Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!  We are very thankful for our family and friends and all of the wonderful blessings we have received!

London HATES riding in the car right now so we stayed home and had a Thanksgiving with our little family of 4.  It was also London's 1 month birthday so I took lots of pictures of her.  She is definitely growing and can now fit in some of her 0-3 month clothes now.  I also bought her a package of size 1 diapers because the Newborn size are starting to get a little snug on her. 

There are some pictures of Hudson and London together at the end...he loves, loves, loves her feet!  He asked me to take some pictures of him holding her feet and his feet next to her feet!  What a goofball!  I love him though! : )

Here are my little turkeys!

Cupcakes

Hudson really likes to help me cook so I decided we could make cupcakes today!  He's the best 3 year old egg cracker/opener in the west!  He doesn't even get the shell in the mixture (most of the time anyway)!   On one of her visits, Gigi brought us some dinosaur cupcake cups that we finally got to use!

Video Fix

Ok~ I think I fixed the videos on my previous posts so that everyone can view them!  If not, please let me know!  This was my first time to use YouTube for my videos and I had to change up my settings so you can see them.  I have also played around with my blog settings a bit so now everyone should be able to leave a comment if you'd like...even if you don't have a Blogger account.  As I have time, I'll be giving the blog a facelift and adding a profile spot for London.  I'm just going to add her stuff to this blog so their combined blog will have the same name.  It takes me a while to do things right now because I usually have to type with one hand since I'm usually holding a baby with the other! 

Santa Time!

We went to The Woodlands Lighting of the Doves ceremony today so Hudson could see Santa Claus!  Somehow, he got it in his head that both Spiderman and Santa would be there even though we told him a thousand times it would only be Santa.  He wasn't willing to accept that it would just be Santa.  We waited until it stopped raining and headed out to enjoy the festivities.  We tried some fried oreos but decided regular oreos were much better.  Then we grabbed a good Santa watching spot and watched some performance on the stage while we waited.  When it was time, Santa arrived by boat from the riverway.  Santa came up on stage and read The Night Before Christmas to the kids.  Then they lit up the doves and there was a nice fireworks display.  After that, we finished getting our Christmas lights.  This is the first year for us to put lights up on our house!  The first year we had just moved in and had Hudson so we just didn't have a chance to go get lights.  Last year we didn't start looking for them until November and every store was sold out of the kind Jason wanted to get.  This year he went early to get them but once he started putting them out he realized they weren't the right kind so we had to go exchange them!!  Now we are good to go and Jason has been super busy making our house look pretty and festive!

Riding the elevator in the parking garage:

Watching Santa on Daddy's shoulders:

Santa reading to the kids:

The Doves:

Jason hard at work:

Hudson taking a break hanging lights to go on a Jeep ride:

Back to the lights:

Daddy's little pumpkin:

Car stuff---grrr!

I had to have my car towed from the driveway today.  I got in my car to take Hudson to school (I try to take him on Tues. and Thurs. so I can find time to catch up on some sleep) but once I put the key in, my dash flashed a message that said my console was malfunctioning and my car just shut down!  It wouldn't give my key back and since every thing is electronic, my car was completely out of order. I called Jason and he stopped by to look at it on his way to Austin and determined it was very broken.  He called the dealership and they had a tow truck come out to pick it up.  The tow truck arrived but again, since every thing on my car is electronic, he couldn't get it out of park to put it on the truck.  It also self-initiated the emergency brake!  Grrr!  So the next morning they had to send 2 trucks out.  They thought they would have to use one truck to jack it up somehow and then put it on the other truck.  However, the driver that came out that morning was able to shift the car into neutral under the hood but he couldn't get the parking brake off.  I was a little nervous watching them load up my car since my back wheels weren't spinning...just skipping and leaving black marks on my driveway!  The dealership called once they got my car and said they have to replace the entire steering column module!  Good thing it's still under waranty!!  So anyway, Hudson and I spent the day playing with playdough, dancing, crashing matchbox cars, and watching cartoons.  It ended up being a fun, rainy day inside!    

My Little Helper

Hudson has been such a great helper!  I was sitting on the couch feeding London and he went into the laundry room and got the Swifter to mop the floors.  He's pretty fond of it and uses way more cleaning fluid than necessary but at least I know my floors are well sanitized!  He mopped every floor that has tile.  He even continued to remind me to be careful because the tile was wet and not to wear my shoes on it!

Hudson seems to be a lot like his Dad so he has a lot of pet peeves and likes things to be neat and orderly (for a toddler anyway!).  It has been bothering him that my car has been dirty...especially the back end for some reason.  Every time we get in my car he tells me I need to clean it.  We were outside playing the other day.  We had just gotten back from the store so I guess my dirty car was still fresh on his mind.  He helped Gigi wash her car when she was here so he remembered exactly what to do.  He told me he'd be right back and before I knew it he was walking toward me with a bucket full of water and told me he needed a towel.  I asked him what he was going to do with and he told me he was going to wash my car.  I gladly got him a towel!  After a couple of trips to the bathroom where he has a stool to reach the sink and he could fill up his bucket, I finally suggested he just use the hose.  He ended up getting soaked but it was a nice sunny day so I just let him have fun!  My car got pretty clean (the back end anyway) considering how distracted he got playing with the hose!  We had a fun day!!

3 Weeks Old

Here is London at 3 weeks.  Her umbilical cord finally fell off on Monday.  She has started to get some baby acne that will hopefully go away soon.  I want to get her newborn photos taken before she doesn't look like a newborn anymore!  She is starting to be more alert now and unfortunately that also means she is awake a little more at night.  She goes back to sleep after eating pretty quickly at her midnight wake-up time but not so much for her 3am wake-up time.  Hopefully I can get rid of the 3am wake-up period soon!  She's pretty easy to figure out though.  She's a sweetie and a great snuggle bug!

Big Brother Videos

Hudson LOVES his baby sister so, so much!!  He has made the transition to big brother way better than we ever imagined.  He will lay on the floor next to her and get close enough so when her hands wiggle she will touch his face.  He'll put one of his fingers in the palm of her hand so she'll wrap her fingers around his and hold his hand.  He'll ask her questions and answer them so he can have a 2 way conversation with her!  He already knows what she's needs when she cries and will let me know.  He is super helpful and always offers to throw away dirty diapers and fetch her pacifier when I need it.  I'm very blessed to have such a sweet little boy!!

Hudson's 3rd Birthday! (Part II.--The Big Surprise!)

Ok!  I finally found time to sit and figure out how to upload video to YouTube and incorporate it into my blog!  Here is the 2nd part of Hudson's birthday post:

One day, after London was a couple days past her due date, Jason, Hudson, & I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. We didn't make it very far because the little boy across the way from us was in the park between our houses riding his John Deer Gator. He was very nice and gave Hudson a ride and let him drive it! I don't know who was more excited: Hudson or Jason! Jason was thrilled to know Hudson was old enough to drive a battery powered vehicle and Hudson was thrilled to be able to drive one. Right then and there Jason decided Hudson would have a super cool ride by his birthday! I have hardly seen my husband ever since as he became enthralled in putting a fantastic presentation together to build up the suspense for Hudson and he has been modifying Hudson's new JEEP! He is now "That Dad"!  But a FANTASTIC Dad!!

Disney On Ice

I won tickets to Disney On Ice from my friend Valerie Gay--Thank you so much Val!! We had a blast!! This is Val's Blog: http://www.jasonvalerieand3crazykids.blogspot.com/ She is a very talented photographer and she is extremely crafty so you can stop by and see what she's busy creating!

We arrived a little bit late but luckily we got there just in time for Hudson to see Buzz Lightyear!! Buzz captured Hudson's attention right away! We were a little worried because the show didn't start until 7:30 pm and Hudson's bed time is usually 8:30 pm. I couldn't get him to take a nap because he was too excited about seeing Mickey Mouse. He fell sound asleep on the way there but again we were worried because its never pretty when we have to wake him up. London, on the other hand, did not sleep at all on the way there. She still hates being in her car seat so she cried her little head off the whole way there...and back! BUT, once we got there, all was good! I fed London and she slept the whole time. Hudson was just in awe of the entire show and sat there watching with his mouth wide open! He LOVED the princesses and kept telling me he wanted to see the pretty girl again! It was an awesome show and lots of fun!! Thanks again Valerie! We are so grateful you chose our family for the tickets!

Mickey & Minnie Mouse with the marching band















Me enjoying the show and London snoozing away!




















Jason and Hudson:




















"It's A Small World..."














This is a video of the "When You Wish Upon A Star" song:

Birthday Presents from Papa & Gigi

Hudson got his birthday presents from Papa & Gigi today!  They got him a movie pack with Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, & Return to Neverland!  I loves them!  He watched 2 in a row then I told him he had to take a nap so the third movie had to go to sleep with him!  Thank you so much!

2 Weeks

Hudson's 3rd Birthday! (Part I.)

Hudson has been so excited about his birthday ever since my birthday back in August! I knew we had to do something to make it special even though I knew it would be tough after just having a baby. We waited until the last minute to decide what to do so we would know I was feeling. I've had a pretty good recovery this time around so I felt like I could handle a small party. We had a good turn out despite the last minute invite---thanks so much to our wonderful friends who helped us celebrate and make Hudson's birthday so special!! This is part I. because part II. deserves it's own blog even though it was the same day and same party! Here are the pictures in reverse order again:

Opening presents:

-a Diego talking animal journal from my Dad's side of the family















-a Madagascar movie from Hudson's new friend, Nathan














-a remote control Lightning McQueen car from Jeramy, Terrie, & Eli



















-a Jeff Gordon race care from The Dodd's




















-Hannah & Hallie made Hudson really cute birthday cards



















Hudson was so extremely excited about his Lightning McQueen & Mater cake! He helped me pick it out and was sure to make sure I knew to order chocolate! He and Nathan were using the cars to scoop the icing off their cake and eat it! Kids are so entertaining! The simplest things make them so happy.


































All of the kids enjoying birthday cake!


































Hudson LOVES to sing happy birthday. He couldn't wait for it to be his turn for everyone to sing happy birthday to him!














Terrie and I were in the kitchen talking and we suddenly heard the sound of paper ripping. We turned around and realized the boys decided it was time to open presents. Hudson opened one and he let Nathan open one. Then I grabbed the rest and moved them to higher ground!













Hudson's Lightning McQueen decor and cake: