Christmas: Part 3 of 2

Just a quick note to remind myself in thirty years that Barry, Canon, and I did have our own private Christmas this year. It was on our bed several days after Christmas at some random time during the day. There was no big deal made over Santa, just us and three presents for Canon. I had lots of ideas about what his big Christmas presents would be. I considered a train set, a tent, a table and chairs set, and a tricycle. None of those seemed just right when it came down to it. So instead, we stuck with the basic and the simple: pajamas, books, and a small train collection that he can use on the train set that I'm sure he'll eventually get. Sometimes low-key just fits.

My Favorite Things

Sing to the tune from The Sound of Music (if possible).

A Neutra-Grain bar with a cup full of juice.
Eating while watching my favorite cartoons.
Playing outside on the slide and the swing.
These are a few of my favorite things.


(instrumental break)

Playing with "Buzzss" and "Lot-Lot" and "Woo-y."
Falling asleep while watching Toy Story.
Coloring Dora and Diego with green.
These are a few of my favorite things.


When the book ends,
When it's nap time,
When my temper roars!
MaMa finds something to bribe me to sleep,
And then I begin . . . to snore.


(instrumental and dance break)

Yelling at Bull when he barks at the door.
Jumping and dancing around on the floor.
Stumbling around after Daddy spins me.
These are a few of my favorite things.


When it's "Time Out!"
When it's "No, No!"
When my luck runs out.
I simply find one of my favorite things,
And then I don't need . . . to pout.

Christmas: Part 2 of 2

This year's Hamilton Family Christmas felt a lot like the Christmases I remember when I was growing up. The last decade or so has been very mellow when it comes to gift-giving with my family. With eight hard-working adult siblings and a set of parents who want nothing more than for us to give to people who really need it, the pile of presents under the tree has gotten skimpy. This isn't to say that Christmas is all about presents or that the time we spend together during the holidays isn't fun. But now with growing nieces and nephews, I was reminded this December of what it felt like to be a kid at Christmas.

One of the things we were pretty good at was planning every minute of the weekend so that no one got too bored. We spent one freezing night looking at lights in the park two blocks from my parents' house. I don't think Canon knew what to do.

During the day, we spent as much time as possible outside, though the weather kept us in and out in shifts. Barry joined us on Christmas Eve, and the real fun began. If there was ever a lull in the events of the day, Barry was there to wrestle, spin, or tackle any child in sight.

After a Christmas Eve service at church and a trip around some of the shadier areas of town to view some Christmas lights, we made it back to the house for dinner. Of course, we couldn't end the night without first making cookies for Santa. Amelia and Kaden were definitely the most productive cookie makers. Canon showed absolutely no interest, and Ceil's energy was focused on sneaking spoonfuls of icing to eat. By the end of the night, I'd say Santa was able to get his sugar-fix at our house.

Because my little brother's family recently moved to Kentucky, and his work schedule did not afford them the time to travel to and from Greenville, we made the most of their absence on Skype. They "called" us Christmas Eve night, and we were all able to see and talk to the Robert Hamilton's during their family Christmas. It kind of felt like one of those holiday commercials where long-distance families chat through the computer. Technology truly is amazing!

Christmas morning was as exciting as I remember it as a child. Just like when I was a little girl, I was the first person awake, or at least out of bed. Kaden, in the room next door, was the perfect little boy as he sat in his bed talking to himself until someone came to get him. To relive some childhood moments, I got up and went to wake up my big brother on Christmas morning. He was as happy as I remember him being back then! Once the present-opening began, I remembered that I was a parent, not a participant. Canon was only interested in the presents that other people were opening and spent the first part of the morning fussing - quite obnoxiously - about wanting to take his cousins' toys. At one point, we had Ceil open his presents for him in the hopes that he would try to steal his own gifts.

We eventually got him to enjoy some of his own things. This is a Rody that MyGoo and doc gave him. He had more fun falling off of it than bouncing on it!

By the end of the weekend, everyone was friends again, and the parents were more relaxed. This is a typical scene during dinner time. While the adults ate at the dining room table, the kids watched various Christmas movies in the den. Don't worry . . . Amelia was in charge. She's a very responsible six-year-old.

