Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all my family and friends out there in blogland!
Hope your day was very merry!

 

RIP Hammie

Garrett had a mechanical hamster named Hammie.  This was one of those little hamsters that came with a clear ball that you can buy at Cracker Barrel, like the one below.

In the last four years or so, we’ve made many a stops at Cracker Barrel restaurants.  All the driving back and forth to Oklahoma and going on trips made this possible!  I like to stop there because you know it is going to be decently clean, if it is a meal time, you can eat decent food, and you can shop (all in the name of stretching your legs!).  Well, Garrett had wanted one of these hamsters forever!  So, finally, one trip a few years ago, he had enough of his own money with him to buy it himself.  Like most toys, he played with it a while, then we wouldn’t see Hammie for a while.  BUT, he would always reappear when it was time for a trip.  Hammie made the trip to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving, minus the big plastic ball, that I think disappeared long ago. 

Anyway.  Just as we were getting ready to leave Grandma’s and head for home someone hollered “Callie has a hamster in her hair!”  I came into the room to see Hammie hanging from Callie’s head by her hair.  She had turned it on and gotten the wheels too close to her hair, and yes, the wheels had sucked her hair up onto the axel.  The hair was not budging.  I really, really did not want to cut it.  She has not ever had her hair cut.  It is finally coming in thicker, not a lot longer, but it least it is thicker!  We finally determined that the only way was to cut it out.  I let the hamster dangle to go get scissors and, it fell to the floor.  With a huge chunk of Callie’s hair.  She didn’t seem the least bit disturbed about it but was excited because now “Hammie looks like a horse!  He needs to go in a barn”, and she proceeded to start setting him up in a barn.  Yes, Hammie had so much of her hair it looked like a horse’s tail.

But, the story doesn’t end there.  Move ahead a few days, we are home.  I hear the same call, “Callie has a hamster in her hair”.  Seriously people?  Again?  I would think this would be a lesson learned after one time.  No one will fess up to getting the hamster too close to Callie’s head.  This time Hammie was in the back of her hair, so I’m not convinced that she didn’t have a little help getting him there!  Well, it was twice as much hair this time and still not moving.  I wasn’t going to do what I did last time, and I was definitely not going to cut out that much hair!  So, Hammie met his demise by way of a screwdriver.  I pried his little wheels off and unscrewed his battery pack, and retrieved the hair.  Very tangled hair I might add!  I feel a little bad about Hammie.  He actually survived two moves and many trips without being lost.  But, I think it was a good lesson for the boys.  When it comes to girls, it’s all about the hair!

Thanksgiving

First of all, we were thankful to be close enough to travel to Oklahoma this year for all the Turkey Day festivities!  We had planned to drive two cars to Tulsa so Todd could spend a Thanksgiving day with extended family for the first time in years, but he was sick.  The kids and I had already left by the time he decided that he just couldn’t make it, so I was a little bummed.  I felt bad leaving him two years in a row on Thanksgiving.  But, we made the best of it and enjoyed Thanksgiving day with the Foxx family in Tulsa.  The kids were so excited to see their cousins!

 

All the Foxx kids at Nana and Poppa’s!

Karlee, Callie, Taryn, Kymree, Kellen, Gannon, Jack and Garrett

Just the girls!

We left Tulsa and went on to Shawnee to spend time with my side of the family.  Another fun day with lots of kids!  I didn’t take a picture on this day, unless you count the pics Callie took with my phone!  I really, really have to get better at this!  

 Here we are all eating at Hamburger King.  A yummy hamburger place that has been there since my grandparents used to go on dates there!  Can you tell it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, OU/OSU game day?  We were all decked out!  Can yo see the boys in the booth behind Grandma and Grandpa?  I just have to brag.  The waitress said she had never waited on a better table of kids.  Warms this mama's heart.  I hope I remember to do this for mama's I don't know.  It is always nice to feel like something your doing is working!  And yes, we left immediately so she didn't get a chance to see their true colors!  Not really, but it was tempting!

Since Todd works non-stop this time of year we stayed a couple of days in Shawnee then stopped back in Tulsa for a short visit.  So, lots of driving.  But, lots of good times with our families.  I can’t wait for the day that Todd can be there too! 

