Turkey Trot 5K ......over 31,000 People!!

The Turkey Trot this year was so much fun, once again....It is a fun family tradition to get up, drive to downtown Dallas and join in on the turkey day fun! They had over 31,000 people this year, more than we had ever seen before! We stood at the front line to start the race and it took us 18 minutes just to walk with the pack to cross the starting line! We were weaving and bobbing through the crowds of people who were walking the race but finally finished. They had bands playing music at every mile marker, radio stations, puppet shows, bounce houses, pony rides and TONS of free food when we were finished. Thanks for driving up and doing the race with us, DoMaw! It wouldn't be the same without you with us! :)

After the race, we came home and started cooking for a Thanksgiving feast! We had a total of 27 people (family and friends) at our home that evening! We had so much food it was unbelievable! It is a good thing that we got our run out of the way that morning to make room for all of that extra food!

Being silly with Sheppie...

I cherish my Fridays with Shep. This will be the last school year that I have Fridays off with my little man. I think of it as our "date day". He is my little buddy, he is such a good little helper. He loves to help me cook, help me clean, today he helped me put together 2 lamps. He takes his little job assignments so seriously. We had fun being silly today too with the camera.

Lunch...Kindergarten Style!

Shep had the day off so we decided to go and have lunch with Hudson at school.

Hudson got out of school and came running to the car dressed in his turkey hat and carrying his new Thanksgiving mat. So innocent and so precious! I love this age! When we got home, Shep ran inside and got his mat that he made for his Finger Food Feast. I couldn't help but take a picture of their master pieces!

Shep's Finger Food Feast...

Shep had his "Finger Food Feast" on his last day of Preschool. He was so cute singing up on stage. I couldn't see him very well since he was on the back row but you can pick out his handsome little face in the group photo. He was so sweet, he was singing his last song, doing all of the hand movements and accidently poked himself in the eye. He started crying but kept on singing and doing the hand movements. That is my little trooper!

(Mamma Pam...I didn't call you to come up since I knew you were on "stand-by" with your Mom. I didn't want to stress you with making a decision.)

Holy Cheese Whiz....The Tooth Fairy Slipped Up!

Oh, my goodness...how awful of a Mommy do I feel! Last night, we all snuggled in to watch a movie with the boys. I had seen this particular Veggie Tales about 2,312 times so of course, I fell asleep and went down stairs to bed before the movie ended. Cody ended up carrying the boys to bed.


Now, fast forward to this morning....Cody is at church teaching his montly men's bible study and I am snuggled up in bed asleep at 7:00am. Hudson comes and crawls in his bed, carrying his little zip lock baggie with his tooth in it and says, "Mommy, the tooth fairy didn't come last night." Picture the look of disappointment on his face. Oh my gosh, I could have just punched myself right then and there. I LIVE FOR STUFF LIKE THIS WITH THE KIDS, how in the heck could I have fallen asleep and not remembered the tooth fairy!!! I was feeling like the worlds crummiest Mom at this moment.


So, I spend the next 30 minutes trying to convince Hudson to go back to sleep and snuggle with Mommy (praying he would so I could slip upstairs and slip some cashola under his pillow). Well, he wanted no part of that! He just continued to talk and talk and talk about the Tooth Fairy. So, then I started scheming and said, well, you probably just rolled around in bed and it moved in your bed, I am sure it is in your bed somewhere, we will go look for it when we get up. At that moment, a friend calls at 7:30am to tell me she doesn't need me to babysit for her this morning. (Thank goodness for this phone call. I was able to leave Hud in bed to get the phone call, swing by my purse and get $2.00 out while talking and hide it in my pajamas) and then I hung up and got back in bed with Hud. Hudson immediately said, "Mommy, I really want to go look for my money. I said, " THAT is a fabulous idea, son! LET'S GO!" (picture me whipping the sweat off of my forehead).

So, we run upstairs, I was able to pull the money into the palm of my hand. He stops off to use the bathroom, I throw it under his covers and then sit on Shep's bed to wait. He comes out of the restroom, pulls back the covers and screams, "THERE IT IS!! I KNEW THE TOOTH FAIRY CAME!! I must have just moved it around in my sleep!".

OH MY GOODNESS, I will never make this mistake again. I feel so guilty. If there was a $100 bill in my wallet, I would have left that. So, $2.00 would have to do. But, the guilt is killing me, I think I foresee a Toys R Us trip today ! :)

Hud looses his first tooth!! :)

Oh, happy day!!! Hudson's dream came true today, he lost his first tooth! Ever since he started Kindergarten, he would come home each day and ask, "Mom, when is God going to loose my tooth?". We would pray nightly for his teeth to become "wiggily". Well, 3 months after school started, he got his first wish on his actual birthday....his bottom tooth started to be wiggily. He was overjoyed and said THAT was the best birthday present EVER! Well, he has been working on that wiggly tooth for 2 weeks now. He came from school today and said, "Look, Mom!! It is super wiggily today!". So, we called Daddy at work and Cody told him to eat an apple to help it come out (Hud does not like apples). I have never seen him eat so many bites of an apple before! Even if he only took one bite out of each slice! I finally resulted in pulling it out, with the help of a Kleenex. He was elated!!! He wanted to call everyone and tell all of his friends and family the good news! He wanted me to make brownies so that we could have a tooth party! He is excited to see what the Tooth Fairy will bring him in the morning!

