kevdonahue

We spent Christmas in NJ. Here Kelly is with Grandma at Chris’ house in Atlantic Highlands, NJ, on Xmas Eve. Christmas Day was spent at Kevin’s parents’ house in Aberdeen. Had a nice time. Despite the recession, everybody managed to get something they liked – Pete apparently got an entire new wardrobe. As Nick said, “Grandma, I’m getting showered with gifts!” Why don’t video cameras know when to turn themselves on?!? Anyway, we’re home again, Kelly’s hoops team managed a 26-20 win in an Xmas tournament in Royersford, and we watched Silverado, which is actually a very good Western. “We’ll be back!”

Thanksgiving was great here. We ate, we played, we decorated, we walked and ran, some hot-tubbed, and we saw the Fantastic Mr. Fox. During dinner, we talked about our childhood memories of Thanksgiving. Grammy (Roz) shared her stories of Muscovy ducks and pies and potato peeling. Heard Auntie Do could do amazing things with a potato masher. We gave thanks for family and good health and wished all could be as blessed and that we could help to make it a world where all had abundance!

… to the Internet, Auntie Do!

Virginia finally got to the new super-supermarket, one town over from us, and it looked …. like a really big grocery store. Kelly tells me the pizza is awesome. Anyway, I think the thing Kelly likes best is that, as you can see, he got some gelato when we visited. Virginia liked that she got to hold Kelly.

Virginia put in a lot of hours helping to coordinate our church’s annual Holiday Shoppe fundraiser, and it was time well-spent. It raised about $1,500.

Kevin continues to chair the Building and Grounds Committee, which is not exactly his skill set (“Kevin” and “handy” are seldom put in the same sentence) but it’s how he’s helping now.

In other news:
– Kelly is playing Travel Basketball this winter. He made Audubon’s B team, and Kevin’s assisting with the coaching (though not that much).
– Pete tried out and made the JV basketball team at high school. The tryouts were demanding and the commitment is intense. He’s going to have to manage his team in a much more efficient manner. We’ll see how that works out.
– Both boys had relatively good report cards – Pete picked up an eliminated a bunch of C’s from his freshman year. Kelly posted a bunch of 90s. Virginia and I are proud – and expecting more.
– Virginia has about recovered from a bout of poison ivy, caught when we cleaned up her mom’s yard in Md. Kelly has shaken off a lingering episode of his IBD. We’re looking good heading into the holidays.

Virginia finally got to the new super-supermarket, one town over from us, and it looked …. like a really big grocery store. Kelly tells me the pizza is awesome. Anyway, I think the thing Kelly likes best is that, as you can see, he got some gelato when we visited. Virginia liked that she got to hold Kelly.

Virginia put in a lot of hours helping to coordinate our church's annual Holiday Shoppe fundraiser, and it was time well-spent. It raised about $1,500.

Kevin continues to chair the Building and Grounds Committee, which is not exactly his skill set ("Kevin" and "handy" are seldom put in the same sentence) but it's how he's helping now.

In other news:
– Kelly is playing Travel Basketball this winter. He made Audubon's B team, and Kevin's assisting with the coaching (though not that much).
– Pete tried out and made the JV basketball team at high school. The tryouts were demanding and the commitment is intense. He's going to have to manage his team in a much more efficient manner. We'll see how that works out.
– Both boys had relatively good report cards – Pete picked up an eliminated a bunch of C's from his freshman year. Kelly posted a bunch of 90s. Virginia and I are proud – and expecting more.
– Virginia has about recovered from a bout of poison ivy, caught when we cleaned up her mom's yard in Md. Kelly has shaken off a lingering episode of his IBD. We're looking good heading into the holidays.

We’d given Auntie Do our old Macintosh tower two plus years ago, and she loved it. But after 7 years, it’s time was up. So we’ve got her a Mac Mini, which allows her to keep using her mouse and monitor, which both work just fine. And she has re-upped our support contract for a couple more years. A guy needs a way to bring home some supplemental income … ;)

IMG_0450, originally uploaded by kevdonahue.

We visited Virginia’s mom, in Maryland, on Halloween and put in a very busy day of cleaning up the yard. Tied up many branches, chopped down some branches, cleaned the gutters and (my favorite) raked the roof. I managed to leaf-bomb Kelly when he wasn’t looking for it—sweet!!

Susan was, of course, a huge help. Virginia put in a good day’s work. It wasn’t till we’d been home a day that she realized she’d picked up a case of poison ivy. Ugh!! It’s ALMOST cleared up now.