Shan | Family Brings Joy

Bad Days Can Have Good Endings

October 6, 2014 By Shan Leave a Comment

Saturday our family had the wonderful opportunity to screen the upcoming movie Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. That is a very long title for a movie. Try to say that fast! I will refer to the movie as Alexander for the rest of this post. 😉 Oh and in case you are wondering what the full movie poster looks like (since I couldn’t squeeze it all in my selfie pic to the left.)

I’m always super grateful when there is a movie in which every member (our kids ages 16 & 11) of our family can enjoy watching it together. Family values movies seem to be few and far between these days. I watched the following trailer once before going to the movie. In case you haven’t seen it yet, here it is:

I wonder how many other moms might have cringed a little while watching the preview…wondering to themselves, “do I really want to pay to see a bad day?” To be honest, I thought that. Yet, I knew Disney would make it right and they did. Alexander has something for every member of the family to relate and laugh about. It turns out the movie is based on a children’s book written in the early 70’s by Judith Viorst. If you liked Steve Carrell in Date Night then you will like him in this movie as well. Steve plays Alexander’s father.

“As a dad I can totally relate to this movie. Things tend to not go the way that you think they’ll go. But there’s always a contingency plan. There’s always a backup. Things go wrong in life and I think that’s part of the charm of this movie: Everyone experiences those days. It’s all about how you struggle through and keep your dignity and your sense of family and fun and the kind of love that is pervasive between the characters in this film.” Steve Carrell

I am a huge fan of Alias, so I’m always excited to see Jennifer Garner. I enjoyed seeing Jennifer play the mother roll in The Odd Life of Timothy Green. She doesn’t disappoint in this movie too. It’s interesting I brought up Date Night and The Odd Life of Timothy Green, because if you mix those 2 movies together, you can sort of sense how Alexander is (without the magic aspect.)

“I don’t think I’ve ever played anything closer to my real life. Not that I have days as bad as this, but just days with the chaos of having a bunch of kids in the house—when there’s a kid peeing on the floor, and the dog is throwing up and somebody’s about to step in it, and you’re trying to get dinner on the table. I can definitely relate to the idea of trying to do too much in a day.” Jennifer Garner

The family portrayed in Alexander does have a really bad day, but what I like is how the family deals with the bad things. The Dad is an optimist and is always telling the children to hop on the ship of positivity. Families can learn a lot from these characters. My 16 year old son really laughed out loud during the driving test scene. He is about to take his driving test, possibly tomorrow. I’m truly hoping it doesn’t go the way this one did.

There were so many good quotes I wish I had written down while watching Alexander. Most of them were said by Alexander. The following quote, however simple, is completely true. “You gotta have the bad days so you can love the good days.”

Alexander is a definite family values movie…a must see! You won’t be disappointed. Let me put it this way…I don’t like to buy movies or watch them more than once. Yet when I left the movie I thought to myself, “We need to buy that movie when it comes out on DVD.” Bravo! Well done! Take your family to see Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day this weekend.

Just for you, my awesome readers, I’m including the recipe to Ben Cooper’s Quiche he made in the movie. Quiche is one of my favs. Can’t wait to make it myself.

Click on this link for a PDF copy of Ben Cooper’s Crustless Quiche Recipe

I will conclude with the Cooper family sitting down at the table for meal time…hope you’re family is sitting together for meals. (You know how I feel about that)

Hash Tagged blessed,

Filed Under: Photography Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

The Things We Do

September 24, 2014 By Shan 2 Comments

You never know how much good you do…

Well doesn’t this bring perspective. I can relate to this mom’s day all too well (except she fits in a family prayer in the morning.) However, not all my days are filled with helping others outside my home, such as this one. But, it does seem there are days where service is jam packed into one day or one week. As the saying goes, “When it rains it pours.”

This reminds me of my last post…I went on and on about how I can blog again now that the kids are back in school. I have one less child at home…yet she could drive and was helpful when I needed help with the kids. Since the kids have been back to school life has been filled with unexpected happenings. The most recent was saying goodbye to my Brother-In-Law who passed away after suffering another stroke. If ever there was a family man, it was him. Praying for my Sister, Nephew & Nieces.

Brother in law familybringsjoy.com

Before that happened, I helped prepare my oldest for her study abroad trip in Turkey and Greece. Today she embarked on her first day of sight seeing in Greece. I’m extremely grateful she made it there safely with all that is going on in the country right next door. She will be touring for about 3 weeks. If ever there is a time for this mom’s faith to be tested, it is now. Feel free to pray with me for her safety every day until she returns home.

Daughter created this double exposure of herself.

