IT'Z Jeramy's Birthday

Today was a SUPER DUPER fun day!!  It was Jeramy's birthday and Terrie planned a great celebration at IT'Z!  It was our first time to go there and it was sooooo much fun!---the perfect party spot for families!  We started off by fueling up with some yummy pizza.  Then it was off to the game room for lots of games and rides!  They have a little roller coaster that Hudson got to ride a few times.  They also had a couple other amuesment park type rides but Hudson was only big enough to ride one of them (see video below!!).  We took our first photo booth family pictures ( London was asleep in my arms so you can't see her---but she was there!) I'll post those photos soon---I have to scan them!.  I think Hudson and Daddy played every race car, motorcyle, race horse, big rig, and any other type of racing game in the place!  It was definitely a great time and it was a battle to make Hudson leave!  It's never fun when the fun has to end.  Thanks for inviting us Terrie, Jeramy, Eli, & baby Aiden!

Here is Hudson on one of the rides.  You can hear him screaming with excitement the whole time!

Here is Hudson on the roller coaster with Daddy!  We rode this ride several times!

London with Terrie (and baby Aiden):

Driving the Big Rig!

Hudson's 1st time to play Skee Ball!

Motorcycle race:

Jason & Hudson racing Jeramy & Eli:

Time for a little NASCAR:

And off to the horse races:

Jamin' away to a little Guitar Hero!

Jason & Hudson on the train:

Saying "Good-bye" & "Thank you" to Terrie & Eli!

Magnolia's Birthday Party

Today we went to Magnolia's 2nd birthday party!  We have a weekend full of birthdays!  Yea!  Magnolia's toy room is located in a room on the right as soon as you walk in the front door and Hudson spotted it right away!  He had a blast playing with all of the kids and exploring all of Magnolia's toys!  He rarely came out the whole time we were there and didn't want to leave when it was time to go home.  Infact, that night, we had to pretend Magnolia was coming over to our house to play.  Hudson would say, "Ding, dong!  Magnolia is here to play at my house Mommy!".  Then he would pretend to hurry up and get her a birthday present and make her a birthday cake.  He put a granola bar in my lunch box and that was her pretend present!  Then I had to pretend to be her and open it up, blow out the candles on my cake, and eat it!  Thank you for inviting us to your birthday party Magnolia---we had a great time!

Happy 35th Birthday Daddy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!  WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Today was Jason's 35th birthday!  However, yesterday, I got a call from the daycare saying London had a low-grade feaver and Hudson seemed like he may be getting a stomach virus that was going around.  Jason left work a little early to pick them up.  I went ahead and picked up Jason's cookie cake on my way home from work because I didn't know if I'd have a chance to get it today.  Jason couldn't wait and kept taking little nibbles all night long.  By the time morning rolled around, his cookie looked like it does in the picture below---oh well---you get to do whatever you want when it's your birthday!  Anyway, back to the sick children story...so we thought Hudson was feeling better.  Then a couple of times he told us his stomach felt sick but nothing happened.  We went ahead and ate an early lunch at home so we could officially cut into the cookie cake.  We were going to attempt to go watch Avatar in the IMAX theater (hoping London would sleep through it since she didn't feel that great and Hudson wouldn't really have to exhert any energy since he wasn't feeling so well) but luckily the movie was sold out because Hudson started throwing up and didn't stop until about 3-4 AM.  I felt so bad for the poor little guy.  I also felt bad for Jason---what a way to spend your birthday.  We will have to make it up to him on another day!!! 

Sweet Sleeping Baby

Here is London getting some much needed rest so she can fight off her cold germs.

I Do It All Myself!

Over the past year, one of Hudson's most used phrases is, "No, I do it all my self!".  He has grown so much and has become Mr. Independent with so many things.  Tonight, I told him it was time to put his jammies on.  He got up and ran to his bedroom and I followed.  When we got to his door, he turned around and put his hand out with a stopping gesture and said, "No Mama, I do it all my self!".  He gently pushed me away from the door and closed it on me.  I heard lots of giggles and then silence.  I went and sat on the couch and waited to see what he was up to.  After some time, he cracked the door open and asked me to come help.  He had opened up his dresser drawer.   Picked out the jammies he wanted to wear.  Put the bottoms on but then got tanggled up in the shirt!  Jammie shirts for kids truly are hard to get on!  He actually had it on perfectly correct, he just couldn't get his arms far enough through the sleeves to pull them down past his head.  Right when I reached out to give his shirt a helpful tug, he did it "all his self".  He was SOOOOO incredilbly proud!  He quickly pushed me back out of the door and closed it again.  Once he had both arms through, he came darting out of his room with his chest puffed out to show us what a great job he had done putting his jammies on!

