Will Blog for Sleep

Our family continued to keep busy with school, work, and sports this year. The boys really leaned into winter with visits to several ice rinks, lessons in snow skiing, and sledding at Soldier Field. Tracy learned how to work our fireplace (only took 10 years!), to warm everyone up after snow adventures. That and their VERY SPECIFIC hot chocolate requests (we have three brands on hand so everyone is happy, though obviously Land O' Lakes is superior to the rest). The boys continue having a blast in flag football, basketball, and running. Kiefer's football team won the JFL league championship (Winter); Chase's football teams won the CPS conference (Spring) and JFL league championship (Fall). Kiefer & Chase train with a travel basketball team and Chase's CPS team took home the conference title. They've both proven themselves as strong runners, with Chase qualifying for the Chicago City Championships, finishing with a mile time of 6:24; and Kiefer has been finishing ...

2021 started off very similarly to the whole of 2020. Still struggling through remote learning, but really getting our “steps” in due to the frequent request for snacks from our students. They. Eat. So. Many. Snacks. Thankfully, not too far into the year, everything started to gain more normalcy. Both boys are finally in an actual school building and sports are back! Both boys have started basketball and were most excited to return to the flag football fields. Kiefer began pitching at baseball this year and it has been great to see his confidence soar and see him excel. That little guy can really zip ‘em in there! In 5th grade, Chase can join clubs and sports at school, so we became fans of cross country and his group (grade 5/6 boys) made it to the City Championships, where they placed 9th out of 25 teams! Tracy foolishly thought she was gaining a running buddy…but Chase quickly surpassed any speed she can manage. He has also joined the Beta Club , which we are still trying to und...

Hope everyone is enjoying the cookie making, tree trimming, choral singing, party gathering, performance attending, family photo-ing, and...phew, anyone else tired yet? Our family took a moment (a quick one, as we had a party to get to) to reflect on our past year together and the summary is below: Kevin and Tracy are still employed! Kevin's company appreciated him so much, they wanted to see him spread his wings and fly....over to a new company: Alter Domus  (Senior Finance Manager). He's enjoying his new job, especially since the team was taken to Italy & France for a weekend. Tracy celebrated 10 years at BMO, Event-Based Marketing (Senior Manager & Team Lead) and sneaked in some international travel as well: Toronto, Nassau, and Toronto. There were more Toronto visits than listed, but you get the idea. Outside of work, Kevin has been flexing his volunteer muscles with coaching the boys in baseball, (flag) football, soccer, and basketball. Tracy's volun...

As the stockings are hung by the chimney with cries of Don't-Touch-Those-or-the-heavy-stocking-holder-thingy-will-crush-your-little-head , it appears we are ready for the season!     Kevin and Tracy are still plugging away at Heitman (as a Finance Manager) and BMO Financial Group (as a Manager in Event-Based Marketing). While both of us enjoy our companies and roles, that's probably is enough work talk. Outside of work, Kevin made the difficult decision to hang up his magician's hat after two years with  Open Heart Magic  - though is still known to carry a pack of cards just in case there is an entertainment opportunity or need. Tracy increased her volunteer work for our neighborhood elementary school: South Loop School.  While her strongest skill is her "inability to say no" to new committees and tasks, it has truly been a great community to support and a wonderful way to meet families in the area.  [small plug: Would love to connect you ...

Happy Holidays! 2016 was a good year for us, and hope it was for you as well ~ Below is a quick summary of our most memorable notes of the year (in no particular order): Had some great travel time in San Diego and St. Louis - highly recommend both!  Shipped the kids to the Grandparents (in Iowa) to get their little hands dirty on the farm. Then Mom and Dad HIT THE TOWN. And slept. A lot. Kevin became a magician after graduating from Magic University (lesser known competitor to Hogwarts). He volunteers regularly at the University of Chicago Children's Hospital (Comer), bringing home inspiring and sweet stories with each experience. Tracy planned to pick up tennis again -- purchased a membership, gathered gear, and made court reservations. Then fell down some stairs, twisted her knee, landing her in physical therapy. Trying again in 2017! Chase loves Kindergarten, has become a confident reader/writer, and recently started making his own dinners (always with a "t...

The other day we took the boys to see Zootopia, an undeniably fantastic movie. Which you already know, so that won't be dissected today. But here's the thing.  I went to this movie like all other films I watch -- with as little preparation as possible. Loving the surprise factor, my best-case scenario is knowing nothing pre-show. Yet early into this movie, it became clear my tactic may not be ideal when it came to kids' films. The movie had many themes expertly woven throughout and laid a fantastic foundation to have discussions around stereotypes, teamwork, and grit. And I wasn't prepared. By walking blindly into the movie, this dumb bunny missed an opportunity to have those questions and conversation starters ready to go as the credits rolled. You may be thinking this has never been a problem for you.  Well, I am happy for you.  Sort of. While many parents can quickly convert what they see and hear into appropriate dialog for their children on the s...

After finishing up an amazing trip to San Diego, wanted to share our experience and tips so you can have a great time as well! Quick Facts: We are a family of 4 living in downtown Chicago: 2 boys, ages 5 and 3.   Our trip was short, limited to 4 days. We like to save money & time where we can We wake up at the crack of 6 am (or 4 am San Diego time), so we over-prepare and plan to fit in everything we can into each day before the kids tire out and/or have melt downs.  This has continuously worked well for us and wanted to share some of the tips. Assume for each section, we arrive at or before the place opens. Accommodations, Transportation, & Misc: We stayed in downtown San Diego for 3 nights and then La Jolla for 2 nights. We scoured Trip Advisor for good hotels for kids and good proximity to where we were visiting. Hotels: Courtyard San Diego: This location was good: close to Balboa Park/Zoo, Beaches, Downtown, and grocery stores, restaurants. ...

Family Game Night is so nostalgic.  To remember family game night is to remember nights with family and friends -- evenings filled with laughter, teasing, bickering...and general hilarity with everyone around. That, and my dad peacocking around as he annihilated his 8-year-old daughter in ping pong, cards... anything else, really. Finally the day came when our children were functional enough and ready to start a new tradition.  Most importantly, ready for me to kick everyone's butt (in an absolutely gracious, lovely way) with my mad skills in games like Sneaky Snacky Squirrel . Things went really well...for the first full minute. Until our older son realized he wasn't winning. There were tears.  Pieces went flying. Not exactly the idyllic family bonding moment I had envisioned. To be fair, research does say it may take time for kids to catch on and be able to play without getting upset.  Many stress how important games are to learn the art of winning...

Something amazing happened over the past two weeks. We have entered into a "sweet spot" of parenting.  Our home has become down right fun, thanks to Kiefer finally turning a corner.  He has traded screaming for laughing; Fall-on-the-floor tantrums for funny walks ; and loud demands into boisterous singing.  The "C" in his a-b-c-d song is epic. Prior to the "turn" Kiefer was unhappy and clingy from about 5:30 am - 7:30 am every morning.  And then it was time for school, leaving us very little enjoyable time together. Now he is (relatively) quick to wake up and doesn't mind a little separation from his parents' hips.  In fact, his new-found independence has us running frantically to snatch him out of oncoming traffic and other new varieties of danger found when not being carried 24/7. I just wish he wasn't so fast. For a two-year-old still sporting pants for a 12 month old, those tiny legs are speedier than expected.  And with such a lo...