Merry Christmas from the Droddys

Merry Messy Christmas!!

Messy=gingerbread house building and Christmas cookie decorating....need I say more?!? I will anyway. It took Seth a while to get on board the cookie-decorating train. As you can see, once he was on board he was in with both arms...and his face.
The reason why it took Seth so long before he could decorate cookies is because he had to finish his dinner first. We tried a new recipe (shrimp and corn soup...mmmm). Seth was not a fan. Compare the joyful elation (redundant? hmm?) of the picture above with the disdain and disgust of the picture below. He finally caved--well, actually I think Mary had to shovel it into his mouth. Regardless, he ate it!

Jonah and I were having a great time rolling out dough and cutting cookies while Operation Cram-the-Food-Down was going on. Jonah really got into it. He kept sneaking pieces of raw dough to eat (he takes after his mother). Hope he doesn't get sick tonight.

Last night, the project was gingerbread house assembly. We were still finding pieces of candy on our kitchen floor tonight at dinner--candy was flying, but the boys had a great time.

It was just amazing that some candy actually made it to the house!

Turkey Week in Atlanta

We spent the week of Thanksgiving visiting our old homestead of Atlanta. Except for the long trips there and back, it was a relaxing and fun week spent seeing as many people and doing as many things as we possibly could. We got to see some GBC friends, some neighborhood friends, and so many of the people who were our "family" while we lived in Atlanta. We only wish we were able to see everyone.

Here's Mary with Joely and Wendy from our old neighborhood--Wendy and Todd lived across the street from us (they have 3 boys like us; approx. the same ages); our boys miss playing in their driveway and going up to the church playground with them--good times!
On Monday night, we had dinner with the Rogers (Nana and Papa Moose) and Whaleys. Having a holiday meal with the Rogers has become a tradition. With the Whaleys there, we were on our way to having a reunion of the old Briarlake College Ministry.

Tuesday night was with the Sullivans. It was great to show off Abram to everyone--Joy wasn't allowed to change his diaper!

Wednesday night was riding the Pink Pig at Lenox--another holiday tradition!

After Jonah was born, we chose NOT to drive back to visit our family for Thanksgiving. It was too hard to do long back-to-back trips. It was then that the Jones and Platts invited us to crash their family Thanksgiving meal. This year, we crashed the meal AND Julie's house for a week. Here are the boys with all the Platt kids--wall-to-wall kids (well, at least couch arm to couch arm)!!

Life with Abram.

Abram is over six months old now. The time zooms by!! He is still not sitting up completely by himself but Abram has a new love....the Exersaucer. He is also eating solids (baby food & rice cereal) now--actually has been for a little while. (As I'm writing this, I'm thinking that we've already mentioned this fact in a previous post AND I'm realizing that this fact is probably extremely uninteresting to anyone except his loving parents...feel free to discard it from your brain.) Oh well, isn't he cute?

Apparently, Seth was recently insistent that Mary take his picture with Abram. He's a very loving brother--sometimes a bit too much. It always reminds me of the abominable-snowman-type monster from Looney Tunes who almost loved Bugs Bunny to death--"I will hug him and squeeze him and name him George". Needless to say, we often have to tell Seth to quit laying on/touching/picking up/etc his brother.

Here are the boys hamming it up for the camera. Even little Abram gets into the act!

Werewolf bar mitzveh.....spooky, scary...

Here are some of our pix from Halloween. As usual, the Droddy clan was trying to be two places at once. We had the Fall Festival at church and then a costume party at BCM. Twice the fun!! Even Abram got into the act...here he is dressed as Jack-Jack from the Incredibles.
The boys had dressed as knights last weekend for our Sunday School party. For Halloween, they raided their costume box and decided to be super heroes. Jonah is Spiderman and Seth is Robin. Look at those muscles.

