Thursday 12/30/10

 This morning after breakfast we shot off to the movies! We met Shawne and her whole gang there, for the 10am show.  No, we did not bring candy! I did supply lunchbox size bags of teddy grahams, because it seems my children are programed to consume snacks in the movies(my bad!)  We saw Tangled, have you seen it? It was soooo goood! The heroine was spunky(reminded me of Alex Wiz and Charlotte) the hero hilariously debonair, the horse and the chameleon stole the show(love those Disney animals!) and the music, by Alan Menken, is ready to go straight to Broadway!  It was totally enjoyable and really way funnier than I expected.  The song  I Have A Dream was  like that stick to the status quo song and dance number in high school musical except it involved drunks,hooligans and enormous ruffians in a pub in the middle of a medieval forest! Can you picture it?  You really have to see it, GO, it's fun!
Jack came home with us and he and Danny played Lord of The Rings Risk, and hiked in the woods. Molly worked on a puzzle and Charlotte wandered.  They both did a great weight workout with Jerry.  Danny and I dropped Jack at the library at 4pm, then ran a bunch of errands including 2 big loads to the church donation spot and a nice browse through Home Goods(my little decorator!)  When he grows up his house will be stylin!  Jer and Danny watched Two Towers, Molly took over my TV for football and hockey, and I went to bed and started and finished  The 5th Horseman  by James Patterson. On to number 6, this series is great, a little more serial killer than I usually read, but great. Thanks for the recommendation Susan!

Whoops, better catch up! Wednesday 12/29/10

Still hanging around and playing/watching videos/eating cookies from the party last week. HELP! Can't wait til 1/1/11 so I can start a resolution that includes less cookies...more on resolutions on 12/31/10. I went to Kohls with my Kohls cash, and also to the grocery store(didn't need cookies!) and then got things put away and organized. I continued working on the basement space, and also got all the floors vacuumed and lots of laundry done( a boring and recurring theme in this thrilling, edge of your seat blog!) Jerry and the kids went out to an evening of bowling and middle eastern food, I chose not to go, for reasons not being discussed in the blog, but it was a yucky night. Lonely and sad.

Terrific Tuesday

What's not to like about vacation?!  It is so nice not to be running the kids to school, and I feel like I can take a break from the housework routine to spend time with the kids. Charlotte had a Doctors apmnt this morning, and I am hopeful that we will make some strides with her medication.  Back at home Danny, Charlotte and Jerry do one of their boxing workouts, while Molly and I lazily don't!  Jerry and Charlotte head down to Ann Arbor for the Purdue/U of M game(Mich lost in front of a sell-out crowd).  Sophie and Danny spend the afternoon making beads, Molly and Leah play and color, and Shawne and I sneak out to a 4pm movie! Go Mom's! We saw a fantastic movie, The Kings Speech with Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter. I totally want you to go out and see it, it is a great period piece about an interesting point in history, just prior to England's entry into WWII. We really enjoyed ourselves.  Back at the house it was time to iron the bead projects from the afternoon, all 12 of them!  Then we had an at home meeting with Bob Steinkamp, a former administrator at Pathways school, now running his own company, Aspire, aimed at increasing social skills in people who have autism.  The girls and I viewed a power point, and he interviewed them.  It kicks off in January, and I'll keep you posted as to how it progresses.

Sledding and Steak and Shake--wooooht!

Everyone slept in this morning, which was awesome! I slept until 9AM! We relaxed,had breakfast, did some laundry,and straightened up the place.  We headed out to sled about 11:30.  We went over to Maltby middle school which has a few different hills, large and small.  Shawne and her kids and 2 nephews joined us at noon and we all had a great time.  Sophie's scream as she goes down the hill could be sold to a sound affects company!  We all relaxed at home for a few hours, doing puzzles, word searches etc.  At 4pm we headed out to Livonia to go to Steak and Shake, one of the kids favourite restaurants.  Christmas specials included eggnog, white chocolate, and peppermint chocolate chip milkshakes!! YUM!  Then we mushed around Ikea for an hour while we waited til 7pm, the time that the light show opened.  We had heard about this for years but never gone, it is the Wayne County Light Fest. For 5$/car, you drive through a closed county park which has enormous light sculptures, like Santa playing baseball, reindeer having flight lessons, and of course, dinosaurs! What would Christmas lights be without dinosaurs!  It was so much fun!  Home by 9pm, and everyone,including me, is ready for early bed.

