Farewell Chicago Fire Juniors

It is hard to believe, but Jacob's travel soccer season with the Chicago Fire Juniors has ended. For those of you who have not had kids in travel sports, it is an exciting but demanding experience. We have traveled to Cary, Arlington Heights, Oak Park and Glen Ellen to name a few towns. Jacob played goal and forward.


Next year Jacob has decided to try his new passion - baseball. In order to do so, he will need to forgo travel soccer. Dan was heartborken because he really took a liking to the sport and this team in particular. It has been exciting to see Jacob improve over the last two years. Knowing Jacob, he will try a few more sports on for size before dedicating his focus to just one.


One of the families paid to have plaques made for each of the boys. After their last game, we had a small award ceremony.

Thanks, Miss Jessica!

Caitlin and Isabel were so excited to get new clothes for their birthday. This particular outift was a present from Karen's friend Jessica. The girls wore the outfits on a preschool field trip to the Morton Arboretum.

The Most Normal Weekend in Months

Soccer season is over; Karen did not travel; Dan did not steal off somewhere to fulfill dreams of Rock and Roll stardom... We were all at home with nothing to do. Here are pictures from an impromptu trip to Brookfield Zoo on Saturday. We got caught in the brief, but heavy, thunderstorm when we arrived, but the weather cooperated and cleared up gloriously. We had a wonderful time, with many firsts for the girls: first dolphin show, which completely delighted Isabel and Caity, and genuinely impressed the boys. Notice in the pictures, Jacob and Dan are decked out in their Cubs regalia. They learned, through repeated phone calls from Dan's friend and fellow Cubs fan, Vic, the progression of the Cubs throughout that electric (and, dare I say, historic) fourth inning.

On Sunday, we spent the day at the Sea Lion Aquatic Park in Lisle. The boys enjoyed the water slides, while the girls played in the toddler pool and the sand area. Mom and Dad soaked up some rays and enjoyed another amazing weather day in the Chicago area.

Now, if the Cubs can sweep the Sox, this will be the perfect weekend. :)

There Were Ponies.

Indeed, there were: one named Splash, and one named Skye. This past Saturday, June 7, was Caitlin's, Isabel's, and Aidan's annual birthday blowout. They did party as if it were their (actual) birthday; however, they did not sip Bacardi for the aforementioned reasons. At least not to my knowledge.

Karen and I are the stereotypical suburban over-the-top parent party-throwers, but this observation and title must come with a disclaimer, one that Karen and I, both highly sensitive to the acknowledgment that we are those kinds of parents, have painstakingly fashioned in our own defense. Here's how it goes: This is the only party we host during the year. We invite family from both the Ephraim and Ridges side as well as friends and whomever else we can think that might enjoy seeing the kids. We want everyone invited to come because this is sometimes the only time we get to see some of the family members during the year, so we offer some fabulous swag for those who attend.

This year we had ponies and a bounce house, two children's party events that one might not think would have much of an impact on each other; however, it turns out that Splash, the small pony, is not fond of bounce houses, and we were told by the handler that we needed to deflate the apparatus or strange violent and terrible things could happen. My brother, David, surmised that both ponies would just want to go in the bounce house, and we'd never get them to give the children rides.

The weather did hold up, right until the girls began their ride, then the clouds burst into a torrential downpour. Splash, we found out, is also not a fan of rain, so he bucked a bit, and Karen had to get Isabel off pretty quickly. Isabel was not fazed in the least, and as soon as the rain stopped, she was right back on. The pony Caity was riding, Skye, was described by the handler as "bomb-proof", and didn't bat a single of his pretty pony eyelashes. Caity was not affected by the rain at all. She just wanted to finish her ride.

When the rain subsided, the rest of the children were able to get their pony rides. The adults stayed in the house, mostly, but we thought it was nice and cozy, and Karen and I got to visit with family while the kids finished their pony rides or slipped around in the wet bounce house.

