This and That

• I have such great pictures from the holidays but I don’t think I’m getting them up over here any time soon. Which means it will probably NEVER happen because who wants to see Christmas pictures at Easter?
• Lord have mercy folks, work is kicking my ASS right now.
• We put up the last of the Christmas mishmash last night. The worst of it in my opinion; the Christmas dishes. So! Fun! To! Get! Out! So very tiresome to store away.
• Precious Youngest and my niece head back to school Sunday so we’re having various and sundry family and friends over for pizza tonight to get one more visit in with the college kids before they disappear.
• Precious Oldest is feeling like a big kid!

Happy Friday!

Thanksgiving In Pictures, Part 2

When the Spirit Moves You

I am, as they say, a cradle Catholic. A product of Catholic parents and Catholic schools. There are are a hodgepodge of sayings our parents and the nuns used to toss out to us while we were growing up. Little gems like:

• "Offer it up!" when someone called you a name or was in any way mean.
• "Pearls in your crown!" should you complain after being asked to do an odious chore.
• "Leave room for the Holy Spirit!" if there was the possibility of a near occasion of sin.

Avoiding near occasions of sin was BIG. The textbook definition is to avoid external circumstances which either because of their special
nature, or because of the frailty common to humanity, entice one to sin.

In other words, don't put yourself in a situation that would TEMPT you to sin. One should avoid hanging out with people of low character as this could lead to smoking, cursing or drinking. One should avoid spending time with rumor mongers lest you join in the gossip. And one should never, EVER spend time alone with a boy behind closed doors, in a parked car or in an otherwise empty house as this could lead to S-E-X.

It's a parents job to remind their children to avoid near occasions of sin.


And to leave room for the Holy Spirit!

Cousin Time

We had much merriment over the Thanksgiving holiday. One of the most enjoyable aspects was all the “Cousin Time”. My two oldest nieces (Sib #2’s girls) are very near in age to the Precious Daughters and they’ve always been close.

“Cousin Time” became more important as the girls got older and became busier with school, jobs and activities. They didn’t see each other as often as they would have liked even though we were all in the same town. Now with three away at college (all different schools) they don’t see each other much at all.

"Cousin Time" makes getting together on holidays that much sweeter.

I said enjoy yourself damn it!

Winter Park/Mary Jane.
Ten Skiers.
Five Days.
Ages Nine to Sixty Nine.
All Related.
By Blood.

It turns out that if teenagers have ten days of Spring Break and you make them leave town for seven of them? They get cranky. And if you make them get up at the crack of 7:15 every day because you paid a bunch of money for the by god lift tickets and you want to ski the whole damn day? They drag their feet and grumble. BUT, family is family damn it so you'd better suck it up and enjoy they made the best of it.

As an aside, we really did have a good time. The snow was terrific and Sib #4 joined us for the first time in over ten years. This is the the view from the bottom of Parsenn Bowl at Mary Jane just before you start down the glade trails. The view from the top of the bowl, elevation 12, 060 feet, is breathtaking. (We drive over Berthoud Pass to get there and the elevation at the tip top of the pass is only 11,307 feet.) It's also cold and windy as all get out. Due to the risk of frostbite and hypothermia, I have no pictures from the top.







But I digress, it's really all about the children. We met up with them in the afternoons for a beer glass of wine hot chocolate.









We played Scrabble and Sorry and went to the hot tub to soak aching muscles. The cousins went t-shirt shopping together, can you tell?






They loved this!
(Grandpa hates it if they don't use their poles and TURN!)





If you hold your brother/cousin by his ankles it's easier to read his shirt.









So no, no fun at all. Next year? We might leave them at home.

Flown the coop

Inspiration that is. Lots going on, but I can’t seem to formulate a cohesive thought. Still working on the big ass grant due Friday. I will be glad when it is no longer hanging over my head. I’m starting to dream about the damn thing.

We leave for Colorado at O’Dark Hundred on Sunday morning for a ski vacation trip. If you’ve never gone on a ski vacation trip, trust me when I tell you it’s a TRIP not a vacation. It will be the four of us, my parents, Sib #2's three kids, and Sib#4. The logistics are making me feel faint.

I’ve dug out most of the ski stuff. Had to replace a few things. Stupid youngest child still GROWING. Please STOP. I fixed and froze Goulash on Sunday for one of our evening meals. My mother has something prepared and frozen as well. The rest we’ll figure out when we get there.

Precious Oldest was back last weekend for a brief visit. It was the regional Robotics competition. She wanted to see her sister’s team and visit with the folks who were still around from her team last year. I have pictures, just need to get them uploaded.

If you don’t know anything about the F.I.R.S.T. robotics competition, read this. It’s pretty interesting and a lot of fun. I’m proud of my girls (who are readers, writers, speakers) for getting involved in a more math/science thingy that’s a touch out of their comfort zone. Oh, and precious Youngest's alliance took second place, missed going to nationals by FOUR points.

The Saint is leaving town again today. This makes three weeks in a row. It’s only been three nights each trip, but I still don’t like it. Especially when we still have a lot we need to pull together for this trip. And he’s going to miss the blur of Precious Youngest walking across the stage tonight to receive her “Academic Excellence” award. Sheesh.

I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow. My stylist is pregnant and due in June. The first thing I said when I found out was "Congratulations", the second was "But what about my HAIR?". Nice, right?

My, I’ve rambled a bit. Thanks for listening. Sometimes I need to get this stuff out of my head to make room for thinking about the things I need to DO RIGHT NOW.

A good time was had by all

We had company this weekend. Sib #2, Sib # 5, my mother and a few of the children joined us for dinner Friday night. There is always a lot of this:

We do love a good meal, and will sit around the table for hours afterwards solving the problems of the world. The wine just helps the ideas flow. I headed back to the airport at 9:00 to pick up Sib #3 and her two kids. ("The Cousins", as we collectively call our children are 18, 16, 16, 14, 9, 9, and 6. It has been awhile since we've had babies, so we very excited about the twins!)

Saturday dawned, sunny and glorious. After breakfast we got in a few rounds of Don't Break the Ice, Memory and Hi Ho the Cherrio with Miss A. She is #3's youngest and quite a cutie!

After a lunch on the patio enjoying the BEST BBQ in the world (served up out of a gas station) we spent a fab afternoon enjoying the park.

Football, Frisbee, soccer, playground and ice cream on the way home. Does it get any better than that? As #5 had only been served two of the three food groups he finds lacking in New York (Kansas Beef, Bar-B-Que and Tex Mex) we headed out to a place near Sib #2's for dinner. #5 ordered a lot of food:

But did clean his plates:

After dinner we went to #2's for more world problem solving. #3 and #5 came back home with me and we were up until 2:00 a.m. arguing the finer points of the 2008 Presidential election. Thank God it was daylight savings time weekend and we got that extra hour of sleep!

I took everyone to the airport this afternoon to send them on their way(s). There were many, many tight hugs because it will be just be me, #2 and # 4 going to my parents for Thanksgiving this year. So now I'm a little sad, but damn, its good to get my house back!!