Yesterday Meg texted me that Henry said, "Leaves are like solar panels for plants."

She also told me that during the day Henry was dancing a lot in some very imaginative ways. He named the dances. A couple I remember were "The Kick" and "The Pointing." He also told her that such dances were for boys only and he was going to do them with Pops soon.

Hazel's big news is that yesterday she pooped on the potty for the first time!

I searched just a bit of coin last night (with Hazel and Henry's help).

50 small dollars had nothing.

2,400 quarters produced two Canadians.

1,000 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1952).

480 nickels had one War Time (1943P) and two Canadians.

70 halves had nothing.

8,080 quarters produced ten Canadians, three UK 10 pence, two US nickels, one US penny and one Belize 25¢. The Belize coin was a new one for me. I was surprised that the reverse looks just like a 1900 Belize half I found some time ago.

5,500 dimes rounded up two silver Rosies (1952D, 1957), ten Canadians, one US penny and one Bermuda 10¢. In this mix was also a new modern one for me, the 2012D.

3,360 nickels got me one War Time (1944P), eight Canadians (4 Ni), one US penny and one UK 20 pence.

54 small dollars had nothing.

8,040 half dollars produced nine 90% silver halves (1941D, 5 x 1964, 3 x 1964D), thirty-one 40% silver halves (2 x 1965, 2 x 1966, 10 x 1967, 11 x 1968D, 6 x 1969D), two proof halves (1985S, 1989S), a Bermuda 50¢ and a Spanish 50 Ptas.

4,360 quarters rounded up two silver Washingtons (1934, 1943), six Canadians, seven US nickels, two US dimes, one UK 10 pence, one Barbados 25¢ and one US penny. The 1934 is not only a new one for me it is now the oldest quarter I have found. My last oldest quarter, the 1935, was found about 3½ years ago!

3,150 dimes got me one silver Rosie (1946), two Canadians and one UK 5 pence.

1,880 nickels had just one War Time (1945D) and three US dimes.

Although it was a week early, this weekend we celebrated Hazel's 2nd birthday at our house for my side of the family, plus Aunt Jess and Uncle Tim. Meg finished up getting ready with Jess on Saturday while I took the kids to a car show with Tim. The car show was bigger than I expected and even though we met up with the McG's (plus one) Henry didn't want to stay too long. He was having fun, but I think he was a bit worried he'd miss the party.

Here are some pictures from the party.

Hazel with a real cup.

The flower cupcakes Meg made. The flowers were baked pineapples.

Hazel digging in. She cut short her happy birthday song (ala Henry), but cheered up quickly.

Hazel opening gifts with Henry and Meg assisting. She was really good for this part of the festivities. We all delighted in her squealing. Henry was good too.

To conclude the event we went outside to have a water balloon "fight" and run around with squirt guns. Those water balloons sure go fast compared to the time it takes to fill them!

Hazel with Nana and Grandpa. She doesn't look too happy here, but she was and even let Nana hold her for a good while!

By chance Meg found a beer branded "Hazel." She only found one six pack so we kept it to ourselves.

Henry's big brother gift was a set of small Legos. It's Dad Nirvana! A father, his son and a pile of Legos. Henry's wanted to play with them almost non-stop since Saturday. It's fun except sometimes I want to do something else and Henry isn't too obliging. "You created a monster" Meg told me. In this picture Henry took the vehicles in the back are ones I made with instructions and the one in front is Henry's first car. He's gotten even better since Sunday morning.

Henry was a bit over-tired late yesterday afternoon, but overall the weekend was great. Saturday went way too fast for me. I feel like I hardly had time to enjoy the party Meg had organized (fortunately Meg was able to save the sandwiches we thought I ruined!). I can't get over how big she's gotten and how grown up she seems now to me. I'm glad Hazel's birthday will have two weekends of celebrations so Meg, Henry and I can commemorate the event appropriately.

Yesterday in an effort to beat the heat Meg took the kids to Tougas Farms very early to pick cherries. The heat started early, but before they were sweated out they got some cherries, played on the swings (Henry was very happy to use the big boy swing ... or so he told me) and ate some strawberry donuts (as Henry told me, orange on the outside, pink on the inside).

