funny faces

Ethan has been hot on everyone making funny faces, especially in photos. Here are some funny faces to help make you laugh today!

Hudson turns 3!

Who's my little munchkin?
Mr Hudson
You're my little munchkin,
Mr Hudson

Hudson Robert was born 20.5 in - 8 lbs 2 oz, 3 years ago today. He was quick and sure knew how to make an entrance! Ethan was induced, so having Hudson arrive on his own was an entirely new experience. One my favorite things about being a mommy-to-be the second time around was knowing more love would flood into our family when Hudson was born and when he arrived, we had more love in our little family then we ever imagined. It was remarkable.

From the start Hudson was a happy, independent, on the go and a very cuddly baby and he still is all those things today. He first laughed at 4 months old, first tooth at 6 months old and said his first words (ba, ba and da, da) at 7 months old! He was an early talker. He concentrated on talking first before tackling how to stand and walk. He didn't worry about those things until his 1st bday. We'll always remember that just about everything to Hudson was "buddaful". Nowadays he says "I like that" to everything.

Hudson was happy all the time with an exception of when he was hungry. That was the one area not to mess around with. When he wanted to eat, you knew it! Here are some entries in his baby book ...

Baby's Favorite's

• food: everything
• meal: every meal
• activity: eating
• place to go: any place with food
  
• hmm... I'm seeing a pattern here!

Hudson was a happy baby in-spite of the fact he wasn't 100% well as an infant. He wheezed and needed to use a nebulizer often. Plus, he had red, gooey, crusty eyes (think pink eye) for the first year of his life. He almost had eye surgery but, they cleared up right before the scheduled day. Funny, how we don't think twice about those things these days.

Enjoying bouncy fun at this birthday party

Well, my baby is now 3 and I couldn't be happier. He is a lovable, smart and energetic little guy. It's sad to see my baby grow but, I love seeing him take on new experiences. (I checked his little hands today and was glad to see they are still chubby little boy hands). Love you, Hudson.

first week of school

Our family on Ethan's first day of school ... see Hudson's little legs hiding behind Bert?

Our little man started kindergarten and he just loves it! The bus and all the new adventures school brings are all very exciting to him. He is awake 30 minutes before the alarm each day dressed and ready! I think I may need to get him his own alarm clock that shows him what time to get up so, that we can all sleep a little bit more ;)

Ethan's godfather Steve came by before work to watch Ethan get on the bus!

The rest of the crew seeing Ethan off; cousin Harrison, Ethan, Nannie and Hudson

There he goes ...

Wow! The first week of school has flown by. His teacher Miss Baker is very nice and sends home a weekly newsletter to let us parents know what he's up to. So far they have enjoyed reading 2 books by Laura Joffe Numeroff, If You Give a Moose a Muffin and If You Give a Pig a Pancake and completing art projects after. Both of these receive 4 stars on goodreads.com and lots of great comments. They are practicing letter writing, using zoo phonics to remember there sounds (Ally Alligator says A) and working in "centers" (small groups that practice sharing and working with other children with play dough, block, housekeeping, books and making pictures.

Here are some pictures Ethan has drawn this week.

It's amazing how his drawing abilities have grown!

We had the pleasure of receiving a lovely comment today about Ethan. Bert went to the bus stop with him, as he does every morning and another parent said "Your son brightens my day every morning. He is so happy to be alive." How cool is that? We are so blessed for that boy. His zest for life and new experiences is so uplifting. Ethan just loves school and it shows.

Ethan's 5th Birthday Party

Those who know Ethan know that Nintendo Mario Kart is his world right now. He just loves playing this game and all the characters, races and special cars in it. So, naturally for his 5th birthday celebration we had a Nintendo Mario Kart theme!

I didn't find a whole lot of party supply options for his party theme so, I designed the decorations and games myself (with the exception of the party banner shown below). Ethan was so excited to see me make the materials that he pulled up a chair and sat along side me by the computer! :)

Party Banner

Party Invitation

Party Signs

Party Games

Musical Mario Kart
I printed out a character for each kid, cut it out and taped to colorful card stock. We arranged the cards out in a circle on the grass and each player stands on a character to begin. When the music starts the kids walk around the circle and when the music stops they jump on the nearest character. I then pull a character out a hat and that person is out and plays the dj - character puller for the next round. The last person standing wins a gold medal! We played this for 2 rounds and at the end of the game I handed out a gold medal to each child.


