All of these pictures were taken by people other than me.  They were ripped off of their facebook pages for use here.

It was a night of all things 80’s, including me–who was born in 1980.

There were many friends in their 80’s best.

Many children hopped up on sugar.

LOTS of sugar.

Many dishes with lots of continental variety.  (sushi by BiL)

And lots and lots of fun.  Thanks everyone!

I am thankful for my husband.  I am thankful for his love, for his friendship, for his patience, for his hard work.  I am thankful that I get to be married to him for the rest of my life.  I am thankful that he is the father of my child, and that I get to hold him and laugh with him everyday.

I am thankful for my son.  I am thankful I get to spend everyday watching him grow, and learn, and bring joy to all who know him.  I am thankful I  get to be this specific person’s mama.  I am thankful for his energy, and his inquisitiveness.  I am thankful for his kisses, and for his ability to make me proud–always.

I am thankful for my parents.  I am thankful they are my parents, and that they raised me up in the way I should go.   I am thankful they still play such a huge role in my life and that they will always love me-no matter what.   I am thankful  my son has them for grandparents.

I am thankful for my in-laws.  I am thankful that they love me for me, not just because I married their son.  I am thankful I love them for them, not just because I married their son.  I am thankful they raised my husband to be the man he is today.  I am also thankful  I do not have to travel more than an hour to see them, or let them spend time with their grandson–because they are really good grandparents.

I am thankful for JHJ.  I am thankful he is near this year so I have someone to roll my eyes at.  I am thankful he pushes my boundaries, and that he never lets me win.  I am thankful I got to grow up with him, and that we will always have each other.

I am thankful for BiL.  I am thankful he is my friend and in-law, that he makes me laugh, and that he is present.  I am thankful for the love he shows my family, and that we see him more weeks than not.   I am also thankful he is now a kickass Japanese chef.

I am thankful for my grandparents.  I am thankful I am getting to know them as more than just occasional visitors.   I am thankful my son has Great-grandparents that he gets to see so often.  I am thankful for the legacy of love and faithfulness they have given my family.

I am thankful for my Ma.  I am thankful for her love, for her devotion to her family, for her example of care she shows to Gabs.  Next year I hope to say  I am thankful she lives down the street from me.

I am thankful for Nanny, my husband’s last living grandparent.  I am thankful for her vitality, and energy, and example of hard work.  I am thankful my husband and son have her blood in their veins.

I am thankful for Shoeshe.  I am thankful for her friendship, and even more so that she is my son’s godmother.   I am thankful for all the nights I have laughed until I cried sitting next to her.  I am thankful that she keeps me from taking everything so seriously.

I am thankful for Cat.  I am thankful that she remains my friend even though move after move and crazy schedules keep us apart.  I am thankful for not only the amazing history we have, but the future as well.

I am thankful for Ang.  I am thankful that neither of us  wrote off a friendship just because we see each other maybe once a year.  I am thankful for the internet which lets us still be a part of each others lives.

I am thankful for my mommy friends-specifically MOPS.   I am thankful that I am not alone in this adventure, and that I always have someone to share war stories with at the playground.  I am thankful they understand what it is like to have your life rotate around a child–and yet somehow not have it always be about him.

I am thankful for my home.  I am thankful it is warm, and comfortable, and a place we all love to be.  I am thankful for its location, near family, our church, and surrounded by great neighbors (who probably would get their own picture if they would ever let me take it. )

I am thankful I get to live in the most beautiful state in the country. I am thankful that I can always find vistas and nature that let me see the wonder of God.

I am thankful for my country.  I am  thankful for the men and women who worked and fought to make it ours, and keep it safe.  I am thankful I am free to live my life, and say what I want–even publish it.   I am thankful I have the chance to live this American dream.

And finally–and yet most importantly–I am thankful for my God.  I am thankful for all of the blessings He has given me, us, and that I could never count them all.   I am thankful for His love, and grace.  I am thankful for His son.  I am thankful he has given me a thankful heart.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Take time tonight to count your blessings and see what God has done.

He inherited a head full of crazy cowlicks from The Husband’s side of the family, and a thick head full of independent and stubborn hair from mine.   Buzz cuts are just not my style, and short, short little boy hair is cute on other little boys….but, I like MY kiddo to have as long of hair as my hubby will allow.  If it were just up to me he would be sporting a shaggy skater do.

This kid just needed a teeny, teeny, itsy bit taken off of his bangs.   Our usual and most wonderful stylist K had a baby one week exactly before this one.  I reasoned that there was no need to drive 25 minutes and bother K just for a teeny little bang trim.   Surely anybody who is a licensed stylist could handle that, right?

Wrong.  I told her to just trim them to his eyebrows.  First snip of the scissors saw three inches of hair on the cape. I literally gasped.  Calm down, calm down.  It is just a little short.   Snip. Snip. Snip.  Fourth cut.  ACK!  FOUR INCHES right off the front.  “Your kid is moving! He needs to mind me and hold still.”  “I am standing right here!  He is holding perfectly still.”  “Well, he is making me nervous.”  “You are making ME nervous.”

