January is the cruellest month...or is it?

I think the poem actually says "April is the cruellest month," but I've heard a lot of January bashin' going on lately. Mostly from my Utah friends, who hate the miserable weather and inversion. Personally, I kind of love January. A lot of my favorite people were born in January (my mom, father-in-law, two of my favorite mission companions, MLK), I L-O-V-E Texas in January and I love resolutions. But that's a post for a different day. Really, I'm just beating around the bush, typing to make up for my lack of bloggage lately. And this update is mostly for Justin, who we haven't seen much of this month, so now he can see what we've been doing at home.Dia de los Reyes...Because we missed the only thing Andrew asked for at Christmas (paint). So glad for those kings that gave me a chance to redeem myself.
Shooting hoops. Apparently I need to raise the hoop. Andrew makes NO effort.
Justin had the best idea, and Andrew is a rockin' baseball player because of it. Justin drew footprints so Andrew would know how to stand, and I helped him with the "ladies and gentlemen, I will now swing backward and forward!" part. (Seriously, he says that every time he goes to hit the baseball.)Henry likes to help Andrew set up. Lots of head bonkin' going on. For some reason, Henry doesn't mind.
Of course, it gets a bit annoying when he tries to push the ball off the tee, but Andrew is generally pretty patient with his "best baby brother friend."
Henry is obsessed with Andrew's trike. He's pretty stable, too. I can sit him on it and he just stays there and watches Andrew play whatever sport he is working on that day.
Andrew took this picture the other day and I just found it on the camera. Isn't that so beautiful? I think this is the day it was like 75 degrees. Before you hate me, I think it will only be in the 40's this week.

Coming up tomorrow, my foray into the world of sewing...epic destruction.

Christmas in Retrospect

I feel very unapologetic about being slow with the blog update. I'm just trying to carry the Christmas spirit with me. Justin, however, would like to apologize on my behalf. He's got a social conscience.Christmas Eve... New PJ's. The theme this year is turtles. Justin got me some awesome PJ's at the San Marcos Outlets in San Antonio. Love that place!
Andrew is in love with anything that has to do with Grandpa and/or Grandpa's house.
Henry even smiled a couple times while we were in Utah.
How long has it been since you did one of the "I Spy" books? This is a great big-kid activity. Doris and Chase worked on it together for a long time.
Gingerbread houses... Those kits from Super Target are the best. Little effort, little mess. And, the candy is sick, so it is no temptation. Jack and Andrew had a good time.
Our Christmas decoration (singular) at home in Texas. It's actually a rosemary bush so I can still use it. And the ornaments helped me use up some of the 50 yards of felt I have...only 49 1/3 to go.Our first night in Utah, I spent with the high school girlies at Molly's baby shower. This is the only picture. We were much too busy laughing hysterically about "specials."Lyla and Henry...so cute.
This is what happens if you mention the name Santa Claus. Melt down! I don't blame the kids. Who would want an overgrown man creeping around your house in the middle of night?Favorite present of the year (Henry)... a wooden helicopter.Favorite present of the year (Andrew)... Monk! (When will it stop, you ask? When it stops being funny to me...in like 20 years.)We spent Christmas morning with Troy, Jamie and kids. So fun! Thanks for letting us stay at your house.
Martin Family Fun Day. Train ride into Salt Lake City and a day at the Children's Museum.

At this point I would love to post pictures from the Martin party and Flanders party; however, I forgot to bring the camera once again. Sorry, Justin. We had a good time though! (Can you tell that Justin has now taken over writing for me? I actually feel no remorse...no camera=no guilt for not getting it out at said parties.)

Back at home and still trying to get back to sleeping through the night.

A Poem to Megan

There are a lot of pretty genes in this Peterson family.

Thank you for guarding my cell phone today,
I left it on the counter.
My fear is that you will text me sometime,
But you’ll find that I won’t answer.

Love, ME (your favorite husband)

Ya tiene tres!

