CHRISTMAS

This year was the best Christmas I believe we have had. We spent Christmas Eve with my parents and sisters and then we got up on Christmas morning, saw what Santa brought and went and visited Bruce's grandparents and went to the movies. Christmas morning was a lot of fun. Kolbie got up at around 7:00. He was so sweet. I am not sure what time he woke up but he didn't won't to wake us up so he laid in the bed until we got up. When I got up to let Weeble out he came running in there and said "I didn't think you were ever gonna get up". Then when it was time to open what Santa had brought he was more concerned that Bruce and I open what he had bought for us. His school runs a Santa shop every year so that the kids can buy for their parents. I received a nice little jewelry box and Bruce got a small concrete truck. Kolbie even wrapped the gifts hisself. He was very sweet.

He opened his gifts and was very pleased with what he got. He didn't want much this year. Just a couple of games for his PSP and some legos. He got lots of them. He and Bruce spent just about the whole day putting them together.

We thought we would start a tradition of going to the movies to see whatever new movie was coming out. We had a choice of BEDTIME STORIES or MARLEY AND ME. Kolbie and I decided we would rather see Bedtime Stories so we did. It was very cute. We then came home and I had Friday off from work so we just spent the rest of the weekend doing nothing.

Bruce is off from work until the 5th so he gets to stay home with Kolbie for this week. They will have a good time. We were also given money from my parents for Christmas and I have yet to decide what I want to do with mine. Bruce on the other had jumped right on the chance to purchase a new 2008 Cannondale CAAD 9 from a rep that he met up with. Great deal. Maybe after the season starts back and they get their Gary Fishers I can borrow it from him since I sold mine. We will have to see. All in all the Christmas season was great this year and unlike past years I was sad to see it go. We now look forward to the new year and what it may hold for us.

Christmas with the Humphries

Saturday evening Bruce's parents and his brother and girlfriend met us at Longhorn in Gastonia for Christmas dinner. We had a really good time. The meal was very good and the wait wasn't tooooo bad. We usually don't wait anywhere and we haven't eaten out in a while since Bruce has been working with Rick Kattouf on his nutrition. The fellowship was great. We don't get to go out with his Chris and Hailey usually so we had a really good time. It was so much more fun that cooking dinner and having to clean afterwards and Bruce and I each got Chocolate and a Starbucks gift card. That is great. The good thing is they are reloadable. I may have to do that often seeing as Bruce keeps them in business. Kolbie ending up with a sketch pad and sketching set. That was such a good idea for him. He really likes to draw and I can tell he will be a little artist like Bruce. All in all it was just a good night with family.

Pet Smart

So I took Bruce to Spartanburg to meet up with Alan Tripp on Saturday so they could go to Greenville to do the WBL. Before that we stopped at Starbucks in town and ran into Shane and his wife. Weird. We don't usually see teammates in our town. After I went and picked Kolbie up from his sleep over. He looked like death warmed over. Zach's mom says that the boys didn't go to sleep until 12:30. That is real late for Kolbie. He was so tired.

We decided we had to go back to Spartanburg and pick up Bruce so we would go to Pet Smart and have Weeble's nails trimmed. Weeble loved it. He has been before but it has been a long time. He rode in the buggy and checked out the other dogs and birds. We were gonna have his picture made with Santa but I couldn't bring myself to do it when we found out it was a woman dressed up like Santa. I know that sounds weird but I just have never seen a woman Santa and Kolbie thought that was really weird also.

GROWING UP

Today Kolbie is going to a sleep over at a school friends home. I was very nervous about letting him stay at someone else's house. Too many crazies in the world. The mom called and talk to me and that made me feel a lot better. I think he will enjoy it. It just makes me see that he is growing up so fast. It just seems like yesterday when they told me I had a 9lb 7 oz baby. Now he is going to friend's houses, tomorrow he will be going off to college. GOSH!!!!! Get out the tissue.

THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD

With all the hustle and bustle of Christmas we often forget what the TRUE meaning is!!!!

Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. 2:2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 2:3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 2:5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with Child. 2:6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 2:9 And, lo, the angel of the LORD came upon them, and the glory of the LORD shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the LORD. 2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. 2:15.

CHRISTMAS GIVING

Have you ever thought about how you give at Christmas. Is it to the Salvation Army, The local Children's Home or even some other expecting organization. These people know every year that people will give. Our local Children's Home gets so much from every church. Do we forget that their are foster parents out there that are raising someone else's child. ANYWAY, the reason for this blog is because I was told a story yesterday that really touch my heart.

One of my co-workers daughter works 2 jobs here in town. One of them happens to be a local restaurant where she is a waitress. On Saturday evening she had a large party to come in. She did her job and being the good waitress she is, she interacted with them on a personal level. They got her name and introduced her to a nice guy at their table. As they left she came back to clean their table and they handed her an envelope and told her "MERRY CHRISTMAS". She went back to the kitchen and proceeded to open this envelope. In it was $847.00. She actually hit the floor. She was in shock and began to cry. She collected herself and went back to the table to find out what was going on. One of the customers told her that every year this local church sunday school class takes up money and at Christmas time they go to a restaurant and whomever their waitress/waiter is they present them this as a Christmas gift.

On top of this they gave her a 30 dollar tip. She offered to pay their bill or something to repay them but all they wanted was a simple thanks. She was so blown away. She had some doctors appointments that needed to be made and really needed to buy new glasses, so this will help. This was a local church blessing someone else through their giving. These people had been giving what was in their pocket each week. Their blessing was bestoyed on someone else. The young lady has planned to Pay this forward in some way. The blessing will continue on.

Even those of us who didn't receive the money got a blessing from it. All to often we get wrapped up in giving to those charities but we forget that their are people in need who never ask for help and probably never will. They work hard on a daily basis and just get by, but sometimes and unexpected envelope can change their lives in so many ways. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND MAY WE ALL BE BLESSED THIS YEAR SO THAT WE MAY BLESS SOMEONE ELSE.

ANNUAL NIGHT OUT.

So this past Saturday Bruce and I decided we would have our annual Christmas night out together. We normally do this every year. We go and do some Christmas shopping (always for Kolbie) and then we go to eat at a nice restaurant. This year was alot of fun. We went to Toys R Us and to Khols. We only go a little shopping done but we always love buying for Kolbie every year. We are like kids in a candy store. We then went to City Range and had a really nice meal. We got to sit right beside the fireplace so we were so toasty and the meal was excellent. When we left there we decided since we didn't have Kolbie we would go and see a movie that wasn't put out by Walt Disney so we opted for "Four Christmases". Hilarioius. We laughed so hard. It wasn't as funny as we thought it would be but we still busted a gut several times.

It was a great evening with my loving husband.

YUM YUM

So this past weekend we decided that we would decorate a gingerbread house. We had a few gumballs to put on it. Bruce left us some. It turned out really nice. Kolbie got completely crazy with the candy. He is now wanting to eat it. That would be a bad day. ALL THAT SUGAR.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

So, today is Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for. A wonderful husband, a beautiful child and a roof over my head. Also with so many people out of work we are blessed with a job this year.

We prepared a meal for just the 3 of us this year and it wasn't bad at all. I hope this year to come will afford us to be as blessed as we have been so far. Happy Thanksgiving.

Now looking forward to Christmas.!!!!!!!!!!!!

TRANS-SIBERIAN FUN

So yesterday my sister and I took Kolbie and my niece to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It was an awesome show. The lighting was spectacular and the music was great. I guess my absolute favorite part was when the electric guitar and the fiddle battled and the drum solo. Kolbie has told me that he wants a set of drums and this absolutely made it worse. He was amazed by the whole show. He loved the fire and the lasers and and the fireworks at the end. This was his first concert. He has never been to one before. He also enjoyed the fact that we were all the way at the top of the place. Freaked me out but he loved it. It did help with the smoke though. We didn't get chocked out by that.

