Wonderful Weekend

(Above: the view from our seats)

I'm not exactly sure why, but Colleen wanted to give me a special weekend this weekend.  It all started off mid-week last week when she tells me, "I was going to surprise you, but....", that's always a good way to start off the evening at home after a long day of working, "...I was going to get you tickets for the Cubs and Phillies this weekend, but it might rain so should I chance it?  What do you think?"  We all know this question is rhetorical, because my response was an emphatic, "YES!".  She booked the tickets on Friday and informed me of our seat location (which was AWESOME!...section 113, row 5, seats 7 & 8) and also sealed the deal by telling me that she made me some banana bread (one of my all-time favorites).  Could this weekend really start off any better?  I'm sure it could have, but it would be very difficult (although I'm always willing to find out!).  She asked her mom if she'd have the boys over Saturday night so we could go to the game (yes, it was also kid-free...WINNING!).  She agreed.  It was a great weekend and I'd like to thank my wife officially and in scribe (of sorts), even though I did thank her in person as well. 

Below are some pics I got while I was there...

We even got some pictures of the Phillie Phanatic.  It was a very cool night.  I love going to the ballpark and getting to see any baseball, let alone the Cubbies.  Alas, the night ended with yet another mark in the "L-Column" for the Cubs, but I didn't let that taint our night.  It was a lot of fun, and I have a pretty cool wife!

I have no idea who those people are, but I totally took advantage of the photo-op!

Christopher's 4th Birthday

http://tccmkane.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html

This years cake...Lightning McQueen from Cars.  We bought the cake mold, but the rest is all Kane!  To see the past cakes hit the link

We were finally able to get Christopher's birthday party in last Saturday.  We invited friends and family, opting for the less stress avenue rather than bringing in friends from school.  We'll probably do something like that next year, but, for this year, we decided to keep it small.  So, we cooked up some meatballs, baked ziti, attempted slow-cooked pulled pork, and prepped up a rainbow fruit tray (well, it was intended to be a rainbow fruit tray, but we couldn't find good blueberries and finding a different blue fruit proved to be very difficult).  We also ordered up some chicken wings from a local joint. And the party was on!

"The Spread" (sans fruit tray)

 Christopher and guests all had a good time playing outside.  We were expecting rain as there was a 60% chance, but it held off until around 8:30 or 9:00...which was great.  All the kids got some quality outside play time, which equates to quality "go-to-bed-early-and-sleep-through-the-night-time."  They played some soccer (Christopher got ANOTHER soccer ball...he was completely elated at the fact that he has 2 soccer balls now! He kicks both around the yard frequently, switching off between dribbling and goal exercises) into his new soccer net (very cool), some baseball (until the baseball was hit over the neighbors fence...womp-womp-wah), some basketball, football, just randomly ran around (my favorite of all the playtime activities), and threw a frisbee....until Matthew got his nose bloodied by it! (complete accident, and he was fine after some coddling and a juice).  After the rain, many of the kids left us adults to party, and that we did for a few more hours..singing and dancing....a real gala affair.  We allowed Christopher to stay up until around 10:30 or 10:45, where he and his friend "Girl Charlee", as he calls her, danced the night away...until Christopher started to get a bit out of control and was seen fighting nodding off during a time out (yes, time outs even on your birthday in the Kane house!)  He had a blast...even talked about it the next morning!  Happy 4th b-day, X-man!

 We took advantage of the wonderful weather this afternoon by spending some quality time outside after I got home from teaching piano lessons.  Christopher had opened his presents from Nick, Karen, and Zooey to discover he got a football with a tee and a soccer ball.   He was very excited.  Mattman, so as not to be left out got to play with the tee-ball set.  He had the ball and was staring at the tee, unsure of what relationship they shared, but know they did share in some sort of relationship.  I got him the bat and gave him a quick demonstration....I think he got it!

 He did pretty good.  He did get a bit lazy from time to time but was easily returned to form with a little verbal encouragement.

 

Here's Xman testing out his new football and tee.  I hope the NFL doesn't do away with the kick-off or my son will never have a chance to utilize the skills he's developing in that area! He also started soccer at the local YMCA this week.  It was a bit crazy, but he did pretty well.  He didn't understand the concept of soccer dribbling as he insisted on dribble the soccer ball as if it were a basketball.  So, after getting the gift, we were able to work on stopping and dribbling the ball with his feet.  Once he got it, he was off to the races.  He did a good job. 

the cheer squad!  GOAL!!!!

Easter Day

So along came Easter morning.  As I had a singing engagement in Princeton, the morning schedule was going to be tight.  The goal was to get up, get ready, get the kids up and ready, then have a little Easter egg hunt for the Kane family.  This ended up being very ambitious of us as we woke up very late (after staying up late getting some things ready for the hunt itself and for the annual Easter breakfast...Colleen's baked french toast...completely awesome stuff) and discovered the children to be less than cooperative about getting this goal done...there was a lot of crying and flopping and flailing and the like throughout the morning.  Time escaped us and I had to get moving to Princeton for my singing engagement.  The day was not off to the great start we would have liked. 

 We all made it through our respective services with little problems (granted my church service was much less dramatic as I had no children with me...and I got paid for it, which is a real bonus).  And we all converged at my mother-in-law's house for breakfast.  Everything went well there and we parted ways for the kids to get some nappage in before the Easter dinner and festivities at Aunt Chris' house later in the day.  Dinner was scrumptious, as one would expect.  People who were battling in the family's Biggest Loser competition weighed in for the final weight (no, I didn't win, but I came in 3rd), and the festivities began!

 We started off with an Easter egg hunt...Christopher did very well...Matthew, on the other hand, well....just check out the picture.  That pretty much summed it up for him. He did buck up and get 3 or 4 eggs before it was all said and done though...

 We also got some pretty nice pictures of the cousins' children...here are highlights of a few of them...

Christopher ended the Kane's involvement in the family's Easter extravaganza abruptly with some less than appropriate behaviors, so he and Colleen left a tad early and he got an early ticket to bed.  Matthew and I followed suit a few minutes later (after I finished my pilsner)...Easter was done for the day for us.  Do not fret, however....the eggs that were hidden for the Kane Easter egg hunt remained so and we were able to complete the hunt this morning without a hitch!  Everyone ended up happy.