Hudson's First Birthday

Hudson turned one on Friday, June 19th. We celebrated with a family party, Huddypalooza, on Saturday. We had my sisters and parents over and had a water party/BBQ. Hudson loved playing on his new splash mat and with the bubble machine.




The older kids enjoyed the "water slide", playing with water guns, water balloons and silly string.




Hudson really liked opening his presents and knew exactly what to do.




By the time we had cake, he was so tired from all the day's activities.

We started him off with a little slice....

but he still managed to make a big mess!


We had a great, fun day! I still can't believe Hudson is one already and not a baby anymore. He is a very sweet and happy boy and we are so happy that Hudson is a part of our family!

(This is Hudson's birthday balloon. Publix let us buy this balloon from their potato display because we thought he would love it. Some people saw some resemblance.)

Grandma's House

We had a fun two weeks at Grandma's(and Grandpa's) house.

Jack learned how to do the monkey bars all by himself. He also taught himself how to hula hoop and can now do it for 10 minutes straight.



Callie spent a lot of time outside collecting pine cones and playing with the kitty. The day before we left, we did find a home for the sweet kitty.



Hudson had fun playing with the mixing bowls, etc. in Grandma's cupboards and has brought this new hobby home. He also started saying bye-bye when he waves.

Fast Forward

I am so behind on my blog. With Hudson becoming more active and our computer on its last leg, I have not found much time or patience to sit down and blog. The longer I put it off the larger the blogging task becomes to catch up and the more I procrastinate. I am going to try and break this cycle with a quick fast forward update of the last few months so I can finally feel caught up and start with hopefully somewhat regular updates again. Hopefully, my computer will cooperate.

March
In March, we went to Gatorland with my sister's family and my parents.



We saw a lot of alligators even white ones.


We splurged and let Jack and Callie have a turn sitting on the back of a real alligator. The alligator's mouth is taped shut and the trainer is close by.

All the kids loved playing in the Gatorland water area.

Afterwards, our family went out to eat and the waiters sang "Happy Birthday" to Callie and gave her free ice cream.

Jack got a butterfly habitat for Christmas and his caterpillars arrived in March. Jack and Callie both liked watching the caterpillars make their cocoons and turn into butterflys. We had five butterflies in all. We let the butterflies go a few days after they emerged.



April
Easter weekend, we had Jack's birthday party with his friends at the park.
We could not get the candles to stay lit on his cake because of the wind.
Rob also led the kids in games and on a scavenger hunt aound the park.
For Easter, we had an Easter Egg hunt for the kids in the morning in the backyard and they hunted for their baskets that were hidden in the house filled with a few Easter treats.

The next week was Spring Break. Grandma stayed with us that week. Rob was able to take one day off work and we went to the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. This was a great zoo with a lot of interactive exhibits.
The kids rode the ponies a dozen times,

fed and brushed the goats,
fed the tropical birds that would land on your arm,
rode the camel,
fed the giraffes,
made friends with a penquin,
and rode the sky ride with Daddy and then Grandma.
Afterwards, we went out to eat and this time it was Jack's turn to get sung to and get a birthday ice cream.

That weekend, we went to my niece's birthday party at a Horse stable and all the kids were able to have more pony rides.




Jack and Callie moved into together and got new bunkbeds and Hudson moved out of our room and into his own room.

Callie had a Daddy-daughter dessert night at preschool. She was so excited to do something with Daddy all by herself.


May
For Mother's Day, the kids made me this out of legos. I thought it was pretty clever. Rob made me a great breakfast and dinner and his wonderful chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

For my nephew's birthday, we spent the night at my sister's house and the next day he had a fun gymnastics party that the kids loved.




Hudson turned 11 months old and is beginning to show signs of a mischievious toddler.

June so far
School ended on Friday and we left Saturday to stay at Grandma's house for 2 weeks while Rob is busy at work. The day we arrived at Grandma's, a stray kitten was hanging around outside Grandma's door and is still hanging around.
Callie spends a good part of each day outside playing with it. Callie loves animals so much and it makes me feel a little bad that right now we do not want pets. She asks me every day if I can get her a real dog or cat. I am glad that she gets to play with this kitty till we find it a home.