Chilly park

Took Roxy for a quick walk and then played at the playground (Alana was a lot happier than she looks in this photo). It was just starting to snow.



Caleb smashed the ice on every puddle in the parking lot (as the cuffs on his pants attest).

Swimming at the Y

Met our friends Nikki and Geo and had a great time in the pool.


Caleb and Alana have orange "noodles."


Alana and Nikki after swimming.

Art girl

We all went to the diner for breakfast (that's Matt's elbow).



Later, Alana killed time while I packed up the car for our return to NY (Larry was at Best Buy considering flat screen TVs).

New York, New York

We took the train into NYC today. It was fun. We road the subway up to the Central Park Zoo (very cute as zoos go), then walked down 5th Avenue for a few blocks (saw many gorgeous store windows) and walked over to Rockefeller Center (underwhelming) and then hit Times Square, which was a total madhouse, but also the highlight of the trip for Caleb - the M&M store!!! Then we took the train home and got back in time for a dinner of Thanksgiving leftovers.

Gutherie

The kids are especially enamored of Beth and Lee's bassett hound.

Caleb's math homework

He's messy but he's smart.

Family Movie Night

We were watching Ratatouille

Snow boarding

A nice kid named Jamie let us try his board.


Larry seemed to get the hang of it.

Caleb did well too, though he stayed on the smallest slope.

Danielle attempts snowboarding

It's safe to say that I have no natural ability when it comes to snowboarding. Which surprises me because I learned to ski not long after I learned to walk! But clearly they are different because after three attempts that ended with me flat on my back, I'd had enough. Maybe I need a lesson.

Sledding

Larry and Danielle


Caleb is seated on the sled, in the black coat with red sleeves.

Alana's friend Shoney was sledding too

At the mall

We headed over to Borders for the Turkey Day party, but found nothing in the store. We walked through the mall and ended up at this nice toystore.

Snowy walk

Alana got cold very quickly, but otherwise we had a very nice walk.

Snowy morning

More is on the way!

Dusting of snow

The snow blew around all afternoon, but never really settled on the ground except in tiny patches here and there.

MOUSE

I finally caught a mouse (see Nov 6 entry), but not THE mouse - I reset the trap after I caught this one, and it was sprung again and the chocolate was gone. Now what to do with this one - it's gotten very cold and it seems cruel to let him go in the park, which had been my plan . . . right now he's residing in our old aquarium.

Battle game

Not sure what this game was, involving the stuffed animals lined up on the small benches and the tubes from the building set, but it was some type of battle.

Swimming at the Y

Another dreary day, so after Sunday school, we went over to the East Area YMCA and spent several hours in the pool - I finally had to drag the kids out, with a promise that we'll come back next week.

Cub scouts at the Crunch Game

Larry got home from work early so that he could take Caleb to the hockey game with the cub scout group. The boys even got to go out on the ice.

Haircuts

We weren't the only people who thought that getting a haircut would be a good task on a rainy Saturday, so we had to wait a few minutes.

At the mall

It was a cold rainy day, so we saw Madagascar 2 at the mall with our friends Geo and Nikki. Then we went into a store devoted entirely to stuffed animals, and ended up at the Dewitt branch of the library (yes, it's in the mall).

Report cards (teacher comments only)

My birthday present

Original oil painting "Sugar Maple" by local artist Milton Franson.

Roxy resting

She had to go to the vet tonight, to have her paw checked - she has a swollen spot on it and we wanted to make sure it wasn't a tick or infected. The doc said it will probably clear up but to call at the end of the week if it doesn't.

BD party

We had a Mexican feast for my 46th. Very nice.


Larry making quesadillas for the kids


Jonathan and Frank

Dawn and Betsy


Aaron and Benjamin playing Wii while Adam watches

Phillip and Caleb, Neve on the side

Picnic - Morgan, Nikki, Alana, Lily (back) eating my GF chocolate cake!

Andrew at Alana's art table (Nadine and Neve did the other artwork)

Saturday in the park