Julia at Play

Does it get much cuter than this? Julia in the playroom? I love how Annie caught the light in this one. Caught in the act of spontaneous play.

Princess in Progress

Both Kate and Genna have come to more fully adopt their princess personae. Kate has worked hard on developing her princess poses, as these pictures show.

Now, bear in mind, these poses are completely spontaneous on her part - Annie has made no effort to train or coach her. Kate is just a natural.

Each month that passes she seems to be more and more a lady. I'm going to have my hands full. Where's that application to join the NRA ... ?

Three Steps to Cupcake Eating

Ms. Julia's official one-year birthday party was this past weekend. The highlight of the birthday girl's day (aside from swimming) was her acquisition of the Birthday Cupcake. It was a lot of fun to watch her go through her own process of 'eating' it.

Step One: The Presentation. See her pride as she lifts it up to the guests? She is making absolutely sure that all know that she is the special one here. After all, everyone is staring at her and smiling, and she is the only one in possession of a cupcake.

Step Two: The Offering. But Ms. Julia is a munificent birthday girl. She wishes to share her bounty with us povs. In this picture, she has performed the traditional 'breaking of the cupcake' and is offering a portion of it to her people.


Step Three: The Donning. Ms. Julia made some attempts at eating the cupcake, but she soon discovered that ends would more readily be served by wearing the cupcake.

But mommy was smart and had the whole event happen outside, next to a hose and pool.

We are on to you little one.

What Kind of Puppy Are You?

You Are a German Shepherd Puppy

Intelligent, quick witted, and a bit aggressive. You've got the jaw power to take a bite out of anyone you choose.

What Breed of Puppy Are You?

New Practices

I am considering incorporating some hindu asceticism into my daily regimen. These guys inspired me. The only catch is finding a partner. Are there any readers who are willing to be the guy on the bottom? I can't do that part so well.

Julia and Pasta - a Dangerous Combo

Julia has been eating solids for several months now. You wouldn't know it looking at this photo, though. She is still operating with the misunderstanding that pasta is to be shoveled with your hands only near your mouth, not actually in it, and preferably with a spoon. Still, she's cute so we'll keep her for now. We just need to figure out some more industrial means of cleaning her - high-pressure hoses, liquid detergent dips, dogs. Any ideas would be helpful ...

At last - a cure for my neck ...

This Thai lady has finally found a cure for my neck problem. I have been so blind! I hadn't thought to look to the Third World for a remedy for my herniated disc ... how can you suffer from disc compression and rupture when your neck has been stretched like this? Genius! Good bye cervical traction, good bye oral steroids, good bye insomnia. Hello neck rings!

She even has a bit of a coy (boastful? gloating?) smile as she calls from her cell phone (which is smaller than mine). Erg, must fight ... jealousy ... ugh.

An Honest Lady

Enough of the lying Chinese lady that played me the fool (I have yet to hear back from China's Premier Wen Jiabao for compensation), and let us move on to a little lady that never lies. That's right, I'm talking about a delimbed, mutilated, malproportioned highness known as Cinderella Barbie in a Cake (TM).

Annie made another of these sci-fi-movie-gone-wrong cakes for the second installment of the twins' three-year birthday. She decked this one out in the likeness of Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Annie is turning into quite the cake decorator. I might put her to work on the wedding cake circuit to start bringing in some extra cash so I can slack off more.

I must say that it was both satisfying and disturbing to carve Barbie up for consumption. When all was said and done, we all had our fill of cake while Barbie was left lying legless in a pile of smeared frosting. Very gory. I'm just glad that the movie Toys wasn't real. She would have had the girls' other toys kill us in our sleep.