Happy belated B-day Rhonda & other overdue things ....

Since I last posted:

1. Helen didn't send me any current pictures so I wasn't able to update her b-day post.
2. John & I had strep throat.
3. Jim had some other throat infection that required antibiotics.
4. I had a double ear infection and I'm still finishing my antibiotics.
5. I interviewed at UIC. I think it went well & I liked the school. Of the two schools that I've interviewed with, both have pros & cons and if I should be lucky enough to get offers from both and need to choose between the two, it'll be a very hard decision to make.
6. My sister Rhonda had a b-day on Halloween. Happy belated b-day Ru!
7. All the other Halloween festivities occurred. Pete was a biker skeleton zombie (I think), J.D. was a blind ref, Mitchell was the grim reaper, Ros was a scary skeleton & Sir John was a "good knight". George started out the night as a "bone dog" but the costume was too small, so I made him a new one at the last minute so he could be comfortable. See the pix below.
8. We had Ros & John's birthday party at Pump it Up. There were 11 kids total including Mitchell. Everyone had a great time. See the pix below.
9. The Nike/Bauer International Hockey Tourney was held in Chicagoland. Pete's team, the Chicago Mission, made it to the playoffs but lost to the St. Louis Jr. Blues who are coached by Al McGinnis. The Mission did not give them an easy win. They played well but it was one of those games that no matter how often they crashed the net, they just couldn't get the puck past the goalie. But they had Al McGinnis pacing on the bench. He's used to winning easily, last year his team was ranked #1 in the U.S. and #2 in North America. I'm very proud of Petey and the entire Mission team!

I'm sure I probably missed something, but I'm lucky that I got this much updated!


Mitchell, Peter, J.D., Ros, John & George.


Sir John, Ros & George.


Sir John prior to his "candy quest".


Georgie's 2nd costume.


The b-day girl.


The b-day boy.


The party gang.


Cake excitement.


Birthday wishes.


Ros & Gen.


John, Hailie & Hannah.


'Da big bro.

Happy 22nd B-day Helen!

Birthday Hugs! Today is my niece Helen's 22nd birthday. Last year her Mom and I went out bar hopping with her & her friends on her 21st b-day, it was a blast. I wish I could celebrate it with her again this year. But, since I can't, I wanted to post the only digital pictures that I have of her. I hope you enjoy these pix of Helen, until she e-mails me some different ones. Love 'Ya Helen!


Rapunzel is one of her many nicknames.



Laundry day at Helen's apartment complex. Her neighbors are very "green", they don't mind that she hangs her clothes out to dry.


Did I mention that Helen's well on her way to being a licensed stylist?

Phoenix.

I had my interview at Midwestern on Wednesday the 3rd. The school is great and I can't find anything that I don't like about the program. I have no idea how I did though. I'm the type the gets nervous afterwards. I second guess all my responses, wonder if I wrote a long enough essay, asked pertinent questions, etc. The worse part is that I won't get any feedback until Dec 1st at the soonest. That's when all the dental schools make their first offers.

Happy Belated B-day Georgie!

George turned 5 years old on Tuesday the 2nd. No fanfair occurred because I was in Phoenix, but he's loved just the same! He's a great pup, like no other I've ever had. There are lots of dogs who act like they're human, but George truly believes that he IS human. Once you get the chance to know him, you'll see that there's really no reason to argue his point.


George Patton, the birthday boy.


"High Four!"


We need a bigger couch.


You bore me.

Dos amigos a el restaurante de Pablo esta noche.

Tonight we had Ros & John's b-day dinner at Pablo's Restaurant. All the kids did great and we had lots of fun watching Petey & Mitch compete against each other in a hot sauce eating contest. The wait staff came and sang happy birthday to Ros & John and delivered fried ice cream to both of them. They had great fun hamming it up for the camera, even though John still isn't feeling well. You know he's sick when he didn't even eat his ice cream and asked if we could eat Roslyn's ice cream cake tomorrow. (I think that he & I have something viral along with the strep throat.) Once we have the ice cream cake, I'll post more pix. The extended birthday continues.


Dos amigos.


The Birthday Girl.


