"Nice job, Dad!"

Recent Henry quote:

Dad: "Henry, here's one dollar for your allowance and 50 cents for cleaning the banister and baseboards. And I gave you an extra 5 cents because you were so thorough."
Henry: "Oh, thanks Dad! ...Nice job using the word thorough!"

Nothing like praise for your vocabulary from an almost 6 year old.

For Sarah

I promised my dear friend Sarah S. that I would post something today.  (She was threatening to send nasty emails if I didn’t and if you know Sarah you know those are pretty fierce words from one of the nicest people I know.)  So for Sarah, and for all of you that haven’t given up on us, here’s a quick summary of the past few months.

Hiked Enchanted Rock with some of the young women from church.  These girls had all completed a special challenge to earn the hike and we had a wonderful time.

At the top

 

Went to Utah for Thanksgiving.  Where we seem to have had such a great time we forgot to take any pictures.  But we played with both our families and even had all the Dunns gathered together for a big family reunion.  Let’s just say it was a full house, lots and lots of fun, and we wish we could see them all more.

For my birthday I came down with the nastiest flu I’d ever had.  Three days later it hit the rest of the family.  Luckily I was up and crawling at that point.  Fevers of 104 plus, nausea, body aches, and it left us exhausted for 2 weeks.

Poor, poor Lizzie resting and trying to keep the fever under control.

Henry and Lizzie spent a lot of time on this couch watching Blue’s Clues, while Dell and I lay in our bed watching “Lie to Me” and “In Plain Sight” on the laptop.  We all got caught up on our tv watching and Lizzie who had never really been exposed to the magical thing now hops around the house singing “think, think, thiiiinnnk.”  And sings blue’s clues whenever she sit in our giant, overstuffed “thinking chair.”  It’s pretty cute.

 

Christmas

We were almost feeling human, but Henry was excited enough about it that he feel down the stairs on his way down Christmas morning.

Top of the stairs

Bottom

But no injures and nothing but excitement when he saw this.

It was a great Christmas.  We took things slow.  Rested and just enjoyed being together.  And let me just say Texas is the perfect place to get a bike for Christmas.  We were able to go out and ride about in perfect 70 degree weather.  (Lizzie got the blue y-bike)

Lizzie Christmas eve with the puppy her brother got her.

Lizzie and one of her favorite presents.  (Thanks grandma!)  Baby goes with us almost everwhere and it’s so fun to see Lizzie being a little mother.  She does tend to whack people with her baby and I’m pretty sure she didn’t learn that from me, but other than that baby is well cared for.

Henry got legos galore.  (See the smile.  Mine was pretty big too.  We love legos Henry and I.) 

And all in all it was a great Christmas.

 

After Christmas Dell took the kids to the zoo one morning when it first opened and discovered that being the first one in the bird feeding place means you get to hold a lot of birds.

henry was nervous at first

but soon got the hang of it

Lizzie just stood at a distance and watched.

So that’s pretty much what we’ve been up.  None picture things include:

Dell’s hard work in residency was punished by being made one of the chiefs (duties so far: assembling the call schedule.  Lots of time staring at little excel spaces and dealing with other peoples problems.) 

Me being called to be YW president for our ward which brings me lots of happiness because I love, LOVE working with the young women.  But has also caused me to stop sleeping well because hey, we’ve got 34 young women and 8 adults and there’s just been a lot to co-ordinate (and worry over.)  But I think I’m getting the hang of it all and will soon return to the relaxed Sister Dunn the girls are used to.  It helps that the ladies that work with me are amazing.  Amazing.  I’m learning a lot, hopefully growing too, and just hoping that I can help the girls see how wonderful and loved they are.  Because they are.

