Just catching up with my Blog!
MERRY CHRISTMAS! The presents are unwrapped, the Lego projects have begun along with playing new video games, and there is a light dusting of Christmas snow outside. We are actually under a Winter Storm Watch but most of it is due to arrive Sunday night, and they don't even know if it will blow off the coast and miss us altogether, or clip Baltimore as it travels towards New England. It is actually the same storm that drenched LA. Mike we hope you didn't have to put out sand bags! Looks like San Diego got hit the worst.
The kids were up at 5 am Christmas morning-Allison swears she heard "someone" up on the roof. We made them wait until at least 7am so we could make coffee before sitting down to open the gifts. At least we had a head start on the "prep" time this year. I wasn't up wrapping until 3am on Christmas Eve thank goodness. But I was just as tired.
Scott caught a cold this week and he had a small fever. Tom took him in for his yearly check up and they said he had a fever. I figured they'd skip all the shots, but of course not. Poor kid had a tetanus shot, a meningitis vaccination and his flu shot! I was a bit annoyed that the pediatrician hit him with all that right before Christmas. Although it didn't seem to slow him down too much(yet).
I spent most of Christmas day packing and doing laundry as well as cleaning up. I was actually raking leaves Christmas day! The weather was fairly mild so I also had the chance to vacuum out the van too before I packed it. Neither Tom nor I prepared for Christmas dinner. Tom went out to pick up something to cook for dinner, but came home with presents instead. I was so tired by the end of Christmas day I didn't feel like scrounging around to put together a meal. Tom thought about running out to the grocery store to pick up something to cook, but missed out as the stores closed early(I was surprised anything was open at all!). Instead, we all headed out for a Christmas Story ending and had dinner at a Chinese Buffet. I was so tired, I was falling asleep in my Won Ton soup. But at least I didn't have to cook!
We actually had our big meal on Christmas Eve with our neighbors. I still had a rack of ribs in the freezer that we didn't get to when Tom's brother Mark and family visited at Thanksgiving, so it was an easy dinner to put together. Everything in the crock pot and oven. I did spend Christmas Eve day getting haircuts for myself and Allison and picking up some last minute food items for dinner. I made Tom his favorite crab dip for an appetizer and we had baked potatoes and broccoli salad with our ribs. Tom picked up dessert at Sam's Club including Allison the Red Velvet Cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory which Allison and I wanted to try. Tom also picked up a Coconut cake for himself and Scott. We were in a bit of a rush since we were attending the 4pm Christmas Eve mass and Scott was in the Christmas pageant held 20 minutes before mass where the kids put on the story of the nativity and sang. We had to get Scott there by 3pm and the church was already filling up. Of course they also had two other masses at 4pm in the gym and cafeteria. Just getting a parking spot was a miracle! I was also surprised that Scott still wanted to be in the pageant since he wasn't feeling well. Both of his arms hurt so bad and he was still coughing. I couldn't even believe he made it to the dress rehearsal the night before since he had just come from the doctor's office. I was very proud of him. Tom got him a great beard for his costume as a shepherd, and he had a robe from another mom, along with a towel on his head wrapped with rope. To top it off, he carried his boy scout hiking stick. He made a wonderful shepherd, and he even had a small boy dressed as a cotton ball sheep! The kids did a great job. Tom did not even want to attempt the 4pm mass and crowds, but he said it was one of the best masses he had ever been to after all. Turns out they had a great jazz band playing the Christmas music, so it was very upbeat. Worth the crowds. And we really enjoyed having dinner and exchanging gifts with our next door neighbors that evening.
We were pretty busy right up to Christmas Day. Scott had a short week with a Christmas party on Monday and his Christmas pageant on Tuesday. Tom attended the pageant and then brought Scott home. The boys spent a few days doing last minute Christmas shopping. Allison on the other hand was busy with classes and schoolwork/tests right up until Thursday. We were certainly looking forward to a holiday break! The Seitz Family

This certainly has been a crazy week. My schedule was not very consistent at work or at home. First priority was purchasing and installing a dishwasher. Tom and I ended up with a stainless steel Bosch, actually an upgrade from our previous model, but I actually really liked my old dishwasher. No matter now, I needed to get a new one installed since we had a house full of people this weekend coming over for holiday parties. I ended up scheduling an install and delivery on Friday and the guys arrived at noon. By 1pm I was busy loading up the dishes and cleaning the house.
