Hawks... A Little Closer This Time

So you all know by now that we have our Blackhawks tickets every year where we get to go to 9 games and although split a bit, the majority of those are attended by dad and me.

Well, a few weeks ago was one of those games, but there was a little twist. That day Uncle Brian called and said he was going to the game with Isaiah and Eli, so things got a little more exciting.

So we all went to the game and went to our own seats, theirs being just a little bit closer... ... and by that I mean ours are in the second-to-last row in the stadium and they were in the 11th row.

So we hung out in the concourse at the end of the first period and just messed around a bit.

And then the text came in from Uncle Brian. He said for us to come down there and he and my dad could hang out on the concourse and I could go with Eli and Isaiah down into the good seats for the rest of the game. I was unbelievably grateful, but actually not all that surprised as this is the type of thing Uncle Brian does for other people all the time.

Either way, the rest of the game was amazing, the Hawks won 4-1 and I got to take it in 11 rows deep with my two favorite people in the world.

Oh, and dad got a selfie in with me right after the game, ice level.

Prime Pumpkin Time

So it was an... interesting Halloween this year, to say the least, but we made a weekend of it, that's for sure.

Friday night we did cousin pumpkin carving night with Eli and Sophie, huge success.

Then Saturday we hit up a couple Halloween parties. I got Pax ready for the Ninja reveal...

And we were on our way.

By the way, I was an archer. Don't mistake me for Robin Hood. And please tell everyone else so they stop asking me if I'm Robin Hood.

And it's a pretty good thing we got that picture of the three of us together dressed up, because that would be the last time we were dressed up for Halloween festivities. 

Monday came with a party at Mabel's school...

And a napping Ninja (wait, do ninjas nap? I really don't think ninjas nap).

And I am not pictured because, well, I spent the afternoon and evening throwing up and laying down. I managed to rally a little bit and sit on the porch with dad passing out candy while Mom, Mae and Pax trick-or-treated with Ana and Sid. Oh, and check out Mae's face paint. Mom did that. Wish I had a better close-up because it was so good. When Mae's mouth was closed she totally had the side tongue wagging down and to the side.

All in all we'll look to avoid the stomach flu when this puppy comes around next year.

Sky's the Limit

Got tickets to the Chicago Sky game (WNBA) from my gym teacher, Ms. R. Dad, Mabel and I were going to go but Mae was not feeling 100%. Uncle Brian called and Eli was coming downtown with him so we asked if he wanted to go in Mabel's place and he did.

Took the Blue Line out to the stadium in Rosemont. It was kind of a hike but we enjoyed the train ride.

The game was awesome. We split a huge lemonade and the play was really good. The Sky won the game which catapulted them into the playoffs so to celebrate they let everyone down on the floor.

Birthday Week

So with Mae's birthday this Wednesday and mine the next, we kicked off Birthday Week with our second annual combined birthday family party with Eli, whose birthday was January 30. So last Saturday, we headed out to Nana's and got down with it.

That's our hockey themed table cloth. Eli and I decided on a hockey theme and Mae went with dogs so we had little dessert plates and napkins with dogs on them. And when it came to presents, well, we got ourselves a doozy. Mom and Dad got us Pie Face, which we immediately opened up and got into. I went first - I rolled a three, turned the cranks three times and, alas, nothing happened.

Things heated up quickly, though, as Papa took himself a turn.

And then Pax was talked into it after a little bit of reluctance.

So after all the fun and games, we moved on to the cakes. This year Mae requested a dog cake from Nana (every year Nana makes and decorates our cakes to whatever we request). Mae wanted a chocolate lab, and I'd say she got one.

I decided on a music themed cake with a piano and guitar, which Eli and I shared. As you can see, Nana could start quite the cake decorating racket if she needs any side cash.

Good times, good party. Birthday Week kickoff was a big success.

Summer Summer Summer Time

That's a line from a famous Will Smith song. And by famous, I mean, not really that famous (or good for that matter), but anyway, appropriate for this post.

Thought I'd give you a little update as to the goings-on this Summer so far, as it's been quite fun.

We had a St. Helen Father's Club outing at the White Sox game, which was awesome on a lot of fronts:

1. I got to eat a TON of junk food because all the other kids were and mom and dad got really tired of negotiating with us (Mabel more than me, she's relentless) so cookies and cotton candy and all kinds of other junk was consumed, and it was fun.

2. I got to hang with my homegirls - that's JoJo on the left and Shea on the right.

3. Pax got his first baseball game of his life under his belt.

It's also been quite a chill Summer so far, lots of fun on the weekdays with our nanny Julianna, lots of chilling out fun on the weekends.

Some sprinkler time for the young's and then the below shot, for example, is what we call our Backyard City Golf Course. A bucket, some mini clubs, and see who can chip it in first.

It wasn't all chill, though. We had a very stressful Stanley Cup run with our Blackhawks, who turned out victorious (if you've been living on the moon the past month). Nana saved some newspaper cut outs for me and I, in turn, decked out my room with my favorite players (Kane, then Crawford, if you're wondering. And Kane is not pictured because Papa didn't get the paper that day).

Dress up has been on the docket, both with ourselves and at a sleepover we went to at Ana and Sid's. Sid made a fantastic Hawai'in Santa Claus. Hm, I don't think I've ever written the word Hawai'in before in my entire life. I know it's wrong because that little red dotted line is underneath the word (and also because there's no way it has an apostrophe in it) but guess what - I'm not going to fix it. I'm not going to go to Google right now and try to type it in and see what comes up. You know why? Because I don't care. I don't think I'll ever write it again at this point so who cares. 

So you'd think I would be done about now, right? That looks like a pretty full first 2-3 weeks of the Summer, on top of piano lessons, reading camp and all the rest of it. Well, it's not.

We've done picnics

And parks

And played our fair share of games.

We've chilled out with our best pal (and sometimes worst enemy)

And our best pals when Isaiah and Eli came down last weekend.

And last but not least, we had a visitor who is royalty. That's right, Buddy came to town. Nana and Papa went to visit Uncle Paul in Connecticut so instead of boarding Buddy (I feel like that could be a name of a movie - "Boarding Buddy") we took the little rascal in and he spent the week with us.

Needless to say it was amazing. He was chill and we snuggled with him a lot (that's him taking his paw and resting it on Mae's foot unprompted while she stood there, like he wanted to hold her hand) and Mae fed him at breakfast and I fed him at lunch and we took tons of walks with him...

And then we left for a little too long and he tore up the recycles trying to get after the empty box of chicken broth which still had some remnants on it. (Uncle Brian took that photo. He just thought it was hilarious that dad had to clean up such a mess).

And when we found him he was like this... just chilling in his bed with an empty beer can in his mouth. Good to know Buddy can sit back and enjoy the Summer with a cold one too.