Bootie Shaking

For Hanukah this year, one of Madeline's gifts was this tutu skirt, which she hasn't really taken off her body, except for bathtime. She's also started this adorable bootie dance....and the cutest part is the way she looks over her shoulder to see her butt shake.

The Farm

School's out for two weeks...so we went to The Farm a South Mountain for an afternoon of good food and fun. It's set under pecan trees and the kids had a blast jumping in piles of leaves. Kate and Madeline are truely best friends....I love this smooch shot!

Beautiful Day

Christmas in Arizona is like summer in other parts of the country. It was so hot that Madeline and Jeff took off their shirts.

She's Back!

Lola has had intestinal distress for the last week, which meant that our little "good fork" had turned into a spork if even that. But alas, she is back. She went to town on this spare rib, brought straight from New York. Delicious!

No Hands!

Until recently, Lola hasn't been making much effort to walk. She could stand on her own for a few seconds, but as soon as she realized she had no support, she'd plop down. But not anymore. Check her out....she's STANDING mesmerized by a video that her cousins Luxi and Niko sent for Christmas. And here's another picture of her walking with the walker outside! I'm thinking that she might take her first step by the end of the year -- or it might be another few months!

Christmas Boogie

Madeline insists on playing "Little Saint Nick" by the Beach Boys over and over again. Nanny shook her bootie and tried to teach Madeline to dance like her and not Jeff or me!

Christmas Eve Slumber

We made Mads take a nap today so that she could stay up late. She was resistant at first and ended up falling asleep in her dress-up clothes....

The Present

"Mom, Dad...come into Nan's apartamento.....look at Nan....she's a present."
Maria's such a good sport!

Jingle Bells

Christmas brings, well, Christmas I guess and jingle bells. Mads restrung her jingles and informed me that Santa is at the mall, and not the North Pole, as I had previously told her. Duh!

Oranges Are Back!

Hurray for a delicious orange tree in our backyard. Even though I forgot to fertilize in September, these are small but super sweet oranges. Lola loves them and ate 3 this afternoon!

Gaudiness

Mads is very into holiday decorations this year and comments on all the houses that have candy canes, reindeer, and blowup snowmen in their front yards. Her comment is always that we need to decorate our "whole house," even though , according to her Jewish mama, our house is VERY decorated with an indoor decorated Christmas tree, outside lights, and other random holiday decorations (including a menorah!). Madeline even has her very own mini tree in her room that she decorated tonight. She thought it was "sooo beautiful" and felt the tree needed a party hat, party bowtie, a rose and mardi gras beads. Maria says the gaudiness is in the blood.

A Hanukah Christmas

This morning Madeline was driking out of her mug that plays the dreidel song as soon as it's lifted. We were waiting for her friend Ben to come over and play. Mads looks up at me and says, "Maybe if Ben is really lucky, Santa will bring him a dreidel mug." Nice cross cultural view!

Man in the Bubble

"Mom, why's that man in a bubble?"
Good question, no?

Oh, Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree

Madeline helped Jeff carry the tree today.

Berkle Bugs, Part 2

Today we went to the mall to visit Santa. Madeline picked up a couple of "berkle bugs" in route to the car, from the front of the house. She carried the "berkle bugs" all the way to the mall and even showed them to Santa. We then stopped to have some lunch and she placed them on the flower that was on the table. Hopefully the next person who ate lunch at that table didn't freak that there were bugs on the flower.

Hairstylist

Madeline's newest fascination is putting multiple clips all over her hair. She puts them in my hair and Maria's hair and this morning she wanted to have a try at Jeff's hair. Not too bad, huh?

Static Electricity

I recently learned that there's more static electricity in colder weather. Not that it's COLD here, but it's colder than the summer...and check out Lola's straight as a board hair!

Camp Fire

Here's a shot of Mads at the park, posing next to her masterpiece, the Camp Fire.

Gingerbread House

Madeline LOVES candy so what better way to make her happy than to make a ginger bread house. I think she had fun putting it together, but let's be honest....she really just liked to eat the frosting and the candy!

Park

Today we met Kate and Gina at the park. Kate and Madeline are best friends....as is evident by the hand holding. They had a fun time, even made sand angels. (What do you expect in Phoenix?) And Lola tried to go UP the slide.

Bubbles

Lola discovered today that she can blow bubbles. Too bad it's too cold to swim now!