Friday, February 5, 2016

Everyday Happenings

It's hard to believe that the first month of 2016 is over!  I wanted to share our January happenings.

The year started off with a bang.  Bill's cousin Carrie was married on New Year's Eve.  It was a lot of fun, to say the least.  The wedding was held at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.  I purposely didn't take pictures there so I could enjoy the moment.  And I did.  It was a beautiful ceremony.

The reception was held at the Please Touch Museum.  Check out this picture of the bride and groom during the reception.  Isn't it magical looking?


Since it was a black tie optional event, Bill was able to brush the dust off the tux he owns and get some use out of it.  Here are some other shots from the night.


Bill's siblings...Mike, Joe, Kate, and Tim.

Sister in law Christa and husband Joe, with Baby #4 in that belly :)

Sisters in law

My awesome Father in law

Brother in law Joe and wife Ali

Cousin Carrie with sister in law Jenny

You may have heard, further into January we had the Blizzard of 2016.  Our area had 31 inches fall.   I love being stuck at home.  I even love to shovel.  But if that's all the snow we get this year, I'd be happy.






The girls are usually pretty good at entertaining themselves.  Balloons and science experiments filled part of their weekend and the following 3 days off from school.




Speaking of the girls, the three of us had a few hours on a Saturday with nothing to do.  We drove to the outlets to shop a little. 


Ann is NOT a big fan of shopping, but she found some fun things to do while waiting for me and Mary.



Not much more to report other than sharing these cute (to me? to everyone?) pics.

Matt helping Billy try out goal-keeper gloves before he invests in them.

Vader napping on the couch he's not allowed on.

Tommy watching TV in a unique way.

Not sure who took this shot.

Games on the tablet

Bus stop

Speaking of the bus stop, time to go get them.

Happy weekend, everyone!




Monday, February 1, 2016

Follow You, Follow Me

This past week I have lost 8 followers.

Just to be clear, I didn't have many follower to begin with.  Losing any amount is painful for someone with a small blog like mine.

To be double clear....out of the small group of followers I had, one of them is ME!  (Hey, don't laugh.  If a presidential candidate can vote for himself, surely I can follow myself.)

Another follower I have is my daughter.  ( I made her.)

Two other followers are my one friend who for some reason followed me twice.  She must have felt bad for me seeing those measly numbers on my sidebar.

I'd like to think this sudden loss of followers is a glitch of some sort.  It seems kind of weird to lose them all at once like that. But that's not all.  People that I followed have turned their own blogs to private.  They don't want me to read their blogs.  That can't be a glitch as well, can it?

I started wondering what I could do to make my blog more popular?  Here's what I'm thinking.

--Join Facebook and post the link for TJM on there.  But no.  For me, the ends does not justify the means.*

--Reply to my commenters.  I usually don't reply back to the comments people leave for me here, but it is a kind gesture and it would show my appreciation of them. 

--Be controversial.  Yes!! Controversy always draws people in.

Some of my ideas for controversial posts would be:

1. Michael Jackson's Off the Wall album is way better than Thriller.
2. Paul Newman is more handsome than Robert Redford.
3. *Facebook is evil.
4. Bruce Springsteen is over-rated.
5. Gene Rayburn from Match Game is sexy.

{Side note: During my writing,  I let Billy read up to this point and he told me, "Mom, I feel if you publish this post you will lose more followers"}

{Side note #2: While writing this, I lost one more follower.  It's true!}

I may never get back up to 50 followers.  In fact, I better wrap up this post before I get to negative numbers over there ---->













Monday, January 18, 2016

Brace Yourself

A couple of years ago Mary was evaluated for braces.  She definitely needed them, but the orthodontist wanted to wait and give five more baby teeth a chance to fall out.

Well, the time finally came and today she got them on.

Across the street from our orthodontist is an ice cream place.  We stopped to get her a milkshake because...uh, hello?  Why wouldn't we?


We decided to channel our inner Marcia Brady.  The episode where Marcia gets her braces on is one of my all time favorites.  We decided to have spaghetti for dinner (like Marcia).



For dessert, we had ice cream and watched that special episode called Brace Yourself.






By the end of the day Mary didn't feel "ugly, ugly, ugly, didn't hate Alan Anthony, and could go on being the most groovy girl in her school."


Friday, January 15, 2016

Guest Post by Matthew

Matthew acquired a little journal.  This little gem was his first entry.


 These two have become best buddies.  The oldest and youngest.  



And it warms my heart, I must say.






Saturday, December 26, 2015

Family Christmas Video

It's been a JOY filled Christmas season around here.

We are very blessed to be surrounded by such love throughout the year, especially at Christmastime.

Enjoy our video and a little Toby Mac.







Monday, December 7, 2015

Monday, Monday

Good Monday morning!

Please indulge me a little? 

I'm bursting with pride over my little performers.  On Friday night Mary's high school had their orchestra and choir performance.  Tommy's middle school jazz band did a small performance before it started.

How cute are they?


Tommy is trying so hard to be civilized.  Before we left, it was more like this:


We only got this one shot during Mary's performance.


The night was a much needed infusion of holiday spirit.

Below is a video I shot of Tommy's jazz band.  Enjoy a lively version of We Three Kings.


Happy second week of Advent!