Jessica's Collages

Yesterday Jessica made these collages of pictures she's taken recently:

The most important thing about Elyse

Tonight we went to Curriculum Night at Elyse's new school. This early-in-the-year writing assignment (along with those created by all her classmates) was on the wall outside of her classroom:

This is what she wrote (with a few spelling corrections):

The most important thing about Elyse is she has a sister. She loves her family and she loves her cat Tessie. She loves squishies. And she loves to collect cardinals. She loves birds and cats. But the most important thing about Elyse is she has a sister.

Miscellaneous Recent Pictures

Here are several pictures from the past few weeks (except for the first one, which is from January), some of which I took myself, some of which were texted to me:

Jessica, shortly before we moved out of our house in Loganville:

A few pictures from Elyse's Field Day, near the end of second grade at Magill:

Anna texted me this picture from one of their many recent Girl Scout trips:

Anna texted me this picture from Savannah while she and Jessica were there with their Girl Scout troop:

Here's Elyse, eating a cake pop and waiting out a thunderstorm in the cafe at Target, on the weekend that Mommy and Jessica were in Savannah:

The sky over Target after the storm:

Elyse in my bed reading with Tessie:

Me in the part-time instructors' office at Gwinnett Tech on the first day of summer semester:

Jessica set up, took, and edited this picture, and then texted it to me:

Snow Days!

It snowed last night, and school--every school that affects us: Gwinnett, Rockdale, Gwinnett Tech--was cancelled for the day!

This is what we woke up to:

Not exactly a Winter Wonderland, but an inch or so of snow, enough so that Elyse could go outside and build a small snowman on the patio:

(Jessica didn't get to go outside because of her injured ankle, but she did sit by the sliding glass doors and communicate with Elyse via walkie talkie.)

It wasn't truly a "no school" day; officially it was a "Digital Learning Day," which means the kids had school assignments on their e-class portals. Here's Elyse working on hers:

There's a famous line in a "Star Trek" episode where a long-lived character says to Captain Kirk, "Immortality consists largely of boredom." So do snow days. I don't know that either Jessica or Elyse would agree with that, but by the late afternoon we were all going stir crazy.

And tomorrow (Thursday, January 18), because today the temperatures are not s'pose to get above freezing so all the snow and ice will be here for a while and therefore the schools will still be closed, we get to do it all over again!

Family Portrait: Happy Birthday, Granny!

We made this picture in the middle of July, but we've been saving it to give to my mother (or "Granny," as the girls call her, but they also know she's my mother) for her birthday.

Though Mom's birthday is actually tomorrow as I type this, we went to Mom and Dad's house for supper last night to celebrate Mom's birthday and we gave her a framed print of this picture, so now I'm posting it here.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

It's not directly related, but it seems relevant to post here this selfie that Jessica and Elyse took just a few days ago:

Kids Playing with Trains

Here's a picture of me and Jeff playing with out train set, somewhere around 1974:

And here are Jessica and Elyse doing the same thing, forty-three years later, with some of the same trains and track:

Petco

This week Elyse is taking a craft class at JoAnn in Snellville, which happens to be right next door to the Petco. We arrived a little early this morning, so we went into Petco to look at the animals before the craft class:

(The ferrets are asleep and not dead, I promise.)

Yet Another Vines Gardens Post

This afternoon, while Anna was off dropping off or picking up or trading (or doing something with) Girl Scout cookies for Jessica's troop, the girls and I spent some time at Vines Gardens:

(I was trying to make it look like they were climbing up the side of a building, but it didn't quite work)

Jupiter and the Girls

I found a bunch of pictures on Jessica's old tablet (she got a new one for Christmas) that she had taken back in August of herself and Elyse with Jupiter. Here are some of my favorites:

Trick-or-Treating

Tonight we went to Granny and Pa's house to go trick-or-treating (or at least so Jessica and Elyse could). This has been our Halloween tradition for eight years now, but this year was a little different: Granny and Pa weren't there. Mom and Dad were on vacation in Myrtle Beach.

Still, it's our tradition to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood, and we wanted to continue that even if it was just the four of us. (We all agreed, though, that's it's much better when Granny and Pa are there.)

I didn't take a lot of pictures, but the girls were in the same costumes they were wearing last Friday night. The first picture below is me and Elyse waiting in the car while Anna and Jessica went into Subway to get their supper for the evening.

A Visit to Sleepy Hollow with Granny and Pa

Today is Columbus Day, and the girls didn't have school. Anna and I both did, however, so the girls spent the night last night with Granny and Pa, and today they drove up to Blairsville to visit Sleepy Hollow, a "whimsical fairy garden" created by a former Disney artist.

It sounds like a great place; I wish I could have gone. I'm glad Jessica took some pictures to share with us, though:

And here are some pictures from Granny and Pa's camera: