One might have thought, given our singular lack of diligence in posting on our blog, that we had made a New Year's Resolution to post more regularly. Actually our indolence issued from no such ceremony; we lay claim to our slothdom completely independent of any alignment of stars or calendars. In playing catch-up, we'll merely caption a few pictures.


Our first exhibit comes to us thanks to Opa. He, finding it very amusing that we have pancakes for breakfast every morning (though seeing nothing unusual in his consuming several bowls of Marshmallow Mateys with equal frequency), sent us one of Nin's pancakes via the United States Postal Service with an official certification that it was only "really good" since mine are "the best in the whole world". Eli, neither wanting to take anyone's word for it nor caring that the pancake had been sitting on the Suttner's counter for who knows how many days, followed by however long in transit and however long sitting in our mailbox waiting for the snows to melt enough for us to retrieve our mail, dug right in when I wasn't looking.

She declared it "really good" as well.

Earlier on the same day we accompanied the Cheneys

Duckpin Bowling. Despite "Northeasterner" Sander Daniels solemnly averring that Duckpin is only for kids, Justin and Kirk's scores of 86 each--even with bumpers--attests otherwise. I barely knocked down a score of 74 to beat Julia's 68,
though she still earned the title of "Most Graceful Duckpinner".
She and Eli also enjoyed the arcade, especially a Big Game Hunting simulation.

On a side-note, if we had to choose one word to describe our girls lately, Julia's would be

Attitude with a capital A (we won't elaborate), and Eli's would be

(Quite a) Character. I often find her perched in odd places or running around doing odd things, always with unbounding joy.

But they're still sweet.

Katharine celebrated two months of processing oxygen on her own this month, though her official check-up and immunizations were not received until yesterday. She's weighing in at 14 lbs 5 oz (99%), lying out at 24" (75%), and processing information with a cranium 43 cm round (off the charts). That last one earned us a quick visit to the hospital for a pedi cephalus ultrasound. The doctor pronounced her merely a lovely addition to our large-headed family.

She plans to use all those brains to become a Jedi.

Julia has become a VERY proficient reader. We often find the girls piled in one or the other of their beds in the morning, Julia reading Dora stories with Eli supplying audience participation.

She also improves in writing. This is a Thank You she wrote to our neighbor for watching them while I checked in on how the Activity Days were going. She hasn't quite decided whether she's Western, Eastern, or Middle Eastern in her script yet. But that's such an important decision we don't want to force her into doing it our way.

Finally, sometimes people ask me how my day tending three small children all by myself has gone. Sometimes this is my answer.

But sometimes it isn't.