It's a Wonderful Life

Merry Christmas Eve!

Brad and I have already titled this Christmas as our best one ever -- and it hasn't even officially arrived, yet! We have so enjoyed the season and have seen EVERY member of our family on the Hobbs/Ford side this year, which has never happened before. We are feeling incredibly blessed. I know that word can be overused, but it is really the only way to begin to describe how we feel. Thank you, God, for you are the source of all good things.

We just returned from a wonderful and meaningful day with Scott, Nancy, and David. We were all spoiled rotten with gifts and more importantly, good fellowship. Here's a sneak preview of Brooke with her new heirloom -- a baby cradle very lovingly handmade by Scott. It's absolutely the most beautiful one that I've ever seen. It's solid red oak and rocks beautifully. The brass plaque on the front reads, "Brooke, 2006." Brooke is absolutely enthralled by it and had a great time putting babies in both and being a precious little mommy to her beloved babies. She also loves being a baby herself, as you can see! That's Scott rocking the cradle behind her. Thank you SO much, Granddaddy!



Our hearts are so full and we are so very grateful and happy. We're very much looking forward to our upcoming visit to Lexington to see our beloved Kentucky and Arkansan folks.

I hope that Santa will reward all of your year's good behavior tonight! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Dear Cousin Elizabeth,

Thank you so much for your thoughtful letter posted on your family blog. Please let me assure you that I indeed know all about sharing and I sweetly, happily, and enthusiastically share every single time -- as long as it's YOU sharing your toys with ME! It works even better when I can believe that every single toy in every room belongs to me and exists solely for my enjoyment. Your cooperation in allowing me to believe this will be most appreciated.

As for that "m" word that you mention, I'm proud to say that I have yet to stoop to such vulgarity. My mommy assures me that I'll know its meaning someday, but that I need not expose my innocent mind to such a word for now. She'd really appreciate it if you refrain from using such an ugly word in my presence. My favorite words happen to be "no" and "more," and if using them once is good, saying them ten times in a row has to be better!

I'll also be happy to demonstrate my very advanced folding abilities by taking all of the clothes out of any drawer or bag in your house that I can open. It's lots of fun to organize by laying them into piles, sorting shoes, and stacking diapers. See what a good job I did of unpacking my bag from the trip to Grandmother's house all over the kitchen floor?



Maybe we can even play tug of war with your mommy's pantyhose and wear her underwear on our heads! I'm really good at that, too. We'll spare you the picture of that, though.

By the way, I really like the picture that you sent in your Christmas card of me wearing Aunt Amy's hat from Peru. When Mama and Dada ask me who it is, every time I smile, point, and say, "Book!"



What a pretty baby -- surely she's me!!!

Lots of toddler hugs and kisses,
Cousin Brooke

Visiting Santa

What a difference a year makes!

2005



2006

Merry Christmas!

More on the New Speech Developments

Just a few mins ago Brooke woke up, and coaxed Erin out of bed with "Mama ... Mama ... Peez?"
That's a first!

When Erin went in to get her, she quickly said "Dada... bath" (pronounced "baaa", sometimes with a little "t" at the end). Last night I gave her her bath right before bed! More story telling! She then marched down the hall to my office and told me the same thing.

I asked her if she could say "Love You", and she replied "gshjs jhfksh" - a deliberate two-word attempt that is the first step. Hopefully she should have this one down shortly!

A Week of Developments!

Well, just when it seemed like:
1. "NO" was the answer to every question

2. The only nouns she would use started with B ("Ba-Ba", "boo-boo", "Bay-Bee", "Books", "Ballz", "Brooke", etc)

3. And there was no chance of verbalizing the signing words "more" and "please"

Brooke has finally broken out of her shell! Here's what she is up to the last 7-10 days:

1. Says "Peez", meaning "please" and "peas".

2. Says "Mo" for "more", usually accompanied by the sign.

3. Answers "Yes!" to appropriate questions ("Want some yogurt?" "YES!")

4. Points to the glass ball ornaments on the Christmas Tree and says "No!" because she isn't supposed to touch them.

5. Mention Santa Claus in her presence, and she'll pat her head because Santa wears a hat. Then she'll wave "bye-bye" just like she did went she met Santa a few nights ago.

