Christmas

This is our little Christmas surprise! We got a little Yorkie Poo. The kids were so excited, they would have been content with just him. These are our traditional Christmas pictures with their "goods"


Merry Christmas 2009

Tradition

This is by far one of our most favorite traditions. The day after Thanksgiving we go cut down our Christmas tree. The whole Franklin Family (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma and grandpa goes too! Then we invade Golden Corral for breakfast! We have done this for about 15 years.

We come home and spend the rest of the weekend decorating! Now we can officially begin the Christmas season!!

Stamp of Approval

We did it! We finally updated our family picture thanks to the talents of Allyson Randle Photography. Here is the story:

Ally is sister-in-law to my friend Sarah. I follow Sarah's blog and she posted a contest to promote Ally's pictures since she had just moved to Utah. I decided to entered the contest, because if I won, well then we would just HAVE to get our pictures done. Needless to say I did not win the random drawing contest. But... due to the kindness of dear Ally, who not too long ago, also went through the loss of a child, called and still wanted to do our family pictures for us. How great is that?! We set up a time, and I nervously awaited the day, wondering if I could really go through with it. A family picture without our complete family was really hard for me to come to grips with. But October 22nd arrived, and there were no conflicts. Weather was great, no extreme hairstyles (thanks TJ) no huge skin blemishes, no big scheduling mishaps, (even with TJ having to work in Manilla that day). I had no reason to cancel. We arrived on site and Ally got right to work taking pics of the girls. Then suddenly there was a moment when I realized Chelsea was there with us, it was as if she was giving us a stamp of approval! It was peaceful, enjoyable, and we had a great time. It was easier than I thought, now actually framing, hanging, and replacing our old one, will be my next hurdle.

Anyway, these are some of our favs.minus the ones we will be sending on our Christmas Card, and the ones we printed. Thanks Ally~ you are fabulous :)

Moving Forward

Sunday TJ was ordained an Elder! What a neat day. We invited family up, and everyone came! What amazing support. TJ is the oldest boy cousin to 11 future missionaries! ( think there is pressure to set a good example or what? sheez!) Family is very important to TJ, so I was so thankful he could see that he is important to them too! Bishop said some very touching things and Rich did a wonderful job with the blessing.
A mission is right around the corner, we have some work to do still, but he is moving in the right direction! FORWARD! I am so proud of him. He has been through some "stuff" that not a lot of kids know about, and is going to be stronger because of it.
I love ya TJ~ way to go!

Sadies '09

Last night was the Sadies Dance, and also somewhat of a family affair. TJ was asked by Mckena's friend Bree, and Mckena asked Ramon, who is Markie's brother, and Markie asked Kolton, who is Ramon's best friend, and then Taylor asked Logan, who is well ... not related to anyone by everyone's friend!

For the 'day date' they went to breakfast, rode Trax to Gateway and broke into teams to do a picture/scavenger/contest thingamabob. Then they came back to our house for dinner.( I was kinda proud of my table setting. It was color coordinated with the dates shirt colors)
To add to the family affair, Rich & I got to chaperon the dance! It was so fun to see Mckena & TJ on a group date together. Their relationship has been so typical brother vs sister for so many years, and this year, they have actually become friends!! :)

1 messy boy room + 1 girl asking him to a dance =

A TOTAL DISASTER!

TJ (yes TJ) was asked to Sadies last night. Although the idea is cute... umm ya, well just take a look.

Shredded newspaper everywhere.. in his bed, pillow, dresser, hanging from the walls, in his shoes, in his hamper... WOW! We will be finding little strips for months I fear. Oh well.. good times!

But.... the difference with boys is all he could think of was how to get her back even worse. (For the record, I have removed myself from this project!! )

"THIS IS IT"

For the Michael Jackson movie Premier "This is it," the girls are dancing to a Thriller mix before each show at our local Syracuse Theater! Tonight was the first show, and they did a great job~ it was fun. They all looked great, creepy, but great!

Today was also my birthday. Spent the morning at the Temple with some special friends, went to lunch with my momma, then spent the evening with my family. Friends and family make days like this absolutely amazing. It is so wonderful to feel loved. What a blessing :)

Cafe Burke

A month ago~ for Kena's birthday~ we had a girls lunch~ but didn't invite the funnest girl of all! SARAH!

So cute Sarah invited us all to lunch at her house today. ( well really she invited the girls, and then asked me to shuttle them over! It was the least I could do) haha :) She fixed A yummy Cafe Rio style lunch, but even better, and then topped off with cookies to satisfy our sweet tooth! Thank you Sarah~ it was delish and a a fun break from the day!

Star Struck

Shayla was invited to go to the Miley Cyrus concert by her good friend Kenlee. They already had tickets but then they won a contest to go to the sound check before the concert and meet her! Miley was sick, but was still very nice and cute with the girls. Shayla had a fun time. How could you not with this cute bunch of girls!