I picked him up, removed his cape, and walked out, not paying,  four cuts  into the worst hair massacre ever.  WAY worse than this.  You think I am exaggerating?

And it looked even crazier in real life.

I called K in tears.  I felt like I was confessing to cheating on her.  She graciously invited us to her home, let me cuddle her babies, and calmed me down.

She is awesome–but she is not God, and cannot magically grow hair, so the end result is still A LOT shorter than this pseudohippy would like, but it is much better.

Lesson learned: if you love who cuts your hair–NEVER EVER go somewhere else, even for a teeny trim.   Oh, and also?  K said she would have cried too.

Um, in related news….I am in the process of getting up a photography website so people can you know, like–pay me for this.   I am so nervous!  I never want it to not be fun, and I am still most definitely a stay at home, but this is okay to do on the side, right?  Right?  Hello?  Anybody out there?

I got to hold this little cuddle bug today.

This is Baby W, the new little brother to H, and the youngest son of our neighbors whom we love so much…and who caused me to require a baby fever booster shot.

Baby W

Born noonish yesterday– 11/2/2009

6lbs 2 oz

18.5 inches

Congratulations Neighbors!

It is the feet.  The feet get me every time.

There was a theme, because there always should be a theme.   I chose polka dots after seeing so many dotty things on 7daytrial’s registries.  There were many dots at the party.  MANY DOTS.  Really, this theme thing is an illness with me, I should probably seek professional help.

I opted to cut and tape circles on the front glass storm door instead painting them.  You would have thought I learned a lesson from the huge duck feet I painted on our driveway for The Son’s first birthday (they have  just now totally faded away), but no–it took hours of scraping painted spider webs off of the door to teach me.  There are STILL partial golden spider webs, I think it will be easier just to buy a new door.

The Skype.  Pros: It was free.  We could see and hear each other.  It could have been worse.  Cons:  There was a lag.  Several times they just froze and we could hear talking but could not see what was happening.  It took some set up.

When we took our Trans-Atlantic cruise a couple of years ago there were these people in the computer lab complaining about how horribly slow the Internet was and they wanted to check their email RIGHT NOW.  I just remember thinking how nuts they were, did they not realize how awesome it was that technology had come so far as to allow them to check their friggin’ hotmail from the MIDDLE OF THE STINKIN’ ATLANTIC OCEAN!  Yeah, that’s how I feel about Skype.   It was pretty cool–but I am spoiled.

JHJ said his friends would not play my stupid baby shower games.  I was crushed.  Not play games?! What a travesty.  I snuck a couple in anyway and they were well received, especially the yo-yoing (more spots, I really need to be medicated).

We almost always have Stacey do our cakes, but JHJ made the cupcakes–and they turned out grand.  I had several, but the next day The Son took the tupperware I was storing them in, flipped it upside down and played the drums.  We then licked all of the icing off of the lid.  Is  that over sharing?

Usually when I go the extra mile to hand make something for a party, it is worth the effort.  In the case of cupcake toppers — I should have just bought them.  They were hard, and did not look as good as I had hoped.

More polka dots for the banner.  We shipped a matching one to Las Vegas–don’t ask JHJ how much that cost.  He will cry.    Lesson learned?  Make and ship things for your virtual shower sooner than later.  That, and UPS now owns one of my brother’s kidneys.  Dang it, that was my spare.

Food: Melon balls and roundish fruit salad,  homemade chocolate candy (make more of those JHJ!), Round tortilla chips with fresh homemade salsa, and wraps.    Easy, cheap, and looked great.

There were three kinds of wraps, turkey, ham, and roast beef– I forgot to make signs so people could tell them apart.   Some of  The Son’s plastic farm animals were obliged to assist.

But, the best part was the people who came-came to show their love for 7daytrial, and shower her with lovely gifts, and rejoice in new life.   I love baby showers.

Pictures of 7daytrial’s little girl coming soon.

As of today I have three year olds living in the houses that surround us on both sides.  Yes today is H’s birthday, and yes that does mean that there will be a three year old living at Huckablog World Headquarters in less than a month.

Please excuse me a moment while I weep into my keyboard.

Thank you for your patience.

I have been putting in killer hours this week at our local MOPS group’s huge fund raiser.  Yesterday H and his glowing Mama, The Neighbor, came out to give us some money (thanks by the way!).  While he was there he excitedly told me all about his two new fish he won at a carnival the night before.  I told him I won a fish at the exact same carnival five years ago, Sushi IV, and that he was still the fish we have in our kitchen.   When The Neighbor heard how long our goldfish had lived, she responded with a questionably enthusiastic “Wonderful.”

