Daddy's Date Night

Daddy and Austyn went on a Date this last weekend. We left it up to Austyn to choose what she wanted to do with Daddy and she decided to go bowling with Daddy. He was such a trooper with his back (no horrible) back. I think he even said Austyn beat him one of the games. Of course, I sent along the camera with strict instructions to PLEASE take pictures. So I thought I'd share some.

Random Happenings from the week

I celebrated Christmas with my Daycare kiddos on Friday and Avery was SO excited to open her new WAll-E blanket. I don't think she has put it down yet.

On the other hand, this is Avery's "Night Night" that she has had since birth. This is the blanket that follows her EVERYWHERE. Can you tell??? The funny thing is that both Austyn and Avery had a blanket made by the same person, same material and both ended up choosing that as their special blanket. BUT in saying that, Austyn used hers for almost 5 years and had maybe one "small" hole in it while Avery on the other hand doesn't have much left after just three years. Two different girls and personality types.

Austyn made this ornament last week at school!

Friday at school was pamjama day which Austyn ALWAYS loves because she isn't such a morning person. We also let her open her Christmas Eve gift early because we always give the girls special pamjamas to where that night so she could wear them to school that day.

Austyn also made this awesome wreath at school with her hand prints. She keep telling me all week that she had something that was coming to make me cry. This was it! The card reads: "Sometimes I might upset you just because I'm small by leaving fingerprints on mine on a table, chair or wall. But everyday I grow a bit and I'll be big one day when my tiny fingerprints have long been cleaned away. So keep these prints of my two hands to help you to recall just how big my fingers were that time when I was small." Isn't that AWESOME???

The Arrival

By Max Lucado

God had entered the world as a baby.

Yet, were someone to chance upon the sheep stable on the outskirts of Bethlehem that morning, what a peculiar scene they would behold.

The stable stinks like all stables do. The stench of urine, dung, and sheep reeks pungently in the air. The ground is hard, the hay scarce. Cobwebs cling to the ceiling and a mouse scurries across the dirt floor.

A more lowly place of birth could not exist.

Off to one side sit a group of shepherds. They sit silently on the floor; perhaps perplexed, perhaps in awe, no doubt in amazement. Their night watch had been interrupted by an explosion of light from heaven and a symphony of angels. God goes to those who have time to hear him—so on this cloudless night he went to simple shepherds.

Near the young mother sits the weary father. If anyone is dozing, he is. He can’t remember the last time he sat down. And now that the excitement has subsided a bit, now that Mary and the baby are comfortable, he leans against the wall of the stable and feels his eyes grow heavy. He still hasn’t figured it all out. The mystery of the event puzzles him. But he hasn’t the energy to wrestle with the questions. What’s important is that the baby is fine and that Mary is safe. As sleep comes he remembers the name the angel told him to use … Jesus. “We will call him Jesus.”

Wide awake is Mary. My, how young she looks! Her head rests on the soft leather of Joseph’s saddle. The pain has been eclipsed by wonder. She looks into the face of the baby. Her son. Her Lord. His Majesty. At this point in history, the human being who best understands who God is and what he is doing is a teenage girl in a smelly stable. She can’t take her eyes off him. Somehow Mary knows she is holding God. So this is he. She remembers the words of the angel. “His kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:33)

He looks like anything but a king. His face is prunish and red. His cry, though strong and healthy, is still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. And he is absolutely dependent upon Mary for his well-being.

Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter.

She touches the face of the infant-God. How long was your journey!

This baby had overlooked the universe. These rags keeping him warm were the robes of eternity. His golden throne room had been abandoned in favor of a dirty sheep pen. And worshiping angels had been replaced with kind but bewildered shepherds.

Meanwhile, the city hums. The merchants are unaware that God has visited their planet. The innkeeper would never believe that he had just sent God into the cold. And the people would scoff at anyone who told them the Messiah lay in the arms of a teenager on the outskirts of their village. They were all too busy to consider the possibility.

Those who missed His Majesty’s arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it because they simply weren’t looking.

Little has changed in the last two thousand years, has it?

Santa came to town

Last night we traveled up to Austyn's school for their annual Santa Supper with pancakes, shopping and pictures with Santa. It was a lot of fun. We love Austyn's school. They did a great job with everything and the kids LOVED it. Austyn especially loved the shopping part of it while Avery enjoyed Santa. Austyn was a little unsure of Santa this year but after some shopping and pancakes she decided she was ready to try again. She told Santa she wanted a Wii and a Hanna Montana mirror. This is the third year in a row that she has asked for a mirror of some kind from Santa.

Austyn's friend from school...Madison. Aren't they so cute???

Mrs. Claus and my baby girls

Austyn made this Santa in her art class and was so excited when we run into it as we walked down the hallway.

Avery hopped right up there and sat with Santa. I think she was in a little shock from sitting in his lap that I don't think she told him what she wanted for Christmas. She had told us she wanted Blue's Clues.

It's never too late!!!

