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

One more week and counting(until Halloween). It finally stopped raining long enough for the kids and I to finish putting up Halloween decorations outside the house. But of course I had a big pile of leaves to rake up first. I was just glad I didn't have to shovel snow! The Penn State game in Harrisburg Pennsylvania had to cancel their tailgating parties since they had 9 inches of snow on the ground last weekend! We got swamped with rain-I see most of it came up from Houston-they had flooding in their area. At least it got warmer here. But as I said we missed out on pumpkin and apple picking last weekend cause it wouldn't stop raining and the fields were closed. I just managed to pick up some pumpkins for the kids and I to carve at the grocery store this weekend. A lot of places were already sold out. I had a tough time finding a corn stalk for my scarecrow in the front of the house. I guess stores are cutting back on inventory this year.
And just to make things more interesting, my company filed for bankruptcy this week! Of course, we employees found out from the Tuesday newspaper, the residents and the television news. We are always the last to know. Looks like I will still be employed(for now)at our retirement center since we were the first community and we are still running pretty strong. I am just not sure how it will affect all the other facilities. We were all interconnected, all around the US and now they are talking about each community being a separate entity. Apparently the real estate portion of our corporation filed for bankruptcy. They were several billion dollars in debt. Our turnover has been slow since the housing market took a dive and investments were lost. Not as many older residents were moving in and Erickson overbought and over built-too much too fast. Looks like the Erickson family is out of the picture. Fortunately my type of work is in demand in other venues, so I am not worried about having a job; I am just sorry to see the company take such a bad turn. It really is a good company to work for and a well meaning organization with lots of perks. But not any more. Although, the well meaning is still there. And of course the residents are still there, and they still need services. If I hear anymore I will keep you all informed.
While I was busy experiencing bankruptcy, Tom was off lecturing to students at MIT for their yearly conference. Sounds like he had a nice time.
We were busy as usually trying to run around and be in 2 different places at the same time. Allison finished up her field hockey season with 2 games early in the week. The game on Monday was a makeup for the rained out game the week before, and Tuesday was the last scheduled game. I was just disappointed(and so was Allison) that she did not get to play either game. I guess her coach is more concerned about her record. Both games ended in a 0-0 tie. Allison was just sad that the team did not congratulate her like they did the other goalie at the end of the last game. Anyhow, she kept the goalie equipment so she can play on a winter league. And now she has been taking the bus home after school instead of going to practice. We would still like her to keep up with some kind of training and exercise though since it has really been good for her overall health. Just running those two milers at practice is enough to kill ya!
Her school celebrated Homecoming this week. The High School kids got to dress up during the week, a different theme each day. I made Allison wear the viking helmet we bought at Busch Gardens on Spirit day(all her teachers loved it). We also enjoyed a pasta dinner at school on Weds night to support the school teams. We did not make it to the pancake breakfast on Saturday morning, but we did run out in the rain to watch the Mt Hebron parade go down our street. I am glad Allison is not in band! They were out marching in the pouring rain, and the big game was cancelled halfway through due to a thunderstorm on Saturday afternoon! They had to reschedule the final half for this coming Monday! We however were not at the game-Tom(back from Boston) and Scott had gone off for the day to practice rope tying and building shelters and bridges(in the rain) with the cubscouts. It was WeebeloRee camp weekend, but Scott and Tom did not sleep over.
On top of everything we were trying to do, we decided to all get sick this weekend too! Allison had it the worst, and then probably Tom. Doesn't look like the H1N1, but a good dose of a headcold and perhaps some stomach bug. Scott and I actually had the regular flu vaccination already, but not Tom and Allison. Allison is already overdo on some shots, including the menigitis vaccination. And they are offering the H1N1 flu shot at her school but she is too scared to get a shot there and she wants me to take her to the doctor office. I would still like her to get the regular flu shot first and then wait a few weeks for the swine flu vaccination, but I am afraid they will run out. And the little kids are getting the nasal spray which Allison would prefer but it is not being offered to kids over 12.
So Tom opted not to sleep in a wet, drippy tent all weekend and instead he got Scott through his Webelo requirements and came home.
