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!