Blanchards in 2015: A Year of Our Lives in as Few Words as Possible

Welcome to the synopsis of the Blanchards in 2015! January 2015: Taylor got a new car and headed back for her 5th semester at LSU! Todd, Lauryn, Camryn, Patty, Autumn.. all back to work and school as usual. **Note: I am going back to my timeline on Facebook to get some ideas of what to write here, and honestly, January has a lot of "I wish it was summer or still Christmas vacation" posts or "Time to go run" posts, plus some pictures of normal daily events. A regular ol' month, really... Except for the Odell Beckham world record. :)

February 2015: MARDI GRAS SEASON! once again! This time with a freshman in the Fontainebleau's High School Band! Camryn played cymbals, and marched in 4 parades in Mandeville, New Orleans, and Metarie. This was our FIRST uptown parade, and boy was it fun! Looking forward to Krewe of Tucks next year!

March 2015:  A busy month!  Patty ran the Shamrockin' Run 8K in NOLA.  Taylor and Patty ran the Rock N Fly Half Marathon in Pensacola.  The whole family plus the Cadles and the Gillmans went to Austin for Katie and David's wedding at the end of the month.  OH and Patty turned the big 4-0!!!

April 2015:  Taylor and Patty ran the Crescent City Classic.  We had a peaceful, fun Easter here at home, with swimming on Spring Break.  Taylor was inducted into Psi Chi, the Psychology honor society.  We bought a camper!  Ready for some outdoor fun in the Sun Lite!

May 2015:  Taylor and Patty ran the Huey P. Long Bridge Run.  The big girls went to a Paramore concert for Taylor's birthday.  Taylor and Autumn had their 20/5 birthday parties.  Autumn graduated from Pre-K and registered from Kindergarten.  The school year ended for all... AMEN! says all of the teachers! Let the summer BEGIN!!!!

June 2015:  We headed to the beach for an extended weekend of fun in the sun.  The Bodies moved to Mandeville at the beginning of the month.  The Blanchard daughters went to Florida for Girlapalooza, and the Blanchard Mr. and Mrs. and Guinny Boy headed to North Carolina with the camper for a week in the mountains.  (We hiked and hiked and hiked some more.)  Then we came back home for some relaxing pool time and summer goodness in Mandeville.

July 2015:  We enjoyed 4th of July fireworks near the house.  (The first time Autumn watched fireworks and actually enjoyed them.)  We visited in Houma for Paw Robbie's birthday.  Then the whole Blanchard clan headed out for a week+ of camping in Georgia and North Carolina.  We enjoyed some of our old NC stomping grounds.  We loved the majestic views, the cool rivers, and had a few encounters with snakes.. but no bears!

August 2015:  Ah, back to school.  Lauryn started junior high (7th grade), Camryn started 10th grade, and Taylor moved on to her Junior year at LSU.  Autumn started Kindergarten as well.  Camryn joined ROTC; she would soon be moving up in the ranks!

September 2015:  A very busy month getting adjusted to new routines, classrooms, work loads, etc.  Patty became a Girls on the Run coach at Lake Harbor.  Autie truly loves Kindergarten and her teacher.  Autumn was named the Kiwanis Club's Terrific Kid of her Class in September, and she started violin lessons at her school weekly. Patty ran the Saints Kickoff 5K in September.  (and after the season we have had, I may never run across the field again.. was I bad luck?)

October 2015:  Lauryn turned the big 1-3!  We watched the Saints and LSU games every week... ah, the trials and tribulations of being a Louisiana football fan!  We visited Bourg to celebrate Mrs. Bonnie's birthday.  Lauryn started weekly guitar lessons.  Dash and Euen Bodie were born on October 27th!  They stayed in the hospital for a little over a week.  Halloween was a super rainy one- we trick or treated the night before in a nearby neighborhood!  Camryn and Taylor went to Voodoo fest for the first time on Halloween.

November 2015:  LSU's hopes and football dreams took a downturn with the game vs. Alabama.  There was some time freed up on the weekends that was not spent watching football!  :)  Camryn turned 16 on Nov. 22.  We had a great Thanksgiving week off, and decorated for Chrismas in the days before and after Thanksgiving.

December 2015:  And so this brings us to December again.  Our trees are up (one small in the foyer, a bigger one in the living room), we have some lights outside, stockings are hung.  Autumn is anxiously awaiting what her elf, Lucia, will do next.  She wakes up at 5:30 almost every morning to see where Lucia has hidden or caused mischief the night before!  Autumn had her violin concert on Tuesday, and Lauryn had her Christmas concert at FJHS on Tuesday as well.  We are eagerly awaiting Christmas vacation from school!

We hope you have enjoyed this synopsis of our year.  We are never bored in this house, that is for sure!  We wish you all the best of luck and love in 2016!

Happy 40th, Todd

6/22/2013
We celebrated here at the new homestead in Mandeville with friends and family, boiled shrimp, and lots of laughs.
I only took the camera out for the cake part... I am slacking these days with the pictures!
Here are the few shots that I have.

