Saturday, February 23, 2013

Ahoy Matey!

My sweet 4 year old!
 This morning we had Hudson's 4th Birthday party. It was SO MUCH FUN.(also lots of work-but totally worth it)
We decided to have a Pirate Party. Right now I will just say a big thanks to Pinterest, for all of the inspiration and free printables. I was not very prepared, and did not take any pictures pre party(and after I realized my camera was on a funky setting so the pictures are all blurry-oops).
Here are a few pics and links of some of the awesome free Pirate Printables. I printed mine off at staples. There was everything, even cute pirate hats! All of the other decorations came from Target or Dollarama!
The decorations!

click here-----> for thank you notes, drink labels, food labels and banners
click here------->for printable pirate hats and eye patches
click here------>for printable signs

The balloons and streamers-Shane teased me that it looked more like the presidential inauguration decorations than a birthday party-hee hee.

Our party started at 10:30. Hudson was up all night worried that someone would break into our house and steal the pinata candy, so I am glad we started early. We let the kids play around until everyone arrived. Madeline was the first Matey that showed up, and immediately upon her arrival Hudson started ripping her gift open. He has been looking at the calender everyday waiting so patiently for "23".
Some of Captain Hudson's Mateys!
When everyone came we played musical chairs(I know old school-hey). I just remember playing it as a kid and loving it. It was pretty cute. I made the mistake of giving the kids candy when they got out of the game, so some of the kids were not too interested in fighting for their chairs-heehee. Landon Kutanzi was our big winner for most of the rounds. I found some awesome tattoo's or"stickers-haha, in the states this summer, so we inked all of our pals, then got ready for lunch.


This was so fun! I love Madeline's face here!

Cooper showing off his ink

After lunch we had the pinata breaking. We set it up in our basement, which is ghetto, but the kids LOVED it. I loved watching them go crazy when the Pirate Shane finally exploded the pinata and the candy.

Hudson said his favorite part of the party was hitting the pinata!

Another favorite moment was when Shane cheered on Valentina with the pinata, and told her it was part of her heritage-haha

Collecting the BOUNTY!
 I am NOT a baker or kitchen guru, but I managed to pull off some pirate cupcakes. They turned out way cuter than I thought considering I have no icing bags or tips. Hudson was thrilled with them, so it made my efforts worthwhile.

Arrrrr!



Hudson had 2 girlfriends after blowing out his candles
 The long awaited moment of opening presents finally arrived at the end of the party. Hudson reacted much the same way as he did at Christmas. Everything rocked his world. His sweet Mateys were so generous and kind. Hudson truly is so blessed to have so many sweet little friends.

One of my favorite pictures! I love how interested all of the kids are in the gifts! What cuties!

The obligatory forced hug:)
 Overall, it was busy and chaotic, but so wonderful. I would do anything for my boy, and I sure hope that he knows how much we love him and how thankful that he is part of our family!!!


Sunday, February 17, 2013

Our Valentine's Day

It needs to be said that Holidays are so much more fun when you have kids(at least for me). I remember thinking that Valentine's Day was dumb before Hudson came, but now, teaching him and celebrating with him makes it really great.

This year we had a special day. I bought Huds a Sponge Bob Valentines treat, which he loved, and three little buddies popped by and brought Hudson little presents.

I sewed the boys some little ties(and got carried away), leaving us with a pizza dinner-which is truly more my style.

Auntie Jodie sent the boys a special package with some crafts and Hudson loved playing with his new pipe cleaners and beads.

I loved popping onto facebook and seeing all of the special ways that my friends celebrated this fun holiday. Every kind of heart shaped food, crafts, flowers, love letters...it was all so inspiring. I feel so blessed to have such a beautiful, loving family.


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Epic!

Today, something amazing happened!
So my poor babies both have been sick. Hudson was throwing up and has had a fever, and body aches, and Cooper has been getting 4 teeth, two which have finally cut through.

This morning Cooper was pretty lethargic, and Hudson said his ears hurt, so I figured I'd bite the bullet and take them to the Doctor.

The Doctor was great, and we did not have to wait long at all. When the Doctor spoke she spoke to Hudson and he was so proud to answer her questions. As she was writing a note in his chart, Hudson turned to me and whispered, "I hope the Doctor likes my shirt". He did so good, and used such great manners.

When it was Cooper's turn, Cooper did very well too. Hudson asked the Doctor not to hurt his brother-and sat well and waited for hid exam. Cooper had an ear infection. At the end of the appt. the Dr. Complimented my boys and told them what great manners they had, and said they were
 WELL BEHAVED!!!!!!!

I had no words. This is the first time anyone has ever said that about my kids, especially when they are sick. I figured since this was the first time( and I pray not the last) I'd post about it.

We spent the entire day snuggling and vegging, and Hudson helped me make a Pirate invitation for his upcoming birthday party. (we had fun making it)



Sunday, February 10, 2013

Sunday: The Worst Day of the Week

Today, during sacrament meeting, I determined Sunday is the worst day of the week. In Mormon culture Sunday is supposed to be the best day of the week, because theoretically you are supposed to go to church and be spiritually refueled.

Right now, that simply is not the case. * Be warned, this will be a whiny post and I don't care.
Today Shane had to work. Shane has been signing up for more weekends, so that he can stay at home when I work, resulting in me taking our kids to church solo. This is my hats off to all of the single mama's and papa's that bring their kids to church faithfully. It is hard. It is difficult because although my children are small, I am trying to teach them. I am trying to have them respect church and make it a habit. In our meetings we strive for reverence at all times. 1 and 3 year old boys and reverence is not synonymous. Not at all. Sometimes All the time, I think it would be way easier to stay home, until they are older and understand more fully the concepts of being quiet or sitting still. The problem with that is that day may never come. Instead, I will fight my kids to get dressed in their church clothes, keep Cooper up from his nap, walk the halls when Cooper is being loud and crazy in class, bribe and threaten my son to be good for his teacher, go through 46 packs of fruit snacks in an hour just so my kids don't go insane in sacrament meeting, and get more grey hairs in hopes that I can instill the importance of regular church attendance in my young kids.

This week Shane and I were able to witness a really amazing event. One of the girls that was in Young Womens with me, Storm, was sealed in the Edmonton Temple to her adoptive family. I feel so privileged that I was able to witness such a beautiful ceremony. Her family is great, and Storm looked amazing. She glowed in her white gown and the spirit was very strong. I was very emotional and I am not too sure why but I really was overcome.  It is events like these that remind me how lucky I am to have something so beautiful and important be a part of my life(and make me keep bringing by boys to church:)

 This week, has been an emotional week for me for other reasons as well. I am not even too sure what to write about it, because it is still too soon. I resigned from my job on Friday, and will be working my last shift tomorrow. Being totally honest, I was not just working for fun, I worked because our family finances depended on my income. I am not really sure what I am going to do now, and due to the raging sinus infection I am sporting, I can't even think that hard about it, or I feel that my head will pop off. The timing of me being essentially be forced to resign could not have come at a worse time for us. We were making plans to try and move and finding work that will hire me part time in my field will likely take a miracle. I guess the biggest hardship this has provided me is, working as a Nuclear Med tech is a big part of who I am. It is what I do. It is what I feel confident doing. I have worked with my company longer that I have been married or been a Mother. It felt very safe and familiar too me and I genuinely really really like the people I get to associate with. I have no idea right now what is next for me, but I feel like I had no other choice than to resign from  my position. Everything happened very quickly, but deep down somewhere in my soul, I do feel like everything will be okay. I don't profess to have abundant faith in this matter. I am a chronic worrier who loves to have a very strategic and calculated plan at all times(which is actually hilarious-as my plans NEVER work out the way I have them set in my mind), but on some small level, I know me and my family will be taken care of.

On to my sweeties. Well they are amazing and fun and hard and hyper and fabulous.
Cooper's personality has been blooming. He does not talk at all but vividly communicates in other ways. He grunts and screams and leads me by the hand. His favorite thing to do is climb and he will stand on top of the kitchen table and snoop through my china cabinet for hours(the table is pushed up against the cabinet so he will not get into the bottom cabinets). Cooper can hold his own a bit more with Hudson, but is still just elated to be acknowledged by his brother. Cooper loves doing ANYTHING with Hudson. He especially loves being pushed around on his blue truck, and taking baths with Hudson. As stated above, Cooper is awful at church. He usually naps between 11-1, which is when church is, so he is pretty miserable at church. Generally Coops still naps really well, and he is a great night sleeper. Cooper loves TV. His favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He bounces and claps his hands every time the theme music comes on. Hudson and I have been working to teach Cooper his nose, and eyes and ears. When we ask him to point to his nose he does, then he gets so so proud of himself, and claps. It really is so sweet.  Cooper is becoming such a big boy. He now refuses to let me help him eat. This causes the poor boy to be bathed several times a day as he has not mastered the finesse of feeding himself. For some reason part of Cooper feeding himself consists of him rubbing his food in his hair. So nasty.

Just talking on the phone-ha!



Chips and Hungry Hungry Hippos??

Helping a Bro out! Cause Cooper needs help right?? haha. I don't know why, but I think it is so funny when Hudson carries his brother:)

A current favorite. Typically ends in tears, but they do it day after day.


Mr. Hudson man has just been growing like a weed. This morning I got a box of hand-me down clothes from my sister out and showed Hudson all of the new clothes. Hudson screamed with excitement. He was ecstatic! Hudson loves getting dressed and continues to change his clothes several times a day. A couple nights ago Shane was changing into some sports clothes for volleyball in our room. Hudson had been sleeping in our bed and woke up. He demanded that Shane show him his outfit before going back to sleep. He truly loves clothes and is often worried that he won't look handsome in certain outfits. It is annoying doing all of the laundry, but it is so cute!
Hudson has been really really into letters and sounds. I think in the next couple months he will be reading. He knows all of his letters and all of their associated sounds. He has even been working on writing his letters. He will tell me that he wants to work on them so that he is ready to go to school.  I can take no credit for any of Hudson's progress with reading, he is just really interested in it.  Hudson is also really into computer games. He loves nickjr.com and when Cooper goes down for his naps he will play learning games, and he gets so proud when he passes levels. It is pretty adorable to see him navigating around the website and I can't believe how good he is at working the laptop mouse. Another thing Mr. H right loves right now is is babies. He always wants to pet babies or hold them. If there is a baby girl around he always asks me "if hers is a princess". It really melts my heart.

I really love my little boys so so much. Nothing makes me feel better than their snuggles or reminders that they love me. Today while snuggling with Hudson on the couch, I called him my boy, then he kissed me on the cheek and called me his girl.With all of the uncertainty and changes going on, my sweet boys are such a bright and stable constant. I love them more than they will ever know, and I am excited to give them my full attention and do my very best to be the kind of Mom they deserve!