Whew!

Halloween is tiring! Was it this tiring when we were younger? I just don't remember ever being tired. I remember getting home from trick-or-treating and watching The Birds on t.v. with Dad, but I don't remember getting worn out.
Today Henry joined me at school for our Halloween parade, then left after a tiny bit of our school party. When I picked him up we came home, put his costume on again and went out for our first trick-or-treating experience.
At first he was a little hesitant, but it didn't take him long to figure out what was going on. Before we knew it he was running to the next house. He was delighted to reach out and take candy, but then didn't want to put it into his bag "open!" he would insist. Pete allowed him a few Smarties along the way, which seemed to appease.
Pete snapped this photo quickly when he saw these kids running by with their rolling school bags. I think these are probably the same kids who grab a whole handful of candy and don't say "thank you".
We got another goose photo at the neighbor's house:
Henry was very good about saying "taint-tyou". He would look in each candy bowl and very carefully choose his piece of candy. Usually the bowl holder would tell him to go ahead and take another one, which he would happily do. Here we are, posing next to the pumpkin that the squirrels helped us carve...

I asked Henry to stand by the other pumpkin for a photo with Pete. As soon as Pete kneeled down Henry decided he had to 'pose' too. Note the Tootsie Roll Pops in each hand. When he took those from neighbor Bill he left his smaller sucker from the previous house in the bowl.
After a short break Sharon and the girls came over and we went back out to hit a few more houses. Henry loved running up to the doors with the girls (Pippi Longstocking and a Fall Fairy).
Then it was back to the house for the requisite candy counting and sorting and a lasagna dinner.
I was a little nervous about having enough candy, especially after Rob had been here, but we had plenty. Here are our leftovers:
After all of the excitement, Henry almost fell asleep in the bathtub. The good news is, he woke up bright-eyed this morning, and seems to have temporarily forgotten about candy! We'll see how long that lasts...

Barbie

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Happy Birthday Jonah!

Yesterday Henry had a lion costume trial run for Jonah's birthday party. He looked pretty darn cute. So did the birthday boy, who was dressed as a whale. Get it? It took me a while.
Jonah showed off some of his new toys to Henry, then they sat together for hot dogs and cake. Jonah even let Henry bring home a big Elmo halloween balloon! It's fun to have a pal to share fun birthday times with! Thanks for being a good buddy, Jonah!

Grandmothers, grab a tissue....

It was haircut day! Henry's first haircut at 1 year, 11 months and 6 days old. I took him to the mother of a former student of mine. She cuts hair out of her home and charges $3 for a 2-year old. Which was good, because as I drove up I realized I only had $4 in my purse. But that's not all she has going for her...she also sings the ABCs while she cuts and she has a dachshund named Lady. She also has a cement goose on her front porch, which was dressed as a Packer. Dressed geese are always entertaining. Stay tuned for a photo of the Batman goose that lives on the porch across the street.
But now, without further ado...here are the before, during and after photos:

Before:

During:

Goose:

After:

Please note that Henry did not lose that fuzz in back that so many of you were worried about. It's just a little easier to comb now. And I think we might have the curls back! Also, I did save a few precious locks in a little Tiffany box.

And, on a completely different note....here's a picture for the foodies- Wednesday night's yummy dinner:

Pork tenderloin spiced and wrapped around dried apricots, apples and golden raisins. I wish there were still leftovers.

In My Head...

In my head I had published an entry and you all had read it. I forgot, though, that there were Blogger issues last night and that entry never got saved. It's weird how a brain gets tricked...
Anyway. The original post was titled "Pretty Good Day" and told all about how Henry and I went to the Children's Museum (he went again today- thanks to Grammie for the membership!) and then we did a little raking and leaf-playing. These photos were titled: Where is my driveway?
And: Oh- there it is!
Then Henry and I went to the grocery with plans for a delicious meal. I suspected we might have something to celebrate. When we got home I found this long-awaited letter in the mail:
I had taken my comp. exam on Columbus Day. Wrote about 21 pages. Even used the word "moot". So I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing. But they told us 7-10 days for the results and it had been over two weeks. I was getting a little nervous, but not really, because after so many years I know how this university works. So. That's it! I can finally, officially say that I'm finished with grad. school. Unless I decide to go for another degree.... one more exam for my "type 10" certification too. You know, because graduating from an accredited program and taking one other additional exam wasn't enough. They just have to turn those screws a little bit more.
Anyway...the post yesterday ended with a statement about the yummy pork tenderloin I cooked for dinner. Pete claims it's one of his favorite dinners yet. It was stuffed with fall fruits. We also had asparagus and wine. Then I said something to cover up for my not-so-great eating habits as of late...something like "nothing like a good excuse for a hearty meal". Well, it's true.

Homophones

This morning we had a nice video chat with Chloe, who told us in words and fingers, that she is now "two"! Also, Henry has added the word "too" to his vocabulary today. For example, he was watching Muppets on the couch with his Papa and he said (demanded?) "Mom. Watch Puppets. Too!"

Last night Rob and Carrie came to meet us for dinner and some rock and roll at CJ Arthur's in Wilmette. Pete's band sounded really good, and several of my friends showed up! It was a nice evening all around. Here are Rob and Carrie with their best rock and roll faces.

And here's the band in a nice non smoke-filled venue. Pete had us a little worried in his plaid button-down shirt, until he took the "stage" and shed the shirt to reveal some rockstar red underneath. Also, in true rockstar form, he "lost" his wedding ring. Fortunately the guitar player found it. He'll return it to Pete at work tomorrow and we can keep Pete an honest man. Other exciting weekend news: We bought this pretty little desk this weekend.
We found it at the same store where we bought our dining room furniture 3 years ago. We both love roll-tops, but most of them are so big. This one only has the drawers on one side, so it's a nice smaller size.

The guy thought it was from about 1910, but he also thought it was American before we found this label on the side:
The label really does seem to imply that the desk is perhaps not American. He also told us that the finish is original. They "had a lady come look at it" and when she told them it was original they decided not to refinish it. Good move. One of my favorite parts is the keys:
So...you know what this means...we'll probably be painting over Prince Kyle's room pretty soon! If anyone wants input on guest-room color now is your time to speak up. I'm not saying I'll take your suggestion, but it might be fun to hear.

Go Chloe!

It's your birthday! We're gonna party, like it's your birthday!
Happy 2 Years Old to Miss Chloe!!
We will be partying a little bit over here and will send happy party vibes your way.
Wish we could be there to give you hugs and kisses!! Can't wait to see you again.
When Henry was asked "what do you want to say to Chloe?" his answer was to point at the Hershey's Kisses sitting on the counter....you may interpret that how you will.

Long time...

It has been a busy time around here since the last entry. On Tuesday Henry came down with some sort of virus. I left work early that day and stayed home with him on Wednesday as well. He got over it quickly, but was at a very low ebb for a couple of days. We did some cuddling on the couch, and tried some extra sleeping and he's back to normal now.
A couple days later Ellen and her parents stopped in for an overnight visit. Henry was still wanting me (rather than Papa) to put him to bed, so I was a little worried that I might miss out on some good Yerkes time. However, he finally fell asleep and I was able to play Scrabble with some folks who actually enjoy the game. Larry won. Then Barb and Larry taught us how to play "Take 5" which is more fast-paced and uses the Scrabble tiles. Pete actually joined us for that for a bit. It was a really fun game! I probably won't be able to get Pete to play it again with me though...he hates word games.
Yesterday Pete went to work while the rest of us did some running around. We visited the Greenbriar book fair, went to the Ba'hai Temple, had lunch at That Little Mexican Cafe and then browsed through Bookman's Alley- a wonderful used book store in Evanston. Larry, being a bookbinder, knew what he wanted to look for and found a few little treasures. It was a very pleasant day! It was so apparent that these folks are grandparents (See Mama Tchou-Tchou)! Henry had a great time with them, and they seemed to enjoy him as well.




When we arrived home we found a little birthday package from Auntie Amber. She left explicit instructions that it was okay to open it early, so we did! She had made Henry some very cute little mittens, with their own string. You can see that he was delighted with them!!! She also sent a matching hat, blue with a red stripe, which he really wanted to wear...but he has such a large noggin, it kept wanting to slip off his head. I'll be asking Amber if there's a way to remedy that.... In the meantime, thanks Auntie Ammer!! Mittens were just what Henry needed and he loves that you're helping to send some of that southern warmth up his way!

Well, Since You Asked...

Jenny wanted to know what was going on with our weather. Have you forgotten the fickleness of the midwest, Jenny? It's been up and down to say the least. The snow missed us the night of the concert, but hit us Thursday morning. That's right, October 12th. Henry was delighted by the sight and feel of it all. He was also very curious about the taste. These pictures show Henry romping a bit in our front yard, and also the sad, cold roses in the backyard.
Some of the snow stuck around until Friday morning, where the yard was shaded by the fence. Henry enjoyed a few more tastes when we went out to save the terra cotta pots. Other than those fifteen minutes or so yesterday morning, we didn't leave the house all day. So when Pete came home that night we decided to go to the mall for a bit of running around and some mall-restaurant dinner. Gotta love the mall.

It's Only Rock and Roll...

Yesterday, at about noon, Pete asked "what are we doing tonight?" Seven hours later we were bundled up in our long underwear, wool sweaters and scarves to see Elvis Costello and The Rolling Stones at Soldier Field!
We only caught a couple of Elvis' tunes, but he sounded pretty good!
The Stones came out at about 8:30 and played for a couple hours. They did some tunes I didn't know, some I recognized but couldn't name, and then of course Satisfaction, Jumpin' Jack Flash... We didn't stay till the bitter end, as we really didn't want to deal with the traffic. I haven't heard the report yet of what we might have missed. They were doing Brown Sugar as the first encore on our way out.
I'm not certain how old Mick Jagger is now, but that man has moves like I've never seen! It was probably about 35 degrees out, and that man was still jumping and hip-swiveling.
In one of these photos you can see that part of the stage moved out to the middle of the ground floor (or field, I guess). In that shot Mick is in red. He seemed to have put on some sort of brown work gloves. I don't think they were an original part of his outfit, as he was otherwise very impeccably dressed- matching and close-fitting.
We often noticed Keith Richards blowing on his fingers, and Mick said at one point that he couldn't feel his feet! I couldn't quite feel my feet either, by the time we got back in the car. But I was in bed by midnight, and that includes the time it took to pick up Henry!