Merry Christmas! Just checking in early since I may get brave and tackle the shopping malls tomorrow morning. I was thinking of all those great sales I missed last weekend during our record breaking snow storm. We ended up with about 2 feet of snow in one day. The 7th biggest snow storm in December in Baltimore history. Now it is busy melting under all the rain. Tom spent the entire day last Saturday snowblowing our driveway 3 times and the neighbors two or more times. He had to take a break when the snow blower chewed up the neighbor's christmas light extension cord. But he was back out on Sunday for two more passes. Not to mention all the shoveling I had to do on the sidewalks and patio so Cookie could get out to go to the bathroom! Yes it was a whole lot of snow for use. Sadly Allison and I did not get to enjoy it too much since Allison had a whole bunch of tests to study for and a big paper to write. We spent our time indoors studying and typing. I also took advantage of some of the time to prepare for Christmas, although I was still up late Christmas eve setting everything up.
It turned out we spent a whole lot of time studying for naught. School was cancelled for the rest of the week. The kids now have a two week vacation. They spent the first week home with Tom while I went in to work. It didn't help Tom's schedule very well-he had some errands planned but did not get to keep to his schedule as efficiently as planned. And we really did not know if the kids were having school each day, so we kept up with Allison's studying. As I said, it was all for naught. So Scott managed to squeeze in a sleepover with our neighbor's son. And our neighbor's invited us over Sunday night for dessert, appetizers and champagne. They were heading off to Miami so we decided to try and get together for a pre Christmas visit and gift exchange for the kids.
And Tom was still trying to keep the kids occupied all week, so they ran off to the mall to pick up our family phot0s and caught the Chipmunk movie. (Tom slept and the kids thought the first movie was better). But I got my family Christmas photos and I started sending out the family Christmas cards this week. So if you haven't yet received your card, it is on the way. We were running a bit late this year since I decided I wanted a family photo with the dog. I had to locate a studio that allowed us to bring a dog and then there were only certain days and times allowed to bring in the dog. But it worked out well and the pictures turned out pretty cute. So look for it in the mail(along with my extensive yearly journal). And I still have some more cards to mail out this weekend. Tom was also busy sending out cards and gifts to coworkers this past week.
Our clinic was closed this Friday, but I am usually off anyway. We decided to catch the Christmas mass at the gorgeous chapel at my work site, the retirement community. We attended the beautiful mass on Thursday night at 7pm and had plenty of time to visit with our neighbors Christmas eve for dinner afterwards.
Of course, that meant I was up very late Christmas eve. And along came Christmas Day! The kids were very nice and gave us until 8am before dragging me out of bed to tear open the gifts. We managed to check out our stash and clean up in time to start cooking. I invited several families over to the house for dinner, so we all put together a potluck which turned out to be way too much food but delicious and a lot of fun. The kids even played a round of Scott's new Mario Monopoly game. Some of us would have enjoyed a drive out to historical Hampden for the Christmas lights, but the rain kept us away. Instead we sat down to enjoy Tom's Star Trek video.
So we managed to get in a few phone calls to most of you, unless of course your phone was busy, you weren't answering when we called, or you were busy talking to someone else. But we did dial everyone's phone today except Dan and Sheila who are in Missouri and Laura and DAn who we will hopefully be visiting soon in Detroit.
We will probably head out on Sunday if the roads look good.
So wish me good luck on shopping and my trip to the bank for a last Girl Scout cookie money deposit.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Kathleen and family

Global warming? I think not. At least, not in Baltimore. We hit an all time record for snow fall this past weekend-2 feet! It is insane. Of course, school is closed on Monday. The kids are ecstatic. Especially Allison since she had lots of tests and a paper due over the next 3 days. Scott just had a Christmas party and his school's Christmas pageant, so he is not missing too much. They will probably get to school on Tuesday, but noone has plowed our street at the end of the driveway yet. It started snowing on Friday night at 10pm and did not stop until Sunday morning at 2am. Tom plowed the driveway with our snow blower 3 times on Saturday and once on Sunday. I did the walks and patio so the dog could at least get out to go to the bathroom. They actually closed all the malls on Saturday and the airports too. The Chicago Bears were supposed to fly in on Friday night for the Sunday game, but missed their window of opportunity. Instead they showed up on Sunday morning and the game was pushed back from 1pm to 4pm. And it was to our advantage since the Ravens won! Snow and all covering most of the stadium. So tom will stay home with the kids tomorrow and I will be braving the roads. He did get out briefly Sunday afternoon to pick up a few items. I spent the whole weekend inside doing laundry, dishes and getting ready for Christmas. We finally got the tree and lights up! It sure feels like Christmas now. Even Michigan or Indiana doesn't have all this snow! We will have to go North to warm up!
It is a good thing Tom's parents visited last weekend. They were complaining it was cold last weekend! Ha! We even traveled south to warm up a bit(all the way into the 40s!) in Williamsburg, VA. We spent Saturday night at Busch Gardens for their first version of Christmas town with holiday lights and Christmas shows. It was a bit chilly and unbelievably crowded. It definitely got us into the holiday spirit. Our next door neighbors went down this weekend and said it was empty. I guess we picked the busiest night of the season to attend! And then we had a rainy day all last Sunday. We mostly did some shopping at the outlets. But only at the indoor stores(not many).
Tom's parents headed back to Florida on Monday. Weds night our family drove down to Annapolis to have our family photo taken with the dog included at JC Penney. So my cards will be a bit late this year but I think it is worth the wait. I will pick up the photos this coming Weds.
On Friday Tom and I had our work partys. It was a bit crazy around here since everyone was anticipating the big snowstorm. Baltimorons go crazy and buy out all the milk and toilet paper. And when Allison and I stopped into the grocery store Friday night after her piano lesson, sure enough all the milk was gone. So was all the red meat. I didn't check on the toilet paper(we have plenty since we shop at the club stores). I got a lot of errands run on Friday before my work party, but it was crazy out there. Lots of people, long lines and scary driving. And we still have one more week of shopping to go. I did get some shopping done on line thank goodness. But sadly I still need to stop into the mall. Oh no. I also discovered that Tom and I are hosting Christmas dinner, so I started picking up food items. And I am busy working this week. Tom thank goodness is off with the kids for the next two weeks. Hopefully we will make it up to Detroit next week for a holiday break since we are supposed to get more snow on Christmas Day.
The kids and the dog can't get enough. I wouldn't mind if I didn't have to go to work!
Merry Christmas! (One week early). Kathleen and family

So we survived Scott's birthday party last weekend. I even had time to stop into the mall with Allison so she could get a haircut and pick up a quick Christmas gift too.
We were hoping to pick out our Christmas tree too last weekend, but the weather was still pretty cold and wet. Tom actually picked up a tree for us this past week, we just haven't had the chance to put it up. I was busy running around throwing up a few Christmas decorations in the house. The kids managed to get their little trees decorated in the front foyer, and Tom hung up all his Star Trek/Star Wars collection on his new tree that he got on St Nick's Day last Sunday. We also enjoyed a free Army Band Christmas concert this past week-I picked up tickets for the family as a St Nick's Day gift. Something to get us all in the holiday spirit. The concert was held at the High School at Fort Meade and included the army band and choir together. Overall an enjoyable show(and did I mention free?!). Tom's parents were sorry they missed it. They arrived the next night for a quick weekend visit. We haven't seen them since we visited Florida in the spring.
Friday the kids had school, so Tom and I spent the day with Mom and Dad browsing the antique shops in Olde Ellicott City as well as stopping in for lunch. We did not spend much time outside since it was pretty chilly. Just a quick walk around the neighborhood to take Cookie out in the morning. That evening I dropped Scott off to a Kids in the Kitchen class where he made French Toast and Hot Chocolate for dinner and watched Night at the Museum II with our next door neighbor, Sammy. Allison on the other hand had a piano lesson. I also had to pack up the Girl Scout's goodies that they prepared the weekend before to be delivered to the hospital patients.
Saturday we all headed down to Williamsburg VA. We spent the evening enjoying the Christmas lights and shows at Busch Gardens. Still a bit chilly for the Florida people to be outside, but it got us all in the Christmas spirit. We stayed the night and woke up to a very rainy day(at least a bit warmer). This did not make for good window shopping weather in Historic Williamsburg, so after church, we just made a few stops into the Williamsburg Pottery Factory and the Potomac Mills Outlet on our way home.
Since we were out of town, Allison and I missed singing at the mall with the Girl Scout choir, and Scott missed his Cub Scout Christmas party. Too many activities and too little time! But I think we all rather enjoyed our trip down to Williamsburg. Scott definitely enjoyed the swim in the hotel pool.
Monday Grandma and Grandpa were back home in Florida(a whole lot warmer) after Tom dropped them off at the airport. We made sure to take advantage of Mom Seitz's sewing skills first and had her help us pick out and cut out some fabric to cover our kitchen stools. The old material was wearing off the stools, so we replaced it with a new paisley pattern(much nicer than the original). And we didn't have to buy new stools-they just look new. Thanks Mom! They look beautiful! Tom got them all stapled and put back together again.
We also celebrated two birthdays this past weekend-Linda Seitz had a birthday on Saturday(Happy Birthday Linda!) and our puppy Cookie turned one year old on December 13th! She's a big girl now!
So just two more weeks before Christmas and I still have a billion things to do. So that's all for now! Kathleen and Family

So last Sunday we were in tshirts and shorts, almost 70 outside and today we were freezing our tootsies off from our first snow of the season. Thanks Houston-we got all your snow! And lucky Allison and I got to march in it in a Christmas parade. We started off Saturday morning in a cold rainy downpour which quickly turned to ice and snow before we finished the parade. Thank goodness we were close to the front and only had about a 20 minute walk. But Allison and I were frozen solid along with the other chorus members. We were busy singing "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" while freezing to death. It was a bit festive though! And we got to walk back and see the rest of the parade and wave to Santa and Mrs Claus in their horse drawn sleigh. It did put us in a festive mood, albeit cold. We usually have this parade in Nov. when it is much warmer-there were times we wore tshirts. Not this time. I had hoped Tom and Scott would join us-it really is a nice parade. But since it was so lousy outside they stayed home. And sadly missed Breakfast with Santo since I did not sign Scott up ahead of time, thinking he and Tom would be joining us for the parade.
The drive back home was pretty horrible. I did manage to stop into Target on the way home though since I was already out. It was actually nice since the store wasn't overly crowded. The roads were very slushy and slippery so not alot of people left their homes. Not too great for the economy though. Nice for me however-I had to put together goody bags for Scott's birthday party today. He had a swim party at "Splashdown", a local swimming pool with indoor water tube slides, a rope swing and diving board. He had never been although Allison has been many times with the girl scouts. (Me too). The kids all had a great time today, and I even took Scott and Allison and two friends in early for extra swimming before their party was scheduled. The price included his food(hot dogs, chips, soda) plus a cake(custom picture-Mario of course) and ice cream. So I did not have to clean anything or set up-just show up and man the table and pass out food and goody bags. Besides Scott's party, I had my Girl Scout Holiday party on Friday night. We spent the evening making holiday baked goods for the local psyche patients, swapped holiday gifts and after a quick taco dinner, spent the evening having dessert at a local fondue restaurant, "The Melting Pot". The girls decided we needed to start a new tradition. They really enjoyed dipping brownies, rice krispie treats, cheesecake, pound cake, marshmallows, bananas and strawberries into tubs of chocolate. Who wouldn't love that! Plus it all fit into their cooking badge!
I got to spend some mom time during the day though when I enjoyed a morning out for Mother's Tea with the school moms. The school puts on an outing for all the moms each year at a local restaurant owned by one of the school families. They have coffee, tea and pastries, and bagels along with fruit and my favorite door raffles(although I did not win this year). It is a nice time to chit chat with the school moms. I look forward to it every year-and it is always on my day off! Although it didn't leave me much time to get the house set up for the Friday night meeting and start decorating for Christmas. Tom has the outside lights up but now we are working on the inside.
Actually we enjoyed St Nick's Day this Sunday with a visit from St Nick and stockings full of ornaments, gingerbread cookies and two new artificial trees for Allison and Tom to hang their ornament collections. Tom has a Star Trek/Star Wars/outer space tree and Allison has a cat collection. I get the big tree for my rocking horses and glass Christmas bulbs. Scott gets the kids tree(a collection of kids ornaments including Rudolph, Snoopy, Harry Potter and any other character they enjoyed). We had planned on picking up our live tree this weekend, but it was a bit too nasty last night. A good weekend to stay in and study with the kids(and wrap Christmas ornaments) but I did manage to spend some time outside with Cookie in the snow(which she loved!). She was busy chasing Scott down the small hills while he sledded with our neighbor. I had to give her a bath afterwards though since she had big frozen snowballs on her feet and could barely walk.
I was glad Tom made it home before the big snow. He was down in Charlottesville VA all week so I was juggling both of the kids and their schedules on my own. I had to get Scott to gymnastics and Allison to piano at the same time which as interesting. It made for a lot of driving last week.
I also had my own GS Leader meeting/holiday party on Weds night and had the kids help me out by making a dessert plate for the event. I also had to drop off shoebox gifts that the girls made up for kids at a local shelter for the holidays. Naturally on that night it was pouring rain which made it difficult to keep all the wrapping paper dry. We are almost done with donations. The school always puts on a toy collection as well as work. And we have already had a coat drive at work. Everyone is fussing though that donations are down quite a bit this year. Guess everyone is busy paying off their own debts.
We also had an appraiser stop by today since Tom decided to refinance our house and take advantage of the low rates. We didn't change our monthly mortgage payment, but we did knock off 4 yrs of payments. We are still waiting on our roof guy to replace our skylight-guess he is busy! Too bad we didn't discover the leak in the summer!
So Happy St Nick's Day! (December 6th). I am off to put out a few more Christmas decorations! Kathleen and Family

Happy Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend! Hope everyone had a great holiday! I know I especially enjoyed Thanksgiving Day because I did not have to cook and I got to watch the entire Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade from start to finish in my pjs without any interruptions! We got to cheer on the Towson University Marching Band from Towson, MD(just north of Baltimore City-they have an OT school there and we often get OT students doing their internships at our clinic. There were also a few kids from Howard County chosen to be in the parade; a few go to Allison's high school. After the parade, the kids and I headed out to our neighborhood park with Cookie and our neighbor's dog Misty. We didn't sign up for a Turkey Trot this year(no Uncle Mark to organize the walk), so we decided to have our own in the neighborhood. We could have gotten up early and headed out to the YMCA in Towson, but it was much nicer to sleep in.
Allison was pet sitting for the weekend, so we decided to take the dogs out for a run in the park even though it was a bit damp. When we arrived at the park, there were two other women out on the field with their big dogs, so we decided to let our pups run around the enclosed tennis courts. They even had tennis balls lying around to keep the dogs happy. By the time we got home it was time to head over to our neighbors, The Zarlengas, for dinner.
Friday morning we got up early(Tom very early). Tom was in line at the Game Stop at 5am to get Scott a new DS video game. They had a special which included game cartridges and the DS video game. They only had 4 in stock, but Tom is a familiar face there so the manager set one aside for him. That was Scott's replacement gift for his birthday. His last DS game was stolen out of Tom's car with all his games. So now he is back on track. Just a few more games to go.
I got up a bit later and headed out for some early morning shopping-some shopping was just for me! I needed some new pants for work and Kohls had great sales. I haven't finished my Christmas shopping, but I was still picking up a few gifts for Scott's Birthday which was also on Friday. So besides shopping at Kohls and Walmart, I also managed to get in a work out at the Y that morning! Pretty good schedule. Friday night we sat down to dinner for Scott's birthday(he requested spaghetti and meatballs, so I also had to run to the grocery store). He also wanted ice cream cake, so I got him an M&M carvel ice cream cake. He loved it, and all his gifts. Including his very own bank/gumball dispenser. Right now it is busy dispensing M&Ms(hmmm-is there a theme developing?). He also got some pjs and long sleeved Nintendo Mario shirts. We watched the video UP that night which was hilarious. Talking dogs and grumpy old people-what's not to love! Scott also has a birthday party scheduled next weekend at a local pool with indoor water tube slides. They let us swim all afternoon and provide all the food and cake and ice cream. We just have to make up the goody bags. Easy party.
On Saturday we had our own Thanksgiving dinner and invited Matt and Di over for the evening. We wanted to have our own turkey leftovers-and of course we are also enjoying Seitz Turkey Casserole for dinner this evening(left over stuffing and turkey mixed with gravy and heated in a casserole dish). Yum! Tom grilled our turkey and I spent Saturday morning preparing the stuffing and baked potatoe casserole. I walked Allison through an apple crumb top pie which turned out wonderful. She wanted to try out my pampered chef apple peeler/slicer so I picked up some delicious Honey Crisp apples and we made pie(yum). Diana brought her sweet potatoe casserole(just like pie) and pumpkin pie, so we had more than enough food. They also brought over their new puppy- a replacement Wisla to take Elvis's place. Elvis died at age 9 this past spring from cancer, so now they have a rescue pup-9 months old named Winston. (They keep calling the dog Elvis). It is a bit more dog than Cookie could handle, but the two got along well enough. Diana took both dogs out for a walk after dinner while Allison checked on the neighbor's dog. She also had to check in on the Zarlenga's dog since they went off to DC for an overnight excursion. There is a new hotel-The Gaylord International-down on the Potomac that has a Christmas holiday program package. They stayed at the hotel and had tickets to see their ice scuplture show, ice skate and see some Christmas shows in the huge hotel lobby. They also have a 30 foot crystal Christmas tree lit up and it snows every night in the atrium. It's a Vegas sized hotel complete with a small town inside the atrium. They said they had a great time.
Allison was busy not only dog sitting but kid sitting as well last week. With the short school and work week, she was in demand for her babysitting services. At least she managed to get in some schoolwork and piano practicing over the long holiday break so she is ahead of schedule. Both kids also got their final report cards this week: both got all As and B+s so things are looking pretty good so far. We stopped into Allison's school on Monday morning to talk to Allison's teachers for her parent teacher conference. Tom took a few days off to stay with the kids since they had half days. Scott needed picked up at noon. In the meantime, Tom was busy patching the wall and ceiling where he discovered the leaking bathtub, however, he managed to locate a new leak. This one happens to be from the skylight over the kids bathtub! Oh great. I quickly managed to convince Tom that this was not the handyman's project for him. Tom was already trying to figure out how he was going to keep from falling off our steep roof while he replaced the skylight. I pointed out the fact that some of our neighbors already had someone experienced in replacing skylights since they also had leaks and they have the same house design as we all had the same builder. We called our neighbors and got the name of the repairman, and he's already been over to the house to check out the work and give us a quote. We can get the whole thing done for only $700! Including sealing up around a vent and the fireplace too. Sounds terrific. Now we just have to wait for him to have some free time and hope the rain stays away! Meanwhile, our play room is still a mess, and Tom has to install the ceiling fan and light, plus patch the ceiling and repaint. I do really love my new french doors-so thank you leaks!
Besides trying to patch our house back together, Tom took advantage of his time off to hang all our Christmas lights outside. He had to put on new hooks under the eaves(twice since one set fell off), but he managed to get all the lights up and then hooked up a synchronized music and light show system I got him for St Nicks Day last year at Sam's Club. The house flashes the Christmas lights in tune to the Christmas music. We can't believe how many cars have stopped in front of our house over the Thanksgiving weekend-we even had a few close call car accidents as people stop or slow down to check out the lights. Of course, some people just don't get it-the neighbors down the street thought we had a short in our lights! We don't run it every night-it is a bit much! But all environmentally friendly(and cheap)LED lights.
I had a hard time putting away the Thanksgiving decorations this weekend-it is Turkey day! So we had fall decorations along with some Christmas decorations. Although we have not yet gotten the tree-we did see quite a few go by on top of the cars this weekend.
We also have been busy getting the house in order for Christmas and Tom's parent's visit in a few weeks. It's nice to get in some Spring cleaning(either I am really early or a bit late!). Allison and I also spent the weekend finishing up her Girl Scout cookie deliveries since the money was due this weekend. And Scott finished his cub scout popcorn delivery too.
I also had to put together some gift boxes for donations for kids in area shelters through girl scouts along with boxes from each of my girls. My troop will be busy making food donations this coming week at our holiday party(cookies and candy), along with thank you cards for the US Troops. I also plan on taking the girls to the Melting Pot Fondue restaurant for a dessert night! Should be chocolatey.
I had Scott and Allison practice making some of the goodies this weekend which helped me out since I needed something to bring to my GS Leader meeting this coming Weds. We learned to make Turtle candies with a small pretzel, rolo candy and a pecan half all heated in the oven. They are addictive! Scott and Allison made me a batch to take to my meeting(if I can keep everyone from eating them!).
So Happy Post Thanksgiving! And a Big Happy Birthday to Sheila Bozyk! I don't think you ate M&M cake and watched the movie UP, or got a DS, but I hope it was just as fun a Birthday as Scott's!
I will be on my own again this week(very busy week) as Tom will be heading out to Charlottesville. Wish me luck! Kathleen and family

