Our Little Man

Henry. Just thinking of him brings a smile to my face. Henry loves to do a lot of things, but what he loves to do most is laugh, and when he laughs, you can't help but laugh with him. His giggle is so darn contagious. His other favorites:

1. Dad. When he wakes up, the first thing he says is, "Where ih Da?" If Mark's not around, he's majorly ticked.

2. Playing with Dad in the shed.

3. Tools to play with in the shed (They're pint-size and real, plus he has wood and cardboxes to pound.)

4. Tractors and trucks. (Sometimes he even sleeps with them. Is he a boy or what?)

5. Water. He loves taking baths, and this summer he had no fear about jumping in the pool.

6. Taking the small grocery cart at our local grocery store and running around the store with it, causing the other shoppers to jump out of the way (and then grin, because you can't help but laugh at this kid with a HUGE smile tearing by with a mini cart.)

7. The book Llama Llama Red Pajama. Although this is wearing off, for a while he slept with this book and had it read several times each day.

8. Painting, or any other activity that means making a mess.

9. Running (and ending with a jumpstop) and climbing. He is famous for turning over garbage cans, boxes, baskets . . . whatever it takes to help him reach whatever is out of his reach.

10. Giving Lucy (Woo-ee) kisses and playing with Isabelle (Ihabelle). They actually all get along so well, and he and Isabelle really get into cahoots with each other.

Oh how we love our dear boy (even though lately some of the giggles have been replaced with fits and whining). He adds an incredible amount of joy to our lives.

Other pictures:

Henry mad because he wants to go to the shed with Da (and he doesn't want his picture taken.)

This year's dragon costume


He's really into cheesy smiles, and he loves squinting up his eyes for the camera.





His 2nd birthday

Our Waterpark Adventure

Wow! I started this entry a week ago, and I'm finally getting around to uploading pictures! I'm not sure where the weeks disappeared to. We left on the 15th for Green Bay where we met up with my parents, the rest of my siblings, and all the kiddos for four fun-filled days. There are 24 of us in all! We took in two of my brother Michael's games. They won both . . . go Green Bay! The kids were so cute in the UWGB gear, although the 3rd year in the cheerleading skirts means they're getting a little short. They cheered really loud, held up their signs "I wanna be like Uncle Mike" and "Pound the Penguins", and even made it on the big screen a few times. The balloon lady was there the 2nd game, so they even got some really fancy balloon hats.

The whole gang after the game

Uncle Mike's biggest fans

Isabelle in her balloon hat

Henry and James with "crazy hair" hats

Adelle, Dani, Benjamin, and Isabelle hanging out on the court after the game.

The rest of the time, it was waterpark, waterpark, hotel room, waterpark. It's not a very big waterpark by any means, but it suited my kids just fine. This is the first year that they just LOVED the waterslides, and we went up and down and up and down. Mom and Dad got tired out! :) Henry loved to say, "Chugga chugga choo choo!" while whizzing down the slides, while Isabelle just screamed, "Weeeeeeeeeeeee!" At times we needed more adults to take the kids up and down the slides! They also loved the kiddie pool, the "hot pool", and the lazy river.

Isabelle and Dani in the "hot pool"

Auntie Ann and Henry in the pool.

Isabelle sporting some goggles.

Even Lucy joined in the water fun!

All the girl cousins (except Lucy): Amelia, Taylor, Juliana (in back), Isabelle, Adelle, and Dani

We had three hotel rooms, and one was a loft that slept 10 people. That was our main hang-out zone where we played some games, visited, and ATE. We definitely weren't lacking in the yummy food department, and everyone ate and drank their fill over the weekend. All of the kids were so incredibly good and that made the trip even more fun. What a joy it is to have such a wonderful family!

Yes, we are definitely counting ourselves as being VERY blessed . . . a little water logged, but very, very blessed! :)

Isabelle got her hair cut!

Isabelle decided a long time ago that she wanted to get her hair cut, but Mom just wasn't ready to let it go. We compromised by trimming it a few times, but wanted it to get long enough to donate to Locks of Love. Finally, the day arrived! We went to our friend Kelly's today and now all 10+ inches of hair are in an envelope ready to be sent off to get made into a wig for a sick child. No one shed any tears, not even Mom! Here are some pics:

Wow! Look at all that hair!

Isabelle making a funny face for the camera.

Here comes the big chop!

Isabelle with friend and hair stylist Kelly.

Here's our girl with her new 'do. She looks like a completely different girl. Although I am kind of mourning the loss of braids (or the option of braids since she rarely let me do it), we're excited to keep it out of her eyes and not have to deal with tangles or the tears that accompanied each hair combing. Isabelle often acts like she's 3 going on 13, and now her hairdo has caught up. Our little girl really is growing up. Too fast.

