Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We had a good one. The boys were excited that Santa brought them a new trampoline. We hadn't had one since Hurricane Rita bent our last one up when we were in Houston.

Riley got lots of Cars and Hot Wheels stuff. Hunter loaded up on Power Rangers. Jake got a new book that he loves, The Dangerous Book For Boys and some Jugs equipment for the batting cage Kelly is getting ready to start on. He carries that book with him everywhere, if you've never heard of the book, here's a link to the website --click on "View the trailer" http://www.dangerousbookforboys.com/. Jake really wants to build a treehouse, but we don't have any trees!! They got a Playstation2 from the Taylors and the Newmans and I don't know who's enjoying it more, them or me!! I sneak it into my room after they go to bed :)

ok, I'm a loser....

I am uploading pics to the website right now....after I get my coffee....

I'm Sorry!!

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post. I guess I'll just try to think of what has happened since then...

We had a wonderful visit with Beverly & Keith a couple weekends ago! I feel so blessed to have been able to spend that time with them! We had a blast.

Jake made the Soccer All-Star team, I don't think they have any games or anything though.

Last Sunday morning, the boys were fighting over who would be first to get their hair washed before church. Jake was leaning over the tub and Hunter piled on top of him. Jake said, "I'm first, but it hurts to be first!" I guess you had to be there, it was so funny at the time.

Everyone is wild this morning, maybe because of the weather, maybe because they don't have school. A big cold front came in (it was 83 yesterday and today the high is supposed to be 50) and even the dogs are feeling their oats.

I was so proud of my boys yesterday! When I picked Hunter up from school, there was a big sheet on their door with all of the kids' responses to what they are most thankful for. Hunter's response was God and Jesus. When I picked Riley up, his teacher told me that he was the only one who said God when she asked them what they were most thankful for. I'm going to just believe that's what he said, but more than likely he really said chocolate milk.

We are expecting a houseful for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Kelly's family will be coming over. Casey and Lindsay will be here tonight, along with Bruce and JoBeth. Thankfully Lisa is doing the turkey & dressing. I made 8 batches of rolls on Monday! I sold 6 pans and the rest are in the freezer.

It amazes me how easy it is to fill up 3 fridges and 1 deep freeze. And I could use another one! By the time I have 3 teen age boys, I'm sure I'll need a couple more!

All of the boys are up now. Hunter just woke up! I love "no school" days!

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving! I am most thankful for God and Jesus, of course, and my boys (including my wonderful husband)! I'm thankful for our family and friends. I'm thankful to be living in a country where we are free!! I'm thankful for our home and our animals! :) There is so much I'm thankful for, I could go on and on, but I need to get busy!!

I try to save lives, Kelly takes them....

Just kidding, it's really not as bad as it sounds. Kelly shot a big 8 point buck on opening day of deer season!!! YEAH!!! I'm SO happy for us :) This is extremely good news as I will not be a hunting widow for deer season this year.

It weighed 148 pounds field dressed and without its head. Isn't that a lovely description? So everyone is getting deer meat as Christmas gifts this year! haha.

Jake was concerned when he found out that his Daddy had shot a deer. He said that he didn't want Kelly to hold him up to see it in the back of the truck, he wanted to climb up there himself so he could "have some control" over seeing it. Hunter, on the other hand, was petting it.

Jake & Hunter had their last soccer games yesterday. Hunter scored 2 goals!! Their team ended the season with no losses. Jake's team lost to the Tarantulas for the 2nd time, their only losses for the season. There is an All-Star team and I think he might have a chance to make it, we'll see!

The boys had fun on Halloween. We started off the night on the square at the Humane Society pet costume contest. We had a great turn-out, I was so happy. Then we went to our friends' house and went trick-or-treating with them. The boys were pretty tired, so we really didn't stay out too long. But we certainly got plenty of candy.

OK, I've been a bad blogger. But I've put some pictures on the website!

http://www.thelanhamboys.com/

We had a great time in Florida. The boys met Shrek & Scooby Doo. Riley wasn't very impressed, but the big boys were. Our flight there wasn't too eventful, they didn't even ask for the birth certificates...of course. We ate the best pizza when we got to the hotel and then headed for Universal Studios. The boys played and Riley saw Barney, who didn't impress him much either. Peter had his big b-day bash Friday night and Shrek was the celebrity guest. Saturday, the boys slept until 10:00! They were exhausted. We headed over to Islands of Adventure and the boys loved the Jurassic Park Section. They had REAL dinosaurs....they still think they were real. They even showed one hatching from an egg, it was pretty cool I must admit--very realistic. We got poured on about 4:00 so we decided to head back to the hotel. Not before a stop at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville though! We showered and headed back out that night & ate at Margaritaville and then went to Pat O'Brien's (no kids of course). Sunday morning after breakfast, I packed up while Kelly took the boys swimming. Then we came home! It went by really fast, but it was really fun.

