No post yesterday – I was felled by a double ear infection. Ouch! Feeling a little better today after some antibiotics and a better night of sleep.

Highlights of the last few days:

• Nutcracker mania continues in the house. When I left this AM, M was reading a Nutcracker book and listening to the soundtrack. When I got home, the girls were performing the entire ballet to the soundtrack, and then we just watched the old standby Sparkle Man version, which has Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland. It seems so faded and basic compared to the Septime Webre version, which I now know by heart. The exciting news is that the Sparkle Man DVD score contains the part that the bumblebees dance to, while many of the CDs we have listened to do not. So of course they performed the bumblebee part, to the music, which ended with A stomping off the "stage" claiming that M wasn't doing it right.
• Yesterday the girls had a mellow day at home. Emily came over for a playdate, which was fun (I was home for it, though working upstairs). I did snap these cute pictures of the girls having a tea party and Imogene/M:

• Today, Grandma Sandy took the girls to see "Oklahoma" at Arena Stage. They loved it! And both girls asked a question during the post-show discussion. (Something their mom wouldn't have stayed for, but their grandmother loves.) Thank you to Grandma Sandy for treating the girls to a fun theater experience.
• M&A are choosing words every week from their new dictionaries and sharing them with Grandma Dina. Today's words: BANISH (A) and BACKBONE (M).
• And here finally is a picture of Nana, Emily, and their friend Sophia after the Nutcracker on Sunday.

Do these girls have great grandparents or what?

Finally, I don't think I shared these photos from when Imogene came to the Nutcracker on the 11th: