Picture of the Week 10/28/2021

 All kinds of fun stuff crammed into the back-half of October!  It's one of the reasons I love October so much!!!

Last weekend was Homecoming!  It's always fun to see all the kids we have watched grow up get all fancy and head out to have a fun evening.  It's even more fun to watch your SENIOR get excited about the clothes, the plans, the pictures, and the time with friends.  Here's a sweet picture of Quinn and his date, Jess.  They are adorable.

Then Sunday was a celebration of my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, which is tomorrow.  Wow!  That's a pretty impressive milestone!  It was fun to spend some time visiting with their friends and reminiscing about all the memories they have made over the last 50 years.  So fun!  Tricia and I put together this cool mosaic for them using (literally) hundreds of pictures that would never have been if it were for their love story.  Take a look!  Also - if you ever need a cool mosaic, I highly recommend http://www.allyourphotos.com !  I had a blast putting this together!  

This weekend is playoff football for Zane and Beckett.  Here's their picture from this year.  Look how big they are both getting!  Goodness someone slow time down!!

Have a great week everyone - and Happy Halloween!!

Here's the online version of the 50th Anniversary mosaic - if you are interested, you can zoom ALL THE WAY in to see each of the individual pictures.  So fun!  https://allyourphotos.com/#/share/6Y5bkybA

Picture of the Week - 4/8/2021

 This week is Spring Break and we took advantage!

Bob and I grabbed Berber and Pappy, Zane and Beck and headed for the Smoky Mountains.  We could not have had better weather.  It was amazing!  We stayed in a cabin perched atop a mountain, which made for slightly nerve-wracking drives in exchange for breathtaking views.  We ate a picnic lunch halfway through the National Park.  We visited Dollywood, saw the Dixie Stampede Dinner Show, and ate dinner-plate sized cinnamon rolls.  We played cards, pool, chilled in a hot tub, enjoyed drinks on the back porch.  We laughed and really just enjoyed.  It was a perfect mini trip!  (That also left me wanting more travel and less staring-at-my-computer-screen!)  Good thing we have lots of stuff planned for the coming months... stay tuned!

I've had regular contact with both Spencer, who is in NC at a cabin with his buddies, and Quinn, who is in Orlando doing the theme park circuit with a friend of his.  They both seem to be having a great time and enjoying the break from work and school.  Spencer comes home tomorrow and Quinn is expected sometime Sunday.

This trip was a bit of a preview into what things will be like in the not-distant future as we transition from a family of 6 down to 5 and finally settle at 4 for a few years.  It's...  bittersweet.  I know we have done our jobs and they are ready to fly.  I can't wait to watch them spread their wings and GO!  But I am going to miss them.  It feels funny without all those faces around the table.  

A week or so ago the high school compiled a list of all the upcoming important dates for the seniors.  It was kind of daunting!  There is a lot of stuff crammed into the next 5 weeks or so.  Spencer will be having an in-person graduation.  We are pretty excited that we will get to watch him "walk" even if it is via limited tickets which means we can't take everyone we want to - including all our kids...  He's got finals, AP exams, Senior breakfast, graduation, parties, etc. etc. etc.  

On top of all of that, he's about kick wrestling preparation back into gear.  Spence has earned a tryout with the Citadel wrestling team and he wants to give it a go.  We aren't really sure what that means yet, but he's going to start hitting the mats again a few times a week to prep for whatever comes.  He's also participating in a couple of wrestling tournaments this May (which is part of the the "stuff planned" I referred to above.)  It's going to be a busy couple of months...  and then he will be off to Charleston.  WOW!

If we are connected on Facebook, you may have already seen my request for you to send Spencer a note that he will receive as part of the high school's "blue envelope" tradition.  Anyone can send him a note of congratulations or wish him well.  All you have to do is send a letter to the school with his name on it - Spencer Bovenizer, c/o West Forsyth High School, 4155 Drew Rd, Cumming, GA 30040.  The letters are being collected from Monday through the end of the month.  He would LOVE to hear from you!

Enjoy some pictures from our trip!  I miss that mountain view already!

Picture of the Week - 12/28/2020

 Well, I'm all off schedule this week!  Holidays on Thursdays and time off and getting unplugged from this computer have all thrown my Thursday POTW schedule for a loop.  

I considered just skipping last week altogether, but that didn't seem right since we have had such a fun week.  So I just decided to send it late and catch up.  Plus, who knows what will happen with this week and New Year's!  LOL

Last Wednesday was the boys' first day of break.  I think that's the latest they have gone to school before Christmas in years.  They all agreed that it was weird and made the time before Christmas go really fast.

Christmas Eve we went to Tricia's house for our annual Christmas Eve brunch/lunch.  It was fun to hang out at their new house and the kids always have a blast together.  After that we headed to The Melting Pot for a fancy Christmas Eve fondue dinner.  Believe it or not, we don't go out to eat as a family all together very often.  We eat out plenty, but it's pretty rare that everyone is free at the same time.  And even at 9 and 11 it's sometimes a hassle to take everyone and listen to the complaints from Zane and Beck about where/when/what we are eating.  Basically, it's just hard to make them all happy.  So we save the money and eat home - or feed them and then go out.  LOL

Anyway, dinner with the boys that night was SO NICE.  Everyone was excited.  They all ate.  Bob and I drank wine - thanks designated drivers - and we had both melted cheese and chocolate in the same meal.  Hard to find fault there!  It was a really fun time.

We headed home, opened up our matching PJs and everyone headed to bed.  Pictures attached are all from Christmas Eve.  I don't think I took a single picture on Christmas day.  

Christmas morning was so nice and calm.  I woke up first and we had time for coffee and to make the Monkey Bread before the boys woke up.  We dove into presents around 8 and really just had a great time together.  That afternoon we headed over to my parent's house with the biggest cheese and meat spread I've ever put together.  (Seriously I could have fed 40 people...) and celebrated Christmas again!  :)  

The weekend was full of rest and lazy.  It was awesome!

This week Bob and I are back to work for a few days and then another nice long weekend awaits.  We have no plans for New Year's.  We never really have celebrated New Year's Eve, so this is nothing new.  The boys are all back to wrestling practice now.  We have a tournament on Saturday and then quickly get into the heart of the wrestling season.  Believe it or not, there are only 2 more tournaments before we get into Regions, Quads, and State Duals - the wrestling equivalent of playoffs.  Still crossing all fingers and saying regular prayers that we can get through this season!!!  

I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas and have plans to do something you love for New Year's.  Stay safe and healthy!

Picture of the Week - 10/29/2020

 Having expectations is a recipe for disaster.

(And as a planner, this is something that is really hard for me to admit/learn/remember)

If 2020 has taught us NOTHING else, it's that things don't always (ever?) turn out the way we think they are going to.  Sometimes things are worse, but lots of times things are better.  

When I get caught up thinking about how something SHOULD be or how someone SHOULD act or what we SHOULD do, then I get flustered and disappointed when the picture in my head doesn't match reality.  Which is kind of dumb because reality is, well real, while the picture in my head is nothing but imagination.  Granted, this imagination is flavored with experience and knowledge and not fantasy...  but still, the point is the same.  If I have an expectation, the reality is not going to match (hardly ever) and then I am disappointed or flustered or whatever - instead of just being PRESENT to enjoy the actual moment.

Says easy, does hard sometimes...  but it's a process, an evolution, a journey.  I'm better at this now (by about a million percent) than I was 15 years ago.  Raising kids will do that to you!  

The annual trip to Burt's Pumpkin Farm is a really good illustration of an activity that I think we all have expectations built around because we've done it for 17 straight years.  We know the route to take, we know how long the drive is, we know when to go to avoid the crowds, we know what the hay ride is like, we know the story the talking pumpkins will tell on the mid-ride stop, we know we will overpay for pumpkins, and we know at least one boy will pick a tiny pumpkin that we will find around March in their room.  Experience tells us these things, so it's pretty easy to create an expectation from the day.

