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!)

“We’ll Never See These People Again”

I don’t know about you, but every professional sporting event I have ever been too I have been scared to death I was going to fall on the stairs.  They make them soooo steep and narrow and a jillion people are trying to use them all at once.  But, I have never fallen, until this game.  I have no excuse.  I was not carrying a kid.  I was not even carrying the backpack.  I think in all my freedom I was be-bopping a little too fast down the stairs and just fell. 

We were on our way down the stairs after the game to take some pictures.  Todd was leading the way.  About the second stair from the bottom, I started falling.  I was doing everything in my power to stay up, but it wasn’t going to happen.  In the process I pushed Callie out of the way, so she fell.  Then, for some reason, I decided Gannon could save me, so I put my hand on his shoulder.  He is six.  I am not.  So, all my weight on his shoulder did not work, he went to the ground, squashing Garrett’s foot under him, with me on top of him.  Flat.  Finally, Todd turned around.  I can only imagine what he was thinking.  He just stood there in shock.

Gannon is crying, I am laughing, Todd is trying to unload since he was carrying the backpack and camera and sack of stuff from the gift shop.  I was laughing so hard I couldn’t get up.  Anyone that knows me knows that I laugh when things like this happen, whether it is to me or someone else.  I don’t know why, I just do.  I didn’t even look around.  I didn’t want to see the look on  peoples faces as I lay there laughing as two of my kids are crying and my husband is going into shock.  I managed to get up.  We all examined our scrapes, and went on with our picture.  By the time we got home the next day I found scrapes, bumps, and bruises that I don’t have any idea how I got.  I feel like I’ve been hit by a car! 

The really sad thing is that the Royals stadium is kind of like an oversized minor league field, so the steps  are not that steep and narrow.  Wrigley Field, the old Busch Stadium, I can see falling.  But here, I don’t know what happened.

As I lay there laughing, all  I could think about was my Grandma,  when things like this have happened to her, she always says, “Oh well, we’ll never see these people again!”  Thank goodness!

We managed to recover pretty well and get a family picture.  I’m hoping all those big smiles are not my family laughing on the inside at their clumsy mama!

That Time Of Year

Well, it was time for our summer trip to a baseball game.  It doesn’t seem like it would be summer without heading to a ball field!  Todd had already chosen the Yankees/Royals game in April, when we had no idea what kind of heat we would be having!  Yes, I know it is always hot in the summer, but this is a little much!  We had intended to have a few days to enjoy Kansas City, but that didn’t work out thanks to Sam’s.  I’m really trying to not have a pity party about it, since they are technically the ones paying for the fun.  But, Todd has had to change pretty much every vacation and day off this summer.  It is getting a little old!  Yes, I’m thankful my husband has a job and we can do this, but mama’s organization skills have been extremely challenged this summer with the constant changing!  My little brain can’t take it!!  Ha!  So, it was just an overnight trip to KC, but a fun one!

Yes, it was this hot!  The game had not even started yet, bless her heart!
The guys enduring the sun.  Ok, so mama didn’t do a good job of picking seats.  Oh well!  But, it turned out to be a great game.  A-Rod, who is one of Garrett’s favorites, hit three homeruns.  Yes, three in one game!  There were a lot of homeruns in fact, which makes for a much more exciting game.  By the, oh, sixth or seventh inning, the heat broke a little and the game was quite pleasant!

We were under the seats checking out the concession stands when someone hit a homerun, this is Callie’s reaction!  “Too loud, mama"!”  (Pardon the bad phone picture!)

Our family pic.  Next time I think we will take the picture before the game!  Although I don’t think at this game it would have helped.  This is  what we looked like by the time we walked from the car!

But, this makes it totally worth it.  Garrett’s reaction to A-Rods third homerun.  This was his reaction to pretty much all the home runs, but I know this was the third one because I told Todd to get the camera ready just in case.  I couldn’t believe he actually hit another homerun! Pure excitement from a ten-year-old boy.  I guess mama can sit in the heat for a few hours for this face!

Christmas Party Five

This is the last party, I promise! We are so glad that we were able to go to have all of these parties. We are blessed with a big, happy family!

