Dear Family and Friends-Happy Spring and Happy post Easter. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I guess we missed you and your family Laura at the BWI airport? Where were you headed? We left town on Holy Thursday, driving south to Florida. We had dropped our puppy off at friends on Weds night, and had a neighbor watching the house and cat and gerbils too. We stopped in Orlando on Friday and flew through Seaworld. On Saturday we drove down to Tom's parents in Venice. We stopped in at a manatee viewing area near Tampa, but the water was so warm, the manatee were headed out to sea. We had plenty of time to watch the sun set on Saturday night in Venice, and then woke up to hunt for baskets Easter Sunday. Mass was at the local church in Venice and was televised with the local Bishop saying mass. We even had the bells choir for the service. By the way, gorgeous weather. Sunday afternoon the kids swam in Gma and Gpa's (heated ) pool and then visited the beach. We went in search of sharks teeth and swam a lot. The ocean wasn't heated, but it sure was nice. We then enjoyed a wonderful Easter Sunday dinner courtesy of Mom Seitz. Monday was a bike ride down to Casperson beach. We love riding the bike path along the intercostal there in Venice as it winds through a nature area. We love to see the gopher tortoises that dig holes and live in the sandy woods along the intercostal and this year we spotted a very hungry baby. Scott loved feeding the little guy lots of clover and flowers. He also enjoyed taking on the big waves down at Casperson. After 2 full days in the sun and surf we were all a bit burned and needed a sun break. On Tuesday a T storm moved through the area so we headed south to Ft Meyers to visit the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford museum and summer homes. We all loved walking through the gardens on the river and viewing the homes and Edison labs. It looked like someone put Greenfield Village in Florida. We had a great do it yourself tour and missed the big rain during our visit. When we returned though we had a big rain so it was out to dinner that night(all you can eat shrimp, yum!). Weds we packed up and headed north to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. We have season passes, but the park is just not the same since they were bought out. No more free beer! How sad is that. We still managed to enjoy ourselves and Allison even tried her first upside roller coaster! And loved it at that! That night we traveled to Orlando so we would be up early to visit Disneyland on Thursday. It was packed at the Magic Kingdom but we still managed to get on all our favorite rides. And once again Allison surprised us with her first ride on Space Mountain. She loved it so much she went again! Good thing too since it will be closed for remodeling until Oct this year. We pretty much spent every last second enjoying Disney and left at midnight when the park closed. On Friday we spent a few hours at the water park owned by Seaworld-Aquatica. The kids and I were thankful for the heated water. Tom rested in the sun while we paddled around the lazy river. Then it was time to head back to Maryland. Too bad we got stuck in lousy traffic or the trip would have been a breeze. We arrived back in MD to pick up Cookie from our friends late Sat night. We arrived just in time for dinner. Sunday was time to unpack and wash clothes as well as complete school projects. Scott had a book report to complete along with a shoebox diarama. He did a marvelous job(according to his teacher) too! Of course we had to take it in to school on Monday in an absolute downpour. The teacher almost called us all to tell us to bring in the projects on Tuesday! It survived under the glad garbage bag though. And Sunday Allison and I took Cookie to her last puppy school-she is now a graduate. We'll give her(and us) a break and work on the basics until we sign her up for the next level. She also just got the last of her shots. Next project will probably be spading.
So it was back to school and work. Everyone was crazy busy. Scott had several tests, and then Allison had several tests. We also enjoyed the school tradition Weds night of having the 8th graders play the faculty in a game of basketball. I never yelled so much at Allison in my live. Didn't matter though. The students lost by one point. It was a lot of fun though. And most of the teachers made it in to school the next day.
On Friday I took my Girl Scouts horsebackriding. They are working on a badge and need to know safety in the ring and equipment as well as demonstrate some riding skills. They have another session and then will spend time volunteering for a Therapeutic Horsebackriding program. I met with them to discuss careers in Horses. I also had to run Allison over to her piano lesson. Tom and Scott ran off with John Dutton to Hershey PA to catch a Hershey Bears hockey finals game(which they all loved, and Hershey Bears won).
