Rehearsing for Christmas in Texas!

Megan is Selected for the Southeastern Jr. District Orchestra

The grades she competed against were 7, 8, and 9th and there are over 100 schools in the Southeast District.   

She will be performing with the Jr. District Orchestra on March 7.

We are very proud of her hard work and accomplishment.

Congratulations!  

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Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with dinner on Thursday at our house.   We hosted the Hunt family and Paul and Judy came.   Mary brought the turkey and dressing and I made the sides.   We had: Brown Sugar Glazed Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans with Carmelized onions, Braised Carrots, Mashed Potatoes, and Homemade rolls.    For dessert we had 3 layer Oatmeal Brownies, Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie, and Apple Pie.   Yes -- too much food for the 13 of us.    

On Friday, we enjoyed a fabulous tasting menu prepared by Brooke and Derek (Mary's son and his friend who are students at the New England Culinary  Institute).      This meal will go at the top of my favorite meals of all time, partly due to the company and mostly due to the unique quality and taste of the food presented.     It is nice to see a young adult find his calling and be so successful at it at such a young age.

On Saturday we rested and went to see the movie Australia.  

On Sunday we kicked off the Christmas season with Max singing Christmas carols in the Duxbury town center, putting up the Christmas tree, and eating Thanksgiving leftovers.

Here comes the holidays!!

Celebrating the Entrepreneur.

A mom of one of Max's friends has had a business for a while making things out of recycled tin, wire, and jewelry.       They are quite creative and now have a website which allows more people access to their funky, custom, environmentally friendly creations.

Please Visit "Tin Mints Creations"

Older and Faster

Max had his first meet in the 11 - 12 year old age group.    The size of the boys in this group varies as shown in the first picture.  The 2 boys on the right of Max are boys he races against in this age group.   The 3rd boy is about 5'10''.     He also raced his first 200 Freestyle, 200 IAM, 200 Breaststroke, in addition to his regular races 100 IAM, 100 breast, 100 back, 100 free, 50 free, 50 breast, and the 50 back.   He beat his time in all of them but the 50 breast (which he swam right after the 200 IAM).     

Books, Books, and more Books!

In addition to the bathroom remodel we added a bookcase to the living room and tied it into the existing built-in bookcases.    Seth is quickly filling it up.

Updating the Kid's Bathroom

The bathroom remodeling job is finally complete and Megan and Max have moved in.   Seth and I would also like to move in.   I have decided to put doors on the 2 cubical openings over the builtin hampers I had put in the cabinets by the toilet.   They should come in 2 weeks.

Megan's Bittersweet had her first baby!

Bittersweet popped out a bull calf yesterday around 5:00 pm and Megan named it Huckleberry Finn.   They name the calves with the same "theme" as their moms.    She surprised everyone by having her quickly and with little warning.    Another jersey calf was also born a couple of hours earlier.   Bittersweet's teats are a little small for the milking machine, but they finally got enough suction.     

New England Country Girls

Megan helped out her 4H club on Friday work at the Marshfield Farmer's Market.   Her and her friends brought smiles to our faces as well as others as they showed the kids the cows, sheep, and goat that they brought for display,  sang along with the Country Western performer,  sold their baked wares, Oneil Farm tshirts, and recycling bags.    

Max's 10 Year Old Swimming Finale

Max enjoyed his last meet swimming with the 9-10 year olds this weekend.   The new season is called "Short Course" where they swim in 25 yd pools so there are more turns involved.   He beat all of his previous times.     The next meet he will be swimming with the 11-12 year olds, some of who are 6 inches taller than him.     His times currently place him in the middle of this age group in most of the events.   1:12:99 -- 100 Freestyle, 1:33:89 -- 100 Breastroke; 43.45 50 Backstroke; 45:00 50 Butterfly.   The picture is from a previous meet.

Boys to Men -- First Dance

Max and Connor are off to their first dance class.   

Moo!

