Charlie Turns 6, Chuck E Cheese-Style

Charlie's 6th birthday was December 22, 2009. We celebrated it that day in an impromtu birthday party at, you guessed it, Chuck E. Cheese's. We didn't have a lot of people show up, but sometimes that makes it all the more intimate and enjoyable.

As a sidenote, Jackson is seen in this picture. Two years ago he would've been hiding under the table crapping his pants to be this close to a costumed character. Notice, he still doesn't look at them, but he can be in the same vicinity as them without freaking out now.

We had a great time as a family. We hadn't been to a CEC since the kids were years younger so this was nice going with older kids.

One of our favorite guests, Josiah...

Slammin on some pizza...why is it that CEC has such good pizza???

This was definitely the funniest part of the evening...a ticket machine. The birthday boy got to go in and grab all the tickets he could for 30 seconds. Charlie was confident...until it started blowing hurricane-style wind in his face.

He ended up coming out with like 4 tickets in his hand, but luckily enough he had one yellow ticket stuck to his shirt. That yellow ticket was worth 100 tickets...whoo-whoo Bobby!

There are only 5 candles on the cake, but he really is 6. I told the girl twice but she kept forgetting so we moved on.

Charlie got a Webkinz fish from Aunt Jessa and Josiah. He really wanted a fish, so that made his day.

Mommy and Daddy got Charlie a Spongebob laptop which he seemed to like then, but hasn't played with much since.

The sweetest gesture of all, however, was Madison and Jackson's gift to Charlie. The two of them counted money and put it together to get Charlie this Spongebob Lego set. He was thrilled. More importantly, I felt so blessed to be the mom of two of the sweetest kids on this Earth. They didn't even flinch putting in nearly $15 each. To me, that is the true meaning of being a big brother or sister. They expected nothing in return, but just wanted Baby to have a great gift. As a sidenote, it's a good thing they didn't expect anything in return because Baby's money burns a whole in his pocket.

When we arrived home, Ma and Papaw Dave's gift was wrapped and waiting for Baby to open. It was a Star Wars Play-Doh set with extra tubs of Star Wars Play-Doh. From the picture, I think one can tell that he likes it...A LOT!

Madison Turns 12, Twilight-Style

Madison's birthday is December 9, but to capitalize on the Twilight phenomenon, we celebrated it November 21, 2009, which just so coincidentally happened to be opening night for New Moon.

We loaded up six girls clad in all the Twilight gear they could fit and headed to the premiere with the Twilight soundtrack rocking the whole way. Once we got there, we waited in line nearly an hour before we could enter the theater. We loaded up on lots of popcorn, pop, and candy because we were seeing the 11pm showing and knew we would need the sugar to stay up all night after.

The movie was awesome! We jammed the whole way home to the New Moon soundtrack. When we arrived home it was 130am, and we found this scrumptious meal waiting...wild mushroom ravioli (minus the wild mushrooms), garlic bread sticks, and coca-cola. Shout out to Daddy, much props for preparing the Edward and Bella first date dinner.

Next, the girls bobbed for apples in ice cold water. Apples because it is on the cover of Twilight and ice because the vampires are called 'the cold ones,' duh!

Shout out to Ma for baking the cupcakes iced in pink, just as Alice had a pink cake for Bella's birthday. However, these ones oozed red as if a vampire had taken a bite out of them. Delish!

Next in line was the kissing game. We put bright red icing gel on the girls lips, covered their eyes, spun them around and sent them in search of planting a kiss on Jacob. Whoever was the closest, won a prize. Madison was the closest, which leads me to wonder if she has had practice at this. She did it like it was her job. This, however, is a picture of her friend Miranda trying to plant one on Jacob. She came pretty close.

We opened presents and the party for the Pickle Princess wouldn't be complete without a pickle-shaped birthday card. Actually she got two of the same, what can we say??? Her friends know what she likes.

She got a Jacob puzzle, New Moon board game, Twilight bracelet, Volturi perfume, Twilight Band-Aids, New Moon soundtrack, New Moon jewelry box, Jabob poster, Jacob T-shirt, and some loot too.

The girls opened the game ASAP and began to play.

