Of Pooh and Geodes

I seem to have a considerable lag time when it comes to the calendar thing.  Here are December and January:

Some of you may recognize the Wonder Pets paraphernalia featured in early December.  Yes, Ben is a fan.  I am too, I must admit.  India Gate (December 7) is our favorite restaurant, up in Buffalo; Ben likes the naan and two large sculptures of a cow and elephant.  That must have been a day that Ben had an audiology appointment and we grabbed a meal there afterward.  The mass of red protuberances on the 8th is a very poor rendition of a large outdoor sculpture on campus that has taken Ben's fancy.  Hanukkah started on the 11th, and we made cookies on the 12th.  On the 22nd we flew to Wisconsin and celebrated Christmas with my family.  We flew home on the 28th, and I honestly have no recollection what the giant 7 on the 29th is supposed to signify.

While we were in Wisconsin, my sister gave us an old VHS tape of Winnie the Pooh (seeing as how her college-age daughter has presumably outgrown it by now), and you can see images of the cast sprinkled throughout January.  Other characters making an appearance are Elefun and Froggio (licensed cartoon characters that just happen to have their own line of toys -- our acquaintance with them is due to a free DVD that came with one such toy), a rather sickly looking Grinch, a Blue Meanie, and Skippyjon Jones (a.k.a. El Skippito -- we borrowed the book from the library and love it).  My sister, Ben's beloved Aunt Kathy, visisted for about a week in January, and we made a really good ratatouille on the 17th, hence the eggplant and zucchini.  Ben and his Best Bud Jackson made their ski debut on the 14th, in our backyard.  Jackson is a natural athlete with no fear; as soon as boots touched skis, he was off on a tear.  Ben is a little more reserved when it comes to such things, and needed some coaxing and cajoling.  We figure they'll be good influences on each other.

And here are a couple of other pictures from my sister Kathy's visit.  In the first one, Ben is signing "red".  In the second, he and I are using a magnifying glass to examine a fragment of a geode that Kathy and Ben had just busted open.  One of Kathy's Christmas presents to Ben was a great rock collection and the accompanying magnifiying glass.