It's been a while...

So, I'm really slacking on the blogging but I think I have good excuses! I'm trying to get geared back up for lessons to start next week. This weather has made feeding take up so much more time. I'm ready for the mud to dry up, it'll make riding 4-5 horses a day so much easier.

Hudson is pretty much potty trained FINALLY! He hadn't made much progress since Russia until we finally buckled down. He always knew what to do on the potty but wouldn't tell us if he had to go or not. So as long as we got him to the potty then it was okay but I knew he knew when he had to go since he just wouldn't say anything. So, like everything else I do, we went all out. We did the Dr. Phil, potty party and a stuffed animal that pretended to use the potty. We did the no underwear or pants for the first few days since he didn't care if he used it on himself or not this was the method suggested for children who use it on themselves without a diaper and don't mind at all. We also rewarded with candy. As a lot of you know, we're weird and don't give him candy and don't keep it in our home, so when he could have a sucker he just thought it was wonderful.

He is also falling asleep on his own in his bed, most of the time. Sometimes he still asks to go to sleep on me and of course, that's okay with me. The first night he fell asleep on his own in his bed, I was a bigger wreck than he was. Jason said, "We don't want him falling asleep on you when he'd 10, do we?" My response, "YES we do and don't even mention 10, I'm struggling with 2 1/2 right now." He's growing up so fast!

I've got to get back in the picture mode, I haven't taken any in a while so I'll try and do more of that since it motivates me to post more often!

Shaving Already!?

Hudson received the coolest package in the mail this past weekend from Uncle Will and Aunt Casey. He is OBSESSED with shaving and stands in awe when Jason shaves. He's constantly pretending to shave his own face. So when he received his own shaving kit, it's all he could talk about. So Saturday night he was able to try it out. He was so pumped and excited but the second the shaving cream went in his hand he got all serious and focused, it was cute! He's been begging me everyday to play with it. Matter of face when I woke him up on Sunday morning the first thing he said when he rolled over was, "shaving cream"!

I haven't done a good job keeping the blog updated with some big things going on like sleeping and potty training. I'll do that one day this week when I have time.

Happy Birthday Grandmom...

Want to wish Grandmom a very happy birthday! Unfortunately we weren't able to make it on Friday to celebrate Gmom's or Aunt Jeanna's birthday because of the snow so we're looking forward to celebrating real soon! Hope you have a wonderful day Sheryl! We love you!

Snow Days!!

Brandon, thankfully toting Hudson up the hill after several hours of playing hard in the snow!

Have you ever seen a snowman with hair like mine and Casey's?!

Who says tubes are just for the water!? Hoss even had to get in on the action!

But the funniest part of the day was hearing Meme and Aunt Mitzo screaming the whole time Chuck was pulling them around! They would scream, "STOP", and we'd all scream, "Keep going!" If I know these two they probably both wet their drawers!

Two of my girls, Abbi and Alli! One has on my old snow suit from about 17 years ago and the other has on Casey's old snow suit!

Brandon pulling Jason!

Is he cool, or what!

I was attempting to chase down Alli and Zach, but Uncle Charles was too fast. Hey, at least I'm out running the dogs!

Ashlee is so good with Hudson. She's going to make the best little Mommy one day, but that day better be a long way away! She makes me feel so old. She'll be 14 next month and I feel like it was just yesterday I was carrying her all over the place. Now she's doing the same with my baby!

Alli Rose

Ash. and Hudson

We had to take a spin with Aunt Mitzo!

After 2 days of being kept up, the horses were ready to be turned out! Calypso is enjoying a little snow action, too!

Dad pulling us in the "circle" as Hudson called it. Hoss had good timing since he just got new tires put on his tractor, so we blew the inner tube up out of the old ones and had a blast on it!

Hudson had so much fun the past 2 days. He LOVED riding the inner tubes and sleds. He would yell, "faster Daddy!" And Jason would whip us around and we'd go slidin' like crazy, hoopin' and hollerin' the whole time. He is definitely my child! An adrenaline junkie. He never one time complained or cried, it didn't scare him a bit. The only time he wasn't happy was when he was off of it!

My two boys giving me their fake smiles!

I love these two pics of Andy and Foxxy, especially Fox, below, she's so cute!

2 wonderful days of making great memories and a little soreness!

Been this long in between posts?

Tuesday night we got out the playdough that Grandad and Grandmom got him for Christmas. It's been years since I've played with it so needless to say we both had a blast! It actually kept him still for longer than a few minutes. He is constantly moving and on the go and doesn't sit down for long at all, I'm pretty sure he gets it from being with me all day. Even if I do sit down, my toes tapping! I realized how much energy and movement he has when we spent this past weekend with Ryan, Mandy, and Isaac in Arkansas. Isaac would sit quietly and play, IF Hudson plopped down beside him it would not even last a minute and then he'd be off again. Does that remind any of you of the Head side of the family?

Hoss came in the other day at lunch and was so proud of his latest purchase at co-op! He told Hudson they would look just alike in their carhart coveralls and he was sure they'd fit him next year. So I held them up and said, "Seriously, dad, you think these are going to fit him next year?" To which he replied, "Why yeah, they're size mediums, 6/7!" We managed to go back and forth about this for a few minutes until he said, we'll just put them on him. Great idea, Dad! So when he slid his legs in them and realized they were HUGE, he said, "We'll get Granny to hymn these up and they'll be perfect next year." I kept my mouth shut until he then worked his way up to the bib and when he was trying to latch it you couldn't see Hudson's face they were so big! I couldn't help it anymore, "Yeah dad, they'll fit him next winter, if he grows another foot and gains 15 lbs.!" It was entertaining to say the least. Now you all see where I get my bullheadedness from, he just had to see for himself they wouldn't fit!

