Family Goals

Each year we try to spend some time in a Family Home Evening to set some goals for the year.  We try to remember to check in on them quarterly to evaluate how we are doing.  Even though some of them tend to go by the wayside (bedtimes comes to mind), we have also found great success with others.   Some years we have set a goal to invite people over for game nights or dinner.  Some years we have had a "learn about the apostles" night monthly where we learned some interesting facts about the men we sustain each General Conference.   Here are the ones we came up with this year.

Foulk Family Goals – 2013

Bedtimes Set -

Evan – 9:00

Nathan – 10:30 (probationary)

Megan – no later than midnight or mom and dad

Family Book Reading -

Chronicles of Narnia – Starting with The Magician's Nephew

Family Game or Movie Night – twice monthly

Family Scripture Study Plan

Finish Book of Mormon Reader/Book of Mormon

Read Old Testament Reader/Old Testament

Start Reading just Book of Mormon

Review Goals Quarterly

Individual Goals

Steve- Read a book

Jill – Read a book every two months

Megan – Read, "Team of Rivals"

Nathan- Get straight "A's"

Evan - Keep my room clean

By the looks of this stack of just some of our books, it is a good thing we are setting some reading goals.  These were moved off our family room shelves while the room was being carpeted.  

A Few Changes

While most of the kids were still home on New Year's Day, we took advantage of the muscle power present and moved the furniture in our family room down to the basement.  Even though the couches have been great for the last 10 years, Steve has never really been able to sit comfortably on them.  So we decided they would serve us well for a viewing area downstairs.  We moved some of the even older furniture upstairs (you can see it in the previous "Mr. Creativity" post) to use temporarily and set out to look for a new couch.  We also added a couple of chairs that are good for the back.  Then yesterday, we got the new carpet that we had decided upon and finally put the room together.  It is a way different look with the darker furniture and darker, thick, shag carpet.  Steve and I both agree that it reminds us a little of carpet back in the 70's except much more cushiony and soft.  So, here are some photos of the process and of our new room.


There goes the old carpet....


...and the padding


New carpet going in... I have to admit as I watched the process, I had real second thoughts about our choice of carpet.  I felt a little like I was in a time warp.  But once it was all done.....


...I thought it looked great!!!  And it is soooo soft!!!


Here's Megan trying out the room after the boys and I got most of the stuff moved back in.


A view from the center hall....


.....and from the living room


The finished product has a much warmer feel to it.

Since we had some left over paint from when we painted the family room a few years ago, we painted just the TV area in the basement with that paint and it made a big difference.  We still need to paint the hall/stair/computer area, but the viewing area looks great.

One view of the new TV area (ok... not that new)

A view showing the line where the paint ends

So, it's kind of a blue/tan motif now and feels a little more like a room.

Sometimes little changes make a big difference!!

Mr. Creativity

So Evan came up to me one day and showed me how he had hung several hangers together to make a pretty cool mobile.  I suggested he might want to hang it from the "pinata hanger" in the family room and see if he could make it even bigger.  He did that and then some.  Here is the proud artist with his creation.

Close up

And farther away for perspective

Pretty cool, Ev!!!

The Whole Family For Christmas!!!

Wow...that is a lot of stockings!!!  It was so great having everyone here over the holidays this year.  With 14 people and a dog in our house, it was a little crowded, but everyone was very flexible and we got along just fine.  We were once again hit with the stomach flu, but even though it was miserable for each person that got it, we were still able to fit in a bunch of fun stuff.  Thanks to everyone for being understanding and helpful.

We played LOTS of games over the break.  Here is an early photo with Megan and Geoffrey playing a game with Evan.  They were the first ones home.

A shot of the family room before all of the stocking were up and when it was still pretty clean.  :)

One of the things we tried to do while everyone was here was to get a family picture.  We decided we would just take it after church when everyone was in their church clothes.  There is a nice wooded area behind our church so that was our plan.  Well, we should have had our clue as we gathered  that the sun was a little bright.  Look at Nate in the above photo!!

This one was pretty good, I thought, but Nate was hiding in the back.  :(  We decided we would try again at home sometime.

Here are Marc and Alan spending some quality time on Marc's phone.  

On Christmas Eve we decided to take another photo.  Nate just happened to crash on the couch before the photo shoot.  We thought about leaving him here for the family picture, but his sisters decided a shot with them would be good enough.

Here was our second attempt .....  the photo we eventually put in our Christmas card.  What a handsome group!!

Tracey, Chuck, Kaci, Nikki, and Grandma Foulk joined us on Christmas Eve for dinner and to do the traditional nativity play.  Here are a few shots of the crew that night.

From another angle

....and another.

We exempted married couples from the play this year.  We still had plenty of helpers (though one little shepherd was not overly thrilled to be there)

Wise men: Nikki, Kaci, and Nate

Joseph:  Alan

Mary:  Megan

The Angel:  Geoffrey

Shepherds:  James and Evan

Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus

Also, on Christmas Eve, Grandma opened her gift from the kids.  We all made a square for a quilt with our name and a picture of some thing that reminds us of Grandma.  It turned out pretty cute and I think she really liked it.

Almost filling up the stairs on Christmas morning...SO FUN!!!!

