Jingles’ Neighborhood

I got my haircut this morning and had to bring the boys with me. They sat and played the entire time, I was so relieved. The woman who cuts my hair told me that a new Lego Discovery Center opened in Schaumburg, so we came home, looked up the address and went. We got there at 10:40 and there was already a 20-minute line outside, but once we got inside it was fabulous.
 
 They've built the city of Chicago to scale with over 10,000,000 bricks. There's also a ride through a medieval castle, a 4-D movie, a factory where the kids can see a brick being made (pretend), a Build & Test area, a cafe (bad, bad food) and a Jungle Expedition - very cool.
 
 Chicago:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Here are the boys showing their muscles before going into the Expedition area. They were told to look for the glowing purple crystal for good luck, but to beware of the spider!
 
 
 
 
 
 In the Hall of Fame - R2D2, Harry Potter, and another of the HP characters were there, too:
 
 
 
 
 
 Heading into the castle:
 
 
 
 In the mouth of the lion:
 
 
 
 And this was both of them on the way home, after four hours of Lego:
 
 

Aidan turned six yesterday!  There is so much I want to say about my beautiful little man, but for now I'll recap the party.

I really wasn't very well-prepared for Aidan's party, but I seem to work well to deadlines and did most of the work for this yesterday morning. I made the cake, went to Michael's to get a craft project, bought food for the adults, put up the decorations, cleaned up the common areas of the house, etc. We were very worried about the weather - thunderstorms were forecasted for the afternoon, but it turned out to be absolutely stunning.

We opened the gifts from Justin's family and us in the morning. Justin's parents sent some cute shirts and $20 so that Aidan can pick out his own toy. Uncle Richard (Justin's brother) sent some Star Wars toy, and we gave Aidan three Roald Dahl books - Aidan is really into him right now.

The water slide guys came at about noon and set up this thing that took up most of our backyard. It was much bigger than I had anticipated, and even more fun. Aidan and Declan immediately started playing on it.

Guests started to arrive at 2:00. We let the kids go nuts on the slide until almost 4:00, then we all dried off and went inside to do the craft. I bought wood frames at Michael's ($1 each!), six colors of acrylic paint, a package of 25 assorted brushes and some beach-themed stickers. We put a plastic table cloth down on the dining room table and the kids stood and painted for 20-30 minutes. I didn't get photos of that, but it was cute, and their frames are adorable. I have photos of most of the kids on the slide, and will print them and include them in the thank you cards.

After that we had cake (delicious!) and then the kids went nuts on the slide again.

This is Lefteri and Aidan; Lefteri and Aidan were in K together, and his little brother was in preschool with Declan.

This is Anastastia and Kieran, neighors from next door and across the street.

By 5:15 almost everyone was gone, but the neighbors stayed until about 6:00, and then we decided to pool together our dinners and have a big chow-down at our house. Toni is Greek and made this amazing lemon chicken, roast potatoes, and tomato/cucumber salad. Becky made lemon bars and chicken nuggets, and we made brats and burgers. Lots of wine, too.

I can't even begin to describe how tired we all were at the end of the day, but it was all well worth it.

I took the boys to the Brookfield Zoo to meet up with Joanne and Dawn and their kids. The others left before we did - we were there for five hours. The boys did surprisingly well.

You guys know that Declan loves to dress up. He had a brand new outfit today, something he's never worn before. He wore it to the barber shop for a haircut, and everyone got quite a kick out of it. It is with great pride and a lot of laughing that I present...

Skivvy Man

Yestdrday we went to the Winnetka 4th of July Parade. Aidan marched with his Karate club and Justin walked alongside. My brother (Bob), Declan and I went to my friend Kelli's house - they live on Elm and that's the main parade route. She and her husband did a wonderful breakfast with Mimosa's and Bloody Mary's and had a great crowd of neighbors and friends over. I loved the parade. Our preschool marched in it and I saw lots of friends go by, took some photos, drank my Mimosa, had a great time. I realized later that my first and foremost thought wasn't about the United States, it was about my community and how much I love it here.

