Opus & Captain Cook

First off - please ignore the date on the pics.. I got a new camera & don't really know how to work it..
SO!
I have to say - This was one of the top 3 coolest days of my life..
(kids being born each get a day - this ranked #3 on the neato-ometer)

Dan's boss's son is a fancy-schmancy movie producer.. or something along the lines of that.. I'm not really all that sure...
SO, one way or another - he's got his hands on some penguins for a movie they just finished filming - and asked his father if he wanted to make a trip to NYC to play with the little flightless birdies.
In turn - Dan's boss invited the kids & us to come & see.. because honestly, when would you ever get to play with penguins.
The most I can hope for is the kids remember the cool day they got to hang out in a fishy smelling freezer in Brooklyn & play penguins.

I really couldn't get over their little tushies.. I wanted to grab that little nubbin tail..

and I thought that was my favorite penguin feature -

until we went thru and looked at all the picture - and I discovered the bottoms of their little feet are black

Black little footprints SO outranks a little nubbin tail any day!

but the tail was pretty cute

These little buggers were so nosey - I was in heaven!!

They're especially lucky I didn't grab one & hug it..

maybe if they got one penguin step closer I would have

The really followed the bucket of fish around..

funny how that works

They each had a little band on their wingie that let you know who was who..

and for the love of ivy - I don't know why I didn't ask if they had names..

(probably because I'd be heartbroken if the penguin-guy told me "This one is Orange, this one is Green, this one is YellowStripes..")

So they would mooch a few fishies..

pose for a few photos...

then hop into their little pool for a swim..

then rinse & repeat...

I have to say - there's not much better than a penguin walking by with his little wingies out for balance...

Both kids were a little nervous at first, when the guy comes over with the bucket of fish -

so do 10 eager penguins.. which can be a little intimadating for a kid..

but once they saw these guys had no interest in their toddler fingers - they warmed up to them

(As much as a kid can warm up in a refridgerated box car)

Girl explaining to Dan "Daddy, they're smelly"

Fish guy

Once the fishies were all gobbled ... this guy just hung out & waited nicely

and once all the fishies were gobbled -

I knew they would come over at the slightest sign of food..

I figured one of two things could happen:

1) The penguin would chomp my finger & not hurt because honestly - I didn't think they had teeth.. sort of the same concept as the chickens..

2) The penguins would have ferocious teeth - and I would walk around for the rest of my life with a nub.. but I would be able to tell people a penguin bit my finger off.

it was a win win

no teeth

The second the boy saw there were no teeth in the equation -

he decided he was the alpha-bird

closer

a little closer

one step more...

Sadly - girl wasn't feeling it -

most of the pics I have of her.. are of a blur of white hat leaving the shot

Visit

Mooch

Swim

repeat

with a mooch mooch here -

and a mooch mooch there....

Dental Glory!!

After much planning - we decided to re-reattempt the dentist

Girl was sure to do extensive research on the topic...

a little de-stressing time before we went in with the Mr Potatoheads

And then into the chair!

Girl was pleased that the shades & the bib matched her carefully picked-out dentist attire

And onto the dirty work -

NOTE: We've never made it this far before..

Teeth counted & checked out like a pro!

..see bear close at hand

fabulous

she got a full polish with the power tools & everything!!!

she even survived the Mr.ThirstySlurpy straw

She even got the full fluoride treatment!!!

She immediately went to the toy chest & got her share of loot -

but couldn't resist a picture next to the huge toothbrush!

Who has two thumbs and loves the dentist??!?!!?

so pleased

New Moves

The boy's got some new moves..

and I don't mean messing up the living room in 4 1/2 seconds flat - while stripping out of all his clothes...

he's finally started dancing with his arms, which you think would allow him a little more balance. But alas, no balance here.

December in a pinch

As usual- December was a blur..

Lets see if I can stuff an entire month into one post, while keeping everything in order.

Girl & I started off the month with a trip to the mall, and for some odd reason- Dan & Luke didn't want to join us.

