SURPRISE!

Erin's been talking about her surprise sweet 16 party since the day Kelsey turned 16 two years ago.  Let's be clear:  Erin's the organized party planner of our family, and she's super smart when it comes to sniffing out secrets.  So even tho we've known for two years that we were going to surprise Erin for her birthday, Kelsey and I still had our work cut out for us.

As a parent, I try really hard to be honest with my kids.  I can't even tell you all of the elaborate ruses and outright lies that I have created over the last three weeks, all in the name of surprising Erin.  It was totally worth it!  We got her good this evening - she had absolutely no idea that 30 of her closest friends would be silently waiting in our living room when she came home from a Best Buddies function this evening!

A Cooking Collaboration

Our foreign exchange student Mi, and the B-P's foreign exchange student Mo, collaborated on dinner this evening:

They made us soba noodles and an egg-based dish that was topped with mayo, teriyaki sauce and dried fish flakes.

The B-Ps joined us for a fun, authentic Japanese dinner this evening, complete with chop sticks.

I cannot believe how fast these last two weeks have gone.  Tomorrow is our last full day with Mi.  Saturday is the farewell potluck.  Sunday we take her to the airport.

New Food

Drew's a picky eater.  A REALLY picky eater.  So last night when we were at Sen Sushi for Erin's birthday, I was really proud of him when he ordered a rather sophisticated dish to try for his first sushi taste ever.

He decided one bite was enough.  That's one small bite for Drew; one giant leap (hopefully!) for his taste buds!

Happy Birthday Erin!

Today is Erin's Sweet 16!  To help celebrate, the Renny girls came over with a big giant card:

Each year on their birthdays, the kids get to decide what they want for their special birthday meal.  Sometimes I cook, sometimes we go out to eat.  Mi was so excited to hear Erin wanted to go out for sushi for her birthday!  We headed over to Sen Sushi and spent a couple of hours eating our way thru several courses of sushi.

 H A P P Y   B I R T H D A Y   E R I N ! ! !

Week Night or School Night?

Usually when Kelsey and Erin have their friends over for the equivalent of a teenage play date, it happens on a weekend, not on a school night.  We've relaxed the rules a bit while Mi is here.

The foreign exchange students have been busy.  In the week that Mi has been here, she's seen the sights we showed her last Sunday, the Museum of Science and Industry, The Shedd, The Art Institute, State Street, shopping on Michigan Ave., the Frank Lloyd Wright houses in Oak Park...

A really great thing about this group of host families and exchange students is that so many families in southeast Oak Park opened up their homes.  That means it's super easy to find another student or two to hang with.  Even tho there's school tomorrow, Kelsey and NL wanted to show their students the world of paste-on nails:

What better way to end the evening than with a few rounds of Dance Dance Revolution?!

Showing Mi the City

Today was Mi's first full day with us.  We let her sleep in a bit, and then this afternoon we headed into Chicago to show her some of the sights.

What's a stop in Chicago without deep dish pizza?!  Mi's teacher at school described deep dish to the kids, but we wanted to be sure she experienced it first-hand.  What better place to take her than where deep dish began:  the Uno and Due franchise.  We landed at Pizzeria Due:

It's almost a requirement that you walk around for awhile after indulging in such heavy fare as deep dish pizza.  We chose Millennium Park and The Bean:

It was totally frigid so we didn't linger long.  The warmth of the Sears Tower was pretty appealing after enduring the bone-chilling wind that was whipping across the lake.

While we were out on the ledge, the sun was blasting its way into our space, masking it easy to forget how cold it really was outside.  Soon enough, the sun began to sink behind the clouds on the horizon, and the view out the windows changed.

A gorgeous sunset over a gorgeous city.  I really, truly, love Chicago.

Welcome Mi!

Tonight we welcomed Mi, who hails from Nagano, Japan, into our home.  Mi will be staying with us for two weeks as part of the exchange student program sponsored by the high school.

Exchanging gifts is a time-honored tradition in Japan, and Mi showered us with gifts:

Welcome Mi!  We're so glad you're here and we hope you have a wonderful time in America!