Our Garden Fairy

Looks pretty good even with the empty fall garden...Maybe she is blowing the leaves around?

Alura Halloween

Here is the long awaited Halloween picture of Alura as a bat girl, complete with black lipstick...She was a little nervous about visiting all new houses for Trick or Treat, but soon got into it with great appreciation for all the loot she was accumulating (which will probably last her until next Halloween. LOL!

Summer beach days

The wild horses of Assateague seem sweet in nature, but don't get too close. They have been known to bite and kick. We were laughing as some horses scampered off with some beach-goers plastic bag of food and dropped it eventually within 15 feet. (after lifeguards clapped their flippers at it to chase them away...) Silly humans!

Old House - New House

Right now we're packing up in high gear to be ready for the big move on June 20th. Time to say good bye to the old and welcome the new. We'll miss the creek and it's pretty views (see pics), but the new house is even more peaceful and quiet a setting. I've been staying there by myself for a week or so now and it all you hear is nature from the surrounding woods. It's terrific. There are squirrels that the past owner hand fed (which I'm not happy about -- destructive, greedy little buggers). The girls love it though and have begun naming them, so I can see we'll probably be feeding all manner of wild creatures in short order.

The town has "First Fridays" every month with events and picnics, movies etc. for family fun which sounds quite nice and very small town atmospherish. (new word) Their events calendar seems pretty full each month, maybe since it is a historical town too. I even found out that it was named after a gentleman of the last name of Snow, not for the abundance of snow that falls (which never happens around there).

Anyway, just a quick update. All is well and soon we'll be together again as a family. Thank goodness!

Easter Pic

Just a picture of the girls at the "old" house over Easter looking pretty and even taller! Toby looks pretty handsome too.

Two photos of the new house we are buying soon in Maryland. It's right next to a nature conservancy, so not that many neighbors up against us. Pretty area. Good schools. Near the beach. What more could you ask for?

House Hunting

Well, after 2 weeks on the market, our house is under contract with a settlement date at the end of April. We feel very fortunate hearing other people's tales of houses on the market for 18 months. We are also happy that the buyer will let us lease it back until the end of the school year.

Now the house hunting begins in earnest. Troy and the girls are coming down today to look over some promising candidates. hopefully we can settle on one soon, though we will have to convince them to take us on a contingency of our house selling. Hopefully that won't be a problem since our house will be sold in a month.

Let the games begin!

library

Nice picture of the Frederick Douglass Library where I now work. Pretty large compared to where I just came from - 3 stories and you can't tell the depth from this picture, but it is much greater.

New job

Beautiful shot of the Students Services Center of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Campus at dusk. I'll supply some of my own in Spring when everything is leafy and green again. I am enjoying the challenges and stimulation that comes with being the Special Collections & Outreach Librarian here. Many events to facilitate and organize, grants to write, community outreach, author book signings and talks, not to mention all the fascinating work that comes with running an Archives and Special Collections. It has been an overwhelmingly welcoming experience so far.

Besides the upcoming grant, my biggest pet project is organizing our first ever poetry open mike night to support National Poetry month this April. I already have tremendous support from faculty who are looking to encourage their students to participate, some mandating it too (which helps build numbers I admit -- and they'll often tell friends). It should be a lot of fun for everyone. The student government association has joined in too and plan to broadcast the event online for us as well as on the university's radio. Lot's of excitement!

Well, now you have a glimps at where I am and how I'm keeping busy. Now I'm going to go search for a photo of the library to post...

A goofy Christmas

Pap pap found these silly glasses that everyone was playing around with. Todd was no exception -- I'm holding back here you should know.

Check out this Charlie's Angels pose ( I mean Michael and his angels) boomerangs and all! I wonder if those glasses have special x-ray vision powers or something?

Presents!

Alura's in her Christmas dress that I made her which she looks very princess-like in (oops, sorry she's getting past princess stage now -- too grown up is what I meant to say...)

Julia and I being smarty pants open our duplicate gifts at the same time with much ooohing and aaahhhing...can we say "and the Oscar goes to..." We both like them of course, but it's funny when you know that after the first one or two are the same gifts that chances are that the third same sized box is well, the same present! Much fun was had by all. Thanks Pap Pap!

Christmas Cheer

Cousin Michael shares a hug with Arianna while Olivia looks on as we exchange gifts at Pap Pap Neumyer's House.

Fall Frolics II

Here the rest of the family joined in for the leaf pile fun. Toby loves it every year when we do this, burrowing under the leaves and enjoying having piles of leaves being dropped on him.

Fall Frolics

Better Late than never! We may be in the throes of Winter, but it's fun to look back at those pictures in November. Plus it's much more colorful to look at.

Such sisterly love and playfulness. (with a bit of teasing thrown in for good measure) This one Troy took though I was soon drawn outside and took over photography to see the fun.