Holiday Weekend

It's been a strange weekend. Daniel had Bear Scout camp Friday into Saturday so he and Mike were gone. They arrived back home in time for dinner on Saturday and then we went to see Ice Age. After the movie was fireworks and then home for bed. This morning, we packed Mike and Jacob up for Webelos camp. They'll be gone for a few days.

The house always feels off when people are gone. Daniel and Hannah were clearly lost all day without Jacob. They didn't know what to do with themselves. Luckily, some new neighbors helped with the boredom.

A new family moved in a few days ago and they also have three kids. The oldest is Daniel's age and the middle one is Hannah's age. Their mom was not used to the sheer amount of kids that live on our street so she was a little taken aback.

It was just so nice to be outside and talking to adults. I find that when Mike's gone I get next to no adult conversation and most conversations start with "Mooooooooooooooom!" Ugh. Hopefully there will be people out tomorrow too, or I may just lose my mind. At least I know that Mike and Jacob are having a good time at camp.

Illinois Trip Photo Post

We had a great visit to Illinois for the holidays. Our first stop was Peoria where we got to spend time with both of my sisters and their families. Dad's house was pretty cramped but it was all good.

All of the cousins
I love this picture. I can't wait until I can really embarrass Sarah with this one. LOL!!!
Daniel had a thing for Sarah, even though he would never admit it.
Glenn playing a game with Daniel
Mary Rose, Aidan and Hannah all look like they could be sisters!!


After Peoria, we headed up to Chicago. Hannah had her manicure and we also went up to the Botanic Garden. We also went around and took pictures of our old houses. It was a little sad but kind of cool, too.
We visited with Dave, Patty, Ken and Donna too. I can't believe how big the kids are getting. In age order from right to left...Eric, Jacob, Catherine, Daniel, Adam, David and Hannah. BTW, Eric is now taller than Mike.
Our house on Brandywyn. It was blue when we lived there.
The old apartment in Palatine.
The townhouse in Palatine. I loved this house.
The kids made crafts at the Botanic Garden
The boys loved the big lighted ornaments
It was a good trip but we are happy to be home.

Thursday...Just Thursday

Hanukkah, night 2 Hannah got a Baby Alive for her Hanukkah present last night. It's not nearly as creepy as I thought it would be, and Hannah's been so cute with it. She loves it when the baby sings and takes it very seriously when the baby says it's hungry or thirsty. I do have to say that it's kind of nasty when it poops. The boys each got a Squakers McCaw. That was brilliant of me. These things is so loud and annoying...I hope the batteries die soon. I don't know what in the world I was thinking.

It is so cold and gray outside. If it's going to snow, I just wish it would get on with it. Gary, our weatherman, said last night that if it didn't snow at least an inch today, he'd wear a bag on his head tonight. I'd pay to see that. LOL! With my luck, that inch or so will come while my van's sitting outside during Hannah's gymnastics class. Then I'll have to scrape off the van. I suppose I should make sure there's a brush and scraper in the van before I go. That would be a great idea!

Oh...it's just started to snow.

Thanksgiving Preparations

*Update* It is now snowing quite heavily. The ground seems to be too warm for it to stick to the roads but it's definitely sticking to the grass and deck.


The kids are off of school for the holiday and we've all just been hanging out this morning. I really need to get my act together and get the shopping done or we will have nothing to eat for tomorrow! Actually, it's mostly just picking up our turkey but it's the act of leaving the house. I still have to make the pies and cornbread for the cornbread stuffing but I may just end up buying one pie and making the other. I did get the kitchen and fridge cleaned so there's room for the turkey and there's a load of dishes washing in the dishwasher, so I guess I have done something today.

The weather has been absolutely nuts. Monday and Tuesday, we were in the low 70's and today we're in the low 30's. It's just raining right now but people just to our north are reporting light snow. Hopefully, it'll stop before tomorrow when Bobbi and Ed fly in. There's a guy on the weather blog who's an air traffic controller and he's keeping those of us who need to know how the travel conditions are at the airports. He did say that Chicago wasn't looking good today. Ugh.

Anyway, I just thought I'd blog real quick and let everyone know we're still here. We're cold, but still here. Hey Deb, how's your turkey grillin' weather there in Illinois?

Ratatouille

We ended up having a really nice 4th of July. The kids were in the pool for a while and then we went to dinner. We decided on Backyard Burger (a fast food restaurant) before the movie. We ate and then headed over to the mall.

I was surprised to see that we got a good parking spot only 3 hours before fireworks. We headed in, got our popcorn and drinks and sat back to watch the movie. What a cute movie. Even animated, huge groups of rats are really gross (granted, they were supposed to look that way). Of course, it could be that at times the computer animation looks real. Anyway, we enjoyed Ratatouille and highly recommend it to everyone. Mike and I were wondering just how many of the jokes the kids got, because we seemed to be laughing a whole lot more than they were but they still enjoyed it. Jacob gave it a huge thumbs up.

After the movie, we walked out of the theater and mall wondering where they were going to shoot the fireworks from. Turns out, not far from where we parked. By this time, there wasn't a parking spot to be found. We pulled some blankets out of the van, spread them out in a no parking zone and looked in the direction everyone else was. After about 20 minutes of waiting, they began going off and the kids were so excited. They put on a really good show out here.

So, our little plan worked very very well. We decided that next year, we'd try to do the same thing again. The only hitch was trying to get out. The whole mall was packed and everyone was trying to use three exits at the same time. Amazingly, it only took us 45 minutes to get home (normally it would be about 10 minutes).

I hope everyone had a good 4th!

Happy 4th of July!

I tell you what...it's crazy hot outside today. The only shade while the kids are in the pool today is in the garage, so I've been sitting in there for a while. With that back door and the garage door open, you get a nice breeze. Doesn't make it easy to read the paper, though.

We're planning on taking the kids up to see Ratatouille this evening and then we're going to try to see some fireworks. They're doing the fireworks up at the mall and the movie's there too so we figure it'll be easy to walk out of the movie and see everything. That's the plan anyway. We'll see how it pans out.

Jacob got another chance to spar yesterday and was put up against Peter again. This time, he did a great job. He knew what to expect and actually backed Peter into a corner more than a few times. It helped that Steven (a parent, but also a black belt) was there coaching him along. "Round kick! Now spin kick!" Jacob took every piece of advice and found that it worked. It was really funny to see him up against Mia, a little girl who's about a year older than Hannah but is about 2 inches shorter. At first, I didn't think that match up seemed fair but then I realized that Mia's really scrappy and can really hold her own (helps that Peter's her brother!). Of course, Daniel had a great time "battling." LOL!