Happy Memorial Day! Here I am at the computer all alone again! Amazing! Tom just got on a plane headed for Chicago for the week. He was off to Texas last week. He decided Texas needed more trees. Scott is over swimming at a neighbors and having dinner, and Allison is eating dinner with the girl across the street(who is moving soon). So here I am. I just got home from work-putting in extra hours for holiday pay(double time!). Tom was home with the kids today. He managed to finish cutting the lawn and spreading weed killer. I had started on Friday, but it was just too rainy to finish. I was supposed to be off getting my hair done, but the girl I usually see did not come in. Doesn't she know how badly that screwed up my schedule? Now I have to sneak over this coming Friday in between all the activities I have planned. I was also supposed to take my girl scouts horseback riding but it rained and stormed so it was canceled. Probably better since Allison stayed home sick on Friday with a very bad head cold(which she shared with me!). She did manage to get to her piano lesson. And I was able to register her for lessons next year. I really didn't feel like I got anything accomplished on Friday. I even sent Scott off by himself with the cub scouts for an after school meeting and then he went with the Troop to the Veterans cemetery to help place flags at each gravestone. We all usually go as a family to help out, but Tom was off in Texas and Allison was sick and she had to get to her piano lesson. I was very grateful that the cub scout leader was able to take Scott and drop him off after getting him some dinner. I was also busy washing clothes and packing for our weekend trip to Williamsburg/ Busch Gardens.
So we all haven't been home very much this weekend. We drove down to Williamsburg on Saturday morning and spent the rest of the day at Busch Gardens amusement park. They put on a wonderful fireworks tribute to the US soldiers in the evening. On Sunday we headed to the water park-it was packed. We spent most of our time floating around the rapid river since the lines were so long for the water rides. Tom mostly caught up on his sleep. We all were a bit worn out from colds too. So when the sky looked a bit threatening with afternoon tstorms, we headed over to the movie theatre and caught the new Shrek movie. It was fun. After our favorite chinese food buffet, we headed home. A lot to do in a short period of time. We did miss out on two invitations to pool parties and cook outs on Sunday, but at least this way we did not have to decide which house to visit!
I was still worn out over the weekend from my week alone with the kids. Both had projects and tests to work on so homework kept us busy. Allison had two field hockey games and I had to rush home from work after picking Scott up at school and get her over to the fields(all very far away). And it was very hot last week-up in the 90s. With all the passing tstorms it is impossible to keep the windows open so it was back to the AC for us. I also got Scott to his gymnastics class-he is winding down for the year. He and another boy were the only ones at class, so the instructor worked on backwards and forward flips. Scott loved it.
I also had some errands to run like picking up the kids medical reports for summer camp and dropping off forms for summer camp and returning clothes and shoes that didn't fit at the stores and picking up clothes and shoes that did fit(for the upcoming wedding).
And now both Allison and I are still in need of haircuts and of course I have already filled our upcoming weekend. Allison and I are going on a sailing and camping trip(after I take the girl scouts horseback riding!) And once again I will be home all by myself! I just hope Allison did not miss too much at school on Friday since it was such a long holiday weekend. With finals coming up, I would hate for her to blow her hard work all semester. She did get some of her projects worked on over the holiday weekend besides getting some rest and having a little fun. She even did a little more clothes shopping when Tom picked up his and Scott's suit. And she visited with a classmate and made really terrific chocolate chip cookies(which we all shared!)
So I will let you know how this week works out(more tstorms on the way).
By the way Mark S, you mentioned participating in the Relay for Life CAncer run at night with the luminary candles lit all around the track there in Indy. The volunteer work that our family completed and earned free tickets to Disney was making all those luminary bags that are placed around the track-one for each person stricken with cancer. We helped prepare several hundred bags in one morning's time. OUr race has not been held yet here in Howard County.
Also, Scott's and Tom's favorite cartoon is also Phineas and Ferb. Scott even has a few tshirts(we love the platypus spy!)
Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday weekend.

So this past weekend was the shopping weekend(from you know where!). We were all off shopping for new wedding clothes for our nieces wedding in June. None of the kids had dressy clothes that fit them anymore-I had picked up 3 spring/summer dresses for Allison last season on sale and she's completely outgrown them. And Scott hasn't had a suit since his 1st Communion in 2nd grade. So we all had a lot of items to hunt for. Most of us did quite well. Tom and Scott both got new suits and fitted as well! Allison got a new dress and shoes and I managed to pick up a new dress and shoes, but nothing new for the wedding. Oh well, guess I will just have to rely on what I already have. I was so looking forward to an excuse for a new dress! We all spent about two days shopping last weekend. Now comes the hair cuts! Scott and Tom had their cuts, and even Cookie got a shorter summer clip. Allison and I are next.
Tom also had to get new tires for his car since one actually exploded while sitting in the driveway! Tom was out cutting the grass and he heard a loud explosion-they guy at Sam's Club said the tire had dry rot?! I was just glad he wasn't driving at the time. Must be chinese tires!
Besides spending all last weekend shopping, we also decided to host a pre Memorial Day dinner party. We have been invited to several upcoming pool and patio parties, but we just won't be in town for any of them. So since our neighbors across the street are getting ready to move, we thought we'd have them over with several other families last Sunday for dinner. Naturally, that means lots of grocery shopping, cooking and housecleaning(in between the kid's homework assignments). Our neighbor's actually had a offer on their house from one of Tom's coworkers, but they underbid by $20,000. Too low for our neighbors. We are still hoping for a new family with kids.
Allison also had a birthday party to attend on Saturday night so there was a lot of running around this weekend.
I decided Sunday would work out best to have everyone over for dinner since the weather was supposed to be rainy/stormy and we'd all be stuck inside anyhow. It actually turned out to be sunny so I kicked all the kids out of the house. We certainly have had a crazy spring-chilly, rainy and then hot! It has played havoc with those prone to allergies. And it makes it tricky to get the yard work in. I did get some flowers planted in my big pots by the garage and a few tomato and zucchini plants. Now I am slowly working my way around to the flower pots on the deck. And we have yet to order mulch. Our neighbors have been busy mulching and one family even discovered a very large turtle laying eggs out in their mulch pile on the driveway! The turtle ended up at an animal rescue facility and we'll have to see what happens to the eggs! Probably a snapping turtle. They actually live in the stream behind the neighbor's house. So we all had a very nice dinner and I think I finally mastered the art of Mom Bozyk's potato salad!
And Friday night Tom and I even managed to squeeze in a date as we headed off to Yappy Hour with Cookie at our favorite wine store in Olde Ellicott City! The owner of the store is an MSU horticulture grad and he usually hosts fund raisers/wine tasting events(nothing fancy). He usually donates 10% of the sales for the night to a special organization, and once a month he donates to the Animal Shelters. So he invites everyone to bring their dog and sample some wine. I discovered that it is not easy to drink wine and hold onto a dog while they are busy wrapping you up in their leashes trying to sniff one another! I never saw so many different types of dogs-it was like an AKC show! I think Cookie had fun-they had a few tables set up for wine tasting, a big bucket of water for all the dogs, free doggy treats from the Petco table, and my favorite, handmade chocolate candy tasting. I especially enjoyed the dark chocolate chipolte pepper truffles! And Tom enjoyed restocking our wine rack! Next time we will have to take the kids. Allison wasn't feeling well and stayed home with Scott so we ran out to dinner after dropping the dog back home.
Monday night we all headed over to Scott's school for a band/choir concert. I think we could have done with a little more singing and less of the band, especially the beginners. But we enjoyed hearing their winning pieces. Most of the schools in the area compete against each other at Hershey Park, and the Resurrection kids usually win every year.
Allison recuperated enough to start her Field Hockey Spring/Summer outdoor session. Her Monday night game was canceled due to rain so she joined us for Scott's concert. She was happy to run into a few of her old classmates. She did go off and play again on WEds night too. She is the team's only goalie so she plays the whole hour, and ended up covering for another team so she did not get home until late and she was worn out. She has been wrapping up the school semester requirements-she finished her last test on Midsummer's Night Dream. And now she has to put on the play with her classmates! Not to mention all the finals coming up in the next few weeks. She did not have to take any HS Assessment tests this year so she has had a fairly light schedule in her classes. She is also busy with end of the semester projects. She finished a big poster for spanish-labeling parts of a house all in spanish. She's also working on a cereal box for History with an American Hero figure featured. We all thought Neil Armstrong was a good character, but I can't convince Allison to call her cereal 'Moonies"! So she has been working on all these projects in between her regular assignments. She also has been going through training sessions to help with Confirmation Retreat again in the Fall. And Scott is just about done with tests and assignments too. We are trying to get some extra credit work done on top of his regular assignments too. He also had his last meeting of his Environmental Club at school. We missed out on our hike due to the possibility of rain-they canceled again on Saturday. And we were all supposed to meet for a bonfire at the Teacher in Charge's family farm, but instead they had a small bonfire for the kids at school with s'mores at their last meeting. Like I said, crazy weather. But that is what Spring is all about.
By the Way, A Big Happy Birthday to Stacey Seitz! And A Big Happy Birthday to Christopher Bozyk!
I am not looking forward to the week ahead as Tom will be out of town in Texas(at the very bottom) in the town of McAllen in the Rio Grande Valley. I will be trying to stay sane while keeping up with my schedule and the kids schedule too(all on my own)! Wish me luck! I will let you know how it goes. Kathleen

Wow-I actually have the house all to myself(unless you count the dog, cat, gerbils and fish). Scott is actually out playing with the neighbor boy. And I just sent Tom and Allison off to a Daddy/daughter rollerblading and/or dancing session with the girl scouts. I usually go rollerblading on the Girls Night Out with Allison in the Winter. So it is nice for Tom to have a chance to do something special with just the two of them. Of course, Tom skips the dancing part and both just enjoy the rollerblading part.
Scott has been trying to get in all the playing that he can with our neighbor's son since they will be moving soon-about 15 minutes west of our neighborhood. They just put their house on the market Friday and it has been crazy across the street from us all weekend with potential buyers. We are hoping for a family with kids at least Scott's age. Allison wouldn't mind more babysitting business. This is the family she babysits for every week since the mom teaches piano out of the house. Not sure Allison will be able to do the same next year unless the neighbor picks Allison up after school. Allison won't be driving for a couple of years yet on her own. The neighbor's will definitely miss the convenience of having Allison around anytime they need her(Allison even watches their cat for them when they are away). And I think they will certainly miss Tom and I as we have both been very good neighbors, helping out in anyway. Tom usually gets stuck with the manual labor and I watching kids. But they are moving out to the Estate section of Howard County(maybe we will still be invited over?!).
The weekend really flew by. Tom and I were actually both at work on Saturday. Our schedule was a bit off this past week since Scott was sick(fever and headache). Tom and I each took turns staying home with him for a day, so I swapped my day off for Saturday. I could not go in on Friday since I went to a shoulder/neck class(boy was I sore after a day of poking and prodding tight muscles). I even missed my morning with him for mom's day(muffins for mom). Oh well, at least Tom made Donuts for Dads. He is usually traveling and misses his day. It is an early morning open house for parents. They also have a Mass for Mary on Mom's Day and the kids that made their 1st Communion dress up again and receive communion with the rest of the school for the 1st time. I usually don't have time to stay for the mass, but I missed it all together this year. So instead we spent our days off with Scott trying to catch up on his missed classwork and homework.
He recuperated enough to go back to school on Thursday and participate in Sports Day. And then he was off on Friday. It was Tom's day off so they hung out together. Allison was supposed to be off, but she was making up a snow day. She said a lot of kids played hookie that day.
We were also supposed to go camping this weekend with the Boy Scouts in PA, but they cancelled the trip again. Too many other activities going on and the boys are actually ahead of their requirements, so they will try again in the fall. I was also going to take the kids to a nearby golf course for the Hot Air Balloon festival in celebration of the Preakness Horse Race at Pimlico. This is the second race following the Kentucky Derby. We did not get there since we had a bunch of tstorms roll through and that usually cancels hot air balloon activities. I also did not feel like getting up on Saturday morning for the predawn lighting of the hot air balloons.
Tom could have cared less about the Preakness and horse racing, he still has hockey fever. So off again we went to Hershey Park to see the Hershey Hockey Team play in their Caldor Cup finals on Saturday night. Tom needed someone to cheer on in hockey since Detroit is out of the Stanley cup finals. Sadly I had already farmed Allison off to babysit that night before Tom bought the tickets, so we invited our friend John Dutton to come along. Allison missed a very exciting game(I just didn't like seeing someone in the stands get hit with a puck). And we were pretty close to the ice ourselves. But we survived and the Bears won. And Scott picked up some candy in the Hershey Park store. Tom is ready for more hockey.
Sunday morning Allison was back altar serving the 9am mass covering for someone. She always gets such nice compliments from the lay people on how great a job she does. Since most of the kids are younger, they can use some guidance in their altar serving duties. And Allison was serving with our new Monsignor Dietzenbacher. And he is very picky. She did a fabulous job. Afterwards we helped sort books for the upcoming book sale at church. We love to dig through the piles for 1st choice on any books we would like to buy. Mostly cartoon books for us this year. We worked for over an hour and they still had not emptied all the boxes of donations. And I still needed to get Allison home so she could finish her homework before going off with Tom to rollerblade.
So the next few weeks will be a bit hectic as we work towards the end of the school year, so don't be surprised when I am behind in my blogging! Kathleen And keep up the good work in your Physical Therapy Laura. I loved seeing the picture of your xray-you will definitely set off alarms at the airport with all that hardware!

Happy Mother's Day! We started off our day with church-Allison served mass. Tom and the kids decided I needed a new bike. We went off after a great lunch to search for a new bike, but to me bike shopping is like looking for shoes. (I actually hate shoe shopping). You have to find the right fit, and most of the standard bikes in the sporting good stores and large box shops fit people over 5'2". I just happen to be a bit shorter than that. Needless to say, we didn't have much success. I may have to check in at the specialty shops. Guess for now I will keep my old bike(which I don't think ever fit well either, and I got that at a fancy bike store!). Allison had hoped we could spend the afternoon on a family bike ride, but it had turned quite cold and windy. I did manage to get outside late in the evening to clean up some leaves in my garden. I want to plant a few tomatoes, but I was still waiting until all possibilities of freeze warnings were over. It got so warm here earlier in the spring, everything popped up and open before I could rake out the beds. While I was busy trimming bushes and raking leaves, Tom invited the neighbors over for drinks since we had such a late lunch. We had to stay indoors since it was so chilly outside, but it was a nice break from yardwork. I had already cut the grass on Friday, and Tom finished up the back on Saturday morning. We were trying to beat the rain.
I actually spent most of Saturday outside with Scott on a nature hike with his environmental club. We were supposed to go on a guided canoe trip in the wetlands around the bay, but again, the winds were so strong and storms were passing through so the program coordinator axed our water trip. Instead, the storms all blew over and she took us on a hike through the forest and along the water's edge. We visited Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary about 1 hour south from our house. Scott and I had a lot of fun spotting lizards and snakes, Eagles and Osprey, cranes, beavers, turtles, fish and then scooping up all sorts of creatures out of the pond. I did not realize that salamanders are born in the water and then move to dry land. We caught a bunch of those, along with frogs and bugs. And in Maryland besides the usual turtles that live in the ponds, we have box turtles that live in the forest(like little tortoises). They had a lot of spots marked where the turtles have laid eggs. Scott had such a great time, he even stayed after the group left so he could catch more frogs in the stream. We really enjoyed our day and took a picnic lunch break before heading back home.
