Showing posts with label Traditions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Traditions. Show all posts

Dec 27, 2015

Christmas Puzzle and Kids

This was a quite Christmas. 
The Browns visited for a few days the week-end before. 
We played games and talked and ate some yummy food with the Johnson's.
Their trip a little too short! 

This is our traditional puzzle this year I missed Justine helping me... 
Emric and Amelie helped a little but I pretty much did it all by myself!

On Christmas Eve, we watched - I mean, I and Amelie watched - "It's a wonderful life"
Emric and Mike watched an old Star Wars!

We watched also a short version of 'The Nativity'

But the BEST part was getting to Skype with Justine for an hour!
She is happy and doing well and it warms our hearts!

Then after Christmas, Alexi and Heavena came. 
They brought a little cooler weather with them,
(80's and 100% humidity was too hot and weird in December!)


Sep 20, 2014

Limo Photos Dinner & Homecoming Dance

 Here the friends are all suited and pampered up for the evening.
In keeping with the affluent traditions, some rich parent got them a limo 
to get around in for the events.
( NO it was not Mike - he is not that rich and doesn't care much for those traditions.)


Being pampered dressed up, in a limo, and bombarded by parent Paparazzi's,
they get to feel like celebrities. 


After the photo-shoot, this is where the parents take off and the kids pretend to be adults! 
And go to an upscale Restaurant: Brio's in this case.

They then return to being teenager by going to the actual Homecoming Dance - for about 45mn.

They finish the evening by being like little kids -
They changed into comfy clothes and had fun playing a game of
Ghosts in the graveyard!

Emric's favorite part of the evening was teaching Sydney to swing dance.
He would have liked to have stayed longer at the dance but the music was really inappropriate!
But Sydney said Emric could invite her to the next church dance!

Sep 19, 2014

Homecoming King, Queen & Game

Mike and I attended half of the Football game.
I really just wanted to be there for the Half-Time show!
I wanted to see the selecting of the Homecoming King and Queen.

We were sitting right behind our High's school band.

Mums were present too... 
The queen candidates and cheerleaders had them on display.

Very interesting and strange tradition.

The other team got crushed like 45 to 3!


Sep 14, 2014

Texas MUMs

What is a mum you ask?
What is it for?

Click Here for explanation.

 This is the first mum we have come into contact with since our 4 years in Texas.
Last year, Emric's date was not from Texas and did not want one.
His date this year is Sydney. 
She is a good friend of Emric's.
They have known each other since their freshman year.
She is adorable! :)

But back to the mums.
They are pricey and heavy and have gotten huge and nuts!
They can range from about $70 to make to $300 made professionally!
And no, I did not make this one!
The girls and guys (they have smaller ones called Garters) wear them all day at school 
on the Friday of the Homecoming football game.
And the more noise and rambunctious they are the better!


Some have tried to break the tradition by donating the mum money to charities, 
which the kids do, but they still make the mums!

Some traditions are just hard to break.

Kinda Crazy!

Here they are doing the exchange...

Jan 1, 2014

New Year's Movie & Family Time

As tradition would have it, we went to see a family movie on New Years day.
At the Dinner and a movie theater.

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"
A Great Refreshing Beautiful Family Movie.

We LOVED it! 

I also lOVED spending this day all TOGETHER!
(we were a little squished in the 5 seater car the 6 of us! Emric was at a new year's party with freinds.)


We are so blessed to have such a beautiful Family!
I am blessed to have such a wonderful life companion...


 Sisters


Nov 30, 2013

Healthy Living Heritage

Good tasty food is a guilty pleasure of mine.
I love good food.

I've always been interested in healthy living, and have strived to make it my lifestyle.

It started early in my youth, having a fit active hard working father, and a mother who created wonderful tasty healthy meals from whole foods - a big portion of which were home grown and raised.
One way I knew she loved us kids was by her diligent dedication
in feeding us and making such wonderful food.
She would often ask me what I wanted to eat and a few days later,
there would be the requested dish for dinner!

We always had:

* Regular meals as a family

* A vegetable garden & fruit trees - I would often sometimes help plant, weed, 
water, pick, cut and help can our goodies.
My favorite caned good would be the cherries from our Cherry tree or the plums...

* Chickens
 I loved collecting the fresh eggs as a kid!
And lets not talk about how much I loved the oven roasted young chickens from heaven where a few of us 4 kids would fight for the golden delicious drumsticks!

* Ducks
The baby ducklings were too adorable!

* Rabbits
 So cute as babies, which I was careful not to get too attached to as they ended up in a
delicious stew on my dinner plate!

* And the occasional goat
Fresh goat cheese, which I never ate as a kid, I soooo regret it now!

Let's face it, French cooking and food is the best on the planet!
We were not "rich" as to money but "rich" as to food goodness! 
Our physical needs were always met, I never had to go to bed hungry.
I feel so blessed to have had such examples in my early years.
And blessed to have grown up in France.

Merci Maman et Papa!

I strive to pass on a little bit of this way of living to my kids.
It hasn't been without challenges.
We had dinner every night as a family and I am saddened that this tradition has been mostly lost...
SometimesI think that I have failed in so many ways...
I feel sad to think that this healthy heritage from my parents will be lost.
But there is always hope... Especially as you kids get older.

Also I've had some picky eaters - you know who you are!
Amelie has been my try-everything-eat-salad-and-fruit kid from the time she was a baby!

There are other food influences in our home that have not been cultured in quite the
same way in their upbringing. 
[Food 'snobness' intended]

I find the American way of eating not the best to say the least.
And yes, a lot of it has influenced our eating as it is often fast, instant and convenient.

I hope my Kids - you reading this? - will see some value in what I have tried to teach them and feed them. Even if it's later on in life.

My philosophy has been.
Try it. If you don't like it, you don't have to eat it. 
But try it again later on, then again and again. 
One day you may like it.
Partake of Mother Earth's goodness!

 I was a little picky as a child too - for french standards - and now regret not eating all the wonderful things my maman would make.

Nov 16, 2013

Corn Maze @ P-6 Farms

Amelie's dive team had a little outing this Saturday.
We all met at this little farm.
They had popcorn food and a few country fair kinda games.

The weather again was so perfect!

This is the first time I go to a real corn maze.
It is a lot of fun, if you consider being lost fun! Haha!
Besides that we had a murder to uncover.

The maze has tones of clues we had to gather.
Mike, Chris, Sarah and I stuck together.
A few times I couldn't see Mike and started to panic!
I do not have the built in sense of direction guys seam to have!

I was shouting:
"MIKE! MIKE! You better not lose me!!"
&
"WAIT FOR ME"
&
"Come Back and get me!"

I'm sure I made a fool of myself!
We did survive, we did get out, and we solved the murder mystery.
And I can assure you I had nothing to do with it all!
Chris and Mike were the MEN!

We had a very fun evening.
But I would never go in a maze without Mike!
Ps: They had a watcher with a walkie talkies in case people get lost, which happens, very easily!


It's not as easy as it might seam...
"What is easy is to get lost!" says Amelie.

Instructions
Of we go!
Going around in circles?
Taking in the view. Looks much easier from here!
Goofy closed eyes...
Getting the Clues
Goofy Mike!
Look what the Farmer found in the Maze!
Where some of us ate dinner after all the fun...