Operation Sham

Happy Valentine's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (brightbiologist) — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 18:53:00 +0000

Stationery Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Inara Dances, Fun with Cousins, and More

noreply@blogger.com (Sos) — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 04:43:00 +0000

Hi All, thanks for your patience with us! We've welcomed some exciting changes in the past few months and have done a lot of visiting. Enjoy some pictures of our most recent adventures.

Inara dancing to the tunes of the Sebeka High School Band in Downtown Disney.

The girls present Aunt Em with a fun turkey centerpiece for her Thanksgiving table. Cousin Abe looks on. We all enjoyed spending time with our favorite Vermonters!

Inara gets a big hug from Cousin Akima & Isis smiles for the camera. They came up from Miami with Auntie Gena, Cousin Gavin and Granny Betty to see us in Orlando.

Visiting Zayde Fred at the Jewish home!

Hanukkah! One of Glo's top 3 holidays. Loading the menorah...but where's the shamash?

Girlos in their headscarves getting ready for bed

Our first "hot" cocoa

"Roaring success!"

The time! The time! Who's got the time?

noreply@blogger.com (brightbiologist) — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 03:54:00 +0000

The time! The time! Who's got the time?

--The March Hare, Alice in Wonderland

Wow! We've seen a lot of changes in the past several months! The girls are thriving in preschool and having finished dissertating (I STILL don't believe it most days!) I've moved on to a 9-5...which leaves us asking, where does the time go? Coordinating the schedules of our lovely girls with the schedules of two busy working parents can be quite the challenge!!

"Are you picking up the kids today? I have to work late."
"No, I have to work late."
"Didn't you check the Google Calendar?"
**crickets**

Yeah, that's happened a couple times

So...we're still figuring it out and when I ask people who've been doing it for a while, juggling two jobs and kids schedules, I hear the same, still figuring it out, so for now, we'll take it.

Since dissertating though, we have had more time to enjoy our family with all members present at the same time. We've also come up with some time savers that help us get the girls ready for their days and us ready for ours. I thought that to get over my blogging hiatus, I'd share a few of our favorite time savers.

Preparing breakfasts in bulk

We soak steel cut oats overnight, make them either in the microwave or on the stovetop in the morning, add in some maple syrup, raisins or blueberries, cinnamon, flaxseed meal, chia seeds, other fave toppings and freeze them in single or two serving portions. They're ready to thaw overnight or in the microwave

We prepare large batches of silver dollar pancakes and thaw them in the microwave.

We make large batches of waffles and freeze them. In the mornings we pop them in the toaster. The girls LOVE them!

Preparing lunches in bulk

One of our favorite lunches to prepare for the girls is sunbutter (sunflowers are seeds and they frequent nut free haunts) and jam sandwiches. We quarter them and freeze them for easy lunches. I often make and freeze a whole loaf of sandwiches.

Cheats:

umm...frozentraderjoesturkeymeatballs, yeah, I give my kids frozen meatballs and when I make my own, they are sure to let me know that they are not the same or appreciated. Hey, whatever works. We serve them with cous cous, brown rice or pasta and a little bit of my tricky pasta sauce ( I sneak some veggies in) or sunflower seed pesto.

Trader Joe's frozen veggie lasagna...they love this and prefer it over my lasagna any day. They love my mother-in-laws lasagna, but who can compete with the Bubbie touch?

Preparing snacks in bulk

we make black bean brownie bites and healthy muffins in bulk, we freeze them then pop a couple brownies into the girls lunches or grab a mini muffin or 4 for breakfast.

The girls love kale chips and we can't make them fast enough. We make about 4 bunches of kale chips at a time and they last us for about half a week.

I make a huge batch of hummus and freeze it in individual or double portions. We send the girls off to with this and some cucumber rounds, grape tomatoes or carrot sticks. Happy campers!

