Random but Fun

Hudson is creating clones.

I. Don't. Know.

This kid loves baby George.

Some fun pictures we took for the grandparents.

Rigor mortis anyone? He sleeps like this a lot with his arms all sticking out.

Hudson's 6th Birthday

Hudson turned 6 this year. Can't believe it. I think he thinks he's grown up now. Everyone told us this would happen fast, but THIS fast?!?

We had a special breakfast in celebration of the day with breakfast cake and smoothies and present opening. Hudson requested hot dogs at the place where you throw peanuts on the floor so we had dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I wanted to get a picture of them singing to him, but he got so embarrassed when they made him sit on the saddle that I thought he might cry and I forgot all about the picture. Also to note, this was our first dinner outing with George. He slept the whole time. Can't believe there's 6 of us now. I remember when Hudson was born and we thought it was hard to get of the house...

We're all about things that go fast now so a go-cart ride was requested.

Hudson has been asking for a skateboard since we were living at the seminary. We weren't sure we were ready for ER visits so we procrastinated, but my mom decided that's what she wanted to get him for his birthday. He really likes it and has picked it up rather quickly. Thankfully, no bad accidents... yet! This video is after 5 days of riding.

The other boys were super grateful to Pop and Gamma for Hudson's new bicycle because it meant they got "new" bikes too. Pass it down! That happens a lot around here. Poor George...

Here's Nate working on his.

Baby Shower for George

This happened back in October, but as I was looking through some pictures, I realized I had forgotten to post them.

My sister and some special ladies who have been long time family friends hosted a shower for George and me. It was a really sweet time of prayer, yummy treats and fellowship. My good friend Anne Marie came up from Fort Worth, some of my favorite Wichita Falls people were there, my grandmother, aunt and 2 cousins-in-law.

We've were tremendously blessed!

My sister, me and my mom.

Some of the special ladies that came.

My sister had everyone write a note of encouragement or word of wisdom on these cards for me to keep. It's so special to have something to keep and remember things that others prayed for or encouraged me with.

Because it's funny...

This dancing monkey comes on right before the boys' favorite show everyday so they've seen it a few times. :) This was Owen's first time, but he did pretty good!

George's Name Sake

We love George Müller!

Mark and I have long since been encouraged by this man's life and have often discussed his faithful pursuit of God in prayer as it pertains to our own prayer life. When the opportunity to move to Bristol was presented to us, we assumed it was a crazy idea and would come to nothing. However, as we continued to pray for the next 9 months, we felt the Lord continuing to point us in that direction, and so we kept praying for His provision to get us there. He did! We were so excited to go and live in the city where the Lord used this man so well. We visited all the Müller sites and marveled that the Lord had done a similar work in providing for us as He did so often for George Müller.

We had only been there a few months when we discovered we were pregnant. Then we found out we were moving back to the States a few more months after that. Our time there was only 6 months, but it was a special and treasured time, despite the difficulties. As we began to think about a name for the baby, we kept coming back to George Müller. A great memento of our time there to be always remembered in the name of our child.

George Müller (1805-1898)

If you're interested in reading more about him, here's one of a number of links to check out:

http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biorpmueller.html

George Müller Hamilton

Little George was born November 12, 2011, at 3:46pm.

He weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz. and was 22 in. long.

My sister was able to be there with us. She was really helpful during labor... until she pulled out the 'gone bad' peppermint oil, and I nearly threw up all over her. Funny now, not funny then. Despite that, I truly am grateful she was there to be apart of everything.

A sweet friend from church kept the boys for us, which was so great because it allowed my family to be up at the hospital. When my dad went back to get them she had prepared little gifts for the boys to give George and me. She also make some super yummy chocolate cupcakes that I made sure to devour after the delivery.

Thanks Rishelle for your thoughtful service to our family!

Pumpkin Drop

Ever heard of dropping pumpkins from airplanes? Me either until my mom took us to the annual pumpkin drop contest at a small private airport just outside of Wichita Falls. Anyone who had a plane and wanted to participate could. There was a big box painted on the ground and the pilots got points for dropping the pumpkins in the box depending on how high they were and how fast they were flying. The things people come up with for entertainment!

The boys stood and watched with some of their friends from church.

Mark and Hudson were able to go up in one of the planes with a friend from church.

Hudson loved it.

I think Nate thought the plane was going to run him down. He started out standing by Hudson, but by the time he realized the plane was coming his way, he moved back behind his brothers.

Pumpkins in November

My mom got the boys pumpkins when a trailer load of them came through the neighborhood back in October. They had a good time looking at all the different kinds and trying pick out one they liked.

This is something most would think we should have done in October when we picked out the pumpkins. Well... I just didn't get around to it. I thought at one time we'd carve them. Didn't get to that either. It would have been me carving which wasn't at all appealing to me. Being big and pregnant and carving 3 pumpkins while 3 little boys told me what to do and how to do it and to hurry up and do theirs just didn't work well in my head. So we skipped it and we colored them in November instead.

I'm pretty sure they'll be okay.

Hudson colored him and his friends John Michael, Siamboi, and Ben.

Thanksgiving Happenings

This is a picture of our Thanksgiving tree this year. My parents have this huge window in their living room which made the perfect spot for the tree. My parents and Nathanael participated this year too so I had to make some extra leaves. We weren't able to do it last year because we were moving so it was really fun to do it again, especially with the boys being older.

My sister thought it would be a great idea to get the boys to decorate Indian vests in celebration of the 1st Thanksgiving feast. The boys all took to it way more than we thought!

We decided they should have real Indian names. So Elliot was named "Humm Sayer" because he does this weird humm noise constantly, Hudson named himself "Hot Runner" Owen was bequeathed "Little Man Who Whines" and Nathanael was given "Running Mouth". Erin and I had a good time with it too in case you couldn't tell. :)

Squaw with littlest brave

Big Chief with 4 braves

"Running Mouth" talk to Dog named Jack

Pop and Gamma

Pop and Gamma came for a visit in October and we had a...

Wichita Mountains hikin'

buffalo sneekin'

prairie dog watchin' and bum pickin'

(I couldn't resist posting this one, what are the chances I'd manage to get a shot like this!)

trail walkin'

car drivin'

speedway tourin'

race car ridin'

(Mark and his mom actually got to experience the race track at about 165 mph!)

waterfall climbin'

(for the record the waterfalls happened to be turned off... welcome to Wichita Falls, home of the electric waterfalls)

kite flyin'

hot chocolate drinkin'

marshmallow roastin'

s'mores eatin'

early birthday present havin'

rip roarin' good time!!!