Happy Christmas!!

Christmas Eve

Making Pork Pies and Cake Balls in preparation for tomorrow.  Girls are practicing music for Midnight Mass.  Gabriel is working until later.  We will all gather for dinner and a movie and then off to Midnight Mass. 

We are now proud owners of a new (used) car from CarMax.  It's a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid.  Virtually the same car as mine before the crash, just one year newer.  It got a clean bill of health from our local mechanic, the only thing not working is the CD player, and CarMax is fixing that next week.  

What we've been doing

Marian has made the "final cut" for the Bijou Awards and is one of 5 Middle School finalists.  Oddly, they are all girls this year.  She is pondering what she will sing and looking forward to the competition once again.  It is Saturday, January 16th.

Gabriel found out that he did not make it into Stanford, and was disappointed but he's looking forward to other colleges.  He is continuing to work and finish applications.  He is bringing the family out to dinner tonight and then we are all going to the new Star Wars movie.  (Yes, we already have tickets!)

Christmas cookies made so far:
Snickerdoodles (Bogdan's yearly request)
Double Peanut butter with Chocolate Drizzle (Marian's brainchild)
Cornulete, Romanian jam-filled buttermilk cookies (Gabriel's favorite)
Sugar cookies (Anna's annual choice)

Still awaiting word from CarMax about the car I'm looking at, they are supposed to be getting it transported here.  Still juggling 2 cars between 4 drivers.

Our elderly friend had her "reconnect" surgery, after living with an ileostomy for 3 months.  She is still in a lot of pain, but we are hopeful this will fix her issues.

Advent ponderings

Sharing from daily Mass today...we are waiting 2 Advents in the future.  The Advent of Christ, as we celebrate his Holy Birth and the Advent of the Second Coming.  Many of the readings during Advent focus on the end times, and it is because we are awaiting that Advent as well.

Too much happening

It seems December has begun and I've yet to post anything on the blog.

Maybe it's because....

--Gabriel was in a major accident and totaled my car
--We've been dealing with insurance company and also looking at a new car for me
--the musical was cast and costumes and patterns have been consuming my kitchen, living room and sewing area for 2 weeks now
--Advent has begun and it dawned on me that Christmas would be here before I knew it...time to start on making cookies, sending cards, decorating, and mailing packages.
--trying to help Anna sort out issues at college, classes, schedules, grades, the list goes on

--figuring out what to do at Girl Scouts for Christmas, deciding to make a simple decoration (see above, we used paint for the faces)

Looking forward to a simple and restful Christmas.

Definitely Fall

Falling leaves, cold weather and the need for our down comforter are all signs that Fall is definitely here.  No more mowing, but now we need to rake the leaves.

The last of the fall rowing races (called "Head Races" in the Fall) happens this weekend and then rowing is over until the spring.  Gabriel has started a work regimen so he doesn't get out of shape.  Not sure if Marian will join him or not?!

The Fall play has its opening night tomorrow.  It is the perennial comedy Harvey. The kids are doing a great job and I think it will be well received.

Our morning Mass did a nice job of honoring the Veterans and Bogdan and the Knights of Columbus joined in the ceremony.

Feast of All Saints and All Souls

November 1st The Feast of All Saints
On the feast of All Saints, we honor those men and women who—whether they’ve been canonized or not—have led lives of heroic virtue that set an example for all Christians.  They try to see Christ in every person and every situation. Saints tell us what matters most in life is not what we earn or own, not the job we have or the people we know. What really matters is how much we love God, others, and ourselves, and how well we show that love in all we do.

Collect Prayer from the solemnity of All Saints
Let us pray today.
     Almighty ever-living God,
     By whose gift we venerate in one Celebration
    the merits of all the Saints, bestow on us, we pray,
    through the prayers of so many intercessors,
    an abundance of the reconciliation with you
    for which we earnestly long.
    Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
    who lives and reigns with you in the unity 
    of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

November 2nd All Souls Day

Catholics believe that death can separate people who they love from them for only a while. We are still united with them in the Communion of Saints. On this feast of All Souls, and throughout the entire month of November, we recall our deceased relatives, friends, and all the faithful departed who may yet be waiting for the full joy of heaven in purgatory. We pray for them, remembering that likewise these people being purified have the power to intercede us too.

