Christmas Chaos 2010

It is so nice that both of our families are in town. We never have to travel at Christmas, and we never have to miss a thing. BUT, with that said, Christmas is a bit chaotic and I think we spend just as much time in the car driving back and forth as we do with our families! It is a blast though and we wouldn't want to change anything about it! Having a child makes it all the more fun too! It's like we get to relive our childhood again! We are also thankful for the few days after Christmas that we can do nothing!

Christmas Eve started out with the Whitt family lunch at the BCC. It's a tradition we have done every year for as long as I can remember. Carrie and I always get a Shirley Temple to drink (can we say we are 12!), and we always have to see the lady with the present on her head. It wouldn't be Christmas without those two things! Ha! Anyway, we ate our hearts out again this year and it was a great kickoff to the Christmas holiday.

There were some squirrels outside the window near our table and Hudson would have stayed there and watched them the entire time if we had let him!

Carrie and Blaine--too bad we couldn't get Blaine to look up. It would have been a cute picture! He's in the stage that picture taking is not cool.

As usual, Hudson wouldn't stay in his high chair so Joel and I spent most of our time chasing him around. He was eating up all the attention!

Sweet Morgan and Hudson!

Our first family picture of the day...

It took all of 5 minutes after we left lunch for Hudson to fall asleep. He was already worn out and we had a LONG night ahead!

Hudson got to sleep for about an hour and a half (his normal nap is 3 hours!) before we had to wake him up for church. I wasn't about to miss our Christmas Eve candlelight service! It is awesome. All of the Reed family met us there and then after that, we headed to Joel's aunt and uncle's house for dinner.

Hudson was wired the entire night! He kept running in circles around their kitchen island. It was so cute. He had his six year old second cousin Mark chasing him and it was a blast.

Eating one of the many cookies he consumed over 2 days!

I realized after we left that I took no pictures of anyone besides Hudson. That is terrible, but I did it the whole time. We only have pictures of Hudson! Oops!

After dinner, we headed to my parent's house for opening presents. It was after 7 at this point and Hudson normally goes to bed at 7! He hung in there though. He had a lot of chocolate to help keep his energy up! Ha!

The first present Hudson got was this HUGE stuffed dog. It's massive. He kept calling him "Big Doggie" the whole night and so that's his name.

All of the kids had fun with Big Doggie.

We were all very blessed this year and had a blast opening presents and spending time with each other. It was so much fun watching Hudson tear through that wrapping paper and seeing his face when he got to the gift was priceless. Every gift had to be opened right then. Here is one of his favorites...a "tiretruck!" He also got a vaccum cleaner from Aunt Carrie that he loves!

I know I have probably mentioned this before, but Carrie's fiance Andres is a huge Oregon Duck fan, so we knew that this Christmas was going to be interesting! When we got to my parent's house, my dad had on a shirt that said "Pluck the Ducks" and then each of the boys got one to match. Andres wasn't going to let my dad win, so he came prepared as well, and handed out Oregon t-shirts, hats, and even a duck call. We had a little fun with the Oregon attire...

I do like the Oregon colors and especially their uniforms! Morgan was so funny about her Oregon shirt. She did not want to put it on and right after the picture was taken, she ripped it off and threw it and said "yuck!" They have taught her well! She hasn't missed a football game in several years though, so she's a huge Auburn fan and can tell you all about Cam Newton!

We weren't going to let Andres get away without a picture in his Auburn gear. He was a good sport. You can't really tell, but he has a tiger tail on too! So funny! Oh and it's torture for Carrie too because she is a University of Alabama graduate!

By the time we left my parents, it was LATE! Santa still had to come, and Santa still had to put together a 130 piece train set that Santa bought at the last minute (without the help of Mrs. Claus I might add!)! Everything else had been put together early in the week, but that train set took forever (and lasted about 2 seconds the next morning before it got messed up!). I have to say though, it was kind of fun staying up with Santa...this side of things is WAY more fun!

I was so excited for Hudson that I could hardly sleep. I couldn't wait for him to see what Santa brought! I have to say that the "giving" of Christmas far exceeds the receiving!!! It is so.much.fun.

Hudson was a little overwhelmed on Christmas morning. We were videotaping him coming into the den, and he was very hesitant at first and wanted to hold my hand--I think he thought Santa might actually be in the den and he wasn't so sure about that! Once he saw that Santa was not there, he was fine! He went to his riding toy first and pressed the button to make it go (wouldn't get on it), and then headed straight to the yard tools, which we knew would be the hit. He wouldn't put those down! He got a weedeater, a blower, a chainsaw, and a lawnmower (he already has a lawnmower, but this one came with the set). These were awesome and I highly recommend it for all the little boys out there.

