My little Pig Newton

Henry is almost 4 years old in April, and I can't wait!  To have a 3.5 year old is to regularly run a gauntlet of emotions (wonderful and terrible) spewing out from kid and then transferring to the nearest parent.  It has been one wild ride.  The only reason that I think this behavior is due to his age and not  not the fact that we screwed up as parents with our number two child, is because I remember going to a parenting class when Megan was 3.5 because I didn't know what happened to my sweet little girl, and I was willing to do anything to get her back.  And guess what, my sweet little girl came back right after her 4th birthday (no thanks to the parenting class.)  I have learned the best thing that I can do as a parent is ride it out, and think of it all as a phase.  I understand that there still needs to be teaching, rules, limits, but I will also try not to go crazy at the same time.

I love Henry, and here is a sampling of our 3.5 old sweet heart:

We are driving home from church the first Sunday of the new year, talking about new years resolutions, and Henry chimes in that his new year resolution will be to "watch more TV for longer."  And I guess he took it to heart because the "TV monster" (Henry's alter persona) has been to our house at least two times since then.  When the TV monster gets too big, the TV has to go to the basement until the monster gets smaller, and there is no more crying and begging for TV all the time.  It was pretty funny to hear Henry explain the TV monster situation to Megan when she got home from school after the TV first disappeared, because as she was listening very intently, she stopped him mid-story and said, "Henry YOU are the TV monster."  Henry was stupefied at this accusation.

Henry can burp on command.  And he thinks it is so funny.

Henry is finally potty trained.  That was a test in endurance and patience.  He now regularly decides that he has to do his business right as the bus is pulling up to our house, and we have to beg them to wait.

One night I asked Henry where he wanted to go out to eat, and he could go anywhere he wanted.  He said McDonalds.  I though, "great somewhere he will love to eat and actually eat a real meal."  I then asked him what he wanted, thinking a cheeseburger or chicken nuggets.  "No" he said, "they have the best chocolate milk." That's it, and it was all he wanted.  Well, instead of wasting a time out to eat at McDonalds, I made him the same glass of Carnation Instant Breakfast that he gets 3-4 times a day, and went somewhere good to eat.  We were all happy in the end.  I won't be asking for his suggestions any more.

Anytime Henry isn't really getting attention, we all of sudden start hearing Eli squawking and or crying.  And sure enough Henry is right there, just a little to close, maybe giving a hug just a little too tight or sitting on the toy Eli was playing with so that Eli can't see it.  And when we come in Henry says, "I was giving Eli a hug."  Real smart.

There is no winning with Henry once he has his mind made up.  It is best just to give in early, and then I haven't wasted 30 min, 45 min, 60min of my life frustrated and angry.

My little Punk Nugget.  Henry got himself dressed all by himself today.  He was so proud of himself.

All that being said, Henry can be the sweetest little guy in the next breath after exasperation.

He always tells me that I look pretty, or tells me he likes my new shirt or earrings.

He is always so happy to hear Megan tell her adventures about her day.  He really listens and is excited for her.

He has the sweetest little laugh.  I love when a show or story tickles his funny bone -- I will be in the other room, and he is just giggling away, so sincerely.

He loves to play hide-and-seek with Eli.  They both crawl around the room laughing.

And these sweet things have keep Henry alive during the 3.5 yr old stage.

I love Henry!

P.S.  Here is proof that 3.5 is just a stage .

The Second Annual Utah Bachelor Ski Trip

Due to the success of last year's ski trip, Kim sent me out to Utah by myself again this year. My parents and siblings took good care of me, making sure that I overate and underslept. We went to movies, did flowrider, had a Mexican fiesta, played games (without any fistfights) and were as crass as any Frost outing can be.  It was glorious.

Here is what skiing in Utah looks like when the mountains have less than half the average annual snowfall:

Over the course of the trip I went from looking like Ernest Hemingway

To looking like Wyatt Earp

To looking like Officer Friendly

Of course, stepping off the plane with a police stache did not bring me the warm welcome and passionate kisses I was looking for, so I'm back to looking like I'm "15 years old." I've had a number of people at work not know who I was, Eli wouldn't let me hold him all week, and my neighbor just introduced himself to me.

I guess I'll have to grow the beard back soon.

A Blur of Excitment

With five kids running around that were much too busy to hold still for a picture from the phone, the results of our Nashville trip are a blur of fun and excitement.  We loved it.  It was just what we needed.

