So here are some photos of what I've been up to.
My birthday included a lovely breakfast out:
With a surprise pancake after Pete mentioned my birthday...
My banana bread french toast combo was delicious, but not quite as amazing as my favorite cinnamon-roll french toast combo.
I didn't get any photos while I was at the Children's museum with the kids (I was too busy being a typical suburban mom on her cell phone....darn birthday calls!) but I did get this shot on the way there. This is one fun thing about going to the Children's museum early...we get to see all the UPS trucks leaving their hub for the day's deliveries. How many can you count? I see 5 in this photo and there were a few more behind me.
We ended up staying in for dinner. No babysitter, and Clara was a bit stuffy again. It was a nice time though. We ordered in sushi and opened presents.
And Pete brought home a cake from Whole Foods.
By Saturday we started to have some nicer weather. Got outside to spend some time in the yard. Henry and I put up this praying mantis egg sac.
Hopefully we'll be able to see some babies!
I also caught Henry sitting on his stump in the corner of the yard. He had just been telling me about this after we read The Giving Tree the night before...
And, of course, there were various water experiments to do...
Around noontime Mom got into town, which gave Pete and I a chance to go out. We met Liz and Van for dinner at Mt. Everest- one of our favorite Evanston spots. No pictures were taken at that event. However, we did take advantage of our night without the kids and had a mini-date for dessert afterwards. Here is a horrible photo of both of us, showing off our unplanned too-much-visual-stimulation shirts.
We had a wonderful time just sitting, enjoying each others' company and reading trivia questions to each other from the mix of old Trivial Pursuit cards on the table. 
Sunday was another nice day. We planted some pumpkins. Wish us luck!
And then Grammie taught Henry how to play croquet.
While the kids (and Pete) napped, Mom and I went shopping for more plants. She had bought me this herb plant and we needed something to fill it.
Henry really wanted to help.
Clara just wanted to admire the ranunculus.
It was a challenge to plant! But we got all kinds of stuff in there..... dill, watercress, rosemary, cilantro, ummmm.... I may have to look at the tags again. There's lavender in the top.
Hopefully the bunnies won't think this is their own personal salad bar.
Here are the rest of my edible plants for the season. I'm trying everything in pots this year. A few types of tomatoes and some basil and parsley which Will and Sandy brought me from their garden sale. I'm not sure what's in that small white pot. I just realized Mom snuck it in there. It's something that came up in the same soil from last year, and she thinks it's maybe something worth keeping....we'll see!
Henry decided to climb into his sand table. He got a bath that night.
Grammie and Clara had some fun at dinner.
Finally, here are some pictures of Monday. We went to the Memorial Day parade, grilled and ate out, ate more cake (for me and Katie) and played more croquet! 
