Thanksgiving 2017

It has been a crazy few weeks, so I’m a few days late getting in a Thanksgiving post. Luckily, it’s my blog and I have a readership of 10, so I get to make the deadlines and the rules for publishing.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, both kids participated in the Lincolnwood Drumstick Dash. It’s a fun little run divided by age groups, where they pile the kids at the start line and let them loose. Nick wasn’t sure he wanted to race, because he was afraid he would fall down, but in the end, he rose to the occasion. He didn’t do so bad either—definitely a leader of the bunch! Of course, he thinks he won, because he got a medal. Elaine was more than happy to rain on his parade and very dryly point out that everyone gets a medal. But, Nick just ignored her. He won damn it!

Our Thanksgiving was lovely and came and went without any drama or illness (except for Chris, who was pretty sick, but he’s Sean’s problem, not mine.) Sean gets “Uncle of the Year” awards for swimming with the kids at the FREEZING hotel indoor pool—Lainey was the only one who didn’t seem bothered by the frigid water and air temps. It definitely snapped the adults out of our Turkey day food and drink comas!

The weather was great and the travel to and from Ohio really could not have been any smoother. Nick said it best… “You know why I like Ohio? I just love the view!” So, there you have it, Ohio Tourism Bureau, your next marketing slogan. I really do get a laugh out of how geeked-out the kids get seeing all the farm fields, barns, and animals. Seeing the landscape through their eyes gives me a new appreciation for what was just the ordinary growing up.

We traveled back home on Friday, so we had the weekend to deck the halls and start infusing the Christmas spirit! Christmas decorations are up, cards have been ordered, shopping is 95% done, and the calendar is filled with an aspirational schedule of holiday events! Bring on December!

Leading the pack (via creative editing)

And she's off!

 

Happy racers!

 

Two Little Fishies

When the YMCA closed the pool this past June, we were really bummed out. It turned out to be the best thing that could have happened, as far as swim lessons go. Right as the Y pool closed, a new swim school, Big Blue, opened up just five minutes from our house. I took the kids for a free trial lesson and was hooked! Being a new facility, of course it was spotless, but what sold me was the amazing staff and teachers! Everyone has so much energy and seems really excited to be there versus the Y instructors, who barely cracked a smile. Seriously, sometimes walking into Big Blue is the best part of my week, because everyone there just seems to love what they are doing and greet you with such enthusiasm.

All of the above is nice and all, but the place isn't cheap, so I wanted to see results. Well, I've got them tenfold. I really cannot believe how much Lainey and Nick have progressed in just three months. Nick has gone from hiding under the bleachers at the Y to avoid the pool to swimming without any flotation devices and doing some actual swim strokes. He's moved up two levels in the past month. And, oh man, Lainey! She can now swim freestyle and does a mean backstroke. We could drop the lessons right now and she'd be fine for water safety. But, she really enjoys them and is learning better technique (and the other strokes) to prep her to join a swim team. Even if swim team's not her thing, she gets a great workout in at class--they work these kids hard! (Which also means sleeping little ones at bedtime--an added bonus.)

I love seeing how proud the kids are when they reach a new level. I seriously got emotional when Lainey moved up from Dolphins to Junior Team. She flew through the lower levels pretty quickly, so it took her awhile to achieve the next level. The pure joy on her face when she saw that ribbon and new she'd made it made me almost burst into tears. I don't think I'd ever seen her so proud or happy about something.

So glad we found this gem of a place! Can't wait to see how the kiddos keep progressing!

From Guppy 2 to Guppy 3!

Miss Junior Team 1

No more Guppies...Dolphin 1!!!

Tricks and Treats

Halloween was a monster success! The kids partied at school and came home ready to hit the streets and get those treats! The cold temperature did nothing to chill their enthusiasm--they begged for candy for almost two hours! Afterwards, our neighbor hosted a group of us for pizza, so bedtime definitely got pushed and pushed a little more. Can't say this morning was much fun, but seeing their joy last night made up for it (or at least it will when I have those memories years from now; thankfully it's the really good ones that seem to stick!)

The one blight on the evening was some prankster took our bowl of candy we left out on the step. And I mean the actual bowl!!! I know it's always a risk that some older kids are going to take all the candy in one fell swoop, but do they have to be total jerks and take the bowl too? Perhaps it was someone's trick when they happened upon a treatless bowl. Sigh...

In other unfortunate news, Nick got a trick played on him in the form of a nasty stomach bug. He's been throwing up since three o'clock this afternoon. I'm just glad he didn't get hit with this bug yesterday! That would have crushed him!

Hope everyone had a fun-filled Halloween!

The water is dangerous, but the streets are safe!

Check-out that tail!

The crew!

Nicks says...

Nick talks from the moment he wakes up until the moment he drops to sleep at night. Even after we’ve turned off the light and left him alone, we can hear him chatting away or singing a song he’s made up. He’s taken the game of “why?” to new levels, relentless in his follow-up to each answer with another “why?”—it’s exhausting.