Dinners are more often than not, catch as catch can, but it works for us. A combination of frozen meals, fresh prep and **GASP** take out, gets us through. And Shabbat, let's not talk about that we've got a lot to do to figure that one out. Fortunately for us, a couple extra rounds of shabbat shalom and the girls are forgiving.

What are your time saving tips?

Buenos Dias

noreply@blogger.com (Sos) — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 02:15:00 +0000

Forgive the quality towards the end but I think the girls overall cuteness makes up for any a/v issues.

Food!

noreply@blogger.com (Sos) — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 02:00:00 +0000

Sorry for the delay blogging. Here are some photos of the girls' favorite meals from the summer.

Picnic on the water at KO Pies.

Ice cream dinner with Daddyo!

Mixing the bird bath in the backyard.

Pizza picnic on the porch.

Super Inara with fork!

Glo with carrots at Drumlin farm!

Guacamole!

noreply@blogger.com (Sos) — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 01:46:00 +0000

Per usual all of the really crazy antics were in the 5 minutes before I managed to record this on my phone. Please enjoy a small sample of Inara and Glo in the AM.

Crazy girls crazy time

noreply@blogger.com (Sos) — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 00:54:00 +0000

While Mommy is hard at work getting her Phd, Daddy is doing his best to survive the slings and arrows of two wild and crazy girls. Enjoy.

Two Zades and Dancing Girls

noreply@blogger.com (Sos) — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 03:23:00 +0000

The girls are lucky enough to have two Zades! Here a picture of their most recent visit to see Zade Fred (aka Joe's grandfather). Zade Fred will be 90 in November.

Of course they also love seeing Zade Harv aka Zade aka Joe's dad. This next two pictures are from a few weeks ago.

And no visit to see Bub and Zade would be complete without dancing with our friends Minnie Mouse and Puppy. Bubbe makes an appearance towards the end.

Reach for the Marbles!

noreply@blogger.com (Sos) — Fri, 31 May 2013 00:28:00 +0000

Hi Friends and Fam! Below find two photos from the girls' visit(s) to the Boston Children's Museum . The last picture is Gloria and her friends before lunch.

Swim Gear and Wagon Races

noreply@blogger.com (Sos) — Mon, 13 May 2013 23:36:00 +0000

Our favorite twins are taking swim classes once again. Here are some pictures getting ready before class on Saturday morning. Please note that Inara stole her mother's swim cap and then we had to give one to Glo to make it fair.

Below is short video showing the girls team work pulling/pushing their wagon in our 'yard' aka the park across the street.

Mmmm! CAKE!

noreply@blogger.com (brightbiologist) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:02:00 +0000

This weekend we had the pleasure of participating in the NEAA walk-a-thon and hanging out with Bub and Zeyd! After the walk-a-thon we headed to Kimball Farm in Lancaster for ice cream. We were well into the naptime zone even though the girls were too amped up from the walk-a-thon to sleep. Zeyd and I got ice cream while the girls waited in the car with Bub. When I returned to the car, the girls saw me with my treat and said..."Mommy! cake!" The first thing I thought was, "Why aren't you napping?" The second thing I thought was "There's no cake here." I enjoyed my ice cream for a while more before Zeyd arrived with his huge ice cream. The girls then exclaimed "Zeyde! CAKE!!!" In that moment I figured it out! We had been to a party recently where we had CAKE and ICE CREAM! The girls were fans of both but as far as they were concerned it all fell under the umbrella of yummy! The girls helped Zeyd and me eat our ice cream with a "mas cake por favor," here and an"mmmm...rico! CAKE!" there. They got in a quick nap shortly thereafter. These girls are always entertaining and amazing us with their skills of observation!

Spring is here

noreply@blogger.com (Sos) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 01:48:00 +0000

It's been a crazy bewildering week to say the least. All of our Boston area friends and family are fine with nerves rattled after the recent events. Thanks for all the well wishes. Below please find some more recent pics of the girls from Joe's phone.

Glo and Inara in the Easter dresses (thanks G!).

How Black n Jews celebrate Passover-Gumbo and Matzah.

Visiting Dad at LaserCraze!

Glo reading "Church Going Time" with Bubbe! (Thanks to G for the book).

Inara in her birthday fairy wings outfit (Thanks Bub and Zade!)

Glo cooking with her cookie monster kitchen set (Thanks Bub!)

Crazy art time. Inara insisted on wearing her snow suit and Glo takes the instruction for "color on the camera" literally!

Cuties

noreply@blogger.com (Sos) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 02:10:00 +0000

Sitting on Zade's chair 3/15/13.

Hard to believe it but our favorite twins turned 2 last week! It's hard to get pictures since they move so fast but here are a couple from Joe's phone over the last couple of weeks/months.

Gloria like to Ladle!

Inara=Winter Hat Fashion Plate!

Big girls sitting at their own table and chairs. Thanks Vermont cousins!

Enjoying some rare warm New England winter weather.

Snack Dance!

noreply@blogger.com (Sos) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 05:09:00 +0000

There was a request for more pictures, which is tough since the girls move so fast. Here's a little video of their dance moves at snack time today.

You Oughta Be in Pictures!

noreply@blogger.com (brightbiologist) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:52:00 +0000

We've entered a photo contest and first place gets a gift certificate to a fancy camera store. You know what that means? More pictures! Please vote. You can do so through Facebook. I generally loathe App based Facebook activities but I have selfish motivations here so there you go.

Our entry is "Clowning Around" You can vote once a day.

Instructions for voting follow, you'll need to be logged in to Facebook to vote:
1. Go to Cambridge Savings Bank's Facebook Page
2. Under their banner, click CSB Photo Contest
3. Find the photo entitled "Clowning Around"
4. VOTE! Please! and invite others to vote too. Thanks!

(Some) Reflections on a Blessed Year

noreply@blogger.com (brightbiologist) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 19:36:00 +0000

A friend of mine with a son a bit younger than our girls recently said something that really stuck with me: "we have great times, just no time to reflect on them." Though simultaneously juggling twins and graduate school while nurturing our marriage hasn't been a cakewalk for the past two +years (I'm throwing pregnancy in there too because, trust me, that was a load to juggle as well) this end game, if that's what it is--the (what I hope is) final grueling stretch of graduate school--is killing me so very slowly and softly. I often get bogged down in the HUGENESS of what's left to do and don't spend enough time reflecting on the truly great times we have had. In the past year ...

we've visited with Zeyde

we've observed the High Holy Days with Bub and Zeyde

we've played outdoors with Daddo

I've had helpers in the kitchen

We've caught Couch Climbing Danger Girls on a Daddy Day

I've celebrated a birthday

We've discovered new parks!

We've discovered earmuffs (in the Spring)

(ZOMG this GORGEOUS CHILD!)

We discovered puddles. We sat in them. We splashed in them...

and we LIKED them!

(ZOMG THIS GORGEOUS CHILD!)

We had a great time visiting with our cousins

We visited with Grandpa and G...

We even celebrated a THIRD wedding anniversary with pictures in the park!

We have had SUCH a blessed year! I hope for more time to reflect in 2013 but for now I'll try to remember, for a second or two, in my times of chaos and moments of despair how very lucky we are to have all that we have.

Bedtime

noreply@blogger.com (Sos) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 03:58:00 +0000

Here is a brief photo essay about bedtime with two wild and crazy girls. Please note no parents were harmed in the making of this.

Where to start?

noreply@blogger.com (brightbiologist) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 02:54:00 +0000

We've been crazy busy around here since returning from vacation in OCTOBER! We owe you so many pictures but here's a sneak peak.

Our first stop in CA was a vacation rental off Highway 1. This quaint general store was within walking distance, they had all kinds of awesome local products and great old timey touches. Following is an example of a typical day on the coast...we loved it so much!

We stayed in a BEAUTIFUL cottage across the street from an amazing hike down to the beach. You can see the ocean in the background. The girls loved it and couldn't wait to get in their stroller and start the day!

Fortunately for us, the porch was fully enclosed! We didn't have to worry about the little lovies getting out!

After a bit of wrangling...

and a little bit more wrangling (she's trying to climb up to the crow's nest that boasted gorgeous views)

and a little more wrangling (she put her hat on and said "go? go?")

we struck out on a hike down to the beach

a couple ergos and a family of four

communed on the beach.

On our first trip down we thought it would be a fun sensory experience for the girls to run around on the beach, but knowing the twinkies, they would have dived to the bottom to find King Triton or something.

After our morning hike we would generally head back and wait for Aunt or set about our adventure of the day (like a trip to the SF Zoo). Now I'm beginning to remember why I've avoided posting these pics for so long...I want to go on vacation again! There's more in store...stay tuned!

Not Quite Ballroom...

noreply@blogger.com (brightbiologist) — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:09:00 +0000

But how cute are these cuties?!?!?! I promise we have TONS of pictures to post from our early fall adventures but this will have to tide you over.

Happy Hall-owl-een!

noreply@blogger.com (Sos) — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 03:17:00 +0000

The girls were owls for Halloween. Enjoy!

Hello Out There!

noreply@blogger.com (brightbiologist) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 03:18:00 +0000

We have been so behind in updating. Photos are soon to come! We've had so many adventures! A trip to California, our first family farm experience, a wedding, some farewells, Joe's first solo kid's party, our first major post-tropical storm! So much has happened. For now, rest assured that we're well and we're safe and trust that our twin tornadoes did much more damage to our lives than this Sandy storm did.

A Parent's Peeve

noreply@blogger.com (brightbiologist) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 10:00:00 +0000

As a parent of children who has friends, who have children, I often find myself buying gifts (usually very late birthday and birth-day gifts) for children. I actually like buying them, when I can finally get to the store or get my selfish fingers to peruse Amazon for things other than my family's immediate needs. The problem is, when I'm buying gifts, the guilt quickly descends. Along with the "is this extravagant enough?" and question that pops into my head, I have this conscience that whispers (new books are wasteful...new toys are wasteful...reuse. reduce. buy a second hand item in good condition.)

But the baby industry has my number. The ads that say "only the BEST for our babies" settle as "only the NEWEST and MOST EXPENSIVE for our babies." "Babies are NEW and should only have NEW things." Having twins broke me of a lot of this thinking where our girls were concerned long before it broke my bank account. We owe so many thanks for the generosity of friends and family who have gifted us gently used clothing and toys. But the dilemma still exists when it comes to other people's children.

Given the environmental cost and the ridiculous surplus of brightly colored large plastic toys and children's books ripe for page tearing why isn't it generally considered socially OK in ALL circles to occasionally give gently used gifts?

One Day At A Time

noreply@blogger.com (brightbiologist) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 00:57:00 +0000

I was going to write an entry tonight about how it's darker when I get home, not only because the days are shorter but because I've been working later in lab trying to finish up my thesis project. I was going to write about how, sometimes, my husband keeps the girls up so that I can see them. I was going to write about how I'd reached some ZEN state of being okay with getting home a little bit later so long as I'm making progress, about how I'm getting to be okay with my home not being perfectly tidy, about how I'd become okay with a (lot) of baby food streaking our drapes, about how it's no longer so important to me to have a spic and span home with all things in order as long as we have a little family time every day. I was going to write about all these things until, on my first visit of the evening to the powder room (about an HOUR after I got home despite my desire to visit it IMMEDIATELY upon crossing the threshold...totally typical). I happened upon a PARADE of ANTS having fun in our water closet!!!

