Marie

It is still difficult to believe that Marie, my mother-in-law, is gone from this Earth. She died in the early morning hours of December 26th.

Marie was a wonderful mother-in-law. I treasured our relationship. She was always there for me and always had good advice...but only when I asked for it. I told her that I wanted to be to Matt and Julie the kind of mother-in-law she was to me. 

Marie was really smart, but even more than that, she was wise. 

As good as my relationship with Marie was, it became even richer and more meaningful in the last month of her life. It was a privilege to spend time with her and Bill, my father-in-law. She was so appreciative of all that anyone did for her. And to watch Bill's devotion and love for his wife of 62 years was a profound example of a loving marriage for Sally and Matt and Wayne and Julie and me and Jack as well. 

I think we are all still surprised that Marie is gone. When we left the hospital on Christmas night, not one of us expected to get that call at 4 am. As our friend Chuck said, Marie "let Christmas be Christmas and seized the day for her own mortality". 

That was just like my mother-in-law. 

I miss her already.

Epcot, around '99.

 

Winter Break 2013!!!!!

There is just nothing like that first night of winter break. Ahhhhh. All done with making sure the  holiday "stuff" is done for the kiddos...presents for the kids, presents for the parents (something homemade with a picture of the student). I am pleased to say that my coworkers and I do not exchange gifts. We made that pact several years ago and though it was hard for some, the rest of us stood firm (meaning if we received a gift, we did not go and buy one to reciprocate). Now, no presents and no pressure.
Today, there were two field trips. The primary class (K-2nd grade) went to the Museum of Science and Industry. I went on this field trip last year and it was awesome; took me back to my childhood and our family visits to the Christmas Around the World exhibit after the IBM family Christmas party. They had plenty of coverage so I went to the other field trip. The other two classes(3rd-5th grade class and middle school class) went to the Max, an huge indoor sports complex with the bouncy houses, soccer fields and basketball courts. Perfect place for a field trip on a cold winter day in the midst of the holiday season for kids who have self-regulation issues.  Lots of room to run off energy :). We had a student-staff dodge ball game and I was not going to participate, but we are always encouraging our students to move out of their comfort zones and so I felt that I had no choice but to move out of mine and play dodge ball. I figured out my role pretty quickly. I shagged the balls and fed them to the good throwers! I was only hit once. Pretty proud of myself. One of the highlights was the fact that I was in the final 4- 2 students vs 2 staff. It ended up being a tie. Oh yeah. Another highlight was when one of the teachers nailed a 3rd grader and she took such delight in it! We laughed so hard!
I should be Christmas shopping right now (I have only gotten 2 presents so far) but I think I will go to bed and hit it hard in the morning.

Birthday Trifecta

In December, I have three special birthdays, three days in a row, to recognize.
We start with Bucky, Jack's dad, whose birthday is December 15th, followed by Beth, Arne's wife, on December 16th, then Grace, my goddaughter, celebrates today, December 17th.
All three of these people hold a very special place in my heart and in my life.

Bucky with Sam, Lauren and Brendan

Beth and Sally

me and Grace, circa 1994

Got our tree and dined at Del Rio's all in the same day

I am absolutely getting into the holiday spirit now.
We had a wonderfully Christmasy Saturday. Jack and I got up early on Saturday morning and hit the ground running. We got our tree, decorated the inside of the house and put all the boxes back up in the attic before 2pm. We got cleaned up and were ready for our annual trip to Del Rio's for the holiday dinner with Christy, Steve, Matt, Jen, Caitlin and her friend Allie. So much fun! Steve makes the reservations every year, calling the day after Thanksgiving to get one of the coveted spots. It is not easy, but thank goodness he has the persistence to call over and over again til he gets through. We had great seats again this year and more importantly..... we were TWO TURTLE DOVES in the Twelve Days of Christmas! We were AWESOME!

Del Rio's!

Illuminations

There was a Birthday Club outing tonight to Morton Arboretum for their holiday light show called Illuminations. It was Teri's idea to go, of course and she had just gotten back from a two day business trip to Dublin. Of course. That woman packs more into a day and week than anyone else I know!
This morning the wind chill was -20 degrees and Jean and I didn't even walk ( I have my standards. Anything colder than -10 degrees is too risky for me). I wondered if we would have to cancel for tonight, but it was warmer by late this afternoon so we went ahead with our plans. I am so glad we did! Highly recommend it and will definitely go again. I had door to door service since I had a class til 5; the girls picked me up at 5:30 ish and I was home by 9:00 and in between there was lots of fun.
The Christmas lights were so beautiful and many were interactive (sing to make them change colors, hug a tree to make it change colors). There were also fire pits all around and a warming station complete with hot cocoa, smores, wine and beer. The path was about a mile long and you could walk any or all of it. It really was the perfect way to spend a Thursday night in December.

and this was just in the parking lot on the way out!

We stopped at DMK Burger for a quick dinner on the way home. All in all, a lovely evening with girlfriends in the midst of the Christmas season,

Winter is approaching

We had our first measurable snow today. It was only an inch, but it was icy and wet and made it difficult to get around. Luckily, Jack and I went to mass last night and I had already done my Target run this morning before it started to get slippery. 

The good news?
We got to see both kids and their honeys this weekend!
Matt and Sally were heading to Las Vegas on a business trip Friday night. All of the conditions lined up just right and it turned out that we had a re-do of our meal at the Gaslight Club at the Hilton at O'Hare. We have a very famous story of the day Sally left to study in Spain almost 5 years ago (it'll be 5 years in mid January). Jack, Matt and I took her to the airport and she was a bit, ok, VERY sad to be leaving for a semester. Not the happiest of days or memories. We had some extra time and Jack had suggested lunch  at the Gaslight Club, and so that's what we did. And that lunch was just plain dysfunctional! My sweet Sally was leaving.  It has been a running joke since then; every time we are trying to brainstorm a good dining spot, one of us will say, "how about the Gaslight Club?" I asked that same question on Friday night and we all said YES! It was such a fun dinner, short and sweet and full of laughter, the kind of laughter you have to apologize for to the neighboring tables.

On Saturday, we met up with Wayne and Julie to check out some wedding venues. They are at that stressful point of choosing a date, church and reception venue. But it will all become clear and we loved the time spent together on Saturday, especially the time at a restaurant named Nana's (not a wedding venue, just an awesome place for a special lunch) 

God is good!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I am just now getting around to posting a few pictures. Life has been incredibly busy. I am sorry to say that I did not take my usual quota of pictures and did not get everyone captured, but I will share a few quick shots that I took over the weekend while spending time with family. It is always a joy to be with family!

Thanksgiving week!!!

It is my most favorite week of the year! Thanksgiving conjures up the most positive feelings for me. It's all about family and food. And it is a shortened work week and people are in a good mood and we have lots of little traditions. I love it.
This year, I started out Thanksgiving week with breakfast with my Birthday Club girlfriends. I was in charge of organizing our November get together. This year, we were each assigned a month to plan some sort of gathering. Did not need to be anything fancy, just an opportunity to connect. So I organized breakfast at Egg Harbor Café for 8 am on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and it worked out perfectly. We had 8 out of 12 in attendance (Mary K, Mary B, Jean and Christy were not able to come). We had a round table which made for excellent conversation. And we did a fun activity, "I am thankful for...". We each wrote down 2 things, on two slips of paper,  what we were thankful for. The stipulation was that it could not be God, family, health...because we know that for sure we are thankful for those. After we were done with breakfast, we took turns reading all of the responses. Priceless. Here are some of them:
I am thankful for:  "dim lighting...not having to cook this Thanksgiving...Maria day (cleaning lady!)...DVR...that my knee is better...footies...my family is getting bigger but better at the same time...my ironing lady...Blue Mercury sale...cheese...NYDJ...my friends' lake houses...my niece is baptizing her son...completing the workout of a 25 year old guy."
So much to be thankful for!

SO much to blog about, so little time

This has been one of those times when my mind is full of the blog posts I want to write and I just don't have an extra minute! So much going on, most of it very exciting and good (well, except for the our never ending saga with the basement) and my days have just been so full.
Potential Blog Post #1 that I owe you: Last Thursday, Friday and Saturday I attended ASHA, the national convention for speech language pathologists and audiologists. It was at McCormick Place in Chicago and it was exciting and energizing and exhausting. I can.not.wait. to blog about my time with my professor from University of Illinois, my mentor and professional idol, Dr. Barbara Hodson. It was incredible. I love this woman and what she taught me. I use it everyday in my work with my unintelligible preschoolers. And to have the chance to reconnect with her this past weekend was such a joy. I will say that one of the highlights of my past year was when I dropped her off at Midway and she hugged me and she cupped my face in her hands and said to me, "Do you know how much a student like you means to me?" Waaaaaaaa! 