Allison and I on the other had a great time enjoying The Fiddler on the Roof at our Hippodrome theater in downtown Baltimore. The original actor from the 1970s movie version, Topol, was touring with the group. Allison is not as familiar with all the music as I am, but she enjoyed the songs and thought Tevye was very funny, especially when he was talking to God. Now I want her to watch the movie-she is not so sure she can sit through another long production. This musical play was 3 hours long! Definitely got our money's worth on that one. We didn't have a break until 2 hours into the musical. That would not be so bad if the seats were a bit more comfortable. They are very small(historical site) and our seats were in a front row with a lovely bar directly in our sight of vision. I had to spend all three hours sitting forward on the edge of my seat to see the play. My neck got a bit sore but I loved the music anyway! Afterwards, we met Scott and Tom for dinner at Fuddruckers.
And then Allison was off to her homecoming dance with some girlfriends. Fortunately she had Sunday to get some rest and finish studying for the science test she missed on Friday.
Since the kids were not feeling well, I let them stay home on Friday. Instead, I went off to school in Scott's place. It was Grandparent's Day, so I went to Resurrection to help out. I spent a few hours serving coffee and donuts and then cleaned up afterwards. I have some lovely packets and magnets to send to our Grandparents who don't get the chance to travel here to Baltimore. Apparently there are some brave souls out there that actually fly in or drive from out of state to spend this day with their grandkids. I was happy to have had the chance to see how the program is set up-and find out that there are some pretty amazing grandparents out there including a few retired NFL players and lots of military, nurses, teachers and professors, even a couple that own a candy store. There are even some grandparents that are still working, including one at Hershey Park who sends lots of chocolate kisses to her family. Lots of history.
And speaking of History, thanks so much to Uncle Mark who helped us out with the Seitz Family History and Allison's project. Apparently we come from a long line of potato farmers. And surprisingly I seem to be the only one in our family that really enjoys potatoes-and I of course am not german. (The kids say they love french fries and potato chips but I said they don't really count-not as good for you).
Scott has enjoyed keeping in shape with his few gymnastics lessons that he started last week. I am just glad he can spend an hour each week doing flips and cartwheels. However, I'm not crazy that he is trying out the moves on the monkey bars at school!
He had another meeting of his environmental club after school this week and they had a guest speaker talking about pollution in the bay. They even tried out some experiments which Scott found fascinating(some of them involved chocolate syrup and simulated cow poop!)
On Sunday afternoon, the sun came out, the rain stopped, and I took Scott off to an outdoor Halloween picnic that one of the 4th grade class mom's put on for the entire 4th and 5th grade. The kids all played games, went on a trick or treat scavenger hunt, a hayride and ate hot dogs and hamburgers. The party was put on at a local farm where they run a summer camp and host special events. It was fun to get out for a few hours and let the kids run around. Not to mention the really cool jumbo inflatable balls that the kids kept running each other over with or climbing inside and rolling down the hills.
Since I took Scott to his Halloween bash, I did not get to take Allison to a girl scout party for older girls. Although I didn't get much of a response back from any of them. They all seem to be very busy with their new high school roles and don't have as much time to spend on scouts.
We did just get our cookie order in though so besides delivering cookies, we will be busy with our cookie booth sales. And Scott just turned in his cub scout popcorn order. So if you bought from either/both kids, thanks so much. And Allison had to pick up and deliver a food order that she obtained as a fund raiser for the field hockey team. She rode her bike off to school on Thursday afternoon, but her order was so big and bulky, one of the mom's offered to drive her stuff to our house and drop it off while Allison rode back home. I was very grateful since I couldn't text Allison to tell her I was running late from work(no battery in my cell phone) and Tom was still in Boston. Allison also started up her weekly afterschool babysitting again for our neighbor while she teaches piano.
So another slow week here in Baltimore. We are gearing up for a big day of Halloween fun this coming weekend. I plan on helping with Scott's school Halloween party on Friday(I sure am getting my volunteer hours in early this year!). We parents have to give 30 hours of volunteer work to the school each year. We are also trying to make an appointment to speak with the principal about Scott's teacher. I had a chance to chit chat with some of the other parents in Scott's class and the other 4th grade parents at the party today and noone seems very happy(we have two inexperienced 4th grade teachers). Well at least one taught 4th grade but that was 12 years ago and she didn't have to input the kids grades on the computer back then. I am just glad to hear it is not just us that are having some trouble with their teaching styles.
