Christmas 2008

As I sat down to write this post I contemplated breaking it up into several different posts, but opted to do one long one. So, there are quite a few pictures to go along, but how can you do a Christmas post without a TON of pictures?? I also must first say that when Kelly and I got into bed Christmas night I said that this was my favorite Christmas so far. Hudson was SO MUCH FUN this year and seeing everything through his eyes was amazing. So here it goes...a little recap of our Christmas.

Our church holds many Christmas Eve services each year. We used to always go to the candlelight service which is one of my favorite things about Christmas. But, with Hudson not being a night owl we decided to go to the 3:00 childrens service this year. It was so sweet...our pastor sat up front, called all the kids down and told the story of Christmas. He had several older kids that were dressed up and helped with the story. Hudson loved sitting up front this year and wanted all of us with him ~ Daddy, Mommy, and Noni. He quickly decided that since he can walk now that he preferred to stand and walk around while listening to the story.

Here he is listening to the Story of Christmas.
After church we headed to Kelly's older sister's house like we do every year to open gifts and have dinner. Hudson's cousin Marcus is home from college and brought his dog with him. Hudson didn't quite know what to think of Rocco...

Hudson with Marcus and Rocco the dog.

We decided to start a tradition this year that I always had growing up. Hudson got to open one present on Christmas Eve from Mommy and Daddy...a new pair of pajamas. (Always makes for cute pictures Christmas morning!)

After a yummy dinner and fun time with family we headed home. We actually changed Hudson into his new pj's before we left because it was so late. He was so asleep that once we got home he just barely opened his eyes before being put in his crib. He must have been SUPER TIRED because he didn't wake up until 8:45 Christmas morning!! (About 45 minutes late for the little guy!)

I think he thought we were all nuts...Kelly, Noni, and I went in with the video camera and camera telling him that Santa had come and we were all so excited. He started jumping around his crib and acting so silly! He rounded the corner and immediately spotted his new car. It was love at first sight!

He and George immediately got in for a ride. The only thing that could pry him out of his car was the fact that breakfast was ready. After breakfast we went back to the tree to open more presents.

Notice the big bump on his head? He was so excited about his new guitar that I was trying to pry out of the package that he fell and hit his head on the coffee table. :(

Coloring with his new crayons was a big hit! He really made us laugh this year ~ he wasn't in to unwrapping gifts AT ALL. Once he saw a new toy he wanted to play with it and didn't care about the gifts. Even when we would start tearing paper (which he loves) he would have nothing to do with it. We ended up unwrapping almost everything and he actually still has 2 gifts that haven't been opened yet.

After a nap we took him outside to see what Paw~Paw and Nana had sent. He loved his new playhouse! We played outside for at least an hour. The weather was BEAUTIFUL!

Climbing out next to the gas pump.

Learning how to shoot a few hoops and kick a goal.

Mommy, Hudson, and Daddy

Hudson decided to take a break and blow some bubbles with Noni. He wanted to hold the part you blow in, so she gave it to him. He put it in the bubbles and then held it up to his mouth. We thought he had figured out that he was supposed to blow when he promptly put it in his mouth! YUCK!

Running around the yard with his golf club.

He was cracking us up as usual...he got these squishy balls and kept putting them in his mouth and running around the table. Nut!

The next morning he headed up to Oklahoma. After Hudson's bath it was time to open presents with Paw-Paw and Nana. Hudson was surprised to find a new "George" in his stocking. (Yes, that makes 4 Georges now with 2 more at Paw-Paw and Nana's house.)

With a bunch of new stuff to play with, Hudson found Aunt Shani's camera and off he went!

After Hudson went to bed it was time for the big kids to open our gifts. Here we are with our stockings.

Kelly, Dena, Shani, Geoff

Saturday we headed out to Aunt Fern's house for Christmas dinner.

What was Hudson's favorite part of Christmas dinner? Pickles of course!

Hudson quickly fell in love with the stairs at his Great Great Aunt Fern's house and wanted to do nothing else but climb the rest of the night!

OK, I had to include this one. I can't even remember what he was wanting at the time, but he wasn't allowed to have whatever it was and this was his reaction. How pitiful!

Along with being in love with stairs he was in love with the piano. He would crawl from one end of the bench to the other playing his little heart out.

Today before we headed home we went to lunch to celebrate Aunt Shani's birthday which is this next week. We went for sushi which is her favorite. I packed a ton of food to take with us thinking my picky eater wouldn't eat anything there. Oh no...to my surprise he liked....

...seaweed salad! Yes folks, my little guy enjoyed some seaweed salad with Aunt Shani and mommy. Seriously?!? THEN...

...he enjoyed some Lo Mein with Nana. He sure loves keeping me on my toes!