Favourite light sculpture!

one of the "light tunnels" we drove through.

Another lazy home day!

No sleep last night, but I'm not going into it right now....I went to 8am mass this morning, Father Mark was in great form. It is the feast of the Holy Family and all the readings and the homily revolve around family. How perfect! Father Mark talked about the relationship between Mary and JESUS, and the joy and love in their family.  Inspired to work towards that with much effort, perhaps a New Years resolution?
We played Tigers Scrabble, UNO, the Lego Harry Potter game, coloured, did word searches, listened to Charlotte's new CD, Lady Antebellum, and finished opening presents.  Danny and Jerry got in some sledding and I got on the treadmill. We ate leftovers for lunch and dinner, but they were good ones, lasagna and chili, and no one complained.  Charlotte got the entire season of the I Love Lucy show, so she and I broke into this today and watched the lost pilot(made in 1950, found in 1990!) and the first 3 episodes from fall 19951.  What a fun thing to share with Charlotte.  Molly, Danny and Jerry headed downtown to Ford Field to attend the Pizza Bowl game, as Special Olympics guests.  Molly and the other athletes from Greece will be introduced during the TV time out in the 4th quarter. 

 Charlotte and I are staying home, she is still not feeling great after fainting in church on Christmas eve.  I'll call the doctor tomorrow.

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope your day was wonderful. Ours was very nice.  Jerry and I were gathered around the tree by 8am, coffee in hand, watching the kids dig in to their gifts.  Favourites were Danny's digital camera and Harry Potter things, Charlotte got a bunch of Yankee's stuff from her cousins and from Santa and the movie Dear John, and Molly got new boots, 2 movie she wanted and a calendar of Greece photos.  Jerry got tools and clothes, both workout gear and business clothes, and a bunch of DVDs, including the TV series Weeds, which my brother loves.  I got a label maker! This was tops on my list! Also got a great set of bookends from Danny. They are frogs,reading books, with prince crowns on, a great addition to the library shelves.  We played games downstairs together and ate lots of snacks leftover from the wed. night party.  I always feel a bit melancholy on Christmas, I miss Dad, and my family in NJ, and all the great family times we had when I was growing up. I wish my kids could have that experience.  That being said, it was a great cozy day.

Christmas Eve!

It's here! Charlotte is so excited she can hardly stand it, and I hope she can.  It is a tough time for her, she doesn't like change, anticipation, it literally drives her nuts. I love surprises but she can't tolerate them, and it is hard for me to remember/relate to that.  But I need to, the next few days will call for alot of patience.  We are off to Ashley Court at 9:30 to do our Christmas communion service. I am so happy and proud that all the kids and Jer go with me.  All the residents love them, and they can sense the caring the kids have for them.  One gal, Helen, was very upset and confused as she was brought down to the service, and Danny sat right next to her.  She got a huge smile on her face when I told her that Danny would take care of her, and she relaxed and stayed for the whole service.  We had a big crowd, with family members in to visit.  Rosemarie had set up a really beautiful altar in building one, I was a little intimidated!  But the story is JOY, glad tidings and a happy message.  JESUS came to save us all, not some people, or rich people, or beautiful people, or people with no disabilities....ALL of US!  So what a joy to share that message this morning with all those folks.
From there we headed to Karen and Eric's for the annual Christmas Eve brunch-fest. We usually have it at our house, but we hadn't had a chance to see their tree, so we went there.  All of Karen's decorations look beautiful, and we had a delicious lunch of dips, sandwich's, chips(muliti-grain pringles, i swear!) and pumpkin crumble.  Samantha was home, and we also opened presents and had our UNO tourney.  Embarrassingly, it was a Hincka sweep, maybe next time they will want to supply the deck of cards to be sure it hasn't been tampered with!
Charlotte and I went to the children's mass at 4pm, then we came home and ate lasagna, hung stockings, read The Wonderful Window, The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree and Christmas At Long Pond as we do each year.  I love the traditions! Another one we do every year, as we did in the Gallagher family, is everyone opens up their gift of  new PJ's on Christmas Eve, so they can look snappy in the morning photos. Charlotte heads off to bed, Jerry,Molly and Danny head for midnight mass, and I head up to finish wrapping(how can I not be done?!)
Merry Christmas Eve!

Thursday 12/23 First Annual Santa Hat Hop

Getting ready to set out on the run!

Jumping for joy that we made it!

It's Christmas!!

