Adorable!

This is a little video of my brother-in-law & nephew (Clay & Clayton) practicing Clayton's ABC's. So CUTE!

CCIE

I have the smartest husband in the world!! :) As many of you know, Steve has been studying VERY diligently for the past 6 months for the highest certification in his field of work: the CCIE. It probably doesn't mean a lot to any of us non-network engineers, but in that field it is a highly coveted certification. When I mean studying diligently, he came home from work & literally studied every night of the week from 6-10pm (some nights longer) and then every Sunday after church until 10pm. Once the test got closer, he added Saturdays, as well. The week before the test, he took off of work & studied 12-16 hours a day! Whew! This past Sunday, he flew out to San Jose, California & took the 8 hour lab. He had already passed the written exam, but the lab is the kicker. Only 6% of people pass on the first attempt. Well...he took his lab yesterday & we got word this morning that he PASSED!! GOD is GOOD & my husband is a genius! :) We are giving the glory to the Lord that he was one of those 6% & I am so glad to have my husband back! We are ready to get back to some normalcy in our lives. Way to go, hubby!

Four Incredible Years!

I can’t believe it has already been 4 years since we got married! Last Thursday, March 13 was our anniversary! Steve planned a wonderful evening that included dinner at The Capitol Grille (which is at the bottom of the Crescent Hotel) and it was delicious! They had a table set up for us decorated with confetti and an anniversary card from them. The food, service, and atmosphere there was just perfect! Then, he booked a night at Hotel Palomar in uptown & it was amazing! We had both never heard of it before. It is newly remodeled & it was decorated with a contemporary décor & had a cozy, romantic atmosphere. The customer service there was nothing like we had ever experienced before…it was so nice! We enjoyed our much needed evening together celebrating the best four years of our life! We are so blessed!

The Aquarium

Our first graders went on a field trip to the Dallas Aquarium on Thursday! We do a big oceans research unit at school & so this is always a fun field trip for us to end our oceans unit on. We had a blast until it was about time for us to head out and my principal called me on my cell & said to get everyone loaded and on the bus quickly because it was sleeting & snowing in the Plano/Frisco areas and the roads were getting bad. Quickly was tricky seeing as we have 6 classes of 1st graders & they were all scattered about in the aquarium with different chaperones. We managed to get everyone loaded within about 20 minutes in the rain & headed back. I think it was one of the most stressful times since I've been a teacher, knowing that you are accountable for all these sweet lives & are driving through ice on 75! The bus drivers were great & drove about 30-40 mph the whole way home. It took a long time to get home, but we all made it safe! What an adventure!

Here are a few pictures from our eventful day!
Aanika, Jack, Mitchell, & Kyra


Zoe & Jill


Aanika, Mrs. H, & Kyra

Lucy's First Snow!

It snowed twice in one week here in Frisco! Lucy wasn't so sure about the snow...she would stand on the edge of the patio & lick it, but wanted to have nothing to do with pottying in it. (makes potty training tough!) Steve went out with her in it & she would race through it in the backyard, I guess since it was so cold! So cute!

Racing through the snow!


YUM!

Champions!!

Yesterday we went & cheered on my youngest sister, Kendall, who coaches the 7th grade girls basketball team at Blalack Middle School in Carrollton. This is her first year to coach and her team was playing for the district championship! They beat 2 teams today in the tournament that they had previously lost to during the regular season. Kendall had planned out some great defensive strategies on a key player on the other team & it worked out perfectly! It was a close game, but Blalack led the whole game & pulled it off by 2 points! It is also a sweet victory as this was the middle school my sisters & I went to growing up and where Kendall played basketball, as well. We had so much fun cheering them on. We are so proud of you, Kendall...you are a great coach!!

Coach Vinson's pep talk at half time


7th grade champs!

The 100th Day!

Today was the 100th day of school! YIPPEE! 1st grade celebrated by wearing 100 of something to school. Kindergarten celebrated by dressing up as 100 year olds. The kids rotated classes for the first part of the day & did a different 100's day activity in each of the classes. Below are a couple pics of some of the cute ideas the kids came up with...100 google eyes, 100 dollar bills, $100 worth of monopoly money, 100 braids in hair, etc. We are 100 days smarter in 1st grade & over half way through the year!! Hooray!

5 1/2 Months Old

We haven't posted about Lucy in a while, so I thought I'd upload a recent pic. She's now 5 1/2 months old. She has played with her step-sister Emma and friend Bailey (also Bostons) a couple of times now. At first she was real sheepish around Emma, but now she stands her ground. She is a sweet dog but has a lot of energy if she's been cooped up all day. Lucy is going in next Tuesday to get spayed. So she will probably be out of commission for a while.

New Year's Eve!

This year for New Year's Eve we got dressed up & headed uptown to a restaurant in the West Villiage called Ferre's with the Cooper's & the Schulte's. The restaurant had italian/tuscan food & it was very tasty! It had a great atmosphere that was decorated in a festive way for New Year's Eve, which made it even more fun. We then came back to our place for games & to ring in the New Year! A fun night was had by all! Happy New Year!

Lifegroup Christmas Party!

Our Lifegroup had its annual Christmas party a couple of weekends ago. This year we had dinner at a fun restaurant in Frisco called Zea Woodfire Grill. It had a great atmosphere with a live band playing in the background and different but tasty food! I would highly recommend the hummus & pita bread for an appetizer! We then headed over to Courtney & Dustin's for the 2nd part of the evening. We had an ornament exchange for the girls & the guys did a white elephant gift exchange...hilarious! We enjoyed celebrating the birth of Christ together with great food, fun, & fellowship!

