Happy 6th Birthday Henry

My Sweet Birthday Boy with his Pirate Cake

Dear Henry,

On February 24th 2012 you turned 6 years old!  What a wonderful milestone it has been for us all.  We have seen you change so much this past year and we are so grateful for the wonderful big boy you've become.

Hanging out with his friends at his party

Henry, you have an exceptional zeal for life and have so many talents.  You enjoy everything you do and you're always active in accomplishing so many worth while things.  The things you enjoy most are, building with Legos, especially Ninjago Legos, riding your bike, playing Little Big Planet(sparingly), writing elaborate stories and illustrating them for hours on end and reading your own stories and reading with me.  We have read the first two Harry Potter books together as well as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and are now working on The Wind in the Willows.  We love reading stories and then watching the movies afterward.  One thing you have been doing a lot lately is skiing! You just finished a 5 week long ski school at Snowbird and you really improved.  Last week we went skiing together, just you and me, and you knew exactly where everything was on the mountain, knew what the lifts' names were and where they would take us.  You also forced me to take the transport bus up to the main lodge just so we could buy candy and hang out, which is also a huge reason you like skiing since that's what we did to bribe you to go when you were younger and crankier:)  Now you love it and won't hesitate to go.  You are also a great swimmer, even though we haven't been going regularly.  You are totally comfortable in the water and can swim across any pool.  I hope you can join a swim team this summer! 

Licking the candles

You are such a great big brother.  Bea ruins your Legos, takes your stuff, kicks and hits you and you usually turn the other cheek and come to me for help. I really appreciate that you are so kind and that you aren't a fighter.  You LOVE your sisters and you made me throw away a tee-shirt that said, "Sister For Sale" because people would ask you which one was for sale, which you did not like because you love all of your sisters, even Bea.  You love Violette the best.  You ask to hold her often and you pay a lot of attention to her.  You kiss and hug her all the time and love to make her laugh.  You also play a lot with Clementine and you enjoy hearing her talk gibberish around the house and you laugh a lot at what she says.  When Clementine does say something coherent, you marvel and say, "She's the smartest baby in the world!". 

One of your new talents is blowing bubbles.  You really love bubble gum

You have become such an obedient boy these past 6 months.  I remember when we first moved and I needed you to do your chores and you threw tantrums for hours when you only had 10 minutes of cleaning up to do, but now you help me anytime I ask.  You keep your room clean and organized and have never shoved everything under the bed. You get dressed, attempt to comb your hair, brush your teeth and put your pajamas on without having to ask you twice and you are usually ready for reading and songs way before I'm even ready to read with you, which is a miracle!  After we read together, which sometimes lasts an hour, I sing your favorite song, "It's just the thought of you" which has been your favorite for about 2 years now.  You sometimes sing along with me with your sweet voice and are so happy to go to bed after I sing to you.  If I don't have time to sing, it's hard for you to go to sleep since I've been singing you to sleep ever since you were a baby.

You LOVE these "Mouth Man" shirts so I got you a couple more for your Birthday.  You also love to put the hood up.

Henry, you really love the gospel of Jesus Christ.  You and I read the scriptures every morning together and you know your scripture stories very well.  Your teachers in primary tell me that they can tell you have studied at home because you know all the answers to their questions.  You have also passed off 9 of the 13 articles of faith that you are supposed to memorize this year.  It's easy for you because all I have to do is play the song and you memorize each one in just a few days. You are truly concerned for people who don't believe in Jesus Christ and I know you are gaining an understanding of the importance of living a righteous life.  You love your brother that died and all you want is to be together with him and Jesus someday.   Just last night as we were looking at your new levitating globe I got you for your Birthday I showed you where China was.  You asked me if people in China believed in Jesus and I said that they haven't had the opportunity to know about him, but that you might be able to teach them since you were going to learn Chinese in the Chinese Immersion School next year.  You could be called as a missionary to China someday.  You got a huge smile on your face and said, "Mom, wouldn't it be cool if I was the first missionary to go into China!?" Then did a little joyous wiggle in your bed.  I'm so grateful for your love of the gospel and missionary work. 

The thing I love about you the most is your sweet and kind nature.  The other day I woke up and you had created me a book called the Magic Mom Book and you had colored for about an hour and put it all together with tape just for me.  You are constantly writing me notes that say, "I love you Mom" and I just cherish them with all my heart.  Something I will never forget is the way you look when you stand next to me with your arms around me, looking up, and I'm looking down at your beautiful big green eyes, freckled nose, and dimpled cheeks.  Your face looks just like an angel and I know you are a special spirit.

