The Hames Family

Back to School

2011-09-17T08:32:00.001-05:00

Jackson is enjoying second grade in Mrs. Crowell's class.

And Luke is liking his new preschool. His teacher for art is Miss Annie and for drama he has Mr. Jefferson. After his first day we walked to the splash pad for some fun.

YouTube Video

Field trip to Reed Park

2011-05-18T14:34:00.001-05:00

In my next life I might be a first grade teacher. I just love spending time with these kids. Who knew we could have so much fun and get this dirty in one day at the park. We caught minnows, tadpoles, bugs, and worms. We went on a nature scavenger hunt. We had a picnic and played on the playground. It so reminded me of being a kid and doing fun stuff like this near the end of the school year. A perfect day!

Time Out!

2011-05-16T13:47:00.003-05:00

This day is KILLING me. So let me just take a moment to reflect on a happier time and place.

Ahhh...that's better.

In case you missed it on Facebook...

2011-05-05T22:03:00.001-05:00

...it's finally done.

What has Luke been up to?

2011-05-05T11:26:00.008-05:00

Short answer: making us smile any way he can. Here are some recent Lukey pics that show off what he's been up to and his sweet, funny personality. I don't know what we'd do without him...

Hiking on New Year's Day.

Snow day and our tiny snowman.

Cracking Jackson up right before these crazy boys decided to jump in the lake...in February.

Shooting the BB Gun.

Disney World.

The beach.

With Megan at the beach.

Donuts for Dads at school.

Easter. I would blame it on the candy, but he's always like this.

Mother's Day Tea at school.

With his best friend Brielle.

And the hair is coming off this afternoon!

Jackson School Pics

2011-04-29T13:54:00.007-05:00

Thanksgiving Feast

Mammal Day

Book report about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

Chapel

Grandparent's Day

What a great year Jackson has had at school! We have loved Mrs. Boyd so very much and will be sad to see this year end. We still have field day, achievement tests, a field trip, three special chapels, and two special events left during the month of May, however, so we will probably be ready for a break soon.

From the Archives - The Fosters

2011-04-27T12:01:00.009-05:00

Oh how we love our Foster family. A typical trip north on I-35 usually involves the spectating of some sort of amateur sport. This particular weekend it was volleyball and soccer.

Every trip includes a smattering of eating, sitting, visiting, laughing, playing, climbing, and hanging out at one of the Sachse or Rockwall family compounds.

These festivities are usually followed by church-going and then lunch-eating wherein the eating, sitting, visiting, laughing, playing, climbing, and hanging out continue.

Even the youngest member of the tribe participates in the make-em-laugh-at-all-cost-even-if-you-are-embarrassing-yourself-in-public family weekend ritual.

Finally the obligatory staring-into-the-sun-group-photo of the ever-growing children either ends with wailing and gnashing of teeth or in this case a nice photo of the children.

And we conclude with lotso hugs and begging of parents to plan future trips or possibly that we can all move into houses next door to each other.

Oh how we love our Foster family.

Camping

2011-04-25T14:52:00.007-05:00

Back in November we set the tent up in the front yard just to make sure we still remembered how to do it. We have an enormous tent that has three interior rooms, plus a screened in porch. It's over the top. Here are the kids playing in the tent in the front yard.

The reason we needed to practice with the tent is that we were conspiring with some of Mat's family members to camp out on his Uncle Randy's property for one night during the Thanksgiving weekend. It turned out to be VERY cold that weekend (low temps in the 20's), but no one had enough sense to cancel the campout (even though secretly I think everyone wanted to).

I stayed as long as I could but eventually all the smart people (ie: the women) decided to sleep indoors.

Here are the remaining campers minus Steve and Bo who didn't make it into this picture. Maybe they were snuggled up in a tent trying to keep warm? Anyway, they look a little unsure, don't they? They all survived, though, and made everyone a fantastic breakfast the next morning over the campfire.

A couple of weekends ago, Mat took Jackson on a cub scout campout to Inks Lake.

They shared a campsite with the Sewell boys.

And finally, we've made a couple of trips to Pedernales Falls this spring. We love this state park because it's close to Austin, and it's one of the prettiest hill country spots to hike, swim, and camp.

A little trivia for you...in case you were wondering why everyone pronounces it PERDENALES instead of PEDERNALES. We read online that LBJ got tongue-tied saying it the proper way so eventually he said forget it, I'm saying PERDENALES. So that stuck and most people around here say it that way.

I love the camping bed heads.

I'm so glad the boys love hiking and camping. After our last trip to Pedernales Falls Luke actually told me he wished we lived there. I don't blame him a bit. We plan to camp in Texas at least one more time before our epic Grand Teton camping trip this summer.

Donuts for Dads

2011-03-31T12:28:00.005-05:00

Luke's preschool had a little program for the dads this morning. Along with having donuts together and singing some songs, the children gave their dad a card. The inside was a questionnaire that the teacher helped them fill out. Here's Luke's card for Mat.

My daddy is "22" years old.

He weighs "90" pounds and is "9" feet tall.

His hair is "yellow, like mine" and his eyes are "blue."

My dad loves to relax by "sitting in chairs and lying down."

He loves to cook... "my dad doesn't know how to cook."

His favorite household chore is "helping us wash the car."

His favorite TV show is "he doesn't watch TV but he likes family movie night" and his favorite song is "Genesis songs."

Daddy always tells me "behave when we're taking pictures."

It makes him happy when "he plays with us."

When my dad shops, he loves to buy "spaghetti to eat with sauce and meat."

If he could go on a trip, he would go to... and he would take... "I don't know."

I really love it when my dad "plays rough with me and tackles me and boxes with me because I can beat my dad. I'm the best Wii boxer in the world!"

Best laugh I've had in a long time. He relaxes by "sitting in chairs" was my favorite.

Disney World Do's and Don'ts

2011-03-21T14:18:00.010-05:00

I wanted to make a quick list of some of my observations about our Disney World vacation before I forget them. If we ever go again this is the kind of info that I think will be helpful. I'm including a few pictures that Mat took with his phone since I'm not sure when I'll get around to downloading the camera.

1. DO plan your trip in advance. If you're thinking of going to Disney World there are tons of resources out there to help you plan the trip. This is not something that you can really do spontaneously. I read the website of course, posted questions to the mom's panel, read books at the bookstore and even bought one, borrowed books, read reviews, downloaded the apps. One friend (Tanya) even told me that she listens to Disney podcasts while she works. The best thing is to ask other people what they like to do but also be open to having your own unique experiences. Thank you to Jenny Frame who wasted tons of time at work writing me long emails with all her Disney tips and tricks.

2. DON'T underestimate the magic of Mickey! I was so surprised how our kids were taken in by the magic. I guess I expected them to be cynical like me since they are around me all the time. But they were IN-TO-IT! The first time we watched the big show they do in front of Cinderella's castle was such a great memory for me. Luke was talking the ENTIRE time. "Are they real princesses? Like not just here at Disney World but on Earth too?" (I wondered if he maybe thought we were on another planet.) "Is that the REAL Peter Pan/Captain Hook/Wendy/Snow White/Cinderella/etc?" "How can Mickey talk? If he's a mouse, how can he talk that good? Can he talk like that when he's not here?" There's one part where Mickey asks the audience to chant "dreams can come true" a few times and then some fireworks go off. Luke: "When the dreams came true, how did that magic happen?" It was all just too cute for words. He was like that on literally every ride too. Talking and asking questions the whole time. Jackson was not as chatty, but still enthralled. He even wanted to wait in line to meet Mickey and Donald and get their autographs. They are both asking to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse again which hasn't been seen in our house in probably 3 years.

M-I-C ~ K-E-Y ~ M-O-U-S-E!

3. DO as much as you can, but don't worry if you don't do everything. "We can always come back." That's what I kept telling myself. We loved Animal Kingdom so much more than I expected, and I would've liked a few extra hours there. I was thinking this would just be a half-day for us because my kids aren't big on zoos. But it's so, so much more than a zoo. There are tons of exotic animals that you see on the Safari ride and nature trails, but there are also roller coasters, playgrounds, characters everywhere, cool international food, and the art direction of the scenery is superb. Loved it! So Animal Kingdom and a few other things that we missed will be at the top of my list if we ever go back.

4. DON'T go during spring break. We had a great time, but you can just not believe the masses of humanity that we experienced. If you're spending that kind of time and money, get more bang for your buck by taking your kids out of school for a few days and going during an off-season.

Speaking of spring break, we waited in line for an hour to ride Dumbo. I think the ride takes about 90 seconds? That's how much we all love Luke because he wanted to ride it SO bad!

5. DO go to the Hoop-Dee-Do dinner show. I think everyone in our family would say that this is one of the BEST things we did all week. My memories of Jackson in particular laughing his head off for two straight hours are priceless. I tried to take pictures of his big smile, but they don't do justice to how much fun this was. Good food, funny performances, lots of audience interaction, and old-timey music. It's pricey, but you just have to do it. A huge thank you to Angie and Paige for telling me about this.

6. DON'T go to EPCOT on the first day. All you smarties out there who told me EPCOT was your favorite park (David Foster) were LYING! It is cool (everything at DW is awesome - don't get me wrong), but it was definitely my 4th favorite out of the four theme parks. The kids need a big dose of roller coasters, tea cups, pirates, haunted mansions, splashing mountains, and Mickey Mouse magic on day one - so go to the Magic Kingdom first. Everybody sing along with me here: It's a Small, Small World!

7. DO take plenty of breaks. The meltdowns (both parents and children) are unavoidable when you're on a vacation like this. It's exhausting. We didn't want to take the time out of our day to come back to the hotel and nap like the early birds do (see #10), so occasionally we would just have to STOP and take a break. Go somewhere shady, get some food even if it's expensive (see #9), and recharge your batteries. We always felt so refreshed after taking a break and it made all the difference when we were in meltdown mode. Another thing that got us through the madness was that Mat would sneak out of line occasionally and come back with popcorn, ice cream, soft drinks, chips, or big salty pretzels. We enjoyed talking, playing, and entertaining each other all week while standing in lines, and when we had a little treat it made the time just that much more sweet.

