Musings from Graceland

THESE ARE A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS

13 year old A's favorite things:

1. The rock band HAWK NELSON
2. Books (especially fantasy)
3. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
4. LORD OF THE RINGS (movies and books)
5. Spending time with church friends
6. Weekends with Cousin Emily
7. Chick-fil-A's lemonade
8. The color BLACK (especially to wear)
9. Christian rock concerts
10. Praying and spending time with God
11. Playing the guitar and piano
12. Getting unexpected phone calls from special people
13. Roadtrips, especially with friends
14. Meeting famous people
15. STAR WARS
16. Computer time
17. Clean Avril Lavigne songs
18. Grapefruit
19. The Jonas Brothers band
20. The Pop/Rock band Relient K
21. Recording artist Krystal Meyers
22. Colorado and the mountains
23. Singing and discovering people around me who can sing
24. Downtime
25. Busytime
26. Driving FAST with the windows down and the music BLARING!
27. Icecream (especially sherberts)
28. Sonic Reeses Blast!!!
29. Riding my horse
30. Blueberry bagels
31. Writing songs and stories
32. Stuffed crust pizza
33. HANGMAN'S CURSE
34. When Seth plays "I will dance, I will sing"
35. CHRONICLES OF NARNIA

11 year old B's favorite things:

1. Drawing
2. Reading
3. Writing stories
4. Peter Pan
5. Writing poems
6. Nature
7. Annoying my sisters
8. The color green
9. God
10. Making Meezes
11. Swimming at the creek
12. Scouring the internet for "originality"
13. Clogging
14. Playing softball
15. Nancy Rue's LILY and SOPHIE books
16. Stealing boys' hats
17. Shakespeare
18. Beatrix Potter
19. Lemony Snicket books and movie
20. Watching acrobats
21. Driving 4-wheelers
22. Archery
23. Hula-Hooping
24. Riding her bike without using her hands
25. Watching people double-dutch
26. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
27. ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING (the movie)
28. Talking to Miss Robin
29. Spiders and their webs
30. Snakes
31. Bats
32. Playing softball
33. Clogging
34. The Mellow Mushroom
35. Chinese buffets
36. Sonic strawberry lime-ade
37. Cherry cobbler
38. Going on trips
39. The mountains
40. England
41. Scotland
42. Ireland
43. France
44. China
45. Japan
46. Eclectic decorating
47. Working on her blog
48. Playing the piano
49. Spelling bees
50. Competition in EVERYTHING
51. Waterfalls
52. Rainbows
53. Contortionists
54. Keira Knightley
55. Corbin Bleu
56. JUMP IN
57. The Keira Knightly PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
58. Audrey Hepburn (and WAR AND PEACE starring her)
59. NOT doing math!!!!!!!
60. Bees
61. Roller skating
62. Ice skating
63. Sk8tr Boi by Avril Lavigne
64. Jane Austen
65. Learning new languages
66. Uniqueness
67. Spending time with Mallory, Candace, Caitlin, and Lily
68. Gaelic
69. Watching ballets
70. THE BORROWERS
71. Art museums
72. The Mississippi Natural Science Museum
73. Exploring the woods around our home
74. Water
75. Picking blackberries
76. Neopets
77. Card games
78. Decorating her dollhouse
79. Backgammon
80. Scrabble
81. Daydreaming
82. Looking at the stars
83. "Being ME"

10 year old D's favorite things:

1. Playing with his best friend Caleb
2. Game Boy Advance SP
3. Reading books
4. STAR WARS
5. Playing Star Wars with his brother P
6. LORD OF THE RINGS (action figures, books, & movies)
7. ERAGON
8. Recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman
9. Mellow Mushroom pizza
10. Playing the game of LIFE
11. Sanibel Island
12. Busch Gardens, Tampa
13. Colorado Springs, CO
14. Nevada
15. Florida
16. The Jackson Zoo
17. Playing with his cousins Christian, Hunter, & Cullen
18. The color BLUE
19. 2nd fave color is RED
20. Coca-Cola
21. Cherry-Coke
22. Singing
23. Going to homeschool group
24. Sonic Drive In
25. Hot Wheels Acceleracers
26. Hot Wheels World Race
27. Zoo Tycoon pc game
28. Asteroids pc game
29. Lego's Star Wars I & II Game Boy Advance
30. Mario Brothers games
31. OVER THE HEDGE
32. THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA (movie, books, and Game Boy)
33. Cub scouts
34. Camping
35. S'mores
36. Ice cream (chocolate with M&M's)
37. Ice cream sandwich "cake"
38. Cookie cake
39. Upward basketball
40. King David in the Bible
41. Pet goldfish---Anakin, Padme, and Obi Wan

8 year old P's favorite things:

1. Turtles
2. Brother D's Game Boy Advance
3. STAR WARS
4. Lego's
5. Macaroni & Cheese
6. Ice cream sandwich "cake"
7. The color GREEN
8. The color RED
9. CASTING CROWNS (especially the song IF WE ARE THE BODY)
10. Pizza
11. Chinese buffets
12. Playing with Jacob and Wyatt
13. Visiting his Hattiesbrug cousins
14. Hot Wheels Accleracers and World Race
15. Hannah Montana
16. THE SUITE LIFE OF ZACK AND CODY
17. TARZAN
18. Snacks at church
19. LITTLE RASCALS
20. Popeye
21. Superman
22. Mighty Mouse
23. Pancakes
24. Chocolate Sprite
25. Playing in the sandbox
26. Riding his bike
27. Attacking Mason and Nathaniel
28. GO, DIEGO, GO
29. Golden Bellied Mangabey at the zoo (the "mooning" monkey)
30. WONDER PETS
31. Zoo Tycoon pc game
32. Spy Kids
33. Uno card game
34. Backgammon
35. Scrabble
36. Riding the carousel at the zoo
37. Spades
38. Go Fish
39. ALEX RYDER, the movie
40. "Puppy"
41. Action figures
42. Shopping at Target
43. Exoforce
44. Underwater Aquaraiders
45. Mazzio's Pizza
46. HOODWINKED
47. Brother D's fish
48. CALVIN AND HOBBES
49. BABY BLUES
50. Playing in the tree house
51. The Ag Museum
52. Tin Tin graphic novels
53. The new CHARLOTTE'S WEB
54. OVER THE HEDGE (he IS Hammie!)
55. Texas

5 year old L's favorite things:

1. Strawberry Shortcake
2. Zac Efron
3. High School Musical
4. Playing Queen and Princess
5. Lip gloss
6. Dress up pretend
7. Playing with Desiree, Laura Lee, Grace, and Baby Selah
8. Strawberry Shortcake shoes
9. Hello Kitty house shoes
10. Holly Hobbie
11. Horses
12. Unicorns
13. WONDER PETS
14. Doll "daughters"
15. Peter Pan
16. BLUE'S CLUES (especially Steve)
17. Cheese Grits
18. Oatmeal
19. Pizza
20. THE LAZY FLAMINGO restaurant (on Sanibel Island)
21. The Shell Museum (also on Sanibel Island)
22. Kids' Church
23. Playing in the sandbox
24. Drawing
25. Painting
26. Tinkerbell
27. All C O L O R S except for GREEN
28. Zoo Tycoon pc game
29. Strawberry ice cream
30. Going to the beach
31. Busch Gardens in Tampa

3 year old T's favorite things:

1. VeggieTale's Larry Boy
2. Pizza
3. Dora the Explorer
4. M&M's
5. Donuts
6. BLUE'S CLUES
7. The Mississippi Natural Science Museum
8. Big Dog stuffed animal
9. Flag blanket
10. Boo the dog
11. Sebastian the cat
12. Mom and Dad
13. His sister A
14. Hannah Montana
15. Sanibel Island
16. Busch Gardens in Tampa
17. The Bynums, Lewis, and Macoy families
18. High School Musical (he wants to be Troy when he grows up)
19. His stuffed Kee-Kat
20. WONDER PETS
21. Diego (Dora's cousin)
22. Disney's CARS (and his CARS shoes)
23. Playing rough (especially with A's guy friends)
24. Ice Water
25. Going on walks with Mommy and Daddy
26. "Big Kiss, Little Kiss, Big Hug, Little Hug"