6. Gives real kisses now, complete with the lip-smack. She will volunteer kisses when she is feeling affectionate or knows she has been bad.

7. Plays by herself in the playroom for long periods of time (especially nice at meal preparation time!)

8. Picks out Baby Jesus in any nativity scene and wants to kiss him. Then she sometimes wants to kiss all of the animals and people in the nativity scene (thanks alot Cousin Elizabeth! ;) )

9. Loves looking at Christmas lights. They are always greeted with "Mo! Mo!", and she is disappointed when we get home and the show is over.

10. Tells stories: Instead of just telling you what she wants, she will now tell you stories about what she did. Say "What did you do at music class?", and she will respond "Amy", "Babies", "Balls", shake her arms indicating "played bells", and pat her knees meaning "played drums"! Ask her "what did you do at school today?" and she'll respond "Ba-ba", "Juice", "Milk", "Cookies", "Books", and "Babies"! Sometimes she will start a story unsolicited, and you have to pay close attention to figure out if she wants her baby, or is thinking about how she played with the baby earlier. It's a subtle change that requires close attention.

What a fun stage of life!

An imposter!

Yesterday as I put Brooke down for her nap...

I start to go get her sweet baby Zoe. (Strangely, she seems to nap whenever Brooke does.) Then I pause, noticing that Zoe is already in the crib, when I had thought she was downstairs — and she is dressed, when I had helped Brooke undress her that morning. Hmm. That’s odd.

So I go downstairs, glance where I had originally thought I’d seen Zoe — and low and behold, there she is. So I momentarily disregard the upstairs Zoe as a case of mistaken identity. After all, we do have up to four bald, naked baby dolls around here at any given moment.

When Brooke wakes up, aha! Zoe IS still in the crib — and I verify my suspicions! We have a stowaway! There are really (hahaha) TWO baby Zoes!

So now the hunt is on to find the real identity of the imposter and return her to her home.



She's not talking. Apparently she likes it here and wants to stay!

She has kept a low profile until now, so I'm not sure how long she has been with us. If you have any information regarding the identity and whereabouts of the fake Zoe, please contact us immediately. (Between you and me, we’re hoping a reward may be involved....)

In the meantime, these girls are giving us a hard time and are keeping us guessing as to who is the real Zoe. Any tips for dealing with trickster twins???

Pen and inks

I've been doing a growing number of pen and ink drawings over the last two years; they're becoming one of my specialties. It's a tricky medium because there is no erasing! Actually, many pen and ink artists don't show their originals because they use correction fluid to cover mistakes and so the pieces are only meant for reproduction. All of my originals are white-out-free so far. Most pen and ink drawings don't have ink washes, but I always do those because I really like the softness and added depth that they give. I haven't had a colored one commissioned yet, but I anticipate that I'll start doing those at some point, as well.

Here are three that I've been working on over the last few weeks. These are Christmas presents commissioned by various clients. The houses are a set for people who just moved from one into the other. The portrait of the older couple is a gift for their daughter from her son; the grandparents have both passed away. I was very happy for the opportunity to branch out into portraiture in this medium. I selected portraiture as an emphasis in AP high school art but haven't done any more until now. Each of these drawings required two days of work. I've finally upgraded to a very nice set of technical pens which need to be filled with ink and then cleaned out afterward. It's time-consuming to care for them, but I really like using them better than the felt-tipped ones. (By the way, thanks again, Scott and Nancy, for the gift of my drafting table; it's making my job a bit easier!)

So I am now finished with all of my official jobs of the year. (Although I might take something else small if it comes up.) This will be the first year since I started the art business that I decided not to work right up until Christmas and I'm looking forward to the slower pace! Maybe I'll finally get around to re-doing our kitchen table top.








