Today I'm Thankful

I looked around

today

thankful

for familiar faces

for a place

a time

when we all meet

and eat

when we bring our

sweet potatoes

casseroles

oven mitts

our cornucopias of complexity

our pasts

trials

pain

memories

the good ones

the bad ones

set them in chairs

around a table

to see

share

hug

love

I looked around today

thankful

for the sounds of

laughter

silence

for what is said

for the things that aren't

the noise of

forks

knives

plates

spatulas

and

individual universes

colliding

over turkey and gravy

I looked around

today

Thankful

for life

how it can sting sometimes

and then

other times

feel so good, you have to swallow

hard

to keep the goodness from

falling

out of your eyes

Today I looked around

Thankful

for dirty baby hands

muddy shoes

cousins walking two by two

I looked around

today

Thankful

for this messy

marvelous

I do not deserve this

life

You Know It's Thanksgiving When

There are four boxes of REAL butter

and

Two jumbo sized cartons of HEAVY whipping cream

and

Six cans of sweetened condensed milk

In your refrigerator

Here's what I just added to my "What I'm thankful for list...."

Number 12...

Fat pants

32 ... and still hot

(Obviously, this is Aaron writing this post. It would be a little weird if Heather wrote about how hot she was despite the fact that today is her 32nd birthday.)

Today is my wife's birthday.

She's had 32 years of living and learning and becoming the most amazing woman I know.
The years have made her godly and I am constantly amazed and challenged by her faith and obedience as she serves the Lord.

The years have made her wise and have given her the opportunity to shape the lives of countless young women and blog-readers.

The years have seen miracles of grace, protection, and provision as God has done His work in her life.

The years have brought us closer in our relationship and more intimate than I could have ever imagined.

The years have seen children added to our family through pregnancy and through adoption.

And yet, the years have failed to make her any less beautiful than the day we were married.
She's 32 today. And she's all stressed out about it.

But I think it's awesome.

Because now that she's 32 I can say that I've known Heather for half of her life. And from here on out, our years together will out number our years apart.
(We haven't actually been married for half of our lives yet ... that will come when we're 38.)

I love you honey.

Happy Birthday.

* Author's Note: I realize that it would probably be out of line for many of you to comment on her hotness. But feel free to leave comments regarding any of her other great qualities and to wish her happy birthday.

Wife's Note: Feel free to comment about my hotness. Just comment anonymously. Kidding. Kind of. I'm laughing.

What Died in Here?

Ashton walked into the room where I was changing Hudson's smelly diaper.

Ashton says, "What stinks in here? Did someone poot the cheese?"

Instead of Ashton...

Ashton doesn't have any new songs ready today.

So, instead...

Let's all take a moment and pretend we go to this church:



I had to look this up, because I thought it was a Saturday Night Live skit.

The fact that it ISN'T makes it just that much more wonderful.

Don't miss the white boy breaking it down during his solo.

Make sure your bladder has recently been emptied in the proper location, or it might be emptied in an improper one.

Good Stuff

ANYTHING that inspires hours of creativity in my kids gets two thumbs up from this mom.

We checked The Shape Game out at the library.

The story is cute.

The pictures are beautiful.

The paintings in the story are stunning. We sat on the couch together carefully studying, examining and talking about each one.

And we're not art people.

Then, at the end, the book briefly talks about the shape game, where one person draws a random shape and then the other person has to incorporate that random shape into a real picture.

I remember playing this as a kid, but had forgotten about it.

The boys immediately wanted to play...all three of the older ones.

They sat at the table for the LONGEST time doodling, then trading off their shape to one of their brothers who had to use his creativity to make up a picture out of the shape.

I was blown away by their pictures and their ideas. They were constantly impressed with one another.

Hayden explained it best...

"We just can't stop doing this, mom!"

I highly recommend this book!

And the Winner Is...

Alisha!

Way to go!

Can you hear us clapping for you?

Here'sToby Mac's version...he's no Ashton...but you can listen to him if you want to.

Sorry to Keep Ashton's Fans Waiting

But...

It's been one of these:



And now it's FINALLY time to play...

GUESS WHAT ASHTON IS SINGING!

To win, be the first to guess the song and the artist!

Have a very merry Monday!

Our Soccer Champion!

Anson played soccer again this Fall.

This was his second season to play.

He had to play on a new team this semester, and was pretty nervous about it before the season started. He had just gotten to know his teammates from the Spring, so was a little sad their coach wasn't coaching again.

We were so thankful the moment we met his new team and coaches. Everyone was extremely welcoming of Anson, and he immediately felt at home.

