Still blogging about last Friday...

I'd better be less wordy or I'll never get back into the present...
After the shower on Friday I got to see a little bit of Chloe. She and her parents had driven down from Seattle and spent time with Pete and Henry while I was doing the girl stuff.
Here Chloe tries to give Henry a hug (her arms were outstretched) while he's too busy dancing to notice.

Here they are on the bed, not quite sure how to share the books.
And finally, a stylish Chloe gives her best camera smile.


After that fun we went to the Lucky Lab Brew Pub for some drinks and tasty sandwiches. There was also a delicious extra-garlicky ceasar salad and extra-garlicky hummus. Here Amber shows her garlicky tongue.



Here's a group shot and a shot of the (mostly) happy family, the happy couple and the handsome man who drove us home after Pete and Henry left early.

A break...

...to blog a little bit about gardening. After Henry took a nearly 3 (THREE!) hour nap this morning, we decided to skip the grocery and spend some time in the yard this afternoon. I spent most of the time pulling up the mint that has overtaken my flower bed. I've been mostly letting things go, just to see what will come up....but the mint was out of control. Here are some shots of it all over the place...creeping up the side of the house....and a look at how that root just runs underground and sends shoots up every few inches. The good news is that it's easy to pull up. And you can't get frustrated because it just keeps sending it's mellow mint aroma up at you and you have no choice but to chill out. Sadly, for the mint, I didn't chill out so much that I stopped weeding. Here's a pile of the stuff that I pulled up. I'm not sure this photo does it justice...it was really a lot of mint.





These other pictures are just of my yard and patio....my happy place. There's the pretty little purple flowers that have popped up out of some creeping ground cover. You can see our pretty new patio cushions, and if you come visit you can sit on them! And there's the little corner of petunias and herbs. Some of those herbs are from Ellen's wedding. They were her table centerpieces.


Finally....the little gardener. He was trying to help with the watering cans. He continues to love all things involving water.

Wedding Part Deux

So after the festivities of the first night we all tried to sleep in a little bit and acclimate to the time change. Henry didn't quite see things that way, though. He was still on midwestern time. Amber and I had to get up anyway and go set up for the shower we helped to throw Ellen. Here's a shot of Barb (Mother of the bride) and Jenny (big sister of the bride) in Anne (little sister of the bride)'s kitchen.

Somehow we managed to have the perfect amount of food. I'm never able to do that...I always have too much. Then again, I didn't do any of the cooking or baking. Needless to say, the food was delightful. Amber suggested some simple shiny blue and silver stars that made for a festive mood. We toasted with mimosas, watched a slideshow that I put together with everyone's photos and stories and Ellen opened a few presents. I must say, the highlight was the French lingerie that Jenny found and purchased as a gift from all us gals.

I believe Ellen said we weren't to post the pics. of her trying it on, but Amber must have been engaged in other conversation at that point...so see her blog for some hot shots of that! Woo-woo!! Another high point? Barb checking out the edible undies that Anne passed on to Ellen after declaring that she and her husband "didn't need them" when they were given to her as a bachelorette.

Of course, all through the festivities, Amber, Jenny and I were angling for the perfect photo opportunity!
















Here's Ellen with her new mother-in-law.













Here are us three BFF (best friends forever!!!!!!!) standing on the porch. It is unclear exactly how many pictures there are (dating since 1981?) of the three of us together.....it IS the next slideshow project!

Birthday and a pokey Blogger...

Well, Blogger is being a bit pokey with the photos, so I'm not sure I'll be able to post any tonight, but I'll sure try.
My birthday has been pretty nice. We slept late (Henry in his bed!) until 8:30 when Rob called and woke us all up. We were still on Portland time, and I'm sure we could have kept sleeping! We drove up to Deerfield to pick up the pooch, then made a stop at the bakery for donuts, coffee and a birthday cake! I chose a lovely looking German chocolate, which we're going to cut into pretty soon here... When we got home Henry napped, Pete did who-knows-what on the computer and I paid a little attention to my garden. Mary had picked up some petunias for me, so I put those in pots and also checked on how the rest of my little friends are doing. When Henry woke up we walked to the center of town and had some lunch on the patio of the Landmark. That didn't leave much time before I had to leave for class. Fortunately, class went pretty quickly and she's letting us out early this week- until we start working with the kids next Wednesday. So now I"m home. Pete and I are going to have a romantic pizza dinner, followed by cake. Then it's off to bed so I can rejoin the working world for one day this week.
That darn Blogger is being SO slow...I'll post more on the wedding tomorrow. In the meantime, see Amber's site for a more comprehensive look at the events.

Home again...

I don't know quite have a plan for blogging about the whole weekend, and I"m not sure how much energy I have tonight. But I thought I should post something for all of those people out there (Joyce) who are waiting for some sort of update. So here's a few pics from our first night in Portland.
Pete, Henry and I flew in on Thursday, met up with Amber and Jeff at the airport. Picked up our Dollar rental car and headed to the Residence Inn. We had a nice two-floor suite, which we shared with Amber and Jeff and then with Matt when he showed up on Friday. Henry thought the stairs were fun. He also enjoyed bouncing to the tunes on Amber's ipod. Most of all I think he liked having a captive audience with whom to share his tricks.

