A hunting they will go!

Danny and Jerry headed up to Posen to go to the hunting camp and visit Aunt Reg.  She is in the rehab facility and doing very well. The guys headed up after mass this morning and made their first stop the camp.  They trooped around in the woods, hung out at the deer blind(didn't see anything) and just enjoyed the outdoors. Late in the afternoon they headed off to Roger's City to visit Aunt Reg. I had suggested that Danny bring his piano music in case the facility had a piano and guess what? They had a piano!! So after a bit of visiting Danny got his music and the nurses wheeled Aunt Reg into the dining room. What a surprise for her when Danny began his concert. The nurses station was just across the way and Danny heard them complementing him. He was very proud!

The girls and I went out to Wal-mart for a bit of Christmas shopping. I like to focus on the girls and their abilities and I tend to not focus on their intellectual disability. So sometimes it takes me by surprise and breaks my heart. Example: I dropped the girls at Wal-mart and scooted to Lowes to do a return.  The girls each had their list, which they had made, and I suggested they each get a cart and start shopping. Molly had put Claire,Jamie and Allie on her list, along with the family and Nana and Aunt Reg. When I got inside, about 10 minutes later, Molly proudly came up to me with a huge Easy Bake oven that she had picked out for Allie! Oh was she excited. I praised her for finding such a cool gift, and gently mentioned that it might be a little young for Allie. We looked at things for the "Grandma's" and then headed back to the toy area. When I told Molly that Allie was too old for the oven she burst into tears, it was all I could do not to cry myself. She was heartbroken. But we hugged and I made a couple of suggestions for other gifts, and we moved on. It was a reminder to me to tread gently with her, she has a heart of gold and less understanding than I sometimes remember(or choose to remember) Father Karl had a homily today that was aimed directly at me..and one of the things he said was "when you are tempted to give in to the struggles of parenthood, perhaps with anger or depression, you need to say, "No, more love here!" and of course ask GOD to help you with this.

So that is my prayer tonight. That I look at the girls and instead of feeling frustration I say,

More Love here!

Sewing Lessons Wednesday 12/7/11

Karol our fearless sewing teacher/friend has returned from her Thanksgiving family visit/babysitting job. Can you imagine how lucky her son and his wife are...she and Don watched the 7.5 and 3 year olds while they went on a NINE day cruise! Which they do EVERY year! Seriously--how nice is that?!  Anyway I digress..Karol came today for a sewing lesson and Danny finished his PJ bottoms! He did such a good job. He is so meticulous and patient. Karol even had him do the hem with 2 turns and ironing in between. He learned so much. And they even got me on the machine, finally! I finished my first project, which is a Christmas gift, with Danny's help. It was fun.
Danny went to Rollerama with Ryan and his family. He saw a bunch of pals from St. Pats and really had fun. I was super happy that he had a chance to hang out with his buds. :)

White Christmas Crunch Squares recipe

White Christmas Crunch Squares recipe

Boars Head Christmas Festival!!

Danny with two of the three Kings

Ed Bedner, his engineer pal as the jester,Jer,Danny,Molly,Hannah,Mollie the jesters daughter,Charlotte,Sophie

Ed,Laura and Hannah Bedner invited us to join them at their friends Church up in Saginaw this afternoon. The church is in it's 27th year of hosting a Boar's Head Festival. Rooted in pagan times when the boar was the fist dish served at a Roman feast,, the colourful ceremony of the Boar's Head became part of the Christmas celebration at the great manor homes of the middle ages. In medieval England, the boar was a ferocious beast and sovereign of the forest, a danger and a menace to man, and, therefore,  the symbol of evil. The presentation of the boars head, carried into the great hall on a procession at Christmas time, signified the triumph of the Christ-Child over sin. The begin of the ceremony is not known, but the first one recorded was at Queen's College, Oxford, shortly after the founding of the University in 1340. It continues there to this day! The festival came to America in colonial times, performed in Episcopal churches and schools.
The church we went to has an amazing congregation. The many musician, including harp,bagpipe, heralding trumpets, and more are all members of the church. A full choir sang from above, while actors dressed in elaborate costumes danced and sang for us. The Christmas story was told, complete with live new born baby, three Kings and their entourages, and bewildered shepherds. Good King Wenceslas, court jesters and wassailers added to the fun.  What a fantastic, different way to kick off the Christmas season!!

Friday 12/3 A Great School Day

Danny and I had a great day of learning. My unit on Afghanistan went really well.  We viewed a DVD on families ,one from the country and one from the city. Danny did an online scavenger hunt and we read a bunch of books. I learned alot and I hope Danny did too!
Danny had Ryan come over after school, those two are so much fun to listen to. They never stop laughing and goofing with each other. Ryan is taller again, check back next month-they keep seesawing back and forth.
Shawne came over with Leah. Jerry and the kids headed off to Bball and she and I watched a movie together. Well, actually we talked so much we hardly got through it. I needed that!

Worked my monthly schedule at the library..in one night

oh my- my auto-deposit bank account will be empty soon at this rate. My hours for the month of December are 4 hours, and I worked it tonight! So I guess I'm grateful that Jer is the breadwinner because the hours at BDL are bad and getting worse.  The library will be closed on Thursday's now and it will be challenging for the regular staff to get their hours, never mind us subs. Well, I can't do anything about it, so I need to start thinking about my next career move..ideas are welcome!

Tough One--

Started off the day with a Charlotte freak out. Major. Like drive her to U of M psych ward freak out. Which I didn't do. I am just feeling so defeated, and while that is going on I am still needing to be on with Danny and his schooling. Yes honey, manifest destiny is...I scream over Charlotte while on hold with BCBS to find out my mental health benefits...
She eventually stopped after 3 hours, and she, Danny and I went to the library,the post office and Target/Meijer to pick up treats for Jake and giving tree gifts for church. That was fun!
Molly went to the movies with her friend Gary and spent the afternoon at his house playing Wii. We met at the Special Olympics meeting to plan the Polar Plunge and after throwing in our 2 cents we pick up Danny at TKD and head home. Danny and Jerry decide to play Oregon Trail to jive with the unit on westward exploration. Oh the memories of Jake and Jerry playing that same game together...I miss that boy.