Traditions Archives | Page 2 of 6 |

{A} is 14 / A Belated Birthday Photo Post

July 31, 2011 By Laura 10 Comments

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July always seems to get away from me! I am having deja-vu, about blogging our oldest daughter’s birthday last year, quite after the facts. But, it’s alright really, because these types of family-related blog posts I generally just put together for the sake of our own recorded family history, and if anyone else is interested, so be it. So in brief, here is a glimpse into our day celebrating our oldest child’s birthday.

Her birthday is the 5th, and with the 4th making for a long weekend this year, we had an extra-extra long weekend. All of the typical 4th of July celebrations & activities, and then her birthday too.

Our family’s tradition is to take birthdays as a family day, free of work or schooling. But one of {A}’s wishes for her day this year, was to go to work with her Dad, at his morning part-time job at a local church. He truly enjoys his work there, and the setting is in a real wooded area, making for lots of wild critter stories to tell, when he comes home. So naturally, that is very appealing to her as well, if you know her. ; )

004_birthday_pancakes When they got home around noon, I had ready or usual birthday morning tradition: birthday number pancakes. That is usually Michael’s specialty, but since he was not home, I managed. Did you notice the flower and butterfly, made of butter? And the “bee-line’ from the flower to the butterfly, with syrup. : )

005 Oh, don’t feel bad for her. She ate several more pancakes, after her 14 was gone.

006 {JM} made this as a surprise at her place setting. And as usual, I was impressed.

{A} loved it too.

A few other surprises:

Football cards, from {JM, O and S}. They were pretty excited to have gotten these for her with their own money, because she collects them. (Along with other collections she has going.)

A couple of cool t-shirts she wanted.

A package from Grandma. She got a purse, a cool pendant, and a gift card to Michael’s Arts & Crafts. We also got her a gift card, to Borders Bookstore. There are a slew of books there she wants badly, and ‘to keep’.

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As a family activity, she wanted to go to the movies, to see Mr. Popper’s Penguin’s, with Jim Carey. It was a welcome idea, with the extreme heat and humidity that day! Now, I’m really particular as a parent, as to what movies/television my kids see, but after looking into it, I decided this movie would be fine, and it was. It was more than fine. (However, I was really glad with the decision, to keep them out of the theatreer until the previews were over! That’s another story.). But I have to say, this movie we saw was excellent. We all really, really enjoyed it.

Tacos was her dinner of choice, and then, before it got too dark out, we released our 5 butterflies we hatched.

Then of course, we sang, and had cake.

{A} has had a busier summer than she has ever had, with a temporary summer job, teaching 4th grade CCD for a couple of weeks, sports clinics to gear up for another year of sports (now high school), some schooling on the side, prepping for another new school year ahead, and just some sheer fun & relaxation hanging out with friends. We were happy to take this family day, to celebrate her and her life, and give thanks to God for the blessing she is.

Thanks for coming by.

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America’s Hometown Parade & Thanksgiving Day- 2010

December 1, 2010 By Laura 6 Comments

With Plymouth MA being America’s Hometown, and where the pilgrims first settled, we have quite the Thanksgiving Parade every year, not to mention a historical culture to enjoy all year long.

For 15 years, hundreds of thousands of people have traveled to the historic Plymouth Harbor and Waterfront to experience a bounty of authentic Americana. The celebration of Thanksgiving becomes history-brought-to-life as Pilgrims, Native Americans, Soldiers, Patriots, and Pioneers proudly climb out of the history books and onto the streets of Plymouth. You’ll see some of that in the photos to come!

There is so much to enjoy this weekend. The festivities include not only the big parade, but a crafter’s pavilion, an educational Wompanoag pavilion, food vendors, kid’s activities, the New England Food Festival, and more. It’s a very interesting and festive event, so consider coming down in the coming years, if the trip is do-able for you and your family. And give us a call while you’re here!

We had a great view of the parade, as we sat on the hill pretty much right across from Plymouth Rock. That hill can be seen in the photo on the top left below. Afterward we did a bit of walking around.

I know Thanksgiving is over and everyone is ready to move on, but I thought I would just share with you a bunch of photos I took, so you can enjoy a little of this event with us. It was a beautiful, and fairly mild day. So use your imagination, sit back and enjoy.

Not much more chatting in this post at all. Maybe just a little.

Plymouth MA Thanksgiving parade America's Hometown Many of you know that Michael is a 2nd generation sign maker and letterer. Well Michael’s father used to hand letter the Hallamore barrel wagons you see in the photos above, pulled by Clydesdale horses. That was an interesting piece of family history to share with the kids.

Plymouth MA Thanksgiving parade America's Hometown Seeing so much live history, right before your eyes, is a thrill. We are blessed to see some of it all year long, around here. With the Plimoth Plantation so close, we can step back in time, anytime! Photographing it all is so fun. Aside from the modern-dressed people all about, it’s easy to imagine you are back in time. One thing we DID see a few times, that really cracked us up repeatedly, was the evidence of today’s technology, that not many can be away from for very long! To see pilgrims and indians, texting, was a hoot!! I wanted to get a photo of that, but never got one. A funny sight though, as I’m sure you can imagine. All in all, it was a wonderful and memorable family day together.

As for our Thanksgiving Day……..

thanksgiving-plymouth-ma-3 ….ours was simply peaceful and lovely. We do not have a lot of close extended family, so we have often spent this holiday just the 6 of us. In the past years, we have opted to cook a ham or cornish hens on Thanksgiving. But this year, we cooked our very first turkey! It came out….perfect. As you can see. ; ) Dinner was delicious, as were the pies. We played games, watched football, and played some football outdoors too.

thanksgiving-plymouth-ma The kids set a real festive atmosphere as always, with the creative decorations.

thanksgiving-plymouth-ma-1 Each turkey that the little ones made, displayed feathers that expressed some of the things that they were thankful for. “Reagan”, by the way (on the last feather) is our other pet: a Republican beta fish. : ) Yep, he’s red.

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I really loved {S}’s indian.

thanksgiving-plymouth-ma-4 We hope you and your families, had a blessed and memorable Thanksgiving as well!

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They 8, and 8, and 8… | The Triplets Turn 8!

September 21, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

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As many of you know, our trio babies had yet another birthday at the end of August, and they turned 8.

EIGHT!!

I really wish they would knock it off. :\

You know. The whole growing and growing and getting another year older thing.

I think it’s the food?

They eat a lot!! More than me. They love to eat. And eat. And eat.

And then they get bigger, and older, and smarter.

It seems to be a phenomenon of some sort.

I just wish they would stay little babies.

But, we always love a reason to celebrate!

And x3 is even better!

Which brings me to my excuse about all of the photos coming. Well you all know how many photos you take on your child’s birthday; with the cake, and the gifts or party, and what have you. So imagine having 3 to celebrate on the same day. My shutter finger is plum-tuckered-out by the end of the day! But it sure is fun! Anyway, I tried to be easy on you, and make some composites, so your scrolling finger didn’t get plum-tuckered out too. I also am diving up their birthday posts, so this is only the first post on their birthday, which may not be all that exciting, for you. But oh how it all was for them.

If you’ve been coming around here long enough, by now you know that a birthday-number breakfast just comes with the birth-day. It’s Daddy’s specialty.

They love pancakes. They had way more than their number. 😉 They had like…8 pancakes after they ate their number. And sausages. And juice.

triplets-birthday-2 They never ask for a thing for their birthday, except a balloon. At one point or another, each one of them says, “Do you think I can get a balloon on my birthday?”

It’s the least we can do.

But we do a little more. We’re simple people, but come on. Everyone deserves surprises on their birthday.

