A Gingerbread Constructor

Hudson and I took part in the "Gingerbread Homes for the Holidays". They had a room full of Gingerbread houses. These are some of the BEST I have ever seen. I couldn't believe the creativity that people had. I took a bunch of pictures so we can reuse some of the ideas when we make our own as part of our family tradition of making them.
This one was one of my faves mainly because of the sports theme. It was an completely decked out baseball field complete with a catcher's net, scoreboard and players. It was so cute!
This was my favorite one of just a traditional style gingerbread house. If you looked closely into the windows, you could actually see a tree with presents wrapped and some treats on a plate for Santa! It was very well done!This was probably my third favorite. Reminds me of a Hawaiian Christmas. I thought the spaghetti noodles for the roof was just ingenious!! What a cute house!Hudson was definitely not fooled. He was all for wanting to swipe some of that candy up and eat it! Luckily, I kept him out of reach of it all!This was a cute picture of Hudson and his buddy, Cruiz, holding hands. They are so cute together. They even gave each other a hug and a kiss. What sweet boys!!Now some of Hudson in action. If you look closely, you can see all of the frosting around Hudson's mouth. He was more for eating that participating in the construction! Luckily, I did get one great shot of Hudson actually helping with his house. What a pro! Looks like he will be enjoying this tradition for years to come!!

Potty Stickers

So this is the beginning of a very long era I am sure! But I had to note that Hudson went on the potty today for the first time. Every other time he would just go sit on it but today he actually went. I know, am I seriously writing about going pee? Yep, because my day consistently is spent changing diapers and I have refrained so many times of discussing colossal poops on here. Besides, we have all been there anyway!! But now that there might be a light at the end of the Hudson-in-Diapers-Tunnel then I have to rant about his first time on the potty. He was so happy about his potty sticker too! I really am not even training him right now. Just if he asks to go on it, then I put him on it. Maybe one of these days I will get serious about it and tackle it head on but then again, maybe not. Any suggestions of what worked for you??

At the Big Screen

I don't know about you guys, but I really liked Twilight ~ the movie. The beginning started out with a little bit of so-so acting but after they got into the story, I really liked it! By the end, I was ready to see the next one....which we all know there will definitely be another one. Oh, and the guy that plays Edward, really grew on me by the end of the movie.

It's going to be cold....

Hudson was just trying to show Uncle Matty what he might have in store for him on his mission to Ukraine. But then we looked up where he will be and realized the weather is actually not that bad. But, I still couldn't resist posting pictures of Hudson in my hat.

Testing it out

So Hudson has been using the potty sign language for the last 2 or 3 months whenever he goes to the bathroom. This has always been kind of good because at least he is recognizing the signs. I think we are all for getting out of diapers as quickly as possible. On Saturday, he told me he wanted to go in the potty two times that day. Did he actually go? Nah, but at least he wants to. So we decided we would buy him his own potty in the hopes that maybe if he is familiar enough with it, he will feel comfortable and maybe take the plunge sooner than later. If not, at least we are well prepared!

Oh, so even though Huds didn't test it out the conventional way. He was definitely testing it out other ways:

Last of KC

Here are the last pictures of when we were in Kansas City with my mom. I have been so lazy about downloading the pictures off of our camera but tonight, I finally got the motivation! We had such a great time with my mom here. The only bad part was that it went too fast!! We can't wait until more of our family comes to visit! (a not so subtle....hint hint)They have this huge train track with an elaborate city set up at Union Station for the holidays.I loved this art on the buildings. I love it when cities have things like this!

30 it is!

So I have read The Guardian and Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks; Comfort and Joy and The Things we Do for Love by Kristin Hannah; Picture Perfect and Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult. Just had to update my list because I haven't been blogging a ton lately about books and I forgot to update this. I can officially say I have hit 30 books for the year so far....not too bad considering I took off 4 months from reading. I am definitely on a reading kick lately. A few friends here have been too and we keep swapping author recommendations and library books. It is fun to have people to discuss books with!

Family Photos

After we took pics of Super Hudson, it was just too beautiful not to go back and take some shots of the family. These are only a few of them. I am saving my favorites for the Christmas card...

Halloween Happenings

Halloween was beautiful weather here. It was pretty warm. After we had a Super Hudson photo shoot, we took Hudson to the Malloween (aka store trick or treating at the mall). He had a good time watching all the kids and even said trick or treat by the end of it. Then he went trick or treating to a few houses in our neighborhood. He had a great time. There was a really sweet older lady that just loved Hudson.After that, he was pretty much worn out. The rest of us celebrated with the old rendition of the movie, Clue. It is a pretty funny movie.

Super Hudson

Because it was such beautiful Fall weather on Halloween, and there wasn't a ton to do during the day...we decided to go take some more shots of Huds in his Superhero costume. This has got to be the best Super Hudson I have ever seen!And just a few more of my favorites:

Where a kid can be a kid

Grandma came for a full week to utterly spoil this little man. And SPOIL she did!This was right up Hudson's alley. Whack those letters and numbers!Gotta ride in the car with Chuck E. He was enjoying driving the car too.Instead of the yucky balls to crawl around in, they have this great slide/play area for toddlers. Hudson was loving it!That face is priceless. He has the most expressive face. It is hilarious to watch!
Look at that huge grin. This was one of his favorite rides. I think he could have rode it all night!

Two kids at heart. Man, I love skeeball!

A little timid at first about Chuck E. but he warmed up to him. Hudson absolutely adores his Grandma. He prefers her above Mike and even above me most of the time. Glad to see where his loyalties are!

Our quick project

We weren't planning on any sewing projects but what would a week with my mom be like without one? So here is what we ended up making:And for those of you who asked, here are two pictures of the baby blessing dress I made for a friend. These pictures aren't the best but you get the idea. She looked beautiful in it.By the way, this is my 500th post. WOW! Didn't realize I posted that much!!

My Carving Machine

The deal is that I gut it and he carves it. Not too bad. I like the feel of the squish in my hands.
Plus he does a great job at carving, I wouldn't want to try and top that:Or that: