All Action at Tumbleweeds

Actually it's just "Tumbleweed," but Elsie has ruint us all. It's a nice place (evidently even Baby Theo goes there, now?) and I stole these pictures from them:





(Nice to know that Elsie makes this "Bradford hide your upper lip" kind of face when at school.)

the famous slumber party.

The aforementioned sickness laid out Mama so hard she missed her first day of work EVER. Meanwhile, Dad was also ridiculously ill and flew away to Utah to talk about himself. Who leapt in to helP? Uncle Arthur, Aunt Maggie, and those friendly cousins Elsie and Theo:



It was the first slumber party ever! Much lobbied for by the Vining-Bradfords, who took full advantage of this moment...

iPhoto from Arthur's iPhone

Ida home sick! A report

clarification, by Elsie

I was driving the girls to Tumbleweeds today, and Elsie straightened me out on some things.

P: So, who's going to be there, today. Issa?

E: Yeah.

P: Is Issa your friend?

E: Issa Ida friend.

P: IS Kaito Ida's friend?

E: Kaito Elsie friend.

P: Is Ida Elsie's friend?

E: Ida Elsie cousin.

P: Is Kaito Ida's friend?

E: Kaito Elsie friend.

P: Are Issa and Kaito Elsie's friends?

E: Kaito Elsie friend.

P: Is Issa Elsie's friend?

E: Issa Ida friend.

P: Kaito is Ida's friend?

E: Kaito Elsie friend.

I: No, no, no , no.

Daddy Goat!

We went to the zoo yesterday because Ida was having some dog/goat confusion in the books we were reading. Our interaction with the goats cleared this up. Ida named 6 of the goats "Daddy Goat" and one "Ida Goat" (who seemed to be eating the wall of the barn); this goat here bit a girl, not long after this shot.



Elsie came with us and is very pro-monkey, but a little more afraid of the goats. We attempted to document this, but ran out of battery power.

Sisters

We're happy to see a (rare) flurry of activity on our sister blogs. Speaking of sisters, here's some nice photos of Ella's sister, Maggie, also known as Aunt Maggie.



Furthermore, Elsie and Theo are sisters.

A return to movies

Okay, I'm weak. Tumbleweeds is closed for MLK, and Ida Mama's working, and then Ida went on a real "cleaning up" spree (note this, Ida Mama) that I wanted to document...



...then she wanted to see it, and then she wasn't satisfied until she got to make another movie. Listen to her say, "Hi Movie!"

Ida vs. Braids

Wants them; doesn't want to sit still to have them done.



See how big Ida got in the 2+ weeks of 2009 that we weren't documenting her?



I hope that last post made clear how much affection we all feel for Uncle Arthur. He's an outstanding individual. Ida also likes tigers and pigs.

Uncle Arthur!

In our ongoing series discussing seminal figures in Ida's life, it's time to discuss the return of Uncle Arthur!

I mean, you should witness how delighted Ida was to see him; she squealed and stamped her little feet. And last night she and Elsie were climbing around upon his fine form. Had I been taking pictures, I'd have captured that image, for certain.

Anyway, it's true that he's going to drink all the beer, but it's nice that (hopefully) he's going to do some daycare drop-offs, pick-ups. Because I have been singing E-I-E-I-O with those girls twice a day, and also hearing all about Daddy Pete and Uncle Arthur from them both. It's just way too much responsibility to have two families. For me, anyway.

It's true that that's a funny picture; since I'm not taking photos, these days, I'm left with what I can find on the web. And he's a dude with a lot of different looks. For example, "Friendly Sideburner":



and "Deviltron":

Ida Mama

Seriously there's no one finer. Ida Mama herself thinks her head looks weird in the new Perpetrators shot, but that's not true. Other commentators have asked if she only wears polar gray fleece. Well, not really. And sometimes when she's saving lives she's famous:

New Look

The photography ban continues here on Nehalem Street; unlike those over on Martins Street, we're not trying to keep up. We're moving backward, just like they used to. Here's a picture I just stole that I also think is under-appreciated:



Also, in lieu of new content I'm bringing the look of this blog into 2009. Believe me, comments are not appreciated.

Ida vs. Melmo

Visiting friends in Haddonsfield, we came upon a Melmo suit!



A very rare family photo. As close to a Christmas card as you're likely to get.



I hope this brings some needed joy into your life Margaret. I had to steal these from Ella's email, which means I will likely be granted a new one for my trouble.

last days of 2008 + a cautionary tale

Just because Pookie has no legs doesn't mean he doesn't need a diaper:



You may have heard that Ida's going to have a new brother/sister in May/April?



This fact makes everyone want to get on top of Ida Mama at all times:






The plenitude of movies of Ida has had its downside. For one, she incessantly asks to watch them; for another, she demands to be filmed; worst, she often re-enacts movie episodes when she finds herself in similar situations. So we're taking a hiatus from the moving pictures for a time. Here's some thoughts, on this front:

Christmas X 3

We are discombobulated. But we arose today to open the presents we couldn't manage when we finished digging out the car at the end of that travel day last night.



Ida got some wooden bunnies and their hutch. She knows where they live.



Most repeated phrase upon returning to "Ida house": "Ichi poops! Daddy scoop!"

Early Christmas in Haddonsfield

Since we somehow strategized to travel for 16 hours on Christmas, we opened a few presents on Christmas eve morning:


And then these guys showed up:


Someone needs to talk to Elsie about spilled milk vs. crying:




Grandma will be missed!