Wheels Keep on Turning

On Saturday's Mark takes Francie to a music class so that they can have some dad/daughter time and Henry and I go on a date. Last Sat we were walking to lunch and Henry looked into a bike store and said "That looks interesting, I might want to try that." Now those of you that know Henry, know that the kid is VERY, VERY CAUTIOUS and therefore the whole bike thing has been a "no go" for a long time. So...when I heard this...I jumped. We went into the store and after some tears caused by people "staring at me, I can't do it", I finally found a corner of the shop and got him to sit on the seat. Next thing I knew, he was biking around the store and filling the hearts of EVERYONE in the store with his excited giggle. It was a priceless moment. I bought the bike on the spot - no research, no idea whether it was too much or not, I just did it. Mark was a little annoyed, I guess the whole buying the bike thing is supposed to be a well-thought out family event. Oops. I reasoned with him that the black and purple bike with spiders could easily be converted to Francie's bike with some stickers...so I was investing in our children's physical activity.

Big Man: The Big 4

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Mr. Henry Andrew Reuland Turned Four!!

Yes, four.It was interesting birthday week for Henry. I was in Chicago for work (how heart breaking is that?)... BUT.... it ended up being, according to Henry, an "awesome thing because the birthday kept going and going and going".

1) Tuesday, his Birthday, he got to have a date day with Janis. When she asked him to pick what he wanted to do, ANYTHING, my little precious pumpkin picked going to the library and then going to the bakery (what we do for Mama Date Days on Fridays). LOVE IT.

2) Tuesday night he got to go to the Blazer play off game with Mark. Mark said it was a breakthrough game for the little four year old...he joined in the cheers this time! WHen a woman offered to give him a noise maker he politely said "no thank you".

3) I got back Weds night, so Thursday Janis babysat and we got a "date" together. Everyone we saw, he told that he was getting "alone time with mom since he was four". One of the pictures above is from his beautiful work painting his OWN face at the Children's Museum.
4) Today, he has his birthday celebration at his school ( he told his classmates he doesn't want his birthday celebration until mom was back...LOVE this kid). It was so cute. First they went around and talked about what they know about Henry....EVERY single person mentioned his love of numbers. Classic. (Top picture is him making sure he can hear every glowing word). Then they went through and said what they wished for him (99% wished they could have a play date with him and each chocolate chip cookies). At the end they do a cheer for him and toast with apple juice (see below). Ya gotta love my son's ability to down his juice...wonder who he gets that from?

So....I guess it all worked out. He is very excited about all of his presents...one of which is the soccer goal. We played a hard core game tonight....with him winning. Gotta work on my moves.

Francie Does Chicago

I had a meeting in Chicago so Francie and I headed to the Midwest. Grammy Kris met us and we had a great time. I was able to go to this meeting (thank you Kris!!) and Francie got undivided attention from her loving grandmother....WIN WIN. As you can tell, Francie really loved Kris. We can't wait to visit Corning this summer sometime.

Beautiful Weather + Bridge + Beer = Heaven

Mark and I ran a 10K today and it was a piece of blissful heaven. The weather was amazing (70 degrees), we ran over the highest bridge in Portland (incredible views), AND the race ended at a Brewery..so....we got to have beer!! Mark's sister Katie, who was here for Gordon's surgery, babysat the kids - so we also got to run it WITHOUT a jogging stroller...SO MUCH EASIER. We both had smiles on our face the whole time. It was a wonderful way to recover from the brutal Blazer loss last night (that we also went too....THANKS Katie for babysitting...two dates in a row!).

10 Months

Miss Francie turned 10 months. Holy Cow. This is one my favorite pictures as Henry helped me make Francie's "10" signs and decided that she needed to have two on her chest, in case one fell off. Classic. Next to Francie is Henry at 10 months. Yup...both are kids have/had a TON of hair at 10 months. If another person calls Francie a "he" when she is wearing a pink dress with pink shoes, I might just scream.

Easter

Happy Easter! Francie was hysterical in church, reading her book as loud as possible. Not sure if everyone else thought it was as cute as I did.

My mom and dad took us to their country club for brunch. SO much better than cooking! They even had live bunnies and chickens for the kids to see -- Henry was amazed. The picture of Francie in her rock star bib over her fancy dress is my favorite. Can you tell I am bouncing up and down in the family picture (thus the strained neck) to try and get Francie to smile...no luck.

Easter Eggs

While Mark and my mom were at the Blazer game (don't know why that is so funny to me, but it is),Henry and I colored Easter eggs. He was psyched. This pink one he made especially for Grammy Kris.

Henry Leibovitz

A while back I mentioned that Henry is REALLY into taking pictures with the camera. Of the 110 that I just downloaded, here are a few of my favorite. So funny to see the world through "his lens".

Spring is Here

Today was the perfect Spring Day. 70 degrees and full of fun. Henry's preschool performed a play today (2nd performance, I was in Texas for the opening night) -- Peter and the Wolf. Henry was the Wolf....he was SCARRY. Then Francie and I went for a run in this amazing weather, afterwards picked up Grandpa Gordon and we all headed to the park for a picnic. BLISS. Below are some pictures. The first is a Henry Reuland special. He is REALLY into the camera right now. Last I checked, I had 50 random pictures of our house or Francie's nose.

5k With the Kids

We ran a 5k race this morning with Francie and Henry in tow. Lots of fun especially on the uphills. Henry put on a number after the race and did a little racing of his own.