This weekend the weather actually feels warmer here in Baltimore than it was in Florida! I started Sat morning off with a community yard sale, then left Allison in charge while I went off to a doctor appt. When I got back the business had picked up a bit, but the neighborhood is very busy these days. We had to quit around noon to attend a First Communion party. Tom was just getting back from karate with Scott. And we have another First Communion party tomorrow. I had to make sure I picked up gifts for both boys on Friday.
And Tom finally got the lawn cut. He went out and bought a new mower since it looked like our old one was dead, but a neighbor got it running again. So now we have his and her mowers! Tom has had to cut the grass twice now, and is ordering the mulch for the flower beds. I put in a few grape tomato plants, but I am holding off a few weeks on the flowers. Most of our cherry blossoms and daffodils are done-now its the Dogwoods and tulips and azaleas. All so pretty(unless you have allergies!)
Next Weekend plan is to attend a Cub Scout Family camping trip. We plan on taking Cookie and our kayaks. Should be fun! Oh yeah! GO RED WINGS!

Dear Family and Friends-Happy Spring and Happy post Easter. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I guess we missed you and your family Laura at the BWI airport? Where were you headed? We left town on Holy Thursday, driving south to Florida. We had dropped our puppy off at friends on Weds night, and had a neighbor watching the house and cat and gerbils too. We stopped in Orlando on Friday and flew through Seaworld. On Saturday we drove down to Tom's parents in Venice. We stopped in at a manatee viewing area near Tampa, but the water was so warm, the manatee were headed out to sea. We had plenty of time to watch the sun set on Saturday night in Venice, and then woke up to hunt for baskets Easter Sunday. Mass was at the local church in Venice and was televised with the local Bishop saying mass. We even had the bells choir for the service. By the way, gorgeous weather. Sunday afternoon the kids swam in Gma and Gpa's (heated ) pool and then visited the beach. We went in search of sharks teeth and swam alot. The ocean wasn't heated, but it sure was nice. We then enjoyed a wonderful Easter Sunday dinner courtesy of Mom Seitz. Monday was a bike ride down to Casperson beach. We love riding the bike path along the intercostal there in Venice as it winds through a nature area. We love to see the gopher tortoises that dig holes and live in the sandy woods along the intercostal and this year we spotted a very hungry baby. Scott loved feeding the little guy lots of clover and flowers. He also enjoyed taking on the big waves down at Casperson. After 2 full days in the sun and surf we were all a bit burned and needed a sun break. On Tuesday a Tstorm moved through the area so we headed south to Ft Meyers to visit the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford museum and summer homes. We all loved walking through the gardens on the river and viewing the homes and Edison labs. It looked like someone put Greenfield Village in Florida. We had a great do it yourself tour and missed the big rain during our visit. When we returned though we had a big rain so it was out to dinner that night(all you can eat shrimp, yum!). Weds we packed up and headed north to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. We have season passes, but the park is just not the same since they were bought out. No more free beer! How sad is that. We still managed to enjoy ourselves and Allison even tried her first upside rollercoaster! And loved it at that! That night we traveled to Orlando so we would be up early to visit Disneyland on Thursday. It was packed at the Magic Kindgom but we still managed to get on all our favorite rides. And once again Allison surprised us with her first ride on Space Mountain. She loved it so much she went again! Good thing too since it will be closed for remodeling until Oct this year. We pretty much spent every last second enjoying Disney and left at midnite when the park closed. On friday we spent a few hours at the water park owned by Seaworld-Aquatica. The kids and I were thankful for the heated water. Tom rested in the sun while we paddled around the lazy river. Then it was time to head back to Maryland. Too bad we got stuck in lousy traffic or the trip would have been a breeze. We arrived back in MD to pick up Cookie from our friends late Sat nite. We arrived just in time for dinner. Sunday was time to unpack and wash clothes as well as complete school projects. Scott had a book report to complete along with a shoebox diarama. He did a marvelous job(according to his teacher) too! Of course we had to take it in to school on Monday in an absolute downpour. The teacher almost called us all to tell us to bring in the projects on Tuesday! It survived under the glad garbage bag though. And Sunday Allison and I took Cookie to her last puppy school-she is now a graduate. We'll give her(and us) a break and work on the basics until we sign her up for the next level. She also just got the last of her shots. Next project will probably be spading.
