Happy Halloween!

Next Stop!

While we were at the Crown Center, we went to Fritz's. It is such a fun restaurant. The food is not bad but it is all about the atmosphere. It is decorated like you are inside a train. Complete with "windows" where you can watch the trains and see the city. Oh, and the superhero watching over it too. Hudson loved watching all the trains which seem to be going nonstop. The trains actually deliver the food right to your table. They also use the ol' telephone ordering service.Hudson was able to try his hand at being a conductor. What a cute train conductor!!He liked the hat but felt it was too much responsibility...so he passed it on to me.

Crowns

We went to the Hallmark Crown Center in KC. It is a big shopping center but also neighbors the corporate offices for Hallmark. Hence the name, Hallmark Crown Center. I guess you all probably didn't need me to spell that out for you! We went through the visitor's center which has some great exhibits about Hallmark stuff. We are big fans of Hallmark so it was pretty cool to go see it all.It had some really neat stuff from back in the 50's. They also show you how they make cards. I was so surprised to find out how much still has to be done by hand.

WAY behind...

So I am seriously so behind on my blogging. I rarely go a week without more than one post and to do two weeks in a row was just bugging me! On Saturday after our great time at Boo at the Zoo, we rushed to KC to pick up my mom and Grandma from the airport. We have had such a great time so far! We have done a million things, most of which are blog worthy but unfortunately, I just don't have that much time. I have to eliminate some things or else I would never catch up with blogging! We stayed in KC at this great hotel. This was the kitchen in our room. I was seriously digging all of the art work in the room. Not necessarily this piece but the rest were great. Can you tell I am itching to decorate a house? I have to live vicariously through hotel rooms. Now that is sad! Mike was pretty much focused on this: I can't blame him though. It was a sweet TV and the big games were on. Plus we were waiting for oh, about 2 hours for our food to be delivered so a guy has to pass the time somehow! We came back to Topeka on Sunday after dropping my Grandma off with her sister, but not before we did some really fun things in KC. Those are some of the posts that are still to come....

Boo...Zoo Style

This was our first Boo at the Zoo. Huds got loads of candy, his face painted, some free pictures taken, not to mention lots of one on one time with the animals. They had lots of cute Halloween decor to help set the mood too! The entrance to the cave by the lions. Oh and it was pretty dang cold so Hudson stayed wrapped up in his blanket most of the time.He looks so serious for such a fun outing!Gotta love Chester the cheetah and his free chips. All thanks to the Frito Lay plant nearby.
What a cute little Super Hudson! Saving the world with one hat at a time!

Party!

We had fun dressing up Hudson for the JRC Halloween party. We were slackers and didn't dress up as anything but ourselves, maybe next year. There was a yummy soup and chili cook off. Then of course, Hudson and I stuffed our faces with cookies. Hudson did the cupcake walk with all the kids. I jumped all over the chance to eat a donut off a string. Apparently my mouth doesn't move as fast as some. It was still worth the chance to have more sugar! We had a blast with friends. I always love to see what everyone dresses up as too.

Introducing...

Super Hudson!! He is Hatman. He flies around town and gets his various super powers from hats. I am still working on getting some better pictures of this superhero. But he just can't seem to sit still. When he is suited up, he takes off! Must be all of those people he is out saving.

Ranch Boy

Hudson has always steered clear of condiments. I try to convince him they make things taste better but he usually doesn't want anything to do with them. But for some reason he was all for ranch at lunch. He dipped all of his chicken nuggets in them and kept dipping his fingers in and licking it off. He couldn't get enough of the stuff. I swear he would have licked it right off the bowl if he could have! Glad to see we won't be eating everything plain...

Slacker

So I haven't blogged in a week, guess it just means I am a slacker. But in my defense, this week has been BUSY! We played at a park for probably the last warm day of the year, we went to PAT playgroup and made a fun necklace and a stamp art project (Hudson did it all by himself!), we played at the indoor mall play area two times this week and the library.

I have been working hard on Hudson's costume. I am hoping to unveil some pictures in the next few days. I also read 2 books by Nicholas Sparks: A Bend in the Road and The Rescue. Mike and I watched Becoming Jane which I was a huge fan of. I love Pride and Prejudice and Mike says that the two are somewhat similar so I guess I am not surprised that I liked it. So it has been a crazy week just not a whole lot worthy to blog about.

Hudson has been saying a ton of words this week. My favorite ones were Jesus and I'm stuck.

We have some fun Fall plans for the weekend so hopefully I will be less boring and get some stuff posted after that.

18 months old!

