It's been quite a while since the last update, but as such, there's a lot of new content out there. Both the Art Gallery and the Quotes sections have been updated with a few new things. Also, there are a lot of new photos on the site, including photos from September and October. There you will find photos from the first day of school, Carly's pumpkin farm trip, and Halloween. There are now separate slideshows for the girl's portraits, with one for Carly, one for Gillie, and a separate one for portraits of both girls together. This year, we got a great deal and were able to buy four portraits taken of them together rather than the usual one. We're toying with the idea of a "Humor" section for the site whereby we post humor files we've gathered over the years.

Carly finished up her gymnastics lessons and has decided she'd like to try something else. Gillie continues in her second year of ballet. We all went to see The Nutcracker as part of our Hannukah gifts. The girls have been getting a lot of great gift. Thanks to the Amazon wish list, they actually get things they want. The Wish List also provides a way of eliminating nagging in stores whereby "Can I please get this" becomes "Can you please add this to my list". Anyway, both girls are now interested in starting piano lessons.

For Gillie's birthday in November, she had a small party at Time to Kiln. She and a few of her friends picked out pottery to paint. We then picked up the pottery a few days later after it was glazed and fired. Her big present for her birthday was a Barbie scooter. Carly was quite envious, but she got one herself a few weeks later for Hannukah.

We've been quite smitten with both of R.E.M.'s and U2's new albums. The girls have been reading various books, most recently the Peter Pan prequel by Dave Barry Peter and the Starcatchers. Kathy and Scott recently finished America (The Book) by Jon Stewart. We all went to see the movie The Polar Express and found it quite true to the book and a very good show.

We'll leave you this month with a couple of software recommendations. First off, there is Trust Filter for MS Outlook. You can pretty much eliminate all spam with this plug-in. You tell it all the email addresses you want to accept email from and everything else goes into an "Untrusted" inbox folder. After about one week of "training" it, it pretty much got everything right. The other piece of freeware that's pretty fun is called Drempels. It is billed as a "psychotherapeutic screensaver and desktop enhancer". While it could be a nifty screensaver, the cool thing about it is that it can actually replace your desktop wallpaper with smoothly flowing patterns. Enjoy!

Carly told us today that she has a sore that is a "rug stain" (instead of a "rug burn"). She's always full of funny phrases (e.g., "I'm smart as a tack"). Anyway, we found a few more photos from her birthday party in July. Also, there are a couple of new photos from our block party in August.

September meant the start of school. For Gillie, going back for K-5 was old hat. Carly handled the transition to K-4 very well and it's been quite convenient for Kathy's dropping off of both girls now that they're both at the same school. Scott's taking the bus to work now whereas before he was just taking it home from work.

Meanwhile, both girls have started Friday night MikroSoccer. Here, they learn the fundamentals of soccer with other kids their age. In the six-week program they also get their own little soccer ball and a tee shirt. Gillie started up again with ballet lessons from the Milwaukee Ballet School. Carly's trying out lessons of her own this year, although she opted for gymnastics lessons with the Milwaukee Turners. She's in the "Tigers" class and really gets a lot of energy spent in the hour she is there each week. Lastly, the girls started Sunday school for the first time. So, our weeks are now pretty filled up!

Kathy has a big birthday coming up this week, and the good news regarding her Graves' disease is that the medication has done its job in regulating her thyroid output. In fact, the doctor has eliminated the drug to manage her symptoms and has reduced the other medication to manage the thyroid. Meanwhile, we're gearing up for work to begin on our new kitchen. Most of the parts have arrived and soon the demolition will begin.

I'll end this month's update with a link to a funny cartoon on project management.

Carly had a great birthday party at Wisconsin Gymnastics Academy. Neighbors and friends from her daycare enjoyed cake and ice cream afterward, too. Meanwhile, the girls have completed their swimming lessons for the summer. The JCC pool was a great idea and although Carly was not into the group swimming lesson, she still made great strides on her own. While we in the mid-80s in terms of temperature this week, Friday we're expected to drop down to the low 70s. As such, the summer so far hasn't provided us with much hot weather to make swimming enjoyable for everyone.

Carly sometimes reads a book aloud. Although she is not really reading, it is fun to hear how she recalls the words she has heard read to her and at the same time adds in her own interpretation based on what she sees going on in the pictures. While both girls have often over-used the word "actually", Carly's now taken to starting many replies with "of course".

We've added a handful of new art to the Art Gallery and we finally got a roll of film developed and added to the photos section. Meanwhile, some books Scott has been reading (or listening to) have been: My Life by Bill Clinton, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris, and Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward. Also, we recently saw the thought-provoking Farenheit 9/11 and the very funny Anchorman.

For starters, there's quite a bit new artwork in the Art Gallery. Gillie's getting very good at drawing scenes and Carly's lettering continues to improve. Meanwhile, Gillie had her ballet recital and did an excellent job. If she chooses, she can advance to the next class in the fall. And, K4 has ended for Gillie but K5's just around the corner in 2-1/2 months. Carly shows no apprehension about starting school in the fall. She already went on a tour of her K4 classroom and met her teacher, Mrs. Shea. We're awaiting confirmation of swim lessons at the JCC for later this month. Their learning pool is shallow enough for small children to stand up in, and the 86-degree temperature means that the water temperature won't be a distraction to learning.

Gillie told us she could read Cat in the Hat and to our surprise, she read the entire book. We rewarded her by buying her any book of her choice. Not to be left out, Carly "read" us a Ladybug magazine that she had apparently enjoyed so much that she memorized. We got her a book, too. Meanwhile, we've all been treating ourselves to Cold Stone Creamery ice cream. There are two eateries in our area. If you haven't tried this ice cream, do so! This is knee-buckling ice cream. It's pricier than others, but well worth it!

Wisconsin's been treated, too, to a lot of rain! Our lawn has never looked so lush. We tried some new things last year that apparently really worked at filling in the bare patches on our always-shady lawn. First, we purchased premium seed (Scott's, etc.) rather than the cheap stuff. Then, we did a seeding at the very end of last year, so that come spring, the new seed would be ready to go. That, along with all the extra precipitation we've had have really paid off. We recently found a squirrel-proof bird feeder that is weight-sensitive so only the birds can get the food from it. So far, we've seen nuthatches, house sparrows, red finches, cardinals, and what appeared to be an indigo bunting. The extra rain has meant extra mosquitos, so we recently put in a chickadee house out front and hope to find a spot for a bathouse, too. Meanwhile, the block's obsessed with gypsy moths. While we've seen the caterpillars here since we moved in back in 1997, everyone is worried about them. So, we sprayed down as many egg cases as we could see, sprayed some BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) spray, and wrapped the trees in burlap to catch them.

Lastly, Kathy was diagnosed this month with Graves' disease. Basically, her thyroid gland produces too much hormone and she gets jittery and has a rapid heartbeat. No bug eyes for Kathy, but that can be a symptom. At least she doesn't have to have radioactive treatment, just 18 months of a terrible-tasting pill. She's been on the medication for a couple of weeks now and her jitteriness has subsided and she's getting used to the horrible flavor of the pills. We'll keep you posted as to everyone's goings-on this summer!

Gillie's excited about her upcoming ballet recital. Since it's through the Milwaukee Ballet, we're expecting a fancier recital than when she had lessons through the recreation department. She's also been active in the daisy scouts and recently went to East Troy for Daisy Day. Here's a photo of her with her friend, Maeve.

There's a new quote from Carly this month and she's starting to talk about the upcoming school year in which she'll be in K-4. Meanwhile, she and Gillie and looking forward to being in the same daycare for the entire summer.

I know that we were promising to keep up with the website more often for 2004. While we can't say that we have new photos, we do have yet another new section. We've added an art gallery to our site. In it you can see artwork by both Gillie and Carly and see how their work has progressed over the years. Along with the casual drawing or doodle, you can see such milestones as the first time Gillie wrote her name, a fireworks drawing that makes you go "Hmmm", Carly's first note to Gillie, and much more.

Carly's Hip Tip of the Month: Have all your friends gotten chicken pox but you haven't? Here's a tip on how you can keep up with the crowd. Take an ordinary magic marker and apply dots liberally to the facial area, as demonstrated in this photo. Chic, eh?!

Scott's been at NM for three weeks now and is feeling like he is fitting in. Meanwhile, Carly is about to wrap up her weekly dance class but Gillie's still going strong with ballet. Gillie's K4 teacher's have been snapping photos of the students throughout the year and we've snagged some of Gillie.

Carly's word of the week is magnetical. It turns out that it is a real word!

see gillie's k4 photos »

After over 7 years at Strong, Scott has accepted a job at Northwestern Mutual. The work will be very similar but the NM work weeks are 37 1/2 hours long! Scott's last day was February 20th and he plans to start at NM the following week. The commute will be easier, too, since NM is located downtown.

Meanwhile, the girls are enjoying their respective dance classes. Also, Gillie just had her 100-day celebration in Kindergarten. Each kid brought in 100 snack items. Gillie brought it 100 teddy grahams and added them to the party's snack mix with all the other things kids had brought in. The girls made their own valentines this year and included miniature packs of M&Ms with theirs. It's too bad that we've had a rather cold 2004 which limits our outdoor play.

Now that the job search is over, hopefully there will be more time to keep the site up to date. As such, all of the 2003 items have been moved to a new archives section. We only wish that we'd thought of this a long time ago as the archives would have provided a really nice way to take note of how the girls' interests and activities changed over the years.

We had a nice New Year's Eve at a neighbor's house and even have some photos of the festivities. We've had some snow recently and the kids in the neighborhood took to making snowmen and snow forts, which are also included in this month's batch of photos. The recipes section also has a couple of new recipes with more planned in the future.

Gillie started ballet class at the Milwaukee Ballet School and so far she's enjoying it. Carly will be starting her dance class at the local high school and we'll see if she's ready for the Milwaukee Ballet School next year. It's only January and we've also had to begin planning where the girls will be spending their summer. Meanwhile, Gillie has an upcoming field trip from school where she'll get to see a local performance of Cinderella.

Getting back into the swing of things after two weeks has been a bit rough as the girls have had their schedules really thrown off by being out of school for two whole weeks. We've seen sharing issues arise, but we're also pleased at how the girls are becoming more assertive. Carly hasn't spent much time at other kid's houses without one of her parents around but she broke out of that mold in the past couple of months. Gillie went on a field trip last month to the Milwaukee Public Museum as part of dinosaur month at K4. She's like the kid from the movie Jerry McGuire now, always regurgitating one of the dino-facts lodged in the sponge of a brain she has. Unlike most five-year-olds who have a hard time with abstract concepts such as death and the future, Gillie already expresses concern over such things already.

While we don't know if Gillie will grow up to be a paleontologist, she tells us that she wants to be an artist. Carly, too, wants to be an artist, but also a "vet-a-narian". Perhaps she can be one of the first veterinarian artists?

We'll end the log with a recent conversation we observed:
Carly: When I get a loose tooth I'm going to sniff a bunch of salt.
Gillie: No, you want pepper.
Carly: Yeah, I'm going to sniff a bunch of pepper and sneeze it out all the way across town! *Thinking* No, I don't want to do that. No, I don't want to do that...I will just let it fall out on its own.
Gillie: Me too.

see january 2004 photos »

Visit the archives for 2003 »