Celebrating the Holidays

 

Friends and I are in the middle of a Happiness Project year, and it's been going really well!  We have about 20 ladies participating in monthly goals and monthly gatherings to talk about our progress and goals for next month.  It's been awesome and I've talked to three other people who want to start their own Happiness Project in their communities.  Have you read the book?

 

One of the ideas that comes from Gretchen Rubin's book is to acknowledge and celebrate the holidays with the immediate family.  This wasn't a particular monthly goal for me, but something that sparked my interest and decided to incorporate.  We celebrate the big holidays of course, but it's been really fun to take this idea and implement here for my own family - for lots of celebratory times. 

 

I thought I'd share a few of our latest celebrations.

 

I started with Valentine's Day.  David and I usually exchange gifts and the boys make their Valentines for school (well, boo, middle school kids apparently don't so Thomas didn't participate this year).  But this year I decided to do a little more at dinner time.

 

My kids LOVE any occasion with a balloon, and I of course love flowers brightening up my kitchen table.  Especially in freezing February.

 

Valentine's Day was a huge hit :)

 

 

And we celebrated Oscar's Night!

This was so much fun.  We waited for Thomas to get home from youth group before starting.  I got a black and gold balloon and sparkling cider.  Along with gourmet ice cream and biscotti, it was a great after dinner treat.

 

And then I handed out Oscar Ballots that I found online.

We all circled our predictions and I announced the winner (me!) the next night with a gift (new sewing basket) and we went over the results.

The fun part was watching the tail end of the red carpet and the opening of the Oscars, along with the first couple of awards, with David and the boys. 

 

Brennan said "there really is a red carpet!"  David cracked up when someone asked a celebrity who she was wearing.  I then realized that my 3 men have never seen awards shows.  They couldn't believe how long it took before they finally announced the first winner.  It was a fun, silly thing to celebrate.

For my math geniuses we had to celebrate Pi Day (3.14) with an apple pie and ice cream.  Thank you Kroger for making this celebration easy on me on a busy school and tennis night!

 

We headed to Mississippi on St. Patrick's Day, so I got a few fun things for the boys to wear in the car.  The Target dollar spot had adorable hats like this elf one, shamrock straws and necklaces, and other fun holiday items.

 

We had a shamrock plant for a few weeks that we took with us to Mississippi.  Thomas and Brennan were excited to see I hadn't forgotten about St. Patrick's Day with our trip to plan.

 

 

They had been looking forward to a Shamrock Shake for weeks.  We finally found a McDonalds that wasn't out of them!

 

 

March Madness!

My boys know virtually nothing about March Madness.  Points to Thomas for knowing it was college basketball.  David and I decided we'd all fill out brackets to get them interested and introduced, so on Selection Sunday in Mississippi we all filled out our brackets.

 

Brennan's last team just lost so he's out, but David, Thomas and I still have teams in contention (go Louisville). 

On April 9th we'll celebrate the winner at dinner with a gift selected for our winner (i.e. the boys don't want a sewing basket).

 

knows nothing about basketball but spent an hour on his bracket

First Day of Spring!

Carolyn makes this wonderful breakfast for us every morning when we are visiting in Mississippi.  To celebrate the First Day of Spring (a serious reason to celebrate in my book), I got the boys little seed kits and Starbucks fun.  They've never had their own Starbucks card, so I knew they'd be thrilled.  Plus they received free Starbucks drink coupons that we used when we traveled to Virginia and hit Starbucks with Nancy!

 

Target Dollar Spot is a great place for little trinket gifts like these seed kits.  

 

 

Daddy got a couple a coupon and kisses too

 

 

And finally, April Fool's Day.

I don't normally do much for April Fool's except telling the boys it's a snow day when it's really not, or telling them they have a doctor's appt after school and then taking them for an ice cream.

 

This year though, David and I threw together a little gift quickly for Monday morning.

 

They assumed it was something good.

 

Just getting ready for school.  Brennan wore a coat and tie because it was April Fool's Day.

 

They were so excited to open their present, but what is it??

 

 

 

April Fool's!  It was only Dad's underwear.  Thomas can't even believe we pulled this on him.

 

I don't know of any celebratory days coming up - real holiday or otherwise.  But I'll be on the lookout.  These last couple of months have been a ton of fun!



101 Places to See Before You're 12 - The Backstage of a Theater

The Backstage of a Theater

 

 I was thrilled when our former high school teacher, Mrs. Mabry, agreed to give us a tour of the backstage of the community theater when we were visiting David's family over Spring Break.  Through the power of facebook, we've been able to reconnect after xxxx years!

 

Starkville Community Theater is a beautiful example of a local theater.  I know a lot of small cities that would love to have a space available to transform into a theater. 

Mrs. Mabry was the perfect host for us.

 

On the stage, looking at props

backstage

the backstage area and dressing rooms

props, props, props

cool stairs in this old building

costumes galore

I love this photo

 

overlooking the stage

 

 

 Thomas is interested in behind-the-scenes opportunities like set design, sound, and lights

On the catwalk

 

In the reception area

We are so fortunate that when we reach out to people like Mrs. Mabry, they are thrilled to help us with our 101 Places.  And this was #78 for us!

 

See all of our 101 Places here.

