Samuel 17 Months

Samuel continues to learn new words daily it seems.  A few of his new words this month are "snack" ( he often says "more snack"), "Grandpa", "baby", "Elmo" (sounds more like Melmo), "neck", and "choo choo" for train.  He continues to love nursery rhymes and will act out all the motions for Wheels on the Bus, one of his favorites.  He continues to be a big hugger and is quite friendly with everyone, never seeming to meet a stranger.  He can point to his nose, mouth, eyes, ears, teeth, head, neck, belly button and feet when asked to.  He enjoys playing with trains on the train table, putting blocks in the shape sorter, and of course still loves books.  As it has started warming up this month, he's spent a lot of time outside and loves it!  Playing with balls are still his favorite thing to do but he also enjoys playing with sticks and dirt, riding his bike, and swinging.  He really loves to go down the slides at the park too!  He has no fear even on the tall ones!  Also a new favorite this month is putting things in the trash can, clothes hamper and toilet….ugh!....I can't tell you how many things I have fished out from those places which are not supposed to be there!  I'm sure there have probably been a few kids cups or plates that may have missed my searches and gotten thrown out in the trash!  He certainly continues to keep us on our toes!  I did sign him up for a Mommy and Me gymnastics class this spring and so far, in the first two classes, he has LOVED it!  He is smiling and squealing with excitement for most of the class!  He may be the youngest one in there but that doesn't stop him from trying most everything, even jumping into the foam pit!  What a fun month is has been with our little Sammy Sam!

Here he is playing Star Wars like he has seen his bigger brothers doing.  He waves the light saber back and forth making a whooshing sound!

He likes putting mulch into containers outside.

Always fun riding his bike!

Climbing the mats at gymnastics

Trying the balance beam with Ms. Rachel (who taught both Henry and Grace and who now lovingly refers to Samuel as Jorge because when I was pregnant with him, she was teaching Henry and he told her over and over again that that would be his new brother's name!)

Helping Henry drive me through the grocery store.

Happy Birthday Henry!

We had a great little celebration at home this year for Henry's 4th birthday.  It was particularly special because Great Grandma Burkemper and Grandma and Grandpa all made the trip from Missouri to be here!   We were also so glad the Boyle family could join us!  Henry requested a Bob the Builder cake and asked Daddy to make homemade mint chip ice-cream.  It was a beautiful day outside so we were able to grill out, also Henry's request :-)  The highlight of our little builder's day was probably the morning he spent helping Grandpa build a garden box as his birthday gift!  Boy did he enjoy that and is super excited to plant a garden! The garden tools and gloves he received to help with that will be just perfect for our little helper Henry!  Happy birthday buddy! 

All About Henry At 4!

Here are Henry's favorites at age 4……….

Stuffed Animal/Doll - Blue Dog and Baby David

Food - chicken tacos

Movie/Show - Frozen and Bob The Builder

Clothes to wear - Olaf shirt

Game - Bingo

Snack - honey nut cheerios

Animal - puppies

Song - Whom Shall I Fear by Chris Tomlin

Book - Dragons Love Tacos

Friends - Colin, Chloe and Charlotte

Drink - lemonade

Outside Activity - yard work

Park Activity - ride my scooter

Inside Activity - play with my barn

Place to go - park

Fruit - apples

Vegetable - carrots

What do you want to be when you grow up?  a construction worker

Henry Turns 4 Years Old!!!

Our sweet little Henry is already 4 years old, and what a great little guy he is!  Everywhere we go, he seems to be the life of the party and people make comments to us all the time such as:  "That Henry, he's' so cute I could just gobble him up!",  "There's no one else like Henry!", "What a special little guy he is.", "He will do great things one day."  Well, as his parents, we agree of course :-)  Henry is our bubbly, talkative, thoughtful, helpful, practical, passionate, outdoors-loving, hard-working, common sense child.  He seems to talk all day long and is never short on words!  He is a super loving, thoughtful of others, and will always have a snuggle for you, but can be quite fiery and emotional as well.  He can go from super excited talking a mile a minute to acting like the world is coming to an end, all in the drop of a hat!  He has a great sense of gratefulness, never forgetting to thank us for taking him somewhere or make him dinner, etc.

Henry has a passion for the outdoors.  He is always happiest when he is outside and by far his favorite thing to do is "yard work."  Yes, he loves to rake, gather sticks, pull weeds, water plants, cut the grass with his play lawn mower, and blow leaves.  He will outlast any of us when it comes to yard work, he truly enjoys it.  He also really enjoys riding his scooter and playing in back yard with his brothers and sister.  Indoors, Henry likes playing Star Wars with Nicholas, building blocks and playing with his toy barn, and playing Legos.  He loves to sing and make music, and we just love listening to the songs he makes up, in which we can usually pick out the lyrics of a few church hymns, some christmas carols, and nursery rhymes, all in the same song!  He also loves to be a helper indoors too.  He is usually willing to help make dinner or clean the house and will choose to do those things with Mommy over playing anything else.  He's a hard little worker who is also very much Mommy's little buddy still :-)  He enjoys preschool and gymnastics, however he is a bit of a home body and will choose to stay home with Mommy over most anything else.  He tries hard to keep up with Nicholas and Grace and often has a hard time if he doesn't get all the same things as them.  He's a funny little guy who likes to be silly.  He's also very bright in a common sense sort of way, always having a practical answer for any problem!