I can’t tell you how perfect these little kits were for each of them. They were thrilled. And have gotten a whole lot of fun out of them since.

Big sister had surprise gifts for them too. A little something she bought for each of them. Then, she also gave them her big Magnetix kit from when she was their age, that they have wanted so badly. (So, like a Yankee gift. Lol) She was so sweet, because we had no clue she had any of this stuff for them. She loves planning surprises.

We totally lucked out with the cake thing this year! They all really wanted the same kind of cake. “Coffee cake”, as they call it. It’s cinnamon struesel.

I resisted asking them, “Nothing with chocolate?? Are you sure?”

“PLEEEEASE!!?? ANYONE? “

It’s so easy to make these 3 happy. We could have been done right there. But……we had so much more in store for them for their special day. A big surprise we knew would really make their 8th birthday very memorable.

It’s all coming up, right here.

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4th of July Weekend/Part II/Parade & Fireworks 2010 | Plymouth, MA

July 15, 2010 By Laura Leave a Comment

Most every year, we make it down to the Plymouth parade. Being in America’s Hometown, it’s a big deal around here! (As is Thanksgiving, and our parade for that.)

This year, it was HOT-HOT-HOT. Full blazin’ sun, humid as anything, the works. We enjoyed the majority of the parade, and then were all happy to cut out a little early, and get out of the sun! It’s always a great parade though!

The kiddos brought their American Pinwheels and Liberty Shakers they had made. Other parents and kids were buying those $10.00-20.00 souvenirs off the carts, but they were looking at ours, wondering where they could get those. ; ) {JM} also brought his Republican Beanie Baby elephant ‘Righty’. I love that thing!

O.K….some parade photos…..

You see this guy? They were saying he’s a very old veteran…..102 YEARS OLD! (Yes, one hundred and two).
WALKING in the parade?!! In the heat!? That’s what we kept hearing. Talk about impressive.

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I have no idea who this fool is.

lol. Just kidding. I mean…I really don’t know, but…

I love corevettes, but {JM} asked me to take a photo of this car. Not because it’s a vette, but because it’s purple. It’s his other favorite color. We may have another Donny Osmond on our hands. (…….”I’m a little bit rock ‘n rollll…..”)

This one the big boy asked me to take. That would be Michael. He loves GTO’s. I think it’s petty nice too, but he likes some other old style cars, that I think are as ugly as sin.

So listen…….you know how some pre-teens might see, say……The Jonas Brothers, or one of those vampire guys, and freak out on the verge of tears of excitement, jumping up and down, just coming out of their skin with disbelief at seeing their idol with their own eyes?

That would be {A} when she saw this guy….

Scott Brown!! (If you don’t know, {A} is prepping to be the next hot-and-ticked-off-enough-to-do-something-about it, politician. She has talked frequently about a seat in the House Senate. But today she was talking about her plan to have a bowl of pistachios in every room of the White House. Anyway….NOT the best photo. {A} like…RAN up to him in a nano-second and asked for a photo with him…..and he said it had to be FAST, because there was a trolley behind him. And there was! I had not a second, to adjust setting or get some fill-flash. It KILLED me. But to {A}…..this photo is a treasure. I have not printed it out yet, for fear she will sleep with it under her pillow, or something.

That night we all went to the Plymouth fireworks, too. Someday, when my kids are older, I’ll really get into getting great firework shots. But I really just want to enjoy my kids on exciting nights like this for them. They sat on top of the car to watch this year. The fireworks were happening all around us, actually….down on the beach, and out from the barge in the harbor.

Our whole weekend was just one blast, after another. ; ) (Oh brother….. O.K….sorry. lol. )

It was far from over too. Stay tuned, and tell us about your 4th!

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Earth Day 2010

April 24, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

A few years back, we decided to invest some ‘extra’ personal efforts of our own, on Earth Day, to help preserve and protect our environment.

It has become a tradition of ours, every year since. Somehow, we’ve been blessed with perfect weather to revel in every year on April 22, as well. This year was no exception.

Typically, our Earth Day starts with heading out into our neighborhood in the late morning, with our poke sticks and big trash barrel on wheels, to clean up all of the litter we can find.

As we work our way down the side roads, people drive slowly by, and smile at us, through their puzzled expressions. As if they are thinking, “What on earth, are they all doing?” (No pun intended. lol). Some actually roll down their windows, and ask us out loud. Others get it right away and already know and say, “Are you cleaning up because it is Earth Day?”….to which all the kids say in unison, “Yesssss.” And they usually say something like, “That’s so niiiiice. Thank you.” And again in unison they say, “You’re welcommmme.”

It’s downright sad, to easily find all we do.

We know some escaped the back of a truck on the way to the dump, or blew off someone’s deck by accident, etc.

We also know how many people just carelessly toss out their vehicle window, anything they are done with.

We love the part where we get to our beach.

We don’t find a whole lot of trash on the shore, but some. There are often adults, settled with their chairs and blankets at the beach, on (school) days as warm and fine as these. So most of them strike up a conversation with us. They first group thought we were a real crew, hired to clean up the beach, because of their colored shirts. But the kids explained, they were trying to wear “Earth Day colors”. Then they got it…”Ohhhh. It’s Earth Day….that’s right.”

I know the awareness of Earth Day has slowly grown since the 1960’s. But it seems we have a ways to go! For ALL to be aware not only of Earth Day, it’s history and purpose, but to contribute to it’s success every day of the year, through our daily habits. That’s the goal.

For us, our rituals of global love include not only cleaning up, to beautify our environment….

….but appreciating the beauty and Creation by God already all around us. Like this huge sea snail I spotted in the rocks, left behind by the receding tide, as we made or way down the shoreline. O.k., ‘beauty’ may be a stretch, for a sea snail. Sure, in it’s shell, it verges on pretty.

But I am quite sure, out of it’s shell, it’s about as ugly and nasty as the dickens.

The kids studied the sea snail meticulously….

…and had lengthy discussions about how interesting it was. And big! Then they decided it would be kind, to return the snail to it’s safe-haven home: the sea.

So that’s just what they did, even though it was a bit of a hike to the water line, as the tide was going out.

But the sea snail seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, or perhaps a thank you, as bubbles quickly rose from it’s shell, to the surface of the water.

Like any gorgeous weathered day around here by the shore, it’s hard not to feel so blessed, and amazed, at all God has created, for us. We sure do love it.

Soon, we headed home, ate some lunch, and later on, baked some Earth Day treats! Cupcakes.

The cupcakes were deviled food cake mix, aiming for an earthy color. Then we colored ‘whipped’ vanilla frosting from a can, and got creative. Going with the whipped was a wise choice. It was so easier to work with.

I do love the “EARTH” ones, that Michael/Daddy did.

Michael, {A} and I designed the rest.

These 2 were a couple of my favorites. By sight, and bite. : )

Our Earth Day has been as simple as this, but I have some bigger ideas for the future. We know many others do special things on Earth Day, and still others do nothing special, but are just good “earthlings” all year long. (And we appreciate that!) Did YOU or your kids do anything in particular, at home or at school, for more global awareness, appreciation or nurturing, on Earth Day?

Year round, we try to recycle, conserve energy (for our bills too, lol), reuse materials, and do other clean-ups on our street now and then, and we never, ever litter! (We also let anyone we see littering, really ‘have it’. “Excuse me. Pick that back up, please. NOW!!! <throat clear>. Thank you.”) Michael wants to put a rain barrel in the ground, to use for watering our gardens.

We hope you had a wonderful EARTH DAY!! Feel free to share with us anything about your day this year, or any and all tips or habits you use throughout the year, that benefits us all, as we preserve and protect the beauty of our world, together.

(P.S. After commenting, don’t forget to visit the Home Page! XO)

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