Finally Blogging Again

Seems like everyone is a little slow in the blogosphere these days.  Several factors contribute to our own delinquency, namely that ours has been a house-of-horrors pukefest for the last 3 weeks or so.  And the new video Flip thing we got for Christmas that means I am now videoing things I should be photographing and avoiding the learning curve to edit and post.  And we have stopped brushing the girls hair or monitoring outfits since we were continually bathing them and changing them and running out of laundry to compensate for the puke.  On a positive note, both of them are developing better aim for Bozo-buckets, which everytime one of them so much as clears their throats, we now stick a sand bucket in their face to try and avoid changing the sheets/clothes/carpets again.  

And one night while we were up at 3AM giving a bath and changing the sheets, we happened on an Alton Brown recipe for some kind of popover.   Looked up the recipe the next morning and have made no less than 8 of these since then.  Replaced pancakes as the weekend go-to breakfast and Ben just can't get enough.  Since he was asleep when my best one came out (they totally deflate), I took a picture.  And a video.  I won't post the video.

Behold the next greatest thing ever:  Gabriel's 3rd birthday party at MyGym.  Elliot had a blast and cried the whole way home cuz she did not want to leave.  There was a part during circle time when the kids were to go around and say their names to wish a Happy Birthday.  First, Elliot screamed, "My birthday's in July!!" - when she wasn't asked.  And then she jumped in on the introductions 5 people before her turn to hug and say, "This is SAMANTHA!"  
Showing her zipline prowess.
Posing with the birthday revellers.  Gabriel is on the rocker in front. 
Here's the "this is SAMANTHA" moment.  It makes me feel good that she is proud to show her off.

Samantha gets in on the bouncy action.  But not tooo much, lest we set something off.

The next greatest thing ever was Kidstock at the Lyric Stage.  It's an interactive performance they do about once a month.   This month was THE GOLDEN MOTHER GOOSE.  So, I took Elliot while Sammy was down for the count.  She is obsessed with all things Mother Goose, so how could I resist.  Only when we got there did we realize its for 4-10 year olds and they perform.    I thought she might be shy, but she volunteered right away and really got into the action with the older kids.  She talks about it all the time now, which is the real test of how good it was.  In fact, tonight at dinner she gave us the rhyme again.  Did you know Old King Cole was really a GRUMPY old soul before he was merry?  Elliot knows.  

The girls are actually starting to play with each other.  And its fascinating!

Elliot felt a little woozy. 

OMG, Curious George (second only to M. Goose) was at the Harvard bookstore.  We waited through the stories for him to appear.  You can see below a REAL smile from Ellie --you may have noticed she has been practicing her fake one quite a bit for the camera.  And Sammy doesn't know what to make of it.  

  

Elliot's Rendition of Grumpy Old Cole

And then, for the grandparents... Elliot's first stage performance ... it was impromptu, so we did not know she would be doing it, so only Mommy got to enjoy it first-hand.  Good thing for the video thingy.  (And technically her 2nd performance if you count the Christmas Pageant she slept through).