Toddler M the Hobbit's favorite things:

1. Mommy and Daddy
2. Her big brothers and sisters
3. Laughing
4. All natural Lays white cheddar Cheetos
5. BOOKS!
6. Swinging
7. Dora the Explorer
8. Blue's Clues
9. Hannah Montana (especially her music and REALLY especially BEST OF BOTH WORLDS)
10. Her pink cuddly bear
11. Pacifiers
12. Mac & Cheese
13. PB&J sandwiches
14. Tex Mex fried rice
15. Dancing
16. Playing outside
17. Boo our dog
18. Gummy vitamins
19. Bananas
20. Cereal bars
21. Drawing on anything and everything!
22. The "Happy Birthday" song
23. Going on stroller rides
24. Cheese rice
25. The "buzzy bee" tickle game
26. Lilly, our 11 year old next door neighbor
27. Playing in the sandbox
28. Running around the church
29. Being cute
30. Shoes ;) (what a girlie girl!)

Super Dad's favorite things:

1. Teaching (especially things related to God)
2. The Bible (NIV favorite edition)
3. Reading a good book
4. History
5. Learning new things
6. THE HOBBIT
7. Backpacking
8. Rock climbing
9. THE COMPLEAT GENTLEMAN by Brad Milner
10. Muppet movies (especially MUPPETS FROM SPACE!)
11. REFLECTIONS FOR RAGAMUFFINS by Brennan Manning
12. Pizza (preferably Domino's or Mellow Mushroom though there are fond memories of Shakey's Pizza for the growing up years)
13. Rachael Ray's recipe for beer brats with sauerkraut and apples
14. Lord of the Rings movies
15. The film A Bridge Too Far
16. Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
17. FINAL OPTION
18. Lemonade
19. Fried catfish
20. Fancy cheese (during the wintertime)
21. Clint Eastwood westerns (especially the early ones like A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS and THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY)
22. French fries
23. Good salad with fried chicken or steak and chunky blue cheese dressing (during the summertime)
24. The Passion
25. Amazing Grace, the movie
26. DOMINION by Randy Alcorn
27. The film DEEP IMPACT
28. caves
29. Rock Bridge Canyon in Alabama
30. A pretty stream to canoe and swim in
31. The Grand Canyon
32. THIS PRESENT DARKNESS and PIERCING THE DARKNESS by Frank Peretti
33. Movies by M. Night Shaylaman (especially SIGNS and LADY IN THE WATER)
34. HOW THE IRISH SAVED WESTERN CIVILIZATION, DESIRE OF THE EVERLASTING HILLS, and THE GIFTS OF THE JEWS by Thomas Cahill
35. Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell
36. Steak
37. Secret Recipe MacLellan fruitcake
38. Coffee
39. Sightseeing in Washington, DC
40. Chocolate
41. Hiking in the mountains (ANY mountains)
42. Camping
43. Sanibel Island
44. Dates with his wife
45. A clean house
46. Hotdogs
47. Sonic Cherry Limeade
48. Onion rings
49. GOOD sweet tea
50. The South
51. Coming home after business trips
52. PORK sausage
53. pancakes
54. hash browns
55. Eggs Benedict
56. Clive Cussler books except his early ones)
57. Coca-Cola
58. The original STAR WARS trilogy
59. The Ten Commandment movie starring Charlton Heston
60. BLACK, RED, and WHITE (a trilogy) by Ted Dekker
61. Scripture verse: "They said to Him, what shall we do, that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." and "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out." John 6:28,29, and 37

To be continued....