Has it been two weeks since I last sent out a blog? My how time flies when you are busy. Last weekend was Mother's Day. Happy Belated Mother's Day! I spent my day working on a creative writing paper with SCott and studying with him for a few tests. Fortunately Tom was busy making dinner so it left me with some free time to help Scott study. Tom made a wonderful steak and lobster tail dinner. I had dessert covered as we invited our neighbors over in the evening. We had invited them over for dinner, but their kids took them out for brunch that morning. We all  enjoyed mass with Scott altar serving. Somehow he always manages to get assigned to altar serve on Mother's Day. Makes a nice gift for me. Although Scott and Tom picked up a camping coffee pot as a gift(who do you think that is really for?)

I discovered a wonderful Mother's Day dessert-a mixed berry shortcake. Very simple-4 different types of berries mixed with red currant jam over Pillsbury biscuits. I think the best part though was the Devonshire cream on top with sugared almond slices. I had picked up the recipe primarily for a Girl Scout Mother Daughter Tea that Allison and I hosted on Friday night. We had about 10 people total-5 girls and their moms. Allison and I were busy making up finger sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries and the berry shortcake. I took a few shortcuts and served prepared mini quiches and lemon poppyseed scones from the grocery store. Tom even brought me back tea biscuits/shortbread cookies and tea direct from England while he was there working the week before. I also had been collecting tea cups and saucers as well as tea pots from garage sales and the salvation army all last month. Overall I think the tea went quite well, and we had time to talk about what we did this year and what we would like to do next year. I was trying to see if the girls and parents would be interested in taking a trip to London and Paris through a GS travel agency. The trip is about 9 days and includes airfare, hotel, food and tours/tour guides to London and Paris and costs around $3000 each. Looks like my parents thought it was a bit too pricey and a bit too scary(some parents don't like the idea of their girls flying overseas because of the threat of terrorism). And we would have to sell an awful lot of cookies to cover the cost.

Instead, they liked my idea of road tripping to Michigan next summer-they would love to visit Cedar Point in Ohio, Greenfield Village in Dearborn and Mackinac Island, perhaps with a stopover at my parents place in Charlevoix. Tom said he would even help chaperone(which means drive). Perhaps Allison and I will look into the London/Paris trip on our own. It would certainly be a once in a lifetime experience.

So I spent Mother's Day Weekend hosting a High Tea, enjoying dinner on the patio with the family, dessert with friends on Sunday and a graduation party on Saturday night. Our neighbor Phil just finished his PhD and they hosted a graduation party. Scott was excited to see they opened up their pool(although I decided it was just a bit too cold). Tom was primarily interested in the hockey games. Also we had to run back and forth to get Allison to and from work that night. At least she didn't have to work on Mother's day. I also had to take her to a camp orientation Saturday morning. She received a scholarship to attend a Girls Nation Camp from the VFW. One of my residents at the retirement community was looking for  teenage girls finishing their junior year of high school to sponsor for this week long camp held at Salisbury University on the eastern shore in June. The camp teaches girls about our government process and has them discuss and vote on bills concerning any up to date issues like driving and texting, gasoline tax hikes, permits for building casinos,  or environmental issues such as pollution of the bay or building windmill farms, etc. Girls can write their own bills if they prefer and they can run for offices of the Senate/HOuse/Mayor/Governor. However,  those candidates have to be available to attend the National camp in July, and we should be traveling across the US at that time so Allison opted not to run. This camp is just for girls-the VFW also sponsors a Boys Nation camp at Washington University. I think Allison is going to have a wonderful experience and hopefully some fun while she's at it.

In between all these activities I had finally gotten a chance to order some mulch. Tom spent the weekend cutting the grass and laying down mulch around our big trees. Before he put down mulch around the flower beds he decided to trim the bushes. And then he decided to spruce up our lighting system, but discovered most of the lights were fried. So instead he went out and bought a whole new outdoor landscape lighting system. And I was happy to see he had given up on the LED lighting system(which was much too dim). So he spent most of that weekend running electric cords and still has not had a chance to finish putting down the mulch.

