Entries Tagged as 'meg'

Chad’s Birthday

May 16th, 2010 · 1 Comment

Last week was Chad’s birthday and he invited everyone out to The Village Tap. When we arrived I thought maybe I was at the wrong party. That’s a lot of toddlers for an adult party. Then I remembered. We’re old. Haha.

It was fun to have Quinn, Conor, Liam and Halle at the party.

Notice how Conor is eating his dinner and being good.

And Quinn was wiggling and giggling. And giggling. And not eating.

Who do you think he’s looking at in these photos?

Of course, Dallas.

Dallas is very popular with the under 6-years-old crowd. He isn’t exactly the best influence, though. Don’t sit down and eat nice. Only eat french fries. He also taught Quinn how to yell “Birthday Boats!!!” at everyone, meaning that they should go to the gambling casino boats for Chad’s birthday. Then if that wasn’t enough Dallas and Ed showed him how to make a hand motion like he’s shaking dice and say “Shake’em, shake’em, shake’em!!” But they do love him. And Chad and all the guys thought that gambling bit was pretty funny, too.

Even the babies like Dallas. Halle was getting fussy because it was nearing her bedtime but she quieted up when he held her and bounced her around a bit.

Meg made a birthday cake for Chad. Here’s Elisa and Meg lighting the candles.

They only had about half the candles needed and the cake was already a fireball. Good thing they didn’t have a candle for every year. :) You’ll notice part of the cake is missing. That’s the cake the kids had after dinner, before they were sent home to bed.

I realized when I got home that I had no photos of the birthday boy. Then I saw a few black photos at the end. I tried to take a photo of Chad blowing out his candles but they didn’t turn out… here’s some photoshop magic I did to reveal the picture. Not great, but there’s Chad.

Or the ghost of him or something.

Happy birthday!

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Happy Birthday, Quinn

April 12th, 2010 · No Comments

Yesterday we celebrated Quinn’s 3rd birthday at Lincoln Park Zoo. I rode with Kristin, Meg and Limey over to the zoo. Kristin had the cake and balloons, so we helped her transport them to the park.

Kristin made the cake and it both looked (and we found out later) tasted great!

When we got to the zoo, Quinn was in the farm area. At 10:30 a.m. they let the kids feed the cows, so that’s what they were up to.

Miss Halle was over by the farm area and I couldn’t get over how big she’d grown since we’d seen her last at New Years.

Also, how adorable!! She loves to stick her tongue out right now.

After hanging around the farm we headed to the picnic area where the party was set up.

Here’s a tip: The key to a successful birthday with 3-year-olds is balloons.

For lunch Chad got katsu, mac salad, and rice from Aloha Eats. All the kids were tricked into thinking that the sliced katsu was chicken fingers and they ate up! After lunch, was cake time.

Quinn got all his friends to help him blow out the candles.

Good thing because he needed the help!

After we all ate delicious cake, we headed towards the carousel. Quinn and his friends were getting kind of rambunctious and running around, so the parents had them hold hands, which slowed them down tremendously. Plus, they looked adorable.

Jen and Chad bought a ton of carousel tickets and we all got to ride, some of us more than once!

Quinn really wanted to ride a zebra, an animal we’d seen in the zoo earlier that day. What the birthday boy wants is what the birthday boy gets!

The kids looved the carousel. I got a bit dizzy. As a kid I was never good with things that go in circles. I found that has not changed!

Halle didn’t ride the carousel but she sure looked cute watching everyone else. Brian was blowing raspberries, which she finds hilarious so I got a little smile out of her here. Also? LOOK at those eyelashes!

After the carousel rides people had to get going. Some of the kids were starting to melt down, I think it was nap time for the little ones! On the way out Jen asked me to take a family portrait by the Lincoln Park Zoo sign.

I was just looking this up, so I thought I’d share. Here are some photos from Quinn’s birthday last year and some from when we celebrated his first birthday. Like previous years, we got Quinn a small gift and also donated to the March of Dimes. It’s always a good time to remember how far Quinn has come since he was born prematurely and weighing less than 2 pounds. If you’re interested in helping babies in need, consider donating to the March of Dimes. Jen has set up a donation page and she, Chad and Quinn will be doing the walk again this year.

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Jen & Chad’s New Years Eve Party

January 1st, 2010 · No Comments


Jen & Chad


Dallas, Chen-Je, Paul


Jen & Halle


Diane, Quinn, Kristin


Chad & Jen with their new niece Halle


Rachelle & Cousin


Family Photo: Brian, Jill, Halle


Phil, Abby, Ed. Baby Jonah is in the bjorn!


Meg & Chad


Jill & Halle

This was the 5th year in a row that we have gone to Jen and Chad’s house for New Years Eve (2008, 2007, 2006, 2005). The party there has become very family friendly as many of our friends have children now. It is nice that there’s a place for our friends with families to hang out that is nice and relaxing and has other kids to play with. It was fun to see everyone and to meet Abby and Phil’s baby Jonah for the first time. He was the youngest at the party, only 6 weeks old! Kristin made a ton of food, plenty of pupus and some roast beef sandwiches, so we went to the party for dinner and stayed til about 10 p.m. before heading to our second party of the night.