Prayer for the deceased

    Let perpetual light shine upon them, 

    with your Saints forever, for you are merciful.

    Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,

    and let perpetual light shine upon them, 
    with your Saints forever, for you are merciful. 

    Amen.

Updates from our house

October has whizzed by and here's what has been happening.

Marian has had her first Fall rowing race and placed 7th of out 10 in her first race and 2nd out of 3 in her next race.  Gabriel is also racing and doing well.  They have 2 more races for the fall season and then it's over, a much shorter season than the spring.

Anna continues to love marching band and color guard, Bogdan was finally able to see her perform in a marching band competition last week and loved it.  (I was busy with the rowers.)

Our fall production of Harvey comes up soon and we will begin Tech week and long hours at the theatre.

Gabriel is sending in his last early application (for Stanford) in this weekend.  That's his first choice so far for colleges.

Marian (I think) might be on her last days of trick or treating.  She has 2 Halloween parties, one tonight and one tomorrow.  I think if the weather agrees the kids might do trick or treating tonight, but it might rain.

She just returned from backpacking trip to Big South Fork, which she enjoyed.  Although, she said it was more hiking and less camping.  She's determined she likes camping better.

Fall break

Things we've done and are going to do...

--Camping trip to Edgar Evins State Park (only one night in the rain)
--cliff diving at the park
--final college visit trip to NC (UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke)
--making meals for the next month (beef stew, cheesy chicken, teriyaki chicken, minestrone soup, to name a few of the items on the menu)
--going to the Haunted Hollow Orchard, getting tons of Stayman Winesap apples, made 3 apple pies and canned 12 jars of applesauce
--praying in front of Planned Parenthood for an end to abortion
--working on costumes for the upcoming production of Harvey
--first race of the rowing season
--visiting Darlene, who is home now, and doing well
--dentist appointments
--Fall Festival, complete with games, booths and a spaghetti dinner

Fall break begins

The new balanced schedule and extended Fall break begins today.  2 weeks of fall vacation.  We'll attempt to go camping and then to NC to see 2 more colleges.  (the last of the college visits)

There are some normal doctor's appointments and things on my to do list (well, actually for Bogdan to do...power wash the house) and then our fall break ends with the parish Fall Festival.

Keeping many people in our prayers, lots of sickness in the world, and praying for a relief to that for many.

Pope Francis

Loved watching Pope Francis and his many visits last week.  In between my crazy schedule, I managed to watch some of the coverage of his visit.  I loved seeing him at the 9/11 Memorial and very much appreciated the multicultural presence there, I was thrilled to see him with Cardinal Rigali (who is from the Knoxville Diocese), and it was great to hear and read about so many people making pilgrimages to see him.

Too many things happening

And not enough time to make a posting.

In no order:

--Darlene, our elderly friend from church, is still in rehab.  She is slowly recovering from surgery, and they hope to discharge her this Thursday.
--Girl Scout camping with 150 people...no girls lost, all had a grand time, little sleep had, only one sprained ankle
--rowing has begun in full swing, both Marian and Gabriel are rowing this year
--Anna is loving color guard (not as much time being applied to studies tho').  The football team has yet to win a game, but she is loving being a part of marching band and color guard.
--viewing of the Supermoon Lunar Eclipse (not as stellar as they hoped)
--Gabriel turned 17 last week.
--My car had major work done, Bogdan bought a new to us car (2013 Ford Fusion Plug-in Hybrid)
--Karen starts work on the fall play and the spring musical

Already September

School has been in session for a month now, hard to believe!  The kids have already received their mid-term grades.

Anna is adjusting to ETSU, back in classes for a couple weeks now.  The football team had their first game and didn't win, actually they were beaten pretty bad.  But, she says it was a lot of fun.

Our elderly friend Darlene from church had a difficult week.  She is in the hospital after having emergency surgery on Friday morning.  She had a blood clot and dead tissue removed from her bowels, 3 feet in all!!  She is still in ICU, but there are hopes to have her moved from there into a regular room.  She is looking better each time we are in.

The new school year so far

A few weeks underway, kids are finally back to the old routine, and getting up early again.  Gabriel started his one class at Univ of TN, a math class of course.

Our yard sale was a success, making over $700!  And the house and carport is clean again.

The neutrons are firing again at SNS, so things are back to normal for Bogdan--work, work, work.

Both Marian and Gabriel will start rowing on Monday. Marian has decided to give it a try.  We will see if she likes it or not?!

Second week of school

And it seems like they've been back for weeks already.  Gabriel keeps on forgetting to get up, and forgetting his ORNL pass.  Good thing he has a car.

Anna is slowly getting things ready for leaving on Friday for ETSU.  I think she was more excited about her final day at Big Ed's Pizza than anything.  She'll be meeting her new roommates and we are hoping that everything is smooth in that department.

Our annual yard sale is slowly accumulating items and we are all excited for it to be over and our house to be back in order.

Happy First Day of School

Marian likes most of her teachers, except maybe her Social Studies teacher who she has for last period (his mood today may have been a combo of first day stress and last class of the day syndrome, I told her).  She is taking Spanish this year and really likes her new teacher.

Police out en force this morning making sure we're all obeying the speed limit.  :)

Haven't heard from Gabriel about his classes, but he already knew most of his teachers, so probably nothing alarming or surprising for him.

Already starting to think about the things that happen during the school year: setting up Girl Scout meetings, getting Religious Ed teachers all settled, starting up bible study and Respect Life meetings, and organizing high school group lunches.

Anna is slowly getting ready for her second year at ETSU, this year joining marching band as a color guard member.  She leaves next week.  She is excited, which is a good thing.

What happened to July?

Ok, I'm realizing that it's been quite awhile since I've added to the blog.

What's been happening, in no particular order...

-Visiting colleges with Gabriel
GA Tech (maybe number 4 now)
Rice University (number 2 now)
UT at Austin (not applying now)
U of Chicago (number 3 now)
Northwestern Univ. (number 4 or 5 now)
Still yet to visit--Duke and UNC (probably doing that in October)
-July 4th festivities in Kingston by the lake
-Marian attending Girl Scout camp and deciding never to go again
-Anna working lots of hours at the pizza place, and occasionally dog-sitting and baby-sitting
-starting collecting items for our annual yard sale (2 friends who moved or are moving already donated a TON)
-helping Marian with her bucket list for the summer
-starting collecting and purchasing fabric for the next musical (Joseph and the Amazing Techicolor Dreamcoat)
-starting to organize for RE classes at church
-grilling lots of tasty meats on our grill
-dealing with LOTS of rain this summer
-sewing a total of 10 new outfits for Marian and myself this summer
-reading an occasional book, reminding the kids to do their summer reading as well
-participating in a Stop Hunger Now event, helping pack and ship 10,000 meals for the small country of Burkina Faso
-ushering for 2 great musicals

Summer is officially over for the kids, Gabriel and Marian start school Monday, yes, Monday August 3rd.  It's our district's attempt at year round school, without calling it that.  Anna starts on the 24th , but goes back on the 14th for band camp.

Gabriel has a pretty easy schedule for his senior year, he takes 4 classes in the mornings.  Then, on Tuesdays and Thursdays he takes a math class at the University of TN in the afternoons.  On M/W/F, he will head to ORNL for his internship in the afternoons.

Some pictures from our summer...

 Mike & Holly Hoffman and kids

 Chicago skyline

 Stop Hunger Now packing event

 Check out our stylish hairnets!

Summer Under Way

This week was Vacation Bible School at church and it was a fun and busy week.  We had about 65 kids and didn't lose a single one!  Anna did childcare and unfortunately got stomach flu, but is now recovered.  Marian and I helped out with music.

This weekend is the Secret City Festival here in Oak Ridge, celebrating the past history of our city.  There are all sorts of booths and fun events going on at the Civic Center.  We will all descend upon it and Gabriel will be the in the skunk costume, helping promote an anti-littering campaign.

Marian will try to do her color-coded week this week (on her bucket list), dressing each day in a different color and only eating foods that color.  Should be interesting.

