Picture of the Week - 10/1/2021

 Happy Happy October!

We have had SO MANY happy things going on 'round here!

We just finished a fun Fall break trip, got to see Quinn's amazing senior pictures (more on that later), and celebrated Spencer and Zane's birthdays.  

Now we are in Charleston about to head to the Citadel campus for day 1 of Parent's weekend festivities.  Our first Parent's weekend - and the first time I get to see Spencer since he started!  So excited about that!!

There's a lot...  and I've done a poor job of saving time to write about it all because I'm too busy enjoying each thing.  Hope you all have a great first week of October!  I'll share more about our Charleston trip on the flip side!!

Picture of the Week - 9/16/2021

 There are so many fun and cool and awesome things happening right now!  Life is good, y'all!

Let's see...  where to start...

Beck and Zane are both doing great!  They are really enjoying school (as much as tweener boys enjoy school) and football.  Zane has settled right into middle school and has found a whole new group of friends.  We are in a weird feeder pattern here where only about 40 kids go from our elementary to our middle.  Thank goodness for sports because there are some friendly football/wrestling faces in the 6th grade hall!  Both of these boys are also growth spurting something crazy.  I'm including a picture of Zane, who is about to pass me in height.  He's pretty pumped about it...

Quinn is living his best life!  He has started his college application process, knocked out another round of SAT testing, and hits the weight room regularly getting ready for wrestling season.  We also got his senior yearbook picture proofs back and he has a college visit scheduled for Monday for his first choice school.

Bob and Quinn are heading to Charleston on Saturday with a bag of goodies for Spencer and a couple of tickets to the Citadel football game.  They will get to spend Sunday with Spencer and then will head over to Statesboro on Monday morning to visit Georgia Southern.  I wish I could go, alas I'm on Zane football duty - and of course work...

Bob doesn't have to worry about work next week because tomorrow is his last day at ADP.  He's been there for 21.5 years, so this is not a small change for us!  He will likely end up doing a very similar job, but maybe on the client-side instead of the vendor side.  We shall see.  The change is long overdue and I'm excited for him!

The boys are on fall break next week, which means that next Wednesday we all get to escape for a quick trip up to Ohio.  I am so grateful that Bob's sister has agreed to take Quinn's "real" senior pictures for us!  And we got tickets to an OSU game, which will be the first game we've seen in person since I graduated.  Crazy!

Good stuff all around!  Oh yeah, and the Citadel wrestling roster is updated on the website and includes a picture of Spencer.  That makes the whole thing even more real!  He's the first D1 wrestler West Forsyth high school has ever produced.  Pretty proud about all he's accomplishing and how he's handling the whole situation.  2021-22 Wrestling Roster - The Citadel Athletics

2021-22 Wrestling Roster - The Citadel Athletics The official 2021-22 Wrestling Roster for the The Citadel Bulldogs

Now if we can just get these tropical storms to take a breath and stop sending rivers of atmospheric moisture through Georgia...  

Have a great week!!

Picture of the Week - 8/26/2021

 What a great week!  

We have had so much good and wholesome and heart-filling this week!!  Yay fam!!

First, we finally heard from Spencer.  He's doing fine.  When people ask about him, they always first ask "is he having fun?" which I find kinda funny because this is not a fun-first kinda experience...  LOL  BUT he is good!  He has a good roommate with similar interests (Mechanical Eng major and doing Air Force ROTC) and has settled into life in the barracks.  Since he got his phone back we've talked nearly every day for a few minutes.  It's just enough to give me huge peace of mind that Spencer is still Spencer and is adjusting to life at a military college every bit as well as I had hoped he would.  We are really proud of him!  

This isn't to say there aren't challenges...  there are.  He's shared some of them and I'm sure there are others that he's keeping to himself.  I don't need to (or probably want to) know all the details.  What I do know is that he's got a really firm foundation and a really great support system (already) and is maneuvering around the hurdles in a very healthy way.  

PS - He's also started working out with the wrestling team and having a lot of fun with that.  Pretty special...

Second, football.  We are a couple of weeks into the season now and I think this year is going to be VERY fun!  The Bob/Beckett team has lots of friends on it we have made over the last 5 years.  It's really just so cool to watch these dudes grow up.  Zane is new to the coaching staff on his team, BUT he's played with many of the guys before and about a 3rd of them go to his middle school.  He is having an absolute blast.  He's playing on the line, which he has done for the last 7 years...  and it shows.  He is confident and competent - and occasionally pretty dominating.  His coaches tease him regularly about having "sexy tackles" and he is eating up the whole experience.  He also just got his first phone and went to his first middle school football game without parents in attendance.  Safe to say he's living his best 6th grade life!

And finally, sweet Quinn.  I am really enjoying senior year with Quinn so far!  I like his schedule and love the fact that he's having fun - while also focusing on SAT, school, and prep for wrestling season.  It's going to be a whirlwind of a year and I am ready for all of it!  (Except maybe the yearbook Senior Ad...  need to get on that...)  This year Quinn decided he was going to volunteer with me at church in Waumba Land (our baby-preschool rooms).  We are assigned to a group of 3 year olds and I LOVE everything about my Sunday mornings!!!  It is pretty fun to get to know a group of 3 year olds and help them have some fun while their parents are at service.  It's also amazing to watch Quinn with them.  I wish I could find the words to explain what watching him with those little bitties does to my heart.  Quinn has always been a care-taker, but seeing with my own eyes how he ENJOYS it and how they LOVE him just...  well I don't have words.  It's a gift and it's amazing and I can't wait to see what he does with it.  

This week...  Zane is off to 6th grade camp this weekend with his small group.  I am also off this weekend for a retreat with my small group.  I expect my version will involve less mud.  Bob/Beck have a game Saturday against a team coached by the dad of a kid Spencer played with in 6th grade.  It is weird because there are VERY few people we know from parent groups of BOTH our big boys and our younger set.  Should be fun to reconnect and I'm more than a little sad I will miss it.  

Here are a couple of pictures from the week.  The one of Spencer is a screen-grab from a Snapchat he sent me from when he was hanging out in one of his classrooms one day.  Classrooms are off-limits for the 4th class system, so he likes to find a quiet spot to hang out.  The boy is not dumb...  Zane picture with my parents is from his last game, where he earned Defensive player of the game after 3 sacks and a number of tackles-for-loss.  He was a beast in that game!  And the picture of Quinn and me is from last Sunday after our service.  I am so grateful that we get to spend that time together this year!  (ignore the fact that his poor face looked like he was in a fight...  it was from a wrestling practice.)

Have a great last week of August/start of September!

Picture of the Week - 8/19/2021

 I think we are finally settling into a little bit of routine around here.  There are still some rough spots in our weekly "stuff" that need a little smoothing out, but I don't think we have any "big" events happening now until Fall break.  Then our late Sept through Oct is a little cray-cray, but we will deal with that when it comes.

Beckett and Zane seem to be doing well with school so far and since we are hearing no complaints from kids or teachers, I'm going with a "no news is good news" philosophy!  They both launch their football seasons with scrimmages last Saturday and get their first real games in this weekend.  Bob is coaching Beck again, so I obviously love his team and coaches.  :)  And I am so so so happy Zane got onto the team he's on this year.  The kids are all meshing well, the coaches are awesome and I think it's going to be a really great year!

Quinn is also doing well - although he came down with a sinus infection earlier this week which had us all just waiting to see if this was a "get a covid test" kind of sickness or if it was the normal kind we have dealt with forever.  I think there's a lot of "normal sick" that causes far more stress than it really should because of the cloud of "covid concern" right now.  I'm pleased to report that after a few doses of mucinex and some ibuprophen, coupled with a day off school, he's back to healthy.  No doctor visit or covid test required...  just plain old Mom judgement and some TLC.  

Spencer - well we really don't know how he's doing.  We are a little more than halfway through Challenge week and will get to talk to him on Sunday evening.  In the meantime, I scour all the pictures people are posting to the various Facebook pages every morning like my life depends on it.  LOL  I'm not alone, there are entire groups of knob-moms out there supporting each other through this.  It's actually amazing!  It's comforting to know that there are others going through the exact same thing (or nearly) as we are - and that we will know these people for a really long time.  One of the more uplifting things that has been shared is from alumni and/or people with older kids who have graduated from The Citadel.  They have all said that there is something incredibly bonding about what these kids are going through.  It's not the normal "off to college" experience and results in lifelong bonds between classmates.  I LOVE that!  

We did get a little glimpse of him through a pretty round-about way yesterday.  All the knob (freshmen) athletes got to have lunch with their coaches yesterday.  This had to have been a pretty big deal because (for one thing) it was a break from the oversight of the cadre (the guys responsible for the training...  and discipline).  One of the coaches is friends with Charlie Morris, the guy who runs the wrestling training center our boys have gone to for years.  He sent a message (with the attached picture) to Charlie to let him know that Spencer is doing well.  Charlie, of course, because he's awesome, shared the picture with Bob.  The fact that he is smiling, coupled with the kind words about how Spence is starting to fit in with the team, meant the world to me!  And the guy doesn't even know I saw any of it...  LOL  

If I haven't said it recently, I will reiterate here that Spencer is in exactly the place he was meant to be and I think he's going to love every minute (well maybe not the running parts) of his time at The Citadel.

I thought I'd also share the family pictures we had taken just before Spencer left.  I haven't shared them yet because it took us a while to decide which ones to get printed and gift to others.  I didn't want to ruin any surprises.  I love them...  

Have a great week everyone! 

Picture of the Week - 9/24/2020

 Where to begin.  Spencer turns 18 on Sunday.  And I've been stuck trying to figure out how to begin this birthday tribute for days.  

And it dawns on me that part of the challenge here is that this is both a beginning and an ending.  Wow!  Even just typing "ending" has me a little choked up.  But I suppose that's all part of this process.  It began nearly 18 years ago - before that actually as I lay in bed with a hand on my growing belly feeling his kicks and starting the process of loving this child.  It ends, in some ways, in just a few short days.  And that is pretty hard.  

Yes, I know that just because he will technically be an adult it doesn't mean he's instantly going to vanish forever.  I know that I get to see his face across the dinner table for a few more months.  I know that I will still feel compelled to take care of his wishes and needs for long after that.  I know I will love him forever - no matter where on this earth he lands.

So this is "just" one of those milestones.  Like when he chose to wean himself or take those first steps.  Like the first time we left him at daycare or watched him ride away on a school bus.  Like the first trip he took with a friend or the first drive.  It's a bitter sweet milestone like all the rest.  I celebrate - because that's the goal here.  It's our job to prepare our sons for all of these milestones so they can be confident and ready - for anything.  But I'm also a little sad because each milestone marks the end of a phase.  And I've loved all the phases.

(Except the 12 year old phase...  not my fave!)

And really there is far more to celebrate about Spencer turning 18 than reasons to be sad.  There are so many things about this man that I adore.  I love that he is capable and willing to help in any situation that comes up.  He's the first to head outside when yard work needs to be done and the first to agree to helping move heavy things for anyone who asks.  I love that he's got a quick wit and a bright mind.  He is both book and (somewhat) street smart.  He thinks for himself and doesn't just roll with the crowd - never has.  I love that he has some really random, and fluctuating, interests and knows how to do things like sell old stuff on social media.  I love that he wants to better himself and wants to be better so he can better his country.  I love that he is narrowing in on what he wants to do in the future and I really love that the direction he's heading makes so much sense for his skills, interests, and abilities.

I love him.  For who he is.  For what he's done.  For what I know he's going to do.

And when I think about that last bit, the anxiety ratchets up again.  It's normal, I'm sure.  I will be sending him off to tackle this crazy, crazy world without the ability to see how the day has treated him written on his face.  I'm going to say goodbye without really knowing when we will get another hug - or phone call.  I am not the only mom of a nearly 18 year old to ever have struggled with this collision of ending and beginning.  I know that...  and I also know that my child is at least as prepared as all those other newly christened adults out there.  Nah - Spencer is more prepared.  He's ready.  

And with that, I will prepare to wish him a happy, happy 18th birthday.  We will celebrate with cake and presents and hugs and I will make him let me kiss him on the cheek.

Picture of the Week - 12/27/2018

Wow!  What a fantastic week!!!  We jammed a LOT of really great stuff into the last 7 days!!!

First there was the wrestling tournament last weekend.  So much fun watching this team!  Great families.  Great kids.  Great attitudes!  It's SO refreshing to have sport without drama!  I'm a fan!!

Then we got home and jumped STRAIGHT into Christmas celebrations.  We had a blast celebrating with my sister and her family - and of course with Berber and Pappy.  We laughed and played inappropriate games.  We ate and drank - and then might have drank a little more.  Good times for sure!

Christmas with the boys was amazing.  They had just the right amount of fun surprises mixed in with the obligatory wrapped chapsticks and other assorted toiletries.  We watched movies and put together Lego space ships and played with dart guns that are nearly as big as Beckett.  I love this crazy family of ours!

Then yesterday we went to get the newest little member of our family - Brutus!  We've been anxiously awaiting him for a few weeks now and the boys were ridiculously excited to get him home.  He's not disappointed!  He's SO cute!!  And he's SO chill!  Ozzie has been FAR better than I thought he would be.  I was really worried that he would be mean and jealous and aggressive toward a puppy, but he pleasantly surprised me.  We haven't had to separate them since yesterday evening and they even took a nap within feet of each other a little while ago.  I think they will be good buddies very soon!

Here's a picture of our dudes in matching wrestling-themed jammies and a bunch of cute pictures of Brutus.  (He's a European-style light-colored golden retriever.)

Thank you for spending another year with us!  Have a VERY Happy New Year!  Catch-ya in 2019!

Picture of the Week - 3/8/2018

I love a good Godwink!  Urban dictionary defines godwink as "An occurence so odd and out of the ordinary, it had to be put in place by God. ".  I LOVE that! 

This was a weird week!  I had some customer visits this week in St. Louis and then Boston.  I was traveling with people I don't know very well who happened to be from Scotland.  One woman is brand new to the company and this was the first time I'd met her.  I wasn't nervous about meeting with the clients.  I do that all the time.  But traveling with people you don't mesh with - or don't know if you will mesh with - is stressful.  And I was playing not only my normal role, but also chauffeur and sorta-tour guide.  All of that combined with a relatively difficult travel itinerary and then some questionable weather forecasts.  I was apprehensive for this trip.  

Turns out that all was fine!  My colleagues were awesome and the customer meetings were very productive.  It was actually a pretty fun (although exhausting) trip until we realized that Winter Storm Quinn (no really, that's what it's name was!) was going to hit the Boston area the day we were scheduled to leave.  I decided to take off a day early and got out of the NE before the weather got bad.  I feel very blessed that I was able to rearrange my schedule to make that happen.  It meant I wasn't stuck away from home AND I got an extra day of cuddles from the boys!  Bonus!

Today I worked from home and tried to get things caught up from being away.  I even got to go to lunch with Bob.  Then ICING on the cake...  all our evening practices got cancelled because it's cold.  I figured with temps in the high 30s that the U9 teams might cancel, but was pleasantly surprised with the Senior Select team cancelled too.  Now we have an unexpected evening TOGETHER with no plans.  Godwink for sure!  I'm not even going to think about all the work I have backed up.  I'm going to sit and enjoy a glass of wine and some unexpected downtime.  If I'm lucky, I can even get Ozzie to sit on my lap while I watch some random and likely ridiculous show on TV.  I hear ya God and I'm going to take a breather!  Tomorrow it's GO time!

Picture of the Week - 5/25/2017

I'm feeling particularly blessed today!

Lots of good stuff happening lately - and MORE about to happen!

I'm blessed to have 4 good kids who have had a really great year.  Ups and Downs - of course.  Stresses - Yes!  Challenges and drama and more yelling and punishing than I would prefer, but taken on the whole, WAY WAY WAY more good stuff than bad this school year.  It's time to say hello to high school and good bye to day care.  Moving on and growing up and making their mom proud along the way!

I'm blessed to have my parents HERE and ABLE and WILLING to jump in on this crazy ride.  They are keeping the boys for us this weekend so Bob and I can go on an anniversary trip.  I know it's not easy to step in the the Bovenizer-variety chaos, but they do it with a smile on their faces (at least that the beginning) and reassurances to go and not worry.  So we will do JUST THAT!  We're gonna GO and have a great time celebrating 20 wonderful years as Mr. and Mrs.  

