AWANA Cubbies

The kids have joined an AWANA club. They are in the Cubbies group and have already memorized several verses.

Guitar Lessons

Hud is finally doing something to contribute to the family grocery fund. Here he is giving lessons to one of his students, Molly.

Sweet Germs

That's what Hud says to Han as they're nodding off to sleep. Here's a pic of Hud taken awhile ago. He wanted to sleep with his turtle step stool that his great grandpa made. Turtles sleep on their backs too don't they? Hud made sure he was covered with a blankie.

Her Song!!!!

Han just came running up to me with a small toy in her hand looking like she'd just won the lottery. "Mom, this has my song!!! Mom, this has my song!!!," she said. She held up the toy, pressed it's button and out came, "A,B,C,D,E,F,G......" Who would have ever thought to put HER song in toy geared for pre-schoolers!!?

They're Definitely Different

I try not to characterize or label the twins, so as not to have an effect on their budding personalities, but Han is definitely the brave one of the two! Last night she saw bungie jumping for the first time and was begging to do it. Russ said that's one thing he'd never do, and asked her why she wanted to. "Because I've nevuh done it befoe," she says. That is totally her! Can't ever push her high enough on the swing. Hud on the other hand is our more cautious one. When he gets into situations where he's unsure of himself he'll say, "I'm just a little bit nuhvous, Mom," or if he doesn't want to venture into an unknown area he'll ask, "But who's dunna teep an eye on me?"

Quite the Little Gentleman

Last night one of the single girls that lives in the other side of our duplex came over for a quick visit. As she left, Russ and I told Hud to come on in off the porch so we could close the door. He said, "I'm just dunna walk her out, Dad." He grabbed her hand, and led her to the line that divides our driveways and said "goodnight!"

The Help Around Here is Amazing!

" Two are better than one, for they have a good return for their work" Ecc. says. Not sure if Russ would agree with ol' Solomon in this instance.

Here's my little "Kitchen-Aide" just moments before she decided to try to open the macaroni cheese packet on her own. We lost a whole lot of it on the floor. Good thing Kraft's the cheesiest, or we might have had macaroni and hold the cheese.

Theology From a Three-year-old

A few nights ago I (Russ) heard Hud start crying in the basement. I went down to investigate. Apparently, Han had taken a rubber bug of Hud's and "made it disappear." Translation: she hid it because she knew he wanted it. I pulled her aside, got eye-to-eye with her, and asked why she hid it from him when she knew he wanted it. Her response caught me way off guard, "Well Dad, I...I...I was just tryin'' to concentrate on mysewf." Is that not the definition of selfishness? That should be what appears next to the word in Webster's. I was amazed that she could understand her motive so accurately and articulate it so well. Knowing that her response had me off-guard a little, I quickly ended our little eye-to-eye session with, "Well that is mean and rude and we don't do that to one another in our family. Now get out there and apologize to Hud." Off she ran...

Here's another one on Han..

She likes to use the word "qwickwy" in any sentence she can. "I sure did that qwickwy!" "Qwickwy, Hud were going to miss the..."

Another funny little thing about Hud

One of the funny things I forgot to share about Hud is that he habitually starts his answers to our questions with, "Wehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhll" (Well, ) He'll usually make the "Wellllllll" last awhile as he composes his answer.
He also like to say to people, "Tan I ass you a teshion?" Then instead of asking a question, he'll go into a story that he seems to make up as he goes. This apparently is he main method for starting conversation these days.
He's so toot! (his way of saying 'cute')

They keep us laughing

The kids are constantly picking up little phrases and then appropriately putting them into their conversations. I always have the best intentions of writing them down, but quickly forget. A couple of Han's latest favorites are "ax-yuh-yee" (actually) and "aftuh ah" (after all). For example, she'll say, "Axyuhyee, Mom, I don't want any milk aftuh ah." Or she'll find something helpful, and say, "This-uh do the twick." They like to say, "Impwessive," or "that's pwetty impohtent!" The other night I was letting her stir the lemonade we were making for dinner and she declared, "I'm willy getting the hang of this, huh Mom!" She also likes to "make mappointments for us."

Hud has picked up this one from Little Einsteins... "I can NOT BEE-leive it!!"

About the last day of camping I was snuggling with Hud and said, "Boy you really need a bath, you haven't had one for a week." He looked up at me completely serious and said, "What's a bath?"

Our Budding Musicians

Here's a little impromptu concert.

