Famille Du Pentium

Aaron had a concert last week, here are some quick pictures from my mobile phone:

Aaron is waiting to play

Above, Aaron is waiting with his Concert Band colleagues while the Intermediate Band plays.

The Leaders of the Band

Above, band leaders Chip De Stefano and David Morrison look on while a student from Northwestern leads the band in a song.

Where's Aaron?

Can you find Aaron performing in this picture?

I started a new job this week,  so not so much time to post lately.  However, I have some kids (and dog) pics for you to enjoy, while I toil away at work ;-).

First, I forgot to post that Aaron achieved IGSMA Division I, for the second year in a row, playing in a band competition.  This was a solo competition, and Division I is the highest rating that a competitor can receive.

Here’s some cute pics of Justin hugging Eeyore: http://gallery.famille.org/main.php?g2_itemId=2998

Purim:

I didn’t do my usual Purim Megilla Post, but here’s one from a few years ago.  We went to the Purim Megilla reading, party, and carnival at the Jewish Reconstruction Congregation, where Marla works as a pre-school teacher.   Pictures are of the two younger ones at the carnival, making arts and crafts.

Kids Swim:

This Tuesday was the last class, for a few weeks, of the Kids Swim program that all three are in.  Aaron can now swim freestyle and backstroke by himself, Ethan can freestyle alone, and Justin is doing freestyle and backstroke assisted.  A few pictures to give you an idea of what the class looks like.

That’s it for now, tonight I’m speaking at the Liponi Foundation Fundraising Dinner, which provides funds and buses for the M-NASR program, which provides the swimming class (as well as Young Athletes and a few others that the kids participate in.)

That’s right, it was time once again to make our annual pilgrimage to Rosemont, Illinois to take in our yearly allotment of complex hydrocarbons, and watch Grave Digger, Taz, Escalade, and others race, jump, and try to wreck their trucks.

This year, Grave Digger won the race competition, and Escalade (with a driver from Chicago) won the freestyle, by rolling his truck (the crowd always likes that.)

I tried some new settings on my camera phone to see if I could get better action shots. I don’t think it worked well, but check them out anyway: http://gallery.famille.org/main.php?g2_itemId=2976.

Back with more YouTube videos, these are a few of the kids in their swim class.  Aaron and Ethan are swimming by themselves, and Justin is getting used to moving around in the water.

First, Aaron does the backstroke this week:

Next, Justin is bouncing with a noodle:

Finally, Ethan is swimming alone:

Thursday night was Family Fitness Night at Ethan’s school. They had a walking track, plus instructors for yoga, dance, and cup stacking. Yes, cup stacking is apparently a sport.

Whether you agree or not (Aaron doesn’t), Ethan and Justin tried it out.

Ethan Cups

Justin Cups

Friday was Parent Visitation Day at Ethan’s school, below are two YouTube vids of Ethan in school.  The first is Ethan in his home room, trying hard not to be video’d.  The second one is Ethan in Specials (Music) learning to play.

Enjoy!

Boy did I get it wrong last year.  I thought the worst was behind us then.  Or maybe I got it right; new opportunities abound that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise.   But, in the immortal words of Bullwinkle Moose, “This time, for sure!”  (Or, “Maybe I gotta get myself a new hat.”)  Here is wishing for a safe, healthy and prosperous 2010 for all of my readers.  Yeah, all three or four of you.  That means you, too, Warren.

As usual, we snacked on meats and cheeses (“The Spread”) until midnight, then toasted the new year with Ice Wine and watched the famous Chicago Harbor fireworks in HD.  A boring night for some, sure… but a fun night for a family with kids.

What the heck do I mean by The Spread?  We go to The Chalet, a cheese shop at Binney’s Beverage Depot.  Each day, they get a different load of imported cheeses and meats.  They let you taste them, then sell you whatever you want to take home.  So each of us picked one each, after tasting them, and took home five meats and five cheeses to eat with crackers.

Then we sit around and do what Americans do best… watch T.V.!

Then the fireworks, Ice Wine, and family revelry.

Happy New Year!

Here are some last minute pictures I wanted to post before the end of the year:

We had the annual family holiday party at our house last weekend.  A good time was had by all.

Justin’s gingerbread house was eaten by the dog; Ethan made him a new one, and they ate it tonight.  Eeyeore was in another room, sulking.

Hanukkah 2009, full album.

This week we went sledding two days in a row. After the jump, there are a bunch of You Tube videos of the sledding.

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So I set up my own You Tube account, for the purpose of uploading videos of the kids that you can view from your web browser.  Below is an embedded You Tube video.  Try it out, leave a comment as to whether you can see it or not.  This one is one of the kids, Aaron probably, sledding down a hill.  We went sledding at “Mount Trashmore” yesterday and today.