Merry Christmas!

Just for Fun

Now that I've got a few extra hours each day, and we had an unusually warm day in Dothan, I picked Canon up from school a little early to go to the Rotary Miracle Park. The Miracle Park was built so that every child could have a place to play. Kids with walkers, wheelchairs, and none of the above can access the many slides, swings, musical gadgets, and sensory toys throughout the park. It is one of Canon's favorite places in town. I'll just let the pictures show you.

I love seeing him this happy!

Christmas: Part 1 of 2

Christmas: Part 1 took place in Winfield this year the weekend before Christmas. It really was like being a kid again. The massive pile of gifts stacked under the Christmas tree made all of us giddy with excitement . . . and greed!

The fun started Saturday morning when we all woke up. Since neither Xan nor Canon are quite old enough to understand the whole Santa Claus thing, no one got up any earlier than normal. We ate a good breakfast, then headed to the Living Room to see what jolly old Saint Nick had delivered. Barry and I got tons of great stuff (mostly money for a new bed), but of course, our focus was on The Can Man. The pictures illustrate much better than my limited vocabulary can.

Though Canon is into lots of things right now, Toy Story is definitely his favorite. "Woo-y" and "Buzzss" are said multiple times each hour. So you can imagine his excitement when he opened these gifts. Not sure if you can tell, but the shirt he's wearing in the first picture is a Toy Story 3 t-shirt. We had to put it on immediately. He wouldn't even give me time to take off his pajamas first. Aunt Lydia gave him the Woody doll, and he carried it around the rest of the day.

These are some other great gifts - a dog that follows his bone, and an IXL by Fisher Price. The IXL comes with interactive coloring pages, games, stories, music and pictures with each downloadable game. Canon loves playing with Barry's iPhone, so Nonna and Poppa thought this would be more age-appropriate. Of course, he loves it!

Canon loved everything Xan, and Xan loved everything Canon. Ever since the whole New Baby thing has entered our lives again, Canon has been very interested in babies. In fact, no matter how many times we tell him to say "Xan," he responds with "Baby."

Besides opening presents and obsessing over cousins, we spent the rest of the weekend just relaxing. We put in Toy Story 3 to subdue Canon for awhile, but the adults were more into it than he was. Barry suggested several times, whenever he snapped out of his Woody-induced coma, that we turn the movie off because Canon was not even watching it. Then Buzz would appear, and we wouldn't hear from him for another twenty minutes or so.

The long ride home was broken up by a visit to Big Mom. What did we do the rest of the way home? Watch Toy Story 3, of course!

It's a Girl

See, I told you!

Checking a New Box

Barry has been joking on some of our "older" friends for a couple of years now that they check a different box than we do. You know the box I'm talking about . . . the one that says "30, with children." Well, the box welcomed me today. I have officially reached a new decade. Fortunately, it all happened amidst several friends who were also turning 30, though none of them have kids (yet). Sam, JD, Matt, and I all have birthdays within a few days of each other. Since we have a large group of mutual friends, we decided to have a joint birthday party last weekend in Birmingham. Our loving spouses organized the whole thing, and we were surrounded by tons of people we knew and loved . . . and maybe a few we'd never seen before! Of course, the good birthday girl left her camera in the cold car, and I still haven't managed to swindle photographs from the others at the party. I'll post them as soon as I get them.
I got another celebration in Dothan amidst several friends also celebrating birthdays in December. Mary, Tuan, Brandon, Jessica, and I all have birthdays within about two weeks of each other, so we try to do something fun every year. This year, Leah organized a dinner for us at Kyoto. It was so relaxing and just fun to get together with everyone. We usually get together once or twice a month, but usually at someone's house. It's just easier that way with so many kids. Being out at a restaurant was a nice change, especially when Barry took our ferociously fussy son home early because we just couldn't manage to make him happy. He's a good husband . . . and dad.

Familiar Tera-tory

Today marks the five-year anniversary of Tera Morris' death. For those of you who don't know the whole story, I'll give you the short version. Or the shortest version I'm willing to give :).
A year after graduating from college, I decided that I needed to go back. My grandmother had graciously left my siblings and I a large sum of money when she died, so I did what any responsible twenty-three-year-old would. I quit my job and re-enrolled in college to become a teacher. While the sum was large, it wasn't quite large enough to handle rent, tuition, food, bills, etc. etc. I was home one weekend in October and mentioned to my dad the idea of getting a part-time job. He was always very generous when it came to our education, but I was really trying to do this on my own.
I returned to Birmingham on Sunday, and a couple of days later I was sitting in a friends' apartment. I mentioned my job hunt situation, and he mentioned a way to fix it. He was/is a teacher at Simmons Middle School in the Hoover City System, and they had just enrolled a new 6th grade student - Tera. Tera had a brain tumor. Diagnosed years before, the tumor had begun affecting her physically only in the last several months. She spent most of the previous summer and the beginning of that school year at St. Jude in Memphis. Her doctors decided that in addition to her digressing physical abilities, her emotional and social well-being was also taking a downward turn. She needed to be with friends. She was allowed to come back home and return to school, but she would need help.
I interviewed for the job that week and started work on Friday. It's amazing how things work out when you let God take care of it. I know everything in life is a "God Thing." But this was one of the more obvious God Things I have ever experienced.
Tera and I got off to an easy start, though there were a few kinks we had to work out. For example, at 5'4" I was about the same size as many of Tera's classmates. Though significantly taller than Tera, it was easy for us to get a little too comfortable with each other, and there were times when we had to re-establish our teacher/student relationship. Though we both knew it wasn't really that. It was much more mutual than that. We were not quite sisters, not quite mother-daughterish, but it definitely felt like family. We both learned from each other, and we definitely loved each other very much. We were, literally, attached at the hip.
Barry and I got engaged that year, and we made plans to move to Dothan. I would have to leave Tera after only a few months. Tera came down with her mother and two of her teachers to attend the wedding. She sat with my guest book and charmed all of our friends. She even stole a dance with my husband, who later said she was heavier than she looks!
Tera started a new year in seventh grade. Though things just got physically worse for her, I'm assured her strong, sweet spirit never faltered. She was readmitted to St. Jude for several days that October, and I drove up to surprise her. Over the next couple of months, she attended school less and spent more time at home with her family. She got to do some of her favorite things in those last few weeks. She and her friends spent an afternoon at Kay jewelers getting "gussied up." She scrapbooked with her mother. All of the things she wanted to do. Her mother told me that the morning she died, everyone was there with her - her mother, father, sister, and brother. It was beautiful, just like Tera.
That day, I was observing at an elementary school in Dothan. When I left the school, I had two messages, both from Birmingham friends who had "news." I waited until I got home to listen. I knew what they were about. When I pulled into my driveway, I was already in tears. There were two rosebuds blooming on the bush just outside the garage. I only noticed because it seemed so strange to me that roses would bloom in December. (I now know that the unusual part is that there were only two roses on the bush. There are usually many more than that in December). When the messages confirmed what I already knew, I decided that I needed a pick-me-up, so I cut the two rosebuds and put them in a vase in my house. A few days later, at Tera's funeral, I would learn that there is a connection between Tera's name - Teresa - and roses. I have never prided myself on being a good listener (especially in church) and I kick myself daily for not storing the words spoken during that particular funeral service in my long-term memory. So I won't even attempt to regurgitate what was spoken by the priest that day. I will just say that it was what I needed to hear then, and when we built our new house, I put in some extra rosebushes.
That was five years ago. One week from today, I will go to my second doctor's appointment. I will only be 15 weeks pregnant, but I will find out on that day that I am having a little girl. And her name will be Tera.

Thanksgiving 2010. Oh, and the Iron Bowl.

In the tradition of alternating major family holidays, we spent this Thanksgiving with the Moss/Barry family in north Alabama.

