A Week in the Life

I'm reading a book called "No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog." As you can see from the infrequent posts, I lack for motivation some times. It suggested I take pictures of everything and anything for a week and see what inspires me. The pictures I took this week reminded me of all the little things that happen every day all around us ...and it made me wonder if we truly appreciate them all. Its like the old saying goes ...sometimes you have to stop and smell the roses.

Here are my roses.

Jimmy loves puzzles. Jimmy loves his sister - sometimes too much. He tries to treat Ada like a stuffed animal, but we know its only because he loves her SOOOOO much. He also loves his cousins. A big highlight of last week was the arrival of cousins Jeremiah and Amanda - and of course Uncle Dick and Aunt Isabel, but they weren't nearly as exciting to Jimmy and Marylin as their cousins. If you wanna see hyper kids, bring a 12 and 14 year old cousin around. Jimmy and Marylin were bouncing off the walls. Luckily I got to go to the Pistons game with them and Kathy was left with Jimmy, Marylin and Ada for bedtime. Phew!

Jimmy and Marylin love our birdfeeders. The feeders sit right outside our kitchen window, so its like they have a big screen TV to watch during every meal. Most times we can't keep them in their seats because they prefer a birds eye view (is that a pun?)! The J & M show also have given up on Mom and Dad building them forts, so they've taken matters into their own hands. To the right you'll see a pillow fort courtesy of J & M Construction.


Oh, yes. That other kid. Ada. Good gal. Lots of smiles. Sometimes I really have to lecture her about doing more blog-worthy stuff. Eating solids, holding toys, and lifting her head up ...well ...been there done that. But, for the record, this is what she's doing at 6 months: rolling across rooms, sleeping through the night, waving, trying to crawl, laughing, and reading the newspaper.

In case you can't tell from these pictures, its finally Spring and Easter is here. The neighborhood Easter Egg hunt should be featured in "An Inconvenient Truth, Part II." Ridiculous. We didn't know if the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus would show up.



Here's that other kid I keep mentioning ...Ada. At the mall with the Easter Bunny. After the mall, Kathy and the kids visited my office. Jimmy worked the phones and closed some big deals. A natural salesman. Marylin mostly daydreamed and looked out the window at the cars. We have an appointment with her guidance counselor this week. Jimmy did say he'd give her a weekly allowance as long as she was trying to find work. He's a good kid.

Jimmy and Marylin were kind enough to set the table for Easter and then do a dry run of Easter brunch. They set and blocked the entire day featuring their "buddies." The next day came off without a hitch thanks to their pre-planning efforts.

And every Easter, Marylin kinda double dips. Candy and an Easter surprise in the morning, then Birthday presents and cake that afternoon. Aunt Dana hit another homerun with an incredible Strawberry Shortcake cake. The kids ate cake and ice cream and more ice cream. A milestone was reached ...Barbies officially became a toy in our home. Things will never be the same. Uncle/Grandpa Jerry really liked the new train cars and Ada Louisa. Aunt/Grandma 'Nise was more than happy to help feed Ada. And the rest of the shots just capture another great Easter-slash-Birthday. Oh, and Uncle Dave debuted a new, longer hair-do.

I guess I kinda ended up tellin' ya what I "ate for lunch" after all. Oh, and sorry for the lack of photo compression ...I'll figure it out one of these days.

Go State!

I'm sure this will be one of many entries with memories made in East Lansing. Last Saturday, ESPN's College Gameday came'a calling to East Lansing. The MSU Ath Dept made it a family fun day and, well ...I took 3/5ths of the family.

As great as it was for the University, for Gameday, and for the students, it was even better for me, Marylin, and Jimmy. Gotta give credit to Izzo and his staff. He convinced the Spartan Brass, Sparty, cheerleaders, dance teamers, the Izzone, and 5,000 fans to make it out for breakfast and cheering on Saturday. Doors opened at 9:30a. The place was insane.

We got there 'round 11am just in time for the start of Gameday. There was poster-making area for the kids, $1 concessions (we enjoyed a $1 popcorn and a $1 Sprite), pom-poms, and temp tattoos.

