June is over?!?!

So maybe I missed a couple days in the post-every-day-for-a-month thing, but I did pretty well, I think. Samantha has created a quiz to take if you've been following all of the challenge participants. Take it here: http://ohdrat.wordpress.com/
You might win a prize!
Good luck. I think I may have to go back in the archives a bit to get all the answers...

601

I was so wrapped up in the cuteness of the gremlins yesterday, that I didn't even realize it was my 600th blog post! Who'da thought?
Here's Queen Adorableness posing by the slide this afternoon. You may notice her scratched up knees. You can't stop that girl.
She and her brother have lots of fun on the slide together. Here Henry attempts some sort of backwards reverse slide maneuver.
And here the two of them are playing airplane with "propellers" in their mouths. Those are actually plastic "boards" and nuts and screws from Henry's tool box. Clever.
Here's a moment of quiet family time after Pete got home from work. Henry checked out another stack of skunk-related literature at the library today. Also, I've been trying to sort through and put away books. I could use another bookshelf or three. I'm sure that would solve all of my housecleaning woes.

Beware

Beware the hammock gremlins. They are hard to spot, but come out when it is hot and sunny. If you're not careful they'll overtake you with their cuteness.

Busy Bees

We have had a very busy week here. Henry was involved in summer camp at the Botanic Garden in the mornings. His program was called Habitat Hunters and he had an awesome time. Here he is outside the children's learning center, where I dropped him off each morning. It was a HOT week, so I was glad they had a spot to cool off, but I was also pleased that they still spent most of their time outdoors, finding shady spots to talk about the local wildlife. They also did such activities as making a bug catcher, creating a plaster mold of a fox footprint and dissecting an owl pellet. He was probably most excited to ride the tram and act goofy in the bathroom with his new friends.
All of the dropping off and picking up meant there was more getting Clara in and out of Pete's low car than my back knew how to handle. Each day I'd have to put her in or take her out 8 times, and that was if we didn't go anywhere else while Henry was at camp! Thursday at one point I looked back and saw this....funny, we were on our way to buy her new shoes!
Also on Thursday, Clara had her first spontaneous art experience. She toddled over, picked up this pad of paper while I was on the computer, worked quietly for a moment and then toddled over and set this drawing in my lap. I just about cried.
Last night we got a little cleaned up to meet Pete's parents and Liz and Van out for dinner. Henry thought he looked pretty spiffy.
And Clara tried on her personalized bloomers.
This morning we went for the first time to the Glenview farmer's market. It was pretty nice, though not a lot of vendors. We scored some late strawberries and are trying to down them quickly before they go bad. The kids were astounded by the way that the strawberries weren't white inside, and how they didn't have the texture of apples.
Henry was very proud of himself this morning when he had another nature experience. Pete found a fuzzy caterpillar outside and brought it in. Henry wanted to hold it, and actually kept it in his hands! He's very jumpy and skittish around small critters...I'm hoping to help him get past that.
Clara put on this pretty dress because we were invited across the street to have a birthday lunch for Sebastien.
Here is the kid's table. Sebastien is just 3 days older than Eleanor (happy birthday again, Sweet Neice!).
And here's the grown-ups table. Ed tricked us into drinking beers before noon. He didn't even have one himself, but he told us it would be perfectly normal in the Czech Republic.
Henry and Anna really wanted to take their lunches up into the playhouse. We told them next time, when they're eating sandwhiches or something. Instead they snuck up with their lemonade.
Clara did some posing in this pretty little spot. On the other side of this fence is exactly where the garage was that burnt down last summer.
And finally, here's the birthday boy with the cupcakes we brought over. He's such a cutie, and is learning to be more gentle with Clara....slowly....

Green

First Clara decided to suck on a green marker. I decided to use the photobooth camera to get a quick shot. Henry wanted to get in on the action. You can see Clara's Rocky Horror lips here. She still has green all over her legs.
Then Henry decided he wanted to take some pictures of himself with the camera.

Jessica's Wedding

I'm afraid I have a bit of a sore throat coming on...durn air conditioning!
But, before I go to bed, here are some photos from Jessica and Mike's wedding last weekend.
The bride with her dad:
Me (ponytail hair-it was hot!) with my brothers. We almost look like we color-coordinated!
Our spouses....?
The happy couple enjoying a first dance.
There was much dancing- especially by Sandy and Carrie. Please take special note of Pete's Obama Shoulders dance.
My favorite picture of the night!
And Pete and Travis at the d.j. station. I imagine Travis to be saying "Do you have anything from post-1981, you know- when I was born?!?!?"
Congratulations again to Jessica and Mike! We had a fun time and you both looked fabulous! We wish you the best!