We loved this roller coaster - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We road it 3 times!

8. DON'T expect your phone to work if you are an AT&T customer. Even if you have full bars! You will waste countless minutes (or maybe hours if you're there during spring break, see #4) trying to check the old Facebook whilst standing in line for rides.

9. DO buy the meal plan. The food is going to be way more expensive than you think, and if you have the meal plan you just won't have to worry about it as much. I thought I had estimated that even if we were paying a lot more for food than we would at home that the meal plan price was still too high. I haven't run the numbers, but I'm pretty sure I was wrong. The table service meals (sitting down with a waiter) were significantly higher than my wildest dreams. At least the ones we did which were all completely awesome and worth it, btw. Make your reservations in advance. There is no better feeling when you're hot, tired, hungry, and cranky than to walk up to a restaurant where you've made a reservation and get to go on in and sit down while other hot, tired, hungry, cranky people are getting turned away right and left. Seriously you HAVE to make the reservations. You can't even expect to get a table at the hotel where you're staying during normal mealtimes without one (at least at spring break, see #4 again).

10. DON'T forget who you are. We realized the first day that Disney World is made for morning people. If you want to avoid the lines, get fast passes, sign up for things - the early bird catches the worm. We have no early birds in our nest. So every night as we were going to bed at midnight, we would stress about how if we could just get up and get there "when it opens" then we could do this and that "before it gets crowded." Well, that was not meant to be. We were determined to have fun anyway, and we only missed out on one ride because we didn't get a fast pass and Mom and Dad refused to wait in line for 135 minutes. We were able to spend some time in the hot tub after all the early birds were in bed a few times, and we had a late dinner one night and watched the fireworks show from a near-empty beach. So even though we were still in bed "when it opens" we were able to make it work. (Losing a hour with the time zone change and then springing forward for daylight savings did not help this problem. Daily quote from Mat as we left the hotel to head to the parks: "Yes, but TO US it's really 8:30am.")

Waiting for the boat to Magic Kingdom

You can find these pictures and more by following Mat and me on Instagram. This is our favorite new app for sharing pictures. Search for our usernames: heckstorm and summerbee to join the Instagram fun.

Pinewood Derby

2011-02-28T14:12:00.011-06:00

This past weekend Jackson and Mat participated in our Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby. The pinewood derby is an annual event, where you basically take a block of wood, create a toy car out of it, and race it on a giant track. There are size and weight requirements, and you can either try for a really cool design or try to make a really fast car.

For our first derby, Mat decided to aim high and make a car like Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder from the first Star Wars movie. Considering that we have very few tools and even less free time, I was skeptical. After mulling over the design for awhile, we packed up our block of wood and headed to East Texas to work on the car at Mat's Uncle Randy's shop in the woods. Randy made many pinewood derby cars when his son, Christopher, was in scouts so we knew we were in the right place. Christopher, who is now in college, even decided to come out to the Lake and help out too. (His main job ended up being the entertainment for Luke. By the end of the weekend Luke just kept repeating, "Pick me up again and talk funny to me." If you know Christopher, I'm sure you can picture exactly how that played out over and over.)

Mat and Jackson got a lesson in using saws.

During our weekend at the lake, we did some night fishing and got to see this awesome moon-rise. The full red moon rose up over the treeline in front of us and reflected off the lake so beautifully.

And right at that moment Jackson caught a fish!

I wish I had some pictures of Luke and Christopher playing, but just picture a larger version of this silly boy and you'll have the idea.

Back at home Mat and Jackson spent the week finishing the car. It had to be painted. The wheels had to be added and aligned. Then they added just the right amount of weights to make it 5 ounces. They literally worked on it everyday last week.

The day of the race we weighed the car in....

And then high-tailed it across town for a quick soccer game in the rain...

I love this shot of Jackson and Caleb Sewell. I hope they are friends forever just like their dads.

After a quick lunch at Double Dave's we spent the entire afternoon at the derby race.

These are the cars from Jackson's den. Remember the black and red car. There's more about that one to come...

So we knew we had a cool car. Mat even painted it to looked old and scuffed up just like the Landspeeder in Star Wars. What we didn't expect was that it would be fast too! We actually won some of the races!

I really have to say here publicly that I did not think it could be done, and I was WRONG! Our car was AWESOME, and I was so proud of Mat and Jackson for doing it.

Jackson won 3rd place in his den for speed and got to compete in the finals with all the older boys in the pack. He also won 2nd place in his den for design.

Now this is where things get a bit touchy. The black and red car that won 1st place was a KIT CAR. Meaning the boy/dad did not start with a block of wood, but rather they just put together and painted a car that was already cut and designed. I had a major issue with that because 1.) it was not original, and 2.) I think the judges (middle-aged ladies) had no knowledge of Star Wars whatsoever. All of the boys at the race thought Jackson's car should've gone on to the pack-wide design competition where he would've gotten a trophy. To top it off the boy/dad whose kit car won first place in design did not even come to the race! They just dropped it off in the morning at the weigh-in, and then the mom came back and picked up the medals at the end of the day. So we learned a bit about parenting on Saturday. Of course, we couldn't let on to Jackson that we were disappointed and really it doesn't matter in the long run. But it's so, so hard to see your child (and husband :-) being treated unfairly.

Overall, it was a great experience. Jackson was so happy to have his medals, and Mat felt a great sense of accomplishment. Now Luke is even excited about being a scout and making a car someday.

Happy Early Valentine's Day

2011-02-10T10:06:00.002-06:00

YouTube Video

Dressing Up

2011-01-28T09:51:00.004-06:00

One of the boys' favorite things to do is dress up. This year at Halloween Luke decided to be Superman and Jackson was going to be Indiana Jones. Once Jackson saw Luke's costume, though, he changed his mind and decided he wanted to be Superman too. So the Indiana Jones costume went back and we had Superman twins for Halloween. They wore these costumes practically everyday for about a month. Sweet, happy boys. I'm so glad they're best friends.

We had fun trick or treating with all the neighbor kids and Granddad and Gammo. It was an earlier night than last year, though, since we had school the next day.

I love these pics that we took at the Beard's annual Halloween party.

Also in October, Jackson had Indian Day at school. They spent the day at the Nature Center eating interesting foods, playing games, and learning about what life was like for the Native Americans. Here he is with a couple of his friends.

The boys got to dress up for a birthday party at the Merriman's house. This was before Jackson got his Superman costume, so he went as Luke Skywalker.

This year was special because the Rangers were in the World Series during the week of Halloween. The boys loved wearing their Rangers shirts that they got at the game we went to with Aunt Becky. We also had lots of opportunities to dress up in the cub scout uniform and the soccer uniform.

Anyone still out there?

2011-01-26T15:19:00.005-06:00

Well hello there. I'm beginning the long road to catching up. I wanted to post some of Jackson's soccer pictures before launching into Halloween and the holidays. We started out the season practicing in some of the hottest weather you can imagine. There was not a lick of shade to be found anywhere. It was completely miserable for everyone. I couldn't even bring myself to visit with the other parents because it took all the energy I had in my body just to stay alive in that heat. I was really questioning what we had gotten ourselves into. But enough about me. Jackson was having fun. He had his worried face on the first few games as he tried to figure everything out, but eventually he relaxed and started enjoying it.

Jackson had a lot of really good players on his team. He would brag loudly about winning after every game. They finally lost one game and instead of his normal bragging he just got in the car and said something nonchalant like, "We didn't really lose because you're not supposed to keep score anyway." I'm glad he got to experience both winning and losing during the season.

The practices were a challenge because they started at 6:00 on Mondays which is exactly when I usually get home from work. So our routine was non-existent and we never could really figure out when to eat dinner. We all enjoyed the games quite a bit, though. The weather changed eventually and we played some games in the rain, some in the cold, but most were just lovely.

He had a fun season with a great coach. I have to give a big thank you to Steve and Wendy (Granddad and Gammo) for coming to two of the games, and to our babysitter Amy for coming once. It made him feel SO special to have them there cheering him on. He's going to play soccer again this spring, so the rest of the fam will have another chance to see him in action.

A Shout Out to School

2010-11-11T13:49:00.004-06:00

I just had to post this article from the Austin American Statesman about our school, Regents. It is through many blessings and also some sacrifices that we've been able to send Jackson there last year and this year, and I can't say enough good things about the parents, teachers, administrators, and just the entire Regents community. I think this article pretty much sums it up. I didn't have anything to do with this, didn't even go to the game. But I think this kindness is what ALL our friends, neighbors, and family members are trying to instill in our kids. It worked in this case big time.

_____________________________________________________

Commentary: Football field was common ground for Knights, Indians

By Rick Cantu

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Published: 9:53 p.m. Monday, Nov. 8, 2010

The boys sat on the gym floor and ate pizza together. They talked about the game they had just played. Adversaries for nearly three hours, the football players from Regents and the Giddings State School now were just kids having fun.

Any contrasts between the players for Regents and their visitors from Giddings weren't readily apparent. On this night, they were brothers in arms, laughing, joking, smiling, enjoying the feast before them. It didn't matter that one team represented a private school in an upscale neighborhood of southwest Austin while the other team consisted of young men who have been incarcerated in a juvenile prison.

On a cool autumn night this past Thursday, the Knights and Indians were bound by one common thread: football.

And although it was Senior Night for the Knights, the Regents boosters made a pact to root for the visitors. They wore royal blue to support the Indians and they made posters for each player and trainer. The Regents fans also created a large banner for the Giddings State School players to burst through in pregame festivities, baked brownies for the Indians and bought shirts for the visiting coaches that had "Indians" stitched across the front.

