i scream, you scream, we all scream for ...

ice cream! we had an ice cream party for henry's second birthday at toomer's drugs. it was lots of fun and quite tasty!

birthday invitation and party favors (ice cream dishes & spoons with some sort of topping ... sprinkles, stars, etc.)
singing happy birthday and blowing out all two candles. check out henry's snazzy turtle rain boots-thank you auntie d.!

tricia and cole

the bentleys - look at how handsome and big alex is getting! he's precious.

papa

meredith and sweet baby claire

the bendingers ... baby dalton is growing quickly too and so alert! too cute.

daddy jim and ya ya - and all the evans cousins were the first ones there too, with big smiles! and the solomons drove all the way from bham to celebrate as well.

jordan lee

chad & mel

after the party we went home to visit with the solomons and open a few presents. thanks claire, for the silly faces book!

two of my absolute favorite little ones (well three if you count owen, ha ha)

madeline gave henry this cool sleeping bag. he thought it was great!

it was a fun filled day and henry is still talking about it and saying "happy birthday henry." thanks to all who celebrated, called, sent cards and left messages (blog, email or otherwise!). henry is one lucky little guy!

fun at samford hall

henry's birthday party (scheduled for this past saturday) was two part ... first ice cream at toomer's drugs and then a walk down to the lawn at samford hall for some outdoor yard games. on friday the weather forecast for saturday was basically 100% rain ... translating into no yard games and ice cream only. so, friday afternoon after gary got off work the three of us played at the lawn at samford before the rain came into town ...

we colored with sidewalk chalk

played some basketball

threw some ring toss

he had a good time!

party pictures to come soon

2!

Good morning 2!

Before school ... thanks Grandmother for my balloon outfit.
cupcakes to share at school
at home that evening ... ready for more cupcakes and birthday gifts!

henry is having his birthday "party" on saturday at Toomer's Drugs ... it is an ice cream party (who cares if it is winter and will be pouring down rain?!? any time is ice cream time!), so we had ice cream cupcakes on his actual birthday (1/13).

his auntie and cousins came over to share cupcakes too!

he thought they were pretty darn good.

daddy even got the icing all over his face too ...

he liked his birthday hat they gave him at preschool

he received many lovely gifts ... below he is reading King Bidgood in the Bathtub from Auntie Sue, Uncle Kevin and Adam. Today is now Friday and we've read this book, no exaggeration, 7 times. Thank you Perlins!

blowing the BEST bubbles ever from the Perlins

thanks to all for the sweet birthday wishes, love and kindness continually shown to our beloved son. it is always touching to both Gary and I that Henry brings so many people such happiness and joy. we knew before he was born that he would always hold a dear place in our hearts; what we didn't know or expect is how dear he would be to so many others. our cup runneth over ... and we are eternally thankful.

happy second birthday henry!

new photos ... too cute.

um, is this one adorable photo or what? nothing beats some puppy love ...

henry and "sa-anna-anna" as he calls her
photos from the weekend ... before Morgan and John's wedding

another one-notice the two little hands on my legs in this one

my mom and I ran to columbus for a few baby things this past Saturday morning and gary and his dad took henry to the Auburn basketball game. War Eagle anyway!

tomorrow this little fellow turns 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2!

34 weeks and an excited big brother

34 weeks ...

I don't have a 34 week photo from Henry's pregnancy ... I do have a 36 week one, so it will be interesting to compare. so far so good as much as we know. still going to the doctor weekly for appts/exams to see how the contractions are affecting the progression. the contractions are still around ... they will be pretty frequent for 3-4 days and then slack up a little for 3-4 days. who knows what's going on in that belly!

owen has been very active the last 10 days; I can't wait to see his gymnastics routines in person because they are certainly impressive in utero! he gets the hiccups a lot. henry did as well. I still crave cherry sprite or shirley temples like none other-and normally I am not a huge cherry anything fan.

as we've been getting all the old baby clothes, toys, bottles, etc., out and washing and preparing them, henry has been very enthusiastic about his upcoming role of big brother. we still don't think he knows exactly what all is involved, but his sweetness with regards to Owen is touching nonetheless.
big brother jommers and llama llama ... thank you auntie dee and uncle joe!