After lunch we took a few pics before loading in the car and heading back home.

Uncle Geoff, Hudson, and Paw-Paw

Daddy, Mommy, and Hudson (eating a lens cap)

What a WONDERFUL Christmas! It was so nice seeing all of our family and watching Hudson soak up every minute of it. He was definitely the star of show everywhere we went and I'm pretty sure he knew it. What a fun age!! I already can't wait for Christmas 2009 to see what it will hold. :)

A New Year's Prayer

This is going to be a different kind of post that doesn't have a picture to go with it, so I thought I would post our Christmas card from this year. We hope each and every one of you has a wonderful Christmas!

Now, for the post. We received our church newsletter in the mail today and I always read the letter from our pastor on the front page immediately. He is so full of wisdom and there is always a wonderful message. I LOVE what he did for this message...he wrote a New Year's Prayer and it is so good I thought I would share..some of the lines pertain to our church, but they could be said by anyone about their church. (If you don't have a lot of time, scroll down and at least read the part I put in italics...it is worth reading.) Enjoy and God bless you during this season and all of next year.

Dear God,

Touch those in our church family who are struggling, whether it's from the economy or living in a broken family or experiencing a chronic or terminal illness or struggling with grief or fighting an addition or coping with abuse. Bring your healing and hope into their lives. Work as only you can to bring good out of the bad they are experiencing.

Refuse to let what seems to be an evergrowing list of things that need fixing - things like greed, terrorism, diseases of poverty, bigotry and hatred - undermind your vision for creation. Help us hold our world and those who are suffering in our hearts of prayer. Show us what we can do to make a difference. Embolden us to act.

Mold our church into the kind of church you intend us to be. Make sure we are a place where people's lives are radically changed and not just another institution that entertains or fills time. Deluge us with your Holy Spirit. Unleash spiritual gifts that we will use in ministry. Form us into disciples who are more spiritually mature, more compassionate and more generous.

Give our church the necessary financial resources so we can carry out faithfully the mission you have given us. Teach us to use the resources we have wisely. Excite your people to be involved in mission. Make us so contagious in our faith and joy that others want to experience what they see in us.

Remind us again and again that you love us so much you sent your Son to save us. Invite us to see ourselves as you see us through your eyes of love. Fill us with so much of your love that we are compelled to start sharing it with others.

Empower us to dream big. Challenge us to not just see what is, but to see what can be: peace, prosperity for all people, eradication of suffering and true hope. Push us and prod us until we trust you enough to get on board with what you are doing in the world.

Let us experience from the top of our head to the soles of our feet the truth of what Paul says in his letter to the church in Rome, "Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture."

I pray this with hope, confidence and great expectation in the name of our Savior and Lord, Jesus. Amen. ~ Pastor Gary E. Mueller

Wasn't that great??

Playgroup Christmas Party

This past Monday Brittney and Quinn hosted our Playgroup Christmas Party. Brittney is so creative and had the cutest activity planned for the boys...we painted their hands and turned them into Santa! Then, we placed their hand Santas on a mini photo album to keep their yearly pictures with Santa in. Too cute!!! The boys played, the mommies talked, we all ate, and then the boys did their Secret Santa gift exchange. We are so blessed to have this wonderful group of little men and mommies!!

Hudson laughed and laughed when I used the paint brush to put paint on his hand. He immediately took his clean hand to feel what mommy was putting on his hand. Needless to say, we got paint everywhere! The finished product...how cute is that?!? Notice the precious placemat that she had underneath their craft? Hudson has used his placemat for breakfast every morning this week!

Quinn drew Hudson's name and got him an interactive Nativity Scene and a Yellow Taxi book with pieces that come out. We get to open the first piece of the Nativity tonight...I can't wait! Thanks Brittney and Quinn for such a wonderful gift! :)

Looking at his book!

Not the best picture, but here are all the boys lined up.

Sutton, Reid, Chapman, Landon, Tanner, Quinn, Porter, and Hudson

The Mommies and the boys posing with their craft.

Standing: Meredith and Reid, Brittney and Quinn, Alli and Chapman, Amy and Porter

Sitting: Annie and Sutton, Cara and Landon, Kara and Tanner, Mommy and Hudson

Piano Men

Hudson and I went to Leslie and Griffin's on Friday for a playdate. We had such a good time and Hudson learned something new from his friend Griffin...how to play the piano! He loved the way it sounded when he hit the keys.

Do you hear that Mommy?

Griffin teaching Hudson how to play.

Griffin and Hudson

We wanted a picture of the boys by the tree (Ha!) but settled for a picture of them playing with the tree in the background. Thanks for such a fun playdate...can't wait to see you all again soon!

16 Months!

Hudson was 16 months old on Saturday. My busy little man is just that...BUSY!! Everyone always makes comments about how busy he is. He always seems to be on a mission and definitely doesn't have time to be still. He has become quite the clapper this past month...seems to clap at everything. He is also turning in to quite the dancer and has started "singing" along with you. Kelly was singing Jingle Bells to him the other night and he was trying to hum along with him. He loves pointing to objects when you ask, "where's the light, table, trashcan, door, window..." but has absolutely no interest in pointing to body parts. Oh well, at least he is learning everyday objects! He now also points to the rocking chair when I take him in for a nap or bedtime. I could snuggle like that for hours! His hair seems to have grown like crazy all of the sudden and he is almost ready for his first haircut, even though he very much has an old man hair line! :) When he wakes up in the morning his hair sticks straight up...he is sight to see. He is gaining more confidence in his walking and will almost walk halfway across a room. It won't be long until he is officially taking off. He continues to be an absolute joy and I can't wait to see what the next month holds.

I thought this picture was fitting since it is December. He loves laying down in the tub and "swimming" around...this is how he looks when he gets back up! :) (I might have added a few bubbles to get the Santa effect!)

I LOVE Santa!!!

To be honest, I was very weary of taking Hudson to see Santa this year. He has major stranger anxiety and won't go to anyone besides immediate family. So, instead of taking him to the Santa at the mall I scheduled an appointment at The Picture People with Santa thinking that would give him more time to warm up to him and we wouldn't be as rushed to get a picture and get through the line. Well, to my surprise, Hudson LOVED Santa!! Santa reached out his hands and Hudson immediately went to him. WHAT?!? It was so cute...he cuddled right up in his lap and just smiled and reached up and touched his beard. It was precious! While we waited to view the pictures Santa was sitting near us and Hudson took about 5 steps to walk over to see him. Santa was so sweet...he would pick him up and talk to him until Hudson wanted down and then we would do the whole thing again. I could not have asked for a better Santa experience this year!

Hudson and Santa 2008
They brought out this red sleigh and Hudson loved it too! We actually hardly got any more pictures because he didn't want out! :)

This was Hudson with Santa last year. WOW...what a difference a year makes!!!

Kansas Wedding

Whew...what a fast and furious weekend! This past week Kelly was out of town on a hunting trip. My cousin was getting married in Kansas, so I bravely boarded a plane with just Hudson and flew to Oklahoma to meet up with family and then head to Kansas for the wedding. Now, this was Hudson's 3rd time flying but the 1st time flying with just me. Needless to say I was very worried about it since he is in SUPER ACTIVE mode when he is awake. The hardest part was going through security. Not only do you have to take off your shoes, but they made me take Hudson's shoes off too and I had to wrestle with folding the stroller up and putting it on the belt with one hand while people just stand there and stare. It was quite interesting, but we made it! (I'm sure I was a sight to see pushing the stroller with one hand and pulling a suit case with the other!) He was wonderful on the flight out there and several people commented on how good he was...yea Hudson! Now for the rest of the weekend...ha ha! I didn't exactly get to see the wedding ceremony. Hudson decided he wanted to talk and then scream, so we found toys in the church lobby and had a grand time playing. By the time we arrived at the reception it was past Hudson's dinner AND bed time, but he held it together pretty well. He did start to get delirious at one point, but it was very cute!

Shani, Geoff, and I
Hudson, Paw-Paw, Nana, Dena, Shani, Geoff

Paw-Paw was trying to feel all of Hudson's molars that are starting to come in and Hudson thought it would be a good idea to check out Paw-Paw's molars too.

Delirium was setting in...can you tell?? Hudson and Nana were playing in the hotel lobby. (By the way, Hudson did have a different outfit on for the wedding, but after eating lunch in the car the outfit wasn't up for a wedding anymore! Babies can wear jeans to weddings right??)

The Big 12 Championship game was the same night as the wedding. At one point Shani and I looked around and wondered where all of the boys had disappeared to. Guess where we found them? The hotel bar of course! They had to see those Sooners win!

Uncle Geoff taking Hudson for a ride on his shoulders. Shortly after this Hudson went up and went to bed. Nana stayed with him so Shani and I could go back down and enjoy the reception. Thanks Nana! Sadly, I didn't get a picture of Hudson with cousin Brandy in her wedding dress. :( Hudson didn't enjoy sleeping in the hotel and didn't particularly enjoy the plane ride back either. Tired babies and plane rides don't mix! Once I figured out that he wanted to walk back and forth in our little row of seats he was fine though. Daddy was home by the time we got back and Hudson was so excited to see him. What a fun weekend!