Regents wore its road white uniforms on its home field, and let Giddings State School occupy the home bench. Knights cheerleaders, meanwhile, pulled royal blue T-shirts over their outfits and cheered for the visitors.

This was a display of unbridled compassion from the fans and players of one Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools team toward the players and coaches of another.

"At first, it felt a little weird," said Lisa Moore, whose son Luke is a Regents wide receiver and safety, "but the fans quickly got into it and didn't miss a beat. Once they saw that the parents of our senior players were embracing this gift to Giddings, the rest of the fans joined in."

In an e-mail to Regents boosters, Moore wrote that players for Giddings State School "don't have pregame meals from Chipotle or fancy uniforms for both home and away games. (In fact, they don't have ANY home games.) No parents making posters or ringing cowbells. Giddings is part of the Texas Youth Commission and houses the boys that the courts have labeled as violent offenders.

"They live behind a 14-foot fence wired with motion detectors and patrolled 24 hours a day by guards. They get to play football only if they have served at least half of their sentence, follow the rules and are willing to practice while it's still dark outside. This is because their after-school time is filled with therapy sessions, work duty and meetings with caseworkers. Their roster can change from week to week as boys become ineligible due to behavioral issues or as boys are released or even moved to adult prisons. So each game they get to play could be their last."

Indians coach Sandy Brown said his team operates on a "shoestring" budget, and guards surround the practice field to make sure no one ventures off. It's a far cry from Giddings High School, which receives all of the town's attention on game nights.

"I have been here 31 years and although some schools kind of adopt our kids and do things for them, it is rarely to the extent that Regents went to," Brown said.

"It really makes you appreciate the school and the coaches. You realize we're all kind of in a brotherhood of helping young people to grow up and achieve their dreams, regardless of where we came from or what we've done."

Regents (9-1) defeated the Indians 51-0, but after the game, the boys gathered together and prayed. Regents players offered their opponents gift bags filled with cookies and a Bible. In each book, Regents students had written personal messages of encouragement.

Then the two teams devoured 50 pizzas.

Brown said Regents' generosity and sportsmanship left a positive impression on his team.

"I don't tell many people this but I hit a policeman with a beer bottle when I was 16, so I know what it's like to be in trouble," Brown said. "But what I tell my kids is that although you can't change anything about yesterday, you can change tomorrow if you want to. So anytime someone like Regents shows the kind of love and respect for my kids like they did last Thursday night, it gives you a real sense of appreciation for that school and their coaches."

While the boys from Giddings State School enjoyed their trip to Austin, the players and parents from the home team won more than just a game.

"We got more out of this experience than the Giddings kids probably did," Lisa Moore said. "I hope it is a lesson in servanthood, kindness and generosity that our boys and their families can take with them forever."

More scouts

2010-11-10T13:50:00.011-06:00

Mat's dad recently sent us this picture of himself as a cub scout. I guess this must have been taken in the late 1950s. We love the picture and also the fact that Jackson is able to be in scouts now and do some of the same things that boys were doing decades ago before soccer and video games and Star Wars took over.

One of the things that really sold Jackson on the idea of doing scouts was a trip he and Mat took at the beginning of the school year. They got to go down to Corpus Christi and "camp out" on the USS Lexington aircraft carrier. The Lexington is a WWII ship that was decommissioned and is now permanently docked in Corpus and available for tours. After the usual business hours of the day were over, the scouts got to stay on board and spend the night in soldier's bunks inside. I think this was probably one of the coolest things Jackson has gotten to do in his life as you can see from the pictures.

Mat and Jackson got to travel down there with our good friends, the Sewells, and on the way home they stopped at the beach. It was Caleb's birthday.

I stayed home that weekend and hung out with some of the other moms and younger kids. We had a good time too, but we really missed the big boys and were glad when they were home from their adventure.

Here are some more pictures of Jackson and some of his buddies at the football game where the scouts did the flag ceremony.

Luke enjoyed the game too and was sporting his Rangers jersey. This was the night the Rangers beat the Yankees and secured their spot in the World Series. What a great night!

And here is a picture just taken from my phone of Jackson's den singing "God Bless America" at our pack meeting last night. The boys are learning about citizenship this month. I love the things they're learning and everything that scouts is all about. It's also fun to see Jackson making great memories and lifelong friendships.

Go See It!

2010-10-29T17:28:00.001-05:00

Jackson is really enjoying scouts. They take field trips every now and then called "go see it" trips. Today we toured a fire station with his den.

The "littles" got to come too. Here is Luke with his buddies Micah and Annie.

And last week at the homecoming football game the boys got to do a flag ceremony out on the field.

In scouts there is a lot of rule following and regulations and schedules with military time and submission to authority figures - none of which comes naturally to any of us - so it's been good for our family so far.

Michigan!

2010-10-19T16:48:00.013-05:00

This post is going to be a completely inadequate description of how much fun we had in Michigan with Mat's sister Jenny, and her family Steve, Ben, and Megan. To read a great post about our trip, please feel free to visit my brother-in-law's blog because he did a fantastic job with the details and pictures. The details are getting a little fuzzy for me now and we forgot our camera on a couple of key parts of the trip, but the main thing is that it was GREAT!

We visited Mackinac (pronounced MACK-in-aw) Island twice on the trip. We stopped there once on our way to the Upper Penisula and loved it so much that we changed our plans so that we could go there again on the way home. Mackinac Island used to be home to Native Americans, a military fort, and now it's mostly a tourist destination. You take a ferry to get to the island, and there are no cars allowed so everyone rides bikes or in horse drawn carriages. We rented bikes and rode the 8 miles around the whole island and it was just so, so fun. We also rode in a carriage, and visited the fort, the famous Grand Hotel, the beach, and the abundant fudge shops. The first day we were rushing to make it on the ferry and forgot our camera, so I don't really have any pics of our awesome bike ride, but it was awesome. Did I already say that?

These are all pictures from the fort where there was a lot of cool old-timey stuff to do.

View from the fort.

The Grand Hotel. Incidentally the movie "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve was filmed here, but I've never seen it. This place is so fancy that they have a dress code. You have to be wearing a suit or a dress after about 4pm, so we didn't linger too long here.

The beach on Mackinac at sunset.

The famous lighthouse off the coast of the island.

The Ferry.

This is Mackinac Bridge which separates the Lower Peninsula of Michigan from the Upper Peninsula (aka the UP).

So after our first trip to Mackinac we toured a few lighthouses and then headed to the UP. We went to the beach...that's right the beach! It was so awesome! Totally clean, fresh water. Lots of sun and nice temps. The water was chilly, but the kids didn't care a bit.

We were staying near the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior (just across the lake from Canada). So we took an evening cruise to look at the pictured rocks. It's hard to describe, but all the cliffs on this part of Lake Superior are beautiful, like a painting. Again, Steve's blog is better.

We also did a few hikes at Pictured Rocks. The trees were huge, and the views were awesome.

We spent one day on Grand Island. This is an uninhabited island about the size of Manhattan. It was the perfect combination of all the things we were loving about the trip - the biking, the hiking, and the beach. This was a really special day. It was so unusual to be surrounded by nature, and not see hardly any other people all day.

When we finally got back to Jenny and Steve's town, we got to celebrate Megan's birthday! She had a party at the indoor tennis center with a lot of her friends.

I'll spare you the post-birthday-party-Wii-dancing-after-party videos, but you better believe you can check them out on Steve's blog.

Colorado 2010

2010-09-25T11:43:00.015-05:00

In July we took a somewhat spontaneous trip to Colorado. We had decided not to go this year, but the call of the mountains was too strong! We were there for four nights and we packed in as much hiking as possible. The first day we all went up to Bible Point with Granddad, Gammo, and their dogs.

Next, we hiked to Alberta Falls with Grammy, Granddad, and Gammo. We scrambled up the rocks all the way to the top. This is such a pretty place. We were all really proud of Luke for doing this because it is challenging for little people who have just turned four.

Our next hike was a really big accomplishment for Jackson. He kept asking if he could do a summit hike instead of just lakes and waterfalls. He's hiked Bible Point and Emerald Mountain a few times, and so he knows how awesome it feels to stand on top of a mountain and look around. We chose Deer Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park, but I had my doubts about whether or not he could finish it. It was just over 6 miles round trip. The longest he'd hiked before this was probably 2-3 miles. And guess what...He finished!! It was such a special day for me to hike this mountain with Jackson, Daddy, and Mat.

We love getting to spend time at the YMCA of the Rockies. I told you we had some fun grandparents. Was I right, or was I right? What a wonderful blessing for us and the boys to get to spend time with them hiking and just hanging out.

Eating ice cream and having some laughs at the Rustic Cafe.

Celebrating Luke's birthday (again) at our cabin.

Playing putt-putt with Granddad.

Taking a silly group photo. I was shocked how my Dad, the king of silly pictures, is the only one playing it straight. Hmmm...I guess the joke's on us.

We are definitely NOT going next year..absolutely not...unless we change our minds.

Summer at the Lake

2010-09-17T16:21:00.006-05:00

If anybody out there is still reading this, let me please explain that my computer is having an Internet problem. I can only get on the Internet when I'm very close to my airport which means at my house I have to be upstairs sitting at my desk. Since this problem started I haven't been using my computer at home at all, and that's why I've been so delinquent about blogging. So now it's Friday afternoon, the boys are playing Wii, and I'm sitting at the desk finally posting about the summer.

We took three trips to the lakehouse in East Texas this summer. I know...we are extremely lucky and blessed! Here are a few highlights.

Lakehouse trip #1 was Memorial Day weekend. The boys love fishing and going out in the boat, so those are our biggest memories of this first trip. This time we decided to keep one of the catfish and fry it up. Gross...but yum!

The next time we went to the lake was Father's Day weekend. We went because there was a screening of When I Rise near Mt. Pleasant which is closeby. What a special night that was! The boys loved meeting Barbara and seeing Daddy up on stage. Lukey made Barbara laugh when we first walked in because she asked how old he was and he said, "Three and three quarters."

