Last Couple of Weeks in January

I'm playing catch up again! I have so many pictures that I need to get off my camera/phone and it's starting to get overwhelming!

We saw our first snow of the year in January. As you can see, it pretty much shut the town down! Ha! It still counts right?!?! They did let the schools out 30 minutes early...for this...

 The boys got the game Bean Boozled in their stockings this year and I do not know what Santa was thinking! We had so much fun playing this game, but we did have a trash can near by! Yikes...some of these were disgusting! Honestly, I'm not sure we had any good ones in our box! Worst by far were moldy cheese and barf...I'm still cringing just thinking about it! It provided so many laughs and squeals that night!

 Joel and I participated in bowling fundraiser for Hudson's school. Our team was the Wrecking Balls and we bowled with our neighbors. It was SO fun! We didn't win, but we had fun trying!

Lilla Grace was born 3 weeks early on January 26th! More on Lilla to come, but she is PRECIOUS!

 Hudson celebrated the 101st day of school and had to put 101 things on a hat. These kinds of things are my worst nightmare, but I thought we did ok with our pipe cleaner mohawk!

 They did a parade around their school and it was such a fun morning!

Joel's birthday was on the 28th. Since he is on a gluten free diet now he has not had any sweets in a really long time. I found a gluten free bakery in Inverness and it was one of the best cakes we have ever had!

 I celebrated one of my last Fridays off for a while with Harrison in Irondale watching trains. It's still one of his favorite things to do.

 We had dentist appointments...

 I mean, total relaxation at the dentist office here! :) He was cracking me up.

 Then he ended up at the doctor over the weekend with busted ear drums. Poor buddy was feeling AWFUL, but still smiling!

 We finally got the zip line set up and it is a huge hit! It looks a little crazy in our backyard...you fly over the driveway, through 2 crepe myrtles, over the slide on the swing set, and down through the yard. It's quite the obstacle course!

 These boys have the sweetest relationship. Yes, they fight, but they would much rather be together than be apart any day!

The snaggletooth grin is quickly going away...can't believe he is almost SEVEN!

And that pretty much wrapped up January!

Mercedes Kids Marathon

Yesterday, Hudson ran in the Mercedes Kids Marathon. He ran in it last year and has been talking about doing it again ever since. Even 30 degree weather couldn't convince him not to do it again! :) It was quite chilly to say the least. 

We met up with friends as soon as we got there. These boys were SO excited!

We got there and had to stand in a mosh pit for about 25 minutes before it was time for 1st grade to go. I wasn't sure we were all going to survive that! I guess the only positive was that all those people in one little spot kept us warm!

Finally, off they went! Hudson is on the far right of the picture below. They were sprinting!!!

 We watched him start and then made our way to the finish line to see him finish up.

 He ran the mile in a little over 9 minutes, which we thought was great! I'm pretty sure I couldn't run it that fast! He and his buddies stayed together the entire time and it sounds like they had a lot of fun along the way!

 Our friend Heather accidentally took this shot of her son William (in front) and then Hudson, Wyatt and Haines were in it too!

He was so proud of his medal! 

I guess this will be a tradition now! He loved every second of it! Thank goodness it was a sunny day!

Monster Jam, Snaggletooth, and a Reptile Party

We could not stop laughing at Hudson one day a few weeks ago! He had lost one of his front teeth and then a few days later, he busted and hit his mouth and knocked the other top front tooth loose. It was so loose that it was basically hanging to the side and he would not pull it. We told him he looked like Olaf and so he went and got Olaf and we took this picture! See the resemblance?!?! 

We headed to Monster Jam a few weekends ago. Joel and Hudson went with friends a few years ago, but Harrison had never been (and I had secretly sort of wanted to go too!). We decided that this year would be the year of more "experiences" and less "things" so this was our first family "experience" of the year.

 I really had no idea what to expect. It was so loud! I was not all that impressed. I feel like they needed more room to do bigger things? The boys loved it though and said it was the best day ever so that is all that matters! Maybe it's just a guy thing!

This was Harrison's fave...

 It was fun spending time with my boys even though we could not hear each other talk! There was some really good people watching too, just sayin'. Monster Jam brings out the best (and worst!) of Alabama! :)

Grave Digger was the only one that was impressive, but Joel and I felt like it was set up for him to be the star of the show.

