A day in the life of a Robison....

Diaper Man

2011-11-04T09:20:00.000-05:00

It amazes me some of the things my children come up with all on there own.

They have been having fun today unloading all of Hudson's diapers (clean of course) and throwing them around in the playroom. Austin decided that they would call themselves "Diaper Man" and should wear the diapers on there heads.

They were so funny running around like this. They managed to keep themselves and mommy entertained for a while like this.

Lightning Comes to Town

2011-11-02T11:44:00.000-05:00

November 1st, 2011was a big day at many homes-it was the release day of the movie Cars 2.

It was an even more exciting day for kids in our town-the main characters from the movie came to town and you could have your photos taken with them.

The boys thought it was cool but Austin was not too excited about having his picture made with them.

My little monkeys

2011-08-15T18:59:00.000-05:00

Hudson has been quite the little monkey recently and finding any thing he can to stand on so he can reach things. Today he thought it was a good idea to include his big brother in the fun. I cant leave them alone for a min or turn my head for a min. these days.

At home Beach Day

2011-08-14T18:45:00.000-05:00

The temps have been so HOOOOOTTTTTTTT here this summer and we can only go outside to play early in the morning or just a little before dark. Today Austin came up with the idea of having a beach day.

He told me just how to set it all up with the pool right beside the sand table (we had the sand and the water) not to mention the fact that the sand table umbrella added a little shade to the pool. I also had our patio umbrella where it was trying to shade the pool as much as possible.

After both boys were all wet they decided it was time to swing. Austin stepped it up with his big brother duties and pushed Hudson on the swing.

We also decided to soak the dogs down with water too so they would stay cool and also gave them baths too, Notice Bernie hiding under the sand table trying to catch a break from the sun.

After the dogs baths it was back to work-Hudson decided it was a good time to mow the backyard. Such a devoted little worker!

Then it was time for another pool break

Hudson also thought it was a good idea to hide Austin under the big yellow tub (notice Austin under it in the photo above).

Above the dogs are trying to catch some shade by a bush.

Outdoor fun with a Super Hero

2011-08-08T18:38:00.000-05:00

We had a fun time playing outside today with Hudson and our Super Hero Austin!

This is about the best photo I could get of them together

Here are my 3 little guys-Bernie (our dog), Austin & Hudson

The boys love playing outside in the backyard, even though it is so stinking hot this summer. Our dogs, Bernie & Chloe also love us all being out back together playing!

First week of August around our house

2011-08-06T18:36:00.000-05:00

We have been playing a lot of ball around our house recently.

Austin has also been being a big helper with his little brother. Notice him holding Hudson's cup in the photos below!

MOPS water play date

2011-07-28T16:20:00.000-05:00

We had a great water play date with our MOPS group today. The weather was nice and warm for the kiddos to enjoy the water.

There were lots of different water toys, pools and sprinklers set up for the kids to enjoy. The mamas enjoyed sitting under the shade of the covered patio chatting while watching the kids have fun.

Afternoon fun

2011-07-27T19:30:00.000-05:00

The boys and I had a big time this afternoon playing ball downstairs! The dogs even got to enjoy our indoor playtime.

Bernie giving Hudson some kisses for letting him play ball too!

How many balls can Austin hold?

Mommy & Austin trying to take a picture of themselves

My Boys

Mommy & Hudson

After playtime we had dinner which Hudson appears to have had fun with while feeding himself. Notice Chloe (our dog) in the back ground just waiting to clean up anything he drops on the floor.

Austin's store is open for business

2011-07-23T16:25:00.000-05:00

This morning Austin decided it was time he started his own little store out of our playroom. He loaded up a bunch of toys onto the sofa and set up his computer keyboard as his cash register-and he was open for business.

Hudson was his first customer and was very happy to purchase a nice new red sports car for himself!

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-05T16:16:00.000-05:00

Mama-ma and Papa came to visit us over the 4th of July holiday! We had a nice family cookout at our house with Tommy & Aiden along with Mama-ma & Papa.

Aiden cooling off with some water

Bernie hanging out in the backyard with everyone!

Hudson manning the grill and cooking us dinner

We watched the fireworks go off in our neighborhood!

The last two weeks

2011-06-28T20:04:00.004-05:00

We have not really been doing a whole lot the last week or two since it has been raining so much. I have been trying to be creative and come up with things to do with the boys. One day Austin and I made a car wash for his hot wheels. He seemed to love it!
The boys are continuing to become more like friends every day. They love playing together!

We had a family cookout this past weekend and Hudson was a cool cat sporting a Mohawk in his hair

I made some pancakes one morning for the boys and Austin's were in the shape of a trash truck (He loves trash trucks!)

Apparently I didn't give Hudson enough food this day-he was having to lick his plate for crumbs.

Austin loves wearing his sun glasses when we are in the car. He says "Mommy, I'm a cool cat!"

Hudson has a thing about always having at least one shoe on. He has also been into having hats on as well. He likes for them to be covering his eyes though.

Hudson being Mr. Hollywood!

Austin giving Hudson a little push!

Not only are the boys becoming better friends but they are also becoming partners in crime. The other day I went down stairs to get them a juice and was gone less than one min. When I came back upstairs into the playroom, they were both in my desk chair and had opened the laptop and were just banging away on the keys. Hudson had never climbed into the chair like this before and Austin knows better. Of course I say, "What are you boys thinking? Austin you know better." Austin looks at me an replies "Mommy, we had to check our email". Did my three year old really just say he was checking his email. Looks like I am going to have my hands full with these two boys!

Austin's thoughts on dinner tonight

2011-06-28T19:22:00.002-05:00

I really was not in the mood to cook up a 5 star dinner tonight, but there were 3 guys that I knew were going to be wanting something in there tummy's. So I cooked up some tortellini with Alfredo sauce and threw in a little fresh spinach and made some frozen corn. Imagine my surprise when Austin says "Mommy, this food is DELICIOUS!" He usually doesn't even touch his dinner and about 45 mins after we get done he ask for soft cereal (oatmeal). I really needed a sweet comment like that from my little man today!

Happy Fathers Day

2011-06-19T19:27:00.002-05:00

I think that Brad had a good fathers day this year. It was very laid back and relaxing. We started out by letting him sleep in and then the boys gave him his gifts (which they opened for him). This is what Hudson thought daddy should do with the bag

Austin made daddy a monster chi pet for his desk at work.

Here is a photo of his gifts and cards, he also got something to go with his game but its not pictured.

After gifts we headed outside to play

Austin helped do a little yard work

Then Brad decided to vacuum out my car from our beach trip-which turned into us cleaning out the garage and Austin used the shop vac to vacuum up the entire garage

After all of our fun and work outside the boys took a nap. As you can see below Austin is laying on the floor-he started out on the sofa but feel off while he was sleeping and never woke up.

Brad is such an amazing father and husband to the boys and I. I am truly thankful to have such a wonderful man in our lives!

Thats what Grandparents are for

2011-06-18T19:53:00.001-05:00

We stopped by Brad parents house for a little while today so the boys could visit and play. While they were there they had all kinds of fun. Hudson got to have a juice box which he is not used to. He was trying to figure out the straw. He got it out again!

Next came the real fun for little Huddy! Grandpa gave him a whole Oreo cookie to eat. Normally I am "that mom" who still tears her kids food into a million pieces so he does not have much experience with a whole cookie.

Hudson grabbed his cookie and took off like he was trying to make sure I didn't see him with it. At first he did really good and was just chewing on it.

"I don't have anything mom!"

Then he hoped into the firetruck and shoved the whole thing in his mouth (that's why I still cut everything up).

Look at my little cookie monsters face

Austin was busy cutting the grass for grandma & grandpa!

I guess that's why kids are so crazy about there grandparents! They spoil them and let them do what ever they want. But its OK for them to be spoiled every once and a while

Hudson has some more 1st today

2011-06-16T19:46:00.002-05:00

Tonight while I was cooking dinner I decided I would try the portable high chair at the table for Hudson to sit in. Normally he still sits in his high chair and we just pull it up to the table. He LOVED being at the table like a big boy.
The dogs also liked him being at the table as well. Now they had both the kids at the table dropping stuff for them on the floor for the to get.

Austin also loved his BoBo being at the table with us. While we were eating Hudson starts jabbering away saying something. Once he finished Austin looks at him and says "you got that right BoBo". This kid cracks us up, he is always saying something to make us laugh.

After dinner we headed out side to let the boys burn off some energy. While we were out there Hudson decided to climb up to the top of the play set by himself for the first time.

Can forget the fur babies!

Family Water Fun

2011-06-13T20:02:00.002-05:00

The weather was actually not too bad tonight so we decided to head outside with the boys after dinner. Austin wanted to play out front and ride his bikes so that's just what we did.
Brad decided to turn the sprinkler on to water the grass some while we were out there. Next thing we know Hudson is running through the water-and Austin was not far behind him. Austin decided to take all of the cars and his bike through the "car wash".

An action shot of him moving the cars around in the car wash.

Hudson had to make sure that Austin was washing is car correctly and not missing any spots.

Huddy all wet

Smiles like this make it all worth while and let you know that you did something right.

Side Note: Austin informed me tonight that he would be going back to the beach next week. He needs to play in the sand and sun some more. I am not too sure who he is going with? It would be so nice to live close to the beach so we could take our boys there all the time.

Gulf Shores Family Vacation Day 6: National Naval Aviation Museum, beach & Live Bait

2011-06-09T20:18:00.001-05:00

We started our day by taking the boys to the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. I highly recommend this place to everyone and its 100% FREE. On our way there we realized as we crossed the state line from Alabama into Florida that it was both boys first time to Florida. In the perfect life I would have a cute little photo below of my boys standing by the welcome to the sunshine state sign. However this is real life and I was probably ducking from flying sippy cups or snacks while trying to change the DVD at that moment. Either way it was still a first for both my boys.

It was also Brad and my first time on a military base which was pretty cool-(side note the water there was amazing-crystal clear). When you arrive at the museum this is the first plane you see.
The plane above would be cool enough for me, but you walk in and there are tons of planes and helicopters hanging from the ceilings and walls. Along with full size planes parked all over the hanger. They also have different parts of planes that you can view.

Not only do they have these planes for you to look at but there are many of them that you can actually get inside of (not just adults, but kids can too).

They also have a really cool indoor play ground for the kiddos that is all aviation related. Did I mention that it is all in the AC and FREE!

You can walk (or run around if you are Hudson) and explore the whole place.

The museum is actually 2 stories-but we only really explored the 1st floor (unless you count when Austin ran upstairs and I had to run through the whole 2nd floor to catch him).

Austin is inside of one of the planes acting like he is flying it!

They also had a big outdoor area with more planes that you could walk and see or ride a bus around. But we did not get to see those because our boys were wiped out after just tackling the 1st floor.

Once we got back to the condo we all changed and headed for the beach.

For those of you who have read each of the post on our vacation and are wondering "were you really there Michelle?" Yes I was there, I was just normally the one behind the camera.

Brad and I (seven years in marriage and 11 years together)

After the beach and naps we got ready and headed to dinner in Orange Beach at Live Bait. Yes my kids are eating ice cream again before dinner-don't judge. What ever it takes for us to have a meal in peace while on vacation!

Austin started wanting to play funny faces while we were on our trip (not sure where he got that game from?). Here are Brad and Austin making funny shark faces.

I really wanted us to go down to the beach and take some photos after dinner since the boys both looked so cute. But they were not wanting any part of it. We also decided that today would be our last day at the beach so I started packing to go home.

We really had a great trip! We were a little worried about taking both boys alone on vacation but it turned out really good. Austin was so good and handled it very well when we had to leave some where that he liked because Hudson was not happy. We were surprised that we were able to actually take the boys to see some different things other than just the beach while we were here. Austin is getting to the age where he is starting to remember things so hopefully this will be the first of many family vacations that he will remember.

Gulf Shores Family Vacation Day 5:water, Ft. Morgan & Build a Bear

2011-06-08T20:34:00.004-05:00

We started out the day at the beach and pool again today! Daddy got a little mixed up with the boys swim suits and managed to put Hudson in Austin's swim suit, and it actually fit him.
Daddy helped the boys play in the sand

Look at this face! These smiles is what our vacation was all about.

I had a great plan to get our last name and year along with our foot prints in the sand, but never got the foot prints

Austin loved driving his trucks in the sand

After a little while at the beach we headed back up to the pool. Hudson actually got in the pool for a few mins. and tried to play.

Austin loved the fountains the pool had

Hudson was only content in the pool for a few mins. then we (Daddy) were back to chasing him around the pool deck

We headed up to the room for naps and showers and then headed to Ft. Morgan. The highlight of the trip for Austin was us getting behind the trash truck.

When we got to Ft. Morgan Brad and I were really surprised, it was a really cool place.

We tried to take the stroller for Hudson but once again Mr. Independent had to walk by himself.

There were lots of cool tunnels and rooms at the Ft.

Austin had fun exploring everything. You can see the rails where there used to be a trolley that would carry things around the Ft.

There was a lot of the Ft. that we were not able to see since Hudson wanted no part of the stroller or us holding him. On the way out Austin wanted to get his photo taken with the big cannon which he called a "para scope" (like a pirate would look through).

The Ft. was a really cool place to visit with lots of history and room for the boys to run and explore. We would like to go back in a few years when the boys are a little older so we can really check it all out.

You could also see some of the oil rigs off the coast from the Ft.

We stopped and got some food on the way back to the condo and the boys took naps in the room. After the naps we headed to The Wharf which was a really cool outdoor mall area.

When we arrived at The Wharf Austin decided he wanted to ride the Ferris wheel and Daddy thought that it would be a good idea. Mommy on the other hand vetoed that idea really fast. Maybe in a few years when my boy is a little older.

Our main reason for visiting The Wharf was to take the boys to Build A Bear.

Austin picked out a bear and Hudson picked out a puppy and we were off to build our new furry friends. Here Austin is pushing the pedal with his foot to stuff his bear-he also stuffed Hudson's bear for him.

Austin added a thing to make his bear talk. Then he picked out a heart for his bear and one for BoBo's.

They had him do a few things with the hearts and he kissed them both before they were put into the bears.

Hudson had a BLAST running around and checking everything out in the store. We ended up helping him pick out an outfit for his dog because he could not decide on one.

Now came Austin's favorite part of the whole process. He got to wash his bear! He loved this!

He loved washing the bears so much that he helped Hudson was his bear too.

Here is Brad being "Super Dad" holding Hudson while holding Austin's hand and pulling it all off looking good sporting a sippy cup in his pocket.

We custom designed an outfit for Austin's bear which was designed to be a trash man outfit. Austin named his bear "Trash Truck Bear".

Hudson named his doggy "Sparky" or maybe we named him that. He got a cool outfit which I don't have photos of. Huddy loves throwing Sparky and making him fly.

On the way back to the condo we stopped at Brewster's for some ice cream and milk shakes. Mommy was so excited to go here since we don't have them in Tn but did in GA so she knows how yummy it is. We place our order at the drive thru and pulled up to the window-where Brad handed the guy working the money (the worker never said a word). So Austin says "why him not talking to us?" To which Brad replied "he might be having a bad day". When the guy came back to the window he handed Brad a cup of ice cream and said "here's your small ice cream" and Austin yells so excited "him talking to us, him talking to us"! I am sure that the worker had to hear him. It was too funny.

After our ice cream we all decided to relax a little. Here is Brad playing his video game while Austin watches "trash trucks" on Brads phone. Notice Austin put his hat on while he was relaxing.

Over all we had another fun day and managed to survive with out any real injuries other than a little mishap with the balcony door which we will not say anything else about. LOL!

Gulf Shores Family Vacation Day 4: Zoo & Outlets

2011-06-07T20:12:00.008-05:00

This morning I woke up around 6am to Austin saying "Mommy wake up, suns up, lets go to the beach". Brad and Hudson were still asleep so I took Austin down to the beach to look for shells.
There was a storm here last night so there was all kinds of stuff washed up. We got a big bag of shells and I even found a small sand dollar that was unbroken. We walked for about an hour out just the two of us. I don't get too much alone time with my big boy, so it was nice for this one on one time.

When Austin and I got back to the condo from our walk Brad and Hudson were up so we decided to head to the Gulf Shores Zoo with the boys. It ended up being a lot hotter there than we had anticipated, but it was a really neat little Zoo.

We got a cup of food that Austin could feed to some of the animals. They also had a lot of animal encounters you could do-but we opted out of the boys riding a camel or playing with tigers.

Austin is feeding a deer here

Here is a Lemur riding a baby toy. They had Lions, Tigers, Bears, Goats, Donkeys, Monkeys, Alligators, Turtles and Ducks (they had others too but these were some of our favorites).

They also had a little area of kid rides.

Hudson wanted to walk for most of the Zoo.

Austin feeding some Goats

After the Zoo, we drove around trying to find me some new sunglasses because mine broke as we were getting in the car to leave the Zoo. After that adventure we went to Bahama Bobs for lunch and ice cream.

The food here was really good and we finally got smart on how to keep the boys happy while waiting on our food.....Let them eat there ice cream before there food. We probably will not do this once we get back home, but for now we are on vacation and making sure we all are happy.

After lunch we headed back to the condo for naps. After nap time Austin wanted nothing to do with going to the pool or the beach so we decided to take the boys to the outlets that are near by. Below Austin is showing us how he is a cool cat with his glasses on while we wait on the elevator.

Here are my other two cool cats

The outlets ended up being a good idea. There was a nice breeze and we pushed the boys around for a long time and just checked things out. We only got one thing while we were there and it was for Austin since he has been so good on our vacation. I bet you will never guess what he got....... Another trash truck. Here he is playing with it on the way home.

These two boys were too funny on the drive back to the condo talking and making noises back and forth at one another.

We decided to just order pizza from a local place here and have it delivered to the condo. It was super yummy. After dinner Austin was still not to interested in going to the beach or pool again, so we just hung out in the room. So now water for us today. Another good day though!

Gulf Shores Family Vacation Day 3

2011-06-06T19:30:00.005-05:00

Day 3 of our vacation started with a little beach and pool time which I some how did not get photos of. After 2-3 hours of being in the sun the boys were ready to head back up to the condo for a little relax and nap time.
Austin has made himself at home at our "beach house" as he calls it and sleeps on the sofa just like he does at home. He didn't end up taking a nap though today.
As you can see Hudson also feels right at home here at the beach.

When Hudson woke up from his nap we decided to take the boys to Foley Alabama Railroad Museum. However, Austin fell asleep on the way there so we made a quick stop at the local Coach store where I got the amazing bag posted below.

Once we arrived at the Railroad Museum Austin started off a little slow since he had just woke up from his nap. It didn't take him too long to warm up once I let him get on a few of the cool train cars.

He was driving the caboose.

The museum was located in a cool little park area so we also walked around some.

Here are my three guys in front of the Choo-Choo!

Hudson was Mr. Independent again. Here he is trying to catch up with Daddy and Austin

Here he is getting mad at me because I told him he couldn't do something. Its so hard for me not to laugh when he tries to get mad and throw a fit. He is usually so happy and nothing but smiles, so when he gets mad its really cute.

After we left the Museum (which would have been cooler if we had of done our homework a little more and found out the time that the actual museum was open and the times that the model trains ran), we were off to find somewhere to have dinner. There is a really cool place we had heard about "Lambert's Cafe" home of the flying rolls that we tried to eat at. However, even though it was only 4:45 on a Monday afternoon everyone else seemed to have the same idea and the line was out the door to have dinner. We opted for somewhere else to eat.

When we sat down to eat at the other restaurant Hudson was not having any part of being in his highchair so Daddy held him and did everything possible to keep him happy as you can see below. We ended up getting our food to go and Brad took the boys to the car.

In the boys defence the service was HORRIBLE at the restaurant and I cant say that I blamed them for being over it.

Once we got back to the condo we ate our dinner which ended up being burnt and no good, then the boys discovered a new AMAZING toy. Daddy's belt. The kids had a blast with this for a while, taking turns pulling each other around.

We also played a few games of hide-n-seek. You can see Austin hiding below. Its so funny to see how entertained the boys can be with out all there toys here.

We had another good day here and Austin was such a good boy. He has really been good at playing with Hudson and leaving the pool or beach when we say.

Gulf Shores Family Vacation Day 2: Hitting the beach

2011-06-05T22:33:00.001-05:00

Warning there are lots of photos ahead in this post!
On Sunday morning we woke up and took the boys down to the beach for the first time of the trip. By the time we arrived last night, unloaded the car and got groceries and dinner it was too late to go down and everyone was so tired.
Austin was up at 5:30am asking if we could go down to the beach. He was so excited
Last year when we were at the beach Hudson only wanted to eat the sand so we were excited to see what he would think this year. Brad held him until we were down by the water.

Hudson was not too sure of the water at first he had to check it out.

Austin on the other hand loved it this year!

Look at that sweet little face.

My happy Boy!

Hudson decided he wanted to be Mr. Independent and didn't want any one to hold him or his hand so I let go and he went face down into the water on the first wave that came up. He got up and walked out of the water a little and then did a butt plant into the sand when he fell backwards. You can see the after photo of him below.

After everyone got there feet in the ocean we headed back up to the room to get our swimsuits on and have some breakfast (remember we went down before 6am). After we were already we headed back to play in the sand some.

Both boys love playing in the sand.

We then headed up to the pool after the boys were over the beach. The weather was perfect in the morning, there was a nice breeze and it was not too sunny. As you can see below Hudson was all about walking around. He did not really spend anytime in the pool.

Austin loved the zero entry pool-he could touch almost any where in the pool.

After a few hours at the beach and pool we headed back to the condo and we all took a nice long nap. We then got ready and left the room to go to dinner and explore Orange Beach a little. However, before we could decide where to eat Hudson was over it and ready to be out of the car. So we headed back to the condo-put on out swim suits and headed back down to the beach and pool.

Since we had been in the car so much the day before and the boys were so good we let them have there fun today.

Brad spent most of the time chasing after Hudson who was more interested in exploring the pool deck than playing in the pool.

Austin got an alligator board to play with in the pool and loved it!

We headed to Walmart to pick up a few things we had forgot the night before. We discovered that the Walmart here had different shopping carts than the ones back home. So we had to test them out. As you can see here Huddy loved them and was all laughs.

Here is me trying to get a photo with my boys before we went to dinner.

We went to dinner at Live Bait which was pretty yummy. Hudson actually made crayon to paper contact with the kids menu as you can see some of his artwork in the picture below.

Here is Austin loving his "chips" He is on a chip and cheese dip kick (I don't know where he gets that from, definitely not his mommy. LOL!)Brad and Austin

Hudson and I

Today was a special day for Brad and I as well. It was our 7 year Anniversary. Some how I didn't end up getting a photo of the two of us together. Brad got a new PS3 game while we were at Walmart today for a Anniversary gift and I notice a Coach Outlet near by that I just might have to get something at this week. Over all a great first day at the beach. So far no sunburns and everyone has been pretty happy today other than Hudson getting upset in the car and Mommy getting mad at the cell phone.

Gulf Shores Family Vacation Day 1: On The Road....

2011-06-04T22:03:00.000-05:00

We hit the road around 7:45am Sat. morning for our first family vacation with just our family of four. We were armed and ready for our 470 mile trip with two kiddos under four, we were packing all kinds of snacks, juices, toys, suprises but the best of all was the portable dvd player. We busted out the dvd player a little over an hour into our trip. Hudson could not believe his eyes he looked as though he was thinking "WOW! We really have a tv in our car? We must be so special and cool". You can see one of those looks on his face below.
Austin was full of suprises as far as saying funny things. The photo below is of the power lines over the highway that have the orange looking balls on them. He thought it was so cool that there were balls up there. So we asked him "how do you think those balls got up there so high?". Without even really thinking about it he says so seriously "God put those balls there" like duh Mom & Dad. So then we asked him "how do we get those balls down?". Once again he replied quickly and so serious "God will get them down". Have to love that kid. We also passed a rest stop in Alabama near Huntsville that has a rocket in front of it (sorry no picture of it, maybe on the way home). We made a big deal about the rocket like wow look at that rocket, I bet it went to the moon. Austin replied "with an astranaunt on it", saying it like what else would go on it. We hit some traffic at one point of our trip! There was a sign telling us to be prepaired for slow traffic for the next four miles-but of course the DOT decided to put it after the exit that you could have gotton off at to avoid the traffic. So for the next almost two hours we sat pretty much stopped moving a car lenght every now and then. The boys both did really good with the traffic and didnt get too crazy while we were in it (and neither did Mommy-my anxiety did great and held off durring it). Below Brad needed a little pick me up once we were through the traffic so he downed a 5 hour energy and we were on our way again. A little over half way through the trip Austin looks out the window and says "beach, beach, I dont see the beach anywhere". It seemed to take forever to get to the beach. We were sure both of the boys would sleep for a while in the car but no such luck. Hudson took about a 45 min nap after we got out of the traffic and Austin took about an hour nap, which was the last hour of the trip. Austin woke up at one point and said "beach, are we at the beach yet?" when I said no, were getting closer he closed his eyes and was out again.
Once we did arrive at the beach we unloaded the car and headed for our condo. When I walked out on the balcony I saw this in the sand below "I Love Boo Boo" I took it as it saying "I love BoBo" so I had to get a picture.

This is the view of the beach that we have for the next 7 days.

Over all our trip down to the beach was pretty good and un-eventfull (other than the traffic-which was for them trimming the trees on the side of the road). We also were able to see a little of the devistation of the tornados that recently hit Alabama. Other than that the boys were as close to perfect as they could have been being in the car for 9 hours and we arrived at the beach in good health so it was over all a good day.

Our week 5/23/11-5/30/11

2011-05-30T18:48:00.003-05:00

Our week started out with Austin having his last day of school on Tuesday and then the rain came. So on Wednesday morning I knew I had to do something to keep the boys entertained. After all we had been quarantined to our house for almost a week and a half at this point, since Huddy had been sick. I decided to put a sheet over the kangaroo climber and put a tunnel leading into it. This kept them occupied for maybe 20 mins or so.
Later Wednesday morning Hudson developed a bad rash (read all about that in another post).
Hudson also decided this week that he wants to start using spoons and forks while eating. I guess he sees us all using them so I gave in and gave him one.

Some times he actually gets some food in there, but has been using his hands some too still. But he sure does love carrying around his fork while walking around which drives us crazy.

It really seems like the boys are starting to become friends a little more everyday. Austin has really been having fun letting BoBo play in his room. He has even been sharing his cars which is a really big deal. Hudson has started actually playing with the cars some rather than eating them (a.k.a. taking them to the car wash as we tell Austin when he is freaking out that BoBo is eating his cars and getting them all wet). Hudson has started pushing them around, its so cute to see things starting to make sense and connect with him.

Austin got a new trash truck this weekend. I don't know what it is with this kid and his trash trucks-but he has like 10 BIG ones, not to mention all the littler ones too. He knows what is different about each one.

Austin had a sleep over at Grandma & Grandpas house Sat. night and got to go to the Zoo on Sunday. They have a new train there which turned out to be more like clown cars. It was so disappointing that Austin didn't ask to ride again, which means it must have been pretty bad.

The weather here is starting to heat up into the 90s so Austin is having to find ways to stay cool. Today he used the buckets Grandpa brought over as pools again and decided he needed to use the hose to pour more water over his head. He loves it outside.

Austin has discovered the word "why?" this week. He was saying "for?" after everything, but now we have reached the dreaded "why" after EVERYTHING phase.

Huddy got his hair cut

2011-05-30T18:29:00.003-05:00

Well we finally did it today, we got Hudson's hair cut for the first time. His hair was starting to get a little long in the back and around the edges.

We took him to Great Clips and we tried to have Daddy hold him so that Mommy could take photos of the process, but as you can see below he was not too happy with this.

Even when I was feeding him snacks he still was not so sure. We were just about to give up and just come back another day.

But then he was happy with Mommy holding him for the cut as long as we were standing up.

Here is the finished product. Pretty cute if you ask me!

My baby boy is getting big way too fast. Its crazy how much faster things are going with him than with Austin when he was his age. I know its just because life is busyer these days, but it is still just too fast. I want him to stay my baby forever.

Happy Birthday Uncle Brett-family cookout

2011-05-28T19:54:00.000-05:00

Normally we have family functions with my hubby's family at my in-laws house. But since the Cicadas have invaded they opted to let us have my brother-in-laws birthday cookout at our house! YEAH!!!! I always love having functions at our house-but we rarely do. Grandpa surprised the boys and brought over a slip-n-slide and big tubs to fill up with water (think little mini pools). Austin was super excited, as you can see below he is enjoying his own personal pool.

Hudson checking everything out!

Hudson was not too sure about the whole water situation today.

The weather could not have been more perfect out. It was a little overcast with a nice breeze so we spent most of the day outside. Here you can see Bernie over seeing the water park.

After a little while he decided it was his turn to take a try at the slip-n-slide. He decided it was better to just lay in the middle of it any enjoy the view.

Hudson was very interested in checking everything out in the yard. He also thought it would be a good idea to taste everything. Here Brad is pulling something out of his mouth (who knows-maybe a rock, clump of dirt or mulch).

Caelex and Zoey joined in too. Here Caelex is playing with his "my Austin" as he likes to say. The kids all seemed to have too much fun.

Here are all the little guys!

After all of our out door fun we headed in for the food. YUMMY~!

After dinner came the real party. Desert time! The kids LOVED the party blowers

Hudson got tired of waiting on his cake and decided to eat the party hat. I tell you, this kid will try to eat everything.

Uncle Brett had lots of candles on his cake this year and had to get a little help from the boys. Grandma snuck in some of those trick candles. Which lead to my dining room filling with smoke.

Hudson had his own cupcake all by himself and decided to try and eat the wrapper as well.

All of the kids enjoyed an indoor picnic while eating there cake and ice cream

After cake, Grandma gave each of the kiddos a flag and lead them in a Memorial Day parade around the house.

I think we all had a great afternoon and the kids all slept good after all the playing together.

Austin's last day of school

2011-05-24T19:10:00.005-05:00

Austin had his last day of school today, look at how much my little man has grown this year.

Look at this little face!~

The kids had a little program where they sang 4 songs for the parents. I have to say Austin did so much better this year. But I will admit that I bribed him. All morning before school I kept reminding him that he would get "ice cream with sprinkles" after school if he did good during his performance. There would be no running, jumping, hopping or falling while on stage. Remember last year he thought it was funny to fall down multi times to make everyone laugh.

Look at him standing so nice and proper. This was just before he grabbed on of the mics and gave a big "shout out" to PAPA! Lol

After the performance they had a little reception for everyone. Here is Austin and his BFF Dawson. These two are such good buddies!

Here are the three amigos of the class Austin, Dawson and Aiden running up and down the hall.

This is the best photo I could get of Austin and his teacher Mrs. Carmen. Next year I will have to remember to get the photo before.

Today was one of those bittersweet days; it was Austin's last day of school for the year but also his last day at Westwood. We will be moving the boys to Austin's old school in the Fall. Westwood was so close to our house but we feel like the boys will get more from the program at Trinity. We are so sad to be leaving Mrs. Carmen and the friends we have made. But the good thing is we know where Mrs. Carmen lives so we will be staying in touch.

My Huddy-who has been sick

2011-05-18T08:39:00.003-05:00

For some reason it seems like the last few times Brad has gone out of town for work something has gone wrong at home. This time Huddy spiked a high temp. On Monday I noticed Hudson was being a little more snugly than normal but was acting OK. When he woke up from his afternoon nap he was burning up, when I took his temp it was 103.4. Luckily we already had our 15 month well visit appt. scheduled for first thing Tuesday morning. Monday night was very long for Hudson and I, he was up and down all night.
Tuesday morning we dropped Austin off at school and headed to the doctors office. Along the way Hudson started acting a little strange. He couldn't hold his eyes open but he was awake. So I of course became really really concerned. Thankfully we didn't have to wait too long to see the doctor but by the time we got back there his temp was 103.8 and that was after I had given him meds. He became very lethargic and was just pitiful. It was heartbreaking as a mother to see my baby like that. The doctor gave him some more meds and after a little over an hour his temp finally came down into the 101 range and he was starting to come around a little more.

We headed home and spent the rest of the day snuggling on the sofa together. I loved getting to spend so much snuggle time with my boy but it was killing me to know that he was not feeling good.

I couldn't leave out a photo of big brother. He was so sweet and tried to help as much as he could. He would cover me and Hudson up with blankets, bring BoBos juice to him and rub his back or arm. He kept telling me "Mommy, BoBo not feel good, him sick, he needs to go to the dr.".

Thankfully when Huddy woke up this morning at 8am (which is very late for him) he was all smiles and had a temp of 98.2. Thank you God!

Hopefully we are on the upside of this virus or what ever was wrong with him. I love to see that smiling face and see me sweet boys playing together.

Weekly happenings 5/8-5/13/11

2011-05-13T19:13:00.004-05:00

This week has been good for the most part. Hudson is still trying to finish cutting 4 teeth so he has been a little needy and whiny which he never really is. Both boys have not been to interested in napping this week either, which means Mommy doesn't get a break.

I seem to have uploaded my photos in reverse order so we will work the week backwards.
Today Daddy was off from work so we decided to take the boys to the discovery center. I have to admit that it would be a challenge for me to take the boys there by myself these days. Hudson and I stayed in the baby room most of the time which he loved. He was able to climb on any and everything and not get in trouble for it.

