Thanksgiving 2025

 It was a nice, long Thanksgiving break starting with Austen arriving home a full week before Thanksgiving Day. He kicked off his break by eating a lot at home and at Ruth Lake (where he misses the sushi) as well as seeing many friends including his roommate whom he just saw for three months! It's good to know they aren't sick of each other yet. 

Peyton always ruins the photo

He did spend some quality time with us too at dinner, playing games as a family and watching some movies as well as practicing his golf on our new golf simulator. Surprisingly, he also studied a lot more than I was thinking he would. Now that his room is on the 3rd floor, I don't necessarily go up there all the time but every time I did, he was studying. That's what I like to see as he heads into his first semester finals his freshman year.

Tom worked late the Friday and Saturday/Saturday night before Thanksgiving so I was making sure the girls got where they needed to go for sports/practices and getting everyone fed. Sunday was a grocery shopping day and Monday and Tuesday, Tom headed to work for a bit before coming home 1/2 day on Tuesday to help prep. (Peyton also had school those two days.) I did venture to Hailey's school conferences on Monday (more on that in a follow up post) and got the table ready to host 17 - I'm glad I figured that out early since my Thanksgiving idea only had 16 place settings!

Tom and I then officially kicked off Thanksgiving by heading to our friends' house for a Friendsgiving on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, we did some more prep and the girls and I headed to a movie before Tom and the kids went to another Chicago Blackhawks game (Tom always gets awesome tickets and this time scored a skybox for four). 

Blackhawks game

We enjoyed a nice and relaxed Thanksgiving in our new home with family (who still can't figure out our curvy driveway). On Friday, we canceled our annual tree cutting for Saturday that we've been doing with friends for at least 25 years due to a blizzard forecast. We were all sad to not catch up with our friends and pick out the perfect tree. But we knew the storm was coming so we went to the local Lions Club tree lot where we hoped to pick out a great tree but the tallest they had were about 7-8 feet for $185 and I thought that was too short for our now 12 foot ceilings. So off we went to another tree lot where we found a 10-foot tree that cost us $400!! Now don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful tree but we literally would've pad 1/3 of that price at a tree farm and had much more fun! 

But we accomplished the goal and that was to buy the tree on Friday so when we were snowed in on Saturday, we could decorate the house and the tree and that's exactly what we did. So it all worked out. It was a cozy Saturday and we were all hoping when we woke up on Sunday that the roads would be cleared enough for Austen to head back to school and they were by 5pm when he left. The goodbyes weren't too tough this time since we'll see him in another week as he's done with most of his finals/presentations by December 8th so he'll be home for a good 10 days before taking his car and driving back for his one final (oh the beauty of being 2 hours away!). But we are looking forward to seeing him again soon. 

Grateful this Thanksgiving to know he's thriving at U of I and that our family has adjusted a bit to having him gone. Thankful too for our beautiful new house; cherished friendships with both new and old friends; time spent with our extended families; and of course our good health. Truly blessed. 

Thanksgiving Dinner

Hailey's New Sport

Hailey has been begging me to sign her up for skating lessons since the summer. We had to wait though as she was in cross country and wouldn't be able to make the lessons, and then the next session did not start until November. She even enticed one of her good friends into signing up too. 

She is obsessed with hockey - specifically the Chicago Blackhawks. She does this - she gets fixated on one thing and she is relentless in learning more about it and in this case - the team, hockey in general and learning how to skate. It's been a good 8-9 months where she's gone from just liking hockey to being all about it. It must have something to do with Connor Bedard. The season just started six weeks ago and she's already been to three games. But, let's see how long this obsession lasts. 

So each Friday at 5:15pm she goes to lessons and is on skating lesson #3 and making progress each week too. At her last class, she was definitely going faster and turning more so she fell four times but she absolutely loves it and never wants to miss a class. 

She may be the only one of my three kids who learns how to ice skate! I may have someone to skate with now! I actually used to own skates when I was a little younger than her. We had a pond behind one of the houses I grew up in so we'd go out to the pond and skate when time allowed. We didn't have lessons. We just figured it out. But I remember always knowing how to ice skate as well as roller skate. 

If she passes this level, she'll advance to level 2. And, of course she's already asked if she can sign up for that class. Her end goal is to get on the ice with a stick and puck! 

Debbie

We moved into our new house almost three months ago. It's less than a mile down the road from where we used to live. A few days after we moved in, a neighbor came over to introduce herself. She said she was moving to Atlanta soon and wanted to know if we wanted to buy her trampoline. I politely declined saying I don't let my kids on trampolines (too many people I know have had horrific accidents on them). She was bit off. Tom and I closed the door and agreed she was weird. 

