Well, it was finally time to bid a farewell to Grandma and Grandpa Bozyk. They had to head back to Mich to shovel the 3feet of snow in their driveway. We will miss their company and Grandma's homework tutoring services(but my waist won't miss all the cupcakes and cookies Grandma kept baking!) Grandma's job as sponsor to Allison for her confirmation was over. As you may recall, Allison chose St Agnes as her confirmation name-the patron saint of girls and Girl Scouts. Allison loves her little saint Agnes statue that she received from Aunt Linda and Uncle Mark and had blessed by the Archbishop. Allison and I also loved our outing to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and dinner out with the family that night. On Sunday we were sadly disappointed to see our Ravens football team lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since we are so close to Pennsylvania, we have quite a few displaced Steelers fans in the area. We heard fireworks going off after the game, and found a huge blow up Steeler football player in a neighbor's yard. I am suprised someone hasn't deflated him yet. But we may have to cheer them on during the Super Bowl.
Monday was a day off for the kids-MLK day. Tom and I had to take my van back to the service center to fix the heating system. It had been there the whole week before, and when I picked it up on Friday, the carpet was filthy dirty, the front panel was not put on properly, my leather steering wheel was scratched and the heat still did not work right. Tom was extremely frustrated and asked to see the Service Manager this time. We have been trying to get my van fixed since Nov. 08. Within two days they got it working and replaced the steering wheel as well as washing it and detailing the interior. Tom and I both thought "time to sell the van". Now if I can just pick out something to replace it!
Grandma and Grandpa postponed their travel back to Mich on Monday since we had our first snow fall of the year that day. There was a nasty accident on the 70 out west which involved a few tractor trailers and killed a few people while shutting down the freeway on both sides. Instead, I stayed home with the kids and grandparents, and Grandpa shoveled my driveway while Allison studied Social Studies and Science for her big tests this week. We also squeezed in piano lessons and karate that day. Grandma and Grandpa had a pleasant drive back to Mich on Weds.
Allison and her fellow private- school- turned -public- high- school- classmates had a special tour of their high school,Mt Hebron on Weds during the school day. The public school was off for midterms, so the 9th grade counselor offered the afternoon for a tour and intro to classes. We had to pick up Allison in the middle of the day, then return her to school for her last class after a quick lunch. We also picked up her registration packet! Allison says high school is scary. I have to agree. Allison's high school is the oldest building in our county. It was originally a middle school, so it is small and crowded and worn out. But the county has decided to remodel-even though the current HS parents all wanted a brand new building. New schools are popping up around here all the time. Sadly, the county can only offer a revamp, and Allison will be attending the school right through the whole process. Should be nice by the time she graduates! Then Scott will have a whole new building to visit. Anyhow, we register for fall classes this coming Friday! School starts on Monday, Aug 24 after several "Welcome New Student" Orientations. I was very impressed by all the classes and programs the school has to offer-you couldn't possibly squeeze it all in during a 4year period. Looks more like a college program. We know that our county has an excellent reputation for great public schools, so we thought we'd take advantage of "free" education so we can save up for college!
And you may have noticed a bit of commotion around our area on Tuesday with the inaugaration(or coronation as Tom called it) of the next President. I am not exactly a huge OBama fan. Our kids were not excused from private school for the event, and our county schools stayed open as well, but some of the counties actually closed for the day. We all watched a bit on tv-the kids to understand the whole inaugaration process(have to get those lines right), and I peeked in at lunch at work just since I was so amazed by all the people that crammed onto the DC mall. Remember standing in that same space Chris/Nick and Sarah? How about you Brandon and Katelyn? It was a bit chillier than last summer. There is no way I would have attempted to deal with those crowds and travel down to DC, but it was something just to see all the people. And even more amazing was the amount of trash that had to be cleaned up after everyone left! It certainly kept the Nat Parks staff busy. Since Allison missed part of her day at school last week for orientation and the inaugaration, poor Allison had to get up early the next day to make up a SS exam. And I ended up working Friday and Saturday to make up for taking off Monday.
Of course we had a busy weekend again-more karate and piano. And Allison was terribly excited to see the opening of the movie "InkHeart", a series of books she just finished. She brought along a fellow bookworm and we all enjoyed the film. Tom and Scott headed off to "Hotel for Dogs" and really enjoyed it. That got Scott thinking about dogs even more(we are considering getting one). So we headed off to the Pet Expo on Sunday afternoon to see what was available. Nobody selling dogs, but we sure saw a variety of them since personal pets were welcome. As well as birds, cats, snakes, turtles, lizards, bunnies, ponies, llamas, sheep and exotics(monkeys, owls, opposums and porcupines too). We left when Tom couldn't breathe anymore!(allergies). Sunday evening, Allison and I enjoyed a rollerblading outing with the Girl Scouts. And I only fell once(my first time) trying to spin around and work on my backwards skating. My poor knee.
So it's back to work Monday-we may have some snowflakes tonite. Tom is headed out to Charlottesville, VA this week to work. Mark, I sent you some newspaper articles(look for them in the mail).