Hudson has recently discovered that all of his shoes stay in the bottom drawer of his dresser and he loves pulling them out (he has been doing this for a while now). But this week he has had to have us put the shoes on him-no matter what. This was one of the latest combos that he had to have. Watch out fashion week-this boy is setting new trends.

Over the last week I have to say it seems like the boys are actually becoming friends. I don't hear "BoBo coming" from Austin anymore. They have been playing together and both seem to be having fun.

Austin is a hot mess, you never know what will come out of his mouth. Some of his latest have been:

*"Mommy you have a big bootie!"

*"What are you dressed up for, mommy?" this was what he said to me when I came upstairs from taking a shower and was basically in my pjs.

*"BoBo talking night night" he says this when Hudson wakes up from a nap and is talking, but he really doesn't want Hudson to get out of bed yet
*he has also started thinking its too funny to pretend that he is a robot

*he has been doing really good with potty training and has started pooping in the potty in the last 2 weeks!!!! This week he has been a little "gassy". While he is standing there pee peeing he has been pooting and will say "I not poop mommy, I not poop" while trying too look behind him to make sure that there is nothing on the floor.

*he has also discovered that daddy's phone will play trash trucks (he is obsessed with trash trucks-so Brad has been letting him watch YouTube videos on his phone)

I have really been trying to stop and be thankful for these two little guys and not stress or worry about the small things in life. It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day life of cleaning and what not and not take the time to just play and have fun. That being said~I am trying to find the balance between having fun with my kids and staying on top of everything else in life. I have been trying to stay off the computer and phone when I could be playing with them. I have also been trying to follow the fly lady ideas and cleaning the house a little each day "zone cleaning". My boys will only be little for so long and want to play with me and "nuggle" as Austin likes to say (a.k.a. snuggle). My chores will still be here when they are bigger and I am not cool to play with anymore.

My wonderful Mothers Day!

2011-05-09T13:45:00.009-05:00

My guys made sure to give me the best Mothers Day a girl could ask for. My Mothers Day actually stated on Thur. when Austin came home with a gift from school that he made me and could not wait for me to open it. I have to admit I cried when I opened this cute little guy below.
They had also had questions asked to them about there mommy and below are the answers that Austin gave: I think on the one he said doctors on he actually was saying tractors. When he got home and I read the sheet I asked him each of the questions to see if he would answer them the same again and he did.

Then on Friday afternoon these amazing flowers were delivered to our house for me-which was prefect timing considering that Austin had the tummy bug all day on Friday and had been throwing up non stop. As I was smelling my flowers Austin says "Mommy, you love them?". I replied "yes baby I love them". Austin says "so do birds and bees" where does he get these things, you never know what he will say.

Then on Sunday I got 2 of these guys (confession-I got them myself for Austin and I) they are love monster cookies.

My Mothers Day morning started out with Brad and I waking up to the sound of the boys playing. I rolled over and looked at our video monitors only to discover that Austin had gone into his brothers room and was playing and entertaining his BoBo. This was the first time he had done that-it was so cute for us to just lay there and listen to them playing and laughing together.

I received the cute card seen above along with a note or I.O.U. to have a year of our family blog printed into a book which is just what I had asked for. Also, earlier in the week Brad and I made these creations seen below with the boys for my Mothers Day gift. We both decided that it would be much easier for us to do it together with the boys than Brad on his own with them. Austin also let Hudson play in his room all weekend and loved it.

Shortly after we all woke up we took a family trip to Waffle House which is my favorite! Once we got there we realized that it was Hudson's first time to eat there.

After breakfast we went home where I made the comment to Austin that I was tired and he told me that he would play with BoBo in his room and for me and daddy to go take a nap in our room. I jumped on the chance of a nap, which was 2 hours and daddy stayed up stairs and he and the boys also napped.

We then went and got some flowers to plant in the back yard which was fun. Austin also picked me some flowers shown above!

After we planted some of the flowers Brad fired up the grill and cooked us some yummy steaks. We were going to have a picnic outside but it was a little hot so we ended up having a picnic in the playroom which Austin provided some music entertainment during.

here are two of my guys during our picnic

At one point I look over and Hudson has a whole hunk of meat in his mouth. I guess it looked better than his food that was cut up on his plate.

Hudson and Austin had so much fun playing together all day which was nice. Although Hudson thought that getting up on Austin's train table and walking around was the best thing ever.

Here is my baby girl!

And here is Bernie my first born baby!

I did good and didn't do any chores around the house all day which of course meant that it looked like this most of the day.

Brad was great and made sure made sure that I didn't do anything around the house or with the boys other than have fun, which was nice. Now I only have another 364 days until my next vacation day.

Mothers Day: The out takes...

2011-05-09T13:19:00.005-05:00

This year I had a meeting the day before Mother's Day so my wonderful hubby tried to help make all my Mother's Day wishes come true. One of which was the cute photos where the kids hold up the letters spelling Mom. I don't know where he came up with the thought that I might love one of those (I am sure he didn't get an email from me letting him know just that. lol!). After I left he tried his best to take the photos of the boys to make the gift happen for me. As you can see from the photos below it was a great idea and great effort on his part but it just didn't work out.

Austin was too interested in watching "Trash Trucks" on daddy's phone to look up while holding his letter.

I have to give it to my sweet hubby-he definitely tried to make this happen for me.

Playing in the rain

2011-05-01T17:28:00.002-05:00

We woke up this morning to a rainy day. Austin told us that he wanted an umbrella and his rain boots so he could play in the rain. After a quick hesitation I decided that he and I would go out and play in the rain.
We had problems finding puddles to jump in though, but we tried.

I was discovered one of the true meaning of being a mommy of boys and picked up this long worm when Austin wouldn't but he still wanted to put him in the bug house. Oh, the things we do for our kids. I tell you I am pretty sure this worm was on the verge of being a snake-look how long it was.

As I said before we had problems finding puddles for my little guy to jump in so we had to be creative. We discovered that the drain under the down spout of the gutters had some what of a puddle. So Austin jumped up and down on here and seemed to be happy.

We then moved on to driving his tricycle around in the rain-but he had to have the umbrella.

Over all we were outside for about 30 mins. and we both had fun. I found myself walking around in the rain in shorts a tee shirt and flip flops without an umbrella helping my little man find worms and puddles.

Another weather filled day....

2011-04-27T19:18:00.004-05:00

I tell you, I am so over the weather in spring here in Middle TN. It seems like we are having to hide out in our closet at least once a week. Today was one of those days. It started out with our st tornado warning around 5:45am this morning. Brad and I quickly got the boys out of there beds and headed to our "safe place". Luckly the storm passed very quickly and we didnt have any damage.
Soon after the storm we found out that not everyone in our town was so lucky. They have not confirmed if it was a tornado or straight line winds-but either way many people had damage after the storm.

The below photo was one I took from my bedroom window later this afternoon of some of the crazy looking clouds that passed over.

Austin was on safety patrol durring one of our closet adventures this afternoon. He had a big flash light in case the power went out and he had his bike helment on to protect his head. After he put the helment on he said "Mommy I safe now".

I am pretty sure that Austin is a trained storm spotter (you know like the ones they talk about on the news that sees the tornados or funnel clouds). Here he was looking out the window checking for storms. We have really been working on our potty training lately. He has been about 95% trained on number 1 but he wanted no part of going number 2 in the potty. Until this week and he has now gone 3 times in the potty and 0 in his pants. So what better time to go number 2 then the middle of a tornado warning when we are taking cover in the closet. I would so proud of him though for going like a big boy. After wards he decided he didnt want to put his jeans on.

After a fun filled day of hanging out in the closet off and on with 2 toddlers I decided on a quick and easy dinner (which also happens to be the boys favorite). We had a frozen pizza picnic in the playroom as a family. I snapped a few photos of our family dinner and this is the best one (yes, that is my wonderful hubby acting silly).

Hudson had his 1st real date...Play date that is

2011-04-27T18:51:00.004-05:00

Hudson had his 1st play date today that was just for him. Normally he plays with a brother or sister of one of Austin's friends that come over for a play date. But not today these little guys came over just to play with Hudson. Twins-Madison and Michael who are less than a month younger than Hudson came over and we had a big time.
We broke out the kangaroo climber this weekend from the attic and the kids had a blast on it. The below photo is the only one I got of all kids that were here. The twins brought there big sister Riley who is 7 with them (school was out due to weather-but thats a whole other post).

Then Hudson decided to show off with a fireman hat. Look at Michael and Madison's face, looks like they are thinking "whats wrong with this guy-I think he might be crazy".

Now the twins are pretty sure that Hudson is one crazy boy!

And then Hudson thought it would be a good idea to walk around with the hat covering his eyes.

Over all I think he had fun at his first play date-he actually had to lay down right before his friends left. So I think he partied hard. Cant wait to have many more play date with these little guys and there mommy!

Easter Morning

2011-04-25T18:59:00.001-05:00

On Easter morning we awoke to find that the Easter Bunny had left quite a mess around our house and yard. Below is a photo of our back yard. The bunny had eggs every where and had left foot prints through the house.

You can see below that the bunny took the eggs down from the tree and filled them with treats for the boys.

When Austin woke up on Easter morning he was greeted by a note from the Easter Bunny that insturcted him to follow his foot prints and trail of carrots and eggs he left behind to find his Easter gifts.

The bunny also left some items for Austin to put on...As seen below he had to wear the rabbit ears.

Austin was too funny about the mess the bunny left behind-he did not like the idea of a mess.

Below Hudson is hot on the trail that the bunny left behind.

Daddy is determined to find what that silly rabbit left for his boys.

Looks like Hudson did a good job following the tracks to his basket.

Austin did not know what to think about the bunny leaving his and Bo-Bo's easter baskets in his house outside.

Look at my happy boy!

Austin had a blast finding all the eggs that the Easter bunny had left hidden for him. He found them in all kinds of crazy places.

After the boys had there fun we headed inside for some yummy and "themed breakfast" that I had tried to make. I could not find the bottles that I needed to squert the pancake batter onto the pan to make them perfect so I had to come up with an alternitive. As you can see below they didnt turn out quite as cute as I hoped but they were still cute little bunnies.

I think over all the boys had a great Easter! Hopefully we will have many more to come and they will have great memories.

It was the night before Easter...

2011-04-23T18:45:00.000-05:00

This year I decided I really wanted to try and start some holiday traditions that we can carry on throughout the years with the boys. Austin is getting a little older and getting into each of the holidays more than before. For Easter we did the Resurrection Eggs to help the boys learn the true meaning of the holiday. We also started some Easter Eve traditions. We had the boys take some carrots outside and leave them for the Easter Bunny. Santa gets cookies so its only fitting that the bunny gets carrots.

I gave Austin the carrots to carry outside and he decided he better taste them and make sure they were good enough for the Easter Bunny!
Austin made sure that the carrots were placed just right around the tree out front.

After the carrots were all out we hung some empty eggs in the tree in hopes that the bunny would take them down and fill them with fun & yummy treats.

Hudson had fun helping too!

Hudson made sure that all of our eggs were ready to go in the tree.

Here is Austin showing off all of his hard work.

The unthinkable happened....

