Thank you Thank you and Thank you some more!

I so love Thanksgiving. It sets the mood for Christmas and New Year's because it brings to the forefront all the things I'm so thankful for all month on a continual daily basis. That helps me to be mindful and refreshed which is the perfect mindset to get into the Christmas spirit and brings focus to what I want to accomplish in the upcoming New Year. Well I would be remiss if I wasn't the most thankful to be a wife and the mother of two very special and rewarding children. For someone who six years ago didn't think children born of me would be a possibility... I am even more thankful every day I get to spend with them. So to our Father which art in Heaven I am profoundly greatful for being trusted with these two sweet spirits in a home we are constantly striving to make worthy for them to dwell. There innocence and purity teaches me in leaps and bounds above anything else. Here is a case in point.: Avery was jabbering away one day about her theories on life and she started in on being in Heaven and she said, "Ya know you guys got to be my parents because I loved you so much and you were the most special to me. And (with a head tilt and an upward glance) all the other people I loved so much got to be my grandparents and my aunts and uncles. And then my Jett Jett. (Pausing again while all of this is unfolding in her mind) See... your my people. So Jesus made us all a family." Thankful is an understatement for how I am feeling under the grandiose "bigger picture". The one I could watch opening in my sweetheart, my little dolly right before my eyes. For this Thanksgiving I am holding myself to that standard... a pure love of Christ for all he has given me, my little family of four and all the rest of you I am lucky enough to call "my people".

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween

One of the many "masked" Dr visits we had to take

One of the many "masked" Dr visits we had to take

Snoozing after the Dr gave her tylenol with codeine

Snoozing after the Dr gave her tylenol with codeine

Major welt hives... we didn't know she is allergic to tylenol with codeine

Major welt hives... we didn't know she is allergic to tylenol with codeine

Things that go BUMP in the night!!

I love October. The start of fall and all the brilliant colors, pumpkin inspired desserts of all kinds and all things creepy and crawly. However, this October has been unlike most. Typically we enjoy Scarecrow festivals, pumpkin patches, witch hunts and so forth. Instead we spent most of the month confined at home and numerous trips to the Dr's office with an array of illnesses spread throughout all of us. This October masks and the phrase "things that go bump in the night" took on whole new meanings! These pictures explain it all. Halloween itself was not spoiled by creepy crawly viruses though!
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There's nothing better then sisters... except maybe cousins that act like sisters!

I love any chance I get to hang out with my sisters and love even more any chance we get our girls together. The Miley concert was no exception! The girls loved getting dressed up, going to dinner, lot's of treats and of course... Miley!

Of Mice and Men

I've been asked so many times, "when are you going to start a blog". Well today is that day. I've been holding off trying to find the perfect little blurb to put as my first entry to try to live up to all you blogger pros, but to no avail.... so I decided I've just got to start somewhere. So here is little tale of my own version of "Of Mice and Men": We have had a mouse problem in our garage which disturbed me a great deal. I think there was only one, but that is one too many for me. With a certain amount of hysterics regarding the sanitary value of my newly defiled garage I was able to stir my loving husband into action. He not only removed every item from the garage, he also scrubbed the floor to precission with soap, water and anti bacterial. He followed up by then putting everything back in a much more organized fashion then before which was a great bonus. That night he set up mouse traps complete with peanut butter and settled into wait for the mouse to meet his demise with a feeling of accomplishment for his achievements in making a happy wife. Well, the next morning there was not a mouse in the trap, the peanut butter was gone and only the "remnants" of what he worked so hard in cleaning up the day before were left behind. Awe the disappointment was apparent but more determination soon replaced it. He kept at it night after night setting up the traps with different mouse plessures with no luck. Finally he decided what our mouse needs is feta. Thrilled to an almost gitty like state he went out to the garage to see if our mouse was in fact a true cheese connoisseur and finally success!!! After all the hype and thrill of the hunt his reaction is what really struck a chord in me. He was indeed pleased that the mouse was no more, but was less then pleased with actually seeing his doom. Jesse: "Well, we caught him. But it only got one of his feet and there is blood all over. Poor little guy. Ya know these traps really aren't very humane." You may wonder why I thought that story so amusing and here it is... the man I married has the kindest heart, even to the smallest of creatures and is one of the biggest reasons there is now a blog "All about the Hoky's" One of the many reasons we now have two beautiful children and are going on 12 years of marriage and just a bit of why "our story" began. So there you have a tiny part in theme of this blog "All about the Hoky's". I love fall and Halloween is just around the corner. I look forward to keeping you all posted with updates of the many festive activities I have planned for us this month.