Traveling, talking, teaching and trying new things

We have really been trying to make the most of our Christmas break. While on break we have enjoyed seeing family, rested, relaxed, ate tons of goodies, and played with all of the new toys we received for Christmas.

Our first adventure led us to Houston to visit Justin's side of the family. It was a full house with Aunt Linda and Uncle Steve, Grandmother and Granddaddy-o, The Moddelmog family, the Archer family, the Key family. Britni and John were able to make it for our last night in Houston.

It was so wonderful to see everyone and have the kids spend time together.

I didn't get many pictures of our time in Houston, but the few that I took really show how much fun the kids had playing together. We took them to an awesome Christmas program, made a Gingerbread man hunt for presents, played "Uncle Sam, Uncle Sam" in the back yard, and took a few trips to the neighborhood park.

It was a long drive home, but we made it in one day (THANKS, Justin!). We wanted to make it home so we could spend Christmas eve and day with our fabulous family of four. I spent time on Christmas eve making good food and wrapping presents. The boys were getting really excited about the upcoming events!! After all was said and done, we cleaned up nice and neat to head to Christmas eve service at FUMC. When we returned home, we all opened one gift (new pj's), and quickly headed to bed (or at least the boys did).

Santa was really good to all of us! The boys enjoyed all of their gifts. Russell's gifts fell more on the artistic side of things, while Wilson's gifts followed a trend of sports (big surprise) with a little Toy Story 3 mixed in.

I hope you and your family had a peaceful and enjoyable Christmas. Much love to all of our family and friends.

Unca Ryan and Aunt Shannon come to visit

We had another wonderful set of visitors recently. My brother, Ryan, and his wonderful wife, Shannon, came all the way from Chicago to see us. We filled the weekend with LOTS of events, but truth be told, I think we could have filled it with just the boys.

Friday: Their flight came in about 10, so all of us loaded up in the van to make the trip to XNA. The boys entertained themselves while waiting by acting like monsters crashing a toy house in the baggage area. What can I say? Boys will be boys. We came back to the Fort and had a nice lunch at Chedders. I think Shannon was appalled at Ryan's choice of Chicken Fried Steak, but she tried it like a good sport. Once we made it to the house the boys were relentless in their pursuit of playing with our guests. I think it is safe to say that everyone was WORN OUT by early afternoon. Justin had to scout a game (we had a bye week), and the weather was nice, so we decided to grill some tasties. The boys were happy to share their new movie, Toy Story 3, with Aunt Shannon.

Saturday: The boys and I woke up fairly early. Wilson complained of a stomach ache and claimed the only remedy was cinnamon rolls. He waited patiently for them to finish cooking and devoured 3 on his own. Once everyone else woke up, I fixed another round of cinnamon rolls and promptly banned the younger people from eating them all. (They must be going through a growth spurt!!) Ryan, Shannon, Wilson , and I made a quick run to Academy Sports for Hog gear. Of course, while we were there, Wilson found a Rebel colored football that he just HAD to have. Uncle Ryan was very nice to buy it for him (even if it was for us to take to the game later). Ms. Macy made it to the house to hang out with the boys while the adults made another trek up the hill for the Hog game. We had a blast tailgating at Pratt Farm, and the Hogs won in honor of Shannon. Once we made it back home, we all got out our competitive belts for a quick game of Cranium. Do you even need to ask who won? THE GIRLS!!

Sunday: We decided to take Ryan and Shannon to a really nice breakfast at our favorite stomping grounds--IHOP. I think the funniest comment of the weekend was Ryan saying, "Man, it is hard to take kids to breakfast. I am used to getting a paper and not saying anything to anyone." Yep, big bro, kids put a kink in those plans. Sunday was pretty much lounging, laundry, playing with the kids, and napping. We had to leave about 2:30 to make one last trip up the hill to the airport. After we saw Uncle Ryan and Aunt Shannon off safely, me and the boys drove safely back to our quiet home to enjoy the rest of our evening.

It was such a wonderful weekend (even if it was terribly short). The boys can't wait for the next time they see their "best buddies". Russell claims every time he gets mad at me that he is going to get on a plane and go live with Ryan and Shannon in Chicago. My typical response is "You would never make it in that cold. "

Spooktacular Day

Unlike most towns around, Fort Smith kept the Halloween Festivities on actual Halloween this year. It kinda put a kink in our fun-filed day as the coaches work for most of the day. However, Jeff was kind enough to let the coaches have 5:30-7:30 with their candy crazed children. THANKS!!
Russell, Wilson, and I started our afternoon with the Fimples at FUMC for their carnival. It was held in the FLC and consisted of games, bouncy houses, candy, candy and more candy. It was a really great way to warm up to the idea of people in costumes. In case you aren't aware, Wilson has a huge fear of strange people wearing strange outfits. He did really well, considering there were some seriously scary costumes there.





