The Outtakes

We took the boys (plus my nephew) up to my Aunt Sue's house the week before Christmas for a little photo shoot.  We wanted some pictures of them, so we armed ourselves with bribes prepared everyone and headed out in hopes of some smiles.

Some background info on the location...Aunt Sue and Uncle Dan (really my great aunt and uncle) live in the house that was Grandaddy Hill's where Uncle Dan and my Pop grew up.  Next door is the garage apartment where most of the Hill family has lived at one point or another.  And I'm not kidding...it's like some sort of launching point...almost the whole family has been a resident of the beloved garage apartment at some point or another.  And it's a whopping 600 square feet.  And up until just a few years ago, you actually still had to go outside and downstairs to get to the bathroom.  Yeah.

As for me, I was born and lived there until I was about 3.  And Kenny and I lived there in between the time when we got married and then moved to Kentucky. 

There's also a little red barn behind the house.  And who can resist a little red barn action in your pictures??

So, the outtakes...despite our pockets full of quarters and fun bag of Dollar Store goodies, we still got a little fight out of them before we got good pictures.  Makes for a good blog though, right?

Real pictures tomorrow.  Promise!

This is his casual stance...

This is his "wonder what that barn tastes like" look...

Dazed and snapping.  Notice the fingers.  He just learned to snap.  He snaps so much that he has literally rubbed the skin off his fingers.

What he did when I asked him to be serious...

Tristan was pretty much done at this point.

He was all the way done here.

If you ask Charlie to smile and don't specify that you want a nice smile, you get the Grinch.

I promise Sam isn't throwing up.

We paid them.  Can you tell they were excited?

It took about 2.3 seconds for them to take off when I said we were done.

A little late...

We've been here, we've been there...I'm fairly certain we've been everywhere.  Except home.

So, here's your Merry Christmas and Happy New Year wishes all wrapped up in one...

And a little preview to a Christmas-time photo shoot...outtakes and the good shots to come shortly...

"Where is my baby sister?!?"

We've been talking lots about our new baby sister, mostly in an effort to get the boys totally used to the idea, before there is another little person wandering around here snatching their toys and adding to the noise level.

I was fairly certain we had made it clear that this process would take a while. 

But I guess Sam missed that memo.

While getting in the car the other day after school, he opened the door, threw out his little hands and exclaimed with a tone of complete disbelief..."Mommy!  Where is my baby sister??"

"Ummm, not here..."  I'm a bit confused.  Does he think I went to Korea while he was at school?

"Well, where did you put her??"

"She's in South Korea, I guess, buddy."

"Why did you put here there??!!"

"Well, it's kinda like you guys...y'all used to live in Ethiopia, but now you live in Kentucky."  Obviously struggling to explain adoption on a 4-year-old level...

"But Mommy, why did you put me in Ethiopia??  I need to live with you!"

OK, so I agree with that.  I need him to live with me, too.  At least until he is 35.

He continued to tell me he really thought his baby sister was gonna be in the car when he got done with preschool for the day.  In a really pitiful-why-would-you-do-this-to-me kinda voice.  Sad.

One day soon, buddy. 

One day soon.

"Everybody went KUNG FU FIGHTING..."

I'm not gonna lie and say I don't totally act like a raging fool sometimes. Ok, ok...most of the time.  But why in the world would you not want to live life laughing and just having a good time...


(video shot and edited by Dwayne!)

Yes, we were playing video games in our pastor's basement with the kids. And yes, I smacked one of my preschoolers in the head. I apologized. No toddlers were harmed in the making of this video.

Sam's Ribbons

"Mommy!  Look at my big ribbons!!"

That's his ribs, in case you don't follow Sam-speak. 

Funniest.  Kid.  Ever.

Well-behaved children and a birthday.

We took these four out to a restaurant last night to celebrate a very special birthday.  A restaurant without french fries and a slide.  Like a sit-down-have-manners-be-quiet-and-wait-for-everyone-else-to-get-done-restaurant.  Dumb, huh?

And our waitress left us this note..."Your family is beautiful!!  Cherish them always!"

Yeah, Emily Post would have been impressed at their show of etiquette and poise.  Ok, so maybe that's stretching it, but they did do a good job.  If you look past Sam attacking his spaghetti and meatballs like he hadn't eaten in weeks.  And no, they don't all belong to me, but I wasn't going to get into that conversation with a stranger..."Yeah, the ones that actually kinda look like me, aren't mine.  These two over here that bear no resemblance to me...they are mine.  Understand?"

Now, back to that very special birthday.

Katie would have been 24 yesterday. 

Some days I can do nothing more than think about you. What you might be doing now...new job? Done with grad school? Engaged? Even married?? Other days, it's almost as if I forget that you aren't here any more. Like my mind has blocked the memory of that horrible week.  Even going as far as picking up my phone to call or text you.  Like I did earlier this week when we had our first snow flakes, which you were always way too excited about.

Just so you know, your nephews talk of you often.  Even think we need to name our new baby sister Katie.  That was Charlie's idea.  He said because I had a sister named Katie, he thinks he should too.

Exploring the McWane Center @ November 2009

You are perfect.  You are whole.  You are healthy.  You can walk.  Heck, you are probably dancing!  Why in the world would you want to come back to this sinful, filthy world when you are dwelling in the house of the Lord??

Can I be happy about that?  Well, it totally sucks.  But I'm doing my best to accept God's plan for your short life as His totally, perfect will.  So while I'm not going to feign happiness, I will be joyful.  For you.

I hope you had a great day, walking those streets of gold and hanging with the big Man.  We celebrated for you yesterday, but I would have way rather celebrated with you...

Happy Birthday, Katie Elizabeth!

Yeah. I'm thankful.

Head on over to The Family Math today where I did a guest post for Misty's Thankful Series.  Misty, Kenny and I attended the great University of Alabama (Roll Tide.) together and I believe actually met when we all ended up at the same church during those years.  Her and her husband now have the cutest little monkey, who in my opinion, is quite the mini-me of his daddy.  Be sure to show the love and leave her a comment...

My very own shephard boy

Sam presented himself in the kitchen one day last week dressed like this.  That’s his pajamas, obviously half on, half off, which he does on a fairly regular basis when he's actually supposed to be getting dressed.  Especially on mornings when we are running late.

This particular morning happened to be one of our days at home, so I didn’t mind as much when he skipped in and boldly declared that he was a shepherd.

We can’t remember Baby Jesus’ mommy and daddy’s name, but we’ve got the whole shepherd thing down pat. 

Now where did those sheep go??

REWIND: Bucket List

In the rush that was the week of Thanksgiving, I skipped over the event that may have made Kenny the happiest this year.  Or second happiest.  The LSU/Alabama game was probably first.

He somehow ended up with free tickets to the Notre Dame vs. Boston College game the weekend before Thanksgiving.  And at such late notice that he could find no one with testosterone to accompany him on the 5 hour drive to South Bend, Indiana.  And once I was informed that heading to the great University of Notre Dame was indeed on Kenny's Bucket List, I couldn't let him take the trip alone.

One Saturday, 10 hours in the car, 2 trips to Chick-fil-a, 3 hours in Notre Dame Stadium, 4 frozen ears (due to no ear protection and me refusing to spend $27 on a ND toboggan), 2 frozen hands (due to no hand protection from the one of us that thinks he's too cool for gloves) and 1 giant pretzel later, Kenny's life long wish to visit UND was fulfilled! 

Although, I have to say, being at a Bama game two weeks prior left me thinking Notre Dame and their strong football tradition has nothing on the Tide.  Nothing!

But some things to know when visiting Notre Dame...

Whenever they would score, it was common to turn to the person next to you and pick them up, bench pressing them above your head in celebration.  I managed to keep my feet on the ground and just be a spectator in this particular tradition.

We had really good seats.  Corner of the end zone only 16 rows up.  But right behind the band.  And occasionally they would put their instruments on their heads, or their heads in their instruments if you were a tuba player, and dance around.  I was a band groupie in high school since all my BFF's were either in the band or on the dance line.  And I retain my long standing declaration that band members are just weird.

We did get to see Bon Jovi and Chicago played half time.  Can't say that Bama has that kind of pull.  But who needs it when you can hear The Million Dollar Band...?

At one point the announcer asked the students to stop throwing marshmallows on to the field.  Yep, marshmallows.  Which of course just made them throw more marshmallows.  I have to say, that was quite entertaining. 

And don't have plans after the game?  Don't worry...you can head on over for Mass, immediately following the game.  Wouldn't it be something if we could get everyone to come to church and learn about Jesus after watching Bama kick some butt??  I'm just saying, maybe we are missing a big ministry opportunity...

Speaking of Jesus,  we of course had to visit "Touchdown Jesus".  I'm unsure about how I feel about Him being referred by that name, but I can't argue the fact that he indeed looks like He is indicating a touchdown.

Either way, Kenny got to cross off Notre Dame from his Bucket List and we got to spend a kid-less Saturday just enjoying time with each other.  But I still must end with a hearty ROLL TIDE...especially since Kenny wouldn't let me wear my Bama hoodie to South Bend.  Something about poor sportsmanship...
ROLL TIDE!