Yes, Yes, we know the Colts beat the Ravens this past weekend(at least it wasn't a complete slaughter). I know-scoreboard baby. We still enjoyed watching the game at our old neighbor's house up in Parkton MD. We haven't seen them all summer so we decided to get together for an early Thanksgiving dinner. They are having Thanksgiving dinner with their next door neighbors, and so are we, so an early dinner seemed to work best. We also brought Cookie along for a visit and to enjoy romping in their big yard. As a matter of fact, we didn't see the kids all day. They went off exploring in the woods and the streams and visiting the nearby horse farm. And Tom and our old neighbor Barry enjoyed the football game in peace. We then all sat down to a fantastic dinner and dessert. I don't know if I am going to survive this week with all the dinner parties.
We got ourselves invited to our neighbor's house for dinner(yeah I don't have to cook Thursday). I had offered our house up to all the neighbors to come for dinner but most of them made other plans with family, so it just came down to us and our neighbors Dan and Gloria. So I will have more time to enjoy the Macy Thanksgiving Day parade and then we will have to catch the Lions game.
I didn't get out of cooking completely. We invited Matt and Di over for dinner on Saturday. We want to meet their new dog-Winston-a wisla. Their first dog died earlier this year of cancer, so they have been in mourning. They babysat Cookie a couple of times for us this past year which seemed to be good therapy for them, but now they have a replacement puppy-9 months old. I hope Cookie and Winston get along. Winston already looks pretty big. They are a hunting dog and look a bit like tan colored pointers. I'd like to see if we could all go see the Christmas Carol movie-I heard it was good.
And Friday is Scott's birthday! He will be the big 10 year old. We have a party scheduled for him in two weeks at a local indoor pool. I am not sure what we will do with him on Friday, but it will probably involve opening gifts and eating Egg Nog ice cream(one of Scott's favorite).
Last Friday I had to go into work for a few hours for an out patient Open House program. I was in charge of the food so I had to run to Sam's Club and pick up a designer cake along with cheese and crackers and punch supplies. Sam's bakery makes cakes and prints a logo or photo on your cake so Tom printed up a colored work logo for me and dropped it off last weekend with my order. We had to search out a different Sam's Club than I usually shop at since the local Sam's had a broken camera that takes the photo to put on your cake. Thank goodness another Sam's club was nearby since I promised to bring in the designer cake. It was still so much cheaper than getting catered food from work. So the Open House worked out well and we had some visitors that made our new boss happy. And she was grateful for all our help, including my Martha Stewart skills(flowers on the table matched the colors of the cake, plates, tablecloth, etc). We also had a few raffle prizes which gave it the extra touch. But after finishing up with the open house, I had to run home and empty out my van so I could take Allison out with 5 of her old elementary school friends for a New Moon/Twilight movie night. Everyone told me to get tickets early which I was glad that I did. We had tickets for the 430pm movie and we had great seats and 30 mins to spare to buy popcorn and take potty breaks. By the time we came out of the movie, the theater was packed with women all waiting to see the movie. It looked like a Vera Bradley conference! Since we finished early, we headed out to CiCis pizza buffet which some of the girls had not yet experienced. They thought it was wonderful-and right in their budget. Then Allison had a friend sleep over that night. All in all a very full day. Tom on the other hand got to spend Friday night with a room full of screaming cub scouts at their pack meeting. Scott said the played fooseball inside.
Saturday I finally had time for my haircut! And Allison switched her piano lesson to Saturday afternoon so she would have free time for her Twilight party on Friday afternoon. We also caught the DVD release of Up-very cute. I loved the quad cane with the tennis balls.
And glad to say we are all getting pretty healthy. Scott just had his H1N1 flu shot at school and we all seem to be getting over a cough/cold.
So Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Congrats on your hospital nursing externship Stacey! And Congrats on your new home purchase! The house looks great! When will you and Matt be able to move in? We just refinanced our place-taking advantage of low interest rates too. Our house payment did not change, but we knocked off four years on our mortgage. Every bit helps!
We will certainly miss the Seitz Family Thanksgiving this year! Last year we visited Indianapolis for Turkey Day. We walked in a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day and Scott carried a sign that said it was his Birthday since it landed right on Thanksgiving Day last year. Scott was a bit embarassed I think that everyone was paying attention to him and singing Happy Birthday! They even took photos of him and honked their car horns! We all enjoyed a wonderful dinner from Mom and Dad Seitz who came up from Florida, and then we visited with Tom's cousins who live around the corner. It was a fun visit. We will also miss pulling Touch Down Turkey's neck and hearing him gobble! Looks like the Indy Seitz family will be busy entertaining other family members this year.
Tom has already been busy stringing lights(LED of course) all over the house. He is taking advantage of some nice weather. He needed to rehang hooks from the roofline since we had the flashing wrapped this year (no more painting wood trim). The workers took down all Tom's hooks for the icicle lights under the eaves. After he rehooked the lights, he had to pick up a few more strings of LED lights for the shrubs. He is still definitely ahead of the game, but not quite so far ahead as some of our neighbors. We have houses in the neighborhood that already put up all their outdoor Christmas lights and have them turned on, and even put up the Christmas trees! What. no Turkey Day! Oh well, we are at least waiting for SCott's Bday on Friday.
So Happy Thanksgiving and don't eat too much! Kathleen and family

Well I successfully survived another birthday! (Just barely!). Friday was my actually birthday and I was supposed to spend it putting on a girl scout fundraiser dance for my troop. However, due to a lot of other conflicting activities, we did not get enough participants, so we had to cancel. Better for me in some ways. I did not have to spend the day popping popcorn in my air popper(which the kids think is an antique from my college days). Nor did I have to bake cookies for snacks or buy juicey juice boxes. Instead, Tom was home from work and he took me out to the movies. After my yearly medical physical in the morning of course. I am happy to report I am as healthy as a horse and I am also the proud recipient of the H1N1 flu vaccination. They had some doses left at my medical clinic and being a health care worker I am higher on the list. I actually think I had less of a reaction from this shot then the regular flu vaccination. Although I got awful itchy that night. Scott is scheduled to have his vaccination at school this week for H1N1. He doesn't mind shots. But Allison is terrified of shots and declined the offer at school. I do plan on having an echocardiogram though to check for heart murmurs. My mom had to have a heart valve replacement last year, and now my uncle Joe(her younger brother) has to have the same operation, so I just want to see what my odds are since it seems to be running in the family.
Anyhow, besides that everything looks good. So Tom and I went off to see the destruction of the world as we know it in the movie 2012. We mostly went to see John Cusak. But now I know that I will be very healthy when the world ends in two more years. So besides being absolutely impossible, it was an overall enjoyable movie.
But it was long! I had just enough time to run to school and pick up Scott and run home and pick up Allison and get them both to the dentist. Scott had his annual cleaning and Allison had two tiny cavities to fill(her first). They were so small she did not even get novacaine. So I don't think they count.
Then I had to run and pick up something for dinner for Allison's end of the year Field Hockey party. So if we had a girl scout event, we would have missed the dinner. Instead, the whole family went off to one of the player's house(very nice finished basement) which fit all 20 girls and their parents and siblings. The girls got pins and certificates and their field hockey clothing they ordered during the season. The varsity team managed to win county but lost the first game in State. Allison will start as goalie in Indoor field hockey in January with her teammates. Good way to stay in shape.
When we got home I had time to open my presents but we were saving the cake for Sunday night. Tom got me a very nice dress watch and tickets to see Young Frankenstein in January. I also got a pedometer to see how far Cookie and I walk.
Saturday started out early with a trip out to western Maryland just past Frederick with Scott and the cub scouts. We helped plant over 500 trees and shrubs along the Catoctin river to help establish trout beds and protect the nearby park from washing away along the river bank. Fortunately the Save the Bay foundation members had already dug all the holes. We just had to place the trees in the holes, fill them with dirt, stake them and cover the tubes with netting to keep birds from building nests inside the tubes that cover the small trees. Scott loved playing in the woods and the river most of all. And getting very muddy with his boots. The boys even had their picture taken for the local newspaper. I was especially happy it had stopped raining since hurricane Ida went through and we had about 4 days of non stop rain.
I had just enough time to run home and repack my car to set up for a girl scout cookie booth sale at the grocery store. We spent a few hours selling cookies, and then it was home again to shower and go out to a concert and dinner(for my birthday). We heard a local band-electric guitar, bass guitar and drums-a bit rock and blues. The bass player used to be in the jazz group Spyro Gyra for 14 years. The concerts are put on by a local fund raising group and are held in an old stone barn turned into a church. Not alot of space so very cozy. The old stalls in the basement have been turned into offices, complete with the sliding stable doors. We have been going to concerts there for several years. They only have 3 more left this season. The best part is they serve snacks and dessert and play for 3 hours! Long day.
Sunday I was up getting the kids homwork done so I could set up another cookie booth sale in the afternoon. We managed to sell all our cookies we ordered for booth sales-about 160 boxes. People were actually buying cases of cookies! That is a first! Sunday night we decided to go out to dinner as a family. We enjoyed our local Japanese steak house and came home for Birthday cake with our neighbors that went to the concert with us on Saturday night. I even got a present from them. And thanks for sending the card Mom and Dad Seitz. It pays to get old! Mom Bozyk I got your box-thanks so much. Scott and I had fun opening all the little pacakges.
So I did an awful lot on my birthday weekend, except I ran out of time for a haircut! I just had enough time left to pick up Scott's cub scout popcorn, order a cake from Sams Club for an open house scheduled at work this week, and attend my neighbors jewelry party. She makes pieces herself and collects stones from all over the world for her necklaces and bracelets, earrings and rings. Allison had a coupon from a neighbor to buy a piece of jewelry as a graduation present, so we both picked something out for ourselves.
Allison and I actually started off the busy weekend by singing with the girl scout choir at the Green Carpet event on Thursday night. They hold the event each year to honor the girls with the top selling cookie count. This year it was at the Children's museum in Baltimore. The best thing about singing is not paying to get in and eating all the delicious food. They invite different chefs from around Baltimore to come out and cook something using girl scout cookies as an ingredient. The desserts are always wonderful, but the main meals can be interesting. Allison and I were not excited about the shrimp on the lemon chalet cookie with wasabi and melted white chocolate sauce. Nor did I like the crab salad on the shortbread cookie. I may try to make the 7 layer cookie and the chocolate tart though as they post the recipes on the girl scout web site. The only thing missing this year was the guest host Duff Goldman from Ace of CAkes on the Food Network He hosted the last two years and always makes phenomenal looking cakes. The first year the Food Network people showed up and filmed an episode for his show and Allison was on tv. But this year he was off selling his new book. Maybe next year.
And the kids both finished up their first semester of school. Overall they did well with A's and B's, but no slowing down as there are lots of tests and projects before the holidays.
Looks like we will be staying home for Thanksgiving and probably sharing our holiday with the neighbors. Scott has his birthday the day after Thanksgiving, but we are waiting to celebrate with his friends the first week in December.
Tom and I will probably spend our time getting the house organized for Mom and Dad Seitzs visit early in December. Tom also has been busy installing our new french doors and extra lighting in the old garage space. The doors really look terrific and open up the whole space-lots of extra light too. And it will be nice to close the door when the kids are in the room playing video games or watching their movies. I also talked him into adding some lighting. He still needs to run the wiring and then close up all the holes in the wall and ceiling from the leaks he fixed. Hope they stay fixed!
Good luck with your holiday shopping and cooking! Kathleen and Family

