The Rest of Friday and Saturday

After the Christmas program on Friday, we finally went and bought a Christmas tree. We have just been so busy that we haven't had a chance to go get one yet. Another beef with the real tree thing--if we had a fake one, I would have had it up Thanksgiving weekend!

 

The boys had a good time going up and down the rows of trees. Hudson picked out a lot of trees for us, but they just weren't the right ones if you know what I mean. :) Bless his heart. He tried!

 

 This chunk just did whatever big brother did.

"Mom, pick one already!!!" I should really say, "DAD, pick one already!!!" It always comes down to Joel's decision. You know, being the engineer that he is, it has to have the perfect shape and have the proper fullness to it. It is a process. And I only heard, "I used to work this lot for many years..." once the whole time out of Joel. We're making progress here! :)

The tree is finally decorated! It is starting to feel a bit more like Christmas (now if we can just get this 80 degree weather out of here it might really start to feel like Christmas!). Hudson LOVED decorating the tree. There are so many ornaments at the bottom of the tree and I just can't move them. It adds his 3 year old touch to it! He did such a good job. We blasted Christmas music and had a grand ole time! Harrison took one ornament and flung it across the room, where it broke into a million pieces. He was promptly taken to bed. He has only broken one more ornament since, so hopefully he has learned his lesson! :)

 Sam the Elf made his first appearance! Very exciting stuff (and good bribing material too!)!

Saturday, we had a birthday party for Charlie Ballentine (I took no pictures!) and then we had our annual tacky sweater Sunday School party. It was so fun! Joel and I of course ran out of time (I feel like a broken record because I say that all time, but I guess that is life right now), and didn't have good outfits, but we were tacky enough I suppose.

 The whole group! Such a fun night with sweet friends!

Sunday activities to come later!

 

A Little Singing...

We are at the end of another really busy holiday weekend. It was SO fun, but we are exhausted. Joel went to bed at 6:30 and I had both the kids down by 7. I'm not too far behind them (but I have Sunday chores to do first!). I'll have to break this weekend up into several posts.

 

Friday morning was Hudson's Christmas program at school. We started with breakfast in the Fellowship Hall. Hudson was way too excited to eat, but I sure enjoyed my breakfast!

 

 Hudson and his buddy Anderson (in a rare, still moment--they were tackling each other and running around the tables the rest of the time!)...

Then, it was time for the progam. They sang 6 or 7 songs and it was adorable. Hudson sang every word. I was so proud of him! He is front and center below!

 

I used my phone to video the whole thing and it is way too big to put on here, but I asked Joel to take a short video with our big camera and of course he could not figure out how to do it. He did manage to get 15 seconds of it (I don't think he realized that it was working, but you get the idea)...

 

I was very impressed with the program. That is a lot of songs for 3 and 4 year olds to learn! I know they practiced a bunch.

 

Moving on to today, Hudson sang in "big church" this morning for the first time. The Wednesday night class that I'm teaching sang Away in a Manger this morning. Let's just say I think they all got a little stage fright. They did so good on Wednesday night when we practiced, but they were a little quiet today. It was still precious though and I was proud of them (and I know the congregation thought it was adorable too!). Hudson sang not one word this time. :( 

 

I can't leave Harrison out. This was this morning before we left for church. I did not brush his mop before we left for church. Oh well. He looked precious in his Christmas outfit though!

 

More to come on the rest of our weekend. It was full of fun!

Party, Train Ride, Friends, and Peter Pan!

We had a crazy busy weekend last weekend. The weekend was all about Hudson and I couldn't wait for it! However, Hudson woke up Friday morning with a fever. Isn't that the way it always works??? He really had no other symptoms except for the fever, so I just knew it was one of those pesky fever viruses. We had friends coming into town (of course) that day so I decided to go ahead and take him to the doctor to confirm what I already knew. Waste of a co-pay, but oh well. So, we had to scratch Friday night plans with the Stolarski's and hope for the best that it would miraculously go away on Saturday. They had thankfully decided to stay in a hotel (even though I begged them to stay with us--thankfully they did not take me up on that offer!). Joel was kind enough to let me go on to dinner with them Friday night, and we had a great meal at Sumo. I enjoyed my night out without kids, but Meggan's little boy Austin took to me and was my little buddy for the night. I missed having my buddy there with me too! It was fun, and good to see friends that I only get to see once a year!

 

John and Meggan made plans to come up here several months ago. They wanted to do the Polar Express again. We were planning to take a year off from it until Harrison could really enjoy it too, but when they said they wanted to do it again, we decided we would too. However, it was all booked by the time we tried to schedule it. I had heard the daytime train ride was just as good (and a whole lot cheaper too), so we did that instead and I have to say, it was almost better than the Polar Express. Definitely better for our 1 year olds too. 

 

Saturday morning, we woke up and the fever was gone! Woo hoo! We went ahead with plans for the day. We had a birthday party first at Pump it Up. We only stayed for a little while, but Hudson had a blast. Harrison had a blast too--I'm actually not sure who had more fun! I think we have Hudson's birthday party picked out now!  

 

After the party, we met John, Meggan, Austin, and Avery in Calera for the train ride. I forgot to mention that they really wanted to ride on the caboose. The caboose is the one car that Santa does not go through on the ride and there are only 8 tickets sold for the caboose, so it was perfect for our group of 8. Their kids are terrifed of Santa and I know at least one of ours was going to be terrified, so I was fine with it. Let me tell you, the caboose was awesome! Especially for Avery and Harrison who just wanted to be on the go. We didn't have to worry about staying in seats or anything like that. We had the whole car to ourselves!

 

Boarding the train!

 

One of the highlights...getting to talk to a "real" conductor!

So, one of the cool (and scary too) things about the caboose was that we could ride on the back of it, which was outside. We had to watch the little ones very carefully and make sure that everyone was hanging on tight, but that was a good job for the Daddies!

Harrison decided it would be fun to toss his paci off the train mid-ride. That was thankfully our only casualty of the trip. Well, we almost experienced another casualty too. There were two dogs playing along the track and if you have never been on this train ride before, basically, the train rides backwards 5 miles and then goes back forward along the same track. So, while we were riding backwards (which means when we were on the back of the train, we were facing forward at this point), the dogs were on the track and we were heading straight towards them. They would not get off the track. I started panicking a little bit, and then the kids realized what was happening and they started to panic. Then, the engineer started to panic a bit and he radioed that the dogs were not moving. Last minute, they ran off the track. We all sighed a big relief. Not sure how I would have handled that potentially sad situation!

Cuteness! (I'm holding him, don't worry!)

Below was the inside of the caboose. It was really neat, complete with an old wood burning stove and potty! The boys loved exploring it!

The train went a lot farther than they do on the Polar Express. It doesn't stop either (except for when it broke down once!), which was good. We were on it for a good hour and fifteen minutes.

Daddies and wrong kids...

We tried taking a group picture...

 

 

We had a late lunch at Urban Cookhouse and then the Stolarski's came over to our house a little later that afternoon and we grilled out. Our house looked like a tornado had gone through it after they left! It was crazy. We had lots and lots of fun though. I'm so glad they could come visit with us!

 

Sunday was Peter Pan day. Hudson was SO excited. We took Migi with us (she told me not to post this picture on anything, but I am anyway!).

I think Hudson liked it. I say "think" because he acted all strange when it was over. He later told me that he wanted to go down on the stage to meet Peter Pan. I think he was just sad when it was over! He loves all things Peter Pan right now so I knew he would like it. He especially loves the crocodile, and would not stop talking about it coming out during the play (we were a little disappointed that the crocodile only made sounds during the play and never actually made an appearance). Anyway, it was a good afternoon out with just Hudson!

We are now getting ready for another really busy weekend. School programs Friday, work parties Friday night, Auburn graduation Saturday (have to be there by 10 am--early!), birthday party, Sunday school party Saturday night, Hudson sings in church on Sunday, and then gingerbread house decorating party Sunday afternoon. Oh and sometime we have to go get a Christmas tree--yep, we don't even have one yet! I'm tired just thinking about it! Tis the season!!!

14 Months

Pictures of to come of our crazy busy weekend, but I wanted to make sure to put up Harrison's 14 month post first.

 

We have had a breakthrough this month with Harrison. It is like a switch has flipped and he is all of a sudden a happy baby. We are loving it. Now, he is still a MESS. You can just take one look at him and know he's trouble. But, he's cute so who cares! 

 

I've never heard as many laughs and squeals out of him as I have this month. His favorite thing right now is to be chased. We chase after him all over this house and he just giggles and squeals! He has a special hiding place too which is really cute. He will squeeze between the den chair and the ottoman and he thinks no one can get to him.

I have also noticed this month that he is really starting to listen to us and respond to simple commands. For example, I can tell him to put his dirty clothes in the basket and he will go do it. Or, go close a door, or do you want a sippy and he will head to the fridge. He will also give you a wide open mouth kiss if you ask for it and will squeeze you tight (and pat your back!) for a hug!

He is still not saying much that we can understand. He makes a lot of "da" sounds, but not a lot of real words yet.

He continues to be very jealous of Hudson sitting in my lap or if the dogs are sitting in our laps. He will get his way...mark it down! He is a pusher for sure. He is so tough too. He will steal the dogs toys away from them and absolutely will not give it back to them, even if they are tugging on it! He's also pretty good at stealing Hudson's toys. It usually results in one of them, if not both of them crying. Speaking of tough, he did his first front flip down the backyard stairs this afternoon (not on my watch, I might add). He was fine thankfully--not even a scratch or bump on him. I try not to picture it actually happening because it is scary.

