Henry and the Little Sister

2012-02-14T17:29:00.000-06:00

Happy Heart day from my funny Valentines!

Recent Happenings

2012-02-12T19:54:00.000-06:00

Seems like we've been pretty busy lately, though I'm not really sure what we've accomplished. Here are some pictures from our last few days. Henry had a whole week of 'spirit' days. Tuesday was "tie or tie-dye day." He wore Pete's Peanuts tie to school and Pete took this sassy picture.

Yesterday was cold as all get out. We had, fortunately, made some fun indoor plans with friends we hadn't seen in a long time. We met Keri and Sue and their cutie-pie Noah out for bowling. It was a party with the "cosmic" lights on.

Clara chose a very special outfit for the occasion, layering several looks. When it wasn't her turn to bowl, she mostly seemed to enjoy lying on the floor and rolling the ball around. It probably didn't help that it was 1:30 and she's usually in bed for a nap at that time.

Today was a quieter day. Pancakes for breakfast, then the kids went with me to school for a little bit to take care of some things, while Pete ran other errands. Then we all met up at Potbelly for lunch. After naps for all we worked on the kids' Valentines. We made superhero Tootsie-Roll pops with the message "you're a super friend!" I found the idea online and, aside from cutting out all the masks, they were easy to make.

Tonight was spaghetti for dinner and baths, not necessarily in that order, and then a bit of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory before bed. Hopefully Clara will settle down enough that Pete and I can enjoy watching a bit of the Grammys. Here's our spunky little girl in the tub:

Princess Show

2012-02-04T14:54:00.000-06:00

We all loved the show! The kids were awesome about not begging for plastic flashy crap. It probably helped that Clara already had a flashy crown. Henry did ask a few too many times for cotton candy, but he didn't get any. The show was quite a spectacle. Clara told me her favorite part was the "gardeners" by which she meant Cinderella's royal guard. Pete's favorite part was the Bud Light zamboni.

Fancy

2012-02-04T09:44:00.001-06:00

Lately Clara's been getting herself dressed first thing in the morning, sometimes even before we're up. This morning she wanted to wear something fancy because we're going to the Disney princesses on ice 'Dare to Dream!' show. Here's what she had on when I got out of bed.

NAMM

2012-01-23T15:02:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple pictures from our time at NAMM. The first is from a sweet old camper that was parked at our hotel. At night there were always a few people in black leather (the NAMM dress code) hanging out outside the door if the camper, smoking and whatnot.
The next picture is from the Yamaha booth, which is so big it's actually the ballroom of an adjacent hotel.
The last shot is from the upstairs of the Shure booth. We say up there watching Rob Halford (from Judas Priest) sign autographs while Pete chatted with the guys from Dawes and I waited for Jackson Browne to show up (he never did.) Interestingly, the gray haired guy sitting down there on the stage has probably met and photographed more rockstars and other musicians than I could name.

Santa Monica

2012-01-21T19:48:00.001-06:00

We made it to Santa Monica just in time for the sunset. Our hotel is in the background of the 2nd picture, just to the left of those tall buildings. It's called The Georgian. Tomorrow we go back to see Aunt Jean again before heading home.

Maraca

2012-01-20T17:14:00.001-06:00

Hanging out with a macaw while Pete's working today!

Me and Aunt Jean

2012-01-20T11:55:00.000-06:00

Aunt jean wanted me to take a picture after she got her hair done, so somebody would see it. :)

Hooray for the ocean!

2012-01-18T16:17:00.001-06:00

Not sure if you can see us with the lighting, but it's our first view of the ocean! (like last year i'm joining Pete in California for NAMM. We got in today and now we're on our way to San Diego to meet some people he works with. We're supposed to have dinner with them on the water tonight.)

Guess...

2012-01-12T16:21:00.001-06:00

...whose mom left the bag with the tap and ballet shoes at home for the first class!

Finally!!

2012-01-12T15:23:00.000-06:00

Happy feet

2012-01-11T19:13:00.001-06:00

I Wanna Dance!

2012-01-11T13:15:00.001-06:00

Henry and Clara start dance classes this week!

4, Can You Believe It?

2012-01-08T21:04:00.000-06:00

Clara had a great birthday! Thanks to all who called, sent notes, or otherwise helped celebrate her beautiful self. Big thanks, especially, to Elvis (Clara's birthday buddy) for surprising her at her party. I know everyone says it about their kids, but how can my little baby be 4!?!?

Birthday Batter

2012-01-07T16:11:00.000-06:00

"Mom. I'm your helper to clean your spatula!"

Pooped

2012-01-05T21:05:00.000-06:00

Clara is sacked out.

Helping

2012-01-05T18:07:00.000-06:00

Clara proudly told me she had done as I asked and put her nativity set away. When I finally walked into the room after dealing with the tree, I saw this.

Paging Doctor Penguin

2012-01-02T15:16:00.001-06:00

Good Morning

2012-01-01T10:34:00.001-06:00

Pete is doing well this morning. He's on soft foods and pain pills. Sporting some sexy compression socks. We're just waiting to meet with dr. Ujiki again before he's dismissed. Good thing there's football on tv and knitting in my purse.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T18:34:00.000-06:00

So, Pete's in the hospital for new year's eve. We came in around noon because he was in a lot of pain-thought he had a kidney stone. The CT scan showed that he didn't, but he does have appendicitis. They'll be doing surgery some time tonight. We've spoken with the surgeon (dr. Michael Ujiki, for those of you keeping track) and I liked him pretty well. The dog is with the Huelkes and the kids are with Sharon. Henry asked me if dad would be like a zombie when he came out of the surgery and I (unthinking) said yes, kind of. Then Clara got nervous that dad was going to be a zombie. Poor girl. She was very sweet this morning-bringing him lovies and boxes of tissues.
So, now Pete and I are just watching tv and listening to the strange noises from the hallway. Happy New Year!!