After checking in we walked up to Broadway where we quickly indulged in our first McMenamins (sp?) burger of the weekend. Turns out McMenamins has several places in the Portland area. Some are just restaraunt/brewpubs, but they also have a couple of bed-and-breakfast type places as well. More on that later... Here's a shot of Amber, Jeff and Henry at lunch. We did not yet know that we should have ordered the tater tots, rather than the fries.

Later on we went to Ellen and Don's house for a casual barbeque. Don cooked up a storm, as usual. We met his family for the first time and said Hi to Ellen's family, many of whom we hadn't seen for a long time.

Here's Pete enjoying some time on the lawn. The manequin in the background let people know where the party was.

We also got to see Tomi and Leo, Ellen's twin nephews from France. They were having some time-change adjustments, and weren't quite sure about sharing their bubbles with Henry. Fortunately there were plenty of bubbles to go around.

Okay...I think I'll go to bed and try to blog again in a couple days. Probably won't be tomorrow...as I'll be trying to celebrate my birthday before I have to head to class at 4:00. Wheee!

He does it again!

Henry slept in his bed all night again last night!
This weekend will throw us all off course, but it's for a good cause. We're off to the airport pretty soon. We'll meet Amber and Jeff in Portland. I'm sure Amber and I will be mentally blogging all events during the course of the weekend. Look for the posting to begin Sunday night!

...and counting...

Just got back from dinner at The Yard House...."world's largest" selection of beers on tap. It was pretty impressive, actually. I had some Pils...don't ask me what it was called, something German with an S. Anyway, got carded. Had a realization that I'm 10 years past legal...kinda heavy. That's all.

Back to our usual programming...

Last night Henry slept in his own room, in his own bed all night!! A couple nights ago I put his mattress on the floor, because there's just no making him like his crib. Then last night we took the crib down all together. His dad put him down to bed, read him some stories on the floor...Henry wanted to crawl around a little bit, but after he settled down he slept there all night long! He slept through two alarms! I finally had to gently rouse him to get him ready for his day. He loves his little bed! He often goes over to it, lies down and says "nigh-nigh!" We'll see though. This weekend we're in Portland for Ellen's wedding, so with the hotel sleeping and the time change there will be much disruption to any sort of new sleeping ideas we might have. I do hope that we can soon get Henry an actual twin bed, rather than just a crib mattress on the floor. A little more comfortable for the in-bed reading and cuddling.
Henry's other new trick: toilet flushing. He's gone pee in the toilet a couple of times...not that we're pushing it, we just try it out if the timing is right. He thinks it's fun, though if I hold him in standing position on the seat he sometimes tries to kick into the stream. He went in the toilet a little bit about 45 minutes ago and has flushed the toilet three times since then.

Chump

I promised Brent a personalized entry for his first visit to my blog. So here's a lovely photo of our president looking like a chimp. Enjoy, Brent!

Pardon the cheese...

A mother's day haiku:

Footsteps in the woods
Sunlight showing us the day
Drops down through the leaves

Helping Hands

We've had a very rainy and cold day. We took a nice long nap this morning. Then we met Papa for lunch and picked up some diapers and a cute new pair of shorts overalls at Babies R Us. When we came home Henry and I decided that it was a baking sort of day. He was very helpful in his role as Chief Overseer of Mixing and Administrator of Spatula Licking. I'm still figuring out my new oven, so the cook came out a little lopsided and ever-so-slightly underdone. Yes, it was the oven's fault. It was still quite delicious, though!

Bathrooms

It's hard to get an accurate photo of the color of the walls in this, our bedroom-area bathroom. They are sort of a light mint-julepy green. Sort of the color of that Baskin Robbins flavor that I always thought I would like, but never did...

I like the walls much more now that we have our new shower curtain in there. However, these fixtures are still ugly as sin. They are wicker and stick out about 4 feet from the wall. The lights are those giant moviestar-style globes. The wicker collects all kinds of dust and gunk in the crevices.

Here's the curtain in the other bathroom. This bathroom is off of the family room-kitchen area. The curtain looks pinkish in this photo, but it's really yellowy and beige. Pete doesn't like the tiles because they remind him of tapioca pudding. I like tapioca pudding.

Again, horrid fixtures. I can't quite figure out what the deal is with this medicine cabinet. It opens in the middle, but also has these hinges that allow you to pull the mirror sort of straight out, or angle it different ways. It never actually looks right to me. Of course, there's also the "ghost" cabinet behind the door. A nice old 50's style medicine cabinet, the mirror of which has been painted over.

And here's Henry looking up at the bubg's on the wall. That's where they like to hang out- up on the wall by the ceiling. Just ants, no big deal. Endless fascination for dog and boy, though.