Andrew had a very special birthday yesterday. About two months ago, I told him that when he was three, he could pour his own syrup. That was dumb. He totally remembers everything I ever say he can do. He even got his OWN bottle of syrup that he lovingly took out of the pantry once or twice a day.We decided to start a new tradition of Mickey Mouse pancakes for birthday dinner. Effortless for us, fun for children, it's a win-win. Andrew was happy to oblige.
We went to San Antonio this weekend for my friend's wedding and made it a fun birthday celebration. We stayed in a hotel (Andrew's ultimate experience...He LOVES jumping on the beds) and went to the SA zoo on Saturday. He loved most of it (we have a reptile lover on our hands...eek), but the elephants scared him because they were so loud. They were throwing tires in the air with their trunks and trumpeting. It was way cool, but Andrew could only stand the noise for two seconds. He also got to brush a goat (very cool) and see fish feeding off of a hippo's back (also cool). Oh, and if you're wondering, I didn't take the camera with us to San Antonio. Oopsie.

On our way home, we stopped in San Marcos...Okay, I should NEVER have found out about this. Two giant outlet malls right next to each other. Are you KIDDING me? It was SO fun. The boys fell asleep in the stroller, so we walked the ENTIRE thing, and had the best shopping with kids experience we've ever had. And this is the result:Andrew and Justin won a $10 gift card (long story) and so we let Andrew choose something at the Disney Store outlet. Their stuffed animals were BOGOFree...Awesome. So Henry also got a birthday gift. Which is good, because honestly, we kind of forgot to get him something for his actual birthday. Parents of the year.

(You can tell he's totally ticked about us forgetting him, huh?)

Sorry about the non-sentimentality of the blog...But just had to document how much fun we had with this guy for his birthday weekend. We love him so much. I could brag about Andrew all day, he has so many great qualities, and I can NOT wait to see how he decides to use his powers in the future. He will either be a superhero or a super-villain, but I think he's going to be a very cool grown up. :)

*Okay, so I used to think my only over-use problem was ellipses, but I also clearly have a problem with the all-caps emphasis. I just. can't. stop.

Amendment

Sorry, the $1.00 is officially claimed. Jacki won. Good on ya, mate. :)

And, I didn't actually BUY pink goggles for Andrew. Someone left them at our house (I think our house in Pleasant Grove) and Andrew loves them. So if anyone's little girl is missing their goggles, we'll give them back .

The garden and the gardener

Andrew is pretty serious about taking care of his plants.
The watering of the garden is particularly intense. We must wear safety goggles.
Our bush gets watered very well. Mostly because you'll notice the fence behind also gets a good soak. Andrew tries to write his name in water, but he can't write his name on paper yet, so...
And this is to show you my SHINY face...It was 85 degrees the day before Thanksgiving. I love Texas.

Our 1-year-old

Some things about our favorite Henry...

1. He has no teeth.
2. He is sleeping through the night...And yeah, that's a new development.
3. He LOVES to wrestle with Andrew.
4. He never lost his hair, but it has gotten much lighter since birth.
5. He loves to talk, but the only person he calls by name is Da-da and Papa. Everyone else is just acknowledged by a random sound.
6. He loves cars.
7. He started crawling at 5 1/2 months, but is still not walking. He does a fantastic Mowgli walk though.
8. He MIGHT have a little recessive shy gene in him. It's cute, he sometimes ducks his head when people talk to him. Not something we've experienced before.
9. He wants to eat big kid food so badly that he just kind of hovers around Andrew's table and then gnaws on whatever leftovers he can find.
10. He loves being outside, and we can't leave the door open for very long or he scampers out to the garden to eat dirt and play with his plants.

He got a plate of whipped cream for his birthday...No reason to make a birthday cake on Thanksgiving. :)

Licking his candle...

What 1-year-old gets a cheesecake for his birthday? This one does.

The long and short of it? We love him. We're so glad he's 1.