We had all our decorations up, both inside and out. We found a beautiful live Noble fir Christmas tree at Home Depot for a great price a few weeks ago and last weekend Scott got busy and helped me decorate it after Tom put up our lights and the angel. I love the way it makes the house smell. I am also putting the last of my Christmas and Chanukkah cards in the mail this weekend.
So we were trying to get ready for two parties this weekend. I had the girl scouts over on Friday for a holiday party and we earned a candy badge that I found from the New Jersey council. We talked about the history of candy making and chocolate, gum and the candy cane. Did you know the candy cane was a german invention-primarily used to keep the kids quiet during the living nativity. Those germans are so smart! We also talked about candy from around the world and its use for holiday traditions. After nibbling on pizza and taquitos, I had the girls busy making treats, eating chocolate fondue and we topped it all off with a pinata in the garage. I figured they'd enjoy smacking something with a stick! Our only disaster was our attempt at homemade taffy. It seemed to pass the taffy level and reached the rock candy mode. Oh well, we tried. Anyhow, it seems that the girls enjoyed themselves. Tom meanwhile had Scott to his cub scout holiday party at school. They asked the older boys to bring in their pinewood derby cars since the event is going to be early in January again this coming year. Tom got into a heated discussion with a newly appointed scout leader who claimed Scott's cars were illegal due to the width of the tire base. Tom quickly pulled up the BSA guidelines on his Blackberry and pointed out that all Scott's cars were designed and built within the requirements. Then they got into a "discussion" about the amount of work the boys do on the cars vs how much work the parents do for them. As Tom pointed out, some of the work with the radial and circular saws needs to be done by the Dad, but in Scott's case, he came up will all the designs. And he helped sand and paint and put graphite on the wheels to make it go fast. As I said to Tom, I think the idea is that the boys have a project that they can do with their Dads. It is as much the Dads event as it is the boys, and I think that is what makes it special. But of course, some boys get very upset when their cars lose. For several years, Scott was not even trying to win for speed, just looks. But the car designs usually took a winning place for time. This year Scott is going for "cool car" and designed a legomobile. Who knew some people take all this stuff so seriously. Again, what happened to the scout spirit?
On Saturday I was already ahead of myself with a fairly clean and decorated house which made it a bit easier to get ready for our neighbors and our progressive dinner party. The neighbors have been talking about another progressive party(travel from house to house for different phases of the party). As I mentioned, there are alot more kids on our street now and we all decided it was too much strain on the houses and the neighbors to host kids along with adults. So I made an executive decision and decided no kids at the dinner party and there should be a small kids party prior to the adult party. I also decided to nominate one of our neighbors to host the kids party. She was a real trooper and took on the task. As she just took on the role of GS leader for her daughter's Kindergarten Daisy troop, I reminded her that this would be great practice! I also tried to help out by providing some supplies for activities including sugar cookies and frosting and decorations, card making supplies and photo copied coloring pages. She also picked up some small craft items and made even more sugar cookies and one of the other moms provided pizza. I sent Allison down with Scott to help out if she could. I heard it was a bit chaotic, and a lot of kids showed up. I was just glad it wasn't my house! Instead I hosted all the adults for the main meal. Everyone that was able to get a babysitter came, which was surprisingly a decent number. We had about 24 adults that were able to come. I missed the appetizer house since I was busy monitoring the ovens, but most of the appetizers traveled to our house after an hour. We hosted dinner for about 2 hours-I asked everyone to bring a side dish which worked out well since I made a big ham and baked potato casserole along with crab soup in the crock pot. Dinner turned out well, except for my kosher neighbor who could not heat ham or seafood, just salad, and we then walked down the street to our third house for dessert and a white elephant gift exchange. I have been trying to explain this game to everyone for the past several years. It is slowly taking on amongst the neighbors. We swap nice or not so nice gifts, it is all a surprise. You can pick a new gift(wrapped) or steal someone else's gift after they opened it. The gifts can be stolen up to 3 times. Some neighbor's opted out of the game-they just can't handle the stress. Other neighbors only brought one gift per couple(we were happy to share some extra gift items). Anyhow, I ended up with a bottle of Biltmore wine and Tom stole a book that I picked. It was a lot of fun and my donated gift turned out to be the most popular-a box of GS thin mints, liquor chocolates and Godiva chocolate coffee. At the end of the party we all had to go find our kids scattered throughout the neighbor's houses. Allison helped watch 5 other kids. As the party ended we all decided it was a big hit and a great way to visit with each other. We even invited a few new neighbors and people that did not know each other so it was nice to spend the time getting to know someone who lives just around the corner. And the guys added a few new members to their Monday night football group. They especially enjoy sharing new brands of beer.