Three days later, she came back at night. I was gone and Tom was home with the girls. She wanted ice and for him to pop popcorn for her since her power wasn't working. She proceeded to ask him for wine and parked herself at our island. Finally, he said Hailey was sick upstairs and he had to go. I told him and the girls we were not answering the door if she came back. Two days later, she did. Just after the girls and I had pulled into the garage. We did not answer the door and the girls and I hid in the back of the house. She left. Then the police came. 

Our neighbor was filming her on my porch and called the police. Apparently, this woman (Debbie, 60 year old female) was being evicted from her rental home a block over and had no power so the neighbors had been calling police and keeping tabs on her. Welcome to the neighborhood! Debbie had plugged her phone into our front porch to charge. The cop unplugged it and asked me if I wanted to join 16 of our neighbors who had no trespassing orders against her. I did even though other neighbors had her entering their homes through unlocked doors and making themselves at home in their kitchens. 

Still the no trespass order didn't deter her. Tom and I went out one Friday night for dinner. The girls were at home together when Debbie came back - knocking on our door/ringing the doorbell. Peyton immediately called 911 and did not answer the door. Debbie left and the cops came. Peyton handled it all very well. Spoke the cops. Put me on the phone with them. We turned in our ring camera footage. Then we all waited for the next week when she was evicted and all her stuff was put out on the front lawn.

That was certainly a crazy day too because they found an assault rifle she had stolen from one of our neighbors in her house! We were all glad to be rid of her and not have her roaming the neighborhood anymore. A few weeks ago we received a notice of trial in the mail for her and recently an actual subpoena for Peyton to have to testify against her in court in December. Crazy! We're trying to get her out of it but she may have to miss school and testify. 

It's been an interesting introduction to our new neighborhood (and how we met all our neighbors). We recently learned that Debbie had moved onto Elmhurst and is wreaking havoc in their town. She has been repeatedly offered mental health services which she declines and continues to make a nuisance of herself to neighbors and continues her petty thefts. 

Honestly, I'm just glad she's moved on to a different neighborhood! Let's see what happens if Peyton has to serve as a witness against her. Welcome to the neighborhood!

https://patch.com/illinois/hinsdale/hinsdale-woman-gun-charge-released

Celebrating 52!

Celebrating 52!

Tom and I both had birthdays in early November. I kicked off my 52nd year with an early morning paddle scrimmage. Then I came home to go to brunch with Tom and the girls at my favorite Brunch place - Buttermilk! I love that place! Back home for some presents (Peyton and Hailey helped Tom shop). Got to talk to Austen for a bit and then it was off to play my second paddle scrimmage of the day and then head straight to a Sound Healing class through my Barre studio with some friends. That was definitely an experience - a whole hour of relaxation - great to experience it but a whole hour of relaxation unless I'm getting a massage was a bit much. Then home for dinner and a coconut cake for my candle and birthday wish. It was the perfect way to celebrate my bday - a little time with family, a little time with friends and doing things I love. Great way to kick off an other trip around the sun. 

The next week, we celebrated Tom's birthday. We were up early because Hailey had a basketball tournament. Hit the Starbucks then the Dunkin Donuts (for munchkins after Hailey's game). Then home to watch the Bears game (Tom). Took Hailey to her confirmation retreat while Tom hung out and did some work around the house and talked to family and got a call from Austen. Peyton and I went to the grocery store and shopping then took Tom to an early dinner at Piccolo Buco (a place he wanted to go to). He got a birthday candle in a cake there and then he came home to presents before heading to paddle practice to round out the evening. 

Great ways to celebrate! Here's to another year of aging well!

52!

Happy Halloween!

It was a Friday night for Halloween this year and U of I planned their Dad's Weekend on it too (who does that?) so I was solo managing Hailey's Halloween activities while trying to hand out candy at our new house. Luckily, Peyton's Halloween party was on Saturday so she helped man the door when I had to run Hailey to meet her friends and when I made a quick run to the store for more Halloween candy. 

