Sunday, January 31, 2010

SLUMBER PARTY!!!

Sleeping bag and Lambie in place. Along with freshly cut bangs.



Alex has only been home for a few hours and lost an entire day traveling over the date line, but he must! read Hi-Five magazine before bed.



Word is she didn't go to sleep until 11:11 p.m.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Sleeeeep

Marina is sleeping at her grandmother's tonight. She left with a big sleeping bag rolled inside a backpack strapped on her back. She also had her Lambie and a magazine. Matt cried.

Ella is sleeping in Marina's bed for the first time, too.

It wasn't my idea and I wasn't around when it all went down, so I sort of don't believe it. Or maybe I just don't want to believe it.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Monday, January 25, 2010

And now with more Nina

I may be bad about updating this blog on a consistent basis, but that hasn't stopped me from creating an entirely new and different one!

Yes, dear readers, it's true. I am now the proud writer of a running blog. I won't go into details because it's all here. (or http://runningnina.blogspot.com)

But short explanation: basically I set a goal to run a marathon, hopefully the New York City marathon, in 2012. And so that I won't abandon my goal, I have decided not only to make it public, but to write about my journey online. And for those of you who don't know me that well, I am not a runner. So this will be hilarious.

Go there to read how many miles I put in, what I did or did not pig out on, and what music inspires me. (You may be horrified.)

Stick with this blog for all things cute.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Sister stories

Last night, after an hour of Marina and Ella playing and jumping and running around in their room instead of sleeping, I went in there and tried to be all authoritative.

"Come on, Ella, let's go. You're sleeping in the other room."
Ella was like, out of my crib? Sweet! So she willingly came with me. Unfortunately, we don't have another bed in the computer/play room and she was basically on the verge of calling my bluff.

So I said, "Ella, you can't play anymore. You have to sleep on the floor in this room."

Don't get huffy. I wasn't really going to make her sleep on the floor. And Marina was well aware of this because right then, she came in the computer room and gave Ella the old "com'ere" finger motion.

I told Marina to go back to her room and Marina said, "I'm taking Ella. She's mine."

That little story was basically a long intro for me to post these pictures I took when we went on the Merry-Go-Round last month. Ella was kinda freaked out, so Marina helped her out:





And will you look at that? Marina's wearing pants for once. (She only wears dresses these days.)

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Coco

I don't know why I'm so into the Conan/Leno fiasco, especially with all the suffering happening in Haiti.

But I remember when Conan O'Brien first took over Letterman, I was going through a weird phase of depression/panic attacks. The only thing that would help me get my mind off it was random comedy shows. Seinfeld helped a lot. And so did Murphy Brown. (It was the 90s, OK?) And then Conan started and all of a sudden this dude was jumping on trampolines with Dweezil Zappa and, I don't know, it was so random that it made everything in my head quiet. At least for that hour he was on.

So even though these days I'm usually asleep by the time his show comes on, I still feel very protective of Coco.
Good luck, sir. And thank you.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Spot the Halls



There are three in this picture.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

The end of the after school project

It turns out it only takes about five or six videos for the girls to become self-aware of themselves anytime they see a camera.

We'd be deep in conversation about rainbows or Dora or koalas and then I'd pop out the camera-phone to capture it all for their own posterity. But as soon as they saw the little red light, they either stopped talking or began doing those weird noises you hear in the last two videos.

So I guess I'm ending my ambitious project after only five attempts.

Happy New Year.