Always playing catch-up

Before leaving for Iowa City last week we did just a little more celebrating of Henry's birthday (no wonder the boy can't stop talking about it!). Here are some fun shots of him:
With the new "guitar" (ukelele) from Mom and Dad. Notice the mic in hand. He retrieved that himself from the stash in the spare bedroom.
With new hat and mittens from Aunt Goycie:

Decorating the cake he baked (with Grammie) for himself.
And eating an early "Thanksgiving" dinner. I knew Mom probably wouldn't get any real food, as she was planning to spend it in the northwoods with Will and Sandy. So I fixed up some turkey breasts, a little Stove Top and some mashed sweet potatoes. Yum. Then the real Thanksgiving began. Here's Henry taking a pre-dinner ride with Grandpa.

And having some pre-dinner art time with Aunt Paula: And me doing some pre-dinner knitting with Carrie:
And then some post-dinner, next-day, we're all really tired game-playing with Amber and Jeff, Rob and Carrie....
Yes, that's the best photo I have from the evening.
On Saturday we drove down to Burlington where we took a stroll down Snake Alley (you can see Rob, Carrie, Joyce and Sam in the distance), had some Mexican food and then watched the parade of lights.

I was telling Sam that I remembered going to see this parade when I was a girl, and watching his mom march in the parade with her pom pons. Santa was at the end, as I remembered he would be. Henry recognizes Santa now almost as well as he recognizes Herky the Hawk.
After the parade we pushed the limits of our energy just a little bit further to enjoy a warm beverage at Mr. Moto's. Henry had steamed milk and made himself quite a mustache.
He also enjoyed the tiled hallway. It provided much room to run.
On Sunday we got a few last precious moments in with Dad and Paula et. al. at Bruegger's. Henry was already conked out, but Dad made the most of their time together. Home again, home again jiggity jig! Papa and Henry used the nice weather to their advantage so we could keep up with the Joneses. I don't actually know the last names of any of our neighbors, but they all sure do have nice lights up. Ours are white and gold, from our wedding. Sort of wraps our little home in love.
This concludes "Thanksgiving Wrap-Up 2006". Tune in later this week for updates on how much I have not gotten done around the house. Also, this weekend we plan to visit a Christmas tree farm, and Tom Skilling seems to want it to snow for us. That should keep you coming back for more!