I wasn't sure what kind of numbers to expect trick or treating. On Tuttle, we got a pretty steady stream of trick or treaters - 120-150 I would say. But where we are now, we are sort of tucked away in the northwest corner of Hinsdale. So I bought 120 full size bars (I've done full size since COVID when we had someone to hand them out instead of going trick or treating with our young kids and leaving a bowl out). I wasn't sure if 120 would be too many or too few but the kids came in droves. I mean groups of 15-20 kids. It was so busy that by 5pm I was panicking that we were going to run out of candy with about 30 bars left. I left Peyton in charge and headed to the store to arm myself with even more candy. I was gone for about 40 minutes and called Peyton on my way back to see how the numbers were looking. By this time it's almost 6pm and she said it had slowed down quite a bit after I left. Of course. And it slowed down even more once I got home. By the end of trick or treating, we had about 12 of my original candy purchase left. 

But you know if I didn't go to find more we would have had even more trick or treaters and being the new people, we couldn't run out of candy our first year on the block! 

Hailey did a lot of walking with her group of six from Clarendon Hills to our house and then I drove them back. She was gone from 4pm-11:30pm. She either gave most of her candy away or ate it all or they didn't have any real interest in ringing people's doorbells because her bag was the lightest that I've ever seen for any of my kids on October 31. But she was happy. Dressed as Tigger from Winnie the Pooh while some of her friends dressed as My Little Pony (she told me she was not doing that). 

Peyton dressed up as Cinderella for her Halloween party the next day although I did not take her picture. I should have to - she looked so pretty! But I do have one with her and friends so you can get an idea of her costume.

Austen said he had a lot of fun for Halloween Weekend with Tom. I guess there's a weekend before Halloween that's huge at U of I and then this one too. They went to the bars, went to the fraternity (Austen pledged Phi Psi - and in a few short weeks should actually be a full member) and went to the game and some bars. But the best part of the weekend Austen said was getting food with his Dad. That kid is starving! Just a few short weeks til he's home for Thanksgiving and he can eat some good food!

A busy but good Halloween for all 3 kids! 

Peyton and friends!

Hailey and friends!

Phi Psi Halloween Party

Obsessed with the Chicago Blackhawks

Tom gets a lot of free tickets to the Chicago Blackhawks which has certainly made Hailey a huge fan. So we go often. But twice in one month might be more than I can handle even with the best seats (on the glass) and free food/drink. 

Dennis Savard in the Club!

On Sunday, Hailey once again got to attend a Chicago Blackhawks game. Her favorite player is Connor Bedard and she can tell you everything about him too. Along with our amazing tickets, we get to arrive for dinner early where we catch glimpses sometimes in the hall on the way to the locker room of Connor and his teammates juggling a ball for their pre-game warm ups. Sometimes they just film it and put it on the TV in the club too but either way we get to assess these hockey players soccer skills (some are better than others).  

While in the club on Sunday night for dinner, they sometimes have famous retired players walking around too so we got to meet Denis Savard. I asked him if he used to live in Wheaton in Stonehedge and he said yes he did. The he added, that that was all he could afford back then! Funny. He lived in the same development as I did growing up. He was very nice and even let Hailey try on his Stanley Cup ring (which he earned with the Montreal Canadiens). 

Then it was on to the rink for warm ups where Hailey got a warm up puck from the game and got to watch Bedard score a goal in the 1st period. Alas, the Hawks went on to lose 3-1 but Hailey was so happy just to be there watching her team. 

Next game she is attending is in November so she has to wait a whole month for that one. Peyton and I are playing rock, paper, scissors for who gets to stay home for that one!

Savard's Stanley Cup Ring

Peyton's First Official Date

Of course she's been asked to Homecoming two years in a row by different boys and been talking to lots of boys over the last few years but she's waited to really commit to going out with one until she found someone she really likes. 

Homecoming date was too quiet she told me. She likes a boy who is way more outgoing which is funny because I wouldn't describe her as the most outgoing person with people she isn't truly comfortable with so I always told her, give him a chance! But nope, she knew what she wanted and she wasn't willing to settle. 

So she's been talking to a boy and hanging out with him for several weeks now. He's a junior. Can drive and attends our rival high school. He's a soccer player (though she told us recently she hates watching all sports) and she met him through one of her friends who is dating his best friend. 

They've done a lot of SnapChat, gone to Six Flags and some parties but recently they had their first official date. She said they were going to the mall for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and then hanging out and he was picking her up at 6pm. 

I saw a car pull in front of our house at 6pm so I told her he was here. She ran out the door. I wasn't going to put pressure on him to come in and meet us - isn't that old school? But, he did. He made her walk back into the house so he could meet us AND he bought her a dozen roses. 

So even though he goes to the rival high school, he earned major points in my book (and Tom's) for doing that. He brought her home at a decent hour too and we learned he's the youngest of three with his two older siblings in college already. So if they want to date, he has my permission.

Let's see where this goes!