First Upward Game!

Bryce had his first Upward game on Saturday! It was a lot of fun and his team did really well. They don't keep score for Kindergarten through 2nd grade so all the boys think that their team won! They get so excited and are so proud of themselves when they are done! I bought the boys new warm-up suits for basketball season. Brant especially loved his since he is not quite old enough to play yet but still gets to dress up! Here are some pictures from the game:

The boys sporting their new warm-up suits and Melia could care less!

Sometimes they are sooooooo silly!

Here is a picture of Bryce's team. Go Lions!!

This is Bryce during the game.

Bryce defending his man!

This is Bryce, Christian and Bro. Gordon after the game.

Sunday was a BUSY day. We had regular church stuff, plus we had to clean up the house some because the teens came over after the evening service for a destination unknown. It was a lot of fun, but REALLY LOUD in our house! I think Melia tried to yell louder than anyone though. She thinks that she should always be the center of attention!(Such a girl!) Bryan left today for Nashville for a meeting. He will only be gone until tomorrow night, but I sure do miss him already. I am such a chicken and really like it when he is home with me! The kids and I are going to eat supper with Uncle Robert and Aunt Seder tonight so that will help!

Meet Rudip!

Rudip, the newest member of family, is finally showing signs of life. After a couple of weeks of staying dorment and not really acting like he likes us Rudip is springing up new life. As you can see from the picture his hair is a little untamable. But in the next few days we might be able to give him a little trim to give his face a little better shape.
Proud Parent of Rudip!

Brant and Rudip posing for the Paparazzi!

Bowling Fun!

Well, the snow didn't happen the way we thought it would. We thought we would not be going anywhere over the weekend, so we invited Grandaddy and Grandmama to come stay with us. They did, but we were in no way "snowed in". We still had a great weekend though! We enjoyed ALOT of food and playing games together. Uncle Robert and Aunt Seder came over on Sunday to play games with us. On Monday, we decided to get out of the house and go bowling. It was a lot of fun! Here are some pictures:

Grandaddy & Grandmama with the kids!

















Melia thinking she is big enough to bowl!

Daddy & Melia giving a BIG CHEESE!

Look at that form!

Bryce and Brant posing for another picture.

Bryce actually turned his head to smile while he was in the middle of letting go! He is such a ham!

Brant is really concentrating hard on getting all those pins down!

Teddy Bear Picnic

Today has been a pretty busy day for us! We did, however, take time out to go and eat lunch with Bryce at school today. He had Teddy Bear week this week and they were having a picnic lunch today. Brant, Melia and I packed our lunches and headed off for school. Here are some pictures of the kids. One is of Bryce and some of his classmates and the others are of Melia enjoying her lunch and all three of them posing for a picture. It did take me about 5 or 6 snaps before I finally got all three to cooperate and get a decent picture!

We are supposed to get some snow tomorrow! They are predicting between 2 and 4 inches. We will see what really happens.

Bryce's Award

Bryce did get his Upward uniform last night, but we did not get a picture! He has his first game next Saturday, so we will have to get a picture then. He did however, receive his "Wearing Christ's Armor" award during his chapel time today. Bryan, Melia and I went to his chapel to surprise him! He was excited and so was Melia! She yelled his name as loud as she could when she saw him. Here is a picture of him after receiving his award:

Here is what his teacher wrote about him:

"Bryce gives us a bright smile everyday. His patient attitude and kind words toward others wins him lots of friends. He knows how to keep his Sword of the Spirit shining brightly. Thank you Bryce for being our friend."

I know that I am biased, but what a great kid!!!

Brant learned a new Bible verse yesterday at his pre-school and thought that he was just as big as Bryce for doing so!! I think he said it to Bryan about 10 times!

We did receive some sad news today. Our former pastor's wife passed away this morning. She has been sick and was ready to go "home", but our hearts still ache for the family and for ourselves. She will be greatly missed. They were the only pastors that I had until we moved here to Clayton. What a great example they were to us in their faithfulness and committment to God, one another and the church.

Michaellynn's Turn

Well, so far Bryan has been doing all the blogging for us. I wanted to start a blog just to sort of keep up with some of the "stuff" that goes on in our lives. (with three children, it's a lot of stuff!) Bryan is definately a better writer than I am, but I am going to try to blog about the everyday things and leave the big things for him to blog. I am not sure where to really start, so I guess I will just dive in and tell you about our crazy days!

Melia has started to chatter a lot this week. She loves for you to say a word and then she will try her best to repeat it. Some of her favorite are: Bryce, Brant, Dada, Mama, Hot Dog(this one she will even say at 10:00 a.m.), haspy(dog's name is really Jasper), Okay, juice, pa-pa, and many more. She is just to cute!
Brant has now developed imaginary friends. They are not real people, but are a bird and a dog and their names are brugip and grugip! I am not sure if that is really how you spell them, but since he can't spell anyway I guess it really doesn't matter! He is too funny talking about them and, of course, blaming them for things!
Bryce will have his second Upward Basketball practice tonight. He is so excited and should be getting his uniform. We will have to post a picture of him if he does. He also has a special surprise for school tomorrow, so I will post that along with a picture then!

A New Year back in the swing.

Well we have entered 2008 with a bang. Full speed ahead! Bryce has started back to school, Brant is back to MMO (our churches childcare program), and Michaellynn and Melia spend their days shopping and cleaning. Bryce did have to miss his first day back though. He had his very first visit t0 the dentist office. He loved it. Brant got his teeth checked as well and did fantastic. Melia was in with me while Bryce had his checked and afterwards wanted to sit in the chair so that she could get hers checked. All 9 of them!

The weather has been crazy! 75 one day and 35 the next. It's awful. But we are hangin' in there. The hardest part has been what clothes to keep out and what to put up. Most days are worthy of short sleeves, jeans and a small jacket. Or in the case of the boys, their hoodies. They are so funny when it comes to clothes, and they are only 6 and 3. The hair has to be the funniest. They have started wearing their hair long on top so that they can spike it. Brant wants to be like Troy "V"oltin (HSM2). Yes, he says "V"oltin. They know every song from both HSM1 and 2. We actually were able to go see it on ice. That was actually pretty neat. Bryce's favorite scene from HSM2 is the baseball game "I don't dance."

I have started back to school as well. Teaching. I love it. We have three new students this semester. I believe the reason I love it so much is the fact that I have a chance to enter the minds of the kids and help them think and reason about the world and the Word. I teach 6th grade through 9th grade Bible, and 6th and 7th grade math. Math class is probably the hardest to teach because each grade level has it's own curriculum. The class time is broken up into about two 45 min. sections. They seem to be learning pretty well. The hardest part is going from one grade to the next and keep it all together in my mind. We will see how they do come April when it's time for achievement testing.

We will have to see what is next for the Hughes family in the next few days. God bless you.

BH