My youngest daughter is a dancer. Dance is what makes her happy. She comes by it honest, as it is one of my favorite past times. We thought we had found her a new dance studio before we moved back to Texas. Upon moving here, we found out some information which led us to not use that particular studio. We tried one studio in which they made her audition. The dance instructor said she would need to be in a class with kids much younger than her based on her ballet skills only. Her words were, “She can’t help it, she was taught in Oklahoma.” To say this rubbed us the wrong way is an understatement. We absolutely adored my daughter’s dance teacher in Oklahoma. It just so happens she taught more lyrical ballet rather than classical ballet. We said au revoir and found a much better dance studio for her.

Football has been the name of the game for my son the line backer. We’ve attended all sorts of pre-games including one held at the Dallas Cowboy Stadium in my hometown of Arlington. The high school here is something else and has the coolest pep rallies!

hs sophomore football player familybringsjoy.com

Can I just end by saying YOU ARE AWESOME! I’m so grateful for my faithful readers…my new ones as well! Hope everyone has a super day!

YOU matter…I promise,

Filed Under: MY Family Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Change Is Good

August 25, 2014 By Shan 4 Comments

Hey there! It’s good to be back! I’ve missed blogging. We are somewhat settled into our new abode here in TX. It feels good to be back in my home state and very close to where I grew up. Today is the kids first day of school! (at least my 2 youngest ones.) I enjoyed walking my daughter to school. Yes, I did say walking. Our town home is directly across the street from my 6th graders school. It was THE best first day of school experience EVER!

{I hope you overlooked the second who above, because I sure did! ugh! }

Now that 2 of the 3 kids are back in school, I have time to blog again…yippee! I’m looking forward to sharing more special features about our house in OK (which is still for sale…boo hiss.) I will also be posting a really cool DIY craft tutorial I made for our new mantel here. I hope this finds everyone safe and in good spirits.

See You SOON,

Filed Under: Me Time Brings Joy, MY Family Brings Joy, Photography Brings Joy

You Never Know…

July 10, 2014 By Shan 3 Comments

I have this little plaque in our playroom.

“You never know what you have…until you clean your room.”

Well, this goes for your whole house too. After living for 43 years, you tend to collect a lot of stuff. Yet, when you have a family, it multiplies. Even though our family has moved 7 times since my husband & I got married (20 years ago,) we STILL have too much stuff. To be honest, in the past, I didn’t make a big enough effort to purge as much as I should have. I’m doing things differently this time. Instead of jumping right into packing and haphazardly giving a few things away here and there, I have been primarily focusing on PURGING the last few months.

Here’s the deal, I come from sweet parents who are sentimental and like to hold onto things. I come by it honest. {That saying might be a southern thang…he he he} Personally, I really think there is a genetic disposition when it comes to this. It’s been interesting, because my husband likes to throw things away. He would rather throw things of value away than give them away. I can’t do that. If it has value, if someone else can use it…I would rather give it away. Otherwise, I feel it’s like taking dollar bills and throwing them away. I definitely see it’s easier to throw things away since it cuts out the sorting step and taking it to the local charity. However, we initially paid for the items or someone gave them to us (which they paid for) and I can’t throw that money away.

If you’ve been reading here for awhile you know I have ADD. I like to share the ins and outs of what it’s like to have it. Mine is the inattentive kind. Medicine has been miraculous for me. However, when it comes to having a high stress level, like now, sometimes the medicine doesn’t work as much as I’d like. I only realized I had ADD about 11 years ago. So pre-medicine days (32 years) I would get so overwhelmed, there wouldn’t be much purging or sorting. I was doing good to just have everything packed for moving day. To take a box and sort through it is almost like torture. The act of making so many decisions is so mentally taxing on me that it effects me physically. After going through several boxes I am completely wiped out. I know my ADD has something to do with this. My brain works differently than someone without ADD.

Over the years, I’ve been trying to teach my children about letting go of things they don’t need or use anymore. I seem to have done a good enough job with my two oldest…it’s the youngest who is resistant. Yet, I have been so pleased with her progress while we’ve been sorting. I found it’s easier on her to give away things to people she knows and cares for. It’s funny…she will make a pile for charity and then she will have an even bigger pile for our friends. Personally, I find it easier to give things of value or emotional significance to my friends as well. My best friend is also moving {yet she is moving 2 hours North of here, while I will be moving almost 3 hours South. } Anyway, there are many toys we’ve kept that my kids no longer play with. {Partly because I’m in denial they aren’t little anymore.} We’ve had them in the playroom and when little ones come over to our house they know where they are. I enjoy seeing the kids play with the toys. Since we are downsizing, we won’t have room to store these toys anymore. I’m grateful my youngest was able to give those toys to my best friend’s kids (who are much younger than my kids.) Bestie sends me texts of the kids playing with the toys and it feels so great knowing the items are in a good home.

