happy new year!

Chloe preps for her first New Year's Eve

Kenny helped Chloe get her hat just right.

"Yo, Broseph, when do they pop the bubbly 'round here?"

Kenny gets a kick out of Chloe's stylish hat tilt.

Overboard squeezes the last bits of joy out of 2009.

Kenny and his buddy, Sadie, get ready for a long night. "We're staying up till at least 9pm!"

This is the look of two party animals preparing to get rowdy. Very rowdy.

And don't forget to get all nostalgic for some of our previous New Year's celebrations.

site maintenance

We're going to be changing our web hosting company in the next day or two, so the site may be down for a wee bit during the transition. But rest assured, we'll be back in 2010 with plenty of new pictures, videos and stories. Because that's what we do.

final skating lesson

Kenny had his final skating lesson last Saturday, and it went okay. Okay, only in that Mr. Man was crazy distracted and not in the mood to listen - even when presented with two lovely older ladies to follow his every glide. Next week we're trying a few "intro to hockey" classes, so we'll see if Kenny's new skating abilities take on a tangible benefit in his eyes.

Kenny shows the girls how it's done.

"Then you go around the cone. Or through it. Whatever, really."

my children are quite cute

snow day (but not from today)

Yeah, this is actually from a week or so ago, when Kenny and I went out in the backyard to play and shovel. Mostly, I shoveled while Kenny played, but he did enjoy moving snow around...so there's that.

Kenny decides that this shovel is just not going to cut it.

"Now we're talking!"

Soon enough, Kenny gave up on shoveling and decided to try leading Sadie around on some seriously intrepid snow exploration. Their discovery? It's cold, wet and edible. Huzzah.

another first

Kenny's first outdoor skate. It went swimmingly, until he decided about five minutes in that he really, if we're being honest here, would rather be playing on the playground behind him. Baby steps, I suppose.

giggles, laughs and guffaws

I got Chloe to laugh! I mean, really laugh. Never, ever, underestimate the power of a zerbert. Ever.

Editor's note: I had her laughing harder and louder, but I think she got distracted when I broke out the camera.

mr. clean

Kenny decided to clean his room after a nap, using his old friend the Swiffer. Effective? Hardly. Amusing? Terribly so.

"Hey, it's a cleaning device AND a weapon. Cool."

"You have to make sure the angle is just so, or else...disaster."

Kenny is disappointed to see that the Swiffer does not actually pick up his toys and put them away.

sir skates a lot - part 2

Here are more skating lesson pix for your viewing pleasure. Complete with pithy commentary.

Ms. Lisa tells the boys why they have to work on staying upright before they can attempt triple salchows or vicious body hits...you know, whichever.

Kenny does his impression of a deer on skates in headlights. Pretty impressive.

One of the tricks employed to get the boys to practice skating backwards is to have them "fish" for things. They reel them in while moving away from their catch. Kenny has a preference for shark fishing. He's a big game hunter of frozen fish. Which may explain why he loves Aisle 12 at the grocery store.

The boys work on following the train tracks through cones. Now, in the real world, conductors are totally fired for driving like this and causing derailments. I'm just sayin'.

Kenny searches for treasure underneath the cones.

Lost in thought? Or just psyching himself up for a 14 barrel jump? Probably the former.

Ms. Lisa carved a pretty impressive snow man in the ice.

"Now, when you make the first incision, it's REALLY important to be sure that the anesthesia is working."

On a fun side note, during the lesson last Saturday, the boys finally figured out that they could head butt each other without consequence due to the hockey helmets. I was too busy laughing to get a picture or video, and I didn't want to be the irresponsible parent who encouraged them to give it another go. Oh well.

sir skates a lot - part 1

Kenny is doing pretty well with his skating, as we near the end of his lessons. While he's not quite ready for the Olympic speed skating team (maybe another few months), he's well on his way to being the guy who doesn't fall down at the 3rd grade birthday party at the local ice rink skate*.

Here are some more snap shots from skating class, featuring Kenny and his buddy in blades, Logan.

Cones may be used for skating around, but they're much more fan to carry around. So says Kenny.

Although, on occasion, one must put down the cone...

...so one can skate around it.

And now a video from our skating stars:

*Admittedly, this is a much more notable achievement when you live in the South, as opposed to the Midwest.

chloe the cute

Allow me to apologize for the blog silence by buying you off with the following sucker-punch of cuteness:

KA-POW!

Happy Hanukkah. New stories and pix to come soon (really).

birthday serenade

Happy Birthday, Grandma Jackie!

that's "ms." pterodactyl to you

Remind you of anyone?

mr. mash-up

Kenny performed his first mash-up the other night when he segued from "Sweet Kenny Rolnick" into "Take Me Out To The Ball Game." It was pretty impressive. Of course, his singing can be endearingly all over the joint sometimes, as witnessed in the video below:

the tummy timer

"Why, hello there. Fancy meeting you on the floor."

Chloe is getting stronger and stronger these days. She's totally rockin' her tummy time, and now loves to hang out in her exer-saucer, as well as a successful foray into the jumparoo the other afternoon (pix and video of that to be shot soon, I hope).

Chloe, workin' her abs. Feel the burn!

"Today the exer-saucer, tomorrow the world! Or maybe a nap. You know, whatever."

the hockey fans

Jerseys? Unwavering optimism? Full set of teeth? GAME ON!

Now that my Thrashers are showing signs of life again, I re-upped for the Center Ice package this season. This way, I can follow the ups and downs (hopefully more of the former) of my favorite team even though I'm in Chicago. Overboard isn't terribly thrilled with my desire to once again watch 82+ hockey games, but to her credit, she's done a great job humoring me.

Kenny reacts in disbelief at another amazing save.

Kenny has shown interest on and off with all things hockey. He loves the fact that the Thrasher's backup goalie is "The Moose" and that he gets to chant "Moooooooooooooose" every time he makes a save. He also loves to say "DING DONG!" every time a puck hits the post. However, as the following video will attest, he doesn't quite have the patience to sit through a full game yet. Or rather, a full period. But I'm working on that.

Overboard found it so hysterical that Kenny quickly opted in, and then out, of watching a game with me that she was unable to utter coherent sentences. See for yourself:

Already done watching in the first period? That one hurt.

No one disrespects the Thrashers! (except, you know, the national hockey media, various hockey fans, my father and, well, most everyone outside of my basement).

happy halloween

We had an awesome Halloween with the Brandts, where Kenny the Monkey and Ava the Penguin racked up the sugar-coated loot from across the neighborhood. Chloe opted out of the cold and decided to hang with Overboard until our triumphant return.

A monkey and a penguin walk up to a house...

Check out all of the pix here.