Destin 2013

The first week of June, we headed to Destin, Florida with Paw-Paw and Nana.  It was a BEAUTIFUL week at the beach!  Hudson is officially a beach bum, and yes, that makes this mommy a happy camper!  :)  He was in heaven each day playing in the ocean!  He played in the sand, fished with a net, jumped waves, made friends, and rode waves on a boogie board over and over again.  It was a fabulous week and we were definitely not ready to come home!

 Trying to build a mote is hard work!  He quickly learned that the water will not stay.  

 The only picture he posed for and the sun was in his eyes...of course.

 Snacking on the beach.

 Look VERY closely in his hand and you'll see a tiny fish.  

 Catching some waves.

 One night we went on a crab walk with flashlights in hand.  So fun!

 Our beach finds.

 I think Hudson's favorite part was being on the beach in the dark and getting wet with clothes on.  Ha!

 Stopping for a few minutes to get some love from Nana and Mommy.

 He did request to be buried in a hole one day...nut!

 Having an Oreo toast with Paw-Paw one night.  :)

 The condo that we stayed in had fish food to feed coy...this was a daily stop for us.

 The day before we left, Kelly, Hudson and I went on a dolphin cruise.  It was awesome!!  We saw dolphins within the first 10 minutes.  So cool!

 Hudson was in awe watching the dolphins swim close to the boat and jump out of the water.  They were even riding the giant waves.

 Before leaving the boat, each child got to be the captain for a few minutes.  Here's my cute captain:

 After the dolphin cruise, Hudson spotted a snow cone, so we had to stop and get one before heading back to the beach.

Such an amazing week at the beach!!  :)

The LAST day of Pre-K

May 23rd was Hudson's last day of Pre-K.  I will admit that I had very mixed emotions.  I have been very ready for summer and all that goes with it...the lack of schedule, swimming, movie watching, staying up late, crafts, play time, playdates with friends, sleeping in...the list goes on and on.  Summers with Hudson are fabulous and I truly cherish them.  Therein lies the next emotion....I was so sad that Pre-K was over because it has been truly wonderful.  The fact that our church has such an amazing Pre-K program where Hudson feels so comfortable going each week and the fact that he has had the same incredible teacher for the past two years makes me wish he could go there forever!  I have loved that he doesn't have to go to school every day and that we get to do fun things during the week.  I know that Kindergarten will be great, but I will also forever be grateful that I got to be at home with him these past 5 years.  So, here's to the last summer before real school begins and cherishing EVERY.SINGLE.DAY!

Here he is before leaving for his last day:

He just had to get a silly face picture in!

Hudson and his class presenting Miss Amber with her cork board full of gift cards!

(Valeria, Hudson, Kaylee, Mia, Rachel, Noelle, Ethan, Hayden, Eric) 

 Miss Amber was speechless!

 Hudson and Miss Amber.  SUCH a blessing in our lives!!!!!

 When he got home, he had to run through streamers!

 Then, we had a silly string fight!  Oh, how I love this boy!!

Let summer begin!

End of Year Music Program

 May 9th was Hudson's End of Year Music Program.  It was just as cute as the previous year!  I just love seeing him with his class...they are darling.  He was cracking up as they entered...

 He started out a little reserved...

 but quickly began dancing!

 They performed one of their favorites, "Tooty-Ta"!  That is one of my all time favorites from teaching too...the kids just love it!

 At the very end, they sang a Mother's Day song and they all had to blow their mom a kiss...precious!

 After the performance, the real show began.  Hudson and his "love", Mia just couldn't get enough of each other during the class picture.  We are SO in for it with this one!!!!!

Back row:  Hudson, Mia, Miss Amber, Ethan, Rhianne, Micah

Front row:  Eric, Rachel, Hayden, Valeria, Kaylee

Goodbye 1311

Whew!  To say that the last month has been a whirlwind would be an understatement!  Life has been beyond crazy, but we have made it through.  On April 28th, we had to say goodbye to our first home.  The home we lived in for 10 years. The home that we had and lost our beloved dog, Chopper in. The home we brought our first and only child home to.  The home that we had more memories in than we could count.  It was our choice to move, but when we handed over the keys to the new owners and walked out the front door, I lost it.  All of the great memories came flooding back and I definitely had a moment!  Thankfully we had to drive to Oklahoma to pick up Hudson from Paw-Paw and Nana and I had plenty of time to pull myself together!  If it weren't for them watching Hudson for the weekend while we moved and for Noni helping clean our house and assist with the move, I'm not sure we could have done it all!  To say I have amazing parents would be yet another understatement in this post!!  We ended up staying with Noni for 2 1/2 weeks while we waited for our new house to be finished and finally moved in on May 14th.  We're still trying to get settled, so pics of the new house will be slow to come.  So, here's to 1311, our first home!  We can only hope it brings the same happiness to the new owners as it did to us.  :)

March 2003 - April 2013

Kindergarten Roundup...what?!?

This past Thursday, we headed to Kindergarten Roundup at the school Hudson will be attending next year.  Since we are moving, he will be going to a different school than the one I taught at.  I have to say, it was weird walking in a school and not knowing any of the teachers.  Once we got in though, and started making our way through the different stations and then finally to the Kindergarten hallway, I was so pleased with everyone we met.  They were all SO nice and I was so impressed with all of the teachers. As a former Kindergarten teacher, I have a whole new perspective on the parent side!!!  Hudson was pretty shy and stuck to our sides pretty tight, but seemed to be in awe of how big the classrooms were.  He really opened up to two of the teachers.  I know he'll feel at home before we know it, but I have to admit that I had a lump in my throat walking in.  I still can't believe how fast the time has gone...it blows my mind.

Here's to my sweet boy loving his first year of school!!

Lights and Tile!

This past Thursday, the 11th, after Kindergarten roundup, we drove by the house and discovered that most of the lighting had been installed as well as the tile.  Yea...we'll have lights!!  :)

 Dining room

 Living room

 Master shower almost done.

 I finally realized why the island has been in the living room this whole time...they had to lay the tile in the kitchen!  

We did find out the next day that our closing has been pushed back, which means we can't move in until 9 days after we have to move out of our current house.  Fun times!  So, we will be hiring movers twice ~ once to move everything to storage and once to move everything to the new house.  In the meantime, we'll be staying with my mom.  I'm sure it will be a blip in the radar a few months from now, but I have been a stressed out individual since last Friday!!   Here's hoping we don't get any more surprises!!