Christmas Time Is Here

Where do I even begin?!?!

Photo by Kyle Post Photography

Hudson is doing great a school and just finished his first "season" of soccer.  He loved it!  I just signed him up for swim lessons this winter so hopefully that's a hit as well.

Hudson and Alexis (along with Steve and I) got to meet Charlie (cousin/nephew) for the first time a few weeks ago!  Hudson thought it was great and all to have a new cousin, but Alexis was in heaven.  She treated Charlie like he was her baby and wanted to do everything for him.  It was so sweet.  It almost made me want to have another baby just so she could have a baby sibling to love on.  Almost…..

The Christmas Season is upon us again and the kids are at such a fun age!  This year both kids are participating in Christmas activities and able to communicate with us.  It really makes everything fun and we are able to do so much more.

We hosted Thanksgiving this year so everyone came to our house for the day to eat, play games, and just enjoy each others company.  We ALL ate way too much food.  If I see turkey or any other thanksgiving type food before next year I might throw up.  haha  The day after Thanksgiving mom and I went shopping!  We really never do the whole Black Friday thing, but we did this year and it was so fun!  I pretty much knocked out all of our Holiday shopping in one day!  YEA!!!!!!

I am really trying to teach the kids the real meaning of Christmas and still tie in all the fun traditions (santa, elf on the shelf….) There are so many great ideas on Pinterest about books to read, Advent activities, games….  So far the kids and I made a Countdown to Christmas thankful chain, we read Christmas stories every night, and I've been reading them bible verses of the Christmas Story out of the bible.  They have been asking a few questions, but I think a lot of it is just going right over their head.  Planting Seeds :)

Then HE was 4!

My baby is growing up!  Sniff Sniff

Today, Hudson had his 4 year check up.  He is a beast of a child (and I mean that in the best most loving way possible).  The kid is 41 lbs 4 oz and is 42 inches tall!  That puts him in the 85th %ile for both height and weight!  See, told ya!  He's a beast!  :)

As expected Hudson checked out completely healthy and is a "normal, growing, healthy little boy".  :)  Obviously this news makes me very happy!

Hudson is such a sweet sensitive and funny child!  No one else on earth can laugh, have a melt down, say something so witty and historical, laugh again, then get serious and state some worldly truth all in a matter of seconds!  Oh the life of a preschooler!  haha  It's a roller coaster ride people!  All joking aside though, Hudson is the best little boy a mother could ask for.  He is kid and so considerate.  He is very aware of other peoples feelings.  He is extremely smart and intuitive.  You can see the gears turning in that head of his and see his thought processes.  It is amazing to witness how he is growing and developing both mentally and physically!  He has so much coordination now!  Hud is playing soccer this year at preschool and he is really very good if I do say so myself.

Hudson loves preschool and his teacher Mrs. Jackson.  In fact, when Hud misbehaves at home sometimes I tell him that I will tell Mrs. Jackson what he said/did, because he does a complete 180.  He loves his teacher so much he doesn't want her to know if he does something less than kind.  So, it doesn't surprise me at all that Hudson gets good reports EVERY SINGLE DAY at school!

Hudson loves to sing along to music.  His current Favorite is the song Loving You Easy by the Zac Brown Band.  It's really cute, you should hear it some time!

Anyway, I love Hudson so very much.  I don't think I could ever love another boy as much as him.  He makes me laugh on a daily basis and always brings a smile to my face.  I have loved watching him grow and turn into the sweet boy he is today.  I can't wait to see what the future holds for this bright child!

Here we are in FALL!

Once again I am failing in the blogging department…..  Seriously, it's really hard to keep up with when you have two kiddos, a dog, cat, house, and a husband to keep up with.  :)

Anyway, we got back from vacation a little over a week ago!  It was CRAZY but Oh so much fun!

We go to Ocean Isle Beach every year around the same time with Steve's family.  This year, because we haven't ever really had a family vacation just the four of us, we decided to leave for vacation a few days early to get some "just us" days before the whole crew came down.  Well, on our way to the beach we learned about a hurricane that would "possibly" cause us some problems.  We decided to soldier on and drove six hours Wednesday night.

Wednesday night, the forecast was not looking good for our North Carolina vacation.  We decided to backtrack about an hour to Asheville, NC to go visit the Biltmore in order to wait and see what the storm was going to do.  The Biltmore was lots of fun…for us adults anyway.  The kids were not nearly as impressed as we were.  At one point while running (seriously running) through the house, Hudson was sharing how disappointed he was that "A House That Big Didn't Even Have Any Toys!!!!".  We died laughing.  I hope one day Steve and I can go back just the two of us and take a more leisurely tour through the beautiful castle.  We really enjoyed walking the gardens.  At one point Hudson dropped his pants and started peeing on the roses…. it was amazing.  I was mortified as complete strangers started starring at our half naked child then at us, the irresponsible parents.  Steve on the other hand looked then right in the eye and said "eh, what are you going to do when nature calls?!" and shrugged and just simply walked away.  I died.