So it was back to school and work. Everyone was crazy busy. Scott had several tests, and then Allison had several tests. We also enjoyed the school tradition Weds night of having the 8th graders play the faculty in a game of basketball. I never yelled so much at Allison in my live. Didn't matter though. The students lost by one point. It was a lot of fun though. And most of the teachers made it in to school the next day.
On Friday I took my Girl Scouts horsebackriding. They are working on a badge and need to know safety in the ring and equipment as well as demonstrate some riding skills. They have another session and then will spend time volunteering for a Therapeutic Horsebackriding program. I met with them to discuss careers in Horses. I also had to run allison over to her piano lesson. Tom and Scott ran off with John Dutton to Hershey PA to catch a Hershey Bears hockey finals game(which they all loved, and Hershey Bears won).
This weekend the weather actually feels warmer here in Baltimore than it was in Florida! I started Sat morning off with a community yard sale, then left Allison in charge while I went off to a doctor appt. When I got back the business had picked up a bit, but the neighborhood is very busy these days. We had to quit around noon to attend a First Communion party. Tom was just getting back from karate with Scott. And we have another First Communion party tomorrow. I had to make sure I picked up gifts for both boys on Friday.
And Tom finally got the lawn cut. He went out and bought a new mower since it looked like our old one was dead, but a neighbor got it running again. So now we have his and her mowers! Tom has had to cut the grass twice now, and is ordering the mulch for the flower beds. I put in a few grape tomato plants, but I am holding off a few weeks on the flowers. Most of our cherry blossoms and daffodils are done-now its the Dogwoods and tulips and azalaes. All so pretty(unless you have allergies!)
Next Weekend plan is to attend a Cub Scout Family camping trip. We plan on taking Cookie and our kayaks. Should be fun! Oh yeah! GO RED WINGS!

Happy Birthday to Tom! Saturday night we celebrated Tom's birthday with most of our neighbors. We decided we were going to have a wine tasting party with hors d'oevres, but as usual I ended up buying too much food and it became a dinner/hors d'eovre party! I just couldn't pass up the spiral cut ham on sale. We were going to invite all of Tom's work people and the neighbors but decided it would be too crazy to try and keep up with everyone. And it is never easy to keep an eye on all the kids. As it turned out, we cannot host a party without someone bleeding. This time it was one of the neighbor boys. He and Scott decided to play with our gerbil. Unfortunately, he decided to hold the gerbil up to his nose and the gerbil decided to bite him! Of course there was lots of blood but just a tiny bite on the tip of his nose. With a house full of medical personnel(OT, nurse and pediatrician we had the situation quickly under control) So we have now added-do not hold the gerbils up to your nose on the list of How to Handle Gerbils for our housesitter/petsitter. We head out to Florida on Thursday. We will stay with Mom and Dad Seitz over the Easter weekend, and then spend some time playing in Orlando. Our neighbor Jane is manning our house while keeping an eye on the killer gerbils and Pika the cat. Cookie will be heading over to Matt and Di's house for the week.