After we left Shawnee we made it back to Tulsa. We didn't want to be out on the highway after dark if we could help it so we got into town about dinner time. Thank goodness because we got to eat at Abuelo's. This is one of my favorite places and we haven't been there in ages. I love their avocado enchiladas. Of course my sister-in-law Dwan gave me some to go guacamole that I ate the entire way up there, so it wasn't as good as it would have been if I was hungry, but I enjoyed it!

After dinner we decided to go look at Poppa Roy's Christmas lights. To say he goes all out is an understatement! People come from all around to see his lights. The neighbor across the street does up his house and Roy does up one of the neighbors house as well, so it is quite a show! We called to tell them we were outside and ended up going in to visit. Callie was in rare form. She had slept all the way there and she comes alive about eight in the evening anyway. She talked their leg off and was really in a good mood. I didn't take any pictures that night, but is was a fun impromptu visit.

Kellen and Garrett spent the night with Nana and Poppa, the rest of us headed back over the next morning. Church was canceled so we got to take our time. We hated to miss seeing our old friends at Park Plaza, but taking our time after all the Christmas running around was nice. Todd's brothers were both able to come so enjoyed a day all being together. I don't think we had all been together for almost two years. It is usually Todd that can't make the trip :(.

Before Taryn and Jack got there there was a girls chair. Karlee, Kymree, and Callie.

And a boys chair :).

Papa Foxx was able to come for the day. It was so nice to see him. He worked for American Airlines for many, many years.

Todd, Glenn, and Chadd. We have many pictures of them in this "pose". I was going to post some with this but decided to make it a post all its own. I am sure they are thrilled about that!

Again I didn't get a picture of everyone. I left out Kerry (Glenn's wife) and Natalie (Chadd's wife). Sorry girls! I'll try to catch you next time!

Poppy Roy and Nana Charlene with all the grandkids. They have four granddaughters and four grandsons. I think it is cool it turned out like that. Karlee, Kymree, Poppa, Nana, Callie, Taryn, Gannon, Jack, Garrett, and Kellen. Whew!

Nanny Edith is Charlene's mother. She lives with them so we get to see her when we come to time. She had a rough year after breaking her hip in February, but has bounced back and you wouldn't know it happened. Another testament in our family of someone taking care of themselves. She is 93 if you can believe that!

Poppa, Nanny, Nana, Glenn, Chadd, and Todd

There's one in every crowd!

And with that Christmas 2009 has come to an end. I know I keep saying it, but we are so thankful to be able to enjoy our family this year. I was always glad to go home, but I always wished Todd didn't have to miss out on so much. Now he should be able to around a little more. We are like a new family since we have been home. Our little six really needed to laugh, smile, and enjoy some time together and some time with our extended families. God has blessed us and I do not take that for granted. I pray he blesses anyone that reads our little blog.

Christmas Party Four

Christmas Party Four just about didn't happen this year. We were so excited to be further south so that we wouldn't have to deal with weather during the holidays. Then comes the Blizzard of 2009, or whatever title the news stations gave it. It was quite a snow storm. The wind made it so much worse than I think it would have been. That and the fact that apparently Oklahoma only owns two snow plowing trucks and the drivers were out-of-town for the holidays. Just kidding! But, seriously, I love you Oklahoma, but I think you have enough weather to justify some snow trucks. All that being said, we made it. Our plan was to head to Shawnee on Christmas afternoon. We headed that direction but only made it as far as Tulsa before we stopped and got a hotel room and ate at Ihop with the rest of the town of Tulsa! We got to Shawnee the next morning and both my brothers made it, so were set for the day. It was a little short since none of us wanted to drive after it got too dark, but we had a great time. We are all a little nuts so there was lots of laughing and carrying on!

The only picture of my mom. The kids were piling gifts on her lap. I didn't even get a picture of my dad. Sorry dad. I'm still don't do a good job of getting everything on camera like I would like.

Me. I think I'll make this picture tiny so you can't see all the wrinkles!

My brother Clay. Amazingly we got a picture of him not making a goofy face.

My brother Ryan.

Ryan and his wife Dwan. Amazingly we got a picture of Ryan making a goofy face.

Madison and Kellen. I can't even look at this picture. Only mothers of twelve year olds would understand.

Mallori and Garrett. They are both nine.

Gannon. Sorry Mason. I didn't get a picture of you either! I'll get you next time. Gannon and Mason are both five.

