Ch-ch-ch-changes!

I’ve never been one to miss an opportunity to reference David Bowie, and this one seems to really fit the last few weeks. We’ve a lot of fun to report on and have barely updated the Gribblog since Christmas. It has been a pretty mild winter in Colorado, with a lot of days in the 50s and even some 60s, but we’ve had a few sub-zero days in the past two weeks as well.

Last weekend we hosted our 11th annual Super Bowl party. We had one very small gathering in Boston (OK, technically we lived in Brighton right between BU and BC on the green line), and we’ve now hosted 10 Super Bowl parties in Colorado. Five years ago, we had a tough choice, but we decided that we should still have a party despite the Steelers’ (Dave’s team) participation in Super Bowl XL. With all of the cooking and small talk and related hosting responsibilities, we didn’t get to “watch” as much of the game as we would have liked, but we did get to share the fun of victory (that was the one for the thumb) with a bunch of friends. Three years later we were faced with the same conundrum, but the decision was a no-brainer and again we got to celebrate with some friends (Rob excluded, as he was rooting for the Cactus Wrens).

This year the decision was a bit more complicated as we had not only a Steelers appearance but also little Phoebe running around. Ultimately we decided we should still hold a party, but we made a smaller than normal guest list. In another attempt to make things easier on us, we prepped a fajita bar so that we wouldn’t have to do any cooking during the party. On Saturday afternoon, we dreamed up a large 3-D helmet cake concept (clearly the result of watching too many weird shows via Netflix like Cake Boss) featuring the Steelers on one side and the Packers on the opposite with a yellow stripe down the middle. We weren’t sure how to make an edible facemask (or black and green fondant for that matter) so we bailed on the massive concept cake and made a chocolate Steelers cake and a separate yellow Packers cake instead. By now we all know that the Steelers came up just short of pulling off the comeback. While the start was a little rough, the game was close in the last quarter and turned out to be pretty enjoyable. I guess we’ll have to wait another year or two for the 7th Lombardi Trophy. The attendance was great, but we should have kept the same no-holds-barred invite list from years gone by. . . on several occasions we wondered where some of our friends were only to remember we snubbed them.

Sorry to everyone; next year you’re all invited, so unless there is a prolonged lock-out that whacks Super Bowl XLVI, mark your calendars and make your travel plans early!

Since the Super Bowl let-down, Phoebe has accelerated her learning processes. A couple of days ago we were certain that she knew what the wall was, and she would reliably point to it during dinner when prompted; however, in the intervening days, she’s really taken to clapping (which is super cute) and will clap enthusiastically when we ask her where the wall is. I guess she’s currently a one-trick-at-a-time pony.

Speaking of tricks, her newest one is “walking” with just one hand. This one was revealed just yesterday. Phoebe and I were walking around in the children’s section of Borders when I let go of her left hand. Previously she would have immediately sat down, but this time she just kept on walking along. It was so cool, we had to wobble back to the cafe where Jess was busily working on Phoenix stuff to show off the new skill. Jess was amazed, and later that afternoon Phoebe took one little step completely on her own before immediately sitting down and crawling off. It won’t be long until she’s running all over the place. Jess already thinks we’re in big trouble.

Another fun change—this one is still somewhat in the works—will be a new banner and theme update for the blog. It seems it’s about time to add miss Phoebe to the picture at the top of the site, so we’ll be unveiling a new concept in the coming weeks. Keep on the lookout and let us know what you think when it arrives. Of course there are a bunch of other fun new things to report, but I’ve got to leave something for Jess to write about.