Fun at the Medieval Faire

 

 

What's happening in our house

Both Marian and Gabriel have their last days of school this week.  Gabriel leaves on Wednesday morning for a math competition in Iowa.  He has finished his quad copter, a side project he's been working on this winter.  It's a radio controlled four propeller helicopter.  If we get a video of it, we'll post it here.  It's pretty cool.  Summer plans include working (he's a host at Aubrey's), lab internship, and college visits.

Marian has planned a Summer Bucket List, with about 40 things to accomplish.  Her plan is to take pictures or videos of them all and then create a YouTube video of it all.  Some things on her list so far: have an EPIC sleepover (scheduled for this Friday), hug a stranger, visit a different state, have a color coded week (wear all red one day, blue the next, etc.), and write an original song.  We'll keep you posted on her progress!  She is also going to Girl Scout camp and coming along with me and Gabriel to some of the college visits.

Anna has secured a job for the summer, working her but off at Big Ed's Pizza.  They are a local pizza joint with deep roots in the community and were named the best pizza in TN.  Suffice it to say, they are always busy.  She does everything from bus tables to wash dishes.  It's your typical summer job and she's happy to have it.  She will also be dog sitting and babysitting throughout the summer.

We are having our annual Memorial Day BBQ today, with Bogdan's work colleagues.  Originally, he invited nearly everyone he's met, and the number now is about 70.  I've made the statement that if they haven't come for 2 years, they are off the list for the future.  If they come and didn't RSVP, they are definitely off the list.

Memorial Day

Welcome to May!

In no particular order...

Anna is home for the summer from college and excited to be done finals and the year.  She is looking for a summer job and applied to 8 places yesterday in town.  Really hoping something falls into place soon for her.

Gabriel had his last regatta this weekend, but didn't do as well as he hoped.  They caught a "crab" along the way.  That's the very un-technical term for when the oars mess up during the row and the rhythm is all messed up.  He's had 1 AP test and takes another tomorrow and the last one next week.  We have a few trips this summer to colleges & universities.  We're visiting GA Tech, Rice University, and University of Chicago.  He already visited Berkeley and Stanford.

Marian has 2 music/choir events this week.  This first is her school choir concert on Tuesday night and the second is a talent show at school.  She has a solo in both.

Bogdan leaves this week for a quick trip to Dayton, OH.

Another hospice patient of mine has passed away, but it was expected.  Hospice is a area where you know that the patients have a limited amount of time.  Prayers for her family and husband are appreciated.

Happy Mother's Day

Busy and rainy days

Easier at this point to count the sunny days, since we've had so much rain lately.  As soon as it's sunny, I send Gabriel out to mow the lawn, and then we have rain for days on end.

The Council of Catholic Women is having their annual convention for all of East TN next week.  I am busy with the planning committee, or rather I have been busy with the planning committee for months now.  Most of my work is done, as I did the program booklet, which is copying as I'm typing. Then I have some informational posters to make and I'm pretty much done.  The convention is next week and will last 3 days, thankfully it's close by and I can commute to it.

Gabriel is gearing up for 3 AP tests and taking the SAT's as well.  We are planning our summer college visits.  He's already been to the CA colleges, Berkeley and Stanford.  Then we'll go to GA Tech, U of Chicago and Rice this summer.  We'll see what others he might be interested in.  Many colleges have sent him brochures and letters based on his ACT scores (35 on his first try, the best is 36).  Also, we are deep in spring regatta season, and he has a number of them in a row during April and May.

Marian will attempt to sell the final 40 boxes of Girl Scout cookies at the rowing regatta this weekend.  We are hoping hungry rowers will want to purchase her goods.

Anna will be home from college on May 9th and she is hoping to secure summer employment soon. She sent off a number of applications, but needs to do some more.  I told her to take anything!

Holy Saturday

A day of waiting
A day of mourning
A day of praying

A Prayer for Holy Saturday to be joined with Christ
O Lord, Your sorrowing Mother stood by Your Cross; help us in our sorrows to share Your sufferings. Like the seed buried in the ground, You have produced the harvest of eternal life for us; make us always dead to sin and alive to God. Shepard of all, in death you remained hidden from the world; teach us to love our hidden spiritual life with You and the Father. In Your role as the new Adam, You went down among the dead to release all the just there since the beginning; grant that all who are dead in sin may hear Your voice and rise to new life. Son of the living God, You have allowed us through baptism to be buried with You; grant that we may also rise with You in baptism and walk in newness of life.

