Traditions

Dan and I always have the conversation each holiday that revolves around these few words..."this should be our new tradition"...and it seems as though every year we forget what we did the last year as our "tradition" so we invent our new one.  Don't get me wrong...we have a few sacred things that we actually follow through on but now that we have Will it makes me think that we should probably pick a few and seriously make them stick.

So what are the top holidays to have a tradition?  New Years, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas are my top four...I mean sure there are others but honestly..you can go bananas just thinking about the next holiday coming up.  I do appreciate Target and their hastiness in redecorating their stores as soon as I walk through their doors reminding me of what holiday is just around the bend.  Cause otherwise I would totally forget..."oh it's Memorial Day...how nice"...and I always smirk when I see those back to school posters as both parents and kids groan in the middle of the summer...

I'm rambling...

Traditions...I will list out what Dan and I do first and then underneath is what I grew up participating in:

New Years:  always celebrated at the Phillip's house..and we play the dollar gift game...you bring 3-$1 gifts and it's a rolling of the dice, trading and hoarding your sacred gifts only to open them up later and find out that you picked a beautifully wrapped and cleverly stacked cans of sardines.

I usually babysat on New Year's for either my family or the Raw family-who had three boys.  At the Raw house I would freak myself out watching The Twilight Zone marathon every year just so I would stay awake. 

Easter:  don't really have one here...but I'm trying with the whole Easter basket thing

Going to church on Easter is a no-brainer and it's not a tradition for us because we are in church almost every Sunday.  My parents used to hide the Whopper Eggs around our house the morning of.  Mine would be located at the highest eye level, Tiffani's in the middle, and then Chelsea's at the bottom in random places all over the house.  Then one year I got a major insult when it was announced that Tiffani's were now the highest to find and mine were in the middle.  I unfortunately was surpassed by Tiffani's awesome height when I was in High School.  The funniest part about the Whopper eggs were that during the year we would find an orphaned, rogue egg behind a book in the bookcase or behind a glass in the cupboard and we would dare each other to eat the now very stale Whopper.  Chelsea always did. 

Thanksgiving:  nada really...it just depends on where we are and what family we are around

Our family Thanksgiving's were not that exciting.  On one side of the family the dinner's were terrible...mainly for the cooking so it was a bummer when we would find out where we were going so Thanksgiving was always a gamble for us.

Christmas:  nothing...it's pretty much the same as Thanksgiving

Christmas's at the Foster house started off by my sister's waking up at the break of dawn and hearing them run back and forth from each other's rooms giggling.  My parents were smart and put a "don't wake us up until 8am otherwise the presents are going back" rule in place when we were youngsters.  When my mom was first married to my dad she made a hand-painted nativity set out of ceramics.  Okay-get ready to laugh and don't be a hater on the Foster family as this story continues.   My mom decided that she would start wrapping the baby Jesus in Christmas paper.  Christmas morning we read the Christmas story out of the Bible and one of us three girls would get to unwrap the baby Jesus showing that He was the "first gift" of Christmas.  Are you laughing?  Cause I can hear it.  Anyways...my parents wanted to keep the Christmas gifts in check and gave us girls three gifts each because the Bible mentions three gifts-gold, frankincense and myrrh.  So, being the loving, caring sisters we always were we would "fight" over who got to open the baby Jesus because it was one more "gift" to open up.  We could never remember who opened it the past year...so my mom would either decide to "start over" and let me open it first...or let Chelsea open it because she was the youngest.  I can't tell you how many times Tiffani was slighted as she was continually skipped over to open the sacred gift.   

So that is what I have to go off of....Whopper eggs and wrapping baby Jesus up in Christmas paper.

Out of all the holidays that Dan and I have a tradition on it's Groundhog Day.  We watch the movie Groundhog Day and eat a huge bowl of ice cream in the dead of winter.  Aren't we so exciting?

So for all of my friends out there-if you have a fun or exciting tradition you do-then good for you!!  Traditions are always so much fun to hear about and think "wow..that would be awesome to adopt for our family" but I'm being real here when I say-I will probably forget and pretend to start a new tradition the next time a holiday rolls around.  Unless it involves Whopper eggs or wrapping up the baby Jesus in my nativity set.

WAAAYYY Behind....

So I have to say to my blogger followers...myyyy badddd.....I haven't written in so long...but I am really going to work on staying up to date...PROMISE.

You may be thinking, "What has happened to Dan, Rachelle and Will?" -  Here is your answer my friends:

January:  nothing new

February:  nothing new-ummm but I guess I can tell everyone in bloggie land that I did turn 30.

March:  Dan resigned from his job as a Manager at the group home..but he is still working there until they find someone to fill his shoes...and Will surprised us with getting four teeth in!! 

April is here and Dan is still working at the house.  No one has filled the position yet which is a blessing right now because it is still bringing in a good income...Will is kind of growing :)  We took him to his nine month checkup and he is in the 3rd percentile for height and the 6th for weight.  He is so much fun-his newest thing to do right now is wave and shake his head back and forth.  Can a 10 month old already know the word "no"?!  

I am in PA visiting my parents right now.  We are having a good time catching up and I love seeing my parents spend some time with Will.  Mike and Chelsea are able to see him and spend some "quality" time with him as well (tonight they were on their own as they were faced with a messy diaper!) and Will loves his PaPaw, Nona, Uncle Mike and Aunt Chelsea.  He and I have also been able to see my Grandma Bowles (GiGi) and it's been precious to see her hold and feed Will.  

Today Dan went to the Buffalo Teacher Fair-which you had to preregister for in January and then be invited to attend.  There were over 650 other teachers there as well-isn't that so sad?  Some were college students about to graduate this spring but many were displaced teachers.  Dan had 40 minutes to get his resumes to school districts and hope that they had time slots for interviews.  He was able to really talk to three districts-all out of state-but it was encouraging for him.  There are a few Christian schools interested in him as well-but it is so hard to not be impatient as we wait for the next chapter of our lives.  As much as it would be convenient to stay in Buffalo we really don't know if that is going to be an option anymore.  All I can keep reminding myself is that God is in control.

I am working on my Master's degree online and I really am enjoying it.  It's a lot of work and very late nights but it's rewarding.  

I think you are all caught up now...that I can remember at this moment! :)