New Years eve morning

Life sure has been busy here. As for an update on my last post, We did it ! Fifty miles from here in Grove City Pennsylvania ( think outlets )there is a tiny Wal Mart that was hoarding eight wii's. They are now down to seven. After this purchase, our next goal was the wii fit.These were on sale at Target and I seen fifteen or twenty Sunday morning but they were gone within hours, I am told. As with the Wii itself, these were sold out everywhere , even online. However, the stores within fifty miles rule found two at Salem ( about a twenty / thirty minute drive) Wal mart. We called and got there ASAP, but as I ran into electronics,a sweet mentally challenged employee, sent me to a display in the middle of the store, which was empty. Mike found a higher up who told him that there were four locked behind the counter in Electronics's ( it was explained that the boy was at lunch when they came in )As Mike purchased one, two other's jumped in line for one. All four were sold before we even left electronics. The kids think that we were unsuccessful with even finding a Wii and will be surprised this evening. ( I'm sooo mean !)
As for now, because I did all of this phoning and running and such( Not even mentioning having to wait four hours at Sears to get a tire, that appears as though someone tried to slice it,( Oh why would anyone want to slice MY tire !) replaced )I didn't even get the traditional pork and sauerkraut for tomorrow's dinner nor the foods for tonight ( since we are staying home we need party foods), so it is off to the market, worn out but pleased ! Have a safe and Happy New Years everyone!

If only I could sing like this.... maybe my kids would listen better ;-)

Thanks Kim !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMhuAtyFCrw

The search goes on

After I had already finished Christmas shopping for my boys a few months ago,they seen a Wii display in a local store. Since they were with Mike( without me) they were allowed to "try it out". Turns out that they loved it and promptly asked for one for Christmas. It saddened them but I told them that "Santa" had completed their shopping. As we got closer to Christmas,however, Mike asked if I thought that I would like a Wii. Now unless you count the two or three times that I played Pac Man, when I was a teenager in the 80's, I do not do video games. In the mean time, Cindy hopped on the Wii bandwagon and told me that she would love to have a Wii fit. Now she never exercises even though she really needs to, so I have to admit that I started giving this Wii thing some thought. I struggled but in the end the store's around me didn't have any anyway so my decision was made.Until a week before Christmas that is. Then these things came out of the woodwork. Every where I went had a few dozen on display and I walked on past.
Christmas morning came and the kids were pleased with their gifts and didn't even mention that Wii contraption.Wow I thought, glad that I didn't blow the budget and buy one.All was well until after dinner when My Mom mentioned that she had been to my brother's for breakfast that morning and that My brother bought one for his wife. Mom went on to say how neat it was and started a whole conversation with the kids. Well, Mom went home and the kids moved on.
The next day Mike and I discussed what to do for New Years eve. For the past six or so years, we have either went to a hotel party where we enjoyed food, a family friendly DJ, contests , and fun until Midnight, then enjoyed the extended pool hours, or last year we all went to Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park. This year indoor water parks were the bottom of the list because the $400 New year's eve package ($650 if you wanted to add the buffet dinner) offered no more than the $200 package any other weekend through the year. I gave some thought about going back to the hotel party but the kids have aged and now that they have a gym membership which includes use of an indoor pool, their response to going back was quite cool. I racked my brains and we had a family meeting,but nobody had any ideas. Finally Mike asked if anyone thought that we should stay home and use the money saved to buy something for the family( he had a new TV in mind) With this all three kids said yes and voiced that they thought we should buy a Wii. Well, the majority had spoken so we decided a Wii it was. Surely they would still be available, after all they were everywhere in mass quantities less than a week ago. Nope, not one can be found around here. Even the web sites are sold out. After an hour calling nearby stores last night Mike got a guy at Target who told him that they might have one on their truck which was to be there early this AM. the guy recommended that Mike check first thing this morning,no problem. Well Mike called and the girl on the other end said yes they had some. He and I hopped out of bed grabbed some clothes and were off without even combing our hair, which we did on the way. We got to Target,ran to electronics and were told that there were no Wii s just Wii fits. Grrrrrrrr ! So back to the drawing board. I did find a $350 bundle pack with some stupid game that's reviews are in the negative stars on line but it would never make it here by New Years eve anyway, so I have called hundreds of stores today. Every one within a fifty some mile radius as a matter of fact. This may not sound like a lot to some of you country dwellers but I live one block from circuit city and two blocks from a major mall, so there are many many stores within fifty miles here. Anyway, we may just ring in the new year at home bored or we may just ring it in at Wal Mart buying a new phone as ours could easily wear out as I call hundreds of stores daily asking if they have gotten a Wii in. Who knows, one may just appear somewhere, maybe even tomorrow.I best stop typing and save my fingers for tomorrow's calls !