Saturday night we also enjoyed watching MSU's men's basketball team win and now head to the Final Four competition which will be held in Detroit. They can certainly use the income there in Michigan. And while we were drinking wine, eating cake and watching the game on tv, we were also watching our neighbor's daughter model bridal dresses live from a fashion show in New York on the internet. She texted us and told us the whole zipper on the back of her dress ripped so they threw a shawl around her. We actually thought the shawl was the prettiest part of all the dresses being modeled. Strapless dresses seem to be in this year Stacey, but we all agreed they didn't quite work in the church. Overall it was an enjoyable evening(except for the gerbil incident) and Tom enjoyed his presents. His big gift was a new coffee maker(imagine that!). He wanted a new coffee maker with a built in grinder that did not need to be cleaned every morning. I had fun shopping at William Sonoma. My favorite part was when they wrapped it for free(and did a beautiful job). Of course Tom had it ripped open in a few seconds and up and running and making coffee for all our guests. Then this Palm Sunday, he set the timer and we woke to coffee-just in time to let the dog out. How nice. It gave us lots of time to get ready for mass and then Allison and I took off to puppy school. Only one more class left. We are doing pretty well with sit, lay down and working on stay. I then spent the afternoon studying with Allison and packing for our trip to Florida(lots of laundry too). Allison had some make up work to do since she was out sick last week for a few days with a bad headcold. She stayed home on Friday but I did drag her out with me to school so my Girl Scouts could run a Brownie meeting. The girls ran a Safety badge for the brownies and it turned out pretty well-they talked about everything from fire safety, first aid to stranger danger. Then we made emergency cards for each of the girls and I got to try my new laminator out on the projects. The girls really enjoyed doing that part. We had to get home so Allison could get to her piano lesson. I expected Tom to take Scott to a make up gymnastic class and karate class, as well as his Cub Scout pack meeting, but he was feeling pretty crappy too. So the kids sat around full of cold medicine most of Saturday. I spent most of Saturday putting away my snowmen and getting out the spring bunnies. It was such a job! Sadly we missed getting down to DC this spring for the kite festival and the cherry blossom festival. Last weekend they were flying kites, but the weather was pretty rainy so it probably was not as fun. This Saturday was incredibly windy which would have been more fun with the kites, but it was the kick off for the cherry blossoms. The DC mall looked packed today. And it would have been such a beautiful day to walk around DC with the other billion people! I am sure Tom would have loved that!
I was trying to let the kids get a little bit of rest before we head out to Florida on Thursday. I was busy washing clothes and packing today, including the Easter stuff. I didn't want Allison wearing herself out too much since I already took care of that last week. Besides the GS meeting on Friday, Allison and I sang at a wedding reception with the GS choir in the middle of the week. Turns out the groom has cerebral palsy, was in a wheelchair and is an artist. His life was featured in the movie King Gimp-I will have to ask Tom to get it on Netflix. He auctioned off some of his paintings at a movie theatre where they were married. The theater is the oldest in Baltimore, The Senator, and it is going to be sold. They have shown several Hollywood previews there-movies filmed or written in Baltimore like Hairspray and John Travolta's firefighter movie, Station 49. They need to raise money to sell the building as a historical facility to be used as a museum, theatre and for stage shows. The groom donated the money to the Senator after the wedding ceremony there. Then they headed down to our VFW hall for the reception where we sang for an hour. We sang their favorites from broadway musicals and some GS songs too. The wedding theme was all retro, 20s. 30s and 40s. Even the guests came dressed in costume. They also donated $500 to our GS choir. We had a lot of fun, but it made for a late night. We did not get singing until 1hr after our scheduled time. And Allison did not have much time to catch up with anything since she also had a 3hr meeting on Thursday night for her Peer Confirmation program. She is training to help out with the 8th grade Confirmation training and retreats this Fall. It is a big commitment, but she is enjoying the time.
I also had to drag the kids out early Saturday morning for their eye exams. I stopped in too and picked up my glasses. Now I can see teeny tiny stuff again!
So I will wish you all a Happy Easter. We will be busy enjoying the sun and beaches over the next week. Big Birthday greetings to Dad Bozyk and Sarah Bozyk this coming week!
Kathleen and Family(Tom included a video Allison made of all our puppy guests and the kids playing in our backyard the night of Tom's Bday party).

