In case you can't get enough

This was the view from Carrie's birthing room. Kinnick in its full glory (as seen through horizontal blinds). Rob recently sent a photo of Eleanor wearing a tigerhawk-emblazoned onesie which declared 'fan since birth'. Indeed. Here's (great) Aunt Joyce the night she and (great) Aunt Jan came up for babytime. We had dinner at Mondo's and seem to have cleared out our breadbasket.
And Eleanor on day 2 of her life. Check out those eyes. Those are smart eyes.

Eleanor Ruby

Pete and I are SO proud to finally be an aunt and uncle, and to have a cousin for Henry. Eleanor Ruby joined the family on Wednesday and we're already smitten. I drove out there as quickly as I could to get as much cuddle time and to allow her to imprint my auntie status in her brilliant little brain. Pete and Henry were envious, and can't wait to meet her. I'm sure we'll be planning another trip out there soon. Mama Carrie was a natural-birthing champ and Papa Rob seems to have been a good partner. Grandparents are aglow all around and other family members are sneaking peaks and sharing the news. For the full story check out Rob's blog.

What we're growing, What we're eating...

My zinnias have started to bloom. They came in a boxed seed mix from Paul's, so I'm pretty pleased with the results.
Somehow, after I don't know how many years, my African violet decided to bloom.
This is the tiny harvest of peas that I collected a week or two ago. Tasty!
And some carrots. These are actually just from thinning...that's why they're so beensy. We did eat a few though. I read somewhere that as soon as a vegetable is recognizable, it's edible.
Some tiny bits of broccoli that Mom encouraged me to clip so that the rest could flower out. We haven't eaten it yet.
Last night's dinner (sorry for the sideways picture). We had Portuguese white bean soup and Greek diced vegetable salad- both from my new Moosewood cookbook. I honestly don't know how I've grown to be 32 years old without ever having owned a Moosewood cookbook. The results? Yummy! Pete even ate the salad two nights in a row (surprise-we might be finishing it off tonight!) and took some soup for lunch.
Requisite Henry photo. He wanted to show you what he was eating too. He ate the soup with us last night, of course, but this morning his second breakfast (the one he eats with Mom) was tortilla with cheese and scrambled eggs. He turned them into a sandwich. We also had some cantaloupe. You can see the residual juice here....
A just-in-case message to Samantha, Sarah and others who may be checking..... If you haven't heard from Rob and Carrie for a bit it's because they're at the hospital! Checked in last night! No news to report yet, and I'll save that for them anyway....but just thought I'd share the excitement!

Catchin' Up

We had Mom here for three weeks. It was so nice and relaxing to have her here. I have to admit- I let her do the dishes a few more times than a woman with a broken arm ought to. On the evening of father's day we met Pete's parents and Liz and Van at Ravinia. Among other yummy treats we had this rhubarb pie that mom made (Pete was having none of the rhubarb) and a little cicada cake that Henry and I just had to get at the bakery.
Henry slipped into Bampa's chair while he was gone...
There was lots of playing while Mom was here too. She and Henry wore each other out. I had to snap this photo. I realized it was blurry, but Henry started to awaken when I tried to take a second, so I tiptoed back out.
Henry liked having someone in the back seat with him for the drive to Iowa City. Grammie knows how to keep him entertained.
While in Iowa City we had breakfast with Rob and Carrie (now a week past due!) In this photo they're demonstrating just how big that baby is getting.
And here they're just being cute.
We spent some time at Dad's (see his blog) and also got to visit Darcie and Pope. Here's adorable little Kirin. Henry was enamored, wanted to hold him and didn't take too much coaxing to sing him a few songs. It didn't hurt that Kirin let Henry play with his little tractor toys.
On the way home we had the requisite stop at Culver's for a little frozen custard and fries.
Now Pete's trying to get Henry settled down so we can maybe watch a little movie and I can do a little knitting. Wish us luck.

The Matthew Shepard Act

It doesn't take much time at all to go to the Human Rights Campaign website and send a letter to our lawmakers....just something to think about.

What I'm Reading....

For the types who care, here is what I've been reading so far this year, in reverse chronological order:
Currently: Pride and Prejudice. Always wanted to read it. I don't have this version, but I did see the movie a few years back and it's hard to read it without picturing Kiera Knightly in my head. Quite enjoying it so far! Before that: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. It was a birthday gift and I liked it a lot. Had those elements of historical fiction which I enjoy. A quick read too.
Before that: The Stolen Child. Odd book. Highly recommended to people like my brother Rob. I think I found it recommended in a list online. Something like 'if you liked Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel, you'll like this'. I didn't much care for Jonathan Strange, but I do enjoy the genre, so I took a gamble.
Before that: Ten Days in the Hills. Supposed to be really racy. It did have a lot of sex, but wasn't that big of a deal, I didn't think. An odd book. Just lots of conversations and people sharing stories....and occasional sex.
And of course, before that: Anna Karenina, about which I wrote before.

