2009 Reflections...

Yesterday, I couldn't help but start reflecting back on all that has happened in our lives over this past year. So, I sat down and began to do one of the the things that I do best....write! =) So, here's a quick look back over what 2009 brought the Hathorn's.

JANUARY
We started 2009 off with a bang and January sailed along without a hitch. We had high hopes for a wonderful year. My Moma turned 61 on January 2nd.

FEBRUARY
Our first road bump of the year came in February when Shelby, our beautiful daughter, became very ill from stressing over her preparations of taking the dreaded TAKS test for the first time. She became so stressed about it that her little body couldn't take it and she broke out in boils!! First time any of us have ever experienced boils. What made things even worse was the allergic reaction Shelby had to the antibiotics to get rid of the boils. Most of you know Shelby is allergic to Penicillin, well in February we discovered she's also allergic to any medicines that are sulfur based. Yes, sulfur!! Shelby broke out in a horrible body rash for days and had to be put on more medicines. We felt so, so horrible and helpless for her. It took us almost until the end of March for Shelby to fully recover from the boils and the allergic reaction.

MARCH
We were still getting Shelby over the boils and allergic reaction and thankfully, had a nice Spring Break in the middle of March. I took the kids to Hallsville and Shreveport and we got to spend some quality time with my parents and my grandparents!! Then at the very end of March, when James came up for his job review and his one year Anniversary with the company, a big bomb was dropped on us. James was given the absolute worst job review by a boss in his 17 year career!! This was also something we had NEVER experienced before. Due to this, we also suffered from no raise or any kind of bonus this year. We also started April feeling like his job was threatened and not knowing if any day, the hatchet would fall.

APRIL
Started off pretty quiet once we got passed the job review saga. Things actually settled down. The school year was winding down, we enjoyed Easter, and at the end of April, James and I were able to have a nice little getaway weekend in a fabulous Bed & Breakfast in College Station as we celebrated our 10th wedding Anniversary!! It was one of our favorite alone trips to date!! =)

MAY
Well, I turned the BIG 38 and it also just so happened to fall on the same day as Mother's Day - that happens only about every 7 or 8 years. To top it off, my parents were able to come down that weekend so I got to spend my birthday with them too and share Mother's Day with my Moma!! School was almost over and all was quiet on the job front.

JUNE
School ended on June 4, 2009 and summer began!! Then just a week later, on June 10th, the hatchet fell. James was laid off from work. We had no income. There was no warning at all. We were devastated, especially at such a horrible time with the economy. We had to cancel our family vacation to San Antonio which was planned for the week after he was laid off. James immediately went into job hunting mode, treating it like a regular, full-time job itself. We kept the kids busy by sending them to Camp PawPaw's and church camp. With the small severance package we received and unemployment, we were able to pay bills. So, we were thankful. As always, God is good and God had a plan. June was still a scary month for us. James spent his first Father's Day concerned about what the future was going to hold. It was something else we had never experienced before either as a family, a job loss!! And with me not working, it was real scary. All we could do was TRUST.

JULY
Our baby girl turned 9 on the 4th of July!! We celebrated right here at home. James had been interviewing with one company in particular - a company called Houston Pizza Venture. Right after Shelby's birthday he flew to Denver for the make or break interview with them. We had high hopes although it seemed to be a long shot, especially considering that this business that owns about 50 Papa John's in Houston and a few other restaurants could remotely be in James' future - he's never had anything to do with the restaurant business! God was about to show us once again, that ANYTHING is possible with Him. On July 8th, 2009, James was hired as the Controller for HPV. He likes to be called the "top accounting dude". And I can sum up his job so far...HE LOVES IT!!! It's close to home, it's a small company, and the salary is the same! Again, God is good. We wrapped up July by taking the kids up to Hallsville to celebrate my Grandma's 85th birthday!! The year was starting to turn around for us!

AUGUST
August started off well. We were finishing up summer camps and activities, James was still loving and learning his new job, my parents enjoyed a wonderful trip to Alaska, and then we hit another major road bump. While my parents were in Alaska, we all found out that my Papa was diagnosed with lung cancer. :-( As you can imagine this has been a very rough ride for all of us close to Popa, especially my Grandma and my parents. On a high note, we celebrated the boy turning #8 on August 23rd and then on the 24th, the kiddos got to start at a brand new school, which we love!!

SEPTEMBER
Started off this month by celebrating my better half's 39th birthday!! Yes, hard to believe that he is already in the last year of his 30's. Where does the time go? School was in full swing and so was my new "job" serving as Treasurer for our new school's PTO Board. Popa also started his radiation treatments for the cancer. For a while there, none of us knew if he would even make it to the holidays this year. Thankfully, he did. =)

OCTOBER
Went pretty well. Pop was responding well to treatments and doing pretty good, considering. My daddy celebrated his 64th birthday. Football for Thomas, Gymnastics and Choir for Shelby, and small group for all of us had pretty much taken over our lives by October and we loved every minute of it!! Thomas especially experienced many milestones in football this year, like making his first touchdown!! And Shelby has learned how to do some great cartwheels. Also, my sister and her family ended up moving to Spring from Dallas in search of jobs and a fresh start.

NOVEMBER
Grandma and Pop celebrated their 63rd Anniversary and the same week, Pop finished his round of radiation treatments!! Fall was in the air. And we had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent at my Moma and Daddy's in Hallsville. To top off the month, my brother-in-law found a good job, and for the first time, James and I attended our first NFL game watching the Colts beat the Texans.

DECEMBER
As usual, December has gone by in a flash. Every weekend leading up to Christmas, we had football games, parties, church activities, or relatives in town visiting. It's been a wonderful month with no time to breathe, barely. Our beloved pooch turned 2 on Christmas Eve!! And we had a wonderful Christmas with ALL of our relatives.

In a nutshell, God has once again showered us with many blessings in the year 2009 and has taught us numerous lessons. We look forward to a new year filled with new hopes, new lessons, new dreams, new blessings and hopefully, even a miracle or two.

HAPPY 2010 to everyone!!
God bless and much love,
From The Hathorn's
James, Karen, Shelby, Thomas, and Trinity

Final XMAS Pics of Us!

A few last pics we took on Saturday after Grandma got here:

Me:

Me again - James likes this one for some reason:

James and his mom...good pic of them!!

Shelby took this one of the three of us and we couldn't stop laughing, I don't even remember why. HA!

Grandma H. with the kiddos...great picture!

I believe this is the last of our Christmas pictures! Whew!! It was all great this year. Looking forward now to what 2010 will bring!! For one thing, I'm going to have a child in double digits and I'll probably be boo hooing about it cause my baby girl is just growing up too fast!! =)

Grandma Hathorn is heading home this morning, the kids and I are leaving at the same time to run a bunch of errands, gymnastics tonight and then purchasing our blowing up materials for tomorrow night!! Have a great day!!

Princess & the Frog

Yesterday, the kids, Grandma and I saw The Princess and the Frog. Not only was it based in Louisiana but Shreveport is even mentioned and some of the characters are hilarious!! It has a heart warming story too. All of us loved it!!! Thomas even liked it and he wasn't real gung ho about going to it at first. HA!!

Christmas with Grandma H.

Good Monday Morning!! Grandma Hathorn came in on Saturday and we did Christmas with her!!

Here's what she got from Thomas - a jar of Chili mix!! Also, note what shirt Thomas still has on in these pictures!!!

Shelby gave Grandma a Doorstop Snowman!

Then the kids got to open some presents. First up was Belle. She got some new books which she loves, including one about a horse called Belle!!!

She got some much needed and very pretty pink slippers!!

Her first needlepoint, of a horse of course!! We will start working on this soon!

And a beautiful book of The Nutcracker...

Thomas also got a beautiful book with animals and it makes all kinds of realistic sounds...

So realistic, well, watch the clip and see Trinity's reaction...

Thomas really loves puppets and has already received the cool turtle puppet from Grandma and Pop. Well, he got two more from Grandma H. of a lion and tiger, oh my!! Notice Shelby's horse puppet behind Grandma's head?? Yes, Shelby is back there!

Mr. T got a popular book called...

Then it was my turn. I got a beautiful apple box (I love apples) from Grandma H. and inside was an apple scented Yankee candle and some good smelling stuff from Bath and Body Works. =)

Shelby's last big gift from Grandma was a new Barbie set who just happen to be a Pet Vet and comes with a little pony in it. Right up Belle's alley since she wants to be a vet and loves horses.

Thomas' last big gift was another Star Wars LEGO set, and yes, he built it immediately after opening it. =)

I didn't get a picture but she gave James a couple of nice bookmarks, which he always needs, and a gift card to Barnes & Noble!! Very cool. Thank you Grandma H. for everything!! We loved it all.

Shelby's Suncatchers

Yesterday, Belle finished up her new horse suncatchers! They are so cute!!

Here's the other one...she did a great job on them.

Now Daddy just has to hang them up in her window!

And here's a pic of them having a LEGO Star Wars war on the floor...

Up next...Christmas with Grandma Hathorn...

Movie Date...

James and I are heading to the movies this evening to see this:

Official Avatar Movie
We've heard it's outstanding and we can't wait to see it!

Christmas Morning 2009

This is a big post so here goes...

Since the kiddos slept by the tree on Christmas Eve Night, they were up pretty early Christmas morn. In fact, they had already discovered and gone through their stockings before James and I could pull ourselves out of bed. =)

Once we were up and ate breakfast and two certain people had COFFEE, we began to open gifts. First up, a joint gift.

