"Cause That's What Brian Boitano'd Do..."

We took Henry ice skating last week with his cousin Natalie (an expert ice skater, btw...don't ever challenge her to a best two-out-0f-three races across the ice...just sayin'). You may recall that Henry's been pretending to ice skate since the Winter Olympics, so this was a pretty big thrill for him. It was also the perfect opportunity to wear his new scarf!

There was a lot of slipping and sliding...

...and a couple of falls (that were as much fun as remaining upright)...

...but by the end, he was doing pretty well as long as we held on to him.

In the video below, Henry shows his off his double axle / triple lutz / double loop / double toe loop / triple Salchow. It all happens so fast, you really can't even see it.

Eight Crazy Nights

This month, we celebrated Claire's first Hanukkah -- and the first in our new house! Claire briefly paid attention to the candles and that was about it. Henry, on the other hand, was all in.

Here, he takes an opportunity to study a toy catalog. This is not a staged picture, I promise. He really does like to take his time on the potty. He comes by this trait honestly.

Ryanansky came over to light the candles one night (while his new baby sister was being born). He got a guitar, so now he and Henry can jam.

One of the biggest things on Henry's wish list was a scarf. (Yes, a scarf...we think because his stuffed bear wears one.)

21st Century Shabbat: Henry says the blessings while Pop and Gran Gran join in via Skype.

Claire enjoys one of her gifts -- Sophie the Giraffe. What's the difference between Sophie and a dog toy, you ask? Marketing. But she does love it.

Apples and Oranges?

Henry and Claire don't look very much alike now. But we were curious to see how Claire compares to Henry at five months. So...this first picture was taken of Henry in June 2007. The second picture is of Claire two weeks ago. Other than smiley faces and general cuteness, I don't see a lot of similarities. But you may disagree.

Five Spot!

Giving Thanks

We traveled to Chapel Hill again this year for Thanksgiving--Claire's first! As the picture above shows, she was often the center of attention.

Of course, sometimes she shared the spotlight with Javy.

We didn't make it to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year...so why not dress up like one of its biggest attractions?

Even though we had a very casual Thanksgiving meal, Claire decided to dress up for the occasion.

She bonded with Aliza and will no doubt be asking her for fashion advice soon.

With Grandpa Marty

Uncle Scott thought he had told a funny story, but Claire disagreed.

* Thanks to Emmy for helping with this blog update!

Photo Dump

Once again, I've been delinquent in posting new pictures. So to catch up, I present the following random assortment...

Looking deep into Grandpa's eyes

She doesn't do much eating in it yet, but Claire now joins us for dinner in her high chair!

This thing is a lot of fun...

...but not nearly as much fun as when Pants-less Henry Claus is around.

This is a picture of Henry "emailing" his teachers to invite them over for dinner. His idea.

Two Buzzes are better than one, especially when playing football.

In this video, Henry tries to entertain Claire, but ends up once again creating potential future blackmail material:

Four Months (and Lazy Blogging)

This is pretty tardy since she'll be five months old in a couple of weeks, but here are pics of Claire on her four-month birthday. The first two were taken in the Grove (she's still a little too young for a sun dress) and the third one back in her PJs at Gran Gran and Pop's house.

More Cowbell

Claire spent her first Halloween as a cow -- Claire-a-Belle Cow! She strolled around our street for a while watching Henry knock on doors, then helped greet trick-or-treaters at our door before calling it a night.

Henry of course was Buzz Lightyear. He's obviously a method actor because he's been practicing that role around our house for months. This is a picture of Buzz rescuing Claire-a-Belle from our already-rotting jack-o-lantern.

Turn on the charm, kids -- there's candy to be had!

Power couple! Henry poses with his good friend and next-door neighbor, Jacqueline. This is our official entry into the sweetest-picture-of-the-year contest.

Henry regales us with his own Halloween carol, which I would guess he calls "Halloween Is Very Special in the Night." It has approximately ten verses, but all of them sound pretty much like this.

Smile!

It's gotten a lot easier to capture Claire's smile lately

Looks like these two were just caught red-handed

She speaks (and, at the :21 second mark, meows)...

Apple Pickin' and Corn Mazin'

Last weekend, we had some outdoor fun, October-style. We headed up to North Georgia for some apple picking with Henry's friend Ryan. And on the way back, we hit a corn maze!

Eating the profits

Looks like a keeper

Alexis looks like she's worked in an apple orchard all her life

The entire apple-picking experience was made possible by the Baby Bjorn

What do you do when your peck (we really did pick a peck) of apples is full? Obviously, you put some apples on top of a box, grab some sticks and have at it.

After drinking apple cider and muscadine slushies and eating fried apple pies and apple fritters (and observing how lucrative the apple-based tourism business is this time of year), we headed down the road to Uncle Shuck's corn maze! As you can see, the maze itself is quite impressive. In fact, you'd never know from this picture that Uncle Shuck also affords visitors the opportunity to shoot corn cobs through a pneumatic PVC-pipe cannon at a rusted-out 1988 Ford Escort.

Navigating the maze

Looking at the map, it appears we took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

They dole out justice the old fashioned way in North Georgia...or at least at Uncle Shuck's.

Oktoberfest

Claire's stomach issues have gotten much better and she is a lot happier as a result. She even had her first true laugh the other day. Here, she spends some quality time with Grandma.

Claire and Henry with cousin Luigi...and a dog toy

Henry is prepared to play Memory with our friend Jonathan, even if the lights go out.

October = pumpkins!

Claire doesn't yet know how to make a silly face.