Potential Blog Post #2 : Wayne and Julie's engagement!!! Seriously, I feel so bad that all I put up on this blog was that quick little post. That is how busy my days have been! Such a huge milestone and so very exciting and WOW. My boy is getting married! Sally, Jack and I joined Wayne and Julie for a little celebration on Saturday night following the proposal. Happy times and lots of fun stories.

Potential Blog post #3: dinner Sunday night with Chuck, Teri, Wayne, Julie, Jack...originally planned for a few weeks ago to celebrate Jack's birthday a bit late, but Chuck was sick, so we rescheduled for last Sunday night, It ended up being a bit of engagement celebration. Those generous and thoughtful friends. Amazing night.

Potential Blog Post #4: Good bye dinner for Tamara, my friend who subbed with me last year when my aide was out for her husband's heart transplant. She is moving to Orlando where her husband is managing a LARGE hotel. I am going to miss her so much!

The good news is that after tomorrow, work will settle down for a bit. I work Monday and 1/2 day Tuesday (did 10 parent conferences last Tuesday night so I only have to work til 12:30 this Tuesday) and then it is all about Thanksgiving!!!

Wayne and Julie are engaged!!!

Yesterday Wayne asked Julie to marry him and she said yes! 

It's been a crazy day here with storms and a flooded basement (again!), but I had to share 2 pictures with you. Enjoy! 

We are so happy and thrilled that Julie will be our daughter-in-law! 

Just what the empty nesters needed

It was a good weekend because Jack and I got to spend a little bit of time with a lot of different family members. And it was mostly unexpected which made it even more special.
We had scheduled a sleep over with Abbie and Nina for Friday night. I went straight from work to Arne and Beth's to pick up the girls. We were at our house by 5:30 and then the fun began. Wayne came over to pick up the tickets for the Bears game from Susie; he was just staying for an hour or two, but still, that was great. Then Sally called to say that she and Matt were going to come over for awhile after they had  dinner. It was so awesome!!! Abbie and Nina were so much fun. They are the perfect ages and they are the perfect girls :) We all had a good time together, dancing to What does the Fox Say?" So many sweet moments, including the handwritten notes that Abbie put on our pillows. The girls slept in Sally's old room and made it their own. I cuddled with them until they kicked me out. They were all about sleeping by themselves. I was almost sound asleep in my own bed when I heard a little voice say to me, "Patty, look what I found!" I opened my eyes to see Nina standing there with a shoe. I think it was one of Tommy's shoes from Wayne's room. It definitely made me smile.
Jack and I woke up around 8 am and I went to do a Target run while the girls were still asleep. While I was heading home, I got a text from Lauren. She was in the burbs, finishing up a run and said she was thinking about stopping by to say hi. Yes, please! By the time I got back to the house, the girls were up and asking for pancakes and bacon. So Lauren joined us for breakfast. It was a bit chaotic and messy, but fun. The girls enjoyed reconnecting with Lauren, who they had not seen since the wedding. And Jack and I both treasured the chance to sit and chat with Lauren and catch up on her life. She is one amazing girl. Lauren had a noon appointment at a spa, so took off around 11:30. She just missed Christy who popped in to say hello. While Christy was here, Jenny arrived to pick up the girls. I mentioned aloud that how amazing it was to have seen so many people in the course of 16 hours and I hoped that didn't mean that I was going to die. Christy asked why I wouldn't think if that meant I was so lucky and that I should play the lottery because of that. I know, kinda sad!
Our day was capped off by dinner with Sue at The Reel Club, one of our favorite restaurants. We had great conversations and lots of laughs, especially when Sue tried to use chop sticks to eat sushi. So funny.
Really, this weekend was just what I needed: some direct face to face personal interactions with people I love and care about.
Very grateful for that.

Fall back

We turned the clocks back yesterday and that extra hour is pretty nice. The darkness at 5 is not so nice, but an inevitability that comes with November. I do love this time of year, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas...and I love the fall colors. The landscape is especially beautiful this year. I find myself snapping pictures all the time with my camera phone but I am not really able to capture the beauty of the turning leaves. 

