An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle but will never break. --Chinese legend

Thursday, October 14, 2010

There's a new blog in town

We're moving the blog to a new and easy to remember address.  Come check us out at www.themaases.com.  We're hoping to move all the old content over to the new site.  And by we're hoping to move all the old content, I mean we're hoping our friend Micha, who was kind enough to help us get the new blog started in order to bypass China's firewall, will move it for us.  Until then, I have a link to the old blog on the new site.  So put www.themaases.com in your "Favorites" and get ready to follow us to China in less than 2 weeks!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

A boy cousin!

Here he is making his blog debut, Baby BOY Stiles-in-utero!!!

We can't wait to meet you (once you're fully cooked, of course). Congratulations again to Aunt Leslie and Uncle Stanley! We're so excited for y'all! Boys are so so so much fun! And now it's time to go shopping for some baby boy clothes. (Be nice to me, Stanley, or the kid wears a Duke jersey every time I babysit.)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Thank you, Tom Skilling!

Every summer, our neighbors throw two great block parties. This year's second soiree was pushed back to October, a risky move in Chicago. Fortunately, Tom Skilling, who as Grandma Zieg would have wanted you to know is never wrong, smiled upon us. We had nothing but sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-80s all weekend. Absolutely gorgeous. Plus, for the first time since the weekend of August 14, I was neither out of town nor working this weekend. Hurray!
Saturday got started in typical block party fashion. The kids waited at the edge of the sidewalk chanting things about block parties, bouncers and running in the street. As soon as the street was blocked off and they could run free, they went nuts. I'm wondering if we shouldn't all go in together and just get them traffic cones for Christmas instead of toys because it's quite possibly the happiest they are all year.
There was a bouncer, of course. Check out Jacob (who is pretending to be some version of Chewbacca that can shoot webs like Spiderman) and Fiona (pictured parallel to the bouncing surface) breaking it in.

It was so warm we busted out the kiddie pools and slip 'n' slides.
And no block party would be complete without riding your bike and/or scooter in the street. David is sporting the latest in preschool fashion: swimsuit, snow boots and Thomas the tank engine bike helmet.

Back in the bouncer. Olivia had a lot of fun until David said he wanted to play with her brother Jackson instead. Olivia left the bouncer crying because "I don't have a husband!" She later asked David, "Do you want to have the same kids when we grow up so I can be the mommy and you can be the daddy?"
The lovely Fiona. David and Jackson enjoying their water balloons.

After dark, we made s'mores...
...and watched a movie on a big screen one of neighbors set up. David crashed and burned mid-movie.

Today we went to church and came home to watch the Bears play the impressively bad Panthers. David, still worn out from Saturday's fun, took a football nap with me.
Refreshed, he spent the rest of the afternoon outside. The street was still blocked off, and the kids were all out. I really like the fall colors in the first shot. The second is of Jacob and David looking for trouble.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Camera!

Nothing too earth shattering to report since my last post. We are running out of things to do to get ready for Max's arrival. The room is ready. The car seats are on their way (hurray for free shipping!). We have passports and visas. The dogsitter has his flights booked. I want to pack, but we're probably going to need our clothes for the next 3 weeks, so that will have to wait.
In the mean time, here are a few pictures with our brand new camera.
Kevin took David, Grandma and GG to the Museum of Science and Industry. Everyone had a great time.

Sunday night David and Kevin went to a Blackhawks preseason game. Check out David mad face in picture #2. I can only imagine he was expressing his upset at the Byfuglien trade over the summer. Also check out his Transformer snow boots and Spiderman gloves. I have a feeling we're going to have to surgically remove the boots next spring. And, no, it isn't snowing. Yet. We've been having highs in the mid-50s, though, and so the death spiral into winter begins. The saddest part about this weather is how good these temperatures are going to feel to us in about 6 months.