The birthday sombrero.


Roslyn's sombrero dance.


The Birthday Boy.


John making a wish.


Get ready....


.... and blow out the candle!

Happy Birthday Roslyn & John!!

Amazingly, it was 5 years ago today that our little Roslyn & John were born. They have been so much fun and we're so glad they're ours. Having two sets of kids close in age, I can definitely say that twins are easier than babies that are 14 months apart like Petey & Mitch (less competition). But I wouldn't trade any of them for the world.

We'll be having the family b-day dinner celebration on Saturday once Jim is back from his trip. Unfortunately, John & I have strep throat, so I hope we'll feel better by then. In a few weeks we're going to have a party with their entire kindergarten class at Pump it Up. Sounds like a big party, but there's only 8 kids total, including Ros & John. I always make them their own cakes. Just because they share a birthday, doesn't mean they have to share a cake! This year they decided to have Roslyn's cake after the family dinner and have John's cake at the party with the friends. It's a great plan and makes my life easier. I'll post some pictures of the kids with the cake tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy reminiscing with the pix below.


Baby Roslyn


Baby John


Big bro's (ages 6.75 & 5.5) & the bambinos (1 day old).


Cutie Ros.


Silly John.


The most fun had at Six Flags was Dad's shoe laces.


Waiting to go on the spaceship ride at Disney World.

Did you hear the news?

This afternoon I was invited to interview at The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) on Oct 30th. Of all the schools I've applied to, I didn't think that I had much of a chance at UIC. How nice it is to be wrong!

Ketchup

Actually, I'm playing catch-up but I just like saying the word ketchup. It's a fun word and flows nicely off the tongue. So here are some of the things that I need to ketchup on .......

1. Happy Belated Birthday Janiene!! Her b-day was on the 7th while we were in Toronto without convenient wireless access, hence the late posting. She's one of my 3 most favorite sisters-in-law, even though she is a Buckeye.

2. Petey's team played well in Toronto. They made it into the 1/4 finals as the wild-card with a 2-0-2 record, but lost their 3rd game on Saturday against the Mississauga Rebels. As we were leaving Sunday morning he said, "I wish the tourney was just starting, so we could do it all over again". Well guess what Pete, Thanksgiving is away this year in Toronto, so your wish is coming true.

3. And the biggest news is that we are starting to get all our ducks in a row for Mitchell to move home in December or January! We have to determine what type of classroom setting he'll be in, arrange all the support services, etc. Lots of things to get in place between now and then so that he can have a successful transition home.

Happy 39th Birthday Smokey!

Today is my Smokey the Bear's 39th b-day. My big sister Debby gave me Smokey for my 3rd b-day. He had been in retirement for many years but has been picking up odd jobs to pass the time lately. He is particularly good at getting into bed with Ros or John in the middle of the night to chase away bad dreams. When he was "born", he had new blue jeans, a belt with a fancy forest ranger "buckle" and a forest ranger badge on his chest. I don't remember if he had a hat, but here is basically what he looked like. Over the years his buckle and badge fell off, his belt broke, his jeans wore out, he was smooshed flat from snuggling and his smile & fur were loved off of him. Back in the 70's my sister Rhonda sewed him some new jeans and I drew him a new smile with a ball point pen. I recently had to resort to iron on patches to act as "skin grafts" because he was thread bare in many places. He also wears a sweater now for warmth. For those of you who have read "The Velveteen Rabbit", you'll know what I mean when I say that Smokey is real.


Smokey the Bear


Baby Zoso, Smokey & Cambear


John, Ros & their "friends".


John & his best "friends".


Ros & her best "friends"

Happy Birthday Susan!

Today is my sister Susan's birthday. She had just turned 7 years old when I was born and still likes to remind me that I "stole" her baby spot. So in her honor, we painted the interior of our front porch today. For those of you that don't know her personally, she's an artist, so that's why painting is in her honor. Anyway, I realized that I don't have any digital pix of her so I decided to post the pix of John assisting with the painting. His comment on the process was, "I'm not big enough to do this yet, but I'm doing a perfect job." He really was quite good at it, must be the "southpaw" in him.