Hanging out with Russell!

2011-12-26T17:42:00.001-06:00

Christmas Morning

2011-12-25T08:37:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve!

2011-12-24T22:48:00.000-06:00

Thinking about our family and friends. Hope everyone is feeling a little bit of Christmas magic tonight.

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-24T19:15:00.000-06:00

Guess Where We Are

2011-12-20T18:43:00.000-06:00

Winter Sing

2011-12-15T19:57:00.000-06:00

Henry had his winter sing this afternoon at school. We weren't able to get as good of a seat this year as last, so the photos aren't great. Here he is in his new sweater, hamming it up.

And again...I don't think he even knows he is doing this cheesy smile.

And here he is, yawning while the principal speaks. Nice.

The sing was lovely. He sang about 5 songs and even had a triangle solo! Pete got some poor-quality video footage, so maybe I'll post that later. We were about 6 rows back and Clara was standing on my lap the whole time, so this picture shows a better view than I actually had during the show. Some of the song selections: I'm Gettin' Nuthin' For Christmas, Coventry Carol, some sort of yodeling latkes song ("potato o-de-lay-o") that won't get out of my head...

Crafty

2011-12-11T17:02:00.000-06:00

Look at our wreath!

Dear Santa

2011-12-10T17:21:00.000-06:00

The kids have written their letters to Santa this year!

Henry's letter. Written by himself. How many first graders do you know who can spell "sleigh" correctly? Also, take note of how he incorporated the top of Santa's hat into 'love'. He was proud of that.

"From: Henry

Dear Santa, How have you been? Is it fun

riding in your sleigh? I bet it is!

I can't wait for Christmas! this is

some of the things I want.:

A Elctronic Dinosauar costome,

Snap circuits extreme And

Snap Rover. the stocking

with the bone is our dogs!

His name is: Franklin!

Love, Henry

P.S. I've

been good!"

And Clara's letter, transcribed (and influenced) by Henry:

"from: Clara

Dear Santa How Have

you Been? Ist fun

riding in your sleigh?

I can't wait for

Christmas. I hope you

can bring the presents I

want! A Doll House.

Love, Clara"

In other news, Fabio is looking fabulous. He's a little ornament-heavy around the lower-mid section, but that's because the kids did most of the decorating. I've been resisting the urge to redecorate.

Fabio (updated)

2011-12-04T19:30:00.001-06:00

Guess what we did today! It was very muddy for cutting down a tree. Not as lovely as last year's snowy wonderland, but we enjoyed ourselves and found a good one none-the-less. And the cinnamon donuts taste just as good when there isn't snow on the ground. Clara tried to name our tree, but it kept coming out as something I couldn't quite pronounce. For a while it sounded like "cerado". I suggested maybe we just go with Fabio and she was good with that. His brother Frederico lives on the other side of town at Sharon's house.

Update: Fabio is a bit bigger than we realized. He looks very wonky in this picture, but we're still working on his placement and he's still loosening up and settling into his new home.

Scenes from Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T14:54:00.000-06:00

It's obviously taken me a while to get pictures up from Thanksgiving- so I'm not going to take even more time to narrate the whole thing. Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving day. We started the day with cinnamon rolls and the parade and ended it with pie and lots of playing. We had 21 people, which does count Penny and Vivian, who didn't eat turkey. Still, we had two turkeys and 6 pies. We're still eating turkey soup over here, but the house is a lot quieter. We really enjoyed having everyone here! I'll post a few supplemental photos soon...

Henry's Magic Birthday Party

2011-11-20T13:52:00.000-06:00

We just wrapped up Henry's birthday party. I have to say, it was the easiest yet! I totally understand why people hire places out for their parties. We still had it at home, but we hired a magician and it made for such an easy, fun party. Here's the birthday boy- can you believe he'll be seven tomorrow?

As his friends started to arrive we did some coloring.

Then we went into the family room for the magician's show.

Henry got to play a starring role in several bits.

Clara also got a little special attention.

After the magic it was frozen pizza, carrots and grapes.

There were cupcakes, of course.

And he took a little time making a special wish.

Henry's pal Noah wanted to get in on this photo.

I forgot to make him wash his face before pictures...it helps me remember he's still a little kid, even though he's growing up so fast!

One Little Indian

2011-11-19T12:53:00.000-06:00

Henry's class had their Thanksgiving feast yesterday. The kids got to sign their parents up for what they wanted us to bring. Henry put me in charge of pumpkin pie. We made two on Thursday night, but my little recipe reader forgot to read me the directions that say to turn the heat down after the first 15 minutes. So the crusts got a little dark. I shouldn't blame him, though...I should have remembered that step myself.

First all the classes lined up in the gym, sang a turkey song and named some things they are thankful for.

They all sat down with the placemats they had made.

There was lots of food to be had. That's Henry's teacher, Mrs. Corona, in the black.

Clara was right there at her brother's elbow, as always.

I think all of the little Pilgrims and Indians had a fun time!

Other scenes from our morning at the museum

2011-11-11T20:01:00.000-06:00

Guess where we are!

2011-11-11T12:23:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday Pete!

2011-11-09T21:00:00.000-06:00

Pete was out of town for his birthday...managing a photo shoot in LA. When he got home tonight we had a birthday dinner for him. Clara helped me decorate the cake.

I tried to make him a chocolate chip cake, but all the chips fell to the bottom. They did make a tasty little crust, though.

The kids really wanted Pete to put on a birthday hat.

Happy Birthday Pete!!!

Sunflower

2011-11-06T11:16:00.000-06:00

Our new door is now yellow!! Yay!!
(It still needs a 2nd coat.)

A Couple More...

2011-10-31T19:08:00.000-05:00

Silly faces.

Posing by the pumpkins.

Best part of the night; counting candy, eating candy and watching Charlie Brown.

Our trick-or-treater tally was about 70 this year.

Caramel apple

2011-10-31T16:59:00.001-05:00

Just taking a little caramel apple break before heading back out.

Boo!!!

2011-10-31T15:56:00.001-05:00

Halloween

2011-10-30T20:32:00.000-05:00

I love that the kids aren't into scary or sexy costumes yet. Let's hope that day never comes. Here they are before the first of two parties today. Today Clara's costume was an excuse to wear fairy/butterfly wings. Tomorrow she'll be a lion, which will make everyone think Henry is a safari guy rather than a paleontologist.

After

2011-10-28T20:06:00.000-05:00

During

2011-10-28T17:23:00.000-05:00

Before

2011-10-28T12:38:00.001-05:00

Ouch

2011-10-27T12:13:00.001-05:00

My poor baby girl with her rainbow colored eye. She bonked herself on the coffee table on Monday. Henry's been telling her she'll scare everyone on Halloween.

Clara's First Field Trip

2011-10-13T21:30:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday I had the honor of going along with Clara on her first field trip. At first she wasn't sure she wanted to allow me to sit with her on the bus, but there were so many chaperones along that most of the kids sat with their own parents. However, the bus was so packed that even though this other sweet little girl's mom was along, she sat in a different seat.

It was a 45 minute bus ride to the pumpkin patch. Along the way I was texting Pete "surely they could have found a closer pumpkin patch?" But once we were there I could see that it was worth the wait. We started out with lunch, then a nice movie about farming and growing pumpkins. Then we jumped on this hay rack ride.

From the ride we could see "Happy Jack" up on the big silo. He's been there for about 30 years, if I heard the movie right.

This pumpkin patch was way more than a pumpkin patch. They had several tents of interesting animals as well.

And there was this bizarre robotic pumpkin-eating 'dinosaur'. I thought I had a good video of this thing grabbing a pumpkin and crunching it, but I messed up. When Henry looked at the pictures he said "that doesn't look like a dinosaur!"

There were also giraffes. ?

Clara and I spent quite a lot of time giving the giraffes carrots.

At the end we went through a corn maze and then each kid got to choose their own pumpkin, gourd and piece of Indian corn to take home.

And we spotted the Great Pumpkin on the way out!

I was worn out, and wanted to take Clara home with me so we could both nap. Unfortunately I had a class to get to and had to leave her at school for her dad to pick her up later. She was happy as could be to give me a kiss and send me on my way! Such a big girl.

Cincinnati

2011-10-10T20:31:00.000-05:00

We had a very nice weekend in Cincinnati to visit Liz and Van in their new home. The house is lovely, but I seem to not have any photos of it. I have lots of pictures of cute kids, though! Here are Henry and Clara having their first Cracker Barrel experience on the way to Ohio.

We got to spend a little time with Vivian Friday night when we first got in, and then she was ready to play the next morning when we all got up.

Vivian was very interested in what these big kids were doing in her house.

On Saturday, after breakfast, we went to a fun little pumpkin patch/amusement place. There was a corny (excuse the pun) puppet show. (Carrie- you can kind of see the ex-Showbiz puppets in the corner here!)

There were also some rides, the kids and Liz and I tried out this monkey one. Clara thought it was creepy and hilarious that we were inside the monkey.

We tried to get some pictures of the cousins together. It was a challenge to get them all looking in the same direction at the same time, but this one is pretty cute.

And here's a nice picture of our charming hosts.

After some disappointing football we went out for a fun dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.

It was a late night and we all tried to sleep in a little the next morning. Liz made sure I saw this sweet little sleeper before she awoke, though. It was a struggle not to pick her up and just snuggle her.

Sunday morning we had another first for Henry and Clara- their first breakfast at Big Boy!! I don't know if I've been to a Big Boy since I was a kid in California.

After breakfast we went to the Cincinnati zoo, which was really nice.

I'm not actually reaching out to rub this man's belly. I was petting the snake.

We didn't get a picture of the naked mole rats, which were our favorite moment at the zoo, but these manatees were a close second. They were monching on some lettuce. It was mesmerizing.

After a long afternoon at the zoo (and a long weekend of hosting her cousins!) Vivian was getting pretty worn out, so we said goodbye to them and then we made a couple more stops that Liz guided us to. We loved this guy in the night hunters house. The insect building was very cool too.

It just didn't feel right to leave Cincinnati without going to Graeter's, so we went a bit out of our way and stopped for some ice cream before we finally got on the road to head home. It was a long, late drive, but the ice cream helped.

Thanks to Liz, Van and Vivian for a fun weekend!

Leaf Monsters

2011-10-10T16:00:00.000-05:00

Morning play at Vivian's house

2011-10-08T08:01:00.000-05:00

Post-Nap Wordplay

2011-10-06T14:08:00.001-05:00

Studious

2011-10-05T15:39:00.001-05:00

My little guy is doing homework.

After

2011-10-05T15:23:00.001-05:00

Fun Run

2011-10-01T21:11:00.000-05:00

Henry's been asking if he could participate in this year's HOH run. Our district sponsors a 5k run/walk to raise money for a scholarship fund and it's named after a former superintendent (Homer O. Harvey). Henry wanted to do the kid's fun run because he knew he'd get a medal for it. I signed Clara up too, because I knew if Henry was doing it she would want to also. Here they are before the race. Everyone was #1.

There was a pre-race warm-up with Ronald McDonald. Clara wasn't too sure how she felt about that whole situation. Frankly, neither was I.