A few photos:

I have no idea what this is all about:



A note about this photo: my brother is a huge car buff and explained that it's a GTO Judge, one of maybe 108 made that year (70 or 71?). Because of the modifications on this car it is extremely rare. This car is worth 250K. My brother ran out into the parade to talk to the owner/driver about it. The man has owned it for 31 years, since he was in high school. He's the second owner.





Nathan and Aidan - Nathan walked in his kilt with the bagpipers.



After the parade everyone congregates on the Village Green.  They have organized races for the kids and food. 



We stayed for a little while then went to Amy and Doug's house (their son Robby is in Karate with Aidan) for a BBQ. That was tons of fun, too. Then last night we went to Becky and Chris' for another BBQ. No fireworks for us though, we were all too beat.

I have a video of Aidan in the parade, but I am so unhappy with what youtube has done to the resolution.  What is that all about?  Aidan is the 2nd child from the left.  There were several rows of kids with varying belts doing different moves.  Oh, and you can hear the bagpipes playing in the background, so cool!

We had a great Father's Day.  Justin slept in and then came down to his favorite breakfast of tea and toast with marmalade.  He opened his gifts - an adorable clay fish from Aidan and a new electric shaver from all of us.  We went to Pinstripes (Baci, Bowling, Bistro) for lunch and bowling, which was rather comic because none of us bowl, ever.  Aidan got the highest score, then Declan, then Justin, then me.  Sure, the kids had the bumpers up, but I simply sucked.  And that was with me holding the ball between my legs and hurling it down the alley from a standing position.  The family next to us were all pros or something - even the 11 year old was getting strike after strike.  We had a good time laughing at ourselves, that's for damn sure.  Later in the day Justin took himself shopping for some new duds, as he says, and the boys and I stayed home and alternated between watching Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and being sent to our rooms.  Um, not me.  I didn't have to go to my room.

This is a short video of Aidan's karate belt test. I find it very amusing - he keeps thinking he's done, and his teacher keeps calling him back.  His footwork is pretty sloppy, but he and his other 5-6 year old friends are doing what they need to in order to get the first belt after white: orange belt, white stripe.

Today was Aidan's last day of Kindergarten.  There was no school, just a popsicle party in the playground for the kids and their families from 10:00-11:00.  All week long he's been bringing things home from school; journals filled with drawings of stick figures with solid-colored heads, a life-size drawing of himself, prizes he won in the Nursery Rhyme Olympics, photographs, crafts.

When we got to school for the popsicle party I chatted with other parents and kept an eye on Aidan's teacher, because I wanted to grab a moment with her before we left.  And then, as I'm standing there talking to Elizabeth about summer camps, my mind wandered and I realized that the moment I approached Aidan's teacher I was going to start crying.  And that realization made me tear up.  I was standing there alternately pinching myself and tearing up, pinching myself and tearing up.

One of the teachers rang a bell all of the kids came over and sat down near an electric piano that had been rolled outside.  With their teachers, aides, and the music teacher, they belted out some songs they'd been learning, all of which involved funny hand and arm movements and silly words and names.  Then they started singing "You are my Sunshine," and I had to turn around and face the road because my face was all scrunched up and red and I couldn't hold back the tears.  This is the first song I sang to Aidan when he was a baby, the only child-appropriate song that I really knew at the time.  I still sing it to the boys almost every night.  Now he was singing it to me.

When it was over I fished my sunglasses out of my purse and we all filed inside to pick up some last minute things.  I kept a hard bite on my lower lip as I approached Mrs. Frehe.  Futile. She took one look at me and my red eyes and held out her arms.  I told her that I wasn't expecting any of this, that it had all snuck up on me and run me down like a Mack truck.  She understood.  She told me how ready Aidan is first grade, how far he's come and how much they've enjoyed him.  And he has, he has come so far!  Susan, one of the aides, pulled me aside and told me that she's going to miss Aidan, that it was hard for her to not grab his face every day and tell him how cute he was.  I know just how she feels.

For those of you with kids starting Kindergarten in the fall:  If you think the first day is hard, give yourself a good month to emotionally prepare for the last day.  ;)

I love the stuff Aidan brings home from school.  This piece is laminated; each kid did one and they were all hanging on the wall in the classroom for a few months.  I love everything about this - the photo, the drawing, and what he said.