Joyful Noise!: November 2005

Tres does this all of the time! He takes all the toys out of this piece of furniture and climbs inside. Sometimes he lets Bryant get in with him, and they hide from me!

All I Want For Christmas...

Does anyone else have a hard time answering the question, "So what do you want for Christmas?" I can never think of something! I had to rack my brain to come up with some things for Hankie and our families. And even what I told them, I didn't really need or anything!

I'm just grateful that we have a nice home, a happy family, and s loving Savior!! Plus, it's so much more fun to give to my kids!

Here is Donovan in his red Power Ranger costume (on the right). Tres tried on Donovan's Dog Power Ranger costume (which is the one that Santa is bringing him). Tres really wanted to be the red one, which is too bad so sad. Santa is bringing Bryant the red one!

And here is Saturday night. Most of the kids crashed out in the den. Tres did for a while too.

Here is Heather trying out Bryant's new car! She wasn't too sure about it!

Here are all the kids with Grammy Boemer, their great grandmother. This was after dinner and presents... notice Bryant sitting in his car, and Tres playing his gameboy!

Here are Delaney, Ashton, & Tres playing in the Bounce Around. I'm glad we brought this! We set it up, and the kids had pretend wrestling matches in it! It was so funny! Donovan dressed up in his red power ranger costume to wrestle!

Here are all three boys playing together!

Tres & Donovan played so well together!! We didn't have to worry about them at all! This was Saturday while I was shopping.

Bryant at Grammy & Pop Pop's house on Friday night! Ashton and Heather are in the background.

Thanksgiving 2005 ~ After the feast, Tyler got changed into his PJ's! How cute is that! He's in camo! Look at that face, man! I got to hold him when he was being sweet, then hand him off when he started crying!

Thanksgiving 2005 ~ Tres loves holding Tyler too!

Thanksgiving Day 2005 ~ Bryant loves holding Tyler!! I think he likes the fact that there is someone smaller than him.

Monday Blues

So yesterday, I called Mom early and told her I needed to take both of my boys to the doctor. So I took the first appointment I could get and headed over to the doctor around 1. Thank God I left early. Somewhere between the Pelham tower exit and the Cahaba Valley Road/110 exit, I got a flat. Hank came and swapped cars with me so the boys wouldn't miss their appointment, and he changed the tire. Come to find out, Bryant has a single ear infection (no pink eye! Yeah!), and Tres has a severe double ear infection. So they are both on antibiotics. They were so stinkin' irritable yesterday! I had to referree so many fights and squabbles. I was happy to see bedtime roll around. Today seems pretty normal so far. And normal is SOOOO good, sometimes.

And the days after...

The day after Thanksgiving was good too! My dad let me answer the phone from home, so I did laundry and packed our bags up and just got everything situated. We took Hank to work at 3, so we could just pick him up at 7 and hit the road for Nashville to visit with his entire family! After we dropped him off, I took the boys over to the Wal-Mart Pharmacy and talked to the Pharmacist about Bryant's eyes. She said we would have to have a prescription to clear up pink eye. So we tried to go and see the optomitrist at Wal-Mart with no luck. SO once again, I prayed over my boys and took them home, loaded our bags, gave them both baths and we went and picked up daddy.

We got to Nashville at about 10 pm. The kids were so excited to see us! And everyone got wound up again! They started playing and laughing. The two oldest girls are getting so grown-up. Training bras, make-up, just the right clothes, etc. It just happens so fast nowadays. Anyway, we finally got them all settled down about 11:30. Each family got a bedroom, so all four of us stayed in the computer room, which was set up with a crib and a full size bed. I am one of the taller members of the family, so my feet were hanging off the end of the bed and I kept hitting the crib with my feet and startling Bryant! It was tough at night, cause Tres would wake up hacking. We would pat him on the back and give him a drink of water and snuggle him until he was back aslepp. Bryant would start crying when he got woken up, and the second night ended up in bed with us too.

Bryant got to play with most of his cousins. His eyes were still crusty, and I was giving him cold and cough medicine, but because he was sick, he didn't really get to play with his cousin Heather who is only 3 weeks older than him. SHe is a cutie! This was only the third time I had seen her! Blonde curly hair, big blue eyes, long eye lashes, and sassy! But so sweet!

We went shopping at the Opry Mills OUtlet malls. I picked up Power Ranger costumes for both boys. Regularly they are $30 plus dollars. I got them for $9 a piece! I also did some shopping for Hankie! It was fun, but chaotic at the mall. We ate at the Rain Forest Cafe, which is good but loud. Every half hour or so, mechanical monkies go crazy. This scared Heather so bad her mom had to take her to the bathroom for a while. After that, they covered her eyes and ears everytime the monkies started up! Hank and boys stayed at the Boemers house and played with some of the cousins. That was nice! I hardly ever get to shop without anyone with me!

That night, all the cousins exchanged gifts. That was fun. Tres was feeling terrible, and telling us that his ears were hurting. But once the paper and bows started flying he was miraculously recovered! Each of my boys got an outfit and a toy from Betsy and her crew. Tres got a (slightly used) Gameboy from his aunt Jackie along with several games. Bryant got a (slightly used) electronic car from his aunt Jackie! Both of these presents could not have been a bigger hit!! After presents everyone called it an early night. Betsy and family and Jackie and family left at 5 am on Sunday morning to get back to their homes at a reasonable hour (They each live 8 hours away).

Hank and I helped his mom get her house back in order. We made beds, scrubbed baths, swept stairs, vacuumed rugs, etc. I like helping Mrs. Boemer. She never asks, but she's always grateful. Then Hank and I got ready and we went out by ourselves for a while. We went to Target and shopped around a bit. Went to a smaller, more local mall and shopped around separately, then we headed back to the Boemers, where we ate turkey sandwiches, loaded the van and headed home.

Thanksgiving Day

So I got up early and started making the casseroles. Got the boys ready, and was at my mom's house by 1:15. We ate around 2 and then spent the rest of the evening playing poker, cards, watching Polar Express, eating, and eating some more! It was fun. Hank had to work, so he didn't get there until after 7, but it was fun just the same. There were a ton of people at my parent's house. My little family, Matt, Kayla and Tyler, Aunt Mary & Lane, her son Barry his wife Carla and their kids Jessie, and Brad, Grandma, Grandaddy, my parents, and Jennie. Then some of my parent's long-time friends came in from Texas and stayed with them, Brad and Crystal Freeland. Also their daughter Larissa and her husband Jamison. I played volleyball with Larissa in high school, so it was great to get to see her and catch up! I think my boys may have made them second-guess having kids! Just kidding! Both of my boys were not feeling well. Tres was hacking so much that he made himself gag and throw up several times... one time all over my dad! Yuck! Neither of them wanted to eat anything. Bryant's eyes were seriously crusty. But other than that, they were very good. We loaded them up around 8:30 and headed home!

Twas the night before Thanksgiving...

The day before Thanksgiving was definitely a full day! Hank and I both had work. And work the day before Thanksgiving is always hectic. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "I have company coming/here/on the way, and I need my garbage disposal/toilet/main sewer line unstopped N-O-W!" Is it wrong to get a small measure of satisfaction at being able to say, "I'm sorry, our first available appointment is Monday morning," at the end of the day? We helped out so many emergency situations, and these people acted as if we had caused their plumbing issues!! Anyway, I was glad when the day slowed down after about 3. Just when I started to get lulled into a false sense of Holiday, Bryant's sitter calls and tells me that she things Bryant has pink eye!! So I make an immediate phone call to the pediatricians office, so if he needs an antibiotic, they can call it in on Wednesday since everything would be closed on Thursday. I got the after hours answering service. I left a message for the nurse to call me back, and she didn't... still waiting on that call. Anyway, I got home and picked up Bryant. Did all the normal stuff: baths, dinner, clean-up. Then made my grocery list. This year I was assigned the sweet potato casserole, carrot souffle, and a dessert for the Thanksgiving dinner, so I had to pick up the essentials. Hank got home, and we got the boys to bed, and just as he was about to go to the store for me, we get a call. Liz Wood (some of you may remember her as Elizabeth Wilson) is working with MTV on the show they are doing on Hoover High's football team. They had run out of a certain kind of tape, and needed some to get them through until Friday. They were going to be taping some of the football players on Thanksgiving Day to use in the show. So Hank runs around the house and gathers up all the tape that we have, and Liz and the MTV camera guy (his name was Phoenix) came over to our house. Hank gave them what he had, but it still wasn't enough. So Hank makes a few phone calls and gets Phoenix more than what he needs! Yeah! Hank saves the day! So if you guys happen to catch the MTV reality show on Hoover High School's football team... just know that without my husband, the Thanksgiving show wouldn't have happened! They gave us an MTV coffee mug and a T-shirt... and I tried very hard to get Phoenix to tell me what happens on 'Making The Band.' He totally copped out. He said he had signed a confidentiality contract. Liz told me later that he didn't work on Making THe Band... he actually works on 'Sweet Sixteen.' After all that, Hank still had to go to the store for me! Poor guy. He saved the day, then had to got hunt for brown sugar when there was none to be found!

