capturing the events of the last week

Here we are at the beginning of the pro life rally in Washington D.C. with the Cooks, Steeles, Simonis and Burleighs. I think it was the last moment we were all together until we arrived home many hours later. It was an incredible experience!

Retirement

Hi family. In case you were wondering how Dad's retirement is progressing, you can see from this photo that he is becomming more angelic everyday! What do you think? This is what happens when you practice easing in to the morning with good coffee, good conversation and a little good reading. You become GOOD. He is being GOOD right now by hastening over to Elizabeth's to try and heat up their water pipes which are frozen due to the acute dip in temperature (Joe is out of town). The bright sunshine on the newly fallen snow is deceiving. It is about 8 degrees, too cold even for Kenai to be outside (she cried at the door until I let her in...she is NOT supposed to be a house dog, another change since Dad retired!).

A RED LETTER day today, although we are not to make much of it (per his instructions)....TEN YEARS have passed since Seth's bone marrow transplant! No matter what anyone else thinks, I believe in miracles and his healing is a miracle! I will never tire of giving thanks.

2008 was certainly a productive year with the arrival of Charlie and Paul, Dad's retirement, the election, and all of the economic developments (or should we classify that as non-productive?). The good, the bad and the ugly! I am full of hope and anticipation that all the good resolutions we are making will be successful. One of the more concrete ways I intend to improve upon my excessive grocery spending is for Dad to go to the store when we only need a few things...my only concern is that although he will not experience the temptation to over buy...he will have to fight the Little Debbie temptation. Should we give it a try???

I wish it would happen to me

"Indiana police reported numerous crashes on slippery highways, including a truck that overturned and spilled 43,000 pounds of cheese, closing a busy highway ramp during the night in the Gary area."

Mmmm, cheeeeese.....

In related news, I'm resolving to lose some of my 43,000 pounds of cellulite.

Another resolution

Even though Mom is the only one who thought sharing resolutions is a good idea, I thought I'd share another: getting up earlier. So here I am, up for an hour, and I've accomplished a lot: ate breakfast, read yesterday's paper, checked blogs, had a couple cups of coffee. No extra chores are done, no school planning, no spiritual reading (sorry Mom), no kids have eaten breakfast - in fact, they must be hiding, although I know John and Annie are watching Curious George. . . So I'm not sure if being an early riser is going to help or not.

The resolution we have had success on is cleaning closets. Saturday the boys' closet received a scouring. Filled a bag with trash and one with give aways (anyone need handmedowns?) And yesterday after Church, Dan said, "Let's just spend about an hour cleaning our closet." By 10 last night, it finally looked presentable. Elizabeth will be glad to know I got rid of some items that have been around for more than a few years. Annie and Claire's closet will have to wait for another weekend. We're working on getting our house presentable to sell. For debate: Should we replace the carpet or use it as a negotiating point? Knowing how many kids and pets have peed on it, I think replacing it is a given, but we are thinking we might use it as a bargaining chip, if we can find a chump, oops, I mean interested party to make an offer.

Watched Six Degrees of Separation this weekend. Not recommending it, although I have spent a lot of time thinking about it. Not exactly what was expected, but thought provoking. Also finished Omnivore's Dilemma - He makes a lot of convincing points, but why is it that so many food writers/writers with an agenda end up sounding condescending, except Wendell Berry? Actually the last chapter of Omnivore's Dilemma was my favorite, being more storytelling than facts and figures. Am I more open to WB because he writes novels and has a special spot on the family bookshelves? Why is Omnivore's Dilemma a best seller and What Are People For not?

New Year's Resolutions

I found another photo to add and fixed hyperlink in the last post. Now you all can enjoy the classy lyrics and soaring melodies of Flight of the Conchords. Maybe y'all already know the show, but we've just be introduced by our Cook relations. Do lawyers wear argyle business socks?

I thought we should share our New Year's resolutions here so we can hold each other accountable. One of mine is to be a more conscientious shopper - to buy less, to take into account where my consumables come from, and to try to be a good steward of both our family finances and our planet. To that effect, I returned some extra purchases today to TJMaxx. The kids had some gift money and cards burning holes in their pockets, so they wanted to look at toys. While they were shopping plastic stuff made in China, I found something for me in the girls' section -- an American made bra in my size for only $3!! Now that I haven't nursed a baby in the last year, I'm going to do all my bra shopping in the girls' section.

Another resolution: keep my priorities in line and use my time more effectively. That's why I'm blogging BEFORE putting the kids to bed - it will keep my session short. James just asked what is PG-13. So I'll have to tell you my other 9 resolutions tomorrow. Any one have a good one?

Happy Times Behind and Ahead

Happy New Year and Epiphany to everyone!! Today we celebrated the almost 12th day of Christmas with a symphonic Mass, a brunch as big as can be made when your cupboards were emptied 2 weeks ago (a few old eggs, the last cup of pancake mix, toast from a frozen loaf of bread, donuts, candy canes, gum, and plenty of coffee, in case you wondered). Then we biked to the art museum (the 41 degree air felt balmy after 9 degrees in NY) for the Norman Rockwell exhibit, enjoyed by all, at least for the first five minutes or so. Back at home, we switched another load of laundry over, the kids washed all the salt off the GMC, and I went to the grocery to get some vegetables to accompany the venison backstrap from Brian and other sundries. Mmmm, bambi mignon. After dinner, dessert, reading, and putting the kids to bed, another great moment: checking the blogs!

I've been trying to decide what photos to include from our fantastic Christmas/New Year's journey (Coming and Going by Norman Rockwell struck a chord). It's tough when there are over 350 to chose from. So WARNING: many photos ahead, mostly of my adorable kids. (Feel free to post your own.) I tried picking a theme, but had several. Also wanted to let the much missed John, Kate, Luke and Charlie feel a part of the fun, and let y'all see the good times we had in Albany. So, enjoy:

First theme: Facial expressions say it all

(another caption for the above: "Yet another unnecessary, undesired, and still unopened Christmas Eve purchase by Dad for Mom from Greensburg's finest shopping center")

Theme 2: Fun with Spacesuits

That photo is also a part of theme 3: Nun having fun
Theme 4: Great Grandma's (and a grandma)-- Or Oldest and Youngest Party Goers.

Theme 5: Costume Envy

Congratulations, Kirstin!

Theme 6 (yes, I'm still posting) Snow much fun!

Even peacocks love it!

Finally, a few memorable moments:
The Kid Magnet:
Hmm
New year's resolution writing (maybe another post could be sharing your resolutions):
Enjoying the all white meal guaranteed to bring health, wealth, and happiness in the new year:
Goodbye 2008 -- Hello 2009!

After all the time and energy I just spent on this, now it's back to Business Time! (rated pg-13)

Webcamtastic

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Since I pushed all of you into blogging, I think it's my duty/privilege to push you all into the newest technology that I feel like everyone should use... Webcams! With a $30 webcam and free software, I just had an extended video conversation with my sister yesterday. Luke showed her a Christmas card and Charlie made faces and noises at her - lots of fun things that you can't do over the phone! Anyway, now (as I said) I think everyone should have one. We were wondering if Joe already has one in his laptop - apparently many computers come with them built in now. It would be fun to talk face-to-face (on our monitors, at least), or to get the Cooks' birthday serenades with video feed included. :)

Everybody go buy a camera and download Skype!