Hudson's school work

Hudson has been doing some wonderful work at school that he is SO proud of! 

It all started in late September with a story he wrote for me at home. It was a suggested topic on the back of one of his papers, but not an activity required of him at school. He didn't really want to do it, but once he got started, he liked it. He did a fabulous job! It said:

"I wint huting will my Dad and we sot a deer

we at the deer and it was dlishish."

My favorite part = "dlishish"... what a creative way to spell delicious!

Below is another story he's written with some spelling/sight words...

Just in case it's hard to read in a picture, it says:

"I catch the ball. And i put the ball on the tuch down. But no bode ("else" we added when we re-read it together) skord a tuch down. I want to do a good job."

This is his seed collection he put together for school. Some we found around here, a few we traded out with our neighbor, and some came from Cacki & Papa. Thanks, everyone for the help! He was very proud of this work, too. He couldn't wait to show it at school.

Keep up the good work, Hudson! We are so very proud of you!

Busy, but FUN Weekend!

Every weekend seems to be busy around here lately, but this one was SUPER busy! Fun, nonetheless... Lots of good, family time :) We had two baseball games & a yard sale yesterday. Late in the day, we took Cade & Callie (Hudson was visiting a friend) to see "The Lion King". They LOVED it!! So glad it came out for a limited time on the big screen... in 3D, too. Very cool. Then, this evening, we ventured out to the "Disney on Ice" show at FedEx Forum. We figured the kids would enjoy it, but weren't exactly sure what to expect since this is our first "Disney on Ice" show. The pictures aren't great (taken with my phone), but I think you can tell the kids had a BLAST!

Here are the boys "posing" before the show. We knew Cade would like the show (where animals are involved, he's always good to go :), but we weren't sure if Hudson would think it was "cool" enough for an almost-seven-year-old. It was... He liked it :)

 Callie was mesmerized. She loved every minute of the show. And when the show took a break, she wanted to know where it went :) By the last performance, she was dancing in the aisles! She danced & sang all the way out to the parking garage!

 Check them out... totally zoned :)

Thanks, Howie's friend, for the complimentary tickets! It was a wonderful family night out!

Furniture

Our new piece of furniture... Love it!

Fall baseball - Cade

Here's our Cade-o playing Fall baseball this year. This is his first team without big brother, Hudson, on the same team. Cade's a fickle, little baseball player... ha! When he's on, he's on! When he doesn't care, well, it can be difficult to get a good effort out of him. (Works on his Daddy's/coach's patience out there on the field!)

Here's our little man making a good hit!

Hanging out at 1st...

... and 2nd...

... and making a good run around 3rd and on to home...

Go, Cade!

Playing the field is a little less exciting :), but he is a valuable player when he tries.

We're very proud of you, Cade! Way to go this season, buddy!

Baby Sail

Got to see & hold sweet baby Sail today... such a cutie!

2 Year Stats

Callie went to the pediatrician today for her 2-year check-up. As usual, the nurse takes all her stats (height, weight, etc.) as we go in, and marks her chart for the doctor to review. As she's marking Callie's height, she says, "that can't be right. I'd better measure her again." I commented that we'd measured her at home and got the same thing. We could just tell, by how fast she'd been growing out of her clothes in the past few months, that she'd had a pretty big growth spurt. The nurse re-measured, came up with the same thing, and seemed nervous about leaving it "as is", because it just didn't fit Callie's growth curve. When the doctor came in, she said "Woah! Somebody's been growing!" Yep... Callie's measurements were correct. Yes, she's really jumped up the curve in height & weight, but it is proportional. The rest of her check-up was good, too. Her iron was out of this world for a child her age, but, then again, Callie does like her meat! Vegetables & fruit are another story. We try every way we can to get her to eat those :) 

From her 18-month to 24-month check-up, Callie has gained 5 pounds AND grown 5 inches!

She jumped from 25th-50th percentile in height & weight, to 75th-90th! You go, Callie-girl!

24-month stats:

Weight = 29.5 lbs

Height = 36 inches

 Callie in camo :)

Happy 12th Anniversary!

Today is our 12th anniversary. Hudson, being the sweet firstborn that he is :), wanted to get us gifts for our anniversary... so his Gran took him shopping.
He was so excited about giving us our gifts. Here he is giving Howie a new wallet. He couldn't wait for his Daddy to get it open.

These are the flowers he had sent to me as my gift. Bless his sweet, little heart, every time he's at the grocery store with me he wants to buy me flowers. He finally got to do it :)

And Hudson took a picture of us on our anniversary. He did a good job, even with the "big" camera!

Happy 12th Anniversary, Howie! 
I love our life, I love our family, I love you dearly! 
I wouldn't change a thing about our 12 married years together :)

Fall Baseball - Hudson

Hudson has moved up to "coach pitch" for Fall baseball. For any of you unfamiliar, they're not allowed to use the tee at all. They get 5 pitches to hit or 3 strikes/you're out goes. The age group for Fall coach pitch is 6-8.

