Why I Oughta...

As usual, the pinata took center stage at Noonie's Halloween party.  Unlike past years, this thing only survived a few wacks. Those are some realistic costumes, eh?  Werewolf with glowing eyes! Here's the post and photo from Noonie's Halloween party in 2011 . Here's the post and photo from Noonie's Halloween party in 2010 .

We went down to the Illini game with my sisters and a their boys.  Unfortunately, the Illini got stomped by a WAC team.  But, all wasn't lost.  We did get the two boys (and the Babe!) down on the field for pre-game for a bit.  I was able to participate in the "Legacy Tunnel" as the team came out on the field - which is always fun.

We're sitting on my niece & nephew's goldfish they've named "Goldie" for a few days.  He's sitting on our counter in his (apparently from this photo) not terribly clean bowl. The Babe has been feeding Goldie every morning and has taken to talking to him.  From a parent's perspective, me thinks this might be enough to tell me that taking on a huge fish tank is just not the right move for us right now.  Who knows...maybe I'll get impulsive, but for now I'm going to stay out of the Petco's around town.

Last night, along with my sister and Equation Boy/Man, we took our five kids to see Wilco at the Kane County Cougars Ballpark.  We started in the bleachers, but after a few hours, the kids grew pretty restless and we made our way down to the field for some frolicking and running about.  We all got pretty tired, and thanks to WXRT we were able to listen to the second encore from the car.  The first one, we listened to while we hustled to our cars to beat the mad crush of Volkswagons and Suburus out of the parking lot.  

With The Bird being at home with Momma, I was able to take The Babe out to spend some time with her cousins this week.  I've LOVED bonding with her and being her primary care taker for the past few days.  I could barely get her out of this trampoline down the block!

I put this cryptic white box together using some decking screws and a treated 1X8.  I have to do a little bit of detailing with paint, but after those designs go on, this thing should be good to go.  I tested the other part of it this morning and the test vehicle landed all the way in our neighbor's yard.  This *is* going to be fun to play with!

I was asked to be a 'special person' by my nephew at his school's Special Person Day yesterday.  That's him in the photo above with his recycled-product battleship.  While there may be some dispute about which kid made the best recycled-product item, there's no debate about who's was the biggest.  The battleship was - by far - the biggest! I had so much fun reading and counting with him and I couldn't have been happier to be there or felt more 'special' than I did in his classroom yesterday.

That's my nephew in the Marlins uniform (and my dad in the Blogger hoodie!) right before he took the field for the first game of his little league season in Elmhurst.  They live down the block from us and while he plays hoops, football and soccer, he told me over the weekend that baseball was - by far - his favorite sport.  He's pretty good at it, too! He was the opening day starter on the mound and (from what I heard) while he didn't get a decision (left after giving up 2 runs mostly on walks), he did get two K's.  Pree-tay, pree-tay, pree-tay great.

My sister Vic gave me this Fighting Ilini candy bar for my birthday over the weekend.  Pretty clever idea by the folks at Russell Stover to license NCAA teams, isn't it?  Makes buying a chocolate bar a neat gift, doesn't it?  Thanks, Vic!

Nat's sister - who we now call Sisi - along with her husband are moving to Denver.  To send them on their way, there was a going away party.  Along with this pretty cute banner made by Nat's mom.

That's her there behind the cake.  Right next to the Babe.  Who'da thunk she'd be wearing a bikini to her own birthday party outside in March?!?

A few weeks back we went to the Happiest Place on Earth down in Orlando and the Babe met Mickey the Mouse and all of her favorites.  Including the Princesses.  All of the Princesses!

That's me on the back left (behind Equation Boy/Man) right before we took on the Elmhurst Chiefs Hockey Club in a Father/Son (in my case Uncle!) game.  My nephew plays for the Chiefs and I was lucky enough to be able to get on the ice along with these Dad's. I'm not standing that far away from the other guys because I don't like them.  Nope.  It's because I'm not that adept on the skates as some folks and I didn't want to risk falling in any attempt to move closer to get into the photo.  No injuries were reported and I had a lot of fun.  Equation Boy/Man had a hat trick and my nephew had a goal off of a nice rebound!

Guess who runs an award-winning event design firm in Chicago ?  That's right, my dear wife Nat now does with her Chicago event design and planning firm   Pemberley Events ! Last week, it was announced that her team won the "Inspired Creations" contest at IndieWed.  I'm so very proud of her and all the effort she put into it.  I went to IndieWed to help her team break down their booth earlier this year and even though I don't have a lot of sense of style/fashion/what have you, it was plain to see that Nat's team put the most thought and effort into the contest and deserved to win. If you're looking for event planning and design ,   wedding planning and design in Chicago , or even just a Chicago Wedding Planner , you can't go wrong with Pemberley Events .

Yesterday, the three of us spent part of the morning up in Bensenville, watching my nephew play in one of his first full-ice hockey games.  He's only 5, but he's already part of the Elmhurst Chiefs Hockey program and lovin' every minute of it.  They played well, but on this day were outmatched by the visiting team. Youth hockey is so foreign to me - mostly because I didn't see a second of ice time during my childhood.  In fact, I'm not sure there was a rink that was within 30 miles of my folk's house.  With this rink being so close and hockey being a 'big deal' in the neighborhood - based on the other kids on the team including one girl - I'm wondering if the hockey bug will catch on in our house?

Well, well, well.  Look at what arrived in the mail yesterday:  the logistical details for the Babe's upcoming trip to "Mickey's House".  Can't wait to make even more memories with her and Nat (and just about my entire family).

My sister and brother-in-law (Equation Boy/Man) installed a backyard rink this season and with the recent snow and temperature drop it is finally time to get out and enjoy it.  It is pretty impressive and their kids are having a great time almost every night.  My sister has been very generous in inviting just about the entire neighborhood down for a skate and lots of kids have enjoyed their hard work. Recently, I took the Babe down there to check it out and get up on the ice.   She's not quite skating, but with her new snow boots on, she had a lot of fun stomping around with her cousins.  And falling down. I, on the other hand, took to the ice (in my new skates - Thanks, Nat!)  to dominate with my stick handling, dekes, and one-timers.  It wasn't easy.  Just look at the competition!

Over the weekend, we were lucky enough to have the Babe's Aunt Cici and Uncle Bill look after her for a night so Nat and I could go out to see our good friends off to Austin Texas.  While we were out, Uncle Bill got creative and - with chalk markers - drew this masterpiece on this piece of chalkboard that sits atop the Babe's puppet theatre.  Pretty spectacular stuff and this will probably be the second 'temporary' drawing that Bill has made that Nat will want to be made permanent via the use of lacquer or something.

We sat for our annual photobooth family photo last weekend at the Renegade Craft Fair.   Here's a post that shows some of the other family photos .  It is pretty amazing that we coordinated all four panels jsut about perfectly with last year's version.  The bottom 2 photos are almost identical - but for the one year difference.  I didn't look at the previous year's version before we went, so this was just PURELY coincidental.  Crazy.  Guess we'll have to plan that for next year.

Before we got on a plane to come back home this weekend, the entire Moran Clan wandered into In-N-Out Burger for a quick meal.  Of course, I couldn't help myself and geeked out with a series of "Secret Menu" items .  In fact, the only thing that I ordered that is *on* the menu is the Diet Coke. We had 2 Grilled Cheeses, a Double-Double "Animal-Style", our french fries "Well Done", a Diet Coke, and a Root Beer Float.   If you know where the Babe's blog is located, you can head over there to see some photos of her enjoying her first In-N-Out experience!