After a LOOOONG night, the girls woke up and we headed to BK for their New Moon combo meals. We sent them home with popcorn pails filled with Twilight Sweethearts, New Moon Sky candy bars, and a $5 New Moon gift card to BK (which most of them spent that morning, or should I say afternoon.
This was before game time with their vampire dentures and their treat bags. Needless to say, the girls were all pretty sluggish that game!

As promised...Room Renovations

Charlie decided that he wanted a sports-themed room. However, he also loves Spongebob and when he saw a Spongebob bedding set that had footballs and baseballs on it, he was sold. The room was already navy blue, but it made the room appear smaller, so we kept one wall navy blue and painted the rest pure white, saving money by using the leftovers from Madison's room.

His bedroom set was found off Craig's List for $300. It includes a dresser, nightstand, and twin headboard, footboard, and rails. It was a little more than I spent on the others, but it is well worth it. It is oak and all tongue and groove. I'm tired of paying good money for furniture that falls apart. That is why all the kids furniture pieces are good quality, they may be older, but I'm not worried about them falling apart in a month. To top it all off, Charlie's bed post finials are pineapples...meant to be (who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Spongebob Squarepants!)!

Charlie loves his room and was glad to finally not have to share a room with Jackson.

We started with Madison's room. Her favorite color is red, so she wanted a red room. I did't want it to be too overwhelming so we decided to do one wall red and the rest in pure white. She has red on the moldings in the closet as well to tie it all together.

Like myself, Madison is into the Twilight Saga. We didn't want to do a Twilight room that she may outgrow in a year or two, so we decided to just add touches of Twilight memorabilia throughout the room with the base being black, white, red, and lime green. We threw the green in there as an accent color, like in pillows and rugs. The green also comes from the forestry one will find mentioned throughout Twilight as it is based in Forks, WA.

She loves her room and it is a hit with all of her friends, as well. I did recently learn that she likes the character Jacob now more than Edward. So...I bought a Jacob poster and will have to change that out with the Edward one she currently has. Girls will be girls, I guess.

My bargain was the bedroom furniture. I got the bed, nightstand, and dresser all at the Salvation Army for $75. All of it is in perfect condition with glass tops on the nightstand and dresser. The desk was found on Craig's List for $40. It is Ethan Allen with a glass top and matching chair, also in perfect condition. The wood stains of both sets match perfectly, a sign to me that it was meant to be!

The Year You May Have Missed in Review

This will be quite a long post, as it will summarize most of 2009, which I have previously failed to blog. After which, I am going to try to blog more often as a promise to myself. I like to look back, especially on cold, snowed-in days like today, and see how far we've come and look at all the memories we've created.

Enjoy ~ We did!

Jackson, my little Tiger Cub, collecting some Boy Scout Awards in February 2009

Easter Egg Painting in April...Look at those Snuggle Bunnies

Charlie dippin and dappin not knowin what's happenin...




Madison received an Easter basket from a boy...SO NOT COOL!


















Maddy ready to go to a dance at school...again, SO NOT COOL! When we picked her up she said her feet were killing her. I wondered why because she went in ballet-style flats. She proceded to tell me that all the 8th graders wore heels and could barely walk in them and were stepping on everyone's feet all night.

Jackson's 7th Birthday spent with his two BFFs from school, Owen and Matthew, grenade water balloons and all

Army ice cream cake from DQ made it complete...
















End of Season Baseball Party...DQ ice cream cake...Do you sense a theme with us and cake?

Charlie getting his trophy from his Daddy/Coach...All 3 of my boys did amazing this year!

Uncle Bubba's in Savannah, GA in July 2009. This is the brother to Food Network's Paula Dean. We tried to have lunch at the Lady and Sons, but it was full. Great food, great time.













Maddy enjoying some southern deep fried pickles...MMM!

A nice woman offered to take a pic of all of us gorging ourselves outside on the patio at Uncle Bubba's surrounded by Georgia swampland.

Our room at the Grande Vista Marriott Resort in Orlando, FL. The kids entered an Iron Chef competition. They went and picked up the secret ingredient...a can of crushed tomatoes. They had one hour to go back to the room and create a masterpiece...and a masterpiece it was. They made salsa and served it in a green pepper with tortilla chips, marinara sauce to dip bacon wrapped string cheese mozzarella sticks, carb-free blt wraps (bacon, crushed tomato, mayo, all inside a leaf of romaine lettuce--a hit with the judges), and brushetta with pureed tomatoes on top.

