Xmas poem

Too cute. And she's been saying 'nibble, nibble, crunch' all day but we had no idea what she was saying until I just reviewed the tape.

Kat's Xmas concert

I think dan may be right in concluding that we have the class clown.....

This kid LOVES the water!

She graduated yesterday to a higher level swim class starting in the new year. And I signed her up for 2 classes/week. She loves the water. Even swims underwater with her eyes open. Jumping off the diving platform was pretty cool.

Bryan and Wendy Visit and Guatemalan xmas party

Hey, we're all in it!!!

From the American side, while still light out.

Ice on the rails.

under the lights.

The three of us in the cold.

The Calgarians had to come to western New York -- to the falls--to really experience COLD!

Ben making himself at home on Bryan.

At the Guatemalan xmas party. Kat is the second reindeer in from the left- she is crying- sobbing, really.

Here's a nice fake smile.....she's so tired that I don't think she has a real smile left in her.

SLEDDING!!!

They had sooo much fun today. Kat and I went sledding with Derek, Charlotte & Gracie & their cousin Lousia. I'm posting lots of pics and a few videos, so feel free to skim them. But there were so many great shots. They all gave skiing a shot as well.
Let's start with the tobaggan!

I wish I had the camera turned just a few tiny degrees. I think they hate it and they want to go home.

As they flew past me.

And the dismount.......graceful as ever.

I can see why Charlie might be losing speed.....

Love the eyes screwed shut and enormous smile.
Gracie. Don't know if she can see or not.

A pure fluke as I had it on continuous shoot and you never know what you'll get, but I love this pic of Louisa.

Derek and I even did a few runs. not sure when I last did that.

Eli's brief time playing in the snow. He soon voted for watching Dora in the car.

Louisa's big finish.

SNOW!!!! And Calgarians visiting.

Well, Buffalo may have made national news for the storm that stranded boatloads of folks on I-90, but it was very localized and we didn't get a flake of that 2-3' here at our house. So today Kat and I headed to the snow to check things out. She played in the snow by herself for over 1/2 hour and I had to drag her away. Tomorrow there is talk of meeting up woth her cousins for more snow-play. I suspect there will more pics from the weekend fun. And we drove through and they did have a LOT of snow in S. Buffalo.

That's over 2' of pristine snow she's on. Well, it was pristine.

Wally and Kathy and Matthew and Gavin were in town for Thanksgiving.

Kat was the only one who realized that we should get their picture. So she did. Another Kat pic.

We tried to get all of the kids' pics on the bench. this was the best we got....but you can't see Finn, except for his feet.

We've got snow!!

But not that much. We hot a few inches yesterday morn. And here was a lake effect advisory for last night. We didn't even get a dusting. But apparently in the snow-belt, they got 2' of snow. Kat didn't have speech therapy because the office was closed. I couldn't figure out why, and was downtown by sisters hospital this morn and there was nothing there either. But further south...maybe we will go look for it tomorrow.

Russian Thanksgiving and pics by Kat

And one of the full moon through the naked tree...

Family pic with our Russian guests. As usual, Boo's best side.

We had about 20 people at the table. And while dinner was a week before Thanksgiving, we had turkey, stuffing, etc and all Thanksgiving trimmings to give them a taste of one of our traditions. No pilgrims, however.

On to Kat photos (which you may have guessed by the perspective).

Her feet pics kill me....there are more to come

I'm pretty sure this is art....

Artsy Ben pics

And Boo's best side again.

Ben's eye.

I KNOW this is art....I'm just not sure of the message. Let me know if you have any ideas.

More foot pics.

These are pretty damn good....centered, not (very) blurry...she may have a future behind the lens.

Shopping.

All we need to do is line a room with mirrors. We'll never see her again....

Kat's first NHL hockey game

We took our Russian guests. And the Sabres lost.

Victory?

Our Russian visitors

Kat will be crushed when they leave tomorrow. She walks around with the paintbrushes (their fencing tools) looking for alexander.

Our Russian visitors brought this hat for kat (it fits me too). It's too damn cute.