So I thought, in the spirit of 49 and Forward, that we should start a new run, on the first day of Christmas vacation.  We all wear Santa hats and go for a run, spreading cheer about the town!  We ran downtown to the bread store and back, a 6 mile run, and we got lots of horn beeps, waves and smiles. So, mission accomplished!  The weather was nice, finally about 34, so it even felt mild. It was really fun!

When we got back, we had a flower delivery from our friends in Portland, a gorgeous arrangement of red roses, green ornaments, white roses and holly berry leaves.  What a nice gesture, and it is a beautiful centerpiece for our table. Thanks guys!

Danny had basketball practice at 3:30, and Jerry and the girls went down to the U of M bball game, vs. Baylor in RI.  They said Baylor looked scarily good for a while, but then Michigan pulled away.

My question of the day is....

How is it possible that someone who shops on black Friday can still need to shop on 12/23?  I think I need to plan better. Thought 1- take lists I make to the store with me!   thought 2- make a list!!  Anyway,

I set off for Wal-mart and Kohls(one last shot with my 30%!) got a couple of last minute goodies, and was home by 5:30 to wrap and organize.  Danny didn't get dropped off til 7:15, so I had lots of time. His great Coach decided to hang out at the gym with Danny and his son Scott and do some extra drills.  Between that and the run, Danny sure was tired.  A hot shower, Christmas cookies, and bed with his book was all he wanted. In the past 2 days he has whipped through  The Door in the Wall  and The Phantom Tollbooth

which is amazing to me! Hope Santa brings him more books!

Wednesday 12/22 Now for the "grown-up" party!

Just a few of the party treats!

Dr. Megan made an appearance!

Christmas craft central, with Hannah, Sophie and Charlotte

Dan and Jer supervise the games

Well we kinda cleaned all day, off and on, but it was worth it. The house looked great and now we don't have to do a thing for the whole of Christmas week!  Actually the girls had school all day and Danny and I did do some reading together, played Othello, and he and Charlotte went for a hike in the woods.  By 5:55pm the kids were all at the door waiting to greet guests, the first of which finally showed up a 6:25(thanks you Arbors, we needed you!)  The kids would see a car, get all excited, then yell "aaw! false alarm"

We ended up with about 35 people making there way through the open house, and they all brought FOOD.  We had tomato tart, cake balls, sugared almonds, pumpkin crumble, a cheese ball, a big cake, autumn loaf cake, you name it!  We will be eating like kings all week!

I love to host people, and this house is ideal for that. Folks were gaming downstairs, chatting on the sun porch, eating and visiting in the kitchen, and cozying by the fireplace.  My friends make me happy!

Thanks for coming guys...and thanks for the treats!

Another party! This time it's boys..

Danny,Collin,Patrick and Ryan

Danny's billboard

Danny's final structure

Creating!

Danny's friends arrived at 9am to start designing Gingerbread buildings. We used the candy molds to make shutters,doors,wreaths,etc. to use in the designs, along with chips,m&m's,sprinkles, and more.  And icing galore!  The guys seemed to have a blast, laughing with each other, and going with the flow as their structures evolved from what they thought they were making, to what it really looked like. We had a church, a house, a condo and a commercial ornament business.  And after those were built, we dipped everything into the chocolate candy,marshmallows,pretzels,candy canes,and more. We'll share our portion with our guests at the open house, the boys all took home a tray of treats.
I spent the afternoon driving, 6 trips in 3 hours, in and out of town with the kids, finally arriving home at 7:45pm. Baked a few more goodies, pumpkin crumble and magic bars, for my next party tomorrow night.  Love it!

Christmas week

Last day of work in 2010! whoot! I did have a great organizing project to keep me busy for the 4 hours shift.  Danny and Jerry got safely back and had a lovely time in Posen.  Aunt Reg loved the little village we got her and the manger, and her birthday cake that Danny had baked.  Jerry said her spirits were brightened considerably! So that is a success! Other than that it was a pretty normal day, the school run, dinner, laundry, pure domestic bliss.
Did do my three minute retreat from Loyola, and it was about how GOD accepts us, no strings attached and we need to do the same. Okay, goal for the week!

manger Sooz gave us for our first Christmas!

Water and the mountain section of our village

I love this set-up! Danny and Jack helped!

our cute little tree, with ornaments from everywhere

snowmen hanging out on the stairs!

I wanted to share some photos of our  Christmas decorations, tell me what you think!

Cookie party!

The cookie team!