Well we enjoyed the treats from Halloween, but we did not like the tricks very much. On Monday morning Tom walked out to our cars parked in the driveway overnight to discover that both of our vehicles had been broken into and several items stolen. We lost both GPS systems, Tom's work laptop and Scott's DS game. We usually park in the garage, but with the Halloween party the night before, our garage was full of tables and chairs. In the 13 years we have lived here, we only had one other break in to Tom's car with nothing seriously taken-change and an electric razor. This was a bit more serious, and more expensive. So I called the police and they no longer make housecalls I guess. You just phone in your report or file online! So Tom did the online method and called the insurance company and we cancelled our credit card just in case. What a pain. We had to stop into the bank to pick up new temporary cards, and Tom has had to backtrack to get all his security clearance back. Not to mention the data he lost from presentations that he had in his laptop and on backup disks in the briefcase. I can imagine our stuff is probably sitting in the pawn shop in the town of Catonsville nearby. Tom thinks everything went for sale on ebay. Let me know if you see any of our stuff! I was just glad that my car was so new and did not have too much stuff in it to steal. I think it is jinxed though since the week before I had to take it into the dealership to have the DVD player replaced. Now I am waiting for the dealership to send back our netflix DVD that was stuck inside! At least our thief/thieves didn't rip out the radio or the DVD player! Anyhow, it has the kids a little freaked out. None of our other neighbors seemed to have had any problems. Guess we are just the popular house.
I didn't have much time to worry about our lost items. Tom went off to Charlottesville, VA to work for the week. I was busy with the kids homework assignments and studying for tests. Allison finished her first semester with a second round of state assessments and Scott was right behind her since his first semester ends this coming week. At least Allison had Friday off. Scott was supposed to have a half day, but they rescheduled it for this coming week. Scott also had a cub scout meeting this past week, and I had my Girl Scout Leader meeting to attend.
On Friday I ended up taking Allison alone to the dentist office. She wound up with two small cavities on her molars, so she needs to go back for her first drilling(at age 14) and Scott will have his appointment next week also for a cleaning since he will have a half day. We are busy with our end of the year medical and dental appointments. I had to drop into the doctor's office to give blood for my yearly physical which is scheduled for this coming week. I would have liked to have had the H1N1 flu vaccine but our medical office does not have them in stock just yet. There are certainly alot of people getting sick around here with the flu, but not enough to close the schools. Allison healed up pretty well from her flu symptoms a week ago, but Tom and I keep harboring cold symptoms. Scott has been staying pretty healthy though. Glad someone is feeling good! He and I both had the regular flu shot. The tricky part is staying healthy enough to get the flu shot!
Scott's school has been busy celebrating our National Blue Ribbon award for school excellence. The principal spent two days last week in DC participating in the program honoring all the schools in the country that won the award. The school has been decked out in everything blue, including the fluourescent lights in the hallways, and the kids have received lots of blue trinkets including blue shoelaces, candy canes, pencils and even a blue fortune cookie! Tomorrow they get to dress in blue, and they can even spray their hair blue! And to thank all the parents the school put on a free dinner and DJ Saturday night. We went with our neighbors and enjoyed our cajun dinner with the Blue Bayou theme. They had the school gym all decked out in a Louisiana Blue Bayou setting and served hush puppies, jumbalaya and crayfish(I skipped the crayfish). But I really enjoyed the shrimp and crab cakes. We left when Tom had enough of the really loud DJ.
I was surprised I made it to the dinner last night on top of all the other activities I squeezed in on Saturday. I started the day out with a trip with the kids to Harpers Ferry for a hike with Scott's Environmental Club. Harper's Ferry is located west of Baltimore where Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia all come together on the Shenendoah and Potomac rivers. There is a small historical town there and you can visit all the little shops. The town was very busy during the civil war days. There are lots of trains that pass by the town as well and travel through a tunnel cut into the mountain as it runs across the river on a bridge. We parked in the National Park and took a bus to the trailhead. It was a long hike up into the mountains but well worth it when we reached the rocky outcrop overlooking the town and the two rivers with the mountains in the back. The Appalachian trail runs through the area as well. The kids couldn't spend enough time climbing onto every rock and peeking into small caves. We parents didn't rest until the kids were off the overhangs and away from the edge of the cliffs. It was a long way down. And with all the leaves on the trails it was very slippery. Down near the river we only had to worry about the kids falling into the freezing water and getting swept downstream as they climbed from rock to rock at the waters edge. And their fearless leader Ms Buppert was no help as she was right down there with all of them. Along with the art teacher and her two year old pit bull Maxwell. At least Mr Bateman, the spanish teacher had more sense(he spent most of the day telling the kids to stop throwing rocks and to get down!). It really was a beautiful day and we had a great time. The kids would have loved to stay longer-as it is I stopped for a quick bite to eat and ice cream in town, but I had to get back home to sell girl scout cookies during the 430 mass. Allison and I still had to pick up cookies from my cookie mom and set up a table at church. We made it just in time. We only stayed for one mass though since I wanted to get home and clean up before the school dinner.
Tom stayed home during the day so he could cut the grass and rake leaves and knock a hole in the wall. I mentioned that our upstairs kids tub was leaking through the ceiling, so Tom pulled down all the drywall and replaced the rotted seal. Then he discovered a cracked pipe and had to fix that. So we decided since the wall was already torn up, we might as well install the french doors that I wanted between our family room and the play room(our old garage). And while he was busy installing things, I talked Tom into adding some more lighting. so Sunday we spent a few hours picking out a set of french doors and a ceiling fan with a built in light fixture as well as some decorative track lighting. Tom spent all day Sunday rewiring the switches and building the frame for the new doorway. So far it all looks great(except for the big mess he left me on the floor!).
Speaking of messes, Allison was a big help on Friday as she helped my deHalloween the house-both inside and out. I left her to make cookie booth sale posters though in the morning while I volunteered at the nursing home for my Dragon Boat race fundraiser for CAtholic Charities. Next year I will race again, but during the year we put on activities for our sponsor, a local nursing home. We made breakfast and helped serve it and passed out small gifts that we donated. I whipped up two batches of French Toast casserole so I had to time myself to get the dishes out of the oven and over to the nursing home right when they were serving up the meals. I also had to pick up groceries that day since Friday night I hosted a Pampered Chef party for mom's and daughter's. I originally planned the party for my girl scouts, and then opened it up to neighbors and fellow GS troops as well as coworkers to increase our sales opportunities. We get a portion of the sales and we are using the funds to help pay for our Holiday service projects-like cookies for the mental health patients and Christmas gifts for children at the Women's shelter. Plus the girl scouts earned part of their cooking badge by discussing cooking methods, and trialing different cooking tools while they made dessert. We also made a pork loin in a roaster in the microwave-a 3lb roast in just 18 mins! It was delicious. Along with a BBQ sauce that the rep mixed up from one of the Pampered Chef spice packets. We all had a lot of fun, and everyone bought a little something. Including myself.
Sound like a busy enough week? I have even more scheduled for the coming week, but it looks like I will have to cancel my Girl Scout fundraiser dance this coming Friday since everyone else is just as busy and I did not get enough participants this year. Although we will miss the income, I am not too upset. Next Friday is my birthday, and I can think of better ways to spend the time than supervising a bunch of bouncing Brownies and Juniors. And Allison will be able to attend her end of the year Field Hockey party. The Varsity team went on to win the County championship and now they are in the State Championships. Good Luck Vikings!

So as soon as I figure out how to find my photos on the computer I will send out lots of pictures of the kids and the many activities we have been participating in. Can you believe it is just 3 more weeks to Thanksgiving? Not to mention Christmas.
We don't have any definite plans=I am still waiting to hear about my time off requests from work. We do have Tom's parents scheduled for a visit early in December. We are looking forward to seeing them! We will probably spend Thanksgiving here at home and Christmas away somewhere.