I think Marylin and Jimmy thought that this was a big party thrown in their honor. I used
the one-hour car ride to go over the cheers - "Go State", "Go Green", "Go White", "Rah, Rah, Rah!" and "M Go Blow." OK, I didn't actually teach them the last one ...they spontaneously said it. What good kids, eh?

This sure beat sitting at home and refereeing them around the train table. We had a great time and had a picnic lunch before getting on the road ...we ate right in the back of the car. They also thought that was pretty darn cool.

I hope Gameday comes back ...cuz we'll go back, again.

February Follies

What do you do
when you can't
sleep? You hop
on the computer
and blog about
your family.

After all, your lack of commitment to keeping dutiful detailed memories of the best moments in life is what's keeping you up at night anyway, right?

Right.

So, here they are. Marylin, Jimmy, and Sundance. If I had any clue how to use photoshop, I'd put a goatee and a striped shirt on Ada and really bring home the gag. I swear, when I used Kathy's eyebrow pencil and painted it on, she was the spittin' image of our favorite Idol (so far).

Things are good 'round the Kowalewski household. The littlest Kowalewski looks to be on the verge of sleeping 8 hour shifts, is eating oatmeal - a 1/4 cup at a time, twice daily - rolling over, and discovering primitive forms of communications. Currently that equates to growling and giving us the rasberries. She also grabs things ...mostly and usually her sibling's hair. They don't like it.

Jimmy is a puzzle afficianado. I don't know that he can grow up and make a living building puzzles, but for the moment, he amazes us with his patience and ability. At 2 1/2, he's easily doing puzzles intended for kids 3+. 24 pieces, 36 pieces ...don't matter none ...he does them, no problem. If you are in the mood for gift giving, he's particularly fond of the Melissa & Doug giant floor puzzles. He's got his eye on the Deluxe Dinosaur 48-piece puzzle and has said he would consider his completion of that puzzle his crowning achievement.

Marylin is closing in on her 4th birthday and we can't believe it. We continue to treat her like a 3 year old in hopes that maybe she (and everyone else) will forget that she turns four and we can enjoy her as a 3 year old a little longer. What can she do? The better question is what can't she do? Among the things we marvel at is her incredible memory. She'll bring up stuff from as far back as when she was 1 1/2. I know what you're saying ...so? So? So, how do you try and mold a child who can point out the things you did wrong a year ago that lead to this current behavior you are trying to modify. For example, suppose you wanted her to do something - i.e. go to bed, go potty, or eat her entire dinner - and you said, "and if you eat your beans, we'll take you to Disneyworld when you turn 4." Harmless to say to a 2 year old, right? WRONG!!! That two year old is now pushing 4 and reminds us how "that one time I ate my peas and you said..."

Great. Luckily, as I said, we're not going to celebrate her 4th birthday, so she'll never know. And, what's more ...it was beans she had to eat, and not peas. Sorry kid!

NOTE: We will take them to Disneyworld sooner than later ...their Mom is more excited about it that the kids could ever be.

We are all ready for spring to get here and to end the indoor captivity. We miss Grandpa (K) and can't wait for him to return from his month-long Florida adventure. We miss Grandpa and Grandma (B) and can't wait for our trip out to Vegas in April.

As always, I blog mainly for me. I know I'll forget all these little things 20 years from now and I don't want to. Thanks for reading.

Random Memories

I wish I could video tape or make an audio tape of my cherished memories. I wish I would never forget my memories. I wish that I could bottle them up and keep them on a shelf and when I need a smile, I could pull a bottle down and get lost inside.

My new favorite memory comes from Jimmy. Just over 2 months old, he sometimes wakes in the middle of the night and sings. He has no concept of time and thinks when he wakes up, it must be morning. Last night I heard him at 3am, softly singing, "toooo towwwwwwn ...toooo toooown," and, "watch out! watch out!" These are the only 4 words he knows from "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." He sang for 10 minutes - which seems like hours at 3am when you're praying he doesn't wake up his sister-slash-roommate, or his 3-month old sister in the next room, or even my poor sleep deprived stay-at-home-wife-slash-mom.

