Monday, August 25, 2008

Where to begin...


Have you all missed me? Likely not...but I like to think you did anyway!! It's been quite a month for the Hodges family. Where did I leave off last time???......Ummm ok so, begining of August Randy and I celebrated our fifth year of marital bliss ;-) ....complete with a wine tasting, lunch at a fav. Irish pub, a movie, and an awesome dinner at 18 Seaboard. If you've never been....I highly reccomend it. Moving right along...the following weekend was spent visiting both my grandmother's in the hospital. After much prayer and some quality time with them, they are both out of the hospital now but still recovering some....and to a point...will always be in the recovering stages....it's hard to see them in the shape they are in...one is worse off than than other...but I'm thankful I can spend the time with them now that I can spend and give back to them for all the love and support they've given me throughout my life. Many days...I wish I lived closer so that I could see them more.....or help out more.....but we love our home and we've made a wonderful life together here....and until I move east....aka...to the water....I'm not seeing us leaving the Raleigh area. So I'll continue to visit as much as I can, and hope they know how much we love them....Anyhow, while in H-town on Sunday....Randy bought Skylar a new princess fishing rod to keep at Dah and Grand-C's house....(they have a pond right beside them.) We'll Skylar has learned how to cast her own rod and can reel it in too....so Randy, Dah, and I took Skylar to the pond to go catch a fish.....she's was rather excited about the worms they were using for bait...was pretty funny...well there were tons of little fishies just waiting for a tastey worm....and Skylar caught her very first fish on her own!!! However, as she handed the rod to Randy to grab the line ....and get the fish....she fell right into the mud at the edge of the pond....and boy she was less than thrilled about that. She immediately wanted the clothes off and to get in the bath tub....and so ended the fishing trip...but that was about five minutes of fun we can laugh about for some time...not to mention her first catch all on her own! (See tiny fish on hook to the left...and Skylar all muddy!)
Sooo the following week we celebrated Papa Joe's 60th birthday with an awesome dinner and cake at their house. Skylar always enjoys singing the happy birthday song and she of course helped Papa Joe blow out his candles! ......After yummy cake and ice cream....we headed home and straight to bed........For the weekend following...Randy had golf with the guys and Skylar played "golf" with me....in our hallway and living room....because she needed to play since her daddy was playing.....Saturday evening...we all went to a cookout at Tracy's to celebrate Stephanie's completion of her Masters Degree!! Yayyy..MSW...now! Skylar enjoyed playing cornhole for the first time....got the bean bag in the hole on her first try!! It was great visiting with everyone I hadn't seen in quite a while. Had church on Sunday.....and then...Sunday afternoon we spent at the pool with the ...(I think)...unless my days are running together...which quite possibly could be the case....that may have been earlier in the month.....anyhow...we were at the pool at some point this month with people.....lol...Is this what happen's when you turn 30?? The memory is the first to go?? gggeezzz...does that mean I can get away with turning 30 AGAIN this year in October rather than 32?? One can hope.....Anyhow...that brings me to this past weekend. Our 2 1/2 year old attended her first concert...POP GO THE WIGGLES....at the RBC....when the lights went down, and the "pre-show" started...she starts yelling I want to go home!!! they turned off the lights!!" "Turn the lights on!"".....my first thought was...oh great..this should be fun......so Randy took her out to the lobby...which was well-lit...and she was fine...Then she hears "Toot toot chugga chugga big red car" and she was ready to come back in for the show. She LOVED it....she sang and danced....as did all the kids AND parents....the silly things we do for our kids...it's truly amazing to me....she knew most of the songs....and Randy and I sang along too....sad that we knew all those songs....but Skylar had a blast and we are really glad we were able to take her to the concert. She, however, DID NOT care for the big balloon version of Murray on the stage....she keeps saying "Murray balloon needs to go away...." So we explained that the Murray balloon is now in the trash :-) Her favorite Wiggle is actually Jeff...hence the purple attire for the show...and the Wiggle "light" pictured above....wise investment....seriously.... ;-)

Saturday began with a breakfast out at Pam's farmhouse...then shopping at the NCSU bookstore for Skylar's attire for her first Wolfpack game in September...All her father's doings....Not mine...but I suppose I started it with my purchase of some UNC attire for my blue-eyed baby girl...;-) Blue IS her color afterall...lol...she'll be cute nontheless...of course. (Notice her shirt says..."It's the SMILE that keeps me out of trouble." )....Look at her expression...I couldn't resist this pic.....anyhow..After naptime we celebrated our neighbor's bday with friends and some other kids. Skylar had a ball playing with the older kids there....and of course spent some couch time with baby Lily...she does love Lily....We had a fantastic dinner and lots of fun. Sunday morning we went to church, then lunch with Randy's parents, uncle and Granny and then came home for nap-time. After nap, we loaded up and went to the Riffle's awesome new house. We enjoyed some pool time and a wonderful dinner and the girls (Katelyn and Skylar) had a fantastic time playing together, dancing, and singing. They were just too cute. As Skylar said her prayers last night....as she often does...she says..."Thank you for God....my family..."...(rather than thank you God for my family)....so she continues..."Thank for God...all my friends...... "Thank you for God...Katelyn...and Jesus Loves Me...AMEN!" that last sentence...all in one breath...it was really sweet. It was a perfect ending to a spectacular Sunday........have a happy week and thank Jesus for loving you too!! :-)