Thank-A-Nurse

Chances are, a nurse helped you into this world. Take a moment to thank one some time this week. Unfortunately, it seems that nursing is often a thankless job. A certain nurse I know, who works in a very large hospital, was 'thanked' this week with a cake for the staff, served, lovingly, with coffee and water. Not bottled water, mind you, just pitchers of water. Seems like the administration could have at least ponied up for a little punch. I must say, I'm treated very well during teacher appreciation week. We have a nice district dinner, our PTO throws a lovely lunch, random parents put cookies in the lounge for us, kids bring flowers....it is fun to be a teacher.

On another note. I keep meaning to update with photos of my new shower curtains....(okay, SOME people are interested in this kind of thing). But I haven't taken any yet. So here's another sweet shot of Henry at the arboretum, shortly after taking a spill.

Boys

Pete: (while lifting Henry out of his high chair) "Okay. You're all wet, and you have a poopy dipe. It's time for a complete change." And away they walked in their khakis (Henry's of the overall-type) and blue shirts. So cute. My boys. I enjoy the father-son-ness of them.

Morton Arboretum

Pete's new money-making scheme is that he's going to d.j. weddings. So today we went out to the Morton Arboretum so he could meet with a couple whose wedding he's going to do. They're having the wedding out there, so he needed to see the space. Henry and I went along, since it was such a nice day. We spent an hour or so in the children's garden while Pete was with the couple, then we had some lunch and then took a walk through the woods. It was gorgeous out there. Makes me want to become members so we can go there often, but it is about 45 minutes away. Henry's favorite things were the big granite sphere, which is suspended by water so that you can slowly turn it. He also liked the giant flower with the xylophone in it. He kept wanting to grab both of the mallets, even when another child had them. He's slowly learning to share...

Gardening...

While Mom was here it was a little too rainy to get any yard work done. By Tuesday afternoon the weather was nice again, so I was able to get some things in the ground. Mom brought me a tomato plant, which I'm protecting from the bunnies with a broken terra cotta pot which we apparently bought with the house. Here's a picture of Franklin sneaking off through his little secret escape path through the neighbor's yard. I spent most of my 'gardening' time actually chasing Franklin back into our yard. We really need to get some chicken wire up. This is a little marigold I planted right outside the back porch, in the hopes that the bunnies would leave it alone. So far it seems to be doing okay. I can't say as much for the Dutchman's Breeches and Violet that Mom also brought. I put them back by the lilac bush. The lilac is really my biggest concern. It's a tall, old plant and is doing fine, but I'd really like some of the little shoots that are coming up to thrive. I'm not sure why they haven't up to this point, but I suspect the bunnies (Darn those bunnies!!!) have something to do with it. I've chosen a couple of the stronger looking sprouts to protect in various ways and am hoping that they get strong enough to live through the winter. Gardening success stories....Pete's grass is coming up! So are my little sprouts from the 'fragrant flowers' seed mix I planted. Henry helps with those when he sprays them with the spray bottle. Here is one of the little Nemesia plants Mom bought for me. This one is called Peach. The other four I planted up Bartelby's side of the yard are Blue Bird, Banana, Safari Pink and Raspberry. They're adorable, like little mini snap-dragons. And the names make me want a daquiri.

Ketchup

A few stragglers....
Here's the final meal in last week's experiment. It was yummier than it looks....shrimp with tomatoes and feta and orzo with green beans. Now I'm back to a more kid-friendly menu. Tonight we had rotini pasta with ham and peas in a cheesy sauce. Henry couldn't get enough.

Here's a picture of Henry kicking around in his hip shoes. Pay no attention to the smudges on his face. We may or may not have been to Baskin & Robbin's that night. Henry may or may not have had a few tastes of hot fudge. I'll never tell.
And here's the boy eating a little sushi. Followed by two pictures I like to refer to as "Is that a camera?" and "If that's a camera I have to make THIS face!"

Okay Already!

I DO love poetry...I just can't seem to keep up with even READING blogs these last few days...not sure why, you'd think I'd have more time on my hands with my mom here. SO much to blog about...SO much to do before getting back to work tomorrow. Pete's putting Henry to bed tonight so I can have my alone time with the Gilmore Girls (and a glass of wine). Maybe I"ll catch up after that....in the meantime, here's a quick one I can do without much thinking....
No, I haven't had one, and no, I'm not planning to, I just like the poem....


Consolations After an Affair
------------------------
My plants are whispering to one another:
they are planning a little party
later on in the week about watering time.
I have quilts on beds and walls
that think it is still the 19th century.
They know nothing of automobiles and jet planes.
For them a wheat field in January
is their mother and enough.
I've discovered that I don't need
a retirement plan, a plan to succeed.
A snow leopard sleeps beside me
like a slow, warm breeze.
And I can hear the inner birds singing
alone in this house I love.

-James Tate



*Sorry...I know poetry month has passed, but I do love a challenge.

"Bubg!"

This is Henry's new word. It means "those funny little black things that crawl around the kitchen in my new house". Other new words include "poon" which means "that thing that I use to get the food from the dish to my mouth". He also says "buk" occasionally, which means "that thing we read before bed". Other words we hear a lot: "up!" which means "put me on that slide!" and "hi!" which means "I'm playing with the phone". I'm posting a photo of Henry in his Easter duds. I wish I could tell you his word for rabbit, but it's really just a nose wiggle, and I don't know how to spell that.