Halle's First Swim Meet Experience

She tried to be content and happy. The nice thing is that we had built in baby sitters. All the girls loved taking care of Halle and Hudson. The only problem was that they were all so helpful that Halle never did take a nap. Halle also learned how to pull herself up on the back of the lawn chair and then shimmy her feet up. Crazy KID!!

All in all she was a very good and patient baby considering she was being tossed around or stuck in the stroller the whole day.

Hudson's 1st Swim Meet

These are pictures of Hannah helping Hudson with his warm ups.



These are pictures of his very 1st race ever. He did great! We are so proud of him. He swam the full 25 yards by himself (his coach was in the water just in case). About half way through Hudson told his coach he couldn't do it and Kurt told him yes you can! So Hudson just kept on keeping on and finished. It was so great all the other kids had been finished for over a minute so the crowd had died down but when Hudson touched the wall every one cheered for him. It was so awesome to see his cute little face beaming. That was a huge accomplishment for a 3 year old. He is the youngest team member. He also had to swim the backstroke which he had never done before so Coach Scott had Hudson pretty much floating on him while helping him. At one point Hudson has his arms going freestyle. It was so funny to watch him. His coaches are great! They are so patient with him. He has learned so much over the last few weeks and is improving daily.



We also discovered this weekend what a little flirt Hudson is. Every time he disappeared I just had to look for a group of girls and there he was right in the middle. He adores Hannah's friends (much to her dismay) and every time he went to race or they went to race he would kiss them all. I hope that he is getting it out of his system now!!!

This is for Lynn Hardesty...Remember when you used to say that Jeff had Fred Flintstone feet? Look at Hudson's. Thought it would make you smile! :0)
Hopefully they will be flippers as he gets older!

The kids have another swim meet next weekend that will be just as eventful.

Pudding

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids out to our friend's house for a birthday party. They have a swimming pool so the kids swam the whole time we were there. Hudson kept jumping in, getting out and jumping in over and over again. The funny thing was the pool was freezing but he didn't care. After a while he was so cold that he was eating some pudding and his hand was shaking so bad that he couldn't get the spoon up to his mouth let alone in his mouth. It was hilarious! He would finally get a bite then he would go jump in again. Daddy finally made him get out for good so that he would warm up. Hudson was very sad. I think that boy is going to grow gills and fins.

Just Some Fun Pictures

Exhausted

Dino & the Ducks

Mommy & the Animals

Window Lickin' Good
He was licking poop off the window that one of the girls had thrown.
GROSS I know! Who says we're related?!

Lookin' Hungry

Great Aunt??

The other day I was talking to Camille and I was telling her (teasing Jeff because I knew he was listening) that Jeff is a great uncle for the second time. Her response was "What?! YOUR a GREAT AUNT?!" WHOA wait a minute...how did that get turned around? Does this mean I'm getting old? Congratulations Clark and Erin! He is beautiful!

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!