I took this picture tonight as I left work around 5pm. The sky looked so cool. 

I had a fun day at work. Unfortunately my aide Ellyn was out sick but fortunately Tamara (who subbed for Ellyn last year when Ellyn's husband had his heart transplant) was available. Tamara is in the process of moving to Florida, but was willing to carve out a day for us. I loved catching up with her. She is an amazing woman. The kids love her. And I do, too. I am going to miss her! 

Happy Halloween!

I am pleased to report that Halloween 2013 featured a return to tradition. If you look back at my post from last Halloween, it was a bit of a bummer. After all these years of running all over town visiting friends, Jack and I stayed home and did NOTHING fun. Such a downer.
This year, Jack and I trick or treated at Mark and Cath's, which is always a mood booster. And Adam and Kristin were there also. Even better. I was especially anxious to see Cathy. What a stressful October she had. No words could do it justice. Jack, Mark, Cath, Adam, Kristin and I had wonderful conversations about Cathy's dad. It was good to talk about "Jimbo" and his final days and family and dying. That might sound funny to some, but death is as much a part of life as birth is. It is important to talk about it.
It is a privilege to do life with friends like Cathy and Mark.

loved spending Halloween with the 5 of them! Baby W due 2/14

Jack and Kristin talking privacy settings :)

Great Conversations

I participated in some great discussions this weekend.

The first was at an engagement party for our friends Bob and Mary's daughter Sarah and her fiancé, Michael. What a party! Gorgeous home, wonderful food and drink, heated tent, valet parking. But the best part was the conversations. For the last part of the evening. Jack and I chatted with Bob and a few of his kids. We talked with Jenny, who is getting her MBA at Notre Dame and is dating a nice guy named Chris (who happens to work at the same place as my sister-in-law Sue). We also chatted with Margaret who is a senior at Denison, Bobby who is a sophomore at Auburn and Erin, who works for Young Life, a Christian youth group. It was one of those sit around the table and relax conversations. At one point, I had a wonderful religious/faith discussion with Erin and another family friend, Marcie. I did not take my camera. I did not want to overstep my boundaries.

My other great conversation was with my sisters at lunch on Sunday. There is nothing like spending time with them, having the chance to sit and talk and share what is going on in our lives. I get antsy and a bit anxious if I go too long without talking to them. It would have been fine with me if our lunch had lasted all afternoon. On Sunday, it was interesting that about 90% of our conversation was about our jobs and how much we value them. All three of us are so blessed to have jobs that we love.
We try to get a picture of the three of us when we get together. We asked the hostess at the restaurant to do the honors. When we checked the first shot, we were in hysterics. It was SO unflattering of Jenny! We tweaked things a bit and the second shot was much better. I will only share the good one. I am a loyal sister.
 

I love my sisters

Matt and Jen's wedding

A week ago today we witnessed the marriage of Matt and Jen. Matt and Wayne met the first day of kindergarten at The Lane School (who will ever forget the backpack with the working clock on the front of it? I know I won't!). His mother, Christy, and I have been BFFs ever since.
Matt and Jen asked Jack to do a reading at their wedding since Jack was Matt's Confirmation sponsor. That meant a lot to Jack. They asked me to do the blessing/grace before the meal at the reception. And that meant a lot to me. And with Wayne as one of the groomsman, it made the day even more special to us. The three pictures below are stills that I captured from the video Jack took with the flipcam. Interesting technology! Not the best resolution, but super easy

Matt, Christy and Patrick, coming down the aisle

Mr. and Mrs.!

Caitlin and Wayne

In between the ceremony and reception, Chuck and Teri invited a few folks to join them for cocktails. Julie, Wayne's girlfriend, was hanging with us and so she got to hang out with the older folks for an hour or so.

you wouldn't believe how long it took to get this picture set up :)

The reception was awesome. I loved catching up with so many youngsters, high school friends of Matt's, that I had not seen in years. It was great to see Christy and Steve's family too. That is one of the best parts of a wedding, having people who are important in your life all gathered together for a few hours to celebrate a happy event.

Kevin, Christy, me and Matt

Ahhhh Friday.

Feeling the Friday-ness right now. It's about 8 pm, I am sitting in the living room with Jack, having a little glass of wine, posting some pictures from Matt and Jen's wedding on Facebook, and just relaxing.
Work was good this week. I am so thankful for my job. There is so much good about it, not much bad at all. I am still learning something new, almost everyday, and that is pretty cool. I also work with many wonderful people. I am reminded of that daily. I went to a wake today after school. The nurse consultant who has done vision and hearing screening for my students for the last twenty years and who has certified me in CPR courses and who just retired...her husband died of a heart attack. But Sue (yet another amazing Sue in my life) is a supremely positive and faith filled person with a loving family and I know she will be fine. What's her choice?
At the wake, I had some great conversations with several coworkers, both current and former. One former coworker, who is now a high level administrator in a great school district, said to me, "I love your posts and pictures on Facebook. It looks like you are always having fun and enjoying life"
Life is what you make of it.
As the tagline on this blog says, life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.

Behind on my posting

I am sorry that I am so behind on my blogging. We had a super fun and busy weekend, with Matt and Jen's rehearsal dinner (Jack was a reader) and then the wedding on Saturday, and lunch with Wayne, Julie, Sally and Matt on Sunday. The wedding was wonderful, everything was perfect and I am so happy for the happy couple and the families.
Work is busy as always. So tired tonight and it is past my bedtime so I will catch you all up later.
Thanks for being faithful readers and checking in with me.
xox

here's a pic from the rehearsal to tide you over

A good man

My dear friend, Cathy, lost her dad this past Sunday, October 13th. It was Jim's 78th birthday. He was a great man, loved and admired by all. Jack and I have gotten to know him and the rest of Cathy's family over the years, including spending time together in Disney World back in the day. One of our favorite memories of Cath's dad was when Jack bought him a name tag at Disney that said "Jimbo"  and for the hometown, it said "Parts Unknown". It has been a running joke for many years. Mark was incredulous that Jack was calling his (Mark's) father-in-law by his first name/nickname when Mark still called him Mr. M! Jimbo was a great sport with a great sense of humor. Jimbo certainly was deserving of a more respectful nickname than Jimbo, but he laughed along with everyone else.
Cathy's parents retired to Georgia several years ago, but did not really slow down at all. Jim was the fire chief for the island where they lived and also did some deputy police work.
And he enjoyed his family. Immensely.
Grief is such a personal emotion. No one can grieve for you and it is difficult work. You just gotta go through it and so we are praying for Cath, Mark and the entire family.

Mr. M with one of his grandsons, 2009

Jack loved Jimbo's stories

Brunch

We hosted a brunch for my side of the family on Sunday. I had not seen or talked to many of my family members for several weeks. Oh, sure, a few texts and facebook messages, but no in depth conversations or real time spent together, so we decided to have a brunch just like the old days. It was awesome, though I never knew that most of my family does not like the egg casserole that I make! (side note: Jack's side of the family loves it:)) Thank goodness I have recently added pancakes (recipe courtesy of my gourmet friend Lynn) to the menu.
It is not about the food anyway. Not really.
It's about the relationships.
We have been trying to figure out how to improve our communication with each other. Before Marmar died, it wasn't an issue. She called us everyday, "just checking in" and then shared with the others what was going on in our lives. I tried to problem solve around this issue, but the responses were not helpful. The suggestions included laminated calling trees and book clubs. They were not taking me seriously! But we are increasing our Facebook message activity and it has been very entertaining.
And the bottom line is that our relationships are very intact. And we love each other no matter what.

Friday

Pretty clever title, isn't it?
It's not easy coming up with titles for these blog posts.
I love Fridays. I wake up on Friday mornings with a bit of an extra bounce in my step. Well, except this morning, I hit the snooze button and when the alarm rang again nine minutes later, I was in the middle of a complex dream, but I did get myself out of bed and had my therapy walk with Jean.  On Fridays, Jean and I stop at Starbucks and each get a tall coffee. Today we got one free! It was an excellent way to start the day.
At work, Fridays are always a challenge. Wow. Mondays through Thursdays are in my comfort zone, but Fridays (a whole different aspect of my job as faithful readers know) are full of relying on instincts and reading the room and sometimes...? trying not to make things worse. When I drive home after my Fun Friday, I am usually self-evaluating and second guessing something that has happened over the course of the day. I don't like to mess up, but sometimes I do.
Some Friday nights Jack and I stay up later than 8:30, like tonight. We went over to Christy and Steve's to hang out by their backyard fireplace and visit with them. Also present tonight were Matt and Jen who, btw, are getting married next Saturday. It was really special to spend time with them, so close to their big day. Such an exciting time. I can hardly wait.
For now, it is waaaaay past my bedtime.
Good night.
Tomorrow I will post about Saturday :)

Thursday

Oh, Thursday. You are almost Friday. 