2011-04-16T20:34:00.002-05:00

My Friday morning started out much like every other morning this week. The boys woke me up bright and early and we headed to the playroom to play and watch some cartoons. We talked to Ma-ma-ma and Papa on the phone. Followed by Austin begging for ice cream with sprinkles for breakfast-once he realized that was not happening he moved on to wanting cheese puffs. After going back and forth with him about it, I decided to give in and let him have some cheese puffs. Who cares that its only 7:15am-whats it going to hurt? For those of you who have not been to our home we have a rather steep stair case of 15 steps all of which are wooden and we have hardwoods downstairs as well. We have what seems like 15 baby gates through our home. One of which blocks off the boys rooms and play room from the catwalk and stairs. Well, I headed down stairs to grab Austins cheese puffs (and thought the gate was closed and latched good). I got the bowl out and started to pour the cheese puffs into it when I heard it. Bump, bump, splat (or at least that's the way it keeps replaying in my mind). I knew what had happened. One of my babies fell down the stairs. I really thought it was Austin (thinking he had climbed over the baby gate). But no, when I came around the corner I saw my sweet baby Hudson laying face down on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. I can not explain the thoughts that were running through my head at that moment. It took a min. for him to start crying, I quickly made sure that he could move his neck and legs before I picked him up off the floor. At this point he was screaming ( and i really wanted to as well). I was trying to check all of his body (arms, legs, hands, feet) and make sure that he was able to move everything. Visibly he seemed to be OK. But I wanted to take no chances with my baby. I called my mother in law (as I was still trying not to panic- remember Brad is still out of town) and tried to tell her what had happened (Hudson was still screaming). I didn't know at that moment if I should take him to his Dr's office or to the ER. When I told her he fell down all of the stairs she quickly told me she would meet me at the ER. I hesitated a min. before I made the call to Brad to tell him what had happened. He was in another state so there was nothing he could do. I quickly grabbed the boys and we headed to the ER. We were still in our PJ's (looking back I should have got a picture of Austin in his bug PJ's with his cowboy boots holding his cup of milk and bag of cheese puffs). When we arrived at the ER Grandma was there waiting on us and we were quickly taken to the back.

Hudson was acting fine and seemed to be OK. He started getting some goose eggs that were popping up all over his little head so I opted to have a CT scan done of his head just to be sure that he really was OK. The Dr. came back and told us that there was no sign of anything serious, only some soft tissue swelling (the goose eggs). We were instructed to keep an eye on him and to check on him every 2 hours when he was sleeping. Debbie took Austin home with her and Hudson and I headed home from some little R&R and extra TLC.

Grandma and Austin baked some cookies and brought some by the house and Hudson loved them. They along with Grandpa came by later that night after a trip to ToysRus with a toy for Hudson.

Amazingly, Hudson doesn't have any bumps or bruises on his little body other than a few bruises and one goose egg left on his head. I can honestly say yesterday was the scariest day of my life so far. I truly do not understand how my sweet baby boy is OK. Other than the fact that some one had to be looking over him and protecting him as he fell down those stairs. I pray that I never have to experience anything like that again in my life. It really could have turned out so bad, he could have broken his neck or back or worse. But he is fine and back to climbing on everything he can. We all read about things like this happening to other people and think to our selves how could this person let this happen to there child. I can say now that it happened to us and that we had every safety measure in place to keep it from happening. The only thing I can figure is that for some reason the gate did not fully latch when I closed it-so Hudson was able to get it open. So please, take the time to check, check and double check things just to be 100% sure. Also, take the time to hug and let your little ones or other loved ones know how special they are and how much you care about them, because you never know when the unthinkable could happen to you.

Weekly happenings 4/10-4/16/11

2011-04-16T20:10:00.006-05:00

We had a pretty busy and eventful week around our house this week. Last Sunday we did our normal errands for the week along with getting Brad ready to go out of town for a few days this week. Hudson was all smiles as usual this week. He is trying to get some new teeth so he has been a little clingy. We made a stop at Sam's Club and Austin found this super cute new play house. He loved playing in there. Brad and I actually had to take turns staying with him while he played while the other one of us did our shopping. I would love to have this for our little guys. Heck I think the dogs could even use it for a dog house.

After our Sam's trip Austin insited that we go to our Mexican restaurant for chips and cheese. We have also recently started letting him have sprite when we eat out. When the server came to take our order Austin quickly spoke up and ordered "coke (aka sprite) and ice cream".

We also let Hudson check out the crayons for the first time while we were there. He actually made contact with the paper for about 5 seconds before they ended up in his mouth.

Austin has been trying so hard to give up his naps! I would be OK with him not napping if he didn't really need the sleep-but he still does. If he goes without a nap he turns into a grump-o-sourous around 5:30 or 6pm. On Tue. afternoon he fell asleep on the sofa in the playroom with his hand in the popcorn bag.

Hudson has become quite the little daredevil recently. He climbs on everything and thinks he should stand up on it once he gets there.

Austin has started letting Hudson in his room to play some, he has even been letting him play with his beloved "trash trucks".

We finally had some trees planted in our back yard this weekend. Since Brad was out of town some this week for work- Austin was "man of the house" while daddy was gone. So he made sure to water the new trees really good for daddy. He also told me that he was going to "take me on a date some where far away".

Here is my crazy boy standing on something again that is not meant to be stood on.

With Easter coming next weekend we have been doing some fun Easter activities. (I am really wanting to start some family traditions that we can follow for years to come). Here we are starting our Resurrection Eggs-which will teach the boys the true meaning of Easter.

We will be doing the eggs like an Advent and opening one new egg each night for the 12 days leading up to Easter (along with the new egg we will be re-reading and opening the eggs from the nights before).

Here is Hudson wearing Austin's Easter basket on his head like a hat.

And here is Austin wearing the basket as a hat.

Wendnesday Nights with Grandpa

2011-04-13T19:55:00.002-05:00

Grandpa Mark has a special tradition with Austin.... Since Austin was born he has made a point to come over at least one night a week for a visit. It has turned into a Wednesday night routine. He comes after work and picks Austin up and takes him to dinner at Newks (a local restaurant here) and then they go for ice cream, paint pottery, run around the mall or check out all the pets at Petco. Every now and then they will let me, Hudson and Brad tag along. This week Brad was out of town for work on Wednesday night so Hudson and I were able to go with them on there adventures. The boys and I met Grandpa at Newks for some dinner. Grandpa lets Austin use 2-3 straws in his drink as you can see in the photo below. He also lets Austin shoot his straw rappers at people or across the restaurant. After dinner we headed over to an ice cream place for Austin's favorite "ice cream with sprinkles "(when he says it, it sounds more like "ice cream with pickles"). Hudson loves the ice cream almost as much as his big brother.

I am so thankful that the boys especially Austin has such a special bond with there Grandpa and that they have there special times together.

Mom's Group Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-13T15:41:00.004-05:00

This morning the boys and I hosted our local moms groups Easter egg hunt at the park. It was so fun to see all the kids hunting for there eggs. Below is a photo of some of the mommies with babies under 2 yrs old. This is a group photo of the over two kids that were at the egg hunt. I cant believe we were able to get them all to sit on this rock so we could actually get a photo. Austin and I made festive rice crispy treats: we had treats in the shape of eggs with sprinkles (these were Austin's favorite), mini-baskets with jelly bean eggs on top as well as bird nest with peeps and jellybean eggs on top

Here is Hudson hunting for eggs for the 1st time. He was picking them up and throwing them like balls. He also would get them and try to put them in his mouth. In the below photo he had an egg in his hand and was taking off down the side walk.

Hudson found one!

He was so happy and proud of him self

Now we did a little better of a job hiding the eggs for the bigger kids.

Austin had a lot of fun hunting and finding them and he was really good at it to. I had to make him stop finding them so other kids could get there share.

Once he was done he had to open them all up and see what kind of treasures were inside waiting on him.

Here is Hudson towards the end kicked back in his stroller.

I have to admit this was a crazy play date for me. It was the 1st time that we had been to the park with Hudson walking so I now had two boys to keep up with. It also didn't help that Hudson thinks he is part monkey and should climb on everything-he was walking up the slides and discovered he could climb the stairs and get on the playground. Needless to say I was a busy lady this morning trying to keep up with my kiddos!

4/9/11 Soccer picture day

2011-04-09T16:24:00.000-05:00

We had picture day today for soccer and I have to say that Austin was not feeling it too much. They were running a little behind on taking the photos so the kids were all running around and were over it by the time picture time got there. Here is one of the only some what good photos we got. Note-Austin is suppose to be holding a ball in this photo Here is one of the team photos that one of the moms got.

Here is Austin and his buddy Gavin chilling before photos

Hudson waited so patiently on his brother to get his photos taken (as long as he had some food he was happy).

Here Danica got into the photo with the boys!

The team doing a little huddle before there photos

Here is one of the out takes of the group photos. As I said before Austin we not feeling the photos, he was more interested in being a little funny guy!

Yes, that's Austin with his shirt over his head. You know those moment when you are out and you see someones child acting up and you think "I am so glad that is not my child"? Well that was my child.

Hudson and Madison (Danica's little sister) had fun playing on the sidelines of the game.

Hudson is ready to hit the field and play some ball

Austin and Gavin sitting on the sidelines during the game

Nicer weather

2011-04-08T19:24:00.006-05:00

We have had some nice weather the last few days so I have been trying to let the boys outside to play (and wear them selves out). We have done lots of exploring as you can see Hudson has been checking out Austin's toys.

The weather was so nice tonight after soccer practice even Austin's baby "Mr. Giraffe" got to come outside and play! Austin decided that it would be nice to take him for a ride on the back of his bike.

The boys checked on the flowers Austin and I planted earlier in the week that are on our front porch area.

Austin did some grass cutting to help Daddy out.

We also "had" to get out the boys snow sleds and play with them. Austin used it as more of a surf board.

Austin worked on learning to pedal his bike some and didn't even mind wearing his helmet this time.

Hudson also thought it would be helpful to use the mower some too.

You look like a farmer in those clothes....

2011-04-08T19:17:00.003-05:00

Austin had soccer practice tonight so as I got the boys dressed and ready to go, Austin looks at Hudson who was sporting his overalls and says "Bo-Bo looks like a farmer". "He looks like a farmer in his overalls". Seriously, I don't know where he gets these things from. Not only is he super smart but he says the craziest things at the correct time or in the correct context. After he said that tonight all I could think about was that line from the movie Clueless "She looks like a farmer in those clothes". Notice Hudson's "crazy hair" as Austin and I like to call it. He had this one clump of hair that decided to stick up today. He looked like my little Alph-Alpha.

Hiding in the closet

2011-04-04T15:40:00.004-05:00

The boys and I spent some time this afternoon hiding out in our master bedroom closet. Have I mentioned just how much I hate the storms this time of year. Since the Good Friday tornadoes a few years ago-I really stress out when we have bad weather. Below are some photos I snapped from my bedroom window with my cell phone of the front moving through.

It seems that the storms come during nap time or at night while the boys are sleeping. Today Austin boycotted his nap and I had to cut Hudson's short so we could hide out for a while.

Thankfully my boys were all smiles (or at least for the most part) and helped to ease my anxiety over the passing storms. Hudson was on flash light duty.

Oh, and he had to make sure that we all had the correct shoes on just in case. lol!