So today Allison and I went off to sing at my Nursing Home with the girl scout choir. Allison and I had to skip another event last week at a local nursing home next to the girl scout council office. High school has been keeping Allison very busy these last two weeks with midterms. She has school right up to the 23rd, whereas Scott will be done on Tuesday. And that is just a half day with the morning taken up by their Christmas pageant. So he just had a few quizzes to study for, but Allison has had a major test in every subject over the last few weeks. And to top it off, we had our first snowfall on Thursday afternoon. Just enough to shut down school early and close all the evening activities. I was supposed to head to my work Christmas lunch at a local restaurant Thursday afternoon and instead I had to go pick Scott up when school got out since aftercare was canceled. Naturally our boss decided not to cancel the luncheon, so I missed out on another party. How sad. And I even had to work through lunch that day since we were supposed to get off early for our holiday meal. I even had my gift to exchange for my secret santa, so I just sent it on with another therapist. I think I deserve a rain check on the crab cake dinner.
On Friday there was a two hour delay in the morning for school since the roads were very icy. Tom had been putting in late hours at work, so he had to get to work early and I did drop off before the dishwasher came. Naturally Allison forgot supplies for a govt project at home so I had to run back up to her school to drop off the items before running to the grocery store to pick up supplies for the two parties after I dropped Scott off at his school.
I was just elated that I had a car to drive all over town. I noticed a nail sticking in my back tire early in the week and Tom asked me to stop into Mr Tire to have it patched. Everyone was backed up in the evening, so Tom volunteered to take my car in first thing in the morning since his work schedule was a bit more flexible than mine. Not only did we have to have that tire replaced since the nail pierced the sidewall, but they discovered gashes in my other back tire, so I ended up with two new tires-Merry Christmas to me. We have decided that we are single handedly keeping the economy going.
I also left work early on Monday to go to the dentist(yeah no cavities). I was also hoping to take Allison and Scott on a fund raiser walk through our Symphony of Lights display with his school that evening, but the wind chill brought our temperatures down to 10 below! And since traffic was getting heavy, I figured I would not make it to the fund raiser event and then back to Scott's school for his Christmas pageant rehearsal. I decided since we were going to be home for Christmas, that he could help out with the Christmas kids pageant. Practice was at 630 for just 30 mins so they could practice two new songs. Scott is still in the school choir and they have been busy singing at the school masses, and will sing at the upcoming school pageant as well on Tuesday. So we skipped freezing to death Monday night. It was so cold here, a plastic soda bottle exploded all over our back porch. Cookie loved eating frozen ginger ale all week.
We also were planning on attending a few Boy Scout meetings this past week as Scott and his troop will be moving on to the next level in February, but they all rescheduled for open house events in the winter.
So another very busy week and only one more week to Christmas!. Allison has to make up a piano lesson since she missed last Thursday due to the weather. She will be busy right up until Thursday-she is a little frustrated since many of her private school friends are already on Christmas break. Right now she and Tom are off to the indoor field hockey game. Then they will have a break until after the holiday.
5 more shopping days until Christmas! Good luck! Kathleen PS Here are a few more photos from the Festival of Christmas Trees where Allison and I sang with the GS choir.

Yep, the dishwasher was acting up! As a matter of fact, it quit altogether. Tom and I spent Saturday afternoon dishwasher shopping. I had my Bosch dishwasher for 8 years-as long as we have had the kitchen remodeled. I really liked it and would have been happy to just buy the same one. But we couldn't find one. We did get an upgraded model on sale with the stainless steel front. I would have been happy to have the old black front panel again, but they did not have one in stock. We shopped around and ended up getting a good deal at Best Buy. They actually mispriced the unit and we saved an extra $100. We also got free delivery and connection although Tom would have been happy loading a washer into the back of the van and hooking it up himself. However, the dishwasher was at the warehouse so it would have been more running around and we were tight on time Saturday. Tom and the kids figured I needed a dishwasher as soon as possible since the dishes were piling up. They couldn't imagine we could survive another day without a dishwasher. Now I really can't survive without the washing machine, but I would have to haul clothes to a laundromat. And a broken fridge is way too inconvenient. But the family forgot about the old fashioned way of washing dishes. Tom wanted to know what I was going to do for several days without a dishwasher. I introduced everyone to the dish rack and Dawn dishwashing liquid detergent. Oh boy. Certainly, I will also be grateful for a functioning dishwasher. I washed all the silverware and cups before I ran out of dish rack while quizzing Scott on his vocab list Sunday night. Saturday night we were busy attending the Army Jazz Band free holiday concert. The Army bands travel around the US and often plan concerts here in Maryland since most are stationed at Ft Meade MD. We got free tickets along with our neighbors, so we all went out to dinner beforehand. Couldn't even have a relaxing dinner out as an older gentleman started choking near our table. Our neighbor is a nurse, so she jumped right up. But so did about 10 other people. Don't worry, he made it. And we enjoyed the concert at a local high school. Afterwards we all met for coffee and dessert, thanks to Susan Seitz. She sent us a great family gift of cheesecake and a ham. Susan it was all terrific, thanks. We had the ham for dinner on Sunday night which was perfect.