You just never know who is watching

While looking through pictures from November's 2008 ISKF national tournament,we came upon a shot of Michael's kumite match. The picture itself is a great shot but what we noticed in the background was that the head coach from I believe Penn state, is not only watching this match but seems quite pleased with Michael.( you can see this Sensei by looking between Michael and his opponent's heads. Blown up you can see there is quite a smile on Sensei's face that may not be as evident in this smaller picture) During the match none of us even noticed him watching. I guess it just goes to show that You just never know who is watching when !

More LA pictures (Thank's to Dan Bare!)

Mike got an E mail this afternoon from a karate friend of ours who just happens to be the wife of the man , with the awesome camera, who ,along with Mike , takes pictures for the karate web site. The karate site is done by yet another man and is not , to my knowledge, updated yet. However our friend Mr. Dan Bare has his pictures up on his site. His link is http://www.dcbare.com/iskf/la/. Under youth are several pictures of Michael and Robby both. Since I have posted pictures of Robby that Mike took but Michael's shots looked like he was fighting a ghost and only one was posted, I will post a couple of Robby and a few of Michael's today.


Michael's kata



another shot of Michael's kata




Michael's kumite ( sparing) match



Another of Michael's kumite ( sparing) match



Another of Michael's kumite ( sparing) match




Another of Michael's kumite ( sparing) match

Another of

Michael's kumite ( sparing) match



Robby's Kata




Another of Robby's Kata

Christmas day !

Well midnight mass is but a memory as is the stop at Sheetz for free coffee/ hot chocolate/ cappuccino. Of course when six doughnuts cost you almost seven dollars, is the coffee really free? Just wondering.
Anyway the gifts from the kids have all been given out and openedand Mean Mom here has forbid a couple kids from staying up to play new video games. Oh well more to unwrap and play with in a few hours.For now it is bed time !
Merry Christmas !

Christmas eve at 7:30 PM

The wrapping is done and for the first year in eighteen, all gifts are already under the tree. The last eighteen years were spent with the gifts hidden as one , if not all three, has always believed that Santa brought them. I know that many have never really done the Santa thing for various reasons from feeling that it took away from the birth of Jesus to just feeling it was too silly , to feeling that it would be lying to your children to even feeling that this Santa was getting all of the Thanks and Glory for the presents that the parents sacrificed to buy ,and took time to wrap. To each his own, but Mike and I have told each of our children that Santa was real and have went to great lengths to preserve their belief, well until a few months ago that is. A couple years ago a well meaning classmate told Robby that there was no Santa and that Mom and Dad bought gifts with their Christmas bonuses. Robby asked what a Christmas bonus was and the kid told him. Robby thought for a moment and then sternly asked the kid where his brains were. A Christmas bonus, Robby scoffed, yea like your boss is going to give you money for nothing ! Yea Robby, you may have no faith in corporate America Keep that thought ! but your faith in Good old Saint Nick was untouchable ! Since this incident and the fact that Robby is getting older, Mike and I decided that we best come clean before he gets into a fist fight over Santa's honor( he is a green belt now Ya know) Since Robby's most prized possession, His Game Boy, had broken from over use and we were planning on going on a lengthy plane flight, we decided to buy a new game boy and give it to Robby to take the sting away from the news. Well, it worked extremely well. Too bad that now we face Christmas eve with no more Santa.
So anyway the presents are under the tree awaiting morning's opening and though I tried to nap before Midnight mass, here I set. I think I will go prep the foods for tomorrows dinner but before I do.....
Merry Christmas all !