All the time in the car gave me lots, and lots of time to think about what I am thankful for.  My list doesn’t change too much from year to year, but I count that as a good thing!  That means all the things that are dearest to me have not changed much.  I am so thankful for my little family.  I have a great, hard-working husband and four great kids.  I am thankful for my extended family.  I am thankful for the comforts I have in this life right now.  A home, cars, food, cloths.  I know I have been blessed and have more of all these things than a person really needs.  I am thankful for old friends, I am thankful for new friends.  I really think I could go on and on.  When a person really stops and thinks about it, even on their worst days, they can find something be thankful about.  Sometimes it might be hard to think about that when things are not going our way.  But, if you will just let your mind go there, and think of something you are thankful for, I bet your mood will start to change.  I can usually come up with something earthly that I am thankful for on whatever day it is.  I am most thankful for Jesus that died for my sins.  That is something that will never change, no matter what on this earth I have or don’t have.  Whatever people are in my life or not in my life.  If that is not something to be thankful for, I don’t know what is!  So, go, be thankful for all that God has given you, especially His Son!  (Yes, I am totally preaching to myself!)

Fall Fashions

No, I’m not writing about what you should be wearing for fall.  I have no clue, except that Todd told me that I’m not allowed to buy any more black.  So, I’ve branched out to brown.  Of course what he doesn’t realize is that adding a color of top means adding a color of shoes, coats, socks, anything else that may need to go with the new color.  He may rethink that decree soon!

Fall fashions is to show you pictures of Callie’s things that I have made for her for fall.  Not too much.  I’m finally being realistic about how much time I have to sew.  Which is not much. :(

How cute is this?  It is reversible with a polka-dot print on the other side (of course!) but I can’t find a picture of that side.  This was the easiest jumper ever so I’m sure you’ll see many more of these!   Love her big girl pose!

This is a terrible picture, but the only one I can find of her in this dress.  I didn’t do a very good job of getting pictures this time around, and it is not worth it to dress her up in all this for a picture.  Not that she doesn’t cooperate, she just talks and talks and tells me one more thing and has to do one more thing, and on and on!  It takes forever to do anything with her!  This is her usual little jumper in fun fall tree fabric.  So cute on her.  My phone cover has stretched or something so I can’t get a picture without the cover coming up in the picture.  That is what you see at the bottom, not some strange effect.

Here are couple of little t-shirts I appliquéd for her.  I love them both.  The orange one is a little owl dressed up like a witch.  The brown one is a pink and brown turkey!  I don’t think that really does, but I had my heart set on a pink and brown turkey and a brown tee.  I didn’t really think about how those wouldn’t really work together until I set down to work.  But, I think it turned out ok.  She loved it!

No, I didn’t make this.  But, I couldn’t resist a picture of her after-Halloween batgirl costume.  After she realized she couldn’t be War Machine for Halloween, she moved on to Batgirl.  I was not about to let her be that either, but I didn’t know they had pink Batgirl!  This is like a size 6 or something so it’s huge, but she doesn’t care!

Veteran’s Day

We had a jam-packed Veteran’s Day this year!  Some friends and fellow homeschoolers set up for us to go listen to a man, Mr. Strine, talk about his experiences in WWII and the Korean War where he was a POW for two years.  It was so interesting!  He was a great story-teller and had saved a bunch of “stuff” from his time in the service.  A bonus for the day, his wife made amazing homemade cinnamon rolls for everyone!        Here we are checking out all of his war memorabilia.

It was such an honor to be in these peoples home and listen to their stories about war and life in general.  They were so excited to share with the kids too! 

After the visit we went to a park to play and eat lunch.

We finished up the day by visiting Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.  We started out following the trail that the Civil War soldiers would have taken (roughly!), but it was taking forever with seven kids!  The park was about to close so we went back and got our cars and drove through the park.  The boys favorite was of course Bloody Hill.  I think they really thought they were going to see blood!  Boys acting silly in the battlefield museum.

Boys sitting outside the Ray House that ended up being used as a hospital after the battle.
We had a great day and all the kids were great listeners and learned a lot.  We are so proud to know Mr. Strine and his wife and so proud of all the veterans we know.  Thank you!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is my dad’s birthday.  I guess I won’t put how old he is, except that I really don’t think he would care.  He is a laid back kind of guy like that!

