Hello Mary Lou

Safe to say that watching cousin Kali's gymnastics meet in Ohio a couple of weeks ago made a pretty big impression on Amalia. Here are a couple of clips from this evening, with some color commentary by Lily.

Wonder if her coach approved that music selection. 

(Please forgive the crummy camera work. It kept trying to refocus. I'm sure it's operator error.)

Two little monkeys

O-H!

As Lily and Amalia learned this weekend, the appropriate response is, "I-O!" 

We drove to Ohio this weekend to celebrate Steele Family Christmas. Here, the four siblings are seated in the four chairs (in birth order) surrounded by many of their children and their children's children. 

Amalia and Lily had the honor of helping pass out presents at the gift exchange. 

Logan wins the award for most patient cousin ever.

Amalia in cousin Paul's rescue engine, which made an appearance at the family gathering (along with cousin Paul who had to be on duty that day).  

Amalia was feeling a bit under the weather and thought that chips and salsa would make her feel better. 

Logan and Lily, the latter of whom is still going through separation anxiety. 

Amalia, in her Buckeye PJs, helping Aunt Novella make breakfast. 

Dressed for the occasion

Last weekend, Andy took Lily to the Kennedy Center to see a musical performance of Knuffle Bunny, A Cautionary Tale. 

No pictures were allowed inside, but Andy and Lily got to see the author Mo Willems. I was pretty jealous.

This afternoon, Andy was able to catch a performance of Lily's afterschool hip hop class.

I think she's got the attitude down. 

Precisely

Two recent anecdotes:

We were taking turns weighing the girls this morning. Then Amalia decided to try to measure Lily to see how tall she is. She pronounced her to be "six o'clock." Give or take a minute, I'm guessing.

On the way back from Lily's violin lesson Saturday morning, we passed by a Safeway grocery delivery truck that included the above tagline. She stopped in her tracks and became very indignant, proclaiming, "The ingredients for life are sun, water, air, and dirt. Not Safeway."