Hanukkah is here

Hanukkah - It's a wrap!

And some movies...

Happy Hanukkah - Night 1

It was a quick first night of Hanukkah. Karen, the boys, and I were rushing out to the Caps game while Faith got to have girls night in with her favorite babysitter Hannah. Even with the quick candle lighting we left room for a few presents... Yes those are Papa Smurf PJ's courtesy my parents! The kids got books from their favorite authors. They loved them. Reuben and Jacob took one on the metro on the way to the game and just about finished it, though they skipped chapter 1 because it was "too boring."

Steven, Tracy, and Cousin Nathan Visit Virginia

We had a great time visiting with Uncle Steven, Aunt Tracy, and super cute cousin Nathan. We went into to DC on on Saturday to the building museum (which recently hosted the 'emergency' international economic summit). Then in the afternoon our kids got their Hanukkah gifts from Uncle Steven and Aunt Tracy... A super hit as you can see from the movie.

Steven and Tracy even babysat for us Saturday night, so Karen and I could enjoy dinner out. We went to Sushi-ko in DC, a very well regarded Japanese restaurant in the area. It was very good. We then hit Thomas Sweets in Georgetown for some decadent ice cream. Nice night out even though we back home before 10.

Last Night of Hanukkah

Thankfully Hanukkah is over :-) The kids get so may gifts between us and all the wonderful aunts, uncles, and grandparents that they get crazy. Considering all that, the kids were really good tonight though pretty gift giddy.
Tipper really felt left out and was using full sad dog guilt tonight. Fortunately, we were prepared with a great gift for her that she loved. Since we gave Tipper her new bone, I haven't seen her. I'm sure its now somewhere safely buried in the backyard!
And, for Hanukkah and my wedding anniversary I got an XM radio. Looks pretty nice and I'm psyched to try it once the battery charges overnight. Karen's going to get a new wedding ring that she has already picked out.
Enough of the gifts... It has been nice spending all the time together. I've been helping the kids with their Lego sets, played a few rounds of nok-hockey, and even played two games of the Star Wars board game they got. Been nice.

JCC - Hannukah Party

With nothing open on Christmas, the JCC usually hosts a party and this year it also falls on Hanukkah. Karen, Faith, and Jacob went while I stayed home fighting a virus and Reuben needed a rest.




Then is back to opening another set of gifts... click to see the movie
click to see the movie

Also all these pictures and movies were taken with Karen's new camera. She likes it a lot - a Kodak M1033.

Mommy And Daddy Cash In

Night four was our turn to get some goodies...


Yeah. I know goofy face.
I've already played the front nine of Gary Player's Sun City course. Thanks to an easy mode using what the game calls 'All Play' I was under par for the nine holes. It's pretty fun, but I can see on the advanced mode it playing very difficult.

Or course the kids weren't left out either... yes more legos and a castle for Faith's dolls.

Hanukkah Gifts...

Yes another slideshow. Hard to pick just a few pictures.
Today was another Star Wars theme for the boys and doll theme for Faith... I'm sensing a trend :-)

Early Hanukkah

My parents cam for a visit this week to help out around the house and see everyone before they head to Florida for the winter. Soooo we had a an early Hanukkah gift exchange.


Awesome nok-hocky set brings back some great memories.




And a movie of first Nok-Hockey tournament:


And of course the blooper video:

Hanukkah Wrap Up

Hanukkah wrap up. Thankfully Hanukkah is over. The kids get so excited but its hard on them (and us) because all the gift opening is right before bedtime. So they're all tired and then they don't want to go bed, and then the fighting, etc. We still have a few gifts to give out, but I think we will sprinkle them out over the next week or so.
Karen and I also went to the Caps game yesterday with friends Ken and Karen. The tickets were my company's seats, so they were pretty darn good. It was nice to be out with adults for a change ;-)
The hockey game photos were taken with my new cellphone (Samsung Sync). Not too bad for a phone.

Hanukkah Night 5

Quickie tonight. We had a pretty long day with an active morning and then I visit to James and Ginger's this afternoon. I finally had a chance to try his Wii. Its pretty cool. I read an engineering magazine on how it works, so I've been more than curious to try it out. Can't say I'm any good though after going through the Wii Sports training program and rating a Wii age of 69!!