A little Putt Putt

Han had a lot of fun, but probably is not going to make us rich on the tour.
Hud's a natural. He calls himself "Tiguh Woods." (Apparently he saw Tiger on t.v. and remembered his name!) Warning: Don't stand behind Hud after his putt, he has great follow through. (kind of like a tee off swing)

Camping with the Kohl's

Our family vacation this summer was in the Pecos Wilderness of New Mexico. Mom and Dad lent us their 5th wheel, which made "camping" a little more bearable with 3 year olds. Some of our good friends came up to stay a night with us.

Meet Brianne and Andy.... she's a labor and delivery nurse, and he kicks... really... he kicked for NMSU and now does kicking and punting camps in the summer. He also is a teacher, and just became the college minister at the church Russ attended while in college.

We took a little hike with the kids along some questionable trails. Russ was leading us to the perfect spot to have our "church" on Sunday.





Here's Hud taking his guitar playing very seriously during church.
We were all trying not to giggle at him as he tapped his foot and raised the right side of the guitar up to hit a few notes.
A couple of camping princesses.


Here are the knights saving one of the princesses.


The Kohls taught us to play our latest favorite game... Settlers of Catan!
We really loved having them come see us!

A Couple of Socks and a Cardboard Box

Amazing how much entertainment a cardboard box provides for kids!

First it was a clubhouse, then a canvas for markers, and finally, it became the stage for puppet shows.

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

After clicking the "play" button, and allowing it to load, click the "Party On" knob to see the slide show.

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

We're raising a Fashion Diva!!!!

Here we have the latest in summer apparel... Lets start with your favorite tee that says, "Rodeo Girl." Pair it with a floral pink skirt that doesn't really match the pink rodeo shirt, but that doesn't matter, because it won't show when you're done with the outfit. Next, add a little lavender leotard number that has some purple toole for a skirt and on top tie a cute little grass skirt. For some extra "BAM," wear your winter blue with red and yellow striped tights, and a versatile and comfortable pair of hot pink moon boots!!! Oh, I almost forgot, accessorize with red beads, only found at Crab town restaurant.
Poor Hud, he's been swamped with what he calls his "papuhwork." He likes to carry it around in buckets, seems to be easier to manage this way.
Yes, he insisted that he had all of it with him in his seat, so he could get some of it finished.
Apparently, thanks to Bob The Builder and Handy Manny, my kids know what to do with this pipe wrench they found in the garage.

The Tanganyika Wildlife Park

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

A 7/7/07 Wedding

We attend a church with the word "Community" in it. I'm proud to say that the body of believers we live life with really does "community" well. When I was on bed rest for 8 weeks before the twins were born, I lost count of how many times someone from church came to clean my toilets. And I think we got over 4 months of meals during that time as we transitioned into parenthood.... All that to say, it's been my turn for awhile to repay the body now that our lives are much more manageable.

This weekend I (along with a friend from my Bible study) was blessed to get to serve a couple by doing the flowers for their wedding.

Their story is really sweet, as they just "happened" to meet while working overseas for one of our affiliate companies. Both were working in separate highly restricted areas, and met at a general meeting for all the workers.

The ceremony was extremely special! One of the best... but the wedding as a whole was not without its major hiccups!! ...

Thursday when I went to Sam's to pick up the flowers, they did not have any of the flowers we wanted. This was despite the fact that we had been reassured multiple times that there was no need to special order, as they always have plenty of what we needed. Needless to say, I was scrambling, and ended up cutting a lot of greenery from neighbors and friends.

The day before the wedding, the bridesmaids dresses were nowhere to be found... the seamstress had disappeared! The bride had to make a "last minute run" to David's bridal to buy new dresses, and several ladies stayed up half the night to alter them. The next day, the original dresses arrived, FedEx'ed... the seamstress had gone on vacation and taken them with her to finish them.

Lastly, the wedding cake was delivered to the wrong country club, but was apparently located and tasted great!!

Good thing flowers, dresses and cake aren't really that important to a wedding when you're marrying the person God has for you!

(the pics are a few I shot after we finished. It was so much prettier with the candles lit, and all the wedding party in place!)

Great day at the zoo!

Yesterday we went to the zoo with Han's friend "Co-wah".

We got to see the new penquin exhibit.

Great pic of Hud, except for the accidental bird that flew into the shot.
No birds here, just my adorable little boy!

The weather was nice and cool, so the animals were a bit more entertaining than usual. This hippo swam over to say "hi" to the kids and opened her huge mouth right under their faces. No kidding, only a small barrier (which was safe), and about 2 1/2 feet from their faces. We also saw a gorilla race toward us and hurl his whole body at the plexiglass. Splat!!!

A fun time was had by all!