feeding the duckies

Boo!

This year’s Halloween was extra special for two reasons. First, there were two days of “trick-or-treating.” Second, the kids got to spend it with very good friends.

The Costumes

While hunting around for age-appropriate versions of “Spider-Man” for my Spider-Man-obsessed kids, we discovered a real gem from my own childhood — Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Upon the first viewing the older three assumed the roles of Spider-Man (Sean), Iceman (Nathan), and Firestar (Annalise), and began having adventures fighting numerous bad guys (usually Mommy or Daddy).

When it came time to pick their costumes for this year, the decision was unanimous. Good thing Mommy is very creative, and has some talented helpers available (Kathy and Lisa). The Spider-Man costume was in the bag — Sean has 4 already. So for Iceman and Firestar, Suzy purchased some sweat suits and had Kathy dye and draw “muscles” for Iceman, while Lisa helped with the Firestar flames.

And here’s the trio, with Emma completing the cast as the trio’s dog, Ms. Lion:

Trick or Treat in Downtown Naperville

The first of the two-day festivities consisted of trick-or-treat in downtown Naperville. Dean and Suzanne, parents of Sean’s preschool classmate Laila, and far and away our kid’s favorite playtime friends (Laila, Luke, and Ben) organized a group of preschool families and friends to meet for the annual event. It was quite the group and the crowds downtown were incredible.

The Main Event

The next night, Laila and family joined us for Trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. The kids had a blast, racing from house-to-house, a marked difference from the previous year of getting in and out of the wagon as we pulled them between driveways.

 

…and what Halloween night would be complete without a giant chicken?

The Halloween House

A house in our neighborhood goes “all out” decorating for every holiday (even Easter). This is the first year we’ve actually visited the house on Halloween. A lot of work, but way cool….

The result — 8 pounds of candy! (donated to our troops overseas, after taking a small cut!)

Happy Halloween!

Tags: Annalise, Ben, costume, Dean, emma, Firestar, halloween, Iceman, Laila, Luke, Naperville, Nathan, photos, Sean, Spider-Man, Suzanne, Trick or Treat
Filed under: Uncategorized on November 6th, 2011 | No Comments »

Annalise’s school has a program where students are awarded with “green tickets” whenever they’re caught doing something good, such as following directions, assisting another student, etc. Unsurprisingly, Annalise has really taken to this program and works hard to earn these tickets every chance she gets. We promised we’d celebrate with an activity of her choice when she earned 25 of these. Little did we know she’d hit that milestone within the first month of school!

A few weeks ago we enrolled Annalise and Sean in Taekwondo. They’ve enjoyed earning the tape on their belt, and by coincidence, the very week we decided to celebrate Annalise’s 25th green ticket, they both earned a green tape stripe on their white belts. Two things to celebrate!

Thus was born “Green Ticket and Tape Day!”

Green Pancakes

The celebration began with our traditional Sunday morning pancakes — with a twist. I threw in some green food coloring and we had green Mickey Mouse pancakes.

Riverwalk Picnic

Next up, a picnic on Naperville’s picturesque “Riverwalk.” We realized today that the last time we picnic’d there was days before Nathan was born. The riverwalk has since undergone substantial renovation, however the path is basically the same and lovely as ever.

Feeding the Duckies

We brought along some old bread and, against admonitions stamped into the concrete walkway, fed the numerous ducks gathering at the water’s edge. As usual, the kids then spent some time running in circles around the amphitheater and generally having a great time enjoying the mild fall weather.

 

The Bouncey Place

Annalise choose “the bouncey place” for her celebration treat. So next, we headed out to Airtastic for an hour or so of jumping, climbing, and sliding down inflatables.

Tags: airtastic, Annalise, Celebration, emma, Family, Feeding the duckies, Naperville, Nathan, photo, Picnic, riverwalk, Sean
Filed under: Uncategorized on October 3rd, 2011 | No Comments »

The excuses are wearing thin, true, but it really is a rather hectic time around here. However, it would be inexcusable to not post some pics of our littlest Jaromin’s first birthday celebration!

Here’s our little princess on her first birthday…

Tags: birthday, emma
Filed under: emma on June 18th, 2011 | No Comments »

It took 4 years, but we finally got pictures of the kids sitting on Santa’s lap, smiling instead of crying.

Well, almost all of the kids sat with Santa. Nate wasn’t having it!

Thanks, Santa! And everyone in the group that organized this event!

Tags: Annalise, christmas, emma, Nathan, photos, Santa Claus, Sean
Filed under: Uncategorized on December 12th, 2010 | No Comments »

For the past couple weeks, Emma’s been doing the “army crawl,” and getting prepped for a full-fledged crawl. She’s also pulling herself up and standing briefly on her own and walking some distance with help.

We’re not sure she’ll beat Nathan’s walking by 8mos., but she’s giving it a strong effort! Go, Emma!

Tags: crawl, emma, learning to walk, photos
Filed under: emma on October 26th, 2010 | No Comments »

From a dozen or so shots, these were the best we could get. Here’s Emma at home with her family.

(well, OK, so Emma’s a bit hard to see through all the bundling)

Tags: Annalise, emma, Family, Nathan, Patrick, photo, Sean, Suzy
Filed under: emma on March 28th, 2010 | No Comments »

It’s been a long day and frankly I’m wiped — so I can only imagine how Suzy must feel! We had an appointment for induction at 6:00am and by 1:30pm, we were finally able to see and hold the latest member of the family, Emma Elizabeth Jaromin. She’s 8lbs 10oz, 21in. long and perfect in every way. I took Annalise, Sean and Nathan down to the hospital to visit Mommy and meet their new baby sister tonight. I had forgotten how hard it was for Annalise to leave Mommy at the hospital when Nathan was born — and it’s not any easier for her a bit over a year later.

Meet Emma Elizabeth…

We couldn’t be happier!

UPDATE: Gallery added.

Tags: baby, birth, birthday, emma
Filed under: emma on March 14th, 2010 | No Comments »