Plum Pooped

I apologize to those of you who rely on photos of my kids as if they were oxygen. I know you love my deep thoughts and witty words. How have you been surviving these last several days? I just really have not been in a blogging frame of mind. Mostly I've been in a sleeping frame of mind. I've been spending lots of time here:
And when I get home I am plum pooped. So after cooking dinner and getting the kids to bed I pretty much cash out myself.
But, sorry Dear Reader, the reason I blog is not so much to share news with you. That is merely a side advantage. It has really turned into more of a scrapbook and journal about our life. So when I don't blog I feel guilty that I'm letting things slide without recording them for posterity. One of these days I am going to use one of those book programs to turn the posts into something a little more stable.
Anyhoo....
Here's what we've actually been up to. New floor:
Clara is queen of the measuring spoons.
Last Friday I took the kids and went to Iowa. New Dad Will was in town just for the game. We went to Pagliai's- just Carrie, Rob, Will and I. We tried hard not to talk too much about politics. We missed Sandy and Pete, but we had a great time. The next morning we went to the Hamburg, pre-game. It was pouring and packed.
And they were out of chocolate chips for our pancakes! WTF? We enjoyed our breakfast none-the-less. Except for Rob who had to take a tired and cranky Eleanor home to nap.
Henry got to experience his first visit to Kinnick with Grammie. Pete and I were a little jealous, as we haven't even been able to go to a game yet this season....but we were happy for Henry. And he and his Grammie had a blast. Here they are pre-game.
Here's a shot Rob took after the game. The Hawks beat the Cyclones. Yay.
And even after a rainy game, during which Henry reportedly napped for an hour on her lap, Mom was still all smiles.
The next morning Joyce came up to celebrate her birthday. We just hung around Rob and Carrie's house and ate bagels. Russell was in town for the game too, so he came over for a bit. He's studying architecture (right?) at Iowa State and has a lot of drawing and design type classes right now. He drew Henry a picture of a robot, which I was pretty impressed by.
By 2:00 the kids and I finally hit the road back to Illinois. Henry really wanted to not be tired. He wanted to see the Mississippi again, and kept asking when we would cross it. As soon as we were across I looked back and saw this:
Sorry for the odd photo- I was taking the picture backwards while trying to keep my eyes on the road and my hands upon the wheel.
And stay tuned for more photos later. Henry and his Papa are at Wrigley Field as we speak. Pete got some tickets for today's game and took the boy down. The weather is perfect for it. The Cubs seem to be kind of stinking it up against the Cardinals, but I'm sure they're having fun anyway. Henry had been promised some Crackerjack.