January - March 2018

January means the Nutcracker at the Crossley house. Both Anna and Kate had several roles this year. Anna was a boy in the Act I party scene and Kate was one of the mice in the dream and battle sequence at the end of Act I. Anna danced as Snow in the transition from Act I to Act II, as part of Tea in the land of sweets section of Act II, and as part of the Waltz of the Flowers near the end of Act II.  Kate was one of Mother Ginger's bonbons in Act II.  Jack helped out, as he often does, as an usher for several shows.  February was mostly grey, but had a few strange warm spells.  For Spring Break in March, we visited Granny and Grandpa, and Aunt Amy, in North Carolina.  At the end of March, Mom did a lot of work to put together a "doll apartment complex" for Anna and Kate.  The 18-inch dolls (American Girl size) live downstairs and Barbie-size dolls live upstairs.

Anna in "Tea" from Nutcracker

Kate as one of Mother Ginger's bonbons

Too many sweets for the bonbons

Hop to it!  It's time to go.

Anna in Waltz of the Flowers from Nutcracker

More of the Waltz

Anna in Tea costume for the finale

The party scene with Drosselmeyer.  Anna is the tall "boy" to the left of the Turkish warrior doll.

Anna after the show

Kate after the show

Anna also danced in the "snow" scene; after the second day show

Jack helps out as an usher at the Nutcracker performances

Anna at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC

A photo of Anna and Jack taking photos of the lemur exhibit

Kate and Dad with a pretty good selfie

Jack got a picture of Dad with Granny and Grandpa catching up to the rest of the group

The new doll apartment complex

October - December 2017

Fall got underway here with Jack spending the first week of October helping at the "Feast of the Hunter's Moon" with his Boy Scout Troop.  Kate continued taking "Kids Cooking" lessons, which got her interested to try making cupcakes (even though that wasn't a recipe from class).  Everyone thought the cupcakes were great.  After Kate made it in to the cast of Nutcracker, she decided she wanted to get contact lenses so that she could dance without wearing her glasses.  The contacts were tricky to get set up and aren't always easy to get in, but she stuck with them.  Around October, the Lafayette Ballet Company's performance included "The Raven" based on Edgar Allen Poe's poem; Anna had a role as a creepy shadow.  Jack participated in LEGO league with some of the co-op students; he took on the lead programmer role.  Then, as Christmas approached, we got snow on Dec 24th for a White Christmas.  The week after Christmas, Jack and Dad went to Winter Camp (also known as "summer camp in the snow"), where the temperatures were well below zero.  They were cold, but they had fun, and Jack earned a few merit badges.

Jack in period clothing at Feast of the Hunter's Moon

Kate with her kupkakes
(yes, we told Dad that he spelled this wrong, but he seems to think it is funny)

Kate wearing her new contact lenses

post trick-or-treat

Anna as a creepy shadow from the Lafayette Ballet Company's "The Raven"

Jack and his team in action at LEGO League

Anna before the Winter piano recital

Kate during rehearsal for the Nutcracker

checking out the Christmas decorations at the Haan Museum

Anna (with pink trim on left), Kate (in brown at center) and Jack (in red behind Kate)
giving it a go at the ice skating rink

Christmas Eve snow for a white Christmas at Tuckaho

taking advantage of the snow for some sledding action

opening presents on Christmas morning (thanks, everyone!)

Jack at Winter Camp (it was probably -5°F this day)

July - September 2017

July started with Jack (and Dad, for part of the time) at Camp Buffalo for a week of summer camp.  After summer camp, we took a family trip that also involved camping.  We traveled through Canada, spent a few days near and in Montreal, then we met our friends for a few days in Vermont in the mountains next to the Appalachian Trail (it ran right next to our campsite).  We went less rustic for a few days, still with our friends, near Boston in a beach house, until we finally headed back to our home via Niagara Falls.  There must be something about us and camping, because it rained almost everywhere we set up our tent.  Oma and Opa visited us while they were on their way to visit Oma's brother and his family.  In August, we drove to Kentucky to watch the solar eclipse with some friends who used to live near us.  Then, for Kate, the big deal in September was her first chance to audition for the Nutcracker.

Jack at Boy Scout summer camp

Our rainy campsite outside Toronto

Kate next to the fire pit at d'Oka

Kate with Ruth on the Deer Leap hike

Anna and Jack with Kevin

Jack and Dad taking a selfie at the top (note the clouds building up in the background - it rained on our hike back down)

the hammock at the MA beach house

outside after the fire alarm evacuation at Boston's Museum of Fine Art

at the Duxbury Beach Park

last camping night of the trip at Four Mile Creek State Park (it didn't rain until after dinner!)

all of us at Niagara Falls

with Oma and Opa during their visit

waiting for the solar eclipse

using the eclipse box viewer

Kate with Hope before their first Nutcracker auditions

April - June 2017

April brought outdoor soccer for Jack and a ballet recital for Anna and Kate. As the year headed towards summer, we got outside quite a bit more often.  Dad was able to get Kate a new bike "for free" using some of his airline miles; the bike was a little big for this year, but it will be great next year.  Kate and Jack spent a week at "Archi-camp" learning about Architecture while Anna participated in the "summer intensive" ballet.

Jack's Spring Soccer team

Anja with Kate after the Spring ballet recital

Anna with Lily after Spring ballet recital

Kate with her slightly too-big bike

Kate and Jack with the Mentos-Diet Coke experiment

at the Art Institute of Chicago

at Roxy's dress-up party

Jack and Kate before Archi-camp

Kate displaying her piano skills outdoors

Choices, choices

at the end-of-summer-intensive ballet show