Tom and Allison were off playing indoor field hockey Sunday night so we ate dinner early. Tom made his debut as a field hockey coach. I got him into this volunteer position thinking all he had to do was show up. Little did we know that he had to attend a 3 hour coaching class last week as well as take a concussion on- line test, and turn in paperwork for a background check with references. And we still did not get a completed roster until an hour before the game. The manager who is a coach from a local high school did not obtain all the paperwork from the girls and I was afraid the team would not be able to play. The woman took responsibility and had all the girls meet an hour before the game to fill out the appropriate paperwork. Our team is a bit different since I asked the Parks and Rec. Dept if they could put together a team of odds and ends girls that did not have a full team. This team is made up of several different girls from several different high schools and several different ages. Usually one high school will have a full team, but Allison's fellow team players are all involved in different sports. Being a goalie, Allison was actually in high demand, but she stuck to this mismatched team and it looks like it turned out well. Tom and Allison came back Sunday night saying they had a wonderful time. Tom said Allison was outstanding and even was offered a goalie position with a traveling team, however they play weekly down in Rockville which is just a bit too much traveling for us. Tom said the paperwork all turned out and the girls are all very nice but they have no offense. Just defense and Allison. But Tom said it was fun. So seven more weeks to go, and Tom has a new job listing for his resume. That is if he actually reads the rule book sometime!
Earlier Sunday morning Allison and I were off selling GS cookies at my retirement center. We could not wait until the dinner hour(4pm) since Allison had some studying and homework to do. But we managed to sell several cases of cookies. I was hoping a few girls would show up that did not have the opportunity to work at other booth sales, but no such luck. I am scheduling a holiday badge party for the girls next week, and I am happy that most of them can make it. The girls just have crazy schedules and attend several different schools so it is very difficult to get them all together. We will be working on a candy badge so I have been busy gathering candy supplies and info.
Allison and I were also planning on singing at the mall with the GS choir on Monday night, but Allison had too much homework that night so we skipped it. It seems the public schools love to load up the school work before the holidays.We were also a bit tired since the kids got up early Monday morning to celebrate St Nick's day. St Nick fills our stockings on his special day. The kids look forward to getting hats and mittens, treats and Christmas stuff like their yearly christmas ornament.
On Friday I had my yearly check up in the morning. I was happy to hear I am A.O.K. I was not very happy that I got locked out of an exercise class at the Y beforehand though since I was 10 mins late. Instead I went home and took Cookie for a nice long walk. She loved it. Friday night Allison had to babysit, and I was out trying to get some shopping done. (Mostly for me!). I also had to get home since I was invited to a work dinner with the Home Health staff. I had a wonderful time-a great meal and they even bought me a present! Imagine that! This is the first time I have been able to go in 6 years.
So a very Happy Birthday goes out to Linda Seitz. Happy 28 Linda! (Just kidding).
I think I have to go wash some more dishes. I am starting to get dishwasher hands. Kathleen PS I sent photos of Scott's birthday cake with the photo of him doing the high ropes course.

Wow-I can't believe it is one week after Thanksgiving and now we are getting ready for Christmas. Tom and I attempted to put away the Thanksgiving decorations and put out the Christmas lights and decorations, but it just seemed too early. And too cold. Tom went outside after his brother and family left for their drive back to Indy. He decided it was way too cold and windy, so instead we enjoyed our MSU football game. Although it seems for naught that we won since it does not appear that we are going to the Rose Bowl. That stinks.