I love the fact that we were among a few parents who dressed up with their kids for the fall festival. Dressing up together is probably a tradition that we will continue each year. Here we are in the obligatory sitting-on-a-haybale-near-dead-cornstalks-and-look-here's-a-pumpkin fall festival photo. I am a nerd (insert snarky remark here). Here, Mary is dressed as a tourist with mumu, flower lei, and camera around her neck. For the BCM party she took off the lei, put on fuzzy houseslippers, put rollers in her hair and was a "housewife". Not really much of a costume if you ask me since she wears that EVERY day.......I'm waiting to be punched!!

Our little superheroes!!

If you're confused by the title of this post, it's a reference to "30 Rock"--funniest show currently on television. A prize to the person who can name the next line of the song "Werewolf Bar Mitzveh"!

Happy October!!

What a cute face!! Abram is always smiling. I think its because he has two big brothers and parents who love him very much!!!A couple in our Sunday school class hosted a pumpkin carving get-together yesterday. Jamey decided to be the great pumpkin (Hey, he looks like Phil Fulmer!!). I decided that I needed to be a pumpkin farmer (that was all I could put together quickly), and, of course, Abram is our cute yard puppy. Not really sure how Knight Seth fits into this, but I guess he will protect us if anyone tries to attack us and steal the great pumpkin. Jonah was too busy playing with his friends to take a picture with us.

Jonah is still enjoying soccer. I wanted to catch him in action. Look at those skills. We are anticipating calls from pro-scouts any day.

Abram started eating solid foods this week. It has been an adventure for all of us. He is trying to figure out how to eat from the spoon. He is so grabby these days, we have to give him his own spoon to hold so he won't grab the one we are trying to feed him with.

Jamey decided it was time for a manly camping trip. So, the boys packed their bags and flashlights and headed for the great outdoors......in other words, the back yard. They had a blast and are looking forward to their next camping adventure.

Papa Moose, Thomas the train, and my crazy kids

Okay, so once again, its been a couple of weeks since we have had a chance to update the blog. So, I decided to summarize our last two weeks. First, of all we had the privilege of spending some time with Dennis Rogers, whom the kids call "Papa Moose." He was doing a conference here in Louisiana and made a special trip to come stay the night in Hotel Droddy with us. He had luxurious accommodations, of course, complete with screaming children, and a sofa bed. Wow, I am so thankful we have loved ones like Dennis in our lives. It was great seeing him again. It made us really miss Atlanta.
Here is a super cute picture I caught of Abram right before bath time. What a precious gift he is to our family!!
I have no words to describe how proud of Seth this picture makes me feel. We had the chance to ride Thomas the Train today. We traveled with some of our friends, the Payne family, who also have three boys, to Texas. We enjoyed a day complete with all things Thomas. The boys loved it, and they had a great time with their new friends. The parents are just thankful that no one tried to get out of the train windows, and we didn't experience too many emotional meltdowns (due to the fact that we did all this during nap time).
Having someone take a professional picture of your kids with Thomas = 50 cagillion dollars.
Taking your own off-center, far-away shot with your own camera = FREE
We chose the FREE option, of course. Unfortunately, Seth was squeezing Abram so hard, he couldn't look up in time.

Birthday party time

We apologize for not putting these pictures up before now. We did have a big family birthday party for Jonah and Seth last weekend. However due to our crazy week we haven't had a chance to update the blog. It was so wonderful having both our families here together. Our two families haven't been together since our wedding 8 1/2 years ago. I am thankful that we finally live close enough to make this happen.
Here's Abram giving his Aunt Laura some love. He never had a shortage of willing hands to hold him this weekend.
Jamey, Jill, and Kendal worked out some good old sibling rivalry with some Rock 'em, Sock 'em Robots!!
Also, we were able to dedicate Abram at church this last Sunday. It was so great having some of our family around for this, also.
The dedication service was very special, thanks to Dr. Chuck. It is nice to know we have the support of our church family to help us as we seek to raise our kids in Christ.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Seth!!

