Ahhh SPRING

Just as we set our clocks ahead an hour it seemed Spring decided to show up as well.  I for one was in need of the extra hour of daylight and the warm sunny rays as I have been feeling a little blue and home sick since we were not able to go to Utah for my brother Chazes's farewell. One of my least favorite things is being cooped up in the house, and thanks to the nice weather the past two weeks, we have hardly been home at all. It has been heavenly! Thank you Spring!


I'm not the only one who likes the sunshine.


 

She is even sweeter then she is cute!
(and feistier...)
Today I watched her defend her big brother by hitting a little boy who threw sand at Hudson.
She is quite the little lady!



Just about everyday we head over to the farm behind our apartment so that Ellie can see the "Ponies".





This little brown horse loves to nip, but for some reason it is Hudson's favorite.
I can't figure out why anyone would like that.

 

I don't make Hudson wear his helmet everywhere we go...although sometimes I think he needs to....
he just happens to ride his bike nearly everywhere we go. :) 



We have been able to go on some family bike rides and Hudson does a pretty good job keeping up with us.
Its been so fun to all go together. Even Autumn enjoys the ride.



Ahh the things you think you will never do before you become a parent.
Like, spending money to go watch "Elmo Live" and enjoy it.
Jake and I just sat back and enjoyed every minute of watching their little faces light up as the watched the show.

  Hudson is still in love with learning about the moon and the planets in the solar system.  It has been particularly lucky that Jupiter and Venus have been so amazing to the view lately.  We have had a lot of fun out star gazing with him.  He was really excited to get a special package of space books from Uncle Ross in the mail.  Everyday he tells me, "Mom lets talk about (insert planet name here)." We spend a lot of time talking about them, especially Jupiter, which he tells me is his favorite because it spins the fastest.  He tells me he rides his bike as fast as Jupiter. I love that he loves to learn.

March

Three little kids are snuggled up tight in their beds and Jake is off doing splits with the missionaries, so I finally have a moment to write. I have gotten really behind on sleep this week and have enjoyed the past few days with migraines. I just took a sleeping pill to force myself into getting a little shut eye. My goal is to report the past few weeks before my head gets too fuzzy as I am quite overdue.

By this time next week my little brother Chaze will be a missionary. I’m so happy for him that he will get to have this experience. It has been sad to not be able to be there to see him off…..not to mention the big pit barbecue I’m missing out on, ha ha. I really wish I could be there to sit around the fire and spend time with all my family. It will be a long time until we can all be together again, but I couldn’t be happier for Chaze. Last night we were able to video chat with him, so that the kids could see him and say goodbye. Technology is such a blessing. I just wish there was a way to send hugs as well. The people of Houston Texas have no idea how lucky they are to be getting such a great guy.

"Tamalada"
After talking with other friends from the west about how we missed Mexican food, I decided I wanted to make tamales. Making them is quite a lengthy process. I figured it would be a fun project to do with some friends; so we hosted a tamale making party. The kids all enjoyed playing together while the moms got to chat and make tamales. Hours and hours later everyone went home with a large bag of tamales, and my freezer is stuffed full of the tasty little things. I think my apartment is going to smell like Mexican food for at least a month.



Some people might not think that goggles are required for baths. 
These people do not bath with Hudson and Ellie.

 As well as practicing his deep sea diving, Hudson has been obsessed with space.  We started by studying the phases of the moon and it has ignited a huge fascination with outer space. It has been fun for me because I loved astronomy as a kid. He loves to turn his toys into diagrams of the solar system, with the nine planets revolving around the sun. Tonight he was really concerned about why Pluto is not a planet anymore. "Poor poor Pluto", he told me." "Now he has to be a dwarf."  Tomorrow the moon with be full. We have been counting it down for almost two weeks now and you would think a celebrity was coming the kids are so excited. 

Hudson's cautious riding didn't last for long.  He is back to dare devil tactics. I caught this picture of he and Ellie being so true to their own characters today.  Hudson is riding his bike and drinking at the same time.  Ellie was fascinated with her shadow and chased it all over the park. Ohh I love them! 

Hello Ellie



For about a week everyone but Jake was pretty sick.  We spent a lot of time in jamies laying around the house.  Little Autumn was such a sad sick little slug.  Fortunately she is feeling much better and back to her smiley sweet little self,
as are the rest of us.



 Autumn is so rollie pollie, and not just her chubbiness. She started rolling over last week. Its been so fun to watch her. I can see how proud of herself she is each time she does it. She also got her first freckle, which I'm sure with the genes she has, will be the first of many. 

                                          
                                                      Ahhhh time for bed! Good Night!

Sickness and Success

Last night as I was getting ready for bed I heard a terrible noise coming from Autumns room. I found my baby wheezing and coughing with a terrible seal bark sounding croup. We propped her up and moved her and the humidifier into our room. I knew she would be alright, but I always get scared when one of my kids is sick like that, especially when they are so little. Between her coughing and my worrying, neither of us got much sleep last night. It appears the Chuck-E-Cheese virus has claimed another victim.
Thankfully the weather was nice today so I loaded the girls into the stroller, Hudson hoped on his bike and we headed up to the park. As things usually go with Hudson’s bike riding lately, I was ready to throw the thing in the bushes by the time we reached our destination. The kid won’t just ride his bike anymore. He spends his time trying to find ways to balance on it, make the thing jump or any other concoction he can think of that usually ends in him getting hurt. As I mentioned before I had had enough of his bike riding. Then out of no where it hit me that he was bored and needed more of a challenge. He must be ready to take his training wheels off. I probably should have realized this a lot sooner, as it would have saved us both some frustration. When we got home we took off the training wheels and after a couple tries he got it. Hudson can now ride a bike! He is so proud of himself and so am I. I just hope it takes a while before he gets bored of this and needs a bigger challenge.





 Hudson is so excited that he doesn't need these training wheels anymore!





We all enjoyed a little sunshine at the park.




Sweet sickly little teddy bear.



Sick little Ellie

This winter we have been lucky to be so healthy.  I think back on last winter and I don't believe we made it even a two week stretch from September to May without someone being sick with one thing or another. I have felt so blesses that this winter we have been so illness free. Lately however, I have watched all of my friends become sentenced to the confinement of having sick children, and I knew that our healthy days were numbered.  We hung in there for a lot longer then I thought, but I'm pretty sure that Chuck-e-Cheese was an  epicenter for infectious diseases, and no body is strong enough to fight the germs of that many children confined in such a small space.  Sadly my little Ellie has been claimed as the first victim.  She has spent the past week with a really bad cold.  It's always sad to see one of the kids sick, but for a few days every time she coughed it would cause her to throw up and that was about as awful as it sounds.

 On top of feeling aweful, she has also been really sad to not get to go with Hudson to all the fun things she usually tags a long for. Thankfully it has been warm enough to go out for walks so we have been able to make a few trips up to feed the horses who live nearby.  She sure loves "ponies" right now, although I wish she was a little less fearless when it comes to feeding them.  Sometimes she is so busy trying to get the food to them I'm scared she is going to lose a finger or two.  They do really cheer her up, so compared to happiness, I guess fingers aren't all that important. Ha Ha (I wish there was a text to identify that I am in fact joking.)

I was looking at our most recent family pictures hanging on the wall and I started to feel bad that I don't have one with my little Autumn in it.  I mentally started planning a trip to get some type of portrait when I remembered what a nearly impossible pain it was to get even the two kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time.  The thought of trying to get all three of these munchkins to smile and look on cue filled my heart with terror, anxiety, and pity for whoever the poor soul would be trying to accomplish this great endeavor. When you add Jake's inability to fake a smile and the stressed out snappy beast I would certainly turn into, I think we better just save the poor photographer and give up any aspirations I have for a new family portrait hanging on my wall. 

Almost 5 months old, and SO much fun!

Due to Ellie's cold, we have had to spend more time at home without the distraction of friends this week.  Hudson has been practicing his older brother antagonist skills.  When he found this water gun that also shoots small plastic balls in my cabinet I knew it was a recipe for disaster.  Ellie filled the role of the over dramatic little sister quite well herself.

How I view Hudson



How Ellie views Hudson

 Hudson and Jake got out for a boys night to do a little climbing.

Hudson was pretty proud of his spider man skills.

V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E

Hudson has been singing this song all week and I wanted to document it. 