We decided visit the Duclos's a week before Christmas.  We went a week before so that we could celebrate Ms. Ellie's 4th birthday, have a two week Christmas break instead of just one, relax, let the kids go wild together, and just enjoy Christmas before it was over.

Ellie blowing out her candles, on her monkey bar cake (like banana bread, but with frosting.)

  Ellie is very sweet and quite the peacemaker.  We gave her a dora flashlight for her birthday, and in her sweet little voice  she said "Thank you, I have always wanted one of these."

Ellie had a fun cooking party, where the kids made yummy pizza, fruit salad, and cupcakes.  It was very fun.

Grandma McFadden sent the grandkids Christmas presents to Alisha's, so that the kids could open them together.  And they loved it.  New pajamas and money.  YES!

While we were there we went swimming, to the art museum, to the movies, ate at great restaurants, and went bowling.  

Little Eli loves to play ball, so he was in heaven with the game of bowling.

All the kids loved it.  No one even cried, except maybe Uncle Cory.

One morning we went to the famous Waffle House, the place were the traditional McFadden hash breakfast originated.  I must say I think Dad has really improved on the covered and smothered hash browns.  I think Uncle Mike was the one crying on this outing, after a rough night sharing a room with Eli and waking up at the crack of dawn for breakfast out.  Mike only needs a few things in life, and Ambien might be one of them.

We drove home on the 23rd with the twinkling Christmas lights behind us, and more fun to come.

Cory and Alisha you are the hosts with the mosts.   Thanks for a wonderful pre Christmas trip.  I would do this every year.

Merry Christmas 2011

Dear Friends,


As 2011 comes to a close, we wanted to share a brief review of what we're up to.


This has been a whirlwind of a year for us. We’re still living just outside of Washington D.C., and had our third child at the end of 2010. This meant that we needed to move out of our two bedroom home and into something with a bit more space. We also got a minivan, and suckered Aunt Chelsey into spending the summer with us to help us regain our footing and sanity. We were sad to leave our little place on Veitch St., where we were surrounded by good friends with compatible children, but have been happy on our new street and in our new home. The new location also has kids that are the right age, two parks within walking distance, and a slew of friendly new neighbors who like to throw block parties with swimming and coolers full of steamed Maryland crab. So there’s that. One thing that is missing is the nearby 7-11, thus our donut intake has definitely decreased.

Kim continues to work as a nurse at George Washington University Hospital. She is part of the float pool, meaning that she gets plugged into whatever floor is missing nurses on a given shift, and crucially, that she gets to make her own schedule. This allows me to be at home with the kids while she works, usually a night shift three times a month. Kim and I have spent the last two years team teaching the 9 and 10 year olds at our church, which has been a lot of fun. When she’s not bringing in the bacon or singing in primary, Kim spends all of her time making great memories for our kids, shaping them into humans. She also attends a regular dessert making group, plans incredible birthday parties, stalks half the known world via their blogs, and falls asleep during every movie we watch.

I just finished my fourth year working with John Snow, Inc., a firm that carries out health projects around the globe. At this point, half of my job is spent on a malaria project that delivers drugs, nets and test kits to 18 countries. The other half of my job is in a new position running a center dedicated to using mobile phone technology in health projects for gathering and reporting health data. I continue to travel quite a bit, which is rewarding, but tough. I spent 10 weeks out of this year in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana and Mozambique. I attained the dubious honor of “Platinum Medallion” status with Delta, and I’ve run out of space in my second passport. Our kids are accruing an impressive collection of coins, dolls and knickknacks from the far side of the world. We thank heaven for video Skype calls. I am also fairly certain that my iPhone is a culminating achievement of mankind.

Megan (6) is in the first grade, and is running the show. Since day one, she has maintained the lead in earning tickets for being good in her class, and recently depressed the “good ticket” market by cashing in her stockpile for a photo album. We read The Magic Treehouse books most nights, trading off pages, and she has become an expert at pronouncing unknown words so slowly that I can’t help but give her the answer. Megan has written more than a dozen letters to Santa over the course of this year, and assuming she can remember everything she’s asked for, she is going to be very disappointed come Christmas morning. Megan is the sweetest 6 year old on the planet, always helping her brothers, telling terrible jokes and getting perfect marks on her math tests.

Henry (3) couldn’t care less about good tickets. He continues to ignore entirely the fact that he has a neuromuscular disorder, preferring instead to rock out. Henry loves puzzles, Angry Birds, Dora the Explorer, wrestling everybody and not eating. He has a plethora of adult women caretakers (physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, preschool worker, nanny, swimming instructor) who think he is the cutest kid ever, and he dances like he’s got a tom-tom in his soul. His bus driver told me the other day, in all seriousness, that he has an incredible singing voice. Why would the bus driver even know that? Henry thrives on Carnation instant breakfast and my exasperation.