Howie has been Hudson's coach again this Fall. That was unplanned, but the league was short on coaches for the Fall, so Howie took two teams - Cade's T-Ball team & Hudson's Coach Pitch team. Super-Dad, huh?!

Hudson has played well. When he makes contact, he has some really good hits. He's still not as comfortable playing the field as some of the others, but he'll get there. He's learned a lot.

Focused...

Ready...

Keeping a good eye...

 He missed that one, but got him another one :)

 Go, Hudson!

We are so proud of you!

"I out the bed!"

As I'm sitting on the couch this afternoon relaxing, I hear a noise. Hmmm, I think. That sounds an awful lot like a door closing, but Hudson just got in from school and is in our room having snack & watching his show, Cade should still be upstairs napping, and Callie should still be napping, too. I continue to relax, but focus a little more attention to any noises around me, and there it is again! That IS a door opening and closing! Strange, though, it sounds like it's coming from downstairs... Cade is upstairs & Callie should be in her crib down here... Hmmm... I cautiously sneak around the corner and who do I see?! Little Miss Callie Jewel OUT of her bed, OUT of her room, and backed up against the wall. 

"Callie Jewel," I say, "Did you climb out of your bed?" 

She timidly replies, "no?" 

Then she takes off running in the house chanting, "I out the bed! I out the bed!"

That Callie Jewel is so funny! Not two-years-old for a week, and she's already trying to climb out of her bed :) Made me one, sad momma, though... I'm not ready for her to give up the crib yet! Neither of the boys EVER tried climbing out! I think I'll sternly tell her "No climbing out of the bed!" and see if it works. hehehe!

Soft-sided coolers

Ever think that soft-sided lunch coolers closely resemble purses? 

Ever think that you might need all of them at once?

Welcome to "Callie's World"!

9/11 "We Will Never Forget"

For history for my children:

September 11, 2001 was a horrible, horrible day. It was a day of terror, sadness, and horror. It was also, however, a day of courage, strength, and gratitude.

On September 11, 2001, our country was attacked by terrorists. They flew two airplanes into "the twin towers" in New York City, one airplane into the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and one other airplane, that was believed to have been intended to fly into the White House, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania due to the incredibly brave acts of some men and women on board.

The pictures below show one tower already hit, a second plane flying into the second tower, and the terrible results of such evil. Thousands of people were killed when the planes struck the buildings, and consequently as the buildings collapsed. In addition to those killed who were working in the towers, many emergency personnel, primarily firefighters, who were already inside the towers trying to save and rescue others, were killed, as well. 

 It was a sad, sad day in American history. It still makes me cry to see pictures or think about that day. Your daddy was actually in the Boston area on a business trip. I was teaching Kindergarten in Knoxville. It was my job, since the incident happened early in the morning, to protect the innocence of the children in my classroom. To proceed as though nothing was wrong, and to reassure when they sensed something was "off" with the day, was a struggle. God gave all of us strength that day, though, and we made it through. 

At home that day, I don't think I'd ever felt so alone. I was terrified about your dad being so close to the area that was attacked, and worried about how he would get home... surely not an airplane?! Luckily, he was able to drive his rental car home the next day with others who were ready to get back to their families, too. I was scared enough, and I was hundreds of miles away from the attacks themselves, but my country, my fellow citizens had been attacked, wounded, & killed, and I could not imagine such terror and sorrow.

Ten years later, the horror and sorrow of that day are still very vivid. In the place of one of the towers, though, is a beautiful memorial water feature (pictured below). There are also memorials placed at the Pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania. 

September 11, 2001: We Will Never Forget

God Bless America!

Callie is two!

Today our Callie Jewel is two-years-old! I''m not sure I can even put into words how special she is or how much we love her. She is pure joy every day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CALLIE JEWEL!

We celebrated her birthday today with cake with our family, plus grandparents & great-grandparents. She also opened her presents from our family. She had so much fun! She enjoyed her cake, and loved opening her presents. She wanted to play with all her new toys, and try on all her new clothes (each one on top of the other! ha!). 

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Callie Jewel

Some pictures I took of Callie in the backyard the day before her 2nd birthday :)

Tiger, too

Callie, aka Cade's "mini-me", wanted to try being a tiger, too :)

New Nephew

Sail Avery Via

9/2/11 7:50pm

8 lb, 6 oz, 19.5 in

 So excited to have this new baby boy as part of our family :)

When we went to visit him, I couldn't get over his blonde hair! And, at this point anyway, he favors my brother. The kids were super-excited to meet Sail, and couldn't get enough of holding him, even Callie. She kept saying, "Baby seepy. Baby bed."
Such a sweet baby, loved by all already :)