Every Day is a HOLLADAY

Real Steel

2012-01-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

Guy's Day Out at the movies:

Jason used a little bribery to snap Hudson out of a naughty spell. For some reason he had been acting up at school a little bit so Jason told him if he could be good for the entire week then he would take him to a movie. Jason had his fingers crossed that Hudson would hold up his end of the bargain because he really wanted to see Real Steel. Hudson was very good so off they went! Hudson was very excited that they also got to eat a hot dog and ice cream while they were there. Jason said the movie was like a robot version of Rocky so he had good reviews.

Pizza With Daddy

2012-01-03T22:13:00.000-08:00

I'm getting there...slowly but surely!! I've got to speed things up with my blog backlog!

Back in the day, Jason used to work at our local Sonic knock-off (I need to ask him what it was called because I can't remember anymore!). They used to make pizzas there and Jason learned the techniques to making some quality pizza crust. Therefore, he is our resident pizza maker! He and the kids had fun making pizzas for dinner one night. I must say, they were pretty delicious!!

Shoes

2012-01-02T19:45:00.000-08:00

This girl is addicted to shoes! If there is a shoe on that is not on someone else's foot, she claims it as her own. She loves the sound of my high heels clicking on the tile.

We were at a friend's pool party and I spent more time returning all of the stolen shoes throughout the day than I did playing in the pool. However, I have to say, there is something terribly cute about a small little girl wearing around grown up shoes!

Blog-a-palooza! Coming soon!

2011-12-30T13:12:00.000-08:00

New Year's Resolution: Catch up on blog!!!

Carson's Birthday

2011-10-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

We met up with The Clifford's to celebrate Carson's birthday (he happens to share a birthday with my brother)! It was so nice to see our friends and Hudson and Carson had a great time playing together in the jungle of bounce houses! London also found a new friend in Kendrah! We love these special friends!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CARSON AND UNCLE JOSH!

Papa's 60th Birthday

2011-10-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

Papa and Gigi came to visit at the end of July so we were able to celebrate Papa's 60th Birthday with him!! We had a variety of decedent cupcakes from Gigi's Cupcake Shop. They were so good! We had to share them all so we could all get a taste of each one.

We played a fierce game of Jenga!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!

Blogging Hiatus Over

2011-09-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

I unintentionally took a hiatus from blogging over the summer. It is officially over! We had a super busy summer and I have been too exhausted to get on the computer once I get home from work so my poor blog has been neglected. I'm not promising to stay caught up (once I get caught up that is) but I'm putting my best foot forward.

It seems like we've been to birthday party after birthday party this summer. This is mostly because I've said "yes" to nearly every invitation the kids received. We didn't get to do much as far as vacations go this summer due to my husband being beyond stressed and tied to work so I thought this would be a fun way to get out and do things with them. However, Hudson became a bit obsessed with parties. He wanted to plan a party at home nearly every night. I think he will be the Hostess with the Mostess when he gets older as he has observed every single thing that takes place at a party and he has mimicked these things at home by throwing his own parties. He even delegates jobs out to all of us! Here we are partaking in Hudson's first party planned all by himself:

We baked cupcakes and grabbed some juice boxes then went up stairs to his room (a.k.a. The Party Room). We had to wash our hand with hand sanitizer just like we did at Pump It Up and the other party places we had been to. Then we laid out a towel and ate our snacks.

We had to wear our party hats of course!

Hudson enjoyed eating only the chocolate frosting part of his cupcake. London didn't hesitate to eat the leftover cake part!

After cake time, Hudson made a Pin the Tail on the Elephant game that we played. Next he cranked up the auto-play music on his keyboard and we danced to some polka music. Good times!

Splashtown

2011-07-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

We went back and forth a million times trying to decide what to do for the 4th of July weekend: Galveston or Sea World, Galveston or Sea World, and we ended up going to Splashtown! It is a water park located very close to where we live and we have never gone. I'm glad we did because it was so much fun and there was so much for both of the kids to enjoy.

Here we are on our way:

First stop, the pirate ship:

Then Hudson and Jason went down their first slide:

Then the kids and I went down a slide London could enjoy...and boy did she!

Then Jason went down this BIG slide!!

Hudson is finally 42' (sniff, sniff) so he was tall enough to go down some of the bigger slides with Jason.

Going in....

Coming out...

Hudson played on this crocodile forever while London napped.

Then it was time to cool down with some ice cream!

Primrose 4th of July Parade

2011-07-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

The kids had their Red, White, & blue parade at school July 1st. I snuck away from work for a bit to go watch. London saw me in the crowd and beelined it over to me!

This is Parker, Hudson's friend Logan's little brother. I thought their firecraker costumes were super cute and worthy of making the post!

Here is Hudson. His class sang Yankee Doodle Dandee.

Astro's Game

2011-07-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

US Oncology treated the company to a game at the Astros on June 11th. They had rented out a big room that was filled with mounds of yummy food and great snacks!! We felt obligated to try a little of everything since it was there and it was free! I don't think I've ever eaten so much junk food in one night: hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken strips, (I did add a little salad to my plate), ice cream, popcorn, crackerjacks, cookies, etc...It was a good night! Both of the kids loved the ballgame!

London's first baseball game!

Happy Birthday To My Mom

2011-07-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

(I'm getting caught up again!)

While we were in OK during Memorial Weekend, we celebrated my Mom's birthday since we wouldn't be with her on her actual birthday. Hudson couldn't wait to put the candles on her cake and sing to her!

Hudson got to go on his first Harley ride with Jason. They just made the circle around the hill on the dirt road. I was nervous the whole time but they were very careful and Hudson loved it...of course.

We brought Hudson's tent so he and Daddy could 'camp' out. They put the tent up and Hudson played inside forever. Then it got dark out and he, Jason, and Gigi looked for shooting stars in the sky. When it was time to go to bed, he said he was done camping and wanted to go sleep inside!! Maybe next time!

The Fly Whisperer

2011-06-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

So on the return trip home from Oklahoma, we stopped over at Tom & Micaela's house again. It was a bit challenging to get Hudson to leave because he was on a mission to catch a fly buzzing around their house. Let me tell you, he was in the zone!!

Then, wouldn't you know it, once we got home there happened to be a fly hanging out in our house. Again, Hudson was determined to catch this fly and make him his friend! To our surprise he accomplished BOTH of these goals!! He caught the fly and carried it around for a few minutes just like he is in the first picture. Then, he set the fly on his arm and amazingly it chose to hang out there and not fly away. It remained on his arm as they walked around the house chatting friendly chatter with each other until London decided she would like to have a turn with the fly. This fly was no dummy! It took off as soon as her little finger began to reach in it's direction!

Since then we have had a pet rollie pollie who Hudson recently informed me is now lost in our house somewhere. (or possibly dead---I have no idea what their lifespan is!) He also had a frog for a night but the boys left it in a bucket outside and sadly and strangely, it was all dried up and dead the next day. Sorry froggy!!! Lesson learned!! We now have a new goldfish, Charlie. So far, things are going well and he has had a much better experience at our house than the rollie pollie and frog.

Look at this proud face! I love it!!!

Grandma & Grandpa Holladay

2011-06-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

The next day, Jason's parents made the journey to Poteau to meet us at Uncle Don and Aunt Carol's house! Hudson was in quite a mood at first because he was extrememly tired. We had really pushed him to his limits with all of the traveling and the late nights. However, his world was turned right-side-up with the magic of a Happy Meal! After all of the lovely happiness was released, he became his usual entertaining self. He broke out his crayons and paper and asked Aunt Carol and Grandpa to draw with him! He also got Grandpa to tell him one of his infamous stories! Then Grandma and Grandpa sang songs with London. We enjoyed our special time with them as we don't get to see them often enough. It always does the heart good to spend time with our families! We love you all!

Family Fun

2011-06-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

After our visit with The Black's, we woke up the next morning and finished our journey up to OK. We spent some time hanging out with my parents, showered, and re-energized so we would be ready for the much awaited Spoons Tourney with my cuzzies! We used to play Spoons during the holidays and I must say it has become quite competitive over the years! However, now that we are all grown up and live in different states, I am sad to say that we rarely get to spend the holidays together anymore. So, we decided to make up for lost time!

We hung around outside for a while and caught up. It was the first time for Hudson and London to meet their cousin Sunny! They had fun swinging and chasing bubbles! Once it started getting dark and the mosquitos came out we decided it was a good time to go inside and get our game on!! Our parents were awesome to help keep the kiddos entertained while we got into competition mode! We did give Londie a big scare when Cassie and I were wrestling over the last spoon. She thought Cassie was trying to hurt me...and maybe she was...hehe, just kidding...it was all in good fun! You must fight till the end for that last spoon!! Good game Cassie! : ) It ended up being Jason and Erika in the finale two with Erika taking this year's Spoons Champion Title! So fun!!!