I mentioned above we were in AR for a few days. We had a blast just relaxing and hanging out with 3 people that we miss SO much! One of the best parts was Hudson and Isaac playing together. Hudson really enjoyed himself and thinks Isaac is so cool, which of course, he is! This picture sums the two of them up well, Hudson is reading a tractor book and Isaac is reading a train book :) I wish we didn't live so far apart, I know our boys would be great friends just like us. I guess they may have to wait until the both go to the Bible College together ;) Mandy and I have their futures all planned out! HA!

Aunt Casey and Uncle Will were home a few weekends ago and she and Hudson had fun playing in his big boy bed. He loves being able to crawl in and out of it on his own. When he wakes up the morning he yells, "Hey Mommy!" That's his signal for, can I get out of bed?

Jason had the stomach virus that is going around. He didn't go to class Tuesday morning but felt better by the afternoon and went to his night class, which is good because there is so much work in that class and it's 4 hours long, it would have been a lot to miss out on. He's feeling much better today, thankfully. And so far Hudson nor I have gotten it and we're hoping it stays that way.

We have jumped head first into potty training. And for the day and a half we've been doing it, he's done great. We realized he had made no progress since we brought him home from Russia. He wold sit on the pot and go but never tell you when he had to go. When I had him in big boy underwear before the only reason he wasn't having accidents is because I took him to the potty constantly. So needless to say, he went back into diapers. But now I've combined 3 potty training methods into one and so far it's working, I hope it continues to! I'll have to post about them in another post!

We have to wish Aunt Jeanna a Happy Birthday, she's turning 22 today ;) We hope you have a wonderful day and we can't wait to go eat some Red Lobster to celebrate yours and Grandmom's birthday (Gmom's is coming up)! You're my favorite sister-in-law and Jason's favorite sister, so that's saying a lot!! We love you!

Catching Up...

He thought using his drill that's just like Daddy's was the coolest thing! He talked about it for several days. Jason says don't pay any attention to his hair, he hadn't been out of bed that long.

I have one more set of pictures from the fall session we did with Courtny Helton Photography but my other computer is not acting right so I haven't been able to post them.

We've been making some changed in the Carney house lately. Hudson is still growing like a weed and his vocabulary amazes me everyday. He talks my head off until other people come around then he becomes more shy and I feel like I have to interpret everything he says. He is recognizing some numbers and we are working on shapes. He knows circle, triangle, and square so far. He loves to sing and his current favorite song is "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus". We listen to it on the new Selah c.d. and we call it Mommy and Hudson's song. It melts my heart to hear him sing it, especially when he's playing by himself and just starts up. He also enjoys the Veggie Tale song, "Pirates who Don't do Anything" and "Jesus Loves Me".

As you can see from the pictures above he is now in a "big boy bed" and he loves being able to get in and out by himself. Although he is not yet going to bed on his own and when he wakes up he still waits for me to come and get him. We are working on him falling asleep by himself. For over a year now he has fallen asleep on me and then I put him in bed. I know he can't do this forever, and to tell you the truth, I don't want to give it up, but I know he's almost 2 1/2 and most kids that age fall asleep on their own. I ask him every night if he wants to go to his bed and he says "No, night night on Mommy." I'm sure the first time he answers that question with a yes, I'll bust out in tears. So what we've been doing is letting him lay on me for 10 minutes then I put him in bed. He whines at first and I rub his back for a minute and then he is okay.

He's still very into tractors, log skidders, and any piece of equipment. Our farm is still being logged and yesterday Hoss took him back and let him ride the log skidder with Mr. Tommy and when he came back to the barn his eyes were huge when he told me about how he knocked down the tree and drug it out. He was so excited!

He loves to help me do anything. Let's hope this attitude lasts into those teen years ;)

I have pictures to post of this, but he's amazed when he watches Jason shave. And he always pretends he is shaving too. He shaves while he's eating, when he's in the car, when he's playing, at any point in time he might break out his fake shaving cream and razor and shave. So the other night I gave him real shaving cream and he was so excited he didn't know what to do. He just squealed and ooohed and ahhhed when he put it on his face. I need to find him one of those play razors, that would give him hours of entertainment!

We are trying to get back in the swing of things. I'm trying to get up before 8 o'clock (Rough, I know :P ) This means I'm trying to go to bed before midnight and last night was the first I've done this since Christmas Eve. I've got to get back into the swing of things. I struggle so much with mornings and I love staying up at night. Thankfully my child sleeps until 9:00 or later most mornings. And I know some of you are gasping right now, but pull your chin back up, I'm sure we'll be able to arrange his routine before he starts school in 3 1/2 years. But whether we're able to adjust my sleep schedule, well, that's a different story! I guess I'll have to arrange my work schedule to where I don't get home so late and get supper cooked, baths, etc. before 10:00.

Jason started back to school Tuesday. This is a busy semester. He leaves for school before 7 a.m. and then doesn't get home until 11 p.m. He has a night class the first 5 weeks of school. I know we just have to make it through these next 5 weeks because I enjoy seeing my husband and I don't like that Hudson isn't going to see him 2 days out of the week. Plus on Monday nights he goes on visitation with our church and doesn't get home until 8 or later and then Wed. night is church (I LOVE WED. NIGHT CHURCH!), and Saturday nights he has church volleyball. So Friday night is strictly Jason, Lindsey, Hudson night, nothing but spending time with each other.

Whew, I better get to bed if I'm going to make it to sleep before midnight :)

More Prof. pics

Finally Prof. pics are here from the fall...