Austin decided to play funny man and take cover under a laundry basket.

I love these boys more than they will ever know and am so thankful for there smiling faces during times like this. Its suppose to be me providing them with comfort and support but I often times find comfort in them.

Sorry for the quality of these photos-they were taken from my cell phone and my hands were a little shaky.

Say what Austin?........

2011-04-04T13:43:00.003-05:00

This silly boy just said to me as he was leaving the playroom and headed to his bedroom "call me if you need me mommy". He informed me the other day as he sat down at the kitchen table and tried to pull the laptop towards him "Mommy, I need to check my email" His new word is "awesome" everything seems to be awesome to him-this car is awesome, this chair is awesome. Too funny!

4/2/11 Soccer Game

2011-04-03T16:15:00.001-05:00

Austin is not too sure about soccer right now. He will get excited about it and will have fun the first few mins of practicing then he is over it. He would rather run around on the sidelines than to play with the team.

He loves the after game snacks. He might not play in the game but he sure does look too cute in his uniform!

After each game and practice coach Jessie gives each player a special patch for there performance on the field. Below the kids are waiting on there patches.

After the game we tried to get a team photo. Not too easy with 10 three year olds.

Here is Austin with coach Jessie and his son Jessie

2011-03-31T15:17:00.003-05:00

Below are some photos from my cell phone from the last 2 or 3 weeks. Hudson is getting so big and is walking every where now. Austin is sleeping on the sofa again in the playroom because he is "sad" in his room

Hudson has been putting some miles on his new car when its nice outside

Hudson hanging out with his girl Zoe

For a few nights Austin wanted Bernie to sleep with him

Austin asked if he could bring a few cars into my office one day while I was working, I had no idea he ment a few hundred of his cars.

National potato chip day play date

2011-03-31T15:11:00.002-05:00

Our moms group had a park play date last week to celebrate national potato chip day (yes, that's a real celebration). Austin loved it because he got to see his buddy Jeryn. Hudson on the other hand was not too happy. It was too close to his nap time so I ended up pushing him around in the stroller trying to get him to stop screaming long enough to fall asleep (which didn't happen).

Austin's play date with his best buddy

2011-03-31T14:57:00.005-05:00

Austin had his spring break last week so we decided to have is bestest buddy Dawson over for a play date. Austin was so excited that Dawson was coming to his house that he looked out the window for him and his mommy's car for 30 mins. before they got here. He took a quick break from looking out to smile for me.

When Dawson the boys started the play date out with a quick jam session.

Austin showed Dawson how to rock out

After there time as rock stars they played cars for a little while (Austin even let his friend play with his beloved trash trucks~he must really like this kid). Then we moved on to snack time so I tried to snap a few photos of the boys while they were still.

How cute are they?

After snack they had to get busy playing with the trains. They decided to move some of the trains and train tracks from Austin's room to the playroom-so the constructed a new little set up.

Then is was time to break out Aphie and see what they could learn

The boys both had so much fun and loved playing together. When Dawson's mom came to pick him up he did not want to leave.

A basketball banquet that didnt happen...

2011-03-31T14:26:00.003-05:00

Austin wrapped up his basketball season at the YMCA on Monday night (3/28/11) and I can honestly say that the banquet was about the same as his season. The banquet was suppose to take place at 5:30pm at our local Chick-fil-a when I showed up at 5:15 I was told by the youth sports coordinator that our banquet was actually at 5pm even though we were told it was at 5:30. There was only one other player there at the time. Needless to say this Mommy was not very happy. We were given our trophy and sent on our way. I am so thankful that Austin was not really old enough to know what he missed out on. SO daddy and I took Austin to TGI Fridays for a burger and fries followed by some ice cream with sprinkles (which is his current all time favorite). We tried to make it as special as we could for him.

it was one of those kind of days...

2011-03-31T14:14:00.003-05:00

Do you notice anything out of the ordinary in the photo below? Take your time and look closely.... Here is another view-this one is a little more of a close up of the out of the ordinary item...

I opened my washer to throw the clothes into the dryer only to find a nice blue balloon had been washed with my towels. Another one of the joys of being a mommy, wife & house keeper~you never know what you will find.

Our Rock Band

2011-03-22T20:08:00.002-05:00

These little guys love jaming together and Austin has to have mommy sing durring the jam session. Oh, thank goodness no one can hear us (well me mainly).

Let them eat pizza

2011-03-22T20:01:00.004-05:00

Recently Austin has been all about having picnics in the playroom on the "spot blanket". So we can be found a few nights of the week now looking like the photo below.
Recently on one of our picnics we let Hudson have pizza for the first time. Of course, being the crazy mom that I am I cut his pizza in to itty bitty pieces. Well, when he thought no one was looking this is what he did.....

Notice you can see his plate right beside him with his pizza cut into nice little pieces-but apparently they were not good enough for him.

Look at him trying to figure out what to do with this big ol slice

Wild man

2011-03-22T19:52:00.003-05:00

Now that Hudson is walking he thinks he is part monkey. He climbs in, on and over everything.
He is always so proud of himself-its like he climbed over a mountain

He is a wild man these days, I can only imagine how crazy he and Austin will be together as they get a little older.

Silly Boy

2011-03-21T20:11:00.003-05:00

Hudson is really loving to explore everything recently and try to do things like his big brother does. Below he has discovered a green circle that is part of his shopping cart (which can be seen in the background). But apparently its not enough fun to use it in the shopping cart-he has to put it in his mouth and over his nose to really have fun with it.
Although he has that deer in the headlights look in the photo below he really does find himself so proud of this new skill he seems to have mastered.

Apparently, he feels he has mastered holding it in his mouth and nose that he now needs a greater challenge like trying to put a bottle in his mouth at the same time. Silly Boy

He also loves putting things on his head and for once its actually something that belongs there. This is a hat that Austin received from his grandparents after a trip.

Look at that face and holding his hand up like "Ta-Da"! Silly Boy

1st soccer practice

2011-03-18T16:07:00.002-05:00

Austin had his first soccer practice tonight and he seemed to have fun. It looks like we have a great coach this time and parents that are excited about there kids playing and want to be involved. Below coach Jessie is teaching Austin to play Austin scores his first GOAL!!!!

Running around and having fun!

Home Depot-Kids Build

2011-03-05T20:02:00.001-06:00

Austin and Brad have started attending the kids Build & Grow events at Home Depot (and the ones at Lowes) together on Saturday mornings. Austin looks so cute in his little orange apron holding a hammer. This project was a race car which Austin was so excited about.
Putting the glue on just right.

Can you believe they give these kids real hammers?

Making sure everything is hammered in place just right

Austin makes sure to watch every thing that daddy does to make sure he does it right

Here is Austin and Daddy showing off the finished product and there certificate! I think they both really enjoy these Saturday mornings together.

These events are 100% free to take your kids to! They are great for dads, grandpas or any special guys to take little guys to for some bonding time.

My little bucket heads

2011-03-05T19:46:00.001-06:00

Austin loves putting these buckets from the playroom on his head and saying "I bucket head". Of course Hudson attempts to do everything his big brother does now-so now we have too little "bucket heads".

Look at Hudson crawling around with this bucket on his head. I just noticed that Austin is not only in his under shirt an undies in these photos but he also only has one sock on. Geez..... what kind of mom am I?

What are brothers for?

2011-02-21T16:17:00.002-06:00

Austin discovered that he can pull Bo-Bo around in his new car. He brought a bungie tie to me and asked me to hook it to his bike and Bo-Bo's car so he could pull him around. What a helpful big brother.

Look who has a new set of wheels...

2011-02-21T16:07:00.002-06:00

Grandma-ma & Papa got Hudson his first car for his birthday. Austin also received the same car for his 1st birthday. I have to say both boys love there cars.Hudson loves his big brother so much!

They had to check out each others car.

I can see many hours spent behind the wheel of these two babies!

Happy Valentines Day-School Party

2011-02-15T20:32:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Valentines Day at Austin's school on 2/15/11. Mrs. Carmen invited the parents to take part in the party. The kids each brought valentines for the class along with a snack to share. They colored valentines themed pictures and decorated sugar cookies. Austin loved decorating his cookie but was not too into actually eating it.
Today was also Hudson's 1st birthday so he was able to join in the festivities and eat some yummy treats too!

Here are some photos from the party of Austin, Hudson and Austin's BFF from school Dawson. The kids were so cute and had fun and loved having there Mommy's there with them.

Austin didn't really eat his cookie too much but he loved eating the sugar sprinkles on top-he ate them one at a time (little grains of sugar).

Super Bowl Party-2/13/11

2011-02-14T20:04:00.000-06:00

Hudson celebrated his first Super Bowl by heading over to Grandma & Grandpa's to watch the big game and show off his new tricks.
He has really started pushing things around while walking behind them as well as cruse around everything! He has even taken a step or two.

There was quite a spread of game day food for us all. We had hot wings, pizza, cheese dip & chips and 2 different types of nachos along with many other things. What would a party be without desert though? Grandma had some yummy cupcakes for us all to enjoy. As you can see below Austin loved the green icing.

Hudson even was able to sneak a bite or two

Austin checking out the green icing on his hands-he does not like to get his hands dirty at all.

Grandpa was trying to enjoy a nice juicy apple but some one decided they wanted it more. Hudson just sucked and sucked on this apple trying to get all the juice out.

The boys had a blast playing with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Brett, Chelsey, Cameron and there cousins. They were all partied out and left wearing there PJ's and fell asleep in the car.

Week of 2/6-2/12/11

2011-02-13T19:20:00.001-06:00

I will just warn you there are many photos in this post. And yes I am like 3 weeks behind again. But better late than never, right?
Austin is quite our little comic all the time, he makes the silliest faces and says the funniest things. His new phrase is "how you doin?" in a tone like Joey from friends. Too funny.
He still loves playing with his cars. I think he would not care if we got rid of all his toys as long as we kept the cars and his prize trash trucks.

Hudson has started discovering the TV a little more, it will catch his attention for a min. or two at a time. I just thought he was too cute sitting like this.

I have quite the little helper.

During Austin's basketball games he has been saying the noise in the gym hurts his ears-so I took him to the doctor this week for a hearing test. He passed with flying colors-he is just using it as a ploy to not play the game. Its amazing that he is already figuring out how to play us and he is only 3 years old.

Hudson enjoying his new car seat-forward facing.

Grandma & Grandpa got Hudson this horse from Toy Story for Christmas and he finally got on it this week.

Of course he had some help from his big brother

Shhhhh, don't tell but we switched Hudson into his new car seat this week. It was a few days before his 1st birthday but he was over that baby carrier and facing the back. He loves to see everything from this new perspective. At first he was looking at us like "um, I think you guys forgot some thing with me or didn't do it quite right".

Austin had to have his picture taken too.

Grandma & Grandpa continued there tradition of getting the boys there 1st pair of walking shoes. Below are Austin's new shoes that light up. He thinks they make him a dinosaur and walks around roaring.

Here are Hudson's 1st pair of walking shoes. Boy have they come a long way from the white leather ones.

Austin has this thing about putting buckets on his head and running around saying he is "bucket head"

Hudson has discovered that he can be "bucket head" too.