And of course, I started out the year re-reading books 1 through 6 of Harry Potter. Truly, all of my other reading is just something to do until book 7 comes out...in just 31 more days!!! I'm thinking maybe I can finish up Pride and Prejudice and still have time to read The Half-Blood Prince one more time before The Deathly Hallows comes out.

Happy Father's Day!

With my dad in mind yesterday we took a trip to Wagner's Farm, where they were doing an annual 'dairy breakfast'. We were interested to find that the dairy breakfast did not feature cheese, milk or even cream for the coffee. I guess it was a dairy breakfast because it was a dairy farm? While sitting under the big tents, waiting for our breakfast, Henry and I watched these guys play some tunes for the gardeners.
After our pancakes and eggs (and an intimate encounter with a cicada-in which it landed right on my mouth) Henry and I took a tractor/hay rack ride. I was ashamed to have to admit that I couldn't identify the oats when the guy held them up (though I didn't guess it was wheat- like one lady did). He ended our tour with asking us if any of us had at least seen a pig before...he was worried about us city slickers.
Then we hustled off to the dairy barn where they were doing a little milking. In this photo Henry is saying "No thank you!" to a suggestion that he may want to try milking.
Dad should be proud though, I got milk on my first pull, and straight into the bucket too! The guy said "Alright! It's in your blood!" I said "Actually, it is!"
Here's the gracious cow that let us all take a tug. Her name is Rita and she's a couple years old. A classy bovine indeed.
Henry did take a pet of a calf we wandered upon later. And he didn't mind this horse too much, perhaps because her name was Betsy. Her larger partner was named Doc.
Later on Pete got to have his father's day gift early. He also had to assemble it, but it was no tools required. In this picture you can see that there was still some adjusting to do.
He got it sorted out later on. I hope he'll be taking more advantage of it later today, as he's already put in a lot of hard work in the yard.
Happy father's day everyone! XOXO.

Summer!

School ended this week with lots of hugs from the kids, some tearful goodbyes with retirees and a nice picnic chock full of cicadas.
Today was my first official day off, so we went to the zoo! Here are the funny looking camels. The one on the right had shreds of fur coming off and the one on the right looked almost bald. Weird.
Henry really wanted to get around to the giraffes. Once there he needed a little prop up to get a good view. Fortunately there were plenty of rocks around to stand on.
The giraffes were looking elegant.
We really enjoyed the meercats. They're fairly new at the zoo.
Henry was excited to have a hot dog too. We got the turkey dog that was listed under "healthy kid's meals". The healthy meal also included jell-o.
After a quick diaper change under this tree......and a trip to see the monkeys and apes, Henry conked out in the stroller.
He didn't sleep on the way home, but took about a three hour nap once we got back. Love the zoo!

Fun in the sun

After some ups and downs in the weather we've been given a gorgeous weekend. We decided to take comes-with-the-house Elmo out of the garden and give him a try. Last year Henry was a little too hesitant to enjoy the turny sprinkler action. This year he skirted the edges. Look at that running form!
He did get wet in a few spots, and would chase us through if we said "ready, set, go".
And here's a shot of the best cure for a sore bum.
Guess what my new desktop photo is.
Also, the cicadas have been enjoying the weather. They're out in force and starting to find their mates after some long, hard work. A few nights ago they were singing all night long. You can stand in the backyard and watch them just flying about in their bumbly way. Mom had a few incidents this morning, one involving a cicada that she could hear (they say they're as loud as a lawn mower if you're standing right next to one) but not locate. I thought maybe she'd had a few too many pain pills when she started really getting anxious and said "Betsy! It's following me! Don't you hear it?"I did finally locate the culprit sitting atop her hat. No wonder it sounded so loud to her, it was practically on her ear. She also had one fly down her shirt later. She thinks maybe she's ready to go back to Iowa.

Last Weekend

There are so many things on my to-do list that I can't even seem to start. So I'll do a quick blog.
If you saw Rob and Carrie's blog you saw some photos from the baby shower we had for Carrie. We're awaiting baby news almost any day now! This photo perplexes me. I swear I'm not that short! I tend to slouch and I wasn't wearing my shoes (which matched Sandy's and almost matched Carrie's- in case you're interested in that sort of thing).
Sometime towards the end of the shower (approx. 20 min. before scheduled end- but who's keeping track?) some of the boys of the family drove up and started unloading the second pinball machine of the day. No serious injuries were reported.
Dinner that night was at Pagliai's. We only took up three booths.
On Sunday we had to leave a little early so we could get back to Chicagoland (Oak Park, specifically) for an outdoor festival in which Pete was playing. We brought Mom back with us and she made sure we got plenty of butter-laden grilled corn.
That is Pete's band playing in the background- and Henry busting a move in the foreground.
After their quick set, Henry played roadie. The timing was pretty good. We got out of there right before the skies opened up. It surely is spring/almost summer in the midwest. We drove through some tornadic weather on the way to IA, through rain and wind on the way back. And now we're dealing with 90 F. temps and winds threatening to gain in speed up to 75+ mph.