The beginning of the race was disorganized and chaotic. You can see Clara and Henry in their gray and pink. I think Clara was just trying to keep an eye on her brother.

Henry was actually very sweet. He wanted to run, and he did, but he kept checking back to see that Clara was okay...even though she was at the very end. Once he saw that some bigger girls- race volunteers- had taken Clara under their wing Henry took off.

Here he comes! You can see Clara off in the distance.

The boy does not know how to be cool for the camera.

Here comes Clara, bringing up the rear with the race volunteers who somehow also got roped into pushing a double stroller?

Here comes Henry across the line!

And here I am bringing Clara across the line. In my defense, I was wearing a big bulky sweatshirt under that fleece. (I know, I know...I need to be doing some running myself. (And now I sound like my dad. Hi Dad!))

Here are two proud kids with their medals!

I was so proud of them for wanting to do this, and especially proud of Henry for the way he looked out for his sister instead of just worrying about how he did in the race. It was nice that they didn't do times for the fun run and that all of the kids got medals. He knew that going into it, so he was less competitive than he might have been.

Swinging

2011-09-29T16:13:00.000-05:00

Just remembering about the whole mobile blogging thing.

Before

2011-09-29T11:40:00.000-05:00

Sent from my iPhone

A Little Trouble At Star

2011-09-27T19:16:00.001-05:00

He doesn't want to talk about it.

LOL!!!

2011-09-26T20:55:00.000-05:00

Rob just sent me these photos with no commentary. I laughed out loud at the first one, even more at the second one, and the final one seems to wrap it all up.

Last Weekend in Madison

2011-09-25T21:12:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we took a trip up to Madison with Mom and the kids. Pete and I were there to attend the wedding reception of my friend Chad (from high school).

We were very pleased to see my friend Liz (from camp) and her husband Matthew (from dental school with Chad) also.

It was our first time meeting the bride, Donna. She was lovely and very sweet.

This is about the only photo I have of the bride and groom.

Here's me and Chad later in the night...after a bit of drinking and dancing. Pete and I may or may not have done some karaoke as well.

While Pete and I were at the party the kids stayed at the hotel with Mom. They had fun swimming at the pool and getting pizza. The next day we bummed around the capitol. We had rolls and coffee at the farmer's market.

Then we went inside the capitol building and took a tour. It was actually really cool. We refrained from spitting on Walker's office door.

We walked down State street to the campus area and had lunch in the union, then sat by the lake for a while. Dinner that night was at a really good place called Graze- but there are no photos from that.

Sunday morning we had breakfast at Mickey's Dairy Bar and then went to the Madison children's museum. We spent 3 full hours there. It was awesome.

We all took part in the fun.

A favorite part of all of us was the trip to the roof. The elevator alone was cool.

But up on the roof they had a chicken coop! I can't remember this chicken's name right now, but she had come inside out of the rain. Clara loved her. She and Henry both gave her a lot of love. There were also turtles, snakes and mice. And there were people from the Crane Foundation teaching us about what they do.

By the end of our 3 hours we were a little tired, but could have stayed longer. That's kind of how we felt about the whole weekend I think.

We ended our time with a late lunch at Ella's, based upon multiple recommendations. It was also great fun. We might have to make it a regular stop on the way to and/or from Dad's place in Wisconsin.

Iowa City Weekend

2011-09-05T21:44:00.000-05:00

We had a weekend full of emotions in Iowa City. Friday night we met up with everyone at the Sanctuary for a little dinner. Here's Clara showing off her new purse. We (I) couldn't resist buying the matching one for Eleanor as well. The kids also got some Hawkeye necklaces from a vendor down the street from the restaurant.

The next morning Henry and I went to the football game. Uncle Rob predicted that there would be little, if any, rain. It started as soon as Pete dropped us off and barely ever let up. I was joined for most of the first half by this friendly praying mantis. He sat on my head. I think he was too wet to fly anywhere. And where would he go? Henry and I decided to call him Marvin, after our favorite #7.

I couldn't believe what a sport Henry was. He didn't complain once about the rain- even though I gave him every opportunity to cut out early. When we finally did go during the 3rd quarter I think we snuck out just before they called a rain delay due to lightning. But look at this face!!

We had to hide out down below for a while once we left, because it was blowing and pouring pretty hard. Eventually we started walking and I was hoping we'd find a Cambus shuttle to get downtown. We didn't. But still, Henry didn't complain the entire walk to Java House. It may have helped that I promised him a hot chocolate when we got there. Pete showed up with several towels, per request. It was very nice to see him. We were wet all the way through. Look at my head.

Sunday was a much sunnier day, if a little cool. Mom and I attended a memorial service for the son of her neighbor, someone I had been friends with in junior high and high school. It was an emotional occasion, but I was glad to have been there. (Frankly though, I would like the next memorial service I have to attend to be for someone significantly older than me.)
Later Sunday evening we went to the Hancher lawn to attend a farewell performance for the flood-damaged Hancher building. Again, it was a happy and sad event. The performers were Hubbard Street Dance, and they were fabulous. The kids really enjoyed it. There were even surprise fireworks accompanied by a song from Les Miserables, that somehow managed to feel just the right mix of corny and poignant.

Here's a picture of the stage before it got dark out. Later we moved to have a better view. Obviously, Hancher has a lot of significance to Pete and I separately and together. We will be very sad when they start to tear it down.

The other sad note to our weekend was the passing of Oscar, Rob and Carrie's sweet dog. He had been ill for about a month, so it wasn't unexpected, but he was such a good boy. We will all miss him very much. As the world works, though, everything is life and death and life and death and life again. We loved having some time to hold little Penny and we got to spend some time with Amber and Jeff and their two little dears as well. We also are celebrating the birthdays this week of Anders (3!) and Vivian (1!) and Grandma Mary.

