Marching through the Madness

Each year our family puts together a bracket for March Madness; the NCAA Basketball Tournament.  This is serious stuff.  Every year Mr. Man and I have combined our efforts and make just one bracket for ourselves.  And every year I say, “I need to do my own!” Finally this year I did it.  I studied out the teams, I did my homework.  In the beginning I felt sure I had put together a winning bracket.  The games began but my picks were falling like flies and since I hadn’t picked upsets, although when they lost it was upsetting to me, I was receiving no bonus points either.  So I was continually a bottom dweller; I was so sad and disheartened! But as time went on my number one pick, my overall winning pick, continued to battle to the top!  I was keeping my fingers crossed.  And alas they pulled it off!! 

Way to go Louisville you made me

a winner first time out!!

So I've been thinking.....

.........which I know can be dangerous.  But only good thoughts here.  So.....I love the Thanksgiving holiday and I love it because it isn't rushed, it can just be enjoyed for the sheer goodness of it.  I love it because it is about giving thanks.  I love it because I have so much to be thankful for. 

Monday, I realized how much I love Memorial Day. I love it because it brings people together.  I love it because of the sacrifices so many have made on our behalf and we are given an opportunity to show our thanks on this day of remembering. 

Thanksgiving and Memorial Day

My Favorite Days!!

Favorite Thing

The question today on The Pioneer Woman that had to be answered for the give-away was “Food-wise, what is your number one weakness?”  And the answer for me is ICE CREAM!  I just love ice cream.  But the real reason I love ice cream is that it is always lovely dished up for me by Mr. Man.  I'll say can I have a treat and he says, "what kind do you want?"  I love that man and our funny little tradition.

Mottos to Live By.......

When the kids were little I made up a motto for each of them. For some reason today I’ve been thinking of those mottos. I am a “saver” and actually found the index cards they were written on. I know it is crazy that I still have those cards and even crazier that I was able to find them so quickly. Yellow for Amy, green for Grant, red for Kimberly and blue for Justin. I share their mottos and a picture of them from December 1983 and another picture from 1994.

Amy:
As I stand for the right,
I will be a beacon of light.
This I do proudly too,
As I live the gospel true.
Grant:
Families Forever.
Friends smiling bright.
Keeping a positive attitude
Day and Night!
Kimberly:
I may be small,
But my smile is bright!
I always stand
For truth and right!
Justin:
I may be tough,
But I am good!
I always do the
Things I should!

As I think about each one of these motto today; I believe I see your motto in each of you!!

I love you guys!

Traditions

I love traditions. In fact just saying the word out loud makes me want to start singing the song…….. “Tradition! Tradition!” don’t you just feel the power of the word when you say it out loud. Okay maybe not for you but for me it is definitely an energizer. I think this time of year is when we see and hear of a lot of traditions. One of my earliest memories growing up was our Christmas morning tradition. First, we couldn’t get up before 7:00 a.m. and secondly, no one was allowed to go out in the family room without first getting Mom and Dad up. Of course Dad always had to shower before we went out into the family room; I think he just liked to see us agonize just a bit longer as if not being able to sleep all night wasn’t enough!! But that was part of the tradition. Roast beef and mash potatoes and gravy was our every Sunday meal tradition. This of course was in the days before cholesterol was invented. Cholesterol took the tradition out of our Sunday meal!! Moving forward many years I started a Christmas tradition with the kids Christmas presents. I never put their names on their gifts, well not in the traditionally manner. One year each gift under the tree had a puzzle piece. They were given a clue as to their puzzle then they had to find all the gifts with the correct puzzle piece and put the puzzle together. Other years their gift tags were a certain color or a reindeer; they never know what was what until Christmas day. It made it harder to figure out which gift belonged to whom; although I was in no way delusional as I’m sure there was plenty peaking going on!! It is harder now to have some of those traditions as we are separated by many miles but the memories of those moments are still there and for that I’m grateful. Another tradition I love although I’m not a part of it per say I love it nonetheless. Each year on Jim’s birthday Kimberly calls him at midnight and on her birthday he calls her at midnight! This means that Kimberly has to get up at 2:00 a.m. to make the call, Jim is lucky in that he just has to stay up until 10:00 p.m. I’m not even sure how or when this tradition got started but their tradition of being the first person to wish the other Happy Birthday is the greatest!!

Birthday Card: $3.59
Birthday Dinner: $60.00
Birthday Calls at Midnight: Priceless!!