New Year Miscellany

	We celebrated New Year's in Kansas City, trumpeting in the 2010s. Below, some shots of Max.

Because I always take nature shots.


Around Home

	This is an older picture -- Vivian's much older now! -- but it's too cute not to share.
	When Jim and Marge moved to St. Louis last month, they left a few things with us. Here's Max demonstrating his new rug, and his "keep the floor clean" committment has remained surprisingly strong since.
	The "Candy Cane Invitational" gymnastics event involved honest-to-goodness judging. This is Max's score, after his brief routine. Everyone got medals. Below, Max's Science Fair experiment: cookies with and without salt! No judging this time, but I think a much more successful event.
	Another of the "hand-me-down's" from the Farm: our new riding mower! Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy to get off the truck as we'd hoped. However, I got off it safely, and with a little extra leverage and it came down fine.
	Then, we had to get it into the garage, until we can build a shed for it. Oh, and we also had to get the shed kit into the garage. We've succeeded, but it's going to feel like a very big garage once we get the shed built!

  ¶ Saturday, February 06, 2010 1 comments

  Christmas 2009

	Christmas proper was in St. Louis, with the Bauer side of the family. Max and Cousin Jack were very proud of their Santa snacks this year. The name is Bauer. Jack Bauer.

	One of the themes of Max's presents this year was construction: a lot of them were "some assembly and imagination required."

	Fun with Cousins: In addition to the Christmas festivities, playing with each other's new toys (like Nathan's eminently wearable Play-doh), we got to spend time at the St. Louis City Museum (more of a parental stress generator than a museum, but well worth the visit) and the St. Louis Science Center (which had lots of real science stuff, as well as astronaut toys)

  ¶ Saturday, February 06, 2010 0 comments

  Preparing for Christmas, 2009

	While we were in Maryland, we introduced Max to the Dresner-Scherer Tree Trim tradition. I'm not sure whether the highlight for him was the tree trimming, or meeting baby Rachel.

Once we got back from Maryland, it was time for the Christmas Pageant! (Nope, no token Hanukkah songs, or anything like that. Max's big solo number was Elvis's "Blue Christmas." In unrelated but odd news, the winning word in the Middle School spelling bee this year was "dreidel", even though no two Jews can agree on how it's spelled.)

	"Go Tell It On The Mountain" rocked.
	The director of the show is primarily a choreographer, so the staging was fairly elaborate.
	Aside from channeling "The King," Max also got to be one of the Three Kings for a scene where an older girl was singing to baby Jesus.

  ¶ Saturday, February 06, 2010 0 comments

  Catching Up: Newman Thanksgiving Before all the snow, it was possible to travel to and from the mid-Atlantic region! Here's the evidence, from November

	Last December was my Grandpa Vic's 90th Birthday. We gathered in Maryland to celebrate with good deli food and cake.
	The Sisters!
	The Grandkids (and spouses). Bek and Sean and Rhyer were represented photographically!
	The Great-Grandkids, of course.

Thanksgiving

	Thanksgiving Dinner was the predictable feast, very friendly. Grandpa Vic was there, and Fellis and Hap. Things got a little odd after dinner, fitness-wise....

  ¶ Saturday, February 06, 2010 0 comments