Our first stop was Birmingham on Thanksgiving day. We spent the day with Big Mom, Debbie, Nonna, Poppa, and Lydia. Leslie, Grant, and Xan showed up later that evening for dinner. During the day, we were introduced to a version of Golf that we had never seen before. You place one golf ball in the leg of a pair of panty hose, then tie the other leg around your waist so that the ball is hanging toward the floor. Yes, it looks as gross as it sounds. Using only the movement of your hips and legs (no hands allowed) you have to swing the hanging golf ball so that it hits another golf ball (sitting on the floor) toward the "hole" (a plastic cup). To create additional pressure (as if gyrating your hips in front of your in-laws isn't enough), the whole event is timed. Of course, Barry ended up winning with some time less than twenty seconds (athletes stink!). I was happy with my first try of 50-something seconds and refused to try again.

It appears that Leslie might be cheating!

On Friday, Barry, Leslie, Grant, and I left the babies with Nonna and Poppa and drove to Tuscaloosa to attend the Iron Bowl.

One word immediately comes to mind when I think about that game . . . freezing! Oh, and there's another one . . . wet! The real kicker here is that on this cold and rainy day in November, Barry and I did not have tickets to the game we were so desperate to attend. Barry's thought was that we could find one on the street for a "responsible" price and have a blast at the game. My thought was that we would be watching the game in our friends' tailgate tent. Either option sounded fine to me, but I knew I was right.

Why do I ever doubt that man?

Just before kick-off, Barry set off in the quad looking for a pair of reasonably priced tickets. He came back less than ten minutes later with sixth row seats on the 35-yard line behind the Alabama sideline. Perfect!

Let me backtrack here to another perfect moment in Barry's day. Our friend, Robert, lives in Tuscaloosa, so Barry left me for awhile to go visit him. Robert took him to the stadium where the Alabama players were unloading the bus before the game. Barry said there were thousands of fans in the area, screaming and cheering so loudly he couldn't hear himself talking. He said it was one of the most amazing things he's ever experienced, and that no player got off the bus feeling like he was worth less than a million dollars. There's no way a person can stay humble in that situation.

So back to the game. As we all know, though Alabama dominated the first half, Auburn won 28-27. Though I usually prefer watching a televised game so that I can see close-ups and replays, this game was really so much fun to watch live. It seemed that all of the major action happened right in front of us. The many sacks of Cam Newton! Most of Julio's phenomenal catches! And, of course, the fans around us made for some additional entertainment. A little boy and his mother sat right beside Barry. The boy, probably about six or seven, was the only Auburn fan in sight, but he endured the obnoxious cursing of the Alabama fan directly across the aisle. Poor guy!

After the game, we met up with Barry's old boss and his family before heading back home to the babies. By this point, Nonna's family had arrived in Winfield so we spent the remainder of the evening with them. Our second Thanksgiving event is kind of a blur. I know we ate a lot and got to see some Winfield friends that we haven't seen in awhile. We also got some exciting news from our friends Hill and Amanda. They are expecting their first child in June! We also took lots of family pictures. My favorite is this one of Poppa, Barry, and Canon playing the piano. I hope that's a skill/hobby that continues to travel through the generations.

At the end of the weekend, we headed south again to get ready for our regular lives to begin again. Maybe we'll teach South Alabama how to play our new Golf game.

Barry Put Up a Good Fight, But . . .

I'm finally allowed to tell everybody that I'm pregnant! Baby #2 is due May 29, 2011. I'm already known as the Good Little Teacher for planning it so well. The truth is, I didn't really think about when the birthday would be. I just knew that I was ready to keep the family growing. Once Barry jumped on board, it all worked out this way.
This pregnancy has been much like the first. I haven't had any morning sickness, though I did have a stomach virus for a few hours recently. I'm tired a lot, much like the first time around. I think some of this is due to the fact that I haven't been exercising like I should. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day, but . . . excuses, excuses. I definitely have less self-control. I've let myself eat pretty much whatever I want. While I try to sneak in some variations of health from time to time, it's mostly a cereal and snack diet these days.
Another similarity to the first pregnancy is my delay in finding out. With Canon, I went in for an ultrasound at six weeks, only to find out I was actually nine weeks! With this pregnancy, I was monitoring things much more closely so that I wouldn't make that mistake again. I found out I was pregnant on October 1, and because I knew I wasn't very far along (I had taken a few tests in weeks past), I decided to wait until my Fall Break to go to the doctor. I thought I remembered from my first pregnancy that they won't do an ultrasound until six weeks anyway, so I didn't feel there was any need to go in just to urinate on a stick. So, I waited out the next two weeks.
The first Sunday of my Fall Break, I had a major scare. I started bleeding. It seemed heavy at the time, but thinking back on it now it wasn't that bad. It was enough to scare me, though, so Barry called my doctor for reassurance. Of course, there's not much he could tell me over the phone. I went to his office the next day expecting the worst. We had the ultrasound first. For some reason, Barry was held up at work, so I went in alone. He showed up a few minutes later but not before I found out that everything was absolutely perfect! And better yet, I was not four weeks pregnant like I originally thought. I was seven weeks! I had done it again. I promise I'm not a complete idiot. But apparently, my body is!
So Baby #2 is on the way, and my nearly Terrible Two-year-old is completely unpredictable at this point. He changes from day to day, so there is no telling what he will be like in May. I just have to remind myself that thousands of women (including my own mother, mother-in-law, sister, sister-in-law, and two grandmothers) have done this and survived. I will survive!

