Over the River and Through the Woods

to Grandmother's House we go...

After a week on the road, we are glad to be home again. I can't imagine the "home sickness" that my friend Sandra must be feeling. They've traveled several thousand miles and been to more states than I can remember for the past few months. For now "home" is China, and they will head back in about a month. Pray for their journey.

Here was our Journey this past week:As for our, now small trip in comparison, we traveled quite a bit this past week and got to see lots of Shannon's family and our friends Karen and Aaron!! We started off last Sunday and headed to Little Rock to see K&A. We ALWAYS enjoy spending time with them and wish we lived closer so that we could see them any time we wanted. But for now, a 4-5 times a year will have to do. We had a nice "home cooked" meal on Sunday evening at The Dixie Cafe and then headed home to catch up. We had some business to take care of on Monday morning, so once that was out of the way it was play time in The Rock!! We had lunch at Larry's Pizza West (K&A's restaurant) and Landon had a blast playing Skeeball. He won about 80 tickets!! (Thanks for the tokens uncle Aaron.) After we headed back to the house the boys had a few last minute Christmas gifts to buy so they went out shopping and dropped our car off at the Ford Dealer (we drove 95% of the way to AR with the Check Engine light on!). Turned out to not be too big of a deal, and we got it fixed. We had a fantastic BBQ dinner at Whole Hog (a must when in Little Rock). I can't believe that we never took a picture of Karen and Aaron while we were there. Here is one from our trip to OBU this past October. Tuesday morning sent us on to Shannon's Grandpa's house in Northern Arkansas. We had planned on getting out of town early in the morning and getting to Grandpa's before Landon needed a nap,but that didn't happen. Overnight there had been some precipitation and the temps were below freezing (like about 15 degrees) and the roads were covered in ice, and I was NOT going to let Shannon take another trip down Hwy 65 on icy roads. It was about 7 Christmases ago when we were in a wreck on Hwy 65 on Christmas day. Because of that (and a few smaller incidents in my life) that I HATE driving in bad weather. I don't mean that I don't like it, I mean I HATE it. I have a great fear of icy roads. Some people fear heights, some fear clowns, me - ICY ROADS!!! We waited until about 10:00 before we left hoping that most of the ice would have melted. We took a different route north since it didn't seem that the eastern part of the state had any freezing rain the night before. We did pretty good most of the way (we meaning Shannon kept the car on the road and I didn't throw up). I white-knuckled it most of the way there, and tried my hardest to close my eyes and sleep it away for the last part of the trip, but there was no sleeping for me. We made it to grandpa's in one piece and I was in for the night, no more car rides until the temperature was above freezing. Shannon had to run Lucy over to Aunt Elaine's for the evening (Grandpa really doesn't like dogs in the house, so Lucy had a sleep over with Samuel! - I think they were both smitten!). He picked up some KFC for dinner and Shannon's Aunt Ellen and Uncle Hutch came over for a visit. Uncle Gordon stopped by a bit later too. (side note: check out Gordon's son, Shannon's Cousin, Chad. He and his wife Jennifer took a year off, sold their home, stored their things, and are traveling around the world. Here is their blog - Saved by Sherpa.) Landon enjoyed playing with the cousins (his second cousins) and Grandpa's "new toys". After the family left we put Landon (and Grandpa) to bed. Shannon and I booted up the laptops for a few moments of digital time.