Thankful for friendships like this one!

This is one of my best friends, Kelly Willis! She found this picture of us today and sent it to me. This was her birthday party at TGIFriday's one year if I recall. I think it was April 2003, cause I remember Tres going with me!

Urgent Prayer Request

Guys, we need to press in for the Atchison family. Their son Josiah needs a healing touch from God. Please lift them up. If you don't know who I'm talking about, please visit one of the links below. One is to Dan Atchison's xanga site. He details what they are battling from a father's perspective. You can also check out Josiah's website, and find out how you can help and how to direct your prayers for this magnificent family. God has an awesome plan for these guys, and nothing is going to derail their faith. They just need some serious prayer support. Help me stand in the gap for this amazing family.

Josiah's Website

Dan's Xanga

Josiah is WHOM JEHOVAH HAS HEALED.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Well, we did it. We put up our tree this weekend. Normally we wait until the weekend after Thanksgiving, but since we are going out of town to see the Boemer clan this weekend, we decided to go for it! We got the majority of the inside decorated on Saturday during and after the AU v UA game. Too bad Alabama lost, but what a great season! And we have a bowl game to go. Anyway, we got our tree put up with all of the Alabama ornaments and some that we have collected for the kids over the last few years. I plan on starting each of my boys an ornament box and collecting an ornament a year for them each year. They each have a baby's first ornament and a couple of others. Anyway, we got out the Alma Mater Santa, and Henry the Snow Man, and Big Al and his sleigh. And before we knew it, it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas at our house!

On Sunday, we went to church. Pastor Danny preached an awesome sermon on Romans 8:1 and how to avoid living your life in guilt. He made that point that everyone has done things they are not proud of. That at the end of our time on earth, if our life was laid out of a film strip, there would be flashed of mercy and forgiveness spanning throughout our lives. Good, good stuff. Especially to me. I sometimes fight the ghosts of mis-deeds past! But thank God, those mistakes are covered by the blood! Anyway, we loaded up and headed home. Picked up Del-Toro on the way home, and it was good stuff too! Then we all took a LONG nap. And that was VERY GOOD stuff! Then we all got up and got to decorating! It was so much fun, guys! I felt like a kid again. I honestly thought it was going to be nothing but work, but I was pleasantly surprised. With each decoration, I could feel my excitement rising! And it was all fueled by seeing the wonder and excitement in Tres's and Bryant's eyes. They loved every minute of it!

After we decorated for a while, we took the kids to McDonalds to play a little. Then we went to Wal-Mart and let Tres pick out little small presents for each of his cousins. This is one part of parenting that I love... teaching my kids how to give and share and love! He picked out some fun stuff (as fun as it get for under $3!), but we can't say what, cause his cousins might see this! Love you guys! We are exchanging gifts with Hanks sisters and their families this weekend because this if the first time in FOREVER that we will all be together and most likely it will be another FOREVER before we are again! So we are definitely looking forward to some seriously chaotic and fun family time!

Then we headed home with two extremely tired munchkins, got them in bed, and finished most of the outside stuff, then called it a night ourselves. It was overall a GREAT weekend! Hope you enjoy all the pics!

This was the Saturday of the Alabama v LSU game. We were waiting on Ms. Crystal and Tres & Bryant thought they would help Grammy & Pop pop do some work on the computer!

Here is Hankie hanging icicle lights last night at 11 pm!! This is the first year we have done any decorations outside and Hank and I were just as excited as our kids were! So fun! I will take a picture of the finished product and post it later.

An Alabama Christmas!

Here is our Christmas tree. I always love it. It is obviously an Alabama tree. We are proud of our team this season! 9-2 and a bowl game to go! Roll Tide!

This is a giant inflatable decoration. Hank and I bought this after Christmas last year for $15. The price now is $59.

We put giant candy canes up along the border of our driveway. Tres was tasting one!

Outside Decorations! Two little elves ready for action! Notice Bryants Halloween bucket. He had his silky inside.

Good Times

Game Time / Decorating Time / Play Time

Mr. Tough & Tumble

Bryant always has a new scratch or scrape or something to show off!! He is tough as nails!

Heros Park ~ 3 John 1:4 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."

Heros Park ~ Tres has entered a new phase lately. He wants to push the stroller/ buggie/ swings when Bryant is in them. I think he is trying to make sure we all know he is a BIG boy and Bryant is the baby! You can see Bryant's response to it!