So we were back to our usual schedule(or were we?). Last Sunday Allison repacked her car and headed back to school. She decided to drop one of her accounting classes and retake it in the Winter term. She was not doing well with her previous instructor, so decided to try again with another professor. And she is so glad she did. She had a wonderful 1st week. The class meets every day. Her professor is wonderful and does a terrific job explaining everything. And Allison gets it!

Tom drove to school with Allison to assist her in moving into a new dorm room. She borrowed her roommate's fridge and they picked up a microwave so she could do meals on her own. They also dropped off her scholarship check and signed up for parking as well as checking out an apt/condo for housing next fall. A very productive start to the New Year. Allison had a very successful week and headed home for the weekend. We love having her home.

Scott was also back to school, however he did not quite make a full week. School was closed last Tuesday with a quick snow storm that hit during the morning commute. Tom and I made it to work, but the roads were terrible. Most other days saw school delays. Scott enjoys the shortened school days. But he still has quite a bit of work to squeeze in as they inch closer to midterms. He also managed to spend extra hours with the Robotics team. The group will be competing soon, so they have to decide on a robot design and build it. And they just have two months. Multiple teams come together with their robot designs and build to complete a specific task. So their team has access to the school lab on multiple days/evenings/weekends. They started off with design planning last  weekend however in a board room at one of the coaches  Defense contractor's office. Scott enjoyed eating chips, drinking coffee and planning their design. He is very excited about the whole project.

Tom spent the rest of the week moving back into his newly renovated work office following the fire last month. I was back to work attempting to avoid catching a cold or flu from my patients. I did not do too well as I came away with the start of a cold at the end of the week. I tried to spend some time resting, but I also had some catch up to do after being gone all Christmas break. Allison was happy to share her laundry. I also had some of my parent's laundry to get caught up on. And I needed to drop off their Christmas decorations to their storage unit. Nothing can go smoothly though. I found out their credit card had a hold and an outstanding payment due. I spent some time on the phone trying to straighten things out with the bank and get back into their storage unit. As I mentioned, I have mostly dedicated Fridays to running errands for my parents and taking care of their business. It was business as usual. Fortunately Allison was able to take Scott to the gym for me on Friday night. She also caught a work out for herself. She has been nursing her sore ankle-she fell during ultimate frisbee practice in November and is still recuperating. We had to send her for an xray during Christmas break as the doctor thought her foot could have been broken.  Fortunately no break, but still sore.

I also managed to get a work out in on Friday morning as I returned to my pool exercise class. Then I spent the rest of the day off grocery shopping. Lately it has been all about the football! With the Ravens in the playoffs, we were caught up in Purple Fever. We were invited over to our friends' house for the Saturday night game. So I had some grocery items to pick up for the dinner party. Dinner was great. The game was exciting. But Ravens lost. How sad. Congrats to the Indy Colts and Green Bay Packers. Looking forward to the SuperBowl and Katy Perry! At least we can celebrate the Cotton Bowl win by MSU on New Years Day! And we enjoyed watching Cookie play with our friend's puppy, Ripley. Or at least Ripley play with Cookie during the game.

On Sunday it was time for Allison to head back to school. We packed her up with clean clothes and lots of food. Scott was off to robotics after a full weekend of homework. Tom flew out to Vermont for a work week up north. And I took my parents to church and out to dinner. I am keeping a close eye on my Dad as they try changing his medications since he had been so sleepy lately.

So as I said, back to business as usual.
Baltimore Blog

PS This was not on my grocery shopping list for the Football game

Seitz Family Vacation

So we packed up the van on Friday morning, the day after Christmas,  and headed down the road to Florida. We stopped overnight in South Carolina. On Saturday, we swung into St Augustine for lunch at a local fish restaurant. Tom is not a fan of beach towns(too many people). It was certainly crowded with tourists. Imagine that!