Today we celebrated Seth turning three years old!! It was officially "Seth"day! Which was great for Seth since he spent most of Jonah's birthday "weeping and gnashing his teeth" whenever Jonah got a present and he didn't.
Here the boys are showing off one of their presents from the Grubbs. Of course, you probably didn't recognize them since they are in disguise. I never really understood how people couldn't figure out who Batman was, since all he really had covered up were his eyebrows and cheekbones.
Seth is looking very sheepish about his fishing rod. Now, all the boys (well, except Abram for now) are ready for a manly camping and fishing trip.
ROCK ON!!! Play your guitars and sing as loud as you can. We're on our way to a complete Droddy family band--if only Abram could drum.

Seth's only requests today was that we go eat at Taco Bell for his birthday dinner and have some ice cream from Sonic. You can't beat that. Its good know Seth doesn't have expensive tastes!!!

Abram is just soaking it all in....Jamey is videotaping the glorious event for posterity!!

Happy Birthday Jonah!

Well, today was Jonah's day and he is 5 years old....hard for his parents to believe it! We had a pretty routine day but tried to interject some birthday fun. Jonah got to open his first present this morning before he went to school--it was an art kit (he does such a good job at drawing for his age, we want to encourage this). We also sent some iced sugar cookies for him to share with his class during snack time.

Mary and the kids came to the BCM after school--Jonah got to dig through this birthday goody basket for some treats. Then it was off to get a haircut--family picture time on Friday! Here is Jonah sporting his brand new haircut right before opening a present.
Here are Jonah and Seth in their new art smocks. Also, Jonah is wearing his new hat--he rarely takes it off.
I came home early from work so that we could open the rest of the presents. We went to Chick-fil-a for a birthday supper and some play time in the germ vat/play area! Finally, it was off to church for our Wednesday night activities. All Jonah asked for this year was a guitar and a fishing pole--we couldn't think of 2 better gifts for a boy. Below is Jonah with his new guitar--it came with stickers to put all over it.
We wrapped up the day with a little guitar jam session. Jonah wanted Mary to get her guitar and play with him--what beautiful music!
Next is Seth's birthday on Friday.

Just another Monday night!

As you can see below, when I am not home, Mary tortures our children by making them wear Razorback gear. Do you see how unhappy Abram is? Oh well, he's still cute!

Here's Mary and the kids making some cookies. It is officially "Birthday Week" around the house. Jonah turns 5 on Wednesday and Seth turns 3 on Friday. These cookies are for Jonah's preschool class on Wednesday. I can't believe how big my boys are getting. It's sure to be a fun week.
Another picture of Abram--this is after his bath tonight. He is the most pleasant baby. Mary and I were remembering back to Seth screaming during bath time--he's still a pretty good screamer, in fact. Abram loves baths and pretty much everything else. He is just very content and we are thankful.

Fun with weird websites

Jamey and I found this very fun website and decided to experiment with what we could have looked like in the 60's and 70's. I highly recommend you give this website a try. It is www.yearbookyourself.com.

Here are the boys right before bedtime. They sure do have a lot of fun with one another. I'm glad that Abram is okay with getting constantly messed with, because his brothers continue to want to "pet" him.
Come on ride that train, the choo-choo ride it...come on ride the Droddy boy train!!!

We made it through Gustav, hello Ike.

UPDATE! We made it through Gustav without even having a power outage. Jamey's family stayed with us for three days until the storm passed over. They already had their power back on by the time they returned. Jamey's mom's house had a few shingles off, but other than that there was no damage. Praise God!!!

Also, the Grubbs family came back through last night on their way back to New Orleans. They were able to find out that their house was okay, and that their power had already been restored. So, we were glad to see them once again and celebrate Norris' birthday with him today.
We are all doing well. We are staying very busy with the start of a brand new school year, especially now that we are working with 7 area college campuses!!! We are praying that God will work mightily in and through the students of these campuses.

We might have to watch this boy.....already flirting with Cameron Grubbs!!!
Abram is getting bigger every day!!!! Wow, its hard to believe that he will be 4 months old on Monday!!!