Then reality happens and you can either drop the expectation and enjoy the moment or dwell in the "loss" of whatever the day was "supposed" to look like because of an expectation that is, honestly, nothing but an imaginary dream.  

Our Burt's trip this year happened about a month later than normal because of all sorts of reasons - weather, trips, etc.  Also, it's 2020, so I don't know how/if Covid impacted their farm.  When we showed up, instead of seeing a field of different shapes and sizes of pumpkins, we saw mostly damp mulch and mud across the bulk of the empty field.  It was definitely not up to the ideal imaginary expectation - or even really on par with even our worst previous trip.  

We could have been disappointed and let it ruin our day.  Instead, we laughed.  

Because it was FUNNY!  We grabbed a few pictures, grabbed a few pumpkins, skipped the hay ride and headed back home.  It was definitely not the way I expected the day to go, but I think it's pretty safe to say that 2020 has taught us all to just roll with the punches and deal with whatever comes around the corner.  

2 months left, here's hoping November and December simmer down some!

This weekend we have playoff football games and then a Halloween block party thing before Trick-or-Treating.  

Also - Wrestling season started!!!  I'm so excited for this season.  It's such a great group of kids and the program is so much fun.  I really hope we get to have a season - and I'm trying hard not to have any expectations about what that might look like!  For now, I'm happy for every day my boys get to be on that mat!

Picture of the Week - 8/23/2018

Hi all!

Very short email today because I'm sitting in the middle of a customer visit that has now run 90 minutes past the stated "end time".  And this is at the end of a ridiculously long week.  

I'm tired.  And I'm frustrated that I am not at home watching football and hanging with my people.  

Blah...

Here's a cute picture my mom took of Zane while she was handling taxi-duty on Monday when the skies opened up.  

Back home tomorrow - to regroup and head back out next Tuesday.  :(

Picture of the Week - 12/28/2017

We are streeettttttccccccchhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnngggggggg out the Christmas magic for as long as we can!

By shifting into DISNEY MAGIC mode!!!

I can hardly even believe we pulled it off, but we DID!  We surprised the boys with a trip to Disney World as part of their Christmas gifts.  So FUN!  I made them jump threw an elaborate scavenger hunt to find clues and gifts with words on them that spelled out "We are going to Disney World on Saturday"!  I think I am just as excited as they are!

I was packing today with Quinn and he reminded me of some Disney Magic that we had sprinkled around the last time we went to WDW - which was over 5 years ago!  I had forgotten ALL about this, but he remembered.  Because magic is MEMORABLE!  Several months before our last trip Quinn lost his favorite stuffed animal friend, Stegie.  We looked everywhere for that stuff stegosaurus and could not find him.  Quinn was VERY sad...  During a purge of stuff out of the toy room, Bob and I found him!  We were thrilled - and also feeling mischievous.  So instead of giving Stegie back to Quinn, we hid him and smuggled him into our Disney house, where Quinn "found" him waiting on his bed.  He was flabbergasted  - and totally bought the "Disney Magic" explanation.  And he still remembers it all this time later.  

I love that!  

I can't wait to make more memories with these boys next week in Disney (and LegoLand).  And I am so excited that Berber and Pappy are coming with us!!

Here's one of my favorite pictures from Christmas.  It's a repeat if you follow me on Facebook, but it's worth repeating.  

Go make some memories!!!  Have a very Happy (and safe) New Year!!!  Catch ya in 2018!

Picture of the Week - 10/5/2017

Happy fall!!!

Today there are lots of pictures and not many words!  Here are some of my favorites from our trip to Burt's Pumpkin Farm last week.  

 

Tonight Spencer is back in action on the football field.  He's only got 3 more games left this season.  Crazy how fast things move!  Zane and Beck both have games on Saturday and Spencer is in a HS lacrosse game too.  It's truly a divide-and-conquer kind of weekend!  Next week I'm off on business travel (to Kansas City) for the first time in over a month.  Man it's been nice to be home!  I'm not looking forward to the trip.

Have a great week everyone!

Picture of the Week - 6/22/2017

Here are my favorite pictures of each of my boys from vacation - and a priceless group shot too!

