Second Star to the Right

Can you guess the theme for our Halloween costumes this year?

I couldn't resist to do a theme! I know that it won't be long before they will not let me "influence" their decision-making process for Halloween costumes. And before you start talking about me and saying, "I can't believe she didn't just let them choose what they wanted to be, what a control freak, etc.," let me reassure you that I DID let them FEEL like they had a choice. Mommy tactics at their very best! :-) (You know you've done it before, too. Don't deny it!) I presented 3 VERY good choices to my boys. (Mary Claire didn't have a clue, bless her little heart. Your day is coming, sweetie!) I just made sure the choices were things that would allow 3 themed costumes for my 3 little darlings...Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz (which was secretly my #1 choice) or Peter Pan. Of course, my hopes of a "yellow brick road" Halloween were quickly shot down by the boys! Oh well! And I thought they would for sure choose the Star Wars (I could certainly picture Mary Claire as the perfect Princess Lea), but as you can see they decided to live this year out as the characters we all know and love who refuse to grow up and who have taken us on a spectacular journey to the land of the "Lost Boys" with adventures just made for story-telling...Peter Pan!

Jonah
"Peter Pan"

John Owen

"Captain Hook"

Mary Claire

"Tinkerbell"

Goin' to the Fall Festival!

Happy Halloween to everyone!

The Family That Plays Together

(My intentions of posting this last week were substituted by a HUGE "To Do" list--that seems to have no end right now! No one else has that problem, right? insert: sarcasm ) :-)

Caudle Family

October 2009

My family gathered together last Sunday in Williston to celebrate my grandmother's 89th birthday. I love to see my family! I love spending time with them and seeing all the cousins playing together. We have an abundance of BOYS in this family (I think there's 13 between the ages of 1-11), so it seems a flag football game has become the tradition, for the older ones of course, as they have all gotten bigger and bigger each year. And I am not exaggerating when I say the football is thrown as soon as they get to the backyard at Uncle Davie's & Aunt Mindy's house. As more arrive, they just jump right in! And last Sunday, we even had to keep one of the 1 yr. olds from trying to join in! O.K., I said it was "flag" football (and they even wear the flag belts), but you and I both know tackling is what BOYS do best! Boys will be boys. I watched with a little worry as Jonah took his first tackle from one of the bigger cousins. But he got right up, shook it off, gave me a nod that he was o.k., and jumped right back in the game. I think they had a great time! Good thing we took most of the family pictures before the game really got under way.

I wish I had gotten some shots of the game action, but I was too busy eating and visiting, I guess!


This is sweet Hardy, the youngest of the cousins. He just celebrated his first birthday this past weekend!

But...he won't hold the "youngest" title for very long...

It seems our family just keeps growing because another cousin (Yes, another BOY!) is on the way...due around the middle of March. And we just can't wait to meet Henry Shields Armour. I can't wait to see him out there playing football with his cousins, too. Now, I guess we'll have to get the 3 pretty girls (ages 14yrs., 16 months, & 17 months) to cheer on their BOY cousins! :-)

"Yes, Mary Claire, those are Hardy's eyes." She looks like is going to put a finger in his eye! Yikes!

This would be the picture taken just after Mary Claire pulled the bow from Cousin Olivia's hair! Hmm...what will she do next? All cousins, and any one else for that matter...Watch out! :-)




I am thankful for each and every one of my family members! And especially grateful for the Christian woman who is the reason we are all here today...

Our "Jenny" October 2009

My mother (far right) and her brothers and sister

My three kiddos!

Mary Claire and Mommy

Jan and Me

I am looking forward to the next time we all see each other again. I know that the next time we get together, we'll all just pick up right where we left off no matter how long it's been between visits. That's what family does, right? I'm sure that's exactly what the cousins will do with their football game...pick up the game right where they all left off.

No Words...

Just a couple of cute pics of my sweet little girl that I took this morning as we enjoyed playing several rounds of "Go Fish!" while sippin' on yummy grape soda!

Good times!

Jonah was especially funny playing "Go Fish!" He makes me laugh so much!

Hope everyone who's on Fall break is enjoying it as much as we are!

Seasons of Life

My little #4 anxiously awaiting his time to play!

I can't believe it's Fall break! The weeks have flown by since school started in August. I've got a list of things I want to get done here at home since we are not planning anything special for our break. No extravagant travel plans for this family! Just time together resting, cleaning, playing and doing whatever may come our way! (Plus, Jan and I are planning a special 10 year anniversary trip back to Hawaii in December, so we are watching our dollars!) More about that later... :-)

Anyhow, we've had alot going on as we have begun this new Fall season, and we probably could use the rest from school for a few days!

With the onset of the new Fall season comes...Soccer! Jonah's 1st season of soccer! The boys have played two games already. I am so glad they are able to play together on the same team this year! I like to see them out there in this "season of life" together! And Mary Claire seems to be content watching and "cheering" her brothers on as they play. Well, until she spots something else more interesting and then...she's off! My grandmother was able to come to what was her first soccer game this past Sat., and she kept saying how happy she was to get to see her great-grandsons play! I believe it was what she needed.

Mary Claire "cheers" from the sideline!



"Granny" and Mary Claire clap for the soccer team!

My grandmother is 85 years old and has always lived in Jackson. For the past 2 weeks our family has been dealing with the fact that her husband, my (almost) 89 year old grandfather, has been placed in the hospital, and it doesn't look like he'll be coming home anytime soon. He is under psychiatric care and sadly, has now been diagnosed with lung cancer. Ironically, he has a mass about twice the size of the mass found in my father's lung earlier this year. And the doctors have said my grandfather's mass looks to be malignant whereas my father's turned out to be benign. My grandfather has had his share of struggles in his life...mostly mental struggles which his doctors believe may be a result of his time spent in France during WWII and what they have diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He has probably seen things I will never see or understand. He has struggled with depression for longer than I can remember or know. I only know what has been revealed to me through my parents. And they have probably shielded me from most things. Most who know him would never know he has these struggles. He is a wonderfully sweet Christian man who loves his family and is especially happy every time he sees my 3 children, his great-grandchildren.

My father is the only child of his parents who lives in close proximity to them. (The only one in the state of TN!) So, when my aunt returned to NC on Thursday, my father asked my grandmother to come to Covington to stay for a few days. She really doesn't need to be alone for long periods of time. She spent Friday and Saturday night with my parents which is why she was able to join us for the boys' soccer game Sat. morning.

I have been thinking alot about life's seasons these days with what has happened with my father's parents, and I can imagine that my parents are realizing that life seems to be coming full circle. That the ones who took care of them as they were little now need their care. It is sad to think about sometimes. As a child, you don't always think about it, but I began to think about the reality of this 5 1/2 years ago when my mom's father passed away. He was the first grandparent I lost. And it made me realize that I probably wasn't going to have my grandparents for many more years. I have always had them in my life and been very lucky in that respect. Plus, I have had a close relationship with them even though they lived in other cities. I guess it's just hard to imagine life without them. The harsh reality is that the day will come (and only God knows when that day will be) that I will be telling my children stories of my grandparents and their lives because they won't be here to tell it themselves. And that the season of my life with my grandparents will succumb to the memories I hold of our times together.

I am glad that I have these memories and that I am still able to make more memories with them. I am glad that these memories will include times they have spent and will spend with my children. I will hope that God will give us more time together and allow my children the ability to remember them in some way. I will treasure the time I still have with them. But above all else, I will treasure the comfort I have in knowing that when God does call them to leave this world, that I will see them again one day. And that we will start another season of life together...our eternal season of life.

I guess I would say, mostly for my own reassurance, that with every season of life comes change, and I find myself praying for the willingness to accept the change and trust God's purpose and will in it.

Miss Mary Claire

Gosh! Have I only been blogging about the boys lately?! Well, we do have another member of the family...a very sweet, beautiful Miss Mary Claire. She deserves this post as she has met many challenges recently and showed true strength of character(hehe) through it all! She is #3, what should I expect, right?

First of all, she finally mastered the art of walking! YAY! After 14-15 months, she finally made up her mind that maybe the legs could be used for something other than crawling around. I was beginning to think maybe I should be worried. Good thing she made up her mind to do it. Hmm...could this be a sign of things to come?

She seems to really like Miss Lori, her new nanny! I know she would rather have Mommy, (and I would rather have her, too) but I can at least have peace of mind that she is happy when I have to be away from her.

Mary Claire is getting a mouthful of teeth! Molars and pointy teeth and all kinds of little things sprouting out of those little gummies! I stuck my finger in her mouth the other day(after using GERM-X, of course! These days, my life seems to be surrounded by GOBS of GERM-X!! Amen?) and discovered the culprit to the numerous consecutive nights of crying in the middle of the night...painful TEETH hurting my baby girl! Needless to say, the last two nights have seen a dose of pain medicine before bedtime!

Lastly, Mary Claire has now reached an important milestone...she recently received her FIRST PRINCESS dress up outfit! (OK...Maybe it's not a true PRINCESS outfit...it's supposed to make her look like Tinkerbell so that she can match her Captain Hook and Peter Pan brothers.) BUT... she sure looks like a princess in it! :-)

Walking in her pretty dress!

The Other Jonah

This past week, we had our first project due for Jonah's new preschool class. It was an "All About Me" poster! Well, when older brother, John Owen, had the same assignment 2 years ago, "we" (yeah, 'cause we ALL KNOW WHO REALLY does the work) made a life-size, look-a-like poster of him. So, of course, Jonah wanted the SAME thing for himself! He was so much more cute about it than John Owen was! Jonah has the BEST imagination, and I just love the way his mind thinks about things. I have said it before and I'll say it again...he keeps me smiling and laughing!

Well, as "we" were constructing this look-a-like poster of Jonah, he was talking to me...saying things like, "Hey Momma, I got a good idea...why don't we make one of these for you and Daddy and Mary Claire and then we can hang them all together on the wall in the playroom with John Owen's?" It was a great idea! (But I was also thinking...yeah, I'll be working on THAT for the next few weeks, I'm sure!) He then made me smile as he started referring to his poster as "the other Jonah".

When "we" finished it and it was time for bed, he carried it to his room and laid it down on the floor next to his bed and informed me that "the other Jonah" wanted to sleep beside him. I thought it was so cute! We talked about how "the other Jonah" would be going to school with him the next day and that he would need to make sure he took care of "the other Jonah" on the bus so that he wouldn't break any arms, legs or fingers off. Jonah assured me he would take care and that "the other Jonah" would sit RIGHT beside him on the bus. The next morning he brought "the other Jonah" in for breakfast and placed him in a chair at the table. :-) He was so funny with his poster! I want to always remember how cute Jonah was with this project and how imaginative he is. Here's Jonah with "the other Jonah" before they BOTH boarded the bus!

He had a sad look on his face later that afternoon when he told me that the teacher kept "the other Jonah" at school. I reassured him that "the other Jonah" would be o.k. at school. The teacher just wanted "the other Jonah" to get to see everybody at school for a while, then she would send him home to us for good...And when he comes home, he will take his rightful place next to "the other John Owen" on the playroom wall! Now... "we" will have to get busy on "the other Hensleys" so the family will be complete...for Jonah's and "the other Jonah's" sake.

Hey, look at it this way...I can get a jumpstart on Mary Claire's "All About Me" project! :-)

Summer's End?

For some, Labor Day marks the end (or the beginning of the end) of summer. Pools start to close until next season, some people put away their white clothing and shoes, fall decorations begin to appear in stores and on the doors of houses, etc. Nevertheless, I can promise you that the Hensley family will be hitting the pool until our lips start to turn purple from the cooling temps of the water at Mimi's! In doing so, maybe we can stretch the summer out just a little longer!

We had a great Labor Day weekend...fun-filled and jam-packed with as much as we could possibly do in a weekend and one day off from work and school. Friday, we kicked the weekend off with my birthday! For 32 years now, I have enjoyed having a birthday on or around Labor Day. It's pretty nice to get to celebrate around a holiday weekend. (It's like the whole weekend and the extra day off turns into a weekend birthday celebration!)

***An amusing fact about my family is that my brother and I both celebrate our birthdays on or around two different holidays. Labor Day for me, (I was 56 mins. shy of making my debut on Labor Day back in 1977) and my TURKEY of a brother (sorry, I couldn't resist that one) came into the world on Thanksgiving Day in 1980!***

As part of the weekend celebration, I got to enjoy a date night with my wonderful husband on Friday, then a Saturday spent in Jackson visiting my grandparents along with my aunt and uncle who were visiting from North Carolina, and a special birthday dinner at my mom's on Saturday night. Mrs. Baugues made me the BEST carrot cake for my birthday...I think I made myself sick eating too much of it! A wonderful cake!

On Sunday, I did something I don't usually do or haven't done in quite a while...I went with my husband and good friends to tailgate before attending the U of M vs. Ole Miss football game! It was a great time with great food! I thought nothing of the number of fried onion rings I put down 'cause it was my birthday weekend. :-) Who's counting anyway, right? They were some GOOD onion rings, for sure! I was completely exhausted when we got home Sunday night!

On Monday morning, I cleaned up around the house, laid out our clothes for the week, made a Wal-Mart "run" and then picked up pizza for lunch and proceeded to picnic around the pool before taking a great Labor Day nap with my 3 beautiful children!

The exciting part about Monday came when we decided to end the day with some soccer practice outside. Soccer season is just around the corner and we had our first team practice planned for Tuesday. We pulled out our soccer gear and headed out to the side yard. Our plans for a little soccer practice were quickly interrupted by the screams and tears coming from Jonah as he was stung on the cheek by a wasp while retrieving the soccer ball by the fence! I grabbed Jonah, and we all ran to the garage in fear that the wasps might swarm. Jan came out when he heard the screams and proceeded to try to knock the nest down, but the flyswatter broke with his first swing and the wasps stung him, too. Jan was then determined to kill every wasp in his sight, so he told the boys we were going on a "WASP HUNT"!

Now picture this...all of us jump into the van, rush to Home Depot, buy 6 cans of Wasp & Hornet Killer, drive back to the house all the while talking about how "we're gonna get those wasps!" And we did! Jan succeeded in finding and destroying 7 ACTIVE wasp nests on the fence beside our house and in the backyard. That's over 200 wasps that went down at the Hensley House! This is a picture of the first 3 nests we hunted down!

We enjoyed our Labor Day weekend & we hope your weekend was great, too!