Hale Household

 Has it really been over 3 weeks since I posted.  I will become a good blogger again! I will become a good blogger again! I will, I will, I will! 

In the meantime, MERRY CHRISTMAS from the Hale House!  We had a great week of celebrating with our family! 

Also Happy Anniversary to the Hubs and I!  How have we been married 16 years.  Time is passing so quickly. 
Happy Weekend... and I promise to return hopefully sooner than later! 

 Charlie, our families' elf, have been visiting and making his appearance in our home for many years now!  It is one of the things the girls look forward to every year now matter how old they get!  Some mornings he keeps it sweet and simple like holding baby Jesus beside the nativity scene...
 Other mornings we find that he has drawn mustaches on the girls pictures!  (This is one of the girls favorites!) 
 He likes to make messes... Like squirting toothpaste or lotion in the bathroom...
 Or throwing toilet paper around the fans or Christmas tree!  This one morning he was hanging from the ceiling fan in the kitchen.  Silly little elf. 
The girls wake up every morning hunting for Charlie.  Its so FUN!  And no matter who finds him first, they never tell the other sister where he is!  They have to find him!  I love the joy and excitement he adds to the season! 

Happy Holidays! 

 We laughed so much and told so many stories.  The kids are all growing up so fast!  It is so exciting and heart-breaking at the same time.  We held pet ferrets.
 I admit, I was a bit grossed out by the little rodent pet.  The girls LOVED him...
 We LOVED all the decorations that Mima and Aunt Vi set up for us.  They were so beautiful and special.  The kids had special decorations, too. 
 Looking back through my pictures, I wish we had taken time for more family photos but you take what you can get...
 We compared these two... I have ALWAYS thought that Lainey and Lily looked SO MUCH alike.  We had such a good time visiting with the college cousins.  Talking to Lily about ACU made me miss the college days but made me SO EXCITED for her! 
 Oh, yes... and girl cousins are the BEST.  Tonya and I had lots of laughs with each other this visit.  Mostly watching our kids and our dads!  Good times at Mi-Ma's! 
 And finally, we are so Thankful to our Lord... He is always Good!  What a great Thanksgiving.  Thankful for the memories made! 

 Well, 21 or so days later, I have finally found some times to hit the good 'ole blog again.  I have thought our "her" MANY, MANY time in the last few weeks but haven't had any time at all.  We've had the best time with life and I'll try to give you a brief recap in a numbered post to 21~
1.  We are in the pig business once again.  Miss Em has 2 sweet piggies that she will show in stock shows this year.  I still don't know much about it all but smile and leave it to daddy/daughter time!
2.  I celebrated another birthday.  Yep, another year closer to 40... WOW, this is happening too fast!
3.  We traveled to San Angelo and had Thanksgiving at my Mi-ma's house.  It was so good to see my aunts, uncles, cousins and for my girls to see their cousins.  (above pic!)  Aren't they adorable?
4.  Since we were in San Angelo we got to have Thanksgiving with Will's side too.  What a blessing!  both sides of the family in one trip!  LOTS of family and food in a few days! 
5.  We headed even further north to Lubbock to watch some playoff football and see Will's high school BFFs.  OH MY, they always have so much fun together!!! 
 6.  We have had spells of warm and then freezing cold weather.  That is TX for ya!  I like the cold weather in short spells.  Makes it feel like Christmas time! 
7.  The girls are working on their Christmas play for church.  It's going to be so cute...
 8.  I put our Christmas trees up early because I knew life was going to get busier and crazier around here... if that's even possible.
9.  Since the trees were up, Charlie the elf, made his return!  He is so silly and so fun.  On this particular morning he just wanted to hold baby Jesus. 
 10.  Abbey and her team of started basketball.  They are on their way to a winning season! 
11.  Emiley and Lainey are also playing basketball in the city league.  They are on the same team.  This should save us a little time and running back and forth. 
12.  Lainey has entered lots of photos into the Home Economics division of our county show.  She has some great photos again this year. 
13.  Along with her pigs, Emiley is going to make a cake, some salsa and fudge for the county show. 
14.  One of Abbey's friends was diagnosed with cancer this last month.  It has made us slow down, enjoy life and not take things for granted.  She and her family are one of strong FAITH.  Prayers are powerful so pray for Emma. 
15.  I am on a mission to clean out this house!  Slowly and surely it is happening. 
16.  The girls are all participating or have participated in UIL here recently (post of its own soon!)
17.  We had an ice storm these last few days.  We have been stuck in the house and it has been so nice to relax and get a few things done. 
18. My girls are little rednecks at heart.  They were redneck sledding in the ice. So sweet. 
19.  One Direction tickets have gone on pre-sale... so... guess where we will on August 22... the day before Abbey's 15th birthday?!?!?  So fun!  And on the floor no less! 
20.  I am just about finished Christmas shopping and it feels so good. 
21.  This is the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!  I hope you all are soaking it up! 

