What a busy week! Tom was busy freezing in Chicago at a class. We were busy freezing here in Baltimore. We finally got some snow.  And ice. The kids had a late start to school on Thursday and were sent home early due to an incoming snow storm last Friday.

It slowed things down at the airport for Tom to return to Baltimore. And our entire Friday schedule was cancelled. I had planned on taking Scott to the doctor for his yearly physical, but I did not feel like fighting the rush hour traffic in a snow storm. So he is rescheduled. They also cancelled his Boy Scout event on Saturday at a local state park. They just can't get all the roads plowed in time. The boy scouts run this event each year for cub scouts. Scott was volunteering to get his service hours completed for rank requirements. They rescheduled for the end of February. They work on scout skills like fire building and first aid and the cub scouts hike from station to station. One year that Scott participated we had to hike through 2 feet of snow pulling our wagon(supposed to be a sled like the Klondike) through the woods, up and down hills and over fallen trees. That was quite the experience. He prefers running the event and staying in one place.

I also had a Girl Scout meeting that was cancelled and rescheduled. Same problem-can't get the streets plowed at the GS camp fast enough and it snowed from 2-9pm.  So I will have another busy week ahead of me trying to catch up with the cancelled events. At least Allison had plenty of time to finish her homework for the weekend since she got out of school so early and did not have to go to her internship as SCott's school closed early too. She was also home with Scott on MLK day Monday and she had Tuesday off as well. It gave her lots of time to help out with her internship and work on her Girl Scout Gold Award project. Plus she had to work Monday afternoon since school was out and the rollerskating rink was open. It was a good thing she had some extra free time because she was plenty busy this past weekend. Not only was she working as a skate guard, but we ran our Girl Scout rollerblading event at the rink on Saturday and Sunday. We ended up with a late night event on Saturday for the first time due to a scheduling error, so we had a lot less girls participating. Even so, it was still a crazy night as young girls kept falling down and banging their heads, elbows and wrists. One girl was taken to the hospital as she twisted and banged her knee so badly she couldn't walk. And I was the First Aider! I just kept passing out bags of ice. I had 12 injured girls. Allison was out on the floor the whole evening, but a few of my scouts were helping to check in the girls. We also collect cleaning supplies as a service project, so my van is full of buckets and smells great since I have to drop it all off. And we got to do it all again on Sunday night! Although it was a shorter event, and Allison  helped out with the scouts after she finished her work session. And then she had to leave for Field Hockey! She really got a work out as the other team was so very good and took a lot of shots on her. Sadly they lost.

I managed to get into a heated discussion with our new Girl Scout Council Leader. She has an overly anxious daughter that was injured while skating and the mom had an issue with stopping by the First Aid Station. She informed me her daughter was a germaphobe and couldn't go anywhere near our First Aid station, although they sat in the cafeteria where people were trying to eat while I filled out the form and passed out an ice bag. I guess she didn't read the part of our law that says "Be a Sister to Every Girl Scout"

 I have also been busy running around looking for everything purple! If you are not aware, our Ravens play in the Super Bowl this coming weekend. Don't know if they'll win, it is just fun trying! I did buy the family the AFC Champion tshirts though.  Wouldn't you know we offered to host the super bowl party. What a surprise! Guess I will be busy cleaning and cooking next week. And I spent most of Friday doing my grocery shopping(but not all of it).

I was also trying to be in two places at once last week since Tom was out of town.  Allison and I were invited to dinner from her GS Shadow Day mentor. We met her at an italian restaurant in Olde Ellicott City. First Allison had to drop Scott off to a laser tag event with the boy scouts. I met Allison at the restaurant and we had a very nice dinner(which Jeannette paid for) and we even got gifts from her trip to Europe last summer. Allison got a purse from Paris and I got tea and chocolates from London. And then I had to run and pick up Scott, except the boy scouts finished early and some Dad dropped Scott off at the house. Except Scott didn't have a key and couldn't remember our pass code for the garage door, so he hung out at the neighbor's house until I got home. I found out he'd already been dropped off after I ran to pick him up! Too crazy. Next week Scott will be taking Cookie to scouts to show off her skills for his Dog CAre badge. He even gave her a bath this weekend so she'd look her best when he wraps a bandage around her foot and ties a muzzle around her mouth for the demo!

On Thursday I took SCott to his swim lesson. He will also be starting a gym class at the Y in two weeks to help him towards his personal fitness badge.  Scott was also busy pet sitting for our neighbors this weekend when they went off to the Poconos for a ski trip. I am glad we can keep him busy!

Here are the Girl Scouts at the Rollerblade rink doing the Hokey Pokey on skates! (Allison is in the center). She had all the Girl Scouts recite the law and even taught

  

Here is Allison and her birdhouse project for Girl Scouts. And Cookie is snuggling with her best friend!



What an Unbelievable Football Game! There is a lot of celebrating going on in Baltimore and a lot of Purple Pride as the Ravens beat the Patriots and head to the Super Bowl! We enjoyed the game with our neighbors Sunday night. We were invited over to several homes to watch the game with our neighbors, but we decided to stay close to home since we had to drop Allison off to work. She was also supposed to play Field Hockey Sunday night, but no one was showing up so they cancelled the games. They rescheduled the games for the end of the season. They already cancelled the games on Super Bowl Sunday! But Allison still has to work, so she is not too happy.


What a nice ending to a nice weekend. We finally got some sunshine and warmer weather after a rainy week. We just missed out on a small snowstorm. We have some snow moving in next week. The kids keep hoping for a few snow days this year. I hope it stays a bit on the cold side because my daffodils started popping up!

The kids certainly had an intense week of studying and tests. Allison seemed to sail through her midterms. Scott had his own tests and special projects to squeeze in. Tom had to give him a crash course in making a power point presentation on the computer. He had to do a presentation on vacationing in Canada. He also had swim lessons, but they were cut short when the pool was contaminated. And he assisted with a cub scout open house with his new boy scout troop. He also finally got a merit badge counselor to start looking over his dog care badge. Now he has to schedule time to bring Cookie in and show off her skills(ie sit).

And both kids only had a half day on Friday, so I thought Scott could use a free day. I picked Scott and his friend Sammy up from school and we went out to lunch. That evening I took the boys to the Y so they could swim. They were supposed to have a Pool Party, but it turned out to be just an Open House, so no fun games in the pool that night. Afterwards we picked up pizza and the boys played computer games. I had Sammy sleep over. The next day I took the boys rollerblading while Allison worked. I then had to drop Sammy off at his house so I could get to a dinner meeting with the girl scout leaders that are putting on a rollerblade event of our own this coming weekend.

Tom and Allison decided to catch a Hershey Bear Hockey game Friday night so Allison switched her work schedule and they both drove up north. Tom is very happy to have NHL games back too. He is talking about taking Allison to a DC CApitals game. 

It was nice not to have to clean the house and cook and shop for lots of food on Sunday. Instead, Scott and I enjoyed the 9am mass as Scott had to alter serve. We were quite saddened though when we came out of mass and discovered someone had broken out the windows of the minivan parked behind us and stolen a purse, cell phones and other electronic gizmos. Amazing that someone was that bold as to break into a car in the church parking lot on Sunday morning.

Since Allison was done with studying over the weekend, I had Tom supervise her birdhouse building project. She wanted to make a bluebird house to mount one of the decoys on it for her GS project:The Bird Trail. She measured out a  model, and then they bought the supplies and Tom helped her cut out the wood and assemble the project on Sunday. I keep bugging Allison to work on her project when she has some free time since she only has until June to get this done. And the time will fly by!

So Tom is heading off to Chicago next week. I hope he packed his puffy coat!


 

(Here is Allison's toothpick bridge that was able to hold up 80 lbs before exploding into a million pieces! )



Contrary to popular belief, Saturday was a Great Football Day! However, most of us here in Baltimore don't think our delicate systems can take too much of the creative plays of the Baltimore Ravens!


I was not too excited that Tom ended up inviting a few neighbors over to watch the game on Saturday at our house(he decided Friday night after no one else stepped up to host a football party). Tom prefers to watch our big tv from the comfort of our own couch anyway.  So it was back to cleaning, grocery shopping and cooking for me on Saturday. Not how I planned on spending the day.  Fortunately the house was not too messy since we had just completed a massive cleaning the weekend before with our White Elephant party. And Tom preordered pizza so I did not have to do a lot of cooking. I did make a batch of Buffalo Chicken Dip and had SCott make a few batches of Hershey kisses peanut butter blossom cookies. And the game lasted forever-4 1/2 hours! The neighbors arrived at 4 and did not go home until 9pm.  So I did not get too much done the rest of the day. But since the RAvens beat the Broncos, they will be playing again next week(MLK holiday weekend), and the neighbors were kind enough to host the next round. Actually several neighbors have volunteered to host the game.

So while I was getting ready for the football party,  Tom was busy undecorating the outside of house. Our neighbor was concerned that Tom would be standing out in the freezing cold pulling lights off bushes, but the weather was very cooperative and we have been having quite mild days. I had asked Tom to wait one more weekend, past the Feast of the Epiphany to take down the lights since I wanted some decorations up while we were hosting the White Elephant party. Now we both have to rearrange the attic and clean out the garage. We have an awful lot of camping gear and Christmas decorations to haul up the tiny ladder to the garage attic(it kills my hip every time!). No sooner will I have everything put away then I will be dragging something down again! In the meantime, Tom is trying to rebuild our Weber grill. Our grill gets used a lot year round since our weather is pretty mild most of the time. I got him a new rotisierre for Christmas, but he wants to hold out for a Weber model(sturdier for those heavy turkeys). He also needs to change out the starter(so I can light the grill when he is not at home). And the burners needed cleaned out to avoid hot spots. Looks like we can at least use it to grill steaks for dinner tonight though!

I was also busy this weekend helping Scott with some homework assignments. He had a very busy school workload last week-lots of tests and a big lab report. He also had just two days to memorize the provinces and major cities in Canada(he did very well). And he started back to his swim lessons. He missed the tryouts this year for swim team at the Y or any other place in the area with his broken arm. So we thought he should keep up with practice. We are also looking into a Fitness Class starting in Feb. He could use the workout, especially since he missed sign ups this fall for any sports and he is looking to work on his Boy Scout Personal Fitness badge too.

He officially started his new troop and already it is a lot less crazy and more organized than the last group(bigger Troop). We are looking forward to some of the outings scheduled in the upcoming months for Scott to attend. He also finally met up with a Merit Badge counselor to review his Dog Care Badge that he finished last year. The last counselor had quit from his troop before Scott could review the work. And Friday I was busy dropping off his scout shirt to have all the new patches put on at the laundromat.

I also had to take the cat in to the vet on Friday for her "Old Cat Check up". Pika is 13 yrs old and considered a senior. So far she has passed with flying colors:good blood pressure and even gained a half pound! Wow-she is up to 7.5lbs. I think it is because she keeps eating but sleeps more. She has even started snuggling with Allison rather than just me(I think because the dog gets in the way and demands my attention too). I also spent part of the day on the phone making appointments for the kids yearly check ups. The flu has really spread to Maryland and neither one of the kids had vaccinations this year. Tom spent a day at home sick on the couch after throwing up in the morning. I think he had a stomach virus that is going around, but it could have been the flu since he was not vaccinated. I always get a vaccination since I am around lots of old and sick people. I don't want the flu and I don't want to share germs with my family. Right now my nursing home and the Assisted Living facility are under quarantine for stomach virus and respiratory problems like bronchitis and pneumonia. So the sick residents are not supposed to go anywhere, but we still have to work around them. So far I just feel like I have a small cold myself but that is about it.

Allison however is hanging around lots of little kids that get sick at school and the kids at the rollerblade sports club. So far this year her Kindergarten teacher supervisor has had Strep Throat and Shingles over the holiday break. Allison just seems to have caught a bad cold herself. I hope that is all she gets. Especially since she has mid term exams coming up this week. And she did not get much rest last week either. She had several tests last week in preparation for midterms, as well as turning in her toothpick bridge project for Physics. Her and her partner's bridge was able to support 80lbs! And it had a limit on how much it could weigh. They were under the weight limit and over the resistance. Now she just had to get through her tests. And she was very busy working at the skating rink this weekend too. She had a double shift and had to work a Girl Scout event. Sadly the GS parents weren't very nice and would not listen to Allison. She should have given them the lecture about being "A sister to every Girl SCout."   And after work this Sunday, she had Indoor Field Hockey. Then there was piano on Friday night. Tom and I are so glad she can drive herself! I think she will be looking forward to a break at college! We just officially accepted her admission to Salisbury University. At least we did not have to squeeze in a choir workshop as it was cancelled due to low attendance.

And Tom and I skipped my work party on Saturday night(Tom hates the loud music and preferred to stay at home to watch the football game). They have a yearly holiday party at one of our large convention halls in Baltimore with good food, but it is not Tom's idea of a good time. He was much happier on the couch cheering on the Ravens. Which is what we will be doing again next weekend!

Here is a shot of our White Elephant Party with our neighbors along with a few shots of Scott's Birthday party at Dave and Busters. Scott turns 13! Have you ever seen a 4 way air hockey table? That was just crazy. They even have a roller coaster simulator(bottom photo). 



So it looks like we survived another year! Regardless of what the Mayans thought.


We started off the New Year quietly and at home(imagine that). We spent New Year's Day watching the Rose Bowl Parade, walking the dog, cleaning, doing laundry and putting away Christmas gifts. That is because most of the stores we would have gone to were closed. And it was fun to sleep in! Plus I had spent most of New Year's Eve shopping. Scott desperately needed some new dress shirts for his school uniform since he has decided to outgrow all of his clothes before the school year ended. So I had the opportunity to drag him off and have him try on shirts and gym clothes since the store was open on Monday. And we were in search of sparklers and poppers for New Year's Eve.

But on Weds the kids were back to school. Scott started his new Boy Scout Troop. Tom took him so he could sign up as well. So now Scott needs a whole bunch of new patches sewn on his scout shirt. I think we will all enjoy this troop a bit more since they are a bit larger and more organized. And Scott knows a few boys in the troop from his school which helps.

We were all pretty tired by the end of this week, even if it was a short one. I worked Weds to Friday. The kids had school Weds to Friday. And Tom actually had the whole week off. He stayed home on Weds and ran a few errands, as well as installing his new sound bar for his large tv. He had purchased a sound bar online before Thanksgiving and the speaker started buzzing(seems to happen when you buy a discount rebuild). So fortunately the company he bought it from replaced it with a brand new sound bar. As you may or may not know, the new tvs are so skinny, they have no place to put big speakers. So you have to buy and install fancy Bose speakers in your wall, or you can buy a sound bar and put your tv on top of it so it sounds like stereo(I just love technology!). Anyhow, it does sound better(and no more buzzing).
So Tom was looking at two more days off work and I mentioned I needed a closet organizer installed in Allison's closet, and he discovered that he really needed to go to work because he had so much to do there! But at least he did not have to use any vacation days.

We were pretty pooped out by the time we hit Friday, but our schedules did not slow down. Allison had to go to work, so Tom and I decided to drop her off and go see a movie around the corner from the Roller Rink. Tom has been itching to see Django. He even invited our neighbors to join us. And he was very happy to finally see it(even though it was 2 hrs and 45 minutes long). He was so anxious to see the movie, we arrived an hour before it started. And it did not start until 30 minutes later after all the movie trailers. (We were running a bit late to pick Allison up from work). And even though it was your typical violent Quentin Tarantino movie, we both still really liked it. Now we just need to see Skyfall and the Jack Reacher movie and we will be caught up with all the hit movies.

It was a busy start to a busy weekend. Allison got up early on Saturday for her piano lesson and had work Saturday night.  I was off grocery shopping and running errands. I invited most of our neighbors over Saturday night for a White Elephant party(you bring a gift and pick and steal from each other). Gifts can be nice or nasty. It is a good way to regift items if necessary. I always like to pick up discount holiday items from Costco or Sam's Club. My gift was very popular and was stolen 3 times-a gift bag full of chocolates, including chocolate liquors. Also a small leg lamp night light from The Christmas Story was passed around several times. Tom liked it so much, he went and bought his own since someone stole it from him. Sometimes the gifts can get pretty crazy, but most everyone was pretty calm this year. And by the way, no kids! Not all the neighbors could come either since many people were still away on vacation or had other parties to attend. And rather than serve a big dinner, we all brought appetizers and dessert to snack on. Thanks for the wine and beer Laura and Dan. It came in handy for our party! I just wish someone had told me they dropped an entire bottle of red wine in the kitchen! I don't usually mind putting on parties at our house since it is a good excuse to give the house a big cleaning. But I prefer not to have to do even more cleaning after the party is over! We all decided the next big neighborhood event will be an outdoors block party in June.

And the parties did not stop there! Sunday Scott was up early to altar serve, and then we were off to Dave and Busters for Scott's Belated Birthday party. They have video games, plus pool and bowling along with lots of food and drink. Little did I know that it was in competition with the Ravens/Colts football game. The place was packed with Raven fans, a few Colts fans and even Redskin fans since the DC team played right after. No matter. The kids all had unlimited video game cards for the day, so Tom and I sat and enjoyed the football game at the bar while the kids played(we even took some time to play a few video games ourselves, along with air hockey.)  And the day was even more exciting with the Ravens win over the Colts!

So now we are all exhausted.   

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  We enjoyed our Christmas in Michigan with Mom and Dad Bozyk. We would have left on the Saturday before Christmas, but a nasty snow storm was blowing through the mountains of Pennsylvania. We decided it was not worth the risk. So we left on Sunday and had a great drive and arrived in time for dinner.

Christmas eve Tom spent the day setting up a computer for Mom and Dad Bozyk to join our email chats and photo swapping. We ended up at the 4pm Christmas mass and were stuck in the kids cry room. That was a whole new experience! We almost heard the choir and the homily. It felt like one big party! With screaming kids! Afterwards we drove through a nasty snow storm that popped up to my parent's friend's house, The Dugans for a Christmas Eve party. All of the Dugan family members get together every year on Christmas Eve to exchange gifts, eat lots of food and enjoy some yearly traditions like singing Christmas carols, reading the Night Before Christmas, listening to the Soldier's prayer and most importantly, acting/singing the Twelve Days of Christmas. I added to the program this year with a discount price list of all the items in The Twelve Days of Christmas. Normally those items would cost around $25,000. I found a discount  price list of about $400! And it was fun catching up with all the Dugan kids and their children.

On Christmas Day we spent the morning opening lots of gifts. Big presents included new luggage for Allison and I since we have lots of trips planned this coming year. And Tom picked up a new printer for Allison for college next year. WE also bought Mom and Dad a 32 inch flat screen television. We had thought their cable guys had run a cable line to their master bedroom but that was not the case. Instead they installed the line in a second bedroom with the computer, so now Mom and DAd Bozyk are enjoying their new Media Room! The tv also came with a DVD player so they can watch movies. After opening gifts our family headed out to see Les Miserables. We tried a new movie theater called Emagine-they have a bar and seat side food service, but my favorite was the unlimited popcorn refills! Tom was not terribly interested in seeing Les Mis, but decided he really enjoyed it. He also decided Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman couldn't sing(and they do that a lot). But he liked the story line since he had never seen it before. And he still wants to see Djanga and Skyfall and the Tom Cruise movie. Maybe New Year's day. WE ended Christmas Day with a great dinner and a Christmas cartoon "Arthur's Chrismtas". I also made the family watch a few DVD series from the History channel called  "How the States Got Their Shapes". We learned that Michigan and Ohio are big rivals because of  the Toledo War where they fought over the rights to Toledo for the shipping on the river. They had lots of clips of the UofM/Ohio State football games.