Last night Meg and I got to see them play very nicely together. Hazel inspired Henry to put backpacks on, run around upstairs and pretend they were off to school via a train (our bed). This morning when I left Hazel was still being extra cute and put on this fire fighter hat. She said to me, "bye Dad woo-woo (fire truck/police car sound)."

Hazel's becoming quite an amateur bug killer. Last night I saw her swatting at a fly (or bee as she calls all bugs, but ants) with a towel and this morning Meg told me she came into the room with a shoe saying something about the shoe and an ant ... sounds bad for the ant.

Here's some pictures Henry took. It's a good sample of the many pictures he likes to take. He really enjoys posing his toys for the camera.

And finally here's some pictures of things the kids made for me.

The above is a card Henry made with Meg. When stretched out it reads, "THIS MUCH." It was a great idea because Henry uses his own hands to express any quantity including time. When making it he told Meg, "I love Dad more than that, Mom!"

Hazel put these rocks in this paperweight for me.

Henry painted this birdhouse (BTW that's a favorite word of Hazel's lately) for my work. It was his idea. He told me to put it up on a tree.

187 small dollars produced two Canadians.

5,600 quarters rounded up three silver Washingtons (2 x 1951, 1951D), seven Canadians, three US nickels and two UK 10 pence. The three silver quarters were all in the same roll.

2,700 dimes yielded three silver Rosies (1946S, 1952, 1962), seven Canadians and one Bermuda 10¢. The 1946S completes my Roosevelt album! It felt good finding that one. I can't believe I found this last one so soon after the second to last one (the 1951S in May, 2011; the third to last, the 1955D, I found in October, 2010). It's been a long time since I complete my last similar album, my Jefferson nickel album in December, 2009!

1,760 nickels got me one War Time (1942P), eight Canadians (3 Ni) and one Mexican $1.

3,520 quarters turned up eight Canadians, fourteen US nickels, one US dime and one arcade token. That's a bit too many nickels for my taste!

2,250 dimes yielded three silver dimes (1941S, 1944, 1958D), one Canadian and one US penny. All three silver dimes were in one roll.

1,760 nickels rounded up one War Time (1945S), five Canadians, one Canadian dime, one US dime and one Bermuda 5¢.

This past weekend was a good Father's Day for me! On Saturday Meg and I did some work on a house for Habitat for Humanity. We did it along with about twelve other parishioners of our church. My folks watched the kids while we did it. Meg painted and caulked while I screwed in sub-flooring. Henry and Hazel were taken out for breakfast, got to go to Klem's and played at the house.

The kids were on good behavior for the weekend. :) We even got to have a decent family dinner out at Panera Bread. On Sunday we went to church and then the afternoon went to a local park. Meg made a really tasty new Moroccan dish. For Father's Day I got a picture of the kids and Meg to hang on my wall at work, a neat card from Henry (picture forthcoming) and a paperweight from Hazel (picture forthcoming).

225 small dollars had one mint set dollar (2002P) and one Canadian (a new one for me, the 2011).

8,000 halves produced two 90% silver halves (1964, 2007S-Ag), one hundred four 40% silver halves (4 x 1965, 25 x 1966, 30 x 1967, 28 x 1968D, 15 x 1969D) and one proof half (2007S-Ag). The 2007S-Ag is the first modern silver proof half I've found since May 2009!

720 quarters had nothing.

1,400 dimes rounded up two Canadians, two UK 5 pence and one Euro 1¢.

200 nickels had nothing.

20,100 pennies yielded eighty-six Wheats, one hundred twenty-three Canadians, ten US dimes, one Bahamas 1¢ and one Italian 5¢ (1927). The Italian coin is a pretty cool one as it is quite old for a foreign coin.

1915, 1919(2), 1935

Last night before going to sleep Hazel talked a lot in her crib. We can hear her very clearly over the baby monitor. Meg told me she said, "smile, cheese!" Presumably she was playing camera with her dolls and stuffed animals.

7 small dollars had nothing.

6,320 quarters produced one proof quarter (1976S), ten Canadians, eight US nickels, two US dimes, one Bermuda 25¢, one Indian 1 Rupee and one Honduras 50¢.

