Henry's Friend Dylan

Henry was invited to his first ever birthday party which we attended Saturday.  His friend from school Dylan turned 3 and his parents graciously invited the kids from school to his birthday party at Monkey Joe's. 

The party was from 10:30am - 12:30pm, which is ideal timing for these crazy preschoolers.  Henry didn't waste even a second before he started running from inflatable to inflatable with his friends.  There were four friends from school there, Camden who turns 3 in August, Caitlin who turns 3 in October, and Dylan the birthday boy.   

Henry and I have checked out Pump it Up before, which he also loved, but I have to say that Monkey Joe's is definitely geared more toward younger kids.  I would probably wait until Henry turned 5 before having a party at Pump it Up where as Monkey Joe's is perfect for 2-4 year olds. 

Loving life.

Big hug for Monkey Joe!! 

Sliding down with Dylan.  I am pretty sure Dylan and Henry get into some trouble together at school.  It was so fun to watch them interact!  They kept asking each other 'Henry - ready to go to the next one??' and they would wait until the other was ready to sprint to the next station.  That night while we said prayers I asked Henry if there was anyone else he wanted to pray for and he said 'pray for my friend Dylan'.  Pretty cute. 

 Waiting patiently.

Time for cake.  Dylan's mom Tara got the coolest dinosaur cake.  The head popped out from the cake automatically!  Henry helped blow out the candles.

Checking out Dylan's new dinosaur while Dylan opened more presents.

Sporting his dino tat that he got in his goodie bag from the party.

Henry had such a fun day, and honestly so did I.  I loved watching him run around with his friends being Mr. Social.  He may have inherited that from his mom... 

Sprinkler Fun

Last night we got out the sprinkler and had some fun in the front yard.  Both kids were very interested, but I think Hannah gets the award for being the most brave!  She wasn't quite sure what hit her!

Celebrating the Life of Morgan

This past Tuesday I headed back to Cedar Rapids to spend time with my best friend since the 6th grade Emilie to celebrate the life of her younger brother.  Her brother Morgan, who was just 28 years old, passed away on July 1st from complications with meningitis after a 3 year battle with Leukemia.  

Emilie is one of the most intelligent and strongest women I know.  Her strength through the past three years has been amazing and I truly look up to her.   

Tuesday night was the visitation, followed by a get together at a local bar called Wild Hogs....yes I said it right, Wild Hogs.  It was so great to catch up with old friends and celebrate the life of Morgan.  Wednesday morning was his beautiful ceremony which Emilie did a great job organizing and speaking at. 



Emilie sporting the hat Morgan bought her.  Heidi, me, Emilie and Kristin - high school friends that have kept in touch over the years!



I am so sad for you Emilie and can not imagine what you are going through.  Morgan was so lucky to have such an amazing sister, and I'm lucky to have such an amazing friend. 

Waterpark Times 2

We went to the hotel waterpark both days we were there.  The kids just couldn't get enough of it.  Henry and Camron weren't quite tall enough to ride the big slides, but they had the perfect smaller slide for them to ride down.  Camron could do it by himself, Henry still needed a lap to sit on.  He loved it and wanted to go over and over again.

Aunt Heidi taking a turn...or 10...down the slide with Henry.

Hannah playing in the splash pool. 

Henry waiting his turn for the lily pads - he did such a great job!

Getting on...

And crossing all by himself!  He also did this a time or ten...

Getting ready for day two of swimming.  Playing in window sills is always so fun for kids.

Grandpa Schmidt made the best peanut butter cookies.  They were SO good.  We definitely ate them for breakfast each morning - nothing better than cookies when you wake up.

Henry didn't forget his goggles the second day.  They were so fogged up the entire time I'm not sure how he could see - but he loved them.  And check out that mohawk!

Grandma Schmidt and Hannah.

Playing pool side with Aunt Heidi and Uncle Nathan. 

Camron jumping into the water!

I highly recommend staying at a hotel that has a waterpark, or at least a pool if you have the chance.  It is so fun to watch the kids play in the water.  What a fun time! 

Waterpark Fun

Henry has become so brave, wait, let me rephrase that....Henry is still so brave - I don't think he has ever been scared to try anything.  So when cousin Camron was running and jumping in the pool to Grandpa Schmidt, you better believe Henry was right behind him.  Take a look!

