Day Off

Today is President's Day. Which means no school for the boys. So I took a day off of work. I wish I could say it was relaxing. Our big excursion was a trip to Costco. Otherwise, I pretty much played referee all day long. There was a lot of alone time in separate rooms, Nerf guns taken away, and a Nintendo DS stylus even had to be removed from the mix. I know this photograph above is a bit deceiving. Want to know the truth? It was from yesterday. Oh well. It was still nice to be home today.

The Modern Wing

After dropping my sister and the kids off at the train, we decided to (finally) visit The Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago. It. Is. Amazing. What a beautiful, beautiful space. H said the entrance looked like fancy hotel. We knew we'd have only a little bit of time before the natives got restless, so we didn't get to really look very long. But we made it through the entire section, and even the boys were pretty into it. There's even a Kids Gallery, with hands-on workshops. For some reason, our boys never like to partake in that stuff. Weird. They do like taking pictures though, so we set them loose with our camera.Someone must have really liked this one -- I found a few variations of it on the camera.And, of course anything interactive is a big hit. Here's Being Not Truthful Always Works Against Me by Stefan Sagmeister and Ralph Ammer.

P.S. Admission is free the month of February.

Visitors

Around 12:30 yesterday, we picked my sister and her kids up at Union Station. They took the Amtrak from Milwaukee, and I've got to say, that works out pretty nifty. Our ultimate goal was to get to the Museum of Science and Industry. Last time we were there with them, J was about 3 years old. And, of course, it's still H & C's favorite place. But first, we stopped for lunch at Medici.
We didn't realize the Museum closes at 4:00. So we had to run around and try to see as much as we could. C was freaked out by the babies and body parts. He prefers the trains and planes. We ran out of time before we could see the Coal Mine and Submarine. But we covered a lot of ground, and will be back again.
They had to leave bright and early this morning after a little Valentine's Day breakfast, and we were all a bit sad. The visit went really fast. It was a great time.

Art by C: Snowman

Shoveling

I got out of work early today, and picked the boys up from school while it was still light out. They love the 15" of snow we got yesterday. I do too. I just prefer it on a weekend. When we have nowhere to go. Actually, I can't remember the last time we had nowhere to go. Forget what I said. Snow is a pain in the behind.
The boys decided they would shovel our back yard. I'm not really sure why. But they spent a good 20 minutes just kind of throwing snow around and building a pile by the fence. I was spying on them, and tapped on the window.
At least one of them paid attention to me.
But then, he decided to start a snow fight with me. While I was sitting inside the window. The nerve!
Next, the little one joined in. I like snow fights from this seat in the house.

Loft

I came across this loft conversion today on Desire to Inspire. Isn't it great? I'm a big fan of lofts, and love the open space. A couple years ago our house was on a house walk. And one of the editors of Chicago Home + Garden wrote it up on her blog, saying "One favorite was a gut conversion of a brick bungalow—inside it feels like a downtown loft." Kind of cool. Interestingly, we never considered that ourselves, but she's kind of right. When I met Brian, he lived in a warehouse loft in the West Loop. We eventually moved across the street to a smaller (1,200 sq. ft.) loft for a couple years. But in 1995, the opportunity came up for us to move back into that original building. It was 5,000 sq. ft. with ceilings that were 12-20 ft. high. And, needed a ton of work. Want to see?

The kitchen. Check out our heater!This is what it looked like after the walls were ripped down and it was painted. Behind the doors was an awesome freight elevator.
Move in day! We had month to work on it, and it wasn't quite ready. Brian's dad essentially moved in with me to help for the month. Brian was in a band at the time, and I think he was home maybe 4 days that entire time. Not good planning. But then again, we started the gut renovation our current home a month before C was born. I guess that's kind of how we do things around here. Everything had to be pushed over to one side so we could paint the floors. We didn't even have the bedroom walls finished. (Can you find the bed in the picture below? I can't. I have no idea where we slept -- somewhere amongst this mess).

