Wednesday = school, work, Grammy, Aunt Lisa

Every Wednesday, Mom gets together with Grammy and Aunt Lisa. It's almost always at our house in Fairport, but occasionally the girls will head to Grammy's house in Irondequoit and do some cleaning.
It used to be a more crowded house, with Dad usually home and Sophie home after her preschool ended at 11:30. But now Dad works all day at the University of Rochester, and Sophie is in kindergarten.
Times change, and not always for the better!
Here's a pic Mom took this morning at the bus stop. She has taken over that duty from Dad, because he has to leave at 7:45 each morning for work. Sigh.

Gotta admit, though. Our kids are beautiful!
It promises to be a weird weather week. It was 77 on Monday - Columbus Day - and it may snow this weekend, with temperatures peaking at around 46. Matty has another fall baseball game on Saturday, so that should be tons of fun! (Insert sarcasm here).
Last night, the four of us went for a walk down the street with Charlie. And we almost never do that, so it was good for everyone. We also drew Halloween-themed pictures at the dining room table.
Ah, Halloween. Mom and Sophie will be cats. Dad and Matty will be Dracula. It doesn't get better than this Haloween: It's a Saturday! It's just hard when Halloween is on a school night, as it will be next year (a Monday, due to Leap Year).
That's the scoop from Dad's office at UR. Wanna see it?

Pretty nice, isn't it?
Well, it's time for Dad to get back to work; I get out at 5, then I drive home and we all take Matty to his religion class at Assumption (he starts at 6:15). We usually grab a bite to eat while waiting for him and then bring him something when he gets out at 7. It's fun now, but not so much fun when winter is here.
And we hate winter!
Bye for now!

Back to the future: It's October 2015

We've got to stop meeting like this.
I don't want this blog to be like Haley's Comet - appearing every 75 years.
I promise to do a better job of updating it. Then again, I've said that before, right?

So a lot has gone down since I last wrote about The Mandelaros - including a trip in March to DisneyWorld. Here we are at our Disney Movies Resort hotel.

And here's a Reader's Digest version of our life in 2015:

1. Jim no longer works at the Democrat and Chronicle. He left in June after 33 years and now works at the University of Rochester as Student Life Publicist. He is really enjoying working with brilliant students from all over the world and likes having his nights and weekends free. He's less enamored with driving in rush hour and fighting for a parking spot (and a 10-minute walk from car to office). But oh yes, he likes having an office. His latest book, Outside The Game, was published by RIT Press in June.

2. Kerri is between jobs. She worked at an evil dentist's office for a few years but is now a free agent looking for the best job that allows her to be there for the kids in the morning and the afternoon. In the meantime, she's keeping the house in order and whipping up delicious dinners for us.

3. Matty is 9 and in fourth grade. He loves his Xbox, his laptop, his iPad . . . yup, he's definitely a kid in 2015. He's very good at school (even though he says he doesn't like it much) and is a smart, sensitive, popular kid. He knows more Major League Baseball players than Jim, and they enjoy watching the Red Sox - except when they lose, which lately has been often.

4. Sophie is in (gulp) kindergarten. She's 5 years old and loves to tickle people. She likes playing with her Barbie dolls, is a big fan of the Disney princesses and enjoys learning how to spell. She's a sweet, beautiful girl.

We are still blessed to have our cats, Marius and Cosette. And we have a new addition: a 2-year-old dog name Charlotte Louise - but you can call her "Charlie." We chose the name "Charlie" from our favorite family TV show, Good Luck, Charlie. She is a gorgeous jacobee - that's a Jack Russell/beagle mix - and 19 pounds of energy.

We lost Papa, Kerri's dad, in September 2014 and miss him every day. But he is always sending us signs that he's around. Namely lots of feathers. We love you, Papa!

Kerri's mom - Grammy - is doing well. She comes over to the house every Wednesday with Aunt Lisa, although it's not the same without little Sophie there. Grammy misses her a lot on those Wednesdays. Jim's mom - Mimi - is going to be 91 next month. That's amazing! She has recovered from her two strokes in 2013 and lives alone in her condo in Penfield.

I am hoping Matty will write in this blog and share his thoughts, too. He is a gifted writer.