Father's Day

This was Sam's first Father's Day! I love seeing Sam and Henry spend time together. They are best buds. Henry always gets a huge grin on his face when Sam comes home from work. It is really cute to watch.

You wouldn't believe how many pictures I had to take just to get this decent one. Henry is getting more mobile by the day but he isn't crawling yet. He can move from sitting to the crawling position and he can turn, rotate and push himself backwards.  I'm excited for him to start crawling because he always gets himself stuck and I have to come and rescue him or he cries whenever I leave the room. 

Sam is such a great father and husband. From getting up in the middle of the night (countless times), changing diapers even after a hard day at work, to bathing and feeding him, Sam is never too tired to be helpful. He loves reading to Henry, playing with him, making him laugh, being silly with him. 

Here are some pictures of the Honey boys hanging out--

Wreck-it Ralph

If you've watched the Disney movie Wreck-it Ralph you'll understand what I mean when I say that Henry has some of those same tendencies. Especially when it comes to blocks. We got a big bag of foam blocks for him (so they won't hurt when they come crashing down) a few months ago. He wasn't really interested in them until now.

He loves to take the bucket and tip it over, watching the cascade of blocks fall out. He also loves to knock down anything that you try to build out of blocks. This turns into the game of see-how-high-of-a-tower-I-can-make-before-Henry-knocks-it-over. It usually ends up being a tower that's 3 blocks high if he is nearby.

                                       Before                                                                         After

By the pool

One perk of living in our apartment complex is free access to a pool! And with all this heat and humidity, it is pretty enticing. Henry has never been in a pool before and I didn't know how he would like it because he generally cries during his bath time. Despite this fact, I got out the swim diaper and sunblock and headed to the pool.

It turned out that he loved the water! I brought his rubber duck along and Henry was splashing and really enjoying himself. Then some kids came to the pool and he thought they were very entertaining so he ended up just watching them. Henry loves watching people, and especially kids. It makes me realize that we need to get out of the house more often so he can be more social. Afterwards we went in for lunch and a nap. This is what Henry's hair looked like after his nap!

Our library has baby reading clubs and activities for babies to play together that we've been going to. Henry gets to play with other kids, get free books, play with bubbles and listen to stories. It's a really cool program that they are putting on this summer.

Gateway to the West

The first place we visited in St. Louis was the Gateway Arch. It was built in 1967 as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States. Being built almost 50 years ago it looks so modern!

Sam took some great pictures just with the camera on his phone. 

I love this little boy's smile. It just warms my heart.

Packing up and saying good bye

Our future adventures lie in St. Louis, Missouri! Sam accepted a job there in financial planning. We are super excited, but will absolutely miss having Sam's parents in the same town. Luckily, we aren't moving too far away.

In the two years that we've been married we've moved 3 times (this will be the 4th). I usually don't mind packing and I LOVE unpacking and finding a place for everything. But I've never had to pack and take care of a baby. It is much more challenging than I thought it would be. I'm just glad that he wasn't crawling yet and getting into everything.

Our small apartment was a maze of stacked boxes. There just wasn't enough floor space! Whenever I was taping up boxes or cutting boxes to make handles, Henry thought it was hilarious and would just laugh and laugh. It's usually the simple things that make him the happiest. That is a lesson I can learn from.

We had lots of help cramming all our things in the moving truck. 

We are blessed to have so many wonderful friends. Matt dropped by to say good bye right before we left. He even helped us clean. What a friend! These two have know each other for over 10 years. 

Sam, Sam the handy-man

Since graduating Sam has had sooo much more time on his hands to do things, especially manly things. Here are some of his latest feats:

Clogged sink drain-
When we moved into our apartment our bathroom sink drained terribly and no amount of Draino would help. We suffered through it for the whole term of the lease and then right before we moved Sam unclogged it using a plumbing snake and rubber gloves. Don't ask me why we didn't do it sooner. From the pictures you can tell it was a gross mess. Good thing Sam's gag reflex isn't as strong as mine. We saved over $120 by unclogging our own drain rather than having a plumber do it. Go Sam!

Breaking into our apartment-
The whole time we lived at our apartment I have never locked myself out of the house, except for the last week that we lived there. Sam and I were leaving to take Henry to his pediatrician appointment and we both walked out the door without keys. We locked ourselves out of our house and car and had an appointment to go to in 10 minutes. We are so glad that Sam's parents live a few minutes away and were able to help us out. When we got back from the appointment, Sam pried open our living room window and climbed in. Lesson learned:  (1) ALWAYS lock your windows. It would be a piece of cake for someone to break in if they really wanted. Scary; (2) have a spare house key; and/or (3) live close to your in-laws :) This is a picture of Sam right after he climbed through the window.

Fixing our washing machine-
The new apartment we were moving to didn't have a washer and dryer so Sam and I were looking on Craigslist to buy a set. We stumbled on a front loading washer and dryer for $200 that were pretty new and in great shape, except that the washing machine wouldn't drain. We took a chance and purchased them, hoping that we could fix the washer. With the help of a handy brother-in-law, they were able to fix it! It just needed a new pump.

I'm so grateful for a hard working husband!

Graduation

In May, Sam graduated from Kansas State University in Financial Planning. I'm so proud of him for working so hard in school, getting good grades (magna cum laude), juggling family, church and 3 jobs. Sam was selected as the Personal Financial Planning's outstanding senior and they wrote a column about some of his accomplishments in the K-State News Letter. 

Henry barely made it through the long graduation ceremony. He was very wiggly! When Sam's name was called and our family clapped and yelled for him in excitement, Henry got scared and started to cry. But he was all smiles again when he saw his dad.

Sam's mom was able to present him with his diploma. How cool is that?!

Henry got to spend some quality play time with grandpa. Hopefully Henry didn't damage his hearing.