Recently in Henry Lawrence Category

Anita sent these cute cupcake toppers. We wish she could have been at the party but we know she was in spirit! It was funny to watch the adults hem and haw over which cupcake they wanted based on the toppers.

We had a nice birthday party for Henry today. We made pizzas (they were supposed to be grilled but the grill died this week. Not unexpected for a $99 grill we bought five years ago!) and had cupcakes and cake. We had two sets of neighbors and two sets of friends over which made this probably the smallest of the three kids first birthday parties. Only grandma was able to make it of the four grandparents and we were happy she was here both to help celebrate the day and to help with the prep-work! (Thanks, mom!)

Yes, it is hard to believe that a year has gone by since Henry arrived on the scene! The last few months have gone by especially fast with the move. Henry came into the world and the Korean nurses announced that our baby was "a prince" and he really has been. I called him "Mr. Wonderful" early on and he has proven to be the easiest of the three kids so far. I don't know if that's what third kids just do or if we just got really lucky.

Henry is starting to sign and make a few specific noises (trumpeting like an elephant, mooing like a cow) and has a tiny interest in walking (he really liked the alligator walking toy from Nana & Papa) but is such a good crawler that I don't know how long it will take him to venture out on his own. He is in between Anna & Sarah in his level of daring at this age. (Sarah is not very daring any more but she was at one year, that's for sure! Anna has always been on the cautious side.)

He is definitely the most social of the three kids. From the start he always seemed content if you would just sit and chat with him; but he also likes to watch his sisters and he is starting to annoy them like a good little brother should by tearing apart whatever they're playing with or trying to eat their toys or just drooling on them.

He is starting to put things in containers and really study his toys. He is magnetically drawn to all electronics and cords (he takes after his father!). He loves to take baths (although it is really not fun to give him one because he does not sit still) and he's climbing up the stairs and cruising everywhere. He loves drums and other musical instruments and he likes to read (I think more than Sarah at this age but probably not as much as Anna did at this age). I am looking forward to some one-on-one time with him this fall while the girls are in school.

Henry you are one amazing kid and we can't wait to watch you grow and learn over the next year!

Yes, Henry loves smoothies.

The kids had a blast on the ferris wheel at the aquarium today. The aquarium itself was pretty lame though and we had to go through it again when we realized we got to the end much too fast the first time.

I think this kid is using up more than his fair share of the world's supply of "cute."

Henry is now doing the "traditional" crawl 100% of the time and he is fast!

Sarah & Anna are kind of like twins who develop their own language. Someone (I'm guessing Sarah) started calling Henry "Hen-a-ree-ah" (yes, it rhymes with diarrhea). This, thankfullly, turned into "Henreek" and then that morphed into calling Henry "Sen-teek." That doesn't even make sense but that's what they call him (when they're not calling him "Hen-honk," "Hen-roy," or "Hen-a-reek-ah." Sarah is "Sair-yeek" and Anna is "Anne-yeek."

Henry is turning into a little comedian with all of his facial expressions lately!

I had to be dorky and get the kids to wear red, white, & blue today while none of them realized they had a choice.

This was one of the girls favorite floats.

We walked to the parade today and it was super hot. We brought the double stroller so the girls took turns riding in it. If you ask Sarah how sweaty she got today she will tell you she was so sweaty that she "sweat off her temporary tattoo!"

Everyone loved the parade but Henry was the most fun to watch get excited by the different floats going by. Next year, however, we may just drive over in the air conditioned car!

Henry loves playing with everything in the musical instruments box. Really it is about the only set of toys he plays with lately. He can play the recorder (well, you know, he can blow air through it and make it whistle, he can't play any notes or anything), the kazoo, and his very favorite is the drum. I think he will get some more instruments for his birthday to round out the box.