A Halloween Story: Putting That Hair to Good Use

You may remember the "awesome" haircut that Barry forced upon my child about a month ago. When deciding on Canon's Halloween costume, this was the main focus of our inspiration. The idea was to go with Biker. My friend, Brandy, had a motorcycle that he could wear. All we had to do was come up with the clothing portion of the costume. I thought we had it pretty nailed down until we actually dressed him up. He looked more like trailer trash than a biker.
First, the hair . . .

Now the clothes . . .

He's wearing jeans and a white t-shirt that I cut the sleeves from. I made an "I love Mom" tattoo on his arm with black lipstick. There is barbed wire on the other side.

And now the full costume . . .

He looks pretty tough next to our Strawberry Princess, Ava. He hated wearing the motorcycle. It was pretty heavy, so we just set him down inside of it on the ground. He cried a good bit at first, but one he found the candy, he was good to go. Canon really doesn't like candy. He'll eat suckers, but that's about it. On this night, he would grab candy from one of our dozens of bowls and baskets (we had lots of friends come to hang out, and everyone brought tons of candy) then bite into it through the wrapper. After giving a look of disgust, he would toss the candy back in the bowl. We tried to be good about getting those pieces out, but there is no telling what some poor children took away with them.

Aplin Farms

As a follow-up to our infamous "Candy Shot" last Halloween, the girls and I were eager to find another fantastic photo op to celebrate the Fall season and, if necessary, Halloween. We emailed for weeks about possible ideas, and finally someone (I think it was Mary) came up with the idea of Aplin Farms (frequently called Alpin during our online conversations). Aplin Farms is a farm/pumpkin patch about 10 miles west of Dothan. Though several members of our usual group couldn't make it, we managed to make pretty good use of our free Saturday morning.

We arrived at Aplin Farms around 10:00 a.m. and made plans to do just about everything. After checking out the boxes of produce at the front of the farm . . .

. . . we began studying the various activities we could do. The farm offered a train ride, hay ride, corn maze, sunflower picking, petting zoo, jumparoo . . . basically anything that would get you either looking or smelling dirty. Thankfully, the people running the farm knew better than we did. Instead of paying for everything up front, we got a little yellow ticket. As we went to each activity, we had the person in charge stamp our ticket. When we had done everything we wanted to do, we simply returned the card to the cashier and paid for those activities in which we participated. Remember how I said we were going to do everything? By the end of the morning, our ticket had only 1 stamp!

The Train Ride. And it was completely worth it.

Canon absolutely loved it. He spent most of the ride just like this, looking out the "window."

After that, we just kind of wandered around the farm. We did visit the Petting Zoo, but thankfully Canon was as interested in that as I was, so we left fairly quickly. I think the animals made him a little nervous. They made me a little nauseas.

Canon found a pig made out of a hay bale, and they quickly became friends. We ignored the sign saying "Please do not touch or ride pigs." I don't think they really meant to put those there. How can you expect a one year-old not to touch a big pink hay bale? Surely they meant for us not to touch or ride the live pigs that were wandering around the farm somewhere but that we never saw.

