Plugged in

Here's one of the girls' favorite poses - camped out on the floor to watch the Letter Factory. Julia asks for "ABCs, ABCs!" It is by far her favorite video.

Monkey in a tube

Here's a pic of Julia all dressed up for one of the many attempts to visit Santa at the mall for pics with him. They went to the play area to calm the troops. However, this trooper was particularly uncooperative when it came time to snap a pic with ol' Saint Nick. Got to hand it to mommy, she's quite persistent. But, in the end, Julia never did make it into a pic with Santa this year.

Perhaps its not her fault, or as mommy says, "she got it honestly." There are quite a few Santa pics from when I was a toddler where one or all of us was screaming, crying, or not in the pic (presumably being consoled off camera by Yiayia - Papou didn't put up with a whole lot of unhappiness).

Sophia, on the other hand, she's all about Santa. She could visit him every day if it were possible (and there for a while, it did seem like it).

The "Mo"

I never did make a post about my "mo". Yes, that's me with the mustache, but its gone now.
I grew a mustache for the entire month of November, or I should save Movember.

In Australia, the slang name for a mustache is a "mo". The Prostate Cancer Foundation has a fundraiser where you get people to sponsor you to grow your mo for the month - and all the money goes toward the PCF research. I was incredibly lucky to raise just over $1,500, which was my goal. If you want to know more about it, visit Movember.com

As far as the mo, I was OK with it but kind of bothered me, especially while I was working out (trapping sweat). Surprisingly, the girls didn't seem to care one way or another. Stephanie took this picture on December 1, after which I promptly shaved it off.

So, as Paul Harvey would say, now you know the REST of the story....

Missing the Girls

Well, it has been several days since the girls have gone up to Yiayia's house for the holiday weeks. Meanwhile, I've been holding down the fort and traveling (Cincy & Indy). Its been awful lonely not hearing the thump-bump, I mean, pitter patter of little feet. But, the girls are happy baking cookies with mommy & Yiayia.

On the other hand, I can't say I miss the snow. When I talked to mommy (Stephanie), she said, "now I know why were down there." Seeing the Brownies highlights from Sunday - I was cold just watching it. The front end of the that same big storm brought cool temps (40ish) and rain but it skipped back into the 50s within a day or so. Of course, I got a small taste of the snow in Indy (22F when we left the hotel on Thursday morning to trekk to the airport) . Anyhow, got to run - need some sleep before I'm back to the airport tomorrow to go see the girls!!!!!

Sorry - no pics (Stephanie took the laptop with all the pics). However, I PROMISE that I will post pics once I catch up to them.

Cute Little Turkey

Still catching up from the Thanksgiving pics. I couldn't resist to post Mommy's favorite: the cute little turkey!!!! Of course, then Julia runs in circles yipping: "turkey, turkey, turkey."

On that front, Grace is doing quite well. She went for her first doctor's visit down here (her 1 week visit was still in Cle) and a round of shots (oh, she LOVED that part). Nonetheless, she's just over 12 pounds in about 10 weeks - so roughly a sack of potatoes. Not bad, but then again, she's eating at every turn of the bend. Likewise, she doing great developmentally - cooing, smiling, and giggling very softly.

Still can't get over all that hair....

Thanksgiving

First, let me apologize that its been so long since the last post. I've been traveling a lot during November. Additionally, our phone & DSL were out for last 8 days (moisture got into the local telecom hub on our street - not so good for the fiber optic cable).

Anyhow, all is well, albeit a little hectic. Stephanie has been singlehandedly holding down the fort while I've been on the road. The girls, between bouts of restlessness, have been doing well. Mommy has been taking them to the library often for story time and to get fresh books (Sophia's newest is about gorillas, the last set included a book about giant squid; Julia is partial to Bob the Builder).

Here's a couple pictures from Thanksgiving: