Holiday fun!

Christmas concert at Calvin starring the fabulous MattBedner

Christmas concert with the incomparable Danny, Brianna and Sophie

Christmas concert with the adorable Leah, first number was the Penquin Polka! She did a solo, and really rocked it!

So how  is your Christmas season going?!!

 

Friday December 20th

Well I am super happy that molly and Danny brought their homemade Christmas goodies in to school yesterday, because school was cancelled today! Black ice is the claim, but I think teacher fatigue is more likely! it is 37 degrees at the moment, though foggy as heck as all the snow starts to melt a bit.

So charlottes teachers stuff either gets eaten or goes in the freezer, and I will make some more prior to 1/6 I guess!molly and Danny are still snoozing and early girl Charlotte made it til 7:50! 

I think we will head to the library, always a good spot for all ages...

A bedtime cookie snack from my Cookie!

Cassie visits!

We were happy to have Cassie with us from the 12-15 and enjoying sharing christmasy things with her. I put my giant pile of Christmas books on the sun porch next to my little Christmas tree and she loves to go look through those and find new favourites. Currently number one is Who is coming To Our house! a story about the animals in the manger wondering who might be planning a visit to their home on Christmas Eve. 

Cassie loves going to Friday night basketball with dzadza and the kids, and has started asking about it as soon as she comes in on Thursdays! She runs around like crazy, which is great in my book! 

Jerry's team started basketball practice and the girls were by happy about that. The Pink Panthers are back in action for another season-- go Coach Jerry!

And speaking of great dads, in spite of 4-6 inches of snow which fell on Saturday afternoon, Jerry loaded up the older kids and took them over to Calvin college in Grand Rapids for Matt Bedner's band concert. This is a wonderful holiday event, all the sections dress up and compete against each other to be audience favorite! And the music is phenominal! They did make it back and forth safely. 

Cassie and I made home made playdoh and had a blast smooshing and playing.

On Sunday we went to the VFW for Breakfast with Santa. I was happy that jake could go and get to see Cassie visit Santa. The breakfast was great and included an omelette station. Funny story: there is a dance floor, and about 8 kids were running and playing on it when they were finished eating. We encouraged cas to in in. She did for a bit, then a kid half a head shorter than her started to push her. As I got up to go interfere he gave a hard shove and knocked her to the ground! I dashed over and picked her up and comforted her, went and told the kids parents, and then Cassie says " I need to tell Santa!" So we go back over to his throne, no one is visiting at that moment, and she goes right up to him and says"Santa, a boy push me down and I cry!" Santa picked her up and told her she was okay, then he says"would you like another present?!" Suddenly she is not crying any more, and happily adds a Christmas pooh bear to the rubber duckie she had gotten earlier! As my dad would have said, she is quite an operator!

I stir it!

The finished product!

Cassie works on her potty skills, she is up on the counter to avoid the ever inquisitive Harry!

The meijer pony(still only a penny)!

Target! Cassie helped me shop...uh huh!

What a week for Danny

Turning thirteen is a pretty big deal, and Danny had a stellar week. It started on December 7 when he participated in solo and ensemble festival at Scranton middle school. About 50 middle schools were represented and all the students were judged by a high school or college band teacher. This was optional, and Danny had to get a piece of music, practice it on his own, hire an acompaniest, rehearse with her, then go play by himself in front of a judge. I am impressed that these kids do this, it is quite an undertaking. His scheduled time was 8am, so he had to be there at 7:15 to warm up and be ready to go. He did a great job, and scored a 2 rating, with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst. Pretty good for his first time and we were very proud of him!

Next up was the third and final Quiz Bowl Team competition.

His team ended up taking first place, with the other brighton squad taking second! Danny answered a couple of neat questions to help with the score. He brought birthday cupcakes and his teammates were very happy to wish him a happy day!

Christmas Season!

Hooray! I love Christmas and decorating and cooking and hostessing. And watching Christmas movies, opening cards, driving around and seeing everyone's lights....it is just such a friendly and happy time! We hosted our first annual gingerbread Open house on Sunday, replacing the 14 years of the neighborhood caroling party. I finally realized that sine I am the hostess( with the mostest I must add) I can have the party whenever I want! and since we moved to Princeton court we have not caroleda my way, so why have it at night! and so close to Christmas. I have settled on the first Sunday in December, but only if it isn't during thanksgiving weekend like this year. So last Sunday we opened our door at 2pm, the last guests left about 9:30, and in between we had about 60 people drinking,eating,laughing and sharing good cheer. It was AWESOME! And now, my house is all decorated and I am relaxed( to the extent that that is possible) and enjoying the season! Go Me!

Thanksgiving! I am thankful...

I started my day reading an article in the free press about folks who were trying to get a free turkey. They traveled to four sites in the city and waited on lines, many were turned away. One man had to go to a pawn shop with his radio to get money for gas to get to the give away site. It just really hit home for me, how blessed we are, with our new warm furnace and our huge turkey ready to go in the roaster. I want to not take that for granted.

We went to 9am mass, another thankful--we have a wonderful church and the freedom to go there whenever we want, and it was wonderful.  Father Karl co celebrated mass with father James and deacon Dave. Father Karl's homily hit home, my favourite quote, be happy with what God gave you and be happy with yourself. I am going to work on these!  After mass we turned on the parade and relaxed a bit. Then I got moving on dinner while Jerry and Charlotte went to boxing and molly hopped on the elliptical. In the afternoon we dragged up a lot of our Christmas decorations and started to unpack them and get excited. Jake arrived home from O'reillys, thankful--jake home and with us on thanksgiving, and we got down to some heavy eating at 5pm. Turkey,stuffing,mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, homemade cranberry sauce,pineapple slices,pickle plate and rolls. Grandmas pickle plate and Nana's serving dishes made me feel close to my family even when they are far away. Dish washing and dog walking were next up, along with pumpkin pie eating. Then we headed downstairs for the football game and an excellent game of Munchkin. It was tight, but Danny triumphed in the end. And molly was thrilled that the Lions won their game. And we even snuck a bit of turkey into each dogs food bowl so they could celebrate too!

So lots to be thankful for, we are blessed!

The busy, dark,chilly,challenging week!

Oh my gosh! we had a huge storm which blew out power all over southeastern Michigan. We kept our power over the weekend, but on Monday, boom! There it went. We were out for two days and it was dark, cold and crazy. I had no motivation to do anything other than huddle for warmth, and the laundry and chores piled up. Once the power came back on, We thought the gas had gone and had the gas co. Come on out. Sadly, all was fine, so on we went to the furnace repair team. Lakeside came out and got the furnace moving again, but unfortunately that only lasted a short while. The blower was on but only cold air was coming out, and with the temperatures in the teens, this was not very helpful. Things got even trickier with Jerry out of town, and me super busy with Special Olympics sports and polar plunge planning, I couldn't even find a time for the furnace sales man to come by and analyze my needs. Jerry took the boys and headed to posen on Friday night for their long planned hunting weekend. I actually got them to have their man, Tim, come out on Saturday at 7:30am which was kind of crazy!  He reviewed all the needs and gave me three options, and then we were off to church for the pointsettia sale, figure skating practice in hartland and then the poly hockey state tournament in Lansing. In two days I put over 200 miles on the traverse. I managed to check in with Jerry when he came out of the woods and we agreed on our purchase. By the time I reached the furnace man, he had booked a. Client for Monday, and said that now I had to wait til Tuesday. Oh no! The bone chilling cold in the house was intense, helped only by the space heaters lent to me by Lakeside. That was an ice perk, problem was, they kept blowing the fuses! Like I needed more things to worry about! Good news  arrived on Monday afternoon, the guys called to say they could get my heat going, and complete the install on the following day,Tuesday. hurrah!! Come on over! And by 6 pm my house was getting toasty warm. The install was completed on Tuesday and I got my lesson on the touch screen incredibly complicated thermostat.  And the heat?! HOT! We can't get over the even temps all over the house....who knew?! We actually have had to turn it down a few times because we aren't used to how hot the house is! So, that said, I know what I am getting( or have gotten) for Christmas and so does Jerry, but thanks God we are able to afford the new furnace, I know lots of people are not as blessed. 

So on the night before thanksgiving, I give thanks for my warm,WARM and cozy house!

11/15-11/17 Fall Fun with Cassie!

Jerry headed north on Thursday to hunt with his brothers. This is the first time in our marriage, 25 years, that he has gone hunting. He is really excited and that is great. Nice times with brothers and cousins, spitzer, good food, maybe a deer, that's what fall hunting is all about. He didn't take a deer, though he saw a bunch. He is taking jake and Danny this weekend, and said he is leaving the big buck for them!

Danny and I picked up Cassie on Thursday afternoon. Danny enjoyed a late  sleep, and then we stopped at Ollie's bargain outlet for a shop. We sang andalyed with her all the way to Brighton and our first stop in town was, you guessed it, the playground! She was SO excited! She really loved the sand box this visit, and loved seeing her beloved Uncle Danny climbing all around the monkey bars. He even took her up on one set.

The afternoon got warmer and warmer and so we went home and raked up a big leaf pile for Cassie, Danny and Harry to jump in. Boy did she have fun with that. She was excited to see the school bus arrive with the girls and we sang our school bus song while they got off. We stayed outside till jake got home around 5, and finally got her inside. Needless to say, a bath and early bed were on the agenda for Thursday night.

Friday is library day for us, and when I finally got miss lazy out of bed at 9am and she ate her waffles, we headed over. There was no story time but we played with all the toys, read loads of books and checked out some favourite to bring home and enjoy. After nap we played outside again and took a long walk.

Saturday morning I took Charlotte up to hartland to investigate special Olympics skating! and Danny and jake took Cassie to the playground again. I know jake had fun spending a bit of time with her before he headed into work. That evening we all went to Saint Pats school and saw the play Alladin jr.

Cassie was enthrall end and she sat on my lap and watched and clapped. She enjoyed the cookies at intermission as much as the play I think!

On Sunday we went to 9:30 mass and Cassie saw her favourite priest, Father Karl. I decided to take the gang to Leo's for lunch and then take Cassie back. The weather was awful so I convinced the kids to stay home and relax. 

I hate taking her back, so I was happy that she slept during the trip. A quick cuddle and lots of smooches and then I was back on the road. We were volunteering at Loaves and Fishes dinner and needed to bring our turkey in. Our group did a wonderful thanksgiving dinner for all the folks that came for a warm meal. I am so proud of the way my kids jump in and help, Danny manned the coffee cart, which on a chilly Sunday afternoon was quite in demand. And those seniors aren't easy to please some times! The girls set up, and served, and enjoyed the staff dinner that everyone sits down for once the visitors are served. We all love this ministry and volunteering for a few years now, we feel like a family with the rest of the team and look forward each month to working together to share our gifts and bounty with others.

Fabulous weekend!

Parent teacher conferences- Thursday 11/14

Now that is what I call fun! 5 minutes! That's what you get to discuss how your child is doing in class. How they fit in, are they participating, do they enjoy/understand the material being presented. How can this possibly take place in FIVE minutes?!

Before I went I asked Danny to tell me a little about each class, what he liked and what he didn't like, or some of each. Then I took that info and shared it with each teacher. Some of them liked it and some of them didn't. Oh well, that is how one of your pupils feels, and it think you should know that.

I told the social studies teacher that Danny thinks the way the class is taught, read book,do a worksheet,take a test is very boring. He said, " mom, the textbook we use is called History Alive!, but it isn't "  the teacher seemed a bit shocked by this. She did say that Danny is more "worldly" than most of the students. So What? I'm sure the other kids wouldn't mind a bit of exciting teaching either.

The math teacher taught jake in 8th grade and remembered him fondly. And loved Danny.

Mrs. Evans the band teacher said to me " can I tell you a funny story?" And I thought, if you want,but it doesn't count as MY 5 minutes! She went on to tell me that she had gotten a pice of pumpkin bread at Starbucks that morning and it was disgusting. She thought about calling me up right then and saying,

" mrs. Hincka, get over here and fix this right away" funny, and a nice compliment to my baking.

She said Danny is doing an excellent job on the tuba, " he is my rock. In fact, I don't even think the other two tubas played their instruments in the concert!"  All righty then! 

All his teachers mentioned how polite he is( he better be!) and that he participates and works hard. 

So a great evening of mom pride, which I will totally take!

The Hincka outdoorsmen

Danny just got back from the November camp out with his scout troop. They hiked,visited a museum, shot 22's and rifles with clay targets, made a thanksgiving dinner, played euchre, slept outside in 30* weather and were still home by 11am Sunday, just in time for 11:30 mass! Wow!! And Jerry went to the lake on Friday

to do some maintainence on the heating system and check that all was secure. Then he drove up to posen to "huntin camp" and worked on trail and ground stuff and painting inside the camp. Jerry's getting super excited about hunting this year, he heads north again Thursday morning to get ready for the first day which is this Friday. He and hank have a trail cam,  and he brought the sad card back with him. Tonight jake,jer and Danny were poring over the still shots Jerry had on his computer, marveling at all the " action" on the trail! Hilarious! I am happy that they enjoy the beautiful outdoors michigan has to offer. Danny already has his deer this season, now let's see if dad can do as well!

All join in!

Lucky for me, miss Roseanne was losing her voice....not only did I get to work today, I got to do a story time!! All join in is the drop in story time held on Friday mornings for all ages. I had about 30 participants. I had so much fun that I forgot to stop and instead of lasting 15 minutes it lasted about 45! And I am quite sure I had more fun than the kiddies. I read a new story about an " ol mama squirell and how she worked to keep all dange away from her babies. We all yelled out "chook chook chook" whenever a dog,bear,etc. came near the tree. It was really fun!

Molly was invited to join the Burkharts at the district final for BHS girls volleyball and boy was she excited. The team won and now they head to the regionals.  Oly went out to Red Robin with Rachel, a senior on the team! and Greg and Lisa. Anthony, their oldest, was a few years behind jake at CC and jake drove him to school for two years. How great for mol to have a chance to have such a big night!

BOOM

Justin Caine, who started the BOOM awards, today explained where the name came from. " when there is an Explosion, everything is shook up and turned around and usually not the same again. The BOOM award recipients are a big BOOM! In there communities, now let's share them with the world" it was very inspiring as were the speeches of the other award winners, Erica's d Doug, and the other folks that opened up recon, the conference where the BOOM awards were presented.we did not know that Molly would be asked to say a few words, and when she walked on stage to receive her award

She was speechless. She got choked up and couldn't say anything! Can you imagine molly speechless?! But God love her (and I know he does) she did a great job. 

We started the day with breakfast for the award recipients. We got to know each other a lot better. Then our family headed to the workout rom for 45 min of running,stretching and weights followed by swimming and hot tub

. Then we changed and walked around the exhibit hall and looked at all the vendors and bit a bit of shopping. There were several micro enterprises run by people with ID and we wanted to support their businesses.when the awards were finished and a photo session completed we we're ready to start our 3:30 min drive back to brighton.

Miss never-say-die molly, after realizing that the volleyball game she wanted to go to would be over the time she and Jerry got there, immediately changed course and told me she wanted to go to the run at the Main Street running shop, called LIGHT up the night. Okeedokey! I leap into my running togs and got us down by 5:55. The store had jackets and sneakers from new balance for the runners to borrow. So we pulled on jackets and shoes, and headed out with the 3 mile group. It sure was neat to see all the glowing forms speeding ahead of us up the dark rainy road. I was unsure of molly running in the dark, but she did fantastic. It did start to pour as we hit the - mile run, and we cheered for ourselves, we are two tough gals!!

 

Before.....

After!!!

And of course, PJ!!

Before....

Traverse city trip

Molly is being honored tomorrow with the athlete of the year award from BOOM, Be Our Own Motivation. An organization that honours folks who achieve in spite of great challenges. The award will be given on Wednesday at a banquet luncheon. As part of the award molly was given an overnight stay at the Grand Traverse Resort, with dinner and breakfast with her fellow honorees. We left the house around 2:30, sending Danny on his bike to wisbiskis and leaving jake to come home and watch dogs. The ride up is a bit boring, the scenery just trees on trees, most with no leaves on them, but there was certainly no traffic, and definitely no snow! We stay at this resort for the Special Olympics winter Games and on that trip conditions can be snowy and challenging. Jerry and Molly attended the dinner while Charlotte and I watched the Disney channel and ate subway in the hotel room. Charlotte was in heaven! Hopefully tomrw after the 7am breakfast call we can visit the beautiful pool and health club before the luncheon at 11:30. I am so happy that Jerry could come to see molly in action and meet some of the interesting folks I always seem to meet. I will post photos tomrw of our gal receiving her award!

A weekend with Cassie

What a blessing this past weekend was! We were able to get Cassie on Wednesday night and have her with us until Sunday night! it felt like the old days when she lived with us and we were able to bond so much better. She was very happy to see us on Thursday when she woke up.( Not so much Wednesday night, but that 9 pm arrival is ridiculous.) Halloween! After breakfast we went to a party at the new baby boutique in town. They had crafts and snacks and a photographer. We had a great time, in spite of the pouring rain. Next stop was Jake's workplace, Barnum. The company invites employees to have the kids come to trick or treat around the offices. It is a huge place and almost every desk had bowls of candy and treats out. Cassie was reluctant at first, but as soon as she learned that "trick or treat" produced candy for her purple pumpkin bucket she joined in with glee. "EM-a-ems" she said to everyone! She looked so cute in her candy corn princess dress and jake seemed very proud of her. She took a nap in the car on the way home and I left her to sleep in her car seat so as not to risk a short nap with such a busy night coming up. When the kids came home from school she was excited to show off her candy haul. Jerry and Jake took all the kids to Fairway Trails at 6, and I stayed at Princeton court to give out candy. The weather was terrible and I only got around 17 kids. But I guess it slowed to a mist at FT and the kids got ridiculous amounts of candy and stayed out til around 8:15.

I got cass to bed and the other kids had a big candy trading party!

Friday the rain continued and cass and I played with toys and read lot so f books. We also did a Meijer run, and got groceries a long with a Duplos set. I can spoil her, I'm Cookie!

Friday night everyone went to basketball, and in spite of badly hurting his knee SuperJ worry still took the kids to Leo's for ice cream. Leah spent the night on the trundle in charlottes room and enjoyed a day of playing and crafts with Cassie and the kids. 

First thing Saturday morning Danny,Molly, Charlotte and I participated in the give it away 5K at Huron meadows. It was cool and drizzly , in other words, perfect running weather, and Danny and I did the 5 will PJ and the girls did the 10. The rest of the day we just hung out, which was really nice and relaxing.

Sunday morning Cassie and I made buttermilk pancakes and bacon for everyone and we ate and read the papers. Then Jerry took everyone to Huron meadows to play and run, including both dogs! While they were gone I made autumn chowder. Cassie went to church with us at 5 pm and Danny and I were both privileged to serve at mass. After supper and a bubbly bath and pj's it was time for jake to drop her back to Cammy. That is truly the worst time. She is always so happy and relaxed by then, and it stinks to send her away. But that's what has to happen so that is what we do.

I am not sure what he futre holds for Cassie and our family, so we try to enjoy each moment we have with her. It is a gift from God!

Uncle Danny taught me how to ride fast and slow!

My dad's first pony, "funder"

Cooking pancakes with Cookie

Playing dollhouse with my friend Leah

M&M's!!

Story time

Ready for the next holiday!

Run Fun!

PJ thought we would enjoy this run and boy was he right. Reasons?

1. Held at Huron meadows, our home course

2. They had a family rate of $50, and kids 12-under were free

3. 5 and 10K's to choose from

4. Money being raised for a good cause in our community

5. Cool race shirts

6. Chocolate chip bars as post race food

7. A raffle...and Charlotte won a target gift card!

So in spite of the rain and mud and chill we loaded up the car and headed over. PJ subbed in as Jerry, who really hurt his bad knee playing basketball last night:(. Easy parking and registration and then back to the car to warm up and wait. There was a motivational speaker and Jimi Hendricks version of the Star-Spangled Banner and then we took off. Danny hooked up with an 8th grader from his cross country team and they ran the 5K together. Finished in around 23 range. Molly,PJ and Charlotte tackled the 10 and did great. A lady came up to me after she finished and mentioned that she had run a. Opulent of miles with Charlotte and really enjoyed her company. I was tickled! She saw Danny and I near the end of the race as she was walking back out to find Charlotte and cheer her on to the finish--how nice! PJ beat molly, which thrilled him. Me? Well I did run the 5K, finished in around 33, ran with a girl who was doing her first 5K so it was fun to encourage her. Great time,

Danny and Adam

Charlotte and her encourager

Molly kicks in!

The Monday night club molly runs with, HURT, she forgot to wear her shirt, but at least she matched!