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!