Getting His Energy Back

Batman has been working hard fighting crime lately.

Naps are a necessity.

Strawberry Milk, Anyone?

I found this waiting for me on the counter the other day.

Clearly someone got a little excited with the strawberry syrup.

Henry wasn't taking the blame for it. 

He immediately threw Josh under the bus.

He could have at least attempted to drink it before he abandoned it.

Winning the Prize

Luke had another school skating party the other day.

My favorite!

Henry continued to want absolutely nothing to do with me. He's getting a lot more steady on the skates, though!  Luke would check in here and there, but mostly hung around with his friends.  Josh Oliver was on Fisher Price skates, so he was on his own, but still let me skate around with him.

It was a great balance!

When they did the Spin the Arrow game, Ollie and I skated on over to where Henry was sitting.  As soon as we sat down, he got up and moved a ways down the wall.

He completely shunned us!

Oddly enough, he was shocked when the arrow landed on me and I opted to give my ginormous pixie-stick prize to the boy who actually wanted to hang around me. 

The only time he needed my help!

Siete

On Friday, we had a Mexican Fiesta to celebrate Henry J's birthday.

He really wanted to have his party at Chuck E. Cheese this year. 

Every time he mentioned it, though, I felt like I was seconds from breaking out in hives.  The thought of even having to step foot in that place is just too much for me.

I convinced him that a party at home would be just as fun.  He agreed as long as he could have a pinata.  It was a deal that I was more than happy to make!

*   *   *   *   *

More than anything, Henry wanted a Nintendo 3D DS.  Other than a couple of small things, that was the only thing on both his birthday and Christmas lists. 

I made a rule when Luke was 6 that if any of the boys wanted a DS before they were 8 they had to save up their money and buy it on their own.  (It seems like a good rule, but not as practical as it seemed at the time.  I have since learned my lesson not to make long lasting, rigid rules!)

Henry is in no way a saver, so he was totally relying on his birthday for his pricey purchase.

Luckily, he got the message out loud and clear!

He ended up with enough to buy not only his 3D DS but also a game to go along with it. 

He was ecstatic!

*   *   *   *   *

In the end, Henry was happy with his Fiesta.

He got his pinata!  He got everything on his wish list--including lots of candy!  And, the kids had an awesome dance party in the basement!

On top of that, the food was much better and I kept my sanity!

At some point I'm going to have to give in to Chuck E. Cheese......Lord help me.

 

The Art Gallery

Henry has quite the art display going on in his room.

Army scenes always dominate his drawings!

Well, Hello 2012!

We rang in the new year with a friendly game of cards at Gretchen's.

We let the kids play with us for awhile, but, after one round of cards, we booted them to thier own table.  (They are entirely too good at both playing cards and the trash talking that goes along with it!)

Ben and Henry both won.  I, unfortunately, didn't win a single penny. 

I was sad about that, but it was still a fun night and a great way to send out 2010!

When we left at 1:30, everyone except Josh Oliver, was still wide awake and running around, but within a mile they were all out cold.

It's always a good night when they go from being fun little party animals to completely asleep in 5 minutes!

*   *   *   *   *

Ben and I had already braced ourselves for a rough New Years morning. 

Luke was scheduled to serve 7:30 Mass. 

Trying to get all three of them up and ready for 7:30 Mass is hard enough on a normal Sunday, but when they've only had 5 hours of sleep, it's really tough.

To make it all worse, Ben got called into work at 3:30 in the morning. 

It was sad for all of us!

At 6:30, I was doing everything I could to get those boys up.  I could barely get them to open their eyes let alone sit up and get dressed. 

I was starting to get frantic. 

Luke had to be at Mass.

Finally I called Gigi and she saved the day by coming over to watch the other two boys, while we went to Mass.

We also discovered that day that no doughnut shops are open on New Years Day.

I had bribed Luke with doughnuts in the wee hours of the morning before I had that little bit of knowledge. 

He ended up getting Dillons doughnuts.  They certainly aren't as good as Lamar's, but they filled in alright.

Ben also called and requested some doughnuts.  They were all starving, sleep deprived, and nowhere near being able to leave.

They got day old Krispy Kreme's from Dillons.  Those are definitely not Lamar's quality, but luckily in thier state they didn't care!

It was an unfortunate day to not have delicious doughnuts available.

Ben finally made it home by 8:30 or 9:00 that night. 

To say that he was tired was an understatment!

*   *   *   *   *

My New Years resolution is the same as last year--Do It Now.

My problem isn't really with procrastination, I just don't like the pressure of having to get things done.

I have found that when I leave things to the end, I get really stressed out and anxious at just the thought of my to-do list.  I ususally just end up abandoning all the little fun extras I had planned and just work on getting the basics done.

I love to-do lists, so that's not the problem.  I just really need to do things when I feel like I have plenty of time to get them done--then it's a win-win!

It worked out well for me last year, but I definitely need to keep working at it!

Do You Want to Play?

For Christmas, the boys got a ping pong set.

Super fun!

None of us are any good.

That includes Ben, who claims to be the 1987 Ping Pong Champion.

(He just never gets tired of that joke!)