Happy Birthday Sam!!

What more can a boy want on his 4th birthday than to wake up to......SNOW!!!!

Happy Birthday Sam! We love you!






Birthday fun continues...



...with presents, always a good thing


...and cake!





Way to go, Sammy!!

The Christmas Program

It is a little known fact about that first Christmas that all the very dapper shepherds wore bow ties...




...and so did one very handsome wise man.

Holidaze....

Why is it that we wait and wait for Christmas all year and then when it finally comes, we make ourselves so busy, so crazy that we miss it! The house is finally decorated, inside and out (or at least as much as it is going to be), the presents are mostly bought, and school is almost over. This is the beginning of my favorite time of year...when the kids are out of school and the craziness is finished and all we have left to do is rejoice, relax and renew our tired spirits. The most amazing gifts of Christmas for me are the pure and innocent belief of my children, the love and laughter of our family together, and the time to enjoy it all. And although we are missing our daddy right now while he works tirelessly on a big case, we look forward to what we know lies ahead....celebrating Sam's birthday, end of school Christmas parties, Daddy finishing his work, and the true beginning of our Christmas time together. I am the one who is always weeping when the church choir sings Oh Come All Ye Faithful, when my children read the story of the birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve and light the advent candles, and when my sweet husband and I get to finally sit on the couch and snuggle with all 4 little ones sleeping, knowing that Santa has come and that there is peace in our home and in our hearts. It seems appropriate that my first posting on this amazing blog that Ames so sweetly put together for me is about Christmas. Love to him and to all my precious babies, and thanks to God for the incredible gift of his Son, without which, I wouldn't get to experience this magic.

Hutton Dialogues, Part Two

highs and lows.....

sammy: my high is that i got to sing in my christmas program and my low is that i wanted the toy that preston had at school.

jack: i have no lows, only 3 highs. first, my high is right now. my 2nd high is that i have no homework all week. and my last high is....i don't remember anymore.

will: mine are just the same as jack's

jack: yours can't be the same. you don't have any homework.

will: i know. i'm happy that you don't and i can't remember the other one either.

the end

(Ed. note: We do "highs and lows" at dinner every night so that the family can share the favorite and least favorite parts of our days. Cathy was particularly tickled by this one.)

Hutton Dialogues, Part One

jack: mom i have a joke for you

mom: ok

jack: why do fish not like to play tennis?

mom: why?

jack: because they get caught in the net. doyagetit. ido. (said all together..very quickly)

mom (laughing): yea, i get it. good one.

sammy: mom, i have a joke for you

mom: you do? what is it?

sammy: why do fish not like ennis?

mom: why?

sammy: cause they are caught in the nets. do ya get it?

mom: yea, i get it. do you get it?

sammy: no.......(long pause) not really. what's a ennis?

the end

Lucky 21

Twenty-one years ago tonight, I had my first ever date with the love of my life--my wife, Cathy. We were sophmores in high school, we went to see Cinderella (I was so romantic then) and then went to a Christmas party. I was lucky then and remain lucky now to have such a wonderful, loving, blind-to-my-many-faults, patient, beautiful woman be a part of my life and the mother of our children. While it may say something about her judge of character that she accepted my plea to go on that first date, I am glad that she said yes then...and again 7 years later to marry me...and that she's still with me tonight.

Cat--I love you now and always will.

Trees, Plants and Money

Jack brought home one of his school assignments yesterday. It was a very creative booklet he'd prepared called "Thanks for Thanksgiving! By Jack" The front was decorated with an expertly colored turkey, fall leaves, and various appropriate comments such as "not very cold" and "best turkey."

Inside, Jack had three lists--presumably of things he's thankful for--that were so great that I had to post them just as he wrote them:

PEOPLE
-- Mom/Dad
-- Teacher (Mrs. Ratliff)
-- GOD
-- SS Teacher
-- Jack W. (firend)
-- Matt (firend)
-- Me
-- Graham (firend)

PLACES
-- School
-- Home
-- Stores
-- Abretum
-- North Carlina
-- forest
-- Aston
-- W.C. Stateyom

THINGS
-- Trees
-- Plants
-- Money
-- Backpacks
-- Food
-- Animal
-- Water
-- Leaves

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, we're home from a long but fun day at Mimi and Big Mike's house and watching the second half of the Texas-a&m game. The kids had a great day with Tita, Uncle Andy, Uncle Jason, and the afore-mentioned grandparental units. Sitting here enjoying the Longhorn domination of the poor aggies, I'm thinking of all the things that we have to be thankful for.


