All Good Things . . . .

I have recently discovered that Neutrogena has stopped making the make-up I like.  I know what you're thinking.  "She wears make-up??"  I very occasionally wear make-up, which is why I've only recently discovered that I can't buy replacement cosmetics.  In order to wear make-up, conditions must be just right.  And by "just right," I mean that I must be a passenger in a car on my way to an event, and have my make-up bag with me.  Last time I bought it, I had a coupon for buy one, get one half off.  The two containers of mineral powder lasted about three years of very occasional use.  I think the easiest thing to do will just be to admit that I no longer wear make-up.

Stellar Housekeeping and Parenting

On a recent Saturday morning, the whole family came down for breakfast, excited to have Nick make Henry's favorite breakfast, Mickey Mouse pancakes.  This hasn't happened in a long time because Nick does not get a weekend like normal people.  But that is changing for one year.  Nick is doing a year of research as part of his residency, and will be working "normal" hours for the first and probably last time in our married lives.

Unfortunately, the pancake breakfast was momentarily delayed by an ant invasion.  There are lots of ants outside our house.  If you leave anything available to them, we then have ants inside our house.  There was a hearty trail of ants coming under our front door, crossing the carpet in to the kitchen, and heading under the kitchen cart.  I moved the kitchen cart to discover a chicken nugget (from lunch with friends the day before), which was heavily peppered with moving ants.  I was laughing at the absurdity of it as I grabbed the broom and dustpan to sweep up the ants and nugget in one go.

But then I looked down and there was no nugget, just ants.  I looked around and saw that Gigi was holding the nugget, and lots of ants.   And I could see that she had taken a bite out of the nugget, just by looking at her face, which now had ants on it.

I felt bad that she was eating old meat and bugs, but I laughed a lot too.  You don't need to bother, I'll call DCFS on myself.

Whatever It Takes

 

She loves to drive her car.  She has since figured out how to open the door, but even before that she wasn't going to let anything keep her from driving her sweet ride.

Happy Fathers Day

For Nick and the grandpas.
And that's right, the best pictures I got today are pantless.

Do They Look Alike?

They are approximately the same age in these pictures, just shy of their first birthday.
I can't decide if they look a lot alike.

Also, the picture of Henry really reminds me how much I miss the lighting in our St Louis apartment.

National Train Day

Henry has his serious face on, so you know he's having lots of fun.

We took Henry to Union Station for Amtrak's National Train Day.  Nick went on virtually no sleep, just because he wanted Henry to be able to go and I doubted my ability to do it on my own.  We took the 'L' downtown, so even when we found out the Amtrak excursion was sold out, we figured we still were getting plenty of train in our day.

We waited a long time for Henry to be able to drive a train in the train simulator.  I think the highlight was getting a train whistle.  Chase bank was giving them out to card holders.  The good news is its a cheap whistle that doesn't work very well so it's relatively quiet. I put him in his overalls to look more like an engineer, and it seemed that nearly every other mother had the same thought.  It was a sea of children in overalls and engineer hats.

Henry's 3-year-old Interview

 

How old are you? I'm free [3], not two.

What is your favorite animal? It's goats.  My favorite animal is goats, and the animal show is closed.

What's your favorite thing to eat?  Not cookies either.  I eat some food.  It was a hamburger.  You remember that mama?  It was a huge hamburger I bite.  It snapped like this (hand actions.)

What's your least favorite thing to eat?  [intelligible remarks] editor's note: he picked the pickles of that hamburger, so probably pickles.

What is your favorite thing to do?  I don't know.  Something is cool.  Get grandma.  It was grandma and grandpa.

What is your favorite TV show? Cars, cartoons, and lighting McQueen.

What are really good at? I am trains.  I am big boy trains.

What is your favorite toy?  This road scraper [hold up the hot wheels vehicle is is holding.]

What's your favorite fruit? Nanas

What's your favorite outfit to wear? I wear clothes. Not your clothes.

What's your favorite song? Trains.  My trains songs about me, Henry.

What's your favorite book? Trains.  My favorite book is Stop Trains, is Thomas [Stop, Train, Stop!]

Who is your best friend? My best friend is Gigi.  [mother tears up]

What's your favorite thing to drink? Water and Milk [apple juice]

What to you want to be when your grow up?  Bigger and bigger, I grow up.

What work do you want to do when you grow up? I go to work like daddy's work. [I advise against surgery as a career.]

What's daddy's job?  Daddy's job is at work.  My dad is not at home.

What do you like about our house? Toys

What is you name? N-E-R-Y and a H.

What's your full name? I don't know.