He Said / She Said

Luke: Spoons are for snacking and forks are for stabbing

Hamilton

I've wanted to take the kids to Hamilton for a long time. But, the tickets are expensive and the show is a bit complicated. When we found out the show was coming to a close in Chicago, I knew this was our last change. We coordinated with our best buddies for an outing and took 5 girls and Ryan (!) to see the show. Between Brooke & Ryan, Ryan was way more into the show. He's been listening to the soundtrack with me and we've discussed the story. Brooke went along mostly because her friends were going ;) It was a school night, and it was late, but I convinced everyone to stand outside the stage door after to try to see some of the actors. The girls were insanely thrilled about this. Ryan less so - he was tired and wanted to go home.

Miguel had messaged me during the show (but I didnt check my phone) to suggest we come down to the stage after. Unfortunately I missed that message, or the kids would have had a chance to stand on the actual stage. THAT would have been amazing. However, they were more than thrilled to have the chance to meet him in the alley (surrounded by trash cans, haha). Andrew Call, who plays King George, actually was the one they were most happy to see after. With good reason, he is hilarous! What a great night.

Miguel Cervantes: Hamilton

Andrew Call: King George

Tamar Greene: George Washington

Signed Playbill

Luke Visits The Children’s Farm

Luke's class went to the farm today (despite it being 30 degrees) and he was featured on the Cook Facebook page!

Museum of Science and Industry

No School Day seems like a good day for the museum. We actually haven't been here since Luke was in a stroller. It was nice that the kids are now big enough to basically explore on their own. The mirror maze was definitely a favorite.

All About Luke

Luke "I Am A Artist"

Kindergarten self exploration

Ryan is 9!

We celebrated Ryan's birthday this year with a trip to Chuck E Cheese. We went right after school because Brooke had trampoline practice later. The benefit of going there at 4pm on a Tuesday is that there really isnt anyone there. The kids got to run all over the place to maximize their game time. We also had some pizza (which all three of them actually like). Ryan chose a cookie cake (vs cupcakes or regular cake), his general choice since he's not really a fan of traditional birthday cake. It was a bit of a rushed celebration, but everyone had fun.

Brooke was really into the game where you keep dropping
a quarter and trying to get more quarters to fall. She
couldnt stop playing it.

Luke still likes every game at Chuck E. Cheese. Ones wit
and without tickets. This one showed a video and had
vibrations. He did it like 5 times.

Ryan was mostly concerned with maximizing tickets. He tried to find games he could win and get the most tickets. He
played every game there, but I think spent most time on Ski-Ball.

Letter to Santa

Luke wrote quite a few letters to Santa over this holiday. Many of them were quite similar. The toys changed a little, but "guns" and "Nerf" were pretty common themes. The "dog" popped up a lot, probably more than any other thing.

Downtown Trippin For Hamilton Tickets

I had planned to take a trip downtown to pick up our tickets for Hamilton, but Luke ended up home sick from school. Since he technically seemed fine (and I likely got played) I figured we’d make a day of it. He loves the train, so it’s an easy sell. We strolled around, grabbed donuts, stopped to look in the Macy’s windows ... and wrote a letter to Santa. It was actually a really fun day and I’m glad he came along.