Many of our in-laws have converted to Russian Orthodoxy, so in January,
we celebrated Orthodox Christmas at our place with Beth and Ally-Jane's cousins

Mia and Maggie; Dimi doing his Thing; Matt and Freddie

All the snow forced us to spend a lot of time indoors, so one day, Ally-Jane made a little town called Puffville,
inhabited by wee little puffballs with eyes...

Once we were into February, it was time for Ally-Jane's 11th birthday party, whose theme was "Hollywood"

Her Aunt Shannon made that awesome cake, and everyone had a lot of fun

In March, we got together with most of Joni's family to see Natasha receive
an award for winning a "Character Counts" essay-writing contest

At the end of March, Beth had a speaking/singing/dancing part as Tessie, one of
the orphans in her high school's production of "Annie"

Spring found Ally-Jane dressing as a famous cat for Dr. Seuss Day 
at her school, and zuzzing with her real cat Gandalf in her room

Gandalf found this fellow at left in the backyard; neither of them got hurt;
Joni cuddling with our dog Tiki on the front lawn on a warm spring day

Early in May, my best friend Pat and his wife Pippa had their
first child, Thomas, and we went to visit them

Joni went along with Ally-Jane and her friends on a school field trip to Philly

Like last year, Beth went to prom with her friend Ryan. 
This time, she wore an elegant dress that she bought in Paris, bien sur.

Posing before the prom and later with the goodie basket she won at a raffle there

Ally-Jane playing trombone at the spring school concert and winning 2nd place in the county 
for an Arbor Day poster-drawing contest

She also had a blast participating in her school's annual Field Day games

At the end of May, Ally-Jane racked up some awards as she graduated from 
5th grade, and Joni broke one arm and sprained the other learning to ride a
motorcycle. She's doing better, but she doesn't think she'll get back on one again.