It's getting colder!

So, I thought I would post a random picture from our trip to the FL keys earlier this year! BRR today seemed like the first day that I could picture it snowing.  We are very excited for Thanksgiving at the Schenks! The girls were just there today and reported having an AWESOME time. Kevin is excited to see the TV again :)

It will be nice to have a day off since things have been really busy lately around here. Nothing really exciting to report about - Roxy is doing well with her house training and is growing but is still a "small dog" for sure! Scruffy is enjoying playing with her but does get a bit irritated at times! All other animals are fine (Frogs, Rabbit and Hamster).

Kevin is still also really busy but at least he is able to take Thursday off!

I could go into more details on work related issues but you'd be nodding off for sure. Matt, your birthday sounded like fun! Can't wait to see you guys soon.

xoxo

Whew! we did it!

Hey, folks, just checking in after the "big week" last week when dad had so many duties with the kick-off of the SSW 90th, which went very well. I went to the big all-day Friday presentations, which were so remarkable...the "Youth Mosaic Theater of Detroit" did a very powerful presentation on dialogues/stereotypes/issues among and between races, and it was fabulous...all the actors are ages 14-17 or so, and they get the material from workshops held with kids from all over Detroit - all of different races. It was so amazing. Then there were several other mind-expanding programs as well...at the end of the day we had the alumni board of governors here for dinner, about 25 folks...and that went very well too. On Sat. a.m., we had the keynote speaker and his wife over for breakfast. Both of them were students here and we know/knew them pretty well but have not seen for some time, so it was great to catch up. After that we watched the UM go down in blazes again...so sad, looks like no bowl game again this year, not that I care, but I know some folks do. Oh well...later today Sarah & family are dropping by for a bite of dinner.
Next week is the countdown to Thanksgiving, of course, but we do not have to deal with "the bird" this year...Jessie & family want to do the hosting, so the rest of us are going in there, bringing some sides. Wish Matt & Molly could join too, I always remember Matt saying Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday...hope you guys have a great one! Not too long now till we can all be together, I am psyched for that...meanwhile, sending lots of love to everybody, mom/P

One day older!

Hi all,

Feels good to be "one day older" and actually this was the funnest birthday I can remember (and of course it IS getting harder and harder to remember things).

Molly had been telling me for weeks she had something secret planned, and usually when this happens I can guess what it is right away. But not this time, and actually all the secrecy made me nervous. I became convinced Molly had bought us a brand new house overlooking the Pacific (ocean, not university) with a new Mini Cooper Clubman (the "stretch version of the Mini - perfect tubamobile) in the driveway and a helicopter in the back complete with full-time pilot to take us where we need to go. She said it really wasn't quite that elaborate so I guess I got a bit carried away.

But as it turned out she had gotten tickets to the Pistons/Sacramento Kings game which was yesterday afternoon at 3 pm. For those of you on east coast time, that means the game actually occurred in 1985. But seriously, we hadn't been to an NBA game together before, and I hadn't seen one since the Pistons played Golden State in the mid 1990s when Chris Webber played there. It was a GREAT game, a Pistons victory of course, and the surprise was well and truly ... surprising.

In other news we found out there will likely be some jobs here in the Stockton area opening for next year that Molly may apply for. I'm still chipping away on my alleged career and will keep you all posted if anything of interest happens.

December will be here before we know it, and we can't wait to see you all then!

Matt

SUNDAY LETTER

Goof Morning

Well, I am finally making it on Sunday.  If this progress keeps up I will be writing the SL the Friday BEFORE Sunday!


Last week was a heavy week.  I had to give a talk in Indianapolis to the board of the national assn that certifies Physician Assts..Mom and I drove over together and it was a beautiful trip, - 200 miles straight down I69.  But what traffic.  So different from driving up north.  And of course the mapquest was off by one block, so we went around the block in downtown I. for a while and then called the hotel.