We couldn't get Hudson to go into the ball pit at first, but the dogs loved it, so this is Hudson watching one of the dogs in there. By the way, the ball pit turned out to be HUGE. We didn't know it was going to be that big, but he loves it now. Once we get it in its right spot downstairs, I think it's going to be a big hit too.

He loves the train too. Like I said before, the train is elevated a bit and Hudson knocked it down almost immediately (which we were expecting he would do!). He kept saying "Oh no" over and over again. Luckily, Daddy is pretty good at the train thing and made him a smaller track with it later on. It's hopefully going to be put on a train table soon!

Hudson got some books, some bath crayons, and then checked out what was in his stocking. It was full of cars, firetrucks, and bouncy balls. His favorites!

Is this a happy face or what?!?!?

He finally ventured into the ball pit and we could not get him out! He was having a blast going through the tunnels and playing with all the balls!

After we played for about an hour, it was time to head to the Reed's. Did I mention that it was SNOWING!!! We had a white Christmas and it was beautiful. And wouldn't you know it, I took not one picture of the snow!

Hudson was in for a real treat at the Reed's. He got his very own TRACTOR!

He was in heaven. It was awesome! He hasn't learned how to pedal yet, but I don't think it will take long.

Hudson just had to take his new chainsaw over to the Reed's and he loved "sawing" people! So funny.

We had brunch with the Reed's and then headed back to my parent's for lunch. Yes, we ate twice within an hour! And, it was all GOOD!!! We do Christmas Day lunch with my grandparents so it was great to be with them. Hudson had more than his share of cookies, ice cream, and chocolate. After lunch, we were exhausted to say the least. We all took a nap and then headed back to Joel's aunt and uncle's house for soup to wrap up the holiday. We've had the best past couple of days watching Hudson play with all of his new stuff. And, Joel still has to put together a swing set that he got too! We are so looking forward to having that! Whew, I'm tired just typing all of this so if you made it this long, I'm proud of you. It was a wonderful Christmas to say the least. We are so blessed!

Seeing Santa--Part Two

The blog is behind! I have a lot to update on from the past week. We have had the best few days with our families and are sad that Christmas is over already!

Ok, so to back up to last Wednesday night. There is a house in Vestavia that has Santa every year. They have been doing it for as long as I can remember, although, I had never gone to it--you need a child to do it with! It's a drive by sort of thing--roll down your window, meet Santa, his elves, Frosty, etc. and then move on. The line is backed up for forever, and they have the police out there and everything. It is a big deal. And, they have it down to a fine science--even so much so that when you get to Santa, he KNOWS your name already. It's cool stuff.

We knew how this was going to turn out, but we wanted to go anyway! The Reed's drove us so they could experience it too. It was exciting. We got there about 10 minutes early and the line was already so long so we had to wait. Here we are passing the time...

Had I known Hudson would be smiling, I wouldn't have been so silly! Ha!

We're almost there! Santa was in sight! We didn't get a picture of them, but there were about 20 of Santa's elves dancing and jumping around to music that was blasting down the street. They came to our window, asked Hudson what his name was (then rushed to Santa to give him the heads up--a very nice and personal touch!), gave him a candy cane, and we moved on!

And the meltdown begins! You can't see his face, but he's screaming!

Santa tried to befriend him by giving him two stuffed animals (which he STILL won't touch!), but to no avail. He hated him, again. He about jumped all the way across the seat to get away from him!

Back at the house, safe and sound with Pops. This was the last time he touched these stuffed animals. Poor thing sees them and mentions Santa and is scared to death. Oh well.

Hopefully next year, he will like Santa more! I think he liked the fact that Santa brought him gifts. We'll probably go back next year; I think it will be really fun when Hudson actually likes him and is excited about seeing him. Joel thinks that Hudson is going to think that Santa lives at the Roddam's, but I told him that we would tell him that he's just visiting family. :)

Hudson's Class Christmas Party

I LOVE going to Hudson's class parties. I love seeing all the other kids in the class and I can finally put a face to the names that Hudson says over and over again each day when I ask him who is in his class. Friday, Hudson had his Christmas party. He doesn't normally go on Fridays, but I didn't want him to miss it and I took the opportunity to get some shopping done that morning without my little buddy and headed to his party at noon.

He did a little better than he did at the Thanksgiving party. He didn't cling to me as much, but he still never let me get about two feet away from him. Poor thing thought I was going to leave him. Each child had to bring a $10 gift for another child in the room. It was fun to watch Hudson open his present! Unfortunately, the present he got was a big hit and the other kids wanted to play with it. See the picture below! The kid behind Hudson kept stealing it and I finally put it up, and the kid threw the biggest fit you have ever seen. Everyone was looking at me like I did something to him!

