Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Wrestling!

Boys!
 I am still trying to figure them out. When Dad is home, or if I ever venture to sit or lay on the floor, all my boys want to do is wrestle!They run, scream, jump onto piles of pillows and blankets, steam roll each other and it ALWAYS ends in tears. They are merciless. Cooper is especially bad. If you sit on the ground, it is as if you had sent him a gold gilded invitation to sit on your head. My house has become a WWF ring. That is us in a nutshell these days.


Sunday, January 13, 2013

It's a New Year!

Happy New Year! I love New Beginnings. I love to set goals. Although this post is a bit tardy(as is usually the case with me) I still wanted to write down my thoughts regarding the new year.
First we had a really cute low key New Year's celebration. Both Shane and I worked on the 31st, and Shane had to work on the 1st, so we were not up all night being crazy. I figured since we were keeping it simple and we wanted to spend time as a family that we should do something that the boys would love. Well, turns out, we all really enjoyed Chuck E Cheese! haha!
We had never taken our boys to Chuck E Cheese before, but it was a huge hit! Hudson was wild, and him and Shane went off and played games. Cooper and I went around and played some of the games too, but also played on the play structures that they have there. We ripped through 125 tokens in about an hour and a half, and I even got so into one of the games that I tried cheating(by tipping the machine) and set off a very loud alarm-so embarrassing!
After games we came home and had pizza, then Shane and I watched the new Batman movie with Jan. It turned out to be a really fun evening.
Last year was a really great year for me. I was able to be home with my boys for most of it, and our little family was just really blessed. We had an amazing summer, and I was able to learn many new things and achieve many personal goals. I was Young Women's President for most of the year and LOVED serving the young girls of my ward. As I reflect, I hope I can build from last year and have another great year.

Some of the goals we have as a family are to be better at Family Home Evening-especially since Hudson is at an age where he can handle it more.
We also want to be better with our family Prayers, and work on some financial goals. I must say that this year my goals are more spiritually related. I find that these goals are some of the easiest to be unsuccessful at they require because  a great deal of integrity. No one will be the wiser if I am not personally doing the things that I have covenanted to do. It is up to me to be honest with myself and answer to myself regarding these things. I am hopeful that I will be able to accomplish the things that I desire!
Happy 2013 to all!!!


The Heath Holidays: Christmas Part 2

I will attempt to blog our 2012 Holidays. They were truly fabulous. Christmas was a total blast this year. I blogged about some of before but I will catch up on what we missed.

Okay, so I have to back track to one of my favorite parts of Christmas. That is Christmas decorations. I usually pull out the same stuff each year, and maybe add a couple new things each year. I have a mostly white and silver Christmas tree, so it is pretty easy to find things to go with it. Upstairs in the boys playroom we have a red and green tree, so have a few colorful decorations up there too.

About 4 years ago our Relief Society had a craft day, and I bought one of the kits but wasn't able to attend to make it. It is the cutest banner, and when I saw it in my craft pile, I knew I had to put it together. It matches the upstairs tree perfect, and it was easy and fast to put together. So satisfying!


This year I have a huge magnet board in my living room that I knew I would have to decorate. On pinterest there are so many adorable free printables. I printed out a bunch and just stuck them on the board. My favorite ones are the faux chalkboard printables. I just can't get enough of them.So easy and fun. I was not sure about the board being downstairs because it is so big, but it really is fun to switch up.


Lastly, the bane of my existence. My stupid living room shelves. I hate these shelves. The wall that they are on is too big, and I find them really uncomfortable to decorate. I have plans for that wall one day, but who know when I will ever get around to it. I needed something to go on my shelf, so I cut some vinyl and used an old kitchen cabinet door and made a "let it snow" sign.  It is nothing special, but it helped fill my dumb shelves-ha. I added some white glitter and some snowflake ornaments to it, to try to make it look better. Not sure if it was a success, but I am sure next year I will want something different, so I didn't want to spend to much time or money on it.



