"I'll Be Hoooome for Christmas!"

So, it's been a VERY Family Christmas at the Fowle homestead this year! There were ELEVEN of us here for Christmas Day, with Danny, Sammy, and Sammy's girlfriend Colleen arriving on the 21st and Serena and Charlie arriving on Christmas Eve! My mom and dad drove down from Williamsburg on Christmas Eve as well, bringing the total up to 11!

BUT, we have all gotten along famously, despite five adults and one pre-teen using one bathroom. We put Mom and Dad up in the local Hampton Inn Suites so they could escape from the madhouse when necessary, but only my Dad used that option for an occasional nap. We started the day around 5:30 am, but the rule in our household is that the kids can get up anytime they want, but PARENTS do not get up before 8:00 am. So, all the kids can do prior to that time is open their stockings (and don't think that buying stocking stuffers for SEVEN kids didn't put a dent in the old wallet!!). Present-opening began at 8:15, when all the adults had coffee and a slice of pumpkin bread (except for Mark, who is sick and tired of pumpkin anything at this point in the holiday season!). The present-opening for 11 people lasted until 10:30 -- yes, 10:30!!  We had anticipated it going to 11:00, so either there weren't enough presents this year, or we were VERY efficient at the opening process -- maybe it just gets better every year... or something like that [grin]. Judging by this photo, it certainly wasn't the former!

Dinner was the traditional roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, squash, stuffing, green beans, and cranberry sauce. My mom and Kennedy made an apple pie and 2 pumpkin pies (much to Mark's dismay!), and Cassie helped Kennedy make sugar cookies, which we frosted heavily the day after Christmas. We also frosted ice cream cones to make Christmas trees and decorated them with jimmies and frosting garlands. Between all that, a lemon poppyseed cake that Aunt Judi sent us, and the muffins that I baked on Christmas Eve, we had a ton of food that we are STILL trying to eat!

We really planned a "family" holiday -- we gave every family member red t-shirts with "Fowle Family Christmas 2011" and a snowman wearing skates and brandishing a hockey stick emblazoned on the front. In the kids' boxes with their shirts were Hurricanes hockey tickets for the Dec. 26th game at the RBC Center as well! See the photo below for a group shot of all of us at the RBC Center in our shirts (which several of our group promptly covered up before and after the picture because it was supposedly "embarrassing"). Some of us (Serena and Charlie) had a great time with them, tho! And, the Canes won the game (amazing!!)! We all agreed that it was because of all 9 of us being in attendance AND our amazing red shirts!

In addition to the game, most of us went to see the Sherlock Holmes movie on the 27th, and most of the kids spent an afternoon at our favorite local gaming lounge, Strafe, in Fuquay-Varina playing video games and eating pizza.

One of our goals this Christmas was to have everyone back home -- its been about 2.5 years since all our kids have been here together at the same time, and we needed an updated family photo. So, isn't it a natural progression to fly all the kids home just to snap that perfect family pic and get it up on the wall? I don't see the problem with it!! :)  So, they were all here, and Cassie even had a free morning on the 27th, so my friend Jill came over and snapped about 30 photos of us. This photo below is the unretouched version of what will most likely be in the big frame on our wall. We also had individual shots taken of the boys (the ones on our wall are 5-6 years old), and photos taken of the couples (Sam and Colleen, and Serena and Charlie). I might just have to find a bigger wall for our family photos -- or just prohibit any of my other children from ever dating anyone seriously enough to be in the family photos!!

Anyway, we have had a wonderful Christmas thus far -- Sam and Colleen are back in Massachusetts, and Danny, Serena & Charlie leave tomorrow afternoon after the New Year revelry. 2012 looks like it will be a GREAT year. We are fixing our house up to put on the market and already have our eye on a beautiful house in Fuquay-Varina (where I work). Keep your fingers crossed that we can make it happen!


May 2012 be everything you hope it will be and more, and stay tuned for more Fowle updates this year, as one of my New Year's resolutions is to write more often!!

Our Christmas Newsletter ONLINE!

Mark & Kennedy, December 2011

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” – Charles Dickens

So, it’s 2011 and another year has flown by in the Fowle household. The holiday season here is no different, and we are running at a breakneck speed toward Christmas with no brakes!  We hope this Christmas newsletter finds you all happy and healthy and preparing to host (or travel to) family for the 25th! Our house will be full, as every one of our children (including two “significant others”) will be with us this year!

To recap 2011, Mark is still enjoying his work at IBM as a product field support engineer, and it looks like they will roll him from contractor status to permanent gig in 2012. He still helps people with computer issues on a freelance basis, and has just started a partnership with a local computer repair business to handle their OpenSource clients. Mark is still a Mason, although his commute often precludes being able to make lodge meetings.

I am still loving my job at the Fuquay-Varina Chamber of Commerce. About 90% of what I do is event management, and we run 8 major events every year ~ a 5K race, a street festival, a business expo, the Christmas parade, an annual banquet, two golf tournaments, and several other member-only events. I love the fact that I meet so many people and help them promote their businesses. Business owners are working very hard to stay afloat in this economy, and their energy and commitment to success is very contagious! 

I still edit and write on a part-time basis as well. The full-length play I co-wrote is being produced in February! I’ve also submitted several short stories to contests and I am ghost-writing a novel about Elvis coming back from Heaven (longgg story). Starting in January, I’ll be co-writing a full length stage play with a couple of women from the Cary Playwright’s Lab. My goal is to work on a novel of my own in 2012, but time will tell. I am still very active in Rotary ~ I was President of my club until June, but I am still enjoing my second year of service as an Assistant District Governor in my district. Both Mark and I discovered Dr. Mark Hyman this year, and after modifying the way we eat, we have both lost a significant amount of weight. I've lost 35 pounds and he has lost almost that much. We continue to work at it and hope to lose even more in 2012!

In 2012, we took our first “real” vacation since 2003 ~ we rented a cabin on Bow Lake in New Hampshire over July 4th week, and spent the week hanging out with family and friends in the area. Serena and Cassie both flew in to spend the week with us, and Sam drove up from Massachussetts with his girlfriend Colleen for a couple of days, so our family and friends got to see the kids for the first time in YEARS! We went to Canobie Lake Park (a trip in the Way-Back Machine for Mark and I), survived a hike of Mt. Major (Serena’s idea), and spent a day in the historic section of Boston (Faneuil Hall, the North End, etc.). It was a great week, and my family even survived the living accommodations (lake camp was a tad rustic for them).

Prior to that trip, Kennedy and I flew to Galveston to see Serena in May. It was Kennedy’s first trip on an airplane, and she is ready to do it again! We saw all of Serena’s hangouts plus checked out the aquarium at Moody Gardens, the Kemah boardwalk, and historic Galveston neighborhoods. We visited the gymnastics center where Serena coaches, as well as the lab where she works. It was a fun 5-day girls weekend!

 

Charlie & Serena 2011

Serena is in her third year of graduate school out in Galveston, TX. She is officially a PhD candidate, having passed her qualifying exam on the first try and getting her research proposal approved by her supervising committee in October. She has submitted her grant proposal for funding and she will know by March if it gets approved. In addition to her research, Serena still coaches gymnastics part-time in Kemah. She, her boyfriend Charlie, and Tucker the Dog moved into their own house on the island in October. Serena came home for Thanksgiving and both she and Charlie will be joining us for Christmas!

Sammy is still in Massachussetts, struggling with the poor job market there. His girlfriend, Colleen, is a registered Medical Assistant, and they are both in the process of finding jobs in North Carolina so they can move here. Colleen is working on a second certification in medical claims processing, and Sam is hoping to put his forklift training to use. Sam did enroll in a criminal justice training program back in September until we all realized that the program was a scam, so he is waiting to start school until they relocate to the Carolinas. They both will be flying down for Christmas this year!

Danny spent 8 weeks with us this past summer after saving up the train fare all year so he could get here. He spent time with his sister after school and generally just “chilled” before heading back to Florida to work full-time with his stepdad. He will be flying up to spend Christmas with us as well!

Cassie is still working at Banana Republic in Durham, and has been sharing an apartment with a good friend all year. She will be moving into her own place at the end of December and is contemplating a move OUT of retail work and into something else in 2012. 

Kennedy started 8th grade in July (can you believe it?!) and almost overwhelmed herself with activities this Fall. She tried out for (and made) Show Choir, Dance Company, and the girls soccer team at her middle school. She was inducted into the school’s honor society (which has a service component). Then she tried out for (and made) the dance company at Center Stage Dance where she takes classes. All that, PLUS the increased work load of 8th grade, was a deadly combination. She stuck it all out, but learned valuable lessons about spreading herself too thin and realized that it’s better to pick several things and do them well rather than try to do EVERYTHING. We select her high school courses in February ~ hard to believe she’s almost there! 

We are still huge Carolina Hurricanes (hockey) fans, even though they are having an awful season so far. We bought our first mini season ticket package this year, and really enjoy going to the games, win or lose! Cassie and Kennedy often accompany us, and the whole family will be going to a game together on Dec. 26th!

Well, our house will be filled to overflowing this year! My parents will be joining us, too, although we have arranged for a luxury room at the new hotel in town for them, since there's no more room at the Fowle Inn! :)  Have a wonderful Christmas and a productive and healthy New Year!