 Told you I would be back with some long over due pictures and posts!  Halloween was crazy, much like many other things in our lives these days.  Since Halloween fell on a Thursday night, it meant that it was on a night that Abbey had to cheer at a JH football game.  I was so thankful that a sweet friend had a Halloween party at her house and another sweet friend offered to take Emiley and Lainey.  Miss Em and her funny friends had planned on being purple minions for a month. 
 They planned their own costumes and their moms and I just got the stuff together and "helped" a bit.  I think they turned out so CUTE! 
Abbey and her friends wanted to be super heros and wore the cute T's and hairbows!  They were adorable, too!  (Yes, I snatched this pic from Cam because I didn't make it to the school for my own picture!) 

Lainey said she didn't want to dress up.  Makes me sad... growing up!  But she decided to dress up at the party.  I missed the party because I was a the game.  I don't have her pic!  :( 

Happy Thursday!  Come on Weekend! 

 (I'm blogging 2 days in a row!!) Well, we are changing sports and haven't had a break.  We are now on to basketball for Abbey Grace!  Volleyball and Cross country are over and Abbey cheered her last JH game last Thursday and basketball began last Monday.  I really wish we had a week or so off but NO... so here we GO! 
 Abbey is starting as wing this year instead of point guard.  She is enjoying it more she says.  She said being point and "in charge" on the offense made her nervous!  Her team did a great job in their first game and won 50-4! 
They have a wonderful group of athletes (ex: cross country) and we hope for a great season and future! 

 I'm so proud of my littlest girl, Miss Emiley.  She is a born leader, much like her older sisters.  Even though she is a leader like her older sisters she is DIFFERENT.  She is so funny and fun-loving and the life of the room and NOT AT ALL afraid to be herself! 
 Our elementary school had their student council induction ceremony the other night (before a basketball game) and now Emiley is officially the new president!  (She took the title from Lainey!)
 We have a great group of kiddos running our elementary school.  They have already helped coordinate spirit weeks, are in the middle of doing a canned food drive for the holidays and help greet kids everyday at school! 
I am so thankful for Miss Em.  She is such a happy child and a blessing to so many!  I am so proud of the student and leader that she is becoming! 

Happy Monday! 

 When you are over a WEEK behind in blogging there are LOTS of things that need to be on the 'ole blog... BUT when you spend the afternoon at your oldest daughters last junior high pep rally and you take center stage on the gym floor all dressed out, you MUST blog about it immediately!  For the last month the fellow 8th grade parent and I have been planning on embarrassing our kiddos at the last pep rally.  We had a medley of songs and dances planned.  I was a "Duck Dynasty" wife in the Duck Dynasty theme song dance.  We also had a group do the Fox Song and Thrift Shop...
Will was "One Direction" and they were the Grand Finale!!  It was awesome!  Abbey was in tears!  They crowd loved it.  They gym was full.  It was so FUN! 

Happy Thursday!  I promise I will be back with posts about Student Council Inductions, basketball games beginning, Halloween and all the other happenings in between! 
(There is a video of the performance on my FB.)

 These girls are DISTRICT Champs!  I am so proud of ALL of them.  They have been getting up at 5am every morning and working SO HARD!  They are proof that hard work pays off.  Many of these girls ran their PR at district.  Abbey was 3rd overall right behind her buddies Sydney and Maddy.  What an amazing day!  Abbey is front and center! 
 What makes this championship even more sweet is that these girls are AMAZING and I LOVE their mommas, too.  We are so blessed to have landed in this community 11 years ago. 
 Here they are, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place overall runners in the DISTRICT.  These girls also ran fast enough that if they had run for Varsity earlier in the day, they would have led their Varsity team to REGIONALS!  I hate to wish away this year, but next year in High School is going to fun. 
Abbey, I am so very proud of you.  You have worked so hard all year long.  You are a leader on the course and off!  I love you! 