It went very well but it was very weird.  I had spent time preparing a presentation, including a meting (phone) with the  CEO and we had it all worked out.  They had it loaded, with copies for all.  It was on meetings, and Slide 4  was the slide where I ask people for any pet peeves.   I am on at 11, and am having bkfstat 8 when the Chair of the organization - and the man who set this up for me  (The Senior Asso. Dean of the Medical School at MSU)  says that he would like me to stop at alide 4 and just have a conversation with the group. Needless to say I was somewhat nonplussed, but I did that, and we had a great time.

Then, Sat., I had an all day class in Executive Leadership.  that went well too.

But the week coming up is really tight - it is the kickoff of our 90th anniversary at the SSW.  I have been more or less in charge of the planning for this event, and it is a big deal - we have banners on the llamposts  outside the school (we had to get permission from the banner committee) and Friday is a big, all day event with talks receptions, the Mosaic Youth theater from Detroit, and on and on.  Then Friday night we have a party for alumni at our house.  also dinners Th and Wed.. and a bkfst on Sat.  Yikes!


What WAS I thinking?  But we are all ready and it looks "good to go."

And a little surprise for me - I  was looking at Amazon this an and discovered that twop of my books are on the recommended Holiday list in the "More Items to Consider " Category , though briefly - I think they rotate the titles and pictures.

Also, this am I cut a lot of wood - only a little left to cut now, and then the splitting begins.

I think that about wraps it up .. so I will say by and hugs -

love

Dad/John

Happy Birthday to Matt!!

Hi All - just finally getting ready to post something as I've been gone for awhile (though reading all the hilarious posts!) - but first wanted to wish Matt a very happy birthday!! I hope you are doing something fun, Matt! We are sure looking forward to seeing you and Molly in  December.

Otherwise things are really busy around here, as usual. Unfortunately I have nothing really funny to report. Unless you want to hear about the "Great I want a pet in my room that I can actually PET" event. But I won't go into into all the details :)

Work is very busy as I'm contributing to a very large grant which is due in January (lovely timing, isn't it?). That plus all my 'regular' work is making things semi-crazy. Kevin is keeping busy, especially with his extra long communite now. The girls are keeping up with all their various activities. Charlotte had her first "Turducken" yesterday (I had to google this - it is a chicken, inside a duck, inside a turkey!) Grandma Diana had a Turducken party that Kevin and Charlotte went to, as Evelyn had some other stuff going on at dance. Charlotte reported it was excellent (or maybe that was the 10 pieces of Brick Oven Pizza she had BEFORE the Turducken!).  Jess you'll be pleased to hear that Charlotte is trying Synchro today! There is a beginner class at Mack pool and she's been wanting to do it. I'll let you know if she likes it!

That's about it for now. Matt, again, I hope you have a great day!

Sunday Letter

Good Morning All
I am getting a little better& closer to Sunday - but I am not giving up the name.Sunday Letter. It is an aspirational thing.; I will get on track soon and actually get it done on Sunday.. Lots going on.; Last week I had my annual physical - I am in excellent shape; - except I need to lose 7 lbs! My main activity - aside from the course I teach on Thursday AM - is planning for the School's 90th Anniversary; That is a yearlong event and the opening day, as it were, is Friday 11/19.; There are many details; and while I have a great staff it mostly comes down to me getting things going.; I also have a two-Saturday class on Executive Leadership. One was 10/30, and the second one is this coming Sat, the day after Mom and I get back from Indianapolis.; Speaking of Executive Leadership, I am attaching a link to  a clever piece by Scott Adams. In it he makes a case for "bad management" as an essential stimulus for entrepreneurship. It is sort of like the Peter Principle, except, for Peter, people were promoted for competence, until competence ran out.; The Dilbert Principle (Adams version) is that incompetents are proactively promoted into middle management to limit the harm they can actually do.





http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596372042140924.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

love

Dad

The great oven cleaning event!