He still hates having his diaper changed. Most of the chasing games begin when I mention changing his diaper.

I think his growth has definitely (and finally) slowed down a bit. He is in mostly 24 months to 2T clothes, but can still wear some 18 month clothes. Not for much longer though!

He has three teeth coming through right now, with a fourth on its way soon. He only has one top tooth coming through right now, but we can see the other one. He is going to follow in Hudson and my footsteps--Superman will be able to fit through his two front teeth! :) I'm almost sort of sad that the gummy smile is about to be a thing of the past. I know he is 14 months--high time for him to have some teeth, but still. There's just extra cuteness to a gummy smile!

He now has an attachment object. It is a little dog lovey called Woofie. It is so cute. I can tell that it really gives him comfort. It will not leave this house (I just don't want him getting that attached to where he can't go anywhere without it), but I'm fine with him having it in the house and to sleep with if he needs it.

Happy 14 months little buddy! I can't wait to celebrate your 2nd Christmas with you this month! Should be tons of fun!!!

Christmas Photos

These are some pictures that didn't end up making it to the Christmas card this year. In fact, I didn't use any of the pictures of them in their Christmas outfits! I thought these were cute though, especially of Harrison. We did them at Ross Bridge and the first part went great and then I changed their outfits (I knew going in it would probably be a bad idea, but I didn't want all the pictures in Christmas outfits), and then a "real" train came by and Hudson checked out. Joel took him back into the woods where he could get an up front look at the train and we took some cute pictures of Harrison on the wooden train. As long as he was playing on this train, he was happy. If I attempted to pull him away from it, it was the end of the world. I'm learning it's his way or no way. :)

 

Gotta love those curls...where my boys got their curly hair, I will never know!

 Always with a stick in hand...

I will save the other pictures until later!

Turkey Day!

We are having a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving holiday. It was our year to do Thanksgiving with my family, so we have stayed in Birmingham as opposed to heading up to the lake and it has been very low key and we've gotten some much needed rest and even cleaned out a closet! The toys are getting cleaned out next!

 

Harrison wearing his turkey outfit on Thanksgiving Eve...

 

Hudson and I watched It's a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on Wednesday night and he helped me bake a little bit. He is in a stage where he loves to help me do all things and I'm loving having the company (even if it brings on an extra mess or two!). I don't know how long my boys will want to help me cook, so I'm milking it while it lasts!

 

Thursday morning, we had a special delivery from my mom, who brought over monkey bread. Every year growing up, we ate monkey bread and drank hot tea while we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I'm embarassed to say that Mom STILL brings over monkey bread to us each Thanksgiving! It is fabulous. I actually bought the ingredients to make it this year myself, but then she said she was bringing it so I wasn't going to argue with that! It was delicious and while Harrison took a morning nap, Hudson and I watched the parade. Fun times! He especially loved all the balloons and the marching bands.

 

We took a few pictures at our house before heading over to Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving lunch. These ended up being the only pictures I took all day!

 

 I love this picture of all my boys! It makes me happy!

The boys did not have turkey day outfits this year. Shame on me. I think I finally figured out that buying an outfit for one day out of the year was just not worth it. I cannot say the same for Christmas, however! Harrison did have one, but it was a hand me down and I didn't have anything to match it (because of course they have to match!).

We headed to Mom and Dad's and ate a delicious lunch. We all stuffed ourselves silly. Of course my granddad mentioned right as we were sitting down that traditional Thanksgiving lunches were about 3,500 calories. Thanks Granddaddy. It did not seem to deter me though--I'm pretty sure I ate every bit of those 3,500 calories! :) The kids were not all that interested in eating lunch. They just wanted to play. Oh well. It was a slim crowd at my parents this year. All of my siblings were elsewhere, so it was just us, my parents, my grandmother, and my other grandparents. Like I said, very low key and a big difference from the 40 plus that are at Joel's Thanksgiving lunch! We all had a great time though and it was nice for once not having all the commotion (not that our wild bunch didn't provide a lot of commotion, but we could close them off in the toy room! Ha!). After lunch, we headed home and we all took 3 hour naps! Glorious! It was a perfect Thanksgiving Day! We have so much to be thankful for this year!

This morning, we all headed to the zoo and then lunch at Mugshots. We did NOT go shopping. You couldn't pay me to get in that mess. The zoo was not crowded at all, so it was a perfect day to go!

I'm not sure what is on tap for the rest of the weekend, but it is going by way too fast! I'm enjoying my time off!

Thankful for These Boys!