Heather,Becca,Molly,Ashley,Jacque,Charlotte,Amanda,Heather

Roseanne and Charlotte 

Tasty treats!

Charlotte,Heather and Molly

The cookie party was a huge success! Six girls joined Molly and Charlotte to decorate cookies, dance around the kitchen to our rockin Christmas tunes, head downstairs to watch Elf and eat homemade popcorn, then come back upstairs and make candy. Each girl got a cute tray of cookies and treats to take home with them.  My friend Roseanne came over around 3pm and we had a chance to sit and visit and drink coffee while the movie was on, which was really fun for me. Spending time with friends is the best part of life, right gals?
Roseanne brought her candy molds and we all had so much fun dipping and molding. She inspires me creatively that's for sure. And "moving forward" wise, I never made candy in molds before...and now I have!
Danny and Jerry loaded up the sleigh and drove to Posen this morning for a Christmas with Aunt Reg.  She still doesn't feel ready for a full family visit, so we'll go in groups.  Danny is off tomorrow, so they will spend the night.
We capped off the night with a viewing of A Charlie Brown Christmas for Molly, Charlotte and I. It was made in 1965, and still as great today.

Saturday 12/18 Aahh, the weekend!

I planned on sleeping in, but I felt guilty when Jerry and Danny headed out to Danny's basketball game at 7am! Off they went, and I got up and started to organize the weekend.  I did hop on the treadmill for an hour(patting myself on the back..can't pat my dupa cause it's too wobbly!)Charlotte joined me shortly after, and while she jumped on the elliptical, I continued my purging project and we rocked out to an exercise station I cued up on Pandora.  I even had to call my sister when Flock of Seagulls came on(Donnie was in DC ) great memories, and Charlotte thinks it's hilarious to hear the stories of my wayward youth. I think she can't picture me as young, though she loves to looks at Shadows'79, my high school yearbook.  Anyway we got a full van load for Salvation Army, including the organ I had bought at a garage sale for $10, 13 years ago and played twice.  but it was a great buy....that's my problem!  I even called my Mom, because I find things that used to be hers and I feel bad about getting rid of them, even though I don't use them, and neither did she! I'm too sentimental. It feels like your giving away your childhood, no matter what those organization gurus say.  But I'm doing it, IT'S JUST HARD!
The girls met friends at Olive Garden for lunch, and when I picked them up we stopped in at JCP- ennys to get some super XL's for the brother in laws. That place was mobbed! Glad most of the shopping is done.  We went to 5pm mass, and Deacon Dave homilied his head off.  He talked about the Angel appearing to Joseph in a dream and telling him he should still marry Mary.  He asked us, "What if Joseph hadn't been listening?"  and he encouraged us to ask GOD each day what he has planned for us, and then STOP AND LISTEN to the answer.  I do ask, but probably don't listen hard enough...Job for this week!

Songs of the Season!

It's Christmas concert day at our house! Danny had his a 2pm, and he sang and played his recorder. I was able to dash over from work, which was good because there was NO parking! The music teacher does a great job with all the age groups. Then tonight the Brighton choral program pulled out all the stops and gave a fabulous concert.  Charlotte's choir group sang  Dome PE, a french song, believe(from polar express) and silent night! Charlotte did a beautiful job! We are so proud of her! The grand finale was carol of the bells and All is Well, a Brighton tradition. The alumni are invited up to sing, and Molly of course was right up! She loves that part.  Danny got dropped off from his birthday party  and arrived in time to hear Charlotte's last song. They had a reception afterwards, but I brought Danny home because he has an away basketball game tomorrow at 8am. Jerry and the girls went, and they announced the musical for the spring, it will be Bye,Bye,Birdie! I am trying to get Charlotte to try out!
The kids singing, all of them, not just mine, really help focus my mind on the joy of Christmas, and the talents of all. What a blessing to get the time to do that today.

Siding project done...windows soon!

Well the guys came back this am, at about 8am. and started banging away. The siding color is almost a perfect match, and it looks so nice not to have the bog jagged rip on the front anymore. Gave the guys a coffee and muffin/pumpkin bread treat around 9:30am, other than that, I left them alone.  I did get some wrapping and sorting done, and I hit Kohls with my 30%(if anyone needs it, let me know!) for a few last minute gifts and even took care of some returns.  I must admit that Kohls has such an excellent return policy,  I'm not  hesitant to buy things.  Jerry got home from Ohio and after an early dinner headed off to SO Basketball.  I did dishes!  Danny and I are closing in on the end of   Big Red by Jim Kjelgard, one of my favourite books. The action,adventure and great vocabulary make for a winning book. Try it if you haven't read it, or anything by him. So a great Thursday all together, and off to work tomorrow!