Last Sunday we were crazy trying to get our family photo done in the morning. The studio was one hour behind. We opted not to try and take a family photo with the dog, so our picture took less time. It was just the waiting to get our photo taken. Afterwards, Tom and I had to get ready to attend the Ravens football game. St Nick arrived early and Tom and I were sporting new Ravens sweatshirts, but it was plenty cold so we had to layer up(and we were still cold). I even picked up a Raven's santa hat to stay warm(worked great). I was mostly excited to get my photo with our mascot, Poe the Raven(as in Edgar Allen). And we met some cheerleaders and listened to our own drum concert at the tailgate party before the game. Tom had tickets from work so we enjoyed the free tailgate party beforehand. Meanwhile, I had to ask the neighbors to take the kids to church that night since they both were assigned to altar serve at the Sunday night 515 mass. Our neighbors kindly took them to church and attended themselves. Afterwards they took them home and fed them. Great neighbors. And we got home at a decent time.
On Monday, Tom was flying off to LA leaving from the DC Dulles airport. I was running solo and took the kids to Barnes and Noble bookstore Monday night for Scott's school fundraiser. Plus his choir was singing. Of course I managed to put him in the wrong shirt(we hid him in the back). We all bought a little something-Allison had some gift cards to spend on new books, and Scott used his Bday money to buy a Lego set. I also got some Christmas shopping done(and free gift wrap). Then we went to dinner at Pizzaria Uno with a gift card I got from attending camp with the kids and it was the school fundraiser night there too. When we got home it was time to study for the week's tests so we were up a bit late. Of course on Tuesday morning we had a big storm come through in the morning and we lost power at 5am. I wasn't sure if the power was out at the schools, but it came back on around 630 so we had to hurry to get showered and dressed and out the door, avoiding fallen tree limbs and sideways rain storms. The temps were in the 60s but dropped to the 40s by Weds.
On Weds night I had to squeeze in helping the kids with their homework before I headed out the door to my girl scout leadership meeting and holiday party. Thursday night I was invited to a work party but Scott had gymnastics that night, and Allison had piano. And Scott started feeling bad. He seemed to have a sinus headache coming on , so he ended up staying home on Friday. I left him for an hour to run up to the school's Mother's Tea. I usually go since they have coffee and pastries and door prizes at one of our local restaurants put on by the PTA for the moms. I really enjoy catching up with the school moms(and trying to win a door prize-no luck this year). But the pastries are terrific, made by a local bakery. I also had to pick up a few items for Scott to put together his goodie bags for his official kids birthday party scheduled on Sunday. Scott wanted a roller blade party and we all had a great time. I was especially happy to see that their bakery was able to make a birthday cake with the photo of Scott climbing through the trees at Northbay camp. The kids and parents also thought it was amazing.
Tom was able to get home on Thursday night from LA, but he had to go into work on Friday. He had a chance to see my brother Mike out in LA and take him to dinner and talk about job hunting. Mike has a few interviews coming up-Good Luck Mike.
On Saturday, Tom took Scott up to school for breakfast with Santa. Allison and I headed out to our annual White Marsh Christmas parade with the GS choir. At least this year, we did not get snowed, sleeted and rained on. It was cold but dry and we had a fun time. Allison especially liked book shopping at Barnes and Noble while we drank Starbucks and watched the end of the parade. When we got home I completely had forgotten that our old neighbor invited me over to her new house for a jewelry party. One of our neighbors makes her own jewelry-very nice and unique pieces. Especially since her husband travels the world and brings back different gems and stones from each country he visits. So most of the pieces are one of a kind. I decided to bring the kids with me so they could visit with their old neighbors. Scott was missing his buddy Sammy, and they wanted to explore the new woods and farmland behind the new house before it got too dark. Scott and Sammy came back in when they heard shotguns go off. I enjoyed visiting with all the guests and yes I broke down and bought a few pieces of jewelry too. Allison was excited to pick out a ring for herself for Christmas and I got a great bracelet with a wonderful magnetic clip.
And we keep working on the Christmas decorations. After Scott's birthday party on Sunday we stopped at Home Depot and picked up a Christmas tree which Tom set up. We are just waiting for the lights. We also had to pick up a new console for Tom's large screen tv that was delivered on Friday evening. He moved our previous entertainment center to the old garage/play space and set up the new system in the family room. It really makes the room look so much bigger. I just can't believe we fit the console into the back of my van(with a little room left over for the kids). Way too many projects. But I am sure we are not done. I noticed my dishwasher has been acting up.

