THIS is my family???

As my brother noted in his usual inelegant style, a whole buncha family came to Philly last weekend. I'm not sure what the occasion was, but I'm pretty sure it primarily involved admiring me:

Yes, yes, thank you thank you. It was nothing. C'etait rien.

There was also some sort of auxiliary party where Char the Great got pretty wacky...

Whoooo!!! Octogenarians gone wild!!!! Whooooo!!!!

Of course, it's all fun and games until someone's hairdo gets messed up by silly string:


At least I had two grandmothers to console me:


Dad seemed to enjoy showing me off, which was OK up to a point:

Yes, I do like the cuddling...


Whoa! Serious hors d'oeuvres breath! Back off, bub!

This past weekend, a huge number of relatives poured into Philadelphia for Char the Great's 80th birthday. For the record, it was actually a 320th birthday party for CTG and three other family members. One of the honorees couldn't make it, so I stepped in:

Can you tell which one is the substitute?

The party was quite the intergenerational affair, what with all of the rapidly-aging boomers...

Senility must really be setting in... they can't all look in the same direction, for chrissake!

And the burgeoning Generation X/Y...

But look out-- the young 'uns (i.e. me, Evvy and my cousins from Boise) are crashing your party. You won't be top dog for long... hell, lets just skip over these slackers and move on to us.

Frankly, the actual birthday affair was not the main attraction. With my cousins Andrew, Claire and Mouse staying in Jenkintown, it was one non-stop party. From mealtime...


To the mean streets of J-town (that's me rescuing Mouse from one of those mean streets)...


To the mean couches of J-town...


Oh, and Claire and I got married:

I'm pretty the second-cousin thing is legal in this state. Or at least in the eastern portion of the state. Maybe we should have gone to one of the rural areas to have the ceremony.

Apparently, Daddy and Andrew/Claire/Mouse's mommy had their traditional Boggle showdown after we went to bed. But in a surprise upset, Marge beat them both:

Oh yeah, "mrrrrrow" is a word. What, are you going to challenge me?

Going to my first Philly baseball game tomorrow-- more soon!

This past weekend, a huge number of relatives poured into Philadelphia for Char the Great's 80th birthday. For the record, it was actually a 320th birthday party for CTG and three other family members. One of the honorees couldn't make it, so I stepped in:

Can you tell which one is the substitute?

The party was quite the intergenerational affair, what with all of the rapidly-aging boomers...

Senility must really be setting in... they can't all look in the same direction, for chrissake!

And the burgeoning Generation X/Y...

But look out-- the young 'uns (i.e. me, Evvy and my cousins from Boise) are crashing your party. You won't be top dog for long... hell, lets just skip over these slackers and move on to us.

Frankly, the actual birthday affair was not the main attraction. With my cousins Andrew, Claire and Mouse staying in Jenkintown, it was one non-stop party. From mealtime...


To the mean streets of J-town (that's me rescuing Mouse from one of those mean streets)...


To the mean couches of J-town...


Oh, and Claire and I got married:

I'm pretty the second-cousin thing is legal in this state. Or at least in the eastern portion of the state. Maybe we should have gone to one of the rural areas to have the ceremony.

Apparently, Daddy and Andrew/Claire/Mouse's mommy had their traditional Boggle showdown after we went to bed. But in a surprise upset, Marge beat them both:

Oh yeah, "mrrrrrow" is a word. What, are you going to challenge me?

Going to my first Philly baseball game tomorrow-- more soon!

Here's my latest masterpiece, which I'm sending to Gram shortly:



As you can plainly see, it's a picture of Gram in a rocketship taking a tour of the solar system.

Here's my latest masterpiece, which I'm sending to Gram shortly:



As you can plainly see, it's a picture of Gram in a rocketship taking a tour of the solar system.

a change of scenery

As per my instructions, mommy and daddy painted my penthouse suite this week. This was their first try, which I really liked but mommy hated with a fiery passion:

It's just like going back to the womb!

This is what they went with, which is pretty fetching too:

Check out the king-sized, deluxe waterbed that I'm going to be moving into soon. Whoo!

My big brother is sort of a wuss...

http://elikaplowitz.blogspot.com/2007/08/its-been-bit-of-traumatic-day.html

I mean, come on. I barely felt a thing!

It's been a bit of a traumatic day. First, I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon, and mommy and daddy both promised it would be a no-shot visit. So there I am, getting weighed (still a svelte 29 lbs!), getting an eye exam (looks like I have mommy's eyesight, thank god!), getting poked in the belly. I'm just starting to think maybe the medical profession is not so bad. And then, out come the needles. O, betrayal-- thy name is mommy and daddy! Evie had to get shots too, and daddy suggested that I get mine first so I could show her how to be strong. So I took it like a man. I won't lie, I did cry for about 15 minutes... but it was manly crying.

Then it was Evie's turn. Oh. My. God. The girl giggled through the first shot, cried one second after the second shot, and three seconds after the third. Then giggled some more. Something is seriously wrong here. First, I'm the man here. If I cried 15 minutes, she should have cried for at least 15 hours. Second, does she have no pain sensations whatsoever? She should have been pissed as hell, and instead she was laughing. Sheesh.

