An 11 year old!

Okay so am I old enough to have an 11 year old?

Pete celebrated his 11th Birthday yesterday and I can hardly believe it. It seems like yesterday I was teaching him how to ride a two wheeler.

I feel so blessed to have such an amazing son. He is the kindest, most compassionate, honest, caring & Detroit sports-loving boy in the world.

I love you buddy -

The Greatest Day of the Year

When you ask most people, they will say Christmas is the greatest day of the year - maybe it is because they have the day off from work, maybe it is because they receive gifts and maybe it is because it is the day Jesus was born. Well, it took many years and a lot of bible study to realize that actually the days of Easter are quite a bit more important than Christmas. For Christians, this was THE big day! Here is a man who knew his destiny - knew why he was born on that Christmas Day, knew he was going to die a horrible death for ALL of US and was totally okay with it.

Easter mass was awesome and it was so nice to hear father Mac speak from the heart. He is such a holy man and we are blessed to have him as our priest.

After mass, we headed to DCC for brunch with some friends! The kids are getting a bit "old" to really do the egg hunt on Saturday so we opted for Sunday! It was super yummy and a beautiful morning!

The Blog Revival!

Okay so my kids asked this morning - "Mom, didn't we used to have a blog thingie." I wasn't even sure if I could remember the password! Well, I did & here I am!!

Not that anyone (except my offspring) care that the blog is back to life!

Okay so the last entry was August 2009 so HMMMMM what have we been up to in the Zucker household? Oh Yea - I have a child turning 9 today!!!!!! Her name starts with an "A" HMMMMM (as she is looking over my shoulder right now)!!

Yes - Today my baby - turns 9. I can't believe it! Nine years ago, I couldn't wait for you to enter this world (I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that you were 9 days overdue)! You have grown into a beautiful, self-assured, generous, loving, caring, faith-filled daughter and I am proud to be your mom!

So...back to the past 7 months - we have had Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and many soccer games, dance competitions, and fun family times. That should sum it up!!!

I guess I will try harder at keeping this updated for my smoochies!

Knowing you made the right decision

There are so many times in life that you second-guess the decisions you make as a parent. You always try to do what is best for your children and sometimes it works & sometimes it doesn't. I am so relieved that the decisions Frank & i have made in the last year have turned out to be spot on!!

When we moved here 4 years ago, I was sucked into a social group of "so-called friends" that wasn't the best thing for our family. These people were shallow, obsessed with climbing the social ladder, and not very family focused. It was all about getting sitters to go out all of the time.

Frank & I went along because we thought "what a welcoming group of people."

After we had a reality check a year later, and realized we didn't have the same values (or lack of) as these people, Frank & I started making decisions the way we used to WHAT WORKS FOR OUR FAMILY!!!

We pulled Allie out of the "clique" at dance and put her in a class where she knew no one. She quickly met new friends and these girls have been amazing!

We recently switched Peter's soccer league to what we felt was best for him. He had played soccer with the other boys since 1st grade but the league was horrible. He finally agreed to switch and couldn't be happier.

Last year we decided to switch the kids to public school only to find there was a waiting list. Yes a waiting list at a public school. Peter was able to get in last March but we just found out Allie got in. The kids are thrilled - and so are we.

Frank & I feel like now life is GREAT!!! We have finally gotten our kids out of things that other people told us we should be a part of and did what is best for them and our family as a whol. It has been a crazy couple of years. Through all of that, Frank & I have met some AWESOME people who we call our friends. Thanks you Jenny, Lance, Caroline, Chad, Traci, Jeff, Karen, Mark, etc.....for showing us what real friendship means.

Fun Family time

WOW - we are finally home from 2 1/2 weeks away! We had an absolute ball.

The kids went to stay with Grandma & Papa in Michigan while Frank & I headed off to Florida for a Jostens conference. To say the kids had fun is an understatement. Grandma & Papa took them to the art museum, the science center, Papa & Peter went golfing twice while Grandma & Allie went shopping and to a pottery studio. Papa & Peter then hit a Tigers game & Papa scored front row seats. Peter and Allie were in heaven! They played with Talia, Suzie & Alex next door everyday!! Frank & I were entertained by the fun daily emails from the kids along with pictures. Allie even emailed photos modeling her new outfits! Frank & I had a week together to relax, attend classes & celebrate the awards Frank won. We got to go to Disney World & The Jostens Center at ESPN's Wide World of Sports for different activities. We had a ton of Fun! Frank & I are best friends as well as husband & wife so it is a blast to hang out together!

After heading back to Michigan for a night to get the kiddos, we took off for a week with my side of the family to our favorite summer spot Beachwalk Resort. What an absolute BLAST!!! Nonni & Papa George, Ryan, Lettie & the kids and Katie all came down. Todd, Shelly & the kids decided to come at the last minute because Cassi's softball tournament (in North Dakota) was cancelled. They stayed in a hotel but Zack stayed with us at the house. The kids had such a wonderful time at the beach, pool, riding bikes, making smores, peddle boating, fishing, riding bikes, etc......The weather was absolutely PERFECT the whole time we were there. The only rain we got was when Lettie & I happened to be at the OUTDOOR outlet mall - we were drenched. Ryan & Frank had the kids at the putt-putt golf/batting cage place that day & were nearly struck by lightening!

