Another Jet!

Pete and I had been hoping to find Henry a garage sale bike and yesterday we hit the jackpot! I went to school for a bit to work on report cards and Pete drove by the same way to take the kids to a car seat safety check event (with hot dogs and ice cream) and we both saw a garage sale happening across the street from my school. Pete called me to say that he saw some bikes out there. I knew the family from school- they have twin boys, one of whom was in my class a couple years ago. So I called to inquire and stopped over when I was finished working. Not only were they quality Trek bikes, but they had two (twins, you know) so Henry got his choice of color! We paid $50, which isn't bad considering it was $200 new and it's in very good shape. I didn't want to bargain with them either, since I knew the money was going to the boys. We did end up putting the training wheels on, so Henry could ride around by himself and we could avoid severe back strain. But here he is on his first go without training wheels. I'd appreciate any thoughts you all might have on training wheels, by the way. I'm a little torn.

Attitude

Henry has recently adopted the word "attitude". We may or may not have had a discussion about having a "better attitude", but now he has given it its own definition. I think when he says it, he mostly means "addition" but it comes out sounding so much more poetic.
An example:
Me: "Henry, Clara and I are going in the other room...I'm going to try to get some work done on the computer."
Henry: "Okay, I'm just going to stay here and put some more attitude on my jet."

The jet, with attitude. You may think that Henry's jet looks an awful lot like a boat. Feel free to take that up with him. Henry's recent obsession with Lego jets can be attributed to Uncle Will.
I'm pretty sure we can attribute the attitude to Uncle Will as well.

Clara Jean has been displaying quite a bit of attitude of her own. Generally it's a sweet and humorous attitude. Sometimes it becomes a little bit bossy. She is quite determined and independent-minded. And she looks good in jammies.

Birthday Weekend

Generally I don't like to have the computer at the table while we're eating, but I started uploading photos while Clara worked with Beth Anne, and so I figured I'd try to finish up really quickly while the kids finish their lunches.
I'm not going to take the time to write about each photo, or even put them in order. Suffice it to say that I had a fabulous birthday weekend!
Here are Pete and I enjoying a Volcano at Hala Kahiki. We blew out the flame before imbibing.
Here's Pete after a few more sips.
Our weekend also involved a lot of play time in the yard. Clara enjoyed the tubes.
Here she is with her pal Adelaide.
Jeff was an awesome playmate to Henry. They spent lots of time playing baseball and football and also just romping round in the tubes.
Back to birthday night....we had an awesome dinner at Prairie Grass Cafe. Here's my grass-fed steak.
And my complimentary birthday cake!
Amber and Jeff at the 'Hiki.
And Pete and I....I'm not sure if the blurry eyes are due to the drinks (I also had a Hawaiian Caress) or just the romantic lighting.
The next morning Clara played with my lei.
And Henry posed with Adelaide.
We went to the Botanic Garden.
And...again, here we are playing in the tubes.

I think Pete took these photos with my new lens.
Babes in jammies.
This isn't a great photo of Jeff and Henry rocking out, but I do like how you can tell Henry's enthusiasm by his leg lift.
I got two cakes.
Later Clara played Babushka in the backyard.
And Henry convinced me to get in the tubes with him.

Thanks to everyone for contributing to a delightful birthday weekend!!!!!

Coulda Been Worse

So here's the update so far...I've done some laundry (two loads- but line drying sheets takes a little more effort!) and some planting (the remaining window box got filled, the petunias are in the hanging basket, some impatiens were given a home) and watering. I did some bathroom cleaning (can't quite admit to cleaning a full bathroom since I didn't do the tub or the floor) and picked up some things in the 3rd bedroom (let's say about a dozen items). I also ran to the hardware store for some peat humus and tomato stakes. I successfully avoided the adjacent Starbucks on that trip...so I think I may stop and get myself a little something to keep me awake for my meeting at school. Oh. I also did a backyard photo session with the baby robins nesting in the bush. This is not from that session...but rather from the view out of Clara's changing area window. She attracts all the wildlife. She's a veritable Snow White, that one.Ducks on Roof

