Albany

We visited Albany this weekend and had such a great time. (we are still here until tomorrow morning) It was refreshing to hang out with good friends and family, and to have a little break from the kids too - as one friend has said, they looked so cute when we came back! I spent some sweet time with my with my best friend from highschool, Traci. I will post more when I get pictures of our time together. Colin went duck hunting with his brother. I think "Wild at Heart" was personified Saturday morning when he got up at 5:00 to go hunting and bring food home to the family :) And, my big strong hunter man brought home a duck! Here is a video of him cleaning the ducks. Hudson seemed to be a natural with the duck... (if you aren't a fan of hunting, you may not like this video too much..)

Hudson had a great time with his cousins Berklie and Henley. In fact, he is staying here all week while Colin, Will and I go to an interview in Spartanburg and then head home on Tuesday. It will surely be a quiet house without Hudson for a few days, but he will have a blast here in Albany with the family.

New Recipe!

I got a Chicken Noodle Soup recipe from a friend this week, and decided to make it for the family. Well, it was so easy that I made it again for another friend and then told yet another friend how good it was... so I decided to just post it on the blog here so that if anyone else needs a new easy recipe, you have one!!

2 cups chopped chicken (cooked)
1 c. sliced carrots (I do more)
1 c. chopped celery
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp. dried marjoram (You could also use oregano - a little less)
3 tbsp. butter
8 c. chicken broth
8 oz egg noodles
Salt and Pepper
1/2 c. milk and 1/2 c. all purpose flour

Get a big soup pot and sautee butter, celery, carrots, garlic, marjoram, chicken, onion together until veggies still a little crisp
Add broth - simmer for 10 min. at medium heat.
Add egg noodles - 10 - 15 min.
Season with salt and pepper
Add milk/flour mixture to thicken if you like.

That's it!!! Here is my Mrs. Homemaker post for the year, probably :) Enjoy!

Build on the Rock

I was reading the other night and came across some encouragement and a word from the Lord. It was like I was reading my thoughts on paper... this is my desire for the year.

from "A Beautiful Offering" by Angela Thomas:

"How many women do you know with an amazing life, built and lived for the glory of God? I know some, but not enough. Jesus has made a way for each of us to build no the Rock and live for His renown. I want to live an amazing life! I want to know what it means to find my breath and being in the person of Jesus Christ. I want to see what life would turn out like if every single morning I woke up and dedicated my heart and minutes to the purposes of God. I want to know what children turn out like when their mom lives her life surrendered to Jesus. I wonder what God can do with a woman who is empty and broken and fully His. "

Ezekiel 11:19 - "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh."

Good Friends

I am going backwards through our events in my pictures, so we will start with the most recent. We went to visit our friends in Chattanooga last weekend. It was a very spur of the moment decision, but a lot of fun! We just love getting together with them. They are such special friends. We sure do miss the Carpenters here in Knoxville...


These little guys are going to be great friends.

This makes me laugh :)
Good buddies. They play so well together.
Hudson just loves the dolls - we don't have any at our house. Look how sweet...he really wanted the one with the paci.

Bonding time - with the playstation... will they be 60 and still playing video games?

Life with two

Here are some latest pictures. There are some super cute pictures of the boys and our family from Thanksgiving and Christmas too that I will try posting soon. It seems like every time I start posting, someone needs a diaper change, someone starts crying, or they are asleep and I can't keep my eyes open either (as noted in the picture above)! I will get the hang of this blogging with two children stuff sometime....In the meantime, here are some pics of the two most adorable boys in the world!

More Pictures of our newest family member

Hudson is excited about his big brother! (or maybe just the animal crackers)
Hudson loves to hold Will and pat him on the back.
Proud Papa!

He's Here!!!

This is Shannon, blogging for Steph and Colin. Just a sneak peek at the precious Will, born 3:05 today and weighing 8 lb 8 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. Congrats to Steph, Colin and big brother Hudson! I'm sure they will post more pictures later!