Sorry I'm not more in-detail! I'm sure Kelly will have more details if I can get him to write something.

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween! Who is this guy a carbon copy of???

Our Rachael Ray pumpkin







Princess is dressing up like a bag of groceries for Halloween...

Recap--Wednesday through Thursday night

Sorry it's been so long since the last post. Last week was a pretty busy one. Can't remember what happened the 1st part of the week, but starting about Wednesday it got kind of hectic! For those of you who didn't know, we spent the weekend in Orlando celebrating the birthday of Kelly's boss' son. We left for Dallas on Thursday night and spent the night there because our flight out was at 9:15 Friday morning. Good thing we did too, because we didn't even have time to eat breakfast before we boarded the flight. We are always running late! I need to back up to Wednesday night to fill in all of the details, because they all add up to be kind of funny....now that I look back on them. They weren't funny at all at the time!
Wednesday night: I took a bite of a caramel and there was something hard in it. I pulled it out and found something white & really hard. I was disgusted for a minute until I figured out it was part of my tooth...jagged filling is sticking out and I find myself sticking my tongue over there constantly.
Thursday: Boys are at school luckily, so I try to get all packed up and everything organized so we can leave after school. Kelly's going to come home at lunch to pack so we can pick him up on the way out. 12:30 Kelly doesn't come home for lunch, but I had already made it for him--just thought I'd throw that in--says he'll be home in a little while, save it for him. Around this time I realize that Hunter, with his fetish for keys, has lost the keys to our lock box, which is where I keep birth certificates--might need those for the airport! So I start calling locksmiths. No answer at the 1st place. The 2nd place, the guy is working and won't be done till about 5:15. I think, oh that'll be too late, we'll be gone by then. 2:30 start picking up boys! Hunter and his friend Austin are 1st. After I pick them up, I decide I can't make it through the weekend with the broken tooth. My tongue is almost bleeding from the sharp metal. We go sit in the dr. office and wait. I realize I'm not going to get it done in time to go get Riley at 3:00. I call Kelly to see if he can pick up Riley and Jake, but he can't, still working and can't leave. Luckily one of the ladies he works with has a daughter at Riley's school and she offers to pick him up. So she takes Riley to Kelly. I finally have to leave to get Jake at 3:10. We get back and wait for just a few minutes and I get all fixed up. They smoothed the filling off for me. One problem solved.
So we get home and I try to finish up with all of the "leaving home preparation details" that have been entirely left up to me!!
About 5:00, as I'm pulling out to go meet the locksmith, Kelly gets home. So I go to the local trailer park and a guy working out of the back of his van gets the lock box open in less than a minute. So I think to myself, why do I even have these important papers locked up?? On my way back home, Kelly tells me that the cats are NOT staying in the house. So we move all the cats and cat accessories to the garage. Well, the cats catch on pretty quickly and one escapes. So we spend the next 30 minutes searching for her. While I'm searching, I step in another hole and twist my same ankle again! What luck...I'm beginning to think I'm not supposed to go on this trip. We finally leave the house after 6:00. After about a 4 hour drive to Dallas by the time all is said and done, we get to the hotel. Of course Riley falls asleep 15 min. before we get there! All 3 boys sleep in the same bed--at all different angles. No one got much sleep that night!
TO BE CONTINUED....got to go do some laundry!

Our weekend

Hope everyone had a great weekend. We had a pretty good one. Jake's football team did great, but unfortunately lost the championship game. By 1 point!! But they had a great season and hopefully had fun.

We had a houseguest this weekend! Rosie the dog stayed with us for the weekend. She is from the Humane Society & wanted a little time away from being caged up. So she went with us around town this weekend looking for someone to adopt her! We have some great prospects, so hopefully one will work out for her. We had a great time visiting with her and she loved playing with Blue. She's a sweet girl and we wish her the best!

Here's a picture of Riley at the football game. He's such a ham. Everytime he sees me pull the camera out, he says "cheese!".

Hunter had a great soccer game. Not sure exactly what the score was, but they won!

Yesterday my boys gave new meaning to the "pearl snap shirt" fashion...

