INTRODUCING...

THE HODSON BAND!!!

ELI J, lead guitarist

EMMA G, lead singer
and EDAN B, drummer

MOMMY will always be your #1 FAN!!!

Trust and Obey

for there's no other way,
To be happy in Jesus
is to Trust and Obey.

We have been doing family devotions with our children for years, but we have recently added something new to our worship time together, SINGING!!! I love to sing and have always sung to the kids, but it wasn't until Brent did this last study on parenting did we incorporate singing into our family worship time. The kids' newest favorite song that we have taught them is Trust and Obey. The words are so simple, but so true! I love this time together because we are all growing in the Lord and proclaiming truth to Him!!! I would encourage all of you to do this with your children, start with the songs they already know, Jesus Loves Me, The B-I-B-L-E, and then teach them different songs from church, ect. Not only will they be blessed from learning but you will be blessed also by hearing them sing and singing together! It is truly my very favorite part of the day! And if you are wondering, Brent sings too! The biggest blessing I have received so far is that my children keep us accountable for family worship time, they don't want to miss it! Thank you, Lord!

Pink, Pink, Pink

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is Emma's favorite color, so for her 7th birthday, she wanted a Pinkalicious Birthday sleepover! Pinkalicious is a book that I bought for her when Eli was in 1st grade from his scholastic book order. She fell in love with this book and it has been a favorite for 2 years. She has most of it memorized and can tell you the story word for word. Her party was themed around this book. Everything the girls ate was pink: pink dip for veggies and strawberries, pink popcorn, pink marshmallows and bubble gum, pink lemonade and pink cupcakes! All of her friends arrived and they sat at the fancy pink table and enjoyed all things pink and afterwards Emma opened her presents. She loved that part! After the opening of presents, the girls got in groups of 2 or 3 and rotated to different centers. There was a cupcake coloring center, a makeup and polish center, a Pinklicious wand center, a coloring page center, and a pink bead neckace center! After the girls rotated centers it was time to settle down and get pjs on. To help her friends settle down, Emma read the book Pinkalicious to her friends and she did a wonderful job! It was almost 10 and the girls overheard my mom saying we should get pizza so they shouted, "pizza, pizza, pizza"!!! After eating pizza they all layed to watch the movie Annie. I think the last girl fell asleep at 1:30! The next morning the girls woke up to pink pancakes and strawberries. I hope you enjoy the montage, Emma had a wonderful time with all her friends!

Let it SNOW!!!

This past weekend we enjoyed the beautiful snow and the incredible lodging at my wonderful parents house! Early Friday morning, we met Brenda at Chick-Fil-A and I took the 3 E's to Blockbuster to rent movies and Wii games. I was praying for snow because they haven't ever really seen a "big" snow before. Well, God is good and he sent us snow! As soon as the first snowflake fell we packed up and headed to mom's house. That night we watched movies, laughed, and enjoyed each other. It was fantastic! The kiddos kept saying, "Is it still snowing?" We were pleasantly surprised the next morning to wake up to beautiful scenery. Mom made a huge breakfast, fried pork tenderloin, homemade biscuits, and eggs. It was delicious as all her meals are. I couldn't hold Eli and Emma back any longer. I couldn't wait to see how Edan would react to snow. He hasn't ever been it it!!! Brent and I got them all layered up and out we went! Our first mission was to build a snowman:

The snowman was gigantic! We were ready for sledding after we built the snowman. Here they are making a trek up the hill!

Here goes Eli!

and Emma:

and Edan:

and me and Lindsey:

and Mom!!!!

After a while, the boys got bored and wanted something more exciting, so they built a ramp. It was quite interesting!

Wow! What an amazing weekend! Thank you, Lord for such wonderful family time! I will remember these snow-filled days forever!

Boy, Oh Boy!!!

My darling Edan,
You are so precious to your Mommy. I love every waking second that I get to spend with you. You make Mommy laugh and smile. You are a delight to be around. Someone asked Mommy while we were in West Africa to describe you and I told them that you had a very sweet spirit but, boy, oh boy, you were unlike your brother and sister and you loved to "get into" things. One day, back in January of 2010 when you were nearing 2, we were just having a normal day playing and laughing and Mommy invited some friends over to her house to eat for lunch while we planned some things for Daddy and Mommy's LifeGroup at church. You took a nice long nap and woke up to play and decided to "get into" Sis's lip gloss and smear it all over your face and clothing. Mommy cleaned you all up and put nice new fresh clothes on you. Within 10 minutes you found a marker and put dots all over your cheeks and nose. While Mommy was finishing up homework with Bub and Sis I asked you to take the napkins that were in the bonus room leftover from lunch to the trash. You looked at me and graciously picked up the napkins and started walking down the hall trying to find the trash can. Bub was in 3rd grade and he had lots of math homework so Mommy and him were diligently working and focused on multiplication. In a few minutes, we heard you talking and jabbering away so Mommy didn't worry about you. After Bub's homework was complete I asked him to check on you and boy, oh boy did he ever find you!!! You, mister monkey, had climbed from the potty to the sink with napkins in hand, unscrewed the lid off the liquid soap, and dumped it all over you and the sink and the floor. Bub was quite shocked as he said, "Mommy we have a problem in the bathroom".Mommy rushed into the bathroom to find your sweet green-dotted face in the bathroom sink enjoying and exploring soap. You are a delight to Mommy and I will miss all your adventures one day so, for now, I will enjoy every second of you, even if you are a soapy, glossed, and green-markered babe. Until next time...I love you Little E

Good Behavior =

fantastic rewards! Brent and I are so proud of Eli! His behavior has been excellent for the past month at school and home, so we wanted to reward him with something that he has wanted since the football season started, an Eric Berry jersey! He was thrilled when he opened it and has basically had it on ever since! I love you, sweet Eli!

Edan, where is your...

nose?
eye?

hair? teeth?

Edan, where is your SMILE?

That smile is more delicious than anything I have ever eaten!