We had SO MUCH FUN spending some quality time with our family!! Too much time had passed by since we were all last together. Thank you ALL for the unforgettable memories. Love you bunches!!

Memorial Weekend

2011-06-23T14:40:00.000-07:00

We decided to head home to Oklahoma for a visit with our families over Memorial Weekend. On our way up we stopped over at The Black's. We had a great time swimming, catching up, and enjoying much needed time with some of our best friends.

All of our kids had fun splashing around in the water, chasing each other with play swords, and all of the other crazy ways kids find to play.

Micaela had a fun art project for the kids! We made some glow-in-the-dark sidewalk chalk! The kids really enjoyed creating their masterpieces on the driveway and watching them glow!

After all of the traveling and fun, it was time for bed. Hudson and Evan camped out in a tent in the upstairs family room!

Many thanks to Tom, Micaela and family for having us over and for such a great visit!!

Aiden's 1st Birthday

2011-05-10T11:35:00.000-07:00

I finally uploaded pictures off of my camera....

Back on April 9th, (also Aunt Jean's birthday---Happy Birthday Aunt Jean!!) we went to the Moffitt house to help Aiden celebrate his 1st birthday. His room is decorated in a surfer theme so it was only right that his 1st birthday be celebrated with a Luau!! The kids had fun playing with all of the other kids there and Hudson always enjoys the loads of toys Eli and Aiden have in their toy room! Aiden had a delicious Neapolitan flavored cake which was decorated with monkeys and surf boards!

Here's the birthday boy:

I think she's trying to pull out her bow in this picture. I was so excited to have a little girl and put pretty little bows in her hair but she just rips them right out every time! I'm hoping she'll grow out of that soon!

Happy Birthday Aiden! We love you!

Frosty Boaster & Dogbite

2011-05-10T09:26:00.000-07:00

I was sitting outside grilling and watching the kids play when I looked over and noticed this little turtle sleeping behind our flower pot.

Hudson asked if we could keep him. We didn't have anything to keep him in so he spent the night in our bathtub...sadly, probably terrified. The next day, Jason went to PetCo to look for an aquarium for him. However, after talking to the reptile department, he realized keeping a turtle is A LOT of work. More work than we would like to take on at this point. So instead, he brought home a box for him and we turned it into a temporary home. Hudson named him Frosty Boaster Holladay and we kept him for one week before letting him go to live in our backyard again.

Our next temporary pet was Dogbite Holladay (another excellent name by Hudson...he has a gift.). Dogbite was (is) a chameleon that Hudson caught after returning home from the grocery store on Mother's Day. He saw it sunbathing on our fence he surprised himself when he reached down and caught it on the first try. I truly don't think I've EVER seen him this proud of himself. He began shouting, "I caught my first lizard!! I caught my first lizard!!" He had the absolute biggest smile on his face and I think it was there all night long. I'm sure he even dreamed of lizards when he was sleeping that night. In a bargaining attempt with his Dad the following morning, Hudson managed to talk Jason into letting him take the lizard to school in exchange for letting him go when he came home that day. I'm betting the school wasn't especially pleased when they came walking in to class with a lizard in a jar but the kids loved it and Hudson was truly proud. We he came home that evening he went to let the lizard go but the lizard was content hanging out with Hudson. Hudson kept telling us that Dogbite loved him and they were buddies! They walked around together all evening until it was time to eat dinner and say goodnight.

Easter Day 2011

2011-05-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

We colored our eggs the night before Easter and left them out for the Easter bunny to hide.

Then we woke up and Hudson found his and London's Easter baskets! They had fun going through them and checking out all of their goodies.

Then it was time to head outside and find all of the eggs!

We spent some time going through all of the eggs. Then we ate breakfast, got cleaned up, and went to church.

After church, we ate some lunch, took a nap, and went swimming!

Kemah

2011-05-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before Easter, we took a trip to Kemah! We went early so it was not crowded at all when we arrived. The temperature was perfect and the ocean breeze kept us from getting too hot as we waited in line at the rides. Our first stop was the Ferris Wheel!! Hudson and Jason went as London and I stood back and took pictures.

Here is London watching Hudson and Daddy go around and around on the ferris wheel:

Next we rode the carousel:

After the carousel, we rode the airplanes.

Then it was time to fill up our bellies and enjoy watching the fish at the Aquarium:

By the time we had finished lunch the crowd had grown exponentially. We rode a couple more rides and then called it a day! A great day!

School Egg Hunt

2011-05-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

The Thursday before Easter was the egg hunt at school! The kids had been busy making their egg baskets all week and were eager to fill them up!

I arrived in time to capture a couple pictures of all the eggs left by the Easter bunny that would soon be snatched up in a matter of seconds!

I went into London's class first and they told me the big kids would be going first. I took London with me to go watch Hudson so she could learn how this egg hunting thing is done!

Hudson's class was all lined up at the door with their baskets in hand! The were ready!!! They couldn't wait to see all of the eggs waiting for them on the other side of the door.

Since Hudson has been so good at school, he has been made the official door holder and he is very proud of that job. He had to hold the door for everyone else as the went outside to start gathering eggs. If it had been me, I would have been all upset that everyone else was getting a headstart. Not Hudson. He was proud to do his job!

Then he was off!! However, I have to say, he was not the most aggressive egg gatherer. He was more concerned about finding the perfect egg to give to London! He found her a big pink Dora egg. What a sweet brother! I kept trying to tell him not to check out each egg but to grab as many as he could!

He started grabbing faster once he realized how quickly all of the eggs were disappearing!

Then it was London's turn and she did learn by watching Hudson! She also wanted to check out each egg and see what was inside before moving on to the next one. Once she opened one up she would, in true London fashion, quickly and sharply throw it into the bag and move on.

It didn't take her long to get distracted by the treehouse and decide it would be more fun to play than pick up eggs and put them in a bag.

It was a fun egg hunt and I think I enjoyed watching the kids as much as they enjoyed being outside and hunting Easter eggs!

Yay! A box from Papa & Gigi!

2011-05-10T08:02:00.000-07:00

The Wednesday before Easter, we came home and Hudson noticed a box on our doorstep. I told him I bet it was his box of Easter goodies from Papa & Gigi!! He was so excited. He unbuckled his seatbelt as I was still pulling into the garage and he must have felt a little worried because he started explaining why he did it and that he knew we weren't on the road anymore. As soon as I turned the car off he opened his door and ran to the front door to get the box.

We opened the box as soon as we got inside! It was full of yummy chocolates, fun little toys, and some very cute Easter outfits for each of the kids. They were both thrilled! It was nice for me too because it kept them both entertained the entire time I cooked dinner! Thank you Papa & Gigi!! We love you!

Kindergarten?!?!

2011-05-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

I was not at all prepared to open up an envelope and read this announcement. Because Hudson misses the cut-off age for public school Kindergarten, I thought I had an entire year before I had to think about this. However, Primrose's Private Kindergarten has a cut-off date of December 1st (as noted below) so Hudson can begin their Kindergarten program this year if we choose to do so.

Jason and I attended the Kindergarten Roundup meeting with lots of questions, hesitations, and maybe a little bit of excitement...after all, Kindergarten is quite a milestone. We sat in the back of the class and observed the teacher, the kids, and the routine of it all. It was most entertaining to say the least! Mrs. Bell is a wonderful teacher with a disposition meant for a Kindergarten teacher. All of the kids shined with their individual personalities that were made so apparent in the short twenty minutes we observed them. I think they left me with a permanent grin the entire time. We were thoroughly impressed that all of the kids were able to read and spell. We were told the kids, depending on each individual's progress, would finish the year being able to read between a 1st grade to 3rd grade reading level. We were impressed. We have pretty much decided to go ahead and enroll Hudson in the program. However, he will attend Kindergarten twice so he will not enter 1st grade as the youngest kid in the class. There is a HUGE difference between a 5 yr old and a 6/7 yr old so we do not want him to compete with kids that much older than him throughout the rest of his school years. I guess we should have planned his birthday a little better! ; )

On a similar note, Jason recently put a great learning game on his iPad for Hudson to play. However, we were both quite shocked at how good he was at it. It had adding and subtracting which he aced! It also had sections where it would ask him to find words such as "the" or "ran" and he knew every single one of them!! It also had him complete the spelling for words like "cat" or "jug" and again, he knew every one! We realized that all of that money we begrudgingly shovel into this school is paying off. Yay Primrose! Yay Hudson! However, he knows he is smart and is constantly telling us, "(he doesn't say 'duh' but his tone does) I already know that". I'm sure this is a precursor to the teenager years.

Jam-packed Saturday

2011-05-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

Back on April 2nd, Primrose Sterling Ridge celebrated it's 10 year anniversary. They hosted a Spring Fling as a fundraiser for two of the foundations the school donates to and it also served as a celebration for the big 10 year mark. After Hudson went to his first day of swimming lessons, we headed over to the school to join the fun!