Mario Kart Bingo
We played Mario Kart Bingo! I created character boards (which took way longer then I anticipated) and printed them out. Each kid got a game board and marker. I called off the characters and they marked them off. First one to get 3 in a row won Bingo! then we played full card Bingo and the first to get the full card won! We played 2 rounds of this game.

We had plenty of outdoor and indoor fun. The boys played inside building trains, doing puzzles and of course some video game playtime with Mario Kart Wii!

Ethan hanging with his friends!

Cake time!
We were not able to find a Mario Kart cake so, we ordered a Nascar cake and bought Mario & Luigi figures to place on top.

Presents!

Thanks to all Ethan's friends that made his 5th birthday a super Mario Kart day!!!

Ethan turns 5!

Ethan at about 6 weeks old

Ethan Jerome was born 5 years ago today. After 16 hours of active labor our little boy was born. My reaction? "Oh, my God". The joy was overwhelming - my emotions were so strong and came so quickly. I felt awe of this little miracle. The only words I could muster were "Oh, my God." I knew our lives had changed forever. 5 years old. I have to keep saying 5 years over and over in my head to let it sink in. It doesn't seem possible that it's been that long ... yet, it fells like he has always been a part of our lives. Funny how that works.

From the start Ethan was a happy, energetic, determined and very social baby and he still is all those things today. He smiles all the time and first laughed out loud at 3 months old. At age 2 he recited the alphabet and ended it with "zebra" for z. He decided zebra was the last letter of the alphabet, no changing his mind on that and it was so darn cute.

Harmonica'd

Ethan has also always loved music. As a toddler, he used to round up all the music toys and we would all pretend to play in a band. He loved going to concerts at the park where he could shake his booty. We always laughed when he would say "Go Ethan, Go Ethan" as he danced around (sounds bit like his mom - huh?). For his birthday we got him a harmonica. He loves to play grandpa's when we visit him so, now he has his own to practice on (he's really good already!)

Well, my baby is now 5 and I couldn't be happier or more proud. He is a fun, smart and gentle little guy and I know he's going to have a blast starting kindergarten this year. Love you, Ethan.

polar express

With the holidays upon us we are all a little busier then usual. And that is why last week's reflective Friday is being posted on this week's Tuesday. Sorry about that! 10 days ago we took a ride on the Polar Express in Williams, AZ on the Grand Canyon Railway. You can see how much fun we were having by the smiles on our faces in the photo above! This picture was taken right after we saw Santa and he gave the boys each a bell form his sleigh. The whole trip was very festive and had every one of us feeling like a kid. Many thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law, Cindy (aka Nannie) for taking us this magical trip to the North Pole!

Here is Ethan writing his wish list to Santa. He was finished in lightening speed because all he wrote was - Wii Mario Kart. He has been asking for that from Santa since July!

Here is Cindy and I with the boys waiting to board the train. Ethan was the first in line for our train car (of course he was)!

Hudson receiving a chocolate chip cookie and hot cocoa - yum!

Reading the book Polar Express with the train elf.

Here is Papa Bert singing Christmas carols!

Meeting Santa and receiving our sleigh bells!

I wish you all a magical and very merry Christmas!

back from sea

We just got back from our family cruise vacation and we had such a nice time. I was completely offline the entire 7 days and it was wonderful! I took this photo of our ship, the Carnival Inspiration, at port in Cozumel, Mexico. We went on a 4 day cruise from Tampa, Florida to Cozumel, Mexico with my husbands family, his mother, brothers family and sisters family. There were 7 adults and 8 kids total! Needless to say it was a busy vacation and a great time was had by all.

• spent quality time together with Bert's family
• relaxed on the serenity deck. (my favorite spot!)
• practiced yoga on the fitness deck
• rode the exciting four deck high 300 ft water slide (Ethan did this for 6 hours straight!)
  
• kids played games, sang songs, art & crafts at camp carnival
  
• played 9-hole mini-golf
• entertained by a high-spirited stage show (Hudson quite enjoyed the showgirls)
  
• shopped in downtown Cozumel
  
• relaxed at paradise beach in Cozumel
  

Here is a beautiful dancer in Cozumel. I enjoy exploring the native culture when traveling.

My attempt at nice photo of Ethan & Hudson. I think they were too into "party mode" to sit still!