In which the parents become totally superfluous

A couple of recent pics

January has been pretty darn cold. Even the photo snapping finger has been frozen it seems.

Johnny Merc was less than thrilled with his face full of snow at Humboldt Park.

Nata and Elliot have been loving turning off all the lights and exploring the house by headlamp.

Art projects du jour

E.B. did the mixed media rainbow palimpsest with masking tape and hole punches.

Nata did the "bad guy" with more masking tape.

Maeve sledding

Natalie sledding

Sledding in the garden

Big time powder

After a semi-painful morning trip to Humboldt Park in heavy snows and winds, it turns out sledding in our little back yard is quite exciting enough for Elliot, Nata and Maeve McMahon.

Keep it simple, Dad.

The Golden Egg

E.B. was a big winner at Feed with Bean and Bonnie on Monday.

He put a quarter in the egg laying machine and out came the Golden Egg. If you get a golden egg:

1) Your Polaroid picture goes up in the bathroom at Feed.
2) You get $6 off your next trip.

If you want to see the original picture, you gotta go there. This post includes a reenactment of the moment, in jammies.

Kohl Children's Museum in Glenview

Another punch on our cultural dance card. We met up with Jean and Dawn Gram for this one.

In other news, Elliot finally took off his t-shirt from the Hobbit Cafe in Houston today (after 3 days). Julie has been telling him the Lord of the Rings story from memory and he's LOVING it.

I, apparently, am a Balrog now. It's a downgrade from Mister No Face of Spirited Away fame (a role I played beutifully all weekend, I thought).

Redmoon Theater Show

We hit The Winter Pageant Redux Sunday at the Redmoon Theater. It was fabulous.

Before the show you can go out and have a tea party with the actors. Nata loves tea parties.

Elliot even laughed too loudly at inappropriate times and was shushed by some cool, older girls. So, we know now for sure that he is my son.

Garfield Park Conservatory

We are trying to hit every cultural institution in Chicago over a two week period.

Elliot and Nata were looking for clues under a tree - to what they wouldn't say.

Natalie insisted that dressing in a Lion costume enhances her searching abilities. The fact that she had her jammies on under the costume and nothing else is a sure sign Dad was running the show.

Dear God, they have baby chicks here.

Formerly the food exhibit, now the genetics exhibit. Regardless of the alleged educational rubric, the baby chicks elicited big squeals from Nata.

She was also a pirate.

Museum of Science Sunday

We just love this place.

Christmas Presents

Lots of fun presents. The bilibos from D, Valerie and Fletcher rock.

The biggest hit was the M&Ms, though they only lasted about 10 seconds including the time required to clean up hands and face

More sledding trip

Elliot really likes "bombing downhill." Especially backwards, we learned.

Xmas Eve Sledding

Veteran Acres in Crystal Lake, IL was the scene of many Schuerr family sledding trips. We his fresh powder on Christmas Eve. Bonnie and Bean even white knuckled it out to play with us from Evanston. We saw four white tailed deer in the woods.


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Lunch was had at the Village Squire, another family favorite. Any place with bottomless popcorn is OK by me.

Wretched Excess Redux

Uncle Gene was fond of noting the "wretched excess" surrounding Dickinson family Christmases. The next generation has taken to excess like bees to honey.

Christmas cookie making with Mom and gingerbread house making with Aunt Bean were the preludes to excess.

A couple more

More from MSI

Museum of Science trip

Christmas trees are kind of science.

Grandma Sue and the crew went to check it today. They also saw the Grand Canyon Adventure movie on IMAX.

According to the boy, we need to be careful with water. Being careful does not include reducing the amount he spills out of his bath as I understand it.