A House Divided===A Birthday House!

A house divided

we can still be friends

birthday dinner for the big man-#49!

the meal--tater tots hiding behind the brat!

Happy Birthday Jerry! He is 49 today, and thinking about his own blog! We made him a killer brat dinner, with fried peppers/onions/garlic and sauerkraut and tater tots, his favourite side! After his big workout with the kids he decided not to have the beer after all!  He got an awesome Rutgers sweatshirt from his sister in law(GO Sooz!) and cute cards and treats from the kids. Funny story: I suggested that Molly write Jerry a poem. She thought it was a great idea. When she presented him with the poem tonight, we realized it sounded familiar. She didn't know what a poem really was, so she copied the poem Danny wrote for me which is hung on my bedroom door. How cute is that! We asked where she found the poem and she said "on your door Mom!" Danny thought it was charming.

The big plan for the evening was the Yankees vs. Tigers game and a rain delay really goofed things up.  Charlotte finally went to bed, and now, at 10:27pm it has been called. They will pick up where they left off tonight-how unusual!

Pictures from our Thursday

checking into the turtle we found

home science

investigating with the IPad

set free in our bog after the study session!

Eastern painted box turtle(most common kind in NAmerica

instant info!

he did enjoy this, really!!

interesting black marking

future scientist

the Dutch invasion- Harry,Nico,Jerry and Molly

"I'm a Tiger Fan" states Nico, proudly wearing the shirt I gave him!

check out our D's!!!

Molly Won! are you surprised?!

snacks on the sunporch

Mom, enough with the close-ups!!!!!

Keep in Touch with the Dutch--We are!

This evening we had the pleasure of hosting Jerry's Dutch coleagues at our house. Jerry took them for drinks on Main St., and had planned on dinner, but the waits were too  long! What bad economy??! So they came to the house and had dessert and coffee, then we played pingpong and shuffleboard, then had drinks and little snacks. Nico and Harry enjoyed meeting the girls and playing with Danny. They told great stories, especially exciting wwhen Nico talked about climbing Mont Blanc and hiking all through the alps. With crampons and ropes, the whole bit! Cool!
Danny and I went to mass this morninf for Aunt Reg and Nana. It was the feast of the guardian angels, and a beautiful mass. We did great bunches of schoolwork and also Taekwando. It was a day! Oh yes, it was a day!
See next post for photos!!!

Rouge Factory Tour! Another field trip..?( am I Ms. Frizzle?!)

Jerry asked Danny and I to join the Dutch guys on a tour of Fords Rouge truck plant. This is where they make the Ford F150. The guys are very nice, and it turns out that they are international safety experts for factories, so they really enjoy viewing the plant and critiquing what isn't as safe as it should be. We also do the living roof and the 2 movies. If you haven't gone you should make a point of it, or at least take your next out of town visitors there! Harry and Nikko loved the whole thing, and we capped it off by stopping at A&W for burgers and rootbeer floats(a first). It was really enjoyable. Then home again for school for Danny and coffee/cereal for me. Off to work at 5pm to assist with teen movie night, We only had 4 kids come :(
I stopped at Meijer on the way home to buy a couple of Tigers shirts for Jerry to give the Dutch guys tomorrow.
Susan went down the shore to take care of Mom. Hopefully the results of the tests will be fine, and she will come home tomorrow. Susan did a sweep of the house, and is telling the nurses what meds she needs, so that it fantastic. Susan and the family are going to Deleware to visit Claire this weekend. I think it will be a great trip and that they will all be happy to see each other!

Tuesday 9/27 BDL and home drama...

I was asked to sub at the last minute at work this morning. Danny did an hour of work then I dropped him off at Karen's. He walked up to piano lessons, then back to her house. They went to the apple orchard and picked 4 kinds of fresh apples. Back at her house they peeled and chopped and baked, and he brought home apples and a fresh baked apple crumble! Now that's a fun morning! He also finished up school, joined me at the library to make an awesome book wreath, and went to taekwando. BUSY!
Meanwhile while at work I get a call that Mom is in the hospital. She had a bleeding issue on Monday night and went to the ER. Decided not to call us, and then spent the night in the ER and was admitted on this morning. They will do a cat scan, and a colonoscopy. So between her and Aunt Reg (now in for a week) I am pretty stressed out. I want everyone to be better.
Jerry has colleagues in from the Netherlands and he was busy all day and night with them. Yup, that left me on driving and dog walking and dinner detail!

Monday 9/26 And we're off!

Charlotte heads off with all her paperwork to start her job trial, she will be in the Brighton High School cafeteria. Unfortunately she can't go to St. Pats because the timing is off, it needs to be during 5/6th hours of the day. She will be stocking in the Caf. and doing prep for the next day. We shall see! Molly also starts back up at Head Start and dog biscuits this week, so we will have 2 "working girls"!
Danny got a good jump on his week. Our morning chapter book is one of my old favourites from childhood, Snow Treasure. It is historical fiction, set in Norway in WWII, and tells the story of how a bunch of kids helped sneak gold bricks out of Norway under the watchful eye of the Nazi's. It is a great story, and it is fun to read it again and share it with Danny

Awesome Church Day

Man, today was the day that RCIA kicks off--all the folks who want to become Catholic, or were baptised Catholic but did not complete their sacraments begin their journey of faith, which culminates at the Easter Vigil.  Watching all their faces, young and old, engaged, parents, getting ready to commit to a year of faith study and join the church...it was very inspiring! Father Karl gave a fantastic homily about how vice and sin pulls us backward/and is death...but moving forward, growing, that's where the life is....and doing it because you want to grow and go deeper, that's what its all about. So you aren't regretting as you say no to a vice, you are reveling in the new and deeper life you have.
Forward March!!

Soccer Saturday

Special Olympics Livingston County celebrates Eunice Kennedy Shriver Day by attending a soccer tourney in Farmington Hills. Jerry coached Molly and Charlotte's team, because Coach Michelle had another engagement.  Coach did a terrific job(after telling me to "Be Quiet!" oops!) though they lost both their games. The girls really hustled, Molly on offense and Charlotte on defense. Danny and I stayed for only the first game, then headed back to Brighton. Frank's Mom's memorial service was at 10:30. We were happy to be able to attend. I had a nice phone call from my long lost best-friend-since-age-10 Lorrie Lockin! We lose touch but always reconnect, and weirdly enough we just start heart-to-heart talking as if no time has passed. Her kids are all fine,and her teaching job still making her happy. I hop and the night was so pretty. e we can get together soon. I took a long walk with Shawne after dinner, and I took the dog! Grandy and I both enjoyed it

moving ahead with the condo

I am helping Sue Koza to get all the rest of the furniture in her Mom's condo.  I got a call this afternoon that Love,Inc. can come tomorrow for what is left. This is great news because the y are hard to book. This also saves Jerry and I from an afternoon of work. Hopefully my obligation to this project ends Sunday. Sue is very appreciative, and has extended an invite to visit her in Florida this winter...sweet!
Danny and I had an OK day today. Really seesawed between great(walking the dog and discussing the Republican candidates,immigration reform, how religious views affect your politics!) and yuck(Danny groaning and whining over grammar worksheets and card making) It felt Friday=ish to me!
I had planned to go to a movie with Shawne and then hit a wall, annoyed with kids behaviour and my own lack of cleaning and organization, I cancel the movie and vacuum and tackle Danny's room. HOURS later I finish his room and get all we need ready for the morning-soccer tourney(depart at 7:15am) and memorial service for my friend Rhonda's mother=in=law at 10:30 at St. Pats.
End the evening watching a new show with Jerry. We are hoping to find a new show to watch together and gave  Unforgettable with Poppy Montgomery(we loved her in Without a Trace) a try. It was pretty good, in case you need a new show!

Nothing but Fun.....?!