The week following MOther's Day was just as busy. Tom was not home much after work-he attended a retirement party, a staff dinner meeting and then spent time having dinner with Matt Wagner(still recuperating from his separation- soon to be divorce) as well as consoling a friend at work whose wife is dying from Cancer and is on hospice(our age). So I did not see much of him this past week. I did attend SCott's end of the school year music concert. There are only about a dozen boys in the school choir and at least 50 girls. They even gave the boys a solo part this year. Tom was just happy he did not have to sit through the beginning concert band's performance. I also got SCott to his swim lesson, boy scout meeting and Allison to piano. I was a bit preoccupied though since we spent this past weekend camping with the boy scouts and I had to pack.

The kids were both off school on Friday, so we decided to join the scouts on a rafting/caving weekend. WE opted out of the rafting though since they left Thursday night so they could be out on the river early Friday morning. Tom had a half day of work teaching a class, and Allison had to attend an orientation meeting for her internship at Scott's school next year. She met with her high school instructor and the kindergarten teacher who will be her mentor next year. I think Allison is going to enjoy the experience as a teacher's aide. Allison also cut our entire lawn for the first time since I was busy packing and she has the blister on her hand to prove it! Way to go Allison.

We headed west to Pittsburgh PA on Friday afternoon. I had dropped Cookie off at the kennel in the morning and set up the turtle tank with an automatic feeder(thank goodness the cat is low maintenance). WE arrived at the campsite around dinner time and pitched our tent. We left Scott to have hot dogs with the boys and we had dinner at an old Stone TAvern just down the road. The area is actually south of Pittsburgh on the Youghigeny river near the town of Ohiopyle. There are lots of National parks including the Fort Necessity National Park-location of the French and Indian War. So lots of historic places. Apparently General Braddock from the British army is buried there next to Rt 40(the National Highway) and he loved to stop in for chicken and biscuits at the Stone Tavern. Naturally I had to try it out-I think Cracker Barrel serves just as good. Anyhow, we also ran into a prom going on in the banquet hall with a stretch Hummer outside(I think the entire high school class fit inside-small town). Allison guessed prom-the dresses and Hummer gave it away.  ON Saturday we all headed to the local cave-Laurel Caverns. The boys did a 3 hour tour-climbing and crawling through narrow passages on their tummies in the mud and dark with lighted helmets. Tom, Allison and I opted for the bright, not so dirty hour long walk-through tour. As soon as Scott emerged, I grabbed him a sandwich and dragged him off to a 3 hour Geology Badge class. None of the other boys were interested, so they headed back to camp. So did Tom and Allison-she had some finals/tests to study for in math and english. Tom got caught up on his nap and some reading. They picked us up at 5pm and we were all pretty hungry and tired. I was hoping the boy scouts would have started dinner. I was ready to lend a hand. Instead the crew was sitting around watching an Eagle Scout attempt to build a fire for an hour. Tom gave up and dragged Allison and myself off to some podunk movie theater so we could finally see the Avengers. So it was a popcorn dinner for us. Scott stayed behind for boy scout bonding and Nachos in a Bag. When we got out, we had driven so far to find the theater that we were running very low on gas and lo and behold discovered most gas stations were closed by 10pm. Fortunately we found one open near the highway and also picked up a few sandwiches for dinner. Scott reports they served dinner around 9pm. I was certainly happy to pack up and head for home on Sunday.

But first I had a detour for our family  to tour Frank Loyd Wright's FAllingwater house. You have to buy tickets online ahead of time-glad I checked. We had a few hours to kill, so we stopped into town for a hot breakfast(finally) and then toured the grounds of the house, snapping a few outdoor photos. The kids even had time to sit and study at the visitor center before our tour began. I figured I was going to enjoy the tour, but the rest of the family was shocked to discovered they really enjoyed the house tour(nobody was very thrilled with the idea beforehand). But afterwards they were all quite impressed, especially from the engineering side of things. Scott even designed a house on his computer game Mine Craft that looks just like the Fallingwater home. FYI-the house was built in 1935 as a vacation home for the Kaufman family of the Kaufman Dept store later bought by Macy's. The house was built into the side of a rocky mountain and juts out over a waterfall. I especially loved how some of the boulders were incorporated inside the house like the fountain at the entrance to the guest house and one near the fireplace. I hear my parents toured the place with Dan and Sheila when Dan was working in Pittsburgh for a few years. I guess we did our part monetarily to help keep the house from slipping into the river in the future(not a cheap tour).