We arrived in Orlando in the late afternoon and headed to Sea World. They are celebrating their 50th anniversary. We have season tickets, so we usually stop in for the shows and a few rides. I had fun feeding the sting rays. We also enjoyed the Holiday Shamu show, although we are slowly losing our perks as Platinum members. No premium seating anymore. It is no longer a Busch property and the new management is definitely all about making money. We especially miss the free beer! But we enjoyed our stop over.

On  Sunday we headed into DisneyWorld. We especially wanted to ride the new Snow White Mine Ride. We picked up a few Fast Passes via a cell phone app. We knew it was going to be a busy day since our Fast Passes weren't available until 11pm! And we did not get a Fast Pass for the Mine Ride. We stood in line about 1.5 hrs for that ride. But it was fun and we enjoyed it together. And it was new. Other new things we tried-A Park Hopper Ticket. We had never done this before. There is plenty to do in one park, but Tom really wanted to stop into Epcot Center to try the new Test Track ride and have dinner in Germany. We also wanted to see the Christmas Candlelight concert hosted by Steven Chapman Curtis(a religious pop singer that Allison especially enjoyed). So we spent a few hours at Disney, then hopped the monorail to the parking lot, the monorail to Epcot's parking lot, and enjoyed a few rides before attending the concert. The new Test Track ride sponsored by Chevrolet has some new concept cars(look like Segways with covers). Also, before the ride, you design your own car on touch screen computers. Allison came up with a high performance vehicle, Scott went for power with a plasma engine. Our test car hit 68mph on the outdoor track. Very wild in a small, open car!  Then we enjoyed the beautiful rendition of the Nativity with the Disney Orchestra and choir, along with guest High School choirs from all over the US. They sang lots of church songs like "O Little Town of Bethlehem" with Steven narrating the birth of Christ. Very well done. I guess Walt Disney always had a Candlelight procession in his park at Christmas time, so we caught another Disney tradition. Meanwhile, the restuarants were all packed, so we settled on Chinese rice bowls since we were so hungry. But we did get a taste of German Holiday with Gingerbread cookies. And Tom was excited to see Starbucks has partnered with Disney and has a huge coffee shop in each of its parks. We could have used a Fast Pass there too!  We then headed back to The Magic Kingdom to ride all our favorites-Pirates, Haunted House, and use our Fast Passes. Our timing was off though and Allison and I missed the Christmas parade and Electrical parade. I had enough walking, standing and riding by midnite! While Tom and the kids rode Space Mountain, I watched the incredible laser light Disney cartoon show displayed on the castle. We all met up and headed out of the park around 1230am. It was open until 1am, but we did not want to get caught up in the crowds leaving the park. We had stayed at a Hampton Inn hotel south of the park, so no Disney bus ride back. I noticed the park stayed open until 2am on New Year's Eve. I think Disney should go 24hrs!

On Sunday, we headed down to the Gulf coast and Venice. We stopped into Downtown Disney first for some Ghiradelli hot chocolate and souvenir shopping. Disney has decided to revamp that area and are busy building new housing, shops and restaurants. We parked in a recently opened parking garage. The place looks like Las Vegas! Unfortunately, Disney downsized their souvenir shops, so we did not have as much to look at this time. The kids were busy trying to spend their Disney gift cards and found some cute tshirts, hats and pins for Allison's collection. Plus she swapped a Disney pin with a salesperson(the thing to do with pins). We arrived in the afternoon in Venice in time for dinner with Tom's parents and a walk around their park to look at the Christmas lights.

On Tuesday I had an appointment to visit my parent's house in nearby Nokomis. I brought along a realtor to get an idea of the value of the lot and house. I met with the property manager, and the current renter and his son. Very interesting. The house needs a lot of work, but was bigger than I remembered. We have not been in the house in about 30 yrs. As it was getting quite warm, I then took the kids down to the Nokomis beach while Tom and his Dad made a trip to Costco. This was the first time I have seen it so foggy at the beach. You could barely see the ocean. But it felt much cooler to be down near the water. A break from the muggy heat. We enjoyed looking for sharks teeth and shells, taking a quick dip in the waves(a bit chilly), and  playing frisbee.   We then met back at the Seitz house for chinese food.

On Weds, New Year's Eve, we awoke to mist and rain. We had lunch with Susan and John, Tom's sister and her husband at their house around the corner from Tom's parents. They have been busy working on remodeling all year. The house is beautiful and lunch was terrific with the addition of chocolate cheesecake baked by Susan using Mom Seitz's recipe. We had hoped to take a bike ride on the newly opened bike trail along the old train tracks across the several bays in the area, but the weather was not cooperating. Instead we all took Susan and John's dog, Gus, to the dog beach. Always an interesting experience. The kids also enjoyed playing with their new cat.

That evening, we all enjoyed dinner out at Rib City. Wonderful BBQ. Thanks Dad!  Afterwards, Tom and I joined Tom's parents, along with Allison to attend the community's New Year's Eve dance. Allison was not quite as interested in the old songs(lots of Elvis, ballroom dancing). Grandma and I did get her out on the floor for one dance with Tom, and she did join me for a few line dances. We enjoyed the New Year's moment back at the house with Scott. He was busy finishing up some homework he had over break-a book report and spanish. Plus trying out a few of his new video games. Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's day at Busch Gardens in Tampa. It was much warmer this year than last year and the park was a lot less crowded. We had a great day looking at all the animals in the park, and riding the coasters. We also enjoyed their Christmas show and a new animal act. We spent the night in Tampa at the Embassy suites. Fortunately Tom saves up all his travel points during the year to cover our hotel stays during the trip.

Venice Dog Beach with Susan, John and Gus the dog

 The beach has gone to the dogs!

 Happy New Year! Allison and Tom

Happy New Year! Mom and Dad Seitz

 Christmas at Disney

 Christmas at SeaWorld

 Christmas in Disney

 Epcot Center

 Candlelight concert

 Christmas in Busch Gardens

On Friday we headed back to Maryland. We arrived home on Saturday evening. Just in time to pick up Cookie from our friends, and for Allison to do her laundry and repack. She was heading back to school on Sunday to take a class during Winter term.

Happy New Year! We recently returned from our road trip to Florida. It was certainly much warmer than our trip last year, but a bit overcast and so foggy. Since both kids were off school, we decided to take a vacation after Christmas. The week before Christmas was busy with last minute preparations for the holiday.

Since Tom had been sick the weekend before and we cancelled the neighborhood party, we had some extra food to share.  We invited our good friends, The Plunketts, to dinner on Monday night. Tom and Allison were home, so they were able to cook and clean, although the house was already in order since we had planned on having a party that previous Saturday night. I was busy working and Scott was still in school. We enjoyed a wonderful visit, dinner and sharing gifts. We felt we owed them a bit extra attention since they graciously offered to take Cookie in over the Holiday break. All the dog kennels were full already. I also put Allison to work baking more cookies to eat! I had planned on having several desserts for our party, including cookies. Instead I wrapped it all up and gave it to my coworkers who were very appreciative. So was I since I did not have time to bake!

SCott really only had 1 day of school before Christmas. ON Tuesday, rather than attending class,  he joined 150 other students from the student government passing out food and gifts to needy families in our county. He had been spending time after school the weeks prior assisting with food collections. He was just happy to be done with school. Unfortunately for him, he was not done with schoolwork as he had a book report assigned over break, along with studying for a spanish test.

ON Tuesday there were lots of preparations for our upcoming trip and Christmas day! Lots of gift wrapping and clothes packing. Everyone was out getting haircuts, including the dog. ON Christmas eve, we decided to attend mass at the chapel on the grounds of the Charlestown Retirement community. After work I picked up my parents and we all met at church for the 7pm mass. It seems to have been a bit too much for my Dad as he dozed off halfway through mass. Even with all of those loud horns and the pipe organ playing great music. Being a retirement community, the staff is well prepared for any situation. They escorted Dad to my mini van in a wheelchair since he was so out of it. We drove him home and put him to bed. Afterwards, our family enjoyed a new kid's tradition of eating out at a Chinese food restaurant(they passed on our german sausage and potatoes tradition a few years ago). There was a very nice Chinese restaurant next to my parent's apt complex and we had it all to ourselves at 9pm. We ended up closing the place. Sadly, our Chinese Buffet restaurant closed last year. But dinner was great, and we had time to open up a few small gifts before going to bed(waiting for Santa!).

On Christmas Day we started our morning with lots of gift exchanges. The kids and Tom

enjoyed new clothes and shoes, as well as updating their technology and gaming systems. After cleaning up the post Christmas wrapping paper and chatting with family on the phone, Allison and I headed out to pick up my parents for dinner and more presents. They enjoyed some appetizers and speaking to my brother Dan via Skype. The day was quickly coming to a close, so we sat down to dinner. Unfortunately, SCott had developed Tom's bad cold and fever, so he spent the rest of the day in bed. Dad was still groggy as well and slept through dinner.

Cookie and Ripley all decked out for Christmas! Cookie had bells on her feet and collar and was afraid to take a step since she jingled. Ripley is sporting a new scarf. She could not stop eating the pom poms on the end.

Cookie woke Dad B up with a big doggy kiss which gave us time to open their gifts. Then I had to pack them up along with Cookie to drop everyone off. First I took my parents back to their apt and helped them get all their gifts up to their apt. Then it was off to our friends The Plunketts to drop off Cookie for doggy sitting.  They  have a new Cavachon puppy who adores Cookie(Cookie tolerates all the attention from the puppy). We were just happy to have a great place for her to stay while we were gone.

I will save our vacation update for the next blog! Kathleen

This was a crazy weekend. By the way, Happy 1st day of Winter. On Sunday the 21st we celebrated the shortest day of the year by shopping. My parents wanted to go Christmas shopping and Sunday was the only day we all had free. I was supposed to be singing with the Girl Scout choir at the Charlestown Retirement Community(my old work place). Unfortunately, the facility was on lock down for respiratory diseases and they had to shut down the nursing home and assisted living facility. So no one could go out or come in. So I had the day free and decided to take my parents shopping and out to dinner. They mall was absolutely packed, but we had a good time shopping and then stopped to get some dinner. Tom and the kids joined us. Everyone was too tired for a movie, so we headed back home. We did stop into the Bass Pro Shop to say hello to the fish and try our hand at the shooting range though(big kid video game). Tom stopped into my parent's apt afterwards to reset their tv(mom keeps pushing the wrong channels). I think we wore mom and dad out by walking the entire mall(it is quite large since it is an outlet mall). Plus I had to park far away-even the handicap spots were all taken. My parents were already pooped out before we left. INstead of going to church in the morning, they stayed back at the apt for an in house service. Their facility has had some type of Christmas entertainment every day. I think Mom and Dad are going to be worn out with Christmas activities. They were having a sing a long when we stopped in. And someone had dropped off a huge box of chocolates, cupcakes and cookies for everyone to share at the front desk.

It was nice not to have to rush on Sunday. I had some extra time this weekend in my wrapping, packing and card filling out schedule. I had planned on having all the neighbors over for our traditional White Elephant Gift exchange party Saturday night. I spent Friday shopping, cooking and cleaning. On Saturday morning, Tom informed me that he  had a fever and did not feel well. We decided to cancel the party. WE will reschedule in January. Tom had been in Chicago this past week. He was very cold and miserable. He had to sit on the plane waiting for them to de-ice. I don't think Northrop should let him travel right before the holidays.

I also spent an hour sitting in the church parking lot SAturday morning waiting for some info on a scheduled ski trip for Scott with the Teen Church group. We were waiting for everyone to meet to car pool to ski in Pennsylvania. We were not alone. We also waited with a friend of SCott's and her Dad. After an hour I was able to speak to the priest who was in the office after morning mass. He was able to contact the teen program director via telephone. We only had the office phone number and the office was closed. Turns out they had cancelled the trip the night before. We however never got the phone message. The ski trip was rescheduled for February. Apparently the snow tubing was closed and they wanted to wait for the opportunity for the younger kids to attend. So Scotty was bummed(again) but he has something to look forward to.

So a whole lot of nothing going on during the busiest time of the year!  Instead, I took the kids down to the Inner Harbor with me on SAturday afternoon. OUr Girl SCout troop was invited to sing at a German festival downtown. They set up a german village with small shops including German bakeries, beer garten and holiday decorations. I picked up a few German Christmas tree decorations. It was a lot of fun to get up on a small stage and sing too. Allison and Scott enjoyed munching on german treats and shopping while I sang on stage.

On Friday, besides all the running around I had done for our party, I had time to get Cookie over to the pet store for a hair cut. I also had to meet with my parents broker to take care of some end of the year finances.

Allison managed to get out and get her hair cut. She also took herself to the doctor for a flu shot and to have her foot xrayed. It was still bothering her. They thought she may have a stress fracture, but it looks to be fine. Just sore and she can't really run on it. The doctor told her she should rest it up for another 8 weeks. At least Allison will be taking it easy while attending school this winter break. It is just difficult to walk around campus. She did well this term-all As and Bs.

Scott was very busy this past week. The teacher's crammed in lots of papers, tests and assignments for school. His little brain was fried.  He also finished his last confirmation class. He has  finished his volunteer hours too. He continues to altar serve which counts for volunteer hours.  Now he just has to complete a retreat in the spring and a few more Sunday night religious classes. He is almost there. He and Tom also got their hair cut this weekend. Everyone is ready for the holidays.

Now just a few more Christmas cards and gift wrapping. Plus packing for our trip to Florida!

Scott enjoys some type of Apple dessert at the German Holiday village

We are getting so much closer to Christmas! Our family keeps up with the holiday festivities. I started mailing out Christmas cards. The Christmas decorations keep going up, including the tree.  My parent's enjoyed a Christmas luncheon with their Sr Center group at Olive Garden on Weds. On Friday, Tom and I stopped by their apt to assemble a new power lift chair we bought for my mom over the Thanksgiving holiday. Sam's club had their power lift recliner chairs on sale. Dad has been enjoying his chair, so we thought mom could use one too. Especially since I took her to the orthopedic MD last week and he told her that her knee looked pretty worn out. She can use all the help she can get. I also kept Tom busy hanging some of their paintings and photos as well as repairing some plugs and bulb sockets on a few of their lamps. Their apt looks very festive!

We took them both over to our house Friday night for dinner. I planned on taking my mom to a Cookie Exchange party at our neighbor's house. Instead, she got comfortable watching a movie with my Dad and Tom. So while they enjoyed watching "The Conspirator", a movie about Lincoln's assassination, I headed down to the neighbors to enjoy a cookie swap. I had more than enough to share with my parents when I was done. On the way back to drop them off at their apt that evening, we swung by a few "over the top" decorated homes. I had to dodge a deer in the road during the tour! Glad I missed it!

Allison came home on Weds after surviving her finals week. She drove home by herself since her roommate had another final scheduled on Thursday. Before she left, the two girls dropped by a nearby townhouse complex to scope out housing for next school year. As a junior, the kids are no longer allowed to stay in the dorms and have to use college apts or off campus. We certainly were spoiled at MSU, living in the dorms for all 5 years! Allison is certainly happy to be home again(and done with classes). I quickly put her to work though. She is helping to put up Christmas decorations. She was also my busy little baker. She made up lots of Hershey pb kisses cookies and chocolate turtles with rollo candies and pretzels. I also made no bake, chocolate peppermint schnapp cookie balls. This way there were lots of cookies available for my Cookie exchange on Friday night with the neighbor ladies.