Star Wars Text Messengers...they can text each other, use them as alarm clocks plus more! They loved them!!!

Thomas got a brand new official NFL Junior size football. He had asked for this so he was very pleased. He said this was his 2nd favorite gift this year. He and James played outside with it yesterday afternoon.

Shelby got some cozy little socks - two pair...

and some "I Love Horses" PJ's...

and a cute pair of "BIG Sister" PJ's...

Thomas got a new Star Wars Lego Set, this was his 3rd favorite gift!

Shelby also got a Girl Gourmet Candy Bead Studio...she can make bracelets and necklaces for herself or friends and everything, including the strand is all edible! Thomas has already put his order in.

Thomas' last BIG present from us was this...an official NFL Peyton Manning jersey.

He looks so good in it. He had asked for a jersey, either one of the Manning brothers or Drew Brees. The Brees Jersey was hard to find or too expensive but we did manage to find a Peyton jersey and he LOVES it!!! He has not taken it off since yesterday. He even slept in it. =)

This was Thomas' most favorite gift this year from us!

Here's Belle after she put her BIG Sister PJ's on with matching heart pants and her cozy socks.

Belle's last big gift from us ironically called Belville from LEGO...it's a horse stable and the girl in it looks just like Belle! She loved it.

My boys...

Both of the kids immediately went to work on their LEGO sets. They are really fast and pretty much do it with no help at all. Here's Belle's...

Here's Thomas' new set...

A couple of clips I took!
This is the joint gift...

This one is Thomas opening up his jersey!!

After all the opening and playing with stuff for a long time, we sat down to eat a delicious Christmas dinner. I fixed a turkey with all the trimmings (except for dressing). And it's now become a tradition in the Hathorn household that we sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus before we eat our Christmas dinner. Thomas even said our prayer for us. It all turned out so good and we have lots of leftovers for the weekend, which is what we wanted. =) Then we cleaned up, played lots of games with the kids, threw football outside, watched movies and the kids slept in the living room one more time last night.

It was a wonderful Christmas Day for our little family. The kids also gave me and James some cute little gifts they made at their XMAS workshop at church. I got a necklace from Thomas that he made and Shelby gave me a jar of Chili mix which I will be making soon!! James got an ornament from Shelby that she made and Thomas gave him a decorated tile with lots of football stuff on it. =) We loved it all. And for those that don't know, James and I usually get either a joint gift at Christmas, or something we need for the house or just one gift each. This year we gave each other brand new cell phones, which we needed badly. He got an LG Envy which is a very cool phone and he got me the brand new DROID touch phone by Verizon. I LOVE IT!!!!!

Next up, Grandma Hathorn is driving down as I type this. She should be here by 1pm and then we get to open up more gifts with her! Christmas isn't over yet!! =)

Christmas Eve Fun...

After an awesome candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve, we came home and let the kiddos dive into a couple of presents!!

This first one was a joint gift...more to come about this. It's something you have to "see" when it's finished.

Being the football loving family we are, they were very excited to get their very own new cups. Thomas got the Colts and Belle got the Texans!!

She was especially excited I think...

Thomas also got a NY Giants wallet. He loved it!!

Belle got some new earrings!! This is a cute little cowboy hat and when she opened it up, she found a cute little silver pair of horse heads.

Then James, being in control of my camera, started taking a few pics of me with the kids...I actually love this one!!! My babies.

Me and Mr. T...

James LOVES this one of me and Belle...

Lastly, Belle got a box of glitter horses...they are sun catchers. I'll post pics whenever she completes this little project. Hopefully before she goes back to school.

Thomas got a Flip Clip for his big Nerf Gun which he was very pumped about so he can reload faster. Him and James proceeded to have a couple of battles Christmas Eve night!!

After all that, we sat down, snuggled on the couches and watched The Nativity Story. Such a great movie!! Then the kids had a blast sleeping in the living room by the tree. Up next, our Christmas morning goodies!

Christmas Family Pics 2009

A mixture of Family Pics...
First up, PawPaw with all the grands, December 19th, 2009!

Gramms joins the picture...

The Davis Family, Christmas 2009

James & Karen - Christmas 2009 - taken at church December 20th!

The Hathorn Family, Christmas 2009

Also wanted to throw these in...couldn't leave Grandma and Pop out. Moma just sent me these a couple of days ago but they are pretty recent. This first one was taken on their 64th Anniversary, November 11, 2009! Great pic!!

Moma took this one on the day Pop ended his radiation treatments, right after their Anniversary! Another great pic!! =)

Moma said the first thing Pop wanted to do that day was pick up his blower and started blowing the leaves away from the garage. =)

We love you Pop and Grandma!! We will see you at Spring Break in March!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!