Weekend at Grandma & Grandpa's House

 

While Mom and Dad spent the weekend in Chicago celebrating Dad's birhday, Max and Kendall spent the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house celebrating Grandma's birthday. They played in the 14 inches of snow in the back yard, and Max made Grandma's birthday cake and snow ice cream.

Dad's Birthday Party

 

The Gags

Max had his first bout with the gags at dinner tonight. The meal was penne with sausage and red sauce and he was sent to thinking time a record five times throughout the meal. Nothing came up, but he's only a beginner. He's well on his way to being a legend in the field, just like his big sister back in her prime. We're so proud and can't wait for many more exciting, joyful dinners with him.

DEEP THOUGHTS by Adrienne

Kevin: "So, which way does the blood flow in the body?"
Adrienne: "Clockwise???"

Who's the Boss?

Before this, Kendall had repeatedly been falling on/tackling Max as he lay playing innocently on the floor. This is what I was attempting to capture on video. Instead, I got Max discreetly letting his sweet, little sister know who's in charge. Watch your back, Keny!

Max's Preschool Christmas Program

 

A great performance! Of course, this is the one Mom accidentally hit the stop button early on.

The crying girl in the front row really threw him on this song.

Those bells were fascinating.

Serious choreography here.

Another...

...another gym session...
...another ceremony...
...another green certificate...
...another proud moment...

Burrito

Before taking a nap, Max requested I wrap him "like a burrito". It must have looked fun because his penguin also asked to be wrapped like a burrito. That was great for about 10 minutes, then I found him paralyzed and on the verge of tears because he couldn't get his thumb in his mouth. The penguin must be a thumb-sucker too, because he also wanted unwrapped.

Happy Holidays!

Kevin's Birthday Trip to Chicago

 

Rachel surprised Kevin with a weekend trip to Chicago for his 31st birthday. We arrived Friday night and met up with our hosts/tour guides/drinking buddies, Kelly and Mike, and headed to Goose Island Brewery. Good food and good beer got our trip off to a good start as we rang in the start of Kevin's 31st year. Kevin and Rachel headed out Saturday morning, had a nice breakfast at a local coffee shop, then headed over to the Museum of Science and Industry for a little culture. After the museum we met up with our friends again and had the BEST deep dish pizza EVER. Five pounds of pizza later, we waddled to Wrigleyville where we did some bar-hopping. We met a very friendly half-naked guy in an ugly Christmas sweater, Rachel distastefully offended a girl in another ugly Christmas sweater, had some birthday shots, and made a Col. Sanders statue blush. It was a great weekend for the birthday boy! Thanks to our hosts, Kelly and Mike, for their hospitality, Windy City knowledge, and clarification on the pronunciation of R"oo"sevelt.

DEEP THOUGHTS by Max

"We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New EAR"

Gingerbread Christmas Tree

Geography Bee

Our 5th grade brainiac was chosen to compete in the annual Bentwood Elementary Geography Bee this year. Before the competition even began, Adrienne had the unlucky pleasure of going FIRST! Each contestant was asked seven world geography questions, one for each round. On one of the latter questions when asked to name the country, Adrienne appeared to be a little unsure of the correct response. As the time limit had almost expired, she blurted out, "Turkey????". Ready to return to her seat, disappointed that it was a question she did not know the answer to, the announcer said, "That is correct!" Everyone in the gym found it quite amusing. Afterward, Kevin asked Adrienne what she was thinking after hearing the question, and Adrienne replied, "I was thinking about Thanksgiving and how we ate turkey, then I remembered that Turkey was a country, so I said Turkey."
Adrienne did an awesome job! She answered four of the very tough seven questions correctly. It wasn't quite enough to send her to the Regional Bee, but we were very impressed and very proud nonetheless.