Well we made it into a New Year! Tom and I were actually off work on Monday the 2nd. But the kids had to return to school. Only 3 counties in Maryland held school that day.  Since Scott is at a private school, they followed the county's schedule. So overall it was a very short break for Allison and Scott. And they were both busy with projects and schoolwork the whole time.

Since Tom and I had some time off on Monday the 2nd, we decided to try couch shopping again. The furniture stores had sales going on, so we visited one of the showrooms downtown Monday afternoon. First I had to watch the Rose Bowl parade. I wanted to catch the Girl Scout Anniversary float. The parade started out with a flyover by Tom's Northrop B2 bomber. It certainly looked beautiful against that blue, blue sky. The weather was incredible in LA on Monday. A nice day for a parade(wish I was there!). But the next thing I knew, the parade was over and I did not see any Girl Scout float, not to mention the City of Downey float(our old home town in California). They used to build the Downey float at my hospital. Turns out the National tv stations were limiting viewing time and they cut out those floats! Boy was I mad! I had paid for a flower to be placed on the Girl Scout float for each one of my scouts, myself and my coleader and I did not even get to enjoy the float on tv! I spent the whole day trying to find the parade online. Turns out they played the entire parade on the local LA news, KTLA and the cable HGTV network. Who knew. I never heard of parts of parades being cut out. There were certainly quite a few upset scouts not only from around the US, but around the world as this parade is broadcast around the world. And word had gone out for girl scouts to expect a float. I was busy reading all the comments online by upset women and girls. I am now trying to find a website to purchase a copy of the video. Looks like the Roy Rogers group has a DVD to buy.(For anyone that watched the parade, did you notice the horse on that float? How real it looked? It was the real, stuffed Trigger!) The dog was stuffed too! Gross!  At least I was able to buy a Rose Bowl pin and patch for myself and Allison for her uniform from the LA Girl Scout council. And the Downey float was very cool too by the way, complete with an operating volcano!

But after my disappointing parade, I was even more disappointed to see that our MSU football team was losing their bowl game. So that is when Tom and I headed off to couch shop. We actually found a very different type of pull out couch. ONe with a lot more support with a posturpedic mattress. Naturally, it was the only furniture in the store not on sale. But the salesperson gave us some big song and dance with his manager and decided to take pity on us and sold it to us for the sale price(about the same cost as the Lazyboy couch with less options and smaller, but a bigger pullout bed and more comfortable). So I won't see it until April. Lots of time to paint the basement walls and move out the old, torn couch. When we got back home, we were amazed to hear that MSU had actually won! At least my Mom and Dad had a chance to see the game.

On Tuesday we were all back to work and school. Scott and Tom headed off to the boy scout meeting. On Weds night I was busy with my Girl SCout Leader meeting. I had to take a few girl scouts with me as they were responsible for babysitting services that night. I had 4 scouts and only 1 kid needed watched. They did a great job. They were just happy to see each other, and begged me to go to the frozen yogurt shop afterwards. Even a few of the moms joined us. We ended up closing up the shop. On Thursday night, Allison had a piano lesson. Tom was busy studying for a science test with Scott.

All this week my parents have been at our house. Tom was waiting for a few more pieces of the computer  to come in the mail so he could finish assembling my parents new system. And he was trying to walk my DAd through the set up process. They were also waiting for good driving weather and there was snow out west on Monday and Tuesday. I was hoping we could have gone out to eat on Thursday night, but we were all so busy. Instead I grilled steak at home. Mom thought a restaurant couldn't have done a better job, but I disagreed since I was the one shopping, cooking and doing the dishes! I have never cooked so many big meals or washed so many dishes in my life! It was fun though sitting down to the table every night with a big group of people. Except the kids were feeling a bit strained since they are used to eating fast and getting to their homework.  I actually served dinner on WEds night but didn't  have time to eat until 10pm since I was off to scouts!

So Friday morning, Mom and Dad were all packed up and headed to Michigan. Tom set them up with the GPS and sent them on their way. They were full up with an extra rocking armchair we passed on from Mom and Dad Seitz, an extra large tv from our neighbors, a new computer system and a new metal wagon to haul stuff around the lake house. With a little effort, they made it home. Unfortunately, Mom seems to have developed a bad cold. But we loved having them visit. I had time to go over some paperwork with Mom and they both got me started on our family tree for my side of the family. I am sure my Dad was in heaven watching all the football games too. And Cookie loved having someone take her for a walk when we were all gone for the day. (Thanks Dad!). Friday I only had to work a half day, so Tom and I had a chance to go out to lunch and chat and catch up with all the activities for the past two weeks. Then I was taking Allison off to her yearly medical check up. She has a list of vaccines to get, so we opted for the Hepatitis A vaccine since she is working around so many kids. She still has one more shot to take in that series. We held off on the flu vaccine since she had a cold coming on and I didn't want her feeling even more miserable while she has to study for midterms.

Friday I had to go into work since the nursing home picked up after the holidays. Tom stayed home and sent my parents on their way. He also had received a phone call last Sunday night from SCott's Lego Club coach. She broke her ankle after being kicked by a horse while riding on vacation with the family in Costa Rica, so she asked Tom if he could take over. He held two meetings-one after school on WEds and one on Friday. They had a mad rush to prepare the team for the preliminary event scheduled on Saturday. Out of 22 teams, only 7 would be picked. Unfortunately, Tom found that the team was not completely prepared, and SCott was the only  one who knew how to program the robot to finish the task. So they lost some points for that, and for not being quite as sophisticated as some teams(optic laser lights included), but out of 22 teams, they came in 10th place! Not bad for a first time. The event lasted all day, and the boys were pretty pooped out. I stayed home and got Allison off to work after she spent the day doing schoolwork(getting ready for midterms).

ON Sunday we were flying out the door to head to DAve and Busters for Scott's birthday party. I attempted to schedule a party for him around his birthday on Nov 27th, but the place is so popular, they did not have any openings until Jan. 1st. I scheduled the party for Saturday but the Lego team had a competition. So it was set for Sunday. The kids(and a few adults) all had a great time playing unlimited video games and using their game cards to earn tickets to buy little trinkets. Scott brought home a new Dave and Busters cup and a huge stuffed pug after the kids pooled their tickets together to help him out. He also got a tshirt from D and B's. The kids barely sat down to eat lunch, and a few stopped for cake, but it was mostly a video game fest. Especially after we found out their unlimited video game cards were good all day. WE ended up spending the afternoon, until it was time to get Allison to work. Plus SCott still had some homework and studying to do. All in all a very cool birthday party. And Scott got plenty of gift cards! Enjoy the photos from the birthday party!

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