Just Breathe...

Okay, in an effort to breathe new life -- or maybe just some life -- back into my lovable blog, I began to think again about posts. That's what it's all about: Thinking about blogging...and thinking in blog posts.

Seems odd, right?

Early on, when I was blogging nearly daily, the trend had not really caught on with anybody, except us "cool kids."

But then Twitter happened. And blogging seemed to be a lot more work because why write an entire post about something when you can summarize it in 140 characters. And once you start thinking in 140-character bursts, well, you basically rewire your brain.

Am I right?

Not necessarily.

I enjoyed Twitter for about a minute or two. (It was an odd world. Odder now than then.)

Then Facebook happened. I resisted at first. It seemed another odd and silly place. But, as anyone who has ever watched even one episode of Star Trek knows, resistance is futile.

Facebook is the killer of blogdom. I'm convinced of that. It should be a helpful aid or another platform whereby you can share your blog...

But it's not.

It's easy.

It's addictive.

And so my brain began to think in longer-than-140-characters moments, but still shorter-than-actual-blogpost moments.

Yet, I've stumbled on and tried to continue my blog. I love doing it. It's such a great way to keep myself writing daily (or thereabouts) and an even better way to clear some of the "clutter" in my noggin.

So, today, this very morning, my brain thought up a post. I thought again in a blog post. And I was exhilarated and decided to sit down immediately and write it out. But I had to write this explanation first, which may have taken my brainpower and time briefly.

Sigh.

Still in all, here I am breathing some new life into my old friend.

Wordless Wednesday

We Are Family

Saturday, we spent the day with Emily at Albright College for Family Day, ie. Feast Day...er, I mean, spending two hours in the cafeteria...uh, no...spending time with our student.

 

It was fun having a more in-depth tour and seeing into Emily's classrooms and where she's been hanging out while at college. I loved seeing all the families who came in to shower love on their students. One family even brought homemade food for their son. He looked thrilled to devour it all.

 

 

Birthday Boy!

Every birthday brings with it a chance to reflect. ...on the speed of time, the size of our children, and how important it is to love these kids -- each and every day -- with our entire beings.

This is our little Valentine boy...

This is him today.

 

 

14!

Wow!

And, best of all, he is 14 on the 14th, his star birthday. And he is definitely our star today!!

Happiest Birthday, Budboy! We love you more and more everyday!!

The Shadow Knows

Happy Groundhog Day!

Well, I'm not sure it is happy...if you consider the fact that our ol' friend Punxsutawny Phil saw his shadow...again. Six more weeks of Winter. Boo! Not that it actually means anything. Phil isn't an actual meteorologist of any kind. He's a groundhog.

And last year? When he didn't see his shadow? And we were supposed to get an early Spring? Yeah. Totally botched that one up, huh, Phil?  *wink-grin*

Still, he is rather cute, isn't he?

We had a bit of mammal day confusion in our house today. Being somewhat colder than usual and with snow in the forecast, I overheard Ethan (6) say, "If only that beaver didn't see his shadow..."

Love the funny things that pop out of kids' mouths.

Here were several adorable cupcake ideas. There are SO many of them out there. If I were less busy more inspired, we would have made some of these:

Do you have any Groundhog Day traditions?

Wordless Wednesday

Silly Ol' Pooh Bear

Last year, Ethan and I read A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh for school. We fell in love with all the characters and Milne's fantastic sense of humor.

More than that, we loved the imagination and charm that filled the book. We loved it so much that we had to immediately find the sequel The House at Pooh Corner and devour it as soon as it arrived.

I love sharing good books with our kids. I love reading the words, letting the rhythm and song fall on our ears. I especially love when the older kids listen surreptitiously from another room. This time they just came and joined us. Everyone was very excited every time I announced it was time to read again.

Ethan turned six last September. Can you guess the favorite book he got for his birthday?

Now We Are Six. 

And it's a definite favorite, judging by the number of times we've read and reread it.

Friday Funnies

Here's a little something to bring a smile to your face and a giggle to your heart.

Isn't this the cutest?

I grew up with bulldogs -- and we have two mixed-breed dogs that have bulldog ancestry (of some sort) -- so I love love love this breed!! So much fun-ness -- and funniness -- about them!

I hope you enjoy a fun Friday! And don't forget to SMILE!

(photo courtesy of Cup of Jo's blog)

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Sweethearts

Sometimes in life an adventure is necessary in order to fill the hearts of our children. Today was one of those days. We traveled 200 miles (round trip) to visit a small mall north of Harrisburg and meet some awesome online friends for the first time IRL (for the non-texters out there, that's "in real life").

And it was totally worth it!

Sweet Sunday

Back in December, we were treated again by 

our kids to the annual Foote Family Christmas Show. 

Here's Ethan (age 6) "singing" for us:

2015!

A very HAPPY new year to you!

Wow! I cannot believe that this year has arrived. 2015!! I remember thinking about it back in the 1990s and feeling like it was still eons away. (I guess I've traveled through eons?)

We're halfway through the teens...literally with our kids and the years.

How. Did. That. Happen.

?!?!?!

Emily hits quite a few milestones this year: high school graduation, university, a first job, and maybe her driver's license...and turning 18.

All, In. One. Year.

Mind-blown.

Edward and Ethan will carry on as usual. They'll be my rocks this year. Hopefully, the normalcy of their lives will help keep me sane?

I'm putting together my annual recap blog post. I haven't done it in awhile, but I hope to post it in the next few days. It gives me a chance to reflect on all of God's goodness to us in the past year. In good and bad times, He is always with us!

In the meantime, enjoy the fresh start of a the new year. What are your resolutions? I resolve to be a better blogger this year...and try to stay sane. *wink-grin*

Oh, and...