One morning I went in to get Hudson up and this is how I found him-one arm out of his PJ's. These are the ones with the feet that zip up and have a button on the front (all of which were still zipped and buttoned). Not quite sure how he pulled this one off but he thought he was too funny.

Here is some of Austin's school work from this week. Can you believe that Larry & Bob are still around? I remember my little cousins loving these guys over 10 years ago.

Play Ball

2011-02-10T19:41:00.002-06:00

We have been spending a lot of time playing with the ball below as a family. Each night we can be found throwing, rolling, or kicking it around the playroom. Hudson has been joining in each night as well. Normally he will grab the ball and roll it or pick it up and try to throw it to one of us (usually to Austin). Well tonight while I was sitting there he grabs the ball and does the following.

Look at my little iron man! He was standing in the middle of the room without any support and picked up the ball and held it over his head. He did all of this without falling down at all. WOW! Can you say ta-da!

Austin counting

2011-02-05T20:02:00.001-06:00

Tonight while playing we were asking Austin different questions to see what he knew. I was really surprised when he busted out counting 1-6. After we captured him counting on video counting I had him point to all of the shapes on the poster you can see behind him in the video and he correctly pointed to each shape with no hesitation. Even octagon. That's my smart boy. And every time we would say good job Austin-Hudson would start clapping.

1/30/11-2/5/11

2011-02-05T18:15:00.006-06:00

Our new fridge was delivered this week and we are very happy with our new one. It is so nice-but very different than the side by side we had before.
My poor freezer is so empty since having to throw everything out from our old freezer breaking.

Austin had a very fun week at school this week. Tuesday they had cupcakes to celebrate a girl in his classes birthday and on Thur. they had a Mardi Gras party. Austin's teacher Mrs. Carmen is so good and really teaches the kids a lot while also making sure they have fun. She got the kids beads and mask to decorate for the party. Austin decided to really party like a rock star that night at home. He has his beads and mask on and his pull up!

Grandpa came over on Thur. night this week (he normally comes every Wen.after work to hang out with Austin), he had big plans of taking Austin to Chucky Cheese but Austin had other plans. He was cranky so they just stayed at the house and played. We brought some pillows and blankets into the playroom and the boys had fun crawling and jumping onto them.

Grandpa with his boys!

Hudson had a grilled cheese for dinner this night in the playroom. Notice his left foot resting on his plate and all of his food on the floor. As much as I wanted to run over and move his foot and pick up all the food off the floor I let Hudson have his fun. I am trying not to sweat the small things.

Look at this face! Hudson is such a happy boy!

I know there are a lot of Huddy pictures this time but I could not just pick one or two.

One day this week I went in to get Hudson up from his nap and found him like this. Can you find what is missing in this picture?

I'll give you a clue-these were on him when he went down for his nap.

Another one of Huddy~look at those eyes~

Austin got a balloon at school from his party. Hudson loved playing with it~

Hudson also had two more teeth come in this week. That makes a total of 4 teeth-he now has his top and bottom 2 teeth. He has also been working on his clapping and waving bye-bye.

Austin has been working on his Vowel Song. A is for Apple, E is for elephant, I is for Indian, O is for Ostrich (thank goodness for spell check on that one), U is for umbrella.

1/23/11-1/29/11

2011-01-29T17:03:00.004-06:00

What a week around here..... It was so crazy that I had to wait a week to post about it. I have tried to keep the photos some what in order but one or two might be out of place.
We switched things up-normally Austin and I have a date on Sunday to the grocery/cookie store but for some reason (which I cant remember now) we did not. Hudson and I went to Kroger to stock up on the Mega Freezer Event. Notice the boldness of FREEZER-remember that for later in the post.
We had more snow surprise surprise right.

One night after Brad made a sandwich he forgot to put the double fiber bread away and Chloe and Bernie decided to eat it. Well Chloe got a little possessive about the bread and tried to show Bernie who was boss. Needless to say Bernie was scared and I felt sorry for him so I let him come in the playroom for a little while (since we have had Hudson the dogs have not been allowed in there). Below Bernie is trying very hard to be a good boy since he was allowed in with the family for a little while.

Tue. morning which is a school day for Austin I walked into Hudson's room to get him up and was almost knocked out by the smell of throw-up. He had gotten sick at some point during the night and we did not know. So needless to say he needed a bath. This was more than a wet wipe and some baby lotion could cover up. So off to the bath we went. Austin decided that he should get in to, even though I begged him not to since we were already running late. Next thing I know Austin has taken off all of his clothes(or so I thought) and is standing the tub. I look down and notice that his socks are still on as he is standing in the water.

Here are his socks drying out from there dip in the bath tub that morning.

Hudson's sheets had to be changed from him getting sick.

The next adventure was a big one. I went to pull out some meat to unfreeze for dinner only to discover that it was already unfrozen in the freezer. I quickly called the repair man to come look at it to see what the problem was. After he took everything out of the freezer and removed the back we discovered the problem pretty fast.

I was told that it would be smarter just to replace our fridge/freezer. Below Austin is showing us where our fridge would be going along with all the food I had got at the Kroger Frozen mega event. I have to say I really thought about crying as I threw all my food away. I had just purchased 20 frozen meals.

Austin discovered a new place to hide his cars this week too. Thankfully the potty was clean.Sat. night we drove to Hendersonville to help celebrate my BFF Tina's 30th Birthday. Her husband pulled off a great surprise party for her.

Before we left for the party Austin wanted to spike his hair for the party but he was determined "I do it myself". He used a little too much gel in his hair (which was in desperate need of a cut anyWAYS). On the drive to the party Austin also decided it would be a good idea to pour some juice in his hair which only added to the crazy-ness he already had going on in his hair.

Like I said in the beginning of this post it was a crazy week. But we survived and can laugh about it now.

Why is it we moms.......

2011-01-26T14:22:00.002-06:00

Why is it that we moms are always comparing our selves to other moms or find our selves competing with other moms? I think we all have days were we feel like we are on top of things, but most days we all spend just trying to keep up. I was talking with a friend on the phone today and made the comment that I often feel like a failure as a mom or like I am not doing all the things I should be. Thanks to the wonderful world of blogging we are able to peak into other peoples homes and see how there life's work-or how we think the work. We think omg she is super mom, she has it together-why cant I do that........

Every time I feel like I am on top of things or might be getting ahead I find myself 10 steps behind again. Since Christmas and Brad being off for almost 2 weeks, I feel like I cant get it back together. I feel like my house is a wreak ALL the time, like I am not playing with my kids enough or teaching them enough. I feel so behind on my duties as a wife-laundry, cooking, ironing. There are days that my husband calls to say he is on his way home and I look down to realize that me and the boys are all still in our pj's and I have not even brushed my teeth for the day let alone my hair. I think that many of us stay as home moms find our selves in the same situation weather we want to tell the world about it or not.

I want to get it back together and get on top of my game again-I hate being disorganized so much and having things so out of control around here. So I am going to start trying to take it one thing at a time and tackle things again. I am going to get out my pen and paper and make my handy dandy notebook and start my daily to-do list again. But most of all I am going to try not to compair myself to other moms who I think have it together.

2011-01-23T18:32:00.002-06:00

Hudson received his first black eye today courtesy of his big brother Austin. Austin was playing with a toy and accidently dropped it onto Hudson. Poor little guy, but he handled it very well.

Austin's first basketball game

2011-01-22T19:17:00.003-06:00

Well our future little NBAer had his first basketball game this morning. He did so good and the team was too cute out there. When we arrived Austin received his little jersey-he is number 4. Grandma and Grandpa were very happy with the jersey colors (they were Vandy colors).

Here Austin is waiting on his turn to get out there and play.
He is trying to dribble the ball

Nothing but net....

Coach is helping them stretch and warm up for the big game

It took a lot of work for the whole team to get there hands up and try to keep the other team from scoring.

Austin and this little guy were protecting the goal from the other team scoring. Lol. This is what happens with a group of 3 year old boys.

The game was quite humorous and cute. They had only had one practice and had not really practiced game type moves such as keeping the other team from scoring or moving the ball down the court. Needless to say the first part of the game was just trying to get the kids all going in the right direction-but towards the end of the game they were starting to get it. It should be interesting to see how well they all grow and learn the game over the next weeks and months.

week of 1/16/11-1/22/11

2011-01-22T18:54:00.008-06:00

We had another good week around our house. Brad went out of town to Canada for the week. Austin actually went to school both days this week. Mrs. Carmen said he did very good both days at school. They are working on singing there "vowel song" and have also started practicing writing there vowels.
Austin had his first basketball practice at the YMCA this week. It was so cute to see all those little guys out there.
I have been busy working on stuff for Hudson's first birthday party and Austin has been very busy helping me.

Hudson loves pushing around his little walking toy~this week he found a new way to push it. He would walk behind it on his knees. He is so close to walking.

Austin still loves playing with his cars. I just had to snap a photo of the way he has his cars lined up on his play mat. Notice they are entering and stopping in all the right places.

Here he is pulling his trash truck "little trash truck" into traffic on the mat

Our good friends Tina and Chase came over for a play date this week and Austin shared his scissors and was helping teach Chase how to cut.

Notice Hudson's red pants to the right in the picture below. For some reason he kept crawling out of his pants this week.

Hudson loves his big brother-he was just patting and rubbing Austin's back here.

And tonight I gave Hudson a grilled cheese in the playroom. I tore most of it into small pieces for him but he thought the left over half of the sandwich was better.

Hudson also finally said "Mama" this week and I could not be happier. We also had more snow this week which caused us to cancel a playdate on Friday and they are calling for snow another 2 or 3 days this coming week.

He said what.....

2011-01-19T18:50:00.001-06:00

That's right my little monster finally said mommy yesterday. After we dropped austin off at school I was driving and thought I heard hudson say "mommy". But I have been waiting so long I thought maybe I was hearing things. A little while later he said it again and again. It only took him 5 months after saying "dada " to finally say the word that one word every mother waits to hear.

Sent via DROID on Verizon Wireless

Weekly Happenings 1/9/11-1/15/11

2011-01-15T18:48:00.009-06:00

What a long week.....
Sunday Austin and I had our normal date to the "cookie store" (as Austin calls it) or Publix's. It has become our special time together just Austin and I. We go in and get a shopping cart that has the car on it. For the record I can not drive that thing. We then go to the bakery and get a cookie. Not just any cookie but a cookie with spots on it. We then head over to the deli area and make a fountain diet coke which we share as we walk through the store. I normally never let Austin have soda but this is a special time. He will request a baby sip or mommy's juice at least two times on each aisle of the store. I started back into couponing mode this week and man did it pay off. I got all the stuff below for just $32. That's right $32.
We have started putting Austin in time out when he does something bad. He is being very defiant recently so he has been spending a lot of time there. When we are upstairs we use the step as our time out spot. Usually Austin has to go to time out for being mean to his BoBo. As you can see below BoBo got tired of waiting on Austin to get out of time out so he decided to join him.

We got some snow this week which deserves a post all to its self. The dogs were not able to spend much time outside so they spent most of there time like this. All snuggled up on the sofa cushions downstairs.

After realizing that Hudson's 1st birthday was in just over a month, I got started with the planing. I planned for 6 months for Austin's 1st birthday party and it was over the top. I might not have spent 6 months on Hudson;s party but I have to make sure that it is just as cute.

