a moment of brotherly love...

...admittedly hatched by our newfound admiration for a little dude named Peep.

turkeys

WYN: Hey look, someone's checking out our blog to see how our Thanksgiving went! Hello there, kind friend or family member. Welcome back. It's so good of you to--
ZAK: [THROUGH TEETH] Don't tell 'em we spent most of the time acting like crabby little stinkers with no capacity for reason or common human decency.
WYN: Our Thanksgiving was wonderful. And by the way we were not at all crabby, stinky, unreasonable, inhuman or indecent at any point during the long holiday weekend.
ZAK: Cheese!


It was (honestly) a thrill to hang out with some of our favorite relatives. We enjoyed entertaining these two in particular and trying to make them laugh and laugh. For the record, Grandma's an easier audience.


Here are Zak and Daddy hamming it up...or is that turkeying it up?


We were so excited to see Aunt Katherine, we couldn't sit still.


KT: Where'd they go?


As usual, our new cousin out-cuted us all. Really, who can compete with someone who wears little tiny socks that look like shoes?


Speaking of fancy footwear, on Saturday we trekked over to Yorktown Center for a little bowling action. We simply couldn't think of anything else to do at a shopping mall the weekend after Thanksgiving.


Here I am explaining the concept of potential energy to Uncle Stephan. For the fifth time that day.


Mom thinks this bowling thing should become a new Thanksgiving family tradition: the ladies sit and watch while the boys do all the work! (wink wink)



After turning in our stylin' bowling shoes, we headed over to Ed Debevic's restaurant so we could try on some cool hats.


Grandma got in on the hat action too, after we all assured her that Ed's wait staff is supposed to be crabby, stinky, unreasonable, inhuman and indecent (sound familiar?).


The time went by way too quickly, and we were sorry to see Grandma and Aunt KT leave. Well, we'll always have memories of Daddy offering me more peas ("No thanks! I gotta go!"), blow-drying ceramics, Sam wondering aloud if his dad is a turkey, the wonder of car-nivores, and many more. Hugs and kisses to you all!

grandma betty!

As a special pre-Thanksgiving treat, Grandma Betty flew in last weekend for a visit. So naturally we wasted no time sitting her down and showing her what to get us for Christmas.


We spent most of the day Sunday exploring the holiday sights and sounds in downtown Chicago. While Grandma and Mom visited a few stores, we asked Daddy if our tree is going to be as big as this one.


Time for a cookie break! This is when Mom and Dad learned that sweaters and chocolate do not necessarily mix. Mmmm...gooey.


This was definitely our favorite part of the day: a giant holiday train display in the John Hancock building. It blew our minds.


Once Grandma, Mom and Dad dragged us away from the trains, we took our first trip up to the 94th floor of "Big John." The view of all the cars, trucks, taxis and buses below was amazing, and we were excited to share the experience with Grandma. However, we were not excited to pose for a picture memorializing said experience.


"Can we go back to see the trains now?"


Nothing caps off a long day of sightseeing like an apple that's fallen on the floor repeatedly. And nothing makes us happier than spending time with our family. Thank you for visiting Grandma Betty! We can't wait to see you and everyone else at Christmas.

hug monsters

hallllllooooweeeeeeeen

Look, ma! It's raining cats and dogs! No, really it's just Zak and me on our way to our school's Halloween party. We really got into character, barking and meowing and, yes, licking. Fortunately we limited the licking part to Mom and Dad and each other. And lollipops. Oh, and Reese's peanut butter cups. More on that in a moment.


Our costumes were so cute and cuddly, we had to stop periodically to hug each other.


Here's a good shot of the two best features of Zak's costume: floppy ears and tail.


Our preschool party was great fun, even if we got a little sweaty running around in our costumes. It was worth it.


Woof!


Meow!


Here we are on the first leg of our trick-or-treating tour. We caught on this year to what all the fuss is about with going door to door. CANDY!


Here I am after a particularly fruitful stop.


Where'd Zak's head go?


Phew! There it is. For the second leg of our trick-or-treating tour, we headed over to our cousins' house. It was spooktacular!


Here we all are experiencing the simple joy of a lollipop.


Later we headed back home for what turned out to be a big thrill: handing out the candy to other people. Who would've thought that sharing could be so fun? Whenever someone passed our house, we yelled "Come this way! This way! This way!" just so we could hand out some more.

Our favorite candy? Reese's peanut butter cups. They look like wheels. And there's no wrong way to eat them! Including Zak's method: licking them for approximately 30 minutes, resulting in chocolate-covered hands and face and a naked lump of peanut butter. Yummmm...