Here are some(not all) pages of the Magic Mom Book.  I have the most wonderful son in the world!

us skiing down the tram at Snowbird

holding hands

Here we are at the lodge eating candy

these are the mountains all around the world

this is our farm someday

Even though we've had our hard years(ages 2.5 to 5.5, phew!), you have turned back into the sweet boy I knew you naturally were.  You had a rough first 6 years of life, having a dad who was gone a lot, a mom who was always pregnant,  babies who ruled the house, and being forced to move and leave your friends and cousins, but this year your dad will finally have a job and we can soon build a stable existence for you and your sisters.  We have had fun dreaming about our dream farm for years, laying awake at night saying what we wanted to have on a farm someday, and hopefully in a few short weeks that will become a reality and you can have your chickens and collect the eggs like you've always wanted.  I promise to someday build you a tree house just like the Magic Treehouse books and fill it with books for you to read.  All I want to do is make a wonderful life for you.  I love you so much my dear, sweet son.  Thank you for all you are and for who you have become.  Happy Birthday

Love,
Mommy

Slushing

Fun in the sun. 

It snowed a decent amount this past weekend and as I drove past our local park I noticed about 1000 kids sledding down a really great hill and wished I were doing it as well.  I actually had a ski date with Henry that day so I vowed to go sledding as soon as I could get to Wal Mart to buy some inner tubes without having to drag all the kids with me, which just happened to be last night.  I spent at least an hour blowing up the tubes interspersed with dizzy spells and we headed out this morning to sled with Ella and Avery.  When I stepped outside I noticed that I was hot in just my shirt and then looked around and saw that there was no snow left on our front lawn.  I drove to the park and there was about 1/4 inch of slush on the ground left to sled on.  No matter how hard I pushed the tubes, they would slowly slide down.  Perfect for the little kids, I guess, but after about 10 minutes Henry said, "mom, I'm bored." I was too, my thrill seeking, speed skiing son.  The kids found it more fun to wade around in the swampy cesspool smelling pond at the bottom of the hill and after getting thoroughly soaked, decided to head up to the park where they had plenty of fun and didn't get bored at all playing in the balmy 59 degree weather. This is the only time in the past 10 years I wish it were cold and snowy and it's warm and sunny every day.  Go figure.

Revised Pledge of Allegiance

Today I asked Henry if he knows the Pledge of Allegiance and he told me he says it every day at school.  He was doing legos so he wasn't really focusing on what he was saying, but he started to recite it and this is what came out of his mouth: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united mates of hysteria..." and then he got the rest right. I feel like that pretty much explains the state we live in.  Henry and his sisters are the United Mates of Hysteria.  Way to go Henry. 

My little Valentine

Handing out Valentines

This year, Valentine's Day was kind of significant for Henry.  So, we've had our ups and downs with Henry ever since he was about 2 and a half and just recently we've seen him mature so much.  He has finally grown out of the really difficult phase he has been in for so many years and has turned back into the happy, delightful boy I knew was under that emotional exterior.  At one point I even thought he had ADHD but after seeing him spending an hour and a half writing out his classmates names on his Valentine's cards and focusing on many other projects, including reading chapter books, building legos, and drawing intricate pictures and coloring them, I came to the conclusion that he does not have ADHD but just has tons of energy, which is what I expected all along.

This past Saturday I spoke to Henry's ski school instructor and he is improving leaps and bounds.  He's already in the advanced class and now is going off jumps, skiing on his edges and doesn't use the "pizza" anymore to stop but uses "french fries".  haha.  He's getting so good! It's just so amazing to see my little baby boy accomplishing so much.  I am swelling with joy just watching him read, swim, ski, rock climb all the way to the top of the wall, sing, play his little guitar, memorize the Articles of Faith and be such a good kid.  At his class today one of the aides said he was a stickler for the rules.  He really loves those rules!

We've been having so much fun together lately and he tells me he loves me all the time and it just melts my heart.  The other night I drove separately to the gym and when I was leaving, Henry yelled through the window, "Mom, can I come around to your side to give you a kiss?" Of course you can sweet boy. 

He made me a Valentine the other day and was trying to hide it and when he realized that I accidentally saw it, he was devastated. He is such a thoughtful boy.  I just can't say enough good things about him.  I am so looking forward to spending more time teaching him and getting to know him. 

For Valentine's Day I actually pulled myself together and made a couple batches of cookies, decorated them and delivered them to our friends and neighbors.  What I made used up so much dough that I couldn't deliver them to even half of the people I wanted to, but I at least thanked people who had helped me after the baby.  Henry and Bea helped me make the dough, cut out the hearts and I decorated them and we all went around to deliver them.  I used my grandmother's delicious recipe and everyone has been asking me for the recipe.  I'll post it on my neglected food blog hohlfoods soon.