WHAT WERE THEY DOING IN THERE?!! There's nothing SWEET in the lavatory. Trust me!! I FREAKED OUT! My zen went completely out the window the ants were trailing in through. I ripped down the shower curtains and practically shoved Joe into the basement to put them in a HOT wash with BLEACH. I thought briefly about making a quick run to CVS for RAID but...NO! Bad chemicals! The babies bathe in there. I took out my bottle of my homemade cleaner. Vinegar, essential oils, a little Dr. Bronner's. Joe, out of love and the kindness of his heart, tolerated my crazy, grabbed a roll of paper towels and followed me, cleaning up all the ants I sprayed to death. They were EVERWHERE! The ceiling even! I don't know what they were after! I was so disgusted that I threw away half of my specialty body products irrationally. After the vinegar spray, we went back over things with Clorox Cleanup, a go to cleaner around our house. It's not necessarily environmentally friendly but the girls were asleep and sometimes essential oils don't cut it. So here I am, ITCHING, seeing ants where there are no ants, traumatized and admitting that regardless of how together I seem, no matter what zen spirit I radiate I, like most of you, am taking it one day at a time.

Sensory Fun!!

noreply@blogger.com (brightbiologist) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 02:13:00 +0000

A little while ago we had a sensory activity with the girls. We used shaving cream and cornmeal and focused on how the shaving cream felt versus the cornmeal. Then we washed off in the pool! Fun was had by all!

C is for Cookie

noreply@blogger.com (brightbiologist) — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 03:45:00 +0000

Our cookies... Now with REAL Nutrients!

I try to run a healthful kitchen. This summer, we've been living off the bounty of Joe and the girls' weekly trip to the farmer's market, the land(lord) and the generosity of gracious friends who haven't been able to pick up their farm shares this summer. Still, we're no strangers to a treat or two around here. YOLO. We remember the times when grandma made JELLO using cantaloupe as a bowl, when grandpa let us eat ice cream for dinner, when a favorite aunt slipped us a cookie between meals, not all the times mom put a tasty and nutritious apple in our hands. I'm sure the girls are forming memories in their impressionable little brains all the time and, at this juncture, I think it's important to try to discourage their memories of my (possible) inadequacies as a parent and replace the memories with CHOCOLATE! Why not?

Just because I'd like to perhaps modify a memory or two with chocolate doesn't mean I've given up entirely on healthfulness. A mom from one of the lists I subscribe to shared a recipe for a modified version of the Sneaky Chef's Unbelievable Chocolate Chip Cookies. I used her recipe without first consulting the Sneaky Chef's recipe. The cookies turned out soft and tasty, though Joe noted the texture was off. The cookies turned out the consistency of my Mom and Granny's persimmon cookies (for those of you fortunate enough to have tried them). They were a bit breadier/cakier than one might expect of a chocolate chip cookie to be. I'd make these again in the future maybe following the Sneaky Chefs' recipe, or maybe modifying this recipe using a nut butter (peanut, almond) instead of the Greek yogurt. I like this recipe because it involves less sugar and more REAL FOOD! Beans and whole grains make this recipe more rich in in vitamin E, folate, manganese, selenium, tryptophan, and fiber.* Toll House cookies, they were not, but the girls don't know anything different and it is nice to know that they can enjoy a homemade treat made especially for them.

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp each baking soda and salt
1/4 cup oat bran (or put some regular whole oats in a blender or food processor; wheat germ would probably work here too)
4 TB butter, softened1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup bean puree (I used garbanzo)1/2 cup plain Greek yogurtseveral good handfuls of chocolate chips

preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients. In a mixer beat butter and sugars til creamy. Add the egg, vanilla, bean puree and yogurt. Add dry to wet and add chips.** These cookies are a bit sticky, so it can help to line the pan with parchment paper, non stick foil or a quick spray of Pam. Also, if you want you can flatten the cookies so they bake more evenly, with the back of a spatula. Bake 14-15 minutes. Enjoy!

* Unbelievable Chocolate Chip Cookies

**I usually let the cookie dough sit for about 10 minutes to let the wheat bran in the flour absorb the moisture.