wordless wednesday

BIG and EXCITING news at our house!

today, i got THE call....oh yes i did....THE call, from my first born....THE call, telling me....that i am going to have a son-in-law..... my baby girl, my bookie two shoes, my little lamb, my brit-brit, IS GETTING MARRIED!!! OH MY, we must get busy...WE HAVE A WEDDING TO PLAN....and knowing my girl, it will be very interesting, very unique, not traditional, but very BRITNEY...if you know her then you know exactly what i am talking about.....oh how i love my unique & artsy girl. if you don't follow her blog then you MUST. she has been blogging for a little while but would rarely post but recently she has been posting more often....and now that she IS GETTING MARRIED she will be posting all about her wedding and it's preparations....it will for sure be interesting. hop on over HERE and congratulate my girl and show her a little love :-)! britney is in canada with her *FIANCE* right now and probably won't be blogging but she will be back after the first of the year, so stay tuned.

oh yeah...about my future son-in-law....love love LOVE him!!! michael is the PERFECT man for britney....if i could have hand picked a husband for my girl, i would have picked him in a heart beat! i love you so much michael, i am going to be the BEST mother-in-law EVER!

i know i am way premature saying this because it will probably be a while before i have grandchildren, but man, they will be GORGEOUS!!!

Thank you Shelby!

hayden's girlfriend, shelby came today for a visit. we always love when shelby comes! she gave max and viv bendaroos for Christmas, the kids have been seeing these on tv for sometime and every time viv sees the commercial she wants them....it's just up her artsy alley! actually, we have all been enjoying them. shelby said she got them at bed bath and beyond, i know Christmas is over but valentines day is right around the corner and if you have a little one or a big one that loves to create, you might want to get a box or two.

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thank you so much shelby! and thank you jan (shelby's mom) for the DELICIOUS breads!

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christmas day in photos

when vivi and max woke, the table was set and ready to PARTY! we sang happy birthday to Jesus, ate vivi's yummy cake and opened presents.

the bigs are so great! they are always so willing to participate and even wear party hats.

she got so excited about a package of gummies.

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and after lunch we opened a few more.

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we took vivi and max to everything's a dollar and let them pick out anything they wanted to give us and their brothers and sister. they had a ball choosing the "perfect" gift for each one....we had a ball opening the gifts and seeing what they chose.

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i think this was the highlight of our opening gifts....we were all in stitches!

hayden got a very short stick horse from viv and a

#1 finger from max.

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mark got a very short stick horse from max and a package of birthday cups from viv.

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britney got a package of toy story stickers from max and a penguin statue from vivi.

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Then.....

the wonder pets were off to save the day!

our christmas eve

this was one that i will never forget. this year started a new Christmas eve tradition for our family. we went to greet and serve the homeless at a banquet held in their honor. the soupmobile started the Christmas angel project 5 years ago, and is held at the hyatt regency hotel. five hundred homeless men and women walked a red carpet when they first arrived and again on their way to the banquet room. there were many people there to shake their hands, give them hugs and wish them a merry Christmas. vivi tried hard to shake all 500 hands. if a person walked by and they had their hands in their pockets she would pull their hand out and shake it....she looked up at them and said, "God bless you". max shook hands too but not quite as exuberantly as viv :-). i saw many of the men and women with tears running down their faces in thanksgiving....not only for a warm bed and nice meal but also for the many that came out to support them, we were told many times, "thank you so much for being here". i was completely humbled! this experience was life changing for me, it definitely puts things in perspective. i am so thankful paul was able to get off work so we could be a part of this. i didn't bring my camera but a friend that went with us brought hers and she got some great pictures. i'll be posting those pictures as soon as i get them from her.

when we got home, we got ready for the candlelight service at our church, then when we came home from the service, dadda and viv made the cupcakes for our Christmas morning birthday party. we ate a snack supper and opened a few presents, put on our new Christmas pajamas and snuggled into our warm beds, a whole lot more thankful than ever before. this was the BEST Christmas eve i have ever had!

luke 2 - the christmas story, by max

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:: be sure and turn the music off on my sidebar ::

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there is room at the inn.

tomorrow is the 5th annual soupmobile christmas angel project. thanks to the soupmobile and the hyatt regency in dallas there will be 500 homeless people that will get to sleep in a warm bed on the holiest of nights, they will be given a new suit of clothes, a backpack full of necessities, and they will be given a banquet in their honor.

our family is honored to be a part of this event. we will get to the hyatt in the morning and get ready to greet them on as they walk the red carpet and then serve them at the banquet. it's a time for these people to feel loved and cared for.

in addition to this annual event, founder of the soupmobile david timothy (a.k.a. the soupman) serves around 600 meals daily. a standard meal might include a hot bowl of soup and a hearty ham and cheese sandwich, also each person receives a bag of chips, a banana, a refreshing drink, and a piece of pie for dessert.

david timothy founded the soupmobile in 2003. his vision was to start a traditional soup kitchen where the homeless could come to eat.

however, after assessing the needs of our homeless population, david realized that a mobile soup kitchen would be more effective. because the homeless have limited access to transportation, the soupman serves meals to them where they gather.

