Stories of Fall & Winter 2004-2005

Fall & Birthdays
    We left off at the beginning of school. Aileen was starting 2nd grade; Alec, kingergarten.  Not many days later was the Fall equinox, which happens to roughly the time of Aileen's birthday.  She invited a number of kids to her birthday bash which had a Princess Bride theme.  Here you can see Andy reading to 16 kids (September 19) in a not so successful struggle to keep them occupied with a mystery hunt poem.  By this point most of the boys had decided this was too cerebral & boring.  A few days later, Carly showed us her Einstein pose (September 25), (compare with the real one). 
    The fall weather was really setting in.  Cecilia took the kids apple & pumpkin picking, where they got to ride the hay wagon (October 10).  Soon thereafter it was Alec's birthday (October 26).  He also had ~16 kids over, this time mostly boys.  The pictures from the party show lots of blurs....  Halloween followed soon thereafter.  The older kids continued the Princess Bride theme (October 31), while Carly followed as a Dalmation.

Holidays & Birthdays
    In November, Andy took Alec on a Father-Son outing to the Children's Museum, where both had a wonderful time.  Alec bought this stretch spike thing (November 28) and put it to good use.  Andy's folks visited about this time as well.  In December, Andy took Aileen on a father-daughter outing to an evening performance of the Nutcracker.
    Soon the holidays were upon us.  The kids got to open Christmas presents (December 24) right after Eve-Mass.  Carly got a vacuum cleaner.  We got a portrait of Andy with the Christmas kids.  Christmas morning brought more presents, & Carly received a beloved baby dolly. 
    The new year brings Carly's Birthday on January 1st.  She still loves to go outside (January 2), even now at age two. 

Winter Storms
    The big snow storm started January 22.  Alec watched out the window as the snow started.  Andy was in Kansas City, leaving Cecilia & the kids on their own.  The kids got up early, excited to go out in the new storm.  But they found so much snow drifted up against the door that they couldn't get the door open.  Not ot be dismayed, they used spoons to clear the door (January 23) and get outside.  Close to 2 1/2 feet of snow had fallen.  Cecilia managed to do all the essential shoveling.  Andy returned the next day, but still hadn't cleared the porch snow by January 29.  Many more snows came in the ensuing weeks.  Alec stood atop (February 5) the snow piled at the foot of our driveway, and then stood atop the snow piled next to our porch.  This was about a 6 foot pile of snow.
    By March our house backyard was definately a winterwonderland (March 13).  The sun was warm on the morning fresh snow. 

Inklings of Spring
    Soon the warm sun began beating back the snows.  Spring cleaning (March 19) arrived at the same time.  The kids made Easter Eggs (March 24).  Alec found a warm smile after slicking his hair with stylin gel (March 26).  He even got a duck tail going (he calls it a rat tail).    He looked pretty cool after the gel relaxed too.  Aileen has been working on poetry.
    It was moderately warm (March 27) on Easter morning as we headed out to church.  Soon after Church, the gang of neighborhood kids assembled for the first time since the big snows.  The melting snow piles didn't keep the boys from sword-fighting or Carly from the swingset.
 
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