Here is my backed up blogs-sorry, busy working on Christmas letter. Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Birthday Scott(big 11) and Happy Birthday Sheila Bozyk(won't mention how old!).
We just spent a very enjoyable weekend with Tom's brother Mark, his wife Linda and son Eric. They also brought their small dog along, Rambo, which made Cookie a very happy puppy. She loved having her "cousin" visit and couldn't stop playing with him(even though he is 8 years older than she is). Poor Rambo was worn out. And they both spent the weekend fighting over the best spot on anyone's lap that happened to be on the couch or recliner chair.
You may have remembered that last weekend we were busy having pre visitor disaster as the washing machine died. We picked out a huge set at Sears and Tom stayed home on Monday waiting for them to deliver the new set and haul away the old. Of course they did not show up until 530 that night. I guess they had 30 units to install that day(busy weekend). As soon as it was set up, I got busy washing clothes. Tom was also nice enough to paint my laundry room walls since it had not been painted since we moved in 14 yrs ago. I wasn't too thrilled with his choice in color, a bit too lemony yellow for me. But it sure beats drab and dirty white. And it is so nice to be able to wash the clothes and towels again. I am still trying to decide if I like the new system, but I guess I don't have too much of a choice. I could do without the singing doors everytime you open the washer and dryer! One day I'll figure out how to shut that off.
We managed to get the house in order just in time for our guests to arrive on Weds evening. Allison and Scott were home all that day so they were on kitchen and bathroom clean up duty. Allison had two half days, and Scott had one half day so I had to ask the neighbor to pick him up from school since Tom and I had to work and drop him off at the house with Allison. It's nice that she can stay with him now and we don't have to worry about babysitters so much. We all had a very busy but short week-the kids had several quizzes and tests to squeeze in and both Tom and I were very busy since the week was cut short. Scott even got to sing at the school Thanksgiving mass with the choir. The group apparently sang a German Thanksgiving song(I can't get Scott to sing that one for me).
On Thanksgiving day Tom took Mark and Eric down to Fells Point near the harbor for a 7K Gobble Cobble run. Yes, we do have old cobblestone streets here in Baltimore. And I guess they are not too fun to run on especially in the rain and cold. The rest of us would have joined them if they had a fun run/walk scheduled, but this was the very first race and not so overly organized. Mark said he really enjoyed running around our inner harbor though. I have to agree that it is very nice.
The rest of us stayed home to watch the Macy's Day parade in the morning and were even able to get a little shopping done before dinner. We were all invited over to our neighbor's for dinner and I packed up some appetizers and the wine. We really didn't need to bring anything since they had so much wonderful food. Tom even made an extra turkey on the grill which came out terrific(and is already gone). We were shooting for some leftovers for the Seitz Casserole-turkey/stuffing and gravy all mixed together and very tasty the day after. I also had some pumpkin pies for us to enjoy. That evening, Tom and I took all the "kids" to see the Harry Potter movie. It was pretty intense. When we came out of the late movie at our outlet mall we were a bit surprised to see that they were opening all the stores at midnite. There were already people lined up at many of the stores. We strolled around the whole mall but opted out of fighting the crowds for shopping. Our kids were just excited to see what the Black Friday craziness was all about without having to get up so early in the morning.
And we enjoyed sleeping in on Friday. We did do a little shopping on Friday and had lunch at one of our favorite mexican restaurants in old Ellicott City. We decided to celebrate Scott's birthday one day early since our guests were leaving on Saturday. Scott even made his own coconut cream pie(it was tasty!). We made him wait to open most of his presents on Saturday, but Tom got him started with a new lego computer game. Meanwhile, Allison and I went off to sing Friday evening with the Girl Scout choir for the Festival of the Christmas Trees. Once again we got to sing holiday songs on the main stage for 45 minutes. It certainly got us into the holiday spirit. Enjoy the photo of one of the many Christmas trees.

Today Murphy's Law applied. Invite house guests over or plan a vacation or prepare for an upcoming holiday and one major appliance is sure to break down. Usually a major appliance that you use on a daily basis. For us it was the washing machine. Granted, we had our washer/dryer set about 20 years, and moved it to several different states. So it is not surprising that it finally gave up. In which case, I was more than happy to pick out a bigger, newer model. I just didn't put it in my cleaning and grocery shopping schedule.
