2011 in Review

How 2011 beganBeen re-reading my blog and reminding myself what happened in 2011.

We have had a full year, like always.  

Hollister turned 5 in January.
I ran my first half marathon in January.

Trevor kept making cakes and even made his own for his birthday.

In March, I turned the big 4-0. We celebrated for a long time. I had a surprise party and it was GREAT!

Life was pretty normal with Tball and Soccer.

In May, we had a scare. After my first mammogram, I had to have two biopsy's on my left breast. It was very scary. Mine and Trevor's first medical scare together. Thankfully, they were benign and I will have six month mammograms instead of yearly. (Can you tell we were "scared?" I used that word enough huh?)
Side note: I just had my mammogram re-check this week and all is well!

Summer started and Mommy played teacher with her kids. Hollister and I tried doing some things for kindergarten. We did have some fun with letters, but I am not sure how productive we were.

Summer ended with some work changes for most of us. CJ had his first job. Kendrick got a full time job with Samsung and I finally made the jump to work in Elgin ISD. I made a huge leap to 6th grade Math, yep... MIDDLE SCHOOL.

Then it feels like life really got crazy round here.

Hollister started kindergarten, CJ started high school and I started teaching middle school.

Kindergarten has been good. Hollister loves his teacher and his friends. he is learning so much every day. He is having some speech issues, which we have been aware of. In 2012, he will have some testing done to see about some formal help with those tricky sounds. We think this will help him a lot.

Transitioning into high school for CJ has been extremely uneventful. He does really well academically and continues to play tennis.

Middle school has not been fun. It has been challenging to say the least. My goal this break has been t o rest and relax from it all. I think I have done a good job of that and I feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle the Spring semester.



If all else fails, we can buy him this hat!

Fall brought some heavy duty medical concerns again. Hollister was diagnosed with a cholesteatoma in both his ears. My big long post after his first surgery explains it medically. I can't express how difficult it has been for Trevor and I. We are thankful for healthy kids, we know how blessed we are, trust me. But, watching your kid after surgery with a huge bandage on his head, is devastating. Probably the hardest part was beforehand though. The unknown of what would happen for him afterward with his hearing, very unnerving for us. So far though since the surgery we have been encouraged by Hollister's progress. He actually does have hearing in his left ear. At this point he could use a high powdered hearing aide and hear normally. He will have his second surgery in March and then we will just wait and see. We will tackle his right ear a few months after the left ear is complete. The doctor is actually optimistic and surprised how well he is doing now. We really like his doctor and trust him immensely. It is such a good feeling.

For some reason I never found time to post the pictures we had taken of the boys around Hamilton's 2nd birthday. They are soooo good!



I went to the doctor in September for a rash on my finger and left with a diagnosis of high blood pressure and a "full" thyroid. I would begin daily blood pressure medicine and have an ultrasound on my thyroid. Side note: Mary, my oldest sister had thyroid cancer in May and had her thyroid removed. We learned it was hereditary and that is why a check was even done. Good thing too. I did have 3 nodules on one side. We decided instead of going through the drama of more biopsies, we would just have that side removed and if cancer was found, remove the whole thing.

Hamilton turned 2 in November and keeps us all on our feet.

In December, Trevor and I both ran a half marathon in Vegas baby!

Almost 2 weeks ago now, I had half of my thyroid removed. Cancer was present. It was extremely small  (.5 cm) and enclosed inside a nodule. My doctor chose not to remove my entire thyroid. At this point, the chances of cancer coming back are 50/50. Which is kind of what most people's chances are, right? At this moment the plan is to have blood work done in January just to make sure my thyroid is functioning properly and medicine is not needed. Then in 6 months I will have an ultrasound to see if any nodules have appeared on my remaining side.

My blood pressure is completely under control and my rash, well, it comes and goes. Medicine helps that too.

Kendrick continues to work and take classes at ACC. He has a girlfriend, named Kaitlyn. He continues to live here at home and is a big help with the boys when we need him.

Trevor keeps working like always. He stays really busy and I don't think he'd have it any other way. He also keeps making cakes and trying new things. He makes them for fun as well as a little money. I think its therapeutic for him. He always has to be making things.

2011 has been a full year. We look forward to tackling 2012!

Homemade, Handmade, and Footmade with Love

A very, very long time ago I received the best calendar gift from CJ. He was in Kindergarten and I was shocked at what his teacher did for all the parents. It was a hand print calendar and it was AWESOME!!!! I knew one day I would want to do that for someone!

This year, I did! I made 2 calendars, one for my mom, one for my sister with my little boys' hand and foot prints. I have to say it was fun and stressful. Any time paint is involved the stress factor reaches its peak. The boys loved doing it and they loved have their feet tickled with paint!

