Mortified

I never know what is going to come out of Hudson's mouth. The other day we were at Target...

Hudson: "Why are you looking at me for LADY?!"

Mommy: "Hudson!!!!"

Lady: "I heard that little voice and wanted to see who it belonged to."

Hudson: "Oh, okay. My name is Hudson and this is Baby Owie."

Lady: "What a nice name, are you a good big brother?"

Hudson: "Yes."

Mommy: "We're going to be late for swim practice. Gotta hurry!"

Lady: "Have fun. Bye bye."

Hudson: "Bye butt head!"

Mommy: Absolutely mortified thumps him on the head and says "HUDSON!!!"

Lady: "No worries. I have a 5 year old grandson who is the same way."

Is that supposed to make me feel better? She was probably thinking what kind of a mom is she? Oh well don't sweat the small stuff right?!

Wii is exhausting!

Last night I promised Hudson that I would teach him how to play the "Cars" game on the Wii today. As soon as his eyes popped open this morning he started nagging. I finally had some time this afternoon to sit down and play with him. I was amazed at how quickly he had it figured out. While he was playing I ran upstairs to switch the laundry around and he yells to me "Mom, come see! I am going SUPER FAST!!". About a minute later I went down to see him play and I realized it was VERY quiet (except for the game). My initial reaction was uh oh! When I got downstairs this is what I found...


I kid you not! I couldn't believe he fell asleep that "SUPER FAST"! It is exhausting being Hudson!

Our Day at the Zoo

Is this any indication of our day at the zoo?
Just kidding! We actually had a fun time at the zoo. When we got up Saturday morning and it was raining we almost decided not to go. We got ready and by the time we left it had stopped raining but it was cold and gray. The sun came out just about the time the zoo closed. It is the first time that Hudson and Halle have ever been to the zoo and they loved it. The last zoo that we took Hannah to was in Memphis, Tennessee when we were moving to Florida. Pathetic I know!

Halle's favorite animals were the Gibson monkeys. She was absolutely enthralled with them. We kept trying to draw her attention away and she either would ignore us or give us a courtesy glance.




We made the mistake of not making Hudson take a nap before we left for the zoo. Unfortunately he had already crashed before we saw most of the animals. We did get a season pass so we will take him again soon (after a nappie)!



Halle on the other hand was awake the whole time and saw all the animals that were out. Her favorite perch was on Hannah's shoulders where she thought it was funny to pull Hannah's pigtails and bite her hair. Silly girl! Hannah is such a great sister!



ON ANOTHER NOTE...
Jeff and I went to Halle's court hearing on Wednesday. Her parents once again didn't appear and so the judge ordered that all services to them be stopped and set the next hearing for August 4th for parental termination. Their attorneys didn't have anything to say for them and the judge thanked us for being there. We are so grateful that we went! I think that us being there made a difference is his decision. We are one step closer to being able to adopt her. It is amazing how the Lord has pieced our little family together and we are so thankful for these sweet, wonderful children that he has placed in our care! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! Thank you so much Renon for watching the kids for us so that we could go. We really appreciate it! Love you lots!

Easter is for Family

We had a wonderful Easter! Mark and Jessica graciously had Easter dinner at their home. It was so fun have everyone there. Dad, Mom, Grandma Great, Charlotte and her kids, Marks parents Jim and Judy and his brother Chad and fiance Natalie, and Mark and Jessica's friends Jared and Caroline and their cute little girls.

We had Honey Baked ham and Honey Baked Turkey. YUMMY!!! The turkey was the best we had ever had! Their were all kinds of salads, rolls, and desserts. If you walked away hungry it was all your own fault!

Yummy Turkey! Quit taking my picture Dad!

The kids hunted for Easter eggs in the rain but they were having so much fun that they didn't care!



Hudson is saying "WHAT?!"

I LOVE this picture of Hudson and Grandma Great! I am so thankful that she is here so that my children will remember her! She is a very special Great Grandma!!



I love these darling pictures of Halle! And especially the one of Mom and Halle! We are so blessed to have the love and support behind us on trying to adopt this sweet baby. We have court in 2 days and we'll see if the judge will stop parental services so that we can move forward with terminating the rights. Our family loves her so! She fits right in!















I adore this sweet Hudson boy of mine with his big eyes, freckled chubby cheeks and crooked smile. I call him my cheeky little monkey. This last week he has started squeezing my cheeks and calling me a "Twinkle Wittle Monkey". I absolutely adore this little boy! I am so thankful that Heavenly Father sent me such incredible children. I love and adore each one of them so much!!!

Fired Mommy

Yesterday I was getting after the kids for fighting. Hannah just rolled her eyes at me (she is becoming the typical teenager) and Hudson said "Mommy! Your Fired!!!"
Really?! I'm fired? Woo Hoo! As soon as Jeff got home I took my fired self to Target and the grocery store. I left at 6:30pm and didn't get home until 9:00pm. It was so peaceful! I did however get the evil eye from Jeff when I got home. In the words of Hudson "WHAT?!".

PS. I should be cleaning bathrooms and the garage instead of playing on the computer. Actually, I think that I will go take a nap. Hmmmm...a nap sounds much better!

The Smell of Digested Dinosaur Eggs

Okay I probably shouldn't post this but it was so funny I couldn't resist! Last week our stake president's sister (who has free range chickens) gave Jeff's parents some fresh green eggs. When we were there on Saturday Renon gave us the eggs because they were going out of town this week. She told Hudson that they were dinosaur eggs (he is obsessed with dinosaur anything). Today Hannah made him fried dinosaur eggs for lunch which he gobbled down like a dinosaur. A few minutes ago he came running into my room announcing that he farted and it smelled like dinosaur eggs. For those of you that are grossed out I'm sorry! Hopefully the rest of you got a good laugh! Husdon is all boy through and through!

Halle Girl

I wish I could have gotten one of her smiling but she wouldn't cooperate.
Oh well! Like the Rolling Stones sing "You can't always get what you want"! That is our motto for the kids, which for obvious reasons they don't like. Why is it that you can put a baby in a room full of toys with the gate up and all they want is out? I guess we are all like that!

Pondering Thoughts

So we took the kids to go see "How to Train a Dragon". Super cute movie! Definitely one to buy when it comes out. Any way there was a scene in the movie that Hudson thought was cute and he said "Aaaawwweee how cute!" loud enough for the whole theater to hear it. He made everyone laugh. Then today our home teachers came to visit and he was telling them about the movie and that the dragons ate fish. They asked him if he ate fish and he scrunched up his nose with a puzzled look on his face and said "Nooooo! I eat human food!" It was hilarious. One of those things I wish I had on video!

Today at church Halle was an happy angel! She was awake for all but 15 minutes. Her personality is really changing she is really starting to laugh. She is a happy little thing, all 12 1/2 pounds of her. She is crawling like crazy and pulling herself up on everything. She loves watching Hannah and Hudson play they really had her cracking up during lunch. There is nothing cuter and more contagious than kids laughing! I love it!

On our way home from church I was asking Hudson what he learned in Primary. He told us that Jesus had blood on his hands and feet from nails and that he was way high up. Then he died and they put him in a little tiny cave and then he breathed again and and came back alive then everything was okay. Wow! He listened and understood?! We were amazed that he went into such detail! It makes me realize that even though I think that he isn't listening and understanding that he really is and how impressionable our children are.

On that note Hudson's story made me ponder the Resurrection and Christ's sacrifice that He made it possible for us to repent of our sins and become more like Him so that someday we can return and live with Him. I am so thankful for the knowledge that we have of the gospel and for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's love for me. I hope that during this week that we each take the time to reflect on this incredible blessing that has been freely given to us and that we take the time to thank our Heavenly Father and Brother for their love and sacrifice for all of us.

Other News on the Blum Front

Presenting the new Hannah!
Hannah has been bugging me for weeks to perm her hair. She was sick of her straight hair and wanted a change. We finally had the time to do her very first perm tonight. She loves it! Her Daddy even had to admit that it looked good. He doesn't generally like curly hair and had been trying to talk her out of it for weeks. I have to admit that it makes her look too grown up :0(
You look beautiful FiFi!

Swim team practice starts April 5th. Hudson told my Mom tonight that he is sooooo excited! So is Mommy! It will put all of his energy into constructive energy! WOO HOO!!!

We finally got our family 72 hours emergency kits done. Peace of mind!

Hudson's ISR swim lessons (our life insurance policy for him) paid off when he fell off the front of Jeff's parents' boat. Jeff said one second he was there and the next he was gone. He had thankfully had the presence of mind to turn the motor off. As soon as he did he and Hannah heard a thump on the propeller and up popped Hudson floating on his back breathing and not even crying. He had gone all the way under the boat. He didn't start crying until Jeff had to leave him to turn the boat around to scoop him up. He was in full winter clothing and it was super cold. He did have a life jacket on in case anyone is wondering (strict rule with Grandma and Grandpa Blum!). But his instincts kicked in as soon as he fell in and automatically flipped onto his back to breathe. Thank you Miss Stefanie for giving him the skills and confidence!! Just another reminder that children don't typically drown in a swim suit!

We took the kids to Lake Tahoe last weekend to a cabin and to play in the snow with Aunt Jessica's family , Daniel and Kaleb, and my Mom and Dad. It's the first time that Hudson has ever seen the snow. He absolutely loved it. Couldn't get enough! He kept begging to play in the "NO". We were trying to get him to say "S S S Snow" and he said "I want to go play in the S S S...that stuff outside." It was hilarious! It was fun to watch the kids play and have such a good time. Of course the kids all ganged up on the adults in a snow ball fight. I swear Daniel and Kaleb were throwing giant ice cubes! Averi thought it was particularly funny to get Aunt Noel. It was great to spend time with family, have fun and just kick back and relax. Wish Camille, Melissa and their families and Charlotte and the rest of her family could have been with us! We miss and love you guys!

I can't think of any other news. Life is always full of excitement at our house! The kids are always making us laugh.

What Happened to the Last 6 Months?

I'm not sure where the last 6 months have gone! I pathetically haven't had time to update our blog since July. There is so much that has happened since then that there is no way that I can possibly blog everything! So to hit on the big events, Hannah turned 10 in October, Hudson turned 3 in November and Hallie, our foster baby that we have had since she was 10 days old is now 8 months old. Jeff turned 44 in December I had a radical hysterectomy December 17. We spent Christmas Eve with Jeff's family and Christmas Day with my family. I pretty much recovered mid January from my surgery. Jeff and I celebrated our 8th anniversary (which doesn't' seem possible) February 2. For our anniversary/Valentines Day/my 37th birthday Jeff and I went to Lake Tahoe. We left the kiddos with Tamara and Clark, Jeff's sister and brother-in-law (thanks so much Jones'! You guys are AWESOME!!) for Valentines weekend. We had a blast!!!! We got to sleep in without being climbed upon or kicked in the back. We ate when we wanted, showered without the kids standing there and we suddenly remembered that we had names beside Mommy and Daddy. We had no schedule except when we went snowmobiling which was awesome! It was so rejuvenating! I wish we could do that every 3 months or so.
Life has been busy with the kids and work as always. Jeff's boss will be taking maternity leave in a couple of weeks so I'm sure that he will be putting in more hours but also job security. Thankfully he has a job!
Hannah and Hudson will be starting on the West Sacramento Dolphins swim team next month. I am so excited that they let Hudson be on the team. We desperately need something to help expend his energy! He absolutely LOVES to swim and I'm sure will excel at it. Normally the team won't let them start until they are at least 4 but they remembered what a fish he was last summer. Hannah is looking forward to starting swim again. She is a great swimmer and I know will do fabulous this season also!
Hallie is doing great. She has been crawling for about a month and a half and is now totally sitting up on her own and pulling herself up on everything. I hope that walking is a ways off. It is all I can do to keep up with Hudson some days. It looks like we'll be able to adopt her but that will be months or more away. You never know what the biological parents are going to do even though they haven't seen her since she was about 3 weeks old and you never know what the courts will do. She is a sweet little thing and is really starting to get a personality.
I'm sure that I have missed some events, but that is the Blum life in a nutshell.