7,400 dimes turned up four silver dimes (1942, 1948S, 1958D, 1961), nine Canadians and one UK 5 pence.

3,800 nickels yielded one dateless Buffalo, three War Times (3 x 1943P), seven Canadians (4 Ni), two US dimes, one Aruba 25¢, one Panama 5¢ and one Bermuda 5¢.

Hazel asleep in our van on the way to the wedding. We took a similar picture of Henry for which he spontaneously staged his sleeping just for the camera.

Henry in his wedding suit. He was very excited to get this ... a bit iffy about putting it on, but once he did he wanted the full thing and everything buttoned. The hat he kept on because he didn't like the haircut he got from Meg (it looks good!). We weren't going to push the hat thing or the sneaker thing.

A family picture of us!

... and a picture of Meg and I!

An airport scene Henry and I constructed. He told me he wanted the picture to have him in it.

Henry and his buddy Ryan at their last day of school event.

Hazel at Henry's last of school event.

I'm having problems with my camera right now so I can't put up some cute wedding pictures we have. Hopefully I can put them up soon. It should be the batteries and hopefully it's not because Hazel dropped it last night.

100 small dollars had nothing.

8,000 half dollars produced two 90% silver halves (1957D, 1964), fourteen 40% silver halves (1966, 7 x 1967, 4 x 1968D, 2 x 1969D) and two proof halves (1977S, 1980S).

2,080 quarters yielded one Canadian, one US nickel and one Moroccan 1 Dirham.

1,950 dimes rounded up one silver Rosie (1963D) and three Canadians.

1,080 nickels got me one War Time (1945P) and one Canadian (1 Ni).

21,050 pennies had two hundred eighty-three Wheats (including one Steelie), one hundred thirty-two Canadians, four US dimes and one Panama 1¢.

1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1925(3), 1927(2), 1929(2), 1930(3), 1931, 1934(3), 1936, 1937(3), 1939(3)

I also came across some good coins in the reject bin of a coin counter and one the floor of Costco, a 1905 Liberty head nickel, a Euro 20¢, a Malaysian 20¢ and a Canadian $1 (2012, a new one for me).

It's a been a tough week at home with Henry being sick for two days, both kids sleeping very poorly and Henry's extreme anti-school protestations this morning. Here's a picture of the kids from this weekend when I had a good time with them at the Sturbridge Village antique car show (despite the rain too!).

204 small dollars had nothing.

7,040 quarters produced one silver Washington (1964D), one proof (2005S CA), four Canadians and one Bermuda 25¢. It was cool to find another silver quarter and a new proof.

2,100 dimes yielded three silver dimes (1918, 1942, 1961D), three Canadians and four UK 5 pence.

1,320 nickels turned up two dateless Buffaloes, five Canadians (1 Ni) and one US dime.

72 small dollars and 38 half dollars had two 40% silver halves (1967, 1968D).

6,920 quarters turned up two silver Washingtons (1954, 1964), twelve Canadians, eight US nickels, five US dimes, one Panama ¼ Balboa, one Dominican Republic 25¢, one Bahamas 25¢ and one play quarter. These two silver quarters push me out of my silver quarter drought. The last one I found before last night was on 4/24/12!

6,500 dimes yielded five silver Washingtons (1946, 1952, 1958D, 1961 Proof, 1964D), seven Canadians, one UK 5 pence and one Cayman Islands 5¢.

3,880 nickels rounded up one Buffalo (1936), three War Times (2 x 1943P, 1944P), eight Canadians (1 Ni), one UK 20 pence, one US penny, one Japanese 5¥ and three key date Jeffersons (1938D, 1939D, 1939S). Pretty odd to find those three early key date Jeffersons in one night!

8,000 halves produced one 90% silver half (1952) and two 40% silver halves (1966, 1967).

20,000 pennies turned up one hundred fifty-eight Wheats, one hundred thirty-nine Canadians, five US dimes, one US nickel and one Euro 1¢.

1913, 1914, 1917, 1917D, 1919, 1920, 1934(3), 1935S, 1936(6), 1937(2), 1938(2), 1939(2)