My Beauty - 2015

Marni's 4th grade school picture...

An Olde Fashion Thanksgiving

For the past 3 years we've put the winterized cottage in Maine to good use by using it to host Thanksgiving. But this year, due to some scheduling conflicts, we moved our Thanksgiving celebration back to our old favorite... the Griswold Inn.

From north, south, and west the families traveled over the river and through the woods on Wednesday afternoon. There were enough of us this year so that we took over then entire Hayden House. Festivities started that evening with dinner at The Black Seal.

Thanksgiving day was beautiful and warm so everyone headed out for a walk to the river. The kids frolicked in the leaves and rolled down a large hill in a local park.

Dinner was served at 3 and it was delicious! The chef even made special preparations for Stellie's gluten-free diet.

The next day everyone headed out. Nana and Papa joined us for a visit to The Pequot Museum next to the Mohegan Sun casino. The place was huge and children and adults enjoyed it very much.

After the museum Nana and Papa headed home, and we headed over to the casino. The place was overwhelming. And as a lesson to the girls that gambling is an evil vice, I let them watch daddy quickly lose $5 in a slot machine.

Watching Uncle Glenn build a fire.

Ready for dinner.

 

The Pequot Museum.

2007 and 2015.

Halloween 2016

This year the Shepards had a kind of Egyptian/Greek theme for our Halloween costumes. Marni and I did the Pharaoh and Cleopatra thing (or Cleopatrick as Marni likes to say). Lisa and Stella were Greek goddesses. For our actual trick-or-treating we were joined by Nana Audrey (aka... Witchiepoo).

But 2015 will probably be remembered as Stella's least favorite Halloween.

Stella's troubles began near the corner of 3rd Street and 6th Avenue. That's where we lost her.

Stella wandered off for a second to get another trick-or-treat candy just as the rest of us headed off in another direction. About a block later I noticed that Stellie wasn't with us. We quickly backtracked to the last place we saw her and fanned out to locate her. A minute later I received a call on the cell phone from an unknown number, but the call dropped. Probably Stella. Right after that I got a call from Lisa saying she had found her.

The weepy Stella told us that she asked the owners of the house she was in front of to use their cell phone to call us. Meanwhile, Marni told us that she saw Stella heading off in another direction but just didn't bother to tell anyone. Sisterly love.

And the night only got worse for poor Stella a few minutes later when she bit into a Tootsie Roll and pulled out a tooth!

We gave up on trick-or-treating at this point and regrouped at home. Later in the evening we recovered enough from our trauma and drama to go out and watch the annual Park Slope Halloween Parade.

Sisters in search of candy.

Marni and her map of where to find the best candy.

Hanging out on the stoop with Bess.

Walking like an Egyptian at the parade.

Sorting out the loot with Bess and Baila.

The Fall Classic

One of the annual get-together days for the Shepard, Asanovic, and Imanoff familes is for fall apple-picking. This year we all met up in October at Harvest Moon Farm in North Salem.

The crowds on this beautiful sunny day were beyond belief and, as usual, we never picked any apples... but we had a great time eating lots of delicious food.

Me and my baby girl.

Dear old friends.

Nut on a tractor.

The ladies.

The men.

The official photo.

And then this happened.

And Then There Were 6

Harper (l) and BeBe (r)

On October 10th the Shepard family expanded by 2 with the addition of kittens Harper and BeBe. The two black and white sisters were found at a local Brooklyn rescue shelter.

To say that Stella and Marni were over the moon about their new kitties would be an understatement.

The cats are let out of their crate in their new home.

Back to School - 2015

Stella lined up with her new middle school home room.

2015 was a very special school year for Stella. After 7 wonderful years at PS 39 (Pre-K through 5th grade) Stella headed off to middle school.

The whole NYC middle school process is a bit of a nightmare. Basically, the process of choosing and getting accepted by a middle school in New York City is just like applying for college. And after all the tours and interviews and worrying, Stella ended up at her first choice... the coveted MS 51.

So when September 9th rolled around, Stella, Lisa and I headed across the street (yes, the school is directly across the street from our building) to drop Stella off at middle school.

The first day of school at MS 51 starts on the adjacent soccer field (there are a lot of kids in the school). We eventually found Stella's home room class in the crowd and joined the group. Up until this point Stella had been surprisingly chipper. But some tears and fear began to emerge as it became time for the classes to head into the school. Thankfully, Stella's new home room teacher (Ms. Lipollis) saw that Stella needed some extra care and asked her to come up front and help her hold the sign identifying her class. This put our minds at ease.

So Stella headed to school to begin her middle school experience.

Over the weeks it became apparent that Stellie was doing great at MS 51. She found her friends, found her classrooms, and found her rhythm. The "free-range lunch" policy that worried us and Stella turned out to be okay. (All students at MS 51 are allowed to leave the school and roam the neighborhood at lunch time.) Some days Stella would show up at home with friends and eat lunch there.

She's really hunkered down with homework and, with the exception of some struggles with French, has been getting great grades. She picked an instrument to play for her music class and now is the proud owner of a clarinet that's almost as big as she is.

But wait! I think I forgot someone!

Marni also went back to school at good old PS 39. She and her posse are tearing it up in 4th grade.

Dropping Marni off at PS 39.

Marni reunites with her posse.

Little Stella bringing up the rear on her way into school.