Pete and Penny

2011-09-03T09:50:00.001-05:00

Uncle Pete gets to know Penny. They also both like the Hawks.

Port Clinton Art Fest

2011-08-28T12:45:00.000-05:00

We love a good art fest. Especially one that has tamales and sangria.

Hooray!

2011-08-26T16:24:00.001-05:00

We made it through the week! We're having a celebratory treat at our favorite local organic bakery....that makes it okay, right?

*That is to say...the fact that it's local and organic makes it okay that we're having cupcakes. Right?

A Whole Crapload of Beach Pictures

2011-08-25T21:15:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday we went to the beach. This seems to be our new last day of summer thing. We must have gotten there around 11:30. Clara promptly planted herself under the umbrella.

The water was actually off-limits, due to high bacteria, but we had so much fun anyway. Henry went straight to constructing creek paths over by the sprinkler.

Mom's been a saving grace for us these last few weeks as I've had to be at work strange or extra hours. We've had things going on at night too- like Henry's open house tonight.

But....back to the beach!

I couldn't stop taking pictures of the kids by the water.

We stayed for several hours. It was very relaxing.

I even got a chance to beat Mom at Scrabble.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh.....Summer.....

Another Year

2011-08-23T21:40:00.000-05:00

Guess who's a first grader.

And this one is back to pre-school.

They both had a great day. The chocolate chip pancakes may have helped.

More Anniversary

2011-08-22T18:08:00.000-05:00

Our last few days of summer have been so jam-packed with Summer that I have several things to post. These are just a few more pictures of the nice time Pete and I had downtown. We bummed around Millennium Park, enjoying the weather.

We walked up to the terrace of the Art Institute. Free Art!

We played fun photographic games at the Bean.

Just in case you can't zoom in on your own...

After a spontaneous stop for a drink on an outside patio we walked up to find Marilyn. It was fun to celebrate our 8th anniversary at the 7-Year Itch sculpture.

Pete liked this view.

Later, after a bit of a rest and a shower, we went up to The Purple Pig. It was delicious. This little dinosaur had stowed away in my overnight bag, so he ended up in several of our pictures.

Dessert was a grilled Nutella, banana and Fluff sandwich. It was awesome.

Pete is also awesome.

The next morning we took the Architectural Boat Tour.

Later we bummed around the West Loop and visited this amazing antique shop where Pete had bought me a gift several years ago. I'd always wanted to go with him. Here he is checking out a bunch of doorknobs.

There was also this guy.

Wall

2011-08-20T11:19:00.001-05:00

Our wall is fixed! Not stained yet, and the floor isn't done, but so much better!!!

Anniversary #8

2011-08-16T17:51:00.000-05:00

We are downtown celebrating our anniversary. The weather is gorgeous. We upgraded our room so we have this lovely view and we've wandered around Millennium Park. Now we're enjoying a drink and then we'll resume our search for the giant Marilyn statue.

Ravinia

2011-08-14T17:56:00.000-05:00

It looked like the weather was going to be crummy all day, but it turned out to be a lovely evening for Rufus Wainwright.

More from Chicago

2011-08-10T16:15:00.000-05:00

Field museum.
Unplanned stop at a "pop up" art gallery.
Chasing pigeons.

Spontaneous Trip to the City

2011-08-10T10:36:00.000-05:00

Skydeck. Yikes. (Pete didn't dare.)
Henry points to our next stop (Sue!)
Lincoln hats in the gift shop.

Nanoblocks

2011-08-09T07:27:00.000-05:00

Henry is putting together his teeny tiny drumset made out of teeny tiny legos. Pete brought it for him from Tokyo.

Field Trip

2011-08-08T22:05:00.000-05:00

Before we were rained out at Northbrook Days last night little Vivian got to enjoy some of the fun. She makes this hilarious face. It doesn't look as cute on me.

When it started clouding over (the first time) we ran for home and enjoyed a little play time while we sat out the rain.

Clara really enjoys playing with her little cousin.

And Vivi seemed to enjoy meeting Franklin as well.

This morning we were supposed to have a visit from the carpenter to start fixing our family room wall. There was apparently a miscommunication, which left the kids and I with a full day free. I mean, we could have done some work around the house, but it seemed a field trip was in order. I gave them the option of driving about an hour to check out a small zoo, or hopping on the train, riding to the end of the line, and seeing what we could find in Fox Lake. They opted for the zoo.

It was a tiny little place, but an accredited zoo, so it was very nicely kept.

Most of the animals were local, but I really liked this little burro.

This guy was cracking me up. He kept kicking out one leg to dig a little spot for himself in the dirt. A lady near me wondered aloud if he must be sitting on eggs. I didn't go into a definition of the term "cock" but I did mention that I was pretty sure he was a he.

I also loved the foxes.

We almost missed the coyote, but went back to find him. He was very sweet. The kids really seemed to enjoy seeing him.

Maybe tomorrow we'll hop the train.

2011-08-07T19:40:00.000-05:00

We've been having fun at Northbrook Days, but got a little waylayed by the rain. Currently caught under the Bingo tent.

Spiders

2011-08-06T11:40:00.000-05:00

I'm (hopelessly) trying to get my house a little bit in order before Pete arrives home today. He's been in Tokyo and Hong Kong for a week. The clutter is a moot point since tearing out the cabinets and moving Clara's bed...it's just going to take a long time before getting that under control. But I thought I'd at least do the carpets and bathrooms, dishes and laundry. So while working in the kitchen, Clara comes out of the bathroom and says "Mama! There are lots of spiders in here." I said "okay, well, I'll get them when I start vacuuming up". To which she emphatically replied "No!!! I am SINGING to them!!"
So. That's my girl!
(Here she is at the splash pad in Iowa City)

*Just now, as I was adding this photo, Henry walked by with a little tooth-shaped plastic container....it's what they send them home with when they lose a tooth at school. He matter-of-factly said "There's a spider in here. I'm going to let him outside."

