Basketball

Derek's jersey is the only one blurred because he's the only one fidgeting during the pregame gathering

Derek's jersey is the only one not blurred because he's the only one NOT moving during the game

OK,OK, I'll Update

Helen's parents play some Ravin Rabbids on the Wii with the boys

Derek at Adam's basketball game

Enjoying Nanna's gingerbread house with nieces Lindsay and Brooke

Adam at his best friend Evan's birthday party

After dinner dessert creation

The boys kept bothering me to buy some tape for their hockey sticks

Adam shows off his latest Lego triumph

Derek gets ready to practice skating - he wants to play hockey in the Fall

It's been the usual crazy schedule around here. Helen and the boys have been bugging me to update the Blog so they can find out what's happening in their life.

We're all healthy and back to our normal routines. Helen even seems committed to getting in a regular workout before work - go girl!

The boys are playing basketball. They seem to really enjoy it and their teams are good which helps. Adam is doing really well and is usually the top scorer on his team.

Helen is busy with school and trying to figure out how she's going to cover everything and still take off for our ski trip next month.

I'm in the middle of my USTA tennis season (it's been really cold for tennis) and trying to do all the various projects I happen to be into. I spent a lot of time over the holidays tweaking my computer backup, photo, video strategy and fooling with my new camera. Recently I've been planning our ski and beach trips and rolling out a new online court reservation system for our swim\tennis club. And, as always, trying to focus enough on my real job not to get fired.

Helen and the boys were off for MLK day (I was not). Over dinner, Derek told us that he was going to get a job where he got all the holidays off and didn't have to slave like Daddy. Helen laughed.

BTW, what a great thing it was to see all the excitement around the Obama inauguration.

Holiday Catchup

Can't wait to see what Santa brought

Lego Star Wars Destroyer...yes!!!

Lego Castle and more knights...yeah!

Finally...the whip I've been wanting since I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark

Bakugans too!

The holidays are over and it's back to the real world. I try to take the 2 weeks off during the holidays each year since Helen and the kids are off from school. It's always a great time for us.

It's hectic with family get togethers, parties, and other things, but we also managed to chill quite a bit and de-stress. For the first week we were all trying to overcome the cold\sinus infection\general crud sickness that has been plaguing us. We got out some and did a little shopping to get the holiday feel. Helen always likes to bake and did quite a bit of that. We also watched a lot of movies, had board game nights, and Wii nights, and ate out a bunch. The weather was pretty rainy, but that was OK with us. There were many days where we all hung out in our pajamas for most of the day and just piddled around. It was nice not having to rush around to various activities.

We tackled a number of projects. Helen got rid of a bunch of clothes and cleaned out her closet. I got my car (94 Legend) painted so it's good to go another 5 or 10 years. There were several other small projects as well, but there were still many things we didn't get to...like sending out holiday cards (sorry).

We hope everyone had a nice holiday and that you all have a great 2009.