Recent Activities

Clara has created a new activity for herself. She passes many quiet moments taking all of the crayons out of the box and placing them in a nice, tidy little stack. She then puts them back in the box and starts all over again. Sometimes there is soft talking to herself while she does this. It's very cute.
It's been very hot these last couple of days. Yesterday we were inside most of the day, with the air on. By the time I was getting ready to fix dinner I thought the kids should get outside again, so I asked Pete to take them out for some water play. I'm not sure the water from the rain barrel was quite as refreshing as hose water would be, and I'm a little concerned that the kids might be getting malaria after putting various water toys in their mouths after the water had been out in the heat for at least 24 hours...
Pete was away for dinner tonight, so Henry and I made our favorite tortilla pizzas. He gave his a face. It's almost as cute as his own.
Clara also did some work in the kitchen.
She was delighted to show me what she had cooking.
After enjoying our delicious creations I got some video of Clara sharing some of her "words". I'm a little impressed with her level of cooperation and cuteness in these videos.




After dinner we went out in the yard. I did a little watering and then there was quite a bit of hose play. Henry actually ran through the "rain" I made for him. This is new. It gives me high hopes for learning to swim this summer. That is...if we ever get our butts over to the pool. Tomorrow looks to be slightly cooler...here's hoping I can get outside for some weeding.

Kitty

We made the decision to have Linus put to sleep this morning. We didn't hear much from her during the night, other than a couple of throw-up incidents. This morning she was in the family room, over by the CDs, obviously just trying to find a place to be comfortable. She was barely walking and her breathing was obviously in distress. I spoke to Henry about it, and there were some tears. He drew a picture for her and took it to where she was then laying in the bathroom. Pete said goodbye to her before going to work and Henry gave her a little love before I took him to camp. When Clara and I got to the vet she agreed that it was the best thing to do. We stayed with her through the first injection* but then let the vet take her in back. I would have liked to have stayed with her...I felt I owed her that, but Clara wasn't happy in her stroller. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of the kitty from recent years. I had had her since 1995 or so. I have some great pictures of Pete with her when we were in college, and of her checking out the built-in closets in our first condo, and her sleeping on the bed with baby Henry...but I don't have them on the computer.



She was a very sweet kitty, even though she caused us a few headaches in her last couple of years. Hopefully wherever she is now she's able to scratch up furniture and make poop with abandon.

*While I've been pretty upfront with Henry about what was going on- I didn't tell him that it was a shot that the doctor used to help the kitty die. I can only imagine what he would think the next time he had to go in for a shot...

The Amanas

You may have seen updates on Rob and Carrie's or Dad's blog...we were in Iowa City over the weekend for my step-sister Jessica's wedding. A fabulous time was had and the bride was stunning, but I'm not quite to those photos yet...
Saturday morning Mom treated us to breakfast in the Amana Colonies as a bit of an early father's day treat.
Here's a picture of Grammie with all the grandkids.
Will is about the biggest Amana breakfast fan there is. I think his son might be following suit. Here he is saying "Give me my pancake!!!!!"
And here he says "Oh. That's a big pancake."
And here "Sweeeeeeet!"
Clara is also a pancake fan.
....and now I really want a pancake.

Today

Clara and I went to TJ's while Henry was at camp. She was very excited to get a balloon. Somehow she managed to wrap it around her leg so that it went with her when she walked.
Clara and Henry did some drawing together this afternoon.
Notice Clara's sweaty head.
They were peaceful together for a while. Then crayon lines became overlapped and paper got wrinkled and there were some mild arguments. No hitting today, though! So that's an improvement from yesterday.
In uncertain news...the kitty doesn't seem to be doing so well. She's been very lethargic today, even during the hour or so that we had the a/c on. I got her to eat a little bit of wet food, but then she pretty much put her head down right by the bowl and laid there for a bit. Right now she's hiding in the corner of the dining room. I'm not quite sure what to do, I guess we'll see how she's doing in the morning.

Happy Father's Day!

Sorry about that last lame post. I suppose I could have queued up a few posts for while I was out of town, rather than trying to post from Pete's iphone. But I didn't. So, whatever. Look for a more comprehensive weekend post tomorrow.
For now I'd like to say Happy Father's Day to some of my favorite dads in the whole wide world. Here are Will, Dad, Pete and Rob rocking out at the d.j. station last night at Jessica's wedding. I love these guys! It was great to get to see them all on Father's day!

Missing from the picture, but no less important as "fathers" in my life: Peter Sr. (my father-in-law)
and my two late grandpas: Grandpa Bob and Grandpa Fritz. XOXO.