So far, though, I still think that my best pen and ink drawing so far is the one of Amy's church in Arkansas.



Starting in January or February, I'm going to redirect the art business to do more studio work like these sketches instead of the murals and faux finishes. That will allow me to work from home in smaller chunks of time (like during nap time) -- and ultimately give me more time with Brooke. I still love painting murals and faux finishes (and I might still take a small job here or there). Work still keeps coming in from referrals and I'm actually starting to turn down jobs. It's VERY hard to do that, but I feel like God is calling me to further develop my studio work and -- mainly -- free up more time and energy for family, friends, and whatever else He sends my way.

PotD - Dec. 4

Electronically challenged

After several weeks of computer agony, I am up and nearly running again! Headaches have abounded as I was crippled in the wake of two hard drives independently crashing -- one being all of my documents, the other housing -- among other things -- my backups. Brad set me up on an old PC in the meantime, but I was sans printer, sans scanner, sans card reader for my camera card, sans documents (including estimates, pictures, and my portfolio) and, can you guess? Sans sanity and any shred of efficiency!

I am very happy to say that as of tonight, the art business is now the proud owner of a new laptop. Dude, I almost got a Dell, but in the end went for the value on an in-stock Gateway model at Best Buy. I spent a few extra hundred dollars to get a workhorse model instead of the budget version. Brad has cobbled together old systems for me for the past five years and I'm sure we're both looking forward to much less computer stress in our future. And I'm thrilled by the prospect of working or surfing downstairs while Brooke is playing. (Somehow, an art studio just isn't a great place for our extremely active and curious toddler.)



So here's a huge thank you, sweetie, for being my own personal in-house Computer Guru. You're amazingly skilled and have kept me going! Hopefully we'll all be more relaxed after this purchase (after we finish the set-up, that is!). Thanks.

Finally, here's a cute picture to satisfy your visual sweet tooth. This picture was trapped on my card and is now free thanks to my new purchase. As you can see, Brooke LOVES to dress up in Brad's cycling gear. Here she is complete with helmet, jersy, and gloves. Once she sees one of the pieces, she's not content until she's wearing all of them! Doesn't the jersey make a nice floor-length gown?

It's a Major Award!

The home from the movie "A Christmas Story" has been restored just as it was in the movie, and is open to the public.



They are also selling:


(and yes, they come marked "FRA-GEE-LAY")

Visit them here

Uncle Shuck's Corn Maze

Back on Nov 4th (wow! seems like a long time ago!) we ventured up to Uncle Shuck's Corn Maze with our friends Steve, Leslie and Grace Hyland, and Steve's dad Christopher from Canada. Just outside of Dahlonega, GA the maze is shaped like a NASCAR race car. The corn was around 8 ft tall, so imagine your hallway made of corn and that is what it felt like to walk in it!



It was a chilly day, so we bundled up. We used the baby backpack again, though other folks used strollers.



Here we are, lost in the maze.



After we finished the Big Maze, Brooke and Grace explored the children's maze.





My beautiful girls.



One more with Daddy!



If you haven't done a corn maze before, check one out. They are a lot of fun!

Pic of the Day - Beloved "Bay-Bees"

Pic of the Day - Nov. 17

More Halloween Pictures

Cue the X-Files Theme Song...

I'm going to make a slight departure from my usual posts of Brooke pics to share this fascinating article I found. Don't blow it off too quickly - check out the guy's background! "MoD" is the British Ministry of Defense!

Aliens Could Invade at any Moment

See Rock City

On the way home from Kentucky a couple of weeks ago we stopped off at Rock City in Chattanooga, TN. I had only been there once as a kid and loved it. Erin thinks she had been there before but was too little to remember any of it. It's a convenient stop between Atlanta and Knoxville, not taking more than 15-20 minutes to get to.

One of our common questions these days is: stroller or backpack? Due to the uneven terrain, we decided on my favorite backpack.

