Hudson's voice amplifier

This kid cracks me up!

Fanboy and Interview with Hudson

What can I say? Now that I've figured this video thing out I guess I'm a bit addicted to it.

Anyone out there have kids that watch Fanboy & Chum Chum? My boys stumbled on it a couple of weeks ago and they LOVE it. Jason and I think it's funny because it usually has some sort of adult humor or imitation of a well known movie. It's clean, so that's the best part for me. Unless you count the "Precious Pig" episode..... and that's another story! (let's just say that there was a ton of tooting going on and howling from all 3 of my boys, husband included! They kept rewinding it. ) I must admit that the opening song is pretty catchy and it's hilarious to watch the boys dance to it.

Here is a quick interivew with Hudson. See what I mean? .......always electricity and cords on the brain!

December Fun

December was a fun month for us! Here are a few highlights:

Hudson and his dad constructed the tin can robot from the kit he got for Christmas.
With my hubby on Christmas Day.

Cheese!

Opening gifts at Mimi's house. Snap circuits......just what he wanted.

This boy loves cars and trains!

The hat that he saw in Disney. Aunt Pearl was so nice to go back and get it for him.

Christmas morning at our house.......checking out what Santa left us.

Hudson was so excited about his air compressor.

The large Lego blocks. The boys have played with them a ton already!

Our cookies and milk for Santa.

Santa came to visit at Grammy's house on Christmas Eve. It's been a tradition since I was a little girl.

Playing in the snow. Daddy helping the boys build a snowman.

Hudson was curious what snow tasted like.

Hudson had a Christmas party at his school. They got to play lots of fun games. He was trying to unwrap a piece of candy while wearing thick gloves. It was harder than you might think.

Making bell/bead necklaces.

With some friends.

I turned 34 on December 17th. Hudson had a program at school that night but my mom and sister took me out to eat afterwards. Cheesecake Factory= Yum-O!

Our yearly girls-only dinner with college friends. Of course we love getting together with our kids but we also treasure the time alone to catch up and laugh. I'm so blessed to have these girls in my life!

My handsome boys.

Freezing at the tree lighting ceremony.

Grammy let us borrow her big Frosty- who happens to sing and dance. The boys enjoyed him all month long.

In the Christmas tree box.

Grammy and Papa had the grand kids over to decorate the grand kid tree.

Abigail and Annabelle

Colton and McKenzie

Cousins!

Grammy helping Cooper hang an ornament way up high.

I am kind of sad to see December and Christmas go, but I'm also ready to get back into a routine again! Until next year.......

Christmas Morning Video

Five minutes of cuteness from my kids on Christmas morning. Mostly for the grandparents, as I'm sure the rest of you will be bored to tears!

Video Post

This was the boys first carousel ride!

December

Wow, not a great month to have your camera/computer messed up! We had so much fun in December but I was unable to get the pictures downloaded and onto my computer. This was quite frustrating for me since I planned to blog each day to document our "25 Days of Christmas." So, looks like I'll just do a condensed version right now. (and unfortunately, now I've forgotten all 25....so it looks like you'll get 20 of my ideas!)

I made a list this year of some things that I for sure wanted to do this holiday season. December gets so busy and it's really easy to let the month pass by and you end up saying, "man, I sure wish we had done that." I took pictures of some activities, some I didn't, and some were on my other memory card that won't download. (sigh)

Anyway, here we go......

1. Play in the snow/build a snowman- this month has been unusually cold and snowy. The boys enjoyed playing and building a snowman.

2. Attend a Christmas program- Hudson had a Christmas program at school this year. They sang some super cute songs and we were so proud of Hudson for participating. He sang and did all the hand movements.

3. Read Christmas books by the tree- We didn't do this every night but pretty close. The boys loved to get into their jammies and then sit under the tree and listen to Christmas stories before bed time.

4. Get a Nativity Set- I'm embarrassed to say that I just turned 34 and I've never owned a nativity scene. We got the Fisher Price Little People set and the boys loved it! I know this will be a favorite every year.

5. Adopt an angel from the Angel Tree- We really feel it's important to show our boys that they are so blessed by all material things they have. We have talked to them about how there are other kids that don't have as much as we do and that it's so important to give back to those in need.

6. Make Christmas crafts and homemade ornaments- We made some homemade snowflakes (those pics were on my other card) and the boys enjoyed putting those on the tree this year. We had some other crafts that we did throughout the month as well.

7. Take a family picture by the tree- These should have been for our Christmas cards this year but since we were not able to get them downloaded, it didn't happen. I had to let that go and realize that it was out of my control and that it would be "okay" if it didn't get done.

8. Make a gingerbread house- Our Grammy is so nice because she offers to make the gingerbread house with the boys each year. She is much more patient than me when it comes to this activity.

9. Attend a local parade/festival- At the beginning of December, our town hosted a tree lighting ceremony and parade. It was freezing that night so we didn't stick around for all of the festivities but I think we will make this a yearly tradition too!


10. Pray for families as we get their card- This was something new for us this year. We didn't do it every night but we tried really hard to do them as we got them. Each day, we would pray for the families that mailed a card to us. We asked for God to bless them this coming year.

11. Make homemade Christmas Cookies- Jason was kind enough to do this with the boys on a night that I had to be gone. What a guy!

12. Write a letter to Santa.

13. Watch Christmas movies- we had our fair share this year. The boys enjoyed watching movies such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Home Alone, and Polar Express. Jason and I also watched our annual Christmas Vacation together after putting the boys to bed one evening.

14. Drive to see Christmas lights- My boys love this.....especially looking for the various blow-ups in the yards.

15. Play a game by the tree- Many evenings we turned the TV off and spent time by the tree playing games.

16. Advent countdown- each morning the boys would do the countdown calendar.

17. Elf on a Shelf- My boys LOVE to wake up each morning and find Cronko. He's always in a different place!

18. Talk more about the real reason for Christmas- This year our emphasis was much more on Jesus then gifts. Don't get me wrong, our kids made out like bandits between all the grandparents...but, we talked a lot more this year about the birth of our Savior.

19. Decorate the tree together- Let's be honest. This can be really frustrating with small kids. A majority of the ornaments were hung on the bottom of the tree (and on the same 3 branches) but luckily I was able to move them without them really noticing. It's all about the memories and experience, right?

20. Spend time with family- Jason and I are blessed with a big family and we made sure that we got to spend lots of time with each of them. Although the few days surrounding Christmas and Christmas Eve are nuts, we do try our best to spend quality time with everyone.