Hello 2016!

Wow!    I am shocked that I still remember how to log into my blog...as it has been close to 4 months since this poor neglected blog has seen any action.

I have spent the past 2-3 weekends working on a family year in review style photo album and really struggled to remember what we did and when.  Oh sure, the big stuff was easy but it was the little details that   I used to be able to look back on this blog and have a memory trigger of what I was thinking at the time that it happened.   Hard to do that when you haven't blogged in months, and what you have blogged isn't very relevant to the task at hand.

 It is tempting to ditch the blogging all together.   But the truth is, I do enjoy looking back and seeing how our lives have changed.    This blog neglect is just one more piece of how a family changes over time.    Back when I started blogging, the Things were little, changing so very fast, coming up with some pretty funny stuff that I just had to write down in the moment.  I was a stay at home mom and blogging was a creative and social outlet for me.   These days, blogging seems to take a back seat to other faster ways of sharing life's little morsels.   Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, texting...all is where the action seems to be.   And as for being a stay at home mom, well, that ship has sailed as well.

So Happy New Year....we have had a pretty good start to the year.

 Little Things returned to the House of Chang..

With the California Changs 

Coming by for a quick visit...

The cousins picked up right where they left off last Spring..

with the older Things doing their best to corrupt their younger counterparts...

As for me, it had been a little longer since I saw my nephews..

 And of course, I had to go for the "Before and After" edition of when
I last saw the nephews back in '08.
*Thanks to Hubby and his brother for humoring me and providing photographic and technical skills

we have had a few celebrations so far...

Most recently was a birthday lunch with Auntie T. At White Fence Farm...

Ladies who Lunch...the senior edition.

And before that was a crazy ladies night out...

Where we toasted, and roasted our good friend MB...

Thanks K. for adding such a fiesta feel to the evening!

And stuck somewhere in between this mischief and mayhem

 was a more serious celebration...

As we celebrated Thing 2 selection to our District's Honors Orchestra.   

He does clean up pretty good, doesn't he?   

And WOW....can he and his peers put on quite the performance!   

So, Hello 2016....I hope to give you more of my time and attention...for blogging is indeed a bit like exercise....once you get started it isn't so bad, and you feel better!