Over the River and Through the Woods

to Grandmother's House we go...

After a week on the road, we are glad to be home again. I can't imagine the "home sickness" that my friend Sandra must be feeling. They've traveled several thousand miles and been to more states than I can remember for the past few months. For now "home" is China, and they will head back in about a month. Pray for their journey.

Here was our Journey this past week:As for our, now small trip in comparison, we traveled quite a bit this past week and got to see lots of Shannon's family and our friends Karen and Aaron!! We started off last Sunday and headed to Little Rock to see K&A. We ALWAYS enjoy spending time with them and wish we lived closer so that we could see them any time we wanted. But for now, a 4-5 times a year will have to do. We had a nice "home cooked" meal on Sunday evening at The Dixie Cafe and then headed home to catch up. We had some business to take care of on Monday morning, so once that was out of the way it was play time in The Rock!! We had lunch at Larry's Pizza West (K&A's restaurant) and Landon had a blast playing Skeeball. He won about 80 tickets!! (Thanks for the tokens uncle Aaron.) After we headed back to the house the boys had a few last minute Christmas gifts to buy so they went out shopping and dropped our car off at the Ford Dealer (we drove 95% of the way to AR with the Check Engine light on!). Turned out to not be too big of a deal, and we got it fixed. We had a fantastic BBQ dinner at Whole Hog (a must when in Little Rock). I can't believe that we never took a picture of Karen and Aaron while we were there. Here is one from our trip to OBU this past October. Tuesday morning sent us on to Shannon's Grandpa's house in Northern Arkansas. We had planned on getting out of town early in the morning and getting to Grandpa's before Landon needed a nap,but that didn't happen. Overnight there had been some precipitation and the temps were below freezing (like about 15 degrees) and the roads were covered in ice, and I was NOT going to let Shannon take another trip down Hwy 65 on icy roads. It was about 7 Christmases ago when we were in a wreck on Hwy 65 on Christmas day. Because of that (and a few smaller incidents in my life) that I HATE driving in bad weather. I don't mean that I don't like it, I mean I HATE it. I have a great fear of icy roads. Some people fear heights, some fear clowns, me - ICY ROADS!!! We waited until about 10:00 before we left hoping that most of the ice would have melted. We took a different route north since it didn't seem that the eastern part of the state had any freezing rain the night before. We did pretty good most of the way (we meaning Shannon kept the car on the road and I didn't throw up). I white-knuckled it most of the way there, and tried my hardest to close my eyes and sleep it away for the last part of the trip, but there was no sleeping for me. We made it to grandpa's in one piece and I was in for the night, no more car rides until the temperature was above freezing. Shannon had to run Lucy over to Aunt Elaine's for the evening (Grandpa really doesn't like dogs in the house, so Lucy had a sleep over with Samuel! - I think they were both smitten!). He picked up some KFC for dinner and Shannon's Aunt Ellen and Uncle Hutch came over for a visit. Uncle Gordon stopped by a bit later too. (side note: check out Gordon's son, Shannon's Cousin, Chad. He and his wife Jennifer took a year off, sold their home, stored their things, and are traveling around the world. Here is their blog - Saved by Sherpa.) Landon enjoyed playing with the cousins (his second cousins) and Grandpa's "new toys". After the family left we put Landon (and Grandpa) to bed. Shannon and I booted up the laptops for a few moments of digital time.

Great Grandpa Hodges and Landon on Christmas Day

On Wednesday (Christmas Eve) Shannon woke with Grandpa at 5:00 AM for breakfast. Landon and I slept in. We gathered our things (including Lucy from Elaine and Samuel) and headed north to see Shannon's parents (and brothers and such). That is only about a 3 1/2 hour trip, and the roads were better. We had a few times that we watched for ice, but with the winds roaring at about 30-35 miles an hour there was no water (or ice) on the roads. The temperature dropped about 20 degrees on our drive. We were glad to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house and get lots of sugars from Grandma. Landon headed for a nap and Shannon moved in unpacked the car. This was a feat! We took over that house!! Why so much stuff??? Who knows.
Grandma spent the afternoon baking pies, something which she does VERY well!! Shannon's favorite, Coconut Cream Pie. YUUUMMMM!! Man I want some more!! Shannon's mom is a good cook and bakes better than anyone I know. She made 4 coconut cream pies, 2 pecan pies, 2 pumpkin pies, chocolate chip cookies, and I'm sure there was more, but I can't remember!! Shannon, Roger (his older brother) and I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few last-minute items, including the continued hunt for the "construction worker" that Landon insisted he was getting for Christmas. Us and 2/3 of Springfield were at the Wal-Mart that afternoon. We did pretty good, no injuries, and we managed to get everything on the list (including the construction worker that we haven't been able to find ANYWHERE!!) We headed home and had a nice taco soup for dinner, and then played some Wii. After Landon went to bed I finished wrapping Christmas gifts and we moved everything to the sun room for Christmas morning. Shannon put Landon's tricycle together, and then we watched movies and went to bed. Christmas morning was fun. Landon was excited to go down stairs and see what Santa brought him. Although he still doesn't really "get" Santa he knew that there was something to be excited about. He headed down the stairs, slowly, and went to the sun room. He stood there, looking. The first thing he picked up was a cube puzzle. A puzzle. Not the tricycle, not the infamous construction worker, but a puzzle! Go figure!

Anyways, he gathered his new digs and headed to the living room. We brought all the presents into the living room to open (the "sun room" was a bit cold with all the windows and the 15 degree temps). Everyone enjoyed their gifts and a good time was shared by all. Note: Christmas morning photos are never good. The hair, the clothes, please forgive. I went to bed with my hair wet the night before so, yeah, it was bad; the sunglasses are doing the best they can to control the beast!

More family joined us later. Shannon's younger brother, Shawn and his wife Jennifer along with Gunner and new baby Delaney joined us. Uncle Hutch, Aunt Ellen, and the boys (Jake, Jesse, and Jaden) came and brought Great Grandpa Hodges, and Aunt Elaine and Samuel too. It was a house full, but it was great to be with so much family on Christmas. The kids played, the adults talked, and everyone had a great time.

Samuel and Jake bowl on the Wii

I think Gunner is going to try and talk his mom and dad into a Wii!!

The best shot of the 3 grandkids there that day (we were missing Anjel)

After a fantastic Turkey and Ham lunch the kiddos got to ride on Grandpa's tractor! Landon has been talking about riding on the tractor for some time. Last time (Thanksgiving 2007) it was not such a good thing - he was so scared. This time was so much better. We didn't let him stay out too long because he seemed to have an ear infection (lots of drainage). But he wanted to "go around the circle again" so we let him. This also gave mom and dad a chance to get some pictures and video.

We enjoyed an afternoon of playing with the cousins and eating desserts - lots of desserts. Dinner of leftovers and spending more time hanging out with the family.

Lots of playing games with Grandpa and lots of Wii for everyone

On Friday Shannon and I took everyone out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel - yummy! I just love the little individual servings of syrup. We had to take Landon to the doctor today and have his ears checked out. I wasn't sure that he didn't rupture his ear drum. The amount of "gunk" coming from his ear was insane. The doctor, although he "didn't do pediatrics" said that his ear was just infected. He gave us a prescription for ear drops, and we headed to Walgreen's to get the prescription filled. Since it was going to take about 20 minutes to fill it, we decided to "hang out" at Walgreen's and see if there was anything we couldn't live without. We found a few things, and then headed home. When we got home Landon and Gunner made Gingerbread houses. They had a good time. Gunner kept telling Landon that he wasn't going to have any candy to decorate with if he kept eating it all. Landon didn't care. I think for every two pieces of candy on the house he ate one. So here is his first Gingerbread House (and Gunner's too).

And then of course the eating of the house!

"Gather up for family photos!" I wish we had gotten pictures of the whole family while they were all there, but it never crossed my mind.

The Hodges Boys

The Hodges Clan

Landon enojying riding his bicycle!

Uncle Shawn, Aunt Jennifer, Gunner and Delaney left after dinner and left us with just ourselves, Uncle Roger and Grandma and Grandpa. More Wii was played, more games were spread out across the living room floor, and we continued to enjoy our time with family.

Daddy is very excited he got High Score on the game!

We decided that we were going to head home on Saturday. Uncle Roger was leaving town at about 1:00, so after Grandma took him to the bus stop, we moved out loaded up the car to head home. After we figured out how to get all that stuff back in the car we made a stop at Starbucks and hit the road. For 7 1/2 hours we drove home to Texas, through Oklahoma. And let me say Shannon complained about Oklahoma the whole way. We even have a "love/hate" relationship with a few stops on the way. The "over the high-way" McDonald's and the entire town of McAlester. We almost always have to stop at both of these places, and for different reasons we hate them both. But anyways, we made it home at about 10:30 pm, brought in the essentials and went to bed, in our own beds. It was nice!! We woke up this morning in our own home, and there is a lot to be said about HOME.