So let's do a little top 20 countdown of what's been happening since I last posted over a WEEK ago!
20. LIFE....
19. Our first visit with the ortho for Abbey Grace.  Looks like braces on November 12.
18. We had Abbey's last volleyball game and look forward to the district tourney this weekend.
17.  Lainey made the JH One Act Play!  So. Very. Proud of her!
16. Lainey is moving and shaking on the drums and bells.  She was made to be a percussion player. 
15.  Emiley is a born leaders.  I am so proud of her leadership skills as the president of the elementary student council.
14.  I am tired!
13.  My job is so fun this year.  We made orange, tear art pumpkins today and they are adorable!
12.  Pumpkin spice lattes are my FAV and I have had a few in the last couple of days with our multiple trips to the big city!
11.  I finally got some new tennis shoes in hopes it will get me motivated to walk/run.  First I need to find some extra time and then I need my hips to quit hurting :(
10.  Today was the first afternoon in many that I .have been at home.  I finally got all the laundry hung up.  FEELS GOOD!
9.  Made the first of many pumpkin pies of the season today.  They girls were so excited when they came home from school. 
8.  Lainey and Emiley are on the same soccer team this year.  It makes our schedule a little less hectic.
7.  They are both AMAZING players!
6.  Miss Em and her daddy have been building pig pens.  Let stock show season begin.
5.  I wore my orange pants to work the other day.  One of my three year old told me he loved orange and was in LOVE with my pants. 
4.  I finally got some mums for my front porch and it makes me feel so good to pull into the drive.
3.  Abbey ran a PR at her district cross meet  this week.  13:01!  So proud of her.  She was third place girl behind her best buddies Sydney and Maddy.
2.  Abbey's team won first place team in district.  They won 1st at every meet this year!  They are rockstars!
1.  I'm so happy it's Fall! 

 We have some pretty talented friends who make some pretty cute things in our little town.  They asked the girls to come help "show off" their cute stuff... I am really LOVING this chevron skirt Abbey has on...
 And this knit head wrap is adorable.  Their prices are soooo GOOD! 
 We paired the skirt with an ACU shirt for GAME DAY!!! 
And another headwrap.  These are all the rage.  I may need to buy myself one and try it out!
Happy Tuesday. 

 Our fast girls did IT again!  They won their cross country meet without the 2nd place team even being CLOSE to them!  It was such a fun Saturday morning.  It was race day for our girls in their hometown and they had lots of supporters ready to watch them run.  Many of the girls had their best day, fastest time and Abbey Grace was no exception.  Abbey was 3rd overall right behind her best buddies who were 1st and 2nd!  We are so proud of the runners that Sydney and Maddy are so thankful they are on Abbey's team.  The meet in H-town is names after this very special lady...
 Mrs. Mona Gloff is the winningest cross country coach at our school.  She took many, many teams to state for many years in a row.  She is now Abbey's principal and their number one fan!  I love the joy, inspiration, and motivation that she is to these girls. 
 Another thing I love is that these girls LOVE Jesus and LOVE each other. 
 This may be one of my favorite pictures.  Abbey and her BFF, Camryn.  They are ready to race but you can see a bit of nerves shining through, too. 
 These girls are champs!  They work hard, train hard, run hard, LOVE hard, and are so dedicated.  I am so proud of every single one of them. 
 This picture brings tears to my eyes.  Abbey is pushing downhill and Mrs. Gloff is cheering her on.  No wonder they LOVE her.  They can feel the LOVE she has for them.  We are so blessed to have her in our lives. 
This weekend we head to the biggest meet we have ever been to... Georgetown.  They will face some good runners.  They will still push hard.  They may beat they best times they ran last week.  They are fighters.  They are CHAMPS! 

Happy Weekend! 

 Five Months ago I reached out and have never looked back.  If you know me personally and know our family then you know what I am speaking of and it has been life-changing for our family.  (Sorry I cant go into details here.)  God was telling me to reach out.  He had been telling me to for days, weeks, months.  Five months ago I let go of all reservations and opened my mouth in faith and I find myself five month down the road of life... a stronger person.  In the last five months I have:
1.  Been stronger than I ever knew I could be.
2.  Prayed more than I have in a REALLY long time.
3.  Reached out more than I have to others who may need me and Jesus.
4.  Been still and watched Jesus do HIS work.
5.  Shown grace and mercy and love in situations that are HARD! 
The last five months have taught my family so many things:
1. We have shown LOVE.
2.  We have given unconditionally.
3.  We have realized we are blessed by the KING.
4.  We are learning to take one day at a time.
5.  We are have learned patience and a new different type of joy. 
God gives us every single morning, every single night.  He gives us every five minutes, five days, five weeks, five months.  It is our choice what we choose to do with it.  I chose one day five months ago to open my mouth.  I have been blessed because I did.  It hasn't been easy but God never promises easy.  I am trying to remind my girls of that, too as we continue on this journey God has chosen for us.  It may only be for five more days or five months... its God's time like everything else but God has a plan and time for EVERYTHING!  I am learning to be HIS worker and do it for HIM!  His grace and mercy are new every day and I'm willing do it!  Are you willing to step out for God for five days, five weeks, five months?  You will be blessed!