Good Thing She's Cute, 'Cause I Don't Think She'll Be the Smartest Hodge Kid

I love Hadley!

And she adores me too!

 She loves coming over.  Her favorite things to do here are: Eat junk food, help me with laundry, and mess with Cole.

She randomly gives me kisses while she's here.  I love it!

 She kept trying to share her chicken that her dad sent with her.  Wasn't that sweet?

I wanted to video her helping me with laundry to show her mom and dad.  I was telling her what to do to help.  Guess I wasn't specific enough!

Kickin' Cancer

I'm on a Relay for Life team here in Owasso.  I would love it if you could give a little.  This is my personal page.

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12National?px=25995230&pg=personal&fr_id=40545

Thanks for helping us kick cancer's booty (as Cole would say)!

Thank You God

So many of you already know Chandler.  He's the grandson of Sherry, my mom's best childhood friend.  This is Sherry's son, David's, precious baby.  We all grew up together and I love them dearly.  Chandler is at Children's Mercy fighting for his life.  

Each day I look to facebook to check on his progress.  It makes my heart swell to see so many people posting about him and praying continuously for this little guy and his family.  I can't stop thinking about them, just like so many of you.  I seriously can't imagine what his parents and grandparents are going through.  I think of Brad and how miserable I was when he was sick.  It's an awful feeling.  But as a parent you know that you are responsible for taking care of your child and to feel like there is nothing you can do would be excruciating.  I know they are giving it to God, but the heartache would be nearly unbearable.

I thank God everyday for healthy kids, but honestly it was beginning to be something I just said, along with the rest of my prayer.  Not anymore.  This whole deal with Chandler has truly made me appreciate how blessed I am to have healthy babies.  I just look at them and sincerely thank God for them.

Last night I held Cole as he was sleeping, with tears in my eyes I prayed for Chandler and was so grateful that my kids were healthy.   This morning as Cole was waking up I kissed him on the cheek.  He pushed on his little face and said, "I wubbed it in Mama."  Wow, I'm so lucky.

I know that God is watching over little Chandler.  I know that he has hundreds of people praying for him constantly.  I love this family so much and pray for them as well.  

GREASE

Krissi and I took the girls to see the play Grease at Owasso High School.  

 It was really good.  I'm a huge fan of Grease.  I was texting Charity and Steph.  I can hardly watch it without them.

 I was singing and dancing during the show and Zoe told me I was embarrassing her.  (Not the first time I've heard her say that).

 They did tone it down a lot.  I started watching it the other night on TV with Zoe and realized pretty quickly how bad it was.  Zoe said she liked the dirty version better.  I'm not sure she totally understood all the dirtiness of the dirty version.

 It was a fun night out with the girls and it sounds like Cole and Brad had a great evening too.

I love N.Y., But You... Not So Much

I told my teaching buddy, Dees, at the beginning of this school year that I was having trouble finding curriculum to support my objectives for my student.  Objective #1:  The student will pee and poop on the pot.  Objective #2:  The student will not be a jerk to strangers (or any of us for that matter).

Bribery seemed to work for potty training.  He earned stickers and got a new train when he filled up a chart.  He figured out how to push pee out just to earn a sticker.  He also knew he got five stickers for poopy so he tried to force out some poop if he wanted to get a train quicker.  Whatever, it worked and now he's potty trained. So now I'm trying a Kindness Chart.  He earns stickers if he can just be nice to people.  

It takes a lot longer to fill up a kindness chart.  He had a rough day yesterday and last night he told me, "I'm sorry I was mean."  Poor guy.  There are some days when it takes all he has to be nice.

One day I was bragging on how nice he had been that day and he looked up at me with a guilty, little face and admitted, "Did you hear me say stupid real quiet?"  My sister-in-law, Michelle says it's perfectly fine to think 'stupid' in your head.  Ha!  I guess I have to pick my battles!

He's wants to wear this I love N.Y. shirt that Aunt Shell brought him from New York everyday now.  

He had it on yesterday over at their house and was a little crabby.  My brother said we should write on the back of his shirt.  "But you, not so much."  

Bears Are Scary, but God is With Me

 Wacky Wednesday was at our house this morning.  Hadley came over.  She was sharing her cereal with Cole.  They were being so sweet with each other. 