Workman...AARRGGGHHHH!

Today is the long awaited day for the siding repair. They are supposed to be here at 10am. Ding dong goes the doorbell at 6:15am. I race downstairs and it's a guy delivering a dumpster. Fine, but why don't you tell us to expect this? Then at 10am  the guy, one guy arrives. One guy, I'm thinking? but okay, it's your job.  He asks me to tell him what needs to be done. Uh, don't you know? I ask. No, it's not written down, says the guy. OK...so I put on my boots and show him.  Back inside I wait to start hearing working  noises...wait....wait....ding dong goes the bell(not the noise I wanted) Uh, there's snow on your roof, so we'll come back and finish tomorrow.  What did you get done? I ask. He stares at me blankly. We'll come back tomorrow, he says again. Can you work on the side today? I beg. NO, we'll see you tomorrow.  OK...fine. It's all over by 10:30am.  No follow up call about what time they will come(should I tell them there is still snow up there?!)or if I have to be here.  The week before Christmas you don't want to be stuck at your house.  You want to be shopping!  I'm not too happy...on day one.  Danny had his 10year checkup and checked up just fine.  He needed no shots, which made him happy.  Bball practice, dinner, homework, helping Molly make phone calls for an event this Sunday and a Christmas movie round out the evening. I'm going to bed early, how about you?

Tuesday 12/14 COLD!

Wow, it is COLD! Lucky for me the kids and Jerry gave me a new coat and hat, an early Christmas present just in time! My coat is so warm and cozy and the hat, well it's cute...I won't say I look cute in it, but I need to keep my head warm and that's that. Back in high school i just didn't wear a hat, but now I'm too old to worry about whether I look "good" or not. I guess this is an advantage to aging? Lot's of shopping and driving, and dashing across parking saying to myself and others "Wow! it is COLD today!"  In between trips I was trying to clean, got through all the bathrooms and several loads of laundry. Got a call around 2pm from the high school saying Charlotte had fainted in choir class. Oh my! So raced down to school, poor thing, lying in the "Nurses Office" though why they still call it that I don't know, they have one nurse for the whole district at this point, and it takes a lot more than a mere fainting spell to get her over to the school.  She looks scared and beat up, bloody swollen lip, banged up nose. I speak to the choir director, Mr. Brady, and he says she just keeled over. Thank goodness they weren't on the risers. I called the Dr. and she said to watch her, and really push fluids. Pushing anything with Charlotte is tricky, but I'm trying.
 Jerry took the youngers to the Uof M basketball game, which they loved. Even bought a cone of Almonds from The Nut Wagon, Jerry said they have the best smell, and you can;t walk by them. Molly had a concert/sing along at the active senior community in town, and I dropped her off at 7pm. She is then heading to a party, and Jerry ends up picking her up on the way home from the game, that worked out great for me. My 2 big tv shows were both new, so it is a big night for me. One cool thing was that on NCIS Los Angeles, they had a chase scene on the Santa Monica Pier, right where Molly and I had been in Nov. It was really fun to watch that.
So a good night...a COLD night!

Monday 12/13 SNOW DAY!

The snow stopped at around midnight, but school was already called off! Temps had been dropping all night, and the roads turned to sheets of ice. The kids were happy to have a long weekend and so was I.  We all slept in(poor Jerry, his computer works in the snow and so does he)and hung out in our PJ's all morning. It was actually windchill of something below zero, so other than an hour outside we huddled. The popular activity proved to be coloring mancalas with coloured pencils. Mancalas are round patterned drawings that pull the eye in, and are quite complex. All 3 kids had alot of fun with them.
Though I didn't think anyone would show, I still needed to go to work and set up for knitting club. No one showed. So then I unset it up! Pretty thrilling. But then met Jer earlier than planned and helped shop for the gift baskets we are making for him to give to his clients. They came out great! It was nice to be home by 8:30. Jake actually called Danny for his birthday(trying not to be negative and think things like "why couldn't you have mailed him a card and gift?") Danny and the girls talked and they were very happy, so I am happy.  Still waiting/praying for some growth there...

Danny's Birthday!

