Just for Grandpa

One of my favorite memories of growing up is shucking corn with my dad. Of course, I absolutely hated it at the time, but now I appreciate and love the memories of shucking the corn and the time it meant Jason and I got to spend with mom and dad.

Anneliese may not get the chance to have these same memories because I don't see her mommy and daddy picking, shucking and putting up corn so this is as close as she's going to get!





I know Grandpa will appreciate these pics more than anyone!

Summer Fun

Yay - it's summer time! I made it through my 4th year of teaching and am ready to enjoy another summer with my sweet little girl!

Thanks to Mom-Boo, Anneliese got a new swimming pool for the backyard and we filled them up and enjoyed a little water time this past Sunday. We all had a great time!







We can't wait for the next chance to play in the water! As hot as it's been, it shouldn't be far off.

Funny Story

We had a first a couple of weekends ago - Anneliese locked Jason and I out of the house . . . with her in it!

We were all hanging out outside on our back patio. Anneliese was going in and out of the house, as usual. At one point, she closed the door and pulled the blinds closed. Usually not a big deal, but if she was going to be in the house, I wanted to at least be able to see her through the windows. I got up to open the door and it was locked! Can you say "PANIC!" Of course, all of the other doors were locked and my car was in the way of being able to access the house through the attic.

While I was panicking, Anneliese was just hanging out, eating chips, playing with her toys and watching us through the window. Jason was doing a much better job of staying calm and trying to talk her through unlocking the door.

We kept seeing her push one chair at a time into the kitchen. Finally, we saw her head pop up above the counter. She just wanted to dig in the candy bowl! Once she had the candy and wanted us to open it for her, it was much easier to get her motivated to unlock the door.

Luckily, we got back in the house (after about 30 minutes of mommy having heart attacks!) without any major emergencies happening. Anneliese just wanted to eat her Kit Kat!

Here's what we found in the kitchen when we got back in the house:



Brandon pointed out that twice now when only Jason and I have been at home we have almost burned the house down and allowed our 2-year-old to lock herself in the house. I pointed out to him that maybe he should just be home more. ;)

SHS Picnic

Memorial Day weekend brought another tip to Hallettsville and another SHS Picnic. Anneliese has been to a few picnics, but this is the first one that Brandon and I have been to in almost 3 years! Time just seems to fly by!

Anyway, Anneliese had a ton of fun playing in the moon walk, fishing in the fish pond and riding the train! I think she would have jumped in the moon walk all day long if we'd have let her!

Annual Henke River Jam Weekend

A few weekends ago was the annual Henke River Jam Weekend - I'm thinking we've been going for about 8 years, but it may be that I just started going 8 years ago so maybe somebody can help me with the number. Anyway, it is a fabulous time every year!

For those of you reading who aren't related (and that may about 2 of you!), a large number of the Henke cousins get together the 3rd weekend in May in Gruene for a weekend of camping, river fun and then the Jam on Sunday.

Up until this year, we have only gone for the day on Saturday. Last year, we decided that we needed to go to the Jam on Sunday, which would require us to spend the night, which in turn would require me to sleep in a tent! Holy cow!

The weekend started off on Saturday with a day full of fun at the campsite by the river. We were smart this year, finally, and decided that it would be too cold to float so we all just hung out at the campsite, ate and drank all day and had a great time just talking! Of course, some folks, young and old, braved the cold water.







Anneliese had a great time playing with Megan, Luke, Ella, William and Klayton! They had bubbles and water guns and had a blast! She just loves playing with her cousins.




She played so hard that she had to take a little break. Luckily, Grandpa was ready for a little break too!




Later that night, the craziness began! Some of us enjoyed playing cards while the rest of the Henke crew brought out the guitars and sang the night away. They really all do think they're the next Bob Keen or Cody Canada! I don't know about all that, but they're not bad and they certainly have a good time.





Then, it was on to sleeping in the tent. This is my first tent experience since I was about 10 and I wasn't really so sure how it was going to work out. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I don't have any pictures of us rookies putting up our first tent but it all went rather smoothly and I think we'll be camping again!

Sunday was the Jam and it was a great day! This was our first Jam and we loved it and loved seeing all of the different bands. We don't get to see as much live music as we would like so it was a lot of fun! We will definitely be making more appearances in years to come. It is a super long day so you can probably see the decline of all of us as the day goes on.

Here's a few shots of early in the day:







Here's a nice shot of me and my new friend, Wade! Jason and I had to stalk him to get this picture. Luckily, Jason is quite the schmoozer so he got me in!



The group as the day goes on:



And finally, a couple shots towards the end of the day. Nice air-guitar, guys!






Thanks for organizing another great Jam weekend, Jeff! Thanks for all of the good times to everyone that was there this year! To those of you who couldn't make it this year, we definitely missed you and hope you'll be back in coming years.

Random pics

Here's just a few random pictures since Easter.



Practicing saying "cheese."



A couple of weekends ago, we had a great time at the Fiddlers' Frolics in Hallettsville. Anneliese ran around having the time of her life until she absolutely could not go anymore.







And our cooking team got 3rd place overall in the brisket category!

Easter

Yes, I know, it's been almost 2 months since Easter! I've tried twice to get this Easter blog up but every time I get on the computer Anneliese comes up and wants to look at pictures and then it's the end of the blog work! Plus, we haven't had a weekend at home since I don't know when. I'm giving up on the commentary and letting the pictures tell the story.



















A good time was had by all on the Henke Hill, as usual!

On Saturday, Anneliese got a special treat from Grandpa - she got to ride on a school bus! She's been wanting to ride a school bus since she learned how to say bus and she finally got her wish! Thanks, Grandpa!







On Easter Sunday, we celebrated with Brandon's side of the family and Anneliese got to hunt eggs with her cousin Constance.







Finally, when we got home on Sunday night, Anneliese got to see what the Easter Bunny had left for her. She was very excited about what she found!







Hopefully, with summer coming, I'll be able to update more often!