Marilyn's Maggiano's Birthday

We took Ken's mother Marilyn out to eat at Maggiano's Little Italy on Sunday, November 15 for her birthday. The setting was a perfect place for Ken to share all about his business trip to Italy. We enjoyed the family style option and stuffed ourselves with delicious Italian treats. The appetizers, salads, pastas, and main courses were all delicious. I especially enjoyed the seasonal pumpkin cheesecake for dessert! What a wonderful place to celebrate with family.

Marilyn, Howard, Jennifer, and Ken

Marilyn's birthday candles.

Ken bought his mom the brown bag in Italy. He teased that he got it just for her but it was given to him when he purchased toiletries at a local Italian store.

Halloween 2009

Ken was in Italy for business on Halloween this year. My friend Jaime came over to keep me company and to help me pass out candy to the many trick-or-treaters that visited our house. I made ghost suckers and had a variety of chocolate candy to hand out. I made chili and potato soup for Jaime and I to enjoy. Jaime made homemade sugar cookies. She used cousin Angela's (Ken's cousin) recipe from our cookbook. Our friends Liz and Kyle came over later in the evening. I was dressed as a cat and my friend Jaime was dressed at Mother Catersa. Our friend Liz came dressed as Minnie Mouse. It was a fun evening!

Mother Catersa, Minnie Mouse, and a cat!

Homemade decorated Halloween sugar cookies!

Chili and salad.

A few days before Halloween I made a visit to my friend Ginger's house to see baby Abby. I bought baby Abby her first Halloween book, "Five Little Pumpkins." I enjoyed reading the book to her. Abby was a pumpkin for Halloween!

I also made a visit to Kristi's house, my former teaching partner. I had a bag of goodies for her two kiddos. Miss M was a beautiful mermaid for Halloween and Mr. C was a basketball player.

The two Jennifer Talley's

On October 22, 2010, Ken's cousin Jennifer Talley Noffsinger came to St. Louis for a conference. She is a speech pathologist. She contacted us and we immediately wanted to see her while she was in town! Unfortunately Ken had to go out of town for work but I was home and was delighted to pick her up and take her out to dinner. We went to Pappy's Smokehouse for dinner and enjoyed yummy cupcakes at the Cupcakery. It was a true St. Louis experience as Pappy's and the Cupcakery are both St. Louis originals. Pappy's Smokehouse has been featured on the Food Network.

Jennifer and I share more than a first and last name. We both love cupcakes, music, and playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band. We also love animals and are only children. It was a cool and rainy evening but we warmed up with great conversation and yummy cupcakes!

Jennifer Talley Noffsinger

Pictures with the pig at Pappy's!

O Pioneers!

On Saturday, October 10, 2009, I attended the world-premiere of O Pioneers!, a new opera, based on Willa Cather's novel of tragedy, transformation and redemption. The opera made its debut at the Touhill and I was lucky to go for free because my friend Becky Swett got me a comp ticket! She played clarinet in the orchestra. The orchestra with 32 musicians! Composer Barbara Harbach, Dimensions Dance Center, the St. Louis Women's Chorale and the College of Fine Arts and Communication assembled a nationally recognized group of opera professionals to stage O Pioneers!, complete with arias, dance, chorus, and an unmistakably American story.

During my undergraduate studies I read several of Willa Cather's novels and one of those was O Pioneers! When I heard that the book had been made into an opera and was premiering in St. Louis I was very excited. Then I found out that my friend Becky was playing clarinet in the show and I was even more excited!

Our 4th Anniversary

Ken and I celebrated our 4th anniversary on September 24, 2009. We had our parents over for dinner and cake on after my first St. Louis Wind Symphony concert of the season. We kept the tradition alive of getting an anniversary cake from Lubely's Bakery, the bakery that made our wedding cake. Keeping with the theme, we always request them to decorate our anniversary cake with musical notes and our monogram.

Ken and I continued the celebration by going out to two anniversary dinners where we were able to use anniversary coupons sent to us by two of our favorite restaurants. We enjoyed discounted dinners at Grappa Grill in St. Charles and at Maggiano's Little Italy in Brentwood.

School District #159- Matteson, Il

On September 22 I did an in-service on Open Court Reading in School District 159 in Matteson, IL. The district uses Open Court Reading in grades kindergarten and grade 1. I remember conducting a training at the board office a few years ago, as the charming building looked familiar to me when I arrived. I worked with kindergarten teachers in the morning and 1st grade teachers in the afternoon. The district loves the program and has been using Open Court Reading for many years. A teacher who has been with the district for years told me she has taught Open Court Reading for 30 years!
Elementary School District 159 is located in Cook County and serves portions of the communities in Matteson, Richton Park, Tinley Park and Frankfort. The student population of 2310 and is served by five locations. Four grade schools, Woodgate, Armstrong, Yates and Sieden Prairie, house grades pre-school through fifth. One middle school, Colin Powell, houses grades sixth through eighth. The district Administration Center is located on Vollmer Road on the site of the original two-room Sedan Prairie schoolhouse, originally built in 1869

Pi Pizza

On Saturday, September 19, 2009, a group of friends invited me to join them for lunch at Pi in University City. Pi is known for its deep-dish cornmeal crusts but they also serve thin pizza and yummy salads. Everything is made with fresh ingredients. Even though President Obama is from Chicago, he ate pizza from Pi when he was in town and has had the pizza sent to the White House.

Friends enjoying pizza at Pi in University City.

After enjoying yummy deep dish pizza at Pi, Jaime and I stopped by Jilly's Cupcake Bar for dessert. Jaime tried the chocolate raspberry cupcake. She let me have a sample and it was yummy! I tried the red velvet cupcake. One of my favorites! I love the cream cheese icing! Ken had to work so I brought home a special Cardinal baseball cupcake for him to enjoy!