Tom of course wanted to run out today, pick up a new set, haul the old set down the stairs himself and haul a new set up the stairs himself and of course hook it all up. Our laundry room is on the second floor so it takes a little more work to move anything up and down. At least our stairwell is straight up and down. And naturally we did not see eye to eye on the type of washer we should buy. I recently had some practice with the front loading washers at work as they are replacing all the old models in the residents apts with Bosch front loaders. I was not excited about the water that pools in the rubber seal of the door and molds and smells. Tom was not so sure this would be an issue, but I think he finally could see my point when I pointed it out to him at Sears as we were shopping for a new set this morning. And the salesperson brought it up too. Of course, that doesn't mean you aren't going to get a new, high efficient, low water unit(just in a top loading style). I was surprised to see that the majority of new washers no longer have the big agitator pole down the center. And they all use about 1/3 the amount of water. I am not so sure I like this new concept, but it does not look like I have much choice. I didn't even get a choice in color-they come in white. And I hear all the brands are pretty much made by one manufacturer(probably in China). The LG brand which I really liked in silver and a bit bigger washer did not have a rating yet and comes from Korea and I would have had to wait 40 days to get one through Sears(no way). So tomorrow Tom is staying home to greet the Sears people with my new Maytag washer and dryer. This reminds me of the time I went to get a new film loading camera and discovered that they only made digital. You even need special laundry detergent like the front loading(less water) and there is even a setting to wash the washing machine! (To avoid any possible moldy smells)
So it felt just like spring cleaning today. Needless to say after 14yrs in this house we had accumulated quite a few dust bunnies behind both units. Poor Tom is having a hard time breathing between all the dust and kitty litter he swept up and the dry leaves he mowed yesterday. Oh yes, he also told me we may need to shop for a new lawn mower next spring as our Lawn Boy seems to be dying as well. And of course there is the new flat screen television that Tom wants for the family room, which of course will not fit in our existing wall unit. Hence more furniture and appliance shopping come Black Friday.
Just more fun jobs to add to our "to do list". I also had to take Cookie in to the pet store to get sheared(her fur grows out just like a sheep). She looks about 1/2 her size with her new haircut. She needed a short cut since her fur starts to get so matted when its long-even with lots of brushing(which she hates).
Other exciting additions to our house this week included "my" new leather topped 'coffee table/foot rest' bench that I purchased about two months ago out of a catalog. This one has a hinged lid which is great for hiding all the comforters and remote controls. And it is so nice to have a coffee table again in front of our big couch in the family room. Allison was only one year old when Tom gave away my last coffee table for fear she would hurt herself on the sharp wooden corners.
So why all the cleaning and commotion? We are expecting Tom's brother Mark and wife Linda and our nephew Eric for Thanksgiving. They are driving in from Indy and Mark plans on participating in a 7K run near the harbor on Thanksgiving day. Good thing our neighbors invited us all over for dinner! We will probably still make our own Turkey feast(can't survive the day after without Seitz casserole). And you never can have enough turkey. We are looking forward to a wonderful visit.
I still have to squeeze all my patients in at work in 3 days though. It was a bit of a mess when I got back to work this past week(it always seems no one can ever do as good a job as yourself). But I was grateful for the time off the week before camping with Scott's school at Northbay. I still haven't had time to look over all the photos on line.
Allison and Scott still had plenty of schoolwork. Scott is finishing his semester and Allison is just starting a new one. We managed to get through an extra credit project on bats with Scott and he is busy reading two books for language arts class. Allison's English class has started on the Greek tragedies(always fun). Allison and I did take some time out with another one of my scouts to attend an arts and crafts class at the library. We were trying out bandana bags for next years Mall Sleep In, but I think this project is a bit too overwhelming to run for 1000+ girl scouts. So we will keep looking(but it was a lot of fun). And Allison and I actually made a bag out of two bandanas.
And Scott's cub scout troop had their pack meeting on Friday night. The boys packed 40 care packages for the US Troops for the holidays. I included the 55 boxes of girl scout cookies that were donated during our sale this year. I think Allison single-handedly sold about 47 of those boxes. I am certain the soldiers will enjoy their surprise.
So I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are certainly thankful for celebrating the holiday with part of our family. And I am thankful that I will be able to wash all the sheets and pillowcases in time for their visit(well sort of). Mark, pizza works just fine for all of us on Weds night too! Happy Turkey Day! Kathleen and Family (I also included a shot of Scott in his altar server garb after he just finished his training sessions this fall).