In this case, he didn't wake anyone. And I enjoyed one awfully adorable memory and moment all to myself.

I can only share it with you this way, or tell you about it. I wish I could somehow get those moments back. Don't we all?

Oh, Christmas Card, Oh Christmas Card ...

. . . how wonderful our family is.

Is it too late for a family Christmas card.

Every year I get many, many Christmas letters in the many, many Christmas cards that I'm lucky enough to receive, and every year I say, "next year, I'm gonna write one of these here annual update letters." Every year comes and goes and I don't write that letter. But as George Byron once said, I am sure of nothing so little as my own intentions.

Judging from the Kowalewski blog, you'd probably think nothing much has happened to the Kowalewski family since August 21st. And you'd be right.

Well, that's not entirely true. Kathy did find a new salon she really liked and got a great new hair-do. Don also decided to switch to the that same salon. We had a tree taken down in the front yard.

Let's see. What else, what else, what else?

Oh, there was the birth of our third child. I know. Boooooring. Ho-hum. But if you must know, that happened September 27 and we named her Ada Louisa, after her great-great grandmother (is a hyphen needed there? I should look that up).

Jimmy turned two. Two?!?!? How can that be? Jimmy turned two, Marylin is three, and they both started pre-school. You gotta get 'em in pre-school early, these days. If your kid hasn't mastered three languages by their first day of kindergarten, you're pretty much gonna have to wait for them to start college until they're 17 or 18 - and your neighbors will point and laugh at you and your dumb kids ...and talk about you in foreign languages, to boot.

Instead of reviewing the year chronologically, I'll review by noteworthiness ...starting a paragraph above with the birth of a child (and choosing of a hair salon) and ending with the news that we only get the newspaper on weekends, now.
So, where was I? Oh, yes. Ada. By Christmas, she was 3 months old. 3 months have flown by, yet at the same time, it seems like forever since she was born and Kathy's parents were staying with us for three weeks to help us out. They were a huge help. Loading and unloading the dishwasher, running the kids to school, mowing the lawn, folding laundry, cooking dinner ...the list goes on and on. If I could hire Grandpa Jimmy as a full-time butler, I would. We sure wish they had come home for Christmas.

Jimmy and Marylin LOVE having a new baby sister.

Halloween came and went. Our Mickey and Minnie Mouse were the hit of the neighborhood.

Cousin Lauren showed up, too. In fact, Uncle Dave, Aunt Melissa, Grandpa,
Grandma Denise, and Grandpa Jerry all came by for Halloween. It was a lovely (and scary) night. Marylin achieved her highest candy count in three years. Well done, Marylin.

Further down on this blog you can read about our first family reunion. I enjoyed that very much and hope we continue that for many years. And of course there was the annual vacation up at Torch Lake with Dave, Melissa, Lauren, Grandpa Bill, Grandma Sally, Grandma 'Nise, Grandpa Jerry, with special guest appreances by Vito ...Dante ...Aunt Dana ...Uncle Trent ...Buddy Epson ...Betty White ...The Antrim County Dancers ...Miss America Connie Swales ...and musical guest ...The Pointer Sisters. The weather was great, the sandbar was hoppin', the ice cream was cold, and the vacation came and went too fast. We're already booked for 2007.

I continue to sell radio with Clear Channel, and Kathy continues with Arbonne. We voted. Neither of us pursued advanced degrees, skilled trades, or ran any marathons or climbed any mountains. ***Note to self ...next year ...do something substantial to impress friends in holiday blog/letter.***

Other than that, life is mayhem. It was mayham before the third child, so nothing much has changed. Diapers. Crying. Toys. Above all, though ...fun.

Blog to you soon.

KaBSuFOGaBR

Its a funny thing about getting older and growing up. The things you take for granted for so long can sometimes, rather suddenly, disappear. For 20 or 30 years of my life, getting together with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and miscellaneous grandparents was a given. 7 or 8 birthday parties a year, Thanksgivings at Aunt Denise's house, Christmas, and two weeks at Torch Lake. Everyone was always around. What's more is that doesn't include the sleepovers, the babysitting gigs, the first Communions and other Catholic sacraments that brought us all together. Once we got too old for birthday parties, we converted those to wedding showers, weddings, baby showers, and some Christenings.