When we got home, we were greeted by this appalling scene:


Daisy and Cute Cat were gone. Vanished. Suspicion quickly turned to one prime suspect:

In the past, this man has consumed multiple goods that would, taken individually, kill a lesser life form: a rubber nipple, ant poison, a rusted battery, several large blocks of chocolate, ladies' underwear (not the edible version), and a tube of Desitin(TM) diaper rash cream. Two hermit crabs seemed well within the realm of possibility. I could easily picture Monty, driven insane with jealousy after being supplanted as the favorite family pet by two glorified insects, deciding in his pea brain that it would be a great idea to get revenge and crab legs supreme, all in two bites.

Luckily, it turns out that neither Monty nor Daisy and Cute Cat are that stupid. Daddy discovered Daisy cowering (does a hermit crab do anything but cower?) under my bed and Cute Cat cowering under my end table.

The situation has been remedied:


I can now go to sleep without gruesome visions of Monty masticating two poor, defenseless hermit crabs. I hope you guys can rest easy as well.

It's been a bit of a traumatic day. First, I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon, and mommy and daddy both promised it would be a no-shot visit. So there I am, getting weighed (still a svelte 29 lbs!), getting an eye exam (looks like I have mommy's eyesight, thank god!), getting poked in the belly. I'm just starting to think maybe the medical profession is not so bad. And then, out come the needles. O, betrayal-- thy name is mommy and daddy! Evie had to get shots too, and daddy suggested that I get mine first so I could show her how to be strong. So I took it like a man. I won't lie, I did cry for about 15 minutes... but it was manly crying.

Then it was Evie's turn. Oh. My. God. The girl giggled through the first shot, cried one second after the second shot, and three seconds after the third. Then giggled some more. Something is seriously wrong here. First, I'm the man here. If I cried 15 minutes, she should have cried for at least 15 hours. Second, does she have no pain sensations whatsoever? She should have been pissed as hell, and instead she was laughing. Sheesh.

When we got home, we were greeted by this appalling scene:


Daisy and Cute Cat were gone. Vanished. Suspicion quickly turned to one prime suspect:

In the past, this man has consumed multiple goods that would, taken individually, kill a lesser life form: a rubber nipple, ant poison, a rusted battery, several large blocks of chocolate, ladies' underwear (not the edible version), and a tube of Desitin(TM) diaper rash cream. Two hermit crabs seemed well within the realm of possibility. I could easily picture Monty, driven insane with jealousy after being supplanted as the favorite family pet by two glorified insects, deciding in his pea brain that it would be a great idea to get revenge and crab legs supreme, all in two bites.

Luckily, it turns out that neither Monty nor Daisy and Cute Cat are that stupid. Daddy discovered Daisy cowering (does a hermit crab do anything but cower?) under my bed and Cute Cat cowering under my end table.

The situation has been remedied:


I can now go to sleep without gruesome visions of Monty masticating two poor, defenseless hermit crabs. I hope you guys can rest easy as well.

What a summer!!!

Man, I have a ton of stuff to catch people up on. Plus, I have to do it better than my stinkin' big brother, who somehow beat me to press. First things first, the trip out to Minnesota. Basically, Mom, Eli and I bailed out of Philly in order to give Daddy some "alone time." It was nice to have some girl bonding with Sydney, the only other female in my generation on mom's side (so far):

Mostly, we just accessorized. And complained about boys.

When I wasn't flexing my girl power, I did some serious tanning with the Grandma:

No healthy glow yet. Damn you, SPF 95!!!

At least I didn't have to worry about tan lines:

Watch your back, J-Lo. Literally. Watch it.

It was also a good time to engage in some serious negotiations with Grandpa Don about buying his shoe store:

As you can tell by his expression, I drive a hard bargain. Another beer, Grandpa D?

Then it was up to the Twin Cities for some PaKi time:

I think I just passed him in the hair follicle department...

And then the inevitable Evelyn vs. Evelyn showdown:

That's right, I'm your namesake. What are you going to do about it, huh?

I missed Daddy desperately, but as soon as we got back to Philly, BOTH Mommy AND Daddy bailed on us and jetted off to Hawaii. Without even asking whether I might like to come! Luckily, I got to bond with Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Paul, who apparently had a bit of a throwback week... a throwback to 1983, that is. I tried to make life easy for them by sitting around looking cute and gnawing on various body parts until my parents returned.

Mommy and Daddy weren't back long before they schlepped all of us again, this time to the Jersey Shore to visit Uncle Wren. both parents wasted no time introducing me to the ocean:


Both experiences can only be described the following way: wet. I also figured out how much seawater a standard diaper can absorb. The answer: a whole lot.

Better to just sit by the side of the pool gnawing on one of my blankies:

My oh my. Ah must trah to stay out of the sun...

While we were there, Uncle Wren got a little taste of parenthood:

I'm a damn cute accessory, if I do say so.

Enough of my travels. The big news is that I've expanded my gustational horizons beyond the bottle. Each step has been a revelation:

First, mush. As you can see, a little disappointing.


Popsicles... getting warmer...


Oh sweet baby Jesus...


I'm sorry... you waited HOW LONG to give me this stuff???


Any left in here?


Ummmm.... ummmmm...

As much fun as it is to take food in, sometimes it can be just as enjoyable giving it up again. Notice my completely nonplused expressions in the following pictures:

Maybe I'll finally get that part in the straight-to-DVD release Baby Phantom of the Opera.


What? Is there a problem here?

In case you doubt my adorableness, I leave you with the following pictures:



(I fully realize this picture could start a new trend in exercise headbands)

I'm not sure how I got the right genes, but they certainly didn't come from my daddy's side. He recently came across the following picture of himself with Char the Great. Let's just be charitable and say daddy looks like he has a great personality:


Peace out,
Ev