Little Brother

Little Brother 

My brother is a nuisance

My brother is a pain

if it was up to me

I'd leave him outside in the rain. 

But don't you tease my brother 

of be mean to him at all,

'cause I'll stick up for this lttle guy

'cause he thinks I'm 10 feet tall 

Travis Shane 1 month
Trevor Todd 4 years old

Travis 3ish
Trevor 7ish
Kim 10ish

 

July 23, 2005 

Travis Shane Hodges
We love and miss you!
January 22, 1974-August 26, 2009

The Last First Day

 BECAUSE..... 

Hard to believe, but CJ is officially a senior. 

Mark your calendars, he graduates June 4, 2015!!

Another last first day...

He is not sad about it being his last first day of day care, he is just sad. 

This boy was ready though. 

He has grown like a weed this summer and he was ready to tackle THIRD grade!

Thankfully, he was able to get his brother to stop being sad for a semi cute smile. 

Once and Army Brat, Always an Army Brat

This week, we went to visit my parents, sister and nephews. 

My sister and her boys were down to visit so I took the opportunity to see them and my folks. 

They had planned a trip to Ft Hood to the 1st Cavalry Museum. 

I figured the boys would enjoy it, so we tagged a long. 

I haven't been on post for a super long time and it is extremely different. 

Mom is always complaining about the traffic, but living in Austin, I think, whatever. 

Well, let me just say, it is a ZOO on base. 

That traffic could give Austin traffic a run for its money. 

The museum was really nice. 

Not the best picture, but its hard to wrangle six boys for a good photo! 

Hamilton, Drake, Grant, Hollister, Max, and John 

They have a scavenger hunt developed for kids to find various pictures and then receive a sticker at the end. 

It's a great way to get them involved, especially the young ones

The museum was really awesome. I will never do a good job of explaining it. They had displays from all  the wars and how the military has progressed through the years. Very well done and extremely informative. My 7th grade nephew probably enjoyed that the most, he could appreciate a lot of it t hat the little guys couldn't just yet. 

Outside they had a gazillion (okay, maybe not that many, but a lot!) military vehicles, rockets, helicopters, etc... 

The boys enjoyed that part too, except the heat. 

Afterward we went  to a PX to get a drink. As we were walking in, 

Hollister turns to me and says, "There are so many soldiers here." 

I giggled and had to explain, again, that Fort Hood is a military base. 

I know that the significance of the museum is lost on my boys. They don't quite understand yet, but I know they enjoyed the experience. 

Pottery Fun

As I posted earlier, the 9th wedding anniversary gift is said to be pottery.

We were able to get our finished bowl that we made on our anniversary date.

Of course, I LOVE IT!!!!

Can't wait to share some popcorn in this sweet bowl!

A forever keepsake!!!

Baseball Buddies

August 1st marked Hollister's journey into Kid Pitch baseball. This is the next level of baseball after coach pitch.

We have a new team name, and new team uniforms. Most the boys on our team moved up with us and have played together for a while. It's a nice family we have with baseball.

We are now the Avalanche. 

Trevor created these awesome new uniforms and hat!

Trevor managed to get together an outing to a Round Rock Express Game. We had about 45+ seats. The boys were able to wear their new jerseys and meet the players.

Since it was on a Friday night, we were treated to a great fireworks show as well!

Before the game 

As the players come out for warm ups, they are supposed to sign autographs for the boys. Some do, some don't. Last night there were two teams which made for a lot of signing. It's easy to sit and judge those who didn't stop for the boys. I mean, they used to be on kid pitch teams years ago. But, it is what it is.

As this was going on, the team was announced and put oo the big screen. It was cool to see the boys realize they were "on TV".

Hamilton was playing with his friend Cindy, one of the teammates little sister, before the game when all of the sudden,  his favorite mascot, Spike walked up. He was beyond thrilled! 

 It looks to me that Spike was pretty stoked to get a high five from Hamilton. 

Be sure to check out Hamilton's face. 

 Not knowing I was getting pictures of all that, Hamilton rushed over and had to get a picture with Spike, again. 

Normally, Baseball Buddies get to go to on the field with the Round Rock Express player to their position. Hollister was looking forward to going to first base. 

But, last night Round Rock was hosting its first Alumni Weekend and told us they would make a line with the other team so the players could run out on the field through them. 

It was a little disappointing for the boys, but they all still had good experiences. We think the fact that there were two teams was the real issue, but again, it is what it is. 

You can't see, but Hollister is in front of #9, one of the other coaches. 

Then they were able to stand on the field during the National Anthem.
They saw themselves on the big screen again during the song. They thought it was cool of course. 

I wish I had a picture of the whole group, someone probably does though, so maybe another time. 

This is just us having some fun with selfies! 

After the game, we were treated to a really good fireworks show. Something we have learned about baseball fields and fireworks shows, THEY ROCK!!!! 

July Round-Up

Since I only posted once this month, I figure I better fill in the gaps with a end of July Round up!

With no baseball tournaments we have been bored to death!!!! 

Just kidding, we of course stay busy even though we have been home more weekends this month than all of the Spring. 

After the July 4th weekend, King's Castle got a new work vehicle. 

Hollister had some custom made ear plugs made for swimming. 

They put this putty type material in his ear. 

We will have them soon. 

I went to a conference for school for a few days. 

Knowing I would be gone for part of our anniversary, I prepared a card and gift for Trevor to have that morning. CJ helped me out bunches! 

I made these coasters fro Trevor of different places we have been. 

I came back on our 9th wedding anniversary. 

We still were able to go to dinner, but with the boys as well. 

We found a new yummy place in Round Rock.  Seriously, yummy food! 

On Saturday we took the boys to Bastrop and they got to go to their favorite gas station. 

Yep, Buc-cees! 

 Don't let this calmness fool you. This was AFTER he acted crazy. (see below) 

Simple things, I guess. 

Then on Sunday, Trevor surprised with a date, just the two of us, for our anniversary. 

First, we headed downtown. 

 Yummy crepes!!!

We are celebrating 9 years of marriage. 

Google says the 9th anniversary is "pottery", so we headed to our favorite ceramic place and made a bowl together. It was perfect. 

It won't be finished until Friday, but I wanted to share the before. 

And finally, I am blonde again.

I love it, Trevor loves it and the boys think my hair looks like a zebra.

August will be busy, but we already have some things planned so hopefully, I will have more to report!