So we lucked out and had a beautiful weekend camping and even had Scott finish up some boy scout requirements.

So once again, Happy Belated Mother's Day and a few Happy Belated Birthdays!  Mark Seitz reached his 50th! Way to go Mark!  And Stacey Seitz is trying to catch up as she just turned 24! Happy Birthday too Stacey!

I know the Seitz family was busy in Indy with a half marathon run for Mark and Eric Seitz(excellent job!) and the Indy 500 just around the corner. Maryland was busy hosting the Preakness horse race this past weekend(second in line with the Kentucky Derby).  Looks like the same horse won both races-I'll Have Another. He may just if he wins the Belmont in New York-a Triple Crown. Tom is still closely following the Hockey tournaments but now he is down to cheering for the LA Kings(no Red Wings or DC CApitals this year).Boo Hoo.

Hope you enjoy photos from our caving/camping weekend. Bet you never saw chandeliers in a cave before! I included a shot of SCott's troop before they headed down into the bottom of the cave. The temperature is 52 degrees year round. There is also a shot of Allison from the bike/hike bridge over the Youghigeny river. We will have to go back and do the bike trail some time.

Enjoy! Happy Reading! Baltimore Blog

So I survived the week with Tom off to England(just barely). It is certainly difficult trying to keep up with the schedules for 3 people when you are only 1 person. I'm afraid SCott did not fair quite as well with his tests as I would have hoped. My kids just cannot cram for tests(good lesson for high school and college!).

So Scott is going to have to do some extra work with Tom-especially with the math. Even Allison tried to help  Scott out last week and had some trouble getting through the problems.  I especially don't like that the teachers at SCott's school wait to announce tests just a few days ahead of time. Scott really could use the weekend for review, and everything is always crammed into the week. Plus the kids don't have much school left, so the workload is even greater.

And as you all know, we are usually pretty busy during the week with extra curricular activities. Speaking of which, Congrats to SCott for getting through his 2nd class requirements for Boy SCouts last week. He is now busy trying to finish up a few badges and working on his 1st class requirements. He actually finished a few 1st class requirements before the 2nd class was completed.

Unfortunately for Allison, our pleas to have her Gold Award project accepted to build the horsebackriding ramp were too late. The stable could not wait any longer and they asked a group of Boy SCouts to complete the project. Just repairs though, not a complete rebuild like Allison had planned. So now we are searching for another project that she can do within a year's time before she graduates from high school!  Hard to believe it is just one more year for her. She ended up taking the SAT again on Saturday to try and bump up her English section. She tried a testing method they recommended at her SAT class which actually caused her score to drop. So much for the tutoring services!  She also worked on finishing up her volunteer work for the NHS program for the year. She needs to complete 1 more hour on an in-school project. She sat and cut out cancelled stamps for 2 hours for an art project that has been going on for a few years at the school. The art teacher is trying to make a holocaust mural out of 6 million stamps honoring the number of  victims killed. They are only up to 1 million. I know I keep tearing off stamps from letters, but most people don't send cards/letters anymore(thanks Linda, I know you do!). And Christmas comes in handy, and my mom always sends cancelled stamps along with Campbell soup labels for the schools. Anyhow, Allison doesn't want to look at another stamp for a long time(it is not her thing) but she has 1 more hour to go!

We also were busy running around on Saturday afternoon. After Allison finished up her test, I had to rush her and I off to our GS Annual Board meeting. Usually they run this on a Thursday night, but this year they decided to try a SAturday luncheon. They even had some classes in the morning, but neither Allison or I could attend. We made it to the meeting just as lunch was being served, right after we sang Grace with the GS choir, and then had to get back up before lunch was over to sing a few more songs. Not very many members of the choir attended-mostly just the older girls and a couple of Brownies. We just sang a few songs that we will be singing on the stage in DC in June at the Rock the Mall event. I can't keep up!  AFter the meeting, Allison had time to get home and change, do some homework and get to work. I had time to get home and check Scott's homework for the weekend.

And that 's about the time Tom got in from England. We had a lot of news to catch up on.

But on Sunday we were off to church early as Scott was serving mass. Afterwards, Allison had to get to work, and that evening, Allison had to be at a GS summer camp meeting. She had to meet with the Archery crew to go over the usual routine. In between all these activities she managed to get some homework done. Of course, piano was on Thursday night. Right after I took Scott to his new swim class.