Megan and her friends await the unloading of there cows for a vet check at the Marshfield Fair. Megan has 2 cows she will show and have at the fair for 11 days.  This year her 4h club brought 23 Dairy Cows.

Click to view newspaper link

More updates on the end of school year and summer to follow -- much to celebrate!!

Megan's Musical Moment

Megan played beautifully in a recital last Wednesday.     Enjoy her concert.

A Goal Surpassed!

Max beat the 9-10 yr old New England Long Course Championship 50 Breaststroke qualifying time on Sunday.    This is a goal he has been working toward for about two years.    The qualifying time is 54.59 and Max's time was 53.92.   Congratulations!   Max is the first swimmer on the Kingfish team to qualify for this year's championships.  To give you an idea of how hard it is, there are meets where even the first place winners don't make the qualifying time.   Kingsbury usually send around 5-6  out of about 40 swimmers to the 12 and under championship meet.   The NE Championship meet is July 17 - 20.    

The Swing

Seth's newest project -- a swing for Megan.

The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside-

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Snug Harbor Chorus Makes the News

The Boston Globe published a nice article about the Snug Harbor Chorus .    The chorus is celebrating their 10 year anniversary concert next Saturday.     I'm in the back on the left next to the first man.

www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/05/04/on_anniversary_singing_a_joyful_tune/

Who do you want to be?

Twice this week I've been given inspirational ideas on how to live life and how to advise my children when they are choosing their paths and setting goals.     

At the farm on Sunday the owner shared that many times people ask him about when he is going to retire and what he will do.   He answered: "I don't feel the need to ever retire, farming is what I love to do and I feel lucky that I chose a career where I can do what I enjoy."

How lucky and how many of us wish we were in careers where we can't imagine every leaving and doing anything else?

Today I sat down to answer email and was listening to Maria Shriver on Rachel Ray.   Her advice to her children is don't focus on what you want to do focus on who you want to be.   I like this because so often we talk about our children's achievements and activities and don't focus on their qualities.    Instead of worrying about how to teach them not to be afraid of failure, having them learn how to appreciate who they are and what qualities they are proud of changes their measure of success.   They can now set their focus on things which bring them joy and improve the qualities for which they've defined who they want to be.    Maria Shriver tells her kids that she  loves them for who they are and not what they are going to achieve.   Wise words that I should remember as I try and encourage my children to participate in certain things that I think will help them be more rounded and successful as adults while being conscious that these things may not align with their sense of who they are.   The question is how do you encourage the talents that you see in your children while keeping in mind that the best way for them to succeed is for self encouragement based on their joys.

There were a couple of other things Maria Shrive said that I thought were wise:

"Focus on what truly moves you --give to the community in those ways."   "The best way to find yourself is to be of service. "    

Farming in 2008

Yesterday I helped transport Megan and friends from her 4H club to a dairy farm in Portsmouth, RI.    The Dairy Farm has a raised milking parlor with automatic gates and a fast release milking system.   They are able to milk about 85 Holsteins in 1 hour.    The first cow goes into a chute that opens the gate for the next cow until 6 are ready to be milked.  The farmers clean and prepare the utters for milking, hook up the milking machine and then once the cow is milked the milking machine quick releases from the udder.  Once all of the cows are milked the gates open (much like the release of the bars on a rollercoaster ride) and the cows exit the milking area.     The owner Mr. Escobar, a second generation Portugese dairy farmer, has diversified his farming practice so that he can still make a profit when profits are low from dairy farming.  He has a corn maze, which receive 14,500 visitors last year, Christmas Tree Farm, composting business, pumpkin patch, Hostein breeding business, and Water Dog breeding business.   The diversifying is required for the small farmer who must come up with creative cost effective ways to manage and feed his herd and make enough money to sustain his family.    Mr Escobar was a wealth of information and quite interesting.    Click on the link and view slideshow to see pictures from the farm.  kglatt.shutterfly.com/action/

