Well, this may take several parts, and I am exhausted after throwing a birthday party for Ane.  But, here we go. After our celebration with the Friend and Doc crew, we had our annual family gathering at Uncle Buddy’s house for dinner, gifts for the young kids, and the white elephant bingo exchange.  Ane and […]

As we were leaving Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa’s house yesterday evening, Tad turned to me and said, “Mama, is it time for Christmas now?” I don’t know whether to be proud that he’s finally figuring out the flow of time and seasons, or horrified that he’s been so indoctrinated to think that once the turkey is […]

After some 14 years on this earth, my parents’ dog, Rusty, passed away last Friday morning.  He was the closest animal the kids had to a pet of their own. This is the most recent picture that I found of him, and it’s from December 2010.  The picture is actually of Auntie playing with Rerun, […]

The Dark Knight was ready. Hermione Granger had her wand at the ready. This adorable little pirate who can say “trick or treat!” perfectly well… was not going to pose for a picture if he could help it. In fact, before we left to go trick-or-treating (and while his great-grandparents, his Grandma, and his Auntie […]