Ink'd

So, one of the cutest ideas that Tanner has seen on Pinterest lately is home-made stamps. Since we're doing crafts with Hampton, we thought we'd give these a try. They turned out so cute! You need the bigger bottle caps, like from Powerade bottles, but thanks to Grandpa, we have tons of these. Then, you get the foam stickers, slap them on the caps, and voila! Instant stamps! The best thing is that they work great and clean up easily. And we used washable ink, because we knew Hamp would get it everywhere. We were right about that, of course!

Foam stickers, available at the Dollar Tree in lots of styles. We bought transportation ones.

The finished stamps, which took 2 seconds to make. Cute, huh?

Hampton enjoying himself while stamping away. Please notice how he artfully stamped his mouth. Which is why we bought the washable ink pads!

Weekend Update

This past week was the semi-annual consignment sale that we participate in, so we've been busy driving back and forth to Fairhope dropping off, picking up, and shopping. Harrison has tons of clothes, but somehow we only had a few things in a size 3-6, so we were thrilled to get him some super-cute things for cheap. We also picked Hampton up some play clothes, since he's quickly outgrowing the ones he has.

Hampton had his weekly slumber-party with P&J, so he got to eat at his favorite dining place twice this week....Sam's Club. Yes, that's right, Sam's the warehouse club. Our child ADORES eating there, because he gets both pizza & a hot dog. He asks for it regularly, and since we live a little ways from there, it's a big treat for him. Of course, when 3 of us can eat for $6.66, our bank account likes it as much as he does! :)

Speaking of food, we've been enjoying Bo's delicious smoked chicken salad this week. It was his first attempt at a chicken in his new smoker, and he's stumbled upon a winner. It's absolutely delicious! It's Outpost 72 good, and if you know what that means, you know we're in chicken salad heaven!

Well, that was a little more than a weekend update, but you get the point! We also played in the park & then went out for ice cream, and Hampton went to his first football game. We'll save those pics for another day. So, until tomorrow, have a great day!

Our Hamp-er

When Grandi got us this hamper to use for the boys, we're not sure that she meant for it to be used like this! Hampton loves to take the hamper, which is in his room holding stuffed animals, and dump them out. Then he parades around the house with it on his head. It makes a good costume, and for a great laugh, but it isn't helping us keep the toys put away!

The Good Morning Game

Hampton has this game that he loves to play. First, he pretends to go to sleep. So we all say "Night, night. Sweet Dreams". Then, he lays down and goes to "sleep", complete with snoring, covering up his face with his blanket. Then he wakes up. "Good Morning!" he says. "How are you today? Did you sleep good?" which completely cracks us up. To Hampton, this game never gets old and everyone must play along. His Grandpa is especially good at this game, so whenever he's here, we let him take over snoring duties!

Baby Talk

Harrison hasn't gotten much press lately, mostly because he's so laid-back that when he's not sleeping, he's just hanging out in his bouncy chair. He's really quite a hoot, so we wanted to talk a little about him today!

First, his big new thing is sleeping through the night (knock on wood!). He started last week, and has done it several times since then, so we're hoping he's finding how nice it is not to get up. Honestly, we thought it was amazing when Hampton started sleeping through the night at 2 months, so sleeping through the night at 6 weeks is blowing our minds! We're thinking he must just be an overachiever!

He does the funniest thing when he sneezes. After sneezing once, he sometimes loses the next one, and makes the most hilarious honking noise. It is Tanner's favorite thing because it's just so cute and funny! He also makes this humming noise while falling asleep. It's so sweet sounding, and it's nice to hear on the monitor because we know he's ok!

He's started smiling these big gummy grins way more often. He's also got a very serious look that he uses while studying his fish mobile and other interesting things. You can just see the wheels turning in his little mind, taking in every little detail.

Harrison puts up with a lot from his very affectionate big brother! Hampton loves this little boy, and shows it often by pulling on his feet and laying on him (his way of trying to hug him). Hampton also gives him lots and lots of kisses. Harrison doesn't seem to mind, though.......wonder how long that will last?

Play Dates

We've had a couple of play dates recently, which have been a great way for Hampton to get a little energy out. We've been out to play, but we also had Hamp's little friend Conner over to our house. He is going to have a baby sister in a few months, so the moms talked baby talk while the boys just ran around and had a blast. When they left, though, there was not a single toy that hadn't been pulled out and played with! Of course, that's the sign of a fun play date!

Friday Photo

the mystery of how the cat food ends up in the floor has been solved

Feelin' Crafty

Since so much of our time is taken up with Harrison during the day, we wanted to make sure that Hampton wasn't feeling left out, or worse, left to just watch TV on his own all day. So, we've been making sure to have lots of one-on-one time with him, including craft time. Thanks to Tanner's obsession with Pinterest, we've come across tons of fun activities to do with toddlers that incorporate household items & simple craft supplies. It's been fun to watch him explore these new things, but we'll be honest.....we've also been having too much fun painting, stickering, coloring, and playing with the play-doh! If Hampton ends up hating these activities, you might just find us doing them anyway!

Playing with stickers and colors

Hampton's first attempt at water painting, which he really seemed to like!

Weekend Update

This weekend, we took advantage of the warmer weather by getting out a little bit. Saturday, we ran errands all morning, then on Sunday, Bo took Hampton to the zoo for a little fun. They even tried out the reptile exhibit, which we'd never tried before. Hampton had fun seeing the frogs, lizards, and such, but Bo did NOT enjoy facing the snakes!

Hampton also got to have even more fun by spending the night with Paul & Jan. We took him up there early in the afternoon, so he'd have plenty of time to play before dark, then he came home yesterday in time for dinner. He always enjoys spending time with his friends (as he calls them), Lucy the dog & Tigger the cat.

