A House Full of Funny Cats

Coco's prone to the ocassional photoshoot. Witness, "Gert in Leopard":


The kitten, well, he watches us shower:

Shabbas/Sabbath/Family Day

We've tried something new this year. We reorganized the restaurant schedule so Nick has Saturdays off. Sarah stays off the computer, off the email, and keeps her head out of books. Coco stays home--friends come over, but she tries to stay home as much as possible. We do things purposefully, kindly, and together this day. We are keeping a journal of our activities, which so far include nature walks, breakfast excursions, and movie marathons. (Don't let anyone tell you the Eighties weren't awesome cinematically-- Johnny Dangerously, you fargin iceholes?)

Here's a shot from what might just be the best breakfast Coco's ever had:

Emerson School: Mid-Year Conferences

Coco's school hosts student led conferences halfway through the year. It's an opportunity for the students to prepare and share their best work with their loved ones. Here's an excerpt from Coco's conference:




(Click image to enlarge.)

Now, We Have A Way With Pets...

Some of you may recall the serious outlay of cash/investment our family made in the once lame, now deceased Poppie Iannarone (RIP). Well, the whole pet thing doesn't seem to come too smoothly for us. We lost Alice B. Toklas Iannarone in mid-October to mysterious causes. (Gertrude Stein Iannarone stoically keeps on keeping on.) Well, Brother Cosmo came along and wasn't with us six weeks before he busted his leg (and but good) jumping out of a plant. Yes folks--he jumped three feet to his almost death. Grace has never been an adjective proffered generously on our kin. Another grand later, we have a no longer broken, but still somewhat gimpy kitten lurking around our home. Here are the pictures of his "cast" in the early days before it was covered with "stuff" from the litter box.

Our One Snow Day of the Year--Boo Hoo

My little Angel:

Budding Photographer:

Snowballs of Fury:

Why Gert Loves Snow Days:

Among our Favorites--The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The time is always right to do what's right."

Blue Mako

And you thought a Blue Mako looked like this:



Think again. Coco joined the Blue Makos swim team at the Mt. Scott Community Center down the road a piece from our house. She kicks some serious fin--swimming twenty, thirty laps a practice. She's really progressed. Maybe next time around we'll get up early enough to actually attend a swim meet, something we agreed wholeheartedly we were not interested in doing since neither Coco nor Mama enjoy waking before 9 and swim meet was scheduled for 8AM on Sunday across town!

The Big Eight

Coco had a sleepover party to celebrate her eighth birthday. Many (too many) friends were in attendance. Fun was had by all--except Mom and Dad, who ended up sleeping in shifts.

Feline Advent--Part Deux

Feline Advent

New Kitten Cosmo arrives in time for the holidays. He came a week early; otherwise, he'd have had to stay all cooped up in the bathroom on Christmas morning and that wouldn't have been any fun, now would it?

They Don't Call it "Make-Up" for Nothin'

I see a trend emerging here. Busy family. Takes photos when able. Transfers them to disk somewhere. They go unreviewed, unprinted, and unposted until next school vacation when said parents--overworked and underwhelmed--regain the strength to do the whole "post photos to the blog for loved ones" thing.

Well, we love you, and here it comes: another three months worth of photos demonstrating how quickly our family is growing.