We were greeted by a big firetruck and the firemen let Hudson climb on board and explore.

This was also the day the school revealed it's new splash pad!!! During the hot summer months, each class will have a designated day they will get to have fun splashing around outside on the super cool splash pad! All of the kids had a blast playing on this! (I had not gotten London a bathing suit yet so I just stripped her down to her diaper!) On the opposite side of the school, they had snow brought in for the kids to play in!! There were different games and activities set up all over the school campus. They had fun music, vendor booths and even pizza from Russo's New York Pizzeria (which Katia's parent's own). It was a really great time!! The school teachers and staff truly out did themselves!! I LOVE this school!!

Here is Hudson decorating a yummy cookie with some chocolate icing and sprinkles:

While we were there, Cameron's Dad invited us to go to the Muddy Trails Bash at the Rob Fleming Park where he would be serving up crawfish with his trademark seasoning Spice 'n Ice. We ran home, dried off and reloaded our snacks/drinks and headed to the park. It was a really fun crawfish fest with booth after booth of free, all-you-can-eat crawfish. They had some good Zydeco music that Hudson and London couldn't resist dancing to and Hudson enjoyed playing with his buddies on the playground. I took London for a walk and we found this beautiful bluebonnet hill so I tried to snap some quick pictures. (I later schedule professional pictures for this spot 2 weeks later and almost all of the bluebonnets were dead since we've had no rain...hopefully we still got some good shots with the few stragglers we hoovered around.)

Some local firemen had a booth next to Cameron's Dad's and one of them spent at least an hour playing with Hudson and a few crawfish!

After the crawfish festival, we rushed home so I could take a super quick shower and meet up with some of my friends for a mom's night out. When I returned home, this is how I found the boys:

We had a fantastic day but I don't think we could have possibly squeezed in anything else into one day!!

Easter Bunny 2011

2011-04-14T17:35:00.000-07:00

Hudson was very excited to learn the Easter Bunny would be visiting his school for a photo op. However, he seemed a teensy bit less excited when I picked him up after school. I realized why when he asked me if there was a person inside the Easter Bunny at school. I could tell he knew the truth so I had to fess up and come up with a quick explanation. I can't remember my exact response but I kept it simple and to the point. He seemed very satisfied with what I said and looked forward to future Easter Bunny encounters. This boy is too smart! I never questioned these things as a kid. I happily accepted the fact that the world was full of magical people and creatures that would visit me and leave fun surprises for me to enjoy throughout the year!

London, on the other hand, is not a fan of the Easter Bunny at all just yet but I know she will love filling her basket with eggs when it is time for the egg hunt!

I like, my friend, Beth's interpretation of the Easter Bunny picture: It's like he's saying, "I'm right here. Just smile, and it will be over soon!"

So many questions, not enough answers...Here are a handful of questions I have received from Hudson regarding the Easter Bunny.

1. Where does the Easter Bunny live? I mean I know Santa lives at the North Pole, does the Easter Bunny live there too?
This is the most plausible answer I found: The Easter Bunny lives in a very deep hole in the ground (also called a burrow) which cannot be reached by humans. The exact location of the Easter Bunny's home is top secret, classified information. This is to protect the Easter Bunny's massive stockpiles of colored eggs, jelly beans and chocolate bunnies.

2. Does the Easter Bunny bring me lots of toys?

3. Does the Easter Bunny talk? (He remembered taking pictures with the Easter Bunny last year and he noticed the Easter Bunny had a mouth that didn't move.)

4. Does the Easter Bunny have a tongue?

5. Will the Easter Bunny be hiding the eggs at my school too? (I'm not sure how to explain multiple visits from the Easter Bunny but I'm sure I will come up with something once I commit to thinking about it!)

I felt unprepared with all of these questions so I did what any mom would do and I scoured the internet for answers. I came across some interesting Easter Bunny facts:

The Easter Bunny was introduced to the United States by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 18th century. The arrival of the Osterhase was considered one of "childhood's greatest pleasures", similar to the arrival of Kris Kringle on Christmas Eve. According to the tradition, children would build brightly colored nests, often out of caps and bonnets, in secluded areas of their homes. The "Oschter Haws" would, if the children had been good, lay brightly colored eggs in the nest. As the tradition spread, the nest has become the manufactured, modern Easter basket, and the placing of the nest in a secluded area has become the tradition of hiding baskets. (So the Germans are responsible for Kris Kringle and the Easter Bunny!)

Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of antiquity. Since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox.

In case you ever wondered...

2011-04-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

An interesting study that caught my eye on CNN.com:

Best to worst combinations of siblings, according to British web site Bounty.com:
1. Two girls
2. One boy and one girl

After two girls, the second most satisfactory combination of children was one boy and one girl. 86% of parents with one of each gender said they would honestly say their children were friends. Parents of one girl and one boy also commented that they rarely argue over toys, belongings and who can have what. Our report found one of each gender can also be reasoned with easily, making it easy for mums and dads to quickly sort out problems. The only downside of having a boy and a girl was a lack of shared interest as they grow up.

3. Two boys
4. Three girls
5. Three boys
6. Four boys
7. Two girls and one boy
8. Two boys and one girl
9. Three boys and one girl
10. Three girls and one boy
11. Two boys and two girls
12. Four girls
I also received the following in an email the same day I read this article. They are not directly related but both have to do with having children so included them on the same post!

I have heard on many occasions that pregnancy is really 10 months instead of 9 months. This comment never made sense to me but I never had the gumption to sit down and think the math through. I'm glad someone else did the thinking for me!

This turned into a topic of conversation over coffee. Please see below:
I repeat for the record…women are amazing in their ability to go through this and on behalf of all men, I thank you all.

Ladies,

First let me say that I have great respect for all women who have suffered through the miracle of child birth.

Now…the average human gestation is 40 weeks. Including leap years, the average number of weeks in a month = 4.3482142857142857142857142857143.
(365.25 ÷ 12 ÷ 7)
40 ÷ 4.3482142857142857142857142857143 = 9.1991786447638603696098562628337

I’ll allow for the rounding up to 9.2 months.
9.2 is closer to 9 than it is to 10.

Let The Sun Shine!

2011-04-13T09:16:00.000-07:00

We have all been enjoying the longer, sunny days of spring time! There is actually still plenty of time to play outside when we get home from work/school during the week.

Here are the kids enjoying their little playset in our backyard:

Shoe Obsession

2011-04-13T09:12:00.000-07:00

London has developed a little obsession with Hudson's shoes. She has always loved shoes but she really loves Hudson's shoes. If she sees one of his shoes laying around, she will quickly remove her shoes, put his on, and clumsily walk around with big smile on her face. Every now and then she will try ours on but she definitely prefers her big brother's!

Hudson's 1st Swim Lessons

2011-04-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hudson started taking swim lessons this month at FINS and loves it! I can't believe how much he has learned in only two short sessions. His coach, Coach Marcos, is an excellent teacher. There are only a total of 3 kids in his class so they get a lot of one-on-one time. The first day, he had the kids practice falling in the pool, swimming to the side, and pulling themselves out. Hudson told me his coach would say, "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!", and they would have to fall in! He also learned to swim and float on his back. His coach taught him the proper stroke by saying, "airplane (arms straight out), soldier (move arms down to your side), then tickle, tickle (move your hands up to your armpits)." It worked! He hasn't forgotten anything the coach has told him! He has learned to blow little bubbles out of his mouth when his face is in the water and he is doing great at holding his breath and swimming underwater.

He is so excited about his swim goggles too! I think he wore them for the entire 1st day he had them. Jason was a little embarrassed when Hudson insisted on wearing them when they went into a store too! As you can see below, he also likes to wear them in the bath tub so he can see during his underwater missions!

Travis' Dairy Farm Birthday Party

2011-04-01T21:42:00.000-07:00

Another birthday party we always look forward each year is Travis'! I told his mom she is one of my creativity idols!! I always wonder how she will out-do herself each year! I really didn't think last year's painting party could have been topped but I think she trumped it with the dairy farm party. Her family owns the Seber Dairy farm which is about 5 miles from our house. It couldn't have been a more perfect day to spend outside enjoying the country life. I had just as much fun as all of the kids!

The party started out by everyone picking a basket out of a feeding trough as they arrived. Then we all filled our baskets with fresh strawberries that we picked out of the garden! Yummy!!

Hudson was thrilled that a lady bug landed on his finger!

They had all sorts of baby birds out for the kids to hold and pet: baby chicks, baby ducks, & a baby goose. Hudson's absolutely favorite part of the day was the baby chicks. He couldn't get enough of them! He was so gentle. Actually, he was so worried that he might hurt one of them that he couldn't bring himself to be aggressive enough to catch one. I would scoop them up and put them in his hands and he would fall in love with each one. He kept asking me why they didn't have names. He wanted to name one Fuzzy. When he would put them down, he was always sure to place them by their food in case they were hungry or thirsty. He's always so thoughtful!

