The Henrys....

So, here, we are......

Misou, my sister-in-law (OK, so really not my sister-in-law YET, but that's what she is to me....) took our pictures a few weeks ago.

We haven't had our family pictures taken since Sydney was a year old, so it was time....

I love that we were all so comfortable with her that everyone smiled, and was happy (so long as we got done before for the Ravens played - BRIAN - *ahem*)

Forgive me, but this post is very picture heavy.

Because my husband is gorgeous.

Aand my kids are so stinking cute.

And because my husband and I have NO good pictures together.

And did I mention my family is gorgeous????

The mom and dad - we started all of this...well, this whole side of the Henry family anyway...

And lest you forgot our last name...

That's H E N R Y.

Thankyouverymuch.

A leaf Sydney found and gave to me at the park.





My gorgeous Olivia.....













I love this man - can you tell?




Me and my girls...all blue eyed.





Brian and his girls. Look at him. Is it any wonder my daughters are so beautiful??




Love is amazing....




Laughter is important too.




Sydney Alexandra - she's so beautiful.

And she doesn't even realize it.




Mommy and her girls.




How did I have a child so beautiful as my Olivia Leigh??

God is definitely amazing...











To all of our family (especially you guys - Mike & Linda and Judi & Ted) - Sorry to ruin part of your Christmas present!

But let me know which pictures are your favorites!




My favorite???

This one......





Merry Christmas everyone...

3 x 40 = 120 years of FABULOUS!

So what do three friends do to celebrate three 40th birthdays and 28 years of friendship?

They leave their husbands and kids at home and go for a three hour gourmet dinner and reflect on how much fun they've since they met as 12 year olds.

Nora and Harmony before we left

Nora, Betsy & I met in seventh grade when I was a very confused and lonely girl. We had just moved here from New England and I knew no one......

Somehow, these two became my best friends and a constant presence in my life ever since.

We've been through growing pains, driver's licenses, first loves, breakups, college, our wild years, car accidents, first apartments, deaths, marriages, doubts, pregnancies (all three of us at the same time!), births, months standing by each other's side in the NICU praying for a good outcome (there was) , lots of crying and lots of laughter.

People are often amazed that we are still so close. You'd be hard pressed to find three more different people. We represent the left, the middle and the right - in many ways - and if you met us and spent time with us, you'd be able to see exactly what I mean and where each of us falls.

There's an easy camaraderie when you've known each other for this long. There's really no pressure. We don't feel the need to talk the entire three hour dinner, but you know what? We did - ha! We laughed, we bitched, we rolled eyes, and we laughed some more.

I love these ladies and look forward to the next 28 years of friendship.


On our way to Volt

Polly Want a What?

Cassity over at PollyWantACrafter is featuring my family sign today!



How cool is that?

Be sure to check out all the cool crafts at PollyWantACrafter (I already have a TON of ideas from perusing the site).

Cassity is also the brains behind Remodelaholic. Another HUGE favorite of mine where I get even MORE ideas.

Brian is now deleting all my saved favorite websites before I get any more ideas.

MIA

Wow - has it really been 10 days since I posted? Oy!

I have lots to tell you.

And show you.

But I can't do it at work.

So it'll have to wait another day.

Sorry :(

How can you NOT smile when you look at this?

Nothing makes me happier than a big, red, rooster jug.





Except paying only $7.99 for a big, red, rooster jug.

The Henry Family Creed

Remember this?

This 16 x 24 board has kept me very busy lately.



I have always loved all the old vintage subway signs, but not enough to pay a ton of money for one. I also liked the look, but not necessarily the sayings on those old signs.

So I went a'Googling and found several website offering personalized "vintage" signs.

Since they cost a bazillion dollars a piece, I figured I could make one myself.

I skipped down to mom and dad's and, lo and behold, he had the perfect board!! Most of the signs I'd seen were 12 x 24, but 16 x 24 would totally work.

I'd make it work.

So I spray painted it black.

I particularly liked several different versions of a "Family Rules" sign.

So, Brian and I came up with a few sayings of our own, and borrowed a few sayings from the ones we'd seen.

I created a template in Microsoft Publisher and - since it was so big - had to tape all the pieces together.

Now, I had our layout, and added our name to it.

It took me a while to figure out the best way to get the template onto the board.

Finally, after searching and searching and SEARCHING, I found some white transfer paper.

Seriously, why is this so hard to find around here?

The store where I finally located it wasn't open evenings or weekends so I had to send my brother to get it for me (which reminds me, I owe him $11.00).

I taped it to the board and put the template over top.

And then I hand traced everything.

This is where the copious amounts of this came into play:

TED-I-OUS.

It probably took me about two hours to get the entire thing transferred over.
It was really fairly easy.
Just a little labor intensive.
And my neck and shoulders were killing me the next day.

Here's what I ended up with.

I am not sure what I was thinking, but I decided I could hand paint this all on.

Um, do you see how different all those fonts are?

Yeah. That was a bitch.

I used a lot of paint pens, but then didn't like how it looked.

So I ended up going back over most of it with a paintbrush and paint.

Yup, that's right.

I basically did it TWICE.