He just started in the Porpoise Club-a group that prepares you for a swim team. Scott would like to try and get on a swim team. Which probably means we would drop gymnastics after this semester. (Just not enough days in the week).

And it was time for the annual shearing of the sheep(ie Cookie got a hair cut). I am sure she will appreciate the short hair as it has been starting to really warm up. Not a ton of rain though. I did manage to get the mulch ordered and the grass cut this past weekend. I know what we are doing next weekend!

HOpe you had a chance to catch Allison's video. This week I am sending prom photos along with some shots from the Distinguished Women's Award gala. Allison is standing with her mentor and the group shot is of all the girls with their mentors. The 3rd woman from the left in the dark suit is the Mayor of Baltimore-Stephanie Rawlings -Blake

Kathleen

Wow! What an incredible week! Mostly for Allison. This week she had to give her speech for the Distinguished Women's Girl Scout Award at the yearly gala. This involved her spending the day at work last month with a woman CEO chosen by the Girl Scout council as a Leader in the Baltimore community. Usually it turns out that woman was also a Girl Scout or currently has a daughter that is a girl scout. Allison's mentor owns a chemical company in Baltimore. Allison spent the day with her at the factory, driving a fork lift and taking a tour, then over to a school where the company was sponsoring a fund raising event, and then off to a meeting at city hall where Allison's mentor had to give a speech concerning the status of small and independent businesses. Mrs Partlow also invited us to a High Tea GS fund raiser at her home as guests of honor. So Thursday night Allison had to give her speech about her mentor and how they spent the day at the company, along with 5 other girls. Normally, there are only 5 girls total, but this year since it is our 100th Anniversary, they added another Award to our Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. and had a scout follow her around City Hall for a day.

Allison had to practice her speech in front of the GS delegation on Monday night, and then again at a dress rehearsal at the Country Club on Weds. night. But the Thursday night gala was her big moment, and Tom and I and Scott were all able to attend at no cost to us($100 per ticket). And we think Allison did a great job giving her speech to approx 300 people. What a wonderful experience. You can listen to her speech on my video link.

She didn't slow down then. On Saturday night she had her High School Prom. I  spent the morning picking up her flowers and getting her to a manicure/pedicure appt. She also had to pick out her makeup. But most importantly she had to get some homework done because she plans on sleeping all day Sunday. Not only did her group go out to dinner(all you can eat Chinese buffet) and then the actual prom dance, but then the school sponsored an Up All Night party at our YMCA. They had gambling, karaoke, dancing, swimming, movies,  the gym and rock wall climbing were open, as well as door prizes and character drawings. Allison got a great character drawing as an archer. The best part of all was that I did not have to do any driving(picking up and dropping off). One very nice parent purchased a stretch limo for Allison's group.  So the limo came to our house to pick them up after photos, then to the restaurant, then the hall where the dance was held and then to the Y for the after party and  each kid was dropped off at their front door at 5am Sunday morning. All I had to do was let Allison in the front door. I would have been happy to stay up all night and volunteer at the After Prom party since I am used to those kind of GS events. But Tom was gone and I did not want to leave Scott all alone for the night.

Tom  had headed off to the airport Saturday night as Allison was getting dressed. He will be in England all this week. Apparently along with my brother Dave who is working in London probably until July. I think he should stay for the Olympics! Dave did actually get the chance to see some of the Olympic games before when he was working in Korea. 

I asked Tom to look for some fun High Tea items since I am going to have a tea party with my scouts and their moms this month. Works out for Mother's Day! I have been busy picking up odds and ends tea cups and tea pots at the Goodwill store and garage sales. Didn't think I would have so much trouble picking up a few cups, but apparently people are holding onto those. I believe I will do better at our big Treasure Sale at work coming up just before the tea.

