I Need a Loya

No, I haven't developed a New Yawk accent. (And thankfully neither have Lance or Roya). I just pulled a Bennifer and mashed their names together. As always, when Lance visits, we had a jam session. This time, I played the coffee table like a set of bongos.

Then I tried to play the inside of Lance's wine glass with my finger but he wasn't having it.

After our jam, it was time to get serious. Loya's getting married in a few months and Daddy's officiating the service. While they chatted about what traditions they wanted to include, I took copious notes. Maybe I'll be a court stenographer when I grow up! Hey, don't judge me.

Gold(man) Medal Winner

Today I suited up for the winter olympics.

The first event was the luge. I lugged my butt all the way down.

Next up was the snow-eating contest. (It's a new olympic sport.)

Needless to say, I won.

Mommy helped me prepare for the shot put.

We all braced ourselves when I took my turn at bobsledding.

Then I tried my hand at the wall climb. (I did mention these were special olympics, right?)

The final event is called the snoburdle. It's a decathlon of sorts, combining the snow-eating contest with the bobsled and hurdles. Afterwards, my body hurdle-ot.

Angel of Hope

After the olympics, I laid down to rest. Daddy thought that would be the perfect time to make snow angels.

So he eased me into position.

But I was not to be eased.

So he showed me how it's done.

I let him do the angel. I just did a snow booty.

After one more attempt, Daddy decided to throw in the towel (while I threw in the tantrum).

At least we got one good one. I have a feeling this picture will come in handy some day.

The Gold Standard

Today, I went over to the Goldbergs to play with another one of my boyfriends, Alex.

As Alex sang on the mic, I did what any adoring front-row fan would do at a concert.

Alex has a special brown chair of his own.



It was here that I first developed an addiction to "Elmo TV." Jeff and Stacey -- mommy and daddy thank you.



Jeff had the munchies so I gave him some pizza.



Like father like son.

When it was time to go, Alex decided I needed a hug. Clearly, I didn't agree.

He finally cornered me and went in for the kill...

I guess that wasn't so bad after all!

Zoom Zoom Golly Golly

Look familiar? We hit up Zoo Lights again this year. This time we swapped out the Campbells for the Spiegels and left Uncle D and Aunt T in Minneapolis where our weather probably would feel like a heat wave.



I tried my hand... er, eyes at the 3D glasses. Definitely a case of form over function.



Last time we tried to go to Zoo Lights with Leo J, it didn't quite pan out. Tonight was lucky date #13 for us though. We were able to weather the cold in our Zoot suits.

A Christmas Story

Today the Radutnys came over for a playdate. I was excited to see Asher and show him how much I've been train-ing.

Asher, Roni, and I huddled around the cooler to get the latest gossip from Yelena.

As per usual, Vlad got a workout in.

Then Ashie and I got down to business in the kitchen. As you can see, he just played and tried to make me do the cooking and I was not pleased by such gender stereotypes.

So I put Asher to work to finish the cooking but he had to take an important call. He's quite the multi-tasker. Meanwhile, I tried to find the recipe book for pilmenies.

Yelena sure seems ready for a 3rd! :)

Snow Doubt About It!

I'm baaaack! Though many years from now, no-one will ever know I was gone. We'll look back at this post and it will appear that only a day had passed since the last one. Alas, those who follow this blog closely know all too well that it has been a long four months that I've been forced to keep a low profile while Daddy worked on his book. Now that his manuscript is in the hands of the publisher and both he and Mommy are equipped with fancy Droid smartphones, you can expect the blogging to resume at a fast and furious pace.

Here are some pics of me at the park taken by Yetty. One nice thing about having the playground blanketed in snow is that it cushions my falls and makes it unlikely that another misstep on the jungle gym will land me in the ER.

I took a crack at building a snowman. The carrot was supposed to be part of the face but everyone nose that you can't give me food and expect me to do anything but eat it!

When I realized the eyes were edible, you can guess where they ended up. This snowman turned out to be not so grape, after all.

Catch 22, er... 6

I'm getting good at playing catch. Well, Daddy's getting good at throwing the ball into my hands. Check out this video as I catch the first two (no look, I might add!), miss the next two (hit the hands!), catch one, miss one, catch two (head fake!), miss three (one handed... ouchies!), and catch one (bye bye, Mommy!).

The Goldman Bunch

For Bubbie and Zayde's anniversary, we decided to put together a Brady Bunch spoof. This was supposed to be the "normal" pic. Guess this is as normal as Uncle Joshie gets.



This was supposed to be the "look at Ellie" pic. Aunt-T didn't get the memo.

And this was supposed to be the "crazy" pic. Aunt Karen could barely contain herself. Aunt Sara wigged out. And Aunt-T got real crazy and closed her mouth. Meanwhile, I just gave my mean-while face.

Hate to let my adoring fans down but this is gonna be the last post for a while. Daddy needs to focus on writing his book so he won't be able to help me update the blog for a few months. He promises to put some pics on my Facebook and update my Twitter every now and then so you can keep up with me but, if you want to see the latest, you'll just have to book a visit!

Feeling Kitschy

Check out my fancy new kitchen, a Hannukah gift from Grandma and Grandpa. I love cooking things in the microwave and playing with the silverware that Great-Aunt Eileen and Great-Uncle Denny got me. I also like to boil things on the stove. The burner even makes bubbling noises. It's a real gas.

Oh Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel, I Made A Lot of Pay!

Today we had our annual family Hannukah party -- aka Dreidel for Dollars. Yes, I know Hannukah is over but we Goldmans have always been a little behind. Before getting into it, we posed for a pic with all the girls. Apparently stripes are in with the under 25 crowd!

Then it was time for one with the boys +1. Looks like Uncle D is trying to grow on his head what Uncle Joshie has under his chin.

I decided to go in for a closer look. Yep, Uncle D's got some something growing under there. He always did like his fuzzies.

Mash-ups all the rage these days thanks to Glee, so Grandpa, Mommy and I rocked out to James Brown and Dean Martin -- I Feel Good/Everybody Loves Somebody.

Uncle Joshie, Uncle Noah (or just Unkie as I call him), Uncle D, and Cousin Ryan got into the act and a dance-off ensued. I busted out my best robot.

Soon it was time for presents. I waited patiently for my turn.

And then I laid into them. Cousin Sara helped me unwrap. And Daddy helped me rap.

Finally, it was time for dreidel. We all broke out our singles. Not sure why Uncle D had so many on him.

Elmo and I surveyed the action to make sure there were no false gimels.

The stakes were too rich for my blood (and Aunt Karen was cleaning up) so I decided to quit while I was ahead. If only Daddy had taken my lead before getting suckered into the high-stakes spin-off with Cousin Rob.

After dreidel, it was time for surgery. Great-Grandpa Irv started by extracting an outlet plug from my stomach. It was an electrifying experience.

Then Dr. Ryan gave me my shots. I was not so patient this time.

I was left to recover on my own in the waiting room. Where's health care reform when you need it?!?