So, I’m off to go through more boxes. Most of the boxes now are in the attic. I’ve pretty much gone through the stuff in the home. We have a HUGE attic, though and it was completely FULL before we began this process. I refuse to move it all. If it’s been in the attic all this time, I haven’t missed it much, right? Moving is stressful but if it motivates me to purge and simplify…that’s a good thing. I need to keep telling myself that during this process.

I hope everyone is having a good summer!

Lighten your load,

Filed Under: Other Emotions, Photography Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

June 26, 2014 By Shan Leave a Comment

Just a few weeks ago, we were blessed with the opportunity to host 2 young men (high school) in our home from Canada. The Canadian’s came to play a 5 day long baseball tournament against 8 other state teams: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. It’s kind of crazy they come to our little remote town in the middle of no where Oklahoma. But they do, and it’s a BIG DEAL. {College scouts come from all over} Anyway, what’s even more insane is that 200 of these baseball players stay in homes of families in the community. I believe that most families house 2 boys, but there are some families who had up to 5 in their home. Over the 7 years we have lived here, I’ve heard heartwarming stories about this tournament…really the experience of hosting the players. Now we know why.

Above is one of our boys {yes, we host families used that term} we hosted at bat. {For privacy’s sake we will call him #17} I love this photo because it also has the whole team and coaches in the background too. Below, 17 is running from second to third.

Above 17 makes it to home plate. I love how my camera captured him looking as though he is on his toes. 17 played designated hitter about half of the time while the other half he played outfield. Now let me introduce our next boy, #21. He is one of the pitchers on the team and stands at 6’4″. He is TALL! And he can pitch a fast ball.

I swear it looks like he almost does the splits when he throws the ball.

There was a digital display of the speeds for all the pitches thrown and below shows the speed of one of 21’s pitches. I know he threw some faster ones, but this is what it was when I decided to take a photo of his speed.

In the above photo you can see how tall 21 is compared to the rest of the team. Below is both the boys after a win!

One night we had a team swim party and they still played baseball…{that’s 17 with the bat}

Below – Us host moms took a photo together. We had fun talking about ‘our boys.’ All of us host families got to know each other. It’s like we were a big extended family. We sat together at all the games…cheered for our boys. We all had great experiences with our baseball players. It was fun learning more about the Canadian culture. There is NO TELLING what they said about our southern accents. Best of all is how quickly they were able to integrate into our families. My son loved having ‘brothers’ for the week. All of the kids enjoyed having older ‘brothers.’ The other moms talked about how they would play with their kids and help out around the house. They were true gentlemen with gracious manners.

Below 17 plays catch with my daughter. Isn’t that sweet?

I caught a quick shot of the boys in the back yard before they started their outdoor adventures.

On the next to the last night of the tournament they announced all of the players and their host families. We walked on the field. (below)

After, we took a big photo of the team with all the families. (below)

Believe it or not, the last photo was before they boarded the bus to go to the airport. I’m glad I wasn’t in the photo because it was sad for me to say goodbye to these 2 young men. We ate meals together, I helped them with their laundry, drove them to their games…basically did all the things mom’s do for their own kids. What can I say, I’m a softy. I’m so glad we had this experience before we move back to Texas. I hope to keep in touch with them and know they have a bright future playing baseball at a college here in America. By the way, in case you are wondering how Team Canada did in the tournament…they won 2 out of 9 games. However, they beat their record from last year where they lost every game. You have to understand, baseball is not a popular sport in Canada. As a matter of fact, they don’t have high school or college baseball in Canada. These 2 boys come from a private club team. So the Canadians have a little disadvantage competing against southern boys who have probably played baseball since they were tiny. #17 has only been playing baseball for a couple of years. Personally, {& yes, I’m proud to say I’m biased} I thought they did great! I was very impressed with the team and their coaches. I was worried they might be in bad moods after losing games, but they never were. They were happy to be here and happy to be playing the game. For us Team Canada families, they are number one.

Baseball brings joy,

Filed Under: Friends Bring Joy, Home Brings Joy, MY Family Brings Joy, Photography Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Day 5 of Kitchen Week

June 23, 2014 By Shan Leave a Comment

Belated…I know. Here we go…

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but we had a professional kitchen designer draw up the design for our kitchen. I absolutely LOVE the spice drawers on both sides of the stove.

Spices are easily accessible when cooking with these drawers.

Below you will see one of the two gigantic drawers underneath our stove for pots and pans.

If you are building a house, the following is a must. It’s easy to store your pans, trays, etc. in this divider over the oven.

Next up, there are a row of 4 bottom cabinets in which I house my baking items in. They each have 2 drawers in them to make retrieving these items quick. In the following cabinet you see where I store my cookie cutters and some of my Tupperware. Here’s a little trivia about me. I used to be a Tupperware Manager long ago before my son was born. I even had a Tupperware car. Needless to say, I have a TON of Tupperware. I still LOVE it and use it every day!