We even had enough left over for Scott to take some cookies to his friend's Cookie exchange on Sunday afternoon. He enjoyed visiting with his friends, playing video games and exchanging lots of goodies.  He brought home a generous supply of even more various holiday cookies! Plus his friend's mom gave all the kids Christmas socks, hand lotion, a huge container of hot cocoa mix complete with peppermint and marshmallows. Not to mention a small box of dog treats for Cookie. Crazy!  I think it made up for Scott's disappointment in missing out on a trip to New York City this Saturday. One of his friend's family asked him to take a bus trip up to NYC to see all the Christmas decorations and visit the zoo, museum, FAO toy store, whatever. But his friend Jason got very sick Friday night, so they cancelled their trip. Oh well. It stays on Scott's bucket list. Instead, he enjoyed our night having dinner at our friend's house, The Plunketts,  celebrating his and his friend Bryce's belated birthdays. Bryce and Scott share the same week in November. Plus we enjoyed catching up with their new puppy, Ripley.

I also took my parent's and Allison to listen to the Holiday concert with the US Army Jazz Ambassador band. Last weekend, Tom and I heard the US Army band and Chorus downtown at the symphony hall. This weekend it was the jazzy version of the holiday concert. Again, very good and very free. And very close as the concert was held at a local high school. My parents really seemed to enjoy the music(and Allison too).

 On Sunday I joined our Girl Scout choir at the B and O railroad for a Holiday concert. I really enjoy the train museum, especially when it is all decorated for the holidays. I would have brought my parents, but it is too hard to keep an eye on them while I am busy singing with the choir. Plus I get in for free, and they would have had to pay(it is a bit pricey too). It certainly was worth it to take the kids when they were little. Scott especially loved the trains.

So we are excited to have Allison home. Scott wishes he could spend more time with her, but he is still busy with his confirmation and religious classes, as well as school. They are both running together and squeezing in some video games though. And they even had a little time to do some Christmas shopping.

Tom was gone last week working in the San Francisco area. He even had time to stop into Paso Robles to pick up a few bottles of wine. (less crowded than Napa Valley). I was just glad he was able to fly out of San Fran before the big Pineapple Express rain storm hit. Except he came back home at the tail end of a Nor'Easter on our coast. It made for a bumpy plane ride.

Holidays at the B&O Railroad(oldest railroad in US). Original roundhouse now museum.

 Lots of train gardens

 and big decorations.

 Holiday lights at one Neighborhood house, complete with Santa and 8 tiny reindeer, plus Rudolph!

 Gpa and Gma Bozyk's apt and their Holiday decorations

 Cookie and Scott love to snuggle

 Scott and Allison take turns playing with the cavachon puppy, Ripley.

I also squeezed in my yearly medical check up on Friday. I even managed to get my shingles vaccination. They usually wait until you are in your 60s to give out the shot, but since I had shingles 3 years ago, I asked to get it early. This injection is supposed to last a lifetime, so I hope I never experience it again!

We also had a few Birthdays to celebrate this past week. Linda Seitz enjoyed her Birthday in Indiana this weekend. Happy Birthday Linda! And we enjoyed eating ice cream cake to celebrate Cookie's #6 Birthday! Wow time flies!

Time to fill out more Christmas cards! Kathleen

By the way, I failed to mention some other interesting news last week. First off, Tom was displaced from his office when 2 floors in his building caught fire! I could only think it was caused by all the computers since it is a building full of engineers and business managers. That seems to be the case. He says nothing serious was damaged-mostly everything got wet though when the sprinklers went off. So he is working out of his briefcase currently.

On a better note, I finally heard back from my lawyer over the lawsuit I have been fighting since June this year. I was being sued from the woman that hit me from behind in a car accident 3 years ago for a small amount of $750,000! I had to  take a day off work and give my account last month to the lawyers. I just heard that the case against me is finally being dismissed! Yeah! Now I have an extra $750,000 to spend on Christmas presents! I may however still be brought in next year as a witness. I sure hope not. K-

Happy St Nick's Day! Saturday we celebrated St Nick's Day by opening our Christmas stockings. Allison had to take most of her stocking to school last weekend(which was mostly filled with study snacks). She is busy studying for finals coming up next week so I sent her and her roommate some goodies to keep them awake and sharp(or just full).  We look forward to having her back home next week. She also enjoyed taking a break with a formal dance party with the Ultimate Frisbee Team.

Our weekend was again quite busy. I managed to type up my yearly Christmas letter and picked up our Christmas pictures. Now I just have to put the two together! I talked Tom and Scott into going out to dinner at The Red Robin Friday night while I picked up our photos. We wanted to stop in and pick up some Red Robin gift cards since they have a promotion and were giving out a free movie ticket to The Hobbit with every $25 gift card you buy. A good deal!  And a good meal!

On Saturday, Scott and I got up early to volunteer with the Boy Scouts at the Jingle Bell Run in our local park. It is a 5K around the lake. When we arrived in the morning, they already had more than enough help and were out of volunteer tshirts. The volunteer coordinator asked us to wait until the race was over and then we could help clean up. Instead of waiting, Scott asked if he could run the race! We quickly signed him up, changed his shirt, slapped on a timer and a number and away he went! It was his very first 5K race! He did pretty well considering he had started the race at the very end. Also the sidewalk they ran on was very wet and slippery and crowded. So it was hard to get around the walkers, strollers and dogs. But he managed to finish in 32 mins. And he didn't even have on the right shoes! So that was the end of our volunteering! We headed home so he could get busy studying and doing homework assignments. Tom helped him review his science homework since Tom was heading out of town on Sunday. In the evening, Tom and I invited our neighbor Dan and California friend, John D out to dinner and then to  The US Army Band and Choir Christmas program at the Meyerhoff Performing Arts Center in downtown Baltimore. The concert was free and once again, we were incredibly impressed with their performance. I was just surprised they did not fill up the auditorium. I don't think enough people know about them.

On Sunday, Tom headed off to California for work. Scott got busy on his homework. I headed out to participate in the Mayor's Christmas Parade in Hampden with the Girl Scout choir. It was quite a work out-a long, 2 mile uphill hike with us singing and doing hand gestures to match the words. They had 150 entries-we were #63! We tried to participate in this event last year and it was snowed out. At least the weather cooperated this year. A chilly but sunny 48 degrees. And I am definitely getting my fill of the holidays.

Tom and Scott hung lights outside last weekend, complete with a light show and music. So this weekend we started tackling the decorating inside the house by putting up the Christmas tree. Last weekend I helped my parents decorate their apt with a Christmas tree and manger scene. It looks like I tweaked my back hauling containers in and out of their storage unit. It made it difficult to sit at the computer all week at work and get much done around the house.

Unfortunately, work decided to switch to a whole new computer system(it is not fun). And unlike last time when we all started, there was no orientation to this new system. So I plan on spending a lot more time at the computer(and I hope my back starts to feel better so I can type more!). I also had to sign up for next year's benefits. What a pain. On top of that, I had a few teacher conferences to attend at Scott's school. I wanted to chat with a few of his new teachers to get an idea of what he should expect next year. They will be recommending next year's classes by Christmas! I just wanted to make sure Scott was on the right track. We would have loved to move him to another Spanish class since I found out his current class is full of sophomores and juniors that failed Spanish 1 and were retaking the course. Great. They really don't care about studying now.

Scott is also continuing with his Weds night Confirmation classes. He had to skip his Sunday night catechism class this week because of all his homework.

I also took some time off work to take my mom to an orthopedic MD to check out her knee. She had a left knee replaced about 10 + yrs ago. She decided it did not hurt enough to go through surgery again(but it is pretty worn out).  I was just happy that my Dad decided to attend the Sr Center Swim program on his own this week while mom was at the doctor's office. A big step in both of their new lives. I just wish I also could have enjoyed the family Holiday brunch with them on Sunday.

Can't be in two places at the same time(don't know if I want to either!). Now I have to go work on cookie making for the cookie exchange next weekend. Fun never stops! K-

Scott runs his first 5K!

 Run, Run as Fast as You Can!

 Even Santa is on the Move!

 Mayor's Christmas Parade -Go Ravens

 Even Darth Vader showed up!

 Our GS choir

 Cafe Hon in Hampden(as seen on Kitchen Nightmares)