We have a wonderful family. We have incredible friends. We live in a fantastic neighborhood, our kids go to great schools, and we have more material things than we need. We're thankful for our health. We are thankful that we live in a countery where we can say what we want, worship as we believe, and have more freedom than most people can responsibly have. We're thankful for our newest friend, Mr. John, who spent literally all day here yesterday installing our new U-verse and wireless internet service. (Trivial, but very true.)

This morning, without being prompted, Sammy told us "I'm thankful for Mommy and Daddy." While in the hustle and bustle of everyday life we don't always acknowledge this as we should, we are thankful for the greatest gift and responsibility we could ever have--our children.

Woodchip

At dinner last night, the kids were very excited about the prospect of staying up "late" to watch the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special. Will especially was very vocal about remembering the special from last year and sharing his favorite parts. I thought that Cat was going to laugh until she peed when Will told her about two of his favorite characters from the show: "You know, Snoopy and Woodchip."

What a wonderful world it would be if everyone had a friend like Woodchip!

From the mouths of babes...

I am constantly amazed by what our kids pick up on, especially figures of speech or mannerisms they observe in adults. A few days ago, I had the unusual pleasure of driving alone with Sam and listening to him without the normal din and cry of his siblings. We were stopped at a light, and all of a sudden Sam--in a very grown up voice--says, "Dad, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

It was all I could do to not laugh, both at his grown up tone and at what he asked. After stifling my giggle, I answered "I don't know, Sammy, what are you thinking?"

Sam paused, evidently thinking about what he was supposed to be thinking about, and finally exclaimed "SNOOPY!"

Needless to say, I was not thinking about Snoopy but I was glad that his sweet, precious little mind didn't have anything more serious to think about than Snoopy.

Appreciation

A friend recently gave us a pomegranate, and the kids were asking us about it at the dinner table. Cathy gave a very descriptive, informative answer and at the end, sweet Jack said "Mommy, I didn't ask that question, but I sure liked your answer!"

Jack's new glasses

After an eye-opening trip to the eye doctor on Friday, Jack got his first pair of glasses over the weekend! He looks very grown up--I didn't recognize him the first time I saw him with the new specs! Jack is very excited about having them and wearing them to school for the first time on Tuesday!

Happy Birthday Uncle Sambow!

Artwork by Jack

The Whitest Guy I Know

Please go to www.wfaa.com/gospel and check out our good friend (and Annie's godfather) Jae Ellis on the Union Cathedral video on this week's Channel 8 Gospel Jubilee. If the spirit moves you, as it's clearly moved Jae in this video, please vote for Union Cathedral in this week's contest. Good luck to Jae, Pastor Richie, and our friends at Union Cathedral!

PS--Congrats to Richie for recently being named as one of SMU's Distinguished Alumni!

Little Ears

The kids were recently in the car with Cathy. While stopped at a stop light, Will became very concerned and whispered to Cathy, "Mommy, I see a bad word."

"What bad word do you see, honey?"

"I can't tell you, it's a bad word and I'll get in trouble." Five year old logic is irrefutable.

"That's OK, Will, I'm asking you to tell me. You won't get in trouble. What bad word do you see?"

Will looked around, and very quietly whispered "Gashole," pointing at the gas station on the corner where they were stopped and referring to the person filling his tank.


Struggling to keep her laughter in, Cathy responded "Willie, why do you think that's a bad word?"

Will explained that he'd recently been riding in the car with a certain grandparental-type who called another driver a "gashole," and that particular driver later had to explain to all the kids that word was not appropriate for use by or around children. It just goes to show you that you always have to be careful what you say around these little ears, because they pick up EVERYTHING!