Anyway, that night after keeping a close watch on the weather reports, Steve and I decided that we just couldn't go to Ocean Isle Beach.  Even if the hurricane didn't make landfall, there would still be a tremendous amount of rain and flooding.  That's not how we wanted to spend our vacation.  That night I was up frantically searching for another option.  Amazingly, I found a wonderful condo in Gulf Shores (supposed to have perfect weather all week) that was perfect for us.  We talked to the rest of the family and they were all on board.  The next day we made the 8 1/2 hour drive in a different direction to Gulf Shores Alabama.

We had a great week visiting and celebrating Hudson's 4th Birthday!!!!!!  Hud has been into legos for a little while now, so that was a majority of his gifts as well as the theme of his little family birthday party.  We stayed up late the night before blowing up balloons and decorating so that when Hud woke up the next day he would be completely surprised!  The kid has it so good!  My birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I wish I could spend it on a warm sunny beach…..

It was truly a perfect family vacation.  I'm still in denial that it's over and we have been back home for almost a whole week.  Boooo

End of Summer

Hudson officially went back to school this past Tuesday!  Lets all do a happy dance (wink wink).  Seriously though, he LOVES going to preschool and playing with his friends.  It also happens to give this mama some one on wine time with Alexis.  It's a win win situation.

His first day of school was smooth sailing.  He was so excited the night before that he actually fell asleep at a decent hour!  I had a yummy breakfast waiting for him when he woke up (homemade whole wheat banana muffins, bacon, and fresh fruit).  He was ready to see who his new friends would be and to meet his teacher.  There were no tears.  It was awesome.

I will say that I have really enjoyed this summer with the kids.  It is so much easier than last year when Hud was too little to be independent and alexis was just a newborn baby.  This year, Hudson is much more "responsible" and able to follow directions.  He is so good at playing on his own.  Alexis is walking AND talking now, so communicating with her just keeps getting easier.  The kids can play together really well now (when they aren't fighting over some toy or attention).

We have really taken advantage of our zoo membership and have enjoyed some long days walking around looking at animals and having the best conversations.

Summer is flying by

As July is coming to an end, I have been reflecting back on what a fun and crazy summer this has been!  

Steve and I started the summer off by taking an almost 2 week vacation to Las Vegas, LA, and Laguna Beach!  It was amazing and much needed.  It was the perfect amount of time together, away from the kids.  Any shorter and we would have been wishing for a longer trip, but any longer and we would have really started missing out babies and out home.  We also got to go to an Eagle's concert last weekend.  It was awesome!

We discovered the water park at the YMCA and have been loving that along with our neighborhood pools.  Both kids have really taken to the water and enjoy splashing around, chasing balls, and jumping off the edge.

The kids have also liked playing in our back yard this summer!  In years past, the sprinkler just wasn't that much fun, but THIS YEAR Hudson especially, LOVES to run through it!  We have been playing in a little baby pool, playing with water balloons, bubbles, finger paint….  It's nice when we don't have to leave the house to do something really fun!

A week ago today my sister gave birth to our nephew Charlie.  He is sooooo adorable and I'm dying to meet him!  I can't wait to get my hands on that baby and kiss all over him!  Unfortunately,  Jess, Her fiancé Avery, and baby Charlie live in LA and it just isn't possible to fly out for a visit right now.  between childcare for my kids, Steve working, and the cost of flying across the country, not a chance. :(  But we are all so excited that Charlie is finally here and are so thankful for modern technology.  We have been able to FaceTime a few times, so it's almost like we are able to be there….

Alexis, is a walking (kinda) talking machine now!  haha She is walking everywhere and gets around extremely well.  She has the sweetest personality, unless you try to take something that she has…then watch out!  :)  She has almost all of her teeth in and LOVES to eat!  This girl isn't super picky.  She prefers homemade and healthy foods over prepackaged or processed foods, which is pretty amazing.  We recently started giving her "treats" every once in a while and she is HAPPY about that.  Alexis has also started talking some.  A lot of things we still can't understand even though her tone and inflection changes.  Other things like "daddy" "mama" "no" "yes" "peek-a-boo", "more" "bath" "me" "I want that" "night night"… are clear as day!  She does something new and amazing every day it seems.  Just today she sat in my lap for the first time and listened to be read her an entire book.  It was a short book, but still, she has never done that before.  She even helped me turn the pages!

Hudson has been amazing us as well!  Just yesterday he had his very first completely accident free day!  He used the potty all by himself.  Steve showed him how to pee standing up a couple weeks ago, and now he thinks he is "the man" because he can pee standing up too!  haha  He is so proud of himself and we are proud of him too!  Hudson is wearing his "man underwear" during the day and pull-ups at night.  GO HUD!  Hudson has also started memorizing all the songs on his quiet time CD's.  It is so sweet to hear him sing about "Noah's Arc, Father Abraham, Being in the Lords Army….  Hudson is so funny and smart.  Sometimes he says the funniest things, you don't even know how to respond!  Where does he come up with this stuff?!?!?  Hudson is so loving and kind hearted (most of the time).

I am so thankful to God, to have such healthy sweet babies.  I am so thankful God chose Steve and I to be their parents.  Every day with them, us as a family, is a blessing.