Thanksgiving and more...

Hi everyone - just a quick update on what's going on in Franchiville.

Thanksgiving was great. We spent the early afternoon with the Roger's clan at Tom and Karen's house. It was fun to visit with everyone. We then made the 1 hour drive to Port Barrington to see the Franchi clan. Seems everyone is doing well on both sides of the family.

The Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl was a lot of fun. We played on 'field turf' in Northbrook for the first time. We had 8 on 8 this year, so the turnout was a little less than normal. Might have been the snow and cold weather that scared everyone away. No injuries, except Patrick (155lbs), who is currently vacationing in Rio de Janeiro, slammed into Mike Didden (220 lbs) and walked away with a black eye. He did force a fumble on the play that they recovered, so props to Patrick.

Maureen and I have been working on the house as usual, trying to get all out projects squared away before the baby joins us in February. Andy Bigane and Tim Ude and I played amateur carpenters last week building a built-in cabinet and hanging the TV on the wall. Then Tim played amateur electrician (under real electrician supervision) and wired a bunch of new lights in the house. A big thanks to both of them for their help. Clearly next time they have a project or need help moving I am in.

Maureen has been doing a million other things on the house, to include decorating and ordering window treatments. She's been putting the finishing touches on unpacking and getting the house ready for our housewarming party this Saturday at 4.

We've had my mother-n-law over to help with decorating the baby's room. I'll post a picture once its done. So far it looks amazing...

Maureen and I ordered a new bed. Maureen, being over 6 months pregnant, sleeps with a lot of pillows and is never comfortable, so we upgraded to a King bed in hopes she'd have more room to get comfy. Added bonus is I will now have enough bed left for me that I don't feel like I am constantly falling off the edge.

Dominic and Jami have been painting and getting new furniture for their house, so I am excited to see that. Andy and Anne remodeled their entire house, and it doesn't even look the same. It turned out perfect. Joe and BB remodeled their house, and once again, it is amazing and unrecognizable. And.....my parents are moving in mid December to a beautiful house in Cary, IL (about 5 minutes from the Canada border, kidding)

And most important, the baby is doing great. They can't wait to meet you all!

Anyways....thanks for checking in with us.
;-)

Chicago Bears

The Bears won yesterday and it was great to see. It was even nice to see Grossman firing up rockets down field. As risky as they are, it reminded me of his upside potential.

I just hope we still get a high enough draft pick this year that we can fix one of the many many problems this team has.

I just want to beat the Packers again. That would make the season for me at this point.

20 Week Ultrasound Pictures

So we're in our 23rd week right now. Everything is going great. Maureen is doing very well, although she needs to sleep with 7 pillows to get comfortable, and even that doesn't really work. The baby is moving around a lot, and although its very difficult for me to feel, Maureen feels it all day long. I've been told in about two weeks I'll be able to feel the baby moving also.

I added some of the 20 week ultrasound pictures to the blog. You can see the baby is upside down in two of them, and you can see the legs and feet pointing upwards.

We'll keep you posted as Maureen progresses!!!

Storm the Castle Walls...

They are building a White Castle approximately 3 miles from the house. I know this comes as a shock, as most of us thought this could never happen, but its true.

It will be located near Dundee and 53 in Palatine. The owner tried to get a permit to open one in Arlington Heights, but it's illegal to serve Grape Soda in the 60004 zip code, so they were denied.

We're in the process of trying to find out when opening day is, and we'll be holding preliminary time-trials in anticipation of Slider-Rama 2008. Anyone who can get together to make this monumental occasion is welcome to join us.

Happy Eating...