Gearing up for the birthday

This past week was a bit of a fog. I've had a cold that's been getting steadily worse (though it seems to have broken last night, finally!) and really don't remember much. Except that Sue came down to spend the weekend with Steven as his birthday is this week, and I was a terrible hostess who laid around a lot and served things like canned soup for meals (organic fall flavors from Trader Joe's of course, but still....).
But we had great weather, and continued the annual tradition of viewing the Head of the Charles (poor rowers had some nasty headwinds to contend with), and for the first time I think ever I had the house to myself all morning while everyone went to church (totally wasted the golden silence by sleeping, but it was still lovely), and I tried out just about every home remedy there is for a cold (lots of garlic, ginger, cider vinegar, lemon, and honey were consumed this weekend!).
Given that it's on a Wednesday this year Steve's birthday will be very low key, but hopefully he still knows how loved and cherished he is by all of us. Happy start to the birthday week! :)

I raked the whole yard, wheezing the entire time. Went to get the shovel to help dispose of the piles and Hudson discovered the joys of leaf pile jumping. I haven't bothered to re-rake.

Obviously they can push each others buttons, but for the most part these two are so sweet together. There's a lot of love

The wonderful Mrs.Allen has been making Henri hair bows. She has at least one in constantly, and now her animals are joining in

Playing with power saws during nap time. Henri stood by the window ready to call "eleven nine" if I cut my fingers off haha.

The constructions begins. Once completed I'll do a post, but suffice to say I'm super excited about my bedroom redo. Somehow it's not quite as inexpensive as I'd planned, but I'm loving it already. Few more coats of paint, some more shopping, and voila! A relaxing retreat.

My enthusiastic helpers. They have loved the measuring tapes. And are surprisingly useful at helping me measure, holding up boards, leveling, handing out screws....

Oh boy. Not really the "going out in public" look I was going for, but pretty typical Henri fashion

Headed to the river! Poor Hudson hates the train. He cried till I assured him we just had 3 stops to go, then clutched the stroller with a death grip till we got there. Hen of course adores the train.

Go!

The vendors were plentiful and the samples numerous. Somehow we ended up with 10 bottles of almond milk alone. Not to mention all the coupons. 

Sheffie and Sue came along too. The wind was a bit rough here, but the sun kept it from being too cold

Lunch at BerryLine (nutella with cheesecake bites)

Dad wanted to do pumpkin carving with the kiddos. I lasted long enough to get the photo, it was cold out there!

Hud loved the process, did not love the consistency of the guts

More Henri fashion, she's big into twisting her hair as a style.

OK, nap time just ended with lots of kid yelling, so off to attend to their highnesses. Hope all of you up north are staying warm with the snow you got this weekend! We're supposed to be in the 70's this week....