Decorating for Christmas

This year it has been a little more tricky trying to get the house decorated for Christmas with a puppy. I was getting out some of our boxes of decorations the other day and turned my head for a second and Lucy had decided she wanted to help. :) (see below) Once we got the tree up and decorated, Lucy found her new favorite place to go! She sneaks under the tree so she can swat & chew on the limbs. I have even found her jumping up for the ornaments, leaving the tree shaking. I'm just glad it hasn't fallen over yet! Lucy sure keeps up on our toes, but we love our sweet puppy!

The Cowboys Radio Show!

Last night we went out to the Gaylord Texan for the Tony Romo & Sam Hurd radio show. It is an event that is invitation only & one of our friends is actually in charge of putting on the show, so they invited us to come out for it. Last night, the 2 guests were wide reciever, Sam Hurd & defensive safety, Ken Hamlin. Apparently Tony Romo & Sam Hurd alternate weeks and it was Romo's night off. We were really hoping Romo would have been there, but I think we are going to get to go back on Dec 4th when he is there.

Basically, they interview each other on not just football talk, but life in general. It was neat to get to see what some players are like off the field. They were both very down to earth & funny. We got to meet Ken Hamlin & got a picture with him...it was a professional picture so our friend Tiffany is going to be
getting that to us later.

The radio show was live on 105.3 last night but will air on Foxsports on Friday night at 7:00pm, so you may see us on tv! Here are a couple of pictures of them during their show. Thanks, Tiffany & Ray for inviting us to come out!

Sam Hurd being interviewed


Sam Hurd & Ken Hamlin interviewing each other

Steve's 30th Birthday!

Steve turned the big 3-0 on November 14! It was on a weeknight, so we went out to Texas Roadhouse for his birthday dinner and he had a big prime rib steak to celebrate. The evening wasn't complete until he got the enjoyment of riding on their saddle and using a napkin as a lasso while the waiters sang him happy birthday. Unfortunately I didn't have our camera, but it was pretty funny!

On Saturday we celebrated Steve's 30th birthday with some friends. We had our lifegroup over for a little mexican fiesta. We catered Cristina's mexican food & had cheesecake for dessert...Steve's favorites! We had a great time of food, fellowship, and celebration! Lucy enjoyed all of the company and was such a good girl (we were a little worried about how she would do)!

Mike Huckabee

If you have been looking at the possible Republican presidential candidates you probably haven't found many which line up with your conservative views on social issues. There is one however which has gained in notoriety in the last several days. You may have heard of him - Mike Huckabee. He is very conservative and a former Baptist pastor. He is not afraid to talk about his faith and stand behind it. If you haven't heard of him, I would encourage you to check him out.

The Republican primaries start in January and if he doesn't have enough momentum by then, he won't win any states and people will forget about him. So he doesn't have much time.

Check out this response to whether he believes that God created life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-BFEhkIujA

New Lucy Pics

I just added some new pics of her this morning. Click on the Photo Album at the top of the page!

Gig'd

This weekend a couple of buddies (Toby and Casey) and I took a road trip to Nebraska to watch the Aggies play the Cornhuskers. Toby is from Nebraska so it was really a trip home for him. He and his family are dyed in the wool Big Red fans. Casey and I were making our first trip to the great state of Nebraska. One of the things we learned along the way is that "There is no place like Nebraska." Sometimes that was good and sometimes it was bad. :)

We had planned to stop off in Edmond, OK for a round of golf at a nice course, however we spent too much time at Coaches restaurant in Norman that we missed our tee time. So we called around and got a tee time at the Cedar Valley "championship" course in Guthrie, OK. We were also able to get a picture with the largest golf ball in the world!

While in Nebraska, we stayed with Toby's aunt and uncle. We played a game called Super Pong for hours on end. It's basically ping pong but you can also score points by smacking your opponents with the ball at any point during the rally. It keeps you on your toes.

The football game itself was a very good experience. We got to meet Lil' Red who is probably one of the only opposing school mascots that I would pose with. He was pretty funny to watch run around. He never did bounce on his head. That may be something he reserves only for victories. The Huskers fell to the Aggies 36-14. It was a great trip.

Mr. Bird

Tonight we had an unwelcome guest in our home. Steve went to open the front door for someone who was coming by & just as he opened the door, a bird flew in! It flew straight down our hallway onto our fan in the living room and just sat there! We were a little unsure of how we would get him out. Steve got a broom and basically chased him all around our house while both the front door and the back doors were wide open, so hopefully at some point or another he would make his way out. Well, after about 15 minutes of landing on our couches, kitchen counters, shutters, cabinets, light fixtures, curtains and hitting mirrors he found his way out...all with the help of a broom. What an adventure!

Well hello there...

I am now 9 weeks old...

More photos of Lucy

I added some more photos of Lucy and all of her visitors to our photo album. Click the link under the steveandhalie.com logo!

I Love Lucy!

We have a new addition to the Hodgson household...Lucy! On Saturday, we got a precious Boston Terrier puppy. She is almost 7 weeks old & only 1.5 lbs! She was the runt of her litter & was just what we were looking for. She is the most adorable little thing ever! As most of you know, I've never really been a dog person, but Lucy sure has won my heart! She has mostly been just sleeping, snuggling & eating, but we have seen her start to show a little personality as she has already found her shadow & tries to pounce on it. Come meet Lucy anytime! :)

Lucy just arriving to her new home!

Lucy's first meal

Bath time!

How do I get out?

Awww, so tiny!