This week we went on a Bear Hunt.  We like to make it seem like a big deal so we really talk it up.  I started by telling the boys that we were going on a bear hunt.  Brady Reed cracks me up because he's four and super into it.  He started shaking with excitement and said he could run really fast (I guess that's an essential quality if you're going on a bear hunt).  Then all the boys ran around the house for a few minutes proving how fast they were.  Then we watched a YouTube video.  It was the song "Going on a Bear Hunt" and it had real pictures.  It starts out by saying "We're going on a bear hunt, Are you afraid?"  I told them in the Bible God says, "Do not be afraid because I am with you"-Isaiah 41:10.  The kids were really into it.  Then it showed the picture of the bears eyes and that's when we began to terrify them again this week.

Cole even helped me hide the stuffed bear before everyone got here and he was still scared to death.  He clung to me.

We had little paw prints hung up with numbers.  They found the numbers in the correct sequence and it led them to the bear!

They were cautious the entire time though.

After they found the bear they continued to hide it from each other and find it over and over.

Apparently Brady went home and made clues for his dad to find a bear.

We enjoyed the warm weather and ate some Teddy Grahams and Gummy Bears outside.

Then Cole decided to strip down and pee in the grass.  I guess the other boys thought that looked fun and before we knew it all four boys had their pants down and were going to the bathroom.

I hear Cole say, "Let's pretend we're on a beach!"  I look over and he only has his short, little tshirt on.  No pants!  Brady told him he didn't want to see his peepee (it really was offensive) so I told Cole he had to put his pants back on.  He pulled his underwear back on himself, inside out, and a little twisted.

My brother came over to get Hads later and says (with a very serious face), "Looks like Cole's enjoying the warm weather".

Hard to believe it's February and the boys had half their clothes off.  I was even a little worried about a sunburn.

I had the joy of holding baby Easton!  HOW ADORABLE!!

Brewer came over this afternoon for a little while too.  It's funny to hear him and Cole discuss things.

 When Brad got home Cole told him all about the bear hunt.  Brad asked if he was scared and Cole said, "No, God is with me".  LOVE IT that he remembered that (even though he was terrified).

 He took Brad on a bear hunt after dinner.  It was dark so they even got to use a flashlight.

 It's very tiring hunting bears all day.

Great Weekend With Friends and Family

We went back home this weekend.  Mom came and got me and the kids Thursday afternoon.  Dad and Blake were in Columbia for State wrestling.  It was a loud trip from Tulsa to Seneca.  When we pulled into Mom's house Cole says, "Hey Mom, Judd can speak English now!"  He is coming along really well and learning so much each day.  

I didn't take my camera with me, but Zoe and I went to see Charity, Mark, Jonah, Journey, and Jude on Friday.  Jude was hilarious.  The kids had a blast.  Charity was dilated to a 6 and still climbing stairs and wearing a cute little outfit (not maternity).  If I didn't like her so much I would hate her.  I begged her to have the baby while we were in for the weekend but it didn't happen.  I loved catching up with her.

 Steph and Taya came over Saturday.  I miss them so much and so does Zoe.  Judd adores Taya.

 Brad had to work Saturday, but came as soon as he got off.  He went to visit his mom Saturday afternoon then we all went out to eat Saturday night.  Well, Zoe didn't go out with us.  She went to Mia's birthday party and then to Rylee's.  She had a blast!

 We celebrated Mick and Lance's birthday.  We also hadn't got a chance to give Sydney her gift so we celebrated her birthday too.

 She loved all her girly things.  She told her dad that she had on two layers of lipstick.  Her favorite thing, though, was this panda sleep mask.  She wore it as a headband most of the evening.

 We went to get Zoe then spent the night with Meme and Papa Eldon.  Cole and Papa Eldon shared some cookies and milk.

 We enjoyed visiting with them.  Meme made us pancakes and eggs Sunday morning.  It was yummy!

 We went back to Mom's on Sunday and ate lunch.  It was so good.  The kids played outside.  When it was time to go home, the kids were in tears and didn't want to leave.

 So, Brad and I left the kids and went to Rogers, Arkansas for the night.  We watched a movie and went out to eat.

 Seneca had school on Monday.  Brad went to Joplin and caught up with his friends.  He had lunch with Tony and got to see his buddies at SMB.  Zoe, Cole, and I went to eat lunch with Charity at school.

 The third graders were at recess and ran up to Zoe when they saw her.

 Addie got to come over and play with Zoe after school.

 We didn't leave until Monday evening. It's always hard to leave.  We had a great weekend.

 Tuesday morning Cole came in the kitchen and said, "I wanna go to Nana's house."  I thought he might have left a train there or something so I asked why he wanted to go to Nana's house.  He looked at me pathetically and said, "Because I wuv her."

I still think it's his favorite place in the world.