We Want We Want Gymbo

Had barrels of fun at Gymboree for Cousin Ryan's birthday party today...

Say, there... how about a Seder?

Today we went over to cousin Ryan and Sara's house for a kids Passover seder. It's just like our family's adult seder but without all the puns. Well, and it's in the middle of the day and we don't eat Kosher food and we mostly just play. But other than that, it's just like our other seder!

The pace of play was frantic. Daddy's Droid couldn't keep up!

Sara and Ryan finally figured out that, when in the presence of a princess, proper protocol is to never turn your back and just scoot away when leaving the room.

Great-Grandpa Irv and Great-Aunt Sue taught me a matching game. I guess they don't trust mommy and daddy to pick out my outfits!

Ryan moves so quickly, I thought I saw 2 of him. Hey, that's a matching pair!

Ellie Like Birthday!

Karina and Matthew came over to visit me for my birthday. They're back in Chicago so I'm looking forward to hanging out with them again. I still remember some of the Spanish Karina taught me -- mas, agua... yeah, that's about it.



Fortunately, I have Dora to help me keep my Spanish up. She was the wrapping paper du jour at my b-day dinner with the Goldmans.



As per usual, Bubbie snagged me first.



And, as per usual, I was the center of attention.



Until the food came.



Waiter, waiter. There's a fly in my soup. Oh, that's a wonton?!?



Great-Grandpa Irv (who was one of the first to embrace the computer age) got me my very first computer. Now I can blog by myself. Hope you like everything in third-person!



Aunt Karen's mom, Sheila, joined the festivities. She has grandkids of her own (no thanks to Uncle J and Aunt K!) but none that eat like me.



I may be getting older but opening presents never gets old!



In leiu of birthday cake, I made a wish with a straw in lo mein.



When we got home, I tried on my birthday suit. (JK, I have a sweater on under there, somewhere.)



And then I used my computer to type my very first blog post title.

Mews-eum

Today we went to another sciency museum. This time we met up with Sara and Ryan. My excitement was bubbling over!

Ryan thought this place really blew!

Sara roped us in to all sorts of activities.

I was really a tractor-ed to this ride.

Cousin Rob kept pulling my chain.

Full(case we ate)tons

As luck would have it, Cousins Ryan and Sara were also at Disney today. We met up with them for dinner at Fulton's, one of the restaurants owned by Rob's company. We got the red carpet treatment including double-tall milks.

Sara showed off her wicked sticker collage. I wonder if she'll go to sticker college one day?

As an appetizer, they served us goldfish. Leo showed off the... cheese.

For dessert, they sprinkled in some sundaes for us.

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?!?

Thanks for Giving Me Your Attention

G.A.S. and G.U.G. hosted Thanksgiving dinner again this year. One of our traditions is to sing to all the late-November Birthdays. Cousin Ryan helped his Uncle Brad blow out the candle. (Another tradition is family Jeopardy which ended this year in a disputed tie. The Pechter/Ellis' had a guaranteed win if they bet nothing in Final Jeopardy but Daddy goaded Brad into betting it all. Noone got it right so we were left with zero. Except for the Farbers, that is, who scored -300.)



I met my cousin Maddie for the first time. She's a cutie patootie. Believe it or not, she's never had her hair cut -- her bangs just grow perfectly to the brow.



Maddie and I wasted no time sharing some QT and gossiping about our crazy families.



Cousin Brad showed me what it's like to be in his airplane when he's flying. Someone pass the barf bag!



Clearly Maddie is not as exciting a passenger as yours truly. (I was gonna go with the caption, "Just flew in from Vegas and boy are my arms tired" but that was too easy.)



Cousin Sara, as always, was very attentive. Hmm, where have I seen that outfit before? Note to Cousins Rob and Lisa... nothing gets by the Goldman fashion police!



Cousin Ryan continued to edumacate me, this time showing me how to work the remote. Unfortunately, it's for the TV, not the James Brown figurine.



Uncle Josh, or Joshie as I call him, got so excited to see me, he peed his pants.



Cousin Rob has lost so much weight, he's borrowing my clothes now.



Soon-to-be-Aunt Sara danced with me to that Apple Bottom Jeans song that cousin Brad kept playing.



After listening to that song for the 10th time, we all started to go a little crazy.