We had a great time. I want to take Bruce next year. He would have enjoyed it. I highly recommend this show if you can go.

GOOD BYE MADDIE

Well our youngest dog went on to be with Jesus this morning. It was sad but I am glad that it is over. She has been sick for about a week. I hated to watch her dying. Kolbie did great. He was so understanding about the whole situation. Funny how kids adapt.

"DIY"

Well this past week we decided that we would have our toliet worked on because it had been leaking and while we were at it we would take up the flooring that was there and replace it. EASY right???? Not so. When we pulled up the flooring it was absolutely rotted under the toliet area and a good peace away from the toliet. Our easy fix was turning into a bathroom renovation. We decided we would go ahead and put in a new toliet, sink, and vanity. So far we have put in a new floor (SUBFLOOR INCLUDED) and replaced some of the drywall. This is a picture of the floor that we have gotten in. More pics to come when we finish the project. So much for a weekend of relaxing. We are definetely not WEEKEND WARRIORS.

MY LITTLE BOOKWORM

God did not bless me with a purely athletic child. I think that he knew that I could only take so much with an athletic husband so instead he gave me Kolbie the Bookworm. We recently had Parent Teacher Conferences at school and he got a really good report. They base their reading level on a Dominie Scale, (not sure is that is spelled right), and he is a 10A. This means he is a second grader reading at a 3rd to 4th grade level. His math skills were also above average. As you can see from the picture he loves to read and his nose is often in a book. He is currently into the Spiderwick Chronicles. Football, Baseball, or even Soccer, I don't think so. Occasionally he likes to do a cycling event but most of the time he curls up with a good book.

A LITTLE SOMETHING FROM "DAVE"

So I frequently go on www.daveramsey.com for a little inspiration with our debt freedom plan and this is what was on his site today. I found it very intriging.

The 10 Cannots
By William J. H. Boetcker(wrongfully attributed to Abraham Lincoln)

*You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
*You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
*You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
*You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
*You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
*You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
*You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
*You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
*You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
*You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

Very inciteful!!!!

"I VOTED"

So I got up early this morning to be at the polls at 7:00. Got there shortly after and it was already lined up out in the parking lot. I thought oh well I should go ahead. It won't get any better. It took about 1 hour and 30 minutes but "I VOTED".

CHANGING OUR FAMILY TREE!!!!!!!

So this year during racing season Bruce and I decided that we wanted to get completely out of debt and owe no one. We discussed our options and decided that we would race a little less next year and really focus on paying off everything we owe so that we could focus on racing a little more later.

We decided that we would start this once racing season was over this year, so that is exactly what we did. Racing season ended for us on October 12th this year and we decided we would get on with the plan from there. I am excited to say that we paid off the most annoying bill we have had so far this past Friday. A Halloween present to ourselves. If we stick to our plan and no major events happen we should have our house (the last debt) paid off in 4 years. That is only 8 years into our loan. Something to look forward to. After that we are taking a trip. Maybe DisneyWorld or the Tour de France.

So why did I call this CHANGING OUR FAMILY TREE. Because I don't want Kolbie to ever be burdened by the mistakes his parents made. I want him to know that you can have what you want without paying for it for 5 years and that you can do whatever you want without hoping it pays enough to pay everyone else. True happiness comes from living life to the fullest and not from material possession that you can't take with you anyway. Happiness is doing what you love and not what you have to. That is called a JOB. If changing my family tree works as I know that it will then my JOB will soon be less burdensome and maybe a little fulfilling.

