This afternoon Papa met us at the library. Henry redeemed his summer reading tickets today & got some neat prizes. He read over 1800 pages this summer, and he got 3 little toys & a new book! We were so proud of him! Of course we checked out more books today. Henry loves reading, and new books are always a little more fun.
Last night we went to Dad & Liz's to have an early birthday celebration for David since Wes, Michael, and Lindsey were all in town. Grandmother came over too, of course, and Wes's roommate, Wes, joined us also! I think David had a good time. Henry definitely enjoyed the ice cream and blackberry cobbler! I think that is what David is watching in the pic I took of him with a candle in his dessert. Happy Early Birthday, David!
Henry has a drawer in the kitchen that is "Henry's drawer" with dishes that are his to play with. Today he decided one of them suited him better as a hat!
Henry's new rest mat for school this year came today. He absolutely loves it! He would not let us put it up. He kept laying it out on the couch & getting in it & saying "Night, Night!" Too cute! I'm glad he likes it & hope he enjoys many great naps in it at school this year. (Many thanks to David for snapping these cute pics this afternoon while I was still at work!)
This afternoon Lauren brought her precious nephew, Miller, over to play. Henry and Miller are almost the same age, and they had so much fun playing together! Come back anytime, Miller!
Henry decided he was too big for a booster seat and that he would sit at the table like a big boy. He loved it! He sat there through all of dinner and played at the table afterwards while David was cleaning up. He's also getting very good at asking the blessing. He stops eating and puts his hands together. It is just precious. I'm so proud of him! Of course, he has his moments also. He has figured out how to go out the dog door and has escaped twice in the last 10 minutes, and he's been in time out twice as well. I think we've started to get through to him. It is quite funny, but we can't let him know. This is not a behavior that needs to be encouraged!
Tonight Ginger, Matt & sweet little Pierce came for a visit! Henry loved having Pierce over. He called him by name, brought him toys, and tried to show him his tricks! Pierce fell over at one point and started to wimper. So, Henry fell over too & pretended to cry & had to get a hug also! It was cracking us up! They had a great time, though, and Henry was blowing Pierce kisses and telling him, "Bye, Pierce!" as they left. Come back soon, Pierce!
We went to the beach with David's family from Saturday through today. We had a great time. There were six cousins under the age of 5. They had a blast! Last year four of them were babies in high chairs. Wow how a year changes things! Henry now knows all of their names, and he is not scared at all of being the youngest of the bunch.
Henry helped me bake three chocolate chip pies yesterday! We had fun doing this little project together. The pies turned out perfectly, so maybe Henry's got a little bit of his Nana's baking skills in him! This afternoon Henry is heading to spend the night with his Mimi & Papa, and tomorrow we are leaving for the beach. So, this will be the last post for several days!
Nana came last night to spend the night & keep Henry today while we were at work. They had a ball! Nana said she gave him yogurt this morning and heard him say, "Hat!" only to look back and see he had dumped his bowl of yogurt on his head. Henry loves being silly with his Nana. This is a big week for Henry. He gets to go to Cullman to see his Nana again Wednesday, and then Saturday we are headed to the beach with them!
Henry impressed us tonight with his ability to follow David as he moved the cups around. He almost always found the cup with the cork under it!
Henry is saying, "SIT! SIT!" in this picture. He expects us to get on his little cars and follow him around the house (which is impossible!) David has started sitting on a pillow to try to make it more comfortable. Tonight Henry brought him a pillow for his car & said, "SIT!" 
Henry enjoyed his favorite meal tonight: spaghetti. (Although David said it was granola spaghetti. It was whole wheat pasta, organic sauce & ground turkey. I will not appologize for trying to improve the health of our family though! Henry LOVED it anyway!)
We went to Mimi & Papa's house today to celebrate the 4th on the 5th. I don't think we can eat again for a week after all the great meals we've had over the past few days! I forgot to pack Henry a bathing suit, but he managed just fine without it. As you can see, he went fishing, played in his Elmo sprinkler & even went for a ride in the paddle boat. To top it all off, he had no nap today. Needless to say, he is peacefully sleeping now!
Carter & Will
Preston & Henry
Today we went to Cullman to celebrate the 4th of July! We had a cookout with homemade ice cream & chocolate ganache cake for dessert. Henry had so much fun with his cousins. I think he's already looking forward to our beach trip with them in a week!