Needless to say, we won! They received a Marriott frame of them accepting the award, an award, and bragging rights, of course. The mother of the losers came up and asked us if we were "professional chefs, or something," after congratulating us!
My tennis pro...Baby! Whenever we ask him what he wants to be when he grows up he says a tennis player, which is odd because he rarely gets an opportunity to play.


My rock-climbin' Jack! He always makes it to the top, and is usually the only one that does. I am choosing not to post the pick of his Daddy falling on his keester. HEHE!

Speaking of Daddy...here he is almost crapping his pants holding a huge Burmese Python. The guy from Gatorland called him up cause he was such a big guy, but had him close his eyes. When he opened them, I literally saw all the color leave his face. People actually thought Charlie was in on the act because of his reaction. The snake kept coming up and tickling his ear.

My money mogul flexin his skills at family game night playin strip...

L-C-R

Everyone sittin around the table hoping the people to their left and right would Lose...



Who didn't know that Ma's Bingo Luck would follow her all the way to FL. Ma seen here cheesing and holdin on for dear life to her $30 jackpot...

The kids built their own Katana race cars and then entered to race them. The funny thing is that the directions to build the cars was in Japanese...hilarious! Jackson came in 3rd and the other two losers got participation ribbons. Jack's smarts proved to win out once again, he had kids that work at the resort help him, while Baby and Maddy were left in the dust with Mommy and Daddy helping to build their cars.

After a week of R&R, we headed home, but on our way, we stopped at the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine, FL for Ma and Papaw Dave (they looked like they could use it--HEHE!)

Gorgeous peacocks roamed the grounds. They had all white ones too, but this was my favorite. It was walking right along side us. Funny sidenote: Every since then, I have taken a liking to peacocks and their coloring. I have a few splashes of it in my dining room already.

A scurvy-ridden pirate also roamed the grounds. The boys were part of his loot that day...

On to the greener side of life...the development of my green thumb. We had lilac- and magenta-colored rose bushes on the side of our house when we bought it 8 years ago that I love, but needed some help. Beetles had taken a liking to them. My grandma Dee had tons of rose bushes at her old home that she planted and cared for and I always thought that was neat. This year I decided to take care of the ones that needed help and plant 5 of my own. Here is what I reaped...

It is a beautiful coral-colored rose bush. I was successful all around. Of the five new plantings, all sprouted leaves, which is a good sign and 3 actually produced flowers this summer and well into Fall. I still had blooms in November. I can't wait to see what happens this Spring and Summer.
I thought I'd include a picture of my gladiolas as well. My Grandma Betty loves gladiolas and these remind me of her. I also had lovely shades of light pink and fuschia gladiolas bloom as well.

Speaking of Grandma Betty...here she is with Jackson giving her bunny ears at Grandpa Jerry's 80th Surprise Birthday Bash

Grandpa Jerry with the kiddos...Happy 80th, Grandpa! Needless to say, he wasn't too happy with everyone showing up in his honor. (Really, I think he was, he just doesn't like to show weakness...or happiness)

Diggin for gold in NC...Grandma and Grandpa Pratt got this metal detector for Jack and he couldn't wait to comb the beaches with it. He found a few pop cans, twist-off bottle caps, and some scrap metal...no gold, dangit!

Oak Island, NC...August 2009. We are blessed to have Kathy, Teri, and Madi as friends that are willing to take us on a week long vacay!

I always make the kids pose in front of the ocean, reminiscent of a photo Grandma Dee has in one of her photo albums of me, Scottie, Larry, and Shannon. I love that photo, and my hams love hammin it up for the camera. Charlie looks quite gnarly, dude!

At the end of August, my Baby started Kindergarten...crying ensues...

The hams ready on their first day. Crisp uniforms only to be covored in Go-gurt at lunch time. Gotta love messy boys!

Daddy turns the big 3-2!

In celebration we made Papaw Dave's devils food chocolate cake with triple chocolate icing that has tiny bits of chocolate chips in it...the best cake in the WORLD

Also in September, was the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk. We have participated in this walk several times in years passed in memory of Larry. Love him and miss him like crazy, glad to get a chance to take a whole evening out of our busy schedules and remember him. I'd like to send a shout out to Lisa and Brooklyn! I can always depend on them to support me. She is one of life's great friends, truly a gift to me and the Earth, for that matter.