This morning as I was rushing out the door late as always for church, I popped my head in the kitchen and….Sushi IV was dead.  Extremely dead.  We went to church, and afterward as we pulled in our drive, I saw The Neighbors were already home.  I marched The Son and I over, and offered to take one of the prize fish home.  But no, The Neighbors decided taking away one of H’s fish on his birthday was probably not a great idea.  Now I feel regretful for even asking.

Sorry H, I’m sure they will live for half a decade as well.  But, just in case anything happens to Wild Thang or Groovy, your gorgeous fish, ask The Son.  He will be more than happy to tell you all about how Sushi IV was floating and curled up and got flushed down the potty.

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I am going to be absent from the Internet this week I think.  I really need to give my family, my house, and the Mt. Everest of laundry some attention since they were all so ignored last week.  If you see me twittering around tell me to get back to work.

The worst night would be the evening  I had my room all ready the night before, Israelite houses built and the blood (red paint) in place to teach about Passover, and my Grandma decided to help.  Oh, have I not mentioned yet that she was my helper?  She was my helper.   That night, she got to church way before me and “helped” by “cleaning” up my classroom.  And taking down the set.  And throwing away all of the pieces.   I just switched the lesson around and it was fine, the kids never knew the difference.  That same night she spilled an entire pitcher of red juice on the sisal rug in my classroom.   Who knew the blood of Christ could not be Oxycleaned?   Dear Lord, please forgive me for joking about Holy Communion, but seeing as how you know about the kind of week I had, I think you understand.

I was shaking I was so exhausted when I finally came home that last night, and we all slept late the next day.  The Son just loved VBS.  He has started wanting to say his own prayers at night since VBS began.  They all start “Dear God, Thank you for letting me ride on the big airplane, and for vacation, and the funny car, and the hotel in Pennsylvania,  and for vacation bible school, and church, and my trains, and for Herbie.”  They continue with just Thank You’s for several minutes.  So far he has not been thankful for his parents, but I really don’t care.  Hearing my two year old pray, on his own with no prompting is the best positive feedback I have gotten as a parent thus far.   Last night he fell asleep mid sentence.  “Thank you for that man who….”  “Is he asleep?” “I think so.”  We got up to leave, and he said “Amen.” and rolled over and went back to sleep.  That kid just melts my heart sometimes.

I had one day of rest and then it was on to the next thing, cleaning and decorating for 7daytrial’s virtual baby shower!  I cut out approximately 4 million circles to use in my polka dot theme, but it turned out really, really cute.  I will post pictures and tell you all about it soon.

Next up, I have to get on the ball with my MOPS responsibilities.  Oh, did I not tell you?  I have been asked to be on the steering committee for MOPS this year.  I am the fund raising person.  I have to mail out hundreds of letters this week begging for money from local businesses, all the while convincing them that I am not begging but giving them a great chance to advertise.   I am mostly praying that I raise enough–because even though our community has not been super hard hit by the recession, it still is not a good time to ask for money.  After that we have a huge fundraiser we do with a local photographer– local moms, EMAIL ME!  I still have some really cheap coupons left to get professional pictures of your kiddos.  Like ten bucks cheap.  The Neighbor?  I am saving one for you.

We also finally, FINALLY settled with the insurance company for The Husband’s wreck he had back in January.  We prayed a lot over this one, and felt like we were being told not  to be greedy and fight for more than they offered.  He is well, the car is fixed, and medical bills will be paid–it was not worth going to court for more.

Hmm.  What else?  Uncle D and his friend came to visit, that was nice.  Umm, oh, the monolithic swing set got blown over by another storm, and The Husband said a “daddy” word or seven.  The Son is going to have a Herbie themed third birthday, and believe it or not I am going to go low key for it since we will be leaving for vacation that same week.   We are just inviting family and his three bestest, his age exactly friends.  I did, however, find a real live Disney made Herbie to come and make an appearance.    He is going to FLIP out.

Yeah, that is pretty much it.  Sorry I have been neglecting my blog, but you know what?  Sometimes it is either that or neglect life, and I just can’t do that when I have such a nice one.   So, tell me, what has been going on with you internet?  You have been pretty quiet the last few weeks,  so comment! Tweet!  Go update your blogs!

Tomorrow The Son, my parents, my grandparents, and I will be leaving for New York; leaving The Husband here alone.   Take good care of him if you see him, remind him to eat his veggies and wear his mask and water my plants.   I am bringing my laptop and there is supposedly WiFi, so I will update on Thursday hopefully.   If you happen to be outside tomorrow and hear screaming coming from the sky, don’t worry–it just means the flight with my almost three year old and eighty something year old grandpa is not going so well.   If it is followed by a big boom, it is just my head exploding from the horrible stares of our flight companions.  If that were to happen– Ang gets the books, Cat gets the clothes, and  Shoeshe gets the shoes.

My favorite part is H in the background wondering “What the heck is this “grown-up” doing?”

What grace. What form.  She gets a 9.7 in the sprinkler jumping Olympics.

H is all “Lordy here she comes again, I am MOVING!”

Last time.  Make it count, the Canadian judge is being harsh.

Awesome.