Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The answer is...

C. They were riding a virtual reality roller coaster.

Hudson and Landon loved riding this thing. They rode it 5 times in a row and wanted to ride it more, but we cut them off.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Hudson's 5th Birthday

Here are some photos of Hudson's 5th birthday party. Some stories below:






Hudson's birthday was a lot of fun. He received some great gifts and we ate some great cake. Two of Hudson's gifts produced a lot of fun the day before his birthday. His gift from Daddy was $10 and Saturday afternoon to spend together and spend how he wanted. Then, Papa and Grandma sent him $20 (and made Daddy feel cheap) along with $5 to spend on Landon.

Rick and Hudson went to the Mall where there are two toy stores. Hudson had asked Landon what he wanted for his gift, and set out to find him a semi truck first. He didn't find anything satisfactory at the first store, so he and Rick moved to the second store. He found a tanker truck which he was sure Landon would love. He made sure that it was less than $5 and went up to pay for it first.

He then looked around for something for him. He found a set of trucks and construction signs, etc. that he liked. He held on to it and checked out all of the other options (to his father's delight) before deciding to buy that choice.

He had had his eye on a flatbed semi at Target and so when he and Rick left the store where he's bought the first gift, the conferred on what to do next. First, they reviewed the available remaining funds: $18. Rick asked what he wanted to do with it and he (again to his parent's delight) pulled out $10 and said he wanted to save it (see funny quote later that resulted from this). He decided to play next, then go to Target for the flatbed truck. The mall's play area was closed, so they proceeded to Target.

At Target, Hudson searched for the flatbed truck, but they didn't have it anymore. But then he found a packaged set of toys that included that flatbed semi along with several other trucks. He decided he wanted that (to his father's chagrin) and asked how much it cost. It was $20. He had $8. Rick carefully, and fearfully, explained that he only had $8 and that to get that he'd either have to spend the money he wanted to save or return the other toy he'd bought. Hudson quickly said, "No, I'll get something else," put it down, and looked around for something he could get with $8 and he was very happy with what he got.

Funny Hudson Quote
On the way home from the above trip, Rick asked Hudson about the money he was saving:
"What are you saving your money for, pal?"
"I'm saving up so I can buy a trash truck when I'm 18 and get my commercial driver's license."


Here is this week's photographic quiz: What are Hudson and Landon doing below?

a. Testing out new massage chairs
b. Showing off their new "side-by-side" bunks
c. Riding a virtual reality roller coaster
d. In time out chairs for fighting over a toy

Vote by clicking "comments."

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

And the answer is...

B. Hudson stood his ground and they kept him there as they should have. They thought he was part of the older age group. All but the obligatory contrarian, Brad, got it correct.

He sounds a little suspicious now, like his daddy was, that they might try that trick again. He told Rick that he didn't like the aftercare program. When asked why, he said, "What if they try to put me on a bus?" He seems to now be more confident that they won't.

Hope you all like the new format - we know it's a bit obnoxious but at least it's colorful. Note some new features: In the left-hand sidebar you'll now see a poll question and some links to other sites/blogs. If you have a blog, please give us the address in the comments and we'll add.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

Keaton likes his "Ultrasaucer"

Kathryn likes to keep the boys' hair longer, but when it's long they get wild bedhead:

Hudson loves to hold and play with his little brother:

At the Diamondbacks game:



Hudson and Keaton did a reading program at our local library and "read" enough books to each earn a ticket to an Arizona Diamondbacks game. We all went on Labor Day. We won't talk about the game itself, but the family had a good time.

Funny/Smart Hudson Quote:
Rick often does a "word of the day" with Hudson. He had just finished the word of the day (spry) when Hudson said:
"Daddy, I have a word of the day for you: Coalesce"

Hudson's remarkable memory
Hudson was talking about his upcoming birthday and Rick and Kathryn suggested that Landon would be giving him a gift. To this Hudson said:
"Landon, you'll be able to give me a present. You can go to the store and pick something out for me. Just like last year when you got me the drums and instruments." [And he remembered correctly]

Quiz

Hudson's pre-K school ends at 3:15 which is right in the middle of Landon's nap, so he stays for the aftercare program until 4:15. While at the aftercare program his second day of school, the supervising teachers [high school girls] announced, "OK, everyone line up to get on the bus." Hudson went up to the teacher and said, "I'm not supposed to go on a bus, my Mommy is coming to pick me up." The teacher said, "No, everyone is supposed to get on the bus now, so line up."

What did Hudson do?
a. Cried
b. Stood his ground and insisted that he not get on the bus
c. Ran to hide out of the teachers' view until they left
d. Got on the bus

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Final Quiz Answers

OK - we don't think we can make it any easier, so we will simply congratulate those with the most correct answers:

Grandma
Papa
Heather
Bonnie
Cassandra
Brad Irving

All of you got exactly 33% (1 correct)!

It seems that nearly everyone thought Landon was the crier the first day of Hudson's school; only Heather, Bonnie, and Cassandra recognized that mothers always cry the first time they drop their child off at school. Kathryn even paged Rick at work right after the drop-off to report that "Hudson is fine, but his mother is crying and barely holding it together..."

Your guesses at Keaton's percentiles were pretty evenly split. It turns out he's a tall, skinny guy: 98th percentile for height and 19th percentile for weight. It makes for entertaining clothing as he either has to wear "flood pants" or ones that fall off of him. Oh well, we're used to pants falling off our boys by now.

We love you all and will have a new quiz and update coming this weekend.

Keaton and his Mommy



Why buy toys??? Hudson and Landon playing with boxes after a delivery:


Sunday, September 02, 2007

Quiz Answers...

Congratulations to...NO ONE! Sorry, we have to admit the quiz was too hard. No one got all three correct. No one got two correct. Only two people got one correct.

OK - we're not really going to put up the answers, we're going to redo the questions but make it more realistic on the possible answers. But first a Hudson quote...

Landon's other parent:
Landon wanted to play with the toy Hudson was playing with. Hudson said:
"Landon, you need to learn that you'll only have a happy life if you are thankful for what you have instead of focusing on what you don't have."

1. On Hudson's first day of school on his own, only one member of our family cried. Who was it?
a. Hudson
b. Kathryn
c. Landon

2. Keaton had his 6-month check-up and had all his measurements. His length was in what percentile (meaning he's longer than what percentage of 6 month-old boys)?
a. 98th percentile
b. 73rd percentile
c. 44th percentile

3. Keaton's weight was in what percentile?
a. 77th percentile
b. 19th percentile