Hampton's adventure gave Tanner a little time to love on Harrison, as well as start getting her act together for The Monogrammed Monkey, which will be starting up again soon. Of course, as crazy as things are around here these days, we may be only monogramming once a month. But then again, isn't keeping up with these adorable boys what it's all about?

Newborn Photo Shoot

The week after Harrison was born, our very good friend Mandy of Haber Photography came over to take some photos of him. She is a wonderful photographer, and it was so much fun watching her work! She was here for over 3 hours working with a sometimes uncooperative newborn and his crazy parents & brother. We finally found a time to meet up with her last week to get our photos, and we couldn't be more thrilled with how they turned out. We hope you enjoy....each one is our favorite!

Friday Photo

Polar Bear Swim

On New Year's Day, Gulf Shores had a polar bear swim at the main beach, where everyone & anyone was encouraged to come brave the cold water via slip & side....preferably in costume. Well, the thought of crazies running into the ocean all decked out was too much to pass up, so we headed down there to see what all the fuss was about. The weather ended up being overcast & a little cool that day, so Tanner & Harrison chose to watch from our front-row parking space. Hampton, however, LOVES going to the beach, so Bo and Hamp went to get a better view. Hampton had a blast running around and playing on the beach, with only a few attempts to break up a volleyball game & run into the gulf. We had a great time watching him play & have fun, but what we were most amazed at were all the people we knew that had actually participated in the swim!

Bo & Hampton on their way towards the fun

Noon Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve, we headed down to LuLu's for their annual "Noon Year's Eve" celebration. Instead of counting down at midnight, they countdown at noon and have a HUGE party for the littles. There was face painting, clowns, several craft & coloring stations, a magician, a booth filled with animals to pet from the zoo, and way more. At noon, they drop beach balls from the rafters, then roll out a huge piece of bubble wrap for everyone to jump up and down on, which sounds just like a fireworks show. It was really cute! The place was absolutely packed, too. You almost couldn't walk, there were so many people there.

The massive crowds sure didn't stop Hampton from having a blast! He played in the sand piles, made some crafts, and just had fun running around. We spent most of the morning there, and Hampton probably would've stayed forever if we had let him. We'll definitely come back next year....we'll just get there a little earlier next time!

Slater Visit

Remember us mentioning that Bo's mom, sister, and stepdad came to visit us right after Christmas? Well, here are some photos from their trip. We had a nice time visiting & mostly just hanging out....which is why you'll notice all of these pics are taken on our couch!

Harrison's 1-Month Birthday

Harrison celebrated his one-month birthday on Saturday, although we can't believe the time has gone by so fast! Today was his 1-month checkup. He weighed 1o lbs, 14 oz and measured 22 inches long. His little legs and arms are starting to get chubby & we even saw a little bit of a belly roll today, which we think is adorable. He's doing great & is perfectly healthy, even though he got the maddest we've ever seen him today while getting his shots! He's such a sweet, laid-back baby. He doesn't really get upset, sleeps great for a newborn, and eats lots. He's got all of us wrapped around his finger, that's for sure....even big-brother Hampton, who loves "baby Harrison", as he calls him. We can't imagine what it would be like without him, and we're so looking forward to all the fun we're going to have with him!

Friday Photo

More Christmas Photos

Here are a few more photos from the Christmas season......enjoy!

Christmas Brunch

Last year, we went to IHOP for Christmas brunch, and it was so easy & good that we decided to go again this year. So after opening gifts, we headed to meet Grandpa & Grannie. Hampton LOVES pancakes once his Granddaddy told him it was "cake", so he was thrilled to eat lots of them. We had a great time visiting & playing with Hampton before the meal arrived. It was in no way fancy or fussy, which was great with us!

Christmas morning

Everyone had been telling us that this would be a fun Christmas for Hampton, because he'd really start to understand it this year. So we were really excited about Christmas morning and to see how he'd react. He's such a grateful child and just loves anything & everything you give him. He'd been practicing "Merry Christmas" and had been saying it to just about everyone!

Anyway, we had fun setting up the gifts for both boys on Christmas Eve (yes, we bought the same amount of stuff for Harrison because we don't ever want it to be said that we don't treat them equally). After reading the Christmas story from the Bible, we went out to see the gifts and Hampton didn't disappoint! He loved looking at his new picture Bible with Bo and playing with the Pillow Pets that both he and Harrison received. Of course, he has been loving on both of them, so we may owe Harrison a new one by the time he's ready to play with it!

The hardest part of Christmas morning was getting Hampton to hurry up.....every gift he wanted to stop & play with, but we were in a bit of a rush to get to brunch! As for Harrison, we opened gifts with him once Hampton went down for his nap. He wasn't too interested.....we were just hoping he'd stay awake long enough to get finished. It was a fabulous Christmas morning, and we loved being a family of 4!

A Henson Christmas

Now that the new year is upon us, we thought we'd go back and recap our Christmas celebrations. We started with Christmas dinner at Grandi & Granddaddy's house the Friday before, since they were going to TN for the holiday.

We had a delicious dinner of breakfast foods, including the famous tenderloin & gravy that Tanner"s grandmother makes on Christmas morning. We love breakfast for dinner.....we get to have some of our favorite foods while being awake enough to enjoy them. Not to mention that after you eat, you're supposed to go to sleep!

We also exchanged gifts, and Hampton got what ended up being THE Christmas gift this year. They bought him a pretend fish tank that plugs in and looks like an illuminated reef with fish swimming by. It's hard to explain, but trust us, it's cool. You can see it in the picture below. Hampton is completely obsessed with it, wanting to watch it pretty much non-stop. That definitely makes a hit gift in our book!