Towards the end of the trip - girl was wishing she stayed home as well. When I stood in crazy lines, girl found a peaceful spot to take a break. She also sat down after my numerous requests to PLEASE NOT TOUCH THE CRYSTAL!

Boy stayed home & traumatized the cat in his newest hiding spot.

It seemed like the trip to see santa was going to turn out ok.

***INSERT PIC OF BOY SCREAMING ON SANTA'S LAP HERE***

After a terrorizing first trip to Santa - I thought it would be best to take a little breather before our second attempt. We got some candy - hit up build-a-bear - and tried again.

Much better this time -- and the kids are really starting to enjoy a good bribe.

ON TO THE COOKIES!
We made an obscene amount of cookies -and some obscenely bright icing - and spent the entire Christmas-eve-eve coating the kitchen in sugar.

If girl has taught me anything - it is to put her hair up into a ponytail because icing/sugar in hair creates THE WORST hair-brushing experience for everyone. Please pardon the crazy girl hair-do.

Boy has his collar popped at all times

**INSERT CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER HERE**

fun times had by all - too much food had by all.

and on to the REAL Christmas eve!!

Santa was quite a slob with the cookies.

and who ever heard of a reindeer that couldn't finish a baby carrot?!?

Christmas morning - we picked up the wrapping paper as we went - and put everything in nice piles of Girl toys / Boy toys as we went.

And mid-morning- we put everything BACK in the nice piles...

but after a while -we just let the stuff sit out, figuring it would be easiest to just make a path after they went to bed.

LEFTOVERS BABY!

Boy was VERY happy to have an entire bucket of veggies all to himself!

and girl attacked the pepperoni & salami like it was her job


Next was the snow.

Fred was less that pleased. This was as far as his adventures took him. Poor guy is getting old and quite frankly, can't be bothered by much.

SNOWDAY!!

for some reason - all these pictures look like they were taken at dusk -

when actually -it was a bright sunny day.

?

who knows

The first snowball of the year

(I think it goes without saying that boy got hit with it..)

When we finally put the kabosh on the snowball throwing -

girl decided to throw sticks..

...which quickly got the kabosh also.

Now, considering we live in the middle of nowhere - we had a few snowdrift issues..

Parts of the yard still had grass visible.
Other parts of the yard had three feet of snow

the kids insisted on scaling the big mounds of snow - regardless of how snow-coated their feet were INSIDE their boots.

Knee deep

Thigh deep

Girl discovered the beauty of a slick icy slide

and the pain of an icy slide

proof of the time of day -

Boy continued his snow-sprints while girl gave daddy a back-to-work-after-lunch-smooch

I guess boy didn't see the snowbank coming.. and took a spill while girl tried to figure out how to get around it

Happy boy

You can't really tell.. but the little blob of arm that is sticking out between boy's jacket & glove... was the brightest red EVER

If I thought his cheeks were rosy - oye - the wrist chub was crimson!

girl found the end of her snow tolerace purty quick

and when I say purty quick...

it was a FAST transition from

'Let's go in now'

to

absolute pathetic 'I'll just die if I don't get inside this instant'

COCOA!!
with marshmallows of course

see previous statement regarding girl & a ponytail when food is involved

While boy tries to say cheese for a nice picture - girl stuffed a gigantic mallow in her mouth

delicate baby sips..

...which quickly turn into piggy bites

I really like the way the sun glistens off the snot dripping out of the boy's nose...
just lovely

Girl - as quickly as possible- downed her cocoa & sprinted into the other room to play with her toys before the buzz was gone -

while boy slowly enjoyed the moment.

I had to get a dry nose picture to make up for the other one...

From the evening of leftovers:

Boy was telling me how he's not scared to try new foods now that he's three.

I didn't know it was so frightening - but whatever -

if we can expand his menu to anything beside chicken nuggets, toast, broccoli & hummus

I'LL TAKE IT