Great Grandpa Hodges and Landon on Christmas Day

On Wednesday (Christmas Eve) Shannon woke with Grandpa at 5:00 AM for breakfast. Landon and I slept in. We gathered our things (including Lucy from Elaine and Samuel) and headed north to see Shannon's parents (and brothers and such). That is only about a 3 1/2 hour trip, and the roads were better. We had a few times that we watched for ice, but with the winds roaring at about 30-35 miles an hour there was no water (or ice) on the roads. The temperature dropped about 20 degrees on our drive. We were glad to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house and get lots of sugars from Grandma. Landon headed for a nap and Shannon moved in unpacked the car. This was a feat! We took over that house!! Why so much stuff??? Who knows.
Grandma spent the afternoon baking pies, something which she does VERY well!! Shannon's favorite, Coconut Cream Pie. YUUUMMMM!! Man I want some more!! Shannon's mom is a good cook and bakes better than anyone I know. She made 4 coconut cream pies, 2 pecan pies, 2 pumpkin pies, chocolate chip cookies, and I'm sure there was more, but I can't remember!! Shannon, Roger (his older brother) and I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few last-minute items, including the continued hunt for the "construction worker" that Landon insisted he was getting for Christmas. Us and 2/3 of Springfield were at the Wal-Mart that afternoon. We did pretty good, no injuries, and we managed to get everything on the list (including the construction worker that we haven't been able to find ANYWHERE!!) We headed home and had a nice taco soup for dinner, and then played some Wii. After Landon went to bed I finished wrapping Christmas gifts and we moved everything to the sun room for Christmas morning. Shannon put Landon's tricycle together, and then we watched movies and went to bed. Christmas morning was fun. Landon was excited to go down stairs and see what Santa brought him. Although he still doesn't really "get" Santa he knew that there was something to be excited about. He headed down the stairs, slowly, and went to the sun room. He stood there, looking. The first thing he picked up was a cube puzzle. A puzzle. Not the tricycle, not the infamous construction worker, but a puzzle! Go figure!

Anyways, he gathered his new digs and headed to the living room. We brought all the presents into the living room to open (the "sun room" was a bit cold with all the windows and the 15 degree temps). Everyone enjoyed their gifts and a good time was shared by all. Note: Christmas morning photos are never good. The hair, the clothes, please forgive. I went to bed with my hair wet the night before so, yeah, it was bad; the sunglasses are doing the best they can to control the beast!

More family joined us later. Shannon's younger brother, Shawn and his wife Jennifer along with Gunner and new baby Delaney joined us. Uncle Hutch, Aunt Ellen, and the boys (Jake, Jesse, and Jaden) came and brought Great Grandpa Hodges, and Aunt Elaine and Samuel too. It was a house full, but it was great to be with so much family on Christmas. The kids played, the adults talked, and everyone had a great time.

Samuel and Jake bowl on the Wii

I think Gunner is going to try and talk his mom and dad into a Wii!!

The best shot of the 3 grandkids there that day (we were missing Anjel)

After a fantastic Turkey and Ham lunch the kiddos got to ride on Grandpa's tractor! Landon has been talking about riding on the tractor for some time. Last time (Thanksgiving 2007) it was not such a good thing - he was so scared. This time was so much better. We didn't let him stay out too long because he seemed to have an ear infection (lots of drainage). But he wanted to "go around the circle again" so we let him. This also gave mom and dad a chance to get some pictures and video.

We enjoyed an afternoon of playing with the cousins and eating desserts - lots of desserts. Dinner of leftovers and spending more time hanging out with the family.

Lots of playing games with Grandpa and lots of Wii for everyone

On Friday Shannon and I took everyone out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel - yummy! I just love the little individual servings of syrup. We had to take Landon to the doctor today and have his ears checked out. I wasn't sure that he didn't rupture his ear drum. The amount of "gunk" coming from his ear was insane. The doctor, although he "didn't do pediatrics" said that his ear was just infected. He gave us a prescription for ear drops, and we headed to Walgreen's to get the prescription filled. Since it was going to take about 20 minutes to fill it, we decided to "hang out" at Walgreen's and see if there was anything we couldn't live without. We found a few things, and then headed home. When we got home Landon and Gunner made Gingerbread houses. They had a good time. Gunner kept telling Landon that he wasn't going to have any candy to decorate with if he kept eating it all. Landon didn't care. I think for every two pieces of candy on the house he ate one. So here is his first Gingerbread House (and Gunner's too).

And then of course the eating of the house!

"Gather up for family photos!" I wish we had gotten pictures of the whole family while they were all there, but it never crossed my mind.

The Hodges Boys

The Hodges Clan

Landon enojying riding his bicycle!

Uncle Shawn, Aunt Jennifer, Gunner and Delaney left after dinner and left us with just ourselves, Uncle Roger and Grandma and Grandpa. More Wii was played, more games were spread out across the living room floor, and we continued to enjoy our time with family.

Daddy is very excited he got High Score on the game!