As you can imagine, it was then time for a snack. This is one of my favorite pictures of Canon and me together.

Before leaving, we had to take advantage of some photo opps. I managed to get one of Canon and Ava before the Yates' family headed home.

She's already playing hard-to-get.

And here's the rest of the Farm Crew: Colt, Julia, Alex, and Canon. Not bad for three one-year-olds and a big brother!

Park Fun

One of Canon's favorite things to do is to play at the park. One of Barry and my favorite things to do is visit our friends in Birmingham. Who says you can't do both?! Laura and JD live just a couple of blocks from a public park, so Laura, Canon, and I took advantage of a chance to get outside while the boys watched back-to-back football all day.

Of course, Canon fell OFTEN! Once, after a particularly rough face-to-woodchips contact, Canon stood up to dust himself off. Something to mention here is that Canon has had a runny nose for weeks now. Something else to note is that runny noses cause stickiness on the whole upper lip. So you can imagine that when Canon jumped up after face-planting into the dirt, some of that dirt stuck to the sticky goo on his upper lip. Laura and I couldn't control our laughing long enough to grab the camera and take a picture of Little Hitler.

Canon especially loved sliding with Laura, who is currently a mother-in-training. Her son is due on Canon's second birthday!

He let me slide with him a couple of times. After looking at this picture, I can see why he didn't want me to go with him too much. Do you think I dislocated his shoulders or broke his hip bones first?

And, of course, Mr. Independent loved to slide by himself.

Even I Can Call Myself a Martyr for This One

Earlier in the week, Barry said that he really wanted to take Canon to get his haircut. He had been talking for weeks about the fact that he wanted to let Canon's hair keep growing so that he would eventually have a Mullet. So you can imagine my excitement when he mentioned wanting to cut it!
Not to be outsmarted, however, I told Barry that since he was taking Canon to get the haircut (meaning that he got to decide how it was going to be cut) that I should get something out of it as well. I began scheming so as not be outdone by one of Barry's crazy ideas. Barry responded with a very non-chalant answer - I can't remember what his exact words were, but they led me to believe that my mature husband would return my still-a-baby son to me with a somewhat regular haircut. Some women never learn! I forgot who I was married to.
When I left work on the Big Day, I called Barry to see where he was. He was on his way back to the hospital with Canon, and he said that I should meet them there. When I arrived, this is what I found:

I am proud of myself for not screaming, crying, or even losing my temper. In truth, I really didn't say too much, except that I hated it (in a very calm tone) and that I couldn't believe he buzzed my toddler's hair (again, no aggression shown). And yes, I said "he buzzed" as in "Barry buzzed." After taking Canon to a legitimate hair salon (nicer than the one I use) and witnessing his uncontrollable screaming and uncooperativeness in the chair, Barry decided to have the stylist explain to him how to cut a child's hair into a Mohawk. He then took Canon home, stripped off his clothes, tuned his IPhone to an episode of Dora the Explorer on Netflix, and proceeded to use clippers to cut Canon's hair.
That night, I made Barry buzz the rest of the back off and tried to get him to let me trim the top just a little. After two snips, he told me to put the scissors down and leave it alone. He liked it just like that. I still can't believe I actually put them down. At least now we know what he's going to be for Halloween . . . something involving a spiked Mohawk.
Since then, Barry has come up with other rather ridiculous haircut ideas, especially for a one-year-old. I am still dealing with the notion that this is one of those battles that I am probably going to end up choosing not to fight. Instead, I will just have to live with the consequences of the decisions of an adult bald man living vicariously through a lustrously-haired young boy.

Another Lake Season Comes to an End

This summer might mark the most times we've frequented the lake since we've lived in Dothan. If there was ever a weekend with no plans, plans were made to travel north.
It turned out to be a very eventful lake season as far as Canon is concerned. He has had many firsts in the last few months.
He skiied for the first time . . .

. . . and hated every minute of it.
He tubed for the first time, and loved it. During this ride, he fell asleep.

This was also his first summer with cousin Xan.

Finally, Canon was a part of his first illegal act - riding in a boat without a life jacket.

Hopefully there won't be too many more of those kinds of incidents, but we'll love him anyway.