The sports games were very funny. Playing tennis is the training sessions really felt like playing real tennis. I also bowled James' son Quinn. He was off his usually game and only beat me by a few pins. I bowled about 150; not too shabby considering there were many shots I had to alter in order to avoid hitting Faith with a virtual bowling ball (and a not so virtual Wii controller).

Anyway by the time we got home everyone was tired so it was a quick light the candles, open some gifts and off to bed.



Today we opened some very nice gifts from Grandma and Grandpa of New Mexico.





Reuben really loves his new comforter.

Hanukkah Nights 3 & 4

Its nice to be home again. I've gotten home late the past two nights and missed lighting the candles and seeing the kids before bed. So today I got home at reasonable time share Hanukkah with the kids... as well as a couple of our neighbors ;-)


Yesterday, we got about 2 inches of snow and obviously play time outside was needed. Here were Reuben and Faith playing in the snow while Jacob was at his afternoon school. Jacob had his own excitement as his bus skidded on ice and wound up in a ditch on his way home. Everyone was OK, but Jacob sat on the bus for an hour and half before Karen took matters into her own hands and went to get him.

After everyone settled down (mostly Karen as I'm told), they lit the candles and opened presents from Aunt Steph, Uncle Mitch, and cousin Levi.


The kids got some books they really liked (we read Ham and Pickles tonight) as well as Lego's for the boys and dolls for Faith. They were very excited to show me the loot early this morning.

Tonight, we gave them some games and Faith a new stroller. The stroller is off-limits to the boys as they broke the last one riding in it down the driveway!


We couldn't play the games, because they needed to be put together. I wound spending about an hour putting the Guess Who game together. What a pain!!

Hanukkah Night One

Got home a little early tonight for the first night of Hanukkah. And we broke it open big!!

Reuben and Jacob got hot wheel cars and a garage set (I just finished building it, pretty complex which makes it unlikely to last long), and Faith got some dress up clothes.

Then the big gift tonight was from Uncle Mark and Aunt Jess... The Smart Cycle. All the kids were very excited to see it even though they had no idea what it was; they knew it was big and big is usually good. Anyway, they played it for awhile tonight and really like it. It may even help Faith learn to peddle a real bike.

The Gifts Keep Coming

We're still giving out gifts... Today it was some puzzles, meant to be one of the small gifts for the low key Hanukkah middle nights. Turned out there were no such low key nights; though we did miss a couple of nights of gifts for various reasons.

Here is Faith making a candelabra with her new building toy. She then accurately called it a menorah.

And, here is Jacob and Reuben with their completed puzzles. They were pretty complex and they knew it. They were very proud to show me them when I got home from work.

Reuben is still coughing a lot. He also is congested and I think the congestion is in his chest. I had to steam up the bathroom for him again tonight and he just recently settled down and pretty much stopped coughing in bed. Notice how red his cheeks are in the picture, not sure I understand that symptom. Hopefully we'll find out more tomorrow when he sees the doctor.

At The Park

This morning we met our friends James and Ginger at a park near their house. James was late in arriving, said to showering. He did look exceptionally clean, so I have no reason to doubt the story. The kids mostly played by themselves or with their respective siblings. However, after about 30 minutes or so, there started to be some interaction. It didn't last long as Jacob's stomach wasn't feeling well, so we headed home. He's been fine, so hopefully it was a false alarm. Behind the scenes at Statistically Insignificant Musings Actually, it was Reuben who had to go the doctor today. His asthma has kicked up and once he starts coughing he doesn't stop until he gets an inhaled steroid. Today it took 2 doses in only few hours, so the doctor wanted to see him. He's now on a liquid steroid for a prescribed cycle rather than on the as needed basis with the inhaler. While Reuben was at the doctor, I broke out an ungifted Hanukkah present from Uncle Steven and Aunt Tracy, knowing it would occupy Jacob and Faith for long while. Jacob especially loves Gears!Gears!Gears! We still have a bunch of gifts still to open. But, they are still overwhelmed with all the new toys.