 We had a fun dinner out afterwards and then Hudson finally let Joel pull his tooth out! I LOVE the snaggletooth! He is so darn cute!!! Joel and I definitely got a little emotional grabbing that last front tooth. He's never going to look the same again! Our sweet little first baby boy. And to be honest, I am terrified of the monster teeth that are about to come through! They are already well on their way in! :)

The next day, Hudson had a birthday party for his friend Britton. His mom sent me these pictures afterwards. I have no idea whose child this is because it is certainly not mine! I would NEVER put that thing around my neck! Hudson came home claiming he was going to ask Santa for a snake next year. Ummm.....NO. Not happening...EVER.

 The Under Armour in this picture had me cracking up...

 Yikes!!!

That was a really fun first weekend back in the swing of things!

Happy New Year!

My sister sent me a text last week telling me that I needed to update the ole blog. So here we go! Nothing too exciting going on, but I'll back up to the week after Christmas to start. Joel and I were off work again that week and thankfully, none of us killed each other. We are seriously not used to that much time at home. Ha! It was a nice break from work and school though. And we slept in until after 8 every.single.day. Glorious!!!

We rang in New Year's at home this year. It was the first year in a while that we've not done anything and it was nice to celebrate in our pajamas! Actually none of us made it to midnight. Very lame and proud of it! We ate our greens the next day at my parent's house. The boys had their first taste of bubbly...

 We had one last visit with the cousins before we had to say goodbye to Carrie, Andres, and Rooney. Such a sad goodbye! We are ready for them to be back!!!

 One day that week I took the kids to see the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. No pictures taken to remind us of that disastrous day thankfully, but I did want to document here so I can remind Hudson of the ONE day he got lost at the movie theater! I repeat, ONE day he got lost. There won't be another because he will never leave my sight again (college included!!)! :)

We got to the theater about 15 minutes early, bought our popcorn and then headed up to our seat. The theater was the very first one off the lobby. As soon as we sat down, I realized I didn't grab any napkins and we had butter everywhere. Hudson volunteered to go grab them. He said he knew where they were and with our theater being the first one off the lobby, I didn't think anything of it. Well, after 5 minutes and he wasn't back, I started to wonder where he was. I left Harrison in his seat and told him not to move and then headed to get Hudson, as I was sure he was probably just in the lobby trying to remember where he came from. Well, no Hudson in the lobby. So I went back to the theater and grabbed Harrison and we started looking for Hudson. Ten minutes turned into fifteen and then twenty, and then the panic set in. Well, let's be honest. The panic had already set in and I was freaking at this point. I finally called Joel (like he could do anything!) and he called the police. I had every bad thought in my mind possible! My mind does not ever want to go there again. Such a scary experience. I had about 15 people helping me...parents, workers, everyone was so nice and reassuring...even though I felt like the worst mom in America! We had gone in every theater, every bathroom, the police were looking outside the building. We still could not find him! Then finally, two little girls found him. He was huddled up in another theater right next to the one we were in, on the left side of the walkway going in (we had all gone in that theater 10 times but every time we went in was on the right side). He was frozen. Of course the first thing he said was that he got us our napkins. Sweet boy...they were wadded up in his hands and you could tell he was scared to death! It was a very traumatizing experience for both of us.

Well I was ready to pack it up and head home. My heart had had enough for one day and the manager had given us tickets to come back, but the kids begged to stay. I can't tell you much about the movie, but the boys said it was good.

So anyway, we DID venture out again that week! Shocking, I know. After that day I told myself we weren't leaving the house, but I got over it real quick. That tends to happen with boys! We met some friends this time at McWane and had a great morning.

 This is Harrison's best bud. They spent a couple of days together that week! Such fun!

 We went to the zoo one day too! It wasn't crowded and the sweet worker at the slide let them have unlimited slides that day. We didn't do much else at the zoo besides this. Thankful for a zoo pass so we don't have to worry about seeing everything! :)

 Obviously, Hudson dressed himself on this day. I have no words...I guess at least it matches???

 Hudson had a buddy over too one day that week. I guess by the looks of these pictures that maybe it didn't rain that much?!!? I really can't remember! They were literally outside all day long and it was great.

 Joel had a doctor's appointment in Nashville so we headed up there one day and spent the night with Jordan and Anna. It was a great little night away! Next time we go up there will be to meet baby Lilla!

 We had some time to kill before his appointment so we went antique shopping. The boys just loved it, let me tell you! But this boa did help! :)

Ok that gets us caught up to when school started back! No one wanted to go back, but we all needed our routine again. Now I'm ready for another two weeks off. Funny how that happens! Be back soon with more fun!