Let us know what everyone else is doing for the holidays-Kathleen and Family

We survived another successful Halloween! And even the rain couldn't dampen our spirits(pun intended). Falling on a Saturday this year made it extra special. We decided to invite all the neighbors over to our house for a potluck dinner before the kids headed out trick or treating together. Kids started very early this year, around 5pm. I think because of the weather. Although it was still light out. Actually, most of the neighborhood kids started trick or treating Saturday morning at the neighborhood parade, including our two kids and Cookie. Scott put Cookie in her costume(a hot dog suit) and he donned a Hot Dog hat we bought at Busch Gardens. Since Cookie needed a nice long walk anyway, he headed out the door with Allison dressed as an Italian dinner table. She actually put together her own very special costume which included a cardboard box covered in red and white checked tablecloth, plate, silverware, a napkin, wine glass, bread sticks and her head covering which looked like a serving of spaghetti and meatballs attached to a hairband. She had Tom pull the head of a mop off its handle and colored some cottonballs brown to look like meatballs. Then we hot glued the whole thing together. She looked really cute(I will send photos later when I have Tom download them onto my laptop). She certainly got a lot of compliments for her costume, and Cookie was a big hit too! Scott wore his Yoshi costume when he went out begging at night and was dying of heat. It was actually fairly warm during the day and early evening(about 70degrees) until it started raining. Then it was just miserable. But my house was filled with costumed kids and adults and more food and beer than we could drink or eat. Including lots of dessert and even champagne! We had the party set up in the garage too so when we headed out to trick or treat, we left several adults behind to pass out candy to our visitors. And of course I don't think the kids and I left any part of the house undecorated-lots of lights, pumpkins, scarecrows, spiders and webs. The kids and I certainly enjoyed getting ready for the big day, including carving our pumpkins. I managed to carve out a spider this year. And we discovered that Cookie likes to eat pumpkins and pumpkin seeds. She kept running off with the tops to our pumpkins while we were carving them! I managed to keep her nibbling to a bare minimum since I heard from several dog owners that pumpkin can act as a laxative! Even Cookie enjoyed trick or treating with the kids(a long walk for a little dog). This time I got to wear the Hot Dog hat. Allison tried real hard to engage the kids in a few party games we had planned, but the rain made it difficult to play outdoors, and kids were coming and going all night. She did get a few fun activities done before we headed out for the night. Afterwards, the kids all traded for their favorite candy and the adults basically passed out! I really don't mind hosting parties-it is one way to get the house cleaned up and we always get lots of great left overs from all the guests. They sure ate their share of my servings though-I put out a big crock pot full of chili and about 2 dozen Kogel vienna hot dogs, a big serving of Mac n Cheese and a Chili casserole and most of it was gone before the party was over. Tom and I usually host an Octoberfest with a beer tasting contest this time of year, but we opted for a Halloween Block Party instead. Lots of fun(and lots of candy). Scott even had to count his candy for a math lesson this week-he managed to collect over 100 pieces of candy!

And if that wasn't enough, he also enjoyed a small party they held at school on Friday. Kids were welcome to dress in costume and they pretty much took the afternoon off. Since it was my day off, I signed up to help with the party and earn more volunteer hours. The kids start the afternoon off with a parade led by one of our priests(yes in costume). Last year Father Mike dressed as a banana, and so did Scott! They were quite a pair! This year it was an animal theme for Scott as Yoshi the dinosaur from Nintendo's Mario video game, and Fr Mike decked out as a big cow? He looked a little like the Chick fil A cow, complete with a cow bell. After the parade, the kids played a few Halloween games outdoors and then headed inside for a small party with treats and a video. However, we could not get our video to work so the teacher scared everyone with ghost stories instead.

The High school students did not dress up for Halloween. They had their opportunity last week to dress crazy during Homecoming Week. Monday night they had to finish their Homecoming football game since they were t-stormed out at half time last Saturday. The game ended with a win for us. And Allison's Varsity Hockey Team won their first league game in the state championship! Good Luck to them! Allison is now planning on playing Indoor Winter Field Hockey as the goalie for her school team in the Recreational league this coming January(a whole lot cheaper than the private league!). In the meantime, I think she is just enjoying being a student. She has started riding the bus home after school and is happy not to have to walk so far anymore! She has also experienced her first state assessment exams(a little like midterms). She has had a big test for every class starting last week and still has a few more to go this coming week. Not to mention the regular tests they are studying for. And she was just assigned an autobiography in english. I talked her into writing about James Herriott, the vet who wrote all those wonderful animal stories including All things Wise and Wonderful. Allison was supposed to pick an author whose life greatly influenced their books. Of course everyone wanted JK Rowling and the Harry Potter series. We actually could not find any books at our library on the life of James Herriott, so I ordered one on the internet and picked up one from Borders book store since Allison needed a book this week. I was surprised to see that James Herriott was actually born James Alfred Wight, aka Alf, and could not use his own name on his books as veterinarians in Europe were not allowed to advertise. He used the name James Herriott after a soccer goalie. He also died in 1995 from cancer. His son Jim Wight is also a vet and wrote one of the biographies about his Dad. His daughter became a medical doctor. Now I will have to get Allison to read that book series.

Speaking of school, we sat down Friday morning with Scott's teacher and the principal to have a discussion about the class organization. I heard from many other parents that they are not too happy with the inexperienced 4th grade teachers. I am hoping we made some headway in coming up with a win win situation for the teachers and parents alike(but Tom isn't holding his breath). We started out with a simple request of guidelines in helping the kids study-like providing a study guide. The principal was all for it, but the teacher did not look too convinced. Guess we will wait and see.

And we ended our busy weekend with a Raven's football game! My very first game! Tom was awarded the tickets from all his hard work in Salt Lake City. We had seats on the 50 yrd line on the club level(very nice). The game started out rainy and chilly, but the sun poked out its head around half time. And the Ravens beat the Denver Broncos which made it even more exciting. We just wish we had had better luck locating the tailgating tent before the game for free beer and food! Maybe next time. They certainly have tight security at these games. Once you enter the club level, you practically have to promise them your first born to return to your seat! No matter, we still had a lot of fun. And Allison did a great job hanging out with Scott for the day.

Can you believe it is November now! Where did October go! Tom will enjoy another boys night out for Monday night football. We hosted last Monday. I enjoy hanging out with all the boys and talking sports, etc. Last weeks Washington Redskins game was quite entertaining-looked a little like a 3 stooges film. Someone else is hosting, so no free evening for me. Anyhow, I will be with Scott at a cubscout meeting.

And I already have a packed schedule for my Girl Scouts this month. Allison started delivering her cookies this weekend. I took in some orders to work last week-it is always fun delivering GS cookies-everyone is so happy to see you!

I am happy to report that none of us seem to have the H1N1 virus, but we all sure had some type of GI bug and a cold. The kids seem to be doing better, now Tom and I just have to recuperate. (Maybe after Christmas!) We still haven't had our swine flu vaccinations, but then again, none of us have felt good enough to get one! And Allison and Tom did not even get the basic flu vaccine yet-although Tom doesn't usually get one. We are all getting ready for our annual check ups and teeth cleaning appts(end of the year and all). I hope we can stay healthy enough to get to the doctors!

Take care and try to stay warm and dry and healthy! Happy Fall Back for those that participated! Kathleen and Family

