3rd Birthday!

I was trying to be thrify Mrs. Betty Homemaker this year and did the cake myself. Let's just say I will not be going into the cake decorating business! But I guess all that matters is that he loved it (had everything to do with the tractors and nothing to do with my skill:) It was blue on the inside as he requested.

Just making sure no drool landed on the cake!

I love this one because he was grunting to get the package open!

My wonderful consignment find, his bike! He's doing better at it, sometimes he has a hard time pushing the pedals all the way around. I wish we could work on it more, it's been so hot on this big mama, but now the weather is finally in the low 90's so hopefully we can work on riding it more!

This is Andy's full sister, Crazy Belle, but like Andy, she is good with Hudson. Even if he's cutting her up with his new sword.

Hudson enjoyed his birthday party and when he prays he often says "Thank you for my birthday party." And it was several weeks ago :) The big thing we asked the family to do was give money for a swing set. Jason was going to try and build it but I know how that goes. How are you going to build a swing set when you are running a business and starting school amongst many other things that he does. So the timing was good when I got online to look at them and lots of them were on sale so I got one for $100 off regular price. When I saw the total I realized he had $1 left over :) So that worked out well.

It should be here sometime next week and I'll be sure to take pics of Jason and my dad as they attempt to put it together, as long as they pull their own hair out and not each others we'll be okay!

On the pregnancey front, I'm down to 7 weeks left! Woohoo, getting closer! I had a rough go of it last week. I couldn't keep anything in my system (kept 1 meal in over the course of 7 days). I lost 7 lbs. in 6 days, but at least my feet and ankles weren't swollen! Hollynn is okay though, and we still aren't sure what was going on with me. But yesterday was much better and today has been too so far.

One cute little story...Hudson feels my stomach, usually multiple times a day. And I know he had never felt her kick, even though she packs some mean kicks that you can very easily see and can really feel. He's so squirmy and all over the place that he hadn't really felt her but likes to pretend he does. But almost every morning he crawls up in my lap and just lays on me (I love that time with him). The other morning he was laying there, really still and she nailed him twice and they were big. He raised up and those big brown eyes were huge and he said in his suprised voice, "That's my sister!" It was so cute!

Florida Beach Pics Part 2

I love these 2 pics.

Florida Beach Pics

This is what the water looked like once we got past the seaweed. We went to the ocean only a few times because of the seaweed. Hudson LOVES the ocean especially when the waves hit him.

You can definitely tell Hollynn was at the beach too!

This was the best spot we could find as far as the seaweed went. We didn't have to walk through much of it on this day to get to the good part.

I have more beach pics than I thought so I'll try to post the last of them tomorrow and then I'll start going through the birthday party pics. I'm behind!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

I don't know whether to cry or celebrate, he's getting so big! He's so excited about his birthday party this afternoon. We decided to do family only again this year. Maybe next year we'll have a party with some of his little friends. But our family provides about 30 people, which is plenty when you just got home from vacation! I'm attempting the birthday cakes this year. He wanted a blue cake so one cake is blue and then this morning I was making a 3 layer one as well and he decided on blue, green, and red. Of course there will be tractors on top of it as well as his requested M&M's!



All he can think about is his party, all I can think about is that there is no doubt a lady somewhere around the world who knows exactly what this day is as well. Will a birthday come for him that will not make me think of her all day? I don't know, but I know I'm so thankful for her and hope in some way she can celebrate the life that she gave to us, although I'm sure that would be a hard thing to do. If I could tell her about our little 3 year old man I would tell her that...He has endless amount of energy that cracks me up everyday (and sometimes makes me want to pull my hair out :) He is so smart and is doing great on his phonics and basic reading. He loves to build things. Even in a restraunt, when they give him crayons, he builds things instead of colors. He loves to sing and my favorite is when he makes up his own songs. He's rough and loves to wrestle, I wouldn't have it any other way :) He'd rather be outside on the tractor or 4 wheeler than anywhere else! He goes to the creek almost everyday with his Hoss which leaves us a muddy mess for the bathtub! He thinks his daddy hung the moon and they spend lots of nights looking at the moon and stars and talking about Jesus. He's a Mama's boy and melts my heart everyday when I get random kisses and "I love you's" and "Mom, please rub my back!" I'd tell her that by her choosing to give life, she gave us and so many of those around us, great great joy! Our cup definitely runneth over!