Today we finally got our Christmas tree up!!! YEAH for the Hamby Household. Things had been so crazy busy around here lately I can actually come to grips with not having everything up this year. The tree was kind of important though. Tripp brought the tree down from the attic, I put the main pieces together along with hanging the ribbon and we let the girls finish the rest. The was REALLY hard for me because I enjoy making the tree look perfect. But I LOVE our tree this year with it's purple, red and silver ornaments and even more so because the girls do it their way. It was Mommy telling them every second that that ornament is way too close to the other or that purple ornament can't go next to the other five purple ornaments. It's awesome!!! Sport even enjoyed playing catch with Tripp while we watched the girls decorate. He may be a funny looking dog but we LOVE our Sport. And he can jump as you can tell from the picture below. We hope everyone is enjoying the preparation for the holidays and remember why we celebrate Christmas. Jesus is the only reason for the season!!!

Rolls, Jelly, Cake, Inflatables, Family and Memories...Oh my!!!

I'm not even forsure where to start with describing our Thanksgiving vacation...actually our last full week. It started out by celebrating Austyn's 6th birthday, then moving on to Thanksgiving with our family from Kansas. It has become a tradition on this side of the family to start a roll fight after (most of the time it starts after we are done eating...except this year) dinner but this year I decided to shake things up a bit...I brought squeeze jelly and the women of the family put on a surprise attack on the men. It was SO much fun and something I will personally never forget. Just check out the pictures. It says it all...well pretty much. What it doesn't do is make you feel the extreme stickiness we all had afterwards. Later in the week we celebrated Austyn's birthday at Pump It Up. We had a wonderful time there and I think I will be recovering from trying to tackle of the inflatables as an adult for quite some time. God is so good to us. We are so blessed and this last week was a wonderful reminder on just how blessed we really are.

Twice as sweet...

Austyn and her buddy Richie at Chuck E. Cheese

Who can make the silliest face???

This year Austyn found someone who celebrates a birthday the same day as she does. And it just so happens to be a very dear friend of ours. So, before we headed to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate, we stopped by and celebrated with Ms. Beth. We tried to convince Ms. Beth to go to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate her birthday with Austyn but she wanted to go to a fancy steak house. Now, who would do that over good ol' chuckie??? I guess I must be honest here, I would have done the same thing. But being able to stop by her house before hand and hang for a while, made her birthday twice as sweet.

Happy Birthday, Austyn!!!

Today we are celebrating Austyn's 6th birthday. Crazy to me..but it's real. I got to go up to school with her this morning for their Thanksgiving feast which was a lot of fun. What a way to celebrate at school on your birthday. We are going to Chuck E Cheese tonight to celebrate her day with just us family so I'm sure I'll be putting up more pictures later. Austyn is growing up so fast and we are so blessed by her daily. She is such a wonderful young lady. We are so proud of you, Austyn.

Best family weekend adventures

This weekend we traveled to the Best Family's home to visit Tripp's grandpa from Kansas. As you can tell from the pictures we did all kinds of things while we were out there. We played in their dried out pond, rode the 4 wheeler, played in hay bails, swung on the tire swing, played soccer and football and ate lots of great food. We are so glad it worked out for us to be out there spending that time with all of them.

Halloween Night time

We had a great time last night for Halloween. We hosted our Lifecare group here at the house with pizza, soda and lots of candy and then headed out together for some Trick or Treating. We only walked our neighborhood because it's so big and busy that there was no need to go any further. We are so lucky to have such an awesome Lifecare group. It was so much fun!!!

Daytime Halloween

This morning Austyn was in a play called Nursery Rhymes. She was one of Humpty Dumpty's King's Horseman. Daddy worked very hard on her costume and did a VERY nice job. It was great! We are looking forward to tonight's halloween party with our Lifecare group. Austyn is going to be...are you ready for this...it's a BIG surprise...Hanna Montana. And Avery is going to be a Pirate. We have tought her to say ERRRRRRR Me Hardies. Stay tuned!!!

More Random Hamby Happenin's

This is Austyn with her Kindergarten teacher Ms. Rhinehart at McTeacher night. A couple times a year McDonalds here in town allows the teachers and faculty of each of the schools to work and serve everyone that comes in. They also receive the money during those hours which go back into the school funding. Austyn absolutely LOVEs her teacher. This is our dear family friend Ms. Barb at McTeacher night. She works at the school and watches over our baby girl for us during the day. We also go to church with her and her family. We love you, Ms. Barb.

Before we went to McTeacher Night last night we went to a Jr. High Football game and watched the girls' "bubba" play ball. This is the son of dear family friends of ours. The girls have always called him Bubba. He watches over them like a big brother. He played a great game, kicked several great kick offs, tackled well and the Hippos won the game 20-0. Great times!!!

This last weekend Tripp worked on tillin' up the yard with an actual tiller while the girls thought they would use their hands instead. It was a great time and our yard will look better soon. Thank goodness!!!

Just you just LOVE their form ;-)