Baltimore blog

So here I am again. (I had a little trouble with the password so it took me awhile to get back in). Anyhow, the past two weeks have been a whirlwind. Week 1: Grandma and Grandpa Bozyk are still visiting in anticipation for Allison's Confirmation. Back to school after a two week Christmas break was a little overwhelming. The teachers really loaded the kids down with homework, projects and tests. It has been a great help having extra tutoring services from retired school teacher Grandma Bozyk(not to mention someone else to help cook dinner and clean the kitchen). And of course it was back to karate lessons for Allison and Scott, back to piano lessons, back to Cub Scout meetings and Girl Scout meetings too. Grandma and Grandpa B. spent the first week after the holidays basically hibernating. They both caught bad colds and spent their days sleeping down in our basement turned guest room. Grandpa also spent time browsing all the millions of channels on Tom's new flat screen tv-don't ask me what size or make. We basically swapped out our old tv to send it to the lake house in Mich with Grandma and Grandpa. And the two of them have been helping to wrap up all my Christmas decorations, including taking out the tree to the curb for pick up. I still have to haul all the decorations back up into the attic in the garage. Not my favorite part of the job. And in anticipation for Allison's confirmation, Grandma, Allison and I attended a potluck at the church while the kids played a game titled "Are you smarter than Fr. Mike?" (Allison is almost as smart as Fr Mike.) I also have been driving around in a rental car all week since for the past two months I have been trying to get my heating system fixed on my Buick Terraza mini van. I even had someone look at it in Indy when we were visiting over Thanksgiving. Just when I thought it was back to normal, after waiting a whole week for them to basically replace the whole system, it seems to be just kicking out heat or having trouble with adjusting hot and cold. Not to mention that they returned it to me with a filthy floor covered in oil and the front panel still open at the seems and scratches in my steering wheel. I guess it is back to the car dealer for me.

