Life and times of the Chranko family
Photos
Baltimore, Birthday and Blizzard
Feb 9th
Gee Thanks Baltimore. Thanks a lot for 30 inches of snow. But really thanks Brad for a fun weekend. I know you didn’t order the weather but we’re still going to blame it and our flight woes on you. This past weekend we trekked out to Baltimore for a long weekend with Brad and Lili for Lili’s birthday, but were also treated to a fine Illini win over the Spartans, lots of snow shoveling, crowded grocery stores, crazy costumes, a beatle impersonator, and a one eyed dog.
Happy Birthday Elise
Sep 2nd
Our little girl is getting so big (actually who doesn’t already know that because she is HUGE!), but I’m talking about her growing up as in maturing, aging etc. She’s sweet as ever an had a blast on her birthday. Thankfully, there was no American Girl paraphanalia in the loot.
Photos are over by there…
Summer begins!
Jul 2nd
Ah Summer, time for street fairs, t-ball (sort of, more later), outdoor dining and beaches/surprise parties (in NY).
As countless of previous Americans with limited entertainment options, Aidan began his journey in to the snoozefest that is baseball/tball…Park District T-Ball no less. He is on the Cubs and seems to enjoy hitting the ball and catching the occassional pop fly during warm ups. But I guarantee I will be writing again before the end of the summer about how Aidan caught one in the chest or lower playing shortstop while looking up at the sky or down at the ground whle kicking dirt completely ignoring the speeding ball hit off of the tee by a burly 11 year old.
The highlight of June surely was our trip to the Finger Lakes of New York to “surprise” my Uncle Bill and Aunt Kathy on their 40th wedding anniversary. While everyone was able to keep the secret, it was their own children who slipped up with such amature behavior as forwarding email threads and leaving photo albums out on the couch. Better luck next time Carrie and Kevin! Despite that, the party was a great time with relatives and friends coming to Lake Canadaigua from Rochester; Tulsa; Denver; Chicago; Indianapolis; Saginaw, and Baltimore. After the weekend, we squeezed a quick jaunt over the border to the great white north to Niagara, Ontario. Some photos of the falls and the drenching we received on the Maid of the Mist have been posted along other June events.
Kindergarten graduation, really? Well no.
Jun 13th
Today Aidan was told that he met all of the “requirements” to be promoted from Kindergarden into 1st grade @ pritzker. In a brief 10 minute “ceremony” multiple certificates were distributed, including good citizenship and perfect attendance. Here marks the official start of summer in the eyes of a child. We’ll try to make the best of things having two permanent adults, two resident children and a full time babysitter in very close quarters. I guess the light at the end of the tunnel is that Elise was accepted at Pre-K at the same school as Aidan and will begin her academic journey in September…on her birthday no less!
Happy New Year
Jan 8th
Well – we survived Christmas and our headaches have now subsided from NYE. Late, late night, Brad decided it would be a good idea to pull out the Absinthe for a nightcap…did I say late night? When oh when will we stop listening to his silliness? Let’s make that our collective resolutions, shall we? We’ll meet you back here in one year to see how we did.
Now on to the business > we’ve gone and updated our december photo album with xmas and NYE related photos. Check ‘em out (Click the preceding link to access directly)!
Early December photos available
Dec 20th
We’ve survived a winter fury, a cookie exchange and a birthday celebration for Grandpa Bob … and that was just one weekend! We’re busy preparing for Christmas, but have found time to share some photos with you. We’ll be posting a bunch more after the Christmas and the new year. Today Aidan had a Winter Assembly at school. While it was mostly a 2 hour bout of listening to off key singing and budding musicians, we survived - and as soon as we can digitize the video, we’ll make it available here. Aidan and his peers in the school’s 3 kindergarten classes sang a Kwanzaa chant, All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth and the Hanukkah song. His school is officially celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Ramudan and had songs and presentations about each holiday.
Last weekend, Elise got to dance the nutcracker with real ballerinas along with an orchestra. Photos from all these occasions are now in the gallery.