The other highlight of that trip was that Big Papa caught a raccoon that had been terrorizing their dog. Everyone ended up feeling sorry for the raccoon, though, because it was a mother of baby raccoons (or it was pregnant??). Anyway, he let it go in the woods across the street.

The next trip was Fourth of July. Our summer is just not complete without sitting on the dock watching the fireworks over Lake Cypress Springs.

We have three July birthdays so we also had a little celebration in honor of Big Papa, Mat, and Luke.

We did more fishing.

And we also did some of this...

And a little of that...

And does that look like a fun grandmother or what?

Finally, we had the opportunity to visit the home of one of Nana's friends a couple of times. This person lives "off the grid." Her home was built from scraps, no running water or electricity, she's a vegetarian who grows her own food. Oh and did I mention she's an accomplished musician who teaches at the university level? Very, very cool. I wish I could post more pictures, but she is a private person and I feel I've said enough since this is the Internet after all. But what a cool story...Seriously.

We loved our time at the lake this summer! Did I mention that we're lucky? Well, we're actually lucky enough to have SIX fun grandparents! More about the rest of them in future posts. (Probably next Friday when the boys are playing Wii. :-)

Back to School

2010-09-01T12:53:00.004-05:00

What an awesome summer we had! I can't believe that we took six trips, did two different VBS's, two day camps, swimming lessons, two birthdays, jury duty, took care of the school animals, taught Sunday school, and still managed to make it to work occasionally. You can see why I never had time to blog! But alas, all good things must come to an end. Last week we said good-bye to summer and hello to first grade!

This is Jackson's teacher Mrs. Boyd showing him where to put all of his stuff. Jackson was very happy that he got Mrs. Boyd for his teacher. He knew her a little bit from last year.

Some of the things that are different this year for Jackson are that he will stay at school until 2:45 instead of noon. That means he eats lunch at school. I've been making his lunch everyday except Friday when they have Double Dave's Pizza. They also sit at desks rather than four kids to a table. No more center time or toys this year - they work all day! He gets two recesses which he was very excited about. He also gets to go to PE and art twice a week this year. He goes to Spanish and music twice a week instead of once a week, and he still goes to the garden twice a month and chapel once a week.

Jackson only had two girls from his Kindergarten class move to 1st grade with him, but he was still very excited about school and really not worried about a thing. He's a great student. Meanwhile, a few weeks ago Lukey started asking me on nightly basis whether he had to go to school the next day. I would say, "No Lukey, not for a few more weeks (days, etc.)" I think he would like to just stay home and swing everyday for the rest of his life. But he did in fact go to school yesterday and everything was fine.

After we got inside he started hanging onto me for dear life, and I could tell his teacher Miss Becca is a fan of saying a quick good-bye at the door. So I told him I would wait in the car for a few minutes out in the parking lot in case he needed me. ;-) That seemed to do the trick, and he went inside with no tears.

It's going to be a great year!

Four years ago tonight...

2010-07-13T21:35:00.003-05:00

We welcomed our sweet little Luke into the world.

Lukas Christian Hames, 7 pounds 14 ounces, born at 8:50pm, July 13, 2006.

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday to YOU!

Happy birth-day dear Lu-KEY!

Happy birthday to yoooou!

And many mooooore!

End of School

2010-06-30T21:42:00.007-05:00

I knew it was going to be an emotional time of year when Jackson started incorporating, "Dear God, please help me not to miss Mrs. Weeden too much" into his nightly prayers. He was just so in love with her and close to his classmates that we hated to see Kindergarten come to an end. Here are a few pictures from the end of the year.

Here are the kiddos showing off their stuff on Grandparent's Day.

And here are the grandparents. Thank you Nana and Big Papa for coming to share this day with us!

Luke's preschool really tried to make all the parents feel special. They had a Father's Day breakfast and a Mother's Day Tea. Here are some pictures from the Mother's Day program.

We had an end of the year party for Jackson's class at the nature center after school one day. We didn't get very many good pictures, but I liked this one of Jackson and his good friend Lindsey in the barn.

And here is the infamous cake that originally said "1st Grade Here We Came!" :-)

There was a really sweet moment in chapel on the last day of school. It's hard to see, but Mr. Gilbert had all the kindergarteners sit in the lap of a senior while he gave his talk. Then, the seniors walked the little guys back to class.

We got a sweet note from Mrs. Weeden a couple of weeks after school was out. She told Jackson she loved him, and I thought he was going to cry. He wanted to make sure we saved it. We're looking forward to first grade and praying for a special mix of kids and teachers to come together for another great year.

Family Project

2010-06-21T13:41:00.016-05:00

At the beginning of the school year, we found out that each family in the grammar school would be doing a "Family Project" in the spring. This is a tradition at our school. The Family Project doesn't really have any guidelines except that it has to be finished in time for Grandparent's Day (April 30), and you're supposed to do something together as a family. Figuring out what we were going to do gave us a touch of anxiety leading up to Grandparent's Day, but after we settled on what our project was going to be it became a huge blessing for our family.

We chose hiking as our family project. This is something that Mat and I have always enjoyed doing together, and we've tried to instill a love of hiking in the boys too. We decided this would be a great project because we could learn about nature, enjoy the spring weather, spend quiet time together as a family, invite friends to join us, learn about reading and following maps, get exercise, and explore this awesome place where we live.

So here is an abbreviated version of our Hames Family Hiking scrapbook.

Our first hike was Pedernales Falls. What a beautiful day! For each hike we wrote the name, the date, what the weather was like, who was with us, and what we observed along the way like animals, plants, bugs, etc.

The next hike we did was the Greenbelt, just me and the boys.

Next, we went to Turkey Creek with the Heaths. This was so fun because we got to keep crossing the creek over and over. The boys wore their swimsuits and splashed around a lot. At 2.5 miles, it was the longest hike we did for the project.

Next we hiked the trail at Circle C Park with our cousins Ben and Megan.

We loved hiking through Longhorn Cavern. It was really hard to choose the pictures because it was such a cool place.

We went to the Hollows and hiked one of the trails there with Granddad and Gammo. This hike starts out with a tram ride down the hill.

A favorite hike of mine was Wild Basin. This is another one that I did with the boys by myself. The trail was marked really well and matched up with the maps we were carrying. There's a beautiful waterfall and lots of pretty dragonflies.

Next was Reimers Ranch. We needed more time to explore this place which was a combination cavern, trail, and river. We'll definitely go back someday.

And finally, we went on an urban hike for Jackson's field trip to the Zilker Botanical Garden. We threw in a little art on this one because the kids stopped several times to do some plein air drawing. We included his artwork in the scrapbook.

We also included a poem that we wrote in the scrapbook and a lot of quotes about spending time outside.

Jackson was very proud of his book and loved showing it off to everyone at school on Grandparent's Day. We saw lots of great projects...everything from service projects to planting gardens to building giant Lego creations to blasting off rockets and science experiments to genealogies to sewing and baking. It was so fun seeing all the projects and imagining all the good times the families had doing them. So the anxiety is gone...we're looking forward to next's year Family Project!

Summer Update

2010-06-21T13:38:00.002-05:00

This pretty much sums up our summer so far!

Backyard fun

2010-05-22T15:14:00.001-05:00

Wii Boxing

2010-05-14T16:30:00.003-05:00

Thank goodness it was a rainy day or I never would've gotten to witness this:

or this:

Lukey is the undisputed champion of Wii boxing in our family.

Ranger Game

2010-05-08T23:16:00.001-05:00

We had an awesome time at the Ballpark tonight with Aunt Becky. 13th row above the Rangers dugout! Aside from a cranky extreme baseball fan sitting in front of us who did not like little boys (or probably puppies and kitties either), it was so fun! The big highlight for the boys was that we got nachos, a hot dog, popcorn, and cotton candy. (Becky really made us look bad and got a veggie hot dog and fruit cup which is really just un-American, I think.)

Thank you Becky for showing us such a good time this weekend!

They gave out free jerseys to all the kids at the game!

Extreme baseball fan taking notes on every play in her spare time in between giving us dirty looks.

Even though our seats were amazing the boys wanted to go check out the top of the stadium.

Mixed emotions

2010-05-05T10:00:00.001-05:00

We made a spontaneous trip out to the Hollows yesterday. My emotions are torn because I'm really looking forward to a fun summer of swimming, trips, sleeping later, and just playing. But I think I might have a good long cry if I think about Jackson's kindergarten year being over. It's nice to have things to look forward to, though. I need to stay focused on that!

The Summer Cut

2010-04-30T22:47:00.001-05:00

Before

After

Psalm 19

2010-04-14T11:57:00.004-05:00

This is not for everyone because it's over three minutes. But if you have the time, check out Jackson's class reciting Psalm 19. They did this last month and he's got another one this week on Friday. I'm a proud mama...

Fun with Family

2010-04-12T11:03:00.001-05:00

Star Wars Family

2010-04-08T08:45:00.002-05:00

This picture was sent to us by Mat's Uncle Randy who is handy with the Photoshop.

Oh yes, we did...

2010-04-06T09:13:00.000-05:00

...all dress up in Star Wars costumes for Jackson's 6th birthday party.

It was a huge, fun party. We were so busy we didn't really get any good pictures, but if I were a journalist writing an article about the event it would have to include these facts:

Who - approximately 9 million kids
What - Bounce house, Star Wars, Legos, and cake
When - After school on a recent Friday
Where - Our house in the front yard, backyard, upstairs, and downstairs
Why - I'm not sure, but it won't happen again

The highlights were at least one lost tooth, random dog poop tracked through the house, Princess Leia signing autographs, adult-jump after dark, and over $300 raised for medical supplies in Haiti.

The same thing happened this year that happened the past two years with Thomas the Train and then Pirates. As soon as we have a big themed birthday party and tons of coordinating presents, Jackson loses interest in that particular thing. After being obsessed with Star Wars for a year, he moved onto Indiana Jones a few seconds after the party was over.