Well, it looks like I need to go now and help Tom clean up the play room cause the upstairs bathtub seems to be leaking through the ceiling. What fun!
Some day I will actually post some more photos with these updates, but I haven't had a chance to catch Tom for his technical help.
Have a great week! Kathleen and family

So it is Fall, but it sure feels like winter here! Hard to believe we were sitting in Matt and Di's pool and hot tub just last Sunday. The leaves here are really only just starting to turn. We had 2 Nor'easters come through over the long weekend, which basically means it rained(alot!). And in a few places it snowed! Including Pennsylvania, just north of us and western Maryland, even our western Howard County as well as New Jersey. No matter, we still went on with most of our weekend plans, including a trip down to Williamsburg on Friday for Howl o Scream at Busch gardens. The kids were out of school for Parent Teacher conferences. It was drizzly and rained a bit, but we got in some rides and spooky shows, and 1 or 2 haunted mazes-although I am amazed at how terrified the kids still get over the spooky characters. Scott's hands were sweating all through the Pompeii ghost maze, and they didn't even have any dressed up characters hiding! Just plastic skulls and plastic snakes! I guess he didn't believe us when we said it was the family tour! They do a nice job with the costumes and shows, but it certainly looks like they are clearing out the Anheiser-Busch support since the company was bought out last year. They were selling out all of their Budweiser merchandise. We are not sure if they will continue with the animals either, like the Clydesdales, since they were all part of the Budweiser foundation. Looks like we may not necessarily renew our two year membership next year since the park seems to be losing all of its special charms and services and the price just keeps going up. That includes Seaworld too. We really did enjoy having the pass here in Maryland and when we travel to Florida(and maybe even out in California next year).

The soggy weekend did cancel some of our plans-I wanted to take the kids out to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch but because of all the rain and mud, the farms cancelled their picking and hay rides for the weekend. Unfortunately, Allison and I still had to drive an hour through the pouring rain on Saturday to the Girl Scout camp to sing at the Fall Festival. I was surprised they did not cancel, but I guess it was a bigger hassle to try and reschedule or give everyone their money back. And some brave little girl scouts attended. Fortunately, our choir was able to sing inside the mansion that is on the grounds so we stayed nice and dry. We spent a little time eating apples and hot dogs and checking out the games set up inside the house. The Girl Scout council has been slowly revamping the old victorian mansion on the property which will be used for Girl Scout events. It is a huge house-3 stories with a basement, all wood floors and marble fireplaces. It is definitely a fixer upper previously owned by the Bell family(phone company).

I also passed on my company's Gala this weekend. Noone in our department seemed to be going-most of our dept is new. It really has been a wonderful event in the past. They usually have a different theme and in the past they have had wine tasting and martini bars. Now they always have gambling. And the food is wonderful. Plus dancing to a live band and one year they had a great jazz band playing. But my heart was just not into it this year(either was our wallet). Tickets are discounted for staff at $75.00 per person. (I do love their banana's foster!)
Maybe next year.

The wet weather also cancelled Allison's field hockey practice and a game last week. Now she is scheduled to play a game Monday and Tuesday night and then her season is over. All in all the girls did pretty well and seem to be getting better as the season progressed. Tom caught one of Allison's games last week and he should be able to see her Monday night game. He even bought a very special hat to wear to cheer on the Viking team. We were very excited to find a viking hat complete with fur and horns at Busch Gardens. Of course, Allison is mortified! And he hasn't even worn the hat yet! By the way, she made the Spitfire winter field hockey team however, after careful consideration, Tom and I decided we did not feel like investing over $700 for a 2month season. Instead I think we will sign her up for the $100 developmental indoor field hockey team which will play in Jan and Feb. Way more affordable and driveable as the other team was a traveling team. This way she can keep up with her goalie skills, get some exercise and have fun on an affordable budget. She enjoyed one more after practice pasta party at one of the captain's house along with making a tie dye shirt.

Speaking of sports, Scott finally got into his gymnastics class! And he is very happy to be doing flips on the bars and pull ups on the rings. And I am very happy that he is expending so much energy for an hour/week.