Mrs. Mabry, Brennan, Thomas, David, and Grandma Carolyn

 

From the Book:

#66 - Backstage of a Theater

From your seat in the audience you see actors transformed into animals, witches, or royalty.  You watch as they fly through the air or suddenly appear from out of the floor.  You see cityscapes or enchanted forests glide on and off the stage, as if by magic.  So,what's the secret behind these amazing spectacles?  Go backstage and find out.  There are "shops" full of props and dazzling costumes and wigs, dressing rooms illuminated by lighted mirrors, set-building shops where ships or palaces are created from paint and plywood.  There are hidden elevators and trapdoors that spirit the performers from place to place, and pulleys that let them fly.  All this awaits you behind the curtains, so check it out!

 

 



Catching Up with Photos

Spring is in the air!  It's still chilly, and Mother Nature gave us a great April Fool's joke this morning in the form of snow flurries.  But it's beginning to look a lot more like spring around here, and I couldn't be happier.

 

Boy do we have house projects in the work for this spring and summer.  I'm so excited!

 

In addition, we've got two boys with lots of homework and activities who stay super busy.  We've got our summer camps planned and now we can just enjoy the last quarter of school. 

 

I'm way behind on the blogs.  Here are some photos from the last couple of months that I wanted to share.

 

My birthday cake from friends who helped me celebrate.  It was delicious as well as beautiful!

 

 

The youth at our church sponsored a Valentine's dinner, complete with wonderful music. 

David and I attended, and Thomas served dinner.

 

We also attended the Philharmonic gala with good friends.  I was on the committee so it was a busy day, but I was so happy to enjoy the evening with David.

 

 

Brennan had a big science project due in March.  He and Dad worked on it and Brennan did a great job!  He was so proud of it!

 

 

 

We have three cracked garage door panels that David has tried to repair, but they needed to be replaced.  We assumed we'd have to purchase 3 new garage doors, so we've been putting it off. 

 

 

The garage door company let us know that our 30 year old garage door panels are still being made!

They're made by Amish vendors in Ohio.  So we've got new panels now, and David primed them so they're ready to be painted when the house gets painted later this month!

 

 

Yeah Spring!!!

Mississippi Trip

We are enjoying our first expanded Spring Break this year!

 

We have one week off, then the potential for a second week off, depending on the number of snow days we have.  But a week and a half is awesome, and we're taking full advantage of it.

 

We went to Mississippi to visit family for a few days.

 

I met up with old friends for a great lunch, we met up with a former teacher of ours and went on a 101 visit, and we spent some quality time with family.

 

David and Thomas at Old Venice

 

 

Carolyn and Brennan at Old Venice

 

We also went to a new coffee shop downtown that relatives of friends just opened.  It is gorgeous!

 

When you first walk in, this is the stunning wall that greets you.

I absolutely loved it and said to David - wow - we need a wall like this.

Thomas came running up and said he wanted all of his walls done like this in his room.

 

Thomas and I got closer and realized - it was BAKING SHEETS!  Oil burned onto them and glued onto the wall.  Gorgeous, and looked so great with the brick work.

 

Thomas's photo of a wall with arrow leading downstairs to more seating.

 

David was the first to notice that the front wall was a garage door, so it can be opened in beautiful weather.

 

Brennan got a decaf espresso.  He LOVES coffee.

 

The cousins played in the backyard for a very long time together.

Thomas made up some sort of war/economic domination game where everyone had to be a country and set up your natural resources in your corner of the yard (Grandma's gardening hose, lawn chair, watering can, etc).  Taylor and Ellie ended up teaming up (in an effort to end the interminable game, I presume), and then Brennan took over the girls' "One-D Land" ("One Direction Land" of course), so he could then overpower Thomas's "Minecraftia".  Sadly they got called inside before they could actually finish the game, but Brennan declared himself the winner.

 

 

In the fig tree



 

We had a great visit, but were sad to miss my family who was either stuck in school (sad that we don't have coordinated spring breaks) or traveling overseas.

 

Now, to re-pack because we're off for Virginia later tonight!



Thomas Updates

Well, at 12  2/3, this kid is growing up fast.

 

It's hard to believe but this time next year we will have already been through the high school open houses and will have applied to the high school of his choice.

 

Oh my goodness.

 

 

Here we are on my birthday, at The Taste of Chocolate event.

Thomas volunteered time to help with set up, clean up, and serving yummy treats with me.

 

As you can tell by this photo, he's just about my height.

According to recent doctor's visits, he's got 1/4 inch to go.

 

This night at the mall his classmate's mom let me know that her daughter, Lydia, had asked Thomas to the upcoming school dance.  I was slightly stunned because I didn't know about the dance and he hadn't mentioned being invited!

 

It turns out they found out about the dance in 4th period that day, and then 10 minutes later she asked him in the lunch line - so he didn't have time to process it or find out any particulars.

 

It was after school and David picked Thomas and Lydia up at the dance end, and drove Lydia home.  Thomas opened the backseat door for her.  And David didn't prompt him.  Soooo sweet.

 

And no.  Lydia and Thomas are not "dating", "going together", "boyfriend/girlfriend", etc.

Just friends.

 

 

But this is the photo that shows just how big he's getting.

 

Unbelievable....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas had some dark hairs above his lip that I've been seeing for months, but he and David finally saw them.  After tennis today David took Thomas to buy his own razor and shaving cream, then they came home to shave.

 

 

Unbelievable.

 

 

 

 

Wow, time flies.