Henry's 3rd Birthday Party

Since poor Henry had his birthday the day we moved, we had a make up party for him on Sunday. Alec and Dixie and their family-- including Dixie's wonderful parents-- came to help us celebrate. We had a fun dinner at our new giant table (seats 9 very comfortable, could easily do 12) and then had train and car cakes with ice cream. Henry enjoyed blowing out the candles so much we did it twice.



Getting ready to blow

Let's blow!!

I did it!!!!!

The gang. Dixie, Liam, Noble, Alec holding H, Dick, Pat, Henry.

Playing in the sprinklers

The weather has been absolutely amazing lately. We've even hit 80! So when we had the sprinkler out watering the lawn we thought it would be fine if Henry played in it. He had a great time and has now tried to play every time we water.

We moved!!!

Well, we finally moved into our new home. Oh, how we love it. Space, glorious space. No more hiking up two flights of stairs with Henry and groceries. Jumping, squealing, early morning laundry all without worrying about the neighbors being annoyed. Trees, stars, birds, a backyard. Life is very good.
The move itself was a little tough. I highly recommend not moving when your husband is working the night shift on a surgery rotation. But it can be done. Just hire some guys for heavy lifting and make good friends with a dolly for furniture moving on your own. Oh, and make sure your child has a movie they are willing to watch over and over and over again. In our case, curious george goes to space. If you ever want to hear it, Henry or I can quote it for you.
We have now been in our house for two gloriuos weeks. The boxes are unpacked and waiting recycling. The move is a distant memory and we LOVE our home. Here's a quick tour. Come and visit for the real deal.

This picture shows dell watering the plants we just planted and also is to show a little of what our backyard views are. All those trees are Stone Oak Parkway. A fun little walking/biking trail that winds for about a mile up to playground (we have a playground at the start of the trail just around the corner from our home) and then if you cross the street there's another 3 miles of trails plus two "bear caves." No real bears, but kids get a kick out of them. The elementary school is also at the end of the first segment of trail. The middle school is 1/4 mile down the trail the other way. The trail that direction becomes more primative once you get to the middle school, but it's fun single track biking for maybe a mile and we found a small cliff that looks climbable as long as you have good mosquito repellent. Supposedly they will be "improving" the single track area sometime soon, but we're in no hurry.

New home

This is the mudroom/hallway from garage/hallway to powder bathroom/french doors to Dell's study.

View from front door. Living room/formal dining room which will never be dined in. Would you eat on pale carpet?

View from Family Room. Real dining room and kitchen. Dell eating ice cream.

View from Kitchen. Our family room. My favorite room in the house.

more new home

The playroom. I love having a place that Henry can romp in. We had friends over today and this place had every toy spread across the ground, but it was so nice not having that in my living room. The rug is my favorite part of the room. A great bargain from the outlets. :)

Master bedroom. You can't see it in this picture, but this room plus the bathroom is almost the size of our apartment. My treadmill is in here and there is still lots of empty space. You could fit a grand piano in here if you could make it up the stairs.

The master bath.

More master bath. The walk in closet is through the door to the right of the picture. The closet was too unorganized to photograph-- mostly baskets of clothes on the ground waiting for Dell to build some shelves.

new home cont.

Laundry Room. I LOVE my new washer and dryer. Doing Laundry is so much fun with these machines. Behind the door are shelves for storage.

Henry's Bathroom. Those of you that visited us in Wisconsin will recognize the decor. It's fun have the same things in a new space.

Henry asleep in his bed/nest. He has something against blankets-- not sure why, but he tends to sleep in pillows and if he gets cold he'll pull one up over him. With the move he moved from a toddler bed to a big queen size mattress (our old one) We don't have box springs or a frame for it so it's on the ground, but it suits us all just fine. He doesn't fall out and I don't worry about him jumping (or actually falling) from the bed as much. After all he's right on the ground.

Henry's room. Grandma, pleas notice the beloved Deigo rescue helicoptor on the ground.