TRICK OR TREAT

So yesterday was Halloween and we decided we would do our yearly go to the mall tradition. This works out great because Bruce and I get to shop a little while we let Kolbie fill his basket with cavity creating sweets. Thank goodness he is not a big candy fanatic. Anyway as I said in my previous post, yesterday was my sisters birthday and some of her friends were throwing her a birthday party so she asked me if my nephew ( her middle child, she has 3) could stay with us, so of course we thought it would be great for Kolbie to have a friend to trick or treat with. They had a blast. I am not sure what Kolbie was but he had a green skull face and Lane was Ironman. There were some creepy gouls and goblins out. In Gaffney some of them weren't even wearing a costume and would scare the pants off you. Kolbie wasn't too scared since he had a friend and most of the ghouls and goblins were the same size as him.

We didn't stay long. They were ready to come home about 30 minutes in and that is exactly what we did. They hit the couch and crashed. Both probably had a big day at school since they had parties and all. They were both up early this morning. 6:24 to be exact. WHAT!!!!. As I am posting this they are running a muck through my house screaming and laughing. It is okay though, Kolbie is having a blast and that is all that matters.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!

So today is my sister 29th birthday. She is planning a big day and I hope that she has a absolutely magnificient day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER. LOVE YOU.

PUMPKIN ANYONE!!!!!!

It is the eve of Halloween and we have had a pumpkin on the doorstep for a couple of weeks now. Kolbie has been really bugging Bruce to either paint or carve it so since racing season is over and Bruce has some time on his hands he decided to put his artistic skills to work. Once he got started he really got into it. It looked really good. I was really impressed. We put a candle in it and put it back out on the steps and when it got really dark out it looked really great. A real Picasso!!!!!

EDUCATIONAL FUN!!!!!!

So racing season is officially over so we decided that we would take a day to do something fun. I was checking out some things to do on the internet the other day and found where the SC State Museum was hosting a Halloween Extravagana. According to the forecast it was going to rain so we decided a day indoors would be just the thing for us. Bruce left the house about 8 Saturday morning and decided he would ride his bike as far as he could get to Columbia before I caught him. Well Kolbie and I got caught up in a movie ("My Dog Skip") which was a great movie, and we got a later start than that. We left the house about 10:15 and ventured out on the same route that Bruce was taken. We finally caught up with him on a lone road about 15 miles from Columbia. So I guess he had rode about 65 miles. We pulled over at this run down convenience store so that he could change. Needless to say no one in this town had seen a guy changing clothes outside before. We got some of the weirdest looks.

We got to Columbia, grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the museum

Well they had it all decorated for Halloween. There was gouls and goblins hanging from everywhere. Kolbie was really scared of them. There was a guy walking around as a dead person carrying his head. He was really cool but absolutely terrified Kolbie and even manage to come around a corner and scare me a few times.

Kolbie was very fascinated with all the different things to see in the museum aside from Halloween stuff. They had this really cool scavenger hunt going on where you had to answer questions about different things from Space Exploration to Funeral procession of slaves. Once you got finished you could go and get a prize. He really enjoyed that also. Bruce was a little bored but he was so sweet to take Kolbie.

We had a good time and we didn't have to be rushed or anything. We just got to spend the day together.

LET ME INTRODUCE......
The Humphries consist of more than me, Bruce, and Kolbie. We also have 2 other members of our family. First let me introduce......




WEEBLE




Notice that he is a proud supporter of the Hincapie/Coca-Cola cycling team.

He is the oldest at almost 10. He is our special baby. He has been with us for years.

Next allow me to introduce........





Maddie





She just showed up on our doorstep one day about 3 years ago and has been with us ever since. She is spoiled rotten and definetely a jealous dog. She doesn't like to share me with anyone.

ELECTRIC FUN

Okay so Bruce's mom invited us to go to her work (Broad River Electric Coop) for a Fall Festival. Kolbie had a really good time. Unfortunately I could not hold my eyes open in the picture. Not sure when we picked up the little green monster.

Kolbie got the Great Grizzly award at school recently. This award was given to the child in his class who demonstrated the most responsibility. We were very pleased with him. He didn't even know he was going to get it. Total Surprise

Trying this out

Okay, so everyone out there seems to have a blog now a days. So I decided I would start one for our family. We will see how this works out.