This year the walk was held at the University of Akron's brand-spankin new InfoCision Stadium
One blustery day in October 2009, I took Baby, Maddy, and Josiah to a hayride at Goodyear Metro...here is a pic taken by Maddy of Josiah and I




Baby, Maddy, and Josiah taking a break on a pumpkin, indulging in some apples. It was a wonderful night. The kids ran in the field while I waited in line for the hayride. There was a toasty bonfire. Free apples, cookies, popcorn, and cider for everyone. I bet they regretted that! They didn't know how much Baby loves sugar! There was a live band. We sat on bales of hay and listened to some great tunes! Josiah loved the music the most. He was shakin his groove thang-yeah-yeah!

The annual Halloween Party this year was WrestleMania themed...here is Charlie as Macho Man Randy Savage and me as a Thumb Wrestler

There were tons of creative people this year...we had Rick Flare, Referee, Photo-Taker, the Undertaker, Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, a Mexican Wrestler, a Boxer, Bret the Hitman Hart, Brooklyn Brawler, Hacksaw Jim Dugan...I know I'm a name dropper!

Brandon proved to be quite the Martha Stewart of costumes designing and making his own. I'm not convinced that Gloria didn't help. Brandon was Cain and Gloria was his partner Papa Shango!

November 2009 hosted Jackson's Football Awards Ceremony...Here he is with trophy and Daddy/Coach...look at those Baby Varsity Blues! So proud of both of you! Love that you both will always have this experience to look back on.
December is a busy month in the Hughes' house. We have Maddy and Charlie's Birthdays on top of Christmas. For Maddy and Baby's Birthday we went to Pickle Bill's in Cleveland. Maddy had a game beforehand and we would be up that way anyway, so after much research, we headed that way. It is a really cool restaurant, mainly seafood dishes are served, so we were nervous. It is a huge restaurant right on the Lake. In the summer, there is even a bar on a dock in the Lake where one can eat/drink. We chose to eat indoors since it was freezing. Maddy loves pickles and I thought the name and scenery were great!

As the icing on the cake, they even had something Jack loves...dolphin! Not to eat of course!

We killed two birds with one stone on this one since we were dropping a C-note to do so! Happy 6th Birthday, Baby!

Guess what Maddy had??? Deep fried Pickles which so happen to be Pickle Bill's specialty!

The next two posts to soon follow will have pics of Maddy's and Charlie's birthday parties...Stay tuned for those!

In December 2009, we did some ornament painting. I found these kits at Target for a dollar, and it came with three ornaments to paint. A great craft for the kids to do and CHEAP! They had a great time painting them and put their names on the back. I enjoy collecting a menagerie of ornaments and can't wait to give the kids a set of their own when they move out. Not that I want them to move out just yet, or anything.



Angel Breakfast for Charlie at Redeemer. This was a wonderful event put on by the Church. All the Kindergarten children were invited with their parents. The elders of the Church dressed up as angels and sang carols for us. We had a great breakfast of eggs, turkey sausage, fruit cups, and OJ. The kids made Advent chains to put on their trees at home. The kids also watched a cartoon about an angel. Here is Charlie with the angels...

This was the silverware. I thought it was adorable.

We actually decorated the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving but I didn't want to forget to post this because the boys argued on who put the angel on the tree last year. I knew it was Jack, but of course he claimed it was Baby. Next year, when Baby tries this move, we can just pull up the Blog from Hell....I mean 2009.

The fam minus the photographer before the Candlelight Service. We went to the Arlington service because it just feels like the right place to be on Christmas Eve. Loved the service as always. The boys loved the fire!

2009 wouldn't be complete without a visit from Santa...he brought Maddy the Tony Hawk Ride game for the Wii.

He brought Baby the Star Wars Lego set with Yoda called Armored Assault

Last, but not least, he brought Jack a letter and a Star Wars Battle of Endor Lego set. Needless to say, the boys' faces were priceless. Maddy could use some acting classes!

That concludes 2009. Oh, wait! I forgot...

Just kidding!