Hudson's favorite gift was one that his teacher gave him. It was a book in the shape of a car that had wheels on it so he could play with it as a car, or he could read it as a book! I wanted to see Hudson in action in the room, so I asked him if he wanted to go see-saw and he was all about that! These two boys had a blast!

Can you tell he was having fun?!?!?

Hudson made us a couple of ornaments for our tree. They were so cute and personal and have a front and center spot on the Christmas tree! I love them. It was a great party and we are looking forward to the rest of the festivities over the next week!

Trouble

My child is out of control. I mentioned before that we've been having some trouble with him lately. Well, this is what happens when you take your eye off of him for 2 seconds...

And do you see that smile? It's devious. No matter what I say to him, put him in time-out, give him a little pat on the bottom or the hand, he's still doing it. I'm about over time-out too--he is still throwing up every time I put him in it, so my options are to clean up vomit, or try something else, and cleaning up vomit is not something I'm really into...ever.

The pictures below just crack me up. It's so funny how much your child watches you. In case anyone is wondering, the oven is not on!

First, put the dish (or tupperware) in the oven...

Then, put the mit on the right hand...

Then, put the mit on the left hand...

And take it out!

He did all of this in a matter of minutes...no editing of the pictures here! He's smart.

Then, here's my wild child again who HATES his highchair now....

Do we go to a booster seat now? He's not big enough to sit in the regular chairs, but he is refusing to be in the high chair now so we have to do something.

Here is Hudson's school picture for this fall. Sorry, it's a picture of a picture. I thought it was sweet, even though he isn't smiling!

And this is Hudson's school picture with Santa. As you can tell, he really loves Santa. I love it!

Parties, Parties, Parties

We've had quite the past few days. Let's just say that we are exhausted tonight! I need to be addressing Christmas cards and doing laundry, but all I really want to do is to lay on the couch and do nothing! Oh well, tis the season, right?!?!?

Last Thursday night, I went to my friends Cameron and Caroline's 30th birthday dinner at La Paz. Are we really turning 30 this year??? Hard to believe. Anyway, we had a fun time celebrating. When you have 27 friends eating dinner at La Paz at one time to celebrate you, I think you are pretty loved! They are some of my best friends and I was so happy to be able to share in the fun with them! Of course, I took no pictures. This is starting to become a trend. Instead, you get randoms of Hudson!

Friday night, we had a surprise 60th birthday party for Joel's dad. Hudson wasn't too excited about wearing his Santa hat!

Look who wasn't all that surprised!

Pointing fingers, trying to figure out who's idea this was! Ha!

He might not have been surprised, but I still think he had a good time! What do you think?!?!?

Saturday night, Cameron and Caroline had their annual Christmas party at their house. I just had to go because the food is amazing every year, and it's always a really good time. They have practically the same menu every year and it kills me to have to wait a whole year to get to eat that food again! It is that good. Joel stayed home with Hudson. We've had a rough few days with Hudson--he has really been testing us--and we knew it was going to be a disaster if we took him. And, we've way over-used the grandparents lately, so we didn't want to ask them to keep him either. You know, sometimes you have to sacrifice a little, and I think that Joel didn't mind too much that he got a night at home! Anyway, I had a nice night out, ate way too much, even stopped by my friend Kristen's party on my way home. That's more activity than I've had in a while! See, I'm not that anti-social. Ha!

Saturday night wasn't the end of all the fun, however. Sunday night, we hosted our Sunday school's Christmas party. We had a tacky theme and 50 people came over! It was huge, and let's just say our house was about packed to the max! We had it catered, and several people brought dips and desserts, and it was BYOB, so really, all we had to do was to have our house ready. Easy, right?!?! Let's just say that the past week has not been all that fun around here with us being stressed about having our house just perfect. It's great to have an event in our home though, because it makes us do things that we've been needing to do (like replacing 4 lightbulbs in the kitchen that have been out for months!). Really, it was good for us. And, we loved opening up our home for our first annual Christmas party.

With being the host, I didn't really have a chance to take pictures, but I snapped a couple at the end after most people had left.

I don't know why, but we thought this big thing of baked beans was hilarious. We had to get a picture in front of it! We had enough baked beans to eat for a year.

I wish I had taken a picture of Joel and me in our outfits, but I didn't. We really stepped it up from my office Christmas party! Joel is wearing a woman's sweater and was styling!

Hudson got to spend the afternoon/night with my parent's and I went and picked him up after the party. Thankfully, they only live 5 minutes away! He was one tired little boy, and so were we! We needed one more day before heading back to work today, but we survived. All I can say is that next weekend, we are doing nothing (for now). One more week of work and then I'm off for 2 weeks. Yay!!!