Snow Day (Part Two)

The madness in the backyard, where we had the most drifting.

We were amazed at how much snow accumulated between the two garages.

Deep, deep snow.

This is what welcomed us when we opened the garage. Dave spent a couple of hours with several neighbors dealing with all the snow in the alley.

Snow Day (Part One)

We've just experienced the third worst snowstorm in Chicago's history. More than 20 inches of snow and winds up to 70 mph. Needless to say, all three schools closed and this was Alex's first snow day. Here's some pictures of the experience.

This snow got forced through some minuscule crack in the back door (and the back door is not really exposed because it's on the side of the house facing the neighbor's).

The beginning of the shoveling out front.

The gray swath is our neighbor's sidewalk first thing this morning. The sidewalk there is heated and dealt with the volume of snow pretty well, as you can see.

Our road. It still has not been plowed as of this afternoon.

Dave more than knee-deep in snow.

Dave makes lots of progress in the front. Photo by Alex.

A cross-section of our sidewalk.

Alex was excited that the snow day meant he could wear his pjs all morning.

Coming later, pics of the backyard snow and more of Alex's snow day activities.

Tired

For more than four months now Alex has been waking up between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning. And most days at home he won't nap either. That's led to some very tired family members, as you can see below. At least it makes for a cute picture.

Christmas Part Two

Finally catching up on pictures from visiting Grandma and Grandpa C now that the computer seems to be cooperating.

Every year, Alex loves exploring the piano. Or as he's taken to calling it lately, the "pianio."

On an outdoor adventure in the snow. Of course, a stick is quite necessary.



First time sledding. Thanks for the push, Anna!

Having a blast with Aunt Sue on the sled.

Anna got in on the snowy fun too. Someone needed to clear the snow off this slide, right?! I love how the colorful park structures stand out in the snow.

Grandma and Grandpa got Alex the modern Tonka firetruck to go with his classic one. He loves having two fire trucks. Now he has enough trucks for his own fire station!



Maria demonstrating her stellar teacher skills.



Snuggling with Grandma.



It's Grandpa's turn.

Christmas Part One

Before leaving for Grandma and Grandpa C's, we had presents at home.

A new tradition that Alex was very excited about -- candy canes in everyone's stockings!

Digging in to the stocking. What's inside?

Alex got his first taking turns game, Uno Moo! He got the hang of it very quickly and had lots of fun playing with us at home and then with Maria and Anna.

Zoo Lights

We are slowly making our way back into the land of operating computers. I'm still having some difficulties with pictures, but I'm going to try to get some posted. First up, our annual trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo for Zoo Lights.

The annual picture of Alex and Dave in front of the snowman.

Alex and me having fun despite the cold.

Alex really liked the big snowglobes.

Just a sample of how pretty Zoo Lights are. We'll definitely be back next year.

We're Back (Kind of)

Sorry for the long hiatus. The holidays coupled with some severe computer problems have hampered our ability to post. We still can't download pictures because of our computer issues, but this gives me the chance to post some Alex stories that I've been collecting on scraps of paper for quite a while.

Animal confusion

We used to count how many dogs we saw on the drive to school each morning, and even though we don't do that much any more, we still comment on dogs sometimes, especially if we see favorite breeds like Cairns or beagles. We saw a really cute beagle one day, and Alex asked what it was. We said "that's a dog called a beagle." He responded very matter of factly that "No, beagles are birds."

Is that a word?

Alex is very curious about words and what letters spell what words, but every once and a while he accuses us of making up words when he doesn't know them. My favorite story about this was when we heard a song by the Indigo Girls on the radio. We started talking about them, and I said "one is a soprano and one is an alto." Alex's response to that? "Mommy is making up words."

A lawyer in the making

We seem to be past this stage, but for several weeks Alex insisted that we read the copyright page of every book that we read.

Tweeting already?

I was using Twitter on the computer, and Alex came over to see what I was doing. I said "Let's close this down," and he asked what it was. I told him it was Twitter, and he said "but I like Twitter." (Really he just likes anything on the computer and any excuse to get to use the computer.)

Good eating habits

Alex has his picky eater moments, but for the most part he eats well. One of my proudest moments was in the grocery store where he asked if we could get asparagus, broccoli, and brussel sprouts as we passed each of them in the produce section.

Alex likes going to restaurants, and we went out to eat for his birthday. One of the things he got with his meal was a bowl of mac and cheese. He gobbled it right up, and the next time the waiter walked by the table, before Dave or I even saw him, Alex held up his bowl and asked "Can I have more mac and cheese please?"

Happy new year everyone! We hope to be back with some pictures from the last month soon.