Kowal Update

Bits & Pieces of News in the Kowal household lately.

Alex got his braces a few weeks ago. He was in a bit of pain, but the orthodontist told us to give him Advil every 6 hrs. The pain should be gone in about 48 hrs. The braces don't look bad at all & he'll only need to wear them for about 20 months. As of now (2/4/08) Alex is fully accustomed to his braces. No more pain. They are clear so they don't hardly show & he's been very good about taking care of them.
His orthodontist (Dr. Seuss) is very nice & I love his offices. One of them is close to us - near the Ice Den. He has an ice cream machine in the lobby of his offices. We had chocolate ice cream the last time I took him. They also have granola bars & video games. Then he gave us an AMC Theatres pass because he felt we were inconvenienced by having to come back to have Alex's wires adjusted.

More on Alex - - He's been taking guitar lessons on most Saturdays & really enjoys it. He'll be taking guitar next year in high school too. Jonathan Robins gave him a nice guitar so he doesn't have to keep borrowing his dad's.

Speaking of high school, we all 3 went to the Chaparral High School open house last wk. Nice school. Alex signed up for student government & basketball already. We have his packet of classes & will be able to register for whatever courses he wants online. He's planning on taking Biology, English Honors, Guitar, Algebra, Spanish & others. He's really excited about starting high school.

We went to Jonathan Robin's Super Bowl party last night at his house with our chavarah. Jonathan's really a good cook. He's always making great food. We ate & talked & some people even watched the game. I tried to go in there just during the commercials. I like Super Bowl advertisements. And of course the half-time show. Those Budweiser commercials rock. Always so original.

Saturday night we spent the evening at Rick & Gail Widner's house for dinner & games. Friends Eric & Jan were there too. Lots of trivia games - even Rocky Horror Picture Show & Friends cards.

And our little monkey has lost his cell phone yet again. The first time (a few wks ago) was when he set it on the roof of my car when he was in the driveway playing basketball. I heard it fall off when I was on the 101 on my way to work. It was insured. The new one came FedEx the very next day. Then that one was stolen at school out of his binder, but he found it in the lost & found the next day. By then I had suspended service on it. We asked him to keep it in the zipper section of his binder from now on. He keeps his pens in there & didn't want to move things around. So he is not getting the phone back.

Alex has been going to the Sylvan Learning Center 2 nights a wk for 2 hrs each night. He's in the reading program. One teacher to one kid. Great ratio. It's normally one teacher to 3 kids, but Alex is the only one in his "group". He's on okay reader, but he wants to improve, so he asked us if there was a reading course we could get him in so he could enjoy reading more. He likes it too.

The princess (Sparky) is doing well. No more trips to the vet. Maybe I didn't mention it, but a few wks ago she got a hold of a pill that accidentally found its way to the bathroom floor. It was a pill she shouldn't have bothered with. Had to rush her to the vet so they could make her throw up. Then they had to have her in doggie ICU for the rest of the day while they monitored her. But she's back to her normal sparky self now & still runs & plays just like a puppy. Little wild girl. We still think she's gifted. She's smarter than some people I know!

Lewis went to Virginia in January to celebrate his brother, Jan's 50th birthday. Rented a limo bus & picked up friends of Jan's then headed to the Capital Grille for dinner. They all had a great time. Alex & I didn't go on this trip. School & work sometimes get in the way of life. The boys are taking a 2 wk trip to Israel this June. Lewis's dad is also going. Just the 3 of them. So it will just be us girls at home - - Princess Sparkelstein & me.
We just got the itinerary & it looks like a great trip. Alex will have a little mini bar mitzvah on Masada. He also is looking forward to swimming with the dolphins. I'm sure the dolphins are looking forward to swimming with him too!

Our nephew, Brandon is getting married in a few weeks. He's marrying a very nice lady - Tarah, who he met when he worked at Safeway a few yrs ago. She's been considered "family" since we first met her.

And Brandon's sister, Samantha will be getting married in September to Michael. They've been dating for a while. Very nice guy. Great sense of humor.

And my little sister, Cathy is now vice-mayor of Peoria. We're so proud of her. She is such a working dog. Two jobs & she still manages to do a great job with Adam & Natalie. And her house is always spotless. I don't know how she does it. I only know I didn't inherit that gene from our mother. Yes, mom is like that too. Now that I think of it, so is Terri. Hey! What happened to me? I guess every family has to have one not so motivated person. And since I am probably the laziest person I've ever known, I would say that's me. Instead of working 2 jobs or cleaning my house, I read all the time. I'm much happier that way. One job is enough for me.

We finally got an email of a mock up of Alex's bar mitzvah photo album. It looks great. We just have to wait until it's ready now.

Sorry, no pictures this time. I do have a new camera so I will put some on this blog the next time. But don't get your hopes up. They won't be as exciting as Mick Fleetwood & me. But what is ?

Hugs,
Candace