I had a few other activities I would have liked to have done this weekend, we just ran out of time. The Girl Scouts had a 100th Anniversary camping weekend that I would have taken the girls to if we did not have the prom scheduled. A few other girls in my troop were going to prom as well. We were also supposed to lead a campfire sing a long at the camp out on Friday night with the GS choir, but Allison had to work, Scott had gymnastics and I did not feel like driving 1.5 hrs to get to camp to sing and then turn around and come home. By myself.  There was also an amazing Science and Engineering Fair going on in DC this past weekend. I really wanted to take the kids, and Tom too. Bill Nye the Science Guy was there as well as the Myth Busters, Jamie and Adam. They also had an incredible number of authors, shows, a career tent and lots of activities-everything from math programs to outer space/astronauts/physics/marine biology/medicine/robots-everything. We just did not have enough time.

Scott spent his Saturday wrapping up his community hours for his boy scout Citizenship in the Community badge. He worked all day at a church kids fair-set up/games/clean up. 7 hours total. Plus an hour for road side clean up last month to reach his 8 hrs volunteer work for the church. Way to go Scott.

Tom and I managed to get away for a quick date since we both had Friday off. In between running errands, we went to see a movie-The Raven. It is a murder mystery based on the writings of Edgar Allen Poe-like The Pit and the Pendulum. It is based in the 1800s in Baltimore where Poe lived and wrote a lot of his stories. (Hence our football teams name, The Ravens. Plus it works well with the Orioles).  Poe is also buried here after he died and was found lying in the streets. The movie was OK, it was mostly fun just hearing them say Baltimore over and over again. Afterwards we cheated on our dessert free diets and had lunch at the Cheese Cake Factory and brought home a slice of cheesecake for everyone.

Overall quite an amazing week. I even had a chance to get out and do a bit of yard work on Sunday. I had some plants to move and started weeding the flower beds. One day we will order mulch when we are around to put it down. And Tom got the grass cut Saturday morning before we actually got some rain. As opposed to the beginning of the week when it snowed in the Maryland mountains.

Well, time to go make dinner and study with Scott for his upcoming week full of tests!

Wow! What an incredible week! Mostly for Allison. This week she had to give her speech for the Distinguished Women's Girl Scout Award at the yearly gala. This involved her spending the day at work last month with a woman CEO chosen by the Girl SCout council as a Leader in the Baltimore community. Usually it turns out that woman was also a Girl SCout or currently has a daughter that is a girl scout. Allison's mentor owns a chemical company in Baltimore. Allison spent the day with her at the factory, driving a fork lift and taking a tour, then over to a school where the company was sponsoring a fund raising event, and then off to a meeting at city hall where Allison's mentor had to give a speech concerning the status of small and independent businesses. Mrs Partlow also invited us to a High Tea GS fund raiser at her home as guests of honor. So Thursday night Allison had to give her speech about her mentor and how they spent the day at the company, along with 5 other girls. Normally, there are only 5 girls total, but this year since it is our 100th Anniversary, they added another Award to our Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. and had a scout follow her around City Hall for a day.

Allison had to practice her speech in front of the GS delegation on Monday night, and then again at a dress rehearsal at the Country Club on Weds. night. But the Thursday night gala was her big moment, and Tom and I and SCott were all able to attend at no cost to us($100 per ticket). And we think Allison did a great job giving her speech to approx 300 people. What a wonderful experience. You can listen to her speech on my video link.

She didn't slow down then. On Saturday night she had her High School Prom. I  spent the morning picking up her flowers and getting her to a manicure/pedicure appt. She also had to pick out her makeup. But most importantly she had to get some homework done because she plans on sleeping all day Sunday. Not only did her group go out to dinner(all you can eat Chinese buffet) and then the actual prom dance, but then the school sponsored an Up All Night party at our YMCA. They had gambling, karoake, dancing, swimming, movies,  the gym and rock wall climbing were open, as well as door prizes and character drawings. Allison got a great character drawing as an archer. The best part of all was that I did not have to do any driving(picking up and dropping off). One very nice parent purchased a stretch limo for Allison's group.  So the limo came to our house to pick them up after photos, then to the restaurant, then the hall where the dance was held and then to the Y for the after party and  each kid was dropped off at their front door at 5am Sunday morning. All I had to do was let Allison in the front door. I would have been happy to stay up all night and volunteer at the After Prom party since I am used to those kind of GS events. But Tom was gone and I did not want to leave SCott all alone for the night.

Tom  had headed off to the airport Saturday night as Allison was getting dressed. He will be in England all this week. Apparently along with my brother Dave who is working in London probably until July. I think he should stay for the Olympics! Dave did actually get the chance to see some of the Olympic games before when he was working in Korea. 

