The Piotrowski Christmas
Newsletter 2008
As we write this letter, the family sits at the breakfast table. Michael is surfing sports on the internet, Dominik is frowning at Mario on his Nintendo DS, and David is... Where is David? Oh, he is sitting in his toddler size easy chair in the family room watching TV. Ah, the Piotrowskis, the picture perfect American family.
This year, in effort to not spend all our time immersed in electronic media, on the path to obesity, we have become involved in our new community of Traverse City, Michigan. We’ve been enjoying the beach, the super-cool antiquey downtown area and its excellent restaurants, and our many new friends. (We have ferreted out a collection of friends who not only tolerate, but seem to like us!) The boys played soccer this Fall and this Winter Dominik is in for a couple of ski lessons. Mike has his heart set on teaching the boys how to play ice hockey, as soon as they flood and freeze the neighborhood outdoor ice skating rink. Angeline has been taking a hip-hop class with her friends, but seems to be the last mom standing. The other ladies dropped out in favor or a weekly soccer game, so now it is just Angeline and 4 other pimply teenagers lockin’ ‘n’ poppin’. Angeline will not be dance school dropout!
Dominik (5) and David (2 ½) are both preschoolers now. They are naturally the most brilliant children in their class. We know this, not because the teachers say so, but because they (especially Dominik) think 2 steps ahead into an argument to outsmart their parents before even asking for what they want.
Exhibit A:
Dominik says, “Mom, will you make me pancakes for breakfast. I love your homemade pancakes.” Angeline, flattered, heart brimming with love says, “Of course, honey” and starts taking out the ingredients. Dominik says, “Since it is going to take you a while to make pancakes can I play games on your computer?” Angeline’s internal dialogue says, “Doh!”And David, although short, is all charm and sly manipulation. He has yet to master the finer techniques of debate, he mostly still resorts to terrorist tactics of volume and violence when cornered. But he knows the power of a cheeky grin and has fully mastered English as a first language. These two will probably run a crime syndicate before they hit middle school. Mensa, and farmers with daughters, better lock their doors because once David is potty trained there’s no telling where these two evil geniuses will strike.
Given the geriatric state of print newspapers as an industry, Angeline has been putting her nose to the keyboard trying to establish MomstyleNews.com as a primary news source for parents Nationwide. That’s going quite well, actually. It is now just a matter of cloning herself for the purposes of unpaid skilled labor and watchout! Locally, she’s established a Moms Club and an Annual Preschool Fair. She has also taught a class for parents on internet safety at Northwest Michigan College. The establishment of these local services was selfishly motivated to provide resources she wanted for herself. Sometimes we’ve just got to create our own reality. Ain’t nothin’ to it, but to do it!
Thanks to a new film industry tax incentive in Michigan, Michael is enjoying the opportunity to work closer to home more often. He just completed a tv film in Michigan, AMERICA with Rosie O’Donnell, as a Sound Mixer instead of Boom Operator. (Sound Mixer is the boss.) This year, Michael’s sound team (Peter Devlin, Sound Mixer) was nominated for an Academy Award for their work in TRANSFORMERS. His film FROST/NIXON is in theaters now. It is already nominated for Golden Globe Best Film Of The Year! Look for his name in ANGELS & DEMONS and STAR TREK coming out in May. Just watch, STAR TREK will be his team’s next Academy Award nomination. We, the family, feel that if Michael must travel for work, at the very least he should provide us with high-end bragging material for our Christmas Newsletter.
That’s most of the news from the mid-west. The snow says “Hi!” Or it would if its lips weren’t frozen on this 8 degree day. Please come visit us, our guest rooms are lonely for you.
We will try to be better about keeping our family website current. We’ve added a little widget that will enable Angeline to upload snippets of video, photos and audio from her cell phone so you can see what we’re up to. www.huckleberryfriends.net
(Yes, Huckleberry Friends is a reference from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. If Mike was the family web designer he would have picked www.hockeystuds.com)Happy New Year to you!
Love,
Michael, Angeline, Dominik and David