Week 2 Getting through all the tests and projects but more is on the way, because of course we have a holiday coming up-MLK day and I will be off with the kids. Looks like I will be visiting the car dealer again. I wanted to take the kids to see the movie, Hotel for Dogs. Tom and I wanted to see the Valkyrie movie with Tom Hanks, but most of our evenings have been filled with activities. And forget trying to get in to the movies at night on the weekends around here. The movie theatres and restaurants are usually packed-no recession in Howard County that you can notice. The malls and stores are stilled packed with shoppers(spending money). Last week we were busy as usual with karate lessons and lots of schoolwork. And I got a last minute notice of a parent orientation at our local high school in the evening. I ran over in time to feel overwhelmed with the thought that Allison will be in 9th grade this Fall. Our catholic school kids are getting their own tour of the high school this coming week during the day and we will be handed registration packets to sign up for classes in the fall. Tom is in shock. Looks like Allison will be taking the usual-Science, English, Spanish, Math-Geometry, Am History and some elective I guess. I am also looking at the calendar to schedule the kids for summer camp already. Not to mention figuring out when we will be going on vacation this summer. So last week we spent the weekends cheering on the Ravens as we struggle our way to the Super Bowl. There has been a alot of purple lighting all around the city. A tough game is scheduled for tonite(Sunday) with the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh-Brrrrr! We have been pretty chilly, but no real snow-a few flakes one day last week that all blew away. Not like Mich or Indy I hear. Grandma and Grandpa will make their way back to Mich when the weather clears(July?).
This past weekend, most of our activities have revolved around Allison's confirmation. On Friday we enjoyed a party at our neighbor's house whose son is also making his confirtmation with their Ohio relatives. And of course Saturday morning was the big event. It was a very nice ceremony. Mark and Linda, thanks for the wonderful little statue of Allison's Saint, St. Agnes. Allison asked the Bishop to bless it for her. He thought it was terrific! St Agnes is the patron saint of Girl Scouts and young girls. She was martyred at 12 or 13years of age. Allison likes that her symbol is a lamb, and the statue had a little lamb in her hands. The bishop thought that was great(Allison had thought it might be a puppy!). The kids have puppies on their brains ever since Tom mentioned the thought of getting one and started visiting the pounds. Anyhow, her ceremony was very nice with a quick cookie reception afterwards. Mom did a great job as her sponsor. Afterwards, Allison and I headed to downtown Baltimore to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-it was wonderful. (Part of my Christmas present from Tom) They actually made the car fly on stage! I think the whole family would have enjoyed it. Tom took Scott and Grandpa to see Marley and Me which they enjoyed. Grandma got caught up on her sleep. When we all got home, we celebrated by going out to dinner at a local restaurant which is always packed. Mostly it is known for their crab cakes, but we can't seem to turn Grandma and Grandpa into crab eating fans. They enjoyed the salmon and perch anyhow, and Allison had her first filet mignon-which disappeared quickly. Afterwards we ejoyed big chocolate cake at home while watching Wall-E(which I think was the best cartoom movie of the year, Mark) We still can't decide which commercial was the best. Mostly we can't remember all the commercials.

So of course the whole DC area and Baltimore area have been crazy with the Inauguration(Tom says more like Coronation). Our roads in the cities have been shut down-I was not sure if I was going to make it into Baltimore on Saturday for the musical since Obama was in town making a speech on his railway tour. Fortunately we were on the opposite side of town and missed all the chaos. They were expecting around 200,000 people. It also made it difficult to find a good restaurant to visit on Saturday night with the crowds. And today(Sunday) there are a bunch of outdoor and indoor concerts going on around the DC area-lots of celebs in town I guess. They reported most of the hotels are fully booked-we probably could have made some money renting out part of our house for the event. And of course the parade and inaugaration is scheduled for Tuesday. Most of the school systems are closed for the event, but our kids have school(and tests). I guess all the roads are going to be chaos or closed around the area, including I 95. We do not have any plans to attend and maybe even skip the televison event.

Baltimore Blog

Here is my first attempt at my blog page, thanks to brother-in-law Mark Seitz. We visited the Indy Seitz family over Thanksgiving and he was trying to help me get started with my New Year's Resolution. Sending out weekly updates to all family members. Then no one can accuse me of not emailing. I can just say they don't check it! I also hoped this would cut down on my need to cram so much info in my end of year Christmas letter, but I am not sure I can get it all covered on a weekly basis
We just had a wonderful Christmas vacation and hosted my brother Dave, wife Sandra and their 3 kids-Sarah, Nick and Christopher. They flew in from Houston after Christmas and did not have a moment to rest! We kept them hopping. We visited the Baltimore aquarium, toured some Smithsonian museums in DC, took lots of pictures of the Capitol bldg and the White House too. The boys enjoyed a hockey game at Hershey Park in PA while the girls enjoyed the xmas lights and chocolate and Christmas show. We all enjoyed a day of skiing in PA too. And we managed to squeeze in a few holiday parties. Not to mention shopping and movies. Our family saw Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler-cute. Then Sandra and I took the kids to see Despereaux the mouse movie. Very Good. Grandma and Grandpa Bozyk finally drove down from snow and ice ridden MI after Christmas. They are visiting for a few weeks to attend Allison's Confirmation on Jan 17th. Mom Bozyk is Allison's sponsor. We have a potluck to attend prior to the confirmation. That's all for now. Hope everyone got their Christmas cards and gifts we sent! Allison got a new electric piano-her Christmas music sounded terrific. Tom upgraded the family tv-Mom and Dad Bozyk get our old set for the Up North Mich lake house so we don't have to sit on top of each other to watch the little set they have right now. Stay tuned for more updates.