A Day Of Lacrosse

Saturdays seem to be dedicated to Lacrosse.   They had four 30 minute games at a tournament last weekend in UMASS.   This weekend the team had four 1 hour games in Duxbury.   The weather was sunny and cool so the boys didn't get too overheated.   This Saturday Max played midfield for 3 of the games and attack for 1 of the games.   Midfield is the only position that is allowed to run the ball up the field from defense to offense.    Three people play midfield and are rotated back and forth with a second midfield group to allow for some rest.    The games are fun to watch because it is constant action.   Max made 1 goal and a number of assists.  I've loaded the pictures in the new slideshow gadget I've come across.

First Trip to the Beach of 2008

The weather has been absolutely wonderful this week.   The kids have enjoyed spending time with their friends and their various sports, horse, and cow activities.    On Wednesday the wind was blowing from inland and it was warm enough to spend a couple of hours on the beach.   I found my first sea glass and shells of the year.   Megan went with a friend.   Max had a friend over and I took them.   They ran into friends and played pickle, buried their feet in the sand, and took a quick dunk.   I'm surprised Max went in considering how frigid the water was, but there were 4 buddies in the water urging him on.    It is always surprising when we have the warm days like that where you can actually sit outside and not get goose bumps due to the wind blowing off of the ocean.    The weather energized all of us and in addition to playing we tackled some house projects like cleaning up the garage.    Only 8 more weeks on school left.

The WALL

                                                                                              Seth spent last weekend building Max a LAX practice wall.    Here are some pictures of the building.   Megan also assisted in the building, but Mom and Max were at a LAX tournament and weren't able to take pictures.

Six Months Since We Felt 70 degrees

The best thing about living in New England is that you appreciate nice days, especially the first day when we reach 70 degrees.   Today will be one of the best that I will remember.    

It started with a celebration of my friend Rennan's last radiation therapy.  Her journey began last May with a diagnosis of cancer in both of her breasts, mastectomy in July, chemotherapy from August until February and radiation until today.   Her strength has been amazing through it all.  She has maintained an incredible amount of energy and spirit.   We have tried to help in little ways, but she has really made this journey all by herself.   We celebrated by surprising her at the radiation office wearing pink boas and served a cake decorated with "Our Friendship" "Your Strength".     The nurses and doctors were thrilled with the outpouring of friendship and support that is so important to those experience cancer.

Another little joy that people in the South would have trouble relating to:  I was able to wear a short sleeve shirt without a jacket the entire day.  Including the time I sat with a friend on her porch and visited for a while.

For all those who have misconceptions about how children living in a wealthy suburb of Boston spend their free time -- here is a glimpse of my children's afternoon today.

Max played 4 hours outside with a friend burning their names in leaves using a magnifying glass and the sun and walking about a 1/2 mile to a local playground to play.

Megan spent the afternoon riding a horse, chasing turkeys at a dairy farm, helping friends

walk their calves, cleaning out the dairy barn, and is currently at a friend's house eating pizza and watching a movie with 4 other girls.  

For a while I enjoyed watching Megan and her friends at the Dairy Farm, helping and playing like they have lived every day out there.   I ended the day throwing the ball for our dog and a neighbors and cooking a spring dish of Mediterranean Shrimp pasta.

It is nice to see my children enjoy nature and the simple things in life.   Max has even spent time in the recent weeks creating little stuffed animals by drawing patterns, cutting them out in scrap material, hand sewing them and stuffing them with cotton balls.    This idea came from another friend.    

Yes, Megan and Max also practice musical instruments, Max is involved in 3 sports this spring, and Megan also plays tennis, which includes them in the group of kids around the nation that are on activity overload.   They also enjoy access to the current video gaming systems.  Yet, all of these activities seem to balance with their love for just having fun in the outdoors.   Maybe it is luxury of living in a place where the rural life is still cherished among the million dollar houses.   

I feel very blessed.