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if you would like to find out more about the soupmobile or donate go HERE.

CONGRATULATIONS mark!!

saturday my sweet boy graduated from texas tech university. mark we are so proud of you! we love you so very much!

go red raiders!

day 21....

of our count down to christmas was cookie making day. we ask lil' abby to come join us...viv and max ADORE her! christmas time would just not be the same without the smell of molasses gingersnaps baking in the oven. i pretty much let them do it all...they had a fun MESSY time!

let it snow....let it snow....let it snow.

aunt erma's molasses gingersnaps

3/4 cup vegetable shortening

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 large egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup sugar (reserved)

in a large bowl cream together, shortening, brown sugar, molasses, and egg. in a different bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. gradually add the dry ingredients as you mix them together. roll them into little balls about the size of a whole walnut or golf ball. roll the ball in the reserved sugar. place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 in a pre-heated oven for 8 to 9 minutes.

ENJOY!

who needs G.P.S.?

....not me because i have M.A.X.! today we went to the christmas tree farm with vivi's class. max and i followed the bus. it was in the country and there were several turns. i of course, as always, didn't pay attention to where we were going.

when the class was getting ready to leave, i decided to go ahead and leave before the bus. i didn't think about that i didn't know my way back until i got to a T in the road....was it going to be right or left??? i called paul on the phone hoping he knew the area well enough to tell me which way to turn....well he didn't, he gets on the computer and started looking up the county road numbers. max overheard our conversation and he starts saying, "go RIGHT mom....go RIGHT, we went by there when you were chasing the bus"...i remembered "chasing" the bus but that was it. i told paul, max is saying go right so let me see if he can get us out of here. the next turn, then the next turn and the next, he told me to turn either right or left. he got me to the highway. my own personal GPS got me out of the boon-docks. THANKS MAX!!!


here is a picture from the hayride at the tree farm.

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our advent calendar countdown

advent: a time of expectance and waiting and preparation for the celebration of Jesus.

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we are having fun as we count down to the BIG celebration!
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i'll soon be posting some of our advent activities.

i am the proud mom to MR. BIG CHIEF!

hayden attends dallas baptist university, every year dbu present MR BIG CHIEF. it is a "pageant" for guys, and is the biggest event on campus, the auditorium was packed full with about 1500 students, faculty, parents and friends. there were 6 contestants, each young man had to compete in three categories, swim wear, talent and formal wear. each contestant choreographed each of their own categories. every time hayden came on stage max and viv would yell HAYDEN...HAYDEN...HAYDEN. It was a fun night of comic entertainment! all 6 guys that were competing did GREAT job and were so funny....but only one could be crowned MR. BIG CHIEF and it would be MY son.

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hayden all those years being the class clown has paid off! if only your pre-school, elementary, intermediate, jr, high and high school teachers and principles realized at the time, you were just preparing for your big debut, i'm sure they would have understood and been totally supportive of your attention-drawing, entertaining, joking around, funny acts and antics self. oh my the apple doesn't fall far :-).

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YOU HAVE ONCE AGAIN MADE YOUR MAMA PROUD!!!

hayden is in the blue t-shirt.

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hayden is in the fig leaves (he is adam, as in adam and eve...see video below).

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the crowning moment....

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he may be MR. BIG CHIEF but he will always be bubba hayden to vivi and max.

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shelby and hayden....she must really like him a lot to let me take her picture with him wearing that :-).

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MR. BIG CHIEF in all his splendor.

:: videos are below so be sure and turn my music off on my sidebar ::

hayden in swim wear: the guys in blue shirts symbolize water and hayden is moses and parts the waters.




hayden's talent: i missed recording the first part but he is on the phone ready to tell the one he loves his true feelings about her....his love is dbu's campus nurse.




hayden in formal wear: he is adam.




presenting MR. BIG CHIEF 2009: i guess i didn't record the crowning moment.



hayden will host next years MR. BIG CHIEF....i'm sure it will be HILARIOUS!