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T17:49:00.002-05:00

Breckenridge

2010-02-24T23:05:00.012-06:00

Well, it seems kind of silly saying this now in light of recent events but...we don't get much snow here in Texas. So, along with our friends the Heath's we took our boys to Breckenridge, Colorado last month to let them get a little taste of winter weather.

I have to admit that I was nervous about the cold because I can be kind of a weenie about that. But after we figured out how to bundle up we were fine. (Thanks Julie and Raegan for loaning us all your gear!)

The day we skied was a lot of fun. It was hard work carrying the boys around the mountain...

but overall it was a great success. (Have you ever seen someone so upset while holding their very own bag of Skittles?) The boys got their first taste of skiing and did a great job! I definitely think when we go back it will get easier and more fun as they get older.

We did lots of sledding.

We walked around town.

We played in the snow.

This snowman was already behind our house when we got there. We all thought it was very charming until we realized it was the neighborhood dog bathroom.

We were all pretty chicken about getting in the outdoor hot tub the entire time we were there. On the last night we decided that we MUST give it a try, and I'm so glad we did. It was freezing cold getting in and out, but so much fun to be warm and toasty while sitting outside in the snow.

Even with all the activities we spent a lot of time relaxing at the house, drinking Andrea's special hot chocolate, and enjoying the kiddos.

Breck 2010 was a great vacation that we'll always remember.

Catching Up

2010-01-28T23:37:00.005-06:00

Thanksgiving:

Check.

Christmas:

Check.

New Year's:

Check.

Now. That's better.

Jack-o

2010-01-12T17:04:00.001-06:00

Lukey

2010-01-11T23:01:00.000-06:00

Tonight Luke was quiet for a long time while I was rubbing his back in bed. I actually thought he was asleep. But eventually he started talking in his high little voice and said, "Mommy... stupid, shut up, you idiot, and butt are not nice words. But may I and please are good." I said "mm-hmm that's right" and pretty soon he was asleep.

I'm sick of those eggs!

2009-12-11T16:38:00.005-06:00

I haven't had time to download my camera in a long time, but I feel the need to get the picture of those eggs off the blog so I will tell you about a brief conversation I had with Luke this morning. We had about an hour before we needed to pick up Jackson at school so we ran to the mall to get a Christmas present or two. On the way Luke kept asking me if we could get a smoothie, and I said we could if we had time. So he asked me, "What does time mean?" I said, "Time is how you measure how long something takes." And then he asked, "What does 'measure how long something takes' mean?" I thought about it for a second, and then just told him we could get a smoothie.

For those of you following the saga of Luke's foot...He broke it last Thursday afternoon jumping off the stairs. Here's a proud picture of him with his cast.

And here he is getting the cast removed four days later after an unfortunate dunk in the tub.

We all hated the cast, and he's got a boot now so the bathtub incident was probably a blessing in disguise. Hopefully this will be our first and last broken bone. More pictures to come!

Last thing about the animals...

2009-11-22T19:17:00.001-06:00

The chickens had a half a dozen eggs ready for us when we went to take care of them tonight, so we had breakfast for supper.

Dottie

2009-11-20T17:54:00.000-06:00

Finished scooping donkey poop and we're about to drop off the boys and head out to the movies.

Kindergarten Update

2009-11-20T08:54:00.004-06:00

I can't believe how fast the last few months of school have gone by. I was thinking back to the first week of school and how worried I was that we would never be able to get there on time. Amazingly, we have completely adjusted to the new schedule of getting up early. I was also worried that Jackson would eventually get tired of going to school, but really the opposite has happened. This morning at breakfast he even told me that he thought school was too short and sometimes he wishes he could stay longer! Jackson is loving school. The children in his class have grown so close that it's hard to believe they've only known each other for a few months. It turns out that Jackson takes all the schoolwork very seriously which was not a surprise to me, and he behaves very well in class which was. Here are some highlights from the last few weeks.

Jackson's class was chosen to recite Psalm 23 at the school open house. I was nervous...he wasn't.

Grammy and Papa came to watch the open house. Jackson enjoyed showing off his reading to them while they were here.

Last Friday the Kindergartners and First Graders celebrated Thanksgiving together. The Kindergartners were native Americans and the First Graders were pilgrims. The pilgrims hosted and served a real Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, pumpkin pie and all the usual sides.

And we have enjoyed having Caleb as our carpool buddy. I love talking to the boys about school on the way home.

One of the things I'm thankful for during this season is all of our friends from church, school, and our neighborhood. God has blessed us with these relationships (old and new) and with a smooth transition into this new phase of our lives.

Halloween, finally!

2009-11-18T16:43:00.002-06:00

We had so many pictures from Halloween that it was hard to choose.

Eeny

Meeny

Miney

Moe

Catch a tiger by the toe.

Okay we didn't have a tiger in our trick or treat gang, but we did have a cute Dalmation. It was a fun week and we loved spending Halloween with our wonderful neighbors/friends.

Calm down donkey

2009-11-18T13:51:00.001-06:00

This is one of the animals at Jackson's school that we are in charge of taking care of this week. All three donkeys kept coming up to tell me about how the sheep (Dottie) chased them out of their pen and stole their food. Mat chased Dottie around with a broom, but she still would not cooperate. I'm going get a picture of Dottie tonight. She's a punk, but the donkeys and chickens were all very friendly.

I'm about to download my big camera and hopefully catch up on blogging.

Jackson's first recital at school

2009-10-31T12:15:00.004-05:00

Jackson's class recited a scripture yesterday in chapel. He did such an awesome job that I had to share. He's going to do a different chapter at the school open house next week, so I'm sure I will have to post that as well. Enjoy the cuteness.

I'm a Failure

2009-10-25T15:13:00.003-05:00

This morning at breakfast Lukey said, "Tee-tee really feels kind of like...warm." At that moment I was disgusted, but relieved that he was wearing a Pull-Up. About 2 minutes later he said, "Mommy! Why are my feet all wet?" At THAT moment I was disgusted and highly irritated that the Pull-Up did not do the job that I paid it to do!

I don't know why I can't get a 3-year-old boy who communicates so well to tell me when he has to go to the bathroom. And you may be thinking, "Oh, well you just need to take him to the bathroom all the time since he won't tell you when he needs to go." To which I would reply, "I have done that and he cries and screams and has a tantrum when I take him to the bathroom for #1, and he won't go."

On Friday I took him to the toy store to pick out a big boy bike, and I told him that I would buy it for him when he starts wearing underwear. After riding it all around the store he told me that he really didn't want it. He also doesn't care about receiving candy or treats for going to the bathroom. He's not bothered by the fact that he has much younger friends who are already potty-trained. And this is the one and only thing that Jackson does that he doesn't want to copy! Dr. Patil said we should have him wear underwear inside the Pull-Up, so we're going to try that strategy this week.

Don't worry, btw. If you come to my house to eat, I will make sure you don't have to sit in Luke's chair.

Fall Weekend Fun

2009-10-17T17:17:00.013-05:00

We've had some fun times over the past few weekends.

The first picture is when we got to visit my brother and sister's property in Gordon, Texas. We got a lesson in deer hunting and then shooting. Cody brought out the little gun.

And then Uncle David brought out the BIG (loud!) gun. Glad I'm not a deer.

We enjoyed seeing the rest of the Foster cousins too. Here's Luke with Emily. Can you tell that he's a little bit fond of her?

And Rob...too cute for his own good.

One of the highlights of the next weekend was Skyping with Charlie. This is Jackson's friend from preschool that moved to Brazil last year. They talked for so long that everyone even had to take bathroom breaks. Both little brothers got in on the action too.

We went to a football game at Jackson's school. This might have been the best night of Jackson's life. The boys loved running around behind the bleachers and playing with school friends. The score was 56 to zip when we left at half-time. I didn't catch the final score, but I'm pretty sure we won.

Then we went to the Hollows last weekend and stopped at Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls on the way. There were approximately 9 million people there, but we managed to find a photo op without any other kids in it before we got outta there and headed to the Bluebonnet Cafe for a large butter with a side of lard smothered in gravy.

Then today I took the boys to the Toy Story 1 and Toy Story 2 double feature in 3D. It was great. The 3D stuff was blowing their minds for a long time until they got used to it. Jackson had a couple of funny quotes. Before the movies started he asked me which one I thought they would show first. :-) When he found out we got to keep the 3D glasses he was disproportionately excited. I later understood why! He thought they were going to transform the whole world to 3D, and it was a sad few minutes when he finally realized that the glasses didn't work anywhere except in the theater.

Good times. I love my boyzees.

Funny Luke

2009-10-02T14:07:00.001-05:00

Luke has had some funny quotes lately. Here are a few. Most of these fall into the category of misunderstood phrases, and please pardon the bathroom humor.

One day he asked me: "Mommy can you give me a pig ride?" I didn't take it personally.

When we pray before we eat, I often say something like "Help this food to nourish our bodies" or "Bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies." One day we were eating outside at Chipotle and Luke and Jackson wanted to sit at a table by themselves. I overheard Luke earnestly praying: "Help this food turn to poop in our bodies."

One night I was asking the boys what their favorite part of the day was. Luke started to answer and got his words mixed up and said "My pavorite fart of the day..." Sorry to be so immature, but it cracked me up.

At church one Sunday morning a girl was being baptized. Luke whispered to me: "Is that man going to appetize her?" Oooh I hope not.

The first week of school Jackson's class received Spanish names in Spanish class. Jackson told us that his name for the year is Jorge. Luke (who is not jealous of Jackson at all :-) quickly chimed in that HIS Spanish name is "Sand." Oooookay.

As I type, Jackson is having a playdate with a friend from school. The older boys are trying as hard as they can to ignore him, but it's just impossible. I can hear him in the other room screaming over and over "HEY LEYTON, HEY JACKSON, HEY LEYTON, HEY JACKSON. HEY LOOK AT ME. I CAN DO THIS COOL TRICK. HEY LOOK AT ME, I CAN DO A FLIP!"