Eli (1) is our first fat baby. He doesn’t care that our lives were already packed with more personality than we could handle, he pushed on in with his own. He likes to cuddle, refuses to say anything besides “SQWAA!!”, and will eat anything. Like orange peels, dish soap, hand sanitizer, plastic, dust bunnies and my fingers. Despite what seems genetically feasible, Eli has dark hair and dark eyes and a space in his front teeth you could floss with a shoelace. He has us on a rotation where Kim must snuggle him before bed, I must snuggle him around 11 pm, and Kim has to snuggle him at least one more time before the morning. The wrong parent attempting to snuggle him at any of the predetermined times will receive a straight arm to the face, and a lot of “SQWAA”ing. He is so darn huggable.

We are incredibly blessed, and are loving this time in our lives. We hope this post finds you well, and that you have a wonderful new year.

Sincerely,

Mike, Kim, Megan, Henry and Eli

Frost

TurkeyPalooza

We were so lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Frost come visit, and celebrate our 

TurkeyPalooza.

As soon as Grandma and Grandpa landed we started the celebrations.

"A Very Hungry Caterpillar " 1st Birthday Party!

The sweet birthday boy!  I think he was a little overwhelmed.

 But he loved his cake.  He ate it all up just like the Hungry Caterpillar.
And yes, this cake tasted just as good as it looks. It was a dense chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. 
After the effort of making Henry's 1st birthday rocket cake, I decided some things are better contracted out. Awesome! Thanks Heather.

Presents!
Eli loves to play ball, and cars.
Perfect!

Thanksgiving morning we headed out to Rock Creek Park in D.C., to burn off some calories before our awesome Famous Grandma Frost Thanksgiving Feast.

Mike saw this log and just had to cross it.  Megan on the other hand luckily thought this was a little beyond her skills.

But I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, because when we weren't looking Ron had to cross the log too.  

Returning home for the finishing touches.

Grandma Frost was fielding calls all day long on, how to make this and that, sharing recipes and how the timing of everything should work.

We felt so lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Frost on Thanksgiving, one of their premiere hosting holidays.  It was awesome.

I love this picture.

Grandma Frost makes things seem effortless.

Let's eat!
I'm thankful for family, and our incredible feast.

We had a traditional Frost Pie day.
Megan was so excited to be a part of it, she talked about making a pie with Grandma for weeks before Thanksgiving.
Megan loved making her 1st pumpkin pie with Grandma, and if you ask her she will tell you the secret for a flaky pie crust.

Instead of shopping on Black Friday, we headed out to the new MLK monument.  And it is very impressive.

My favorite quote of the monument.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

After 4 years of living in D.C., we finally found the Einstein monument.  It is well hidden but  fantastic.  Who wouldn't want to sit on Albert's lap, and learn from him.  

Next on the list was ICE!
ICE is this amazing event at the Gaylord Hotel in Maryland that has a building full of amazing ice sculptures.
This year's theme was Merry Madagascar.
The building is keep around -2 degrees F., luckily they hand out heavy coats so you don't freeze to death.

The fun just kept on going.  We swam at Grandma and Grandpa's hotel, went to the movies, played bingo with prizes, went to the park, ate Indian food and just enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa at our house.

Come back soon.  We love you

Eli's First Year

And in case you want to relive the glory, here are the videos from Henry's first year, and Megan's first year.

A North Pole Adventure

Halloween Week

You would be amazed at all the Halloween festivities you can fit in a week.  

 Carving

Megan was so excited because she go to carve her pumpkin all by herself.

Henry had great plans of a hanging bat, and Dad did great job making it happen .

Eli just wanted to eat the pumpkin.

Parties

Dad's work Halloween Party

School parties and costume parades

Eli had his own parade at the grocery store, and he was a real hit with the ladies. He always is.

It was nice, this year Megan was excited to have me at her parade and school party.

There were also friend parties and the the church party. I don't have any pictures of the kids from this last one, because Mike was in charge of the kids this night while I ran the "touch this creepy thing" booth.  On a scale of 0 to Fun, he rated the night a 0.

Last of all, Trick or Tricking

I took Eli back and handed out candy while Mike walked the kids around the neighborhood. Forgive the rotation of the video mid-way through -- I can't ever remember which way I'm supposed to be filming.

Checking out the haul