And I'm especially blessed to be going through this whole life journey with Bob.  It's hard for me to imagine a more perfect partner.  I can't fathom anyone else better suited to deal with ME.  (I may not always be the easiest person to live with!)  I thank God for putting Bob into my life!  Some things are just meant to be!

Here's a fun picture from our wedding day (May 24, 1997) and today (May 25, 2017) waiting for our plane to take us up to Portland, Maine for a big adventure.  

Have a very safe and happy Memorial Day weekend.  Kick off summer with a BANG!

Picture of the Week - 5/18/2017

Middle of May - nearly the end of the school year - almost summertime - and we're gearing up for all kinds of fun!

Let's start with a countdown that Bob and I have had for a year...  next week we get to go on a grown-up trip to a place we've never been to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.  I'm so ridiculously excited!  We're heading to a resort in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.  We have very few plans outside of our pre-purchased tickets on the "brew bus" to visit local craft breweries.  This trip marks a pretty cool milestone - and also survival of another school year.  So excited...  more on Maine next week!

And then there's Spencer, who's got just 6 (officially) days of middle school left.  In reality, it's more like 4...  one day is the 8th grade picnic and I am not going to even TRY to make him go to school on the last day.  Hard to believe he's done with Vickery Creek Middle School.  It treated him (and us) very very well.  He's ready for high school.  He's MORE ready for the summer and has big plans to get himself back into "football shape".  He wants to work out, lift weights, train, condition and eat.  He's got a goal to spend just about every day in the HS weight room - and between the football, wrestling and lacrosse teams, there are plenty of opportunities.  He also wants to put on 20 lbs of muscle weight.  So we are stocking up on eggs and protein powder and chicken and muscle milk.  I'm guessing my food budget will be getting bigger at about the same rate as he does...

Quinn is wrapping up 7th grade in fine style.  He's not flashy and not making any big leaps, but he's the epitome of slow and steady wins the race.  He's become known around our neighborhood as the "responsible Bovenizer" - which is accurate - and has several little jobs lined up for the summer.  He'll be dog sitting and garden watering and stuff like that.  He's got a few summer camps lined up, but for the most part I think he's looking forward to some downtime - and probably too much video gaming.

Zane killed first grade.  He had a really awesome year.  He's reading chapter books and does math in his head and generally blows me away.  His sweet teacher is moving from 1st grade down to kindergarten next year and has told us she's going to try to get Beckett.  We've ALL warned her that Beck is not Zane...  really, really not Zane!  

Beckett is also changing schools and next week marks our LAST WEEK of daycare.  READ THAT AGAIN!!!  After more than 15 STRAIGHT years, we will be day care free.  I. Just. Don't. Know....  Beck and Zane are going to a couple of different places over the summer.  They are doing a couple of weeks at the Y camp - where they will get exhausted and filthy doing real summer camp stuff - and they are doing the rest of the summer at a camp hosted by our elementary school.  I'm guessing there won't be too many kindergartners in the Whitlow summer camp.  I imagine it's mostly for kids who are already at the school.  I am not the LEAST bit worried about sending Beckett.  He's so so so ready to move on and up.  He is a 15 year old dude in a 5 year old body.  Attitude for days.  Last weekend at his last lacrosse practice, he became the enforcer and TOOK OUT this annoying little kid who was bugging everyone else.  He also won every face off he attempted.  He's a special dude.  Here are a couple fun pictures of Beck.  One is him before school one day looking way older than 5 (and yes, that IS a fidget spinner) and the other is him sporting his cool "I just joined the pack" t-shirt from kindergarten orientation.  

Good stuff!

Have a great week everyone - I know we will!  (Even if I will be in NC doing a sales demo on our anniversary...  boo!)

Picture of the Week - 4/14/2017

Running a bit late this week.  Sometimes the days just FLY by!

Yesterday I was in Norfolk, Va and got home last night.  It was one of the more enjoyable business trips I've taken.  The weather in Norfolk was gorgeous.  The client team was SUPER nice.  I got on an earlier flight home and every single Delta employee I ran into smiled and chatted.  Then, I got to my car to start home, sure I'd be stuck in traffic forever since Atlanta is essentially broken due to the bridge collapse.  I DID have to take the long way home, but I ran into almost zero traffic.  It was A-MA-ZING!  So yeah - all business trips are not created equally!

Last weekend we took the boys up to the North Georgia Mountain Zoo.  I'd seen flyers about this place for years, but we've never been there.  And we really didn't know what to expect.  North Georgia Mountain Zoo started out as one of those "rent a zoo animal" places that served parties and events.  It's been a "real" zoo since 2010.  I was so impressed with the place!  It's SUPER hands on.  We enjoyed the reptile house and the various tours.  Really a fun day - and the weather couldn't have been better.  Yay for family time!

Here's a picture of Spencer with a Llama.  I don't get a ton of Spencer pictures.  He's usually too cool to be bothered with my photo pleadings.  He really liked the Llamas.  LOL

Tonight Bob and I are stealing a "date night" which will include a trip to Target to buy Easter Basket stuff.  Nothing like last minute...  Tomorrow we've got lacrosse games and then Easter fun with my family on Sunday.  Yay for family time!

Have a very Blessed Easter everyone!

Picture of the Week - 12/29/2016

2016 is nearly over.  Thoughts?

There seems to be an overwhelming swell of emotion on social media recently about how bad 2016 has been.  The general feeling seems to be that 2016 is evil and nasty and somehow has controlled events and contributed to results.  The common theme, again if you judge by volume of posts on social media, is clearly one of "good riddance".  And that somehow the passage of one year to the next will change things.  That whatever forces are at work will change with the calendar.  

For me, I'm not so sure.  

I think the last year, the last 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days have been pretty much in line with those before.  There have clearly been ups and downs this year - both personally impacting me and my family as well as the bigger picture stuff.  

But here's the thing...  if the collective mind-share out in the internet was talking about what a great year 2016 was (despite some sad stuff that happened) would it make YOU feel differently about the last year?  If social media was telling you that 2016 rocked (even though it was hard sometimes), would you think it rocked too?  Does it matter to you that other people say 2016 was awful (even if it had some OK moments)?  If you aren't sure, then I'm gonna suggest you put too much emphasis on what other people (some you don't even know) think.  

For me and my family, 2016 was super super busy and had way too many healthcare related "things".  It was often hard to slow down enough to even recognize the good things around us.  And it was easy to get sad about healthcare stuff causing us to change plans, miss things, just not feel well.  

2016 was also a year of some pretty awesome accomplishments.  You read all about all of them - thank you for sticking with us through another year.  

I'm looking forward to 2017 in the same way I looked forward to 2016.  I expect many more great things as we get ready to celebrate having 2 teenagers in the house, a new high school student, getting Beck out of daycare, coaching 4 lacrosse teams, cheering on football and wrestling, a 5th Buckeye cruise and another week at the beach, birthdays for 13, 15, 8 and 6 year olds, more holidays with family, and a 20th wedding anniversary.  2017 will undoubtedly also have challenges.  Some I can see coming, likely many more that we don't even know about year.  That's life, y'all.  

So bring it!  Bring all the good stuff and also the less than great...  it's those hard times that make the good stuff so much sweeter.  

Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve!  We will be eating fajitas and watching the Buckeyes from the comfort of our loud and crazy living room.  Talk to you NEXT YEAR!  

Picture of the Week - 10/20/2016

I'm pretty much behind on every single thing...  or at least that's how I feel.  

BUT - this has been a really great week for the Bovy boys!

If you aren't already aware, Spencer's team won the middle school county championship football game.  It was SUCH a fun night.  The game was a good one.  Very physical and exhausting.  The score (14-8) was indicative of the fact that either team could have won the game.  It was exactly the kind of game you want for a championship game!

