Icy Day Activities

The last few days, my crew has spent most of their time indoors. Yesterday, I decided to keep Cooper home from preschool because the weather conditions looked bad- and were predicted to get worse throughout the day- and add that to the fact that his preschool is about 20 minutes away and I was fearful we may get caught on icy roads. Today, our public school district cancelled school so both boys were home. It was wonderful....not having to be anywhere at a certain time. We all stayed in our jammies and just played. I really enjoy days like this. Almost like God's way of saying "slow down and enjoy each other."

For Christmas, Hudson got a magnet set so we got that out and did a few experiments. He learned that opposites attract and the same repel each other.

His magnet is pushing the same colored magnet away.

He learned that magnets work through plastic, wood and even water. He has a magnet under this lid and is driving the magnetic car around. He thought that was pretty cool.

My favorites were the little body builder guy we made and the fact that when we were ready to clean up, all the pieces stuck on the magnets.

Cooper is really into dump trucks. He likes to scoop up his dominoes and then dump them into the bed of another truck.

After breakfast this morning, the boys looked outside and saw a few patches of white on the ground. They kept asking to go out and play in the "snow"......they were unhappy with me when I told them that there really wasn't enough snow to warrant us getting bundled up to head outside. I could tell they were going a little stir crazy and that they needed to release some energy they have been storing up over the last few days.

Sooo, I pretty much became Mom of the Year in Hudson's eyes when I informed him that we would be bringing the bounce house inside for the day. His eyes lit up and he was so excited.

Cooper, on the other hand, wasn't so sure about my grand idea. He was nervous at first and the loud noise of the blower scared him. It took him a good 15 minutes to warm up.

But once Monkey Boy finally got inside, he had a blast. These boys jumped a ton today and this can only mean one thing............they will sleep like angels tonight!

I've Got the BEST Job!

Although times at our house are crazy and I many times feel like I can hear the circus theme music as I attempt to juggle my busy house and kids, I still can't help but feel that I've got the best job ever. I recently read something that sums up how I feel about motherhood: "Mothers agree that indeed the years do fly. It's the days that don't. The hours, minutes of a single day sometimes just stop." I don't know about you but I sure do feel this way sometimes!

Last week, Hudson's class was studying dinosaurs. It just so happened that I picked up this little dinosaur kit in Canton a couple of weeks ago so we decided to get it out and start digging!

Hudson's arm grew quite tired in a short amount of time so guess who was privileged to finish the task?

Let's just say that this project was not designed for someone like me who HATES chalk on their hands. I'm also surprised that my arm still functions considering I spent 30+ minutes sawing away into a rock with nothing more than a wooden dowel.

We had a good time though and it gave us a chance to talk about fossils and dinosaurs.

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We've been so proud of Hudson lately and his desire to ride his big wheel. I've blogged about it before about how he would never ride his bike. I think being up so high just scared him. This is a perfect way for him to learn the movements of riding and eventually we can graduate to a big bike.

When Jason was putting the big wheel together, Hudson was adamant that he put all the "dials"
on one side. Silly boy!
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This morning Hudson lost another tooth! That makes # 6 and he currently has 4 teeth missing.

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My mornings alone with just Cooper still are precious to me. We have a ton of fun together. He's just getting so big!

This morning we built the world's tallest marble run (okay, so probably not the world's tallest but the tallest in Cooper's world)

And we worked just about every board and jigsaw puzzle we own.

So although as moms we wear many different hats- dinosaur bone excavator, bike riding cheerleader, assistant to the tooth fairy, and missing puzzle piece locator (just to name a few)...I still think it's the coolest job around!

Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. For some reason it seemed a bit more relaxed and not as rushed as years past. Since Jason and I have 4 sets of parents (both of ours are divorced and remarried) that can make for some crazy times around the holidays. Luckily, our moms and step dads are good friends so we can often combine celebrating with all of them. Jason had several days off and we were able to spend some time as a family just staying home and hanging out. Christmas Eve was spent baking and doing some last minute things to get ready for Christmas day. On Christmas Eve night, we went to my family annual Christmas party. It's always huge and always fun.....even if we do spend most of our time chasing our kids around. The tradition has always been that "Santa" comes to visit and that each child gets one gift delivered to them. It was this way even when I was a child and I have some great memories of these parties. You can only imagine the pure joy when the boys heard the knock on the door and saw Santa come in.

The pictures below speak for themselves. This was Hudson's reaction when he realized that Santa brought the infamous "red switch"

There you have it. The red switch. Christmas could have now been over and Hudson would have not at all felt jipped if this had been the only gift he received. It cracks me up how low maintenance he is and how he is happy with the simplest things.

