And the sun did shine.

For two miraculously wonderful days, the sun graced us with her presence.

The tree in the background makes it look like he has hair. Score!

There was lighter wind, winter coats were ditched and allergic reactions to sunscreen commenced. Oh how glorious it was. I'd rather not talk about the coming forecast, nor how the trees outside my window are practically horizontal.

Don't we all wish we looked this cool. And yes, he is saying "hat."

In happier news, a belated Christmas gift showed up on our front porch today. Hello, beautiful home-brewing kit, we shall put you to good use.

When April acts like December.

April, let's be honest for a moment. I kind of hate you. You are super cold and windy and why must you insist on snowing?

The poor weather and Jake's busy-ness with track has started to make this mama go a little bit stir crazy. So when you have already visited the grocery store, Shopko and Family Dollar multiple times, just what do you do?

You stop doing the dishes and instead make the dependent earn his keep.

You start to play the risky game: Can the toddler put the lens cap on Daddy's expensive camera?

You read and you read and you read. While this book was about trucks, Henry's very favorite book is currently America's Patriotic Primer. Oh yes, it is.

You pretend your son is a daughter.

You have the wee one inspect all the light switches just to make sure they are still working.

You make chubby hands work on fine motor skills..he's putting cheerios on a spaghetti noodle that's stuck in playdough.

You paint in the tub, of course.

You listen to "Froggy Went A Courtin' 72 times.

When you have a big head

and short little arms, some things are just plain hard. Take for instance, throwing a soccer ball successfully over one's head. Just how do you do it?
****
This is going to be the one. I'm feeling confident. I can do it!

Victory will be mine.

Or maybe not.

Maybe if I didn't have so much hair, I could do it?

It's Vegas, baby.

On Tuesday with the windchill it was -1. Oh how I wish to be back in the land of sun...or more specifically in the land of sun where the sun does indeed warm your body.

We definitely did not have a traditional  Spring Break in Vegas type of trip. Yes, we did  have two toddlers in our traveling party and a set of grandparents but let's be honest, the four of us who were in our early thirties were definitely the most lame. It is very, very true that two of the nights we were there were were asleep by 930. Hey, Dadda's gotta get his beauty sleep. :)

The lights and sounds of Vegas were perfect entertainment for our little boys.  The barely dressed women (sorry no picture) and drunken frat-like boys, not so much.

After the Bellagio Fountain Show. Henry was actually looking past the camera and some cute girls in tiny "clothes." Oi.

Please pretend I am not wearing a UO hat.

Henry was obviously thrilled to be part of this self portrait.

After awhile, Henry decided he did not need his stoic face at the pool and smiled for a change. Remember his expression last time he was documented in the pool?

And, yes, he helped himself to another child's ball and had no intentions of giving it back.

Giving the adults a break from chasing us all over!

It turns out going to the pool with a 16 and 20 month old is a bit of work, but they sure look cute. I'm pretty sure this was Koen's 4th apple of the day.

Our favorite traveling companions. 

We are almost positive that Koen would have preferred  Henry not be on this trip.

And while it may appear that is it nighttime, it is in fact 9 am. And of course those are mimosas. We are sooo wild.

And we're off....hopefully

Is there no greater house guest than one who brings  you the stomach flu? I used to think no. The one who brings you the stomach flu has to be the best. But when Henry came down with croup the day before we were to leave my parents abode (after two weeks of throwing up, teething and general 15 month old mischief) and was black listed from flying, I changed my mind. Now the house guest who just won't leave has to be the best.

Tomorrow well before the sun even thinks about coming up, we'll be on our way to the airport. Or at least that is the hope. And in case after 21 days his dadda has forgotten what he looks like, here is the boy responsible for most of the ailments this trip. Good thing you're cute, boo.

And would you believe that while we were here, the boy grew some hair! Yeah, I know you don't believe me, but I had to use shampoo the other night. Oh yes I did.

15 months

Life just gets better and better with this turd around. His 15 month well baby check had him weighing in at 23 pounds 3 ounces and 31 1/2 inches long. Both around the fiftieth percentile. They didn't give me his head measurements but said that big old thing was leveling out, and then asked who in our family had a big head. I ,of course, blamed his father.

I'm hilarious, and can you believe I stayed in one spot for more than 2 seconds?

 He is such a character. One of Henry's newest tricks is climbing up onto our entertainment center and throwing anything he can get his hands on to the ground. Pretty sure we are going to need to glue down our TV or it'll be going down next. He's also figured out how to throw/fling pretty much everything else so coming to our house is now a bit risky. I do realize that perhaps we should teach him to not throw inside, but uh, we live in Wyoming! It's winter here 10 months out of the year...if he doesn't throw in the house he won't stand a chance at becoming a professional athlete and thus paying for our retirement. We will have none of that. He's also added, "hola" and "ouch" to his vocabulary and can sign "brush teeth". Oh the brilliance! His favorite sign continues to be "hat" which continues to be oh to helpful in every day life. :)

I want to kiss you!

H man and I are going to Portland Saturday morning...here's to hoping for a delightful toddler who wins over the crowds and doesn't communicate via screams for our two hour flight.

The boy speaks.

At the moment I can't think of anything more fun than listening to my little man talk. I know the time will come when I will be wishing he had never learned but for now we are loving it.

If you had any idea how long it took me to figure out how to get this video small enough to load on the internet, you wouldn't dare mention that it plays through twice.

How much do you love Henry's fantastically large cloth diaper? We're experimenting with using them for overnights as well as during the day...yeah for more poop to dump into la toilet.

And one more for the road.

He knows quite a few more words but apparently his contract will allow him only so many at one time for the camera.