Arlington Park

2011-08-05T17:52:00.000-05:00

Northbrook Days!!

2011-08-04T19:21:00.000-05:00

Penny!!!

2011-08-03T21:38:00.000-05:00

Henry and Clara and I were so excited to be in town when our new little niece and cousin was born!! (Poor Uncle Pete wasn't there for the event, but he's been kept in the loop with lots and lots of pictures and has sent virtual kisses.)

Eleanor opened the door the morning after Penny was born and greeted us with "Come meet the new person in our house!" She is a sweet and doting big sister already!

Congratulations to Rob, Carrie and Eleanor and welcome to the world, sweet little Penelope Clover!

Honorary Aunt

2011-07-29T19:42:00.001-05:00

I finally got to meet Louisa!! There's something magical about holding the child of a friend you've known since you were five.

Stuck at whole foods

2011-07-27T10:32:00.000-05:00

A thunderstorm has hit while we're in whole foods. The kids love writing comments for the board and sitting on the tall stools. In the last photo they are gazing at our van. So close, and yet, so far away...

Shaving

2011-07-27T08:23:00.001-05:00

It was suspiciously quiet in the house. I found both kids in the bathroom. "we shaving, Mama!"

2011-07-26T17:44:00.000-05:00

Just checking out mobile blogging...trying to post from my phone.

Just Everyday Summer

2011-07-26T07:58:00.000-05:00

I took several photos off of my phone so that I could share some of the more every-day aspects of our summer. We have spent several days at the library, participating in the summer reading program. It was especially nice to spend some time there when the weather was so stinkin' hot. Here's Clara putting on a puppet show, and Henry reading a Garfield book on the big hippo pillow.

Mom came in over the weekend to spend some time with us and to allow Pete and I to go to the Gillian Welch concert Friday night. Yesterday the weather was lovely, so we took a picnic over to Sunset Park.

Our usual pool time is after naps. Yesterday Pete came to join us when he got home from work. I thought I had some pool photos on my phone, but they must be on Pete's phone. Henry has been really beginning to swim this summer, which is really great to see. It's incredible how far he's come since the beginning of last summer when he still didn't want to put his face in the water.
After swimming we went out for Mexican. It was a little hot out, but it would have been a crime to sit inside in the air conditioning. I had a talk with Clara about how we had to start storing up our sunshine for the winter. Come February I'll need some photos like this to remind me that there is such a thing as Spring and Summer.

Summer Catch-Up

2011-07-21T15:22:00.000-05:00

Since the power can't be an excuse anymore, and the heat is keeping us inside, I thought I'd play some catch-up. Here are a few things we've been doing this summer. Not necessarily in order....

I took the kids to the Botanic Garden and let them loose with a camera and sketchbooks. Now we have to get around to letting them do a blog entry with their photos.

At the beginning of July we were in Iowa City for Jazz Fest. It was extra special this year because so many people were in town to enjoy it.

There was also a new food booth with these hand-dipped ice cream bars. Amazing.

We all gathered together for an awesome and loud display of fireworks.

We had breakfast in Amana.

Before leaving Iowa we spent a little bit of time with Adelaide, before she became a big sister.

(Amber has since had her baby...another beautiful girl.)

From Iowa City we drove up to Minneapolis for one night with Will and Sandy and then from there we went on to Hayward where we were welcomed by this little snake.

We did lots of fishing.

Clara spent lots of time communing with worms.

Henry was trying to figure out what Franklin heard in the water.

On the way back home we made our usual stop in Osseo at the Norske Nook. Clara and I shared this amazing piece of "moose pie".

Oops....out of order. Henry caught a huge walleye off the dock. He's still telling people about it.

Before the heat got so crazy hot we spent some time playing in the pool in the backyard. We might need to graduate to a larger pool soon.

And, finally, we've had a couple of nights at Ravinia this summer. This picture was taken last weekend when the CSO was playing Brahms. Put Henry OUT on the blanket, and then they both fell asleep in the car on the way home.

That about brings us up to this week. Mostly we've just been trying to handle the heat this week...going to the pool early in the morning or late at night, grilling instead of turning on the stove, spending time at the library....

Right now we're waiting for Pete to get home so we can go to the pool!

Why I may seem quiet...

2011-07-13T12:17:00.000-05:00

I think if you're a reader of this blog you probably already know that we're without power. Today is day 3, and they're saying it may be another couple days at least until our power is back. We had a "derecho" storm Monday morning. It didn't seem too bad from our perspective, and it was quick, but I guess the wind got very powerful for a bit there. Chicagoland had over 800,000 without power. So, we have a long extension cord going across the street to our friend's house and that's powering our fridge. We had also brought some things over to Sharon's house to put in the freezer, just in case. I say "brought" because the kids and I are at Sharon's right now. She's out of town for a while and said that we could move in if we wanted to. We haven't gone that far, but I have spent the morning here, powering my phone, doing laundry, roasting a chicken...
I'm also trying to catch up on email a little bit and take care of other general online things. But I think I'll take the easy way out and just direct you to Dad's blog for pictures from our trip to Wisconsin. There's a link to his blog on the right, if you aren't already familiar with that.
In the meantime, we are remembering to be thankful for all of the things we have. This is just a very, very minor inconvenience in the grander scope of life.

Just a few fishing pics

2011-07-09T21:12:00.001-05:00

Pete caught a big bass.
Henry caught a bigger Walleye.
It's our last night in Wisconsin...

Last night of baseball

2011-06-27T21:36:00.000-05:00

Go team Zengeler Cleaners!