He got to pet a bunny:

He got to feed a calf with a bottle of milk:

He and the rest of the kids had endless fun playing in this trough full of corn kernels:

Then it was time to tour the farm on a hay ride!

After all of that playing, it was time to enjoy some yummy food, eat cupcakes, break the pinata, and fill up our awesome goody bags:

We had so much fun on the farm helping Travis celebrate his 4th birthday! Poor London had to stay home with Daddy because she has been teething and took an extra long nap that day.

Primrose Spring Bonnet Parade 2011

2011-04-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

Primrose held their annual Spring Bonnet Parade. The kids all make "bonnets" and wear them while they sing songs and parade through the school for the parents to see. The kids are always so cute and entertaining to watch.
Here comes London:

Here is Hudson singing Little Bunny Foo Foo (they had more of a head band rather than a hat):

These bonnets made me laugh out loud!! This is Mrs. Anderson's creativity at work!

I thought these were really cute:

Some buzzy bees:

Hudson's class (a lot of the kids were out on spring break):

Reed & Isabella's birthday

2011-04-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

We always look forward to going to Reed and Isabella's birthday party each year. This year it was at the park in Carlton Woods. Isabella's part of the party was a Tinker Bell theme and her teacher from Primrose was dressed as Tinker Bell. Silvia, their mom, had some of her friends' daughters dress up as the rest of the Tinker Bell's fairy friends. They danced around all of the little girls and sprinkled fairy dust on them! Then the girls got to participate in a dance contest. It was so much fun to watch. I know I would have been in little girl heaven if I had been at this party when I was 4!! (I have started to take mental notes at each party that I go to and this year I am totally recruiting some of the teachers to help out at Hudson and London's party!!)

Reed's part of the party was a Star Wars theme. Obi-wan Kenobi and Darth Vader were there. They did a fun show but I think they forgot they were talking to little sponges! They told the boys the word of the day was 'narcissist' while describing Darth Vader. Not that narcissist is necessarily a bad word but it is not a word I would like my child to use in his vocabulary on a regular basis. Also, his take home message from Darth and Obi-wan, was "Good girls like bad boys". Then his follow up question was, "Mama, if good girls like bad boys...what do boys like?". I think these Star Wars geeks may have been a little bitter. Geez. It was still a great time though and the kids had a blast!!!

Bird House

2011-04-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

The first nice spring-like weekend we were outside cleaning up all of the dead plants and pulling weeds when I decided to fill up the bird feeder. After a couple of days, birds of all types were swarming our feeder! There were also some beautiful tropical looking birds that stopped by to feast on the birdie buffet. Hudson loved watching the birds from the window and tried very hard to give them all fantastic names. He told us he wanted to build them a bird house that looked like a robot. Jason had promised him several months before that they would build a bird house so he decided it was time to follow up on that promise. Althougth the bird house was not in the shape of a robot, they still had a great time building it and they did a wonderful job! I'm sure the birds will love it!

Busy Builders:

TGR Exotics

2011-04-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

We met up with Terrie, Jeramy, Eli, & Aiden for a fun day at TGR Exotics. A work friend of mine told me about this place about a year ago and we finally decided to follow through with going. We looked it up online and realized it is basically just down the road from where we live. All of this time we never realized we had an exotic animal zoo 5 minutes away from our house! It was SO cool and we had a GREAT time seeing the awesome animals and hanging out with our awesome friends! The people that work there are fantastic! They are very knowledgeable about the animals and they are very good with children. During the fall, they have a pumpkin patch where the kids can paint pumpkins, go on hayrides, roast hot dogs & make s'mores, and go on camel rides! You can also book birthday parties there which includes all of that stuff for the birthday party so I foresee this being a future party spot for Hudson and London!! Terrie & Jeremy have already booked it for Eli!! Yay!

We started out by getting to pet some potbelly pigs and a kangaroo. The kangaroo was a rescue and was missing one of its feet but you would never know. I didn't realize until it was pointed out because she moved around so well. She was so sweet and so incredibly soft.

Here is a small array of some of the other animals we saw:

(I forget with this thing is called but it is basically a giant guinea pig!)

Here are Hudson and London petting the potbelly pigs:

Up close and personal with an adorable kangaroo!

I like to move it, move it! A ring-tailed lemur:

Up close and not-so-personal with a beautiful Tiger:

A cute little anteater:

Some fun videos:

Kids...

2011-03-16T14:22:00.000-07:00

"Kids are definitely the boss of you. Anyone who will barge into the room while you are on the commode is the boss of you. And when you explain to them that you're on the commode and that they should leave but they don't? That's a high-level boss." ~Tina Fey

We made some brownies...licking the spoon is always the best part!

I forgot to mention a couple months ago that Hudson graduated to a booster seat in our cars as of January:

London has had a few more teeth come through the past week. Her bottom right tooth (next to the front 2), her upper left tooth (next to the top front 2), and her upper right molar. Poor thing! No wonder she wanted to hit and bite! She now has a total of 8 teeth poking through.

Here she is saying, "Cheese!":

Putt-putt with Gigi

2011-03-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

My Mom decided to come down and hang out with us for a few days! While she was here, I realized my Groupon for Shankz was about to expire so we went and played some indoor, blacklight putt-putt! The ballblaster game was also included on my groupon so we started out with that. Then we had fun putting our balls through the mouths of sharks, around gorillas, and under sunken pirate ships!

I happened to leave my new iPhone out in the rain over night so went spent an unfortunate amount of Sat. morning dealing with that. However, it may have turned out to be devine intervention...we'll soon see!

We have a small little sand pit on the edge of our patio left over from when it was poured not too long ago. As the sunny days have driven the kids to play outside, they soon discovered this small treasure! I mentioned it to my mom so she brought some sand toys for them to play with. You wouldn't believe how much fun this tiny spot of sand has supplied.

Attitude

2011-03-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

We have a fiesty one on our hands! Ms. London has got some attitude!! She is a little parrot and copies EVERYTHING!! I gave her "the look" for the first time back around Christmas time and ever since, she will give it right back!! She has learned that it gets lots of laughs so most of the time she just does it to make us giggle. We love her and her big personality. : )

Lips pursed and hands on the hips:

London's 1st Time Out (Feb. 27th)

2011-03-09T14:45:00.000-08:00

Lately, we've noticed London's choice method of expressing her anger is by hitting. She gets so mad when she doesn't get her way and she hits anything and everything. She and I were in the grocery store one day and she was mad because my hands were on the cart. Of course my hands had to be there so I could push the cart but she just wasn't having it. She tried to hit me several times and she became so angry that I was dodging her hits that she decided to bite her arm instead. So we decided it was time for a little intervention and some anger management and put her in her very 1st Time Out. (She knew exactly how it worked after watching Hudson so many times!)

A Plug For My Daddy-O

2011-03-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

My Dad is an amazing artist but he and his talents are tucked away in the mountains of Oklahoma with little exposure. His speciality is doing portraits of people because he loves to connect with the people he paints/draws. However, he can really do anything, with any media. He always goes that "Step Beyond" with all of his work and the end product is always so life-like that you feel like you could reach out and touch the person. You will be amazed! Please take a moment to check out his website when you have the time and don't hesitate to contact him if you are in the market for some excellent artwork!

www.georgebramlett.com/

Valentine’s Day

2011-03-01T14:28:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Valentine's Day this year! It started off on the Friday before with a fun package arriving on our doorstep from Papa & Gigi!! Hudson was so excited to open it up and show London what was inside! I know a lot of kids don't really care to much about cards but Hudson loves them and makes sure I read each card multiple times to him. So he started off with handing me the card that was for Jason and I. He waited to continue digging in the box until I was done reading it. Then he found some things that had his name on them! He got lots of fun things to do art with. He is VERY into art right now and wants to make art for someone every night. There was a book full of stickers so we were all covered in stickers before leaving for work/school for the day! Next, he found London's gifts and was so sweet to show them to her and help her open them. London got a super cute Mommy & Me book and a magnetic paper doll set! I have fun playing with that myself!

Saturday night, Primrose had a Parent's Night Out so all of the Mommy's and Daddy's could enjoy a Valentine's Date Night! Hudson was very excited to have a pizza, movie, & pajama party with his friends at school! Jason and I started the night out on the roof top of a wine bar called Crush. It overlooks the Waterway dancing fountains and the cityscape. After enjoying a tasty glass of wine and some good conversation, we went to Guri do Sul to stuff ourselves with yummy Brazilian food! We had a great, much needed, evening together!!

On Valentine's Day, Hudson and London had a party at school. They exchanged Valentine's with their friends and teachers. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of their Valentine's as usual because I was up too late trying to get everything finished in time! Hudson gave out Ironman cards that came with magnets and we attached lollipops to them. London had Disney Princess cards and I attached homemade baby friendly lollipops to them (made out of baby washcloths and baby spoons).
When we came home on Valentine's Day, we gave the kids our little gifts of love to them. We got Hudson a little heart filled with chocolates and the old version of Alice and Wonderland. Unfortunately, he's not too fond of the old animation and music on the movie but he loved the chocolate! Maybe London will like Alice when she gets a little bigger! We got London a really good book about rainbows and colors. She was thrilled with her gift because she is VERY into books right now! She also liked dancing to the music from her card.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of my Sweeties!

London

2011-02-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

At London's 15 month check up back on Jan. 26th, Dr. John asked how many words she can say. I thought about it and as I tried to quickly tally them up in my head, I realized she knows too many to count! I told him that and he asked how many real words she can say. I said if I had to guess I would say 20 or more but she'll also repeat just about anything you ask her to. Her teachers told me she can talk better than most of the kids in the toddler class! I'm going to try to think of all of her words right now and see how close I was:

Dada, Mama, Gigi, Papa, Bubba or Son (Hudson), She knows all of her friends names at school, Thank You, Peek-a-boo, Uh-oh (spaghetti-o's), Baby, Sorry, Hi, Hello, Bye-bye, More, Bath, Help, Up, Milk, Cracker, Paci, Bubble, Kitty, Duck, Fish, Ladybug, All done, Hot, Clap, Poo-poo (she sometimes tells us when she goes), Apple, Banana, Eye, Ear, Nose, Teeth, Mouth, Hair, Belly Button, Shoes, Socks, Ball, Book, No, Yah, Yay, Pretty, Silly, Yummy (she says 'Me!'), eewwww (not sure if that's really a word but she uses it correctly), Cheese (when taking a picture), Help, Good morning, Excuse me, What's that?, Knock Knock, Outside, Amen!...I'm sure there are lots more that I'll have to add to this list as I think of them.

She also knows the following signs:

more, all done, milk, hungry, hot, bath, help, thank you/you're welcome, fish, elephant, Ball, Book, no/yes

She can make the following animal sounds:

cat (meow), dog (woof, woof), monkey (ooo, ooo), elephant (brrrrrr, while raising her arm like a trunk), lion (growl), snake (ssssss), rooster (cock-a-doodle-doo), Bee (bzzzz), pig (oink oink), cow (moo)

She sings/signs parts of the following songs:

Itsy Bitsy Spider, Patty Cake, Row Your Boat and she sings back-up to Jason's Huddy Buddy song, and she can say a lot of the Primrose Prayer

She has been working on getting some new teeth since the beginning of January. One of her top teeth next to the top right front tooth has officially broken through. She has a molar, the top left tooth, and a bottom tooth that are about to break through as well. She has lots of others that are right behind them so I know the poor, sweet girl has to be in lots of pain.

This little girl is a sponge and watches Hudson very intently. She snached his spoon before I put her in her chair and she refused to give it back. She decided it was time for her to stop using her fingers to eat and to start using utensils. She was very messy but very determined and somehow manged to get the job done!

Jason’s 36th Birthday

2011-02-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

January 26th was Jason's 36th birthday! We had fun decorating with some balloons before he woke up!

Hudson was very excited to give him his gift: new cologne. However, London turned out to be Jason's favorite person of the day when she discovered an uncashed check (which she had taken a bite out of) and helped him decide to splurge for a new iPad. So we returned his cologne since he wasn't especially fond of it (and would have rather had an iPad) and we headed to the mall.

We grabbed some lunch at the food court and went for a ride on the carrousel! Then I took the kids to play in the play area while Jason bought his iPad.

After our shopping venture, we went home and ate some ice cream cake from Cold Stone! It was sooooo yummy!! It was layered with birthday cake ice cream and red velvet cake...mmmmmm! Jason isn't a big fan of birthday cake but he does like ice cream cake!

Hudson always makes sure we are wearing our party hats for every special occasion!!

Happy Birthday Jason!!!

The Best Big Brother EVER

2011-02-22T14:35:00.000-08:00

Hudson truly is the best big brother ever!! He takes such good care of London. He watches out for her to make sure she is always safe. He reads to her and sings to her. He shares everything with her: toys, food, whatever! He knows I always cut up her grapes before giving them to her so if he is eating some, he'll take a big bite and give her what is left so she won't choke on it and he can still share it. However, she has become almost like a little puppy dog to him and comes up to him signing and saying "more, more!". He is always good to ask if it is okay for her to eat something before sharing it with her. He loves to try and teach her new words or how to do new things. If her teeth are hurting, he will run to the freezer and get her teething rings out. He likes to help change her diapers and put lotion on her. He always tells her he loves her and gives her lots of kisses and hugs. And she is exactly the same way with him.

Hudson loves London so much that he told me he wanted another baby! On the way home the other day, he told me he wants to have 2 babies. However, he told me he wants the next baby to be a boy and he wants to name him Horsey Tree Horse!! And I thought Hudson and London were unique names! : )

We are seriously blessed to have two amazingly sweet children!!

Magnolia & Caleb’s Birthday Party

2011-02-18T14:48:00.000-08:00

On Jan. 16th, we went to Magnolia & Caleb's Dr. Seuss themed birthday party!

Here is the birthday girl (I had to catch her on the run b/c she was busy having lots of fun!):

And here is the birthday boy (aka London's boyfriend--they are only 6 wks apart), he LOVED his cupcake!!!

Hudson and London also enjoyed some of the delicious birthday cupcakes!

And London and Caleb enjoyed some time hanging out and playing with the fridge magnets:

London absolutely loved the green balloon she and Hudson got to take home and of couse Hudson enjoyed his juice box:

Bath Time!

2011-02-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

London and Hudson love taking baths together. London will grab the wash cloth and wash off Hudson's back, grab the rinsing bucket and rinse him off, then give him little love pats. She knows the routine: each night as soon as she's done eating she will say "bath" and give me the sign for bath. She has also learned to say bubble and loves to play in the bath bubbles with Hudson.

Christmas Eve

2011-02-08T14:47:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve...the long wait for Santa to visit is almost over!! boo. I am always so sad when the Christmas season is over. It is such a fun, cheerful time of year!

I caught Hudson in imagination land having a good chat with Santa:

A few of these pictures are pre-Christmas Eve...Hudson took a picture of us so we could use it for our Christmas cards. I am always the picture taker so we never have pictures of us together!

Here is Hudson hanging the candy canes on the tree:

And here is London swiping them off!!

We had a yummy Christmas Eve dinner. The power kept going off so we ended up enjoying a lovely candle light dinner! We were actually kind of sad when the power came back on because it was so nice just having the candle light.

Here is Hudson putting out his cookies and milk for Santa!!

Here is the same plate after Santa enjoyed his cookies and milk! Isn't this plate cute?!? Both Hudson and London got to make them as a fundraiser at their school. I didn't get London's back until after Christmas so we'll get to use hers next year!

Christmas Day!

2011-02-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

It is almost Valentine's Day (by the way, I hope everyone is staying warm in all of the snow storms out there!) and I am finally getting around to posting our pictures from Christmas! I am actually at work, on my lunch hour and these are the pictures I uploaded to my work computer a long time ago. I'm sure I have lots more to go through at home or on my camera so I'm sure there will be more Christmas time posts in the near future.

Here is a picture of our tree after Santa visited! (Emily, just so you know, we did not re-gift the wagon you gave Hudson! It was already by the tree from being played with throughout the day so Santa filled it with gifts!)

Hudson really wanted to leave Santa and his Elves a gift since they were nice enough to bring him gifts. He colored them a picture and we wrapped it up! Here is Santa's 'thank you' letter for his gifts.

Time to open presents!!!

London discovered bubble wrap!!

Here is Hudson checking out what he had in his stocking:

Jason trying his hand at the Barrel of Monkeys game (I have to say, I'm pretty good at this game!):

My beautiful Mommy! She always makes everything so special for everyone!

Hudson playing with his new Space Station.

He is thinking, "I LOOOOVVVVEEE CHRISTMASSSSSSS!!!!":

London playing with her first doll house. She was all about it!

Here she is modeling her new headband and playing with her shape elephant (she is surprisingly good at getting the shapes into toys like this!)!

My Daddy-o! I teased him because his job was to pick up the wrapping paper and open all of the toys from their crazy packaging...and he was very serious about it! No piece of wrapping paper could be on the floor for longer than 2 seconds! hehe! Love you! : )

And finally, FASTER than a speeding bullet! More POWERFUL than a locomotive! Able to LEAP tall buildings in a single bound! LOOK! Up In The Sky! It's a BIRD! It's a PLANE! It's SUPERMAN! If Jason read the blog he would probably kill me for posting this picture. But he doesn't so...post away I go! haha!! He LOVES his new Superman jammies! He has been envious of all of Hudson's super hero jammies so I found him some of his own!!

Christmas Carols by Hudson

2011-02-07T10:15:00.000-08:00

Sorry, you'll have to tilt your head again!!

