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