We met Tom and Allison at the pet store to finish up Cookie's last training lessons. We had some classes to make up since we were in LA. Tom and Allison came early to make up a class, and then stayed for graduation and testing. They played some games and the dogs had to follow all the commands. Of course, Cookie did the best. Afterwards, Scott and I stayed for one more make up class. We worked on Stay. The dogs are placed on mats in the back of the store and we tell them to "stay" while we walk around the store. Cookie is a bit farther along in her training than the other dogs, and all the other owners were totally amazed at how Cookie just stayed on her mat until we came back to get her while their dogs kept sneaking away. Of course we still have to keep working on these things. In the meantime, we are trying to get Cookie used to our electric fence in the front yard. She is now so scared of the fence, she doesn't even want to walk on the grass or go out the front door. If you take her out the front, she sneaks along the house with her tail between her legs and sits at the garage door until someone lets her back in. And to really make her crazy, Tom found a magnetic doggy door that only she can go through with her attachment on the collar. (The cat had figured out the other door, and she is an indoor cat). Cookie likes to let herself out, but the new magnetic door makes so much noise, it scares her every time she goes near it. She is slowly getting used to it though.
And on Saturday morning while Scott and I were off hiking, Allison was busy with an orientation course for the upcoming Fall Confirmation class. She enjoyed her confirmation retreat so much, she volunteered to help out with the following class, and wants to do it again this coming Fall. The kids start planning in the spring and work on and off all summer. She is looking forward to another fun year. She is also busy squeezing in her last semester of school work. We have been reading Shakespeare together-Midsummer Nights Dream. She also had to memorize a 20 line sonnet and present this week. I wasn't sure she could do it, but she worked at it all last week and was able to memorize all the lines, as well as explain its meaning. Not sure I could have done as well. Scott's school is busy cramming in a bunch of work as they wind down the school year at the end of the month.
I finished up my last Girl Scout Leadership meeting of the year. We are already filling out registration forms for next year-lucky me, the forms are usually preprinted and parents just sign them, but mine came back blank. Lovely, more work for me. I also went to a GS International Travel club meeting-the first of its kind. I was hoping to join up with other scout troops and work together on fund raising to make some money to travel overseas with the girls after HS graduation. I would love to take the girls to England and stay at our GS headquarters. They do a nice tour of London and a day in Paris too while you stay at the GS lodge. Unfortunately, this group is only looking for 2 parents to take about 18 girls. I really don't want to be responsible for someone else's daughter, and my coleader would prefer to travel with us as well. So we'll see. Last year we went to Williamsburg and had a great time. The London trip sounds wonderful, but we could end up somewhere else(or nowhere at all!).
Friday Tom took off a few hours from work around lunch time so we could go see Iron Man 2. We liked it since we had seen IM 1. I also had to run over to school to drop off a plate of brownies for their Vera Bradley Bingo fundraiser(we get volunteer hours for baking!)
The usual busy week. A Big Happy Birthday to Mark Seitz. And we hope Stacey Seitz hurries up and recovers from her arthroscopic knee surgery, especially since she has to walk down the aisle for her wedding on June 12th. Good Luck also with the Nursing Boards Stacey! You certainly have packed a lot of activities into the next few months as well! Congrats again on the new house and Graduating from Nursing School and your job offer! (Sounds like my schedule!).
Kathleen

Happy May! I hope I did not wear all of you out catching up on my blogs. I wore myself out just typing(and trying to input photos). As we end the month of April, we wrap up the monthly celebration of OT month. That's right, we Occupational Therapists have an entire month dedicated to our profession. This usually means more work for us OTs trying to explain to everyone what we actually do. So I made a fun poster describing adaptive equipment that we recommend for everyday life with lots of photos - Allison was my model. I set up a demo table during the lunch hour at work at the Retirement community and raffled off some goody bags I put together. My new boss wanted to extend the experience, so she took over my table during the dinner hour(I was busy treating patients-we have a very early dinner hour). So it seemed to be a great success. Even Mom's have homework. Happy OT month Laura! Hope your therapy is going well!