Holy Week, Triduum, and Easter

My favorite 3 days begin tonight with Holy Thursday.  As we finish our Lenten Journey, we travel with Jesus from the Last Supper to his Way of the Cross to his Crucifixion to his death and burial.  We await the glorious Easter morn, but are in a holding pattern until then, as we contemplate the cross, the sacrifice, and our purpose in all of this.

THE CROSS

The cross is the hope of Christians
the cross is the resurrection of the dead
the cross is the way of the lost
the cross is the savior of the lost
the cross is the staff of the lame
the cross is the guide of the blind
the cross is the strength of the weak
the cross is the doctor of the sick
the cross is the aim of the priests
the cross is the hope of the hopeless
the cross is the freedom of the slaves
the cross is the power of the kings
the cross is the water of the seeds
the cross is the consolation of the bondsmen
the cross is the source of those who seek water
the cross is the cloth of the naked.
We thank you, Father, for the cross.

What a beautiful day

Spring has sprung here in TN!!  All the daffodils are blooming and our magnolia bush is in full bloom outside our house.  School is back after a spring break last week, and the last 9 weeks of class have begun.

Bogdan and Gabriel as still travelling back from their trip, they were in MO at lunch, so we are hoping to see them for a late dinner tonight.  Will share their pictures when we get them.

Back from Savannah

We had a whirlwind trip to Savannah and are finally back!  After some laundry, unpacking, and sleep, we feel back to normal.

Here are some pictures!

Girl Scout "Pinning" ceremony at the Birthplace!

 Why we were in Savannah!

On Tybee Island beach, looking for sea life with our guide.  

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Prayer of the Faithful
by St. Patrick

May the Strength of God pilot us.
May the Power of God preserve us.
May the Wisdom of God instruct us.
May the Hand of God protect us.
May the Way of God direct us.
May the Shield of God defend us.
May the Host of God guard us.
Against the snares of the evil ones.
Against temptations of the world

May Christ be with us!
May Christ be before us!
May Christ be in us,
Christ be over all!
May Thy Salvation, Lord,
Always be ours,
This day, O Lord, and evermore. Amen.

Happy March Birthdays!!

Yes, in our family it's all about March.  There are so many birthdays, I thought I'd just add some photos of everyone who's celebrating.  We have been so busy that it's hard to keep up, sorry if I've forgotten anyone!!

Papa Weed, maybe about 8 years old?

David, with his mischievous grin, maybe about 5 years old?

Dan, with his big hair, about 7 months old?

Dan, Jeff, David, Greg, Ken, Butch, ages??

Dan and Fayth, age??

Matthew, about 6 years old?

What's been happening and what will be going on

The play "Oliver!" went extremely well.  No big issues, some little things each show, but otherwise a good run. It's over, but that doesn't mean the costumes are completely done.  I still have tons of costumes in my house (that need to be returned).  I still have about 50 costumes at the dry cleaners, waiting to be done.  All the 100+ others I was able to machine wash, dry and iron; while it saved money it did take time.  But, Anna was here and helped.

Anna had a good and relaxing spring break.  She slept, ate and watched a lot of TV.  Oh, and she took a test on Friday for ETSU, applied for a summer job, and ate a lot of Girl Scout cookies.

We are almost done our Girl Scout cookie season, I am at least hopeful.  We have our last official cookie booth today.  If we don't sell all of them, then we are planning on setting up a booth at a regatta, and hope to cash in on hungry rowers. :)

The BIG Girl Scout trip to Savannah begins on Tuesday.  Lots of planning has gone into this and we are hoping to
1. have fun
2. not lose anyone
3. take lots of pictures
4. eat lots of good food
5. learn something along the way

In the midst of bad weather and the play and lots of normal business going on, our community suffered a great loss.  One of our church families lost their son to suicide.  He was an active member of the high school, church, and community.  We will all mourn his loss and continue to pray for the family.