These were the finished products.

                                 

                        

Now, if I could just find the energy to make one for myself.

Two Year Old Check Up

Hamilton had his 2 year check up today. yes, I know, he has been 2 for a month and a half. Pish Posh....

      He weighs 38lbs and 12 oz. This is MORE than the 97th %tile
      He is 35 inches tall, only the 50th %tile
      His head is  48 inches, 25th-50th %tile

He did very well with this visit. The Dr. even mentioned how well his disposition was.

He's a fat, short all around healthy All-American boy.

At 2 he talks non stop and repeats pretty much everything. I think he says a new word every day. He attempts to sing the ABC's, loves music and dancing, loves anything Elmo and is addicted to fruit snacks. Seriously, he once ate a whole box (10pkgs) within maybe an hour. He was sneaky and since he has figured out how to open them, he just helped himself. Needless to say Mommy has had to keep a better eye on that situation.
He runs and jumps and climbs. He is one of the toughest kids you will ever meet. If he cries longer than thirty seconds, you know he is hurting.

He is quite the copy cat of his older brother Hollister. He has to do everything Hollister does. If you give something to Hollister, be prepared to do the same for Hamilton. They fight like siblings in every way and they love on each other just as much. We can see a strong bond between them already.

He is a joy and makes us smile every time we look at him.

Christmas Morning

This is what I woke up to on Christmas morning:

Imagine a whisper voice.... "Hamilton"...  (pause)  "Hamilton"...  (pause) "Wake up"  (pause)  Then I hear some movement from Hamilton and next I hear, "Call Daddy".  Then, I hear Hamilton call out, "Daddy!" not in a whisper voice. I just laid in bed and giggled. Daddy did not hear this or wake up.

In the next few minutes, Hollister came in our room and said, "Uh.. Daddy, Hamilton's awake." Funny.... he was only awake because YOU woke him up Hollister!!! But come on, it's Christmas!

Daddy went and got Hamilton from his crib and we all just hugged and laid in bed for a few minutes. Hollister finally said, "Can we go downstairs?." We giggled and said, "Why?" He said, "Uh, to see if Santa came." Hollister went and woke Kendrick up and we all headed downstairs. Once downstairs, Hollister was thrilled to see Santa had actually come and left presents. He also noticed he had eaten the cookies he left.

First things first though, Mom made coffee!  

 

 We did stockings first. The boys are soooo funny! Stickers, toothbrushes, crayons, and candy too!!

Isn't that look hysterical?

 For my SUPERman!! Hollister thought these were hysterical!

 The boys made this for their Daddy. You know how much  mom loves homemade gifts!

 Hamilton really liked unwrapping gifts, to a point. After just a few he was kind of done. Just stopped and said, "No." It didn't take long before he joined in again. Guess he was just testing us.

 At this point he recognizes this and realizes what he got. He has been playing with this for months at every Wal-Mart and Target we visit.

 He LOVES Elmo and he pretty much had an Elmo themed Christmas. This is Elmo rock star and he plays lots of music, LOUD music. He comes with a drum, tambourine and microphone. Hamilton also got an Elmo guitar and a Grover microphone that interact with this toy. It's a typical rock concert here on a daily basis now.

Hollister has been begging for Dr. Dreadful's Zombie Lab and accessories since Halloween. They are apparently the new big thing on Cartoon Network. It is a science "lab" that kids can create gross foods to eat. Trust me, there will be posts of these creations at some point. But just to keep you anticipating, he and Kendrick made "vomit" and "skin" for us to eat. Seriously, this is life with boys!  

The Hodges family got their own XBox 360 to go along with our Kinect. We have been using Kendrick's since last Christmas. More games and more fun. We absolutely LOVE Kinect and the best thing is it is something ALL of us can do together from 41 to 2... at the same time. perfect family fun!

Kendrick got a new car stereo for his Jeep. Needless to say he loved it!

Mommy got a new camera... these are a few of the first pics taken with that camera. You may not be able to tell, but the clarity of the rest of my pics and posts from here on out, will be soooo different!

The boys in their new pajamas! Mommy in the background making a HUGE Christmas breakfast.

And then CJ came home and our house was complete again!



Hamilton was very "helpful" opening CJ's presents.



 We ended our day with a super great meal made by Trevor. Steak, potatoes, asparagus and rolls; you know, the traditional Christmas day meal. All six of us sat at the table at the same time. Small miracles occur at Christmas time!

Preparing for Santa Claus

Remember this post:  Ceramics with Santa. These are the end products.

We used these plates to leave Santa his treats.

We know they were a huge success. Santa left crumbs and an empty glass for us. Plus, he left some great presents.