christmas eve fun

the keenans spent christmas eve solo this year (so that the kiddos could wake up in thier own house/beds). at first, mom thought it might be a tad ho-hum, but it ended up being an absolute blast. the kids are at GREAT ages for the whole santa thing and they were as cute as can be, singing christmas carols and being extra good. here's how the eve unfolded:

a little play time in boxes (random, but cute nonetheless):
making (vegan...no milk, eggs, or butter but still pretty yummy) cookies for santa.
rolling the sicilian white cookie balls

while the cookies cooled after baking, the keenans took a trip to see the awesome christmas display at the millis wonderland. it was amazing and we got in with barely any wait! funny enough, though it was only 5:30 when we went, both kids fell asleep on the short drive there. we literally had to shake zack awake to see the lights!

back home -- time for some glaze and sprinkles!

we then began our annual (?) "making homemade popcorn" ritual. it's where we make homemade popcorn (the old fashioned way, in a pot) and eat it. what does this have to do with christmas? you'll have to ask tim, who came up with the idea. unfortunately, we have no photos of this exciting event ;)

ready for bed, out tiniest elf leaves cookies for santa and lettuce (all we had in the house...) for the reindeer.
mom and dad ordered sushi in and had a wonderful, relaxing evening. perfect prelude to what will be a busy christmas day.

merriest of christmases to all!

TP

each day, while in the restrom, zack unrolls and rerolls the toilet paper. we appreciate the fact that he rolls it up but it makes it a tad difficult to use. silly zack!

coach

penny is refusing to wear a diaper this afternoon, so we're doing a mini potty training session. zack has been coaching her through the process, even sitting next to her so she doesn't get bored. he even insisted that she borrow some of his undies. :)

dentist!

zack went to the dentist this past weekend for his first cleaning. he did awesome! on a scale of 1-4 (4 being the best in terms of behavior / dealing with it), zack scored a 4. much better than the last visit that mom took him to, where he actually managed to score a 0!

urban planner

a not-so-tall tale

we got a tree last sunday.

zack picked it out. it was a little tree but looked pretty good.
since you can't take the first tree you set eyes on, we walked around to check out some more.
...and more...
...and more.
but we ended up back where we started,, with zack's tree (tied to the roof since we forgot to empty out the trunk)
oops! dad forgot we had a tree on top of the car and pulled into the garage. it made some scratching noises. looks kinda puny on our car.
but the tree was still perfect.
maybe we should have zack make more of our decisions.
merry christmas.

special visit

the keenans had a special visit from "auntie" tara and "uncle" ryan last weekend. they are due in may with their first baby and her baby bump could not be any cuter. penny thought so too, obviously. the kiddos loved playing with tara and ryan, especially with uncle ryan and his basketball belly baby!

uh oh! looks painful, ryan!
dr. penny (in scrubs, of course) checks the situation out.
zack really wants his ball back!

happy thanksgiving!

nothing says "happy thanksgiving" like some nagging from relatives that you don't update the blog enough. well, you guys are right. here you go and thanks for a top-notch turkey day!

the day started off by tim, pen, and zack taking a trip up to boston to pick up grandpa keenan at the airport. they got in a bit of play time before we headed to grampy and nonnie's for some yummy dinner and great company.

penny shows "abba dabba" her fishing puzzle...
...and then teaches him how to play. :)
of course, zack & penny have to sneak in some art time today (like any other day)...sharing the paper so nicely

let the festivities begin! little monkey penny refused to wear the special thanksgiving dress i had bought her, so she wore one of her old favorites.
uncle john shows his love for annie.
the shicko clan.
and the keenans (with both kids almost looking). penny, of course is being her silly self and making a "fish face".

happy thanksgiving everyone! and thanks for being nice enough to have read this far! :)

a success!

penny sues birthday was a great one. we have a happy little 2-year old on our hands. :)

you're two, penny sue!

a look back at the past year with our darling penelope...

happy halloween!

hope you all had a terrific halloween! thanks to some great neighbors, zack & penny were able to trick or treat safely (not easy with severe allergies to all nuts, no dairy, etc). luckily, three houses were enough for these two! they were terrified by anything remotely scary....too cute!

busy day for penny

penny had an er....eventful day. first, she did #2 during her afternoon crib-time (she's decided she's no longer a napper). this in and of itself isn't news, but she decided to keep me on my toes by taking off her sleepsack AND diaper. so, that was interesting. when i asked penny what happened she exclaimed "eeew! it was a stinky poopie!". then, before her bath, she decided to go peepee on the potty for the very first time. perhaps she's telling us something? dreaming of a diaper-free household!

this pic of penny is from june, when we were potty training zack. she doesn't like feeling left out, so we indulged her a bit.

oh my goodness!

this video cracks me up.

what a weekend, part 1

this past weekend was certainly action-packed. so action-packed, in fact, that it takes up two posts. on saturday, we started the weekend off with a bang by picking up grandpa keenan ("abba dabba") at the airport. later, meme, papa, grampy, and nonnie came over for a joint b-day celebration for both zack & penny. here are some pics from the party. zack's favorite part had to be the monkey cupcakes, which he nearly downed in one bite!

fun on the swings with nonnie

mom helps z & p open their gifts

penny tries out her new mop and cleaning gloves :)

the whole gang says hello (minus tim, the cameraman)

goofing around with abba dabba in the tent

the whole family takes a break to watch a bit of "shrek"

you can't go wrong with monkey cupcakes

what a weekend, part 2

on sunday zack, penny, mom and dad had a great breakfast at miss mendon diner. afterwards, we had a lovely time taking a hayride and going pumpkin picking at tangerini's farm. the highlight of the weekend, however (at least for mom), was on monday. mom ran in the tufts 10K for women and her favorite keenans came to cheer her on.

ready for the hay ride!
zack & abba dabba
penny picks a pumpkin that's as tiny as she is
race day! penny looks for mom among the sea of legs.
there they are! (laura with friends jenn, melissa, and sam)
here I go! (taken by our friend karen at the harvard bridge)

while mom runs, the kids enjoy the carousel in boston common

penny & abba dabba at the post-race lunch
we need a beer!
zack gives a "thumbs up"!