My point is - we used to get together a great deal. And then we didn't. Nowadays its only a once-a-year Christmas party that, you gotta admit, is hectic, quick, and dominated by the marathon White Elephant gift game.

Judging by yesterday's event and attendance, it appears I'm not the only one who really enjoyed all those great years and memories, and I'm glad we all got together. I realize you can never go back and things change, but you don't have to completely go cold turkey.

I'm happy to see everyone enjoyed this great day - even with the less-than-ideal golf weather. I'm also happy to see a few of us are already looking forward to doing this again next year. Maybe we make it a standing date of Dream Cruise Weekend? Maybe?

The reviews are in. Aunt Sandy writes ...

Hi Everyone,
Well, the 1st ever Brooks, Kowalewski,Dowd, Modaffare, Degrazia Annual Golf, Swim and BBQ was a blast!! We could not have asked for a more memorable day (weather included). Hope all had a great time. I know all the little ones did. Hope a few little boys, namely Nick, Josh and Kyle did not have tummy aches from all the watermelon. Golf was fun, but we will get you guys(tony, Mike, Denise) next year. Maybe, if we keep the teams the same you will have to play blindfolded and left-handed. Thanks all for indulging us old folks and spending time together. It brought back a lot of good memories. I'm sure Aunt Marylou was smiling as she watched all the little ones.
Love you all,
Aunt Sandy

... and Aunt Denise says...

Hi all,
Want to thank Don for planning a Kowalewski/Brooks reunion Sandy thanks for your attention to the golf outing/food ordering, etc., Geoff and Richelle for being gracious hosts and opening their home and pool to us all. We had a very nice time (a little moist) but fun. Thanks to everyone. We had a great time and will never forget the first Kafabafarwhatever. Here is the link to the pictures that we took yesterday, the good the bad and the .... Hope you find one or two that you like!http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jerrydenisebrooks/album?.dir=/c678re2&.src=ph
Love, Jerry & Denise, Darrin, Brian & Grandpa Buzz

... and finally Dana and Vito chime in with ...

We had a great time too. Thanks for organizing everything Don and Aunt Sandy. Vito wanted to go to back to the party again on Sunday when we got up.
Love Dana

I hope we do this again next year. A few things we'll improve on include (a) a group photo at the course and then back at Geoff and Richelle's, (b) consult the Farmer's Almanac to determine if there'll be rain or not, and (c) a cannonball competition. Am I right? You betcha, I am.

Thanks to everyone for attending, whether willingly or not. It was great seeing you all. Thanks to Geoff and Richelle for hosting us all. Thanks to Aunt Sandy for taking my sketchy concept of an event and turning it into an actual golf outing and dinner. And finally, thanks to Uncle Jerry and Aunt Denise for enough watermelon for two reunions and especially for taking pictures so we have some record that this event actually happened.

It is one of the highlights of my summer of 2006.

Wiggles, Weather, Woe, Weinzapfels, Weekend

I had a great weekend. Another nice few days of perfect weather. The weekend started with the four Kowalewskis attending The Wiggles concert at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Friday. Indeed this was the concert of summer. Jimmy didn't know why we were there or why all those people were there, but when the stage went dark and The WIggles came out, he didn't move a muscle for 20 minutes. I'm not exaggerating. The photos perfectly capture his statuesque pose for the start of the show.

He finally settled into the groove and danced along with his sister to all his favorite Wiggle hits.

Saturday I briefly saw Kris and Doug Testori who were home attending Kris' father's funeral. Please keep them and their family in your thoughts and prayers.

Just because it was noteworthy, Saturday evening we had dinner out on our deck and enjoyed an amazing pork tenderloin prepared on the grill. On the grill!!! Yes. I really need to grill more stuff in the summer.

