Famille Du Pentium

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.

(more…)

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.

Ethan had his winter concert on Thursday morning.  Both Marla and I went, and it was a great concert, the first and second graders all sounded great.  Ethan was very dapper in his winter concert duds and sweater.  Pictures are here.

Later, I’m going to post a sample video for you to try out in your web browser – if it works for enough people who read this blog, then I’ll post a few more videos of Ethan’s concert as well as some Hanukkah activities around the house.

Ah, the last candle lighting of Hanukkah.  Tonight we went out to eat early at Gullivers and had pizza, chicken strips, soups, and appetizers.  Then we came home and lit candles.  I always love the eighth night, when all the candles are blazing.  You can actually feel the heat in the living room.

All in all, a subdued if not enjoyable Hanukkah this year. Quick story – last week, Justin made a gingerbread house at school.  He brought it home, and we had to go out for something and left it in the living room.  When we came back, we found its scraps on the floor, having been eaten by our dog, Eyeeore.  Justin felt very bad.  So today, Ethan’s class made gingerbread houses (I was there to help too) and Ethan gave his gingerbread house to Justin, to make him feel better.  Somewhere in the pictures (linked below) you’ll see a picture of Justin opening his new gingerbread house with a big smile on his face.

Saturday, the last full day of Hanukkah, we would normally bake cookies, but I think we’re going to be busy, between haircuts and having to wait for Comcast to come and fix our perpetually broken cable service.  But now the kids are on winter break, so we might bake cookies later this week.  If we do, I’ll blog about it. 🙂

Pictures of the generally good times being had by all are here.

Tonight we had a lot of fun.  We’re down to opening all the “family” presents now, which are all Blu-Rays for us to watch during the kids winter break.  On Black Friday (or at least, the night before) I found an online store that was selling a bunch of Blu-Rays on sale for under $15 each, so I spent about $90 on a whole bunch.  All in all, I ended up getting: UP (Pixar), Batman Begins, Madagascar, G.I. Joe, Star Trek, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Night At The Museum (both), Land of the Lost, Snow White, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and the Fantastic 4 / Daredevil 3-movie pack.  So we have lots to watch, all in hi-def.

Pictures of the festivities are here.