Here are a couple of fun things to share about the game.  The first link is the motivational video that our team photographer made for the pre-game dinner.  As one of my colleagues from the UK said, it's very typically over-the-top American, but it's also super duper awesome.  Spencer is #59 and makes many appearances in this little video.

https://youtu.be/3r9Qm-baRnY

The other link is from the article that was in the Forsyth County news about the game.  My favorite part of the article is the last quote from the opposing coach.  "We knew we were going to have to play physical to stop the run, and we did,” Pickens said. “But, they wanted it more I guess.”

http://www.forsythnews.com/section/118/article/31326/

Our team played as a family - a true TEAM in every sense.  They deserved this win!!  

After the game, we had a huge, loud welcome planned for them back at the school.  There were glow sticks and noise makers and sparklers and signs and SO MANY PEOPLE.  It really was over the top!  It was also awesome - and a night I'm sure the team will never forget.  I know I won't.  

And finally, here's a picture of the team after the game.  The thing that cracks me up most about this is that TINY little trophy in the front.  For as much time and energy (not to mention money) that flows through middle school football, it cracks me up that the championship trophy is so small.  

The other big even this week (and not to be overshadowed by a little football game) was Beckett's 5th birthday.  I don't have his collage done yet, so his birthday tribute will be delayed until next week.  That said, he had SO much fun yesterday being the "special birthday boy".  More about our special little dude next week.  Maybe by then I will have dug out of my mountain of laundry and made a dent in getting our house back to some kind of order.  Wish me luck!  I'm off to Minnesota on Monday for another day trip.  Travel is kicking my butt...

 

Picture of the Week - 10/8/2015

It is no secret that I love our annual trip to Burt's Pumpkin Farm.  I think we've now been there 12 years straight.  It's also no secret that one of the main reasons I love this trip is that everyone involved understands that getting some updated photos while we are there is a very high priority.  It's important to me!  And thankfully I have a good little family who humors me and goes with the flow - that includes Berber and Pappy too!

This year our trip was looking kind of iffy!  I normally look at our family calendar for the month of October with my fingers crossed looking for a decent weekend day where we don't have anything scheduled.  There aren't any of those this year.  (ACK!)  We don't have a single Saturday or Sunday without at least 1 event until Halloween  and that's just too late for a trip to Burts.  

So I went with plan B.  We would go up there during the boys' fall break.  I had a couple of days off and we figured that would be a great time for a little trip up into the mountains.  For all the planning I do, there's still one thing I can't control - the weather.  As we neared our planned Burt's day, the weather was looking very bleak.  Cloudy, rainy, generally gross.  If this wasn't such an important tradition to me, we probably would have bailed and gone out to Publix to buy some pumpkins for our Jack-o-Lanterns.  

Thankfully my dad convinced us to give it a shot last Thursday and I'm SO glad we did!  We drove through nasty mist almost all the way there, but while at the farm the weather was actually pretty nice.  We even saw a peek of sun!  

And I got my pictures!  A whole bunch of them!  Going on a weekday has set a new bar because we had the place completely to ourselves.  It was awesome!  And the boys were awesome!  And the resulting pictures - awesome!

We started with some traditional pumpkin pictures - with the giant pumpkins as our backdrop/props.

I love this ornery face!

 

Beckett 2015

Zane 2015

Quinn 2015

Spencer 2015

And then we moved on to the group pictures.  I always use this as an opportunity to try for an updated family picture.  I think easily 75% of the family pictures I have are from Burts.  

Bovenizers 2015

Berber and Pappy with the boys

My boys!!!

After getting the required group pictures we normally let the boys run off some steam.  They always love roaming around the pumpkin patch.  This year there was a contest to see who could find the most expensive pumpkin.  I think the winner found one that was $110 bucks - but I can't remember who found it.  There are usually more casual, candid pictures while we are just hanging out.

Berber and Pappy

Little dudes - love this one!

Spencer was hanging out by the tree being mischievous, but I still managed to get a good picture of my handsome teenager.  You can't fake smile wrinkles like that!

After a while we decided to take a hay ride.  In what I would call serendipity, we happened to be up there on the first day of hayrides for 2015.  So we got one of the very first rides of the whole season.  So much fun - even if I was pulling hay out of my back pockets for days.

Bucky!

Berber! 

Little guys! 

Quinn! 

Zane!

Our annual trip did not disappoint!  I already can't wait until next year - when you can bet we'll be visiting Burt's on a weekday again!