Oh Wow! What an incredible week I have had(plus I managed to squeeze in my birthday this weekend!). As part of my birthday gift, Tom bought me tickets to The Blue Man Group last Sunday night. He wasn't interested in going though, so I took the kids. I must say it was one of the best shows I have ever seen! I laughed so hard(of course the kids were embarrassed). But everyone else was laughing and cheering too. That's the whole point of their show. I thought they did more percussion type music(banging pipes and drums), but it is really quite a mix of humorous skits, including making fun of all our technology like cell phones and IPADS. I just wish I would have brought my glasses-I couldn't read all their text on the giant IPADS(we sat way up in the balcony section). So I missed out on some of the jokes, and the kids couldn't read it to me fast enough. I told Tom if we are ever in Vegas or on a cruise, he will have to go see the show-it was a lot of fun. And two hours long with no intermission! I did manage to get a picture with the kids and a blue man along with an autograph(a big blue painted thumbprint!)
Tom did join me however for a night out on my birthday to see the accopella singing group Straight No Chaser. I saw this group two years ago on the Today show and have been trying to get tickets to see their show ever since. The group consists of 10 college buddies from Indiana, so the the Indy Seitz family is very familiar with their talent. Most of the guys are from Indy, but there was one Michigander and a few from Pennsylvania. The intros went well until one of the Indy boys mentioned the Colts(as you may know, the Indy Colts used to be the Baltimore Colts!). We gave him a bit of a hard time. And the theatre had some trouble with their lights which gave us all an added laugh. I was just happy we got to see the group since they were only in town for one night. When they came through on tour last year they were performing in Alexandria, VA so we couldn't get down there to see them during the week. We even got the group to perform one Christmas song for all of us at the end of the show. Tom just couldn't believe how many people came to see them-the concert was sold out. They didn't even have to advertise-Tom just heard about them from some people at work.
Before the show, the whole family went out to dinner at the Crab Shanty(they already have the place decorated for Christmas!). Then we came home for cake and presents(yeah).
Today we have been spending most of our time at Church. Scott served his very first mass as an altar server at the 9am mass with Allison helping out. Even our Msgr acknowledged Scott at the end of the mass as serving for the first time with big sister Allison! Scott did a terrific job(with a little coaching from mom and Allison). Afterwards, we were busy selling Girl Scout Cookies at the noon and 5pm mass. We also sold cookies Friday night at Qdobas mexican restaurant. It was a bit too cold, but Sunday was a beautiful day to sell cookies.
Of course, it is not like I had nothing to do last week. As you may recall, I spent the week camping (in cabins) with Scott and his entire 5th grade class at Northbay. The camp is situated at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. I was responsible for 8 girls along with another terrific mom. We spent our days from Monday to Friday eating way too much terrific food(yes camp food), attending outdoor education classes-I now know a whole lot about deer poop and vultures, clams and pollution. We also had lots of opportunities for outdoor skills including zip lines, a giant trapeze swing and the high ropes course. I opted for the high ropes course and was very proud of myself for not falling. Scott had an incredible time. He even got to hold a snake which he really enjoyed. At night the camp ran shows talking about the evils of bullying and how hard it is to be a kid. The camp is offered to lots of inner city schools, so they usually get into heavy discussions about teen pregnancy, gangs, drugs and guns. Our school opted out of those discussions and instead went on night hikes to search for deer and astronomy lessons. Camp pretty much ran from 8am to 10pm. Needless to say the kids (and adults) were all pretty exhausted. I think I must have taken over a hundred photos all posted on snapfish. If anyone is interested, go to www.snapfish.com, user name grade5@resstpaul.org and the password is grade5 to view all of our photos. I myself have not had an opportunity to sit down and view them. I had more photos to download from my cell phone since I exhausted the camera battery after 4 days. And then I had to forward them to the teacher. I also forwarded a photo of Scott on the ropes course to put on his birthday cake for his upcoming roller blading birthday party.
Tom and I did manage to get a bit of yardwork done-cutting the grass and raking those darn leaves that keep piling up in the front yard. And I managed to get Cookie out for a nice long walk and a few playdates with fellow neighbor dogs(while I chatted with the fellow neighbors). Not to mention some homework that needed to be squeezed in. Allison finished her first semester and they did not skip a beat on getting started on the second semester. Scott is wrapping up his first semester. He was working on an extra credit science project on bats.
So now it is back to the usual busy work schedule. We just enjoyed birthday cake with the neighbors(can't eat it all ourselves). Thanks for all the birthday cards and well wishes from friends and family!