(If you haven't seen some of the Florida pics, be sure to scroll down to the next post.)

Florida 2010 (pool pics)

I'm going to post our Florida trip in two posts, hopefully I will be able to do the post with the beach pics in it and more info. on our trip by Monday. Hudson's birthday is tomorrow and I'm busy preparing for the party, especially since I'm baking the cake this year!

This one and the next one are out of order...

He was a jumping machine at the pool!

This was the pool at the place where we stayed. There is another small section of it behind me but I couldn't get it all in one photo.

Sweet Ellie!

Eating at JC's Off the Hook, which of course Jason loved the name of the place! We ate there twice because we went on Tues. night and then realized Wed. night was all you can eat crab legs so Jason really wanted to go back for that. Jon totally agreed, so the next night we sat and watched them pig out on some crab legs.

Hudson and Jordin, you know these two had a blast together.

Our little fish! Jason and I were talking about how much he loves the water. Jason said, "He's that happy even in the bath tub!" Which is so true.

Playing peek a boo!

My Little (& Big) Gardener

I took these pics very late one afternoon so they are very dark.

He loves trying to be like his daddy. Let's just hope he has this much fun when he's 12 and chopping out the garden!

We have had enough squash and zucchini to feed a small army. Meemaw taught me how to "put it up" so we should have plenty for the winter. I've also put up peppers, which I cook with a lot. Now we are waiting on the many tomatoes that are starting to come in and I'm excited to can salsa, tom. juice, and diced tomatoes. Now if only the okra would get here-I LOVE BAKED OKRA with a fresh tomato with it! Oh great, think I'm gonna have a craving now!

Went to the Dr. last Friday and they did get the image they needed. Hollynn is 53% for height/weight. I go next Friday for the glucose test. And from here on out I go every 2 weeks. Today starts week 28! My weight is fluctuating up to 7 lbs. some days. I've started swelling quite a bit. She said not to worry about it especially since I work in the heat. But some days I think my fingers and toes are going to pop off they get so swollen. I've had 2 days that my calf muscles (which are not exactly little) and my lower leg seem to blend together, eeewwww! Am I grossing you out? It grosses me out! But good news is that my Dr. said she would induce me the week before my due date (looking at Oct. 12). This is Jason's fall break and I was sooo excited when she said she could do that. That gives Jason almost a week to be with us and not worry about school, homework, tests, etc. Especially since he is taking Greek this semester and it's a M-W-F 8:00 class.

We spent the morning going through toys. You would not believe the amount of tractors Hudson has, it's crazy! But I was able to get out several things that he doesn't play with and some that he's just outgrown that I will put up for Hollynn, so it freed up a little bit of space in his tiny room. But I figure with his 3rd birthday right around the corner, it will be filled right back up. But we are hoping for everyone to chip in on a swingset instead of toys. He's so excited about getting a swingset.

He is no longer wearing a diaper to bed WOOHOO! NO MORE DIAPERS!!!! To get him motivated to stop peeing in his diaper (he would do it when he woke up in the a.m.), I made him a chart and for every morning that he has dry shorts he gets a sticker. When his chart gets full he gets to go to the movies. It's working great! I think he's only had one accident since we started almost week and a half ago. He only has 4 more spots left for stickers. Then we will be off to the free kids movies in Clarksville off of exit 1. They are showing Desperaux (some movie about a mouse) next week. It's Tues.-Thurs. at 9:30 if you are looking for something inexpensive to do. Amanda-the first week of Aug. is Kung Fu Panda, I know you said your kids love that one.

Everyone have a great weekend!