Christmas Tree

A family tradition...decorating the Christmas Tree!

We each had our favorite ornaments, and getting to place them on the tree, it felt like we were truly making the family Christmas Tree our own! 🎄😁

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!🦃

Cranberry Sauce

Sometimes, presentation says a lot!

It took me quite a while to muster enough nerve to try cranberry sauce. In my defense, my mind compared much of it's consistency with a can of dog food! 😅

Freezing

It never fails...every year the change in temperature sneaks up on me!

Waiting at the school bus stop around this time of year, I'd stand there waiting, and the wind would blow the cold right through my clothes, and I'd instantly regret not dressing in warmer layers! 🥶

 

The Weekend

We made it! 🥳

Have a great weekend everyone! 😁

New Season

It was like clockwork...when a new season started up for a popular sport, we'd be even more inspired to play that game with friends in the neighborhood! 🏒😁

Pretender

I realized if I wanted a few items on my Christmas wish list, I had better be good through November and December. Unfortunately, that was a near impossible task! 😅

Fall Line Up

Fall brought us the Fall network television line-up! The networks teased us kids by putting amazing shows on TV IMMEDIATELY after school. That meant if we wanted to catch them we had to race home to be there in time for the new episodes! 😮‍💨📺

Leaves

 Jumping into a pile a leaves was always a fun activity in the fall...

...especially when SOMEONE ELSE raked the leaves into a pile! 😂🍂

The List

So, is it too early to think about Christmas? Probably not for a boy who has to start contemplating what he'd like for Christmas. 🤔🎁

By this time, Mom and Dad were already starting to ask us what we might like for Christmas. Honestly, it was tough to come up with a list sometimes.

It’s also about the time I reflected on the last year, and evaluated whether I was even GOOD enough for presents come Christmastime. If that was even remotely questionable, I knew I needed to “step up my game”… at least for the next two months! 😇

Candy Girl

It's candy season...or is that all year round? 🤔

Occasionally with some encouragement, I tried to make an impression with the cute girl in class. Maybe a little piece of candy may show her how I truly feel. 🍫🥰

Gasoline

 It's no secret that I like cars, so once in a while, I feel the urge to draw a cartoon with a car or two in it, just to scratch that "car guy" itch. 😎🚗

A little fun fact...one of the cars in this cartoon is modeled after a car my mother once owned 😉

Train

 A small detail I value where I live now - the sound of trains moving through town!

Where we grew up there was a train station on the other side of town, and on a clear night, you could hear train horns as they passed through. Little did I know that our current home was near a small junction, so trains pass through regularly. When I hear their horn, it instantly takes me back to our home in Virginia, hearing the horns out my open bedroom window. 😊🚂

Comics!

Comic books were very easy to sneak into school...I just stuck one or two in between two textbooks in my book bag.

I admit, there were quite a few times I was reading a comic instead of reading an assignment. 😉

Hair Spray

Yes, it's true...you can use hair spray to "take care" of a cricket.

As a kid, I thought squishing a cricket was disgusting. When I spotted one in our bathroom, I panicked and reached for the nearest thing I could find...an aerosol can of hair spray! It definitely took care of the cricket, but it also glued it to the floor! 😖

And yes, I just left it there for someone else to take care of. My mother was pretty mad when she found it later and struggled to pick up. 😅

Clothes Shopping

Having to tag along with my mother while she went clothes shopping was brutal! It seemed like she had to look at EVERY rack in the department store! It didn't take very long for me to try and find some entertainment by deciding to be a bit mischievous! 😅

Chin Ups

Chin ups! Why did they make us do them in Physical Ed? I mean, I remember like only one or two kids in class that were able to make even one chin up.

I definitely couldn't...I had no upper arm strength!

I don't know why I thought trying a bicycle kick would be any help! 😅

Siblings

That feeling when your sibling stayed home from school, YOU still had to go, AND on top of your regular school responsibilities, you now had to take home any assignments your brother or sister missed! 🤒📚

TV

It was always an added bonus when your sister enjoyed watching the same TV shows as you! 😎📺 

Candy

 Once a month the family would drive up to our grandparents' house for the day. On our way, we'd stop by a local newsstand, and our parents would let us pick up a a candy bar.

We'd get so excited over the chance to have some candy! 😁🍫

Our choices varied, but my sister frequently picked up a Whatchamacallit bar and I usually gravitated to a 3 Musketeers. 😊 

Sis 2

My sister is a few years older, so while growing up, she always had an advantage over me. Whether it was playing cards, board games, or simple acts of athleticism, she was always better. 😮‍💨

Sis

My sister and I were close, often participating in the same activities, like the drum and majorette corps we were both members of. Sometimes it might have gotten a little TOO close...but in the end, she's still my sis! 🥰♥️

Homework

In high school, it was a little understandable when the teachers assigned us a decent chunk of homework on the same night - they didn't necessarily collaborate to make sure they weren't overburdening the students, but in elementary school, we had only one teacher! It was a bit overwhelming when we went home with assignments on multiple subjects! 🤯📚🎒

Oversleep

 I feel like we've all experienced this at one point in our lives...

...you overslept!

It's a terrible moment for me when it happens...my entire day just feels "off"! 😴🤯😮‍💨

Sunday Drive

Family drives through the countryside. ♥️

On the weekends, our parents would pile us into the family station wagon, and we'd take a long drive through the countryside. We had no real destination...we just wanted to drive down some new roads, take in the scenery, and maybe find some new ways to travel around the area. 😎🚗