Lobster, Lounge Pants, No Pants, and Swapping Pants

It gets more delicious and fun each year, and I love it! Our New Year's Eve lobster dinner is five years strong, and Henry's presence enhances the celebration. He is sound asleep after feasting on turkey, blueberries, strawberries, cheddar cheese, and water crackers. We are lounging after stuffing ourselves with delicious lobster.
Henry had quite a good celebration before his bedtime, and it got pretty wild when he and Snowman swapped pants. Keep in mind that Snowman didn't have any pants to swap.
Every year with Henry is a good one. I can't wait to see what the new year brings us.  Happy 2010 to our family and friends, and Happy Birthday to Aunt Allison!

McCasland Munch and Meet

Henry and I caught up with the McCasland family for a pizza lunch today. Henry made a couple of new friends, and I am grateful to Kayley who played with Henry while I caught up with Kelley and Chris.

Here's Kensey playing with the complimentary pizza dough... such concentration!
She was so sweet to offer it to Henry who promptly took it over, and Kayley took over the entertainment. They eventually played catch with a ball of dough.
Kelley and her youngest--beautiful!
Thanks for the pizza and the built in babysitting! It was a perfect treat.

Believe it or not...

Henry had a great time in Ripley's Aquarium on Monday.  Did he grow gills?  Was his skin suddenly covered in scales?
Thank you, Nana, for a very good time. We had lots to talk about on our trip home, and I got just a few photos.

"Oo funny, Josh! Oo funny, Caweb!"

Henry really focused his attention on his uncles Josh and Caleb during our time in Surfside. They were cool with it, albeit a little unsure at first, especially when Henry specifically allowed only Josh to comfort him after some minor-made-major-due-to-grogginess dissapointment.

Henry gave Josh a bedtime reading assignment on Monday night.
Being an equal opportunity kind of guy, he also assigned a book to Caleb.And, as Josh and Caleb noticed, Henry can easily discern Caleb from Josh and Josh from Caleb. He started playing around with their names, though, and got a little confused at the breakfast table on Tuesday morning. However, he gets it right when he points them out on the Hughes family Christmas card on our fridge.

Christmas Day, Day After, and The Next Day

Henry's going to always love Christmas. First of all, there's Christmas morning...
Then Christmas mid-morning...
Then off to Dacusville for Christmas evening with the Farry family...
The next day, an enjoyable ride to Florence for a Johnson family Christmas...

Then on to Surfside to continue to the merry-making with Nana and her clan...
Then opening gifts two days after Christmas...
And hanging out with Jo'Caleb, and making Josh hold him.Christmas can be both exhausting and refueling at once, and I think it will be quite a while before we get Henry back on any sort of schedule. Actually, even though Henry is lacking in a responsible bedtime, he continues to be be his sweet, chatty self--making me swoon with each, "Merry Christmas, Mama!" and "I love 'oo, Mama."

Merry Christmas to our family and friends! We had a delightful extended celebration of God's sending his son to this earth we inhabit together.

December 28, 2009

Henry ate one and a half steamed oyster at dinner.

Then he peed in the potty! What a big boy!

Now, is there something magical about Nana's potty, or will his new found enthusiasm travel back with us to Greenville?

Dear Santa...

We made some Top of the Stove cookies (my idea) and put a couple out for Santa this evening before Henry went to sleep.
He sweetly dictated his letter for Santa to read, too.
Of course, sticker embellishments were also required.
Dear Santa Clause,
These are ornaments on that reindeer. Oh. There's Cookies. Merry Christmas, Santa Clause! Thank you for coming to town.
Love, Henry