2009!

We've had an exciting couple of weeks. It started off with a great visit with Uncle Rick and Aunt Shelley in Arizona! AJ did great on the long flight, and had a ball hanging out with Rick & Shell.

Avery and Rick got along swimmingly. Rick dubbed her "Meat Ball," which is as accurate a nickname as we've heard for her. Unfortunately, we only got one pic of the two of them together. About two minutes after this one was taken, Meat Ball had a minor blowout onto Rick and the leather loveseat. Great manners we're teaching her.



Avery and Aunt Shelley also had a ball. Here they are reading I Like it When, one of her favorite books. Fortunately there was no poop this time.

Avery also had quite an interesting time getting to know Sammie. At first, the two little girls were not quite sure what to make of one another, and a lot of crying and barking ensued. But the next morning, after a good night of sleep, everyone felt much more comfortable around each other. Here's Sammie giving AJ a little kiss.

More of everyone feeling very comfortable around each other.

Cheryl and I really loved Sammie. She is a beautiful, well-behaved, and very sweet dog, and we were glad to get to know her.

Rick and Shell's house was full of many fun activities for our little Bubby. Shell had some shelves full of cookbooks and loose-leaf recipes. I believe that the recipes may have been organized before we got there... But AJ has a way of imposing her own organizational system on things. Here she is hard at work.

"Hey, Aunt Shelley, thanks for letting me play in your kitchen!!"

Also a lot of fun was Rick & Shell's indoor lap pool. Avery had a ball in there with us. She had not been in a pool since the beach house in July, and took to the water much more enthusiastically this time around. This was good news for us, because Avery and I start swimming classes together next week!

I'm not sure who had more fun in the pool!

Unfortunately, the weather was nasty, so we didn't get to do much outdoorsy stuff, but Rick took us on a beautiful drive up into the Huachuca Mountains.

It really was a beautiful trip. Thanks again to Rick and Shelley for making it possible!

Next, we were off to Cincy. It was a great week with my side of the family. Here's Avery with Marm and Irv.

Shana with the new baby of the family, Lila!

Gramps and Deborah with Lila.

We had a fun dinner at Dad's house. Check out the fancy tablecloth and dishes!

Next up was an early BD party / late Hanukkah party at Mom's house. AJ had a specially made vegan cake (due to possible lingering milk allergy issues). She loved it, and alternated between bites of cake and bites of edamame. Yum!

Aunt Lisa entertained the heck out of AJ with a mylar balloon!

Then came the presents. Evidently, Avery found this one to be fascinating!

"Ooooh, is that for me???"

Aunt Shana explaining some of the finer nuances of Baby Faces to AJ.

Me with two of the three cousins. But where's Tillie?

There she is, in the cabinet! Scotty and Shana let her out for a few minutes to play, which was nice for everyone.

Some more pics from a great brunch at Shana's house.

Lila's smile was a real show-stopper!

Grandpa Morrie, aka Grandpa Mush, with his youngest great-grandchild.

My girls (and my dad's watch).

AJ & G'pa.

After a long week of travel, and a fun New Year's Eve party at Marmel's, we finally made it back to Brooklyn. Our luggage made it back a day later. The three of us had a nice, long weekend together, highlighted by Avery's first trip to the Brooklyn Museum.

Avery is closing in on a year, and we think she is going through some kind of growth spurt, because she's eating a lot more than usual, which is really saying something. All week, she's been absolutely demolishing whatever we put in front of her, especially LaRosa's ravioli, meatballs, chicken apple sausage, scallops, etc. She's an adventurous and spirited eater. She even has eaten a couple bananas this week, which we've long believed to be the one food she didn't like. But now, so far as we know, she will eat anything.

Here are some final pics of AJ going to town on some mixed berries, a dish best enjoyed shirtless and followed immediately by a bath.

That's all for now, except to wish all four of our readers a happy and healthy 2009!