The kids also had a few outings scheduled this week through school and scouts. Allison's entire High School Freshmen class went down to DC for a tour of the holocaust museum. The whole class read the book "Night" about a young boy's survival in Auschwitz. We have not yet ventured into the holocaust museum since it is supposed to be extremely depressing(if you can imagine). We did walk in the front door a few summers ago with friends from out of state only to discover that you need a reservation to enter and they were getting ready to close. Unfortunately for Allison's class, the bus drivers got lost and Allison said they only had one hour to spend there-20 mins in a presentation and about 5 mins to run through the entire museum. The rest of the time was spent loading and unloading the buses. I told Allison she should have driven since we spend so much time in DC, she probably could have gotten them all there. I am just disappointed that the kids didn't seem to get their money's worth since we paid $15 bucks each kid for the trip.
Scott seemed to have a better trip with his cub scout den to Annapolis to visit the state house. The den leader and some parents took all the boys down on their half day of school on Thursday for a private tour with a State Senator and Congressman. Noone is in session at this time, so they had the run of the place. Scott loved their desks with all the control buttons for voting, as well as the microphone! He wants his very own desk(lots of buttons!). I think the coolest room is the one George Washington hung out in(Annapolis served as the US capitol temporarily and George was chosen to be president in our own state building. They have the original room where he gave up his position as military leader and was sworn in as president. I had taken my girl scouts down for Legislative Day back in February, and we had a good time, so I figured Scott would enjoy the tour also. And he did!

While he was busy touring the Capitol, I was busy meeting with his 4th grade teacher. His teacher has been teaching Kindergarten for the past 12 years, and I am afraid Tom and I do not agree with some of her "rules". Such as having the kids write all lessons, including spanish, in cursive. And I was quite surprised that she does not believe in extra credit since most all of Allison's teachers provided extra credit in their classes(extra projects) or on the tests. She just seems to be a bit rigid-Tom spotted an error in grading on Scott's last science test and Tom is still waiting to hear back from her. I think the biggest hurdle for her is that not only has she not taught 4th grade in 12 years, but she is also attending the master's program in school administration on the weekends. She has admitted herself that she is just too busy. Sorry, but we are paying extra for Scott's education and I don't need to hear that she is just too busy!
Allison is doing well so far, especially since she has put in extra time with her field hockey practice and games. She seems to have a good mix of general and advanced classes. And she is doing way better in in Geometry than I ever did! And I have been struggling with Tom gone most of the time lately trying to help the kids study and get their homework and get them to their extracurricular activities.

Tom fortunately only had to travel out of town for one overnight trip last week. He managed to do some studying with the kids and catch the Monday night football game with the boys in the neighborhood before he headed out to Charlottesville, VA. Next week however he is heading to Boston to present at the MIT conference. I thought we might have been traveling to Stockholm last week since I heard on the news that Thomas A. Steitz(very similar to Thomas A Seitz) had just won the nobel prize in Chemistry. I could not believe I was seeing that name on television(I figured they misspelled our last name, and that Tom must have been moonlighting in chemistry). However, when I pulled up the guys picture on the internet, I could clearly see it was not our Thomas A Seitz. Instead it looked like Santa Claus. Oh well, maybe next time.

Sorry this is late getting out-I have been busy with the kids! Big surprise! Kathleen and family

I can't believe it's that time of the year again. Time to rake leaves. And we are just getting started. I spent most of the day Saturday trimming the shrubs, raking leaves and cutting the grass. Before I even got to my own yardwork, Scott and I helped his classmates plant flowers in the morning in the rain at the Little Sisters of the Poor nursing home with the environmental club-making the world a greener place. Then I sent the family off to Six Flags for the Fright Fest with our neighbors and their kids. They were celebrating their son's 9th birthday(Scott's buddy). Tom said he wasn't as impressed with the Halloween hauntings since they charged extra for the spook houses in the park. Unfair. But they all had fun riding the rollercoasters(even Allison went on her one favorite). Friday night, Scott helped celebrate Sammy's birthday with a few school friends. Their dad took them all over to play laser tag and have pizza and cake. Party city for Scott!