Friends are one of our greatest blessing in this life! Grateful to have such amazing friends:)

A Night of "Firsts"

Homecoming 2009 brought Mckena's first:

*day date - they went to the zoo

*group date - group of 20!

*boutonniere pin on - no injuries

*corsage - it was beautiful

*school dance

*time with an extended curfew

But not the first time for:

*making mom and dad beam with pride

*causing us to shed a tear wondering where the time has gone

*Mckena excited to celebrate life!

The Answer is..

Mckena decorated Ramon's car today while he was at lunch with his family. She decked it out with everything pink. From crepe paper, balloons, bows, flowers, curling ribbon, to rose petals. Then wrote "I am tickled pink to go with you" on the front windshield, and "yes" on the back!

"SWEET 16"

....and never been kissed! (whew, good job sis)
Tuesday the birthday girl became eligible for dating, and was asked to Homecoming. Fun times! She is so excited to go, but her parents on the other hand are having a hard time letting go. I know I have said this before, but I just can't believe my little Kena boo is 16! At least she is not eligible for driving yet. She couldn't take Drivers Ed over the summer because of Dance Line, so she will not be driving "officially" until January. Which is fine by me.

I took two of her friends and her to lunch on her special day.


and then she came home to her room decorated with little plastic army men....EVERYWHERE! With the poster that said, "It would take an army to stop me from asking you to homecoming"

Clever and cute! Now we put our creative caps on about how to answer.
We are proud of Mckena, she truly fits the SWEET 16 title. Love you Kena girl :)

Labor Day Fun

A good football game + good food + good company = Labor Day breakfast with the Franklin Clan!

Picking My Battles

So here it is. The new "do" for TJ! Shayla's look on her face is about how I feel. What are you doing with your hair?

Mckena was the beautician of this masterpiece, and he could not be more thrilled with it. It is just what he wanted. "Why ?"you may ask. Who knows, it's TJ just trying to make a statement.

Part of me loves that he does not care what other people think, as long as he channels that to good things. (Not that this is all that bad, but I'm just sayin'.) The other part of me wishes he cared a little what other people think, then he might not look like a bird flew SPLAT onto his head!

I keep telling myself.. there are worst thing he could be doing to his body.. this is only hair and hopefully just a phase. Breathe, let it go. This is a battle I will surrender.

Why I Blog

Technology continues to amaze me. It is really amazing what we can do now on computers and phones nowadays! I have never been much of a techno person, unlike Rich, who knows how to do almost everything, and is up to date on the latest and greatest programs, and "thingamabobs." It was he, who kept telling me I would enjoy blogging. I was not convinced at first, but I eventually gave in... and now I am hooked!

Someone asked me the other day? "Why do you blog? I don't get it."

So I thought about and truth is.... I am not sure except for the fact that
~I have always enjoyed journaling, and I use to be a scrapbooker, (when there were 30 hours in a day) and blogging is like a good mix of both.
~It is a fun way for us to stay connected to friends and family who live far away and even those who don't
~I enjoy celebrating the good things in life through words and pictures
~It is therapeutic for me.
~It makes me smile when friends comment
~I have learned a lot from friends and their blogs that I follow, plus it reminds me how much we really do need each other!

Our first experience with online blogging was the website we had set up for Chelsea. Those who left comments will never know the impact they had on our family. It truly lifted our spirits on a daily basis. It was a sad day, when that website crashed, and we lost all the updates, comments and pictures. That was a huge part of our lives, some of which I lived very robot-like, so I would love to go back and read some of those events. I did keep a personal journal as well during that time, but Rich did a lot of updates in the beginning that I never read.
Because of that, I have started to print my posts monthly and put them in a binder. (Thanks to Sarah.)

The next step I am looking into (thanks to Tiffany) is a company that prints your posts and puts them together in a hardbound copy, so you have like a family yearbook. So cool!
What a great way to do personal history.

So I guess those are some of the reasons I blog. :)

ABC's & 123's

Okay so they are way past learning the abc's. ~sigh~ I only sent two kids off to school this year. Mckena started High School, and Shay at the Jr High. I swear it was just a few years ago, they were all home with me making messes, napping and going to the park. Oh wait, that was this summer!

Back to school is always a bit hard for me, but we have fun things to look forward to. Fathers blessings have been given, new goals set, new school year is here... good times!

allysonrandlephotography.blogspot.com

I always love a good contest.
This is my friends sister-in-law and she takes beautiful pictures! She is having a contest to spread the word about her business. So I decided to play :)
I have had a hard time doing an "official family picture" because it would not feel complete. So if I win this contest, it would be a good excuse to just do it!
Check out her blog and you can even enter too! The more you post, the more entries you can have, the more chances to win. Except I want to win, so ya.. GAME ON !! :)

School Pride

Today was 7th grade orientation so the officers and cheerleaders helped out. These two looked so cute in their "gear." I just had to capture the moment~ Go Syracuse!