Even though Luke is still Jackson's little shadow and repeats everything he says...his personality is coming out. He's very independent. He usually wants to do everything by himself - his way - especially sticky things like pouring syrup and spreading jelly. (fun.) He is also very funny. I mean not just cute-kid funny, but he genuinely makes me laugh on a regular basis. He refuses (refuses!!) to wear underwear. And I never thought there could be a kid louder than Jackson, but I was wrong. Yesterday me and the boys were watching a show and he fell asleep in my arms. I needed to get up and fix supper, but I decided to cherish it as long as I could because the quiet, still moments are few a far between these days.

Donuts!

2009-09-25T07:45:00.000-05:00

We've learned that getting up early can be sweet!

Our day in Rockwall

2009-09-05T23:22:00.001-05:00

After breakfast we went to the farmer's market with Grammy and Papa.

Then we went to the park, but I forgot to take a picture. Then we went to the airport and watched the little planes come in.

The pilot of this plane let the boys have a look inside.

After nap we went fishing and caught one right after another.

We probably caught 20 of these poor little perch. Then we went to Chick-Fil-A, then had bath, books, and bed. Thanks Grammy and Papa for showing us such a good time!

Second First Day of School

2009-09-01T15:51:00.005-05:00

Today Luke started at his new preschool. He's had a lot of emotions lately with Jackson starting school and getting a lot of attention. But this morning his main emotion as you can see was happiness! The last few weeks, I've been dreading today because he is a master at torturing me at "the drop-off" with crying, hanging onto the legs, reaching out as he's being carried away, screaming, etc. But today he didn't cry at all and was totally fine! He even wants to go back on Thursday, so I'd call that a successful first day.

First Day of School

2009-08-25T14:43:00.004-05:00

We did it! One day of school down and 15 more years to go! We have all been so excited and anxious about this week. The boys went down to sleep last night pretty easily, but they both ended up in bed with us in the wee hours of the morning. Then, this morning at about 6:00, Jackson tapped me on the shoulder to wake me up, "Mommy! I forgot my carpool number! What is it!?!" I told him it was 39H and he relaxed and went back to sleep for another 30 minutes or so. So I knew that he had probably spent the night with his mind racing about school.

As you can see he woke up in a good mood anyway. He nagged everyone quite a bit this morning because he didn't want to be late. He was ready to go at least 20 minutes before it was time. I could tell he was so excited to just get on with it! As we were walking up to school he told Mat that his heart was beating really fast.

We of course wanted to take lots of pictures and Jackson didn't have very much patience for it. So Mat kept reminding him that he would get a special treat tonight after dinner if he cooperated with the camera. That plan backfired a little bit because every time he said it, Luke would jump into the picture smiling his best smile and scream, "I WANT A TREAT!"

We've already had a couple of opportunities to get to know some of the families from our class. When he got to class Jackson ran up to his friend (the tall blond kid) and said, "Hey we have the same belt!" (I guess he didn't notice the shirt and pants and shoes...haha :-)

Jackson's teacher is so sweet, and she's from East Texas!

After school we went to Chick-Fil-A and had lunch. It was packed, and we saw some friends from both church and school. We couldn't have asked for a better first day.

Headed home

2009-08-07T15:59:00.001-05:00

We made a last minute desicion to go home by way of Kansas and Oklahoma. So we have a lot of this ahead of us.

Megan's Turning Two!

2009-08-05T17:20:00.001-05:00

While Mat and Steve are hiking Chapin, Chaquita, and Ypsilon today Jenny and I took the kids to town to shop. Megan got a special treat at lunch since it's her b-day. Isn't she precious!?!

The Stanley Hotel

2009-08-04T20:59:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Mat and I did a ghost tour of The Stanley. This is supposed to be one of the most haunted hotels in the world. It's also the place where Stephen King stayed in the 70's that inspired the book The Shining.

The first pic is the exterior and the second is the door of room 217. If you've read the book you'll remember this room. It was a really fun, spooky tour. REDRUM!!!!!!

Little Explorers

2009-08-04T15:08:00.001-05:00

Yesterday the boys took a class to learn how to tell directions and read a map. They followed a map that took them all around the camp finding clues and using mountains and landmarks to tell the direction. Here they are looking at the map, starting to hike to the next clue, and having a spontaneous hugging attack.

Breakfast

2009-08-03T13:29:00.000-05:00

My mom and dad took us to one of their favorite restaurants this morning - Meadow Mountain in Allenspark. It was great! We almost couldn't get Luke to leave because he didn't want to stop eating!

Eat your heart out Texans

2009-08-01T10:17:00.001-05:00

We made a fire last night.

Oh...and we added another Spiderman to our gang! Ben and Megan and Steve and Jenny arrived from Michigan.

Growing Up

2009-07-31T12:59:00.001-05:00

Papa pulled Jackson's first loose tooth last night!

Yum!

2009-07-30T20:15:00.000-05:00

We went to one of my favorite places in Estes Park tonight after dinner. There are a million candy and ice cream stores here, but this one has the best pralines ever.

Playing games

2009-07-30T14:18:00.000-05:00

We ate chili and played this game several times last night as we enjoyed the cold, rainy weather. It's all about Rocky Mountain National Park, so we learned a lot.

Emerald Mountain

2009-07-29T16:45:00.000-05:00

We hiked again today. This was Jackson's second "peak" to complete on his own legs. He's been to the top of this mountain twice before - once in my tummy and once in a backpack. Both boys did great.

At the summit:

When we finished:

Tuesday

2009-07-28T22:15:00.001-05:00

We took Trail Ridge Road to the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park today and hiked two trails with Papa. Then tonight Grammy made us a delicious dinner.

The weather was great while we were hiking, but we've gotten a lot of rain since we've been here. I wish there was a way we could bring it back to Texas.

Mat's birthday

2009-07-28T01:00:00.000-05:00

Today we started by hiking with Jackson to the top of Bible Point.

And we finished with a birthday celebration for Mat. Playing pool and eating pizza at Bob and Tony's...

...then chocolate cake and presents back at the cabin.

Sunday

2009-07-27T19:23:00.001-05:00

We met our friends from Austin, the Sewells, who are also on vacation up here. We all rode an old-timey train and toured a silver mine. Then we experienced more storms and traffic, but we made it to our final destination in time for dinner with my parents.

-- Post From My iPhone

Saturday on the road.

2009-07-27T16:00:00.004-05:00

Well, it started out great. We left Snyder at 10:00, had a nice picnic in the park in Amarillo...

...watched a ton of movies...

...then everything kind of went downhill. Luckily, I don't have pictures of the rest, but it was a trip that we'll remember for a long time. We had a Number 3 episode, a migraine, a thunderstorm, a lot of sold out hotels, another worse thunderstorm, and after about 13 hours on the road a hotel that was noteworthy for it's weirdness. As we were leaving the hotel on Sunday we all started talking about what it smelled like. Jackson thought it smelled like old bacon, Mat said bar-b-que sauce, and I thought it smelled like cinnamon cigarette smoke. Do not recommend the Days Inn in Silverthorne.

I'll update on Sunday and Monday soon...

iPhone Vacation

2009-07-25T00:07:00.006-05:00

We left this evening for our annual trip to Colorado. I'm going to try to keep my blog updated as we go using my iPhone. We planned to leave tomorrow morning but decided that would eliminate our obligatory stop in Llano for Cooper's BBQ. So we packed up the car and left today around 5:30.

We made it to Snyder, TX and finally had to stop. We just checked into the Holiday Inn Express at midnight and got the boys to bed. It was fun to see all the giant windmills at night with what looked like hundreds of flashing red lights spanning out across the horizon. We're planning to hit the road again at 8:30am sharp. (Which means we'll probably leave around 10:00. :-)

Sweet Birthday Boy

2009-07-23T23:38:00.008-05:00

I couldn't let another day go by without posting some pics of our birthday boy. Luke turned three last week! He is just about the sweetest kid in the world - so easy and funny and cute. We had a fantastic birthday, especially because we had our Foster cousins in town that week and a visit from Granddad and Gammo and cousin Donice. Hopefully, I will be able to post about all the activities we did later - everything from a Bat Cruise on Town Lake to Hamilton Pool to fondue at the Melting Pot. But for now, here are just a few photos of the birthday weekend.

For Kirsten and Daniel

2009-07-14T16:08:00.005-05:00

Thank you for the great birthday post you did for Luke. Now a little something for you! After I saw how much you enjoyed Luke's "where's my hands thing" at Thanksgiving (and how much he loved doing it for you over and over), I shot this video. I never got around to posting it, though, so hopefully it's still funny. I occasionally hear him doing it now for his own enjoyment, but of course it's harder with short sleeves. Maybe it'll make a big come-back in the fall.

At the Movies: INDEPENDENCE DAY!

2009-07-07T15:53:00.019-05:00

The cast and crew:
Jackie and Judd Scott
Charlotte, Randy, Catie, and Elizabeth Byrd
Mat, Beth, Jackson, and Luke Hames
Steve, Jenny, Ben, and Little Megan Frame

and a cameo by Christopher Byrd

The Director

The Producer

The Leading Man

The Ingenue

The crew scouted the location.

The cast looked for their motivation.

Superman will do!

They enjoyed the craft service.

They found their marks and prepared for action...

There were stunts!

There was comedy!

There were special effects!

In the Big Battle Scene...

...the tanks of King's Country attacked the giant frog of Panther Creek...

and the frog won!

The crowd went wild!

They toasted the victory with banana pudding! (YUM! Extra bananas for me!)

Stay tuned for the sequel tentatively titled: LABOR DAY!

This production was made possible by our founding fathers. God bless America!

And that's a wrap.