By the end of the day Henry had an inner tube around his waist and was jumping in the pool with no one there to catch him (Andy close by of course)!  I was pretty impressed. 

Schmidt Family Vacation - Children's Museum

Saturday started the first day of the annual Schmidt Family Vacation.  We all met up at Coral Ridge Mall.  Ate some food and headed to the Children's Museum. 

Henry loves the rides at the mall. 

Even Hannah got to drive one of the cars!

First stop at the Children's Museum is the grocery store!  Camron loading up on goodies!

As you can see, Hannah is into climbing on everything now!

Driving the ambulance.

Making pizzas.  Everyone helped!

Then onto the golf ball/car exhibit.  This was probably one of the favorites for Henry.

Hannah loving the slide.

Perfect crawl space for her.

How hilarious are these outfits?!  Top Gun??!!

Playing in her own sized plane.

We still aren't sure how Andy fit up there!  It was a tight squeeze.

Aunt Heidi took Hannah down the big slide - she loved it!  It was a little faster than expected according to Heidi's face.

Look at those beautiful eyes.

Henry loves his trains.

Hannah was exhausted so we left to walk around the mall and do some shopping.  By the time we met back up with everyone she was out cold!  We then loaded everyone up and headed to the Cars 2 movie.  Henry lasted about 30 minutes, which is longer than we expected!  It was pretty funny watching him sit in the big theatre next to his cousins commenting on the show and eating popcorn. 

We headed back to Williamsburg and checked into the hotel.  We had dinner at Pizza Haus, a family favorite, and then headed back to the hotel to wind down. 

I'll post more pictures from our fun weekend tomorrow!

Fourth of July Neighborhood Parade

We had such a great Fourth of July weekend!  It was filled with family and fun.  We spent the majority of the weekend with the Schmidt family on our annual family vacation (which I took 100 pictures of and will update later).  Today we got home around 3pm and got ready for the 7th annual neighborhood kids parade!! 

Hannah trying out her first sucker, which she loved.  She slobbered most of it on Grandma Deaner - but loved every bit of it!

Miss Hannah walking around. 

Henry playing football with Uncle Brian.

Reading books on the Ipad.

Pushing the kids in the parade!  Henry is so good at peddling now that you barely have to push him. 

Brianna and Brian finished the last loop of the parade for us - Thanks guys!! As you can see by the look on Henry face, he loved the parade!

Family pic after the parade was over.  

Check out Henry's festive American Flag's on his bike. Courtesy of daddy the decorator (he wears many hats).

We ended the night eating Flag Cake - a staple for celebrating the Fourth of July at our house. 

The kids are exhausted, and well, we are exhausted too!  We had such a great weekend.  I really love every minute of summer.  Hope everyone had a fabulous Fourth! 

Daycare 4th of July Parade

We love the daycare that Henry and Hannah attend.  They always have fun themes planned for the kids, and most important, they truly love our kiddos.  Back in May, they held a 'Muffins for Mom' event on the Friday before Mother's Day.  I had a conference that day, and being the first event since we enrolled, I didn't think it was a big deal to miss out.  Little did I know that pretty much every other mom was there that morning (10 of the 12).  When I saw all the pictures hanging on the wall with the kids with their moms I felt horrible - so bad that tears came to my eyes. 

So I made sure going forward that we would try our hardest to never miss another event.  If you know Andy and I, you know that we are very supportive parents, and the last thing we would ever want our kids to think is that they aren't the most important things in the world to us.  And if you know me, I maybe turned this into a bigger deal than it needed to be....but that is just me!

So you better believe that we didn't miss 'Donuts for Dad' (even though Andy had a 7:30am meeting that morning, we woke up 30 minutes early just to make sure to be there).  And today I made sure to show up for the 'Kids Company Parade'. 

Here are a few pics from their cute parade this morning:

Henry lining up with his classmates waving the streamers they made.

Chillin with his sister - Henry was very nice and let Hannah wave his streamer.

Henry decided he wanted his streamer back...Hannah wasn't too happy...

Popsicles after the parade!

Yum!

Sitting in the shade enjoying some yummy treats.

It was hard to leave, since they both thought they got to come home with me.  But luckily Henry has his weekly 'swim day' today, so he was easily distracted with that.

Hope everyone has a great 4th!!