I asked Tom to look for some fun High Tea items since I am going to have a tea party with my scouts and their moms this month. Works out for Mother's Day! I have been busy picking up odds and ends tea cups and tea pots at the Goodwill store and garage sales. Didn't think I would have so much trouble picking up a few cups, but apparently people are holding onto those. I believe I will do better at our big Treasure Sale at work coming up just before the tea.

I had a few other activities I would have liked to have done this weekend, we just ran out of time. The Girl Scouts had a 100th Anniversary camping weekend that I would have taken the girls to if we did not have the prom scheduled. A few other girls in my troop were going to prom as well. We were also supposed to lead a campfire sing a long at the campout on Friday night with the GS choir, but Allison had to work, SCott had gymnastics and I did not feel like driving 1.5 hrs to get to camp to sing and then turn around and come home. By myself.  There was also an amazing Science and Engineering FAir going on in DC this past weekend. I really wanted to take the kids, and Tom too. Bill Nye the Science Guy was there as well as the Myth Busters, Jamie and Adam. They also had an incredible number of authors, shows, a career tent and lots of activities-everything from math programs to outer space/astronauts/physics/marine biology/medicine/robots-everything. We just did not have enough time.

Scott spent his Saturday wrapping up his community hours for his boy scout Citizenship in the Community badge. He worked all day at a church kids fair-set up/games/clean up. 7 hours total. Plus an hour for road side clean up last month to reach his 8 hrs volunteer work for the church. Way to go Scott.

Tom and I managed to get away for a quick date since we both had Friday off. In between running errands, we went to see a movie-The Raven. It is a murder mystery based on the writings of Edgar Allen Poe-like The Pit and the Pendulum. It is based in the 1800s in Baltimore where Poe lived and wrote a lot of his stories. (Hence our football teams name, The Ravens. Plus it works well with the Orioles).  Poe is also buried here after he died and was found lying in the streets. The movie was OK, it was mostly fun just hearing them say Baltimore over and over again. AFterwards we cheated on our dessert free diets and had lunch at the Cheese CAke FActory and brought home a slice of cheesecake for everyone.

Overall quite an amazing week. I even had a chance to get out and do a bit of yardwork on Sunday. I had some plants to move and started weeding the flower beds. ONe day we will order mulch when we are around to put it down. And Tom got the grass cut Saturday morning before we actually got some rain. As opposed to the beginning of the week when it snowed in the Maryland mountains.

Well, time to go make dinner and study with SCott for his upcoming week full of tests!

Wow! What an incredible week! Mostly for Allison. This week she had to give her speech for the Distinguished Women's Girl Scout Award at the yearly gala. This involved her spending the day at work last month with a woman CEO chosen by the Girl SCout council as a Leader in the Baltimore community. Usually it turns out that woman was also a Girl SCout or currently has a daughter that is a girl scout. Allison's mentor owns a chemical company in Baltimore. Allison spent the day with her at the factory, driving a fork lift and taking a tour, then over to a school where the company was sponsoring a fund raising event, and then off to a meeting at city hall where Allison's mentor had to give a speech concerning the status of small and independent businesses. Mrs Partlow also invited us to a High Tea GS fund raiser at her home as guests of honor. So Thursday night Allison had to give her speech about her mentor and how they spent the day at the company, along with 5 other girls. Normally, there are only 5 girls total, but this year since it is our 100th Anniversary, they added another Award to our Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. and had a scout follow her around City Hall for a day.

Allison had to practice her speech in front of the GS delegation on Monday night, and then again at a dress rehearsal at the Country Club on Weds. night. But the Thursday night gala was her big moment, and Tom and I and SCott were all able to attend at no cost to us($100 per ticket). And we think Allison did a great job giving her speech to approx 300 people. What a wonderful experience. You can listen to her speech on my video link.