The first place we all go upon coming down the stairs on Christmas morning is to the dining room where we check to see if baby Jesus has arrived.  During the month of December we put pieces of straw in this little basket for good deeds that we do.  Our goal is to make the basket a soft bed for baby Jesus' arrival.  

Next, we all head into the family room to check out our gifts from Santa.  At our house, Santa does not wrap the gifts he brings.  Gifts that we give each other are under the tree and wrapped, but Santa's gifts are just displayed by person (or sometimes couples) in the family room.

Alan looking pretty happy

Angry Birds PJs...YES!!

Lots of fun things for little boys

Ahh yes, nothing like a gift card to put a smile on your face!  Right, Nate?

She really did like her things, I think?

The Robertson Family

Ginny got a new bed.  Looks like it was a hit!!

Not sure which gift this smile was for, but we will definitely take it!!!

"And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk..."

Alan checking out his stocking

Jim, Emily, and Stephanie

Nate....ready to do his famous flying money trick

Marc and Evan checking out some of Ev's loot

Another family shot

After the Santa gifts, we headed to the living room to open gifts from each other

Can you see the anticipation in that face?

Ginny decided to join us and found a comfy spot.  

After opening gifts we had our traditional caramel bundt roll with eggs, sausage and orange juice.  Later that day we went to Grandma Foulk's house for a big Christmas dinner.  It was delicious as always.  We didn't know, at this point, that the sickness was about to begin in earnest.  Alan had thrown up the Saturday after they got here and James had his turn on Christmas morning.  I think we were all hoping that the little guys wouldn't give it to us older people, but we were unfortunately   wrong.  Marc got it Christmas night, and Janelle, the next morning.  

We tried to go on with our plans with some people just having to miss some things.  Our plan for the day after Christmas was to go see the new movie, Les Miserables.  Janelle had to miss it, unfortunately, but the rest who had planned to go were able to make it.   It was a wonderful movie.

We were supposed to travel to Pennsylvania to spend the day with our good friends, the Kunz family on Dec. 27, but the sickness made that impossible.  We were not sure when another person would come down with it.  I was so disappointed that this visit didn't happen.  For years, we have spent New Year's Eve or at least some night during Christmas break with the Kunz family.  We play games, do a fondue dinner, and just catch up on what's happening with our families.  Milan was called as a mission president four years ago so we have not done our get together for three New Years.  This was to be the first one since then.  I missed seeing our sweet friends so much. 

 So we kind of relaxed here at home, played some games and had a recovery day.  That night, the family headed over to the church for some basketball and then we came home and played some really fun "Minute to Win It" games that Emily had put together for us.  Here are  just a few of the crazy pictures from that night.

Yes, that IS Steph with pantyhose on her head trying to knock down water bottles...

...with an attitude shot just for fun!!!  (She got them all down, by the way)

Emily giving us our instructions for the next game

Such willing participants!!

Marc and Geoffrey doing the "Tipsy" challenge

Geoffrey was one of the few that didn't get the stomach virus during our time together, but he nearly lost it after this challenge.  Too much soda in too short a time...but check out the two cans standing at an angle....pretty cool.

Janelle doing the "How many penne noodles can you get on a piece of spaghetti" game.  She won it....

...though Steve put up a good fight.

Geoffrey wasn't actually playing for a team, but tried it on his own and did great!!

Megan and Nate did the "transfer M&M's with a straw" game.  I think Nate won that one.

I love this shot of Steve with all his daughters.  He looks so happy to be with them.

Here's Evan trying the pantyhose/water bottle game...he got them all, too!!

Nobody got sick on the 27th or 28th and we had a lot of fun together on those days.  The night of the 28th we went to a lighted hayride at a local farm which was really fun.  The little boys especially liked it!!

Heading out on the ride....The Robertsons

Stephanie, Steve, and Evan

Megan, Emily, and Jim

Alan, enjoying the music and lights

Jamesy liked it, too

After the hayride we took the whole family out to a Chinese dinner.  The food was delicious and Grandma joined us, too.  After dinner, "the boys" headed over to the Moorestown chapel for some basketball action.  Basketball from 10 - 12 pm...gotta love it.

...and I'm sure they did!!  Notice who is the tallest these days :)

But alas, the sickness was not done.  Four people woke up, throwing up, that night.  Sorry Stephanie, Megan, Nathan, and Scott.... :(  By the end of the week, the only one's who didn't get sick were Steve, Jill, Geoffrey, and Emily.   Certainly not the way we wanted it, but considering all of that sickness, we amazingly had a really fun time together.  

On New Year's Day Steph and Marc suggested that we go bowling.  It was a GREAT suggestion!   I think that both adults and kids had a great time and we got some fun photos, too. 

Alan ready for his turn

James being a big helper

Aunt Stephanie with James

James taking it all in .....

....and then getting into it, too.

Having so much fun watching  

I don't know who took this last photo, but I thought it was a good one to include.  I have no idea how many Rook games were played over the break, but they were very numerous and many went late into the night.  We played tons of other games, too, and just plain and simple had some great times together.  I am so thankful for the efforts people made to come here, be helpful and patient, and just generally be such great people.  We have truly been blessed with a great family, and it was so nice just to be together and enjoy each other for a whole week.    

Thanks everyone, love you all, and have a very Happy New Year!!!