I can't believe it's been 10 years since Danny brightened our family up! He was born the morning after a blizzard, when there was 18 inches of snow on the ground, and the neighbors all had to help dig the car out for us to go to the hospital! the snow was so deep even the hospital photographer couldn't get in to photograph the new babies. It snowed so much that December I swear the kids had snow days until after New Years! Well today the snow came again for my blizzard baby! It started last night and stopped, then started hard again around 8am. I dashed out to mass and the grocery store and then headed home. It took me 3 tries to get up the driveway, so I pulled into the garage and parked for the day.  Heard from Jerry about the adventures at the lake. He had planned  to stay until Monday and let Danny be "snowed in" for his birthday, but at 6 am the plan changed. He woke up to Charlotte poking him and saying "Dad, its dark!" Jer's reaction," uh, yes! it's supposed to be dark!" but she was right, the power had gone out. With temps predicted to drop into the low teens tonight, there was no way they could stay. Danny was pretty bummed out, looking out at the 8 inches of fresh snow and having to leave, so Jer played outside with him for a couple of hours. They even had to chop a hole in the ice to get water and carry it into the house.  So they get to Mount Pleasant and decide to go to the Pixie for lunch, when Jerry remembers that he left the pump plugged in at the house. UGH! He drops the kids off to buy lunch and turns around through the increasingly fierce snow and goes back to the lake to unplug the pump. The poor guy! Turns around, picks up the kids and starts for Brighton, and the 90 min trip takes 2:45. UGH!  7 cars in the ditch as he comes off the exit ramp, and a main highway closed due to 90 accidents in 4 hours, so he is certainly happy to get the kids safely home.  Meanwhile I've invited Shawne and her gang to celebrate the birthday, and they arrive just as the kids get home. Danny,Sophie,Jack and Charlotte head right outside to sled and play. Danny,Sophie and Jack built a really neat fort in the backyard, using the picnic table as a base, and they stayed outside of 2 hours, until forced in by parents  (it was pitch black!) We had Danny's choice of  pizza for dinner, and I made a bumpy cake for dessert with ice cream. Karen and Eric even ventured out and came over for dessert and coffee. It made Danny's day really special, and he loved opening his presents in front of the fire and an audience.My thoughts on this year ahead for him; I wish him a wonderful happy and healthy year, with loads of joy and adventure. I pledge to present life with optimism and enthusiasm to him.  I am blessed.
post script: usually on Sundays I mention something about church, and this week the message  was patience,always a good one for me to here. But funny story, the organist and song leader were not in sync, and Father Karl was the one who needed the patience! at one point the organist was playing away, but not giving the lead in too the song. Father Karl and the singer were both staring back towards the organ, at one point Father jerked his hand up, as if to say Jump in and start singing, but she didn't. we all stood there, not singing, for about 3 minutes, which felt like 3 hours! Father was not happy!

December 11th Santa's in the House!

One of my favourite parts in the movie ELF is when Buddy is at Macys and they tell him that Santa will be there tomorrow and he runs through the store yelling "SANTA'S COMING!" That's how it was at work today! After sneaking in an hour and a half at church helping to receive/organize the gifts for the Adopt-a-family program, I get to work at 10am to start Santafying the department. Roseanne, the decorator extraordinaire, has fake snow on every surface and greenery and snowmen, it looks awesome. Santa, and his  nice,slightly ditsy,very tall elf and a twelve year old reindeer arrive at 11am and stay til 3. We also have crafts, bell choir, carolers, and a puppet show. I get to work crowd control at the Santa line and take pictures. My favourite was the 3 week old baby! Photos are up on the web at brightonlibrary.info  or become a fan of the library on facebook and you can see them there.  The snow hasn't started yet, but I cozy up to the fire anyway, and spend my evening wrapping gifts. Since the kids aren't home I can spread everything out. I can remember my Mom spending hours on Christmas eve wrapping gifts in her room, and I don't like to spend that time away if I can help it.

December 10th Friday at the library

We are super busy at work today, getting everything ready for the big Holiday Open House tomorrow. I get about 50 people for my storytime, and we read snow stories and sing snow songs. We have a dusting, but more is predicted for Sunday. After school today Jerry and the kids are heading up to the lake for the weekend, and Danny is very excited! The lake house is the same age as he is, Jerry had to get my power of attorney and go to the closing alone because Danny was only 3 days old!  The first visit was over that first Christmas and I was worried that the cottage might be too chilly for a newborn. I was wrong, the house heats up quickly and is snug and cozy. I spent a couple of days sitting in the red arm chair nursing Danny and watching the kids and Obi play outside. Great memories.  Shawne came over and we watched one of my favourite holiday movies...Love Actually. Have you seen it? Funny, poignant, just great! Shawne hadn't seen it, don't you love showing someone a movie you love? I do too.