She didn't slow down then. On Saturday night she had her High School Prom. I  spent the morning picking up her flowers and getting her to a manicure/pedicure appt. She also had to pick out her makeup. But most importantly she had to get some homework done because she plans on sleeping all day Sunday. Not only did her group go out to dinner(all you can eat Chinese buffet) and then the actual prom dance, but then the school sponsored an Up All Night party at our YMCA. They had gambling, karoake, dancing, swimming, movies,  the gym and rock wall climbing were open, as well as door prizes and character drawings. Allison got a great character drawing as an archer. The best part of all was that I did not have to do any driving(picking up and dropping off). One very nice parent purchased a stretch limo for Allison's group.  So the limo came to our house to pick them up after photos, then to the restaurant, then the hall where the dance was held and then to the Y for the after party and  each kid was dropped off at their front door at 5am Sunday morning. All I had to do was let Allison in the front door. I would have been happy to stay up all night and volunteer at the After Prom party since I am used to those kind of GS events. But Tom was gone and I did not want to leave SCott all alone for the night.

Tom  had headed off to the airport Saturday night as Allison was getting dressed. He will be in England all this week. Apparently along with my brother Dave who is working in London probably until July. I think he should stay for the Olympics! Dave did actually get the chance to see some of the Olympic games before when he was working in Korea. 

I asked Tom to look for some fun High Tea items since I am going to have a tea party with my scouts and their moms this month. Works out for Mother's Day! I have been busy picking up odds and ends tea cups and tea pots at the Goodwill store and garage sales. Didn't think I would have so much trouble picking up a few cups, but apparently people are holding onto those. I believe I will do better at our big Treasure Sale at work coming up just before the tea.

I had a few other activities I would have liked to have done this weekend, we just ran out of time. The Girl Scouts had a 100th Anniversary camping weekend that I would have taken the girls to if we did not have the prom scheduled. A few other girls in my troop were going to prom as well. We were also supposed to lead a campfire sing a long at the campout on Friday night with the GS choir, but Allison had to work, SCott had gymnastics and I did not feel like driving 1.5 hrs to get to camp to sing and then turn around and come home. By myself.  There was also an amazing Science and Engineering FAir going on in DC this past weekend. I really wanted to take the kids, and Tom too. Bill Nye the Science Guy was there as well as the Myth Busters, Jamie and Adam. They also had an incredible number of authors, shows, a career tent and lots of activities-everything from math programs to outer space/astronauts/physics/marine biology/medicine/robots-everything. We just did not have enough time.

Scott spent his Saturday wrapping up his community hours for his boy scout Citizenship in the Community badge. He worked all day at a church kids fair-set up/games/clean up. 7 hours total. Plus an hour for road side clean up last month to reach his 8 hrs volunteer work for the church. Way to go Scott.

Tom and I managed to get away for a quick date since we both had Friday off. In between running errands, we went to see a movie-The Raven. It is a murder mystery based on the writings of Edgar Allen Poe-like The Pit and the Pendulum. It is based in the 1800s in Baltimore where Poe lived and wrote a lot of his stories. (Hence our football teams name, The Ravens. Plus it works well with the Orioles).  Poe is also buried here after he died and was found lying in the streets. The movie was OK, it was mostly fun just hearing them say Baltimore over and over again. AFterwards we cheated on our dessert free diets and had lunch at the Cheese CAke FActory and brought home a slice of cheesecake for everyone.

Overall quite an amazing week. I even had a chance to get out and do a bit of yardwork on Sunday. I had some plants to move and started weeding the flower beds. ONe day we will order mulch when we are around to put it down. And Tom got the grass cut Saturday morning before we actually got some rain. As opposed to the beginning of the week when it snowed in the Maryland mountains.

Well, time to go make dinner and study with SCott for his upcoming week full of tests!

Another busy week and interesting weather. We went from the 80s down to 40s in one week. I was ready for the air conditioner to go on and then the furnace. Definitely spring. And we got some very much needed rain(finally). We were actually into drought levels.

So I haven't done much gardening yet. Tom did manage to get the grass cut before the rain came in this past weekend. And SCott brought home his award winning planter box. He managed to win the contest for his planter box design. The prize included a hand shovel and a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble. The contest was put on by the librarian at the school. She would like the Boy Scout Troop to make some planter boxes for an Eagle Scout project. Scott enjoyed picking out books.