The dogs were not the only one who spent time curled up relaxing. Austin enjoyed laying on the sofa in the playroom watching TV/movies.

We finally got a new TV in the playroom and the boys love it. We also got a TV table for under it and both boys love standing by it.

Hudson is ready to go with his lunch box in his hand.

Austin was suppose to start basketball this Monday at the YMCA but it was canceled due to snow. They were suppose to have a make up practice today (Sat.) but the coach decided not to show up or contact anyone so it was really just kids playing.

We broke out Austin's new Lincoln logs that he got for Christmas and tested them out.

Austin and I moved our weekly date up from Sunday to Sat. this weekend. Below we were at Kroger and Austin was driving us around. He is too funny in this car. As we drive through the store and get near any one he starts saying "beep beep, beep beep" in a not so quiet voice.

It was a long week but over all a good week. Austin was out of school all week due to the snow so we spent lots of time at home playing and relaxing. I can say that I really have not done too much around the house as far as cleaning goes. Which is not me at all, but I just cant seem to find my groove still since the holidays. Hopefully I will find it in the coming week.

Our Week 1/2-1/8/11

2011-01-08T21:14:00.008-06:00

What a week, after having Brad home for a week and a half he went back to work on Monday and left me home alone with the kiddos again. I had got spoiled with him being home so long to help out with the boys. Not to mention that both of the boys changed so much over the last two weeks. Austin has become even a bigger chatter box and more crazy than ever while Hudson has started cruising around everything and starting to walk around while pushing things.

But before our work week started Brad took me on a date to the Nashville Predators hockey game on Sunday night. We had tickets on the glass-front row! We had two extra tickets so we invited our good friends Lee and Tina to join us.
Monday Brad went back to work and the boys and I met Dawson (Austin's buddy from school) and his mom Lauren at the Discovery Center for some fun.
I have gone into full party planing mode this week for Hudson's 1st birthday party. Some how it managed to sneak up on me. I decided on a Little Monsters theme for the party. Since there is no real themed items to buy for the party I am having to make most of them myself.

Hudson has graduated to eating more table food this week. He had meatloaf, spaghetti, and pancakes all this week. Potty training is still in full force around here with Austin. He spends most of his time at home running around in his big boy undies and a tee shirt-which seems to be the best way of training for him. As you can see below not wearing pants has not slowed him down at all. Below he is mixing up some pancakes with "spots".

Brad & I at the hockey game

Tina and I at the hockey game

Cant forget my fur-babies. As part of our new years resolutions we are trying to spend more time with our doggies. Austin has loved chasing both Bernie and Chloe around the house. Below Bernie is chilling out in the boys bathroom upstairs. Yes, Bernie actually came up the stairs by him self a few times this week.

Below the princess is laying on her thrown. Chloe has taken over this red sofa since we moved into our house. She spends a lot of time curled up on the sofa-she moves the pillows and blanket (which is suppose to be on the sofa to help with the dog hair) around to her liking and some days she even moves the sofa around too.

Here is a sneak peek at one of the monsters for Hudson's party.

Here Hudson is helping me with the monsters for his party.

Over all it was a good week. Had lots of fun with the boys and got some planing done for the big monster part and Austin went back to school. However, the house has fallen behind some, but that's OK.

2011-01-01T18:57:00.001-06:00

I sure hope the old saying "however you spend new years day is how you will spend the next year" is not true. If it is it looks like I will be cleaning up after chloe a lot this year. Chloe decided to destroy a cushion to one of our sofas in the family room. She has taken over this sofa and claimed it as her bed already but this seems a bit much to me.

Hello 2011-New Years Resolutions

2010-12-31T20:59:00.005-06:00

With another New Year upon us I have been thinking about my New Years resolutions for 2011. I am hoping to wake up in the morning and start fresh in many aspects of my life. I am hoping to learn and grow from life's experiences from 2010 and strive to be a better woman, mother and wife this year. Of course many of my resolutions are the same as everyone else.... I am hoping that by putting them on here I will be able to hold my self accountable throughout the year and check on my progress.

Myself
-lose weight and start working out again: I hope to start a workout routine that I can stick with and see results with. I plan on starting back on my weight watchers which has really worked for me in the past. Hopefully, between the diet and exercise I will not only look better but also feel better about myself.

-take time for myself-to workout, read a book, blog, catch up with friends or take a bubble bath.I know this will not only make me feel better mentally but will also make me a better mom and wife

-Blog-I hope to try and post at least once a week in the new year. Since I am not scrap booking any more I am hoping to have my blog printed once a year to document our happenings as a family. I hope to keep up to date as much as possible with the blog and not let it get so far behind like it is now.

Mommy
-try not to sweat the little things and remember that my boys will not be little forever and try to embrace the time they are little rather than waste it worrying about things that in the end don't really matter.

-take time each day with each of the boys for some one on one time with just mommy or just daddy.

-be involved more in our moms groups to encourage the boys to make new friends and have social interaction with other kids

-work more on teaching Austin and mini-homeschooling him. He is so interested in learning right now, I need to take advantage of it while he wants to learn

-try to set a date once a month for Brad and I to have a one on one date with each of the boys. I think they both would benefit so much from having time alone with mommy and daddy

-try to keep up with the boys baby books or go back and add stuff to them

Wife
-enforce date night with my hubby. At least once a month go out as a couple rather than a mommy and daddy. Try when possible to have a date night each week even if it is just watching a movie together at home after the boys go to bed

-work to make our relationship even stronger than it already is. Take time to talk to each other daily and know/ try to understand what is going on with each other

-try not to get so caught up in life as a mommy and daddy and forget that we are also a couple and need to take time for us

Home Life
-try to really get organized this year and keep our home and life that way. Make our home run as efficient as possible so that our lives can run smoother.

-meal plan-try to set up a weekly meal plan so that we eat healthier and as a family and don't eat out so much

-budget-look for ways to save money, coupon more, not eat out as much.

-try to get our family involved in church and actually look forward to going

-love our dogs more. I want us as a family to really take time with our dogs and show them the love and attention they deserve rather than just letting them lay on the sofa all day with little interaction other than when we are letting them in or outside

OK that's all I have for now. I know that's all right. Lol. I know that all of these things will not happen over night but I hope to set goals a little at a time and really make an effort to achieve all of these things over the next year. Stay tuned for updates on my progress.

Recap of 2010

2010-12-31T20:47:00.004-06:00

2010 has been a good year for our family..... We started the year as a family of 3 with two fur babies and ended it as a family of 4 with two fur babies. We welcomed our 2nd son Hudson in February which totally changed our little family for the better of course! Austin has grown and changed so much in the last year. He started the year talking but no where near as well as he does now. He is our little ham and always keeps us smiling. He is so smart and loves learning! Hudson has also changed sooooo much in the last year. He went from a newborn little guy to an almost one year old toddler. He is still the same happy boy though with a smile that is amazing. He went from not being mobile at all to rolling, doing the army crawl, to crawling up on all fours and over the last week he has started cruising and pushing walking toys around while walking. Brad and I have also changed a lot in the last year. I started the year pregnant, had Hudson lost all my baby weight and then some and have since gained some of it back (see my resolutions for follow up on that one). I also started the year as a mother of one who thought I some what had it together-then was thrown for a loop when Hudson arrived and could have never imagined how much my daily life would change. Now as the year is coming to an end I feel like I am some what getting life back under control. Brad is still an amazing hubby and father. He has tried to really step up to the plate and be a hands on dad with our boys and help out as much as he can. He too has lost some wight this year-but he has done a better job at keeping it off. Bernie and Chloe are still our fur babies although I threaten all the time that I am going to give them away. They have really taken the backseat around our house since Hudson's arrival-but that is something we are going to work on.

Say what.......? Austin

2010-12-15T12:06:00.006-06:00

As we all know there is no telling what may come out of a child's mouth when they open it and speak. Well needless to say Austin is no different, he is full of all kinds of funny sayings or statements. In an effort to try and remember them forever I am going to post them for the world to see (while also documenting them for myself).

Recently at an over night stay with his Grandma & Grandpa he discovered a new gift they had got for him. It was a cardboard box store. He loved it and wanted to play in it lots-he was happy to serve his shoppers, eat in there, watch TV from it, etc. Well grandpa playing around asked "Austin is Jose in your store?"Austin replied "no", grandpa then asked what about Philippe?" Austin responds "NO! A woman". Where did he get that from? Too cute. When Grandma called to tell me about this I literally spit my coffee out and onto the wall- I thought it was so funny.

Below is a photo of Austin and his new beloved "trash truck" that Grandma-ma & Papa got him on there last visit.
Well, Austin has been having some issues with sharing his toys with Hudson (his Bo-Bo). Until recently we were able to tell Austin to just put the toys that he did not want BoBo to get up on the sofa or on the table. Now its a whole new ballgame since BoBo has started pulling up. Pretty much everything is fair game now. Austin gets very upset by this. Hudson does not even have to be touching his toy, or coming towards the toy, but only looking some what in the direction of Austin or one of his toys and you will hear Austin start yelling "BoBo coming, BoBo coming, Mommy help me!"

Below is a photo of a situation where Austin was yelling this.
We are in the process of potty training with Austin right now, and as most of you who have done potty training know how hard it can be to get your little one to poop in the potty. The other day in an effort to let Austin know it was OK to poop in the potty I told him that all big boys and big girls poop in the potty. Austin responds with "Mommy poops in the potty? I respond yes honey, Mommy poops in the potty. Austin then says "Daddy poops in the potty? Again I reply " Yes, honey, even Daddy poops in the potty". Then Austin says "Mommy and Daddy poop big?". I stopped for a second and responded "sure, Mommy and Daddy poop big in the potty". Austin stands there for a min. thinking and then says "I poop HUGE Mommy".

Winter Wonderland

2010-12-13T06:52:00.007-06:00

We actually got a little snow yesterday here in TN. Austin was so excited and was very quick to tell us what it was doing outside "it snowing outside". Of course that meant that he wanted to go outside and play in the 'SNOW". So thanks to Grandma & Grandpa he had actual snow gear this year-I am talking snow boots, snow gloves and a full on snow suit. It took us about mins. to get Austin all suited up and ready to go outside and he loved it. He wanted to play outside and check out the snow in his house (his playhouse-swing set).

Here he is trying to catch some snow in his mouth.
All suited up and waiting on Daddy to take him outside to play

Hudson decided to sit this one out and just watch his big brother play from the window

Of course our fur babies had to play some too. Chloe loved chasing the snow

Bernie loved chasing Chloe

I think Austin had fun in the snow and would have stayed outside in it all day if we would have let him.

First Date

2010-12-11T22:05:00.000-06:00

We had a playdate this week with Christina and her girls Jeryn and Mara. They came over to our house and we worked on a super cute craft and the kids had fun playing. Afterwards we went to lunch together and the kids were too cute. Austin was putting his arm around Jeryn and trying to hold her hand.
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Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house

2010-12-11T22:02:00.000-06:00

Austin spent the day and is spending the night with his Grandparents today/night. He always has so much fun with them. Grandpa said that Austin had lots to do while they were together but would not tell us what. So far he has had fun playing with the remote and train that goes around there Christmas tree, went shopping a little and went to look at Christmas lights. They also had a new little surprise at there house for him-a little store. Of course he Loves it.
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