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The weather's getting a bit nuts, so I'm going to keep the text brief and post this quickly. That way I can be prepared for the kids to come in all worried about the storm.

I've had an excellent birthday weekend. Last night Pete took the kids to Deerfield and we headed out. First stop was Evanston to see Bridesmaids. Highly recommended. We loved it. After that we drove down to Lincoln Square and attended a Chopping Block class. Here was our main course, pre-boil.

 Here's Pete with the rest of the raw ingredients.

 You've got to hand it to him, the man has technique.

 I just found this bowl kind of pretty. It was the remoulade sauce for the fried oysters.

 Here we are, ready to fry.

 And here's Pete making friends with the crawfish.

 

Perhaps "taunting" the crawfish is more accurate.

Our classmates were all quite pleasant. We chatted a bit and let the two husbands do the heavy lifting.

 Everyone told me we would have to suck the brains. I didn't really see what all the fuss was about. I was probably doing it wrong.

 I got to do the Bananas Foster. Here's a picture of me tipping the pan to set the rum afire. I thought I was going to lose the whole thing over the stovetop, but I was successful.

 Full and happy:

But our night was not over. We went over to Martyr's to see The Opposition Party play. They're an afro-pop group, several members of which are friends/former roommates of Pete's.

This morning Pete and I slept in until 8AM and then headed out for a breakfast which was uninterrupted by children needing to go to the bathroom. The day was sunny and beautiful. After we picked up the kids Henry went to baseball practice. Clara and I walked up to Walgreen's and back over to watch a little practice. After naps we went over to Sharon's for some dinner and cake.

 She and the girls had put up streamers and balloons. Sadly, the weather had turned a bit by then, so we weren't able to hang out outside, but we still had a very nice, mellow time.

 The kids helped me blow out my candles. Pete thought the cake looked like it had experienced a chocolate tsunami. It was delicious.

 Thanks to everyone who called, sent cards, left messages on facebook or otherwise wished me a nice birthday! It was a very nice day!

And now we just have to get through this thunder and lightning...

Day at the Parks

This morning, after Clara and I walked Henry to school and back we decided the weather was nice enough to stay out for a bit. First we took a walk over to the Jr. High to drop off my contract for next year, then we took the wagon to the village green. We saw lots of ducks, including a batch of ducklings. I was particularly amused by this group of drakes, for some reason.

 

While at the park Clara decided it would be a nice day for a picnic. So after lots of playing we headed back home, made a quick lunch of sandwiches, chips, peaches and milk then went to pick up Henry from school. We love to picnic at Sunset Woods in Highland Park, so we drove up that way. 

 Here's a new version of the spaceship picture.

 The kids did lots of playing before we ate, including on this crazy thing.

We found a nice spot under a tree and waited for the squirrels to come.

And they came. 

This one got away with a piece of Sterzing. I know you shouldn't feed wildlife, and you shouldn't give them people food, but this one looked to be a nursing mom, so I kind of know how she felt about the potato chips. 

 

Those little guys are bold, though. They didn't leave us alone until they were sure we were out of food. 

And then we were off to more playing.

Kathryn Elizabeth

This weekend Clara and I drove down to Burlington to help Aunt Joyce throw a shower for my cousin Katie. The weather was crummy, so we didn't do much other than eat and get ready for the shower. Joyce took Clara and I to a new(er) Italian restaurant that she and my mom had been telling good tales about. It was quite delicious. We also had breakfast at Jerry's diner, where Joyce said we were likely to run into Eddie, my mom's 'boyfriend' from jr. high. Sure enough, we did! 

But I only took photos of the shower. Here's a sweet flower arrangement in a little white heart vase. Check out that adorable picture of Katie.

 

 We all gave Katie a few favorite recipes. Here's Clara writing out hers for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

 Charlie came along for the shower too, and everyone took turns at holding him. These ladies are used to having lots of babies around, so it seemed perfectly natural to look around and see one of my aunts or cousins just holding Charlie and talking with someone else.

 I was in charge of 'entertainment', so I made everyone think of songs with the word "love" in it and take turns singing. It was plenty of fun.

 After eating tons of delicious brunch food we were having a conversation about Katie and her mom (or maybe just Aunt Joan?) starting to work on the butter mints for the wedding. Every good wedding has them. Joyce realized she still had several from our wedding, so she pulled them out and we sampled them. 8 years didn't hurt them too much, but they were a little crunchier than I would have liked.

 The flowers fared better than the frogs. I brought a few home for Henry and Pete to have as well. I thought it was kind of sweet that Clara and Henry could taste a little something from their parents' wedding!

 Here's the flower girl with the bride and groom-to-be! I think it's going to be quite an attractive wedding. And Katie has assured me that she doesn't care what songs are played at the reception, as long as people dance. This means she'll be pulling out all the stops. When I inquired about the chicken dance and the Hokey Pokey she said "oh yeah"!

Check back in June for what's sure to be some awesome pictures of killer dance moves.

Invention Fair

I'll make this Mothers' Day post about my kids....as per usual. Last week Henry had his Invention Fair. While Dad and Kathie were in town last weekend Henry and his grandpa thought over a few ideas and sketched out some plans for a possible invention. Then Henry and his dad did some assembly to make it real. It was kind of important to me that Henry really thought this out, rather than just throwing together some junk or building something someone else had thought of. So, even though this wasn't an idea no one else had ever thought of before, Henry really created the invention on his own, thus making it seem like a true invention to me. 

 As you can imagine, he was very proud to show his invention at the fair. He titled it The Keepitin. It is basically a lap tray for the car, which straps around your seat and holds your book and coloring supplies.

 He may have been more interested in reading his book (supposed to be for display purposes only) than in participating in the fair.

 Of course, when a few of the girls from his class came by he was ready to explain everything to them in painstaking detail.

 However, we all know girls can be fickle. They quickly moved on to Jake's "Bug Gym". Henry recovered quickly with the help of his pal McCartney. We were proud of our boy! And of all of the kindergartners with their cool inventions.

I owe a public thank you to my husband and kids for a wonderful mothers' day! They treated me very well all day long and I had a nearly perfect day. Happy day to all of those other special moms, grandmas, step-moms and mothers-in-law out there too!

Easter

I realize I never posted any photos from Easter. I'd hate to deny you all this cuteness.

     

More Baseball

Henry took me to a Cubs game today as a sort of early mother's day present. I picked him up from school and we drove down to the Skokie Swift, transferred to the Red Line and ended up with this bear in front of Wrigley Field.  

  

Here's Henry in front of the Billy William's statue. I think this is new.

 

Our seats were way up high, but we had a very nice view. The day was a little cloudy and windy, but not really cold.  It was a good day for a hot dog, and the cool weather meant I didn't have to drink warm Budweiser.

 Here's Henry with the scoreboard in the back. You can see that the ivy is still brown from the winter. Also, you can tell that these pictures were taken on my phone, as they aren't the best quality.

For about the last 4 innings Henry looked like this....with his nose in a book. My brothers (and assorted other people) still tease me for having habitually taken books to Hawkeye football and basketball games when I was a kid, but I think there are worse habits to have.

 Sadly, the Cubs lost to the Reds. It wasn't a blowout, though, and they kept the game interesting. We got home around 6 o'clock and now Henry's out in front throwing a ball around with his dad.