One more week and counting(until Halloween). It finally stopped raining long enough for the kids and I to finish putting up Halloween decorations outside the house. But of course I had a big pile of leaves to rake up first. I was just glad I didn't have to shovel snow! The Penn State game in Harrisburg Pennsylvania had to cancel their tailgating parties since they had 9 inches of snow on the ground last weekend! We got swamped with rain-I see most of it came up from Houston-they had flooding in their area. At least it got warmer here. But as I said we missed out on pumpkin and apple picking last weekend cause it wouldn't stop raining and the fields were closed. I just managed to pick up some pumpkins for the kids and I to carve at the grocery store this weekend. A lot of places were already sold out. I had a tough time finding a corn stalk for my scarecrow in the front of the house. I guess stores are cutting back on inventory this year.
And just to make things more interesting, my company filed for bankruptcy this week! Of course, we employees found out from the Tuesday newspaper, the residents and the television news. We are always the last to know. Looks like I will still be employed(for now)at our retirement center since we were the first community and we are still running pretty strong. I am just not sure how it will affect all the other facilities. We were all interconnected, all around the US and now they are talking about each community being a separate entity. Apparently the real estate portion of our corporation filed for bankruptcy. They were several billion dollars in debt. Our turnover has been slow since the housing market took a dive and investments were lost. Not as many older residents were moving in and Erickson overbought and over built-too much too fast. Looks like the Erickson family is out of the picture. Fortunately my type of work is in demand in other venues, so I am not worried about having a job; I am just sorry to see the company take such a bad turn. It really is a good company to work for and a well meaning organization with lots of perks. But not any more. Although, the well meaning is still there. And of course the residents are still there, and they still need services. If I hear anymore I will keep you all informed.
While I was busy experiencing bankruptcy, Tom was off lecturing to students at MIT for their yearly conference. Sounds like he had a nice time.
We were busy as usually trying to run around and be in 2 different places at the same time. Allison finished up her field hockey season with 2 games early in the week. The game on Monday was a makeup for the rained out game the week before, and Tuesday was the last scheduled game. I was just disappointed(and so was Allison) that she did not get to play either game. I guess her coach is more concerned about her record. Both games ended in a 0-0 tie. Allison was just sad that the team did not congratulate her like they did the other goalie at the end of the last game. Anyhow, she kept the goalie equipment so she can play on a winter league. And now she has been taking the bus home after school instead of going to practice. We would still like her to keep up with some kind of training and exercise though since it has really been good for her overall health. Just running those two milers at practice is enough to kill ya!
Her school celebrated Homecoming this week. The High School kids got to dress up during the week, a different theme each day. I made Allison wear the viking helmet we bought at Busch Gardens on Spirit day(all her teachers loved it). We also enjoyed a pasta dinner at school on Weds night to support the school teams. We did not make it to the pancake breakfast on Saturday morning, but we did run out in the rain to watch the Mt Hebron parade go down our street. I am glad Allison is not in band! They were out marching in the pouring rain, and the big game was cancelled halfway through due to a thunderstorm on Saturday afternoon! They had to reschedule the final half for this coming Monday! We however were not at the game-Tom(back from Boston) and Scott had gone off for the day to practice rope tying and building shelters and bridges(in the rain) with the cubscouts. It was WeebeloRee camp weekend, but Scott and Tom did not sleep over.
On top of everything we were trying to do, we decided to all get sick this weekend too! Allison had it the worst, and then probably Tom. Doesn't look like the H1N1, but a good dose of a headcold and perhaps some stomach bug. Scott and I actually had the regular flu vaccination already, but not Tom and Allison. Allison is already overdo on some shots, including the menigitis vaccination. And they are offering the H1N1 flu shot at her school but she is too scared to get a shot there and she wants me to take her to the doctor office. I would still like her to get the regular flu shot first and then wait a few weeks for the swine flu vaccination, but I am afraid they will run out. And the little kids are getting the nasal spray which Allison would prefer but it is not being offered to kids over 12.
So Tom opted not to sleep in a wet, drippy tent all weekend and instead he got Scott through his Webelo requirements and came home.
Allison and I on the other had a great time enjoying The Fiddler on the Roof at our Hippodrome theater in downtown Baltimore. The original actor from the 1970s movie version, Topol, was touring with the group. Allison is not as familiar with all the music as I am, but she enjoyed the songs and thought Tevye was very funny, especially when he was talking to God. Now I want her to watch the movie-she is not so sure she can sit through another long production. This musical play was 3 hours long! Definitely got our money's worth on that one. We didn't have a break until 2 hours into the musical. That would not be so bad if the seats were a bit more comfortable. They are very small(historical site) and our seats were in a front row with a lovely bar directly in our sight of vision. I had to spend all three hours sitting forward on the edge of my seat to see the play. My neck got a bit sore but I loved the music anyway! Afterwards, we met Scott and Tom for dinner at Fuddruckers.
And then Allison was off to her homecoming dance with some girlfriends. Fortunately she had Sunday to get some rest and finish studying for the science test she missed on Friday.
Since the kids were not feeling well, I let them stay home on Friday. Instead, I went off to school in Scott's place. It was Grandparent's Day, so I went to Resurrection to help out. I spent a few hours serving coffee and donuts and then cleaned up afterwards. I have some lovely packets and magnets to send to our Grandparents who don't get the chance to travel here to Baltimore. Apparently there are some brave souls out there that actually fly in or drive from out of state to spend this day with their grandkids. I was happy to have had the chance to see how the program is set up-and find out that there are some pretty amazing grandparents out there including a few retired NFL players and lots of military, nurses, teachers and professors, even a couple that own a candy store. There are even some grandparents that are still working, including one at Hershey Park who sends lots of chocolate kisses to her family. Lots of history.
And speaking of History, thanks so much to Uncle Mark who helped us out with the Seitz Family History and Allison's project. Apparently we come from a long line of potato farmers. And surprisingly I seem to be the only one in our family that really enjoys potatoes-and I of course am not german. (The kids say they love french fries and potato chips but I said they don't really count-not as good for you).
Scott has enjoyed keeping in shape with his few gymnastics lessons that he started last week. I am just glad he can spend an hour each week doing flips and cartwheels. However, I'm not crazy that he is trying out the moves on the monkey bars at school!
He had another meeting of his environmental club after school this week and they had a guest speaker talking about pollution in the bay. They even tried out some experiments which Scott found fascinating(some of them involved chocolate syrup and simulated cow poop!)
On Sunday afternoon, the sun came out, the rain stopped, and I took Scott off to an outdoor Halloween picnic that one of the 4th grade class mom's put on for the entire 4th and 5th grade. The kids all played games, went on a trick or treat scavenger hunt, a hayride and ate hot dogs and hamburgers. The party was put on at a local farm where they run a summer camp and host special events. It was fun to get out for a few hours and let the kids run around. Not to mention the really cool jumbo inflatable balls that the kids kept running each other over with or climbing inside and rolling down the hills.
Since I took Scott to his Halloween bash, I did not get to take Allison to a girl scout party for older girls. Although I didn't get much of a response back from any of them. They all seem to be very busy with their new high school roles and don't have as much time to spend on scouts.
We did just get our cookie order in though so besides delivering cookies, we will be busy with our cookie booth sales. And Scott just turned in his cub scout popcorn order. So if you bought from either/both kids, thanks so much. And Allison had to pick up and deliver a food order that she obtained as a fund raiser for the field hockey team. She rode her bike off to school on Thursday afternoon, but her order was so big and bulky, one of the mom's offered to drive her stuff to our house and drop it off while Allison rode back home. I was very grateful since I couldn't text Allison to tell her I was running late from work(no battery in my cell phone) and Tom was still in Boston. Allison also started up her weekly afterschool babysitting again for our neighbor while she teaches piano.
So another slow week here in Baltimore. We are gearing up for a big day of Halloween fun this coming weekend. I plan on helping with Scott's school Halloween party on Friday(I sure am getting my volunteer hours in early this year!). We parents have to give 30 hours of volunteer work to the school each year. We are also trying to make an appointment to speak with the principal about Scott's teacher. I had a chance to chit chat with some of the other parents in Scott's class and the other 4th grade parents at the party today and noone seems very happy(we have two inexperienced 4th grade teachers). Well at least one taught 4th grade but that was 12 years ago and she didn't have to input the kids grades on the computer back then. I am just glad to hear it is not just us that are having some trouble with their teaching styles.
Well, it looks like I need to go now and help Tom clean up the play room cause the upstairs bathtub seems to be leaking through the ceiling. What fun!
Some day I will actually post some more photos with these updates, but I haven't had a chance to catch Tom for his technical help.
Have a great week! Kathleen and family

So it is Fall, but it sure feels like winter here! Hard to believe we were sitting in Matt and Di's pool and hot tub just last Sunday. The leaves here are really only just starting to turn. We had 2 Nor'easters come through over the long weekend, which basically means it rained(alot!). And in a few places it snowed! Including Pennsylvania, just north of us and western Maryland, even our western Howard County as well as New Jersey. No matter, we still went on with most of our weekend plans, including a trip down to Williamsburg on Friday for Howl o Scream at Busch gardens. The kids were out of school for Parent Teacher conferences. It was drizzly and rained a bit, but we got in some rides and spooky shows, and 1 or 2 haunted mazes-although I am amazed at how terrified the kids still get over the spooky characters. Scott's hands were sweating all through the Pompeii ghost maze, and they didn't even have any dressed up characters hiding! Just plastic skulls and plastic snakes! I guess he didn't believe us when we said it was the family tour! They do a nice job with the costumes and shows, but it certainly looks like they are clearing out the Anheiser-Busch support since the company was bought out last year. They were selling out all of their Budweiser merchandise. We are not sure if they will continue with the animals either, like the Clydesdales, since they were all part of the Budweiser foundation. Looks like we may not necessarily renew our two year membership next year since the park seems to be losing all of its special charms and services and the price just keeps going up. That includes Seaworld too. We really did enjoy having the pass here in Maryland and when we travel to Florida(and maybe even out in California next year).

The soggy weekend did cancel some of our plans-I wanted to take the kids out to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch but because of all the rain and mud, the farms cancelled their picking and hay rides for the weekend. Unfortunately, Allison and I still had to drive an hour through the pouring rain on Saturday to the Girl Scout camp to sing at the Fall Festival. I was surprised they did not cancel, but I guess it was a bigger hassle to try and reschedule or give everyone their money back. And some brave little girl scouts attended. Fortunately, our choir was able to sing inside the mansion that is on the grounds so we stayed nice and dry. We spent a little time eating apples and hot dogs and checking out the games set up inside the house. The Girl Scout council has been slowly revamping the old victorian mansion on the property which will be used for Girl Scout events. It is a huge house-3 stories with a basement, all wood floors and marble fireplaces. It is definitely a fixer upper previously owned by the Bell family(phone company).

I also passed on my company's Gala this weekend. Noone in our department seemed to be going-most of our dept is new. It really has been a wonderful event in the past. They usually have a different theme and in the past they have had wine tasting and martini bars. Now they always have gambling. And the food is wonderful. Plus dancing to a live band and one year they had a great jazz band playing. But my heart was just not into it this year(either was our wallet). Tickets are discounted for staff at $75.00 per person. (I do love their banana's foster!)
Maybe next year.

The wet weather also cancelled Allison's field hockey practice and a game last week. Now she is scheduled to play a game Monday and Tuesday night and then her season is over. All in all the girls did pretty well and seem to be getting better as the season progressed. Tom caught one of Allison's games last week and he should be able to see her Monday night game. He even bought a very special hat to wear to cheer on the Viking team. We were very excited to find a viking hat complete with fur and horns at Busch Gardens. Of course, Allison is mortified! And he hasn't even worn the hat yet! By the way, she made the Spitfire winter field hockey team however, after careful consideration, Tom and I decided we did not feel like investing over $700 for a 2month season. Instead I think we will sign her up for the $100 developmental indoor field hockey team which will play in Jan and Feb. Way more affordable and driveable as the other team was a traveling team. This way she can keep up with her goalie skills, get some exercise and have fun on an affordable budget. She enjoyed one more after practice pasta party at one of the captain's house along with making a tie dye shirt.

Speaking of sports, Scott finally got into his gymnastics class! And he is very happy to be doing flips on the bars and pull ups on the rings. And I am very happy that he is expending so much energy for an hour/week.