Katia's Birthday Party

2011-01-12T10:20:00.000-08:00

Before the Monster Jam, we squeezed in Katia's birthday party. This was a day full of fun for Hudson! Katia's party was at Pump It Up so Hudson got to have fun jumping and sliding with all of his friends. Jason picked him up early so they could head downtown in time to hang out with the trucks before the race started so Hudson had to miss out on pizza and cake. I don't think he minded too much since he got to eat lots of junk food at the Monster Jam.

Monster Jam!

2011-01-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

I still have lots of Christmas pictures to go through and up load but until then...here are the pictures from Monster Jam!!

Jason and Hudson joined Dennis and Carson at the Monster Jam downtown. They had pit passes so they got to go down to the trucks and take pictures. Hudson's favorite was Grave Digger (since it was green) and Grave Digger won the race! Jason's favorite was Superman. They had a great time! Hudson talked about it day in and day out.

Christmas Cookies

2011-01-10T10:14:00.000-08:00

Papa & Gigi arrived on Dec. 22nd to celebrate Christmas with us! I took the day off to get some last minute things done and hang out with my kids. Hudson had the hardest time waiting for Papa & Gigi to arrive. He kept asking why they have to live so far away.

He was so happy when they pulled into our driveway!! He couldn't wait to greet them with a big hug and show them his elves, Snowflake and Lego. Snowflake & Lego were sent by Santa to watch Hudson and report back to Santa if he was naughty or nice. Each night they would leave and go back to the north pole. When they would return to our house, they would find a new place to perch and watch Hudson. He loved looking for them every morning and I would often find him talking to them and telling them he loved them!

Papa & Gigi helped us bake Christmas cookies for Santa!! It didn't take Hudson long to discover how yummy the dough is!

Tis the Season To Be Jolly

2011-01-10T08:39:00.000-08:00

Jude came over and spent the morning with us one day. He and Hudson had a great time playing together. We painted some ceramic snowmen and played with toys. After Jude went back home, we went to Old Town Spring to try and wrap up some of our Christmas shopping. It was a beautiful day for being outside walking around.

Our Little Walker!

2011-01-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

London started taking steps back and forth between Jason and I back on Nov. 6th. We kept practicing with her and she could do it very well but she really didn't have an interest in walking on her own (although she would 'cruise' like nobody's business). Then, on Dec. 17th, our little Londie Lu finally decided she was ready to take off and start walking and boy has she! She LOVES chasing Hudson around the house and so does he. They are nothing but giggles!

I always forget I can't rotate my video so you'll have to watch with your head tilted to the side. I'll get some more video that is the correct direction soon!

Primrose Holiday Program

2011-01-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

Primrose had their annual Christmas program at the school. Hudson has been learning his songs all month and I have really enjoyed listening to him practice singing them. Everyone has to cram into 2 different classrooms to watch the children perform so it is tough to get a good camera view. I thought I had a good spot until one of the mom's stood up and blocked Hudson. Bummer! Oh well, I have some good videos of him singing his songs at home that I'll post too.

Here he is walking in with his class for their turn to sing:

Getting all lined up and ready:

Their Christmas party after their performance:

Santa Pic 2010

2011-01-10T08:05:00.000-08:00

We took Hudson and London to go see Santa. Hudson was so incredibly excited!! As soon as we walked in, Santa looked right at Hudson, waved and said Hello. Then he let out some fantastic Ho, Ho, Ho's! Hudson was beside himself! It was torture to wait in line and wait for his turn to sit on Santa's lap. With each step we would take forward, he would ask if it was his turn yet. All of that energy turned into an outburst of Chrismas songs. Finally, the long wait was over and Hudson got to run up to Santa, give him a big hug, and climb into his lap. I could tell the experience was very sureal for him. Then we put London on Santa's lap and the terrified crying began!! There were some hilarious pictures of London in her full-blown cry. They were so funny that Santa himself had to get up and look! I kind of regret not spending the $$ to buy one of the really funny pictures of her but we opted to get one where Hudson looked the best. I still think this one is funny because you have London screaming her head off and Hudson as happy as can be!

We quickly rescued London from Santa's lap so Hudson could have some quality time with him. It was so cute because he was holding Santa's hand and he told Santa he wanted a 4x4 truck and a new dog because Eli is dead. (He said it very blunt just like that!) Santa chuckled and asked Hudson if he would like an F150 or an F250. I later had to tell Hudson that Daddy and I wrote Santa a letter to let him know we weren't quite ready for dog and that he already had a nice Jeep to drive around. I didn't want him to be too disappointed on Christmas day when Santa didn't bring him a 4x4 truck or a new puppy.

After our visit with Santa, we walked across the road to Marble Slab and got some yummy ice cream. We let Hudson mix up whatever he wanted and it was pretty delicious!

Thanksgiving with The Black’s

2010-12-27T14:10:00.000-08:00

On the way home we spent the night at Tom & Micaela's house and shared a third Thanksgiving meal with them and their family. They smoked a bunch of mouth watering meats and Tom made the best baked potato salad I've ever had!!

Micaela always has fun gift bags for the kids to enjoy every time we see them. This time she included some silly string!! Hudson had never seen silly string before! He and Evan had lots of fun spraying each other!!

Here is beautiful Chayse in her pretty bathing suit! We got to meet Ms. Karsyn for the 1st time!! Chayse is very snuggly and Jason loved all of her hugs! Unfortunately, London was very sick so I spent most of my time doctoring her and didn't really get to visit much.

The kids got to make yummy s'mores for everyone in the outdoor fireplace! They were soooo good!!

The kids kept asking me to take their picture as they made different silly faces:

After s'mores, the kids got to play in the bath tub and get their jammies on. Then it was time to watch Prep & Landing!!!

They all started out with a slumber party in Chayse's room but Hudson chickened out and asked to come sleep with us. I'm sure Evan & Chayse were happy in the long run since Hudson snores like nobody's business. (He will be visiting the ENT soon to see if we can fix that problem. His future wife will thank us.)

We always enjoy spending time with Tom, Micaela, and family. Thank you for having us over and for helping us out with our sick baby!! Love you guys!!

Thanksgiving with Papa & Gigi

2010-12-27T13:28:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents the day after Thanksgiving. As always, my Mom made an amazing meal! We had a great time playing and visiting. Hudson loved playing with their dogs and was excited to feed them and give them treats.

Jason really wanted to show Hudson around Heavener so we took him up to hike around the Runestone. I can't even remember the last time I was up there. I forgot just how beautiful the view is. I don't know if I've ever really taken the time to look at the Runes and read about them until this trip so I'm really glad we went. We had a lot of fun!

Here are some pictures of Viking Runes found in surrounding areas. The picture of the big Runes are the ones found here on the Runestone Mountain (Although my picture didn't turn out so great).

Here are Jason and Hudson looking for the waterfall that is usually here. Unfortunately it was just a couple drips of water this day.

Sitting on the cliffs and taking in the view:

Having fun on the playground!!

Then back home to warm up and hang out with Papa and Gigi!!

Thank you to my parents for the wonderful Thanksgiving! We are very thankful to have such incredible family and friends. We are truly blessed!

Thanksgiving with the Holladay’s (actually The Collins')

2010-12-27T13:07:00.000-08:00

We headed home to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving this year. We arrived at my parents' house the night before Thanksgiving. Hudson couldn't have been more ready to get there when we did. He was so incredibly tired of sitting for so long. One of the best inventions ever is the travel DVD player! I don't know how parents traveled long distances back in the day. London did pretty well on the trip too!

We spent Thanksgiving day with Jason's side of the family. We went over to Eva's house where she and Sherri, along with the additions everyone else brought, made a fantastic meal. Thank you ladies!!

Hudson was very stand off-ish when we got there because he didn't know anyone. He kept burying his head in my lap or sat in the corner to hide. Plus we had to wake him up from his nap to go over there and that is never a good thing for him. But thank goodness for Tristen's awesome girlfriend! She is fantastic with kids! She sat down next to Hudson and began playing with his toys with him. Before we knew it, he had a new best friend and he was his wild self.

We found out that Josh and his wife had just had a beautiful baby girl 4 days before Thanksgiving. I just realized I didn't get Sherri in any of these pictures...boo!

Unfortunately, Jason's Dad was not feeling well and didn't make the trip down so we didn't get to see him. It was great seeing everyone and catching up though! Love you all!

Movie & Ice Cream

2010-12-27T12:17:00.000-08:00

For Hudson's actual birthday, we took him to the movies to watch Despicable Me, play video games, and eat ice cream!