Happy Birthday Dad Seitz! Dad Seitz enjoyed his BDay this past Sunday with dinner at Sharkeys on the pier in Venice, FL. We hope you are enjoying your extended XM radio from the Seitz kids. I know I love mine, and I am hoping to get a new car sometime with free two years worth of XM radio service. Susan and John were just down there visiting and headed back to Indiana last week. Hope you got your package Susan.
We helped Matt Wagner celebrate his Bday this weekend with dinner at our house. Tom cooked. Matt unfortunately celebrated getting older by discovering he has diabetes. He does not need insulin injections at this point, he is managed through medication. We all took turns checking our blood sugars after eating chocolate birthday cake. Too much excitement! I needed some rest time after going into work on Saturday. I missed a day last week since Scott caught a big cold and stayed home for a few days. I made up my time on Saturday-one nice thing about my kind of work. I also had to keep up my weekend schedule however which included running home to take Allison to karate in the middle of the day, and then running her and the Girl Scouts over to our local hospital to take a CPR for Teens class. Fortunately I was able to return to work and another mom picked up the girls when they were done. I was hoping the girls could take a CPR class towards their childcare badge, and it was a nice benefit for Allison since she is slowly building a babysitting service. One of my patients took her name for her daughter and son in law. Two years ago I had the girl scouts take a babysitting course, so this was Part II of the training. While I was running around on Saturday, Tom was able to get Scott to karate and then to an Easter egg hunt in the pool at the YMCA. Scott had a great time and got a few fun gifts. He loved chasing floating eggs in the pool. He stayed home both Thursday and Friday, so he missed his gymnastics again. But since he was home it gave us time to get a paper written. He had to write a report for Spanish class on a custom in a spanish speaking country. Tom recommended Day of the Dead-I found Scott some great books at the library and we spent a day reading all about it and writing the report. He did a good job. The kids spent the entire last week doing standardized testing, so fortunately they did not have a lot of homework. But their little brains were fried at the end of the day.
On Friday I had to spend some time preparing for my Girl Scout meeting. I picked up the girls after school and brought them home to work on their Silver Award and prepare for a Brownie badge that they are putting on this coming Friday at school for our 2nd graders. This is all extra points for our Silver Award which we should receive in May. After the meeting I had to run the girls up to school for a Middle School Madness party with the church youth group. They spent the night playing air hockey and sumo wrestling in fat suits, dancing and playing games, and of course eating snacks. But there was a catch-they had to participate in the Stations of the Course first. Allison said she was worn out from all the kneeling and sitting and walking around the church! At least they didn't have to do them outside in the dark! She sure was tired that night. Me too-I was so grateful another mom brought her home since I fell asleep on the couch before eleven! At least I had myself a fish dinner from church before I came home!
On Sunday we had another puppy training class-looks like we are doing pretty well with sit and lie down. At least the potty training seems to be going well-no accidents over the past few weeks! Sunday evening, Tom and Allison went off to enjoy a GS event together-Daddy Daughter dance and rollerblading event. Tom actually enjoyed the event. He went with another GS and her Dad, so they knew someone at the event. and while he was off with Allison, I took Scott and the Dad's son to see Monsters vs Aliens movie in 3D IMAX. We all enjoyed the movie-especially in 3D.
I think the long week did me in. Tom was out of town in Salt Lake City working last week so I was on my own with the kids. Tom even missed his own Northrop award dinner. Northrop had a big dinner at the Westin hotel for their employees that displayed exceptional work projects this past year. They actually had to host a dinner every night for 4 nights since there were so many groups being honored. Tom asked me to go in his place, so after picking up the kids and dropping them off at home with dinner, I changed my clothes and ran off to arrive just as they were serving the salads. I sat at Tom's boss's table and they let me know that not one person in Tom's group was able to make it to the dinner that night. They asked if I wouldn't mind standing up in their places. So there I was representing the entire group with lots of photo opps while emailing Tom in Salt Lake. I did have a very nice dinner and enjoyed talking to all the ladies and picking up Tom's award. The Northrop employess just couldn't believe I was brave enough to do that. They must not know me very well! No big deal for me. And on the next day at work I had to do an impromptu advertisement for our Rehab Dept on our inhouse television station during our Health Fair. I think I had more than enough attention last week.
