Lake Rats

We were invited to go with the Josh Huff family for a long weekend at the beach this past July. It was going to be our family vacation, and their's too. But when an unnamed family member allowed our condo to sell out from under us (I hold no grudge, promise!) we had to come up with an alternative to Sandestin. The only logical thing to do was to pack up the families and head to Lake Martin. Here we go...1 house, 1 lake, 8 children, 4 parents with 4 full days on our hands...

We filled our days with basically three things: 1. swim, 2. tube and 3. ski. We successfully taught Cameron, the triplets (Abby, Caroline and Logan) as well as Anna Grace to ski. They all learned in a day and once they learned that is all the children wanted to do (with the exception of a little swimming, tubing and sea-doo riding). We had a great time and I don't think anyone in the bunch wished we had gone to the beach.

tubing

(Caleb loves tubing but we failed to get his picture.

Holt...well...Holt gave it one try and we failed to get a picture of it too.)

Abby and Caroline

Anna Grace and Caroline

Dean and Logan

Hudson's first boat ride.

little faces

one happy crew

(During the above picture I was holding Hudson up front and

Caleb had plans of his own...)

skiing

Abby

Caroline

Logan

Anna Grace

extra shots

And when they were relaxing from water sports

they were plugged in.

one last photo before ending our vacation

Neal and I choose to believe that Anna Grace is trying to express

her feelings about the end of the vacation and not her disgust

at posing for pictures in 100 degree heat.

And finally Anna Grace's video of her learning to ski.

If you want to watch it, here is the video of her first long ski; she is a natural.

Pirate's Ahoy!

Back in June Dean turned 4 and it was quite a celebration at the park. He decided he wanted a pirate party and we did it up right for him. Complete with a surprise pirate guest...Pirate Ottie. Since this was only the third time in my life to see Ottie in costume myself it was a fun surprise for all. It would be foolish for me to assume that he wouldn't do such a thing since the "one eyed one horned flying purple people eater" appeared at a youth group event when I was in the 8th grade.

Big Man, you are a blessing to our family. You are my helper, often times the voice of reason for your fearless siblings and most definitely your own man. I would say those three things sum you up pretty well.

As I sat down to type this letter today I could not help but smile thinking about you. Here we are a typically loud family and you are right in the middle of it all soft spoken, happily doing your thing. Don't get me wrong you are all boy running around, getting hyper, wanting to play catch, etc. but even in all of that there is a gentleness running through you. Thinking about the way you relate to your siblings, each so differently, amazes me. With Anna Grace for the most part you go with the flow, play what she asks and you enter her world. With Caleb you laugh and cut up, wreck cars, wrestle and stand your ground requesting he conform to your plan. And then with Hudson you get on his level and laugh and talk to him in the sweetest voice, and hold him and kiss him - truly dote over him. To be four you are incredibly complex.

I love and appreciate your predictability, for example you are currently watching Stuart Little 3 for rest time for about the 4th day in a row. You almost always want the exact same thing for lunch - peanut butter and jelly with yogurt, fruit and a glass of milk; you will pick David and Goliath anytime you get to pick a Bible story; you will ask every chance you can if we can go to the enchilada restaurant. You are consistent!

You have made your dad so proud with your excitement for the PS3 and Wii. Don't tell her (she may have figured it out actually) but you are certainly better than Anna Grace at the Batman game and LittleBigPlanet and you are way better than I ever thought about being at either. Your excitement about baseball is also something that you share with Daddy. I know he is looking forward to fall ball - we are all excited about watching you play. As we should be because you have been so gracious to watch Anna Grace dance and sing for the past year.

It has been so much fun to watch you get more and more comfortable swimming and riding the tube this summer as well. I know that there can be no one in the world who enjoys a boat ride as much as you however everyone loves cheering you on in the tube after observing your patience as others tube and ski first. Daddy just reminded me that when he asked you if you wanted to tube during one long afternoon in the boat while we taught Anna Grace and the Triplets to ski you said, "No, I want Caroline and Anna Grace to get up on skis first." You exhibited the patience of Job that day.

You have one of the most amazing gifts - one that I certainly don't have; you know everyone's name. I am constantly amazed as we walk through the halls at church and you see children of all ages (close to yours but not in your class) and you say hey and call them by name. I still have not figured out how you can do that or how you know them. I guess it is only fitting that Mrs. Dana at the barber shop each month calls you by name out of the line up to come get your hair cut even though you don't say much more than hey, thank you and can I have a sucker.

You love your family and we sure love you, Big Man! I say it all the time you are our gentle giant...you blend in, kind, thoughtful but you are opinionated, you know what you want and you go for it - usually when we are not paying attention - and often times you bring a few people along with you in your endeavor. I hope that you never get too cool to give me a hug and a kiss and the girls better look out because if they are anything like me your dimples will make them melt...we will have to address girls and how to deal with them another time but for now ask nicely with a smile and they are bound to say yes and share.

As always I will continue to pray that God will shower down his grace and mercy on you, fill you with a spirit that longs to serve him and a heart that passionately knows and follows his word. Years ago Daddy prayed the charge of David (1 Kings 2:2-3) for your life and this day I pray something so similar that you would "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." (Colossians 1:10)

I love you, Dean Freeman!

pictures from the day

A Two Year Old

Caleb, My Sweet Caleb...

I am in disbelief that you are now 2. Where does all of the time go? We had a super fun "block party" for your birthday. You loved your building block cakes and being able to pick your cake color for days.

You really are a hoot, Caleb. Just a few days ago your Daddy and I laughed so hard at you when you ran through a crowd of people you did not know and stopped in the middle to give a kick, flex your muscles and growl before continuing on your way. I could not help noticing several bystanders laughing as well. You do love to get a laugh but you also love to laugh and it is infectious. It amazes me that you are the toughest around here but if you think someone is hurt or sad you are usually the first on the scene to check them out and offer a hug or a gentle pat. You enjoy being loud (What can I say; you are a Hatchett.), you roar and growl all over the place at people and things and the faster you run chasing your older siblings the harder you giggle.

You love your siblings, especially Dean. It is monkey see, monkey do around here. You stand like him, want to do the same things he does, and have even been known to snub food that you liked after noticing that Dean was not a fan. And that is saying a lot because you have quite a love affair with food. You are the only person in our family who wanders into our room in the morning saying "EAT!" Your ear is in tune with the oven timer always; you can hear that sound from anywhere in the house, yell "eat" and then start calling people to the table. I got a little side-tracked though. You have a very sweet relationship with Hudson. You get the biggest kick out of watching him get a diaper change and then getting to lean over him and give him a kiss...right on the mouth of course. I have to watch closely because you have been known to lay on him, being a little over zealous with your hug. And then there is Anna Grace. You long to "cook" with her which drives her crazy because you don't "cook" the way she would want you to but you do try so hard to play with her.

You have the excitement about little things that your Daddy has. Just this morning I said something about having popsicles after dinner tonight and you were over-joyed. You seem to be an aggressive little fireball yet when the girl pinched the fire out of your arm in VBS this year you did not get mad at her. (I am still trying to figure that one out because she pinched you so hard I wanted to pinch her back for you.) You get a thrill out of helping out - holding the door, singing a song to cheer Hudson or taking the diapers to the trash. You love to sing songs and do the funniest dances, probably trying to copy your sister. You meet no stranger with your big eyes and big smile. You are the most persistent child I know. I have thought many days of the biblical Caleb and how after 45 years of waiting he still had his heart set on the inheritance that God had promised him. At 85 years old he was excited to conquer his promised hill country (Joshua 14:6-15). There are days around here that I think you have your heart set on the "hill country" and there will be no stopping you from completing your task even if it is at the expense of your siblings. You are happy the large majority of the time. Your are strong and determined. You spend so much of your day making sure that your 5 1/2 year old sister and your 4 year old brother (as of today) don't get ahead of you in any way.

At 2 years of age I would describe you as my loving, stubborn, happy warrior (I am not sure all of those seem to go together but they do describe you well). I love kissing your fat cheeks and cherish each kiss knowing that one day you will think Daddy is more fun (everyone around here does at some point...but I will say you are making him work hard for his status) and it is not cool to let your mom kiss you.

My charge to you...a life-long charge..."Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." (Joshua 22:5) Impossible in your own strength, my son, but I pray continually that the Lord will bless you with a heart that loves Him, loves His word and most importantly belongs to Him.

Your nap time is over now so I am going to go wake you up (and probably kiss on you until you get mad at me).

I love you, Little Man,
Mama

some faces from the day