henry thought climbing in and out of owen's car seat was a blast. at one point he just sat in the seat and talked to himself for about 20 minutes.

he also liked the moses basket ... as I was washing the liner and such, he laid down in it and said "take a nap in baby brother's basket." this is no exaggeration.

we've been praying for snow today, but alas, no such luck. there is still hope for later in the winter though! in the meantime, stay warm and happy friday.

funny stories

two funny henry stories to share ...

henry received a toy dirt devil vacuum for christmas. anytime I vacuum, which happens all the time at our house with 3 dogs, he loves to "help." so he really loves this gift from his sweet grandmother. his vacuum normally stays out with his toys and our vacuum stays in our hall closet. the last time I vacuumed, I opened the door and found henry's vacuum lined up perfectly next to our vacuum in the hall closet. I asked gary if he had put the vacuum there ... nope! turns out henry placed it there. how sweet!

yesterday we had our carpets cleaned (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE when this happens!) and we move all of our furniture and such to our kitchen so the whole area can be cleaned. when I went to get henry up and take him into the kitchen to feed him breakfast, he saw all the "mess" in the kitchen and exclaimed, "oh no! oh no! furniture upside down! henry's toys up high! cleveland bear up high! mess! mess! furniture upside down!" ha! too funny.

catching up ... with pictures

We had a really nice Christmas this year and are most thankful for God's abundant blessings ... most importantly the gift of His son, His grace, the good health of our family members, our beloved dogs, and a loving and supportive circle of close family and dear friends. We started a few new Vaughan family traditions this year, such as having a "birthday" celebration on Christmas morning ... reading the story of the birth of Jesus from Luke and making a birthday cake and singing happy birthday to Jesus. Santa came to visit as well; Santa brings three gifts to Henry, representing the three gifts of the wise men. And, while Henry is young and didn't quite grasp this, this year, he will in years to come ... Henry (we) selected a toy of his to wrap up and give to someone else in need. We had a few other fun and worthwhile activities leading up to Christmas Day and hopefully throughout the year, not solely in December, we as a family will keep the true meaning of Christmas close at heart.

Henry really loved Christmas carols this year ... some of his favorites were: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas, The First Noel, Frosty the Snowman, Away in a Manger, Rudolph and Jingle Bells. At Christmas Eve church service, we sang The First Noel ... part way into the first verse he blurted out with much enthusiasm, "NOEL, NOEL!" Even though it was really loud, it was so cute.

Unwrapping gifts on Christmas morning was a hoot; both sides of our family chide me each year for being the slowest present unwrapper. I have someone that shares that slowness, Henry! Hooray! Here is Henry with a gift from Santa, a tinker truck. The truck came with tools that allow you to literally take the truck apart and put it back together.

Another Santa gift was a rocket ship that has little play people (kind of like Fisher Price Little People sets). The last gift from Santa was a submarine toy for the bathtub. Henry likes the submarine and the little man that came with it, whom we call Jacques.

Gary and I gave Henry a learning laptop computer that works on letters, colors, shapes, etc., and the third Signing Time video. He still knows and practices his signs and loves the videos. Now that he talks non-stop, literally, he doesn't sign as much unless you interact/encourage him to converse with you in sign language.

my parents, brother and grandmother came over for a low country boil christmas lunch.

it was great!

YaYa gave Henry a monkey napping mat - he LOVED it!

Auburn table place setting and manners guide from YaYa. He loved that too!

Christmas night we had dinner and celebrated with Gary's Dad. It was a really nice visit and Henry had a fantastic time!

Moving on from Christmas ... last week Henry got out his little storage bins from his room and decided to sit and read in them. He had a whole conversation with himself while he read this book ... it was so darn cute.

the dogs had a nice holiday too ... they've already torn up 3 of the 4 new toys Santa brought. they have been in the pack mindset lately and where one goes, the other two follow.

last week Gary took off work to spend the day with Henry while I was working and Henry's school was closed. He and his Dad took Henry to see a Sesame Street show. Henry had a blast! It was a 90 minute show and 90 minutes is a long time for a 2 year old boy to be sitting, so we weren't sure how he'd do, but he loved all the characters and the singing. Every time the singing paused, he'd say "Go see Elmo!"