Christmas Card Photo shoot Out takes

I never thought I would become one of those parents that set up a "photo shoot" for their annual Christmas card. But I have indeed, become one of those parents. Although, at least up until this point, it is strictly limited to photos of my child ;)

We decided that we had reached last minute status on our card for this year, which we had, last weekend and proceeded to dress Markus Kari up in his finest duds and go for it. After about 20 minutes of shooting, with minimal, yet palpable angst, we got a usable shot. Here are some out takes from the experience:

DuPage Children's Museum, Naperville, Il

Markus Kari, Pabbi, Pops, Rob, Ethan, Ben and Christopher had a great time playing at the children's museum during our recent trip to Chicago. Meanwhile, the chicks did some pretty good shopping in the cute center nearby.

Markus was absolutely amazed by this pipe that shot out air and balanced a ball. I really wish I would have been there to see his priceless reaction, but the video will have to suffice.

And how cool are the giant Tinkertoys!?!  I'm not sure what his reaction was once he realized that he was built into his complex fort, but I think he had a helluva time during the process :)

Sorry about the sideways video...I'm too lazy to figure out how to rotate it on iMovie. Lame, I know...

Markus Kari's First NBA Game!

Pabbi took Markus Kari to his first NY Knicks game a few weeks ago. It went as well as one would imagine an outing to a professional sporting event with a 2 year old would go. The boys left at about 4:30 while mamma was getting her nails done and came home at about 8:00. They made it around an hour + at the game itself and took the PATH to and from the game. Markus enjoyed the action and clapping with the crowd and pretty much hated the time outs...

I think his favorite part of the whole thing were the cracker jacks, but his father will make him a basketball ball fan soon enough!!!

Here are some photos of their big night:

GOBAMA!!!

The family is waiting nervously to begin watching election coverage tonight. We are all so hopeful, but at the same time, scared!! Get out there and vote and vote for change!!

Cutest Bath EVER!

Ari and Co Come to the 'Boken!

My broski Ari, his wife Kristin and their girls Katrin (almost 4) and Isol (almost 1) came for a visit in September and I am finally posting photos and videos now! It's so amazing to get these kids together and see how much fun they have despite their age differences. I know we're going to have many fun family vacations in the years to come!

plant

Since I was posting about the bouquet, I decided to go full on dork mode and share a pic or two of my favorite plant on our porch (or deck, or balcony, or terrace, or whatever it is!). 

It's a happy plant:

Pabbi Rocks!

Mr Bubbles

Markus Kari's Crown

Our dear friend Amanda from Boston (or now it's Natick!) sent Markus a lovely handmade on-of-a-kind crown for his birthday. First of all, let me say just how impressed I am at her handiwork! Secondly, Markus says "takk!". Since he isn't a big fan of hats, it was a fun surprise how much he really enjoyed wearing it...he loved it! Here's some proof below:

AWESOME

You gotta love it when these little ones start talking more. It is an absolutely amazing experience. Here's some footage of just that...and some questionable Lady/James action ;)

   

Trip to Central Park Zoo

We spent a bit of our Labor Day Weekend on a trip to Central Park with a stop at the zoo. This was Markus' first time at a "big kids" zoo where he truly enjoyed seeing all of the animals. It was a lovely day with Pabbi, Mamma and Amma :)

Markus Kari at the Water Park

One thing that has to be said for Hoboken is that it has an abundance of really great playgrounds for the kiddies. One, in particular, that is very popular in the summer months is the Madison water playground. It gets annoyingly crowded during the mornings and earlier afternoons with many of the area summer programs making use of the facilities to occupy their time.

Here is a video of Markus having some good times there the other day:

All Points West

We headed to the All Points West Music and Arts Festival on Friday evening to check out Radiohead. Despite some rain early on, it ended up being a beautiful evening. The Radiohead set design was awesome and they put on a really good show...

B-Day weekend Outings

Pabbi did a great job taking photos during our park outing on Saturday. Despite some serious trips that resulted in some big fat lips and out of character crankiness, we all managed to have a good time...

I Love Pablo!

Aunt Janna sent Markus a Pablo doll for his b-day. Markus looooves Pablo....

He used to say "Paplo" but he's pretty much got it down now :)

Takk, aunt Janna!

xo,

MK

Some Pre-Party Wii Action

The Kempers were the first to arrive to Markus' b-day shindig and the boys decided to get their Wii on before the other's arrived. As it turned out, this was just the thing to capture the attention of Markus and Stella...check it out:

B-Day Party Pics