Brian spent a lot of time running to the liquor store. Copious amounts, people.

But here's what it looked like after all that painting.




I liked it.

Brian liked it.

But it just didn't feel right yet.

Out came the sandpaper and steel wool.

And here's the final product, with one coat of matte poly (which was still wet when I took this)

I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Every single saying on there is something I want my girls to remember.....
(listen to your parents - they know everything)

And to know.....
(know you are loved)

And aspire to...
(always be honest. always keep your promises)

And maybe I could learn a thing or to as well....
(have patience)

So, what do you think????

Joining Metamorphasis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch.



I'm joining Pamela over at Be Colorful's "Motivated Monday".

She's got some serious motivation over there - check it out!!

Competition.......

Yesterday was Competition Day for Olivia's cheerleading squad.



This is what she works toward all year and the pinnacle of the cheer season for the girls.

This year, she was moved up to Junior Varsity, which means harder routines - and stiffer competition.

The girls have worked so hard all season and had their routine down about two weeks ago.

And then a few of the girls got injured - broken fingers, strained backs - none of which happened during practice, but all of which made the routine they had learned for weeks basically impossible.

Every time they modified it to account for someone who couldn't be there, something else would happen and they'd have to change it again.

These poor girls were relearning their routine - with a LOT of difficult stunts - as late as Friday evening.

Yesterday, they were all trying to be confident, but three hours before competition were still worried.

"We haven't done our routine perfectly all the way through yet. At all."

"We're having trouble trying to remember the new stunting and the new changes."

"I hope we can do this."

As I stood outside Cole Field House, unrolling curlers from their hair I said:

"Remember - you only have to do it perfect once. You guys can totally do that."

As we waited inside, watching the competition and seeing the other teams, I became more and more anxious.

When it was time for the girls to go on, my heart started pumping and I was more nervous than I even imagined I would be.

What if they dropped someone?

What if they forgot something in the middle of their routine?

What if someone fell?

How would Olivia take it if they didn't do well?

All I kept remembering was her saying to me earlier that day, "I can't wait to go to school on Monday and show everyone our first place medal."

I had tried to temper her expectations without destroying her confidence. Did I succeed?

As we waited for them to start, I took a deep breath. And held it the entire 3 minutes.

They nailed it.

I now have three broken blood vessels in my hands and a sore throat from cheering and clapping so hard.

They still had some really tough competition, but I didn't even care what the judges thought.

Those girls danced and cheered their heart out and I was so incredibly proud.

The icing on the cake was the judging.....

2nd Place!!!!!!

So proud of my girl.......

Go Liv!!!

This is one of the busiest weeks of the season for us - COMPETITION WEEK!!!

Olivia's had practice every night and the poor thing is simply exhausted. We all travel down to Cole Field House for competition this weekend - the highlight of the cheer leading for Liv.

In the meantime, in between running her to practice and picking her up, I've been working on this:

Ooooohhhh....Ahhhhhhhh....

OK, so it's just a piece of wood painted black.

Trust me, it's being transformed into something else.

It's just taking me FOR-EV-ER.

But I'm getting there.

With any luck I'll be able to show you the final product by the end of the week.

In the meantime send my little cheerleader some luck - they're doing some pretty complicated stunts and their routine is definitely a few notches above what they did last year.

And competition is the one day of the year that I turn into one of those parents, wearing the team colors, shaking my bead shakers, waving my signs and generally being obnoxiously proud of little girl out there on the mats.

Bring it.

Happy weekend my friends!

Fiesta

This is Cye. She's turning 40.

This is Cye's Party. I love a good party.

I have oh so many amazing party pictures, but, alas, many of our friends have jobs in the government, school system, etc., and they cannot be posted for all the world to see.

They really aren't that bad, but they do reinforce my husband's decision to buy the biggest bottle of Yeagermeister ever made.

I thought he was crazy and that we'd be stuck with it forever.

I was proven wrong.

The food was a hit - so much so that I had NO LEFTOVERS.
And the chicken enchiladas were quite possibly the best I have ever tasted.
They are definitely on the "PLEASE make these again - and soon" list.
I had to make several copies of the recipe and distribute them to several guests.



Cye and her girlfriend Tara.

Cye's birthday Cake.

I forgot to get candles.

So I stuck a battery operated candle on top and she pretended to blow it out.

Eh, whatever works, right?

I do not remember what the joke was. But apparently it was funny.

Very funny.

This was clearly later on in the evening as evidenced by the camera skills.

Brilliant.

The last picture of the evening after almost everyone left.

Two very tired, but happy, hosts.

AYE CARUMBA!!!!

Right now I'm frantically cleaning.

And cooking a ton of Mexican.

Not MEXICANS, as in people.

MEXICAN,as in FOOD.

We're hosting a 40'th birthday party for a friend tomorrow night (so fun!!!) and she requested a Mexican theme.

We're having steak and chicken fajitas, chicken enchiladas, authentic queso, guacamole, tacos and Mexican rice (to name a few things).

Mexican food is not difficult to make (and surprisingly cost effective for 40 people!) but I figure if I screw it up too bad, I'll distract everyone with the sangria.

And Margaritas.

And Cerveza.

Ole'!