I have just had such a good time reading the hilarious blogs from Jessie and Matt that I have to take time out of my battle with the oven, which we discovered had not been cleaned in quite some time, and in fact, we did not even have any oven cleaner among our extensive cleaning supplies. So the clean is now in process, what an exciting bit of news, eh? Glad you got your dryer fixed, Jess, and Matt, your weather-updating telephone sounds "interesting." Good thing you are getting some rain, though, I gather you don't get much as a rule.
Well dad & I "enjoyed" the UM-Illinois game too - I liked the comment from a sportscaster who said it seemed more like a basketball game, given the scoring! We had a great time on Sunday too when we were invited by Kevin's dad & Diana to go with them and Sarah & Kevin and the girls to see Mary Poppins at the Wharton Center, with brunch before that at the MSU Club...a lovely facility with one of those over-the-top brunches, everything you could want to eat and more...it was interesting in that Diana thought the play started at 2p.m. but we all discovered it actually began at 1 o'clock at about 12:40! Needless to say, we hustled to make the opening curtain...at least for once we did no have to sit around waiting for the play to start, and fortunately,it began as most plays do at 10 past...whew. It was totally incredible, though, with such amazing stage effects the likes of which we have not seen, including in one scene Bert "walks" up the side of the stage, upside down on the ceiling (where he pauses in the middle to do a bit of tap dancing) and then down the other side...at the very end, Mary P. "flies" off from the stage across the entire audience up to the nether reaches of the balcony (on a wire which is mostly invisible)...just amazing.
So now we are enjoying a beautiful start to what is going to be a warmish Nov. week here...very nice...fyi, dad has a gig in Indianapolis on Fri. so I'm going along to help drive each way...back Friday afternoon. Okay, all, wish I had your knacks for hilarity, but this will have to do, sending lots of love to everybody.

The 'Thermal Event'

Happy Monday, everyone! It was another busy weekend here--with Matt and Daniel attending both the UM/Illinois game, and Matt and Jared going to the Lions/Jets games. Crazy games, both--as Matt has already mentioned below! It was Daniel''s first UM game experience and he had a great time. They stayed until the bitter end to see who would finally win. Jared was thrilled to get to the Lions/Jets game as he is a big Jets fan--and it was a good outcome from his perspective, anyway!

We also had some major appliance news--we got a notice that our washer was recalled do to the risk of a possible 'thermal event'! Fortunately, we were able to get the washer fixed right away, and avoided any such 'events'! I think what they meant to say was, 'your washer could unexpectedly burst into flame,' but perhaps that sounded a bit inflammatory ;-) We wondered how many GE employees sat around a meeting table deciding what to call this particular 'problem'?! Jared felt that a fireball convention could also be considered a 'thermal event'. (feel free to chime in with your own ideas!!) For now, we are enjoying our thermal events where they belong--in the fireplace!

In other news, it was Brady's birthday yesterday--he is now 2 years old and still as excitable as ever! He was given a couple of toys which he promptly destroyed. He sure is cute, though!

Now I'm off to tackle my in-box (all those pre-holiday sales emails are really piling up...)! Have a great day, everyone.

Hola!

Good morning all,

Well this is no “Sunday Letter” but more of just a “Sunday Update”.

It’s supposed to rain most of the day here today so of course everyone in Stockton already stocked up on canned goods, batteries and toilet paper – perfect day to stay in! Molly put a weather channel “widget” on our phones so any kind of weather advisory comes through as an alert like a text message or email. This one was a “SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT” and warned us about impending rain possibly to include wind. The “Special weather statement” is a few notches down from the plain old “storm warning”, which is followed by storm watch, then weather advisory, and THEN weather statement. After than you get the even weaker alerts like the special weather hypothesis, the special weather conjecture, the special weather musing, and so forth. What’s weird about this region is the variety of weather in a pretty small space. In the summer, it could be 105 in Stockton/Sacramento but only 75 an hour and a half west in San Francisco. Today, we’re receiving the “special weather statements” about rain but an hour and a half east up by Lake Tahoe they will get a foot of snow (there has never, ever been measurable snow in Stockton). The Michigan adage of “if you don’t like the weather, wait ten minutes” could be amended here to “if you don’t like the weather, drive an hour”.

