Let it be known by all men (generic term) present that today also brought the firstfruits of the 2007 Christmas catalog season, in the form of the L.L. Bean Christmas catalog. 

Three and half by jingo'd months before Christmas! 

Yup. today is Alex's 27th birthday.   

Wow.  Three years from the big 3-0. 

Here's a photo I stole off Beth's blog:

I think this was taken last Friday as they were having both Faith and Beth checked by the doctors.  Handsome guy, isn't he? 

So while the Japanese Ivy branch dragged themselves out of bed at a hideously early hour, the Stateside Ivys gathered for munchies and champagne. 

Thinking of which, darned if we plumb forgot to officially toast the babies.

Oh well.  Too late now, so no use repining.  On to the pix, starting with Bethany and Bridgette:

And here's darling Bryson, who has a birthday on Tuesday!  Next weekend I'll be posting photos from his 3d birthday party.  Where does the time GO?

And here's the early-morning crew:

Here's Beth's mother holding Bridgette; at the end of next month she gets to fly over to Japan to spend a couple of weeks with Alex, Beth and the girls.  I'm trying hard not to be eaten alive with wicked envy.

Don with Bridgette:

We had plastic champagne glasses, and the children got a huge kick out of drinking their lemonade from them.  Apparently lemonade tastes extra special good when served in a champagne glass:

Meredith, Carolyn and Dmitry laughing at something Alex was doing, undoubtedly:

The two mamas with their respective babies (darn!  I meant to get one of them together, like we did at the shower, but forgot that, too!):

Sweet Margaret was crazy about Bridgette:

Eventually Hannah woke up so we could get a group photo:

It was a lovely party, but not to be compared to the one we'll have at the end of the year when Alex brings his family home for two weeks.    The passport issue ought not to be an issue, fortunately, as I read in the paper yesterday that at long last the huge backlog has been eliminated and passports are arriving on schedule.  Thank goodness!

The appearance Bridgette brought back something I'd not thought of for awhile and which was mentioned over at Ivyleaguebaby, i.e. the Daddy Bounce (my voice is heard, as is Jeanne's, Alex's, and Dmitry's):

Here are three of my favorites:

Look!  Her eyes are open! 

What a precious li'l roly-poly she is. 

Sweet sisters!

Most likely nearly all of us are aware of the disappearance four months ago of Madeleine McCann from a hotel room in Portugal, and how her parents are now officially classified as suspects by the Portuguese police.  Here is a poorly written sentence that I find baffling, copied from CNN.com:

"But a spokeswoman for the family, Justine McGuiness, said police have
said the girl's blood was found in a vehicle rented by the family 25
days after Madeleine went missing."

I can't figure out whether the family had the rental car during the time Madeleine went missing and the police found blood in it 25 days after the child's disappearance (in which event, why did the police wait so long to examine the parents' rent car?), or if the parents managed to rent a car found to contain their daughter's blood 25 days after her disappearance (what a creepy coincidence that would be, for them to rent the car that had been used by their daughter's kidnapper). 

Isn't she a poppet? 

Isn't that a super picture? 

Translation:  they went - at Dmitry's suggestion, if you can believe such a thing! - to the Kimbell art museum.  

This is not Dmitry's usual hangout, recalling as I do how I'd have to haul him and Dan to the museums, and how anxious they'd be to leave. 

While waiting for the half-price tickets to the exhibition to go on sale at 5 p.m., they went outside to the Kimbell grounds.  Tell you what I think is a lost art, and that's sculpture.  Why the deuce would the KIMBELL have something like THIS?

Uglified, isn't it? 

....that is, a webcam visit. 

It was early morning there in Japan, and we visited before their
breakfast and our dinner.  In a little bit they're heading out to take
Faith to the doctor to be checked out, also to see how to get a birth
certificate since Faith was born at home.  Turns out the "nasty
weather" of which Alex spoke was generated by the typhoon currently
whupping up on Tokyo and shutting its airport. 

Okay, I can see not wanting to get out in that. 

Here are a few photos I took:

Cute girls!  Speaking of cute girls....

And here's a family photo:

Isn't the internet just the BEST?!?! 

Awww!  And she's wearing the outfit I sent her. 

What a bevy of bee-yoo-ti-full females. 

I'm sure Faith's truly tuckered out, but I think Hannah's playin' possum. 

BTW, I filched the photos from Alex's Xanga (link in the Subscription list over on the left).

We have Faith! 

                         

(I've been dying to post that.   )

Alex being a guy, that's all I know.  Beth and Faith are doing fine, but not a single, solitary detail as to weight, length, hair, etc.  

I'm sure these crucial bits of information will be forthcoming real soon.

Right, Alexander?