Mother's Day Tea

Hudson had a Mother's Day Tea today at his school. I received my formal invitation earlier this week and Hudson was pretty excited about it. When I got there they had the tables covered and pretty flowers for the centerpieces. All the children took our orders- asking us if we wanted iced tea or lemonade and an assortment of cookies and crackers. They were SO cute waiting on us hand and foot!

Getting our refreshmentsThen the class sang a couple "I Love You" type songs. It was too cute!

Then Mrs. P read the book "I'll Love you Forever"...which makes me cry every single time. Luckily another mom at my table cried as hard as I did so I didn't feel like the only baby there. I'm just so emotional when it comes to these boys.Next they got to give us our presents. Hudson was so excited about this part!

Inside, was the most precious necklace made by the sweetest 6-year old I know!Also, a card about "My Mother." Here is what it says: (words in red are Hudson's words)

Her name is Jennifer. She is about 30 years old. She has brown hair and brown eyes. Mother's favorite food is salad. She spends most of her time around the house. Best of all, Mother likes to go buy tickets for the water park. Mother takes care of me by watching me real close. I think my Mother is the best in the world because she helps me clean up my toys. If I could wish for anything in the world for my Mother it would be to get her some flowers.

Hudson and Mrs. P. She has been such a blessing this year!

What a special morning for us. I'm so thankful that I was able to attend!

Animal Scavenger Hunt

I picked Cooper up from speech school today and they were outside on the playground searching for "bugs." Today was the day that his class should have gone on a field trip but thanks to the swine scare, all field trips in our district have been cancelled. So, his teachers wanted to do something fun for them so she let them find various plastic bugs that were hidden outside. Cooper LOVED this and didn't want to leave. I actually had to bribe him that we'd do something similar at our house after lunch. So after lunch, we gathered up our plastic animals/bugs and had our own scavenger hunt. The boys loved this and played so good together. Hudson went slow and let Cooper find lots of animals too. He even pointed a few out and then let him pick them up.

We did the hunt twice and they kept begging to do it again. I think I've found a wonderful thing to use as an incentive on days they won't cooperate. Best part is that it's easy and free!

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Speaking of Cooper's speech class- he continues to do so well. He's talking up a storm and says new words each day. We are understanding most of what he says and basically we are fine tuning his speech. Yes, there are still some things he says that we don't understand but he has come SOO far the last 6 months or so!!

Here's Yer Sign

Last night, I was walking into the study and I noticed something on our front door. I got closer and realized it was a sign that Hudson made and then taped to the door. I quickly scanned the surrounding areas and noticed a couple other signs he made. He cracks me up!

(a closer view)

Then, on our column next to the front door:

It says, "Door Bell Button" and then underneath that it says, "No Smoking." I have NO idea why he wrote that!Then on the light switch near the front door.......just in case we forgot where the light was.

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Hudson said these a few weeks ago and I wrote them down on my refrigerator. I wanted to put them here so that I wouldn't forget.

One afternoon, Cooper put a VHS tape into our VCR. We have one of those VCR/DVD combos and I think our VCR part is on it's last leg. Cooper put a movie in and every 15-20 seconds it would turn completely off. He was bothered by this and kept trying to get it to play. In a very calm voice Hudson said, "I know how to fix it. Just say please." I looked over to see Cooper pressed up against the entertainment center and looking right at the VCR while saying "peeeez" in the sweetest voice ever. It was SO cute!! Needless to say, his good manners did not fix the player. We finally had to just turn it off and play something else.

One day I was playing with Hudson. He had his cords out and we were plugging them into things and talking. He looked at me rather seriously and said, "Mom....I know a lot loter about electricity than you." Boy does he ever!

Rudy, the Recession, and the Rocket Ship

This Monkey Boy of mine is one strong willed child. He is not cautious like his brother. He is not afraid to take risks and his curiosity can often get the best of him. He is the child that will go through life having to learn the hard way. You can't change his mind or convince him once his mind is made up. I see lots of "lessons" for this monkey boy. But oh, how I love him to pieces.

The other day, he was playing hard with Rudy and came out of his room crying. I took one look at his face and knew that he took it too far and Rudy had to set some boundaries. Hopefully he'll think twice next time.

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This recession has been hard for so many people. I'm so thankful that we have a home, that Jason has a job, and that we can support our little family. I know that there are many less fortunate and it breaks my heart. On the other hand, this little recession has some perks too. Every week it seems that I get some "free" money in the mail from stores. Just yesterday, I got $10 free at both Kohl's and JCPenney. (added bonus is that there are no strings attached, I don't have to use their credit card, and there are no minimums to use it. As long as I spend $10.01 then I can redeem the coupon.) That's pure sweetness people!

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This week the boys have been playing "Rocket Ship" by getting into Hudson's toy box, which is located in his closet. They sit inside and pretend play for quite some time.

Hudson has lots of wires and cords inside to make it look spaceshipy (I know that isn't a word!) I love seeing them use their imaginations.

Guess I Better Post Before Mother's Day

Here are the pics of our Easter. It was rainy so we had to have our hunt inside at Mimi's house.

Cooper and Grammy

Cooper was real excited about the Play Dough from his Easter basket. He would not even put it down for a picture.

With Grandma Ruby.......who happened to turn 95 a couple of weeks ago.My handsome boys!

There ya go Aunt Pearl. We are no longer "Gearing up for Easter!!"

Gearing Up For Easter

Last night, we dyed eggs with the boys. It was overall a good experience with only slight spills here and there. Getting help from dad. (in fact, dad got quite into it with his multicolored creations!)

Hope everyone has a good Easter!

Friday's Favorites

1. Coup"ON" the Go organizer- this coupon organizer is a great size and will easily fit in your purse. Years ago when I did the Grocery Game full force, I had a huge binder for all my coupons. Since our diet and eating habits have changed so much, I no longer clip that many coupons so this organizer is just right for what I need. Leslie is super sweet and she'll make one with any colors you want.

2. Berenstain Bears DVD's and Books- I can't say enough about these books and DVD's. My kids not only love watching them, they learn a ton of valuable life lessons from it. In today's world where it's hard to find decent things for our kids, I'm glad we still have a few options like this around.

3. Cashew Crunch by Mrs. May's- On a recent trip to visit a college friend, I was introduced to Mrs. Mays snacks. My life hasn't been the same since! Okay, that may be a bit dramatic but all I can say is that these are SOOO yummy. They don't taste "natural" and you don't even miss all the bad stuff. They are super addicting.....I could honestly eat half a bag in one setting but I don't. We use this as a little snack here and there and the cashews and nuts provide good protein to get us to the next meal. We found these at Costco.

4. Texas Pete Sauce- This next favorite isn't mine but belongs to my hubby. Talk about addiction- this boy loves him some Texas Pete. A while back he discovered this sauce at Chick-fil-A. Anytime we went to CFA he'd get some to take home and use it on things here around the house. I recently discovered it at Walmart (thanks Laurie!) so now he can have his very own bottle here at home.

5. Finally, my new favorite is the spring pictures of Hudson that came home in his backpack today. What a handsome little man!

Happy Friday!