Scott spent another Saturday morning asking for food donations at the grocery store for Scouting for Food. Donations go to our county food bank. While he was with the Scouts, Tom was dropping Allison off to work. I volunteered to go in and help out at work for a few hours. Some of the staff members were off for the week and things got very busy. I didn't have time on Friday, but offered my SAturday morning. I had forgotten however that I invited a large group of neighbors over for dinner that night. We never had a formal EAster dinner, so I thought it was a good time to get everyone together and enjoy a traditional Easter ham dinner. Plus one of our good friends has been bugging us to come over for dinner and a game night. I thought it would be more tolerable for Tom to invite a large group of people over to enjoy the board games. Tom is not terribly interested in playing board games.   I tried something new and bought the FAmily Feud game for the Wii system. It turned out to be quite an experience. We had kids and adults playing, about 12 people in all. But we are not so sure about who answers these questions. Last time we checked, a rat was not a bug. And I can't believe that people actually bargain for the price of toilet paper. Very strange. After about an hour we switched to the Apples and Apples board game. I was surprised that most people felt more comfortable playing that game. Tom on the other hand was happy with his hockey games.

It was fun having all the neighbors over. We haven't seen a few of them since our Christmas party.

And my house always gets a major cleaning. I spent Friday afternoon cleaning, but mostly I was waiting for the dishwasher repair man. Fortunately it got it right this time and I had many loads of dishes to catch up on.
I also like parties because I have lots of left over food. Not to mention the food that the neighbors brought. So on Sunday there was no cooking. Which was a good thing since most of our day was full of activities. IN the morning, SCott served mass. He had a chance to show a new older boy the ropes. Then Allison and I were off  for hair cuts. She is getting prepared for her prom next weekend. Then we had a 2.5 hour Girl SCout choir rehearsal. We have a lot of performances coming up so we needed to prepare. Including the addition of our flash mob dance for the Orioles game.  I then spent the rest of my free time helping SCott write a paper on Mexican food for spanish class, and studying for a few upcoming tests.  Allison also ran her speech by us for practice for her upcoming GS gala/Shadow Day speech coming up next week.

She did not have to work on Sunday, but went in on Saturday afternoon, and signed up for Friday night. She will be missing a few days next weekend because of the prom, so she thought she would pick up a few days. She was even called to work on Monday evening for an extra  training session to learn the computer system/cash register to help check in customers on busy days. We had just enough time on Friday after she got home from school to run out and buy some jewelry for her prom dress and the undergarments. I also stopped into the florist to order her wrist corsage and we made an appointment for her nails. I think she is all set.   She will be going out to dinner and attending prom with her friends, and then going to the Up All Night party afterwards. Should be a lot of fun.

Scott managed to finish another level of scouting and just has to complete the review to advance in rank. We have so many scout projects to focus on we can hardly keep up. He finished his swim class last week and will start a new level next week. He still has another month of gymnastics. And Allison has another month of piano lessons. She is currently working on a new song for her piano class final.

We also had a few medical appointments to keep this week. Scott and Allison had dental check ups. Yeah no cavities. But my new crown was still hurting. They did an xray but did not see any problems. INstead they filed it down and it already feels so much better. Who would have thought. I also had an appointment on Friday with the ENT(Ears/Nose/Throat MD). My throat has been hurting and felt swollen since November when I choked. I thought I had a problem from my whiplash. AFter a new experience, having my throat scoped(through your nose-freaky), the MD decided I was developing a mild reflux disorder. He wants me to take an antacid medication, Prilosec twice a day. I read the warnings on the prescription and decided to wait until Tom comes home from England. The warnings sounded very much like the Cipro allergy reactions(racing heart, itching, numbness, difficulty breathing). Not that I will have an allergic reaction, but I am just starting to feel a little better from my cipro recovery and I am a bit nervous about another strange reaction. I also can't believe I have reflux. Heartburn is not really a major issue that I have noticed, but I guess it can be sneaky. At least I feel better knowing what is going on.

I also had a chance to check in with my parents. They were back from their trip to Northern Michigan. Dad Bozyk had some medical appointments so they have to hang around the West Bloomfield house for awhile. Tom's parents are back in Indiana for a few weeks before they head back to Florida for the summer. Brother Dave headed out to England for a few months. Tom will also be traveling to England next week(but just for a week long work visit).

I will let you know how I manage with him gone. For now we have one more busy week ahead. Looking forward to Allison's speech at the gala and her Prom weekend. 

Sending another shot of SCott with his now award winning planter for the Garden Club Challenge! Scott's photo was also posted on the school website.