Therese Turns Seven (in Flaming Red Hair)

Therese reached seven years of age on Valentine's Day.

To celebrate the milestone, she sported a wild red wig on her head—an "Ariel" wig—and enjoyed gifts that were princess and fairy-themed through and through. Her fantastically bright cake even matched the fairy-fantasy theme, and Therese reports it was her "best birthday yet"!

Happy birthday, Sweet Therese Genevieve!

A Series of February Shots

Just a series of random February shots...

This is the photo that the big girls have as Joe's avatar on their cell phone.
Joe calls them, and this is the image that pops up.
Dad is watching...   ;) 

A girl and her puppy.

Adele loves the cold, snowy weather! 

Just a random school day shot... At least Andrew (and maybe William?) appears to be working on academics...  ;)

The strange things the big girls do to the little ones... This "dress" is a sweater of Anna's. The head wrap is a scarf of Anna's. The ammo-strap-looking things across her chest are belts...
Really, they are strange kids. 

Big girls getting ready for the Father-Daughter Dance.

New Year's 2013

Our mellow at-home New Year's Eve this year...

We played with blocks...

 We constructed castles...

 We danced to 80's tunes...

And danced some more...

We played drums with blocks...

We played a mean air guitar when we thought no one was looking...

We enjoyed quiet family time together...

Meanwhile, three states away, my mom was busy rocking out at a late-night New Year's party with my brother (gold tie) and pals.

Christmas Photo Snappin'

A whole series of Christmas photos, in that annual attempt to get the perfect Christmas card snapshots.

Halloween 2012

The Leones bundle up for a spooky night of tricks and treats.

Rice krispie ghosts... and some very cool costumes.  Katness from Hunger Games, a bandit, Tin Tin, a princess, a kangaroo, and a tiger.

The Fans

At every cross country meet there are fans. But the cross country fans pictured below are some of the loudest, craziest fans out there. You guessed it: They're the Leones.

Kathleen (right) and her friend wait for the runners to pass. And when they do, you can count on these two to be jumping up and down and screaming their lungs out.

Some of the youngest fans were also some of the cutest.

Lucia was never run from point to point so fast as she was at those meets when we wanted to get to the best vantage points quickly.

Okay, this fan just looks exhausted.  

And then there are the Leone fans who decided to enter the "open race" after the official meet had wrapped up. Check out Andrew booking it down the finish line.

And Joe makes his move on this woman in the closing stretch. 

And did you ever see such a face on a runner? That's my man, Joe, competing in the open race—in hiking boots, no less—and making it interesting for everyone.

Evan Wynn

I took on the job of Dane County Campaign Coordinator for Evan Wynn this election cycle and met some great people in the process. 

Every politician should be like Evan Wynn—a statesman, a patriot, and a gentleman. It is unfortunate that redistricting made things so tough for Evan this year. We are hoping to see his name on a ballot again soon.

Working for the campaign was a true honor and, as you can see, the whole family joined in the effort.

Toothless Therese

Documenting the double-header double TEETH loss for sweet Therese.

Frassati Runners 2012

Another great season of Frassati Runners.

My friend Angela and I have been running this middle school summer running program for four years, but handed it off to a talented bunch of high schoolers this year. Those high schoolers included Anna Marie and Kathleen. They did amazing things with the program this year (and provided a much-needed break for some moms).

Therese, third from left, with her race-day ribbon.
(The younger set had their own little race on this final day of Frassati Runners.)

Andrew, fifth from right with his final Frassati race-day ribbon.

William (orange shorts) with his final Frassati race-day ribbon.

Leone Go Tide Pooling

We decided to head out very early one morning—earlier than we would normally arise on vacation—and catch low tide at one of the area's popular tide pooling spots. Se we began our hunt for the perfect spot to find intertidal creatures. 

We hiked and hiked and hiked. Having been told there were good tide pools along this path, we were a little discouraged when at first we couldn't find a thing. Then, we found a spot with good access down to the water where it looked like it had receded a bit. We headed down, only to find we were up to our ankles in mud. Not the best spot. 

It took a while, but at long last, we came upon a sand bar that obviously had been under water a short time previously. We headed down and ventured out, scoring some great tide pooling finds. All in all, the outing was a success, even if the tide was coming in by the time we found the favored spot.

Kathleen heads out on the trail, eager to find those tide pools. 

Elizabeth and crew scale a rock to get a view of the water and locate tide pools.
 

Elizabeth.
It's awfully early in the morning to be hiking already with my seven children!
The open Atlantic is just to the right of my face in this photo.

Joe, Dad in Charge, with Baby Lucia on his back. 

We finally make it down to a tide-pooling area, and Marguerite stakes her claim.
The open Atlantic is behind Marguerite.
The inlet area is dry during the lowest tide and under water up to the darkest rocks during high tide.

This is the inlet area that dries completely at low tide. It was very shallow, and the kids found all kinds of great creatures.

Joe (with Lucia) and Therese explore where the inlet meets the ocean.