I missed the best photo opportunities yesterday because I didn't have my camera with me. We went to Wichita Falls after church and drove the truck. Riley sits in the middle, with his loving big brothers on either side. Riley likes to grab them both by their hair and slam their heads together. He does this quite a bit, so I'm sure I'll get another opportunity to catch it on film.

Riley was exhausted by the time we were headed back and was falling asleep. His brothers just couldn't stand it and were being so mean to the poor baby! They just kept messing with him. We stopped by the deer lease on the way home and as soon as we pulled in, Riley's eyes popped open and he was trying to get to the bed of the truck as fast as he could so he could ride back there with his brothers. We cooked out at the deer lease with our friends, the Sullivents, as the big cold front blew in! It was rather chilly, and Jake was kind of scared of what the weather was going to do.

I really wish that I had my camera at the deer lease. I can't even begin to recall all of the things that happened...but everything can pretty much be started off with "You might be a redneck...."

Hunter's favorite part was going out on the "deer lease truck". I don't think I can give this truck the credit it deserves by describing it with words. I can just say that you just have to see it. I promise I will take my camera next time. It is an old Nissan that has been pretty much stripped of everything on the inside except the gear shift and the pedals. That's not even the best part though...as Kelly said so eloquently last night (after I asked him if we could ride on it in the Christmas Parade)...it's not exactly "street legal". It has been modified to seat more people than it did originally. There have been seats from another vehicle welded on to the top of the bed...up way high so you can see everything! It's kind of scary at first. Kelly and Dallas were nice enough to let Melissa and I sit back there with all the kids! So in the back of the truck, we had Melissa & me, Taylor and Delaney--their daughters, Jake, Hunter, Riley and Sugar--their dog. And 300 lbs. of deer corn. That's pretty impressive for the little truck! I'm sure we weren't a rollover hazard AT ALL...

We found Uncle Casey's deer stand toppled over, so we had to get it up-righted. It sounds a lot easier than it was done. There was one particular mesquite tree that was wounded in the process. But the good news is that it now has a lovely deer stand a top it and it is lovely...it was personally spray painted by a teen-aged Kelly Lanham.

It was starting to get dark and very cold & windy...and the truck had been on empty for a couple of hours, but when I questioned Kelly about it, he said, "Oh, I don't even know if the fuel gauge even works..." Great!

So we make it back to camp...thank you, God!!...and we start up the fire. Oops, Dallas forgot to bring any utensils to cook with! No problem...in case you're ever in this situation, a nail pulling tool doubles great as a burger flipper, and pliers....why didn't I ever think of this....are perfect for turning bratwurst!!! I learned so much last night. :)

Anyway, it was a good weekend and we had fun. Thanks for reading about our life! Have a great week!

Add me to the injured list....

Well, you try to do something good & look what happens. Kelly and I decided to get up and walk together yesterday morning...at 5 am...it was still very dark. There was no moon, but the stars were bright. I commented on how dark it was when we left, but he said, "Oh, it's not dark!". We had made it over half way when a car came and I stepped off the pavement and twisted my ankle. I really thought it was broken! I didn't get ANY sympathy at all!! Kelly told me to get up and walk. He wasn't even going to carry me home! Anyway, it's swollen up pretty nicely now. Hunter waited on me last night & brought me an ice pack. At least I have ONE compassionate guy in the bunch! :)

Wow, it's really cold here this morning, 42! Of course it's supposed to get up in the 80's as the high. So it won't last long. Beautiful day though, not a cloud in the sky. It's a great day for a walk....oh wait, I forgot...it's too bright out there, I might actually be able to see where I'm going!

So with me being crippled and all, you might be asking yourself, "Well, what are the boys doing?" Well, I'll show you...

Riley is making a big sticky mess with the grape juice that Jake left within his reach.....

It's very tasty off the table....

Hunter is watching some fine quality television.....

Here's a picture of the fine quality television he's watching....Power Rangers....ugh!

So anyway, that's what is going on here! Hopefully I'll be able to get something done today. Jake has a football game and Hunter has a soccer game tomorrow. Both teams are undefeated, so hopefully we can stay that way!

Not a whole lot going on at the Lanham household. Looks like it may start raining any second. We've enjoyed much cooler weather the past couple of days. Jake had a soccer game last night and it was actually cool! (They are usually on Saturdays at 1:00 and it's usually very hot.) They won 2-1...it was a nail-biter! It was 0-0 at halftime. Jake did great and had some outstanding plays! He had some great kicks and used his whole body to block a ball being thrown in-bounds toward the other team's goal. It is so fun to watch him play soccer when he is "into" it!






