On Belay?

 May I climb?

After a few months of Hudson climbing everything in the house we decided to channel his passion into a more structured approach.  We finally gave in, took him to the YMCA climbing wall and made a family night of it.  He was really excited to wear the harness.  I wasn't sure how it was going to go when up against the wall but Hudson was really brave!  Although his first time up I was worried we wouldn't be able to get him down.  He would not let go with his hands no matter what we said.  I thought Jake was going to have to climb up after him, but after a little more coaxing he did finally release his grip and enjoy the ride down.   



Our little man is quite the climber! 



Ellie has discovered the joy of dress up.  She has started to bring me blankets and say "dress", "Dress", "DRESS"!  I wouldn't say she asks for it as much as demands; but the happy dance she preforms once its on, makes me not mind her sassyness so much.

As for the rest of us:
Jake is pluggin away with school as usual.  Things seem to be going well, but I know he is looking forward to the end of the semester, as we all are!
Baby Piston is doing well.  I'm feeling so much better and back to my old self....Well a more tired and slightly rounder version of myself, but none the less, I'm thrilled to feel like life has been injected back into my system.  We are over a third of the way done and I couldn't be happier!

Good News

What a great week!


Spring has finally found its way to us. Hudson and I decided that it would be fun to have a little party with our friends to celebrate. Hudson’s closest friends are conveniently the children of my closets friends so we both look forward to having them over.

He wanted to decorate cupcakes so we bought all sorts of fun gummy bugs and flowers and various candies so the kids could dress their cup cakes up for spring. I put all the supplies on the table and the kids went to work. The funny thing is that when we all get together the Mom’s get so busy talking; the children are forgotten and sort of become ambient noise.

Looking back I must admit that I have no idea how many cupcakes, let alone decorations, Hudson devoured during our party. All I know is that a few hours later after frosting had been wiped from every surface and all the little pieces of candy had been vacuumed out of the rug, when Hudson looked at me and said “something’s wrong” and grabbed his stomach.  I knew I didn’t have much time to react. Frosting was definitely the nicest thing I had to clean up that day, but I only have myself to blame!

I had my first doctor appointment on Wednesday. I knew I would be having an ultrasound so I was excited but also really nervous about it due to some weird symptoms I had been experiencing in this pregnancy. My appointment was during Jake's class time, but he sweetly arranged things so that he could be there with me. It made me feel so much better knowing that no matter what we found out he would be there. I told the doctor I thought I was about eight weeks along, but when she administered the ultra sound we were all surprised to see a perfectly formed little baby who was a lot bigger then eight weeks. She sent me right over for another more detailed ultrasound and it was determined that I was actually just about 13 weeks! So not only am I nearly done with the morning sickness phase of this pregnancy, but I also get to meet my baby a whole month sooner! The very best news of corse is that everything looks perfect and their doesn't seem to be any problems. I think I may have floated out of the office. Having that weight lifted off me has left me feeling so full of gratitude and joy. Once again I feel so unworthy of all the blessings the Lord is continually sending my way.



 Our new little one should be arriving sometime around Sept 23rd. Hudson is adamant that its a boy and that his name is going to be Piston.  Fortunately, we do have control over one of those things.

Hudson has been surprisingly excited about the baby.  The other thing he has been really excited about, to the point of hounding us relentlessly, is flipping his bed into a big loft bed.  We finally gave in and switched it. It made for one happy little boy.

The kids think this new play area is pretty fantastic.  Not only is it another area to continue the train track through
 but they also think its really fun to use it for watching movies. I never thought I would live in a house with its own theatre room! 

Train Fever
Hudson is starting to get some real competition for the trains.
I sure hope he can learn to share! 

Not So Springy Break

This morning Ellie will not leave my lap so I get to see how long it will take me to type a post with her help.  With one hand on the keyboard and another dedicated to bating away her attempts at pushing the power button this might be an all day project. 

After weeks of looking forward to it, spring break has come and gone. Although, "Winter" break would have been a much more accurate name for it, because spring was nowhere to be seen. Come to think of it "break" isn't a very good description either since Jake kept roughly the same hours up at campus. Actually, the best part of the last two weeks was having Gram Wendy come visit for a week. We didn't get out for many adventures due to weather and my feeling awful, but she did a wonderful job of keeping my kids entertained so I could rest on some of the sickest days I have had this pregnancy. It was such a blessing to have her help. She put in a lot of hours playing trains and reading books and it was sure appreciated.

We did take one day trip to Harrisburg the state capital to visit the state museum.  Harrisburg is a beautiful and historic city with really neat old building, but I guess everything in Pennsylvania is old because I find myself describing all of its cities that way.  Since Hershey was only twenty minutes away we also swung by chocolate world on our way home.  I was so sick and exhausted by the time we got to chocolate world I didn't even think about getting pictures.  Of coarse the kids had a great time.  Who doesn't love free chocolate?!?

You would have thought we were on a train quest as we looked through all three levels of the museum.  Hudson was able to detect them in even the smallest of displays.  This was the biggest of the trains he found.  I was surprised he didn't try to get Gram Wendy to purchase it for him.

Hudson with William Penn

Ellie got in a little mutton bustin practice in the children's section of the museum.

We had to pry Hudson away from yet another train table.

We actually went sledding during spring break.  Its just felt wrong!  Especially after overhearing college kids talk about the warm beachy areas they were going to be heading to.  The snow was so deep it kept stopping the sled.  I think we might have crashed more then we sled but the kids still thought they were having a great time.

It looks sunny, but it was really really cold.

We were sure sad to see Gram Wendy go.  The kids had so much fun playing with her and I got a taste at what it must be like to have a nanny.  Thanks again Mom!