Where you been? No, I haven't forgotten about the loyal legion of fans out there. We've just been mired down in the typical routine with the kids around here. Preschool all week, gymnastics and birthday parties on the weekends. And chicken pox.

Last weekend, Jesse had a few spots on his upper body. I thought to myself...couldn't be. Dr. Mom, of course, had the gut instinct that we were looking at chicken pox. Wait a minute, not possible...he had the varicella vaccine years ago. At the doctor's the next morning, we learned that the vaccine isn't fullproof (85% success rate) and we were looking at a mild, but very real case of chicken pox. So we scrambled to arrange coverage for Jesse all week since school wasn't an option. So where did this put Zoe? As longtime readers may remember, Zoe had the real deal when we first met her, almost jeopardizing that first trip to Russia. So she wasn't about to catch them again. I had them when I was about Jesse's age. And Sari had the varicella vaccine, which seemed to hold up to do its job for one of us anyway.

What does all this have to do with anything? Not much, but it's the only lame excuse I have for a lack of vigilence to blogging detail.
So we've been somewhat homebound without many photo ops of late. But we finally got out today to celebrate cousin Lila's birthday at a brunch thrown by Grandma & Grandpa. Pancakes are now near the top of Zoe's dietary staples--she craves them for breakfast, lunch & dinner and is eating a lot of them. I suspect it's not so much the pancakes as it is the syrup, just the latest in a long line of sweets that have fallen into favor. We'd probably get the same enthusiasm if we offered corrugated cardboard topped with a little Log Cabin.

Uncle Gary taught Zoe some of the finer points of the game of cribbage. And she put them to good use by hammering the birthday girl.

Rest assured, we're still out here working for you. Look for more bloggable material in the days to come.  ¶ 11:01 PM