Pictures From Raleigh Easter

Caed showing Mason his spoils (1 egg)



















Brad "helping" Caed climb a tree















What a big boy!

There's a Place in My Heart for Michael Jackson

When I heard the news of Michael Jackson's death, I was in disbelief. Not that I have followed him for sometime, but he was just sooo young (he was about our parents' age), and I have such fond memories of his music from when I was a kid. How could he be gone?

As I remember him, I think of 4 things, really:

1. Beat It
2. Black or White
3. Erika Lizotte's Dancing
4. How did a black man make himself look so white? And what happened to his nose?

Beat It
When I was a kid, I think like 4 or 5 years old, I can remember jamming out to Beat It in the back of my aunt Laurel's van with my cousins, Chris and Jon, during our Ohio trips to visit my grandparents. This was our song. As soon as the cassette tape began to play, Dong, Dong, Donnnnng ... we got all revved up. I didn't even know most of the words to the song, but we certainly would belt out, "Beat It, Beat It." And any time I hear the song today, I remember those fun times. In addition, I think this was my very first Pop music tape.

One other fun thought about Beat It is the time I took a trip with Brad and his family to Charleston, SC (we were still dating at this time), and we were playing Cranium. For those of you who are familiar with this game, you'll be familiar with the Copycat category where you're suppose to act out the famous person whose name is on the card you draw. Well, when it was Nancy and Mark's turn to draw, Nancy selected the Copycat category and low and behold, the name Michael Jackson appeared on her card. At first, to act out her card, she hurried over the banister by the stairs and proceeded to dangle a baby doll over the banister, but none of us guessed it. So, after consulting with Mark, she decided to moonwalk across the floor for our entertainment pleasure. She did her best to scoot across the floor and sing Beat It, Beat It, Beat It ... however, it wasn't in the tune that you would normally accompany with it ... it was more mono toned due to her quick-thinking and excitement of the moment (Nancy actually does have a very nice voice, but the heat of the moment didn't showcase it well) ... I can just hear it now ... thanks Nancy for a great laugh. Remember, we're still laughing WITH you, not at you!!

Black or White
Many years after my cousins and I adopted Beat It as our song, Michael Jackson's hit Black or White came out. I'm not sure where we came up with this idea, but during another summer visit to Grandma & Grandpa's house, we decided that it would be fun to put on a show for the entire family to showcase our singing and dancing skills to Black or White. So we cleared out space in the basement, changed the spotlights in the ceiling to red and green (real classy) and worked on our moves. I'm sure that Jon & Chris will attest to this, but it was more their moves than our moves. I can't dance worth a flip and Jon & Chris were showcasing their break-dancing and karate (not sure how that played into the repertoire, but karate was part of the show too and Courtney, yes me, was doing her darn dist to keep up. Ha, what memories!

Erika Lizotte's Dancing
I'm sure Erika's really going to appreciate me including her in this post, but I can't resist. WhenI think of Michael Jackson, I can't help but think of her and how excited she gets when Thriller or Billie Jean comes on. The songs take her back to her childhood as well, but it's not just in thought, it's in the form of dance. And man can she bust it! Go Erika! If you want to see her in action, just invite her to your wedding and play one of these songs. You'll be sure to see a great showcase of her skill! (I wish I had a picture! If anyone has an electronic copy, please let me know :).

How did a black man make himself look so white? And what happened to his nose?
This last thought of Michael Jackson doesn't really pertain to a fond memory that I have of MJ, but when I said that when I think of MJ, these are the 4 things that come to mind ... if I'm honest, I've always wondered about his skin color and nose. Not that it makes much difference to me, but it's always been a bit odd to me.

Well ... Michael Jackson, thanks for the years of great music. Beat It and Black or White helped create some great memories in my childhood and I will always remember you for that.

I came across a neat commentary of MJ's death from Sojourn Music. Check it out if you're interested.

Blog Friends

We had the fun opportunity to meet up with some fun 'blog friends' yesterday. Well, actually, Brad and I have known Mark & Anna since college, but since I discovered that Anna & Mark had their daughter Madeline only a week before Caed was born as I was reading Anna's blog, we've gotten to know each other even better than when we saw each other at State ... funny how things work like that.

Mark, Anna and Madeline were in town for a few days while Mark was at a conference at State, so we had the fun opportunity to hang out with Anna & Madeline. This was the first time Caed and I have met Madeline and what a doll she is. Most of Caed's friends are boys and so when he gets around a little girl, he behaves a little differently (as he should :) ... well, at least for the first 5 minutes or so. When Anna and Madeline first came over, Caed was in his high chair eatting breakfast and from the moment that he saw Madeline, Caed refused to eat the rest of his breakfast ... he must have been nervous! (ha) The two touched each others' faces and were totally intrigued for the first little bit, but once they got on the floor and found toys to play with, they went back to their own little worlds ... minus the occasional kick or roll-over from one toy to another.

Here's some pics from their visit:
Anna has a better picture of the kiddos on her blog. Click here to check it out.

Thanks Anna & Madeline for coming by. We had a nice morning with you guys! We hope we can do it again sometime.

Farmer Caed

Well, he's not really a farmer, but he does love his little green John Deere tractor that the Mayhews got for him before he was born. He has grown in his interest for it over the past month or so. It all started with his fascination for the black wheels. He would just sit beside it and spin the wheels round and round with his fingers. Then, he got to the point where he could tip the tractor over sideways as if he we inspecting it for needed mechanic work. He's still very much interested in the black wheels and turning it sideways ... but he has progressed to be able to sit on it and move backward ... yes, backward, not forward. (That's what all farmers need to know how to do when they plow their fields, right?)

Here's a video of his talent from last week ... he was trying to show off for Ms. Pam:

Caed's First Easter

Easter weekend 2009 began with a surprise day off for Brad that gave us time to go over to Mom's new house, in Raleigh might I add :), and help her unpack, organize the kitchen and help her build the "Pooch Deck." Well, I shouldn't use the word "we" in all the activities above since Brad did all of the hard labor on the deck, as well as mount the tv above the fireplace, replace old light fixtures with new ones and install a fan. Did I leave anything out? I on the other hand just installed shelf liner in the kitchen. All activities are comparable, right? Not quite ... great work Brad!!!

Here's a video of Caedmon before we headed over to Mom's on Friday. He's sitting in his Pamper's box and having a great time hitting the flaps.

Then, on Saturday, we went downtown to participate in the first leg of Raleigh Easter, the Vintage21-sponsored Easter Egg Hunt, and it all started with Caedmon's orange balloon ... this was Caedmon's first experience with a balloon. What a simple form of entertainment.

He pulled the string, bounced it off his head and just gazed at it!









We also participated in the 0-2 egg hunt and Caedmon, Mason and Daniel enjoyed their spoils. (1 Egg and a couple of small packages of Lemon Heads ... (they didn't eat the Lemon Heads; they just sucked on the wrapper ... real germ-conscious, I know.)







Here are a few other pictures from the hunt:









On Sunday, we enjoyed the second leg of Raleigh Easter at church as we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. Here's a glimpse of what the service was like: http://worship.vintage21.com/. I have never sang "Joy to the World" on Easter but what a perfect song of celebration to capture the "joy" of the day!

On the Road Again

Whew ... what a whirlwind of a month ... isn't it still February? Thankfully the birds and now sunny skies are telling me differently.

After a roller coaster of a week in Ohio - first week in March -- we were home for a weekend and then last weekend we took a road trip down to Oak Island with our crew for one last hoorah. Mom closes on the OI house April 2 and moves up to Raleigh April 6, so we had to take advantage of the weekend and enjoy the beach.

The weather unfortunately was cool and damp, but we were still able to make it down to the beach for a nice walk and take the boys down to the park.







(Click on this picture to read the boys' conversation as they played.)

Here are some other fun pictures from the weekend:









For more pictures, visit my Facebook page.

Now that we've been back for 2 whole days, we're heading to Charlotte for the evening so that Brad can run a few calls early tomorrow morning and then on to Atlanta for Pop's burial service on Friday.

It'll be interesting to re-visit the emotion that I put on hold once we left Ohio and wrestle with Pop's death again. I've been putting together some memories though over the past few days to share at the service on Friday ... so that has helped me work through things again. Please continue to pray for my Grandma as she grieves and as she unpacks and begins her new journey in Atlanta. Please also pray for my dad as he continues to work through the logistics of Grandma's move and works through the grieving process as well.

Go State!

If you haven't heard, NC State beat UNC yesterday. Here's a picture of State's newest fans:
Fan #1 is obviously Caedmon and Fan #2 is his little buddy Mason Lizotte. Mason's grandma was so sweet to make the boys matching State onesies to help root on the pack during football and basketball season this year. How cute! And not only do they enjoy watching the game, but Caedmon thought it would be fun to fix Mason's hair.

Sunday & Still No Baby

Ok ... so much for saying that baby Hodgson is going to be an "on-time" baby, but I'm sure that he has a good reason for his tardiness. Brad's thought is that he's boycotting the Olympics, and therefore after the closing ceremonies tonight, he'll make his grand entrance. Why should he have to share the spot light anyway? We'll see if that's truly the case this evening.

On a different note, our friend Amy Hathaway just finished developing the maternity pics that she took of us earlier this month and they turned out really cute. Here's one of Brad and his little boy bonding:

Thanks for the great gift Amy!

Still Waiting ...

Well, still no baby Hodgson, but hopefully that means that he'll be an "on-time" baby, since he is due tomorrow. But for those of you who are hanging by this blog to see if he's come yet, you're out of luck.

With all the free time that I have these past couple of days though, you'll see that I've been able to post all kinds of pictures of the past few months to our slideshow, showing our trip to Puerto Rico, Family Shower Weekend, Amy's Beach Weekend, Amy & Jason's Wedding and several other fun moments this summer. So, as you wait in anticipation with us for baby Hodgson's arrival and the "official" unveiling of his name, have fun browsing through our pictures, and we'll be in touch soon!

If you think you might miss exciting news from this blog though, feel free to subscribe to our blog feeds on the right and every time we update "Hodgson Tales," you'll be notified through email.