Wordless Wednesday: The Cross

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom for Wordless Wednesday.

Throwback Thursday: Then and Now

Then...

Robert (7), Josiah (2), and me in February 2005

And now...

Josiah (12), Grace (8), and me in October 2014

Then...

Josiah (in the light blue cape) and Grandad (in the Hawaiian shirt) in February 2005

And now...

Josiah (in what he calls his "Happy Hoodie") in October 2014

Wordless Wednesday: Sunset

The brilliant view from my backyard (October 2014):

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom for Wordless Wednesday.

Friday Night Lights and Icicles

Robert (17) had the opportunity to play football during his senior year.   His team made it to the first round of the championship games (they were in 4th place and played the #1 ranked team).  Here are some chronological shots from the season, including a few scenic shots of our "tour of Georgia" as we traveled to the games...some of which were around two hours away. 

Robert is number 84.

With it being a small team, Robert played a variety of positions, both offensive and defensive. 

Before a game

Robert is on the field in the center of this photo.

Sideline shots were often the only ones that weren't blurry.   :)

Friday night lights...and an eagle in the clouds 

Shot from I-20 as we drove through downtown Atlanta:  the gold-domed Capitol.

Robert is on the field and centered in this photo.

Robert was one of the players who often ran in plays.

Josiah (12) at the last game, when it was below freezing (hence, the "icicles" in the title of this post).

The playoff game. 

The team on the sidelines after the last game.

Throwback Thursday: January 2014

If you have ever thought Zilpah was a good name for a paperdoll...

you might be a PK (preacher's kid).

Grace writes the names of each paperdoll on the back.  The one at the bottom with the bright blue skirt is her favorite, Princess.  The one at the top is mine, Emily. 

She also has a paperdoll named Bilhah.

The Georgia Bulldog Ballet

I had a ticket for the Georgia Bulldog Ballet tonight...

This ticket:

Grace (8) used to put on nightly ballet performances for us at various times over the past 4 years or so for about a week at a time.  We always needed tickets to attend, and usually had to purchase them from our smallest entrepreneur.  So, yes, we would pay $.25 to $.50 to sit in our own living room.

Totally worth it.

Somewhere alone the way,  I earned a season pass.  Lucky me!

I found a bun doughnut for her hair today, and that has rekindled her love of performing, even if I haven't yet mastered using the doughnut.

Grace dances in an...ummmm...interpretive dance kind of way,

and Pachelbel's Canon is her favorite

but she's just as likely to dance to Turkey in the Straw.

The accompaniment is Josiah's keyboard, which has an extensive song bank available at the push of a button.  The Georgia Bulldog Ballet is (hopefully) the only ballet in the world where you can see a ballet performance to the instrumental version of The House of the Rising Sun.

That particular song always reminds me of my days of doing collection calls for a dermatologist I worked for years ago.  There was a woman whose rather awkward outgoing message on the answering machine was, "You have reached The House of the Rising Sun.  Leave a message."  I always wondered if she had ever listened to the lyrics...and, if so, why, oh, why, would you say such a thing?

Throwback Thursday: January 2014

Grace (7 at the time), our newest basketball player, was ready for her first game earlier this year.

And Josiah (11 at the time) was the one who encouraged her to put on her game face...

Grace's team:

She was delighted to find that she was not the smallest on her team of 1st through 3rd grade girls,  even if only by half an inch (if that!).  

Wordless Wednesday

A bright, hazy morning (May 2014, as I was heading home from my early morning babysitting job)...

For the record, my car was stopped and out of the road when I took this shot!

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom for Wordless Wednesday.

Here's a Question...

How do you restart blogging after taking an eleven month break?  I'm asking for a friend.

I still can't believe it's been eleven months.   I have thought often of my poor, neglected blog, and thought about how to jump back into blogging regularly.   And then I thought of how to explain my absence,  and all the updating I would "need" to do...

Because my children's photos on the sidebar are about two years old now...and various links need to be redone or removed...and I haven't had short hair in a few years so my profile photo would need to be updated...

And I would put it off again..and again...because life got a bit busier during my blogging break.  For instance,  Robert is now a senior, with weekly football games that are close to wrapping up.

Robert is number 84.  My sideline shots are the only ones where you can tell who is who. 

And so here I am, just deciding to start where I am and change what I can when I can.  And that will be OK.

That, and I will be in a chili cook-off tomorrow, and I'm supposed to come up with a name for my chili.   All I came up with (besides "My Husband Signed Me Up For This") was Cheeky Chili.  I guess this is as good a reason as any to jump back in, right?  And maybe I can hit some highlights of the past eleven months with occasional "Throwback Thursday" posts.

Baby steps, y'all.

If you're interested in the chili recipe I use, click here for the recipe and click here for how I mass produce my own chili spice packets ahead of time as well as to see what changes I make to the original recipe to suit my family.