Like last year, we gave Quinn his Christmas gift at the party. It was a tool box with tools in it and a book about a monkey with a tool belt. Quinn loved the tools and wouldn’t even open the book once he saw them. Then we finally got him to open the book with the use of the tools. Pretty funny. Now he can help Chad with “projects” around the house. Quinn also got to help open our gift for Halle, which was the Friend Brigade. I saw these for sale at Renegade and bought a set from their creator on Etsy.


Quinn excited to have a gift to open


Tools!


Using the tools to open the other gift

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Thanksgiving at Brian & Jill’s House

November 28th, 2008 · No Comments


Brian Carving the Turkey, Wrigleyville, Chicago


Quinn, Wrigleyville, Chicago


Quinn & Dallas, Wrigleyville, Chicago


Dallas: “Quit interrupting me while I’m watching the Cowboys!”


At the adult table: Chad, Quinn, Jen, Brian, Jill, Meg (and me)


At the kid table/sports enthusiasts table/unmarried guy table: Chen-Je, Limey, Dallas

This year we didn’t go to Vegas for Thanksgiving because we just bought our condo. We didn’t go to my brother’s house because he spends Thanksgiving in Stevens Point, WI, with his wife’s family. We didn’t go to my parents’ house because Dallas only had one day off and we didn’t want to spend it driving 4.5 hours each way. Every year Brian and Jill have Thanksgiving dinner for their family and friends who are in town. We had lots of fun visiting with everyone, playing with Quinn and Vegas (Brian & Jill’s dog), watching 3 football games, and playing cards. Quinn’s new thing is to kiss everyone. It’s not even a kiss really. He leans his head next to yours and says “Mwah!” So cute. Everyone was bragging that they’d gotten more kisses from Quinn than anyone else.

The food at dinner was so delicious. Jill made an oven turkey and Brian made a fried one. Jill also made green bean casserole and stuffing. Jen made butternut squash soup and mashed potatoes. Chad baked pumpkin pie. Kristin’s mom made a pie and sent it over. Meg made a cranberry jello mold. I brought a bottle of Sasha’s wine (Eno Wines) from and baked cookies. Dallas made spring rolls (more on that later). Chen-Je brought several bottles of wine. I remember really liking the Alamos Malbec.

It was kind of nice to call a cab Thanksgiving night and go home. I don’t think I’ve gone home on Thanksgiving night for years!

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Survivor Wrigleyville

September 29th, 2008 · 1 Comment


Highly sought after Survivor Wrigleyville merchandise.


Jill & Rachelle


Meg & Chris


Jill

On Saturday we celebrated Jill’s birthday at O’Donovan’s. Since she’s a fan of Survivor, Brian planned a whole Survivor-themed party. Even though O’Donovan’s is in North Center, it was Survivor Wrigleyville because that’s where Brian and Jill live.


Danny doing card toss.


Jeff Probst officiating Rock, Paper, Scissors.


Prabha eating creamed spinach baby food.


Yahtzee!


Marshmallow Toss


Pin the Tail on the Donkey


Danny pinning the tail.

We split off into teams – Jill and Tricia were team captains and Brian played the part of Jeff Probst. We had headbands as tribe buffs and played games based off games played on the show. There was card toss, rock/paper/scissors, a food challenge that involved gross baby food, concentration memory game, a round of Yahtzee, a marshmallow toss, and pin the tail on the donkey. After each challenge the team that lost had to vote someone out of their tribe. Oh, and the team immunity idol was a Fukudome bobble head.. and happened to be the Survivor’s prize, too. I guess we couldn’t expect a million bucks!


Tricia


Rachelle


Cory playing the Cubs trivia game.


My smashed cookies.

After all these games the tribes merged and we all got hats and played individual challenges. There was a Cubs trivia contest where we had three animal crackers by our names and if you got the question right you got to smash other people’s cookies and they were out when three were smashed. I didn’t last long for that one. The final challenge was standing on one leg with our hands on our hips. Since we’d had a lot to drink by then, it didn’t last long. That’s a hard challenge when drunk!


Rachelle & Limey


Final Three: Rachelle, Cory, Kristin.


Cory is the Survivor Wrigleyville.

The final three were me, Cory and Kristin. Everyone who played the game had to vote for the Survivor Wrigleyville. But you know what? It was a three-way tie! So the final tie breaker was who could chug bottle of Miller Lite the fastest. Cory won!


Rachelle & the O’Donovan’s House Magician

Oh, and there was a random “house magician” that no one really liked. He wanted to do a trick with birthday girl Jill but Jill made me go up.

What a fun party, though. We had a great time. Happy Birthday, Jill!

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