Wow is time flying

I can hardly believe that it has been a week since I have posted anything. All is actually going well here, just busy busy busy.
Mike did go to his appointment with the spine surgeon last week however, we have no more answers that before we went. He is scheduled for another test tomorrow which hopefully will give at least an answer to whether he is a surgery candidate or not. For me this is a definite catch 22. I would love for there to be a procedure that would give him a painless life, but surgeries, especially spinal surgeries are so risky.
Other than Mike's medical visits, we are like all of you busy preparing for Christmas. Though my house is still in need of much cleaning, I think we are making progress. I hope to wrap gifts tonight or tomorrow and I plan of finishing the necessary grocery shopping this morning. As every year I cook Christmas dinner. I started this when the kids were small so that they could stay home with their new gifts and not have to open them and then put them away to go to Grandma's and then to another Grandma's and then get home so late that everybody heads straight to bed.
Now that the kids are getting older, we have some nice after Christmas dinner time to just relax, which is wonderful.
Relaxation is another thing that Mike and I vowed to do this season. Last night we scheduled a relaxation night. We rented a video from the red box,Cindy was working, we put the boys to bed, turned off all of the lights other than the Christmas tree, grabbed a large bottle of wine,some cheese and crackers and kicked back. We hadn't done anything like this in a long time and it was so nice.
Well, it is about time to get my day started. May God bless you all as you finish your Christmas preparations !

Robby is honored to be selected by Sensei Okazaki for a demonstration

Saturday Morning Mike , the boys, and I left for a Karate training outside Columbus. This being a very busy time of year,normally we may have been tempted to skip the three hour trip but this training was a special one. The chief instructor was Sensei Teruyuki Okazaki ,(http://www.iskf.co.za/page4.htm) The very man who studied Shoto Kan under founding Masters Gichin Funakoshi and Masatoshi Nakayama and was sent by these two masters from Japan to the United States over thirty years ago to bring us Shoto kan karate. Sensei Okazaki is the founder of the ISKF(http://www.iskf.com/)
Since Sensei Okazaki resides in Philadelphia, our region is very lucky to have this seventy seven year old Sensei come and teach clinics in our region a couple times a year. Sensei Okazaki can be a tough Sensei but he is an all around great man. As if simply training under this great Sensei is not privilege enough,Saturday Robby had the honor of being chosen by Sensei Okazaki for a demonstration. Praise God Mike was able to capture this honor on film and also get a couple snap shots. Maybe someday when Robby opens his own Dojo, these pictures can hang on the wall.



Sensei Okazaki and Robby bow to each other before the demonstration ( Bowing is the Japanese equivalent to the American shaking hands and is a form of showing respect to your partner before any sparing match or demonstration)



Sensei demonstrates a punch to the stomach as Robby blocks

Michael and Robby are given the honor of posing for a picture with Sensei Okazaki

The twelve days of Christmas

I personally never put much thought into the backround of this song but received this E mail( Thanks Mike) and thought it was at least, very interesting.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were
not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone
during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.
It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning
plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each
element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality
which the children could remember.


-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

Did you know this ?

Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone

Out of Prison !

Last night, as before stated Mike , Cindy and I went to the local penitentiary to sing Christmas carols to the inmates and correctional officers.Our priest who visits , and says mass for Catholic inmates on a weekly basis, started this tradition three years ago. Cindy has felt called to go along since year one but the rules are obviously very strict for this type of thing and one rule is that no one under eighteen is permitted. This year Cindy was finally eligible and looking forward to going before the date was even set. Mike and I were not feeling as called ( as a matter of fact I have to admit feeling a bit of dread)but we decided that we should go. All in all my anxiety was not warranted at all as it all went smoothly from Mike following some friends who had been there before, to Father and the two prison Chaplin giving us detailed instructions.For the most part we were separated from the inmates not only by bars (I had never been in a prison before so i had no clue)but by glass that enclosed the cell block and their recreation area. They could hear our carols by the lunch tray openings and intercoms. There were a few things that surprised me, of this whole experience that I would like to share. Usually I am pretty good at Psychology and figuring out why people do what they do but one thing that i can't figure out is why the men on death row, seemed so much calmer and thankful of our visit than those men in other blocks. ( No they were not drugged) We did visit the behavior problem block and most everyone was in their cells, which were out of our sight. Actually there were men at what was referred to as " the camp" who were in the room with us( no cells or glass)who were very happy and appreciative too. These men requested every song on the list plus some and applauded our every attempt at singing ( they should all get good behavior points for this)Another group like this was the KP group who were thrilled that we came to the kitchen to visit them. Perhaps it was the break from KP that they liked most but still they showed much appreciation. All in all this was such a great experience for me personally. I truly felt appreciated, which is sometimes a sparse feeling for a Stay at home wife and Mom of three teens/preteen aged kids.
Thank you Father, guards, Correction officers, and everyone else who work to allow this. If these men got nothing out of it, I still did and for that i am thankful.