 

Capturing a Moment in the Past

In either 1966 or 1967 Dad was President of the Pearland Lions Club and he brought Mom and I to Chicago, IL to participate in the Lions Club International Convention.     I remember Mom speaking about this convention and parade numerous times in my childhood and I could always hear her pride and happiness about being able to participate in this with me.    This is a picture of the parade.  Mom and I walked a lot in the parade, but then someone felt sorry for me and put on one of the horses (with a rider of course).    I remember Mom chuckling at how tired she was (see her heels in the picture) and I didn't seem tired, yet I was the one who got the ride.    Somewhere there is a movie that was published for Lions Club that has me on top of the horse.    We still have the pins that were trade with people from other states and countries.   I know Mom enjoyed meeting the people from the various parts of the world.   

Celebrating Friendships

Last Friday I went to dinner with 6 friends and then attended a celebration event starring Loretta LaRoche who is a stress manager/humorist.   I came across her when looking for "feel good" books to download onto my palm and listen to on my walks.  Her practical advice and dry sense of humor lightened up my days and gave me words of wisdom to face the daily stresses of life.

She recommends that we find joy in our lives every day.  

One article I've read of hers lately has really touched a nerve in my daily life.  I'm in the process of sorting through mementos.    Since Mom has died I have enjoyed sorting through her things and finding little memories in many of them.    Mom saved everything and "yes" too much, which has encouraged me to simplify my life.      Mom had many mementos she couldn't part with during her lifetime.  I find that my most precious moments are captured in the pictures, videos, letters, recipes, stories, and journals.     

I believe that our life is like a puzzle that is planned by God.    Moments in our lives are puzzle pieces that fit into the puzzle.  Sometimes we can fit the pieces together and find a purpose or a picture into our life.  Sometimes we can't really find a place and make sense of the piece.   However, ultimately everything fits into place and we can see a plan.   The picture is up to us, the moments are ours to experience,  how they fit into the plan is up to God.

This blog is way of capturing special moments -- however, I need to make sure its archivable.   Meanwhile, I'll keep sorting through the past and finding a way of sharing it with my family.

To find out more about Loretta LaRoche see: www.lorettalaroche.com.   Also, see if your library has a copy of "The Best of Loretta LaRoche" on cd or audio.    It will light up your life.

Presenting Megan!

Yesterday, Megan presented a visual presentation at Plymouth County 4H Communications Day received an "Award of Excellence" and was selected by a panel of judges to enter the State Competition. Her presentation was on endangered animals.

She has recently gained additional public speaking experience by being selected by the Duxbury Interfaith Council to read an essay she and a friend wrote at the Martin Luther King Day celebration held at Pilgrim Church in Duxbury.

Planting Pecan Trees over Christmas

Dad planted 4 pecan trees on the farm over Christmas. I have a dwindling supply from Nana's tree and since we sold her house we don't have access to any of the wonderful Texas grown pecans. Dad ordered trees that should bear pecans this year unless they're too stressed from the transplanting.

He also rebuilt the fence surround the house to extend past the trees. The trees came from a farm on the Colorado River close to Bastrop.

Click on the "View Glattstein Family Pictures" to review pictures of the planting.

A Rockin' Sunday

Working backward over the last month and a half, we celebrate the opportunities our church gives our family spiritually as well as encouraging our talents. Last Sunday Max was a part of putting smiles on people in church as they heard our Jr. Choir sing The Weight. It isn't one of my favorite songs, but you can tell the children enjoy it. It was written in 1968 and performed by "THE BAND". Max is the 4th soloist.

Celebrating the New Year

The Christmas holidays have past and we've celebrated the New Year. I always spend January cleaning out files, making new goals, and refreshing myself and my surroundings. I've finally come to a place that I can get back to the routines of life and
fit in creative endeavors such as this. I've played a little with IWEB on the MAC and may switch to putting my blog on our
family website. Seth and I still have some glitches to work out and to agree on the interface.

I'll update everyone on the past month's events in future entries.

Welcome 2008!