June 2014

Haha - I have to get a post in to keep myself less than one year behind! Eek! As my computer memory fills up with photos that I haven't archived yet, I really must get a few quick posts here so that I can free up some space. As we all know, Jake REALLY loves his birthday, so June is pretty much Jake's month. His baseball league started "kid pitch" baseball and he got his chance to pitch (they all love to pitch). On June 7, Megan and I ran in the Energizer Light the Night 5k downtown. This girl loves the city. It was especially fun because we stuck around and watched a band until almost 10:00. Our intern at Chicago Athlete Magazine snapped this photo: And then I took this one on our way back to the car: Jake's big day also happened to be the last day of school. We started the day with chocolate chip pancakes. He had a small party where I organized a scavenger hunt and then Jack and Michael stayed overnight. Damien and Ada came over on June 22 and we went to Foster Beach. It was a bit cool and foggy, so we didn't stay super long. But the kids seemed to have fun! Jake had this thing last year where he would try not to smile for photos, so this was the best I could do on this day.

May 2014

May was filled with track practice and meets, baseball and lazy days in Wisconsin!

April 2014

I'm going to attempt a quick catch up here! Last April, during spring break, we went to St. Louis. The kids are perfectly happy to swim in a hotel pool. We could be anywhere, really. They went into the Arch with Darin (I stayed behind on that one). And we went to the St. Louis Zoo. Always a hit.

March 2014

It was still cold in Chicago in March. We celebrated Mimi's birthday at our house with the whole crew. Here's one of Megan and Mimi: Megan got her expander from her orthodontist in mid-March. Here's a pic of her on the first day with it. Jake and Darin made sure to keep fit over the winter with plenty of workouts in our basement. How cute is this one: In late March, we made a trip to the Shedd Aquarium. Jake had been asking to go, as he was really interested in seeing Sharks. We saw lots of interesting exhibits. Here's a little seahorse.... And we saw the dolphin show. Unfortunately, Jake was disappointed with the shark exhibit. He said he was expecting it to be much better. On the bright side, it was a pretty nice day outside, so we took our time getting back to the car and the kids played around the museum campus for a bit.

February 2014

My baby lost his front tooth in February. It occurred to me yesterday that the kids really love reading the stories about themselves. I have to remember to jot down some of the funnier ones, rather than archive our lives with only photos. One particular conversation comes to mind. Last year (June 2013), I was on the back porch with Jake, Megan and Mimi. Jake made some joke about farts or something and Mimi said, "What is it with you kids and all of this fart and poop talk? What do you think would happen if your parents went to a party and started making those noises and talking about farts?" Jake said, "Well, then it would be a pretty fun party". He didn't miss a beat. Note to self - get this boy some Improv classes and put him on a stage. We did a little more skiing at the Grand Geneva on the weekend of President's Day. Was able to get all 4 of us into a photo: We started going to the YMCA for indoor swimming after school on Tuesdays (early dismissal day). I had to sneak a photo because no cameras are allowed on the pool deck. I wasn't able to get both kids in the shot. Jake finished up his basketball season in February. Ironically, I was just filling out the form for this year's season today. He only wants to play if Dad is gonna coach. Here's the big award from the season: I think I mentioned in my January wrap-up that we had a ton of snow over the winter. Megan and Francesca took advantage of one of the not so freezing days (or maybe it was just as freezing and they were just sick of being inside). We had tons of snow in WI as well. I just happened to like this picture: And I'll wrap up this month with some frozen lake running:

January 2014

This winter was a cold one! We spent New Year's Day in Wisconsin. The kids always like walking on the lake when it's frozen. Jake really enjoyed ice fishing with Eric in the little tent (it was actually pretty warm in there!). We headed back to Chicago for the last weekend before the kids went back to school and got hit with lots of snow. Boy, did they enjoy that. But then it got so cold that their break was extended and additional two days due to extreme weather. Once they got back to school, it was time for the annual roller skating in gym class. They both really love it. I didn't get a chance to help out with Megan's class (I guess they're old enough that they don't need help anymore!). I did manage to snap a few pics of Jake. We went back to WI on the 11th to ski with the Cleavelands. We had a pretty nice day (really cold early, which maybe kept crowds down, and then sunny by the afternoon). Here they are enjoying cocoa in the lodge. Jake had been asking me if we could make donuts. So we embarked on an adventure to make the real deal donuts....no shortcuts. We prepped the batter in the evening. Then, the next morning, we rolled out the dough, cut the donuts into their shape and let them rise. Finally, we fried them up and gave them a dip in glaze. Some of them even got a double glaze! They were delicious. Megan completed a project on Finland for her class' cultural fair. She presented her project at the school's Open House on January 26. We had to find some Finnish products to go along with her poster board and we ended up discovering these delicious caramels that we found at the Sweden Shop. They are called Dumle. Those were eaten up quickly! We ended the month with a 70's and 80's skate party at school on the 31st. We went with the 80's look. I channeled my mom and made Jake's t-shirt at 10:00 the night before! I think it turned out pretty good! All in all - a good month!

Summer Break

It's official. School's out for the summer. So far, it's been pretty laid back. On Monday, the kids tagged along with me to CrossFit and then swam at the Y for a while. On Tuesday, they had to come to my office with me for about an hour. We got a slice from Village Inn and are it at a park in Skokie. Jake and I played basketball and he beat me fair and square. 

They played at the playground for a while before heading home for the afternoon. On Wednesday, the weather was pretty rainy, so they played xBox in the basement and went to CrossFit with me. It cleared up enough in the afternoon for Jaje's team to get their last regular season game in. Although it did rain while they played. They were able to get in 5 innings and came out victorious with a score of 4-3.