FFF...Forced Family Fun

A friend of mine gave my mom and me these napkins a few years ago. I love them. And every time we have a big family hoopla I think of them.

Forced Family Fun {FFF}. I've seen it be fun and I've seen it turnout no-so-fun. We've all been there. But nonetheless, we crave it sometimes. It's all about establishing traditions and creating memories.

While we were suffering from cabin fever during the winter storm, we were participating in LOTS of FFF.

We like to do game night, but it's gotten a little more challenging to accommodate different interest levels and skill levels. There's a big difference in an 11 year-old and 5 year-old!

So last week I pulled out an old favorite that I used to play with my students in therapy sessions, Rainbow Tower. It's like the colored version of Jenga.

It goes quickly enough to not lose anyone's attention and it also presents enough of a challenge for the tween boy in my house {who actually bowed out with a belly ache and watched from the sofa}.

We played two rounds and it was just enough.

1. The Daddy takes his turn (Puny, sweet, Sambo made a cameo appearance on the sofa). 2. The baby bird takes a very steady turn. 3. He said "I can't watch!" as Fulton pulled one from the bottom.

I like the added bonus that it encourages dexterity and coordination, as well as recognizing and following a pattern when you restack the tower.

Who knew a classroom favorite would be a family favorite 12 years later.

In other FFF news...

We also force our children to try on the Baby Bjorn periodically to test the weight limit. Usually, after church on Sundays. HA!

What do you do for FFF? Do y'all have any favorite games?

{HOLIDAY} Family Traditions

..."I said leave me alone. I'm singing all night long it's a family tradition!" -HW, Jr.

While the holiday busyness took over, my little blog got neglected {again}.

We had a great holiday season and I feel like it officially ended Monday night with the Feast of Lights at church.

I just love establishing family traditions! My mom was always good at it and I thank her for that.

I'm going to back up a couple of months to highlight some of my favorite holiday traditions...

{GIVING THANKS}
Thanksgiving is such a great holiday. It's a "no-pressure" kind of holiday. Just a time to be and give thanks. We alternate spending our Thanksgiving with either my family or Shan's. While Aunt Laynie was sick and with it being my mom's first Thanksgiving without her, we have been celebrating with mine the last few years, but typically we rotate.

It's sometimes chaotic with so many people under one roof. But it's like I always tell me mom...It's OUR chaos and I LOVE it!

This year the boys had a blast as my dad dragged out the karaoke machine after dinner.
HILARIOUS! I tried to post the actual videos but I was having technical difficulties. So cute!

We truly have so much for which we are thankful. I am especially thankful for these guys.

{GEARING UP FOR THE HOLIDAYS}
After Thanksgiving we moved onto Holiday Market week, which has been a family tradition for the last 7 years. I won't be in charge in the years to come, but we still plan to support the events during that week.

 

{LIGHTS}
One of our favorite places to see a great light show is in a neighborhood not too far from us. Our good friends live directly across from the display. Their circular driveway gives us the best view of the thousands of dancing lights. The boys dress in PJs and we get warm chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate from the drive-thru to enjoy while we watch the show from the car.
I found this link to a small portion of the display on youtube.

{GOOD EATS}
Then the few days before Christmas through the few days after Christmas are packed with family, exchanging gifts, baking and playing!

Some of my favorite things we make in our family are our Biscottis - a true family tradition, Toffee Crackers - YUM!, and my mom's Crispy Cheese Wafers.

{LET THE FUN BEGIN}
{December 23} We spent the night at the lake with Shan's family at the lake house. I make a big pot of potato soup and Nana makes a yummy ham along with some other goodies and my S-I-L provides the sweets. I love sitting around their living room, watching the kids exchange gifts, laugh, and play with their new loot. My favorite part is our feast-of-a-breakfast prepared by Papa on Christmas Eve morning. It's a great kick-off for the special day ahead!

{December 24} Christmas Eve is always a whirl-wind day. We ended up having a quiet Christmas Eve dinner at home after church. Our tradition is a big Italian feast at mom and dad's, but there was a change in plans this year. It was actually a first for us to be at home, but it was really sweet with just the 5 of us. Each year after dinner, the boys put on their PJs and track Santa on Norad and they love reading A South Carolina Night Before Christmas before heading to bed. Then the fun begins!!! Shannon and I always have a ball preparing for Christmas morning together. I don't know who is anxiously anticipating the next day more; us or them.

 

{THE BIG DAY}
{December 25} Every Christmas morning I love making the boys wait on the steps or by the living room door so we can all go in together to see what Santa brought. We eat French Toast Casserole or Cinnamon Coffee Cake {whichever one the boys request} and an ambrosia salad for breakfast. Early in the day we stay at home to enjoy opening gifts and playing with Santa's goodies. It's so relaxing and pleasant! We also enjoy the tradition of going to my mom and dad's for lunch and visiting with mom's family.

{THE BIG DAY CONTINUES}
{December 28} This year my brother and his family came in town to make Christmas #3 for us a few days later. We usually get together at mom's, but since Santa brought a trampoline and some cool things that couldn't be transported, we decided to celebrate at our house. We made some heavy hors d'oeuvres and grazed in between watching the kids play and exchanging gifts.

 

{THE NEW YEAR}
{December 31} I have a love-hate relationship with New Year's Eve! It is completely over-rated and I hate making plans, but I'm always so glad we did on January 1st. Thankfully, we always have good friends to shoot fireworks and enjoy the evening with. So this year for New Year's Eve we gathered with a few friends and neighbors to ring in 2014. It was quite convenient because the host and hostess live next door to the adult party we were all invited to. So we all took turns dropping in while the kids all played next door. It could not have worked out more perfectly!

{January 1} Not much to say about our New Year's Day traditions that vary from anyone else's traditions. It consists of laziness, football, pork-collards-black eyed peas, and sweet tea! New Year's Day is always so laid back. The holidays are winding down and it's a fresh start... I love it!

Those are a few of our favorite holiday traditions.
Maybe you have some we'd like to try. Tell me about yours in a comment!

Letting Go

Well. Happy New Year!

It's 2014 already? So hard to believe.

My New Year post is a little delayed, but then again, it's doing a lot better than my Thanksgiving and Christmas posts that never even made it to the blog.

 I love the fresh start of the new year! For me, it's a chance to wipe the slate clean; out with the old, in with the new. I thought about doing a post on my resolutions, but then I remembered that resolutions and I don't get along. I do better resolving to make changes randomly throughout the year...as they come to me. I definitely have goals for 2014 in mind. I just don't necessarily feel like I have to change everything starting January 1st. I get too overwhelmed and fear failure.

I've spent the last few days reflecting on 2013 and what kind of year it was. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. I think the most distinguishable theme of last year is "letting go".

I'm not a "let-goer" by nature. I usually hang on for dear life.
Afraid of change, I cling to people, events, traditions, and idols. Letting go is hard. It can be liberating and bittersweet in some cases. Painful in others. Sometimes letting go of something hurts so badly in that moment, but it only means God is preparing us for something better.

It seems like I had a lot of that this past year.

I am still in the process of letting a few things go. Unfortunately, they didn't disappear at midnight on December 31, 2013!

I'm still trying to let go of my long-time idol and crutch called ANXIETY {it's a daily struggle}.

 

I said SEE-YA! to a few friendships that were often one-sided and a few that were recently very hurtful.

I am still letting go of the idea of not having my Aunt Laynie. The holidays make it rough!

 

I had to let go of an awkward and hurtful situation where my help was requested and was in turn perceived as invasive. 

I let go of the idea that I was still 18 {or at least 25}, as I celebrated my 20th high school reunion.

 I let go of my baby Ver and our 9-12 preschool days when he went to big-boy school with his brothers.

It was very long overdue that I purge the baby gear, so I let it go too. {It served me VERY well through all three.}
I also let go of having any more babies.

 

And as always, I tried to find a little humor in letting go of certain things...

 

I had to let go of my fear of operating heavy "machinery" {a 4-wheeler on a very steep mountain} and flying by myself.

 

Though it may not be a big deal to the average person, it's HUGE for me. I let go of my need to create thematically coordinated Halloween costumes and let the boys pick and design their own. (I only helped where asked.}

And at the end of 2013, I let go of a seven year volunteer tradition that is near and dear to my heart.

 

 

 

I am sure I let go of many other little things along the way, but in my heart, these were pretty big things.

 

I let go feeling a little heavy hearted but a little lighter at the same time.

 

Letting go is a weird thing.

 

But as The Truth states:

 

Forget the former things;

    do not dwell on the past. 

See, I am doing a new thing!

    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland. -Isaiah 43:18-19

 

I must move forward, excited for the "NEW things".

 

God's Peace to you in the New Year!

 

Fall Bucket List

Fall is here! Finally!

And while it doesn't really feel like it at 85 degrees, at least I know there is hope of sweater weather very soon.

This year I compiled a little Fall Bucket List. There are things we always do that I want to keep as traditions and some new things I'd like to try.

And let's not forget all the "givens"... consume lots of chili and yummy soups, go trick-or-treating, and putting out beautiful mums! It's without a doubt my favorite time of the year!

What's on your Fall Bucket List?