Hudson hit his 18 month mark yesterday! Wow, it is such a cliche to say that time flies...but it really does. I was looking at his chubby fingers and toes the other day and I honestly couldn't really picture him as a newborn anymore. I worry about the day when I can't picture the chubby fingers anymore too. I love little baby hands and feet. They are so soft and unweathered. Hudson has pretty much always been a happy baby. He giggles a lot and climbs on everything! He loves it when his Dad comes home from school. He gets so excited and runs to the door every time. Hudson loves graham crackers. He eats them like they are going out of style. When in doubt, give him one and he will be happy for at least a minute. Hudson loves this whisk that he is holding in the picture above. I give it to him to play with and he will pretend to stir things, uses it as a bat or a golf club, he chews on it. It is one of his favorite toys lately.Hudson loves to read books. He will pick a ton of them out and just keep handing them to me until I put him on my lap and read them to him. He loves to read books before he goes to bed. He is an early to bed kind of a guy, usually about 7 pm but then sleeps about 12 hours. We usually don't even hear a peep from him. He has always been a good sleeper too, since about 6-8 weeks he has been sleeping at least 6 or 7 hours straight. That was a relief! He only takes one nap now for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours, super nice!

Hudson loves to be involved in everything we are doing. If I am cooking, he loves to watch me, "help" me or play by me. He will play by himself for quite awhile in the mornings though so that is a nice break. He loves to color. He still chews on pretty much everything. He loves rocks and will stop anywhere we are outside to pick one up. He will always be carrying at least one in each hand on the way to the car. This takes a few minutes so I have to factor in rock finding time whenever we go anywhere!

Hudson has been saying a ton of words lately. I swear he has at least doubled his vocab in the last week alone. It is like it all of a sudden just started clicking. He also likes to repeat what we say, so we really have to be careful what we say around him. He is so much fun and keeps our house loud and alive every second he is awake. It is so much fun to have such a boisterous boy!

Finished but still going!!

I am a freak when it comes to reading. I read super fast and can hardly put a book down once I have started it...well if it is a good one at least! So needless to say, I finished my 24th book of the year yesterday. I am still going strong though so maybe it will be 30 this year!! I read Salem Falls and The Pact by Jodi Picoult. I wasn't a huge fan of Salem Falls. I think it was just a bit too graphic for me. I did enjoy The Pact though. She always keeps me in suspense!

Then the last book I read was recommended by a friend. It is Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. I guess she writes some romance type novels but this one was mainly just about a friendship that spanned over 30 years. It was a great read. I loved it! I want to try another one written by her so hopefully I can find one that isn't too lovey dovey.

Adventures in Art

Our adventure started off with a study of opaque, translucent and transparent objects. Hudson was all about jumping in and getting his paint on his transparent slide. I helped him make shapes and squiggles with the paint. Then it looked like so much fun, I did one by myself too!Hudson started his own art project on these. I was surprised that he actually didn't get any marker on his clothes. Just a couple of marks on his face. He had a good time drawing.Then it was off to play with these cool Lego's. The light made them even cooler. Hudson seems to like to try and build things but of course, he was off to try another art project.He loved this magnet wall. There were tons of shapes with all types of fabric, tissue, paper, textures to choose from to make a beautiful mosaic. He loved drawing on this big rock wall with chalk. He wouldn't let go of the chalk after that. I think they resembled his rocks and he is a huge rock fan!Then his last stop was the big mega blocks. The one he has looks like an eye. He is holding it up to his eye. What a funny face! We had a blast at the art museum and will definitely go back! It has so many more things to do. I can't wait to go on another adventure there!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere

You really can't beat a hayride, pumpkins and good friends! We had such a great time at the Pumpkin Patch. I was so glad that Mike was able to go enjoy it with us this year too! The cotton candy was an added bonus!!They had a huge *ah-hem* sanitation tube that they used as a slide. Doesn't sound very cool but I am pretty sure it had never been used for uh, sanitation purposes. Plus, it was super fast!I am really not sure what Hudson thought of it. He seemed okay the first time but the second time around he wasn't so sure about it.

Just 3 more to go!

So I finished two more books by Nicholas Sparks. They actually are kind of a 2 book mini-series. They are called True Believer and At First Sight. They were both quick reads and now I am two books closer to my goal of 24 books this year!!

The tongue smudge

So I put the finishing touches on the wreath I have been working on. I really think this picture kind of makes it look silly but oh well. It must be one of those things that look better in person. Plus, at least I am finally sporting something on our door. I think I was a slacker all of last year.

I also remembered to take a picture of the Halloween frame I made. The first time Hudson saw this, he went up and licked the picture in it. So now I have a tongue smudge on it. I think it just adds character though.I love this picture of Hudson and his Dad from last Halloween. I can't believe a whole year has already flown by!

Grrrrr!

Hudson loves to give bear hugs. We showed him how to open up his arms and wrap you up tight. Then he growls as loud as he can! It is so fun to have him just run up and give you a big bear hug. The growling is probably one of my favorite parts though! His favorite animal sounds to make are definitely growling like a bear, roaring like a lion and the elephant sound.

More fun ideas...

It was another fun PAT day on Tuesday. Sherry brought some great ideas with her. We made a sock puppet, a sock ball and a ball thing that reminds me of a ghost for Halloween. She also brought a word chart for us to keep track of what words Hudson says everyday. This was great because he has been saying at least 5 new words everyday this week. It is so fun to watch him recognize Halloween stuff like Pumpkins, ghosts, witch and then to call them by name. She let us borrow a great book about very first words that has been great to teach Hudson everyday items. He loves reading books and he will study each picture in this one as you name it. It is pretty fun to watch.