There was a giant, over night change in Hudson going from 3 years old to 4 years old. He could suddenly do EVERYTHING all by himself. We were no longer allowed to help with ANYTHING (ie buckling his seat belt, zipping/buttoning his coat, opening packages, etc)!! Jason asked him to go upstairs and get his clothes. I gave him "the eye" for being lazy and not wanting to go up stairs with him to pick out his clothes. After a little time had passed, Hudson came downstairs with the proudest look on his face, hands on his hips, and his chest puffed out as he twisted back and forth. He had pulled the stool out of his playroom and put it in his closet so he could reach the shirts off of the hangers. He then took his stool over to his dresser so he could reach his socks out of the drawer. His pants were already at a reachable height, however, he was able to put them on, zip them up, and button them all by himself! He put together a very nice outfit from head to toe (belt & shoes included!). I was impressed and so was he!!

He has been in the "Why?" stage for a good 6 months but now his questions are much more in depth. He is very analytical. He has been asking a lot of well thought out questions about God and Jesus. He has been asking me for definitions of words that he has used for a long time. He has been asking me a lot about blood and bones. He has also been asking me what is deep, deep, deeeeeeep inside of things (ie oranges, bread, blood, etc.) He likes to keep me challenged!!
I took him to the Dr. for his 4 year check up. It was a big one! He had to have a hearing and eye test, his first urine test, and get vaccinations. I thought it was going to be quite a challenge getting a 4 year old to pee in a cup but he didn't spill a drop! However, the vaccinations were much tougher this year since he knew what was coming! We made it through though! London was also with us so she could get her flu shot. She didn't get it at her 1 year check up b/c she had a reaction to eggs one time and we had to re-test her to make sure it wasn't a "true" allergy.

Here are the stats for both of them:
Hudson (11/9/10):
Height- 41.5 inches (75%)
Weight- 37 lbs 8 oz. (50-75%)

London (10/27/10):
Height- 29.5 inches (50-75%)
Weight- 21 lbs 4 oz. (50-75%)

As for Miss London, she is quite the talker and not so much the walker. She started taking steps between Jason and I the week after her birthday. She has the ability to walk but she doesn't have the interest yet. However, she has a very extensive vocabulary for a newly turned 1 year old. Her first word was "Daddy". Soon to follow was "Duck". Finally, she started to say "Mommy". Next was "Thank you!". After that, we were surprised by new word after new word(s). Her teachers can't believe how fast she learns new words. They tell me she learns at least a new word every day and she is like a little parrot! She thinks Hudson is the funniest person on the planet and she tries to do everything he does. She even pushes his trucks on the floor while making truck sounds just like he does. However, she is very much a girlie girl. She loves shoes! She loves clothes (except hairbows---she rips those suckers out and throws them across the room! Sadness.). And she loves babies and other things she can snuggle, rock, and kiss. She already pretends while playing. She is quite the entertainer. She still only has 4 cute little chiclet teeth.

London and Hudson are similar in many ways but they are also very different. I think London is going to be the one who goes to her closet ripping clothes off the hanger and throwing them on the floor until she finds the perfect outfit. I can see her, as a teenager, being frantic in the mornings because she can't find her shoes or one of her earrings in the massive heap of random stuff piled up in her bedroom. Whereas, Hudson will have everything perfectly placed in its spot, a neatly made bed, with his clothes perfectly folded and organized. His clothes will even be wrinkle free and set out the night before. I can visualize him taking just as long as London to get his hair perfectly styled and spiked (or whatever the style will be at that time). I think these differences will be what they will fight over the most! Hopefully, their similar since of humor will allow them to still have fun with each other--as long as they stay out of each others rooms!

Trick or Treat!

2010-12-21T13:02:00.000-08:00

Poor Hudson was so worn out after his big party that he fell sound asleep a couple hours before it was time to go trick-or-treating. I had to struggle to wake him up, get him dressed, energized and ready to go. Ashlee, Jeff, Cailin, and Chase came over to join us for trick-or-treating. Hudson had so many props to take with him! He had his hook, sword, candy bag, and flash light. He liked to holding his candy bag with his hook until it started getting too heavy. He and Cailin had a great time!!

Londiebug crashed as soon as we got back home. Daddy enjoyed some snuggle time with her before offically putting her to bed.

Here is our house lit up with our Halloween decor:

After Party

2010-12-21T10:15:00.000-08:00

Here are some after party pics! One of Hudson's best buddies, Cameron, got him a tent that came with a chair and sleeping bag. We put it up in the tv room upstairs and he camped out. I was so busy at the party that I hardly got any pictures of London in her costume so I snapped away while Hudson took a bath.

Birthday Visit!

2010-12-21T10:10:00.000-08:00

My Mom & Dad came down to celebrate Hudson & London's birthdays with them. Hudson had been on pins and needles for them to arrive. He got to open his birthday presents...and so did London! Tom & Micaela sent presents for London that arrived this same day. Hudson helped teach London how present opening is done!

Hudson & London’s Birthday Party

2010-12-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

Since Hudson and London's birthdays are so close together we decided to celebrate them together with one big Halloween Costume Birthday Party! I made the invitations below to hand out to the kids in Hudson's class.  The party was October 30th so it gave the kids a chance to break in their costumes before Trick-or-Treating!

I had a hard time deciding what to make as a 'goodie bag' since the kids would be getting so much for Halloween the next day. I decided on Carmel Apples. I had never made carmel apples before but I found the little carmel sheets you just warm up and place on the apple and thought it would be quick and easy. Yah, it wasn't so easy. In fact, it was seriously challenging!! None of the goodies I got to stick on the carmel would stick. Who would have thought carmel wouldn't be sticky!!  After many hours of laboring away, we made it work and finished up 40 carmel apples to hand out as our parting gifts!!! Many thanks to my wonderful Mommy for helping! The finished product turned out to look very pretty!

We turned our house into a bit of a haunted house. We also decorated tables outside with fun table cloths and balloons. We had a moonwalk for the kids to jump in. There was also a clown that stopped by to make balloon animals for the kiddos. Here are some of the decorations:

It was so much fun to answer the door as our guests arrived! I LOVED all of the costumes!! There's really nothing cuter than babies and small children in costumes.

Here is baby Chase as a convict with a tear drop tattoo and all!!

His beautiful sister, Princess Cailin.

Here are Misti, Kendra, and Carson Clifford:

Ty & Luke Mitchell:

Beautiful Princess Magnolia:

And her little bro, the Frog Prince (Caleb).   Ashlee & Chase.   Holly & Jack (a.k.a. Charlie Brown)

Dennis & Scooby (Carson).

Hudson is so funny. My Dad did a little face painting and he asked Hudson what he would like to have painted on his face. He asked for an "Ear" of all things so my Dad drew an ear on his forehead!!!

Londiebug and her Daddy:

Isabella the ballerina

Travis: Superman!

Cake time!!! I got cakes that matched Hudson and London's costumes. Our neighbor's daughter, Stephanie, made London's cakes. She made a special 'smash' cake for London but London was to entranced by everyone watching her and was not the least bit curious about the cake sitting in front of her. We were kind of bummed there were no pics of her with frosting all over but I have a feeling birthday #2 will be a different story! I guess a girl has to look good for her party!

Hudson had a pirate ship cake! He also had a spider cake b/c after I saw the lady bug and the ship, it didn't look like there would be enough cake for everyone so I bought a 3rd cake! Jason harrassed me about having 3 cakes and it was too much but I'd rather have too much than too little. I'm new at this! I'm learning!! I took the spider to Hudson's class at school and they LOVED it!

Having fun!! I had lots of games planned but after the kids did the limbo they really wanted to get back to jumping! (It was very entertaining to watch them do the limbo!!) I think the moonwalk was their favorite part! I think most of them never came out of it except to eat some cake.

Presents!!!

We had this backdrop for picture taking!

Thank you to our many guests, friends, & family for helping Hudson & London celebrate their birthdays!! We had so much fun and can't wait for next year's party!!!

7 Acre Wood

2010-12-21T08:58:00.000-08:00

While London and I were in NY, Jason and Hudson went to the 7 Acre Wood for their fall festivities. Hudson got to ride a pony, a tractor pulled train, pet lots of animals, and have lots of fun with his Daddy! They also stopped and got his Halloween costume! Arrr Maties!!

Happy 1st Birthday London!!

2010-12-09T07:34:00.000-08:00

London is ONE!!! I think this has been the fastest year of my life. I don't know how London could possibly be one already. I was so excited when we found out we were having a little girl and she turned out to be more perfect than I could have ever imagined! Her crystal blue eyes catch attention every where we go. Now her little personality is shining through and she is quite the entertainer. She is also quite the talker and has a pretty extensive vocabulary for a 1 yr old. She loves to tease and be teased. She loves music and will sing and dance as soon as she hears a single note. Her dance moves are always on beat and they are not few by any means. She loves her big brother and thinks he is the funniest person on the planet. They have a very sweet brother/sister relationship (hopefully it will keep progressing that way!).