Yesterday I had Orchestra Day at Pacific – got to do an hour masterclass on breathing techniques, then play a short solo on the faculty recital and then another masterclass for the brass students (which turned out to be 2 parents, 3 Pacific students, and one Orchestra Day participant who hadn’t brought her instrument). But it was fun and I’m getting a chance to have the other faculty observe me “doing my thing” and so far they all seem to like it. However, Orchestra Day caused me to miss the Michigan-Illinois game so we DVRd it. By the time I got home Molly had already watched it but then had to be careful not to give anything away while we watched it again, which must have been pure torture. The default time setting to record a football game is three hours, and I had added a one-hour extension just to be on the safe side, and we ended up with only 5 minutes to spare! It was a great game to watch on DVR since we were able to mediate the stress level by fast-forwarding through commercials. In a couple of hours the Lions game comes on, and I foolishly insisted that we purchase NFL DirecTicket on DirecTV so that I could see all the Lions games, and we must be the only household in California watching. But I have to say that we both like the DirectTicket. It has a channel called “NFL GAME MIX” which shows all eight games simultaneously. It’s interesting to see not only the on the field action but other elements as well such as which commercials air in which regions.

We’ve been enjoying reading all of the blog updates – thanks for keeping us up to date!

Matt

SUNDAY LETTER

Good Morning

This is my Sunday Letter, written on Wednesday. Well, the election is over and California has (re) elected the youngest Governor (and now the oldest Governor in CA history.)

Jessie and Matt - Congratulations on wrapping up your student loans.  That is  a fantastic achievement. 

I loved the pics -Mom and I were handing out candy in Dexter - the crowd was thin there this year - but I understand huge in GP.

While all of this has been going on I have been working away on several writing projects.  One of them is an OP Ed on income disparities in the US.  there has been a immense transfer of wealth to the most wealthy.  there have been many comments on this process and  I am adding one more.  I will  post it when I am done.

Additionally, I am working on a book on Calamity in the Corner Office (What happens when the CEO "goes bad" and takes the organization with him or her) and  rewriting a book on Successful Community Organization and  Leadership which was published in the middle 90s by the National Association of Social Workers.

Finally, I am working on an article on Customer Focused Companies with Ari W., one of the co founders of Zingermans.

On the home front, Mom and I spent most of  Sunday "winterizing" our home - putting chairs away, etc.   Winter is coming.  It is cold today and there is  snow predicted for Sunday.  The NOAA winter forecast
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39813625
predicts a "wetter" winter for the MI region... that means more snow!

WEll, I am off for my morning walk

Love to all


Dad/John

Happy Halloween!

Hi everyone! I'm loving the pictures and updates!

I am glad to say we are done with halloween at last--though the boys each have several pounds of candy now. They had a blast trick-or-treating with their friends while the dads followed along trying to keep up. I handed out large quantities of candy, including to a few cell phone talking teenagers who couldn't be bothered to hang up to say 'trick-or-treat'. Good times :-)

Our big news update is that we finally paid off our student loans--woo hoo! Matt and I both though there was some problem when we got the notice in the mail--it didn't seem possible. Needless to say we are thrilled. They boys were super confused as to why we were talking about paying for our college (well, grad school) instead of theirs! Perhaps they won't have to go to clown college after all.

More updates soon...!

Happy Halloween!

Hi all - just a quick note to say Happy Halloween! attached is a photo of the girls taken when I was in Toronto and they were going to their dance Halloween party. Charlotte is a blueberry in case you weren't sure (one of her 3 costumes for this season!)

We are looking forward to trick or treating and hoping it's not too cold.

Thanks to all of you for posting - this gives me something to look forward to reading online (as opposed to email, for instance, YUCK!)

