5 year check-up

Henry had his annual check-up with Dr. Sakkal.  Here are his stats.....

height: 43 1/2 inches (~65th %ile)

weight: 38 1/2 pounds (~35th %ile)

blood pressure: 98/52

Dr. Sakkal said that where he stands on the growth charts is right where he was last year - tall and skinny!

He also had a vision and hearing check, passed both with 100%.  

5 year birthday bash

Henry's birthday party this year was a Ninja party!  We had the party at The Cellar Gym in Minneapolis, where the kids all had a karate lesson/games, along with pizza and cupcakes too!

Mr. Bravo was the karate instructor.  He was fantastic with the kids!  He had so many activities that all involved listening skills, balance, personal space, coordination, safety, etc.  They had to respond with "YES SIR" for everything as a sign of respect (the parents were loving that part)!

Here's the crew - Joey, Owen, Nathan, Henry, Blake, Jack, Diya, Kyan, and Rohit.

Hiiiiiiiiiiya!

Happy Birthday to Henry!

5 years old

Henry is 5 years old!  Oh my, we have a 5 year old?!?  I can remember that night when my water broke.....the whole experience is still so vivid in my mind and I hope I never forget that memory.  

Of course, everybody gets breakfast in bed on their birthday in this house; it's one of Henry's favorites!  He also woke up to a bedroom FULL of balloons.   

Phil took the day off from work.  The agenda that day was completely up to the birthday boy!  He chose to head to Lilli Putt for some mini golf, go-kart rides, and bumper boats.  He sure did tell everybody that we saw that it was his birthday that day.     

He picked his favorite restaurant for lunch - Burger King!

After dinner out for pizza at Carbone's, we had Oma & Opa over for cake and ice cream to celebrate!

This is what he picked - funfetti cake, blue frosting with crazy sprinkles, ninjas, and a big #5.  Wow, there's a lot going on here!

Here's his 5-year interview I did with him.  Legos and golf were definitely the popular answers this year!  Apparently he feels that "listening to Mommy" is something he does very well?!  Hmmm.....

Memorial Day

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Jamestown with Grandma & Papa, Stephanie, and her family.  We were lucky it was nice outside, so we were pretty much out in the backyard the whole time, with a trip to the park and to the buffalo to play, as well!  Henry and Riley were inseparable, right down to the sleepovers they had each night!  

Yep, this is as good as it gets when you're trying to get a photo :)

Papa had a job to do for the Memorial Day services, so we went down to see him for the 21-gun salute.

We celebrated Papa's and Stephanie's birthdays!

Jack (2 1/2) & Lydia (1 1/2)

Red, White, & Blue :)

Preschool

We've finished another year of Preschool!  Once again, Henry was excited to go to school every single day this year.  I think he had to miss 1 day because he was sick, and it was quite hard on him :( He had the same teachers as last year - on the last day of school, they requested that they get Lydia when she gets to Preschool!  He was the youngest one in his class this year, the only 4-year-old by the end of the year!  On the last day, we had an ice cream social.  Here he is with a few of his buddies - Levi, Kaden, and AJ.  

Ms. Stacy and Ms. Sara - and look at the little photo bomber in the background :)

This was hilarious to me - "Mommy, Ashton (another little boy in his class) and I are going to be police officers when we get bigger.  I'm really hoping that some kids in my class are going to be criminals, so we can catch them and put them in jail!"

Goodbye Preschool and Hello Summer!

May

We started out the month with May Day baskets!  I feel like May Day is a lost art, but we keep trying to revive it here!  Henry didn't get caught or kissed by anybody - he's fast.....and it helped that not many people were home yet when we made our deliveries :)

The first weekend in May was absolutely beautiful, 75* and sunny!  We busted out the water table for the first time.  I whipped up some delicious mint juleps in honor of the Kentucky Derby, which we watched later that day!  My parents were here that weekend, which is when they took Henry to the Twins game. 

I was treated well on Mother's Day!  Henry LOVES the idea of breakfast-in-bed, and made it himself for me that morning - a fantastic fruit and yogurt parfait.  Phil got me a gift card for a mani/pedi and then Henry gave me his own manicure with lots of sparkles - oh, he was so proud when I would show people!  Phil took care of dinner that night, and we had his family over to celebrate all the moms.

Last week, we took a trip to the Children's Museum with Henry's buddy, Blake (or as Lydia calls him, Bweek).  I think they visited every single room and did every single activity they could!  We stayed for lunch, too.  Everyone was exhausted on the way home.

Here she is at the bubble table, right in her element.  The girl will pick bubbles any day for an activity outside.  

We've had quite a few rainy days around here lately.  Henry is SO into "markering" pictures lately, seriously he'll color for an entire afternoon.  I've been able to talk him into painting for a couple days.

 We cut up a potato into different shaped chunks and painted with those one day.

Henry is getting ready to say goodbye to another year of preschool at the end of this week.  Here he is with his buddies out on the playground last week after class one day (Kaden, Levi, and AJ).

Grounds Crew Buddy

My parents got their hands on some Twins tickets a couple weekends ago and made the trip down here to see them play the White Sox.  That alone would have been a fun afternoon for Henry, but my dad also made a few calls to the Twins' grounds crew and got Henry on the roster to be one of the Grounds Crew Buddies for the day! How fun, thanks!!!  

After the 5th inning, TC escorted Henry out to 1st base where he helped him put a fresh clean base down.  After their very important job was done, TC held his little hand all the way around the bases until they got here for a picture.  The video was so cute, as Henry was alternating between skipping and speed walking with that big bear.  What a great day! 

The Twins won big that day, too - even better!