Eventually, it turned it something more like this. We did more to it as we went along, but essentially, this is what it looked like.
We didn't have much of a budget for this sort of endeavour. We used a lot of drywall, particle board and scrap metal. Imagine what we could have done if we owned it! I know it's not for everyone, but we really liked living here. And until we became homeowners two years later, this is what we called home. Minus the very loud band practice that went on every weekend in the space below us for a year (so loud, we had to have a strobe on our phone so we could tell when it was ringing), it was good times, I tell you! I'm so glad we did it.

Dates with our Boys

H likes to hang out with Brian. C tends to want to be around me. But yesterday, Brian and C had a little Dad-Son date (he did have to be bribed with gum to get him out of the house). H has been playing soccer on Sundays, and I think C might be a just a little bit jealous. He's been talking about getting some new kicks (I will admit, he is wearing hand-me-downs from H that are very worn) -- and wanted indoor soccer shoes. So off they went to Chicago Soccer. He got the shoes. Brian also let him pick out a jersey and shorts (he chose Deutschland). Then, they were trying to figure out where to go eat, and no joke, C asked him to stop at the Chicago Brauhaus. That's my boy! While they were on their little adventure, H and I visited the Oak Park Conservatory. It's only a five minute walk from our house, but we really don't go enough. Such a great little place. The bottom line is though, all had a wonderful time -- and we really need to make more time for little "dates" like these.

Super Bowl

I've never really been into football. I like the concept, but I honestly don't totally understand it. However, living in a house full of boys, it was bound to happen. They are really into it. H in particular. He and Brian would watch it almost every Sunday and Monday night, and he was really looking forward to the Super Bowl this year. We decided to just lay low and watch it at home. H & C were rooting for the Colts. Brian and I for the Saints. We pigged out on Super Bowl food, and had some friendly betting going on (I think H owes my dad a quarter, and thanks to a fourth quarter win by New Orleans, Brian and I may have pulled ahead by $2 each -- they were creaming us before that). Congrats Saints!

Polaroid Scarves

I totally dig these. Polaroid inspired scarves by Phillipe Roucou. (via Poppytalk)

Critter!

I noticed these little critter prints in our back yard today. Kind of looks like these, doesn't it?
That's a raccoon. My friend and I were having wine on our porch a couple years ago and it was like "The Aattack of the Giant Raccoon Families." Seriously, we saw a little raccoon couple dart across the street. About 20 minutes later, an entire family was spotted scampering along the sidewalk. So yeah. I kind of think that's a raccoon who's been visiting our back yard. Gross.

Sunday

Brian's gearing up to watch the Super Bowl with the boys this Sunday. H has been really into football this year. It's kind of weird. (Ok, not really, but I grew up with a sister and we could have really cared less about the sport). C is not quite there yet with his attention span. Here's a conversation Brian just had with him:

B. C, are you going to watch the Super Bowl with me Sunday?
C. No.
B. But there will be a picnic upstairs, with chicken wings.
C. No. (Pause) Ok, but only if I can have a sharp knife.

(NOTE: he's been using a knife forever at dinner. He may be behind in speech, but the kid has always been a whiz at utensil usage. We've moved on to steak knives, when appropriate. It makes cutting a breeze -- I think he's obsessed.)

World Map

I've been searching for a world map for our guest room for awhile. This modern version by "These are Things" might just be the perfect one. (via Design*Sponge).

Arroz Con Leche

I don't know what it is, but I've been craving this dessert like crazy. I made it twice in a week, and it's taken all the restraint I have to hold myself back from making it again and again. It's that good. I used the Arroz Con Leche recipe from Cannelle et Vanille. The first time, I followed the recipe exactly, and found it was a bit runny for my taste. The next time, I doubled the quantity of rice, and it was too thick. I think I've got it figured out now -- but I really do need to test it to make sure. We've had it with graham crackers on crumbled on top, as well as ginger snaps and vanilla wafers. I bet it would be great simmered with fresh vanilla beans. And it's good warm or cold. It does take some tender loving care (lots of stirring), but I'm a big fan of a simple delicious dessert like this.

Art by C: Reindeer