Gannon: "Good grief it's taking a long time to get to my turn."

I love this picture. We were soooooo glad that daddy got to come with us this year. No one can even remember the last time he got to attend family Christmas parties, or any family gatherings for that matter. I love how Garrett and Callie are sitting on him to open their gifts. We love our daddy.

Actually I did get a picture of Mason. He and Gannon are in their storm shelter. Ha! Yes, it is true every year, the kids would rather have boxes!

Madison giving Callie her first manicure.

Callie was sooo proud of her nails. She showed them off for days. Even Gannon didn't want her to take a bath because he didn't want her polish to come off.

We had a great day. We laughed and laughed. Ate some good food. Got some great presents. (It is Christmas after all!) As you can see the kids are all very close in age so they have a great time together. I know I've said it many times now, but we are so glad to be close enough to visit family. Thanks Todd!

Merry Christmas, Party 1!

Every year my Aunt Linda hosts a party for my Grandma Lanier. It is always so nice to see everyone and catch up, it's like a little family reunion! We have a good time just eating snacks and being together. I know I missed one year, the year Callie was born and we were living in Iowa. I don't know if I have missed any of the others. My mom has a brother and a sister and they each have two children. All together my Grandma has three children, seven grandchildren, and fourteen grandchildren. (I think my fingers counted correctly!) Most of the grandchildren were close in age and we enjoyed playing when we were little. Most of the great-grandchildren are close in age and enjoy their time together.

Grandma Lanier and Callie. The oldest and the youngest! Grandma doesn't mind telling people her age since people can never believe she is 91. Garrett said a while back that she didn't look a day over 84. Ha! We are so thankful that she is here to celebrate. She just finished surgery and radiation for endometrial cancer. She is a true testament to taking care of yourself. I could go on and on. I seriously could write an entire blog just about Grandma. Can you tell she is my favorite person in the world. Sorry to the rest of you I know, you are all tied for second, I promise!

Callie and Madison. Thanks to Madison mama had a day off! Todd wasn't able to go to this party but Madison took care of Callie. Took her outside, played with her. Thank you Madison!

This is Anna Marie, my cousin Todd's youngest. She is packing goodies to play outside. She raided her grandma's to go cups and filled them with punch and snacks.

Uncle Ben, Aunt Patti, and Uncle Jerry. Jerry is my Mom's brother and Pattie is his wife. Ben is my Mom's brother-in-law. My aunt Patti just finished a year of surgeries, chemo, and radiation for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She found out she had it right after Christmas last year. I was so great to see her looking so good. She is already back to teaching. We are so thankful for her recovery too!

My Mom visiting with Jay, my cousin Holly's husband.

Clay and my cousin Todd. I didn't get a picture of Todd's wife Jenny. Sorry! I am on the ball, ha!

My Dad, my brother Ryan and his wife Dwan.

The kids running in when we told them it was time to open gifts! We were so blessed to have beautiful weather on this day.

Garrett visiting with Aunt Linda, my Mom's sister.

The great-grandkids waiting to open gifts. Kellen with his back to the camera, Madison, Anna Marie, Gannon, Mason, Braden, Garrett, Mallori and Lauren. Kodi didn't make it in the picture. She is eighteen so I think she has graduated from sitting in the floor! I didn't get a picture of her at all though, sorry Kodi!

My cousin Holly helping Callie open her gift. Holly is the closest thing I have to a sister. Neither one of us have sisters. We are about two years apart, she is older (sorry, had to throw that in there Holly!). I know she would do anything for me as I would for her. Even when we haven't talked in a while, it's like we've been talking every day.

Two of my cousins didn't get to be there. Uncle Jerry's two kids Chad and Lori both live in Texas. Chad has two kids, Jake and Lizzie,that would have been in the mix with all the rest. I don't know if we will ever be able to all be there. I hope so. It is so great to be able to see everyone in person.

I am so thankful that we have moved closer to home. I wouldn't have been able to be here this year, otherwise. I came last year, but Todd and I had already decided I would only be able to come to Oklahoma for the holidays every-other-year.

I am also thankful that we were able to have most people there this year. With the health scares we had this year, I don't know what this Christmas would be like. But God is good, He took care of our family in so many ways in 2009.