While Scott was busy playing laser tag Friday, Cookie and I were enjoying Allison's field hockey game in the 80 degree weather(that did not last). Her team won and she even got to play(although I don't think the ball ever made it down to her end of the field). She did not get to play however on Weds night(tougher team). The girls tied that game. They also had postponed the game by one day since one of the girls from the other school's varsity team lost her Dad. She still came to play with her family there to support her(they said the Dad was only 48-not sure what he died of though). Our neighbor even came over to watch the games since his daughter used to play and his daughter in law coaches the other team. He decided to leave early though since Allison was not in net.
Tom was missing all of this since he was in Salt Lake City the whole week. It made for a very long week for me.
On Monday night after picking up the kids from school I had to drop Scott off to a cub scout meeting, and then I had to get Allison off to another 2 hour Field Hockey try out for a winter indoor league(The Spitfires). She was the only goalie there and enjoyed playing inside. We thought it would be nice if she had the chance to keep up her skills over the winter-just not as hectic a schedule. They play once a week and practice once a week. She won't hear from the team until the end of October if she made it or not.
This all made for a very long day, and the kids still had some homework and tests to study for but we managed to get it all done.
Weds I had to take off a half day to take Scott to the pediatrician. He had an infected eye but it was clearing up on its own. While we were at the doctor's though we managed to get our flu shots. I am glad I did not attempt the Howard County drive through flu shots last Sunday-people waited in line over 3 hours and they ran out of vaccinations. We still need our swine flu shots and Allison needs a meningitis vaccination this year.
Thursday night I took the kids out to dinner with our neighbor and his kids to Pizzeria Uno. His wife was off to tennis lessons. The field hockey team had a fund raiser dinner night. We all had a great time, and then I had to run the kids through Target to pick up school items, Halloween supplies and a birthday present.
I was sure glad when Friday rolled around and Tom came home. It was a very long week. And it did not help that I ran my new van into the tire of the Jeep that the other goalies mom was driving in the high school parking lot. (My van has been cursed). Fortunately I just scrunched up my front license plate. I was attempting to navigate the insanity of the high school parking lot along with all the construction traffic after dropping Allison off with all her goalie gear and school books. I was attempting to pull into the one way traffic- at least, I thought everyone would be following the one way signs(guess not). I was parked to let Allison out and bumped into the other car as I was trying to pull into the two lanes of one way traffic-she was sneaking up along in front of the parked cars heading the other way against traffic. Since neither one of us had any real damage we let it go. I had only bumped her tire.
I will be glad to let Tom continue to drop Allison off in the morning. Except he has a few more trips scheduled this coming month. And we have another very busy week coming up.
Today I am helping Scott sell popcorn for the boy scouts at church, and then Allison and I have another GS choir practice in the afternoon. Then we are headed over to Matt and Di's for a pool closing party(also to help celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary).
Baltimore held their marathon this Saturday sponsored by Under Armour. They actually made shirts out of recycled bottles for all the runners(green event). Sadly, I hear a runner died during the event-guess it was all the new hills they added on the course! We did not see Mark or Stacey out there. Maybe next year! Good luck with your run next weekend! I am just happy to get to my aerobics classes in once or twice a week.
We enjoyed your photo of the family room Mark with all the dog toys on the floor. The Seitz dogs have a lot in common-Cookie drags all her toys and chewies out onto the family room floor too! Too bad we have not yet taught her how to put them away also! She is very good about eating the kids homework too. I was off to a GS leadership meeting last Weds night, and when I walked in the back door I saw Scott's science homework and religious journal chewed up all over the floor. She loves to pull papers out of their backpacks and chew them up. I warned them! She also likes to chase our cat Pika. I was glad she does since Pika got out of the house last week through the small opening in our sliding screen door, and Cookie found her in the back yard and herded her back to our house! I am glad someone knows whats going on around here! Even if it is just the dog!
Hope you are all enjoying the football games-MSU won again. How exciting. Ravens not so good this weekend. Tom will be off for another Monday night football game bash with the neighbor boys. The hosting neighbor is a Miami fan(oh well). Then Tom will be leaving for Charlottesville VA overnight.
Looks like it is back to the High School parking lot for me. Wish me luck! Kathleen and family

Well, we are finally getting into Fall and the weather certainly has changed. Brrr-out came the long pants and sweaters. Happy October!