We got home that night (notice red switch in hand) and set out our goodies for Santa.

This year we stayed at home on Christmas morning. Our families were SO great about coming over here to celebrate with us. Everyone came around 6:30 in the morning so that the boys could go see what Santa brought them.

Cooper rounding the corner and spotting something he likes.

Santa brought Cooper a plasma car

....and a Gears workstation for Hudson.

They are going to have fun on their matching Big Wheels.

One other thing that Hudson did mention was a solar panel. He was pumped when he opened it up......

....and he spent some time putting it together. He stuck it near the window and was able to get a small radio to work. Later that day we went to see Poppy and CeCe but I wasn't good at taking many pictures. I'm waiting for CeCe to email them to me and I'll add those.

We are so blessed to live close to our families and are thankful that we could spend some good quality time with them. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!

Tagged: 8 Things

My friend Angie tagged me so here it goes.

8 things I did today: (it's just now 10am so not too exciting!)

1. Brushed my teeth

2. Made breakfast for the boys and myself

3. Took Rudy out and gave him his pain meds (our dog has 2 messed up discs in his back)

4. Opened several boxes that contain new toys the boys got last night

5. Played with the new toys

6. Made a list of a few things I need to get at the grocery store for tomorrow

7. Checked my email/blog/Facebook

8. Started a load of laundry

8 favorite restaurants:

1. Olive Garden

2. Macaroni Grill

3. PF Changs/Pei Wei

4. Los Mocajetes

5. Cheddars

6. La Madeline

7. Pappasitos

8. Chick-fil-A

8 shows I watch:

1. Greys

2. Lost

3. Priviledged

4. Real Housewives of Orange County

5. Bachelorette/Bachelor (when it's on)

6. Any forensic show- 48 Hours Mystery, Forensic Files, Dr. G Medical Examiner

7. Private Practice

8. Lipstick Jungle

8 Things I wish for:

1. My family to stay healthy and safe

2. My boys to grow into wonderful Christian men

3. My boys to marry wonderful Christian girls that love me....so that I can get my "daughter" fix

4. The economy to get better

5. The boys to play together without the screaming

6. A vacation

7. My house to be clean all the time

8. Being able to fit into my skinny jeans

8 Things I look forward to:

1. Cooper being potty trained and being diaper-free

2. Christmas with our family tomorrow

3. Our next family vacation (whereever that may be)

4. See my boys learn and grow

5. getting my hair cut and higlighted

6. Jason coming home from work each day

7. traveling once the boys are grown and gone

8. Heaven

Now I tag Stacey, Fischer, Laura, Lynley, Tammie, and Laura.

Polar Express

Yesterday we went to ride the Polar Express with some of our friends from small group.

Waiting in the tentOn the train with Brayden, Tammie, Scott, and Bryce

Our familyLaurie, Logan, Collin, Jay, and Brady

Bryce, Hudson and Brady

Santa came to visit. When Hudson spotted him down the way he looked at me and in a very nervous voice and said "mom, have I been good this year?" In some ways I felt kind of bad for him that he was questioning it and I could sense some panic in his voice (now the truth is that he has been HORRIBLE with his brother and fights constantly with him but overall he's a super sweet kid! I'm praying its a stage and just a normal "brotherly" thing) Once Santa got to us, he asked Hudson what he wanted. He began to talk but Santa noticed that Hudson's 2 front teeth were gone. Santa interrupted him and said "I bet you want your 2 front teeth this year." That caused him to lose his concentration so it took him a second to figure out what he was trying to tell him. He said, "I want......" and then Santa just walked off. In Santa's defense, it was really crazy in there but poor Hudson looked at me and said "what just happened?" I felt horrible for him! We assured him that after the train ride he would have a chance to sit on his lap and tell him what he wanted. So, after the train ride we walked through Santa's workshop and let the boys sit on his lap for a picture. Santa asked them what they wanted and Hudson got his chance. He looked at Santa and said "I want a switch with a red light.......it's from Lowes" and we were cracking up! We knew all along that this is what he wanted to tell him but the fact that he told Santa where this could be found was too funny. (in case you are wondering about the switch- a month or so ago Hudson and I were in Lowes looking around and he found this neat light switch with a red sensor on it. It was love at first sight and he's been asking for it ever since. Of course, one of Santa's little helpers picked one up a couple of weeks ago and Hudson is going to be SO excited when he finds it in his stocking!)

Towards the end the boys got restless and started arguing over the smallest things. We were ready to get off by this point.

After the train ride we went back to Jay and Laurie's house and ate dinner and then let the boys decorate cookies. They played great together and we stayed WAY too late......sorry guys for staying so long! We enjoyed hanging out with everyone!