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!