Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. We had a terrific Christmas. Rick was on call but was able to be home all day. Kathryn's sister, Kerry was also able to join us. For Hudson, the hotwheels carwash and the garbage truck were the two gifts that caught his attention the longest. The remote control Mini Cooper was right up there also. We hope you all had a blessed day.

Christmas is coming

News of the day: Landon seems to have not gotten over his cold. He seemed over it except an occasional cough but today he is coughing much more and felt like he had a little bit of a fever.

Funny Hudson quote of the day:

After stumbling, falling out of the van onto the asphalt, and bumping his head: "Why are parking lots so hard?!"

Computer issues solved

We've been offline for a bit only able to post from work which doesn't lend to regular updates - sorry about the long gap of no posts. We're set for the forseeable future now.

The biggest event was on Monday night. While we were praying, Hudson asked (as he had several times before) how one gets to heaven. I explained it again to him and asked if he wanted to pray to God to accept his offer of forgiveness through Jesus who paid the punishment for his mistakes. Unlike previous times, he said yes. I suggested the words for him to pray and he repeated them. He then ran to Mommy to tell her about it. Certainly we don't know the level of understanding of a three year old but we've learned to not underestimate Hudson's grasp of difficult concepts. We know for sure that our prayers are being answered in that the Holy Spirit has worked on his heart. We are celebrating that work.

Our Christmas party for the Plunge went well. We had a white elephant gift exchange that was a hit and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Yesterday our neighbor, Suzanne Swain hosted a Christmas party for about 35 children - with Hudson being the youngest. It was complete with inflatable 'bouncers' and a Santa with an elf. Hudson was a little hesitant around the Santa but wasn't afraid. He gave gifts to all the children selected by their parents. Hudson got a Thomas the tank engine, and had an absolute blast. When the Santa asked Hudson what he wanted for Christmas, he said, "A trash truck." He was happy with the train, though.

Funny Hudson quotes of the day:

1. At the child-care center at Kathryn's gym, they used to 'paint' cars on his hand but haven't for a while. He asked them to today and they said yes.

Day care worker: "What kind of car would you like?"
Hudson: "A Cadillac DeVille!"
Day care worker (after completing a nice car): "There, how's that?"
Hudson: "Is that the best that you can do? Where's the other door?"

2. While getting ready for bed:

Hudson: "If a fire truck catched on fire, how do they put out the fire?"
Mommy: "Another fire truck comes to put it out."
Hudson: "What if all the fire trucks are on fire?"

Happy Thursday

Some of you know that a few weeks back Hudson tripped and konked his head on the slider base of our sliding glass door. He got a pretty good goose-egg out of it as you see in the picture above-right (click for a bigger image).

We've had a good week. Everyone seems to be over the sniffles. Mommy made a special effort to get the boys going early on Tuesday to take them to the Railroad park. It's a local park that has a full-sized train engine with two former presidential train cars, a small train for kids and adults to ride around the park ($1 per ride), and big play areas and playgrounds. They had a blast but were totally exhausted by nap time.

On the way, Kathryn stopped by her old work at the Paradise Valley town attorney's office and saw her old co-workers and let them meet Landon and see Hudson again.

Hudson has taken to giving Landon "horseback" rides on his back while on all fours. It's a pretty funny scene.

We're Back

Sorry no posts for several days - some computer issues. Our household had some sniffles but everyone is on the mend. We've also started the weekly (or more) Christmas party stretch. There was a Mayo party last Saturday and we have 2 parties next weekend (one hosted by us).

FUNNY HUDSON QUOTE OF THE DAY (actually a few days old)

The setting: Hudson (never having been an adventurous eater) sits in his chair at the dinner table. We are having meatloaf for the first time in his lifetime. His plate is currently empty while Kathryn puts a big portion on my plate and I put it down at my placesetting.

Hudson: What's THAT?!!
Rick: That's meatloaf, pal, and it's good.
Hudson: I don't want it.
Rick: Well, you don't have to eat it, you are welcome to leave it sitting on your plate.
Hudson: I want to leave it sitting on YOUR plate!!

SMART HUDSON QUOTE OF THE DAY

Kathryn (to Hudson): Your brother thinks you hung the moon
Hudson: What's that mean?
Kathryn: It's an expression...
Hudson: Oh, a figure of speech.

Who was right, Mommy or Hudson?

Thanks for your comments, everyone! Several of you have asked who was correct about the car - Mommy with the Honda Civic, or Hudson with the Honda Accord (old body style). For future reference, when it comes to cars, always assume Hudson is right and Mommy is wrong!! It's just that one of them is much more interested in them than the other. Hudson was correct. He was wrong, however, with the "honey" reference - that hasn't returned!

Well, it's official: Landon is crawling. Ironic as it is, he decided to crawl (on all fours) for the first time not during the 13 hours a day his mother spends with him, but during the two hours per weeknight his father is home. To make matters worse, she had run to the store. Daddy did get it on video (not usually his first thought), though.

We are in official Christmas spirit. We had friends over last Saturday, this Saturday we go the the Mayo Clinic department of surgery Christmas party, and the following Saturday we are having our Sunday School class (the Plunge) of about 50 newly marrieds over for a Christmas party. Merry Christmas to you all.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

All is well with us. Landon has a bit of a cold but feels well anyway. We got our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving and starting getting some lights up. We sure love this time of year, even though it's 72 and sunny.

Hudson had a night out last night with Aunt Kerry. She sure knows her nephew! They first went to the Hummer dealership and he got to try on an H1 and H2 for size. Then they ate at Red Robin and went on to play with train sets at the children's area of Barnes and Noble. What a night!

We've put some picutures up below...

Christmas Lights up in our courtyard

Our Christmas tree

Hudson in his "Samson Hair" from church

The Boys (Click for Larger Version)

Today's funny Hudson quote:

Kathryn: "Look Hudson. There's a Honda Civic."

Hudson: "No, honey, that's a Honda Accord with the older body style..."

Another Day of fun boys

No big events today. Hudson had a great afternoon because Kathryn took he and Landon to the park where he got to play with another boy's toys - always a special treat. Then he got to go to Target to look at the hotwheels cars, police cars, and garbage trucks.

Landon is now officially doing the "army crawl." He takes some steps on all fours some but mostly stays low.

Both boys got haircuts yesterday - Hudson by a barber while sitting in a jeep chair and Landon by his daddy. Hudson seemed to like his experience a lot more. They both look so much older with their little boy cuts.

We're Online

Hi everyone. Thanks for visiting our new blog. We have decided to start this blog so we can stay in better contact with all of you. We hope to post what is going on with us frequently so that you can feel a little closer to us even when we're apart. Please give us feedback and let us know what you'd like see on our site. We'll be starting a little slowly as we get used to the process, so be patient with us at first.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words...we'll also try to put up new pictures a lot (we know that will be the biggest draw!).