Why his teacher seemed confused ?

Robby has a tendency to forget to tell me things, like the fact that he has a choral concert coming up. Being a pro at being the Mom of children in the mandatory public school music programs, I know that every December there is the beloved ( cough cough dreaded cough cough)concert. Since we are well into the season I asked Robby last night when it was. He thought for a minute then told me the sixteenth. OK ,I said as I started to explain that I need for him to let me know of these things as soon as he finds out as we are an extremely busy family. "Don't worry Mom", he said. "I already told the teacher that I wouldn't be there if that is the night that You, Dad & Cindy go to Prison" "Oh" I said with a smile.... "Did you tell the teacher that we were going to the prison with a church group to sing Christmas carols ?" "No, she didn't ask and besides, when I told her she looked at me kind of funny and then went and sat down before I could say anymore." Oh I said..... I wonder why ???

A day to relax

This past weekend has been a busy one here . Though our big shopping trip plans for Saturday, due to weather and baby sitting conflicts of friends, gave way to just a night with friends after mass, it proved to be a wonderful time . Sunday brought it's own appeal with My maternal family's annual Christmas reunion, which was also a good time. The funding auction which accompanies this get together, proved to be a little wallet draining but hey, it is all for a good cause and I got some great things. Sunday night Mike and I found ourselves finishing our Christmas shopping while out on an errand for DVDs. A fifteen minute trip turned into a few hours but Oh how nice to be done ! Monday morning started with a snag as Michael and I showed up for a school meeting ( all good:-) only to find that it had been canceled due to illness. Michael seen this as an opportunity to take the entire day off of school, which for some strange reason I allowed. The rest of the day was spent preparing to host our Parish Thirty Forty something group's evening meeting which followed mass for the Feast of the Immaculate conception. I believe that a good time was had by all as we ate , drank a bit of wine, and discussed the group's plans for the coming year. All and all our weekend was packed full of fun and good times, however everything has to come to an end and our weekend of fun has done just that. As for today,I plan to just relax, Thanks be to God

Dedication

Even after spending a great evening with friends last night and getting in around two AM ish, I still got up at six fifty AM to bake a red velvet cake for a family Christmas theme reunion. Now tell me again why I should be the favorite niece & cousin ?

2008 ISKF National event Los Angeles California

ISKF Mid America region competitors. Robby and Michael first two on left kneeling.




Michael's kumite(sparing) match




Robby's kumite match



Robby as he has his metal placed around his neck



Robby and I after winning his metal

Finally LA pictures

The encounter resteraunt at LA international airport




Our Hotel was within a block of the airport. The outdoor pool and hot tub were on the roof of the hotel where you could relax and watch the planes coming in and taking off





Santa Monica pier, the only tourest attraction that we visited.



Beautiful sunset at Santa Monica Beach

Dilema

After making fifteen dozen buckeyes, a dozen which didn't even make it into a a Tupperware container, I ummmm welll actually Cindy noticed that Robby's birthstone had fallen out of my Mother's ring. Finding the stone to reset it is not a concern as I have an extended service plan, with the jeweler, on it and it is being fitted with a new stone as I type, but do I throw away all the buckeyes and start again since one may just contain the tiny stone, that could probably be eaten unnoticed anyway ?
Lets just say that though I am debating on whether to waste these wonderful homemade treats or simply pray that the stone fell out when I washed my hands one of the million times . If you do bite into something hard, while eating one of my buckeyes, You should just assume that one was made with crunchy peanut butter, OK?

Hey everyone; Mike is on YouTube

While in L.A. for nationals Mike was video taping for our region. As someone from another region taped the following, Mike was caught taping the same match. Mike is the one closest to the head table, check him out !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34pRp_lLKOQ

Heard from a certain daughter of mine.....

Mom,is it OK if I use your credit card to buy your Christmas present online ?