Thursday 12/9 Friends are priceless

I am so lucky to have a friend like Shawne. So flexible, so fun, so laid back(unlike me!) she is always fun to be around.  This morning we had talked about getting together, but she called to tell me that there was a stray dog in their yard and she needed to get it squared away. Now she has already taking care of her mother-in-laws two 90lb black labs since labor day, along with her dog, but she still has the time for this stray. I manage to fill my time with a trip to the bank and Marshalls, got a frew more presents set. Then Shawne frees up and I ask if she'd consider coming to help me with the basement reorganization and of course she says "Sure"! So for the next couple of hours Shawne Leah and I work on moving the crafts into the guest room/lego room; cleaning along the way, and talking no-stop. Chores always go so much faster with a friend don't they? We made some good progress, and Shawne's design expertise came in handy.  I hope to finish up over the weekend.  Jer and the kids head off to basketball after a gourmet meal of turkey franks and mac/cheese..what's Kerry doing? Laundry and dishes of course...but that's why they call me  a homemaker!

Wednesday 12/8

Molly gets to sleep in this am, because we are meeting her new Doctor. She turns out to be fantastic, yay!! She actually went to high school in Rogers City, next to Posen. She recognized our last name, which you know never happens! Molly loved her and I may start Charlotte and I with her too. So I am really happy about that. Dropped Mol at school in time for her 11'o'clock meeting and met RoseAnn for a cuppa at Panera. We chatted about work(I can't go into it) and family, and basically enjoyed ourselves greatly. Love ya RoseAnn!  Then home for some cereal and out to Danny's library for my volunteering. Got Charlotte on the way home and then...got a call from Jen Fiske that she wanted me to dial into a call with the team and the client(P&G) and watch a bit of a clip they had fedexd me. I felt like quite the business woman! Anyway, being under pressure to react was kinda weird, but the clip was amazing! We really didn't know what to say to them and Jer and I were both crying. I can't wait til its okay to show people..stay tuned.  Finished the day with bball practice for Danny, costco for me, for stamps for my christmas cards, and a trip to the movies for Jerry and Charlotte, Harry Potter again for Charlotte! A great hump day when all is through!

Tuesday December 7

Up and at'em! Ready to take on Tuesday. Jer heads off to the office, but it is my day to work with Charlotte in the cafeteria today, so I don't get a whole lot accomplished. But thats okay, theres always tomorrow! I do get a bit of shopping done too, our adopt-a-family gifts are due this weekend, so I needed to finish it up. The girls head out to the BHS girls BBall game(they lost) and had a great time.  Other than that, nothing too thrilling.

It's Monday again, December 6th

Well this was a really rough day. Charlotte had a lot of trouble adjusting to the school week, and ended up staying home. It was very stressful and hard for both of us. However, we press on, hoping of a better day tomorrow. Thanks to my sister for the shoulder...I love you.

Sunday 12/5 A day of Rest?

Aaah, no 6am alarm, that's awesome! We made it to church at 11:30, but that was okay.  Jeff was there and he sat with us. The sermon was about trusting the Lord. OKAY GOD, I hear you! I'm working on it big time! After a nice big breakfast, it's Molly off to her concert, Charlotte off to her youth volunteer activity, Danny's buddy to our house, me off to the concert, and on we go! Molly and I got home around 7pm. and got ready for the week ahead.

Good bye to Texas and Hello Crazy Weekend!

Off to the airport, and we get there really early thanks to our driver! Molly and I get through security with nary a body scan, and we hit Austin coffee to start our day off right!
Plane ride is smooth and as soon as we land and Jer and the gang pick us up, we head straight to Lansing for Molly's Meet and Greet. The 3 athletes from Michigan, David, Sabra and Molly are having lunch together and finding out more details about the trip next summer.  The excitement builds! We get alot of information and have alot to work on over the next couple of weeks..lots of planning for me!

As soon as the meeting ends we zoom home and Molly basically has to hop right into her choir outfit and go right over to her concert site.  We head over shortly after that.  Karen, Eric and Inez are there also, thanks for coming guys! The concert is spectacular, and Molly knocked our socks off! We are pretty proud. But tired! I am so happy to get home and get into my own bed.