We had a great week!  

The boys had a great time.  They all fished and swam and jumped waves.  The little guys were SO DIFFERENT this year than last year.  They weren't timid at all!  (It would have been slightly more relaxing if Beck had been just a *little* timid and at least stayed where he could reach!)  They learned how to snorkel and swim in the pool too.  No more floaty vests for us!  Wow!  We've been dragging those things around to all water-related activities for like 7 or 8 years!  I won't miss em!

We played games and drank wine and ate oysters 3 times!  We kicked back and just enjoyed the down time.  Nowhere to be.  No schedules.  It was lovely!

As much fun as we had, it was pretty hard to hit real life again this week.  The boys are all over the place - different activities, different places, different times.  Work is work.  I suppose they call it the grind for a reason.  I'm off today for a short overnight to TN and then heading to Orlando for a conference on Sunday.  Vacation seems almost like a distant memory already.  I suppose we just need to start looking forward to the next adventure!

Have a great week everyone!

Picture of the Week - 2/23/2017

Two unrelated, but cool pictures today.

The first is actually from last week.  Spencer got the "honey badger" award one night at lacrosse practice.  He's been good about going to practices and helping where he can - left-handed.  I'm sure his teammates appreciate him being there with them.  I know it's been frustrating for him to not be able to participate.  I think he misses it more than he's let on.  He's doing great though - and progressing through recovery like a champ.  He's started to wean off the brace and they are beginning to incorporate more strength training exercises at physical therapy.  I think he'll be able to participate in most of the summer football conditioning stuff, which is a great reward for the work he's putting in now.

The second picture is one my mom sent me from her day at the Elementary school.  She's been working with Zane's class on making a class quilt!  I hope those kids realize how lucky they are!!  Today she stayed and had lunch with Zane, which I'm positive he loved.  I'm so thankful that she gets to do stuff like that with the kids.  So fun!

Tomorrow Bob and I take off for our Buckeye Cruise for Cancer.  I'm working my way through "to do" lists and preparations to try to make things a bit easier for my parents.  This weekend the big boys are off for a church retreat and then Spencer leaves on Wednesday morning for his 8th grade field trip to Savannah.  It's a bit of a crazy week!  A crazy FUN week!

Cheers!

Picture of the Week - 10/6/2016

Happy Fall Ya'll!

It's finally starting to feel like fall down here with some cooler temperatures and a wee bit of color on some trees.  It was a long, hot summer and the change is welcome!

Last week the boys had Fall Break.  I wasn't a fan of a whole week off in the fall until last year.  In theory, it seemed like a better idea to just wait another week before starting school.  Before we experienced it, the school calendar looked like a week off in the fall would be nothing more than a disruption of our routine.

I totally changed my tune after last year's fall break.  Turns out that having a week free from (most) activities and (most) requirements is a welcome break - not only for parents, but also for kids.  It's a great time to recharge the batteries and rest the mind a bit.

And now - all the boys are back to school and football and lacrosse and all kinds of other things with renewed energy!  It's a beautiful thing.

Unfortunately, I was out of town most of last week.  I had to travel to Arizona for a conference.  It was a great opportunity for me and my career, but a total bummer that I didn't get to hang out with the boys for a little quality family time.

We DID manage to squeeze in our annual trip to Burt's Pumpkin Farm on Friday after I got back home.  Turns out that the timing worked out perfectly because we headed to the mountains at exactly the same time the weather shifted toward cool and crisp.  It was a PERFECT day!

Here are some pictures from the trip, which included Ella and Cooper this year.  It was nice that we were able to get some good pictures of the cousins together.

This weekend is going to be SUPER busy!  We have Zane football, Quinn lacrosse x 2, Beck flag football, plus Spencer is running in a 5k with his football team, we have a wrestling meeting to attend, and of course Bob and Spencer are coaching the little shooters again.  I suppose it's good we got a nice break while we could because I think it's going to be a sprint to Thanksgiving now!

Be on the look out for some Facebook updates about Spencer's playoff game on Tuesday.  If they win, they go to the county championship game.

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!