Unfortunately, I had to work on London's birthday (so I thought). I took her into school and we were surprised by her classroom being all decorated for her big day! Her teacher's were all there eagerly awaiting her arrival so they could give her lots of birthday wishes! We took in mini cupcakes for all of the babies (and teachers) to enjoy!

Shortly after I arrived at work, I received a call from the school letting me know Hudson had a stomach virus that was going around and I needed to pick him up. They told me 22 of the 26 kids in his class were out sick with this virus! I decided to leave London at school to keep them separated. I really didn't want her to get a stomach virus on her 1st birthday. But as luck would have it, I received a second call from the school after lunch saying poor little London also had the virus. I went to the school and picked her up and sadly we spent her 1st birthday battling a nasty stomach virus. This virus turned out to be a long lasting virus and I had to stay at home with them almost the entire week! Somehow, probably with my obsessive act of disinfecting everything all day, everyday, I avoided getting it. On top of this, we had a huge birthday party for both Hudson & London planned on Saturday. I had originally planned to take Friday off of work to prepare. Instead, I had to prepare while taking care of two sick kiddos. However, with the help of my parents & Jason we were able to pull it off (party post coming soon)!

Here are London and her teachers at her school party:

Mrs. Anderson: She is fantastic! She was also Hudson's teacher when he was an infant and we became friends during that time. She invited me to go to a scrapbooking class with her which I used to go to once a month until London came along. Hopefully I can start back up before too long! Mrs. Anderson is super duper creative and is extremely thoughtful. I never have to worry if my kids are ok or if they are being loved on during the day because I know she makes sure they are well taken care of!

Mrs. Ewers: She has become very special to London and London has become very special to her. I will never forget when she told me, "I have been around a lot of babies in my time but this one...this one is definitely the sweetest baby I've ever seen!". She made London a very pretty bracelet with London's name on it for her birthday. It fits me now so I told her I will enjoy it until London grows into it and then I promise to pass it down to her. She told me she had to do something special for London's birthday because she is so special to her. One day she asked me if she could be London's adoptive Grandma! And again, I never doubt if my babies are getting enough love and attention at Primrose! Love them!

Ms. McBride: She always lights up when we bring London in and she always greets us with the best smile. I've never seen her when she wasn't happy. She is the one who likes to play with London's hair and she always gives her really cute ponytails!

Ms. Meeks wasn't there when I took the pictures but she is also a wonderful teacher and loves London very much. We are very grateful to have such wonderful women taking such great care of our baby girl!

The New Kitchen!

2010-11-11T14:53:00.000-08:00

Finally...pictures of "The Kitchen". Hudson was very excited to see the UPS guy walking this big box up to our door as we pulled in the driveway. I took it up to the play room, opened it up, dumped it out, and began the long process of putting it together. I have never seen anything purchased in a box like this where you have to put EVERY SINGLE PIECE together!! It was insane!! Jason was out of town so I worked on it until both me and the kids lost our patients. Once Jason came home, he picked up where I left off...using a power drill! Why didn't I think of that?!?! Eventually, it was all put together and has supplied endless amounts of entertainment for both Hudson and London. We now eat lots of pretend food and drink lots of pretend drinks!

Here is the massive pile of stuff that had to be broken out of its plastic webbing and snapped and screwed together.

Hudson used my camera to take a picture of London while I worked on the kitchen.

This is when Jason came home and took over!

Yay!! We have a kitchen!! Time to play!!

Birthday Card From Grandma & Grandpa Holladay

2010-11-10T08:33:00.000-08:00

London received her first birthday card from Grandma and Grandpa Holladay! They gave her some money to put in her piggy bank! Thank you!!!

Just Playin’

2010-11-10T08:31:00.000-08:00

I was playing with the kids one day and decided to get out the camera. They were very willing to pose for me this day.

London loves to pretend she's talking on the phone now! She has the cutest baby babbles!

Hudson loves playing in the pillows on our couches and making houses out of them. He was actually "Ironman" in this picture and he is popping out of Ironman's house to see if anyone needed to be saved from any monsters lurking around.

A Visit From The Galant’s!

2010-11-10T08:11:00.000-08:00

The weekend after I came back from visiting Emily, The Galant's stopped by for a visit! We love them and wish we could see them more often. They have 2 absolutely beautiful girls: Gray and Isla. The girls have the cutest little personalities and Hudson had a blast playing with them. There were lots and lots of wonderful giggles!

Thank you to Emily & Bernd!

2010-11-10T08:02:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to get caught up on my blog again!

Emily and Bernd gave Hudson and London some awesome birthday presents while I was there visiting. Since London was with me, she got to open hers while we were there. Hudson opened his as soon as I came home from the airport! He was incredibly excited and as soon as I told him about the gifts he said, "Oh wow!! Thank you! That was so sweet! (those were his exact words!)". They got him a great Lightning McQueen game. We have since designated Wednesday nights as family game night. It is so fun to be able to play games with Hudson now. He also got a new football so he and daddy watched the Texans play (and win!) and tossed the football back and forth. Hudson is actually super good with a football. He still hasn't decided if he is right or left-handed but he can launch that football like a rocket with either hand! He can also catch the ball really well too. And finally, they also got him a magnadoodle (which is great for him to use to practice writing his letters) and a new book. Thank you sou much!! You made this little boy VERY happy!!

My Review of Homestyle Kitchen

2010-10-29T07:18:00.001-07:00

Originally submitted at CSN Stores

Features:

Include a sink with removable sprayer-faucet
Storage shelves and 22 play accessories
Light up burners and a "tickling" timer with bell
Seven reinforced doors on the refrigerator, oven, microwave and several cupboa...

Good kitchen, good price!

By Gretchen from Spring, TX on 10/29/2010

Pros: Durable, Attractive Design, Lots of Fun

Cons: Difficult to Assemble

Best Uses: Young Children, Creative Development, Group Play, Individual Play

Describe Yourself: Working Parent, Parent Of Two Or More Children

Was this a gift?: No

It is no joke that this kitchen requires A LOT of assembly!! However, all of the hard work paid off and my kids love playing with this kitchen! It is the perfect size as it doesn't take up too much room but it has everything a kitchen needs. It is also a great price for all of the fun it will bring to any child's imaginary world!

(legalese)

Visit with Emily & Fam (Days 3 & 4)

2010-10-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, our third day, we lounged around the house and played with the babies until Bernd came home from work. Then we went to a really cool Pumpkin Festival! There were lots of carnival rides, hay rides, horse and carriage rides, a corn maze, pumpkin launching, games, food, and lots and lots of pumpkins!! We enjoyed walking around, taking pictures, and we went for a carriage ride. Again, it was a beautiful day so it was a perfect way to get out and enjoy the weather!

An exhausted London catching some zzz's before we head out for some more adventures (See her bow laying above her head? It is nearly impossible to keep on bow on her head now.).

Here we are driving to the Pumpkin Fest. The trees there were already beautiful shades of yellow, orange, and red. It is mostly farm land in the area around Buffalo. Emily told me that the vegetable stands in front of the farms will have a bucket/box where people drop their money in and take their fruit/vegetables! Now that is trusting!!

Emily and Bernd have this awesome twin stroller. It looked super comfy! London got to enjoy the ride while we strolled around the festival. Look at the giant pumpkins!!

Adler and Bodhi looking super cute in their pumpkin hats!

Londie Lu in the pumpkins!

Some tired babies!!

Emily was so nice to take me out to see the Falls before we had to head home the next day. We went late in the day so I saw the falls all lit up at night. It was breath takingly beautiful! We walked through the park and around the horseshoe of the falls.

London had some paparazzi waiting for her there! I don't know why someone would want to take a picture with a stranger's baby but multiple people did! And they wanted to kiss her and take pictures of them kissing her!! She didn't seem to mind so I let them snap away! : ) In the 2nd picture, that is Emily taking pictures of London but the lady sitting next to her is another person who wanted to kiss London and take pictures with her! She also wished London a Happy Birthday about a hundred times! hehe!

Here we are at the airport not so bright but very early the next morning to head back home. The ticket lady insisted I hang on to London's car seat so I didn't wake her up. However, she couldn't stop peeking in at London and completely pulled down all of the shades I had pulled up on the stroller/car seat and the lights woke London up. So the lady, who was very nice and I know had only good intentions, insisted on taking pictures of us before we left for our gate! She said London had to have a picture at the airport of her trip to Buffalo! So here we are on our way home...We had a fabulous trip and I really enjoyed spending time with Emily and her family! Her boys are total cuties and they both have awesome smiles!! I can't wait to watch them grow through the years! Thank you so much for letting us come visit!

A little more braggin on my baby girl...on the last flight home, we had an isle seat and we were one of the first ones on the plane. Every single person, man, woman, old and young said something to London or to me about London. The lady next to me asked me if it was driving me crazy that every single person had to say something to me. I told her it didn't bother me and that I just took it as a compliment. She said, "Well, at least you know you don't have any ugly baby! If she wasn't so cute, everyone would just walk right by.".