Football Sundays

The Dad and his brother are continuing their tradition of Football Sundays. The Dad takes The Boy, The Girl and, for the first time, The Tot, with him to visit their cousins and watch football. One week, my brood goes over to their uncle's house and one week, the uncle and cousins come here. I get the afternoon off. The kids get to hang out with their cousins (two girls: aged 5.5 and 9) and The Dad gets to watch football with his brother. Everyone is happy.

I spent the afternoon at home, puttering around the house. I finished hacking out the useless range hood over our stove, hung a lamp in The Girl's room, and took a walk in the rain to K-Mart and back. I also discovered leaks in our roof, hauling up to the attic to inspect the source and find something to catch the drips. While I was up there, I also found an old kitchen drawer that matches what we have already. Maybe I can use it in my new over-the-range hood/microwave project.

Floods

Our block party was canceled because of the rain, so we needed a way to occupy two disappointed kids (and a clueless Tot). Unlike the rest of Chicagoland, who stayed home to bail out basements and watch movies, The Dad and I loaded the kids into the car and headed north to Glenview this afternoon. The purpose of our visit was to shop for new kitchen appliances at Abt Electronics. It took less than 10 minutes. But we spent over an hour wandering around the showrooms and atrium in the store. The Tot loved the atrium's fountain, The Boy and The Girl were entranced by the bell sculpture, The Dad scoped out the Apple store within Abt. Me? I just wanted the freshly baked, free chocolate chip cookies.

Afterwards, we stopped at Pita Inn for kifta plates, falafel, and lamb kebabs. Yum! The parking lot next door was a giant pool of water and some of the roads that we had taken up to Glenview were closed on the way back due flooding. When we got home, Independence Park was a giant mud puddle, so the kids and I played in it for a bit before heading home for a hot bath.

Pet Store

Perhaps it's because I don't have any pets, but I never think of going to the pet store with the kids. It is almost better than the aquarium -- no crowds and no entrance fee -- for The Tot. He loved looking at the wall of fish, mice, birds, and hamsters at Pet Supplies Plus when we went this evening to pick up guppy food for our new fish.

First Day of School

From Blogger Photos

From Blogger Photos

From Blogger Photos

Labor Day

This year's Labor Day was momentous in that it was the first time that it was the last day of summer for us. The Boy officially starts school as a Kindergartener tomorrow. As such, we had a very low-key, relaxed sort of day.

I made a salad caprese in the morning and we packed it, The Boy, The Girl, and The Tot into the car and headed to Cara's house for a Labor Day cookout. We stopped at Oakbrook Centre so that I could make a return, and to have lunch (Nordstrom Cafe; it was The Dad's first time!) beforehand. We had planned to leave the cookout by 5 or so to ensure that The Boy and The Girl got into bed on-time and with routines intact, but it didn't work out that way. All three kids fell asleep on the car ride home. The Boy was so exhausted that he transferred into his bed, but The Tot came with me to Walgreen's and The Girl stayed up watching TV before she tiring out enough to go back to bed.