The Lightnings played super hard this season.

The coaches were great.

All the kids play so well together and really work as a team.

They went into the tournament this weekend undefeated for the season!

We played three FREEZING cold games on Saturday.

And...

After two rounds of overtime and lots of stressful penalty kicks, Anson's team won the CHAMPIONSHIP!!

We were incredibly proud of all of them.

Way to go, Anson!

We have loved seeing you play, practice and get to know your teammates.

We are crazy proud of you!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Introductions

Just wanted to introduce everyone to Aaron's new best friends:



These guys do a news satire every Thursday night on an Australian television channel.

We'll admit...we love accents as much as we like High School Musical.

I promise...we're watching real news too...but everyone needs a break, and when we take one, this is where we go.

Why can't the real news be like this? Then I'd be a news genius.

And the Winner Is...

Jordan!

Yay! You go! This one was hard!

Here's the actual song Ashton was singing...

Merry Monday!

I interrupt all the great discussions going on below because it's time to play....

GUESS WHAT ASHTON IS SINGING

This child is so precious.

He loves his music, and says almost every day, "Mom, I need to go work on my music."

That means, he wants to go in his room, sit on his bed, listen to his mp3 player and sing loudly.

Nothing makes me smile like hearing Ashton "work on his music."

To win, be the first to guess the song and the artist!

Happy Birthday D.O.

From all your fans in Hendrickville

We Finally Saw This!

Yep...

Last night.

We Hendricks are unapologetically musical fans.

I'm married to a man who declares his love for musicals and chick flicks loudly and openly.

We're raising a house full of boys that will have at least half an ovary each, I'm sure.

We've seen the non-cold, tv versions as well as the iced variety. I recorded and then actually watched and learned the dance moves. We've watched all the movies, waited in anticipation for them to come out, and even held a manly male musical lovers anonymous showing of the movie at our house. Men could come, watch, enjoy, without being made fun of for having fallopian tubes.

So, last night, getting to see the movie was exciting for us.

Of course we loved it.

Of course we wanted to stand up and dance.

Even Hudson's eyes were glued to the screen.

I couldn't even get him to eat, and it was WELL past the time when he should have been hungry.

Yep...he's one of us.

Food takes a back seat to singing and dancing.

Who needs food when there is music playing and jazz hands a wavin', right?

Although I secretly wish life could be like a musical...where a problem comes up, or something exciting happens and then music starts playing and we all mysteriously know all the exact dance moves, and magically know all the words to the song that fell out of thin air, I will admit...there were some things about the movie that made me laugh.

Seriously...

I mean SERIOUSLY...

Does it take three movies for Troy to realize that he likes to sing and dance?

How many movies is it going to take before Troy's parents do not seem SHOCKED that their son is in a play and can sing? By the third movie, I wanted to sit down and talk to them and say, "Are you kidding me? Come on you two...pay attention."

How many movies do we need before we all realize that Gabriella IS going to be in the show at the end...she'll run away, but then...wait for it...wait for it....she's going to come back and be in the last few songs of the show.

I can make fun of musicals, because I love them.

I left the movie theater wanting to be a dancer. I left actually thinking I might have liked high school (that wore off before I got home). I left wishing we lived in a world with background music and choreography.

Hoory for High School Musical!

I vote for College Musical One.

And the winner is...

One of the Apels.

I don't know if it is Charlie or Kirby, but I guess technically they are ONE so, way to go Apels!

Thanks for playing!

Here's the song Ashton was singing.

He's a Robbie Seay fan. You should be one too!

Guess What Ashton is Singing!

It's that time!

Hope your Monday is Merry.



You know the drill...

Guess the song and the artist!

Halloween Pictures

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Since Alvin and the Chipmunks came out in theaters, I've said...

"I'm raising the chipmunks!"

Think about it...

Simon...that's so Anson. Smart, responsible, looks out for his brothers constantly

Alvin...that's so Hayden. CRAZY, unpredictable, funny, a trouble magnet

Theodore...so Ashton. Sweet, follows his brothers, is always eating

So what fun this year to get to dress them up as the chipmunks!

Aaron and I were characters off a TV show we like.

And baby Hudson...well, I looked at real costumes for him, but they all looked so hot and uncomfortable. I opted for a sweet, soft outfit. We made him into a night owl...appropriate for the first few months of his life!

We had a Halloween party again this year, although it had to be scaled down a bit since we have a smaller place right now.

We still had a great time seeing everyone's creative costumes and hanging out with friends.