WOW! It certainly was a big weekend for those of us living in Baltimore! Did you happen to hear that the RAVENS WON THE SUPERBOWL!!! Baltimore is having one big party! This is our second win and Tom and I and the family were around to enjoy both events. Guess we picked the right outfits for our Christmas photo this year. Naturally we hosted the Super Bowl party. I am just glad Tom was in town for the festivities this year. We had about 20 people over to the house Sunday night. Neighbors brought all their good luck charms including a stuffed Raven and purple flamingo, stop lights and blankets and Raven hats. The mojo seemed to work but it certainly was an intense game, especially in the last quarter. We even put down wagers on each quarter and a few neighbors walked out with a few more bucks in their pockets(just not us). And of course there was plenty of food. Tom and I had started cooking and cleaning on Friday. Chili and Brats were the hit of the night. Along with chicken wings of course. And so the Ravens won like they usually do-not necessarily pretty, but they came out on top in the end with some amazing plays and dumb luck. Apparently there is supposed to be a parade downtown on Tuesday, but some of us will be working. And speaking of work, and school-it was pretty tough getting up this morning.

Especially since the football game was not the only highlight of the weekend. On Saturday I took Scott and his friend Sammy skiing for the day. I was going to take them skiing for Scout Day but we could not get enough people signed up for the group ticket price. Since I already promised the ski day, I decided to take them myself. We drove up to Pennsylvania and had a great afternoon skiing, even though it was very cold. We have been having snow and ice on and off all week and the kids keep getting out of school early or going in late. It was plenty cold to make snow at the ski hill, but it is not fun having it blow in your face while coming down the mountain. Thank goodness for goggles. But it did keep you from sliding down the hill on the ice patches. Scott and Sammy were all over the mountain, including the black diamond and double black diamond hills. I stayed happy on the beginner and intermediate hills until it was time to go. And of course, just like last year I had to drive home through a snow storm. I had to drop Scott's friend off and almost slid into their mailbox turning into the driveway. At least I got us home in one piece. I was up late worrying about Allison and Tom.

They had planned on going to a Hershey Bears hockey game. Tom found some tickets online and had to meet the guy selling the tickets in downtown Hershey. Turns out Tom decided to skip the outing since it was snowing pretty hard Saturday night and he and Allison went to dinner and a movie instead. Of course they went to see a movie I wanted to go to, and had planned on seeing with Allison this week. It is a cute looking Zombie movie where the guy comes back to life called Warm Bodies. Tom was not interested and it turns out he loved the movie. Figures. I do have good taste in movies.

Instead of the movie, I ended up seeing the Broadway play Beauty and the Beast with my neighbor Gloria. And naturally the play was on Sunday afternoon. Can I squeeze anymore activities into one weekend? Yes I can. I had to take Allison to the doctor on Friday afternoon for her yearly check up. Poor thing was stuck with the flu shot, as well as her second Hepatitis and Meningitis injections. Then we went out to dinner before Allison had to go to work. At least she was able to take off work on both Saturday and Sunday. That way she had time to study and recuperate from all her shots!

So a busy weekend to end a busy week. I had to drop off the cleaning supplies at a storage unit after work that we collected from our Girl Scout rollerskating event last weekend. I also had a rescheduled Girl Scout meeting for our upcoming Up All Night event at the mall on Monday night. My girls are manning an arts and crafts table that night for junior girl scouts. Then Tom had to go to the parent's meeting for boy scouts. And we both escorted Scott to his Boy Scout meeting last Weds as he was taking Cookie along to complete his Dog Care badge. He had to demonstrate a few of Cookies tricks, along with wrapping a bandage on her foot and placing a muzzle on her mouth. She was a very good dog model and the Scout co leader was very impressed. Scott's new troop is run by a husband/wife team and Mrs Galloway is the counselor for the Dog Care badge. Scott finished working on this badge almost two years ago but could not find a counselor to review his work. Until now. Congrats Scott! He was also busy with his swim lesson last week and will start a Fitness class at the Y next week to use towards his Personal Fitness badge.

  I also had to put together a few salads for the Teacher Appreciation luncheon on Weds morning. Allison said the teachers couldn't get enough of my taco salads. I just love that Allison is always at the school-she was able to pick up my bowls, as well as her brother after school let out.  We are certainly going to miss her this Fall when she goes off to college!

We have SCott signed up for almost every Eagle required badge at the next camping weekend in February. Scott worked on a presentation for his Communication badge too this weekend. He is going to discuss highlights of the upcoming summer camp to his new troop when he goes camping in a few weeks. Scott is the only scout to have attended this camp-Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania. So he made a power point presentation. And Tom even picked himself a Scout shirt and patches. So I guess we are official members now. Including the dog.

So it looks like we only have 6 more weeks of Winter according to the Ground Hog last Saturday. The kids are still hoping for some real snow days, not just delays.

Enjoy our Raven Fan Photos and Cookie goes to Scouts!