Diet Coke & Mentos

Diet Coke & Mentos: the classic, foam-inducing combination. For my nephew Henry's 4th birthday, I bought him a special contraption ("Steve Spangler's Geyser Tube") which allows the rapid plunging of a whole stack of Mentos into a 2 Liter bottle of carbonated beverage, resulting in a 25-foot geyser of foam that spews forth. We conducted the experiment just before Thanksgiving dinner, and overall the audience was impressed. My brother-in-law Tim assisted in the effort.



Of course, this is nothing compared to these guys:

Thanksgiving '09!

Ever feel like you need a vacation after a vacation? I definitely feel that way after this long weekend's Thanksgiving at my parents in Indy. We had a GREAT TIME, but traveling with 2 kids on an airline that changes your original flight from a direct one to one with connections that gets into Boston around midnight is no picnic... But why dwell on the negative? Here are some pics of the Hellman Thanksgiving extravaganza.

Cathy & Jamesy
Claire supervising piano playing by Max & Sophie
Aunt Susie & Max (who is trying to get over his separation anxiety from mom)
The full Thanksgiving pie selection: grasshopper, pumpkin, cherry, chocolate mousse, apple (and plenty of whipped cream).
Sophie shows off the winning half of the wishbone.
The hosts of the show (Mom & Dad) with Max in his new winter coat.
Uncle Tim, Silly Sophie, and me (happy my high school letter jacket still fits).
Uncle Joe teaching Henry how to play the accordian.

The Taste of Tony's Frosted Flakes...

Nate's Blog has often referenced the bizarre world of sweetened cereal mascots. Here's a shout-out to the classic Frosted Flakes jingle, in which the All-American jock tiger Tony reports on the grrrrrreatness of his cereal and its ability to "bring out the tiger" in those who eat it. Assisted by Sophie Hellman.

Max's First Birthday!

Hard to believe it's been a whole year since Maxime Hugo Hellman was born...but today we celebrated one full year of Max's existence! Bon anniversaire, Max!

Max blows out his single birthday candle (with a little help from maman, papa, and Sophie)
Opening presents--not surprisingly, he's still more interested than the ribbons and wrapping paper than the actual present...
Chaos ensues...
Sophie celebrating.

Battered & Bruised

Figure illustrating evidence of current abuse: cut on the forehead from where Sophie clocked me with a book, and a fat lip suffered in yesterday's pick-up baskeball game.

More Max

Found the camera! As promised, more Max photos...

Excuses, Excuses

Arg! 11 days since my last post. I can't find my camera with a bunch of good pics on it (chances are, Max or Sophie hid it somewhere), I'm studying for my Nephrology Boards exam scheduled to take place on Wednesday, and I spent the weekend driving all over southeastern Massachusetts visiting patients with sick kidneys at multiple different hospitals as part of a new moonlighting gig. That's a slightly more confusing version of "the dog ate my homework", but at least will provide some excuse for my lack of blog productivity.

Here are a few recent pics I dredged up from my iphone; Sorry, Max, I know you are underrepresented here but I swear I'll make it up to you...

Sophie in pigtails.
Blocks!

Reading with maman.

Nate self-portrait from his San Diego hotel, Halloween night, 2009.

Growing Up Fast

Here' s a couple more Sophie and Max photos from the past few weeks.

Max swinging at the playground--he starting to get ornery when you try and take him out of the swing before he's good and finished.
Mamie taking a walk with her grandkids down Main Street in Charlestown.
View from the bottom of the slide.

Nice fall scene in our neighborhood in Charlestown.Falling asleep on the couch...

Halloween 2009

Howdy, folks! Got back safe and sound from the red eye from San Diego (after a rollickin' good time at the American Society of Nephrology convention) and was eager to see the pics of Sophie & Max's 2009 Halloween: Sophie was a Tinkerbell fairy (along with homemade wings, since she lost the originals somewhere unknown) and Max was a little piggie, though the costume was a little tight and therefore he didn't wear it for very long. Sophie cleaned up in the candy department, and now the challenge will be sticking to our candy rationing agreement.