Wednesday, November 25, 2009

A few little things...

Last night, after we put Alden to bed, we heard her singing "Jesus loves me", not once, not twice, but probably close to 30 times...while holding her dinosaur book...and her voice kept cracking on the high notes. Funny.

As usual, she was up a couple times to use the potty, and one of the times, she came out and sat with me while I was sewing. She started her own "project" cutting up some of the fabric scraps and sticking pins in them. I think it was close to 11 by the time she actually went to sleep.

This was after her vocal stylings at lunch time. She sat at the piano and played and sang a couple different dittys. My favorite was "Halloween, Halloween, we give thanks today." Then, there was "Princesses, princesses, Ariel, Ariel".

Hudson has been grabbing one of us by the hand and leading us to where he wants us and letting us know what he wants. This is really sweet, and he did it to Amber and Matt the other day. Sometimes, he just comes over and wants you to pick him up and then he points and leans in the direction he wants to go. A lot of times his destination of choice is the bowl in the kitchen with the lollipops.

He is starting to say some things. He will point to things and say "this", and I swear, the other day, he said "this juice". He loves looking at the Lift the Flap Farm Book, and the mini-Farm Animals book, which is about to disintegrate because Alden loved it and they both like(d) to chew on it.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

August..a blur

Here are some pictures from August, at least. Most of this month was a blur. I worked 3 days a week, kept a friend's little boy a couple afternoons a week, and generally felt like things were going crazy. I think Matt did too, since he was the one manning the kids while I was at work.

Alden did another session of swim lessons. She had a different instructor, a girl, this time. I wasn't as thrilled with her class...Alden was doing great and can swim about 10 feet on her own, and can go a little while on her back, too. The hardest thing for her is trying to breathe, as she hasn't quite mastered the turn-your-head-to-the-side breathing. The teacher wants her to be working on blowing her air out underwater, too, and not just holding her breath.

Alden and her display of Little People creatures.

Alden had Meet the Teacher Day at her school. She was so excited to go back and see her new room. Her teachers, Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Rudd seem wonderful. Hudson had a great time, too. Only one more year and he can go to school, too!
She got really excited about the dress-up clothes. What a nice change from her interest in trains!



Watching TV and having snack. Lily is hoping a goldfish might get thrown her way.
Happy.
And grouchy.
Why can't little boys wear bubble suits forever?
Alden likes to go in and get Hudson first in the morning or at nap time. Not because she is happy to see him. She just likes to get a few hits in on the passys.


This is how she fell asleep one night. At least it was just the stuffed Lily and not the real one...although Lily would love to get on Alden's bed.
Hudson has gotten really good at eating with a spoon and fork...almost better than Alden!

Lake trip..from August

The last weekend of August, we went up to Lake James for the semi-annual AX reunion at Laura's parents' lake house. Originally, we had hoped to go without the kids, but my parents had things going on, so we all packed up and made the 4 hour drive.



Those who follow the blog may remember how the past couple times we have been to the lake, Alden has had some boo-boo issues. She was even talking about it and prepared to "walk" and "be careful"...but, within 15 minutes of arrival, she is running down the driveway, and boom, landing on both knees. Matt and I just look at each other and sigh. Next time we will bring the knee pads.



We got there on Friday mid-afternoon, and got settled in. Laura, Courtney, and I made a grocery run while the guys stayed back with the kids. The kids love the swingset, the putting green with the kid golf-clubs, and the sidewalk chalk. Grandma and Grandpa Wrigglesworth definitely knew what they were doing!



Everybody made it up Friday night and to be honest, we had a pretty early night. I think we are getting a little older and not as rowdy :) (Like I was ever rowdy...hello, 9:30 bed time)



Saturday morning, the kids were excited to get in the lake and in the hot tub. Alden and Avery floated in the inner tubes and "swam" out to the jet ski docks, climbed up and jumped off over and over. Hudson found an old fishing net toy and had a great time playing around in the shallows.

All the kids at lunchtime. Alden, Hudson, Avery, Baby Ben, and Cole. The ranks keep growing!



Saturday night it clouded up and stormed. Alden still talks about how it "thundered and lightninged at the lake".



Sunday morning was beautiful, and we spent some time that morning enjoying the amenities before packing up and going home.


The kids loved the hammock.
And the swing set.



Friday, November 20, 2009

The Fair!

Hands down, one of our FAVORITE things about fall is the State Fair. We went with Amber, Bebe, and Pop pop this year.



We went to the Dept. of Wildlife display and saw all the animal mounts. Alden was most impressed with the hawk (there is one in the Tinkerbell movie) and liked that it was carrying a squirrel in his talons. Hudson liked petting the pelts. There was a cool display where you could look in these magnifying-float things and see fish in a tank.
We went to the FFA non-petting zoo and got to see the animals. Hudson liked the chickens best, and the sheep. Alden threw a little bit of a fit when we told her we had to go. Typical.

While Matt and Pop pop went to the roasted corn booth, Alden and I went to ride the ponies. Last year, she sat on one for 5 seconds and didn't want to do it, and has said all year that this year "when I'm 3" she wanted to ride one. Here she is on "Peanut". I was just a little bit excited to see her having fun on a pony :)
On the way to see the livestock exhibits, we munched on chocolate covered strawberries, popcorn and cotton candy. Hudson had his first sampling of cotton candy and was hooked.


We got to see the baby pigs and all the different cattle breeds, the giant pumpkins, fruits and veggies, and the honeybees, which are pretty fascinating.


Dinner is always at Bebe and Pop pop's church booth. This may be one of the most stressful aspects of the fair. It is good food, but it is always crowded and not a great place to try to sit with a 3-year old and a 15-month old, who is NOT interested in sitting in anyone's lap...especially, after finally being released from the backpack.


It was starting to get dark, so we hit a couple of rides on our way out. Alden and Matt rode the merry-go-round.
Then, we let Alden pick something. She chose "THE COBRA" rollercoaster. You could tell she was a little apprehensive, and I wasn't quite sure how she would react when it started, but she LOVED it. She was screaming and laughing and saying "again?" each time we went around. She rode it once with me and once with Matt. This was her favorite thing at the fair. The Cobra trumped the ponies.


Amber and Alden did the train ride, which was a little slow for our little speed demon.

She decided to ride another pony, too. This one was named Bee-bop. Cute. Now every time Alden names something it is either "Bee-Bop" or "Peanut".

On our way out, we grabbed another corn, some lemonade, and cotton candy. What a great fair! The countdown 'til next year begins!


Purple Bear Open House

The 3 3-year old classes performed some of their songs for everyone. Alden was hamming it up.




In October, Alden had an Open House night at her school. Hudson got to stay with Bebe for the evening, so Matt and I were both able to go. They had circle time. Alden was WIRED. She was bouncing all over the place and talking, talking, talking. Her teachers assured me that she was not always so crazy. Thank goodness...for their sakes.

She showed us some of the centers.
We got to see her cubby.


I am working through the past couple months, and some of the posts I had started before. For some reason, they won't update the date. So, for those who are interested, the blog coverage of the second part of July, not including the beach week, appears in September...the 21st, I think.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Selections from October, Part 1

Highlights from October...


*Hudson starts signing more. One day he just busts out with "Train" when we hear one outside. He knows:
Help (which is VERY useful)
hat (not so useful)
dog
Daddy (not Mommy)
Sleepy
bath
please
hot
rain
airplane
cookie

His most favorite and most often executed is "juice", although his version looks more like the actual sign for "milk". One morning, I picked him up out of bed, he laid his head on my shoulder so sweetly, and then starts doing "juice." And I thought he was just thinking about loving his mommy.

*I got baptized. Now we are official members of our church. It was a good experience and I am glad I did it. We went out to On the Border with Bebe and Pop pop to celebrate.

*Alden started bringing show-and-tell to school. So far, she has taken Purple Baby, Darth Vader, a Thomas Book, and most recently, a book about Dinosaurs. Her teachers said she was sitting in the front of the room and asking all the kids one-by-one to tell her their favorite dinosaur.

A little photo re-cap...ok, not so little. I am trying to make up for lost blogging time.

*Boxes have been popular at our house lately. Alden and Hudson love getting in the big boxes from Aldi and having someone push them around on the wood floors.




*Matt took the kids to the hardware store one day and the firetruck was parked there. They went to check it out, and the fireman let Alden climb up in the front and gave the kids their own firehats.

*Alden got a new outfit with a head band. Hudson snagged that puppy and LOVED wearing it around and looking at himself in the mirror.


*We tried out a new park. It has a great playground, and a little board walk over a pond/wetland area. The kids liked watching the turtles.

*And of course, we have been making a lot of trips to the park down the street.*One morning, Alden had been up to use the bathroom early, and when we all woke up a little bit later, we found her asleep on the floor.*Alden modeling her reversible Halloween dress that I made.*Modeling Halloween jammies from Grandma and Grandpa

*And just some random, day-to-day pics*The kids love to eat snack on the fireplace