Oh my gosh, I forgot to remind everyone! Yesterday was National Feral Cat Day!!

The Lanham Boys wasn't our first choice for a name; Three Thugs & Three wise guys were already taken so we had to settle. The boys have been very vocal this fall about the need for Bill Byrne to fire TAMU football coach Dennis Franchione. Poor boys have never experienced a victory in Lubbock since they were born. on the upside Riley is 1-1 against Texas. They are anxiously awaiting basketaball & baseball season. They are pretty excited to have two cousins playing college baseball. They have all enjoyed going to watch the Graham Steers home football games. The Steers are undefeated and the quarterback is the brother of University of Texas - Colt McCoy. Riley got so excited at the last game that he threw up on Christy in the stands - or was it because he was choking on a cracker, hard to tell. We are all excited about deer season and look forward to getting Jake on the stand for the first time, he is still too young to shoot something so we will save that until next year. The boys really love animals and its a good thing since Christy has turned our house into "Humane Society West" (the humane society is on the East side of Graham). Jake has had some really good runs in football and is becoming suprisingly more aggresive on defense. He has had a great year in soccer. Hunter is doing well when Hunter wants to. The problem is he doesn't always want to. The one thing I have noticed about Hunter though is that when he makes his mind up he is very determined. We were all suprised to see him in the back yard tackling much older boys really hard the other day when he was playing football. When he decides to go after someone - look out. Jake made straight A's for the first six weeks and continues to do well. Hunter continues to suprise me with how smart he is, he will answer some of Jakes homework questions before Jake can. Riley is spoiled rotten and a complete Momma's boy, but they all were at one time or the other. I dont think he has any other option but to be tough. He thinks Jake & Hunter are the coolest guys in town except when they take things away from him. I drank a bottle of water I found on the counter last Sunday after working in the yard. The water tasted horrible, I asked Christy to take a drink to see if it was just me. She smelled it and said it smelled like pee. She asked the boys if they had peed in any bottles and they just started laughing uncontrollably and said yes. I don't believe them or rather chose not to believe them but in any case I am not drinking anything around the house anymore that is not sealed. I pulled a sticker out of Hunters foot today in the drive way. He kept covering it up and wouldn't let me touch it so I grabbed his foot and he started wiggling all over, rared back and hit his head on the concrete, poked my hand with the sticker and then it fell out. He then looked at me and said "well that was the easy way to do that". He is one funny little guy when he wants to be.

OK, guess I'll be a nerd too! Lauren has inspired me to try this. Hopefully I can keep up with it...we'll see!


I've been really bad about sending pictures lately, I know! Here are a few I took tonight....




























Jake is staying busy with school, football and soccer. He is on the Red Raiders flag football team and they are undefeated. Their game on Saturday will decide the season champs. His soccer team lost their 1st game on Saturday. He has done really well and I think that was the 1st game he hadn't scored a goal.


Hunter is also playing soccer. His team, the Cars, is also undefeated! He scored one goal a couple of weeks ago!


Riley is not playing any sports yet, but is an avid supporter of his brothers. He's not missed a game yet. He wants to do everything they do and he doesn't realize he's not as old as they are. If I want him to do something and he won't, I often ask one of his brothers to tell him to do it and he does it immediately. I'm sure that's a great parenting technique, but whatever works, right?


I am keeping busy with all of my animals! Troy and Blue are doing fine. Troy is pretty much blind as a bat, but as long as we don't move stuff around or he doesn't run in to a cat, he's ok. Blue is making lots of friends with neighbors who walk by. He runs at them as fast as he can and barks at them as loud as he can.


We have 6 cats now! Tigger, Tiger, Rachael Ray, Midnight, Princess, and Oscar/Shamu/MooMoo/Moose...we can't decide what to call him. He's about as big as Troy and is the sweetest thing. Someday I'll write the story about those last 2. They have just been with us about a month.


I am running the website for our local Humane Society-- http://www.humanesociety-yc.org/
Check it out every once in a while! See if there are any animals you're interested in!! :)


Kelly stays busy at work! He coaches Jake's football team and Hunter's soccer team in his spare time. He doesn't enjoy watching the Aggie football team this year, but he does it anyway..some sort of torture I guess. Deer season starts Nov. 3rd, so we'll look forward to seeing him again sometime after Christmas :)

More to come soon!