I also put out a few more pots of mums and pumpkins. Scott has started setting up my Halloween decorations in the house. And Football games have been keeping us busy(especially a certain game between MSU and Uof M-Go State! I still cannot believe MSU has lost their easy games but beat Uof M this weekend. Sorry guys.) Tom enjoyed Monday Football night with the neighbor boys this past week. Tom was home during the day with the kids(off for Yom Kippur) and he had time to clean up the house and cook up some Koegel Vienna hotdogs and Flint, Mich chili to top it off. The neighbors were impressed with the flavor! (And the beer).
Allison had two games herself last week-sadly not very good. The girls played a very tough team on Weds and it was very far away. I was lucky enough to get to go since I had switched my day off again and drove up to see the girls get beat up. The field was rough and the ball was flying, hitting the girls in the shoulders and backs. Ouch. At least they held tough and only lost by 2. However, on Friday Allison was in goal at the end of the game and dinkledorfed(Tom word) and let in two goals. The coach pulled her. It was her first time. She was feeling a bit down on herself. So we decided to let her try out for a winter indoor league to help build up her skills. She has to try out for the Spitfire team on Monday night. Luckily they are looking for goalies in her age bracket. I did not know what we were getting into with this sport. Most girls play all year round or add other sports such as Lacrosse or Soccer to their program. We were hoping to keep the sports to a minimum to allow Allison some breathing time to spend on schoolwork and other activities.
She just got chosen to student government. I think she will enjoy that. And she wants to participate in Spanish club. Not to mention Girl Scouts. Allison and I just went to our first GS choir rehearsal today. Allison was chosen to be part of an elite singing group in the choir-she needs to learn a different set of songs and the Trefoil Singers usually sing a separate section than the rest of us. Allison wanted to find something new to do with the group. I was happy to see we will be singing at the Green Carpet Event again this year. We sang a few years ago-where they honor the Scouts with the top selling cookie orders. The most exciting part of the event was being filmed on Food Network and meeting Duff Goldman, owner of Ace of Cakes here in Baltimore. He has his own show on Food Network and makes expensive specialty cakes. He travels to California alot and makes alot of specialty cakes for movie premieres, etc. He has made many a interesting cake for the Girl Scout event and usually decorates with cookies. And local restaurants make recipes out of girl scout cookies and pass out samples. This year the event will be held at our kids museum. It should be fun. We also have some parades scheduled, Christmas programs at the mall and a Fall Harvest Festival. And new songs to learn.
I've also been putting together some programs for the girls. We have a dance fund raiser scheduled in November and the girls want to go on another ghost tour of Olde Ellicott City. I also have a cookie party scheduled with Pampered Chef. We will make cookies for our Christmas donation program, and we usually put together gift boxes for women's shelters for the holidays.
And Allison has wrapped up her individual GS cookie sales. Thanks to all who purchased for themselves or bought cookies to donate to the US Troops. It is still not too late! At $3.50 a box, the US soldiers are grateful when we pass them out at the airport. We will be starting on our booth sales now throughout November and usually into December.
Allison finished up selling cookies just in time to sell food for a fund raiser for Field Hockey. They still have one more fund raiser-a portion of the dinners sold at a local restaurant. Currently, the mexican fast food place, Qdoba's is very popular. Especially with the teeny boppers.
And so is Facebook I see. Even Uncle Mark accesses facebook. I have been avoiding it but it looks like it is the best way for Allison to communicate with her friends via computer. We missed an announcement about a post practice Field Hockey dinner last week and Allison had to gather info from one of the girls. Unfortunately, it was the wrong info and we spent most of the evening looking for the address. I was glad one of the moms answered her phone and that I knew her well enough to call and ask for directions from my car. Allison got there late but had enough time to eat and make a tshirt with puffy paint to wear on game day. They do try to schedule team building activities for the girls. We should still have at least one more team dinner.
She also had to run back to school after an away game for a Freshman mixer-dinner and sports in the gym. She was late to that, but got plenty to eat and had a friend meet her there.
I have been running around to meetings myself. They had an extended afterschool meeting at school sponsored by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, asking parents what more can they do to improve Catholic Schools. We have had several schools close in Baltimore this year, including a high school so it has not looked very good for the catholics. Although, our school just won the National Blue Ribbon Award for Excellence, so someone is doing something right. Probably our kids and our parents and teachers! It was a very stimulating discussion.