 

So many of his thoughts come out of thin air and, with his deadpan delivery and amazing comedic timing, he keeps us cracking up. I really wish I could just have a running transcript of all the things he says in a day. Not so practical, but I’ve been trying to be better about jotting some gems here and there. Here are a few from the past week or so…

On multi-culturalism…

 

Nick talking to Lainey—“‘Duh’ means ‘you should know that already’ in Spanish.”

On taking care of his things…

“I’m going to break the iPad!” Pauses and smiles. “I’m just being silly. What would we do if the iPad was broken?”

 

On physiology…

Nick: I’m not going to grow for 35 days.

Me:  Why?

Nick: Because that’s just how my body works.

On keeping it on the sly…

 

Nick was being too loud (as always) in a public place.

 

Lainey:  Nick whisper.

Nick: <whispers> So, Daddy doesn’t hear me say the bad words?

 On family bonds…

 “Can we get rid of Lainey and get a boat?”

  

Really, putting these down on paper don’t do them justice. You need to see his big brown eyes, tiny hand gestures, and impish smile to really understand his charm. But, I can see all that when I read these and I know I’ll be happy to have these on paper one day, when this little guy is all grown up.

Pumpkins and Puddles

Well, we've had some really beautiful weather this week! Too bad we didn't have it last weekend while Dad and Sharon were visiting. I poured rain all day on Saturday, making for a muddy mess for our annual trip to Didier Farms on Sunday. The mud wouldn't have been so bad, but it was overcast, windy, and cold! Even with the yuck weather, we still had a blast. The kids probably could have stayed the whole afternoon!

We picked out our pumpkins, per usual, and even though Mark and I had agreed each kid would get one pumpkin, we ended up leaving with six! Two big, two small, and two really small. Nick was excited to find a large one that was shaped like a heart--later realizing it also looked like a butt--oh the laughs that ensued from the wee ones! He then found it's twin among the tiny pumpkin bin. How could I say no?

We've been really lucky the past 4 years to have amazing weather, so I suppose we can take a year of clouds! Thanks for treating us, Dad and Sharon! Another tradition carrying on!

Uncle Chris! Uncle Chris! Uncle Chris!

 

Uncle Chris rolled into town last Friday and our house was almost shattered with Nick’s excitement. This is not to say Lainey wasn’t also enthused, but Nick was just off-the-wall. He had been counting down for the past week, asking multiple times a day if it was Friday yet, before launching into all the things he was going to do with Uncle Chris. It was really sweet, and luckily, Chris delivered on Nick’s expectations. There was lots of Star Wars play, and we watched Episode II: Attack of the Clones, something Nick was particularly anticipating. (I will say, however, he seemed just as into watching Girls Just Want to Have Fun.) Both of the kids were really sad Uncle Sean couldn’t make the trip and are anxious to see him at Thanksgiving. Lainey did get to do some texting fun with him yesterday, which she loved! She’s already a tween, that one.

                The big event of the weekend was hitting the Jurassic World exhibit at The Field Museum. It was pretty cool—even if a little on the intense side at times for younger kids. We had the bad luck of crossing paths with a couple and their son asking for a refund, because the son decided it was too scary to go in. Doh!! So, that put Lainey on edge before we even inside (to put it very, very mildly), and both kiddos had a hard time at the Raptor and T. Rex portions. Even so, I still highly recommend it for any families with kids who are into dinosaurs. The real trauma for poor Nick came in the gift shop, when I refused to buy a $35 stuffed dinosaur. With lip protruded and hot tears on his cheeks, he said, “You ruined my whole day, Mama.” As it turns out, his day was, in fact, able to recover from this brutal blow.

                The rest of the time we just lolled about hitting the park and the forest preserve. It was a great weekend and Nick took Chris’s departure okay. (I was worried after he wept when Chris left to meet friends for dinner on Saturday night.) A big thanks to Chris for making the trip and the memories! We all love you!

I Mom So Hard

Guys, I know I often write about what a mess I am, but I gotta' say, right now, in this moment, I AM KILLING it. 

After the first week of school, I made some adjustments to our evening routine and--BAM--we're working like a well-oiled machine. Homework? Handled. Extracurriculars? Got 'em covered. Family dinners? Still happening. Bedtimes have been stretched a wee bit and our already loose shower schedule has picked up even more slack, but the kids aren't struggling to wake up and flies aren't following them, so we're good. 

And this weekend? Let me TELL you about this weekend...

• Kids' Halloween costumes picked and bought. 
• Flu shots administered. 
• Birthday present (for next weekend) bought and wrapped. 
• Banana bread baked. 
• Errands done.
• Laundry washed, folded, AND put away.

And I just wrote this blog post. AND it's only NOON! Say what? Don't mind me, I'm just going to be reading leisurely the rest of the day (because I also already have dinner prepped and ready for the oven!)

However, even as I bask in the glory of an impending afternoon with nothing much to do, I realize it's only possible because we've had two weekends in a row with nothing on the calendar (and last weekend we scored play dates for the kids on both Saturday and Sunday.) All hell breaks loose again starting next week and probably won't let up until after Thanksgiving...which means after Christmas...which means after Nick's birthday. So, that's cool. At least I'll have material for this blog...