The kids also had a few outings scheduled this week through school and scouts. Allison's entire High School Freshmen class went down to DC for a tour of the holocaust museum. The whole class read the book "Night" about a young boy's survival in Auschwitz. We have not yet ventured into the holocaust museum since it is supposed to be extremely depressing(if you can imagine). We did walk in the front door a few summers ago with friends from out of state only to discover that you need a reservation to enter and they were getting ready to close. Unfortunately for Allison's class, the bus drivers got lost and Allison said they only had one hour to spend there-20 mins in a presentation and about 5 mins to run through the entire museum. The rest of the time was spent loading and unloading the buses. I told Allison she should have driven since we spend so much time in DC, she probably could have gotten them all there. I am just disappointed that the kids didn't seem to get their money's worth since we paid $15 bucks each kid for the trip.
Scott seemed to have a better trip with his cub scout den to Annapolis to visit the state house. The den leader and some parents took all the boys down on their half day of school on Thursday for a private tour with a State Senator and Congressman. Noone is in session at this time, so they had the run of the place. Scott loved their desks with all the control buttons for voting, as well as the microphone! He wants his very own desk(lots of buttons!). I think the coolest room is the one George Washington hung out in(Annapolis served as the US capitol temporarily and George was chosen to be president in our own state building. They have the original room where he gave up his position as military leader and was sworn in as president. I had taken my girl scouts down for Legislative Day back in February, and we had a good time, so I figured Scott would enjoy the tour also. And he did!

While he was busy touring the Capitol, I was busy meeting with his 4th grade teacher. His teacher has been teaching Kindergarten for the past 12 years, and I am afraid Tom and I do not agree with some of her "rules". Such as having the kids write all lessons, including spanish, in cursive. And I was quite surprised that she does not believe in extra credit since most all of Allison's teachers provided extra credit in their classes(extra projects) or on the tests. She just seems to be a bit rigid-Tom spotted an error in grading on Scott's last science test and Tom is still waiting to hear back from her. I think the biggest hurdle for her is that not only has she not taught 4th grade in 12 years, but she is also attending the master's program in school administration on the weekends. She has admitted herself that she is just too busy. Sorry, but we are paying extra for Scott's education and I don't need to hear that she is just too busy!
Allison is doing well so far, especially since she has put in extra time with her field hockey practice and games. She seems to have a good mix of general and advanced classes. And she is doing way better in in Geometry than I ever did! And I have been struggling with Tom gone most of the time lately trying to help the kids study and get their homework and get them to their extracurricular activities.

Tom fortunately only had to travel out of town for one overnight trip last week. He managed to do some studying with the kids and catch the Monday night football game with the boys in the neighborhood before he headed out to Charlottesville, VA. Next week however he is heading to Boston to present at the MIT conference. I thought we might have been traveling to Stockholm last week since I heard on the news that Thomas A. Steitz(very similar to Thomas A Seitz) had just won the nobel prize in Chemistry. I could not believe I was seeing that name on television(I figured they misspelled our last name, and that Tom must have been moonlighting in chemistry). However, when I pulled up the guys picture on the internet, I could clearly see it was not our Thomas A Seitz. Instead it looked like Santa Claus. Oh well, maybe next time.

Sorry this is late getting out-I have been busy with the kids! Big surprise! Kathleen and family

I can't believe it's that time of the year again. Time to rake leaves. And we are just getting started. I spent most of the day Saturday trimming the shrubs, raking leaves and cutting the grass. Before I even got to my own yardwork, Scott and I helped his classmates plant flowers in the morning in the rain at the Little Sisters of the Poor nursing home with the environmental club-making the world a greener place. Then I sent the family off to Six Flags for the Fright Fest with our neighbors and their kids. They were celebrating their son's 9th birthday(Scott's buddy). Tom said he wasn't as impressed with the Halloween hauntings since they charged extra for the spook houses in the park. Unfair. But they all had fun riding the rollercoasters(even Allison went on her one favorite). Friday night, Scott helped celebrate Sammy's birthday with a few school friends. Their dad took them all over to play laser tag and have pizza and cake. Party city for Scott!
While Scott was busy playing laser tag Friday, Cookie and I were enjoying Allison's field hockey game in the 80 degree weather(that did not last). Her team won and she even got to play(although I don't think the ball ever made it down to her end of the field). She did not get to play however on Weds night(tougher team). The girls tied that game. They also had postponed the game by one day since one of the girls from the other school's varsity team lost her Dad. She still came to play with her family there to support her(they said the Dad was only 48-not sure what he died of though). Our neighbor even came over to watch the games since his daughter used to play and his daughter in law coaches the other team. He decided to leave early though since Allison was not in net.
Tom was missing all of this since he was in Salt Lake City the whole week. It made for a very long week for me.
On Monday night after picking up the kids from school I had to drop Scott off to a cub scout meeting, and then I had to get Allison off to another 2 hour Field Hockey try out for a winter indoor league(The Spitfires). She was the only goalie there and enjoyed playing inside. We thought it would be nice if she had the chance to keep up her skills over the winter-just not as hectic a schedule. They play once a week and practice once a week. She won't hear from the team until the end of October if she made it or not.
This all made for a very long day, and the kids still had some homework and tests to study for but we managed to get it all done.
Weds I had to take off a half day to take Scott to the pediatrician. He had an infected eye but it was clearing up on its own. While we were at the doctor's though we managed to get our flu shots. I am glad I did not attempt the Howard County drive through flu shots last Sunday-people waited in line over 3 hours and they ran out of vaccinations. We still need our swine flu shots and Allison needs a meningitis vaccination this year.
Thursday night I took the kids out to dinner with our neighbor and his kids to Pizzeria Uno. His wife was off to tennis lessons. The field hockey team had a fund raiser dinner night. We all had a great time, and then I had to run the kids through Target to pick up school items, Halloween supplies and a birthday present.
I was sure glad when Friday rolled around and Tom came home. It was a very long week. And it did not help that I ran my new van into the tire of the Jeep that the other goalies mom was driving in the high school parking lot. (My van has been cursed). Fortunately I just scrunched up my front license plate. I was attempting to navigate the insanity of the high school parking lot along with all the construction traffic after dropping Allison off with all her goalie gear and school books. I was attempting to pull into the one way traffic- at least, I thought everyone would be following the one way signs(guess not). I was parked to let Allison out and bumped into the other car as I was trying to pull into the two lanes of one way traffic-she was sneaking up along in front of the parked cars heading the other way against traffic. Since neither one of us had any real damage we let it go. I had only bumped her tire.
I will be glad to let Tom continue to drop Allison off in the morning. Except he has a few more trips scheduled this coming month. And we have another very busy week coming up.
Today I am helping Scott sell popcorn for the boy scouts at church, and then Allison and I have another GS choir practice in the afternoon. Then we are headed over to Matt and Di's for a pool closing party(also to help celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary).
Baltimore held their marathon this Saturday sponsored by Under Armour. They actually made shirts out of recycled bottles for all the runners(green event). Sadly, I hear a runner died during the event-guess it was all the new hills they added on the course! We did not see Mark or Stacey out there. Maybe next year! Good luck with your run next weekend! I am just happy to get to my aerobics classes in once or twice a week.
We enjoyed your photo of the family room Mark with all the dog toys on the floor. The Seitz dogs have a lot in common-Cookie drags all her toys and chewies out onto the family room floor too! Too bad we have not yet taught her how to put them away also! She is very good about eating the kids homework too. I was off to a GS leadership meeting last Weds night, and when I walked in the back door I saw Scott's science homework and religious journal chewed up all over the floor. She loves to pull papers out of their backpacks and chew them up. I warned them! She also likes to chase our cat Pika. I was glad she does since Pika got out of the house last week through the small opening in our sliding screen door, and Cookie found her in the back yard and herded her back to our house! I am glad someone knows whats going on around here! Even if it is just the dog!
Hope you are all enjoying the football games-MSU won again. How exciting. Ravens not so good this weekend. Tom will be off for another Monday night football game bash with the neighbor boys. The hosting neighbor is a Miami fan(oh well). Then Tom will be leaving for Charlottesville VA overnight.
Looks like it is back to the High School parking lot for me. Wish me luck! Kathleen and family

Well, we are finally getting into Fall and the weather certainly has changed. Brrr-out came the long pants and sweaters. Happy October!
I also put out a few more pots of mums and pumpkins. Scott has started setting up my Halloween decorations in the house. And Football games have been keeping us busy(especially a certain game between MSU and Uof M-Go State! I still cannot believe MSU has lost their easy games but beat Uof M this weekend. Sorry guys.) Tom enjoyed Monday Football night with the neighbor boys this past week. Tom was home during the day with the kids(off for Yom Kippur) and he had time to clean up the house and cook up some Koegel Vienna hotdogs and Flint, Mich chili to top it off. The neighbors were impressed with the flavor! (And the beer).
Allison had two games herself last week-sadly not very good. The girls played a very tough team on Weds and it was very far away. I was lucky enough to get to go since I had switched my day off again and drove up to see the girls get beat up. The field was rough and the ball was flying, hitting the girls in the shoulders and backs. Ouch. At least they held tough and only lost by 2. However, on Friday Allison was in goal at the end of the game and dinkledorfed(Tom word) and let in two goals. The coach pulled her. It was her first time. She was feeling a bit down on herself. So we decided to let her try out for a winter indoor league to help build up her skills. She has to try out for the Spitfire team on Monday night. Luckily they are looking for goalies in her age bracket. I did not know what we were getting into with this sport. Most girls play all year round or add other sports such as Lacrosse or Soccer to their program. We were hoping to keep the sports to a minimum to allow Allison some breathing time to spend on schoolwork and other activities.
She just got chosen to student government. I think she will enjoy that. And she wants to participate in Spanish club. Not to mention Girl Scouts. Allison and I just went to our first GS choir rehearsal today. Allison was chosen to be part of an elite singing group in the choir-she needs to learn a different set of songs and the Trefoil Singers usually sing a separate section than the rest of us. Allison wanted to find something new to do with the group. I was happy to see we will be singing at the Green Carpet Event again this year. We sang a few years ago-where they honor the Scouts with the top selling cookie orders. The most exciting part of the event was being filmed on Food Network and meeting Duff Goldman, owner of Ace of Cakes here in Baltimore. He has his own show on Food Network and makes expensive specialty cakes. He travels to California alot and makes alot of specialty cakes for movie premieres, etc. He has made many a interesting cake for the Girl Scout event and usually decorates with cookies. And local restaurants make recipes out of girl scout cookies and pass out samples. This year the event will be held at our kids museum. It should be fun. We also have some parades scheduled, Christmas programs at the mall and a Fall Harvest Festival. And new songs to learn.
I've also been putting together some programs for the girls. We have a dance fund raiser scheduled in November and the girls want to go on another ghost tour of Olde Ellicott City. I also have a cookie party scheduled with Pampered Chef. We will make cookies for our Christmas donation program, and we usually put together gift boxes for women's shelters for the holidays.
And Allison has wrapped up her individual GS cookie sales. Thanks to all who purchased for themselves or bought cookies to donate to the US Troops. It is still not too late! At $3.50 a box, the US soldiers are grateful when we pass them out at the airport. We will be starting on our booth sales now throughout November and usually into December.
Allison finished up selling cookies just in time to sell food for a fund raiser for Field Hockey. They still have one more fund raiser-a portion of the dinners sold at a local restaurant. Currently, the mexican fast food place, Qdoba's is very popular. Especially with the teeny boppers.
And so is Facebook I see. Even Uncle Mark accesses facebook. I have been avoiding it but it looks like it is the best way for Allison to communicate with her friends via computer. We missed an announcement about a post practice Field Hockey dinner last week and Allison had to gather info from one of the girls. Unfortunately, it was the wrong info and we spent most of the evening looking for the address. I was glad one of the moms answered her phone and that I knew her well enough to call and ask for directions from my car. Allison got there late but had enough time to eat and make a tshirt with puffy paint to wear on game day. They do try to schedule team building activities for the girls. We should still have at least one more team dinner.
She also had to run back to school after an away game for a Freshman mixer-dinner and sports in the gym. She was late to that, but got plenty to eat and had a friend meet her there.
I have been running around to meetings myself. They had an extended afterschool meeting at school sponsored by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, asking parents what more can they do to improve Catholic Schools. We have had several schools close in Baltimore this year, including a high school so it has not looked very good for the catholics. Although, our school just won the National Blue Ribbon Award for Excellence, so someone is doing something right. Probably our kids and our parents and teachers! It was a very stimulating discussion.
And my work schedule had some flexibility in it since I attended a low vision fair at the National Federation for the Blind on Thursday. It was quite an eye opening experience(pun intended). I mainly went to see some of the new technology that was out for people with low vision, especially with macular degeneration. I had fun visiting with our residents since I joined their group, and we got lunch and a wonderful goody bag at the end. Plus I got to speak to quite a few salespeople and learn about new inventions for low sighted people. It will definitely help at work.
On Saturday, Scott and I headed out in the morning to a Cub Scout Rodeo. The boys were put through obstacle courses on their bikes after a quick bike inspection from a local bike shop. Then we headed out for a 2 mile bike ride throughout the neighborhood. Scott and I rode twice and I was frazzled both times. I could not believe the number of boys that did not know how to ride bikes-like dragging their feet to brake, or crashing into things to stop. And one boy who appeared mentally challenged rode his bike right out into the busy street since he seemed to have difficulty with the concept of turning. But more disappointing were the number of big boys still with training wheels and the ones that could not pedal up a small hill. And several had bikes that were just too small-I don't think the parents ever looked at their kids before sending them out for the day. I got asked to volunteer for the event and helped run the Paper Boy obstacle course. The boys had to pull papers out of a bag over their shoulder and throw them in containers. Most of the boys ended up in the containers with the papers and their bikes! That was entertaining. Certainly the older boys did a better job. But my nerves were not the same after two interesting "bike hikes". I was so glad to be leaving when the last group of 25 or more boys headed out(heaven help them and the parents!). Scott of course did fine and enjoyed a ride with his Dad on Sunday afternoon while Allison and I were at choir rehearsal. The bike shop recommended Scott get a new cable for his brake, so Tom rode him up to Sears to buy a new cable.
And Allison had to serve mass again Sunday morning. This time with a new routine which she got right off the bat after downloading the new instructions from my email. She also kept busy babysitting this weekend before Tom ran her up to Hershey Park with our friend John to catch a Hershey Bears opening hockey game. While they were gone, Scott and I got invited over to the neighbors for dinner and a bonfire complete with s'mores. We enjoyed sitting outside under the harvest moon Saturday night.
But now it is time to sign off and get ready for another busy week-minus Tom's assistance. He is headed out to Salt Lake City on Monday and will be gone for the week. It will certainly keep me hopping having to negotiate both Scott and Allison's schedule by myself and go to work. And Scott has a suspicious infection in his eyelid that I am watching and treating with a steroidal ointment I got from my eye doctor a few months ago. I think we both picked up something on our bike hike since my eye was itchy and irritated and a bit swollen as well. It already looked better after one treatment and it looks to be only his eyelid, not the eye(just like I had). I just hope I won't have to take off work this week to get him to the MD. We still have not had our flu shots though-too busy to plan it.
Hope all of you are doing well. I will let you know of course how we survived our upcoming week!

I just got in from my nightly stroll with Cookie while Allison made a few more GS cookie sales at the neighbor's. Cookie was full of puppy energy since she has been stuck in the house most of the weekend-yesterday because it rained most of the day, and today since Tom was catching up on football games while cleaning up the house for his "Boys Night" on Monday night. The neighbor boys have been talking about having a Monday night football party for several years now, and all of us are usually just too busy to organize an activity during the week. But it turns out that all the kids are off school Monday for Yom Kippur(yes even our catholic children). Well, Jesus was Jewish. The kids are happy about that!
Allison is at a sleepover at the neighbors tonite. I am sure she will be worn out tomorrow. She had to altar serve for a friend this morning and we spent the entire afternoon out kayaking and canoeing with the Girl Scouts. Allison and one other scout in my troop, Becky, each had a single kayak, and I canoed with a GS Dad who had never been in a boat(I put him up front). His wife was there(the GS Leader) and she was not brave enough to paddle with him! We did fine-we paddled up and back a small section of the Magothy river which leads out to the Bay and never got wet.
The girl scouts have a small campground on the Magothy river near Annapolis. In the spring I will have to sign the girls and myself up for the sailing trip up the bay to the scout camp. A few of the girl scouts that kayaked today said they did the trip and had a great time-it takes all day to sail up on the tall sailing ship and then back the next day after camping overnight. And the girls do all the work as well as learning about the Chesapeake Bay.
We lucked out on the weather today since it rained most of yesterday and we had a downpour just after we finished this afternoon. Glad Tom got the grass cut yesterday and dropped some grass seed for me in some shady spots on the lawn.
Scott had his sleepover on Saturday night with the neighbor boy. I took both of them swimming at the Y Saturday night for family night since Allison was babysitting at the neighbor's house. I thought she could use a few less kids to keep an eye on. She was happy to get some spending money too. She managed to spend a few bucks yesterday when I dragged the kids off to the Fall Festival in old Ellicott City. I could have spent a lot more time shopping in the antique stores, but I was just happy to pick up a baby gift in the toy store before it started raining. Allison was excited to find a dragon jewelry box she has been looking for for over 6 years. She spotted the exact same box in Busch Gardens, but they sold out and haven't carried them for several years now. There is a store in old Ellicott City that sells lots of Christmas and Halloween decorations, costumes, dolls, antiques and all sorts of theme statues like fairies, unicorns and dragons. And low and behold, there was her box. Babysitting money comes in handy. And at 10bucks an hour, she still had plenty left over. Her funds are a bit low since she helped pay for her trip to Assateague this summer and she hasn't been able to keep her weekly babysitting job with field hockey.
The neighbors were off to hear a piano concert from a world renonwn pianist who happened to be our neighbors old piano teacher. The woman has played all over the world, and is playing a concert a month for the next year at our local community college. Our neighbor said she would introduce Allison to her and recommended I take Allison to one of the concerts in the spring. Allison is still busy taking piano lessons once a week as well as taking piano as a class at school. It works out well since she can practice at school.
Allison's JV team had two field hockey games this past week and won both! Allison started on Tuesday night's game and the girls took the field with a 9-0 win. Friday night they won 2-0. Tom got to see both games, and our neighbor showed up again with his kids. Sadly, I missed both games by the time I picked up Scotty from school after work. I am hoping to catch one of her games this coming week. The season is already half over. On Monday night, Tom enjoyed the parent/daughter field hockey game, but he said he would have liked it even more if some of the parents hadn't been such ball hogs! One dad would not come out of the game to take turns with the other parents. Tom was disappointed to play only one period(they played four altogether). We did enjoy a potluck dinner afterwards. I made a huge dish of my mom's favorite cold spaghetti salad recipe. I was amazed at how quickly they ate it up!
I also amazingly made my first beef pot pie this week that actually turned out tasting terrific, and even more amazing the kids ate it and liked it! I have never been able to make a pot pie as good as my moms. This one came awfully close. I actually had time to assemble the meal since I took Weds off instead of Friday to help cover for some of our vacationing staff. Work has still been a bit slow, but things seem to be picking up a bit.
I also enjoyed a beautiful sunny day off planting some fall/winter pansys and decorative cabbages in my big pots next to the garage doors. I had a few plants that needed transplanting to bigger pots too besides working on my lawn edging which I have to complete in stages(we have a really big curb living on a corner lot!). I even managed to squeeze in a few aerobics classes this week.
I had planned on helping with Scott's Cub Scout flag ceremony on Weds after school, but they switched it to Thursday. The boys were learning how to take down the flag and fold it.
This weekend, Scott and I will be participating in a cub scout bike rodeo. We decided to skip the camping trip at the local State Park and save it for the end of the month when the boys participate in the Weebelo Ree Outing and work on requirements towards becoming Boy Scouts.
It feels like Halloween is just around the corner! Happy Fall by the way. I know our month of October will be packed with lots of activities! I am already looking forward to taking Allison to see "Fiddler on the Roof" starring Topol at the Hippodrome Theatre at the end of the month(an early birthday present from Tom).
I hope Mom and Dad Seitz had a good trip down to Florida and avoided all the flooding in Georgia!
Good Luck on your Marathon run Mark and Stacey! Allison and Tom could barely make the 2 mile run that Allison needed to run for tryouts for field hockey, let alone 14 miles! I know I wouldn't last either.
Have a great week and Happy Yom Kippur! Mazletov! Kathleen and family