And my work schedule had some flexibility in it since I attended a low vision fair at the National Federation for the Blind on Thursday. It was quite an eye opening experience(pun intended). I mainly went to see some of the new technology that was out for people with low vision, especially with macular degeneration. I had fun visiting with our residents since I joined their group, and we got lunch and a wonderful goody bag at the end. Plus I got to speak to quite a few salespeople and learn about new inventions for low sighted people. It will definitely help at work.
On Saturday, Scott and I headed out in the morning to a Cub Scout Rodeo. The boys were put through obstacle courses on their bikes after a quick bike inspection from a local bike shop. Then we headed out for a 2 mile bike ride throughout the neighborhood. Scott and I rode twice and I was frazzled both times. I could not believe the number of boys that did not know how to ride bikes-like dragging their feet to brake, or crashing into things to stop. And one boy who appeared mentally challenged rode his bike right out into the busy street since he seemed to have difficulty with the concept of turning. But more disappointing were the number of big boys still with training wheels and the ones that could not pedal up a small hill. And several had bikes that were just too small-I don't think the parents ever looked at their kids before sending them out for the day. I got asked to volunteer for the event and helped run the Paper Boy obstacle course. The boys had to pull papers out of a bag over their shoulder and throw them in containers. Most of the boys ended up in the containers with the papers and their bikes! That was entertaining. Certainly the older boys did a better job. But my nerves were not the same after two interesting "bike hikes". I was so glad to be leaving when the last group of 25 or more boys headed out(heaven help them and the parents!). Scott of course did fine and enjoyed a ride with his Dad on Sunday afternoon while Allison and I were at choir rehearsal. The bike shop recommended Scott get a new cable for his brake, so Tom rode him up to Sears to buy a new cable.
And Allison had to serve mass again Sunday morning. This time with a new routine which she got right off the bat after downloading the new instructions from my email. She also kept busy babysitting this weekend before Tom ran her up to Hershey Park with our friend John to catch a Hershey Bears opening hockey game. While they were gone, Scott and I got invited over to the neighbors for dinner and a bonfire complete with s'mores. We enjoyed sitting outside under the harvest moon Saturday night.
But now it is time to sign off and get ready for another busy week-minus Tom's assistance. He is headed out to Salt Lake City on Monday and will be gone for the week. It will certainly keep me hopping having to negotiate both Scott and Allison's schedule by myself and go to work. And Scott has a suspicious infection in his eyelid that I am watching and treating with a steroidal ointment I got from my eye doctor a few months ago. I think we both picked up something on our bike hike since my eye was itchy and irritated and a bit swollen as well. It already looked better after one treatment and it looks to be only his eyelid, not the eye(just like I had). I just hope I won't have to take off work this week to get him to the MD. We still have not had our flu shots though-too busy to plan it.
Hope all of you are doing well. I will let you know of course how we survived our upcoming week!

I just got in from my nightly stroll with Cookie while Allison made a few more GS cookie sales at the neighbor's. Cookie was full of puppy energy since she has been stuck in the house most of the weekend-yesterday because it rained most of the day, and today since Tom was catching up on football games while cleaning up the house for his "Boys Night" on Monday night. The neighbor boys have been talking about having a Monday night football party for several years now, and all of us are usually just too busy to organize an activity during the week. But it turns out that all the kids are off school Monday for Yom Kippur(yes even our catholic children). Well, Jesus was Jewish. The kids are happy about that!
Allison is at a sleepover at the neighbors tonite. I am sure she will be worn out tomorrow. She had to altar serve for a friend this morning and we spent the entire afternoon out kayaking and canoeing with the Girl Scouts. Allison and one other scout in my troop, Becky, each had a single kayak, and I canoed with a GS Dad who had never been in a boat(I put him up front). His wife was there(the GS Leader) and she was not brave enough to paddle with him! We did fine-we paddled up and back a small section of the Magothy river which leads out to the Bay and never got wet.
