It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We got our decorations out the weekend after Thanksgiving and by Sunday, our house was decorated. Hudson had a good time with the tree. It was funny to watch him- he put all the ornaments on the same branch..........and as he turned to get another one from me, Jason would move one that he had already hung and he placed it in another spot. It was pretty funny!

I was looking back at my archives and I found a similar picture of Hudson from last Christmas. Last year he had a good time playing in the Christmas tree box so this year I asked him to get inside so that I could snap a picture. He's sure grown in the past year!

Christmas 2006Christmas 2007

Helping his dad troubleshoot the lights..........that was right up his alley!

I'm sure he'll love me for this picture one day!

This is one of the favorites at our house. If Hudson had his way, we would have the huge version in our yard. The boys love to push the button and watch the snow and hear the songs.

S-T-R-E-T-C-H.........on the tippy toes in order to reach the button

Look at these piggies....I just could not resist. He is using every little inch in order to reach.

This is another favorite........Hudson loves to pick a new ornament every morning and place it into the pocket. I love it because now he can visually see how many days are left until Christmas. I know this will be something they look forward to for many years to come!!

We have many fun things planned over the next few weeks. I LOVE this time of year!

We Are Blessed

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, hence my lack of blogging. It's so typical of me to fill my plate to the max (especially during this time of year) and I find myself exhausted at the end of the day. Yesterday we were able to spend Thanksgiving with family. What a blessing. We started our morning out with a trip to Granbury. My dad is in town so we met there so that my grandparents and sister's family could all get together. Hudson and Cooper with cousins Colton and McKenzieAfter lunch we headed over to Jason's mom's house. We had Thanksgiving dinner with them. We also got to celebrate Jason's birthday since it fell on Thanksgiving this year. Thanks Aunt Pearl for the delicious cake.

The details of this cake were really neat. Jason loves to fish so this cake was certainly appropriate.

The kids always enjoy a trip to Mimi's house.....especially since there are lots of "new" toys for them to play with. Cooper was fascinated with this toy and carried the balls around all night.

Hudson liked the sticky hand that Mimi gave him. He threw it on everything.......including our dog, Rudy.The last couple of weeks I have been asking Hudson what he is thankful for. He has said family (named specific members on different days), friends, and fans. I've also shared many things I'm thankful for so that he can see that many things in life are privileges.

• I'm so thankful for family. I'm so blessed to have a wonderful family that I am close to.
• I'm thankful for true friends. These are hard to come by but once you find one you know it! Thank you to all the friends in my life.
• I'm thankful for health. Besides the occasional cough and cold, our family is very healthy. I think about my uncle and various people that are facing cancer or other illnesses.
• I'm thankful for my mom. I really wanted to write a post about her but this year I couldn't muster the emotional energy to do it. This past Sunday marked 2 years that my mom was involved in a horrible car accident. One day I will write about this because it's important to remember- mostly so that I won't take her or life for granted. I also want my boys to know the story.

There are many more things that I'm thankful for but I don't want this post to go on and on. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Brotherly Love

The boys are finally at an age where they are starting to play good together. Not only is there a 3 year age difference but they have very different interests. These were taken a couple of weeks ago, when it first started getting cold at night. I love long sleeved jammies!

Hudson running through the house......not typically allowed but he was doing something funny at the time.
Getting tickles from dad. Sorry about the bright pic. I had my camera on the wrong setting but I love his huge smile so I couldn't not include it.
Playing cars

Hudson with his prized screw drivers. He is lining them up in order of size- he says "here is the small one, the medium one, and the large one."
In Hudson's defense, this pink screwdriver belongs to me. My mom bought me one of those Lady Tool Kits long time ago and this came from that set.

Playing together
The boys love playing with Rudy. At night, he will sometimes get frisky and run around the living room really fast. They get a kick out of that.

That's about it around here. We are enjoying the cooler weather!

What happens when mom goes out of town?

I went out of town this weekend and came back to find Cooper looking like this. He is one huge scratch. Jason took the boys to his dad's house and Cooper fell down a step outside and banged his face up really good. I know that Jason feels bad about this- so this post is just a way to joke around with him. He's a great dad and the boys had a fun time with him while I was gone.

Happy Halloween!!

The last few days have been Halloween packed! On Saturday, we had our Trunk of Treats at church. We enjoyed the bounce houses, booths, and a hayride. On Tuesday, Hudson had his class party at school and was able to wear his costume there too. Then tonight, we made the rounds in our neighborhood. We have more candy then we know what to do with.

I had a difficult time deciding what Hudson would be this year. Whenever I would ask him he would say "I want to be Hudson." He's never been a big dress-up kind of kid so I knew the decision was up to me. He also doesn't like things over his face or even on his head so I knew I needed to find something that didn't require a hat or mask. Most costumes these days have those and many don't look right if you leave that part out. So, I began my search and I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered this Cars costume. When asked, Hudson will say he's "Light-meen McQueen" It's a full mouth and hard for him to pronounce correctly.

Taking a pit stop

Taking a hay ride with dad

I knew the minute I saw this shark costume that I HAD to have it. It comes really close in rank as my favorite, next to the Humpty Dumpty costume that both boys wore their first Halloween. He looked adorable.
Can't you just hear the Jaws theme song now?

Trick-o-Treating with Colton and McKenzie. Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!!

Carving Pumpkins

It's a tradition in our house to carve a pumpkin each year. Hudson really looks forward to it now.

As Jason was scooping out the seeds and guts, Hudson was guessing how many seeds were inside. He said "I bet there are like 20 seeds in there!" He quickly realized that there were way more that.

Playing with the insides

This year we decided to change things up a bit and do a picture of something instead of just a random face. I think it turned out pretty neat!

At the very end, Jason cut the tip of his pinky. I thought it was only appropriate to fetch a Spider Man band-aid for him.

Seriously, will I ever have a picture at this stage where both boys are looking and smiling?

Charlotte's Web and Ants in our Pants

Last night, I had the privilege of taking my son on a date to see Charlotte's Web. We had a great time! Our neighbors, Judy and Wyatt, had never been so we invited them along. Hudson and Wyatt fight like brothers but I know deep down inside, Hudson loves him.

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We have Ants in Our Pants!!

Okay, not really but we do have some new ants at our house. A couple of months ago, we bought Hudson one of those ant gel colonies. It took forever to arrive but it finally showed up last week. I'm not sure who loves this more- Hudson or me? They are fascinating to watch. It's been so neat to watch them tunnel and to see how organized they are. What fun!!

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......speaking of pants, Cooper had a hard time this week. On Thursday, Hudson had orange day at school. I decided to dress them in their matching "I love my mummy" shirts. I pulled out a pair of jeans for Cooper (used to be Hudson's) and after walking around the living room for a few minutes, he began to walk out of them. I got so tickled watching him. I eventually had to change him into another pair.