Okay, try this schedule on for size...
1. 6:30 am-up and moving the girls along to school
2. 7:15am-make large batch of banana-blueberry bread out of aging bananas on the counter
3. 8am- wake up Danny and give him his assignments
4. 8:30am -meet Roseanne for coffee talk at Panera
5. 9:20am-go to the library with Roseanne to be in the staff picture for Good Morning Brighton
6. 10:00am-arrive home and take long walk with Danny and Grandy the dog
7. Make Spinach tortellini soup and cheddar bacon cornbread for my luncheon
8. 12:00pm-Nancy and Marian arrive, and I serve tea on the sun porch
9. 1pm-Danny joins us for lunch and we show our Greece/SO videos
10. 2:30pm-the luncheon ends
11. 2:45-get a call that the realtor has the truck we can borrow to move the furniture-NOW!
12. 3pm-5:30- go get truck at office, drive to condo, bust a couple of mad moves as Jer and I load 2 box springs,1 super heavy mattress, chairs,dressers,patio set, and a couch and loveseat. Drive to condo, unload it all, feed kids dinner, jer drive kids to soccer, me return truck.
13. 6pm-home, clean kitchen, empty dishwasher,wash pots,etc and have dinner myself.
7:15pm- take Grandy for a 2 miles walk(flashlight in hand to illuminate the little treats for me to pick up!)
14. 8pm- Jerry and the kids arrive home, and we do evening routines,
15. 8pm.-Laundry continues.....
16. 9:30pm-I decide to lay in bed to write this so I can fall right asleep!

How's that for a day??!!

Piano Lessons at Last! Wednesday 9/21/11

I am happy to report that Danny finally started piano lessons, after cancelling 2x's! Mrs. Evans is a former elementary music teacher who is older, and quite no nonsense. This is my idea of a good teacher. She told Danny she would teach him to read music and give him a firm background to move forward from. They worked together for about 40 minutes on music, playing, and where he is at. She lent us a book to work from and when she decides which book she thinks he is at, she let us buy one.  He practiced when he got home, and eagerly played for Jerry(who finally arrived home from Chicago around 8pm). I downloaded some musical note/learning apps onto the Ipad to further move things along. Danny also went to Taekwando, and Charlotte and Molly and I had back to school night for Charlotte at the high school. I am happy with the program she is in and I am cautiously optimistic...!

Capitol Day, Lansing Tuesday 9/20/11

Free breakfast? Yay!

passed the security screening, cleared to lobby!

on the 14th floor of the house of representatives office building, capitol in the background

great view

Capitol Building

Delivering our folders full of info to all the lawmakers

state capitol tradition, lay on the glass floor

I ran up to the 4th florr to get the shot!

the view from the floor!

Representative Bill Rogers with our group
me,Danny, AD MaryJane, Becca, Molly,Charlotte, and Kylee

Danny loved this guys name!

A beautiful day spent lobbying for a good cause

The day began in Lansing at 7:45 am, with breakfast and briefings. Then all the Special Olympics athletes,coaches and family members fanned out around the capitol to lobby the senators and house reps to support bill 381-382. This bill would allow Special Olympics to have a check-off box on the state tax return, and allow folks to designate $5/$10 from their return to benefit SO. This would be a great thing and help the funding of the programs statewide. We had a great time talking to everyone. The 4 of us would go in, Molly would say, "Good Morning, we are here from Special Olympics", Charlotte would say nothing! Danny would pass the folder and explain what bill 381-382 was, and I would add pertinent comments. I think it was a good experience for them and they got to see politics in action. The day was warm and sunny and we ate a lunch on the capitol lawn and watched sports demonstrations by SO Athletes.
Finished up, shot home by 3pm, made dinner, fed dinner, hosted book club! Whew!!! Busy day!

I'm on it! GO ME!

Okay! That's what I'm talking about. I made a list at 6am and I did it all! And alot of it was stuff I had let go-so I feel quite happy and proud of  myself. Danny had a good school work day, and I banked,gassed,Rx'd,moved more stuff out of the condo, picked up Charlotte at school, walked the dog in the rain, had the piano tuned, took girls to the DR. for their shots,and watched Danny do 1:45 minutes of Taekwando (long story, first 45min  was a kids class and Master Kil told him he was too old/good to be in it, and he should do the next class too! he was one sweaty fella!) Then made dinner, gathered medals,hats and SO outfits for the Capitol Day rally tomorrow. At 6:30am we will depart for Lansing !!

Wind down the weekend, wind up for a new week!

Mass at 8am, together, so Jerry can head to the airport for his late morning flight to Chicago. Add a FreePress and a coffeecake from Kroger and the morning turns very relaxing. The kids worked out and I "chored" my new favourite verb! Then Danny and Charlotte and I took a long walk with the dog. It was a beautiful day!