Friday 12/3 Elgin High School

Theresa our driver picked us up at 6:45am again, and we're off to another busy Special Olympics day! By close of business, 6pm, we are whipped.  We sneak in a trip to Cavenders Boot City, the place the locals shop! Molly buys herself a pair of awesome cowboy boots! She also bought a pair for Charlotte, and a tshirt for Danny, and oh yeah, a cool cowboy hat too! I'll put on a photo. This is us at the Iron Cactus on sixth street in Austin! The enchiladas were amazing!  Molly was snoozing by 9:30pm and I wasn't far behind(after figuring out how to get two pairs of boots..etc. into our luggage!

Texas State-Bobcat Stadium

We were driven out to the stadium by Theresa, the same nice gal who picked us up at the airport at 6:45. We met Shauna(2D productions), Chris, Tosca(photographer), Jeff(art director), Jody and Carrie(make-up team) and many more. Craziest person was wrangler Sally, from 'Jersey, whose job it was to communicate between the director and the photographer and the folks in the shots. She was a silly,fun,enthusiastic person who made the day so enjoyable.

 Though it was chilly and windy in the am, by afternoon it was sunny and 70!  Food was amazing and we had a 6 person UNO game for about an hour at lunchtime, which Molly loved. Highlights included a fake torch, ten gallons of hairspray and "papaya" the secret Australian lip gloss formula!  We met alot of great Moms and athletes from Special Olympics Texas, including a gal who will be a coach over in Greece for a kayak team (kayaking-- who knew?!). We headed back to Austin through rush hour traffic and got back at 6:30.  Whew! Long day! On the club floor was happy hour and we set Molly up in the room with a diet coke, and assorted snacks and ESPN and I went to the gym. We needed a mental/physical break from each other.  When I got back we showered and ordered room service! Had a table wheeled into the room, you know, just like home every night. We just had no juice to go out. The Arizona vs Arizona State game just tied up, but Molly is quietly  sleep breathing...so cute.  I payed to log on to the Internet (well not me personally, but the company) so I knew I needed to get my $ worth and blog to my many,many followers--Hi Jer :)
Tomorrow is another 6:45 am call, so I'd better go to bed. Sadly for my waistline I brought a giant  chocolate chip cookie back from the shoot, and I have coffee and my book....!

Wednesday December 1- Traveling again!

Well Molly and I are on the road again, for another first...a trip to Texas.  We were invited to participate in another Special Olympics event, apparently Molly charmed lots of people in LA, and they wanted her back, this time in Austin!  We left the house early, with flurries flying and landed in Austin to 56 and rising.  Our hotel is right downtown, the Omni, a tall tower in the center of the action, rising 20 stories, with a roof top pool and glass elevator.  After checking in, we were taken by the bellhop to the club floor(only accessible by key) and to our beautiful room with floor to ceiling glass windows. We can see the University of Texas football stadium!  We decided to hit the gym for a workout, ESPN was on the big scree TV and Molly took the elliptical right in front of it...I chose a treadmill with a little built in TV, and tuned it to...you guessed it, HGTV!  Life is good!  Afterwards we changed and went to the rooftop pool and swam and went in the hotub, it was so cool up there.

We showered, changed and set out to explore Austin. We walked down to the capitol building and took a short tour, saw the statue of Davy Crockett and learned a little history. By now we were starving..so we went to a cool little spot called Hickory Street Bar and Grill.  We ate fried pickle spears with ranch dressing, homemade breaded onion rings, and Molly had a chicken fajita salad(too spicy after a while) and I had a wrap with hummus,lettuce,tomato,etc. It was very good.   We took a city bus up Congress to the University of Texas bookstore and bought Molly a  Longhorns T-shirt. Then we enjoyed a walk across the beautiful campus, checking out all the students and buildings. We got tickets for the mens BBall game against Lamar ( not a sell-out...no surprise!). One thing I noticed was how nice the fans are there. They had a big sign up on the screen about the behaviour expectations, and the first thing on the list was respect. I think U of M could learn from them.  Our upper seats were a great spot from which to watch the team warm-ups, then we moed down to about the 10th row, right next to the band, so we could do the cheers. Horns Up! The dance team was excellent, but what I liked is that they wore hot pants and chaps, you know your in Texas! The game was great, the Longhorns won, and then we walked about 1/2 mile back to the Omni. So all told a great day, lots of exercise for sure, and some fun for Molly and I. Early rise tomorrow, so good night!