And it's almost a three day weekend. I am ready. 

Today was busy. An IEP meeting for a student before school, productive day with my students, then I taught the second portion of the iPad class from 4-7:30. 

I am really grateful for a normal day. Right now a dear friend's dad is dealing with a brain tumor. We are praying hard for him. 

And I am reminded of what it was like living through my brother's battle with a brain tumor. 

A regular routine day is all good. 

Cuteness

Jean and I saw the cutest thing on our walk this morning. A yellow lab trotted down a driveway, stopped and picked up the huge Sunday paper very gently with his mouth. He (or she) saw us, wagged his/her tail then turned and headed back towards the open garage door. I was reaching into my pocket to get my phone to take a picture of this little slice of Americana when I stopped myself. I realized it was the home of Coach Q of the Blackhawks. Didn't want to be paparazzi, but my goodness, it was the sweetest sight.

Conscious Discipline

I am taking a continuing education class called "Conscious Discipline". It is fantastic. I am getting so much out of it. One of its foundational principles is that discipline is ultimately  about the state of the discipliner. Also that how we react to things depends on where in the brain we are reacting from...frontal lobe (rational, reasoning) vs limbic system (emotional) vs brain stem (impulse, survival). How I react to what is happening around me is less about the situation and more about what state I am in/what part of the brain is reacting. For much of my life I was all about the emotional reaction (WHAT??? me? I do not overreact!! I do NOT!) and over the course of time, I have become much better at taking the emotion out of situations (usually, not always). That is so much more productive, let me just say. I have learned so much by watching how Jack reacts to things. My father was the same way.
Anyway, today's class was about encouragement. Pretty powerful and interesting and all about encouraging vs judging. This quote was on the board as the class started and it totally spoke to me:
"Love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for to be what they choose for themselves without any insistence that they satisfy you".
Wow.
And we watched this very powerful video. All about being encouraging and the function of behaviors. Check it out if you have about 10 minutes to watch.
http://youtu.be/RXJGcqcJckA

County Fair!

We did the County Fair as a day trip on Sunday, September 22nd. Wayne and Julie were not able to attend this year as they were in Cleveland for Julie's high school reunion. Sally and Matt were toying with the idea of coming, but it was the day after Caitlin and Todd's wedding and there were still some festivities on Sunday morning. Jack and I would not have minded going by ourselves (Jack would not even have minded going by himself, as he has twice before), but we were tickled when Arne and Beth said that they and Abbie and Nina would be interested in experiencing the Fair this year. They understood that it was going to be a FULL day, from early morning to late evening and they were still game. Such troopers!
Jack rented a Yukon XL for the trip, complete with a DVD player and lots of room to spread out. We picked up the kids around 8:15 (as usual, we were 15 minutes late!) and got on the road. It was so fun to ride together. Abbie and Nina's enthusiasm and excitement were contagious. Even the rest stops were interesting to them. We arrived in Hillsdale around 1pm ET and stopped at the College for our traditional pit stop. Jack introduced the girls to the statue of Winston Churchill and they were appropriately fascinated. "Jack, it looks like this guy really liked books. How many books does he have? Let's count them!" "Jack, what is this chain on his shirt?"

Jack's best audience

After some time with Winston and Thomas Jefferson, we headed over to the Fairgrounds. Driving down Hallett, I had a flashback to the days when we had Alison, Caylen and Wayne in the last row of Rick and Pat's minivan. Same thrill to see the Fair, just a different generation :)
We started with a corn dog and fries, then did some games and rides. No photo button booth again this year, so we took some pictures and will make our own through Mpix.

Beth, Arne and Jack

so much fun!
 

fishing game

We saw the Barnyard Babies and quacked with the ducks (Abbie is an awesome quacker!) and then headed out to Marshall and Win Schuler's. Once again, Schuler's did not disappoint. I just have to remind myself next year to forget about an entrée. Just meatballs, salad and dessert. That is plenty.

There was not a cross word spoken all day. Arne and Beth are doing an outstanding job of raising two darling, respectful and confident daughters. They never whined or complained or fought. Abbie and Nina just rolled with the punches all day. Jack and I feel so blessed to be able to spend time with this darling family.
We were on course to get home around 9 pm (not too bad!) and we were less than an hour from home when we ran into a construction traffic jam on 80/94 near the state line. No one got frustrated or upset. We rode along, watching Aladdin and singing "I Can Show You the World". Beth and Abbie rocked it. We pulled into Arne and Beth's drive around 10:30 and as tired as I was, I was sad to see such a fun day end.

Happy birthday, Grandma!

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday. Marie is an amazing mother, mother-in-law and grandmother, loved by all of us. She is intelligent, honest, fair and loving. We were so grateful that both she and my father-in-law, Bill, were able to be at Sally and Matt's wedding. We do not take for granted how sharp and ageless she is. Our entire family is thankful for Marie and her unconditional support of us all.
We love you!
Here is a picture of Marie and Bill that our friend, Chuck, took of them at Sally and Matt's shower in June.

The Meghan

This morning Jack and I participated in a Lupus walk in honor of our friend, Meghan. 

Background: We have known Meghan since she was in preschool; she and her twin Caitlin took ballet classes with Sally. Sally did summer swim team with them and spent time at their family's lake house. I taught 8th grade CCD with their mother, Siobhan and I was Meghan's Confirmation sponsor. Lots of great memories. 

Meghan was diagnosed with lupus in her senior year of high school. It has been quite a battle for her, but she has done well, mostly because Meghan doesn't let it get her down. She has a very dry sense of humor and is a talented writer and uses both of those things to help her deal with this serious chronic illness. 

The 3 mile walk this morning was held in Lincoln Park and Meghan had quite a team there supporting her. It was great to catch up with Meghan and her family, including her parents, aunts, and cousins as well as other friends. The fall weather was perfect, blue skies and bright sunshine, which is what wish for Meghan. 

God bless The Meghan! 

Be back at ya soon

Just a quick post before I go to bed. Man, these days have been super busy. I have not gotten to bed before 11:30 the past 4 nights. That's not enough for this aging body!

Last weekend was filled with fun from start to finish. On Saturday we went to Caitlin and Todd's wedding; they are great friends of Sally and Matt's. Caitlin and Todd stood up in Matt and Sally's wedding and vice verse.  On Sunday, we went to the Hillsdale County Fair (Jack's 41st). Arne, Beth, Abbie and Nina came with us. Each event deserves its own post which I will get to as soon as I can. For now, I will share one picture from each and will leave you on the edge of your seat until I can write a proper post. Haha! Good night 

Schuler meatball

Caitlin and Todd

Happy birthday, Jack!

Yesterday was Jack's birthday, but he was in Maine on a business trip. That was probably a more exciting place to be than home and we all know how Jack loves to travel so it worked out perfectly.  We celebrated tonight with homemade pizza ( a really good one, if I say so myself) and a Kirschbaum's whipped cream birthday cake. It doesn't take much :)

I am so darn blessed to have the best partner in life. I could not ask for a more caring and loving husband. I praise God every day for giving me the gift of a husband who is faith filled, kind, compassionate and FUN! 

Fun Friday

I had a jam packed Friday. Fridays are usually pretty crazy anyway because of my work schedule; I travel between three schools over the course of an average Friday and things are often unpredictable because of...well, they just are. A week ago Friday I had the wildest work day ever (pretty much) and I would tell you about it, but there are confidentiality parameters. I will just say that day involved head butting , kicking, some parent issues and then my car was hit from behind at a stop sign on the way home. This past Friday was much better!
After a short "happy hour" at Lisa's with some really fun people, Jack picked me up and we met our old neighbors, Joe and Michele, for dinner. It was an amazing evening, with such awesome conversation. Joe and Michele are about 15 years younger than Jack and I are, but we have had a nice connection with them since the day they moved in next door to us two years ago. They were renting that house and have since bought a beautiful home a couple miles away in our town. We miss them and their four cute kiddos. Jack and I loved spending time with Michele and Joe. Such great people.
After dinner, we returned home to hang out with Sally! Matt was away at an all weekend bachelor party and Sally had to coach at a swim meet early on Saturday, so she spent the night with us. There is something quite comforting/settling/reassuring (not sure what word works here) about going to bed with at least one child under our roof. I love it.