~ The Fowle Family (Mark, Lynanne, Serena, Cassie, Sammy, Danny, and Kennedy)

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other."  ~ Burton Hillis

Hello, world.
I realized recently that I haven't updated this "my life in a nutshell" piece in over a year, so it is long overdue! Much is going on and I have enough fodder to fill several entries. :)

I will start with a quick update on all things "Fowle" for our biggest fans...
I am still working for the Fuquay-Varina Chamber of Commerce as the Director of Member Services and still enjoying it. We are very proud of all the activities we've added in the last 18 months, but it has also magnified the time needed to make it all successful. Some weeks are fun and exciting, but there are just as many weeks where I feel like I'm on a mechanical bull and just holding on for dear life until we're past an event! Never a dull moment, that's for sure! I am also in my second year as Asst. District Governor for Rotary District 7710. This year has proven to be more time-consuming as well, with our current governor demanding that we interact more regularly with our area clubs -- I have six clubs in my area, and all are rural, so the time commitment is a bit more intense this year. Last Christmas, we spun off a new Rotary club here in Fuquay-Varina, and the new club asked me to serve as President because I had the experience, so I served for six months (until June). Part of me misses my old club, but the new club is very dynamic and full of great people from all walks of life, so I'm happy where I am. :)

Although I've not had a lot of personal time lately, I have finally finished working on "Inextricable" with my writing partner, Paul. It's a full-length play about a young man who can't get out of his own way -- its rather dark and doesn't end well for the protagonist, but its a serious look at religion and addictive personalities and we are expecting it to be produced for the first time in the Spring of 2012. I am ghost-writing a novel for a friend in South Carolina and finally starting to work on some of my own prose. I am submitting a short story to the Writer's Digest short story contest next month, and working with a new friend who just published her first novel -- we are going to critique each other's work and keep each other motivated to continue writing!

Mark is working at IBM now... he moved to a unit there in September 2010 and has been working steadily there ever since. He is still a contractor, but once we get past braces and a few other expenses, he will probably roll into a permanent IBM position. He's really looking forward to that!

The kids are all busy and the older three are doing well out on their own. Serena has started her third year in Galveston, Texas pursuing her PhD in cellular biology. She has just submitted her proposal for PhD candidacy in the ovarian cancer lab she's been working in, and should hear something by the first week of November. We drove out to Galveston last Thanksgiving to visit, and loved it! Kennedy and I also flew out for a long weekend in May 2011, too, and had a great girls weekend. Serena will be flying home for Thanksgiving this year. Cassie is still working at Banana Republic, where she's been for about 6 years. She is involved with several charities in the area through work, and spent her birthday week in Galveston with Serena this year, which included catching a 40" fish on a deep-sea fishing expedition, and a trip to Austin for her actual birthday!

Sam is still in Massachussetts, but now has a steady girlfriend, Colleen, who has been wonderful for him. She is in college finishing up her degree in medical records, and Sam has found a full-time job in a warehouse driving a forklift and shipping orders. It's a great step for him, and he's hoping it will be a stepping stone to something more profitable in a few months. They are moving into their own apartment in January -- a big step for Sam!! :)

Danny is still in Florida, living with his mother and stepdad. He hasn't decided on a path for himself yet -- he works several nights a week collecting trash with his stepdad, and actually earned enough to get himself here for 6 weeks this past summer. We are confident that he will make some decisions about school and work when it is right for him -- for a kid who hated school as much as he did, it's not a surprise that he's taking some time off from the educational world.

Kennedy is an 8th grader this year. This year isn't as spectacular as last year was. She is playing on the school's soccer team again, as well as participating in Show Choir and the Holly Grove Middle School Dance Company. She has really blossomed as a dancer, and now takes 5 dance classes per week at Center Stage Dance School in Fuquay-Varina -- hip hop, jazz, ballet, and 2 team classes! Schoolwork is more difficult this year, so she struggles to get all her work done with all these other extracurricular activities, but soccer is almost over, so her load will lighten considerably after the first week in November.

Last summer we drove to New Hampshire and rented a lake cabin for a week. Serena and Cassie flew in for several days each, and Sam & Colleen came up for a couple of days as well. It was a fun week of reconnecting with family and friends and relaxing at the lake. :) We went to Canobie Lake Park, hiked Mt. Major, spent a day in Boston, and went to Midnight Bowling with John Roberge and all the cousins. It really was a lot of fun! Kennedy has really bonded with her cousins Olivia, Abby, and Madison ever since the family reunion in 2010 when we drove to NH for my aunt and uncles' internment. They are all the same age, and really connect -- thank goodness for Facebook so they can all stay in touch!!


Well, I'll add some photos to this later this week, and get started on all the other blog entries I have up my sleeve in the next week or two.

Happy Halloween!!! :)