And we were all still pretty pooped out with our trip to Busch Gardens on Sunday.
Another Busy week this week! At least the flowers are all blooming and Spring has arrived(but the allergy sufferers in the family are not too happy)-we even had our first Thunder Storm this weekend. I hear they had snow in Detroit. Tom sure had snow in Salt Lake. We are having cherry blossoms!
Kathleen and family

Happy Spring! Lots of changes in the air, including several managerial layoffs at my Retirement community. My Rehab manager was let go after 10yrs at my facility. We are all still in a bit of shock. Fortunately our field is short on help, so she will probably not have as much trouble finding something else, but I don't think she had planned on looking for a new position any time soon. Neither did the managers in Security or Housekeeping, or the few other managers let go. Guess everyone is trying to cut corners.
Although that did not appear to be the case when I went out shopping for Tom's birthday and helping out the Easter Bunny with a few items this weekend. The mall and stores were packed on Friday. Guess if you're out of work, you have lots more time to shop! Just no money! Maybe credit then. I was happy to find the items I was looking for, and I am also trying to start some packing and shopping for our trip to Florida at Easter(just a few weeks away). Hard to believe we just finished with St Patty's Day. The kids were so excited to wear St Patrick's Day clothes. Scott had a shirt on that said "Don't pinch me". Of course, everyone wanted to pinch him!
I was also busy on Friday baking brownies for the Fish Fryday dinner that night. Allison and I served dinner too as volunteers. It was not as crazy busy as it has been in the past. And as soon as we finished up, it was time to take Allison to piano. She also had a sleepover with her girlfriend who shares her love for the Twilight series. The DVD came out at midnite, so I took the girls to a preview party at Borders Bookstore and at midnite they began to sell the movie. We didn't have any luck winning any of the raffle gifts, but the girls loved buying themselves Twilight paraphanalia at the bookstore including Sweethearts with Twilight sayings, and buying the movie on discount. Afterwards, the girls stayed up late watching the movie and eating popcorn. Good thing they could sleep in the next morning(before Allison headed off to karate). She learned how to drop people in karate by sweeping their feet-she had lots of fun!
Scott is having fun in his karate class too, as well as his gymnastics class. He really likes the rings. He had two classes this week to make up for being sick last week. At least he is feeling well again. It's a good thing too since we didn't give the kids much time off this weekend.
Northrop sponsored a night at the Baltimore Science Museum on Saturday. We had a fun time playing with all the hands on equipment and watching an IMAX movie on Beavers(nature's engineers of course!).
We had to get to bed early Saturday night since we headed off to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg on Sunday. They had a grand opening for season pass members. Tom and I decided to re up our 2yr passes, since I will be heading down to Williamsburg in June with the girl scouts and will probably stop in for a day at Busch Gardens. We also had the chance to see Jack Hanna in person and get his autograph. He is a very laid back kind of guy, very personable and very funny. He had great animal stories to tell, and funny stories about some of the shows he has been on like the David Letterman show, and Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader. He believes the kids are not really 5th graders, just short people from Yale. He begged us not to watch his episode(said he did not do very well). I was just impressed that he stood in line with us while we waited to get in his show and passed out his autographs. Smart guy. He has made a visit or two to Busch Gardens each year since they are big into Animal Conservation, but this was going to be his only visit this year. Meanwhile, Scott and Tom were busy riding all the roller coasters. F.E.A.R.-Forget Everything and Ride! Allison and I saw that on a tshirt at Busch Gardens, but Allison does not agree. She is not a daredevil like her brother. We did not get home until around 11pm, so we had our neighbors puppy sit in the evening. They enjoy bringing cookie over to keep their beagle company.