My prediction of 2013 for the Blanchards

So every year for the last 4 I have done this prediction for the year to come, which I print out and put in a folder that goes in our Christmas box.  I don't read it again until I am taking out Christmas decorations the following November.  It has been funny to look back on the year through the eyes of early-January Patty.
So I was thinking last night that I needed to compose one of these predictions, which I can't even imagine the complexity for 2013... and here's why:

I will start with graduations.  Within the next 4 1/2 months, we will have two graduations in the house.  Taylor will graduate from North Cobb High School on May 24th.  What a milestone... I can't even imagine the emotional rollercoaster it will be.. I don't even want to think about it right now or I will start crying :)
So with that graduation comes the preparation for college.  And then some of the summer spent at a college campus.  But before we can even get to college, let's not forget the Spring, with Wind Symphony excitement, and a band trip to Washington DC in May, as well as AP tests for college credit, and all kind of other stuff I know I am not even thinking about right now.

Next is my graduation...the road to finish up for graduation will be hard and work-filled.. 4 months to get-r-done.  I don't even want to type more than that as I get anxious thinking about it. :)

The biggest obstacles to tackle in the next 4 months will be our pending move to Louisiana, hopefully to the North Shore.  We toured Mandeville  and really like the area.  The two high schools that are in the area have great state reports, so we are planning on heading there.  Of course, finding a house is the biggest step.  It is looking like we might attempt to buy a house, which will be an interesting feat.

Within the next handful of months, Taylor and I are running a 15K in January, and then hopefully the Publix Half Marathon on 3/17.  So somewhere in the chaos, we will be training for those... a good thing because otherwise I might be liable to shut myself up with a computer and pound out the hours for grad school!

I will say that I hope that this cold I have had for the last 3 weeks is the last one I have for a long time, as I ain't got time for the sickness!  Let's hope for lots of hand washing and hand sanitizer in the next 4 months to keep the germs at bay so that we can get through it all happy, and enough wine in our possession to momentarily be able to forget about it all :)

In closing, I leave you with this:
"Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy person has no time to form."
~Andre Maurois

Father's Day 2012

EDIT:  Have to add in here that Taylor, Camryn and Lauryn woke up at 6 to make Father's Day breakfast.

Taylor and Lauryn, bringin home the bacon, fryin it up in a pan

(Camryn was busy creating decorations and her biscuits were baking.)

On to the rest of the day:
I hate that I have no pictures from yesterday, because we all had a fun time, even with the tremendous crowds.  We decided to FINALLY take the girls to White Water, which they were extremely excited about.  Camryn, Taylor, and Lauryn planned their attack on the slides, and all agreed they would ride "Cliffhanger", which was the first slide of the day and Todd went with them.

Autie and I were standing there when they each came down, and I can't believe I didn't hear Lauryn scream!  I don't think she had time to!  

While the big girls and Todd were waiting in line, Autie and I checked out all of the kiddee areas.

This was cute.. a lot of water spraying everywhere which Autumn is not too crazy about.  She was ok with it once I was carrying her and splashing through it.  We headed over to the next kid-friendly area.

This part was a lot more fun.. although she wanted nothing to do with the house part in the center with all of the water falling unexpectedly.  (She has never been one for liking water poured over her head, and now she only likes it if SHE is the one doing it.)  There were three regular looking water slides that moved real slow in this part, and she loved em all, when sitting on our lap. 

So we headed, Autie and I, to the next upgrade of kid areas called the Treehouse.  This spot had some kid slides that moved a little faster, which she would have LOVED I have no doubt if it weren't for the fact that the entire structure had water shooting out, spraying, or falling out of some part of it at all times.  This is the part with a huge 500-gallon bucket that fills up and spills every couple of minutes.  This bucket was a love-hate part of the day for Autie.  She could sit and watch it from a distance where it didn't splash on her all day, I think, but don't get her anywhere near the fall out!  Therefore, we never could get to any of these slides, no matter how fast we'd try to run through all of the water as Autumn was kicking and flailing her limbs to get away from the splashing water and the freakiness. :)

So Daddy took over with Autie for a bit.. well a GOOD LONG bit as it took FOREVER to get through the line to ride The Tornado with the big girls.

Well worth the wait.. all four of us on a raft.  Doesn't look like much but the first drop out of the chute and up the side of this thing... I am sure the people waiting in line were laughing at the insane look of fear on my face as the centripetal forces took over the raft and therefore, all of our bodies.  Fun stuff...

The girls rode Run Away River together 

while Autie played for awhile with Me and Todd and then took a MUCH NEEDED power nap.

Then the girls and dad rode Dragon Tail

while me and Autie discovered her love of the Lazy River, where the water pushes you along.

I traveled the whole loop squatted down so she could "swim", and she was happy as can be the whole 6 or 7 lengths we traveled during various parts of the rest of the day.

The Dad/girl foursome rode Black River Falls= more Lazy River fun for Autie plus ice cream time.

As it began to grow late, we decided to try Bahama Bob with Autie, as all of us fit in one raft, and she was BASICALLY tall enough to ride.  (Doctor appointment had said Thursday she was 35+" and the limit for the ride was 36".)

 

So you ride in a raft side by side, which Autie sat on Todd, and barrel down this white slide, which looked calm enough from the outside.  And it really was, but it went a bit faster than I was expecting and Autie had a look on her face like, well, like she might not trust us again the next time we try to get in anything in water that is different!

The girls had plans of riding more, but it was 7 and the park was closing.  The chicken tortilla soup in the crock pot was calling our names; It was a fun day, and our toes were tired!