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:

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends -- with 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 crew in downtown Naperville

Luke and Sean

Annalise and Laila

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 »

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

Sean asking for a Spiderman web shooter

Smiles!

Emma sitting in for a quick shot

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

Nate wasn't so keen on the whole Santa thing

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 »

Tags: Nathan, photos
Filed under: Nathan on October 27th, 2010 | No Comments »

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

Emma in her fuzzy hat from Grandma

Annalise strikes a pose

(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 »

Birthday cake, yum!

I know this post is a little late, but Nate had a great 1st birthday November 9th. To match his bedroom, Mommy made him a “big top” themed cupcake cake. Here he is enjoying his first taste of birthday cake. We celebrated on his birthday with the Harvey’s and the Krick’s. Everybody had a lot of fun watching Annalise and Sean “help” Nathan open his birthday presents. They would exclaim “Oh my Gawd!” with every gift. Nate seemed content with the boxes the gifts came in. We celebrated with Aunt Bethie, the Harvey’s and both Laubenstein families on the 22nd. Again, everyone was very generous and fun was had by all. Nate is a whopping 27 lbs at his one year appointment, and keeps up pretty well with chasing Annalise and Sean around the house. He is “talking” up a storm, and we can even understand some of it! We can’t wait to see what the next year brings.

Tags: birthday, Nathan
Filed under: Nathan on December 7th, 2009 | No Comments »

Nathan took his first step on his own on his Daddy’s birthday (July 4th), just shy of his 8 month birthday.  He’s really trying hard to walk on his own, and being more daring about taking steps alone.  He walks pretty well just holding on to a finger or pant leg, and is now putting a couple steps together by himself before falling into our outstretched arms. What a champ! (Although he’s got the bumps and bruises that come along with learning how to walk!) He has been saying “Da Da” for a couple weeks now, and just in the past week he’s been saying “Ma Ma”. The other day we were in the kitchen and heard “Mama” clear as a bell from the playroom. We both looked at each other, and thought for sure it was Annalise or Sean, but they were right next to us and Nate was the only one in the playroom. He’s growing up so fast!

Tags: learning to walk, Nathan
Filed under: Nathan on July 21st, 2009 | No Comments »

We haven’t blogged in a while, mainly because we’re chasing three very active kids.

Nathan

Nathan is about 7 1/2 months old and is on the move. He went from barely being able to sit by himself to crawling and pulling himself up to standing in what seemed to be a blink of an eye. He just may be our earliest walker yet (and we thought Annalise was early when she took her first step on her 9 month birthday.). He wants to walk so badly! His favorite pastime nowadays is standing in front of one of us and letting go, seeing how long he can stay standing by himself.

Sean

Sean is 2 1/2 years old and is such a joy. He is quite the talker and sometimes we even understand him! He loves his baby brother and is always talking to and playing with him. He also loves his big sister Annalise and will do everything she does. He is just about as tall as her (less than an inch separates them) and we are constantly asked if they are twins. He’s a great snuggler too (that’s Mommy’s favorite part).

Annalise the Ballerina

Annalise is now 3 1/2 years old and is quite the princess — though if you actually call her “princess” she’ll deny it: “I’m not a princess, I’m Annalise”. She insists on picking out her own outfits, and if Mommy tries to help she will definitely point out if something doesn’t match. She also wants to wear all pink, all the time. Now, if only she’d let Mommy put pretty things in her hair! (Although she’s getting better with that too.) She can’t wait to start pre-school in the fall and already has picked out her “Disney Fairies” backpack (which is just about as big as she is!).

Annalise and Sean are taking a dance class over the summer (well, more of a “jump and play around while there is music in the background” class). Annalise loves her ballerina outfit and shoes! They both look so cute dancing around.

Fred and Ginger, eat your hearts out!

Tags: Annalise, dancing, learning to walk, Nathan, photo, Sean
Filed under: Annalise, Nathan, Sean on June 27th, 2009 | No Comments »

I’ve finally finished Nathan’s crib and posted it to my woodworking blog and Lumberjocks.com.

Tags: crib, Nathan, Woodworking
Filed under: Nathan, Patrick on February 19th, 2009 | No Comments »

Nathan's found his smile!

Tags: Nathan, photo, smile
Filed under: Nathan on January 10th, 2009 | No Comments »