Speaking of puppy sitting, we solved our problem for our Florida trip. Turns out Tom was over near our friends from MSU, Matt and Di's house checking out a kennel and he stopped in to introduce them to Cookie. We have been having trouble finding a kennel that would take Cookie since she is so young she hasn't had her Rabies shot. Anyway, turns out that Matt and Di's dog, Elvis(a Wisla-looks like a hound dog) had just died that weekend. We knew he was sick with cancer, but he hung on for a month after he was diagnosed. But since Diana was feeling especially sad having lost her dog, she was very happy about the idea of puppy sitting. So now we don't have to worry about Cookie catching strange dog diseases since she hasn't had all her shots, and she won't get trampled by big dogs either! And maybe she will learn to chase chipmunks like Elvis did!
We hear Susan and John are visiting Mom and Dad Seitz in Florida this week. Hope they are all enjoying the weather and beaches. We can't wait to hit the beaches ourselves! We'll probably stop into Busch Gardens Tamp and Sea World, although Tom is very sad to hear they have discontinued the Hospitality Centers! Oh No, there goes an era of free beer and beer tasting school. The kids already miss the all you can drink soda and the Ghiradelli chocolates. How sad. Tom is not sure he will be able to handle Shamu without a free beer in him. How sad. I would think the new Busch brewery owners would love the extra business that seems to occur when you try their free beer. Guess Europeans don't believe in free samples.
Tom did win himself an award from Northrop for all his hard work in Salt Lake City last year. He is being honored at a Northrop dinner this Tuesday, however, Tom scheduled himself for a work trip to Salt Lake City this week! So he is going to miss his own award dinner. I will probably try to go for him if he tells me where and when the dinner is tomorrow. And if I can get the kids picked up from school and fed before I go! Guess I will be dining with one of Tom's bosses. Let you know how this week turns out! At least we're both still working! Kathleen and Family

Happy St Patrick's Day! Allison and I started celebrating early as we marched in a St Patty's parade with the GS choir on Saturday morning. We were busy singing Tura Lura Lura and the Rattlin' Bog. This year they put us behind a car advertising a Relay for Life Marathon and everyone was busy passing out balloons and candy(which is a little distracting for our youngest choir members). But better than last year when we were behind a military group that kept shooting off guns, scaring our girls to death! While we were busy marching and singing, Tom and Scott were busy with the cub scouts racing his Pinewood derby masterpiece, the Wiimobile. Scott and Tom were going for cool car award this year, with a lifelike looking Wii remote control car, including lights that worked with a push of a button. However, the car was just fast enough to take 3rd place-so now Scott has a collection of trophies from 1st, 2nd and-3rd place which he won starting in 1st grade(1st place) second grade(2nd place) and 3rd grade(3rd place). He already has his design for next year and says he wants to go for speed again(he has his eye on the grand champion trophy!) Allison and I made it back from our parade in time to watch Scott's car race in the finals. Usually Allison asks for her own car for the sibling races, but Tom was a little too busy helping our neighbor with his son's car this time. She'll live-just no new patch for her vest this year. She was not even asked to help at the snack shop(which she loves). Today, we have choir practice in the afternoon-getting ready for our spring performances. They are bribing us with ice cream today. I had Scott home with me on Friday-he had a bit of a stomach ache-looks like he is over it now. He was pretty wiped out though on this weekend. And of course I did not get as much done as I needed to do. I did manage to get my eyes tested and bought my first pair of glasses! Poop! I guess I am getting old. I blame the computer on my blurry vision-I feel like I spend more time at work typing on the laptop now then I do treating my patients(per work guidelines!). Although statistically, I do not spend enough time typing(per work guidelines). Work is always concerned about our productivity(how much time we spend treating patients in a day). I had the highest productivity in our rehab dept in January-I will have to see how Feb and March turn out. I have been pretty busy and putting in a few long days, but I did take time out this week to join a few GS choir members that came to Charlestown(my retirement community where I work) and put on a GS Birthday celebration for retired GS leaders. We had about 15 ladies attend, complete with birthday cake(and GS cookies) and historical photos and pins/uniforms and patches from the Baltimore area. Most of our ladies are from MD or DC or the New York area. I joined a few members of our choir to sing a few songs at the event, and we had plenty of photographers and videotapers on site to record our event. It was a very nice presentation.