I wish I had pictures of the things I remember about my dad from when I was at home.  But those things are not really things you think to take pictures of.  I don’t really know how you would get a picture of someone sitting in the car honking on Sunday morning when a certain someone wasn’t ready for church!  I do remember a lot of that.  But, I also just remember a lot of calm.  I think now that Todd is a daddy, I can put into words what my daddy was and that was calm.  I can feel the calm when Todd comes home.  Even if things are still spinning out of control when he walks in, I know he is going to be able to get it straightened out.

I don’t remember ever getting in trouble by my daddy.  I am sure I did, but I don’t remember it.  My brothers may sing a different tune, but not me. :)  Of course since he was the daddy, he worked all the time.  Now I feel a little sorry for daddies because I see how much they have to miss in their families lives.  There is probably a lot they are glad they are missing, but I think there is some more of life they would like to be here for.  My dad worked nights a lot of years, so he really missed a lot during the week.  But, the one thing he never missed was Sunday morning.  He was always the first one up, dressed in a suit and tie (which he still wears!), reading his Bible when everyone else started getting up.  Church was his life, and still is.  He was always teaching, filling in for preachers and song leaders, what ever the need may be.  Now he is an Elder and is well-deserving of that honor.

I also remember when he would come home it would just be calmer.  Something was always going on when daddy was not home!  Whether it was fights, stuff breaking, whatever!  But, when daddy walked in the door, we knew it was going to be taken care of one way or another.  He could fix anything.  Something I am sure he wishes I would forget since he has fixed many a things on my houses and cars!  Several times he has fixed my car over the phone!  I call him before I call a repair man!

Daddy was always calm when I was scared of the dark.  I can’t tell you how many times he walked around the house so I could go to sleep at night.  I just knew someone was out there to get me!  He never got mad, he just did it, calmly.

So, thank you daddy for calm.  Thank you for making the church the priority in our house.  Thank you for walking around the house a million times.  Thank you too for the many horsey rides, the songs you sang with your guitar and banjo, the many miles you drove us to go on family vacations, the many hours you worked so we could have more than we needed.  Even though you couldn’t be home all the time, we always knew you were coming home and that was the best gift of all!

Have a Happy Happy Birthday!

Daddy reading to me.  Lovely pants.

 Teaching me to ride my bike!

 The family at my college graduation.

 My wedding.  He is such a smart man, he never asked how much my dress cost, he just said it was worth it! 

 Grandpa and his train.

Garrett and Grandpa at an OU football game.

 Grandpa holding Gannon.

 Grandpa and Kellen at the Brewers baseball game.

 Grandpa holding Callie.

Grandpa with my kids Thanksgiving 2009.  We have many pictures like this.  Kids with Grandpa in “his” chair!

Grandpa flying kites!

Ok, I know these are lot of pics with my kids, but even better than calling him daddy is calling him grandpa!

Happy Halloween!

Ugh.  Halloween.  I started hearing about Halloween costumes months ago, so by the time Halloween actually got here, I was done.  Kellen, bless his heart, is too creative for his own good.  He has elaborate plans every year for just the right costume and all the pieces that go with it.  Problem is, they are usually more than I want to spend or not even possible to find.  This year he had his mind made up to be Joker.  Well, Joker wears a lot of clothes!  Anything official is way to expensive for a Halloween costume!  But, in the end, it turned out great.  Even if I was sewing on Halloween afternoon!  Yes, I know, he’s known for weeks what he wanted to be.  I just kept hoping I would find the right the thing so I wouldn’t have to sew!  I like sewing what I want to sew when I am in the mood to sew!

Here is the crew in the garage.  We didn’t think to take a picture in the house and it was too dark outside, so you get a nice picture of our garage!  Gannon is a Blue Clone Trooper, Kellen is Joker, Garrett is a Henchman (?, I guess he is Joker’s helper.  All I know is his costume cost me $3.00 and he painted it himself.  Love it!)  Callie was a pink polka-dot fairy princess.  She decided that in all the pics she needed to turn around so we could see her wings.  :)  Yes, her costume is totally random!  I just used a bunch of pink stuff and painted some sparkly polka-dots on her wings.  This was better then her choice which was War Machine.  I told her no and she said “but he goes with Ironman!”.  No, she has not seen the movie.  This is just some of the random information she and I unfortunately glean from living with four guys!  