Then we baked a peach cake to bring to Loaves and Fishes Dinner. I think it shows the folks who come for this free meal that we care about them. We headed to church to set up and serve the meal. Ron Garrison played his guitar and sang '70's songs which really made the evening enjoyable. We ended the night with a couple of I Love Lucy episodes, perfect!

Furniture for the Condo-Thanks Lucy....

A sad thing happened, our friend Sue Koza's Mom died suddenly and couple of months ago of medical error. What a hard thing to deal with. Grandma Lucy's condo has been sold, and Sue generously offered to let us have furniture from it that her kids didn't want. We have 2 beds, which is excellent and will allow the girls to spend nights at the condo. We are also taking a couple of couches--not super stylin, but you know what? They can sit on them, and at some point if they get replaced we can donate them on. So Grandma Lucy, Thanks to you the girls are moving forward, and we know how much you liked them.
We spent alot of today moving things, and Danny got back to Taekwando. We also had a pizza picnic and took a walk at the metro park, watched some football(go blue, oops on the chips and buckeyes)
and I did loads of laundry! Jer off to Chicago tomorrow, so I helped him back for his big meetings.

pizza picnic!!

My Thursday write-up, delayed!

Well with all the excitement of the baby coming I never got to write-up our field trip. We got the news from Jake while we were on the subway in fact!  So let me fill you in...
Susan, Danny and I headed off to NYC on the PATH train from Harrison around 8am. We stepped out into the ground zero area, and saw the freedom tower rsing up. It is awe inspiring. As we walked along the building fence, we saw one of the original Missing posters tacked on it, with flowers wedged in around the smiling face. What a poignant reminder of all the people lost  and families affected.  We walked over to the Lower East Side Tenament Museum and fabulous find that Donnie told us about.

A historian and social activist, Ruth Abram wanted to build a museum that honored America's immigrants.
New York's tenements were the perfect place for her museum: these humble, multiple family buildings were the first American homes for thousands of immigrants.

97 Orchard's initial appeal was an available storefront: Jacobsen and Abram considered renting the space to run tours of the Lower East Side. While inspecting the storefront, Jacobsen went to the hallway to look for a bathroom.
She saw sheet-metal ceilings, turn-of-the-century toilets and an aging wood banister.

"It was as though people had just picked up and left", Jacobson recalled. It was a little time capsule...I called Ruth and said 'We have got to have this building.' It was perfect."

Shuttered for over 50 years, 97 Orchard's apartments were in ruin. It would take time to transform the tenement into a museum.
Undaunted, researchers scavenged through 97 Orchard and combed through archives, compiling evidence about tenants and tenement life.

After several years of research, the Museum began the difficult task of restoring apartments that had been left vacant for so long. In 1992, the Museum opened its first restored apartment, the 1878 home of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family.
Over the past 20 years, the Tenement Museum has blossomed from an idea into a thriving institution.

.  We've carefully restored 6 apartments, including our newest one: the home of the Moores, Irish immigrants who lived at 97 Orchard in 1869.
We went on the tour they call getting by, which talked about two families who experienced hard times, one in 1873, the other in 1932.
Our tour guide was fantastic and there were only 10 people on the tour! Lots of time to ask questions and learn. I told Danny that this is the kind of background both our families came from, Polish and Irish immigrants.
We met Donnie for lunch at Katz's Deli, since 1888, they filmed that restaurant scene from
When Harry Met Sally at this spot. Danny had an egg cream and potato latkes, real Jewish food on the lower east side! We took a walk around the area, visited a Jewish center, and St. Mary's Catholic Church, where we were able to light candles for Jake and Cammy.
It was a great day! With lots of learning and a baby!

Visit the homes of German-Jewish & Italian Catholic families surviving the Panic of 1873 and the Great Depression.

Freedom Tower going up

Danny masters the NYC subway system

on the steps of the tenament at 97 Orchard St.

the famous BabyCakes cupcake store!

an awesome chinese grocery store in Chinatown(reminded us of HK)

facade

latkes and egg cream at Katz's

saying a prayer at Saint Mary's

I Love New York!