New Year's Day 1:35 a.m.

Aren't they the cutest? Hard to believe they were still going strong at 1:30 a.m.

HAPPY 2015!!

New Year's Eve

The end of a year always feels like the shutting of a door to me. I feel like we are standing at the edge of an open door, looking out in front of us. When midnight comes, it's as though we've stepped outside of the door and pulled it shut behind us.

It's kind of odd since all we're really doing is ending one month and starting another. But it does feel monumental and symbolic to me each year.

Sigh.

This year, we had some friends over to play games and enjoy lots of snacks and munchies. We played several games, including Hedbanz for Kids and Quelf. But one of the favorites (for me) was the one suggested by Dawn, which included taking a somber photo at the beginning of the evening and a celebrating one at the end.

Everyone played along, and I think they turned out well. What do you think?

Boxing Day Observed

Since my hubby is British, I often think that he must get homesick for some of the traditions and goodies he enjoyed around the holidays when he lived in England. I asked him one year what fun things he wanted to incorporate into our family traditions so that it might lessen those feelings, and he said he missed Boxing Day the most.

Boxing Day, for many Brits, is like Christmas Day Part 2. All the same foods and fun but repeated at a relative's -- grandparents' or aunt/uncle's -- house. It was the day that Stuart said they got their prezzies from their grandparents. An extension of the fun, so to speak.

When we lived in Britain, we were always invited over to a friends' home to join in the fun. A beautiful and tasty roasted meal with Christmas pudding, mince pies, Christmas crackers, and a small present afterwards.

So now we try to recreate this goodness in our house each year.

Only this year, our turkey decided NOT to thaw in time. I took it out of the freezer at the suggested moment, but it must have been in a deep freeze when I bought it because that bird was still a bit frozen even a week after I started thawing it. We delayed our meal for a few days, and it was still as lovely and fun as always.

Great food. Great company.

We ended with a demonstration of bunny hopping and a meeting of the piggies.

Pagoda Day! Pagoda Day!

Pagoda Day 2014!

In our family, we like to be goofy, enjoy silliness, and make memories.

Pagoda Day is a good one for that.

It was started by our 13-year-old son, Edward, when he was 3 years old. He wanted something that would celebrate the awesomeness of the Pagoda, a local landmark in the Reading area. He planned it out with Emily, complete with a date and musical theme song. We played along but kept saying it was "too far away" and "maybe we'd go there one day"...and then we surprised them after dinner on their chosen date by driving up Mt. Penn to see it up close and personal -- and to take a family photo.

As you can see here and here and here and here, it has become something of an annual tradition (sadly, not always blogged about).

So on this our 11th Pagoda Day, we extend to you a warm and fun Happy Pagoda Day!

What kind of silly and fun family traditions do you celebrate?

The Eve of Christmas Eve

Way back in 1988 -- on this very date, in fact -- we took a picnic to the park. Let me explain the "we." I had just moved to England at the end of October and met some friends named Sarah, Stuart, and Euan. We got this crazy idea to have an "American meal" by way of a picnic in the nearby Lydiard Park (one of my very favorite places to visit whilst living in England).

It was freezing cold and damp, the kind of cold that penetrates through whatever you're wearing and makes you cold down to your toes. We took peanut-butter-and-jam sandwiches, salt-and-vinegar crisps, a pint of milk, and Euan was kind enough to find a can of Schweppes American ginger ale (I'd mistaken ginger beer for ginger ale at our first time out as a group) for me.

It was fun. We were young, crazy, and silly. People stared as they passed. But a memory was made. I think Stuart and I remember it more vividly and with far more nostalgia than the day deserves, but it's still fun.

Years later, in the heart of our living room, we decided to revive the "Eve of Christmas Eve picnic in the park" idea with the same menu...and our kids. It's been a fun remembrance with them.

Fast forward to this year. and we decided to go one further and picnic in Central Park with them. We didn't quite make it to the park (it was the "perfect" weather) due to the wetness. Still, a memory was made.

Our first stop was a surprise visit with Santa in Macy's Santaland.

Ethan had requested this earlier in the season, but we didn't think we'd get there. When he told Santa he had been hoping to see him, Santa said he wondered when Ethan was going to come and visit, that he'd been waiting for him. Ethan was amazed!

We made it to Central Park, but we were so tired and cold 

that we decided to forego having our picnic there.

Our "selfie"

The Build-a-Bear Workshop was on our list of places to visit.

Ethan found a huge bucket of Nutella.

Waiting for the subway.

Edward found a newly-retired LEGO set he'd been wanting...

the last set in FAO Schwartz. Christmas money well-spent!

Emily used her Christmas money for some sale clothing

she found at Aeropostale in Times Square.

Love visiting our lion friends outside the New York Public Library.

And we finally got our "picnic" (the one that Stuart lugged all around New York City for us): our own homemade sandwiches and salt-and-vinegar crisps. We had some Schweppes ginger ale in the car, but we enjoyed that at a later date. 

This year's picnic included Starbucks.

Birthday Boy

...on his birthday bike!

Last night, Stuart finally found an awesome deal on an awesome bike.

Doesn't he look awesome on it?

Now to accessorize....

All Is Bright

So this happened today:

Emily had her first college (interchangeable with university over here) interview today at Albright College, her first choice of places to get her degree. 

Sur-real to the max. 

Here's hoping they accept her and give her a full-ride scholarship. That would be awesome!

We had to get a snack at Jake's Java afterwards. It's a tradition. *wink-grin*

Happiest Palindrome Birthday to My Bestest Friend and Hubby!

44!

Love this man!

We started the day with a power outage...so had an impromptu brekkie out...but it turned out to be a fun -- if busy -- day!

He's the best thing that ever happened on this day! xxoo