Spain

2009-06-19T15:34:00.018-05:00

We went to Barcelona, Spain a couple of weeks ago for the International Environmental Film Festival. The people from the festival were all extremely nice, and we felt like we made many new friends there. After the festival was over, we decided to explore the Costa Brava which is the coastline of the Mediterranean north of Barcelona. Because of our failed attempt to go to Mexico for our 10th anniversary, we decided this wouldn't be a bad back-up trip! Of course it was so beautiful, and we both loved exploring the medieval villages, cathedrals, monasteries, beaches, and learning all about the history of Spain.

The Spanish way of life is much different than ours, and that made us feel old at first because it was hard to get used to eating dinner at 11 o'clock at night! On our first night there our cab driver kept turning up the music and telling us it was too early to go home. By the end of the drive he was calling us "sad Americans" because we were tired and it wasn't even midnight. (It was too hard to explain that it was 7am to our bodies.) But by the end of the trip we realized we would fit in well in Spain since we are both night people, and we ended up staying out until 3:00am on the night before we were supposed to fly home. We only got three hours of sleep, but we just weren't quite ready for our Spanish holiday to end.

We took 991 pictures and movies on the trip. I'm serious. I've edited them down to about 350 on our Flickr page. For the one or two of you who are interested, it takes about 20 minutes to watch the slideshow. I've picked out just a few of our favorites.

A scene inside the La Boqueria market on the famous La Rambla pedestrian mall

An authentic bodega we were taken to with film festival people

Barcelona Cathedral

Sagrada Familia

Park Guell

One of the highlights for me was the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes

Sunrise in Cadaques

Roman bridge in Besalu (I met another family from South Austin in this town!)

Medieval Village called Peratallada

Medieval Village called Pals

Castle ruins in Begur

View of Tossa del Mar

The Born district back in Barcelona

Wine! It was everywhere...

This was an epic trip. I can't believe we were only gone for one week since we were able to see so much. I'm sure we'll remember our first trip to Spain for the rest of our lives!

Recent Quotes

2009-05-23T00:34:00.005-05:00

The other night we were out to dinner and Lukey said, "What do you call that Food Teacher?" For some reason he has always called all women in authority "teacher." This time he was talking about the waitress.

Today at Costco the cashier asked me if I wanted to donate to the children's hospital. I said, "no" because I've been asked this several times recently. But Jackson kept trying to interrupt, "What did she say? What did the Costco teacher (haha) say?" Finally when I was finished paying I told him she said, "Do you want to donate to the children's hospital." Relieved, he said, "Oh, I thought she said 'do you want to donate your children.'" I asked him if he was afraid I was going to donate him and he said, "No because I already have a really good Mommy" and gave me a hug. Awwww. What a sweet boy!!

Hotel Pool

2009-05-11T22:03:00.001-05:00

We stayed in a hotel recently in Houston when we went down there for the Leslie Family Birthday Extravaganza (more on that later). The hotel wasn't anything special, but I thought the tile and the lighting in the pool area made for some cool pics. Here are the boys along with their cousin Ben.

Saturday Morning

2009-05-09T22:18:00.003-05:00

This is what I found when I went to wake up the boys. I think it's about time to get the bunk beds.

Pictures!

2009-05-09T13:47:00.009-05:00

I sent my computer off to Apple Headquarters for a "Depot" visit to get some things fixed. So while it's off at the doctor, I decided to try to download our pictures onto Mat's computer and it worked! Finally, new pictures! These two go all the way back to when we were on our way home from Spring Break, and they were taken just a few minutes apart.

And these movies were on the same road trip. People fighting sleep always makes me laugh!

I couldn't resist posting this picture that we took on the way up to Dallas. Only in Texas...love it!

10 Years and Counting

2009-05-06T16:49:00.007-05:00

I'm very proud to say that Mat and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary on Friday. I don't have words really to express the feeling that this milestone has given me. It's makes me emotional thinking about all we've been through. The joy and sorrow we experienced with our firstborn, Frances (the Vizsla). The love/hate relationship we have with our second baby, Alpheus. And every emotion known to man that came with the two amazing boys God has seen fit for us to raise. We've taken many memorable trips together, made hundreds of friends it seems like, and watched our extended family triple in size. Best of all we are still best friends after all this time. Here's how it all began!

If you are interested in seeing more...I scanned the photos we purchased from our wedding photographer and they are on Flickr. There were many more great photos from the wedding weekend in Round Top, but you will just have to come over to the house and look through the albums with me to see those.

Bestest Friends

2009-04-30T16:36:00.001-05:00

The boys didn't nap today. It started out pretty quiet upstairs, but eventually I heard lots of tumbling sounds that gradually got louder and louder. I tried to ignore it. Amazingly it went on for close to an hour without anyone crying or getting hurt. Finally both boys came galloping downstairs to find me. Here's a snippet of what was said.

Mommy: What are y'all playing up there?

Luke: We're playing fight and we're kicking and punching each other and fighting with our big tummies. (...he said with glee.) I came in second, but I won and Jackson losed. Do you wanna see how we fight over stuff?

Jackson: Luke, throw your sword on the ground, and we'll punch each other with our powerful bodies.

They are so cute (if extreme violence can be cute??), and I'm so glad they are best friends.

BTW, we're not going to Mexico.

What should we do?

2009-04-29T21:39:00.003-05:00

Mat and I are supposed to go to Mexico to celebrate our tenth anniversary next week. Tickets are purchased, hotel is booked, grandparents are coming, and most of all...a vacation is desperately needed. I have two questions for you. Do you think we should go? And if not, where should we go instead?

Lame Blog

2009-04-27T14:31:00.002-05:00

I know my blog is lame, and you've all probably stopped reading it. My excuse is that I've had camera problems. We've had lots of fun experiences lately. Trips out to the Hollows, a visit from Aunt Becky, video games with Dad, a trip to Rockwall, a trip to the lakehouse, a trip to Houston and the NASA Space Center, Easter, Camp Mabry, hanging out with friends, etc, etc. It's been a great spring so far...I just don't have the pictures to prove it.

Here are some of the fun things that the boys have been saying lately:

Luke: Mommy, robbers are going to come into our house and shake up our Diet Cokes and spray them on Daddy.

Mommy: Jackson give me back my iPhone. Jackson: Why? What do you need it for?

Luke: Mommy, I've got a headache because my tummy hurts.

Jackson: When I'm Papa's age, I'm probably not going to live in our house anymore.

Luke: Jackson, I'm a bad guy. I have a swastika on my hat.

One night Jackson was having a meltdown, and I mentioned to him that I knew he was acting this way because he was tired. He took great offense to this accusation and screamed: "NO I'M NOT YOU...YOU...YOU...BOOIE!" Mat and I were trying hard not to laugh. I've never been called a booie before. It was so funny, though, realizing that he doesn't know any bad words and this was the worse thing he could come up with.

A lot of Luke's sentences end with: ...Because I'm two and a half.

Most of Jackson's sentences begin with: It's just that...

Hopefully there will be more to come including pictures!

Spring Break

2009-03-17T16:59:00.006-05:00

Here's a list of things you can do if your kids are spending Spring Break with family out-of-town.

Go to the movies
Go to the outlet mall twice
Shop for bunk beds
Organize three closets
Watch TV
Never go to HEB all week
Eat out every night
Never load/run/empty the dishwasher
Shoot guns at Red's
Go see a film at SXSW
Do favors for people
Hang out with friends late into the night
Talk
Pop into places
Eat Asian food
Never care what time it is
Read an entire magazine at once
Sleep until 9:15
Make only one thing for breakfast
Eat Taco Cabana in bed whilst watching the Amazing Race

Things your kids can do if they are spending Spring Break with family out-of-town.

Eat pancakes for supper
Eat waffles the next night for supper
Have a picnic everyday
Visit the Dallas Arboretum
Learn about birds at White Rock Lake
Skip naps
Visit a small airport to watch little planes take off
Sit in a cockpit (After which Jackson mused: "This day is a dream come true.")
Ride the DART to Ft. Worth
Visit a chocolate factory
Spend the whole day at the park with cousins
Visit with Uncle Jim
Go to Burger Island
Give up on potty training
Watch The Sound of Music (During which my Dad observed: "The Captain and Maria are falling in love." After which Luke wondered: "Why are they falling in the mud?")
Make worm boxes
Go to Target to pick out a toy
Visit the library
Watch the space shuttle launch over and over
Find some rocks and save them for Mommy

It's been a good week for all of us even though we've missed the boys a lot. We're leaving in a few hours to pick them up, and we're looking forward to the trip - listening to our own music, not having to stop, talking without being interrupted, not having to share our snacks, reading books. No, but really we have missed them, really.

Capitol Day

2009-03-11T21:11:00.009-05:00

Mat spent a lot of time at the Capitol getting ready for a shoot we did last month for one of the documentaries that we're working on. (This is from the day of the shoot. Opera singer Barbara Conrad performed in the House chamber and the Rotunda.)

He decided that the boys would think it was a fun place to visit.

We spent the morning there on a recent Saturday, and we all had a good time looking around.

Sam Houston has a sword...cool!

Davy Crockett!

All boys love cannons.

Lukey was afraid of all the "polices" at first, but after we rode the elevator with one he realized they weren't too scary. Our Quote of the Day comes from Luke: "Why is that lady holding an ice cream cone?"

Finally after all that exploring and talk of ice cream, we needed a little treat.

Two Boys

2009-03-08T13:52:00.004-05:00

Recently, I realized that Luke has spent almost every waking hour of his life with Jackson. They spend more time together than they do with Mat and me since they are together while we're at work. The other day (before the realization) I had to take Jackson to an appointment at a Kindergarten, and I was surprised by the fact that Luke was beside himself with grief/fear/sadness the entire time. "Mommy PLEASE turn the car around and go get Jackson. Please don't leave Jackson there. Mommy please can we go and get Jackson back. I don't want to leave Jackson by himself at that place. Please mommy." This went on for an hour until Jackson was safely back in the car.

