Incentive Charts are FUN!!!

About 2 months ago, we started having issues with Hudson hitting. I have to say, it is NOT FUN when your child is being a bully and being that kid. We tried everything to get him to stop and nothing was working. I thought back to my teaching days and decided that maybe it was time for Hudson to have an incentive chart. So, we took a little trip to Mardel and let him pick out his chart and some stickers. Of course, our little man picked out monkey charts with monkey stickers and then some farm animal stickers. The kid can't get enough animals!!! We took it home, put it on the refrigerator and got to work. The next morning on the way to church we decided it was the perfect time to talk about his new chart and how if we got a good report from his Sunday School teacher he would get to add a sticker to it when we got home. Sure enough, we got a good report and he was THRILLED to put a sticker on his chart. We kept it up over the next few weeks until his chart looked like this:

Can you tell that he put his stickers on? :) Since he is only 2 1/2 we didn't want to wait until his chart was full to reward him. After being sick for a week and being cooped up, we decided that today was a great day to get out of the house and get rewarded for his good behavior. Now, his rewards won't always be going to buy him something, but we figured this first time needed to be good! After hearing a few friends talk about how much fun Build-A-Bear was, we decided that would be right up Huson's alley and it did not disappoint! We walked in and he immediately chose a puppy.
He loved stading on the pedal to help stuff the bear...he was in complete awe!

Kissing the heart and the shamrock for good luck.

Putting them in his puppy.

Giving his new puppy a hug before going to the cleaning station.

He really liked this part and scrubbed his puppy from head to toe!

Cuddling with his new friend he named (with the help of Mommy & Daddy) Joey.

When we got home he immediately wanted Joey out of the box. Not to cuddle with him though...

...to put the box on his head and jump around of course!

Welcome to the family Joey! :)

Here's hoping the next few weeks earn Hudson many more stickers!!!

Rainforest AND a train!

Last Friday we met our friends Colleen & Reid for a fun lunch at Rainforest Cafe. We only get to see them every few months, so it is always so fun to catch up!

Mommy & Hudson and Colleen & Reid

Hudson was LOVING the elephants this visit. He was not thrilled with the gorillas though. Funny story...we asked to be sat far away from the gorillas because Reid really didn't like them and they sat us two tables away facing the gorillas. Really?!?

Hudson had a ball throwing pennies into this guy's mouth:

As fun as our lunch was, the true hit was riding this fun train afterwards. The boys LOVED it! We rode up and down half of Grapevine Mills mall. Colleen and I felt a little silly, but hey...you do anything for your kids right? :)

Thanks for a fun morning friends!

Did you get any in your mouth?

During our huge snowstorm I was starting to get a little antsy, so Hudson and I ventured out to get some hot chocolate from Starbucks. I got each of us one and handed Hudson his when we walked in the house. I kid you not, he drank his ENTIRE hot chocolate in about 45 seconds, then turned and looked at me and said, "All done, now I have yours." and reached for my cup. REALLY?!? I guess it is an understatement to say he loves hot chocolate. The thing is...I'm not entirely sure how much actually got in his mouth...

Let's just say that no amount of stain fighter got this shirt clean! Oh well, he sure enjoyed his hot chocolate!! :)

2 and a 1/2!!!

Everybody says it, and it is SO TRUE...time really goes so fast when you have a kiddo. Yesterday, Hudson turned 2 1/2. I can't figure out where the time has gone and how it is even possible that he is now making his way towards 3!

Hudson is so FULL of energy, a COMPLETE mess, a MAJOR talker, a SNUGGLE bunny when he is sleepy, a BIG eater, a NEGOTIATOR, a GREAT sleeper, a SUPER cleaner, and a MOMMY'S boy!

We decided to celebrate last night by having this for dinner:
Pizza being one of Hudson's favorite foods, he was thrilled. He really liked the fact that it was shaped like a heart too! (Thanks to Papa Murphy's...YUM!) After the pizza, he had a cupcake and he ate mostly just the top off...you know...the part with the ICING!

Pizza + Cupakes = one happy, dirty boy!

We had to get some pics with Daddy and Mommy of course!

Little man, I couldn't love you more...you are the absolute light of my life!

Winter Wonderland!

OK, so yesterday we woke up to snow, but today we woke up to a winter wonderland! It was beautiful! Since Hudson already knew what to do in it, I could barely get him bundled up before he was headed out the door to play. Since his friend Stone lives down the street, he and Jessica came down to play too. It was such a fun morning!

Hudson decided the snow tasted good today...he ate a LOT of it!

I had to get a few pics of some of Hudson's toys in the backyard to show just how much snow we got. This is his t-ball stand and it seriously looks like a ball is on top!

Check out his lawn mower!

The trees are my favorite part!

I hope you all are staying warm today! :)

Bundled Up & Ready to Play!

We woke up today to find several inches of snow. I waited until after breakfast to tell Hudson (to make sure he would eat!) and he was SO EXCITED that he happily got all bundled up for me and started talking about building a sand castle. Yep, a sand castle...we had to clear that up...sand...snow...same thing right? :) Here's my little man all ready to go.

He had a blast running around in the yard and throwing tiny little snowballs. His mittens kept giving him fits, so he kept taking them off. Stinker!

Here he is trying to throw a snowball at me. Too cute!

Happy boy!

Noni's Little Helper

Hudson is starting to be quite the helper in the kitchen these days. So, on Sunday after church when Noni started getting things out to make guacamole, Hudson had to get in on the action. Now, those of you that know me well know that I don't just love to cook. Sure, I love to try new recipes and I do in fact make dinner every night, but I don't love it, ya know? Noni on the other hand LOVES to cook and can make anything and everything without following a recipe. She is one of those people that makes you just sick because she does everything from scratch. She has always been baffled by my lack of LOVING cooking like she does. All of this being said, she was beyond DELIGHTED when Hudson hopped up on a chair next to her and got to work. You could just see the pride on her face and I have to say, I'm glad that the little man will humor her for now with his LOVE of cooking too! :)

Trying to figure out what to do...hmm...maybe I'll cut it like a piece of meat...

Who doesn't love mashing up green stuff?!?

Now, I know that guacamole isn't cooking per say, but they sure had fun making it together!