Some pictures from CA

"Heather", our most recent feline acquisition. Unfortunately, she does not like other cats (at least not OUR cats), so if she makes it indoors, she stays in the garage.

on my Birthday I was presented with a cowboy hat, and these are the kids who wanted to pose for my class photo! After taking this one, I realized how much more concerned they were with TAKING the photo, not me being in it, per say, so I just took a few more of them. I don't think I'll post those - security reasons - but its cool nonetheless :)

These pictures are of Matt playing tuba with the Stockton Symphony!!! They were taken with my cell phone from the balcony (no reference to any euphonium CDs there...), and I must say - he sounded incredible!

one of our first days in Stockton, taking Buddy on his walk. Those clouds you see in the distance were the only resemblance of "weather" we had for months....

Buddy, up by the levy, where a bunch of cows like to roam :) This was not the same day as above, obviously, but its another pretty day no less.

This is also right behind our apartment, less than a 5 minute walk. Pretty cool place!

Here they are!

Trying to post a picture

Well it only took me 10 minutes to figure out how to post a new blog, so let's see what happens now when I try to post a picture or 2...here goes...well, actually I wanted to put in pics of all three boys with their "robots and sons" but doing this one seemed enough for now, going to try to add one more of all the kids & get out while the getting is good. Okay, seems I can't do that, will try another route...meanwhile, love to y'all

Sunday Letter, October 24th, 2010

Good Afternoon

Now that Sarah has created this family blog (thank you Sarah) and  Jessie explained to me how to join (thank you Jessie - Sarah, I completely forgot about the 2nd email with the invite) I can now do my Sunday Letter in this medium.

We just finished having a fantastic weekend with the boys.  We split wood, they made robots from  the materials at The Scrap Box, we had a fire (the weather is beautiful) and  we had an allround great time.  Sarah and the girls came over with Roxy, and the kids discovered that Roxy likes to chase a ball... lots of fun.

My own week was somewhat sad, as one of my students died in an auto Crash  while on a color tour.  The student was Chinese and just 22. Her parents (and the other person who was killed) came from China and the U had a dinner for them Fri.  I was one of the speakers.

So Mom and I cane back from Glen Arbor on Monday.  Sunday evening we had dinner with an old student of mine, Kevin Sietz, who had just retired as a VP of BCBS.  Kevin and his wife have a magnificent home overlooking Lake Michigan,  I was green with envy, and "its not easy being green!".  

Also this past week I had three presentations - one on supervision, mentoring, and coaching 

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=411400206009971867

 my class, and then another on Leadership on Friday. This is the ppt.  I am not sure how to post a file as yet.  Advice would  be most welcome.)

Needless to say I am not getting much done with respect to my books and articles.

The leaves are almost gone  and we can see so much more now - it is always a surprise. 

  Today it is so warm (75) that Mom and I will be eating out on the Deck! I am thinking that this unusuakl weather might actually presage a tough winter.

Lots somng up - the  initation of the School of Social Works 90th Anniversary - Friday 11/19.  But before that I am going to "Dayton to give a talk, then after thatto Houston.  So lots going on.

Love to all.. Dad/John

Sunday thoughts

Hi, there, going to see if this works again...still feeling a little techno-shaky...good to hear from y'all, great to get updates from Matt and Molly...whew - THREE cats!? good heavens, hope they don't pass the word along to other neighborhood strays...we now have 4 granddogs and 3 grandcats! Glad you all seem to be doing well...same is true here, we just had a grand Sat-Sunday with the boys, so much energy & lots of fun..the girls and Roxy were able to stop by for a quick visit and some play time with the Roxy & each other. Since Sarah is off to Toronto now, I will be helping with the girls Monday and Tuesday...they have requested spaghetti and meatballs for tomorrow's dinner...tough work, but someone has to do it :)...our new wood floors are in & look great, can't wait for everyone to see them, especially our California contingent...hope the "rain" lasts long enough for you folks to get a feel for it...so that's about it for now, thinking of you all and sending lots of love...I know dad is working on his "Sunday letter," so he may fill you in on more details of life here in AA...love to y'all!

Finally joined!

Hey all! This is such a cool idea!