Then last weekend Jackson spent Saturday afternoon over at his friend Daniel's house, and we went through the same thing again. I finally got him settled down enough to take a nap, but within a few minutes he was sobbing again for Jackson. I was rocking him and trying to talk through it. I said, "Lukey, Jackson's getting older and he's going to be doing some big boy things by himself now like going to Kindergarten." His reply, through a river of tears was, "But then we won't have two boys anymore!"

So sweet and sad. I assured him we would always have two boys. Their relationship will be longer than any other relationships they will ever have - longer than their spouses, and sadly if things go naturally, longer than even us. I hope they always stay best friends. Two boys forever.

Back by popular demand!

2009-02-21T14:52:00.002-06:00

Your favorite American Idol singing in the tub!

And now for an encore!

That one still needs some work, but he's got a good teacher...

So long old friend...

2009-02-19T14:40:00.004-06:00

It's been two weeks since Lukey has had his "papi" (pacifier). It's been a long road. We were sure we'd get rid of it when he turned two. Then when that didn't happen, we scaled it way back so he only had it when he was in bed. A few weeks ago he was really sick, and he got hooked on it again big time. Then he had an accident while playing with Jackson and one of his front teeth got knocked loose. That night I decided not to give him the papi because I didn't want the tooth to come out while he slept. And it was just time to get rid of it! Everybody who told us "Oh it'll be easier than you think" was wrong. It hasn't been easy at all. It's been extremely difficult to get him to sleep at nap and at night, and the first 10 days or so he was waking up a lot, crying for it, wanting it in the morning, etc, etc. It's better now, though, and he hasn't mentioned it in days. So that's one more baby thing that is over for us. Time to get serious about potty-training, I guess.

Oh and BTW, the card for my camera is messed up and so that's why I've been slow about posting any new pics or movies lately. I hope to get it fixed soon because I've got some good movies of Luke singing. Stay tuned...

Jackson's 5th Birthday Week

2009-02-12T23:40:00.011-06:00

Jackson had a lot of opportunities to practice blowing out candles last week.

First, last weekend we celebrated with the Fosters. Be sure and check out my Flickr page if you want to see the crazy people who are responsible for the nurture part of my nature.

Next, a stack of biscuits covered in sugar and honey at Babe's, our favorite restaurant to visit while visiting the Fosters. Jackson told us later he was embarrassed by all the pretty waitresses who came over to sing Happy Birthday to him.

At preschool on Tuesday.

At home with the family.

And finally at the party on Saturday. The wind was the uninvited guest, and we were barely able to get a candle lit for him. Luckily I think everyone got some cake before it blew away. (Yes, the cake DID literally blow away.)

Here are a few other fun pictures from the week.

Pirate Cake.

Choco Face.

Pirate party with Miss Amy.

For Papa and Grammy

2009-01-14T20:55:00.004-06:00

The other night I decided to take a picture of Jackson and Luke to email to my parents wearing the new pajamas they got them for Christmas. It ended up turning into a full-on photo shoot. Jackson kept suggesting different poses, and he gave me some of his best fake smiles. So I decided to post the whole session for my dad who is in the hospital this week getting his second knee replaced. Get well soon Papa! We love you!

There's a Stirring

2009-01-13T11:08:00.002-06:00

This is Luke's favorite church song right now. He likes to sing it every night before bed. Here he is singing it at breakfast one day. He left out a couple of lines, but I've been trying to get this on video for awhile and this is best he's done it for the camera yet. He's pretending to hold a microphone in his hand "like da man at church."

"The Best of" Christmas 2008

2008-12-30T14:28:00.011-06:00

Best new tradition:

Best old tradition: Going to the candlelight service at church with the Fosters. It was very touching.

Best present that took ten times longer to put together than it did to destroy: (You can see in his eyes that he wants badly to destroy it.)

Best World War II era present:

Best present overall for the kids: There were lots. But I think the scooters and the remote control car won.

Best present for the adults: Jackson got his training wheels off. We were all so proud.

Best Darth Vader impersonator:

Best DVD watched (so far): The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best movie at the theater (so far): The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best DVD that the kids watched over and over: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

Best Idea: Playing in the pool on the day after Christmas!

I love that you can see the snowman in the background.

Best memory: After eating more than his share of fudge...Lukey running laps around the downstairs singing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" over and over and over and over and over...

Recent PIctures and Movies

2008-12-20T15:13:00.011-06:00

The boys had their Christmas pageant a couple of weeks ago.

Jackson sang every word of every song, and yes it sounded that loud in person too! He did a good job. Jackson's class were shepherds and the 2-year-olds were sheep.

Putting up Christmas decorations.

Roasting marshmallows in the backyard.

And last week we were fortunate enough to have an appointment with Tanya (Cozy Impressions Photography) to have our family pictures made. As always, she did a great job and made everything seem fun and effortless. Here is the slideshow from our photo session and the link to her blog.

Thank You

2008-12-15T22:29:00.002-06:00

Thank you to everyone who participated in my Christmas memories blog experiment and to my mom who shared one of her memories with me by email. I enjoyed reading all of your stories. And now the whole world wide web knows that my brother, David Foster, can be nice when he wants to be. (j/k Davey) I hope everyone makes more happy memories this year!

Christmas Memories

2008-12-08T15:43:00.008-06:00

Now that I have kids, I'm always thinking about their memories. Like, I wonder when they'll start remembering the holidays and what their best memories will be. My guess is that they won't remember every little present, but they will remember time we spent together and weird, random things that you wouldn't expect. Below are some of my favorite Christmas memories and traditions. (BTW, these aren't in any order, they are just the first 10 things I thought of.)

1. We used to always pull out the projector and screen on Christmas Eve and watch all of our old home movies.

2. My Granny would spend the night on Christmas Eve even though she lived in the same town as us. I remember coming into the room and hearing her breathing in her sleep. I thought she sounded like Darth Vader (in a funny way, not a scary way).

3. I remember going to my Meme's house and heading straight for her buffet to see if the little crystal dish had her homemade date-loaf in it. Sounds gross, but tasted GOOD.

4. I remember getting some really cute, corduroy knickers one year that I loved and wore all the time. (Remember knickers?) I think my mom actually made them, and I can picture myself on my Meme's couch wearing those knickers - so happy.

5. I remember that our stockings were always stuffed with a lot of fruit every year! We had other little presents in there too, but the fruit must have been an easy and cheap way to fill that sucker up.

6. Seems like there was always a big jigsaw puzzle laid out on a card table that everybody worked on during the days at home after Christmas.

7. One year my sister and I both had the chicken pox at Christmas. Our brother was the only one who had any fun because he had them a week or two before and was already well. I'm not sure I remember this actual event as much as I remember seeing the pictures (and home movies) of my sister and I in our matching pj's looking really sad.

8. We had an artificial Christmas tree and I remember pulling it out of the box and putting it together every year by matching up the color-coded branches with the trunk. I can picture most of our Christmas decorations and exactly where they were in our house year after year.

9. Food staples: ham, cheesy potatoes, pecan pie, gum-drop cookies, fudge, trash.

10. I remember the unfortunate time that I got busted for peaking into my presents before Christmas Day. Doh! My secret tradition became a painful memory. haha

Share your favorite tradition or Christmas memory. For every person who comments on this blog post, I am going to donate $10 to Central Texas Children's Home.

Vote for Healthy Child

2008-12-05T14:45:00.005-06:00

Healthy Child Healthy World is entered in a contest on The JB and Sandy Show. They get celebrities to call in to 94.7 and talk about a charity and then you vote on your favorite celebrity. Brooke Shields called in for HCHW, and if she gets enough votes they will win $20,000. Please click on this link to read more or click here to get connected to the page where you register and vote for Brooke Shields!!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-02T08:23:00.005-06:00

Our Thanksgiving pictures can be found on my Flickr page, but here's a little taste of what our week was like:

Underwear

2008-12-01T11:39:00.003-06:00

I'm just starting to download pictures from Thanksgiving and found this cutie from before we left.

One way to give this year...

2008-11-25T11:12:00.000-06:00

I'm not making this up...

2008-11-18T14:42:00.001-06:00

Today on the way home from school Jackson told me he wanted to have a "Korean War" birthday party...with lots of jets. I've got a little over 2 months to change his mind.

Mothers of boys in Austin...

2008-11-06T20:57:00.002-06:00

I think we're going to try to go to this on Saturday at 11am. Let me know if you are coming too so we can look for you...

Jackson's Blog

2008-11-06T16:10:00.008-06:00

I was trying to think of a new post for my blog, but I was having trouble. So I decided to let Jackson pick, and when he woke up from his nap just now I asked him what he thought I should write about. Here's what he said:

Jackson: Mama, Who's going to be my Daddy and Mama when I grow up to be like you?

Beth: Me and Daddy.

Jackson: You're going to be my Mommy and Daddy when I grow up to be like you?

Beth: Uh-huh. We're always going to be your Mommy and Daddy.

Jackson: Are you going to die at the same time as me?

Beth: No, probably not.

Jackson: Cause you're older than me?

Beth: Yes. Is that all you want to say on the blog?

Jackson: Well who's going to read it?

Beth: Our friends and family.

Jackson: Okay you can say...Dear Nana and Big Papa, Jackson really wants to come to your lakehouse and ride the boat and jump off the dock. Grandad and Gammo, I really want to come show you my fighter plane that I made with Amy. Grammy and Papa, I really want to come see that water park that they brought Emily, Rob, and Cody to when their mom and dad wasn't there.

Beth: Anything else?

Jackson: That's all I have to say.

So there you have it. Jackson's Blog. I'm kind of glad he doesn't have one because that was kind of a downer. :-)

A Country Divided

2008-11-03T23:01:00.002-06:00

Batman for president! (Luke is singing the Batman theme song which he's never heard. Followed by "I'm going to fly to Michigan!")