Picture of the Week - 7/30/2020

 Can you believe it's already the end of July?  The last 6 months have somehow simultaneously felt super long and super short.  Such a weird time.

Spencer and Quinn are on their way home from a wrestling tournament in Myrtle Beach.  I think they had fun, but ran into some club teams that recruit - some nationally.  It was tough competition and a good way to get some "in the fire" experience.  Spencer also hurt his ribs, so I'm hoping he can heal quickly and get back to it.  

Zane and Beck have started football this week.  It's mostly a conditioning week.  They won't get into pads until next week.  Bob is coaching Beckett's team again and Zane is working with the same coach (and most of the players) as last year.  No matter what happens with the season, I think it's going to be a fun time.  Fingers crossed that we get to play some games!

We were at the park the other day and Beck's team was done so we were just hanging out waiting for Zane.  Beck hopped up onto the fence and I had some major deja vu.  So I had to go back and find the old picture from 2017.  I love that crazy child.  

I hope you all have a great week.  The boys get to go meet their teachers on Tuesday during a parking lot sorta drive-through open house.  We were assigned 15 minutes slots to arrive to ensure social distancing.  It will be really interesting to see how this all goes!  

Picture of the Week - 11/19/2015

Zane's football team is going to the Lanier Bowl this Saturday.  They get to play for a championship!  

And it's taken me FAR too long to get excited about this.

I guess maybe we failed to get overly invested in Zane's football team because we've been through this before.  We took him to practice.  We went to his games.  We supported him and his team.  But I don't think we were as "into" it as we have been with other teams.  Many other teams.  

I've been thinking about why our feelings about this team tended to lean toward quiet ambivalence.  It's certainly not because we care about Zane any less than his brothers.  I think it's about perspective.  

Also - probably a good dose of just being busy to the verge of overwhelmed.  

But perspective...  it's normally a gift.  Maybe this time it stopped us from enjoying this experience as much as we should have/could have.   As parents of a kindergartner playing tackle football, perspective has taught us that this experience should be fun for the boys and really shouldn't be taken TOO seriously by the parents.  Perspective has proven that in 7 years only about a third of these kids will still be playing football.  Perspective has proven that the positions played at K/1 seldom dictate where a boy gets to line up in future years.  Perspective is very powerful!

So we hung back along the sidelines.  We didn't try to "coach" from the bleachers.  We didn't nag Zane about trying to DO better, BE better.  We just asked him if he was having fun.  We celebrated when he celebrated.  We told him we were proud - not of his play, but of the fact that he had learned to never give up.  Even against the "big kid".  (Zane's words.)  Also - we celebrated when he learned how to snap his helmet on by himself.  

Along the way, as the boys moved through the season, it became clear that they were a decent team - but not great.  We've been on better teams.  We've been on many that were worse.  The boys won enough games that they knew winning was better than losing.  But they lost enough to learn those lessons as well.  When we moved into the playoffs, I think we were pretty content with being at the end of a successful season.  Zane had fun.  He said he wanted to play again.  And he improved in nearly every area.  A victory by any measure.

And then they won the first playoff game.  And the boys - and especially OUR boy - were exited.  They were thrilled in fact.  The experience was bigger to them - to Zane - than we had recognized.  Shame on us...  

And then they won the second playoff game.  They beat an undefeated team stacked full of bigger kids who had beaten us so badly the first time we played that I don't think anyone expected to come out of that playoff game with a victory.  They shocked both sidelines.  They never gave up on themselves.  And boy oh boy - they taught me a lesson in the process.

The perspective that had held us back from, somehow, fully committing to this team, now screamed at me that this was a special time.  That the team, our boy, had just learned a lesson about life that can't be overstated.  Perspective finally shouted a wake up call that it was time to engage and show our fair-haired boy that we were in this with him.  That we cared about what was happening.  That win or lose on Saturday, this team has accomplished something that no one will ever be able to take away from them.  

So now we are heading back to the Lanier Bowl.  This will be only the Bovenizer family's second trip to this league's Championship game.  7 years ago this weekend Spencer won the Lanier Bowl with HIS K/1 team.  And after being somewhat ambivalent about this team for the last 4 months, I now find myself super excited for Saturday morning.  I can't wait to cheer this little team on.  I can't wait to hug my boy after the game and tell him how proud I am of him - win or lose.  Go Wolverines!  Beat the Bulldogs!

Here's a picture of Zane's team and a fun throwback to the day Spencer became a champion.  Hoping for a repeat on Saturday - nearly 7 years to the day!

Picture of the Week - 4/16/2015

Do you guys like looking down memory lane?  Of course!  Who doesn't???

Do you use Timehop?  I'd seen this little app pop up on social media a few times, but it took me a while to jump on the Timehop bandwagon.  It too me too long!  If you haven't tried Timehop, and you have a smartphone, and you like to look at adorable pictures from your past, go get Timehop!!

Timehop does a pretty simple job.  It goes through all your social media posts and will show you what you posted to Facebook or Instagram or Twitter on this day in years past.  I've been somewhat embarrassed to see how cyclical my postings are!  About the same time every year I complain about the same things - time change, going through closets, busy sports schedules.  Good grief I am boring!  Why do you guys put up with me???

Timehop also digs through all your old pictures and shares those that were taken on this day over the years.  This is where I've found the most interest and value in this little app.  It also makes me want to take more pictures.  There have been many pictures shared of things that I've forgotten many details about.  Did you know that 14 years ago last week my mom and I were in Paris?  Pretty cool way to dig up old memories.

Just today Timehop hit a homerun in the "remember that" department.  I was so blown away with the things it reminded me of that I decided to do a little unpaid Timehop sales pitch.  (If there are any Timehop people out there looking for a spokeswoman, call me!  LOL)

In my Timehop feed this morning I had pictures from 2 years ago that I had taken at a lacrosse practice for Quinn.  It was a beautiful, warm spring evening and I had a 1 year old Beckett with me.  I grabbed a precious shot of a special moment between Quinn and Beck that night.  One of my all time favorite pictures because it captures the caring nature of our second boy perfectly.  Truly one of those "picture is worth a thousand words" kind of shots.  I also got a glimpse of the crazy nature of our youngest that night as I caught him scaling the chain link fence with wreckless abandon!

And then Timehop jumped ahead (or back?) to 7 years ago.  Apparently on this date 7 years ago my dad came over and helped the big boys build a sandbox.  Of course I remember the sandbox.  It was in our backyard for years.  But until this morning, I would never have been able to tell you exactly when that sandbox made its way to our house.  The pictures show a serious amount of patience as Pappy helped the boys, then 5 and 4, work power tools and read directions.  There are about 15 pictures of them working on this project and the last one is the grand finale with the boys sitting in a pile of sand happily playing.  Pretty neat memory that I had completely forgotten about!

To completely outdo itself, Timehop ALSO shared pictures from 9 years ago.  On this day in 2006 we must have taken a ride to see our new house, which was in the framing stage 9 years ago today.  Crazy to think that this humble abode is 9 years old.  Crazy!!!

After checking on construction progress it seems we had a little picnic or something at my mom's house.  There are some pictures of the boys with a baby Ella.  And then, as so often happens at Berber's, a water game broke out.  I don't really remember the day, but the photos paint a pretty cool picture of a pretty fun time!  I loved this picture of Spencer.  He was only 3.  The age Beck is now.  Goodness...  time flies...

Enjoy your weekend!  Take lots of pictures!  And if you like being reminded of special times in years past, go get Timehop!!

Picture of the Week - 3/20/2014

Hmmm...  no good pictures this week.  Some weeks I take more pictures than others.  This was a slow week for the camera.  Which makes for a somewhat stressful picture of the week planning!

 

Thankfully POTW happens to also fall on Throwback Thursday.  (Anyone else notice TBT gaining popularity nearly every week???)  So this week I'm pulling out a picture from 2007 in celebration of the Atchisons coming to visit this weekend.  Wow!  7 years ago (in March even), they were 4, 4, 3, and 2.  And they had no issues taking a bath together.  And there was no sign of Zane or Beck.  Wow! 

 

Have a Happy Spring everyone!  We are busy with yo-yo temperatures down here for, probably, the next couple of weeks while the pollen count continues its steady climb.  Luckily for our northern visitors, this weekend looks AWESOME!  I have no issues with sunny and 70.  :)

 

Hopefully I'll be a little better with the camera this week and maybe we can grab a picture of all SIX boys this year.  But it probably won't be in the bathtub...

Picture of the Week - 1/3/2013

This time of year lots of people do lots of retrospective thinking. It seems there are "best of" lists all over the place. I suppose the start of a new year is a good time to look back and take stock and make whatever changes compel you. I suppose I'm not much different.

I'm not a resolution kinda person. To me, making a commitment for change on some specific day is a little bit like only being thankful on Thanksgiving. Personal growth and change should be continual, not calendar driven. But that's just me... if you have made a new resolution - I wish you the very best of luck in keeping it!

Just because I have no specific new year's resolution doesn't mean that I don't enjoy some retrospection! It dawned on me around October that I have been doing this Picture of the Week email for 10 years. The first picture went out on 10/18/2002.  Wow! There's not many (optional) things that I can honestly say that I have done consistently over a 10 year period. Looking back, are there hobbies or activities that you have kept up with since 2002? If you have been with me the entire 10 years, THANK YOU!!!! It means more to me than you will know that you care enough to spend a few minutes reading about our life once a week. And don't forget that I really love to hear from you as well. You know lots and lots about what we are up to, don't hesitate to take a minute to let me know what's going on in your life. I care and I'm interested!

So I thought it would be fun to look back through the OVER 520+ emails I have written over the last 10+ years and share some of the pictures that you first saw in the fall/winter of each year. I also thought it was pretty interesting to see the highlights of what was going on in each of those POTW emails. (BTW - Having looked back over all these little messages, I have to thank you all again for continuing to read. There were LARGE periods of time when all I did was complain about someone being sick!*)

* LOL - For anyone on Facebook, Zane's pneumonia is much better and Beckett now has Hand, Foot and Mouth - but I'm not complaining! LOL (Yes, I'm laughing at myself!)

 

 

2002 - Spencer was born - and so began our great adventure!

2003 - Bought our first minivan, first Burt’s trip, Spencer started walking, we were blissfully pregnant

2004 - Quinn! The year of the doctor and therapy, The year we realized miracles were real and God had a plan for us all

2005 - Quinn heart surgery #1, Boys start daycare, More therapy

2006 - Sold our house, Lived with my parents for 3 months, Moved to our new house Quinn started preschool! Spencer started sports!

2007 - Quinn heart surgery #2, Disney Cruise! MRSA scare, LOTS of house work, Spencer rides a bike without training wheels

2008 - Ohio blizzard, Bob got a Jeep, We got a Willow (and fish and butterflies), Spencer started kindergarten and football, Quinn started baseball, Another Disney cruise, Goodbye to Grammy Lucy

2009 - Wii fun, Quinn went to Kindergarten, More baseball and football, Zane!

2010 – Wrestling and Football and Baseball and Flagball, Basement remodel

2011 – Giant GA snowstorm, Sports and school and vacations, Beckett!, Our family is complete!

2012 – Family of 6, Trips to beach and Disney, Lots of sports, Goodbye Sloopy, Tons of FUN!!!

Here's to an awesome 2013!  I wish you all peace, health, prosperity and a good dose of fun!