Bogdan and Gabriel also embarked on a trip of their own last night.  They are headed to CA for a couple reasons.  Bogdan will present a project at a conference in Palo Alto area.  Gabriel is visiting colleges: Berkeley and Stanford.  Hopefully, the car will not break, and they will still be talking at the end of the week.  Also, maybe no speeding tickets?

Some pictures from Oliver!!

The show is on!

People are really hating that groundhog...

Well, we officially have had 8 snow days, yes, count them 8!!  WOW!!

And last night's snow was by far the greatest dumping so far, maybe 3-5 inches.  The sun is out and we are hoping for some warming temperatures in the next week.

Meanwhile, the production of Oliver is going forward with great fervor.  We hope to get out this afternoon and make our way to the high school to have a rehearsal.  And we are also hoping for clear weather tomorrow.  Who is the patron saint of good weather??

Anna has also had many cancellations at college, also unheard of!

Hallelujah!

The school is finally in session today!!  But, wait for it, yes there is supposed to be more snow tonight.  I am seriously hoping that the snow will blow away.  We are sick of it now, well more sick of the lack of snow removal here in the south to be honest.  They just don't do snow here.

No school for the whole week

The kids were off school for the whole week, completely off!  Unheard of!  We are having snow, freezing rain right now, the worst of all the weather this week.  But, later on it's supposed to get warmer and all turn into just rain.  But, it will have to warm up quite a bit.

On top of all the weather related delays, there was also a water pipe that burst at the high school.  So, in the middle of a rehearsal yesterday for "Oliver!" we were evacuated out and ended up rehearsing at the church across the street.  Could anything more go wrong?!  We probably won't be able to use the theatre for a few days, hopefully they will get these issues solved at the high school.

Happy Birthday to Karen

Flower girl extraordinaire. 

Snow Day...number 3

Well, technically, I would call the first two days, ICE days, not snow days.  The world around here was covered in ice, especially the roads.  The main roads were clear, but the neighborhood roads and the side roads were covered like a skating rink.  There are very few plows and sanding trucks here, and they only do the main roads.  The temperature is supposed to be VERY cold these next few days, warming up on Saturday. Currently, snow is coming down lightly and accumulating.

Let's just face it, the South does not know what to do with this type of weather. They do football, peaches, bourbon, NASCAR, religion, but not that four letter word, SNOW.

We ventured out yesterday to the grocery store and we'll try to make it to Mass today, since it is Ash Wednesday.  Marian and Gabriel both had a friend sleep over last night, and likely they will stay here all day if the weather persists.

On the sewing note, I've finished all the major sewing for "Oliver!", and now making microphone belts.  (to hold the wireless microphones)  The director is stressing over missed rehearsals!

It's official...the first SNOW day of the year

And you're wondering, do we actually have gobs of snow?  Not a flake on the ground.  But, they are predicting that we might get 3-5 inches by the end of the storm.  So, for fear of it starting and because of the knowledge of how they remove snow down here, they have cancelled school and pretty much everything else.  My brother Dan has a larger snowplow than our town down here.  They treat the roads ahead of time and then salt and sand them after and hope for the best.

Gabriel came back from DC and his NAIMUN trip (North American Invitational Model United Nations).  The resolution that he and his team presented passed and he had a great time.  He came back declaring that some restaurants were better than others (good--Mongolian and Thai, bad--French).  Marian and I are guessing he will sleep most of the day.

With this snow day, I am using it to get all the sewing done for the upcoming production of "Oliver!", and also maybe getting the taxes done.  They are predicting tomorrow's weather worse than today, as freezing rain will set in overnight.  Which means we might get 2 snow days!

Happy Birthday Anna!!

A typical Anna pose...Have a great day!!

“Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.”
― Pope John Paul II

A lot happening

We watched the Super Bowl, but only me rooting for the Patriots.  What a win!  WOW!  Nail biting second half.

Gabriel getting ready to leave next week for NAIMUN (North American Invitational Model United Nations).  He will be in meetings and sessions to solve real world problems.  He is excited.

A big reception for our Bishop this week at church, will be busy preparing for that on Friday and the event is on Saturday.

The spring musical is coming up soon and costumes are getting ready and rehearsals are going well.