Henry knows all but 3 or 4 capital letters right now.  He can count to 30 and sort of write his name.  He's not real interested in learning all those things so we've had to get creative with teaching him.  He does love nursery rhymes and reading books together.  Some of his favorite books are The Cat In The Hat, Dragons Love Tacos, and Where's My TRUCK but he really loves to listen to us read any books to him.   He is  clearly left handed.  He's a great eater and while he still takes (and needs) a nap daily, he no longer wants to.  He loves sharing a room with Nicholas and plays well with his brothers and sister. He loves to go to church and has an uncanny sense of prayer for his age!

Henry, we feel so blessed to call you our son!  We can't wait to see what the future holds for you!  You are a very special little boy who is loved very deeply by all your family!  Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Father Daughter Dance 2016

This year Grace and Shawn went to the "Snow Ball", the father daughter dance at our church, for the first time.  Grace was SUPER excited to have a special night with Daddy.  He took her to a nice Italian restaurant and then to the dance where they even got a corsage and boutonniere.  Shawn said Grace loved dancing so much all night that he hadn't danced that much since he was in college :-)  The highlight of the night for her was when they played "Let It Go" and a snow machine made fake snow!  It seems they both had a fantastic time and made some wonderful memories!

Cub Scouts

Nicholas worked hard (with Shawn's help) over the past 6 months to earn the Light of Christ medal in Cub Scouts.  This Catholic medal is one of 4 religious emblems the boys can earn throughout the scouting career.  He spent many hours discussing and learning more about the faith, doing service projects and attending sacraments to learn and grow in the light of Christ.  We are most proud of him!  Way to go Nicholas!!!!

Fr. Dez awarded the medal to the boys who earned it.

With his buddy Joey

In scouting, Nicholas also recently competed in the pinewood derby with his "Trinity Racer."  He and Shawn lovingly crafted this car to represent the God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.   Although he didn't win any races with it, I think they both really enjoyed making this together!  

Samuel 16 Months

Samuel has started his word explosion this month.  He has become quite a little parrot, trying to repeat anything we say.  He even tries to repeat sneezes and burps that he hears the kids do (oh my!!)  Just a few of the words he has learned to saying clearly this month are "bye-bye, peek-a-boo, book, milk, and more that."  His first word combo came this month too as he has started saying "more books" quite often.  He continues to LOVE books!  Some of his favorites right now are Goodnight Moon, Kiss Kiss, and The Goodnight Kiss, and The Alphabet Book.  He will sit and listen to most any book geared towards his age now and will keep asking for more so much so that I usually am done reading books before he is!  He also loves to point to things he would like and say "more that."  If only he would want "more that" when it comes to foods!  He remains a super picky eater who just turns up his nose and makes all kinds of faces any time we try to give him something.  He just isn't willing to try much of anything new, so getting a balanced diet in him continues to be a real challenge.  Thankfully he is a good sleeper now though and otherwise is a pretty happy little guy.  Anew favorite of his is watching nursery rhymes on You Tube…it is really the only way I can make dinner these days, he sits in his highchair and sings and dances to the nursery rhymes while I work.  He is so cute when he is looking for something, he puts his hands out and makes a puzzled look as if to say "where is it?"  He certainly keep us on our toes as he seems to be reaching into new drawers, climbing up onto new chairs and opening new doors each day….I can't seem to get the house "Samuel proof!"  He is always getting into something!  But, when he gives us one of his many hugs throughout the day and says "awww"  all that is forgotten and our hearts melt!  We love you, our busy man Sam!!!

A new favorite of Samuel's is climbing up on to the chair to mess with the computer.  This time I let him watch nursery rhymes, but usually he is more destructive in this spot!

We have taught the kids to say a Hail Mary when they hear a siren.  We were playing outside one day when they heard one and Henry started praying.  When Samuel heard him, he immediately sat down and folded his hands to pray!!!

He got the napkins out to help set the table, all on his own!  He often puts the placemats away for me too without being told!

Our busy happy Sam!!!!

Grace Dancing

I went to observe Grace in her dance class in January.  She continues to enjoy ballet and tap very much and is progressing well.  She remains one of the most timid ones in the class however…I have to admit, she reminds me of myself when she is like that :-)  I hope she learns to dance better than I did though!!!!!

A Touch of Winter

It's been a mild winter this year.  This was the extent of our snow.  As you can see, even this little dusting was super exciting for the kids.  Henry in particular was literally bouncing off the walls in excitement with the snow :-)  They all made the best of the little we had by catching snowflakes on their tongues and running around in it throwing mini snowballs.