"Yucky" Cheese's

The kid’s wildest dreams came true this week when they were invited to a birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese’s. They spent the week telling everyone who would listen, including strangers at the grocery store, that on Saturday they would be going to “yucky cheese’s” (as Ellie calls it). They were so full of excitement that they could hardly stand the wait.  When Saturday finally did come, we made the drive to Yucky Cheeses and stepped into a crazed sea of children with the defining sounds of classic music being murdered by Chuckle’s animatronic band that could barely be heard over the roar of children.  Honestly, Autumn cried in my arms a good deal of our visit and I could hardly hear her.  I may have not been impressed, but the kids thought they were in heaven. Hudson is already requesting another visit for his next birthday.  Thank goodness birthdays only happen once a year!

Ellie was obsessed with this pony.  For some reason Pony's are the her new favorite animal.....this week anyway.



Hudson loved all the driving games....so did Jake. 
Hudson is lucky his Daddy gave him a turn every now and then.


My girls looked pretty cute on Sunday in their little matching dresses; unfortunately they are equally difficult to photograph.  Ellie barely holds still long enough to get a picture; and Autumn will not smile if she sees a camera.  She has such a cute smile and I have only been able to catch it on film a couple of times.

Autumn has been really cuddly again lately.  She has started to sleep through the night, but now prefers to nap during the day in our arms rather then in her own bed.  I'm not complaining.  I know my snuggle days are numbered.

Love Love Love that funny fuzzy hair!

We were lucky to get enough snow for another fun day of playing in it. I for one am loving this winter. We get to spend time at the park enjoying the sunshine some days; and build (rather small) snow men the next.

Hudson is quite the sledding dare devil, each time he tries to come up with ways to make his trip down the hill a little more exciting.  Maybe I need to take him to a bigger sledding hill.

 Our last snowman's face was made out of carrots and chocolate.  I had to keep replacing it, because the kids kept sneaking bites.  Fortunately they left this one alone since we made it out of random berries we found on the bushes by our house and I'm not sure if they were poisonous or not.

It's already February

I love that last week we went sledding and this week we enjoyed 60 degree sunny days at the park. I don't know if we could get any luckier? We even got our Jake back after two weeks of hardly seeing him at all, due to a huge project. My luck must have run out quickly though since yesterday I got a pretty big ticket for an expired vehicle registration and today our microwave decided to die. Such is life. We have had a pretty good week all in all.

State College has been quite a sad place due to the passing of Joe Paterno. Everywhere we go I see big memorials for him and the radio if filled with excerpts from past speeches he has given. His voice and face seem to be everywhere. I have no connection to the man, but find myself near tears at times from it. The grief from the whole situation and his death is just omnipresent. The kids did enjoy one perk from the situation however. Because of the memorial, all the city buses ran free, and we took advantage of it. The kids thought it was so much fun to ride around town on the big buses. They certainly entertained the other riders with their excitement and lack of volume control.

The kids also got to go to a birthday party at a really nice gymnastics gym. Hudson was actually the one who was invited, and I spent the week preparing Ellie for the fact that she would not be joining him for this big event. Hudson was just as excited for the party as he was for the fact that it was just for "big" kids and Ellie would not get to go. However, when I went to drop him off, Ellie did what she does best and worked her magic on one of the parents and got invited to stay. Hudson was not pleased. They both thought it was the most fun ever and have spent the week talking about doing gymnastics and practicing their moves at home.

My little Ellie is just such a funny girl. Jake and I have been taking a couple parenting classes and I have noticed how often we describe her as "crazy", (affectionately of course). She just has so much personality packed into that little body of hers that she always seems to leave a lasting impression. Everywhere we go she seems to charm people. It’s a good thing she is so cute or else I don't think we would get invited to anything.

This past Sunday Jake and I were enjoying sitting together on one of the rare occasions where neither of us has a teaching calling and there is a fifth Sunday combined third hour at church. Suddenly we heard a not so little voice in the back of the chapel exclaim, "I need to go potty!” The chapel filled with laughter as I jumped up to find her waiting for me with an embarrassed looking nursery worker. My Ellie is always good for a laugh.

She is so cute right now and I just hope I can remember at least some of the silly little things she does when she gets older and they disappear. Like the way she hops around like a bunny all the time, or the way she blows kisses and says hi to everyone she sees. I love to hear her have little pretend conversations with all of her animal toys, or watch her light up when I read her a book. I don't understand how she can be so girly and feminine one minute and then tackle and pin her brother on the ground with a crazy giggle the next. She is such a joy and Jake and I feel so lucky that we are the ones who get to enjoy everyday with her. We are so blessed.



Hudson loves so sing to Autumn.




Some babies suck their thumb; Autumn prefers to suck all her fingers at once.