Looks like Matt caught us up to date on the logistical just the other day. We are doing well in Stockton, with our first "rainy" days of the years. Rainy is a hilarious un-truth, because it only occasionally sprinkles, but its sort of cloudy, which is exciting and different!

We can't wait to see everyone in December, but plenty of posts shall be made before then!! Miss you all, and we'll put some pics of our dog and cats up soon!

Molly

Hi All! Just posting to let you know I did officially get my passport so am off to Toronto tomorrow. Not sure I'm happy about it but at least there won't be a whole in the program where I was supposed to talk! We are all doing well after a hectic week. Charlotte made us all breakfast this morning which was so nice - we have not sat down as a family for breakfast in ????

I'm so glad we are all signed up! I bet Molly joins us soon. The next question is do we dare see if Matt S and Kevin want to post??? Photo is one Evelyn too of Charlotte for her "star of the week" chart!

Hola!

Hi all,

Finally signed up - awesome! I was in New Mexico for the first "Sunday Letter" so I'm just getting caught up w/ everything now.

Today I am in Sacramento getting the car worked on. There is no Subaru dealer or foreign car place in Stockton so I came up here to SAC to what's basically a CA version of Lou's shop - they only do Subaru but are not a dealer so it's much cheaper. We'll see how they do! They dropped me off at one of the malls here so I'm making use of the free internet. They were going to take me to some other, closer mall, but turns out some crazy guy barricaded himself in the GameStop and lit the place on fire! He wasn't killed but managed to burn down half the mall and put a few hundred people out of work until further notice. Only in California.

Molly is in Antioch at her elementary music job and she gets to do instrumental music today which is her favorite. So far we like CA pretty well, although the newness of it all has worn off and so now we fell like we're in the "regular life" phase, which is naturally not as exciting as accepting new jobs, getting married and moving across the country all within a one-month span.

Stockton is OK and it's nice for me since I can bike to work. But it's a bit of a commute for Molly so we will certainly move elsewhere some time over the next several months. It all depends on whether Molly stays with the Antioch job or accepts something else. It will be nice to get to a living situation where we can have more space (hopefully) and we can at least practice at home. We inherited an outdoor cat (Heather) so now we have way too many pets! And Sarah, in that picture of Roxy, I swear I see TWO dogs? What did we miss??

Can't wait to see everyone in just a few short weeks.

Thursday October 21

Hi All! I am loving the blog. Thanks all posters! This has been a crazy week. I found out tuesday morning that an enhanced drivers' license is, in fact, NOT sufficient to FLY to Canada. It is sufficient to DRIVE to Canada (whoever made that distinction???). So at first I thought this meant I could not attend my meeting next week in Toronto. But my assistant found a place that would process my passport for $300 (yes, plus the additional $170 it usually costs!). Love her - she is so resourceful! So we set out to do that which turned into a huge comedy of errors including taking the girls to the truck stop to fedex the package (per the direcitons of fedex) tuesday night - however they fedex guy never came so I had to RETURN to the truck stop Wednesday and take it elsewhere...to make a very long and painful story short, I either get it Saturday or not. If not, I'm staying home. While I would not at all mind, it would not look great career-wise.

Evelyn is home sick today so I am working from home too. Trying to finish my presentation for the trip I might not go on! Other than that, all is well here.

So off for now - more to follow!

UM Stadium boxes!

Hey, folks, just wanted to report on our experience with the U. Way reception last night which was held in the building where the boxes are located. This bldg. is called the "Jack Roth" bldg. (Jack must have given a huge bundle)...and it's across the stadium from the Press Box box area...and is quite beautiful. The boxes run along the side from about the 20 yd. line to the other 20yd. line...some are totally in door and glassed in, others accessed via a door to the outside, where they are outdoor but under a roof...unlike the comerica boxes, they do not have any facilites, only seats...the facilities are all shared in a huge common area with tvs, bathrooms, etc...and last nite they had two bars, one at each end, several tables set up, and numerous food stations all around. This was a 1000% upgrade from the reception last yr. which was at the President's house & included about 2 canapes & a handshake...they want folks to renew their gift, and even increase it (ya think?)...anyway, since that's as close as we are likely to get the the boxes, thought y'all might be interested in an eye-witness report.