The kids are back to a busy school week too! Tom even helped out with Scott's science class this week by presenting a lesson in Simple Machines to the entire 4th grade class(in two shifts). The kids were absolutely amazed when Tom set up a lever system and two kids were able able to lift him up. The power of the lever! Scott also made a great assistant. The teacher thought it was great and really appreciated the extra support to her lessons. Plus we needed to add to our 30 hour required volunteer time we need to put in at Scott's school. The past several years Tom has been organizing and running a Science Fair for the school. He was hoping the teachers or administrators would take over the responsibility and add it to their classwork. No such luck. So this year he decided to just help out Scott's class. Also, he usually signs up for an outreach program with Northrop that donates funds to the school if the guys come in and put on some type of presentation in science and engineering. Tom missed the sign up this year as he was busy traveling, so he didn't feel as obligated to put on a big program this year. It just frustrates us when we try to talk to the powers that be at the school about expanding the science program and we are told "We are too busy". Sadly it is the kids that lose out. Usually in high school they are required to participate in the science fair. Allison and Scott are certainly prepared. And it makes no sense to me since the Archdiocese of Baltimore is planning on establishing a STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math program) at several catholic elementary schools for middle school kids. I am so hoping they would pick Resurrection since I know Scott would absolutely love it.
I already have him signed up for an Elementary Engineering class at summer camp. He would have loved the robotics class too, but it was already full back in February. He gets to balance it out with Pets n Vets. I spent part of Friday filling out summer camp referrals. Allison will be taking a PSAT prep class, and helping with GS camp. We are headed to another orientation class tonite. She is going to be assisting with archery and the instructors hope to certify the girls as Instructors themselves. That would be a great addition to Allison's list of skills(and just like her Daddy since Tom was an archery instructor himself).
We also spent a few hours at a school fund raiser at Barnes and Noble bookstore in the evening listening to Scott and the school choir sing. They had a busy week as they sang during the school mass with a special guest, John Angotti, a christian musician that writes his own music. The kids even sang one of his songs, "Feed My Lambs" and he was very impressed. They still have a few more concerts before the end of the school year.
We also spent our weekend on a Cub Scout field trip to a Baltimore candy factory. The Moore Candy shop is actually located in the basement of a 100 yr old house in Baltimore. They were voted one of the Top 5 CAndy stores in the US from Food Network. The owners were and are very involved in Scouting , and they used to sell the candy as a fund raiser for camping. We had our own little tour, and even got to make our own candy. Yum.
And if you were not aware, last Saturday was free comic book day! Just so happens as I was driving down the street from the candy factory, I spotted some balloons and guys on the street dressed in super hero costumes. Hmm. What could that mean? Anyway, I located a comic book store and the kids and I stopped in to pick out our free comic books while Allison shopped for Teen Titans books and Scott found himself a Nintendo Mario and Yoshi character. Too bad Tom opted not to join us that morning.
That Afternoon, I took Cookie to two dog training classes(she had a scheduled class and a makeup class). We are working on stay and heel. She is doing very well.
And since the weekend weather was so hot and gorgeous, we decided to join Matt and Di and their boys at their house to celebrate all the April birthdays and break in the swimming pool. I couldn't believe we were already in the pool at the beginning of May! Although I mostly stayed in the hot tub!
Overall it was a very busy and fun week. More later! Kathleen and Family
I also looked at our summer vacation schedule. Looks like we will be heading to Michigan the week of July 19-23 so if anyone else has any plans for summer vacation in Michigan, we will be hanging out at the Bozyk's summer house in Charlevoix. We will probably leave Allison there again for a few weeks, and pick her up in August so she can be home for Field Hockey which starts August 14th.