We were able to go trick-or-treating with Kellen’s best buddy Hunter and his family.  They came over to eat then we went to the neighborhood across the street since we still don’t have enough neighbors to have a party!  Callie wouldn’t stand with the guys in the picture because she is scared of Hunter!

Gannon, Hunter, Garrett, Kellen, and Bryce

Trying to get an indoor picture after the trick-or-treating.  Seriously Callie, turn around!

Thank you!

We had a good time.  The neighbors all sat out in their driveways and decorated to make it fun for the kids.  Of course Kellen and Hunter wanted to go off by themselves, but we didn’t let them.  Sorry guys!  They all had a good time.  Callie had no idea of course.  We haven’t trick-or-treated since she was born, not that she would have remembered anyway.  But, she had heard so much about it that when we pulled up and started to get out she was beyond excited and said “I am just so excited about the candy!”.  It was the cutest thing!  She was one determined girl  She marched right up to every door, even if it was decorated scary.  I wish there would have been a way to get her on film, but it was so dark!  So, all’s well that ends well.  All the kids were happy with their costumes.  They actually trick-or-treated this year.  They got just enough candy to make them happy but not make me nuts trying to keep it away from them! Happy Halloween!

Odd And Ends, Take Two!

October was more of the same.  Baseball (they won the championship!), gymnastics, co-op, etc….:)!  But, we did have a few highlights!

My birthday is in October and my mom and my grandma came for a visit!  We had the best time.  Above, Callie is watching out the window for their car.

We talked and talked.  Then we went to lunch, then the cupcake place, then the botanical gardens.  Then we talked.  Then we went to dinner.  Then we talked.  Are you getting a theme here?

Callie running through the botanical garden.  The gardens had done a big redo this summer and my birthday was the big dedication day.

I let the boys take my cameras since the botanical gardens was not something they thought sounded fun!  I got lots of pictures like the one above.

And this.

But, I got a lot of pics like this too!  It was really beautiful, even though it was fall.  I can’t wait to go back in the spring and see it in full bloom!  We kept talking about what beautiful mums they had and Callie said “and dads too!”  Too cute!

Just us girls before they left for home and we left for co-op.  Remember, our photographers range from 6-13!  Callie cried and cried when the left :(.  At one point in the visit she looked at me and said “Grandma Lanier cracks me up!”  I don’t know what Grandma was doing, but Callie loved spending time with her!

Gannon lost a tooth!  He has since lost anther one and he is so excited!  Apparently there is a new tooth fairy since his brothers lost teeth since he got five dollars and his brothers always got one dollar.  I think the female has retired and the male has taken over.  I guess the he tooth fairy has a money tree that the she doesn’t know about!

Glenn, Kerry, Taryn and Jack joined us on their fall break.  It was a quick little trip but a nice break for us all.  Todd had to work most of the time so Glenn offered to stay with the boys while the girls did some running around.  Actually, I don’t know if he actually volunteered or if we just kind of suggested it to him.  :)   Thanks Glenn!  We had a great time!

Odds And Ends

Here is just a sampling of pics from September!

Callie in her OU dress with her umbrella, in case of rain!

Garrett riding a pony at Lambert’s.  Ha!  he would be my cowboy if we would stay somewhere long enough to find him a place to ride horses!

 

My parents came for a visit and took this family picture for us.  Didn’t get any pictures of them!  Oops!

  Callie dressed for game day.  How cute is this!

We had a bunch of rain, right at the beginning of fall baseball of course!  The boys were enjoying singing in the rain!

Garrett doing some kind of bug experiment at homeschool co-op.

On one of daddy’s days off we went downtown Springfield to eat and try out the cupcake place!

Gannon’s yummy choice!

Callie is loving her cupcake!

I took a few days and went to Dallas, BY MYSELF!  I made an IKEA run and did some other shopping!  A much needed break!  Thanks Todd!!

The boys started fall baseball.  Yes, we are backwards this year.  Spring football and fall baseball.  Oh well!  

Baseball fans!

The Sam’s stores in Springfield had a combined picnic complete with blow-up activities for the kids.  This was some kind of thing where you push the other person off their little perch.  I think they were loving it!

  Gannon and Callie enjoying the bouncy house.