Waiting on Daddy to come home...

Pictures of the boys being silly before we head out to church tonight.....

We miss you, Daddy!

Ugghhh....what a week! Take a look in my eyes and see how dog tired I am....nothing a little Oil of Old Lady won't cure!

This is the first trip that Cody has been away for an entire week for his job. We are very, very blessed that he has a wonderful, stable, secure job working for the government. On the flip side, we have to be patient while he travels, anywhere from one to two weeks at a time. In our 12 years together, we have never been apart this long. The boys have only been away from him when he goes on weekend church retreats. His travels won't be forever, just until the economy gets better. So, this will be a new test, a new phase in our little family. But, all things are possible with God! I can't change it so I will lean on God and we will make it work. I need to feel very, very blessed because I know that a lot of families do not have a job and a lot of people are losing their homes to foreclosures. So, yes, it could be worse. I am grateful for this challenge as it draws me closer to leaning on God. Thank you, God for protecting our family and protecting Cody while we are apart.

Cody, we will see you on Thursday! YIPPEE!!! Get ready for TONS and TONS of hugs and kisses from your little family. The boys drew you a picture to tell you that they love and miss you. Sheppard said his says, "I love you Daddy. You are the best Daddy in the entire world contest!". :)

Being Silly with Cousin Joey...

The boys have had fun with cousin Joey today! He drove all the way from Tyler to visit us. They had the best time trying on all of the many costumes and hats and playing make believe. Joey was too cute...I asked him how preschool was going and he said, "It is great, I have a girlfriend." I said, "REALLY! WOW! What is her name?" Joey said, "I don't know". I said, "Oh, ok, well then, what does your girlfriend look like?" He said, "Hannah Montana, she's hot". :)

Tigerthon 5K! - Hud wins 2nd Place in his first race!

Today was the boys first 5K! They have actually ran 5k's with Cody and I before only they were so little, they were in the double stroller the entire race. This was the first race that they actually ran all by themselves. For those of you wondering how long a 5k is, that is 3.2 miles, my friends. I am so proud of our boys!!! First of all, it was soooooo cold this morning! They were little troopers standing at the start line shivering so cold but we didn't stay that way long once we started running. Shep started out like lightning, running like Dash from Mr. Incredible. Hudson and I were both slow and steady from the start. Shep ran out of steam after about 10 minutes and thus, I was slowly jogging, pulling him behind me while trying to catch up with Hudson who took the lead. After about 20 minutes, Shep just sat down from being so tired so then I ended up jogging with him on my back so I could catch and keep up with Hudson. Hud amazed me!!! He is a natural runner with a good stride and endurance. I do believe we have found his niche! He said he loves running and I am so excited for him and excited for our family because he will keep us in shape by running 5k's. We finally finished the race and Mom was one tired Mom with a monkey on my back but proud that we crossed the finish line together. We were completely surprised to find out that Hudson got 2nd place in his age category!! YIPPEE! Way to go Hud, Mom and Dad are so proud of you!!

Kindergarten Tigerthon!

Hudson's Elementary school had a Tigerthon Race today to promote fun and fitness. Each grade got to particpate in a 20 minute race against the clock. All of the Kindergartners got to race against one another to see how many laps around the field they could make before their time was up. I was quite impressed, both Hud and Shep ran 8 laps in 20 minutes. (10 laps = 2 miles!)

Tomorrow morning is the big test....The Tigerthon 5k Race. Cody is out of town :( so it will just be Hud, Shep, KK and me. It will be fun to see how fast we can do the race in! Stayed tuned for tomorrow and I will let you know.

Cody....your little family misses you so much~~Thank you for working so hard for us!

XOXOXOXO

WE LOVE YOU, DADDY!!

Happy 6th Birthday, Hud!

Today was a great day for Hudson! I went and had lunch with him at school, he requested McDonalds. I then took cupcakes to his classmates and he got to pass out "I SPY" books to all of his friends for party favors. We then came home to a huge surprise from Collin, Keegan and Gabe. (I love that the picture of all 5 boy being silly on the stairs. The even cooler thing is that they are neighbors and they are all adopted....how cool is that?)They played for hours and hours, ate pizza, cupcakes and ice cream and ended the evening with 3D glasses and a movie, "Journey to the Center of the Earth". He got lots of great presents from family and friends.

The best present of all was that he had a loose tooth!! Ever since he started Kindergarten, he has wanted a loose tooth like all of his classmates. He would ask me daily when God was going to make his teeth loose. Well, God waited until your birthday and HE WAS SO EXCITED!! That was better than any present he got!

Pre Birthday Celebrations!!

Hudson decided that he wanted to go to Six Flags for his birthday instead of having a "big party". So, on Sunday, we took the family and had the best time riding rides and playing games. It was a great birthday present for Hud. I have to admit, it was a total blast hanging out with two fearless boys riding roller coasters! The "close up" picture of Shep, is one that I took of him inside the loop of The Shock Wave! And, then notice him on my shoulders once we got off it....he loved it! I can't believe that he was tall enough to ride but he was and he loved it. He wanted to do it over and over. (Notice my arm stretched across his stomach to hold him down!).

Future Politician??

November 4th....Election Day....my husband Cody has always been a card carrying Republican. Every 4 years, I know my husband is going to be knee deep and involved in politics. Iwas surprised to find out that our Hudson has a passion for politics too! I picked him up from Kindergarten today and he told me all about thier "mock" election today and all about the candidates that were running for President. I asked him who he voted for and he said, "Obama!" In shock, I said, "WHAT?! NO WAY" He said, "Yes, definitely, Obama". He doesn't know why he was voting for Obama but he was passionate about his little vote. For the rest of the eveing, he demanded that we turn on the TV and watch the polling. He was more involved in the TV than I was! He didn't want to go to bed until he knew who had won. When I tucked into bed, I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said, "President Lee". I have no doubt in my mind that he can do it if he wants to! My little man continues to simply amaze me............:)

Shake and Bank!..

My grandfather, "Gangee" would be so proud! Roughly 30 years ago, when I was just a wee little thing, around the age of 8 or 9, my grandfather taught me the value of money. It is a lesson that has stayed with me that I now pass down to my boys.

Gangee bought me a little mailbox piggy bank. He would save all of his silver and give me all of his pennies. He would save for months and months and then around Christmas time, he would come over with his piggy bank and my "penny" bank. We would dump all of our coins on the table and spend hours rolling them in coin wrappers. He only had to do this one or two times before I "caught on" on fast your change quickly adds up to dollars. Thus, a miser was born!

Ever since then, I have saved my change. My husband calls me a Change Nazi. But, it comes in handy. Save your coins all year long and roll them in December, and walah....you have hundereds of dollars in Christmas money. That is how Cody and I come up with our money each year.

So, we wanted to incentivise our boys with money management. We have put them on a Chore Chart and they get paid daily. This really works well for the both of them and we are relieved! They save their money all week long and tithe on Sunday. Then they can take their weekly money and either spend it on a toy or save it in the bank. If they choose to save it, we match them dollar for dollar. Hudson has completely surprised me the most, he always chooses to spend only one dollar and save the rest. Shep, on the other hand, blows it as quickly as we let him loose in the Dollar Tree store. Hilarious!

But, after saving their money for an entire month, we took them to Wells Fargo to open up their first Savings Account. We even gave some money to Katy to open up her own Savings and Checking account too! I am so proud of all of them and I KNOW Gangee would be too.

Trick or Treat...

Trick or Treat...here's the rundown of the evening...Met up with our neighbors, cruised up and down the neighborhood, my kids loaded up on 20 pounds of candy, came home and shoveled it in like a Hoover vaccuum! Sound familiar? I rarely give my kids sugar since it makes Hud run around the house like a tornado! So, alas, after the kids went to bed, Mommy put all of the leftover candy hidden in Daddy's work gym bag. Don't want to repeat the Sugar High tomorrow...!

Sweet Katy....."KK"...."Katy Kins".....

Cody and I have prayed and prayed for a daughter and low and behold, God has sent us his answer. We have the blessing of a new addition to our family, Cody's niece, Katy. "KK", as we call her came to live with us last Thursday, October 27th. She is a beautiful 15 year old from Lindale, Texas. She is coming from a small to school to our high school of 3,000 kids. Quite an adjustment. This is a picture of her one her first day of school this week. Oh my gosh, I have a teenager in my house! YIKES! We are having fun decorating her room hot pink with zebra print, her choice.

This is a big change for a small town girl! I have been praying and praying and praying that God will surround her with good, Godly Christian influences, His protection and His friends to guide her. We've got her plugged into "The Crew", our church's high school youth ministry and she really seems to love it! The "church thing" is kind of a new atmosphere for her so I pray that she grows to just embrace it. Right now, I know that she thinks I am a Super Freak (imagine the song playing) because I pray all of the time. But, that is ok, I am a proud Jesus Freak! ;)