Back to Katie's Wedding

2011-06-27T15:20:00.000-05:00

Clara got the new experience of having her nails painted last weekend. She was very serious about it. When I first mentioned that she would get to have her nails done she told me she wanted blue polish. I said Katie might not want that choice, so she said maybe purple. Katie had chosen a nice pale pink, though, and Clara was happy with it.

After nails we met up with the boys in the Fun City arcade. Henry played air hockey with Uncle Will.

Clara and Anders did some driving.

And then we went back to our room to get dressed for the rehearsal and dinner. The kids modeled Pete's ties.

Clara was excited to practice her job at the church.

She and her compatriot, Samantha, did a very nice job.

I'm still trying to gather pictures from the actual wedding. If anyone has some to share, please email me!

Aftermath

2011-06-24T14:53:00.000-05:00

I have so many other things to post about, but I'm still interested in sharing pictures from the storm. I took these pictures from my car today, with my phone. Yesterday we didn't leave the house at all, which was a good thing because traffic was still tied up all over town with lights out.

This picture was taken on Maple, across from the jr. high. It shows the branches waiting for cleanup. (It also shows the reflection of my ipass.)

Here's another picture taken on Maple. This huge tree was broken in the backyards about a block away from our house. There were another couple on the same block just as big.

Even closer to our house, just around the corner, this power line has been down. I suspect the huge tree in the last picture (a couple houses down from this one) landed on the wires and snapped this pole.

Our power never went out, thankfully. But the library is closed for the 3rd day in a row and some friends and neighbors are just getting their power back.

Update

2011-06-22T09:03:00.000-05:00

Tom Skilling (local weatherman extraordinaire) says that what we had last night may have qualified as a "gustnado". ( From the Tribune's 'weather center': "There are five general types of straight line winds. Downburst, microburst, gust front, bow echo and derecho. Of those five, downburst and gust front winds were depicted on radar between 8PM and 9PM over the west and northwest suburbs of Chicago.
There remains the possibility these winds spun up a brief gustnado. A gustando is not considered a tornado, and develops in a much different way from the classic supercell tornado.")It sounds like we had 60-80 mph winds.
About 300 flights were cancelled, so Tom went to get Emily and Alex and they got back here around 1AM. They left again early this morning, took a train down to Midway. Just got word that they are safely at the airport.
After dropping them off at the train station the kids and I drove around to survey the local damage. There were a few large trees down and lots of branches. Also several places where power is still out, so some businesses are closed, defeating my plan to enjoy our damage tour with Starbucks in hand.

Watch? Warning?

2011-06-21T23:04:00.000-05:00

I can never remember which one is a watch and which is a warning, but we had the bad one tonight. In the 6 years that we've lived in Northbrook I've never heard the actual tornado sirens go off until tonight. The kids had been in bed, but could tell that Pete and I were agitated, so they weren't sleeping yet. I let them come sit on the couch, then started to throw pillows into the hallway, thinking I'd close all the bedroom doors and we'd be away from the windows, but when the sirens actually went off I grabbed the kids and told Pete we were going to the neighbor's. He tried to say we weren't going out in that weather, but I think I was already out the door. He grabbed Franklin and we ran across the street. Our friends Oscar and Kelley had their 2 kids in their sub-level semi-basement laundry room, as well as Kelley's sister and two friends. I called Helena who said the kids were asleep, so Pete and Oscar went to help her get them over to the basement too. We ended up with 8 adults, 7 children and Franklin in the room. We also had at least 4 iphones and one ipad.

Anyway- long story short- we were all fine. There appear to be some trees down in the area. Emily and Alex were supposed to be flying back to Utah, but I guess no planes are leaving tonight, so Tom will probably be going to get them pretty soon. It obviously wasn't as severe as other storms around the country recently, but with all of those on the mind I wasn't willing to mess with being tentative or feeling embarrassed.

And now both kids are sleeping in our bed.

Belated

2011-06-20T12:57:00.000-05:00

My favorite picture of my top two dads.

I hope they both felt how much they are loved yesterday and all days.

Weekend in Burlington

2011-06-19T21:40:00.000-05:00

I have a few pictures, but this post will be text only. The sad fact is that we are pretty certain our sweet little blue camera is gone. One of us must have set it down somewhere in the FunCity arcade this morning and it must have been picked up by someone who didn't feel the need to turn it in. We've searched, called, called other people, had other people search....and it's just not showing up. I'm very sad about several of the photos and videos that we lost. So, rather than describing the weekend and Katie's wedding, I'm going to describe a few of my favorite photos while I can still picture them in my head.
The first was Clara, just after getting her hair done at the salon. She still had on her lavender top, but her hair was all flower-girled up. Lots of curls in back (with lots of hairspray....another photo I've just remembered shows Clara covering her face while the stylist sprays her with lots of hairspray) a tiny tiara on top and two little flower clips. She has her back to the camera, so you can see all of her pretty hair, but she's peeking back at me in the mirror, so you can see her sweet face too.
At the church Katie, already in her wedding gown, helped straighten Clara's big pink bow on the back of her dress. Neither of them were looking at the camera.
A short video caught Clara testing out how well her flower girl dress would twirl.
Another video was taken while the entire bridal party was posing for a group photo. Clara and her compatriot flower girl, Sam, were holding hands together in front and Clara was waving her bouquet to get the gnats away.
At the ceremony I caught a quick shot of Clara and Sam walking across the front of the church. The composition isn't great, but you can see how proud of herself Clara is by the expression on her face.
In between the ceremony and the reception we tried to get the kids to nap. We had taken off Clara's dress, but she still had on her white lacy socks, her Hello Kitty underpants and her fancy hair when she sat down on the bed to read a book.
Mom took a couple of pretty good pictures of Pete, Henry, Clara and I sitting at our table. We also had a couple of me and Clara and of Pete and Henry. It's not too often that we get nice whole-family shots.
The kids were very excited to dance at the party. I got all 4 cousins to stand still for a brief moment and snapped several shots, trying to get them all to look at once. The best, I thought, was (from left to right) Eleanor, Henry, Anders and Clara. Henry is already all sweaty-headed and is crouching down to the height of the other kids. Eleanor is looking at the camera with a little smile and Anders has his tongue sticking out too the side. Eleanor's dress was full of bright flowers. Anders was in a green shirt with a little dinosaur tie.
I'm not sure I can capture it in words, but I was hoping to frame a beautiful picture of Henry and Clara sitting together on the dance floor. Clara's white dress was fluffed out around her legs and Henry was looking up with a sweet smile.
Later in the night, when Henry fell asleep across two chairs, I took a picture of him sleeping with the dancing in the background.
One of the last shots I took this morning was of Anders and Henry together playing Guitar Hero. They each had the 'guitars' strapped around their necks and they were giving me their best rocking out faces.
I have a slim little bit of hope that somehow the camera might still show up. Hopefully someone picked it up and just got lazy about turning it in to lost and found. They'll probably get tired of hearing from me over the next few days.