VERY COLD lately, even some snow, but not as much as people are getting up north.

The week in review

Biggest news of the week, Bogdan had a kidney stone.  He developed intense pain on Monday, finally went to the doctor on Tuesday, and after many tests, he was diagnosed with a 5mm kidney stone.  The doctors told him to let it pass naturally.  (by the way if it was bigger than 5mm, he could have had it "zapped")  Anyway, after a week long bout of pain and then no pain and then intense excruciating pain, he finally expelled the little bugger last night.  Of course, being the scientist, he measured it and it was larger than 5mm!  All's well that ends well.

Gabriel spent the day yesterday on the slopes, snowboarding with the class ski/snowboard club.  He had a blast, but said it was crowded.

Marian felt the luxury of not having to be up for anything in particular and roused herself out of bed yesterday at 1pm.

A week of sewing ahead of me, lots of costumes still to make.  Lots of organizing still to do.

Getting busy with Girl Scouts, organizing our big trip to Savannah in March.  Having to deal with many different tastes and personalities.  Thankfully, it's a short trip and we have it pretty well set already.  Visiting the birthplace of Girl Scouts and then doing a fun day at Tybee Island.

Bogdan and Gabriel may visit CA while me and the Girl Scouts are in GA.  Bogdan has a semi-business thing there and Gabriel would like to visit Stanford, UC-Berkeley and maybe Cal Tech.  This would be his only opportunity, so they are hoping to accomplish it.

All good things

Come to an end.

Anna returns tomorrow to ETSU and college schedule.  She is not looking forward to the 8:15am class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but knows she must do it.

Gabriel's wisdom teeth surgery was worse than he imagined, but was overall normal.  He is mostly back to eating real food and also back to work.

Now that the Bijou is over, well, Marian is of course, still singing, just not with a microphone on stage.  Mr. Moreno, the producer of all the high school productions, says "Marian's days of hiding in the costume area are over once she is in high school!"

Marian's birthday is Tuesday and will be 12!  Hard to believe.

Bijou Awards

 These were the finalists for the Rising Star category.

 Marian is on the far left and the girl in the center, Sydni, was the one who won in this category.

These are all the finalists (mostly high schoolers) in the singing and acting categories.

Back to normal life

Always sad when we put away our Christmas decorations.  Until next year, at least.  The tree did tremendously, only starting to lose needles in the past day.  There was a LOT of vacuuming to be done afterward.

Anna is recuperating well, and will be off her medication today, only taking Tylenol from now on.  She is looking forward to eating a real burger soon.  Shakes are only so good, she says.

Hard to believe that Girl Scout Cookie Season is upon us starting next week.  My troop has a goal to travel to Savannah, GA and we will hopefully be able to sell enough cookies to do that.  There are 3 new flavors this year, 2 that are gluten free and one that is healthy.  We are selling 2 of the new flavors, so it will be interesting to see if they sell or not?!

Gabriel is liking his new job, as a host at a nice restaurant in town.  He wears all black to work, and says he wants to save up to start a CD at his bank.

Marian is a week away from her big singing competition at the Bijou!

Anna's wisdom teeth

Are out!  She did well in surgery and is resting on the couch.  She will be sore for the weekend and probably swell up by Monday (chipmunk cheeks).  She is looking forward to ice cream and shakes :)

Bica leaves tomorrow after a nice visit and Bogdan will drive her to the airport with Marian.  The kids start school on Monday, but Anna has another couple weeks.  Bogdan also is back to work on Monday after (shocking everyone) actually taking 2 whole weeks off of work.

Costumes are underway and sewing has begun.  The play will open in a little more than 2 months, hard to believe now!

Happy New Year

Time for New Beginnings
By Taylor Addison

This is a time for reflection as well as celebration.
As you look back on the past year and all that has taken place in your life,
Remember each experience for the good that has come of it
and the knowledge you have gained.
Remember the efforts you have made and the goals you have reached.
Remember the love you shared and the happiness you have brought.
Remember the laughter, the joy, the hard work, and the tears.
And as you reflect on the past year, also be thinking of the new one to come.
Because most importantly, this is a time of new beginnings and the celebration of life.