Once the guests left, we cleaned what we could and headed off to bed. Karen's sister Donna was in from Maryland, and on Sunday morning the two of them met up with their brothers, Greg and Kyle, for a 5K run in Glenview to support a hospice-type care facility. Every year, they try to get together and run a race in memory of Gerry.

The party was a success. Dan had three crabby kids on Sunday (Jacob did remarkable well, despite having a sleep over with his friend Marcus the night before and an intense soccer game on Sunday morning [Chicago Fire Jrs won 5-3, which is a HUGE deal this spring season.] but had a chilled out day watching the rain from the family room with the girls and Aidan.

Thank you everyone who came to the party and made it a special day for us and our children. Your gifts were very generous and will bring the kids hours, nay, months of good times.

Our camera crapped out on us during the party, so we got very Ridges-centric pictures for fear of total demise. If anyone has pictures of the guests of the party, please email them to me. I will put them up.

May 29, 2008: Aidan Jackson Ridges

Today is the anniversary of the birth of the infamous, beloved Mooshman: Sir Aidan Jackson Ridges.

Upon arising from his slumber, the president and vice president of his fan club The Aidanimaniacs presented him with a gift, a fire engine watch, which he promptly fastened to his arm and proceeded, for the next twenty minutes, to approach various family members and exclaim, "It's twenty-six!" while gesturing emphatically at his new time piece.

Today is also the first day of Rosehill for Caitlin and Isabel. What a trip.

Because it's Aidan's birthday, the school has a celebration where the family creates a time line of sorts chronicling the child's life, decorated with pictures. The parent, Karen, in this case (I was the photographer) comes in and gives a verbal history of the child to the students and staff. The birthday child sits in the center of the circle holding a small globe, and with each year passing in the history, he or she walks around a candle, which symbolizes the sun.

Karen told the class about when Aidan was a baby, how his fuzzy, blond hair grew straight up, earning him the nickname, birdhead. Karen and I used to let him stay up with us quite late because he was such a happy little guy (as opposed to Jacob, who cried nearly non-stop for the first four months of his life). She also spoke of how he has grown to love cars and bike riding, and Ms. Suman, his teacher, added that he is a great colorer and loves working on his number roll (it's a Montessori thing), and that he is very excited both about being a Kindergartner and having his sisters at Rosehill with him.

What you cannot see from in the pictures and video is how surprisingly overwhelming it was for me to see my baby girls and my little man at the same school, in the same class, celebrating his FIFTH birthday. I was a bit farklempt, to say the least.

And, I have to give props to Grandpa Pápi for working with Aidan yesterday on mastering the two-wheeled bicycle. He hasn't quite conquered the little things, like turning or getting started without being pushed, but he has learned to stop, which is essential. I hope your leg feels better after its work out chasing Evel Knievel up and down your street.

It's been a good day. The girls did well at Rosehill on their first day and came home a bit cranky and clingy, but that's to be expected with the big change.

May Day Picnic

Dan and I are having a big family/friend shin-dig for our May babies (Aidan, Caitlin & Isabel). Getting any work done around the house with 4 crazy kids is a nearly impossible. So Dan stayed home to do yard work while I took the kids to an end of year party (yes, school is done!) I forgot my camera, but did manage to get a few pics with my iPhone of the girls enjoying their unnervingly large cupcakes!

Aidan's Dance Recital

Okay, Aidan is going to be so embarassed when he sees these pictures when he is older. The costumes they made the kids wear (boys in particular) were not very gender friendly. Every week at Aidan's Montessori school, the kids have a dance class as part of the program. Twice a year, the dance teacher organizes a dance recital. Jacob was at the same school for three years, but never wanted to be in the recitals. I jumped at the chance when Aidan seemed sorta interested.

As you can see from Caitlin watching longingly from the foot of the stage, I think the girls will be excited to participate next year. During the ballet act, Caity went up on her toes as if she were part of the dancers.

After the recital, I took the kids to McD's for ice cream while Dan took Jacob to soccer practice.