well he did on his own. Of course, he had us all in stitches through most of the game with his take on things. Here are a few of his gems:

• Papa, guess what? I might knock you off!
• Mama, I'm gonna play this joker. Sorry, Mama! (as he knocks me off)
• 1, 2 ~ I'm gonna get you (as he played a 2 and came close to knocking Papa off)
• 1, 2, 3 ~ Sing with me (gotta love the exuberance of youth)
• If I could, I would double-wham you (to Aunt Leslie and Nana when he landed between them)

Well folks, that's all I can think of right now. We're heading to North Dakota at the end of the week to see my Grandmother. I'm hoping that we have enough warm clothes to survive the sub-zero weather that is going on there.