All in all, it was a perfect vacation (minus Peter getting stitches in his foot the first day).

We are home now & school starts in 10 days - CRAZY!!!

4th of July

Today is July 4th and we have had a busy few weeks! We were in Ohio for my 20th class reunion and the kids had a BLAST with their cousins and Nonni & Papa George. They went to COSI and the Columbus Zoo, the Creekside festival and played in the creek(Allie lost her shoe and Sammy & Pete recovered it down stream). It was a great weekend....wow do we miss living near family.

We have been busy with swim team, tennis, dance, soccer & all of the other fun summer activities. Allie has had 2 swim meets and I think she found another LOVE!!

Yesterday we spent hours (5 to be exact) at the pool. Last night the kids went to our friends the Hancocks (Carly babysat) while Frank & I went to our friend's the Everitts for a pre-4th of July BBQ. The kids had a blast swimming, making cookies and playing Playstation.

Today we are headed to our friend's the Tews for a pool party/BBQ (all of the DCC events are postponed due to rain). The kids can still swim in the rain (unless it is storming...we wouldn't want fried kiddos)! we are hoping it stops by this evening so the fireworks aren't postponed.

I am still here

I haven't Blogged forever - I guess it is due to facebook!!!!

Life is good in the Zucker household!

Pete returned from a week at camp Friday and we get to pick Allie up tomorrow. They love going to camp and I am so glad they do!

We head out this weekend for my 20th H.S. reunion - WOW!!!! I can't wait. We are getting together Friday night at our favorite H.S. pizza hangout. We get to see everyone's kids, etc. Then Saturday night is the couples only party. I am mainly interested in seeing my good friends who don't live near me. It will be fun to see others too. Kristen & her family are staying at my mom's house with us since her folks retired down to Hilton Head. That will be great to hang out with her.

The dryer has been broken for 2 weeks (fun fun with camp clothes and now trying to pack for Ohio). Traci & Jenny let me use their dryers to do a few loads and I will probably schlep some to my moms. I will feel like I am a college student again!

The other weird news is my dad had a massive heart attack the other day. I haven't talked to him since he no-showed at my wedding 13 years ago. It is a strange thing. I wasn't sure how I felt or how I would react if I ever heard any news like that. I prayed for him and his family.

Tata for now -

Crazy Days!!

Well I haven't posted in ages because I have been crazy busy with the end of school, dance recitals, field day, etc.....

Life is beginning to slow down. Allie is done with school, has a two week break from dance after a wonderful recital weekend! Peter has 4 days left of school and is done with soccer for a while! Soon all of the summer sports (tennis, swim team & junior golf) will start but those seem to be much more laid back.

I will write again soon and post photos - they are still on the camera!

Gotta get some coffee - before I can think!

so long.........

It has been so long since I blogged! My Mac went down (I know - that is the reason people buy Mac's - they never go down)! we had First Communion weekend on April 19th - with 9 additional people sleeping here. Mom & George, Mom & Dad Z, Ryan, Lettie, Sammy, Annie & Katie. That weekend or computer fried out. I was flipping out - I mean completely a mess that I might have lost my pictures. I only had through Oct. 2008 backed up. After some phone calls to Apple and no luck with online repair, we ended up having to take it in. Luckily it was not the hard drive. That meant my pictures were still there! We finally got it back yesterday and I have been playing catch up. Needless to say, I hooked up our external hard drive and have Time Machine running at all times. It backs up the computer every 24 hours!

First Communion was beautiful (the event - certainly not the weather)!

Peter turned 10 on April 21st so we celebrated his birthday with Grandma Z and Papa George who also have birthdays on the 20th & May 1 respectively!

May is going to be a crazy busy month with Field Day, Biz Town, Uppercase Living shows, field trips, dance recital, soccer games and an ever needed ladies trip complete with spa services!!!

I can't wait until Summer is HERE!

Michigan

This past weekend, we went to Michigan to visit with family and attend the Bat Mitzvah of Frank's cousin's oldest daughter. Wow! What a great time we had. The ceremony was on Saturday and I must say - Peter & Allie were AMAZING! They sat for 3 hours through Shabbat service which was 90% in Hebrew. Erin did such a phenomenal job. Her Bat Mitzvah readings of the Torah were beautiful and her talk was so so eloquent (it was in English - so I understood it)! It is hard to believe she is only 13. It was quite an honor because she was also the first Bat Mitzvah at Adat Shalom to do a Musaf.

We spent Saturday evening with our friends the Hodges! we always have a fabulous time with them. The kids never miss a beat with their kids.

Sunday night was the Bat Mitzvah party. They rented out the Whirlyball facility in Novi- The kids were in Heaven! There were games, dancing, music, food, more food (check out the pix of the sweet table not including the Good Humor ice cream cart) & whirlyball. Allie was too short to play whirlyball but I don't think she cared because she didn't step away from the Dance, Dance Revolution game the whole night!

I commented to Frank's parents when we were driving home that I am glad our kids are Catholic because we wouldn't be able to have a bash like that! WOWZERS!! It was FUN, FUN, FUN and so great to spend time with Grandma & Papa!!