"Open It!!" 2008

Hello Everyone,

This is Kevin. I've decided to take over this blog's narrative . . . because I can. The Sharpenberg's are at home, recovering from the plague (flu) and holiday travel, and getting ready for a trip to Europe starting on the 19th. Christmas and New Years were great, and thank you to all of those that made time to see us among all the holiday business. Anyway, we hope you like the pictures below from our Chicago trip.

We started in the airport, praying that the snow gods would let us leave. At least Connor got a chance to run around the airport, check out the seating, and make some friends playing ball.


We made it to Chicago 4 hours later than planned, but early enough for Connor to get some play time in before bed.

He, of course, didn't sit around for many pictures.

Se spent Christmas Eve at my brother's place in Wheaton. They did a great thing bringing us all together, decorating, cooking hosting, etc.

Connor found some of his cousin's toys to play with before he opened his own. He also likes my shoes.

After eating dinner, we started opening gifts. Ryan and Josh did a good job handing out the gifts. "One of yours for you, one of yours for me . . ."

Connor had perfected a new phrase when we did our Seattle gift opening the week prior, "OPEN IT!!". He whipped out that phrase again on Christmas Eve, "Open it open it open it!!".

My brother Brandon could heard from the street yelling the same thing, "Open it!!"

Connor went back for desert after gifts had been opened. I think he's a little sugar doped here.

Don't you dare look at my cookie that way!

Connor and Oma spent some quality time together during the trip. Here they're watching a promotional clip to Vegetales: Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. Maybe 50 repeats on the promo Mom?

During the trip, we even managed to drive up to Madison, WI and visit Brian and Laura Pfleger. I think Connor is considering ending his own life here. "Too many hours in a car!!" I'll pull the trigger, I swear!

Ah, back from Wisconsin. Mom, what's with the funny look at Connor?

And she goes in for the kiss. It's okay, Connor isn't old enough to know he should be embarrassed.
TV is mind control.


Connor got a chance to see his buddy Jack again during the trip. Kim was good enough to bring Jack to Glenview, and even managed to get a few words in with Tanya to catch up.

And then the boys did this. We don't talk about it. Good collateral for the high school days to come.

Chocolate cake. Connor, can you say aaahhhhhhhh. Open big like Daddy.

Do you think Connor likes cake?

Yup, Connor likes chocolate cake. Why does this picture remind me of Chris Farley?



What!! A tent in the living room? Man Oma, how are we going to reign Connor in when we get back to Washington? Yes Connor, you can go in.

Boooooo!! You snooze, you lose Connor. To the victor go the spoils.

Okay, I'll share. I guess a dad should share, right?

Yes Connor, I'll climb through the green parental torture device.

Good job buddy! You fit a little better than Daddy.

Yes, you are cute Connor. No, we can't take this living room circus home with us.

But, we can make Mommy do it too :)

Stormwatch 2008!!

Happy Holidays Everyone!! Some of you may have heard that we got snow in Seattle. Well, we got a lot of snow :) School was out, Dad had to work from home, and I got to watch the kids from our neighborhood snow down the hill in front of our house and slam into our garage doors (Dad's favorite).

Here's the view from our front door. People are sledding in the street, but we live on the far end of a community with only 2 ways in, so there's very little traffic here. And, it gives Darwin's theory of the fittest a chance to work for those kids that don't know how to dodge cars. . .
I got some good opportunities to play with our next door neighbor kids, Marcus and Clare.

That's Clare on the left, and Mackenzie is on the right. Hello ladies :)

Even when I wasn't outside, I could watch the action from our living room couch. It also gave Dad a chance to daydream about getting a bee bee gun for Christmas and target shooting garage door hitters from the front stoop.

Oh man, all that activity outside makes me tired.

Back outside again. I like snow soccer, and eating snow.

Jack and Aunt Naynay got in on the action too. Good thing we didn't lose Jack in the deep snow :)

Boise Thanksgiving

Hello Folks,

Time to reminisce about our Idaho-ian Thanksgiving. I believe we had 16 beautiful souls under one roof. It made it feel like the hospital nursery all over again. Anyway, a picture is worth a thousand words, so let's go through a couple thousands of words worth . . .

Me and Tina-Bob. It had been a while since I got to see them, so we were all a little emotional.

Uncle Ian and Auntie NayNay made the trip too. Can you believe the quality of this picture. Almost makes you want to suggest Ian-NayNay steal Brooke and keep this little family unit going. Of course, that makes me think of the kind of response Brooke's mom Julie would have, like that of a mother Grizzly bear tearing apart campers that get to close to her cubs.

There was some question as to whether Bob's head was screwed on tight, so Brooke decided to check, starting with Bob's nose.

I did decide to rest from time to time. Gramma is comfy.

But, I don't mind napping on my own too. It's never a bad time to keep a fashionable profile and cross one's legs.

The Andre girls with their dad. They just look so nice. I can't make any wise cracks :(

Hewwo! Did you know that pants have pockets?

Thanksgiving dinner was a nice spread! Doesn't everything look Pottery Barney?

Olives! Best served over an array of phalanges.

Flying squirrel!! Batman? Oh, it's Drew. That boy has got skills.

Check out Drew's smile. Trust me, his natural smile is much different.

Santa. Santa? Scary big dude in a red suit!!!!

CandycaneCandycaneCandycaneCandycaneCandycaneCandycaneCandycaneCandycane!

Now I feel better.

The family portrait. This time Eric is missing.

I'm ready to race! Where are we going?

The Scharpenberg men at the park. We like to race horses.

Man, the ladies in Idaho are so friendly. Yes my dear, you may put your arm around my shoulder. . .

And yes drew, you may also put your arm around my shoulder. Look natural, huh?

I honestly don't know what happened here. Brooke just looks cute. Drew makes it look like there is a big fudge brownie off screen that he is dying to eat. Me, I look like a 90 year old man that has lost his teeth after a couple days of sleep deprivation.

I'm cute. Gotta love me :)

ENGAGED!!!!!

No, not me (I'm still FAR too young for such a commitment)...Aunt Nay Nay and Een!!! Een popped the big question on Saturday and Nay Nay said yes. Yay Nay Nay and Een!

Halloween in December???

Hi Everyone,

So, my parents have FINALLY gotten around to getting my Halloween pictures up...it only took them a little over a month. :)

Here are the cool pumpkins we carved. I loved sitting on the island and scooping out all of the seeds. I even got to do a little carving...though I'm not sure how effective my little butter knife was.

My friends Markus and Clare came over to help me put on my costume.

You can barely see it, but I even had a little bag of clubs. Unfortunately, only one was removable and it was filled with batting. Not the club you want for ultimate performance. I think I'll stick to my plastic set.

The hat, however, was great...even if my head was bordering on too big for it. And check out the cool shoe covers!
Finally, we got down to the business of trick-or-treating. We even ran into my friend Ethan and his parents. He makes a great Superman!

Ethan was all about racing up to doors, but I was a little more cautious. Luckily, Aunt Nay Nay was there with me.

What do you mean you want to stop for pictures...I want more CANDY!!!!

After our photo shoot, I convinced mom and dad to hit a few more houses while Aunt Nay Nay and Een handed out candy at our house. Then, I melted down...

...I'm not sure why. I think it just became a little too much.

So, I went back to the safety of home.

And even scored another Hershey bar from Aunt Nay Nay. I was having a hard time focusing on dinner with all the kids coming to the door in their cool costumes, so mom and dad moved my high chair to the entry way.
From my new post, I could eat without missing any of the action.

Finally, it was time to get out of the costume and get down to the business of eating CANDY!!!