St. Patty's Day & the Rochester parade

 Here we are sitting on the back of the "crane" truck with some shingles getting ready to "step off".  Lakeside had two big trucks and a bunch of employees and their families riding along.  We made a day of it starting with breakfast at BayTowne Wegman's (bagels), lunch at our staging area waiting to go and a limo-bus ride there and back.  Mr. Burns provided all the fun decorations, beads and head-wear.  It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day - totally not typical for Rochester in March.  The rest of the pictures Chris took from our post.  They show just how big the crowd was.  They loved the air-horn blasts from the big trucks.  I said we would do it again next year, provided someone can guarantee the weather will be the same as this year. 

By the time this was taken Reilly was about done with the parade business.  She did smile and wave for a while.

Odds and Olds - 2012

 Reilly and her Kindergarten friend "Pal".  She got to bring him home and she,Quinlan and I took turns writing in his journal.  The next day Reilly got to tell the class all about their day together.

 Celebrating Grandpa Connor's birthday.  The white cake was coconut.  My kids thought it tasted awful.

They were very happy that there was chocolate cake too!

 Max and Reilly raid the Easter box for the bunny ears.........

..... And my little "bunnies" circa 2004.  Max and Quinlan.

Monday, April 2, 2012.  Lighting our house "blue" for Autism Awareness Day! 

Odds and Olds- December 2011

From our annual visit to Santa with the Canandaigua cousins, Mina, Will, Andee and Baby Tess. 

 Looks like they might get their wishes!  And they did.

Reilly shows off her first lost tooth.  The Tooth Fairy came to visit later that night.

Tim Reilly (my nephew), Chris and Nick Lang (my nephew) have a few beverages before the 

Bills vs. Titans game in Orchard Park.  

Reilly, Quinlan and cousin, Sydney Reilly, watch the opening of gifts at Susie & Barney's house on December 26th.  It was the Reilly family Christmas party. 

Jacob Croft (my nephew) and Reilly smile for Emily's camera at the Reilly Family Christmas Celebration.

Quinlan and Reilly smile for Em's camera on Christmas morning.  Santa left our presents at our house for when we got home on the 26th.  He even ate the cookies and drank the chocolate milk.

Reilly shows off her pink Webkin pony.  Exactly what she wanted from her cousin Rayme.

Max snuggles up with Susie & Barney's dog, Mia, after a hectic and exciting Christmas morning.

Max received a Thomas the Tank Engine pillow pet from Uncle Curt's family on Christmas Day.

  It is his favorite!

Disney - 2

It took until Friday but after Max tried out the water slide at our resort he LOVED it. Even the lifeguard was impressed that he did so well.

Reilly and Quinlan tried it first thing on Tuesday and were old pros by the end of the trip. The only drawback was that they had to climb the stairs to get to the top which really put a strain on little legs already tired from walking the parks.

Disney 2011

This was the name of our building at the Polynesian Resort at Disney World

The bus took us from the airport to our hotel. What a great way to travel. We didn't even have to get our bags..... they did it for us and delivered them to the room!

On our flight down. Non-stop.

Max got the window seat for his first flight.

In the Rochester Airport, 90 minutes early. We made it through security thanks to a tour the week prior by a very nice man named Sam Cooper. He showed us everything at the airport, even the fire station.

Update!

Finally. I finally brought the blog up to date. I didn't realize, until recently, that I was a whole year behind......but it has been a busy one. (Don't tell anyone but Max's photo albums are 5 years behind. Guess I have a project for this winter).
We lost my Dad in March. Something we had been expecting but it was still hard. We missed him a lot during the summer. It seemed odd not to have him on the porch at the lake. I kept expecting him to walk out of the bedroom in the morning, something I definitely took for granted for way too many years.
Max has been doing some adjusting. He is now in middle school (which I read somewhere is the most major adjustment a student has to make after entering Kindergarten). He is very involved at CDS (Continuing Developmental Services) where he has activities, goes on field trips and learns some coping skills. He went to school all summer - if you can call it that. Two days a week they went on outings to Roseland Water Park, SeaBreeze, bowling, the movies and to ride go carts. The girls and I hung out at home.(They were just a little jealous).
Quinlan is still busy, busy, busy. She is in K-Kids at school (Kiwanis Kids- which is a service group). We did a food drive and sorted food at FoodLink in Rochester. She is still dancing which means Thursdays AND Saturdays this year. Plus she still has to keep up with all her neighborhood activities. She is a busy girl.
Reilly has started Kindergarten, 1/2 day, afternoons. She gets on the bus at 11:45 and rides it home with Quinlan. She is practicing her patterns, letter sounds and sight words every chance she gets. There was a little bit of an adjustment period but things seem to be going more smoothly now. I spend my Thursday afternoons in Kindergarten putting my college degree to work cutting, tracing and logging children on and off the computer.
I wish all of this, plus Chris's long work weeks and season tickets to the Bill's games, were good reasons for not updating the blog, but they aren't. I just lost track of it and every time I thought of doing it, it seemed like a huge job, which it really wasn't. I promise to do better! I'm just thankful that you all are interested in our drama-less lives. Real people, doing real life. Maybe we could get on tv?? !! Thanks. Love to all. Ann

Father / Daughter Dance 2011

Here are Chris and the girls just before the Father / Daughter dance at State Road school. Reilly's first. They had fun. Quinlan said the punch was delicious!