Weds we stayed put during a snow storm. Scott, Grandpa and I did a lot of shoveling(not so much for Scott). He could not grasp the concept of shoveling while it was still snowing. Tom and I also snuck out before the snow early in the morning to do some post Christmas shopping. Tom was checking on Christmas lights at Home Depot-not much to choose from and not a great sale. I was interested in visiting the Hallmark for post Christmas ornament sales. Tom also spent part of the day doing some handiwork around the Bozyk house including patching drywall in the laundry room ceiling from old roof leaks. 

Thursday the sun came out and we hit the Mt Holly ski slopes with our friends the Hejza's. Tom and Laura opted for a day reading in the ski lodge while the rest of us braved the slippery slopes and cold wind. And no one fell down or injured themselves! All in all a good day. Especially with our visit to the Hejza's afterwards, lots of good food and drink and presents.

We usually enjoy spending the night with the Hejza's so we can stay up late playing games and visiting, but this time we were planning on driving up to EAst Lansing to visit the MSU campus Friday morning. We thought since Allison was accepted to MSU, we should give her a true Michigan experience-shuffling around campus in the snow. Most of the buildings were closed, but we did the online outside driving tour. We also walked around the Beaumont Bell Tower(which apparently had not been working since Tom and I graduated), visited the MSU Union building(recently remodeled) and spent some time in the Brand New Modern Art Museum which looks just as bad on the outside as the art on the inside. It reminds me of a big chrome bumper that someone dropped off next to Grand River. The building probably would have worked on another site of the campus, but it just does not fit in with the traditional brick buildings. Guess that was the point. We also discovered the MSU store near purchasing and spoke to the Admissions staff to find out how Allison could be considered a Michigan resident to attend school. Unfortunately, she would have to live in Mich. for a year, work and pay taxes, but would not be allowed to take any classes during that time. And Allison was not so sure she enjoyed the thought of trudging through the snow to classes. But we did enjoy our unique tour of the campus, and the kids really enjoyed being attacked by the MSU ducks and we spotted a red tail hawk on the ground with a black squirrel snack. And of course lots of shopping at the MSU bookstores.

We needed MSU wear to attend the MSU hockey game at the Joe Louis Arena with Dad Bozyk on Saturday afternoon. Sadly they lost to Western in overtime. But MSU won their bowl game that night against Texas Christian in San Antonio. It was just on so late we could not stay up to watch the whole game. We did get to sing our MSU fight song though as the Alumni Band showed up at the hockey game.

On Sunday we decided to drive home to Baltimore(in between the snow storms). We took Cookie along on our trip-she enjoyed running in the 8 inches of snow that fell on Weds. I had plenty of time on New Year's Eve to run some errands, unpack the car from our trip and do laundry. We decided to invite our neighbors over for New Year's to practice playing some Euchre. Not sure that they caught on, but it was fun and kept us up until Midnite.

So Happy New Year! I am going to go watch the Rose Bowl parade. The kids are back to school tomorrow and I will head back to work. Tom is home until next Monday.  He's already installed my new spice rack in the cupboard-very nice pull out tray to find the spices! Next project is a closet organizer.

Enjoy our Holiday photos-Christmas at the Bozyk House in Michigan, Skiing at Mt Holly with friends, The Ugly Art Museum at MSU, along with the duck attack, red tail hawk snacking on squirrel, and our MSU Beaumont Bell Tower, Christmas bliss, (I think Allison has made her college choice at Salisbury University) and the girls read The Christmas Tea at the Dugan's party.
Kathleen