My baby turns 9

Today is the 9th birthday of someone that means the world to me-my baby H-man aka Small Fry. This adorable, blondie is the exact replica of my Daddy - charming, ornery, easy-going, carefree, funny, clever, happy and a Momma's boy.  Everytime I see his charming smile, I wonder how on earth I was able to create such a beautiful little golden haired tooter.  And...if you know me, you know that I mean Tooter in the best way possible.  In the South, he's what we call a "mess"!

He's shy but gregarious. independent but very much a Momma's little guy, mouthy to his brother but adoring in every way towards him and caring but carefree.  This little guy loves fishing, playing football, soccer, basketball..well, pretty much every sport.  He loves the Atlanta Braves because his cousin plays minor league ball for the Mississippi Braves, which to him means he's the greatest pro athlete ever to grace the earth!  He loves going to OU football games and looking for Boomer and Sooner, the real horses and the mascots, but especially his favorite players.  He still rubs my upper arm, which has always been his "pinchy" since he was a breastfeeding baby.  His favorite thing to do when he sees his dog Allie is to feel of her big ol' jowls that hang down - he will sit and feel her jowls forever and that dog won't move an inch.  He completely got the "feeling" things from me.  I still love to squeeze my favorite pillow when I sit on the bed-I have no idea why! HA!  I have to remind him at bedtime not to hug Allie too tight when she sleeps with him.  He will completely cover her with his arms and legs while going to sleep-he adores her and his Beagle Baylee!  He's the kid that always cares that others are being treated fairly and nicely - he was super upset that the teacher this year gave a boy in his class a warning card for behavior on the boy's birthday.  He also is the snacker in the family-which reminds me of his Uncle Keith! I actually have to hide the candy and sweets or he would eat them non-stop throughout the day.  He sneaks the gum out of my purse and I go in his room to retrieve it almost weekly.  Little toot-see what I'm talking about?!  Every night when he goes to bed, he still wants me right there to tuck him in and give him a big kiss and hug.  He'll ask for another hug if the first one wasn't tight enough!  I loooove that!  When he gets dressed in the morning, he sometimes doesn't match at all and he doesn't care...it's just clothes.  I found a pair of shoes in his closet the other day that I bought 3 months ago and he had never worn.  Instead, he had taken the shoelaces out of the new blue Vans to put in his old soccer cleats because they needed new laces. He had forgotten that he had brand new shoes to wear.  He'll sit in the backseat of the car and work diligently texting someone and when I look on the phone, he's just been typing in random letters so his brother will think he has a lot of people to text on his phone too.  He'll walk around all day with food stains or Crystal Light stains on his face and it doesn't bother him one bit-silly guy! 

But most of all, this is the baby that saved me.  He was 8 months old when his Dad and I got divorced.  He was barely more than a newborn when it became a house with just us and his 36 month old big brother.  He was the reason I knew I had to get up every morning and keep going.  He was the reason I got up with a smile on my face and took on the world as a confident, positive, happy single mom.  This little baby was going to have a terrific life and I was going to make sure of it.  He still deserved a wonderful infancy and toddlerhood filled with love, happiness and positive people.  His brother was the reason too but my baby never had a chance to know what a family with a Daddy at home was like.  In fact, he acts like it never affected him.  He still thinks everyone has two Christmas's and two houses with extra Grandparents.  When we moved in with my parents, this little 1 year old sweetie would get up early every morning and run into his Dan-Dan (Grandpa) and sit in his lap, begging for a sip of his black coffee.  They would sit for an hour or more before waking any of us up.  That was their time and I'm so thankful for it since he only had his Grandpa till he was 3.  

This is also the little angel who at 3, one night after my Dad (Dan-Dan) was killed in a car accident, told me that he saw Dan-Dan after the policemen came to our house and Nana and I cried real hard (which was the police telling us about the accident).  He told me that his Dan-Dan had come into the room he was watching TV in and helped him change the channel and sat and watched cartoons with him, then walked down the hall to make sure Nana and I were ok.  He was barely 3 and I truely believe that happened with all my heart because of their relationship.  A 3 year old can't make something like that up.  It was the most comforting thought in the world told to me by a toddler.  I'll never forget that conversation and I will always treasure the gift he gave me by telling me.

At IHOP-where he wanted to have his birthday dinner!  He loves IHOP!

Checking out his soccer cake with his cousin Joshua

Reading birthday cards and looking for money like a typical 9 year old

Opening presents - he got the ITouch he had been wanting so bad thanks to his Nana

His big brother with his Nana Jack and Grandpa Arch (His Dad's parents)

Goofing around with his cousin and big bubba

Nana and Momma - so proud of what a big boy he's become

He loves his Grandparents!  He had all of them at one table! That makes for a happy little guy!

Blowing out the candles!

I love that he still gets embarrassed when we sing Happy Birthday to him!  He's done that since he was a baby!!!  Silly boy!

This is what your teeth look like when you eat a ton of blue icing-he thought it was hilarious!

This is what you feel like when you eat too much blue icing-ugh.

 This is the original "team" - I've always told my boys...as long as the three of us have each other, everything was going to be fine.  But, luckily that changed 6 years ago when we met Mr. H to.....as long as we have each other and Mr. H, who they love to call Dad now that we all got married last summer, everything will be just fine.

Because...now we're a complete team!

Happy Birthday Baby!!! 

Your Mommy, Daddy and Big Bubba love you more than you will ever know!!!

I really, really want to be Amish

Last weekend we had a family dinner with my husband's Masonic group (I know, please don't harass me about my husband being the youngest Mason in the world-it's kinda fun hanging out with the older generation!!!!)  The dinner was being held at an Amish Farm called Miller's Farm in a little town outside of the Big City. There is a large population of Amish people in a few towns in Northeastern Oklahoma and people drive from all around to eat at the Miller's place.  I wasn't that excited to go because the weather was dreary and foggy, not to mention I'm on a diet.

When we arrived at the farm, I was instantly excited by the milk cows that were right across from the house in a huge field with a grain silo and barns.  I never had the chance to really see that stuff growing up so I love when I'm anywhere near a farm.  I love Holstein cows and their adorable black-and-white coloring.

(***Total sidenote........I remember in 1987 when Poison came in concert with Brittny Fox and the lead singer of Brittny Fox wore holstein cowboy books.  I've wanted a pair since the first day I saw him wearing those.   I also caught CC Deville's t-shirt that night-It's probably still in the garage packed away with my other headbanger momentos!)

I took pics of the cows and when everyone in our group finally arrived, we went in to be seated.  It was a simple farmhouse and the eating area was in the basement. 

My boys getting ready to eat some good food!

Such a quaint, simple and beautiful house.  It reminded me of paintings of the perfect farmhouse

They require a reservation of at least 10 people so that you fill up the long tables.  The food is served family style and there was tons of it.  I'm not exaggerating at all when I say that, next to my Momma's cooking, of course, this Amish food was........the......best......ever!!!!

We started out with coleslaw, then green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade chicken and noodles, rolls with apple butter (to die for!), turkey and dressing, roast beef, baked chicken, 4 kinds of pie; butterscoth (soooo good), coconut, chocolate and peach.  One of the other tables had left a whole cherry pie and the sweet Amish lady serving us asked us if we wanted it.  Of course we did!!!  After all, we did have a crowd of around forty people.  It was amazing that the food kept coming out.  They gave us more than enough to eat. 

The really fun part of the night was explaining to my kids that the egg noodles for the chicken and noodles didn't come in a bag that said Reame's Egg Noodles.  The noodles were made by hand and cut by hand.  The pie crusts didn't come from the Wal-marts, they were handmade.  My poor kids didn't know what to think about that.  It actually made me feel a little guilty for not cooking home-cookin' type food all the time.  The honest truth is....I work and I don't have that kind of time, nor do I have that kind of metabolism! HA!

Mr. Hautemama and I have been on a diet for a couple of months now and we actually weighed ourselves before we went to dinner and then the next morning.  I gained 1.4 pounds that night and hubs only gained .4 - go figure! Men-they kill me!!!

The biggest surprise of the night was the lighting in the family's house.  And we ate in the basement of their house.  Upstairs where you walk in has a little desk and some shelves for selling their food stuff.

The lights throughout the house were gas lights, and they were super bright.  Towards the end of the night, it got a little warm in the basement because the house had no central heat and air.  Also, it was slightly dark upstairs when we left because of the no-electricity thing going on.  I am not a dark room type of person and I'm quite sure I would be completely depressed with no electricity.  Also, how would I use my Chi hair straightener??? That's a serious dilemma! 

I have to admit, I bought some of almost everything they had for sale.  I bought a huge jar of sweet garlic dill pickles, a package of homemade noodles and chicken base in a little plastic container.  We also bought a big jar of the apple butter.  We've had toast every morning for breakfast and eaten it with the apple butter.  During the dinner, Small Fry liked the Apple Butter so much, he put it on his plate and started just eating it with a spoon.  Now that's some good Apple Butter - kid tested and approved!

 They were selling the family cookbook with all their recipes and I bought that too!

 If I could learn to cook like that, I would have a happy family!  A fatter figure, but a happy family.  You win some, you lose some!

After reading through the cookbook, I realized that the Amish way of cooking is fairly simple.  Just really fresh ingredients....that's what makes the difference.  Our family could stand to leave the preservatives alone for a while!  We're probably pickled from all that stuff that's in our fast food and junk food.

The boys getting ready to ring the dinnerbell. Oh how I adore weathered barns!

The cows were mooing at my cute Tater Tot

Notice the sleeping child with his hand still on the Ipod....kids these days!

The absolute sweetest moment of the night happened when we were leaving.  Upstairs when I was buying the cookbook and food, Small Fry was talking to the teenage Amish boy sitting at a small desk taking the money.  The Amish boy had a teddy bear and Small Fry was looking at it.  The Amish boy was joking around with Small Fry and said he could hold it.  When I noticed Small Fry hadn't put it down, I told him he needed to put the teddy bear back on the desk.  Small Fry was a little disappointed that he had to leave it there.  We went outside and started getting in the car, I saw the Amish boy come running out towards us. 

He handed the teddy bear to Tater Tot and said, "Hey, give this to your brother."

By the time I noticed what he had done, he was running back into the house.  I did tell him thank you and that he was so sweet.  That was such an example of the Amish spirit.  Simple ways but with kind hearts. 

Small Fry was so happy when he got the bear.  He yelled, "Thank you!!!", hugging the bear really tightly.

On the way home, I looked back to check on the boys and I saw Small Fry asleep hugging that teddy bear.  It was one of the most precious memories for me.  Sometimes, it's the little things that can really touch a child.  Small Fry now sleeps with that bear.  I sent a thank you to that sweet, sweet boy. 

He didn't have to do that, but did out of the kindness of his heart. 

If we would all act like that, this world would be a much better place.