Our Happy Chubby Baby

Lucy is a VERY happy, content baby. It doesn't take much to get her smiling, and when she does, she smiles with her whole body, getting her arms and legs into it too. Henry and Isabelle were both pretty happy babes too, but Lucy seems to smile all the time. If she's not smiling, she's just checking it all out (and probably taking notes on what her older siblings are doing!) She spends quite a bit of time hanging out in the sling and gets a prime seat on all the action from there. She certainly brings lots of joy to everyone who sees her.

Lucy is also super strong. Since about a month, she has preferred standing on our laps. She is already trying to squirm around on the floor, and she does mini-crunches if she's laying on her back. Now, she can sit unsupported for a few seconds at a time. Slow down, baby girl!

My only complaint about my dear girl is that she isn't the best sleeper. At naptimes, we recently discovered that a down blanket in her carseat works like a charm, but at night, she knows that the place to be is cuddled up close to Mom, and she won't rest until that's exactly where she is. Oh well . . . a small complaint, and I know that some day I'll wish for these days of cuddling, so I'm soaking it all in.

Here are some pics:

One of her first smiles captured on camera (by Isabelle) at 1 month.

On her Baptism day at 2 months.

Smiling in her swing at 3 months (Can you see her dimple?)

This one just grabs my heartstrings!

In the wrapping paper on Christmas morning at 4 months.




Did I mention that she is chubby? I took the above picture of her legs the other day just to capture how chunky she is. (I couldn't get it to move to the bottom of the entry, so it took on headline status!) I just love it!

Christmas pictures

Today we dressed our kids back up in their Christmas clothes to take some pictures (hey, it's really cold outside . . . nothing else to do!) to take some pictures that didn't happen on Christmas day. Gotta love the cheesy smiles!

What a sweet baby our Lucy is!

We had to bribe Henry by saying he could go out to the shed with Dad if he took some nice pictures. It worked!

Isabelle needs no bribing; she's always willing to take a picture!

Mom even gets her picture taken once in a while!

How to Do Laundry (or Why it Takes 5 Hours to Start a Load of Laundry)

How to do laundry at the Measner house:
1. Separate darks and lights.
2. Separate stained clothing.
3. Load most of clothing into wash machine, keeping out those with stains.
4. For stains on clothing you care about, scrub by hand with detergent. Let soak if the stain doesn't come out. For stains on clothes you don't care about, simply spray on stain remover and hope for the best.
5. Get interrupted in the middle of scrubbing to comfort Henry who has woken up crabby from his nap, saying "Where is Da?"
6. Call Mark (in the shed) to tell him that Henry wants to come out to the shed (Mark says he's coming inside in 10 minutes).
7. Further try to stop crying by telling Henry he can play outside later.
8. Soothe Lucy who has decided that the Exersaucer is no longer entertaining.
9. Nurse Lucy while continuing to listen to Henry wail and whine.
10. Decide that we should eat supper (after Mark has come inside to finally put a kibosh on Henry's crying).
11. Make a quick supper and enjoy it as a family.
12. Eat ice cream and cake. While fetching the cake from the laundry room, realize that you never finished scrubbing out the stains. Decide that ice cream is more important.
13. Finish enjoying ice cream while watching brother's basketball game on the computer.
14. Put kids to bed.
15. Go back to the laundry room to finish scrubbing out stains.
16. Add detergent and start machine.
17. Decide that this typical story needs to be memorialized and write about it on your blog.

Christmas -- The Aftermath

Our Christmas was just so darn perfect that we knew it couldn't stay that way forever. My nephew William & sister Laura both had a version of the stomach flu while we were visiting. Sure enough, on the 27th, it hit the Measner family. First Henry, then me. Yuck! I must have slept 22 hours between throw-ups & bathroom runs. It was a nasty bug and my stomach still hurt on and off for days afterward. Last night it struck Isabelle too, leaving Mark and Lucy as the only ones not taken victim yet. It was pretty vicious--touching every family and leaving only 6 of 13 adults and 2 of 11 grandkids untouched.

Now that we're all recovered from the flu & the house has been decluttered of boxes, wrapping paper, and most of the cookies, and the toilets have been scrubbed from our flu episode, we've been enjoying eachother and some new stuff. Isabelle & I have been loving playing Zingo! (it's just fun to call out Zingo!) and we've been pretending with the Little People as well (Santa's gift to Lucy is really scoring with her older siblings). Henry just loves his "choo-choo train!" (GeoTrax) and his new tractors. Mom and Dad just love it all!

We spent a relaxing New Year's with my brother Donnie & kids (Tracy had to work), sister Ann & her husband Bronson, and with sister Kristin and her family. The kids were more raring to go at midnight than we were! And today, we had a lovely visit with one of my Montana housemates, Angela. We haven't seen each other for four years, so it was just neat to catch up.

I also know that this blog has been sorely lacking pictures. I actually didn't get a ton on Christmas, not even the traditional ones of the kids with their cousins & grandma & grandpa. For shame! I'm going to make the kids put back on their Christmas clothes for a couple of shots & then I'll get them up here!

Tomorrow it's sledding and more visiting! Gotta love this season!