I am blessed with a wonderful extended family and I like that my kids are able to be around and get to know them. I am already looking forward to next year!

Family Vacation, part two!

Sunday was the day we had baseball tickets. We are not really White Sox fans, but we hadn't been to this stadium, so this was our choice for this summer. (We would hate to not go to a MLB game every summer!) They were playing the Yankees which is Garrett's team so it was a good game to go to. And, I like afternoon games. I'm not real crazy about getting out of baseball games late at night in strange cities with four kids. NYC wasn't bad, as everyone is out 24/7, but some cities are a little creepy.

Remember this was the trip we were just winging it, so Mama hadn't set down and mapped out every detail like she normally would. So, we missed the train going to the White Sox game. We didn't think about it being Sunday and that the train we needed would only run every two hours rather than every hour. So, we got to drive to the White Sox game. Oh, joy. It took us two hours, bumper to bumper. If there was no traffic from our hotel to the stadium, it would take about twenty minutes. Of course I don't think there is ever a day without in traffic in Chicago! We finally made to a parking lot and got to our seats at 1:05, game time, 1:05. Todd like to get to games waaaaay early and soak it all in, so he was a little disappointed, but it was fine. Except, that we were sitting in bleacher seats. This the first time as a family we were in bleacher seats. We paid for seats 9-13. We sat in 9 1/2 - 12 1/2. Other than all this I have mentioned, this was once of the most fun games we have been to.

Lovely ballgame traffic.

We weren't really sure what to expect at the White Sox stadium. Everything we had read was that they didn't do such a good job when they built the new stadium. Well, I will say it lacks the charm of a St. Louis, Baltimore, etc. But, it was the most family friendly stadium we have ever been to. They even had kids meals! The best thing was an area for kids to come and "practice" baseball. The boys got to do running, pitching, catching and hitting drills. Our kids are pretty good about sitting down for ball games. I don't let them wander around if they think the game is too long. But, we do usually get up to get something to eat and get a souvenir. This area gave us an excuse to get up for a while. It took us two innings to do all the "stuff". I really think the big boys would have just as soon watched the game, especially since we missed some home runs. But, they were good sports and did enjoy showing up the little kids :). All in all, a fun day. We even saw some sights of Chicago on the way home. We had had to get a new GPS because ours was recalled. What we didn't realize is that it was set to "avoid traffic". You should see all the interesting things you see when you are trying to avoid traffic in Chicago!

The next day we ventured to Gurnee, IL to Six Flags. We haven't done anything like this since we went to Silver Dollar City. Unless you count Mall of America, which was fun, but more like a carnival. The boys were excited to say the least. I really don't have much to say about this since I have to say this was not that fun for me. I felt like I needed to send my parents a cookie bouquet or something for all the times they sat around Six Flags waiting on all of us kids to ride rides! Callie and I did a lot of sitting on benches and waving to the guys as they whirled around us. The guys all really had a great time though, so it was worth it.

Their faces are priceless. OK, I guess it was worth sitting on a bench all day!

Poor daddy! He agreed to do all the water rides with them. (He had just as much fun!)

I wish I would have had a video of this to hear Gannon's giggle the whole ride long! He has the ultimate giggle! Callie doing the wave.

Callie's one and only ride, you can see why! Poor thing, I really thought she would love it as adventurous as she is.

Our last day on vacation we split up for a little bit. The guys went looking for sports memorabilia shops and Callie and I went to the mall. I don't remember what mall, but it was a nice big mall. I really didn't have a lot we needed, but we were avoiding coming home. We were having such a nice relaxing time, we just wanted to prolong it. But, we were too tired to do anything in particular. One nice find at the mall was a store where the boys could build their own cars. Do you know the Build-A-Bear Stores where you pick out a bear and have it stuffed, dressed, etc., for like fifty bucks? It was like that only you pick out a car body, the proceed to pick wheels, engines, etc. The boys loved it. It was great for all ages. You could see the big boys dreaming of the car they think they could actually own. Gannon just loved putting his together. Great idea Build-A-Bear people!

Later that afternoon we headed for home. This is when we realized we had been avoiding traffic the entire trip. I can't even tell you how the GPS was sending us home. There are some really pretty areas around Chicago though. We did enjoy the scenic route. I don't know if we would have switched the GPS to this setting on our own, so it was a nice accident!