The girl scouts have a small campground on the Magothy river near Annapolis. In the spring I will have to sign the girls and myself up for the sailing trip up the bay to the scout camp. A few of the girl scouts that kayaked today said they did the trip and had a great time-it takes all day to sail up on the tall sailing ship and then back the next day after camping overnight. And the girls do all the work as well as learning about the Chesapeake Bay.
We lucked out on the weather today since it rained most of yesterday and we had a downpour just after we finished this afternoon. Glad Tom got the grass cut yesterday and dropped some grass seed for me in some shady spots on the lawn.
Scott had his sleepover on Saturday night with the neighbor boy. I took both of them swimming at the Y Saturday night for family night since Allison was babysitting at the neighbor's house. I thought she could use a few less kids to keep an eye on. She was happy to get some spending money too. She managed to spend a few bucks yesterday when I dragged the kids off to the Fall Festival in old Ellicott City. I could have spent a lot more time shopping in the antique stores, but I was just happy to pick up a baby gift in the toy store before it started raining. Allison was excited to find a dragon jewelry box she has been looking for for over 6 years. She spotted the exact same box in Busch Gardens, but they sold out and haven't carried them for several years now. There is a store in old Ellicott City that sells lots of Christmas and Halloween decorations, costumes, dolls, antiques and all sorts of theme statues like fairies, unicorns and dragons. And low and behold, there was her box. Babysitting money comes in handy. And at 10bucks an hour, she still had plenty left over. Her funds are a bit low since she helped pay for her trip to Assateague this summer and she hasn't been able to keep her weekly babysitting job with field hockey.
The neighbors were off to hear a piano concert from a world renonwn pianist who happened to be our neighbors old piano teacher. The woman has played all over the world, and is playing a concert a month for the next year at our local community college. Our neighbor said she would introduce Allison to her and recommended I take Allison to one of the concerts in the spring. Allison is still busy taking piano lessons once a week as well as taking piano as a class at school. It works out well since she can practice at school.
Allison's JV team had two field hockey games this past week and won both! Allison started on Tuesday night's game and the girls took the field with a 9-0 win. Friday night they won 2-0. Tom got to see both games, and our neighbor showed up again with his kids. Sadly, I missed both games by the time I picked up Scotty from school after work. I am hoping to catch one of her games this coming week. The season is already half over. On Monday night, Tom enjoyed the parent/daughter field hockey game, but he said he would have liked it even more if some of the parents hadn't been such ball hogs! One dad would not come out of the game to take turns with the other parents. Tom was disappointed to play only one period(they played four altogether). We did enjoy a potluck dinner afterwards. I made a huge dish of my mom's favorite cold spaghetti salad recipe. I was amazed at how quickly they ate it up!
I also amazingly made my first beef pot pie this week that actually turned out tasting terrific, and even more amazing the kids ate it and liked it! I have never been able to make a pot pie as good as my moms. This one came awfully close. I actually had time to assemble the meal since I took Weds off instead of Friday to help cover for some of our vacationing staff. Work has still been a bit slow, but things seem to be picking up a bit.
I also enjoyed a beautiful sunny day off planting some fall/winter pansys and decorative cabbages in my big pots next to the garage doors. I had a few plants that needed transplanting to bigger pots too besides working on my lawn edging which I have to complete in stages(we have a really big curb living on a corner lot!). I even managed to squeeze in a few aerobics classes this week.
I had planned on helping with Scott's Cub Scout flag ceremony on Weds after school, but they switched it to Thursday. The boys were learning how to take down the flag and fold it.
This weekend, Scott and I will be participating in a cub scout bike rodeo. We decided to skip the camping trip at the local State Park and save it for the end of the month when the boys participate in the Weebelo Ree Outing and work on requirements towards becoming Boy Scouts.
It feels like Halloween is just around the corner! Happy Fall by the way. I know our month of October will be packed with lots of activities! I am already looking forward to taking Allison to see "Fiddler on the Roof" starring Topol at the Hippodrome Theatre at the end of the month(an early birthday present from Tom).
I hope Mom and Dad Seitz had a good trip down to Florida and avoided all the flooding in Georgia!
Good Luck on your Marathon run Mark and Stacey! Allison and Tom could barely make the 2 mile run that Allison needed to run for tryouts for field hockey, let alone 14 miles! I know I wouldn't last either.
Have a great week and Happy Yom Kippur! Mazletov! Kathleen and family