Henry now has a bunkbed instead of a mattress on the floor.  Yay!  Now his room looks like his parents love him too.  (It was always a little embarrassing when giving tours to go from Lizzie’s painted, decorated, oh so cute nursery to Henry’s mattress on the floor, random stickers on the wall hodgepodge.  But with the addition of the bed great strides has been made for sibling equality.)  He’s also doing great in kindergarten and reading really well.  Every day the school sends a book for him to read to me and book for me to read to him home in a little blue bag.  It’s so much fun and he amazes me with the words he can sight read.  I’m so excited for him to feel like a reader.  Books are such a wonderful way to explore the world.

Lizzie sings and dances constantly.  She also insists on helping with everything.  Tonight after dinner she did a great job scrubbing the pots.  Cinderlizzie is really beefing up her resume.  She also has opinions on everything.  Especially clothes.  I start to fear the day she can dress herself because an editing eye is really needed with some of the combinations she pulls out in the morning.  She is also sweet giving hugs and kisses with abandon.  But then, Henry does too.  I’m so lucky to have such great kids to be with.  Today we went out to the green space across the street.  It has a little circular path in it.  Henry rode the y-bike and Lizzie happily chased him.  They could have done that for half an hour.  I love watching them play together.

So Sarah, there’s your update.  And I promise to not let so long go between posts again.  If I do forget for a while feel free to send a nasty email my way and I promise to get something up right away.

Henry's Beyblade commercial

It could have been a $6 Christmas for Henry. Santa, Parents and Grandparents got him some great gifts. But since Christmas he's been obsessed with a $6 stocking stuffer called a Beyblade--a spinning top with a launcher and designed to "battle" other tops. Yesterday during what is known as quiet time, Henry grabbed my Ipod touch with it's camera and made this. check it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puG02PH04fo


Most of the words and all the tune is original. It's a little long but make sure you see the end. Feel free to skip the middle.

pumpkin patch

Last weekend my sister Mary came down from Austin and we all drove up to Medina to Love Creek Orchard’s pumpkin festival.  We had a great time and Mary made it even better.  We’re so lucky she’s at UT-austin now.

Painting Pumpkins

Mary’s mummy cat was by far the best

Wahoo!  A family picture.  We haven’t had one of these since Lizzie was born.

Our cute little pumpkins

 

The animals were the biggest hit.  Lizzie loved petting this pony and feeding the pigs.  She just ran around the pens jabbering to herself and squealing with excitement.  Henry was calmer but still excited.  His favorite thing was the snow cone we had for part of lunch.  I liked the band and sing-a-long.

Barrel rides.  Henry took great care of Lizzie.

snoring

I just put Lizzy down for an early nap and as soon as I lay her down she started fake snoring. Oh how she makes me laugh!

Family Reunion Day 1 and 2

Day 1 was a trickling in day.  Emily and Jared with their two cute kids were the first to arrive.  Henry was soooooo excited to see his cousin Sam.  Sam is two years older than Henry though amazingly patient about playing with younger kids.  Henry idolizes him.  Mary and my Mom and Dad arrived in the evening just in time to go to dinner at Beefy’s Backyard BBQ.  Yummy yummy food and really relaxed environment.  We ate in the backyard near the playground and the hardest part was getting the kids to stop playing and eat.  The adults had no problem eating.  Beefy makes some good burgers!

Day two was San Antonio Riverwalk day.  We did the Alamo, the river boats, and ate at Boudros for lunch. 

The Alamo

The boat (don’t you love Henry’s face?)

Look at my beautiful sisters!!!

Pioneer day—only posted 2 months late

Here’s a quick update.

Pioneer day.  Mormon holiday celebrating when the pioneers arrived in Utah.  Our stake always throws a big party.  Kettle corn, snow cones, bounce house, water balloon games, lots and lots of food, but every year the highlight is the pony rides.  This year was no exception.

Look at that cute cowboy!  And that sweet little pioneer girl.

Lizzy loved the horses.  As in when we got out of the car she made a beeline to them and she mostly just stood and watched them while we waited for our turn.  And here’s what happened when she had to get off her horse.

Is it wrong to find this picture funny?  I need to get the pictures my friend Sarah took.   She takes the best pictures of Lizzy.  Sarah, can I hire you for a photo shoot?