Sarah is drawing a rainbow.

Mine on the left and Sarah's imitation on the right.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to: Anna , Sarah

Henry had his one-year appointment this morning with a new doctor. The doctor I've always taken Anna to in town is not current on how to care for uncircumcised boys so I found two doctors in the Houston area who are. One is in Houston and the other is just on the other side of the freeway from our house. The clinic was definitely a little different than the office I take the girls but I did like the doctor and will Henry seen by her from now on. She's a little more hands-off than the first one (more toward the Korean style of care) but hopefully we'll just be there for vaccinations and yearly check-ups.

Henry did great but I didn't get his numbers written down so I can't share his latest stats with you. I'll have to call them or stop by to see if I can get them. Sarah whacked her head on a chair when she was spinning and spinning and spinning around the room but otherwise everything went well.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to: Henry

I haven't finished putting together the whole bear portrait collage but I'll try to remember to post it here when I do. We were so busy with the party stuff yesterday that the bear picture waited until today. Happy one year, Henry! We love you!! (Sometimes I call Henry "Henry-Bear" because it is similar sounding to "honey-bear.")

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to: Henry

Anita sent these cute cupcake toppers. We wish she could have been at the party but we know she was in spirit! It was funny to watch the adults hem and haw over which cupcake they wanted based on the toppers.

We had a nice birthday party for Henry today. We made pizzas (they were supposed to be grilled but the grill died this week. Not unexpected for a $99 grill we bought five years ago!) and had cupcakes and cake. We had two sets of neighbors and two sets of friends over which made this probably the smallest of the three kids first birthday parties. Only grandma was able to make it of the four grandparents and we were happy she was here both to help celebrate the day and to help with the prep-work! (Thanks, mom!)

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to: Henry Lawrence

Yes, it is hard to believe that a year has gone by since Henry arrived on the scene! The last few months have gone by especially fast with the move. Henry came into the world and the Korean nurses announced that our baby was "a prince" and he really has been. I called him "Mr. Wonderful" early on and he has proven to be the easiest of the three kids so far. I don't know if that's what third kids just do or if we just got really lucky.

Henry is starting to sign and make a few specific noises (trumpeting like an elephant, mooing like a cow) and has a tiny interest in walking (he really liked the alligator walking toy from Nana & Papa) but is such a good crawler that I don't know how long it will take him to venture out on his own. He is in between Anna & Sarah in his level of daring at this age. (Sarah is not very daring any more but she was at one year, that's for sure! Anna has always been on the cautious side.)

He is definitely the most social of the three kids. From the start he always seemed content if you would just sit and chat with him; but he also likes to watch his sisters and he is starting to annoy them like a good little brother should by tearing apart whatever they're playing with or trying to eat their toys or just drooling on them.

He is starting to put things in containers and really study his toys. He is magnetically drawn to all electronics and cords (he takes after his father!). He loves to take baths (although it is really not fun to give him one because he does not sit still) and he's climbing up the stairs and cruising everywhere. He loves drums and other musical instruments and he likes to read (I think more than Sarah at this age but probably not as much as Anna did at this age). I am looking forward to some one-on-one time with him this fall while the girls are in school.

Henry you are one amazing kid and we can't wait to watch you grow and learn over the next year!

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to: Anna , Henry Lawrence , Sarah

Anna and Sarah do this thing that they call "spinning a dial." They take one another's hand and then spin each other around until they get dizzy. Sarah wants to do this much more than Anna and gets very upset when Anna doesn't want to do it any more. If I offer to do it then she insists she only wants to "spin a dial with a kid." Probably because I don't last very long at all!

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to: Anna , Sarah , isms

The crystals grew quite a bit more during the night!

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to: Anna , Sarah

The start (watching the liquid go up the cardboard).

Four hours: the biggest one we got.

I got this crystal kit at Lakeshore Learning. Sarah wanted to try some of them outside but we had to bring them in part-way through the growing because it started raining. The ones that started outside were the best growers of the bunch! My mom & I talked about making rock candy, too, but decided there is too much to do to get ready for Henry's party so we'll have to try that another day.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to: Anna , Sarah

Waiting for class to start.

Anna on the un-even bars.

I am constantly telling the girls that they are not allowed to "do gymastics" in the house so I signed them up for actual classes. The girls do their warm-up together but then are in separate classes organized by age. Sarah had a little freak-out when I dropped her off. I ran a bunch of errands during the 45 minute class and came back to see them both participating very reluctantly. We're signed up for a month (one day per week) of classes plus there is an open-gym night each week. We'll see how it goes!

My mom & I did take the girls to open gym tonight and they tried a few things but mostly liked to run and jump into a pit filled with foam blocks. Well, Sarah would run, stop, and then climb down into them. Finally one of the teachers took her hands to help her jump in and then she switched to the new method: run, stop, jump. Anna had a blast running and jumping to see how far she could go. Sarah had a major meltdown when it was time to go (she didn't want it to end). I hope I don't have to witness that again next week!

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to: Anna , Sarah

Sam & Ally came over this morning for a playdate. Kim brought her nanny and Grandma was visiting, too, so the adult to child ratio wasn't totally out of control. However, my girls didn't play as well with Sam & Ally because they were too excited to see Grandma. (Not that Anna & Sarah would have actually played with Sam & Ally but they weren't with them as much as I wanted them to be.)

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to: Anna , Sarah