Okay, folks, I'm going to try this & see if it actually post on the "author" page...so far I can only figure out how to do the comments feature...this is so cool, though, so good to hear updates from Sarah & Jess...complete with adorable picture of grandkids and granddogs! all is well here, I'm waiting for the "floor guys" to appear and start the installation of wood on the stair landings & upstairs hall, getting rid of the grungy 22 yr. old carpet. Then off to Battle Creek to check on Matt's house, which we try to do every other week or so...it should be a nice drive today, still lots of color. then later today dad & I have to go to a meet & greet for the U.Way kickoff at the Uof M which is to honor the "larger" givers (including us) and is being held in the new UM stadium box area...which will be the first and only time we get that close to it, I suspect. Looking forward to seeing the boys flag football game(s) on Sat. & having them over...hope to connect with the girls then too....sending lots of love to all our busy families...

Well I'll add a quick update now that I'm signed up! Matt is off to Port Huron again today for work (he was also there last week) and we are hoping he will be back on wednesday evening. The boys had flag football games over the weekend, though none were winning efforts (not due to lack of effort on their part, of course!). Sunday School started up again, much to the great disgust of the boys. There was a delay due to some problems with the hiring of a teacher, so they got a little more time off than usual!

On Sunday, Matt and I co-hosted a meet and greet for one of our school board candidates--we are very much hoping he gets re-elected. It was a very low key event and not at our house, so it worked out quite well!

As for me, this week I'm working on our school playground project--trying to figure out how to scale back the initial bid of $60,000. Who knew playgrounds could cost so much?

Hopefully this will be a fun way to share some updates with each other. Thanks for getting it started, Sar!

And I will add our own beastly pet photo, since I don't have any cool football action shots!

Monday October 18

Hi all! Trying out the blog again. Most of you should have received invitations to be authors - let me know and I can add others. Not much has happened since yesterday! It was a back to work Monday for sure. I'll keep this short and just post a photo of the dogs for today - Note that Roxy has discovered the "back of the couch" as the best place to sleep too, sadly for our couch....

ps. Evelyn just came home from dance with a Little Ceasar's fundraiser kit, so if anyone is interested in ordering pizza kits...just let me know!

Sunday October 17

Hi All! This is my attempt at keeping us all well connected. This is based on the idea, from "Grandpa John" to circulate a Sunday letter. What a great idea for us to all follow each others' busy lives! But email can get lost, deleted, etc.... So I thought I would investigate this blog idea. I was reminded of how helpful the blog was when Matt T was in his accident (Thanks Molly!).

So...what is up here at the Tropman - Hawley branch? My college roomate was in town so we got to meet Karen and her family. Her girls are the same age as ours (though one of them is taller than me, at age 10! which is funny if you know Karen b/c she is super short..). Evelyn went to her first UM footbal game! Too bad we lost. Charlotte and I tried out a local Corn Maze (M/D - something you should for sure do with the boys: http://www.blastcornmaze.com/) (photo attached). Today we fought the line at Zingerman's and went to the Artisan market where charlotte convinced Dad to get her a poncho (photo attached with Karen's daughter Rebecca).

Otherwise, work is super busy for me. I've actually been doing a lot of teaching this fall which I usually don't do. This means I have no time to do my "real" job! Which I just tried to explain to someone the other day and obviously did not go over well based on their puzzled expression! I'm heading to Toronto next weekend and will be glad when that trip is over! As some of you know, we also aquired a puppy (Roxy) about a month ago - not sure what we were thinking, but she really is cute and VERY sweet.

Kevin is officially driving to downtown Detroit every day now that Quicken has moved. So that has been hard for us. The girls are keeping busy with school and dance. That's life for us in a nutshell! I'm going to wrap up so I can review how this blog looks!