Henry at 18 months

I have noticed a huge mental growth spurt now that Henry is 18 months. As you can see in a couple of the pictures below, he has actually started to take interest in toys.  He really likes the playmobil figures, and likes to line up the horses.  Sometimes he decides to throw them a couple of minutes later, but he is really beginning to be able to focus.  Along with that, he can focus on television for a bit.  Sometimes the girls will watch a tv show before dinner.  I'll turn it on for them (well, basically paige will turn it on) and go into the kitchen to make dinner.  Henry sometimes follows me, but other times stays in the family room to play.  I'll go to check on him a few minutes later, and often he has climbed up on the couch to watch Barbie, or whatever they are watching.

He has also started to say a lot more words.  His "mommy" and "Daddy" are very clear now, although he also says "mama" and "dada".  If he hears the front door open he says "Dada!!"

He likes to say "Mine!", and also says foot, bunny, and go. His "go" doesn't mean anything, just that he is singing the song "Let it go".

He is really interested in the fireplace, and luckily we have the one in the kitchen which is nice and high up which we can turn on.  Every time he goes in his highchair he points to the switch and asks me to turn it on.  As soon as the flames start shoots his hand out and blows out.  That means it's hot.  If I say that it's hot he then points to our candles on the table to indicate that they are also hot.  When we read "goodnight moon" and see the fireplace photos he also does the same hand motion so I know that its hot.  When I say that it's a fireplace he points to his door and says some baby talk, meaning that we also have a fireplace at home.

The cuteness factor of an 18 month old is through the roof.  I love that he's really interacting and aware of things around him. At lunch today while I was tidying up, he suddenly pointed outside and made a sound like "there it is!" When I said, "what was it?", he said "bunny!"

As the weather gets colder and we're in the house more, it's nice that he is so interested in playing with new things and doing new things to keep ourselves busy.

He is back to being fine with baths again, and not terrified:

Mad about his snow suit.

In the new jammie pants I made him:

First time walking around in the snow:

Here is Henry focused and playing.  So cute I can hardly stand it when he does this:

Royal winter fair

We wanted to go to the fair this year for the dog show, and of course the horses.  We still haven't seen a horse show as the times haven't worked, but we took a look at the stables and saw some gigantic Belgians.  Of course we watched the dog show though. 

Paige rode a mechanical bull:

Halloween 2014 edition

Fun Halloween times! Cold outside, but not cold enough to compromise the look of the costumes.  i.e. no snow suits required!

First of all in the morning, the girls went to school in their costumes. Both had a parade at school, and I went to watch Rose's.  Henry was unhappy for the 20 minutes that we had to wait, and then settled down once the music started and the kids walked by in the costumes.  Some pretty amazing homemade costumes.  I was surprised.  

Henry's first time trick-or-treating and he had a blast! After doing half the crescent they came home to drop off some candy, as Henry was spilling it out of his bucket.  Right away he walked out the door and headed out for more.  He walked the entire way and carried his little pumpkin bucket.  He was really mad when they came home.  The girls had so much fun and would have been able to do many more houses than just our street, but really it was a matter of keeping the treats to a minimum! 

I find it bizarre that kids knock on the door when we have turned off all of the lights and blown the pumpkin out.  Weird.  Probably because we mostly get old kids at our house. Actually I can count the number of little kids that came to the door: 3.  I wonder if that means we'll get fewer trick or treaters in the next few years as the old ones get too old.

New helmet!

Henry was using the girls' old Dora helmet, which was essentially fine, but the fact that it had a crack in it let us get him a new more boyish dinosaur one.  He loves to get pushed around on the trike.  Not much time until it gets freezing again!

RBG Great Pumpkin Trail

We got tickets to a super cool event at the RBG.  It was the Great Pumpkin Trail, on an evening the week before Halloween.  Essentially it was a walk through the woods, lit only by hundreds of pumpkins. When we got there it was getting dark, but by the time we got in the trail it was pitch black.  What a great Halloween activity. The trail wasn't entirely stroller friendly, and at one point we had to collapse the stroller and carry it through a narrow opening in a fence (and not to mention the tree roots and everything that we couldn't see in the dark).  It said to bring flashlights or glow sticks, and I just brought glow sticks since I thought that was just for the kids.  We had to use the flashlight on my phone at times to make sure we were going the right way.  After the trail there was a stop for hot chocolate and chocolate fondue, a campfire with a children's band, and then a fire show.  

Totally going to go back next year.  I have to write it in the calendar and remember to get tickets.  

Carving time...

Brushing teeth

Someone LOVES brushing his teeth! He especially likes standing on the stool like a big boy and sticking his toothbrush in the water.  He would brush them for 10 minutes if we let him, but eventually he starts wandering around the house, so we have to take the toothbrush away.  Then he cries.

St. Albert fun!

As one of our children smashed the lens of our camera, we could only take photos on our trip with our phones.  Kind of a bummer, but we got lots of cousin photos in the summer at our house.  So no big deal.  The reason for the trip to Alberta was Mike's scheduled hunting trip.  We decided to take advantage of it and have the entire family tag along to do some visiting at the same time.  We hadn't been back to Alberta for a couple of years, and not since Henry was born.  We did gets lots of visiting in, and the girls and Lizzy had TONS of play time.  It was really special for them to get to bond like that.  They miss Lizzy and ask to see her a lot, especially Rose as they are the same age.  As the kids get older it'll make more sense to visit when school is off, but for now it was fine to miss a week.  While we were gone though, the weather in Burlington was amazing, and the weather in St. Albert was freezing!! 

It was really so great to see everyone, and nice that people got to meet Henry, and we got to meet Lincoln and Juliet for the first time too (the other new kids!)

Grandpa Jerry and Henry.  Poor Henry had a major cold at this point. 

Paige's must do activity: Galaxyland:

 We also spent some time at Servus Place.  Mike even took all 3 kids swimming one day when I came down with Henry's cold and needed to have a nap.  He met up with Uncle Tyson too.

On our last night we went to Auntie Judy's for a dinner.

Great Group photo!

The boys were so cute together.  Lewis would reach over and pull on Henry's tray so he could inch over and steal his food.

 Luckily we had a reasonable flight time on the way home.  Henry was still very sick though and not happy on the plane.  I finally got him to sleep after a long period of screaming.  I think everyone on the plane was relieved.  He woke up as we were getting closer to home though and Mike held him for a while as henry screamed and rubbed his ears.  Poor little guy.  I'm glad our next flight will be to Florida, and it will be a lot shorter....

Off to Edmonton!

The beginning of our journey to Alberta at the end of September.  Early morning flight. The girls love nothing more than to begun a journey in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning.  They think it's fun in the dark, and like going straight into the car from their beds. 

Ok these car seats have got to go...time to grow kids!

Breakfast in the Plaza Premium Lounge

Henry with tape on his face.  I bought the tape as a distraction tactic. 

Too bad this next photo is blurry.  The girls wheel their suitcases like pros now.  No issues at all and the cases always stay upright.  Plus they are fast in the airport now, even if it's the middle of the night.
This photo is the kids walking down the aisle to get off the plane.  Henry was sure happy to walk around.  He wasn't happy on the flight!