We decided that we were going to head home on Saturday. Uncle Roger was leaving town at about 1:00, so after Grandma took him to the bus stop, we moved out loaded up the car to head home. After we figured out how to get all that stuff back in the car we made a stop at Starbucks and hit the road. For 7 1/2 hours we drove home to Texas, through Oklahoma. And let me say Shannon complained about Oklahoma the whole way. We even have a "love/hate" relationship with a few stops on the way. The "over the high-way" McDonald's and the entire town of McAlester. We almost always have to stop at both of these places, and for different reasons we hate them both. But anyways, we made it home at about 10:30 pm, brought in the essentials and went to bed, in our own beds. It was nice!! We woke up this morning in our own home, and there is a lot to be said about HOME.

Updates

A few things I've been meaning to blog about these past few days....

One...

Here is our Christmas Card this year.

front

back
Two...

I broke my foot. Well not a REALLY big break - just a "splinter" as the doc called it this morning. See... Well, you can't really see anything in this x-ray, but isn't that cool? Those are my bones!!! The second x-ray in the set really shows it better, from a different angle (but I don't have that one). The doctor showed me this morning where the splinter was, but I didn't save that picture like I did this one before I had to hand over my x-rays to the orthopedic doctor today. Oh well, next time I know to make a copy of the CD.

The arrows were some commentary I had on the original scan before I 'really' knew what the problem was. The yellow highlights the two small sesamoid bones in the tendons. I splintered the one on the left. I also have sesamoiditis; similar to tendinitis.

Three...

Today is Landon's 3rd birthday. As of today we are all 3's. Shannon and I are 33 and Landon is 3. Last Saturday was Landon's birthday party and he thinks he turned 3 last weekend. So, when I tried to tell him on Wednesday that I was going to bring cookies to his class on Friday to celebrate his birthday, he told me, matter-of-factly that he was going to be 4. I tried to explain that he would be 3 for a whole year, but to no avail. He told me (image him saying this in a very to-the-point way, and a little bit angrily). "I am 3, and 4 is next. I will be 4!" It cracked me up. Hey - at least he knows his numbers. Shannon said that he had a very similar conversation with him the day before. So today at school I told his teachers to kind of down-play the birthday stuff. We've talked about it being his birthday, and that today he was three, and haven't had any meltdowns, yet! We'll have to see what he says when someone asks him tomorrow how old he is!!

I know there was more I was going to tell you, but I can't remember now. I'm tired and I'm going to bed!!

BooMama's 2008 Christmas Tour of Homes

Welcome, BooMama Readers, to my home. I know I'm a day late, and I thank anyone who managed to navigate down to Linky #741 to join us on this tour. I didn't think I was going to get the chance to participate in the tour this year, but because school is closed due to ice on the roads, I have the morning free to get some pictures taken and posted on my blog.

For all my "regular readers" who just happen to be reading today - welcome as well. Enjoy the tour and jump on over to BooMama's Blog and check out some other beautiful homes this Christmas season.

Let's start with the tree. This year, I'm very sad to say I have only 5 ornaments on my tree. These are the 5 ornaments that I've received this year, as the "boxed-up" ones are still boxed up!! Thanks to the G's (that's the GaGa, G-Daddy, GiGi, and Grandaddy G for the visitors) we now have real presents under the tree; and I didn't wrap a single one!! There are a few Birthday presents for Little Man behind the chair for him to open for his birthday. Something we started last year was putting all our Christmas cards we receive on the tree as well. This helps with the "lack of decorating" that the tree received this year. Also, this is my first time to ever put ribbon the the tree. I think it really makes the piece work (even with only five decorations)!
And in that first picture you met Lucy the Shih Tzu (or princess) all decked out for Christmas as well. She's glad we are all home today as well!!
Another little Christmas corner is our Advent Calendar. This is a new tradition this year (as we received the calender last year for Christmas from GaGa). Each day Little Man opens the door for the day and the music box part at the top of the house goes off and plays music as the ice skaters and carolers move around. A small partridge in a pear tree pops out like a coo-coo!! And inside the door for the day is a small ornament. Little Man pulls out the ornament and puts it on HIS tree.
You can see that most (all but 2) of the ornaments are on the bottom branches. We are slowly moving up the tree.

The mantle is the next stop in our living room. I had every intention of getting our stockings monogrammed this year, but it still hasn't been done. The poinsettia is one of the 3 actual living plants I have at my home (2 inside and 1 outside). I'm no gardener, and I'm proud that the poinsettia has made it for almost three weeks now!

This little writing desk was my mothers, and has been in my home since before I was born. On the drawer pull hangs my stocking; the one I've had all my life. I was born and came home from the hospital a few days before Christmas, and when Christmas Eve came around my first year, my 20 year old brother realized that I didn't have a stocking to hang on the mantle. He went out late on Christmas Eve to Eckerd's drug store, the only thing open at the time, and found the pieces to create this stocking. He cut the ric-rac to spell my name down the front. I've had this stocking hanging every year since!
Also on this writing desk is one of my favorite Nativity sets. This one is made from Waterford Crystal, and I love the simplicity of it. It reminds me (as does my other set) that the only ones there the moment our Savior entered the world were Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus.
Here is my other simple Nativity set.
Most of my decorations for Christmas are just minor embellishments or touches of spirit around the home. I don't go "all out" with decorating (mainly because I don't want to have to clean all that up in a month).

The "table between the chairs" hosts a new reindeer that I received this year, as well as some favorite Christmas books we like to read.

And I love this new little "ornament" for the lamp shade. It uses magnets on the inside of the shade to hold tight. Although this was a birthday gift intended to be a Christmas decoration, I think this little gem will hang around all year. You can also put it on other items such as a vase or rose bowl full of flowers, a cover of a book laid out for decoration, the possibilities are endless.

Next we'll move into the dining room. All that I have in this room is the table center piece of fresh roses, hydrangea, and cranberries. The flower arrangement is on its last days, and then the trees and reindeer will stand alone on the table. The red walls in this room (and the playroom) help "decorate" for the Christmas season as well.

Speaking of the playroom, here is Little Man's tree for that room. And this year I also decorated the top of his new book shelves.

The glass tree-looking thing is made of baby food jars with lights poking through the lids. It lights up at night and looks quite interesting.

The kitchen is the next stop on the tour. Are you still with me?

There are only a few small touches in the kitchen. I'm quite sad that I have not made the time to get my mother's Dept. 56 Dickens's Village up yet this year. I'm really going to try and get it up before my Christmas Party on Thursday. We'll see.

So for now, this windowsill hosts the Santa tray and the Cookie Jar. I would love to say that the jar is filled with lots of Christmas treats, but anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows, I don't cook (well, not much). And when I do, it is such an event that I'll blog about it!! Also, take a moment to marvel at the only other indoor living plant in my home!! This one is about a year old - and I'm quite proud of it. Sometimes Daddy has to remind me to give it a drink, but so far so good!
There may not be any Chrsitams treats in the cookie jar but there are however a few cookies on the kitchen table. I mean BooMama asked us to serve treats. Right?

To make these cookies, find a local middle school student who plays in the band and purchase a bucket of pre-made cookie dough. Thaw the dough for a about an hour, and scoop it out into small balls. Place the balls on a cookie sheet (put parchment paper or foil down first, so that there isn't any mess to clean up later) and bake the cookies following the directions on the tub. See I cook - I mean I had to turn on the oven, and I even got my hands a little dirty!!

This chip and dip tray and snowman candle are on the kitchen island.

And if your tour takes you on an unplanned visit to the bathroom there are a few Christmas touches in there as well. I bring in a few spots of color into my white and sage green guest bathroom.

One last touch. A personalized painting of "The Night Before Christmas" just as Santa drops down the chimney. Little Man will be 3 years old this month and his name is still not painted onto one of the stockings in the painting. One day, one day...

And a quick shot of what kept us home from school today and the whole reason I had some time to take you on a tour of my home. A Texas winter storm!!!! Now, I know those of you above the Texas panhandle will be in awe of our winter weather, but contain yourselves, this is big for us around here. I mean this is enough to call off school for the day! The teacher in me is very excited!!

Thank you all for taking a tour of my some-what decorated home for Christmas. And may you and your family be blessed this Christmas season. And although all the presents, decorations and treats are great traditions and bring joy to many, the true JOY and the ONLY reason we celebrate Christmas is because God made himself man, came to Earth humbly as a small baby of a young virgin mother and became the atonement for our sins. Over 30 years later died, an innocent man, on a cross to pay the price we never could, and rose again in three days to wait in Heaven for us to join him. Never forget the Reason For The Season.

May GOD bless each and every one of you.