The kids brought home wonderful report cards this week-their hard work paid off. But no letting up on the studying and tests. Allison actually did an excellent job on her Science Test this week even though her study time was limited due to our GS overnight at the mall on Saturday. We had some sleep to catch up on this past week. And we still had to go to puppy school last week-no class this week as our teacher was out running a marathon. No piano since our music teacher was performing in a musical and Scott did not make any of his gymanstics or karate classes since he did not feel well. Gave me more time to stay home and sign up for more activities coming up in the following months. I did manage to get pup pup to another vet visit for more vaccinations. And we have been busy looking for a place to board her while we are in Florida this Easter visiting with Mom and Dad Seitz. I am having a bit of a problem since she is so young and has not yet had all her vaccinations. Good luck to us finding a place. I do have someone watching the house along with the cat and gerbils, but they are pretty self sufficient. And most of our neighbors will be gone at Easter as well. This is a whole new experience for us. Puppy needs a bit more attention than the cat. I definitely decided we have a Garfield/Odie relationship going on here though. We are also getting a little better with housetraining(not as many accidents!) And Cookie seems to enjoy her new backyard(now that it is fenced in again thanks to Tom).
Spring is definitely in the air-we have had rain and somewhat warmer temps that coaxed my flowers up out of the ground. Sadly, looks like the bunnies are enjoying them the most-just when the crocuses opened, the flowers lives were cut short by little nibblers. Same with my tulips. There is hope for the daffodils. I did spray on some animal- be- gone, but of course it rained the next day. I think these critters would eat rat poison and not even flinch!

Last Monday we were shoveling almost a foot of snow, today the kids were digging out their shorts from the back of the closet. It warmed up to about 70 degrees this weekend-it feels like Florida! I saw the first yellow crocuses blooming next to the shopping mall. Mine are not far behind. Speaking of shopping malls, Allison and I just spent all of Saturday night out with the girl scouts and about 2000 little Jr Scouts working on badges and arts and crafts projects. We were up all night at the Columbia Mall Sleep In where we don't actually sleep. My girls helped put on an arts badge station and earned a few patches themselves-I want to be a Rock Star, and the Harvest for the Hungry patch-they collected food this weekend and donated to the Maryland Food Bank. So did the cub scouts so Scott and I went and picked up donations Saturday morning from people's mailboxes where we left bags last week. I especially enjoyed that it was time to spring ahead cause we only had to work a 5hr night, unlike our 6hr night last year. And the girls still enjoy eating Chinese food at 2am! Unfortunately, I was not happy that most of the parents forgot about daylight savings time (even though I emailed them and reminded them) and they were 45 mins late picking up their girls. I had to call them all at 6am and wake them up for pick up. I was home by 545(it was very dark out, but very warm that morning). No coats for a change! So Allison and I crashed in the basement while Scott and his sleepover buddy ran around the house keeping us from getting a completely restful sleep. Guess we are hitting the hay early tonite! We woke up when it was time for Cookie's puppy class. We are working on sit and stay, come, drop it (a very important command) and leave it! The class is wearing out little girl out. Us too! Tom just wants to know when she is going to stop pooping and peeing in the house (we still have about one accident a day). I keep telling him not bad for a 12wk old. She is still real cute (I could have sold a few of her today at the pet store). And Pika our cat still keeps her distance and is happy the dog goes out of the house.
Both kids tried out their new higher level green belt classes-Scotty's class got to spar, and Allison's class makes a weird breathing sound that is something like the sound of an asthma attack. Supposed to help with concentration (right). Tom says Scott is pretty good at sparring (actual physical contact). Scott also enjoyed another week of bouncing and flipping in gymnastics-it is a crazy place-lots going on in the gym at once. And it makes it hard to watch the kids-they move around all over.