So.

It seems I've run into a bit of bad luck with computers lately. My hard drive, new just in April, has failed. The Genius at the Apple store (no, I'm not being facetious, that's what the fixer-folks are called) said there was nothing I could have done to have prevented or caused the failure. So I guess that's a bit of a consolation. They will replace my hard drive, as I'm still under warranty, but I've lost months of photos, among other things. We have one last hope in the talents of a guy Pete works with, but that's a very slim hope.
That's my update.

So is Me!

Sitting at breakfast, here on Henry's third birthday, we just had this conversation:

Mom: I'm so excited to take the train today!
Henry: Mm-hm. So is Me!

We're off for our Giant Family Thanksgiving Adventure pretty soon here. My computer is a little sick, so I won't be blogging for a while. Wish me luck with file recovery!
Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Almost Three

We had a nice, mellow birthday party for Henry today. Just the beginning of his birthday celebrations...this boy is going to think that people just always have multiple birthday parties. Today was just for friends. We'll have family dinner on Monday night, when the grandparents and Auntie Liz and Van can join us. And then we'll have to celebrate a little on his actual birthday as well. Part of our celebration will be taking a train trip! We're excited to head down to Burlington to see lots of family!
Here are some images from the party. Sinead chose the smallest chair for herself, even though she was the oldest at the "kid" table. That's my belly sneaking into the frame to serve up some fruit salad.
We all moved to the big table for cupcakes.
Rhiannon helped to make sure that all of the candles were safely extinguished.
Here's a little bit of an aftermath shot. We had actually just moved into the family room. You can see that there was some fun with trains. You might also notice that I'm a fan of balloons.
And here Jakob and Rhiannon help Henry open a gift. Who's bigger, me or Donna? She's due this week. I still have over a month to go.
Thanks to Pete for taking some pictures and allowing me to actually be documented at the event! He is out tonight with his parents. Our babysitters were all booked, so I had to miss out on Liz's performance. I did have a nice evening with Henry though....once he got over Papa leaving. We ate another meal in the dining room and then played with his new Pla-doh farm. We had a conversation about writing thank-you notes. I suggested that he might draw some pictures of the toys he got and he talked about what he would draw. I then said "and then we can send them out!" and he got all worried and looked at me and said "but can I keep it?" Poor little guy thought I meant we would send the toys back!
Thanks to Henry's (and our) friends for a pleasant little party! I can only hope that all of his parties in the future are so nice.

Words

I've been unpacking books and repacking folders and binders from graduate school today. So words are on my mind. Here are a few moments of print that have given me pause lately:

The dessert menu from the Japanese restaurant where Pete and I shared lunch a couple weeks ago. The second item is my favorite.
The side of a box which is in our third bedroom. The box currently contains framed pictures we haven't found a place for. Its former occupant was a bit mushier.
And the poetry on my refrigerator. I don't often enough have people over who seem interested in rearranging the words. If you happen to be around during the holidays/baby time, please, feel free to compose.
And now back to my book....The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather. I still like the name Willa for a girl....

Happy Birthday Pete!

Henry and I had a busy day! We got up in time to catch Pete before he left for work, and convinced him to go for a birthday breakfast at Egg Harbor. I'm all about their pumpkin pancake combo right now!
After kissing Papa bye-bye and wishing him a Happy Birthday, Henry and I had lots of running around to do. When we got home we started work on the birthday cake. We let it cool during lunch and napping and then Henry did the decorating. You can see here that he also helped to lick the spoons.
After gift wrapping and much dish washing, I finally managed to get myself in the shower just before Pete got home. We met his parents out for dinner at an awesome place called Matty's Wayside Inn. I should have taken a picture of my prime rib. My goodness, it was huge. I don't think I need to worry about being low on iron anymore. Here's a picture of the family. There are several things to note: A)my belly B) the homey German decor C) the stripey-sweater boys.
Here's a shot of our very friendly waitress. She's practicing to be a grandma for the first time in April. She became Henry's best friend when she split Pete's free birthday sundae so that Henry could have his own dish and candle. Henry even let her wipe his face later....after he licked his bowl.
Here's Pete with his proud parents. They shared happy memories of 34 years ago. Pete was born around 4 in the morning and Peter Sr. still went to work that morning. Some people are crazy. I'm not saying who.... (thanks again for a delicious dinner!)
Peter and Mary had to go off to choir practice, so we came home and had cake and opened presents on our own. Henry was a little bit wound up with all the cake and ice cream, but I think he's finally asleep now.
Happy Birthday Pete! We love you bunches.

What's Happening Right Now

Here's what's happening in my house right now...
Mom is sorting through baby clothes in Henry's room. She's not enjoying it. I swear, I thought she would thrive on this job....that's why I gave it to her.
Linus is trying to keep her paws warm under the heater. Did I mention we need a completely new furnace? Hooray for home-ownership!! Good thing we're so wealthy....oh, wait...
Pete is sorting through plastic containers and lids, and eating a piece of toast.
Henry is napping in our bed, but I dare not take a picture, for fear of waking him. Franklin is taking a nap on the couch. I don't mind disturbing his slumber a little bit....


Me? I'm not sure what I'm doing. I've been trying to put the bathroom together and organize things a bit in the 3rd bedroom. Mostly I put a couple things away and then just stand and look at things, not knowing what to do. I guess that's why I'm taking a blog break.

Two Halloween Videos

I'm trying two ways to share videos. The first is standard YouTube, the second is just using Blogger's video upload. Let me know if you notice any difference, or have a preference.

Here we are getting ready to carve. Henry drew a challenging template for me.


And here's Henry getting ready to go out for his first few houses, while we were waiting for Grandma and Bampa and our friends to come over.