On our way up to Slave Lake we visited our Piper's grave. It was her birthday on the 22nd, and I am so glad that we stopped by. She will always be a big part of our Christmas Celebrations. This year I found this sweet angel ornament for our tree. I like to get her an ornament each year. I thought this one was so pretty.



Okay, so now onto the awesome celebration!
This year Shane and I went up to Slave Lake for Christmas. It was my parents first year back in their house. It was a very relaxed and quiet Christmas, my favorite kind. Rudi and her fiance Chad were in town as well as Lonnie and Leanne and their kids. Rory and Katie were in Guatemala and Belize and everyone else stayed home with their families.

Hudson LOVED playing with his "friends" aka his cousins. Although they are much older than him, they played with Hudson and Cooper so well, and were so kind to them. That was one of my favorite things about being home was seeing Hudson just love his cousins.
Christmas Eve was really fun. Everyone came over and we had our traditional Chinese gift exchange. As much as everyone hates admitting it, it is not as much fun when I get an early pick. I got the number one this year, so I was lucky to even get anything good-haha!
Hudson and Cooper got to open their Christmas Jammies on Christmas Eve and Hudson was literally screaming with joy(this kid LOVES pajamas:). The boys were so so cute matching. As is tradition in Slave Lake, a Santa is driven around behind a sled with lights on it, and my Dad spotted him just in time to show Hudson. Hudson was again, screaming with excitement. For the first time in his life he asked to go to bed, because we told Hudson that Santa came after he went to bed-haha. We got some cookies and Chocolate milk ready for Santa, then the boys went to sleep.

Santa's leftovers, and thank you note.


The Loot piles all ready to be devoured.

 It was pretty fun getting everything ready for the boys, but it was even better watching them open all of their gifts.  Hudson and Cooper do really make it rewarding to be parents. Hudson loves life so much and gets so excited about things. As he opened his gifts he would exclaim"This is exactly what I wanted!!" or "I am so excited." It was adorable. He loved opening and ripping the wrapping paper, and of course wanted to help his little brother open all of his gifts too. Christmas morning could not have been any more perfect!

Opening presents!

Chuck the Rolling Truck, that Hudson begged for and will probably never play with.

Beethoven? 

Cooper, showing off his cute new jammies and robe.

Hudson "lending an unneeded hand:)

After we opened our gifts, we headed over to the Love's for Big Bill's annual breakfast. There was an enormous wonderful spread! The best part of everything was visiting with all of the neighbors and friends and seeing the Love's in their new home.
Later on in the day we had a delicious Christmas Dinner. We really had a perfect Christmas! I am so thankful that it turned out so great and that it was worth all of the heard work!


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

A Hudson Update


Okay, so this post is old in my mind. Every day I keep thinking to myself  I need to write this stuff down. Hudson has been changing and growing up so much lately. Cooper too. I feel like they are growing up so quickly. It panics me sometimes that I am not documenting enough of it.

Hudson lately has become so independent. He no longer wants any help with anything. He thinks he can do it all. Each morning Hudson gets up and gets himself all dressed and beams with pride. Then he goes into the bathroom and brushes his teeth. I am so proud of him too. The only problem I have with either of these things is that Hudson usually will want to change his outfit 5-6 times a day and it the same with brushing his teeth.(he is in love with bubblegum flavored toothpaste) Hudson is an emotional dresser. He carefully chooses his outfits and watch out if something he wants to wear is in the laundry! Generally he "picks" pajamas. He gets out of one pair, only to change into another.

As Hudson gets older, he is responding to discipline better-hallelujah! He is more obedient and responsible. I love that he is reasonable. He has become very thoughtful and poignant. His questions to Shane and I are hilarious. Lately Hudson has been informing me that he loves my husband. Any time I ask him if he would like something, he will respond with "don't mind if I do."Another favorite is "Are you kidding me?" If Hudson wants to show me something, it is always"Check this out Mom." My little sweetie keeps us laughing all day long. In fact Hudson is very concerned with keeping us laughing. He often asks"was that funny Mom?"