After we won all the games, took all the candy, and feasted on all the popcorn and soda we could, we headed to SHS to pick up the daddies. Sonic was running a special on corn dogs, so we swung by and picked up dinner to eat before Trick-or-Treating. We met the Fimples (+Keith) at a park in a local neighborhood, and we all ate some really healthy food. To maximize the short time we had we preplanned where we would visit. One of the neighborhoods is known for giving out full sized candy bars, and we had hunted this area last year. Let's just say the kids really racked up on loot!! A fun time was had by everyone involved. Now if I can just keep myself out of the bag of goodies.

Papa T's Halloween Extravaganza

This past weekend was the party to end all other parties. If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting "Papa T" then I feel so sorry for you. This man (who is the dad of a coach) puts on a great show for all of the kids. I am talking about HUGE blowup houses and slides. He requires costumes, but he provides great prizes for them. He thinks of the most inventive games to play, and the party always ends with the kids filling up their pumpkin baskets with TONS of candy. This year The Stewarts and The Keys went with the group theme of "Grease". We thought it was fitting--the boys could all be "tough T-Birds", and Leslie and I could be sassy Pink Ladies. Leslie is a very talented seamstress, and she took on the job of making our sexy poodle skirts. We won "Best Over All 3rd place", but I think we could have stolen the show if Tadd hadn't messed up "The Hand Jive" during judging. Leslie was Frenchie (duh--she sprayed her hair pink), and I was Rizzo (you can't see the hickey I drew on my neck). Needless to say we had a great time despite the torrential down pour. We are already planning next year's costumes. Any ideas?

In case you didn't hear

Just in case you missed the news. . .

I mean this is really big news. . .

It really changed the way we saw things at our house. . .

It will probably change the way we see things for a while. . .

Our house was pretty crazy for a while after we "found out". . .

Can you guess what it is?


No , probably not.

I really don't know why you are even trying!

Okay, I will put you out of your misery.

We. . . are. . . going. . .

TO THE PLAYOFFS! AGAIN!!

*hysterical laughter from Hillary*
Oh, I am sorry, did you think I was about to say something else?
Seriously though, we beat Har-ber, who were undefeated and ranked in the nation. I am so proud of the Rebels!! Our of our 6 seasons in Fort Smith this will be our 4th time to go to the playoffs!! My heart swells with pride!

Great times with Grandparents

Grandpa Ralph and Nana came to visit in early October. It was such a wonderful visit for everyone. Unfortunately, Wilson was running a temperature the whole weekend, but that didn't stop him from getting some good G-rent love. They arrived on Thursday afternoon and stayed till we left for work on Monday morning. We didn't really do anything spectacular (hint--fever), but we had really special time here at the house chatting. I was only able to catch a few pics of the whole weekend. Some are cute and some are silly (but still cute). We really don't get to see them often enough.

The Pumpkin Patch

Today we decided to have a family adventure to the Wild Things Farm and Pumpkin Patch. We were joined by the Stewart family as well. I heard about this wonderful place through our Kindergarten teachers. They take the whole all of the Kindergarten students each year. I wasn't sure what to expect, but when I looked at the website it looked pretty cool. We made the executive decision NOT to do the corn maze (thank goodness for me and my claustrophobia!).

As soon as we arrived we were surprised by goats, pigs, and roosters! Someone had invented a very awesome way to feed the goats (they like to climb up these ladders like things). Of course we had to try it out!

Then we found a cow milking simulator. It was a wooden cut-out of a cow that had the "instruments" you could pull on to milk. It was actually hooked up to a water hose, but the boys thought it was hilarious!!

There were also little games the kids could play like duck races (with real water pumps) and pig races. You had to turn the pigs tail to get the numbered pigs to race. Wilson was not pleased that he couldn't figure out how to work the game. He also hadn't had a nap before we left, so EVERYTHING was a battle. Just check out the mean face he is making!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the corn shooter. It was a neat contraption that they stuffed corn down, and you could shoot the corn cobs at targets in a field. I think the grown boys had more fun with this game than the younger ones!

Next up was picking pumpkins. I wanted the boys to each get a small pumpkin that we could paint, one large pumpkin for carving (closer to Halloween), and I wanted some fall decorative items for the front porch. I would say were were successful.

Russell picked the Jack-o-lantern pumpkin, and he did a fine job. I think we can turn it into something extremely spooky.

Wilson found the largest pumpkin out there and declared "This is mine". He was sorely disappointed when I told him it was only for display, and there was no way in the world we were taking it home.

The boys found a "fort" to storm, and they were quite hilarious acting like they had conquered the world.

We were also able to take a good fall family picture while were there. And a funny one with Russell as a farmer on a tractor.