Brooke loves to ride along on hikes. She will playfully pat my head or want to hold my hands. If she gets a little whiny I can grab her shoes and tickle her legs (we call tickling "attitude adjustments" around here). When I stop she will bounce as if nudging a horse ("gitty-up Daddy!").

I remembered that there was a "Fat Man's Squeeze" and an "Eye of the Needle", but thought that there surely would be an alternate path for those not able to make it. I was wrong.

"Um, mommy???"

"Fat Man's Squeeze" was apparently designed for the pear-shaped, because it was wider at the bottom!

A great workout for the quads and lower back - especially when you are walking so carefully not to knock your daughter's noggin!

Whew! Safely through the squeezes and onto the swinging bridge. A lady ahead of us didn't like the heights or the bridge very much, and took a looooooong time to cross. Brooke was terribly tempted to bounce her, but restrained herself.

Gazing down at the waterfall below us.

See Seven States! (yeah right)

Come on Brooke, stick your head in the hole!

Big happy family!

And look who we ran into while we were there!

(just kidding)

Happy Halloween!

Brooke had a very fun Halloween last week. Brad was able to join us at the playgroup Halloween party in the afternoon, which was lots of fun. Brooke adores her kitty outfit and even held still enough for me to draw some whiskers and a black nose. She was so proud of her costume that she started crying when I had to take it off to change her diaper! She wore the hat almost throughout the entire party. Great job on the costume, Nancy! We got LOTS of compliments. She was the only kid there with a custom, handmade costume.



We were exhausted after the party and still had trick or treating ahead of us. Brad took her around to our friends' houses and I agreed to stay behind to pass out candy. I think I got as much of a workout as Brad did jumping up to answer the doorbell every two minutes. I think I now know why Mom is the Halloween scrooge every year who shuts up the house and unashamedly pretends she isn't home. It's not that she doesn't like the kids, it's that she doesn't like getting off of the couch!

On a side note, my computer crashed last week and I am now shopping for a laptop. It's been painful around here without it, which is why it's taken a week for me to get this post up. Hopefully we'll get things straightened out before too long.

ANOTHER kitty!

We are introducing... our FOURTH black cat to the family!!! (Fifth, actually, if you count the stray who hangs around and likes to be a nuisance and pick fights.) This one, however, is definitely the cutest! We decided to let her sleep inside.





Brooke is so proud of her costume and loves to wear it, which is a great improvement over last year! She likes to yell "Myow!!!" and show off her tail. A huge thank you goes out to Nancy for making the costume!

Her debut is tomorrow afternoon at the playgroup party and then we'll make the trick or treating rounds to the neighborhood folks we know -- the list gets longer every year!

Beloved Baba

Anybody who knows Brooke at all knows her blanket (a.k.a., "Baba"). We had tried to only use it for naptime at daycare because she was getting so possessive and the other children were taking it away. She became far more concerned with guarding the blanket than with playing. Putting it away during playtime had worked when she was in the infant room, but we've discovered that now it only makes her want it more! The last straw was when we pulled into the parking lot and she started crying, "Baba, Baba, Baba!" Translation: "I'm at school now and Baba is about to be taken away!" So now she keeps it with her and drags it around everywhere. They do tie it around her waist sometimes, to help keep it a little cleaner and so that she has both hands free to play. See how proud she is! Her teacher took these pics on the daycare playground with her camera phone.








It used to be a gorgeous blanket, handmade by Churchill Weavers in Kentucky (its beauty was only rivaled by the ones that Grandmother and Grandmother Ford gave her, of course!). It is still beautiful, but more in the Velvetine Rabbit sense of the word! We stopped by Berea to see if they had a smaller version to carry around, but I had highly underestimated the cost! Let's just say that Brooke has VERY expensive taste! (And we didn't see any smaller ones.) So thanks, Grandad, for giving Brooke her most prized possession when she was born. As you can see, it's been special from the beginning! This picture was taken when Brooke was three days old.



Oh, well. I'm glad she has something that helps her feel safe! All in all, we have found that she has a kindred spirit out there in Linus! And heaven forbid that she suspects it's being washed!!!