Since a lot of our best friends have moved away, Hudson has not had quite the social life that he used to. Right now one of his best friends is Valentina Molina, his babysitters daughter. They are funny together. Hudson has not ever had such a strong willed friend before. It is great for him. Hudson's other great friends are Parker and Landon Kutanzi. The other day his pals came over and  Landon and Hudson embarked upon the adventure of sledding down our back yard hill. They were so so cute. It took them a couple tries, but when they finally figured it out. I have never seen Hudson beam with more pride. It really was adorable!

Another thing that Hudson is loving so much right now is computer and video games.(Oi- I know hey? three years old and already addicted-yikes) Hudson loves "the tractor game"- a playstation game that he plays with his Dad, and some other games on nickjr.com. It is crazy how good he is at the games. He really gets it. It is something he is only allowed to do when Cooper naps, as Cooper goes crazy trying to get to my laptop.
I love sitting with Hudson, watching him get SO SO excited when he achieves whatever the game needs him to do.

Lastly, Pandora. What can I even say about Hudson and HIS cat Pandora. Hudson(and Cooper) are both so enthralled with Pandora. They are actually obsessed.  Hudson would drop anything for the chance to pet his kitty. He tells everyone about his cat. He knows all of her hiding places, and finds her any chance he can. He is so careful and gentle of her. He gets so mad at Cooper when he is around, as Pandora is very skiddish and often gets scared off by Coops.

I am so in love with Hudson right now. He is just the best kid. He is a bit rough with his little brother, but loves him so much. He tells me all of the time that he loves Cooperbear, and is so happy that he is in our family. When I think of my two sweet boys, my heart is truly FILLED with joy!



Sunbeams!!!!


I love my kids. It is so unreal to me that Hudson "graduating" from Nursery to Primary can be the highlight of my week! I have to say yesterday was SOOOOO cute. For the past week I have been doing my best to prepare Hudson for the change that he would experience at church this week, and he has not been very excited about it. I have been telling him about his teacher Sister Borstad, and trying to help him get used to the idea. In our church the children switch classes each January. From the age of 18 months the kids are in nursery, then the first January that they are three, they get to go to primary. Hudson has been three for a while, but is just now moving up. I was so proud of Hudson(which is so funny to me because I am not too sure why). He put on a brave face and went to primary, even though he did not want to. The awesome nursery teachers gave each of the kids a graduation certificate and a little beanie bear and then they all walked down to the primary room with their new teacher. It really was so cute. I just can't believe him and the other kids are already at this point in their little lives.

Hudson with Sister Borstad , Madeline and David. The only one who looks excited is David-haha.

The primary teachers and primary president were all so kind. Hudson was not very impressed, but his teacher kindly held his hand down the hall to the primary room. It was so sweet, all of the other junior primary kids were singing "Jesus wants me as a sunbeam" when all of the new sunbeams walked into the room. The Primary then sang them a welcome song, that included each of the new children's names. The other children all stood at the front while Hudson refused and glared from his chair.
At the end of church, I went to pick Hudson up from his class. His wonderful teacher was so great. She kindly told me that Hudson did good. She said that he was not a huge fan of singing time because it was too loud, and that he hid inside the pulpit a couple times, but promptly returned to his chair when he was asked(thank goodness).

Pouting:)
The theme for this year in Primary is "I am a Child of God". When I picked up Hudson he had a cute frame with the theme in it ready for his bedroom.  I have to say that I felt overwhelmed with gratitude that so many people take time from their busy lives to help me and my little boy learn such important truths. I am so thankful I am not alone in teaching my children.
Although Hudson started off grumpy, he sure did not end that way. I think it is safe to say that he already LOVES his teacher, and loves being a sunbeam.