Happy Birthday, Unka Dosh!

This one goes out to one of our favorite uncles.... Unka Dosh!! Yes, we love him, and can't wait to see him soon! Josh is a super brother and uncle to us!! We think he's pretty fun, and we're glad that he married into our family! Hope you have a super birthday, Josh!! We love you!

Trick or Treat!!

This year, the kids wanted to be a Fahman and a Pincess. So, a day or two before the big day, I got out my sewing machine, and whipped up a little Pincess dwess. Then I went to Goodwill and struck it rich with a 99 cent yellow slicker for Hud. It was about 5 sizes too big, so I cut it up, and put it all back together with some clear packing tape. Then we decorated it with some red reflector tape. Since we already had the hat, all we need were some boots and a pail, which we found around the house. On the way to trick or treat at Daddy's office, I saw someone's trash can had a garden hose sticking out of it, so I pulled a "u-ie" and stole it!

After all the prep, we managed to have a Happy Halloween, and got a lot of candy!!"O.K. Hud, when they open the door, you yell "FIRE" and point into the house, then I'll grab their candy bowl and make a run for it."

I'm sure you're all wondering what Han's secret is for making such a beautiful pincess. Well, you'll be shocked to know...under all that pink fluff, at her insistence, she's wearing her brother's Scooby Doo underoos!! No joke!!

Eyeliner is a great substitute for soot!

Cooperation please! Just look at me, and stand still for one second.

A fireman's job is never done! Just minutes after returning, Hud had a few fires to put out in his own home!!

Blogging Birthday Wishes to Gamma!

For the first time in years, we were with my mom for her birthday. Even though Dad was sick, we still managed to celebrate with some yummy, Mexican food at Leal's Restaurant. The kids were a bit puzzled by the loud, clapping, and singing when they brought out fried ice cream for their Gamma.
Mom's 55 with the energy of a 25 year old. She's a super Grandma, Super Mom and a Super Wife. She's very involved in her church, and with lots of youth around the area. She's a great cook, and can "throw down a mean breakfast." As Rusty says.

Mom has a continual hunger for the Word, and is always reading a book about how to know, love and worship the Lord. I'm grateful for the spiritual heritage she has created for me and my children!

Hud and Han think she's the greatest. To them, it's always about time for us to go see her, or for her to come see us!
We love you, Mom and Gamma!!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Meli

Here's a big, "Happy Birthday" going all the way to Alaska for our wonderful sister-in-law, Melissa!! We continue to be amazed by her. Currently she's in Alaska chasing my brother around while he fulfills a lifetime dream to hunt and fish for everything possible. What amazes us though, is that she jumps right in and joins him on his adventures, usually bringing home the larger kill, and manages to look like a supermodel while doing it.

Wish we could be there to celebrate with you! We love you, Meli!!!

(While I do mean everything I just said, as you can see by the picture below, I was under some, shall we say "pressure" to say something nice.)
(Of course I'm kidding! This is just another one of her supermodel shots. No pun intended!)

Adoption Blog

We've put a new post on our adoption blog: www.our-china-doll.blogspot.com. Grab a tissue and check it out!!!

National Lampoon's New Mexico Vacation

What started out to be a week of vacationing and seeing family, turned out to be a week of vacationing and seeing family, as well as a broken vehicle, that didn't even make it back with us, and a few nasty bugs that caused fever and throw up. Other than that, we had a great time with family. The following posts are some of the highlights of our trip. Enjoy!!

Family, start your engines!!

Although Mom and Hud never let up on the gas, they were just no match for Dad and Han. Especially because they kept cutting us off at the corners, and bumping them wasn't helping.

PaPaw still has some speed in him! Hud quickly figured out that his steering wheel had nothing to do with where the go-cart actually went. On the next race, he wanted to be in the drivers seat!

Aunt Su and MiKay are in the lead here.

Even though Grandma D has been banned from rollerskating, she still manages to roll on the wild side pretty regularly!

Real Cowboys Now!

Hud's been dying to ride a horse for a long time now, so when we saw these pony rides, he went into cowboy mode. PaPaw even let him wear one of his cowboy hats. Surprisingly, once we got to the horses, Hud wasn't letting anyone talk him into riding. Thankfully, there was a veteran pony person there, who eased Hud into his ride. Whew! We were starting to wonder if he was going to make a Cowboy after all. "Red" was a good little horse for a boy's first ride!

Now he's riding!!! You look good on a horse, Hud!

Han, on the other hand, was the first in the coral, and the first on her horse. She marched out there like she'd been in the saddle before!

Her horse's name was, "Lady," pretty fitting for two little ladies! She's even getting the rodeo princess wave down!!

PaPaw's cabin

Most of our time with Russ's family was spent in the mountains in PaPaw's beautiful log home. Here's Hud with his cousin, Cade. We're all glad that Hud will have a boy around.
Cade, and our bro-in-law who is also named, Russ.

Han followed MiKay around like a little puppy the whole time.

Hud and Gent's had fun together too!

Here's PaPaw with all the kiddos minus baby Cade.

The cousins!! They're going to have lots of fun together in the years to come!! Thanks PaPaw and Grandma D for all of the fun and food!

Go ACU Cowboys!!!

On the way into New Mexico, the kids and I met family in Canyon, TX to watch my cousin, Caleb play football. (Russ had a speaking engagement, and wasn't able to stay for the game).

Caleb plays for Abilene Christian, who was undefeated and ranked #20 that night. They played the West Texas A&M Buffs who were also undefeated and ranked #6. You could just feel the tension!!!

Hud sat like this on Grandpa's lap most of the game. He thoroughly enjoyed it!

Here is Caleb's fan club, complete with signs, purple shirts and pom poms. Also there was my Aunt Debbie, Uncle Carlous, and cousin Carly.

Good thing we brought all the paraphenalia, because he scored his first touchdown of the season. If you were watching the game on tv that night you might have seen us go crazy with excitement!

The Cats took the victory when Abilene Christian overcame an early deficit and handed WTAMU its first loss of the season, 49-33, in front of 13,641 fans at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium.

Caleb gets a hug, from his favorite coach and dad, Carlous.

Yea, Caleb!! The kids were pretty amazed/leary of my 6'6" cousin. It was a lot of fun to get to see this big game!

The Fireman and the Arsonist

Saturday was Hud's big, exciting day! His most recent fascination has been with firetrucks and firemen. He loves to sing the song "Hurry, hurry, drive the firetruck," and when he hears the sirens, he'll say, "Somebody, huut!" When I noticed that the fire station down the street was having an open house with "food and fun," I thought that we had better make plans to be there! A couple of days before the big open house, I happened to find a firefighter's helmet at the goodwill store (don't worry about headlice, it was brand new, still had the clear plastic on it). Of course, Hud wore it to the station. On the way, we were talking to the kids about what firemen do... put fires out and save people... do you want to be a fireman someday, Hud?.. "yep!!" Then Han pipes up and says, "I want to put fires IN when I grow up!" As you can see from the pics, we had lots of fun. Hopefully we have a few years to mold Han's future aspirations!