Moving On

2011-06-09T21:35:00.000-05:00

This was Henry's last week of kindergarten. It's impossible to wrap my head around how quickly it's gone. On Monday they had a trip to the park. Cari and I teach together the last week of school, so I was able to slip away and take some pictures. The room moms brought ice cream. It was so hot that it was hard for them to eat it before it melted completely.

One of the other moms asked me if Henry had been playing in the water. I had to explain that he's just a sweater.

Here he is with his teacher, Mrs. K and his classroom aide, Mrs. Hendle. They were a great team!

When I got home from work that night I found the kids in the backyard like this.

Wednesday was the actual last day. They had a moving--up-to-first-grade celebration. Again, I was thankful for my ideal work situation as it was easy for me to slip away.

Mrs. K showed a slideshow of pictures from throughout the year. It was accompanied by music such as You've Got A Friend In Me (from Toy Story) which made me cry.

Then I cried some more when the kids sang a cute little song to the tune of New York, New York. "I'm gonna be a part of it, First Grade! First Grade!"

Henry was so proud.

Mrs. K and Mrs. Hendle had put together memory books of many of their special projects, photos and pieces of work- all in a nice binder. The kids were so excited to look through them.

Here he is again. I'm so amazed by this guy.

The other side of my life this week has been getting my own classroom packed up for the big summer project. We had to have everything boxed by eleven PM last night. Cari and I did pretty well and we out by 7 PM. I took these pictures this morning before the kids came in for their final 20 minute day of school. This shot is from behind our desk. The cabinets on the right in this photo, and the wardrobe by the door will be pulled out and replaced with movable cabinetry, which we'll probably put along that far wall. When Clara looked at this picture the first thing she noticed was that the t.v. was taken down. She wants to know where they'll watch t.v. when they visit Mama's room now, and where they'll have their snacks!?!?

This is a picture from the opposite corner. You can kind of tell what a miserable stormy day it was outside. It was a little sad to dismiss the kids out into the rain, when all they wanted to do was run off to the pool or beach. Cari and I didn't count, but from these pictures I think I can determine that we packed up at least 55 boxes of stuff. We threw plenty away and gave many things away as well. On our last full day, yesterday, we let the kids "shop" through a bunch of the random crap we had left. I'm sure their parents were delighted when they came home with Mardi Gras beads, plastic sunglasses, fish-shaped bowls, junky toys and old magazines!

I already know that as soon as I blink I'll be posting pictures of this room at the end of the summer, with its new paint job, new carpeting and furniture and we'll be getting ready to head back to school!

CopyCat

2011-06-05T21:25:00.000-05:00

It's been very busy times at school. We have a big building project going on. The 'wing' that my classroom is in isn't having construction, exactly, but we are having all of our cabinetry pulled out, plumbing work done (we have a sink in the classroom), new carpeting put in and painting done. Next year we'll have new furniture too. So this year- before the last day of school, which is Thursday, we have to have every last paperclip packed up. In addition to the regular end-of-year work, report cards and whatnot, it's been a lot of work.

In the meantime, though, we had a nice visit last weekend from Kevin and Beth. They were up from Belize for a family wedding. They spent Saturday night with us and we had a fun time hanging out. Max was staying with his grandparents, so we didn't get to see him this time.

After their visit I developed a cold that stuck around and really drug me down for several days. That was a bummer. I'm starting to feel better, but we did decide to stay home instead of heading to Iowa City for the weekend as we had been planning. It sounds like we missed a really good Arts Fest. But we took the opportunity to work on a project. We got the idea from Carrie's friend Samantha, who made a couple of these for her girls.

Pete and Henry did the sawing and drilling while Clara and I went to Sharon's to use the sewing machine. I told Sharon about my fear of sewing and she set me right up and made me do most of the work myself. The hems are a little wonky, but I'm hoping nobody will be looking too closely.

That's it from us for now! 3 more days of kindergarten for Henry!! You'll hear from me again after that, probably.

36

2011-05-22T21:36:00.000-05:00

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

2011-05-19T21:02:00.000-05:00

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

2011-05-16T20:17:00.000-05:00

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

2011-05-08T21:32:00.000-05:00

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

2011-05-07T15:36:00.000-05:00

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

More Baseball

2011-05-06T18:57:00.001-05:00

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.

Playing Around

2011-04-29T21:53:00.000-05:00

I've changed some things about how I manage the blog, so I thought I'd go ahead and post a few more pictures to see how it all works. Here's Henry getting his first hit...remembering to run home....and playing in the dirt while he's in the outfield.