Sunday's highlight was spending the afternoon with the Weinzapfels in Brighton, Michigan. Tim and his sister were both home for the weekend from their respective homes in Raleigh, NC and San Diego, CA. Tim's parents were gracious enough to host an afternoon at their house so all of us ol' friends from college and h.s. could catch up with Tim, Aly, Kyle, and Kelsie. It was a great afternoon. Tim has not changed a single bit. Not even slightly. Tim remains my best comedy audience. We rehashed our velociraptor impressions and if we'd have had a Sega Genesis and NHL '95, I'm sure I'd still be there.

As always the weekend was too short but I did my best to pack it full of fun memorable stuff.

Carrying the Torch, 7/30-8/7/2006

Some say Torch Lake was named because the Indians could fish the lake at night by the light of a torch. Others say its because the lake resembles an actual torch. This year it was because the temperatures reached 100 degrees and the water boiled. Not really, but it WAS hot.

The heat of the fisrt few days did not diminish another fantastic vacation. We did it all.

The week began Sunday with the Dave and Don Kowalewski families arriving around dinnertime. Uncle Jerry, Aunt Denise, Grandpa, and Grandma Sally were already there, as was Trent, Dana, Vito, and Dante. Though they only stayed until Monday, we managed lots of time playing on the beach and even a trip to the sandbar. Uncle Dave grilled ribs for all.

Trips to the sandbar were practically daily. Lack of food was also not an issue. In addition to ribs, we had cookies, cheese cakes, steaks (2 nights), dips, and Dad's famous cajun-steamed shrimp. Oh, yeah, we had a salad, too.

As is customary, Grandpa rented a pontoon - which this year should be noted had a 90 horse 4-stroke engine - and she was a beaut'. Thanks, Dad/Grandpa.

Dana and the DeGrazia family left Monday evening, but that was not the end of guests and visitors. We welcomed Dave & Melissa Bulkowski and their 3 kids, Grandma and Grandpa Bulkowski, some of Uncle Jerry and Aunt Denise's friends, our neighbors from home, Wally and Karen Bulkowski and family for a day, and Grandma Sally's daughter Kim, son-in-law J.T. and their kids.

Yeesh!

We had our annual dinner at Pearl's on Wednesday evening. The food and the company were as delightful as ever. We attended the Harbor Days, took in Higgin's for ice cream - though I refuse to eat their new brand of ice cream since the daughter took over the store and pulled the sign featuring a muscle bound man shouting "eat it, you'll like it" in favor of a penguin and a cone. We "strolled" in Alden, hit the Alden Mill House, and generally did all the things we do every year. But that's ok, because we love it all and wouldn't change a thing. Hence why we've vacationed every year for the past 27 years.

I could go on and on. Make sure to click the header for all the photos. I don't know what else to say except that I hope everyone is lucky enough to be able to take a vacation this nice this summer and have as much fun as we all did.

Summertime Passage, 7/14-7/24

It's been a busy couple of weeks for the Kowalewski clan. July 14-16 we did the West Michigan tour starting in St. Joe and visiting our friends Matt and Jen Bair. As luck would have it, Kurt and Christopher were also in attendance. Note to self: take more pictures. From St. Joe, we drove to Lake Macatawa for Kathy's family reunion. Potato salad was had by all. Again, no pictures to prove I was actually there.

Oh, and that Sunday we golfed with Scott (in from Mexico for a quick visit) and Kathy and the kids attended the world famous church fair

We were then lucky enough to have our niece Sophie come and stay with us for a week and be Kathy's little helper. For Marylin and Jimmy, it was as if the Pope himself was staying with us. They were bouncing off the walls with excitement all week. For Sophie ...well ...I hope she had a nice time. We sure did. The niece left and the grandparents came for a long weekend. Events ranged from drinking coffee to shopping to, as you can see, washing cars. Grandpa's car was "very muddy" according to Marylin, so she insisted we wash it. Everything was cleaned ...nothing was spared. And, finally, Kathy and I enjoyed being godparent to our niece, Lauren Louise. It was a beautiful ceremony and a lovely day. The carrot cake will be remembered for a long, long time by everyone. Click the link above for some photos of the St. Joe trip, the Baptism, or our car wash.