Harder than it may seem

This may be the first ever photo shoot of me and my brothers plus our spouses and our kids. You can see that it was even more challenging than trying to get a picture of the 4 cousins together.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hit the road tomorrow for Thanksgiving in Minnesota. While I'll probably have my computer along so I can work on report cards, I will probably not be posting. So here's your little early dose of Thanksgiving.
Clara with the Mayflower:
Henry in his turkey hat:

Birthday Picture

Henry shows off his present from Clara, while Clara shows off Henry's present from Aunt Joyce.

HAH Slugger

Festivities started last night with Henry opening his presents from Grandpa Bill and Grandma Kathie. Dad made this bat for Henry. You can see that he was pretty pleased with it.
This morning we all kept our pajamas on (okay, I got up and showered and then put on clean full-coverage pajamas) for the pancake, skunk pajama party. While we were doing last minute preps Henry said "Mom! Take a picture!" and he was sitting there all cute with Franklin. When I came back with the camera Clara had joined them too.
At 9:00 the craziness began. Here's Henry with 2 of his best buddies from school.
They immediately set upon every toy they could find in the family room.
I got to work on the pancakes.
After more rowdiness I gathered the troops for a coloring contest. Everyone won a stinky scratch-and-sniff sticker.
When one of the boys asked if we could go outside I said "no, we're not going outside today..." and then I thought about what I was actually saying and realized that going outside was a great idea. The weather was beautiful.
Someone thought this hat should fit Clara.
Here's a little picture of some of the decor. There's a bunch of black and white "model magic" on the table for a skunky craft we never got to.
Then the gift madness began.
And we played a little "Hot Skunk".
And tried to get a group shot. Clara and Sebby didn't make it into this picture.
During the football game I mixed up a little frosting and made the skunk cake. It started out looking a bit like a turtle, and then a toad...but I was vindicated when Clara looked at it and said "Gunk!" then she stuck her touche out and made a spraying sound.
We ditched plans for the parade. It was becoming more and more apparent that with napping and football timing it just may not work out. When Henry told us last night that he didn't really want to go we decided not to push it. Maybe next year!
Tonight we still have a couple of presents to open and some dinner to eat (mac and cheese a la Grammie) and some new presents to play with and then hopefully there will be lots and lots of sleeping.

Henry

Tomorrow at noon he'll turn 5 years old. My hilarious and smart and sweet and rambunctious and wild and loving little guy. Here are some pictures in no particular order (except for the first and last). I had to stop because I could have spent all night doing this and it's already 11:30 and I have to get up early to host a party in my pajamas! The skunky decorations are up. Guests arrive at 9AM. I'd better go wrap some gifts and get some sleep.










I love you Henry. Bunches and bunches.

Images From Pete's Belated Birthday Dinner

*(All pictures taken on Pete's iphone)
Tonight we had Pete's belated birthday dinner at the restaurant where our friend and neighbor Ed works. We may have expected a small amount of extra attention, but certainly not as much as we were given.
In case you're not as familiar with reading my expressions...I was having a fabulous time.
When we arrived Ed showed us to a table in a little "nook". There was already a bottle of bubbly chilling on the table. He then ordered us up a little salmon sashimi appetizer.
Our waitress was Ingrid, a friend of Helena and Ed's whom we had met at Anna's birthday. She was also at the house with the kids on the day Norbert was born.
We each ordered red meat, even though I"m really trying to stay away from meat altogether these days. Ed also brought us a delicious glass of red wine. My meat came with a bleu cheese "fondue". Mmmmmmm....
After the meal Ed stopped by with a little port for Pete and a little Limoncello for me. He then proceeded to tell us a joke about a blind horse which somehow led into him explaining how the entire meal was comped. Later he came by with a doggie bag of cookies for the kids. It's amazing how much better these neighbors are than Jerky who lived above us in Evanston. We'll even forgive him the creepy painting with the human-eyed dog.
Happy Belated birthday to my sweetie. XO.

Staging for a Group Photo

I could bore you with the details of our shared family illness this weekend, or make you upset with tales of the Hawks losing, but instead I will let the following photos tell the story of trying to get a picture of all four cousins looking in one direction at the same time.

More Halloween Pictures

Here are a couple pictures Helena sent me. Anna wore Henry's penguin costume from last year.
How cute are they?
Here they are trick-or-treating with Ed who was dressed as Elvis.
And this is my favorite...