To Task

Okay....I'm going to use this post to keep myself on task today. I have MANY things I need to do...all of which I'm sure will be of interest to blog readers. Okay, maybe not, but if I know I'm accountable somewhere I'm more likely to stay off the computer.
Here's a partial list:
-planting (already went to the GBN plant sale with Peter and Mary- spent only $22 Pete!- and now have peppers, tomatoes, basil, cilantro and some petunias to add to the impatiens which were already awaiting planting)
-bathroom cleaning
-3rd bedroom cleaning
-laundry
-general de-cluttering
Those are the main things to accomplish before heading to a meeting at school at 3:30. Time to figure out where those 2nd graders are headed next year!
So stay tuned. If you're lucky I'll post before and after photos of my bathrooms.

Cousins

We had a chance to go up north and visit my nephew Anders this weekend. Here's the little dude in his turtle pajamas. Look how cute he is. I'm quite fond of the little fellow. I kept noticing how much he and Eleanor look alike. Then I would think to myself 'but my kids don't really look much like them' (though I do sometimes see similarities). But, as Will pointed out, Anders and Eleanor share dads with very similar genetic makeup...which is probably a closer match than the genetic makeup I share with their dads.
On Friday we had some beautiful weather. We took it easy in Anders' back yard. Clara really enjoyed his swing. I'm not sure if I've written about this before, but Henry has never enjoyed swinging- from the time he was a baby. Even now he'll only swing a little bit before he shouts "stop!" I can't quite figure out how any child of mine can't enjoy swinging.
Will has been working on this crazy old bike....what the hell's it called Will? And he hooked it up to the Burly and took Henry and Anders for several trips up and down the alley.
They are pals.
Will also got out his steam engines to show Henry. I got the feeling he's been itching to do this. I'm sure he can't wait for Anders to be old enough to play with his toys with him.
Clara and Anders spent quite a bit of time poking at each other. Clara seems to have learned some bad affection habits from her friend Sebastien. She likes to grab on tight to people, babies, animals...and pull them in and bury her face in them....often with her mouth wide open. It's especially bad when she tries it on the hind end of the cat. She is also very into pointing out eyes, ears, nose, mouth....but she sometimes misses and gets her finger IN your eye (or ear or nose or mouth). This is not such a big deal with us, but it's not so pleasant for little babies.
Dad was driving up to his place in Wisconsin and came over for a night so we could spend some time with him. Here's Clara brushing her hair for the wedding (oh yeah- we were in MN to attend the wedding of Pete's cousin. Thus "Cousins"). Please note the adorable green dress with the eyelet lace.
And here she is brushing Grandpa's hair. Dad thought Clara was a little unsure of her Grandpa, but I could tell she was actually quite fond of him.
Finally, here's a family picture from Mary's camera. This is all of us at the wedding.
I'll try to post some more from that event tomorrow. I'll just add blogging to my list of things to do on my "day off" (laundry, planting, grading, bathroom cleaning, meeting at school, etc.)

Trials

So, I may have mentioned that we've been dealing with sleep issues lately. It's been a bit of a challenge. I, of course, made the mistake of being too optimistic. "Oh! My baby is a fabulous sleeper! She's so easy to put down! So different from how Henry was!" And now? Not so much. I had to mention it to her day care lady, of course, and she was all full of unsolicited advice (my favorite kind!) First she tried to tell me that Clara was just trying to create a power struggle and manipulate me, some of my favorite theories about children! Later she told me that she learned from Super Nanny (an ideal source!) that I just have to be firm with Clara and not give in to her. I'm not even going to go into how philosophically annoying this all was to me, on multiple levels. I started to write about it and it was turning into a rant, which wouldn't be interesting to most of you anyway. So. I'll leave it at that. I just need to say that babies are inherently needy- and that's not a bad thing. It's survival for them. And, sure, I could "demand" that she sleep on her own. I could let her sob and scream for me until she falls asleep...but what is that teaching her? That her mom won't come when she's sad or scared or feels like she needs me. That is not what I want my children to learn. So, yes, it's difficult for all of us right now, and we're maybe not getting the best sleep. But hopefully she's learning that I will be here for her, that she will be okay and, eventually, she will be secure enough in that that she can soothe herself even when I'm not there.
Here's a little video from last Sunday:



I was going to write about something funny Henry just said...but now I've lost it. Right now we're hiding out in the family room while Clara works with Beth Anne. I'm a little crazed because what we really need to be doing is laundry and packing for our trip to Minnesota this weekend. We get to visit Anders- who is growing up without me. And Pete's cousin is getting married- so Henry gets to go to the first wedding where he actually knows what's going on. I think it's going to be a blast. Pete and I are very excited for dancing with the kids! There will surely be many cute pictures to share when we return!
Speaking of cute:Pete and his coworkers decided to have "Dress Like a Clown" day yesterday. I think they all looked quite snazzy. I wouldn't mind if Pete dressed like this every day. It's very Don Draper.

Happy Mother's Day

Yesterday we celebrated Liz's graduation from North Park university. She now has her master's in vocal performance. Congratulations Liz!!
The school of music gets to wear pink tassels!
After the graduation we went out for a nice Italian dinner. The kids were out late, but they were pretty well behaved.
I don't usually get pictures of myself on my camera... Here I am with my new wrappy-shawl cape from Mary for mother's day. It even matched my shirt!
The sleeping hours could have been better. For the last week we have had lots of bedtime struggles with Clara. Last night she went to bed okay, since she was pretty much already conked out in the car from it being so late. But then she woke at 3:00 to nurse and wouldn't go back to bed. Eventually Pete laid down with her (still crying) in Henry's bed, because Henry had come in to sleep in our bed. Ugh.
I did get a little sleep, though, when Pete took the kids with him to get me a Mother's Day mocha. And even though I wasn't sleeping I did get to stay in bed until 8:00, drinking my mocha, opening cards and presents and reading the Sunday paper while the kids crawled around.
I didn't get a picture of Pete making breakfast, or of the breakfast itself, but here you can see the tulips he brought in from our yard, my mocha, the strawberries and a little lego toy.
Pete made a delicious baked praline french toast. I might have to request it again for my birthday.
Here's a close-up picture (because the far away ones of my in my jammies were just too unpleasant) of my new necklace. I had seen these on Etsy and must have mentioned it to Pete, but then forgot all about them. They're made of recycled sterling and (bonus!) if we have another baby they can add another fawn!
After breakfast we spent some money from my mom on some new flowers for the front. I replanted some of the geraniums from last summer in the window boxes. They had thrived over the winter and I hated to cut them back again, but I did...a bit. We'll see how they do.
When Henry napped I did some weeding in the back. Clara discovered Bart and spent some quality time cuddling and kissing him. Also note that Pete dressed her in a pair of pants that were mine as a toddler....perhaps made for me by my grandma.
Pete pulled this huge dandelion out from the grass. He's so burly.
Finally, here's Henry describing the picture he had drawn for me for mother's day. I especially like the parts about the tornadoes. I didn't get him talking about it, but there's also a rhinoceros in the picture.


Happy mother's day to all of you. Many X's and O's!!!

Membership!

I'm so glad we became members of the Botanic garden. It's very nice to be able to just go for an hour and not feel badly about not making it worth the money. Here are a couple pictures I got this morning before my camera battery died.
The tulips weren't out yet last time we were there, and this time they were already fading. Ah...the short life of beauty.
When I asked Henry what he was doing here he told me it was his Cool pose.


Ranunculus. My favorite.