1st Day back to work, 1st Day of School, 1st Cold

Where did the time go!  It just doesn't seem possible that 12 weeks already flew by.  I treasure my time spent at home with my 2 beautiful babies.  I had so much fun pretending 24/7 with Hudson.  It was a little exhausting at times since I haven't had to use my imagination quite so much in such a long time!  It is much harder as an adult to come up with monster conversations and actions/reactions!  I also had to pretend to be London speaking to Hudson nearly every day so my brain really had to be creative to converse for so many different characters!  I also spent lots and lots of time snuggling with Lodon and giving her lots of love.  We made so many memories that I will never forget!  But sadly, my brief time as a stay-at-home mom is over.  Today was my 1st day back to work.  It was extra hard because London got her first cold starting on Sunday so I had to hand her off sick.  I felt horrible.  I felt like no one could take care of her better than me and I really wanted to be able to care for her while she wasn't feeling well.  Luckily, Mrs. Anderson, who was also one of Hudson's teachers when he was an infant, was there to care for her.  She promised me she would gets lots of love and special attention.  This made me feel a little bit better but it was still really hard.  I was also going back to a brand new position at work so that made me a little nervous for my first day back.  I didn't get a picture of London on her first day at school because I was stressed, running late, and I was really sad to be leaving her.  I'll get a picture of her with her teachers soon though!  One of the other baby girls in London's class is Sadie. Her older sister, Rowan, has been in Hudson's class since they were babies.  Sadie's mom has been very excited for London to start so they can grow up together and be best friends!  So she already has a BFF in the making! 

Here are a couple pictures a day or 2 before going back to work:

A Taste of Spring

We had about a week or so of perfectly beautiful weather the week before I was scheduled to go back to work.  It was in the mid-70's so we had to spend some time enjoying the nice days outside.  We took Hudson and London to the park.  Hudson instantly made friends with every kid on the play ground and had a great time.  We also loaded up in the double stroller and went for walks around the neighborhood.  I'm already over this month long winter-time stuff we've had---bring on spring!!!  Bring on the sunshine!

Thank You Aunt Jean & Uncle Lee

I was talking to my mom on the phone when we had a surprise package delivered to our door from Aunt Jean & Uncle Lee!  Hudson was so excited for another present to arrive....just when he thought Christmas was all over!  Jason got some scissors and opened up the box.  Hudson recognized which gifts were London's right away and brought them over to her.  Then he delivered mine to me.  He pulled his out and very excitedly opened them up!  Some kids do not get very excited about new clothes but not Hudson---as soon as he saw his new Monster Truck shirt, he had to rip off the shirt he had on and quickly put on his new one!  Next, he opened his new monster truck and soon he disappeared into monster truck pretend land!  He couldn't have been happier!!  I got some fabulous and super soft ducky slippers!  London got a really cute outfit and a very special beanie baby!  And Jason got a variety of yummy cappuccinos!  Thank you so, so much!!  We love and miss you guys!

Hudson Flashback: 1st Dr.'s appointment

I also found this one:  Hudson's 1st picture with Eli (Eli's so black that you can hardly see him--just his eyes glowing!).  Eli just wanted lay on Hudson's blanket---he could always find the softest spot in the house!

Oh and here's a collage I made:

2 Man Band

Papa and Gigi gave Hudson a harmonica for his birthday.  It is upstairs in his bedroom so he decided to play a pretend harmonica and he asked Daddy to back him up with the drums.  Of course I didn't have the camera ready for their best performance but you can get a good taste of their jam session from the video below:

London: 10-11 weeks

Future ballerina:

Princess London after her spa treatment:

Watch out Hudson...I'm also going to be a boxer!

Here are a couple videos of London smiling and trying to talk to us...that's about all she does right now but we love it.  : )

oops!  I forgot I can't rotate my video....

Houston Children's Museum

The week before I went back to work we met up with Misti and Carson at the Houston Children's Museum.  We had such a great time!!!  I can't wait to go back!  Hudson and Carson had so much fun playing together and exploring all of the cool things they had to play with!


On our way in, the boys were both drawn to this train right away. 

Next, they were greeted by this super cool, giant robot made out of telephones!  Hudson could have spent an hour in this one spot pretending to talk on phone after phone after phone! 

He soon discovered this scooter and took it for a ride! 

They also had fun playing on this boat and pretended to catch a net full of fish:

They both got to drive this ambulance and the police car next to it:

The diner was one of my favorites!  All of the kids had a great time dressing up like chefs, cooking food, washing dishes, and serving all of the parents sitting at the tables.

After a fun day of playing, we went to grab some yummy Mexican food for lunch.  Thanks to Misti and Carson for a fun playdate!!

London's Photo Shoot

Check out London's pics at: http://web.me.com/lrathwell/Main_Site/Client_Albums/Pages/London.html

Birth announcements will be on their way soon!