Keeping up with Landree

The bunny, the bunny, ooohhh I love the bunny

2012-01-21T00:26:00.001-05:00

Do you remember that VeggieTales song? It was in a video about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. VT changed the words because it said ‘don’t love my Momma or my Daddy, just the bunny.’ I couldn’t link to it, but you can watch it on YouTube. So funny! Anywho…I have our own bunny story to tell (enough rabbit trails for right now :-)

When we got home after Christmas we were clearing out some of our old toys to give away. Landree has a really hard time with this. EVERY. TOY. IS. HER. FAVORITE. She seriously can remember where everything came from, and who gave it to her, and what the occasion was. seriously! How do you teach a 5 year old to be generous? How about a 31 year old? Not going to lie-it’s hard for me at times too. I ordered a World Vision Catalog before Christmas for us to pick something to give and we never got around to it so one night after reading our Bible story we showed Landree the catalog and told her she could pick anything she wanted for us to give. She chose a bunny (they are only $16 dollars) and the cutest thing in the catalog. I didn’t tell her they would be eaten or sold for food :) Just that they would help someone make money so they could buy food for their family or send their children to school. Wow, it’s so hard to grasp how fortunate we really are. Our little girl has so many toys, and a warm bed and comfy jammies, and more clothes than the children’s sections at some stores. And some kids will go to sleep on the ground tonight lucky if they are in a shelter or even have parents not to mention if they have food to eat or water to drink. So in our own little very small way we want to help and to teach her to give. We made a little jar with a bunny picture on it and I gave her a few dollars of cash I had and she was so excited to raid her piggy bank (and give some of her money-just keeping it real) and find other ways for us to save. She told me not to buy any more groceries and we could use that money. I was thinking more along the lines of not buying prizes at Target or going out to eat so much. We are also thinking about doing some sort of allowance. I don’t like that word or know how we’ll do it, what do you guys do? Ideas? And last night some of the college students gave her some change, and today we had such a fun blessing of someone paying for our lunch at the Chickfila drive through so I let Landree have that money and now we are only $2 away from her first bunny! I’m so excited for her to be able to give that gift! What do you do to teach your kids generosity?

Whoa, Molly!

2012-01-18T22:33:00.001-05:00

It’s the cutest little thing to hear him say, and Hudson is constantly talking about Molly (my daddy’s mule) when he sees anything horse. Which he is currently obsessed with-we have lots of farm/animal books and we’ll read them and then he insists on going back to the horse page.

We were to fortunate to be able to spend a month home at Christmas time which gave the kids lots of play time with family and friends. And lots of visits with Molly the mule (although I’m pretty sure the carrots were his favorite part.) He would get a carrot for Molly and then keep it just about every time. The first few visits were getting used to Molly, then sitting on her, and even being led around (in jammies of course) when you’re ready to go see the mule it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing, right?

See who has the carrot?

Whoa, Molly!

Proud Pet Owner

2012-01-09T23:06:00.001-05:00

Our sweet little girl wants a puppy so bad. She loved Mia and Popee’s old dog Zoe and their new dog, Cotton, is growing on her. She LOVES little dogs! She adores Aunt Maggie’s little dogs too. She has been telling us how much she would love a puppy of her own for a good 5 months. Poor girl only has ~~one~~ several problems- 1. Jeff and I aren’t really pet people. 2. Hudson loves big dogs (and might kill a little dog) He loved to wrestle with Cotton-good thing he is a sturdy little dog. 3. If we had a medium size dog I don’t think anyone would play with it. 4. Jeff doesn’t want an inside dog, and the list just goes on.

Mia was feeling pretty sorry for the girl and convinced her that a fish was a great alternative. We just got home from Texas on Thursday and before Momma flew out on Saturday she took Landree to get her very own first real. live. pet. And she couldn’t be happier. We’ll see how it goes. Maybe one day she can have a puppy, but for now she is the proud owner of Golfy. Her first pet fish.

ICE 2011

2011-12-24T00:40:00.001-05:00

We’ve been to ICE at the Gaylord Texan for at least 3 years now. And this year may have been my favorite! They had a Shrek theme and the details are crazy! They bring in 40 artisans from China to create the ‘winter wonderland’ It’s amazing! It takes 3 months for them to freeze enough ice for the exhibit. Blows my mind every year!

The annual 'blue pictures’. We carried Hudson last year and even a lot of this year because of the crowds. It’s so hard to carry a 30 pound baby wearing a coat and a parka while you’re doing the same. I’m really building up my arm muscles.

H and J went with us this year too. Landree adores her cousins! They are so good about playing with her! Especially J, she adores him! And H is so beautiful! She is 12 y’all!

They ask you not to touch the ice because it can cause it to melt, but they had a place you could sit in the ‘outhouse’.

They have a giant slide room (that was the coldest room of all!) That you can slide down the ice-H and J both took a turn on the slide.

When we got to the last room we had Mag snap a quick picture-we couldn’t find Mia and Landree (they had already finished-it was too cold)

I have a picture of Maggie with a fire extinguisher from the first year we went. Just seems kind of funny.

And one of my favorite parts is that they always have a nativity scene and have the Christmas story being told. It’s beautiful!

After ICE we headed to eat lunch before we walked around the Gaylord for a little while. It is so beautiful and a little overwhelming to be honest. They toy solider and snowman are 3 or 4 stories high.

And there are trains everywhere! Hudson loved watching them go by!

Santa’s reindeer are everywhere-they are so cute.

A life-size gingerbread house and a gingerbread village with more trains!

These giant toy soldiers where walking around too.

And we couldn’t leave before we got a balloon. Hudson got a sword and Landree got a balloon bracelet and bunny. They both last about as long as we had to wait in line (about 45 minutes)

Christmas Catch Up

2011-12-17T22:10:00.000-05:00

We’ve been in Texas for almost two weeks now. My sweet momma flew into town on Saturday and drove home with us on Monday. We made the trip in one day! The kids, Jeff, and I made a quick trip to TX in November when Jeff spoke at a retreat {and we had to make it in one day.} I have to brag that my kids really are the best travelers-19 hours in the car in November and Landree didn’t say a word until we were 30 mins from my parents house. It was really funny too. She had a little breakdown saying, “I can’t take it anymore! My bottom hurts!” Bless her heart! Momma and I decided to try to do it in a day again, and we made it in about 17 hours this time. Landree misses ‘our hotel’, but now that I know they can make it in a day it’s so hard to justify the extra money. We spend about $500 more when we take two days to drive with our hotel, food, etc. each direction. I bring plenty of crayons, games, books, but in all honesty when the tv comes on that’s pretty much what they prefer. They might get to watch 10 hours of tv, but it only happens a few times a year right? :)

We’ve been enjoying time with family and friends. Momma, the kids and I went to Holiday in the Park last weekend. We started out the day with lunch in Rockwall where Landree ‘developed’ a tummy ache. I am not sure if she didn’t want to eat or her tummy really hurt, but I found a health food store and got a homeopathic tablet I give her when she says that. We also stopped by Target to get some tylen*l since her knee hurt when she bent it. Again, a complaint I get periodically, I think it might be growing pains. And then…we were really off. After a quick nap for Hudson in the car and parking we got to the park around 3:30. Gigi was volunteering with a group taking pictures so we stopped to say hello to her and off we went to the kids area. The first ride had a small wait. Hudson was licking the rails as we waited in line and I was seriously doubting our decision to come. Landree was fine if we weren’t waiting and she could ride in the stroller, which meant I was carrying my littlest love (all 30 pounds of him) around the park. We decided at about 6:15 that right after the 7:00 musical we wanted to see we were leaving! Well, the kids loved the musical, they both danced the entire time! We were wishing we’d made it to one of those earlier, and then Landree didn’t want to leave. We walked right up to any ride they wanted and rode over and over until almost 10 pm! All while drinking our weight in hot chocolate! I didn’t take my camera in, but I did get a few pictures with my phone.

I also attended Angie’s (AKA Grandma) annual Christmas. We eat lots of yummy food and do a dirty Santa swap (you open gifts and can steal them). I ended up with the cutest punch bowl that looks like a snowman head (and no pictures).

Hudson enjoyed a little art time one evening (thank goodness for a great big sister and it only being a highlighter) and then some snuggle time with Popee. Which really means jumping on the bed and wrestling with the dog, Cotton. :)

We had a play day with our friends Julie, John, Tegan and Mattox and that is exactly what we did. Played ALL day! The girls dressed up and Hudson was in heaven with Mattox’s never ending Cars collection. Tegan and Mattox bought the kids presents with their own spending money. A book and truck for Hudson, and play dough and bracelets for Landree. Perfect! And Julie made them the coolest game thing. It had a hopscotch on one side and a target and tic tac toe board on the other. It’s so cool! It would be perfect for birthday gifts too! I told her she should go into business. I know they are going to love playing with it!

And after a yummy hamburger lunch that John made for us Julie helped the kids make cookies and then she whipped up a fun icing for them to paint their cookies with.

Julie and I must have started 100 conservations and we got to finish quite a few of them too! I was such a fun day with friends that we don’t get to see often enough.

Landree and I have been crafting most days when Hudson naps with easy crafts thanks to Hobby Lobby and their awesome half price sales. She especially loved decorating the gingerbread house that I picked up at CVS for $5! Next year I want us to make them using graham crackers. All she really wants to do is eat the candy :)

And tonight, we took a super fun glow stick bath. Have you seen this on pinterest? My guys having too much fun for the pitch dark photo, but you get the idea. And they LOVED this! So much joy for a $1! I got my glow sticks at the Dollar Tree.

And we are caught up! Tomorrow we are having Christmas with Angie’s brothers and their families. It should be lots of fun and Jeff’s sisters (both teachers) are officially on Christmas break so we will be getting to play with them more too! Next week we are going to ICE and have our annual book exchange Christmas party at Megan and Hayden’s. I can’t believe it’s only a week until Christmas can you? Hope you’re enjoying your Christmas season!

Santa Pics 2011

2011-12-16T23:29:00.001-05:00

So I know I’ve been a little quite on the blog front these days and even though it’s not a good excuse I have lots of reasons, but I do love being able to look back at my blog and remember all the fun things we’ve done and see how the kids have grown and I do want to catch up {or at least move forward!}.

We love Santa pictures and especially love the Santa that Landree has been to 3 out of her 5 years. He is precious and loves the kids. In years past we’ve been to another photographer to have our picture made with him, and last year I hired him and a photographer to come to a Christmas party at our house, and this year I hired him and I took the pictures. While the party was lots of fun it’s so busy and I don’t play a good host/photographer/mom at the same time and it’s so easy for the kids to be distracted, etc. So this year I started decorating in the middle of October for our November 17th date with Santa. I took pictures for 17 families and I would say Santa was a hit with most everyone (babies aside). Jeff picked Landree and Hudson up from school and took them to lunch before brining them home since they were not the first time slot. I was so fun seeing them come into our house and walk right up to Santa. We definitely have a different relationship with him than if we went to visit with him at the mall. This is one of my favorites, of course all of ours aren’t edited yet, I was too busy finishing up for everyone else. I’ll post more soon.

One of my appointments canceled due to sickness last minute so I took full advantage of a fun opportunity for Landree to decorate cookies with the big guy himself. The lighting isn’t great and I didn’t even edit these pictures, but I love them! What a special time for my girl! {Poor Hudson was napping} And afterward she and Santa just sat on the couch and read a few books until the next person arrived. {He must know how much she loves to read!}

We are in full Christmas mode visiting with family and friends in TX! And feel so blessed to be able to spend so much time at home {for at least one more year before Landree starts school!}

I hope you’re having a great Christmas season too!

North Pole Breakfast 2011

2011-11-27T00:01:00.001-05:00

Our Elf, Buddy, returned from the North Pole this morning and brought our new Christmas plates, cups, placemats, and breakfast with him! Powdered donuts! YUM! He also brought the new the nativity set.

~~Jeff~~, Buddy ~~wrote~~ brought the most wonderful letter too:

Dear Hudson and Landree,

I am so excited about coming to see you again this year. There are only 29 days left until Santa comes, and he wanted me to come here to look after you. He wanted me to make sure you two are obeying your parents, being a good listener, and being kind to each other. I want to remind you again not to touch me or move me, but that I am always watching you.

Bust I mostly wanted to talk to you about why we celebrate Christmas. Some people think it is all about toys and presents from Santa. But we both want you to know what it is really about. It is celebrating the birthday of Jesus. Jesus was God’s son, whom He sent to die for us, so that all of the bad things we do, can be forgiven, and so that we can have a personal relationship with Jesus. He died for us so we could know Him more.

Christmas is all about celebrating that God sent you and I his son to be the savior of the world. Look for ways you can give to other people. Look for ways you can tell others about what Jesus did. And always remember that Christmas is all about Jesus, and the greatest gift He ever gave. That was dying for us.

I love you, I will see you every day until Christmas.

Buddy

P.S. Enjoy your new manger!

After breakfast we watched the Elf on the Shelf special that was on TV last night. It was so cute. Landree loved it! I’m so excited to begin all of our Christmas traditions! I plan on doing a combination of an advent with activities we already have planned along with a little bit of Christmas RACKing. I now it’s unrealistic to plan something everyday with traveling and being out of town, but I really want the kids to know that Christmas is so much for than just presents (even though our kids get way too much and they are fun!) I want them to love the time of year, and the traditions, and time with family, and celebrate the birth of our Savior.

We’ve been decorated for about a month and a half. I took Santa pictures here last week so we are in full Christmas swing! I love this time of year!

Dinosaur Train...

2011-11-15T00:15:00.001-05:00

I have so many pictures on my phone-they may not be the best quality, but I love the moments I've been able to catch and the story that goes with them. We were just playing in Hudson's room one Saturday morning when they loaded up the train. Both of the kids love Dinosaur Train-Landree says "time tunnel approaching" when we go under a bridge. Listen to Hudson song along...love it! I wonder what time period Uniqua is from.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

A blast from the past…

2011-11-12T23:07:00.001-05:00

August to be exact. I was looking at my camera card and thinking about all the posts that I need to catch up on and I saw these sweet pictures of Aunt Maggie and the kids at the Children’s museum this summer. As I recall most of our activities included something that included water or air conditioner. Maggie got a new teaching job right after her visit so her anytime visits will have to be more scheduled in the future-boo! But we are so happy for her!

The museum has a grocery store where kids can shop and check out. It’s their favorite place. They love the fake meat. It looks so real it grosses me out!

Aunt Maggie surfing, and Landree making a crown (Grandma sent her a fun book, craft kit)

Erin Condren Discount

2011-10-26T16:00:00.001-04:00

I don’t have much time here so I’m completely copying Ashley’s post. I love Ashley, and her heart, and great style, and I’ve met her in real life :) and I love the awesome deal she found today. I’ve wanted an Erin Condren planner since I saw the one that Brittany Poe (whom I have never met in real life, ~~but whose blog I stalk, ahem~~ follow) got last year for Christmas. Here you go…

I'm sure most of you have heard about Erin Condren and her fabulous planners!
And if not... from what I hear they are incredible!

Click on her name above to look at what she has to offer.
What is not so incredible is the $50 price.

That's like half of my weekly grocery budget. {ditto Ashley}
Not happening over here.
So anyways...
Here is how to get one for REALLY CHEAP!!!
Like... I just purchased a $50 Erin Condren gift voucher for $17.50.

Here's what you do...
Click on the following link.
Plum District

It will take you to the Plum District website.
Simply for signing up you get a $5 gift card.
Then at the checkout enter the word
FABULOUS
For an additional 15% off!
Seriously!
$17.50!

The deal on Plum District is good only through tomorrow...

so hurry to buy your voucher while you can!

The voucher doesn't have to be used right away....
I think mine said it was good through the end of January.

Erin Condren offers other things besides planners as well.
Address Labels, Note cards, stationary, iphone covers...etc.

This deal would also be a great way to save on some customized Christmas presents!
Just a thought :)
Hope you're having a great Wednesday!

Thanks so much Ashley! I am so excited!

Clean babies and our first ‘real’ pet

2011-10-19T23:25:00.001-04:00

First up I have a few pictures of my cuties practicing good hygiene. I used to always buy Landree the electric toothbrushes, but then she got to where she didn’t want to use it turned on so I went back to the plain jane ones. Hudson has to been pinned down to get his teeth brushed so I got him a new electric toothbrush and guess who else wanted one. I have ‘caught’ her brushing her teeth no less than 3-4 times a day. Sounds good to me! And guess what Hudson wants to be just like Landree, thankyouverymuch!

They like to stick their toothbrushes under the water about 100 times. Our bill is going to be a fortune, but hopefully it will have on future dental visits :-)

And now for the sweetest saddest story you’ve ever heard…tonight I ran to the grocery store and I checked the mail on the way in and saw we had a little box. We have been expecting larva {Landree got a butterfly growing kit for her birthday.} I am so glad I checked the mail because it’s turned a little bit chilly here today. I was a little worried when we opened them because they didn’t seem to be moving a lot, but with further inspection they are alive! And now for the sweetest saddest thing-Landree was so cute talking about them, and how she would take them to show and tell, and how they were communicating (she really said those words) and then she said I am so excited to have my very own pet! Bless her heart! This girl would love a dog. She loves them! Especially little ones, but Jeff and I are not pet people. Y’all I’m about to be a ‘pet people’ for this girl. I guess we’ll see how it goes with the larva. I’ll keep you posted.

Shutterfly Card giveaway

2011-10-19T15:27:00.001-04:00

If you know me you know my love for Shutterfly. Last year they did a promotion for bloggers to receive free Christmas cards and they are doing it again this year! I already have a few cards saved that I’ve been working on on their site! LOVE THEM! Click here to sign up for your free cards too!

Sky Top Orchard 2011

2011-10-14T22:50:00.001-04:00

I’m going to go ahead and call this our 1st annual trip to the Apple Orchard, because we went today and had such a wonderful time that I know we will be back year after year! We started out by heading into the orchard to pick apples. We found a good spot near some fuji trees and the kids picked and ate and ate. I took pictures and sweet Jeff picked and pulled the wagon ~~that weighed more than the apples, up and down the gigantic hills in the orchards.~~

After ~~I carried Hudson and drug Landree~~ we made it back to the barn and the kids played in all the little houses and slides. I went in to pay for our apples and buy some of the other varieties. We picked up some for friends and came home with 50 pounds of apples in the back of the car! Only 25 pounds are for us :) And after looking at recipes tonight for apple butter, and chips, and apple cake, oh my! I’m starting to think we didn’t get enough. The kids are going to be sick of apples, but I’m so excited. I love being able to go into the freezer when it’s the ‘off season’ and have fresh, ripe, delicious fruit! I feel like an ‘old-timer’ saying that. I found this tonight on how to freeze apples. Plus they told us at the orchard that they should last at least 3 months in the fridge.

They also had all sorts of apple treats. We got apple donuts {TO. DIE. FOR} and the kids got apple slushies. I only bought a half dozen of the donuts and as soon as I took a bite I was regretting that decision. I should have gone for the full dozen!

A sweet man in the orchard was wearing a Baylor sweatshirt {so I had to talk to him}. He offered to take our picture. It’s so hard to get a family picture. I love this one. Thanks, nice Texas man! :)

Happy Fall Y’all!

Landree at 5…

2011-10-11T14:34:00.001-04:00

Have yourself a merry little Christmas {in September}

2011-09-25T22:48:00.002-04:00

Is it too early to start looking at Christmas cards? I got a promo code for 10 free cards from Shutterfly, and the first thing I started looking at were the Christmas cards. I’ve already booked Santa, Hobby Lobby has ALL of the Christmas decorations out and I’m seriously in the Christmas spirit already. These may be making an appearance in early December. Is anyone else ~~as crazy as I am~~ thinking Christmas yet?

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Happy 5th Birthday Landree!

2011-09-25T00:06:00.001-04:00

I can not believe that Landree-my first born, sweet girl, that made me a momma is 5 today! That’s not a baby-it’s like the start of having a ‘kid’. People that have kids are older than me. My how time flies!

We started our birthday celebrating about a month ago when Grandma sent a box of birthday surprises. We celebrated when Mia was here with lots of goodies from her and Popee, oh, plus the birthday party we had for her and Hudson, cupcakes at school with friends on Thursday, and yesterday we had our family ‘celebration’ day. Today was her actual birthday, but we wanted to be able to play without crowds of school age kids so yesterday it was!

We began our morning with the traditional birthday donuts from Krispy Kreme.

Landree wore her birthday hat they gave her from school. They noticed and not only did we walk out on a sugar high from donuts, but they gave her a tiny ice cream cone too.

After breakfast we headed to Monkey Joe’s a local jump place. They have about 20 huge jump houses, slides, and mazes. It’s been a while since we’ve been and Landree did so well! She did everything! She wasn’t apprehensive about anything! She found a little friend there and they just played and played. Hudson wasn’t as sure to start-he didn’t want to jump AT. ALL. He was having fun looking at the car games and pretend driving them. He did eventually warm up to the bounce houses and had a fun time.

Landree is not the adventurous type. She get scared very easily and still won’t watch a lot of movies. (We turned off Mars needs Moms last night, and we’ve never finished watching The Princess and the Frog. At times it can be frustrating, but I do love how sweet and sensitive she is.) Here she is going right up the middle of this huge wall. The hard part with less steps. She did have to end up climbing up the side with more steps instead, but look at her go!

Here she is at the top of the biggest maze. The wall to climb to the top of this is huge! I’ve actually climbed it before when she was younger and couldn’t do it alone. I was so impressed. I know she’s totally out of focus, but look at how tiny she looks up there.

And here’s Hudson playing the driving game and watching another game.

And Landree knows we never leave Monkey Joes without a treat. I tried to talk her out of it since we were heading to lunch, but the birthday girl wanted a Dora popsicle, and hey you only turn 5 once, right? So we indulged her, and boy had to have a sweet treat too so he had and icee. They we headed to pick up Chickfila for lunch {at the birthday girls request.} We were home for lunch and then naps! We were all beat!

We finished the day off with ~~more junk~~ pizza for dinner and family movie night. We watched most of Mars needs Moms before Landree got too scared to watch any more, and then we watched a Super Why so she would have good stories in her eyes for bedtime. And she slept like a dream, of course, in Mommy and Daddy’s bed by her request.

Landree Grace, I love you so much! I can’t believe how quickly the past 5 years have gone. I can still remember that nervous excitement I felt when I had you. You were the most perfect baby in the whole wide world, and God gave you to me {us}! What a blessing! Sometimes you drive me crazy! You are just like me-stubborn, but you are also so sweet. You’re sassy and girly! You love your brother, Mommy and Daddy, family and friends. You are sensitive. You are outgoing, and you love people. You love Jesus and you want to know more about Him all the time. We are so blessed you are part of our family, I can’t imagine life without you! I love you so much! Happy Birthday baby doll!

Love, Mommy

I pledge allegiance

2011-09-20T21:07:00.001-04:00

Y’all the darndest thing happened! Landree is growing up right before my very eyes and she is SO SMART! I have always known it, but I am her parent, I might be a tad partial. She was the only kid in her 1 year old class who knew all her colors. She was the only kid in her 2 1/2 year old class who knew every letter by sight. She can cut and color in the lines. She can spell her name (for a long while now) and write it. And today we were in the kitchen and I don’t even know what got her started but she just started saying the Pledge of Allegiance and followed it up with America the Beautiful! I about fell out on the floor, and then I made her do it over and over for me. It’s not perfect, but I didn’t even know she was learning this and she has been in school less than 2 weeks! Enjoy the cutest, smartest thing you’ve ever seen here :)

The Pledge from Jennifer Gray on Vimeo.

Preschool 2011

2011-09-06T23:15:00.000-04:00

This is Landree’s last year of preschool and Hudson’s first year and today was the first day. Landree was so excited that she was up at 7 and already getting dressed. The kids have been sleeping-in the last few weeks (why they waited until the end of summer is beyond me) so I know she was excited.

We arrived a few minutes early so that we could take first day pictures. I don’t know why it’s so stressful for me. I am the only one that wants the ‘perfect’ pictures and I’m also the only one that gets worked up when they aren’t. We did manage to get a few cute ones. Here is the brother/sister shot :) Aren’t they cute? And look Hudson and Landree have the exact color hair and I never realized it before.

A few with Mommy they conversation went something like this:

Landree scoot closer to Mommy

Closer.

Smile.

Hudson has his eyes closed

Landree, a real smile.

Fine.

Ok, lets take some with Daddy.

And I think these were about when Jeff threatened time out when she got home from school. CHEESE!

I guess maybe I do torture them just a tad because we had to have a few pictures of just them too.

She was holding some flower pods in her hand here. Just ready to get this over with!

They both had great days! Landree loves her teachers already! I know she is going to have a great year and will be so prepared for school next year. They are doing so many fun projects and I love her enthusiasm to learn! Today (the second day of school) she said “Mom, we get to do projects every day!”

Hudson did awesome too! WE ADORE his teachers. They are hands down why I chose the preschool and have stayed there! I couldn’t wait for Hudson to have his turn in their room. He did not cry when we left or when we picked up so I’m assuming it was a success in between. Miss Renee always writes a sweet not about how their day went. She said he was reminded to share :) and was a great listener. Had a great first day!

Hide and Seek

2011-09-05T00:04:00.003-04:00

One of our favorite things to do before bedtime is to play hide and seek. We all take turns hiding (usually all together). Landree is so funny because she’ll ask us to give a little whistle to give her a clue of where we are hiding.

Hudson has a Dr. Seuss book with tons of lift the flaps and he will talk to it and say uh-un after each flap like we do when we are looking and don’t find someone in a certain spot. Hudson is hard to hide with because he gets so tickled and yells Momma when I am looking for him. A few days ago he was standing at the door and I went to put something in the car, (10 feet away) when I got back he wasn’t standing there. I wasn’t worried he had come outside because he isn’t real fast at getting down the step, but a little panic did set in when I didn’t see him in the living room. I turned down the hall and ‘boo’ from out of the laundry room jumped Hudson just giggling!

Tonight Jeff and Landree went to a wedding and Hudson and I stayed home and hung out reading, playing, watching Dinosaur Train and of course hide and seek. After he hid in the closet a few times I grabbed the video camera.

Popee and Aunt Megan, I just want to point out how well I'm doing blogging! :) We have preschool starting on Tuesday and a zoo trip to still post so more pictures coming soon!

Hide and Seek with Hudson from Jennifer Gray on Vimeo.

Hudson is 2

2011-09-03T23:35:00.001-04:00

This is just a peek at our beach pictures. Stacey is still editing for me (some might call me high maintenance) I hope to take the kids out for birthday pictures when Momma is here so she can be my assistant.

Happy Birthday to you…

2011-09-03T00:31:00.000-04:00

We plan to celebrate our September birthday babies all month! Grandma got us kicked off a day early when we got a box on the door step on August 31st. It’s so fun to get a box that you’re not expecting. I was expecting a Thirty-One delivery and when I walked outside there was a big box sitting there from the USPS. We aren’t partial, we love all the delivery people :)

Hudson was already napping, but Landree and I couldn’t wait. We opened the box! Landree had so much fun looking through all the goodies searching for her name. (She does these little sideways eyes all the time now ;)

She loves her new fishing game!

A new projector, and devotional :) I am really excited about starting this with her. She LOVES reading her Bible and asks tons of good questions. We were reading about Adam and Eve last week and about the serpent in the Garden of Eden. She commented on what a good disguise that was.

Art supplies! You know she loved that! And I loved this organizing box :)

Aunt Maggie and Aunt Krissy sent Landree this sweet card. She LOVED it!

It didn’t take Landree long to find the sweet treats that Grandma sent.

And after bath time Hudson had a chance to check out his goodies too! He loves his new Cars rug.

And horsey-neigh

And I’m not sure whose idea the clarinets were, but THEY BOTH LOVE THEM! Don’t worry Aunts-we’ll save them for you kids!

And today was not only Hudson’s birthday, but Papa’s too! Happy Birthday Papa! We love you!

Happy Birthday Hudson!

2011-09-02T23:48:00.001-04:00

How in the world have the last two years gone so quickly!?! This morning we work up Hudson by all going into his room and singing him Happy Birthday. Last night Jeff and I had blown up a pack of balloons and put them in the floor of Hudson’s room.

Celebrate!

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Landree said Hudson really wanted to go to Krispy Kreme for breakfast and how could we argue with that? So we let him open up a present got dressed and headed out for a breakfast of champions-donuts!

Hudson loved his new car! He loves to tinker and use tools, and his new car can be ‘fixed’ and raced. Fun!

The birthday boy can wear the same shirt that he wore on his birthday last year. Here’s a little look back. Pretty much the same but taller, more hair, and even more handsome.

Back to the birthday breakfast-After picking our favorites we got settled in and ready to eat! Hudson and Landree loved every minute of their junky breakfast. Hudson keep saying he wanted more. I think all in all he ate 2 1/2 or 3 donuts. We finally cut him off. I was afraid he would be sick.

After breakfast we headed to Target to let Hudson pick out a little prize. We thought it would be fun for him to get some new cars to go with the cute car rug Grandma and Papa sent him for his birthday. He loves the Cars cars, but after looking around Target until all of our hearts content. Landree went away with a mile long list and Hudson only wanted a ball. Cheap date :) It was only 2.20! Somehow I don’t think we’ll get out that cheap when it’s Landree’s turn.

I made the yummiest and easiest pulled pork for lunch. You can’t go wrong with the Pioneer Woman. Landree and Hudson weren’t fans, but Jeff and I liked it on Sandwiches for lunch and in tacos for dinner. I ended up making Hudson a PB sandwich because he NEEDED something besides sugar. Then he headed to rest, and Landree and I started making cupcakes!

She is such a good helper and makes it so easy clean up since she licks all the bowls, spoons and beaters clean for me.

When Hudson woke up we had our cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday again. He was so happy and then…

The tears started flowing…I think the fire scared him. So we blew out the candles and then had cake.

Happy again!

Then more presents: We showed Hudson his new water table before heading outside to play with it. He also got a bubble blowing lawnmower-if it really cut the grass we’d be in good shape.

Tonight Landree and I headed to a birthday party for one of her friends while Daddy and Hud had a little father son time watching, How to Train Your Dragon. We finished off the evening with the kids bouncing on the birthday balloons and playing in Hudson’s room before bedtime. It was a great day!

We’ll be ‘partying’ with both kids next Friday night mermaid/pirate style at the church. Mia will be here on Wednesday to help finish up last min. details. We are so excited!

Hudson, I could not imagine a better fit for our little family than you. I love you to the moon and back! It had been such a blessing to watch you grow. I thank God every night for such a healthy, handsome, happy baby. I am so blessed to be your Momma! We love you so much! Happy Birthday!

Play day (or doh)

2011-08-30T23:16:00.000-04:00

I'm in the midst of getting ready to sell some clothes in our local consignment sale, party planning, and general life :) Popee pointed out it's been over 3 weeks since my last post so here are a few pics of what we've been doing lately. Lots of pj playing (or a diaper for Hudson since that is what he prefers) play doh shaping, with some tv watching thrown in. Landree and Hudson will start preschool next week so we are soaking up the last lazy days of summer. I am so greatful for the extra year I have Landree at home and for 2 September babies.

I started this post on my phone and the spacing is all messed up. I'm throwing this sweet pic of Hudson in because it's so cute! It's from a cool day (ha!) a month or so ago when we were enjoying some time outside.

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Landree and 4 1/2 and Hudson 19 months

2011-08-08T08:22:00.000-04:00

I realized that I never posted our pictures we had made in late April. We went to the same ag land that we had Hayden’s pictures made when he and Megan were here in March. It’s amazing how that grass has grown in the month or two? since we were there last. We actually just had beach pictures made yesterday so it will be fun to see how much they have grown since we had these made. The kids birthdays are just a few short weeks away. I can’t believe I’ll have a two and a 5 year old! Time flies!

Hudson’s First Haircut

2011-08-06T23:50:00.001-04:00

Hudson’s hair was getting just a tad bit long. It. is. CURLY! And oh so cute. I wasn’t ready for a big boy cut, but in the right weather it was looking a little clown-ish so I decided to get the scissors out and trim it myself. Curly hair doesn’t have to been straight and I figured with three adults we could do it. So Jeff stood guard, we gave Hudson a sucker, and Aunt Maggie took pictures for us. (Angie tells a story about Pete taking Jeff to get his hair cut-he left with blonde curly hair and she swears he came back with brown straight hair. We are safe grandma! Color and curl!)

We’re all smiles!

2011-07-18T18:33:00.000-04:00

I am so excited to have my camera back! It’s been in the shop. I plan to take pictures of the kids (and their faces!) with my DSLR! :) LOTS!

Here are a few pictures of my little man that I took to make sure my camera was working.

Hudson 22 Months

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This little man will be two in about 6 weeks and I can’t believe it! Time has flown by! We are already party planning (a brother and sister party this year with a pirate and mermaid theme).

Blooming Butterflies

2011-07-17T22:01:00.001-04:00

Last week we headed to the Children’s Museum for the blooming butterflies exhibit. It was amazing! They had appointment times and we got to be in there all alone for about 15-20 mins. The exhibit is outside in a ‘netted’ off garden room. The flowers are beautiful and there are hundreds of butterflies. I’m not sure if Hudson noticed even one, but he liked looking at the flowers and water fountain and being outside. Landree and her friend Logan were loving it! They were chasing after the butterflies and loved trying to find the ‘match’ on the info sheet they gave us before we went into the exhibit.

Again, I had my phone with me to take pictures so they aren’t the best, but I just got my camera back so hopefully I can get some better pictures of the kids next time. Landree and Logan wanted to match-don’t they look just like twins? Jennifer and I have the same {great} taste ;) so the girls and boys have lots of the same clothes (even shopping separately).

They put Gatorade in these little butterfly birdbaths-I’m not sure the purpose of the kitchen scrubber, but the lady at the museum said the Gatorade gives the butterflies energy. She said they live about 2 weeks and some of the monarchs can live up to 9 months.

They ship in eggs and then they are kept in this box to show the chrysalis and then the empty chrysalis (all stages). You can see some of the butterflies that are coming out of the chrysalis they leave them in here for their wings to dry before they let them out. The eggs that are laid in the exhibit are just left alone to grow and change naturally.

After the butterfly fly exhibit the kids headed straight for the bug! There is a Volkswagen bug that you can ‘drive’ and a place to rotate tires and lots of other fun things that the kids love to do. Hudson wanted to show Popee how he can rotate a tire at only 22 months. Look at him working that jack! He’s so fast I couldn’t get a clear shot of him!

After a stop at the firestation we headed over to the construction zone. Hudson had a great time building with the HUGE soft blocks while Landree made lunch over in the house that was under construction. Landree loves that house. This is a changing exhibit, but there is always the house. During winter is was all snowy and they had a little fire place and the tv was on the weather channel-the forecast was always snow! Before we headed over to Eddy (the two story boy) Landree moved the bulldozer (with her hands like a bike to knock over some bricks) It looks like she was about to run over Logan, but I assure you she wasn’t going that fast ;)

After sliding down the inside of Eddy a few times (sounds weird huh? Eddy is two stories and you can climb inside and see his heart and stomach and brain, etc. It’s really cool!) And shopping at the grocery store (Piggly Wiggly of course) we headed downstairs to eat our lunch and then headed to the yummy new frozen yogurt shop before heading home. It was a fun day and I can’t wait to go back soon!

Retro Camera

2011-07-14T23:13:00.000-04:00

We took a jump to smart phones a few months ago. We ended up switching carriers went with Android phones. We LOVE them! Honestly, I didn’t think I would be so attached, but I feel like my phone saves me so much time during the day. I’m a lot less likely to sit down at the computer during rest time now which saves me time since I’m less likely to keep sitting ;)

I love all the fun apps that are available! I have friends with iPhones and I would say most apps are similar, but the iPhone has Instagram (I’m not really familiar with it since I don’t have an iPhone, but they look retro) which I think is so fun-so when I saw the Retro Camera app I bought it! Here are a few of our recent tries with the retro camera. The app has 7 different cameras with different finishes. They also have a free version of the app if you’d like to try it. Are there any other apps you think I should try?

There are all taken at the Brewer’s house. Hudson loves the boys 4 wheelers. He was doesn’t have a helmet on in these pictures, but after I put it on him he wouldn’t take it off! He was sweating like a hot dog!

And these were all taken at Old Navy. The kids love the plastic dogs. What you don’t go there for photo shoots? Actually, Jeff had a mission trip lock in and was preaching the next day so I felt like I should give him a chance to sleep-I am not normally so generous with time to sleep, but felt like he needed it so the kids and I ran to the farmer’s market, the shoe store, Old Navy, the mall and Target. We even ate lunch out at a little Mexican restaurant. Poor Hud was so exhausted he fell asleep sitting straight up in his stroller at Target so we headed home for nap time!

Daddy Day!

2011-07-13T22:36:00.001-04:00

Jeff has been SO BUSY lately! With two weeks of beach camp behind him and preparing for a youth mission trip to Baltimore we are trying to soak up as much Daddy time as we can! Jeff is also rotating teaching in our adult services so he worked on the Fourth. So…the Friday before we got everything together to head to the pool. We started our morning with donuts at Krispy Kreme. Poor Hudson couldn’t stand all the fun-he fell asleep before we even got to the donut shop. The kids loved the sugary breakfast, balloons, and hats! After breakfast we headed to ‘our pool’. Our friends are so sweet to offer it to us anytime and we take full advantage of it. After a fun morning of swimming we headed home for lunch and naps. Landree ran errands with Jeff and then we had a fun movie night at home.

American Girl Store

2011-07-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

There is an American Girl Store in Dallas that we have been so excited to take Landree to for so long! This year we thought she would really be able to appreciate the store, the fun lunch, and a new Bitty Baby. Mia, Landree, Hudson, Maggie and I headed over in enough time to pick out her new Bitty Baby so that she could join us for our lunch appointment at the Bistro. We love hanging out with Aunt Maggie, but I was especially grateful that she was able to come with us because she helped tame the wild animal (Hudson) in the store. He actually loved playing with all the accessories. Landree chose one of the twins and named her Suzie. She, also, loved the accessories. You could buy a dolls worth of accessories in no time-they have blocks, and strollers, and potty seats, oh my! Landree chose a little diaper bag with a bottle, snacks and bib.

After we Mia (thank you) checked out we headed to lunch at the Bistro. It is so cute! A little girls dream! They have chairs for the dolls at the table (and even a doll you can use if you don’t have your own) and a cup of pink lemonade for them as well. Landree LOVED the little cup. She kept drinking the lemonade out of it and refilling it with her straw. Each entrée came with an appetizer so we chose a different one for each of us and all shared. Landree and Hudson were impressed with the chicken fingers :) There were two little girls sitting on either side of us that were having a birthday lunch. Landree didn’t quite understand why they weren’t brining out cake and ice cream to us, but they were so sweet to share! Seriously, one little girl was with her sister, mom and grandma and asked the waiter to cut her a piece of cake too. And when Hudson was getting a little wild and I was walking around with him the other table asked if he liked ice cream. They insisted that we all have a bowl. Landree said she wants to come back for her birthday. Maybe we can have a delayed celebration in December when we are back in town.

Hudson enjoyed wearing the napkin holders as bracelets. That knot on his head is from falling into the coffee table at Grandma’s that morning.

And of course we had to get a group shot. One of the sweet ladies at the store came out to take a picture for us with my phone. I actually had my nice camera with us and the battery died before I even got to take a picture. I am just glad I had my phone :) I posted this picture on facebook and someone made a comment about feeling sorry for Hudson. I just reminded them that he will love having an older sister in a few years when all her cute friends are coming over. He doesn’t complain about doing girl stuff with us {yet!}

Free Fun

2011-07-08T22:44:00.001-04:00

I am determined my blog will not be abandoned, however it may be ‘facebook’ style for a while. While my camera is in the shop pictures are all from my phone and words may be few, but they will be documented :)

Tonight we headed to Chick-fil-a in pseudo cow costumes to eat chicken for Cow Appreciation Day. They had a cow pattern on their website that you could print to get a free entree. Landree had her cow ears attached to a crown, as any princess cow would, and Hudson and I had ours attached to baseball caps. I loved the “Eat More Chicken” signs :) We have a youth group student that works at CFL that Landree loves. She was so excited to see if he would recognizer her. The cow was there and Landree was in LOVE. Hudson was only a fan from afar.

And this morning I went to the blueberry farm to pick yummy blueberries! If you have a farm near you I highly recommend you go. They are delicious! So much better than from the store. I picked about 13 pounds, and they are only $1.25 a pound. This is only about half of them. I put most of them in the freezer, but saved a few pounds to eat this week. I ate about 7 pounds in a week a few years ago. They are like eating candy! I hope I can ago at least one more time before the season is over.

Hope you’re weekend is off to a great start!

Texas style

2011-07-07T23:54:00.001-04:00

We really enjoyed our time in TX (like always). We got in a little family vaca before Jeff and I headed to Haiti-lots of time relaxing, doing nothing, and spending time with family. The first Saturday we were in town we headed over to the big city where Jeff’s brother and SIL live to watch our neice play in a volleyball tournament. She is AMAZING and only 12! I think she may have a scholarship in her future and it was so fun watching her! Landree and Hudson loved hanging out in the stands eating the ~~junk~~ snacks that Grandma packed for them, watching the game and cheering H on.

Don’t feed the animals!

Uncle B and the kids after Sunday dinner. I think he volunteers to hold them so he can sneak in a cat nap too!

Our little dress up girl loved when Mia pulled out some of my old dance costumes. I wore this when I was probably 8 or so, it was big, but Landree made it work and wore it just about the entire 6 weeks we were in TX.

One of our favorite things to do when we are at the Gray’s house is stay up and watch moves with Jeff’s sisters or play games. Jeff, Maggie and I played monopoly one night and I lost terribly! I always lose games to Jeff-he is awesome at games, especially strategy games! On this paticular night Jeff and Maggie had all the best cards, they bought up all the properties and I was left with a few railroads, that made me tons of MONEY! I was sure I was going to lose, but when they didn’t have any money left they kept having to mortgage properties (and were to stubborn to help each other with trades) and I WON! First time ever!

Enjoying a half price cone from the DQ-this treat was twice as sweet when we lucked into the sale! We all ate blizzards and ice cream for about $4!

Even more phone photos to come!

Phone Photos

2011-06-23T00:04:00.001-04:00

My camera is in the shop, and honestly it’s so easy to take phone photos that that is a lot of what I take these days-I am so thankful that it takes pretty good pictures.

So in no particular order here is our month in recap phone photo style Here we go:

I organized our women’s banquet at church the weekend before we left for TX. You know since I didn’t have enough going on packing for Texas and Haiti and everything for the kids. Melody did such a wonderful job sharing her heart-I can’t say enough good things about her. I met her when I did her blog makeover a few years ago and when I asked if she would speak at our banquet I wasn’t sure if she would be willing to drive 4 hours, but she did and she was awesome! She is so funny and is so close in her relationship with the Lord that she can learn a lesson in every situation and she is so good to share about it on her blog. Thanks so much Melody!

Just a few days later was Mother’s day. We were super busy finishing up our packing, Jeff was finishing up at church, etc. but they were so sweet to let me sleep in and cook me breakfast (which Jeff does most of the time anyway Bring me sweet cards and flowers. Landree was so excited! And my roses were beautiful! They were really the prettiest roses I’ve ever seen!

And the next morning we were heading out for our whirl-wind TX/Haiti/TX/SC tour :) We usually go to CO in July, but Jeff will be preaching during that time so we took a early ‘vacation’ to spend time with family and friends before Jeff and I headed to Haiti. On the 19th Jeff flew home to meet the college students and they headed to FL on the 22nd where I met them before we all flew to Haiti on Monday morning. That is another post in it self, so here are a few pictures from our trip to TX.

We always stop at the same hotel in MS. The kids love it-they have popcorn in the lobby and a great pool. We always get a suite so the kids can go to bed early and we don’t have to go to bed at 8. There is this carousal horse out front that Landree loves to ride.

I had big plans to get a picture at each state line, but LA was the only one that we got one at. I especially wanted one in TX, but the kids had just fallen asleep. Landree wasn’t excited about this-maybe in the next few years we can have one from every state we pass through.

Hudson loved ‘driving’ when we would stop. We posted this on facebook-Jeff is so funny, here is the commentary.

We should make good time now! May 9 via Facebook for Android

Jillian Phillips Fuller Lol too funny! May 9 at 3:47pm · LikeUnlike
Jeff Gray He did great for like 5 minutes then he fell asleep at the wheel..we are with the cop now. Appearantly this is illegal in alabama...who knew

May 9 at 3:59pm · LikeUnlike
Jillian Phillips Fuller Lol jeff ur crazy

May 9 at 4:09pm · LikeUnlike
Lauren Player It's brother! He could drive me around Jeff! May 9 at 4:16pm · LikeUnlike
Terry C. Hunt too cute, I am sure the cops let him slide.. he is too darn cute!

May 9 at 4:28pm · LikeUnlike
Jennifer Humphries Gray What? And you're not in Texas yet? Maybe Landree needs to work the gas for this little guy!

May 9 at 4:53pm · LikeUnlike

And for the sake of posting this tonight! I will continue my phone photos tomorrow :) Good night!

Summer Fun!

2011-06-21T00:09:00.001-04:00

I don’t know if I’ve ever gone a month (and a half) without blogging! I hope it doesn’t happen again either-I’ve been so slack because we’ve been out of town, and I honestly just haven’t been motivated because I’m so behind. I love being able to look back at the blog at what we’ve done and see how much the kids have grown and when I get behind I feel like I need to go back and catch up and then I am not sure where to start! So I’m starting simple-this won’t make the grandparents happy, but hopefully it will help me get back into the swing of things. I saw a summer fun list on this blog. And knew I wanted to make one too! I am painting a big frame with chalkboard paint to use in our kitchen, and I will be listing all of the fun things we want to do on it! Here are just a few Landree and I talked about today.

Eating watermelon for dinner
popsicles for breakfast
movie nights
Landree and Daddy camping in the living room
swimming with friends (lots!)
fo-yo with friends
Easter egg hunting in the house
making sidewalk chalk paint
sleepovers
making fresh squeezed lemon-aid
walks/wagon rides
drive in movie
make homemade icecream
summer crafts
read lots of new books
make playdoh
children’s museum
Sonic Happy Hour
Birthday Party planning-A joint pirate party
Slash park
paint

And I’m sure there are a million more-what are you doing this summer? Any ideas?

Mother’s Tea 2011

2011-05-07T23:57:00.001-04:00

Landree asked every day this week if it was mother’s day. She was super excited about Mother’s Tea at her preschool. I asked Jennifer if she would keep Hudson so I could really enjoy the morning with my sweet girl. All the kids were excited to see their mommas come in-they were all lined up at the front of the room. As we came in we found our corsage that the kids made us and then sat down for the program. They sang a few sweet little songs. Landree had already sang most of them to me at home. It was funny to listen to them because at home she is so loud, but at school they were all whispering. I think it’s because the teacher was whispering the songs along with them. :)

Then we had snacks. The kids decorated cupcakes for us and they had sandwiches and fruit. Landree said they had the best sandwiches because they have a kitchen at school and they make the best triangle sandwiches! I think it was the white bread. I don’t think she’s ever had it.

Preschool-Mother's Tea 2011 from Jennifer Gray on Vimeo.

Recital Pictures

2011-05-02T00:00:00.001-04:00

Landree’s dance teacher was going over the ‘rules’ about leaving there costume alone, and not stopping if they loose their shoes, etc. If you watch the videos you can tell this little pep talk helped :)

I think Hudson was crying because I might have said no to him having a 3rd cupcake. Either way he didn’t want to take a picture, but he’s still a cutie. He did manage to sit and dance along through the entire tap routine. He loves music.

We are so proud of you Landree Grace, you did a fabulous job!

And a little sneak peak at the cute little cupcake toppers I made for the recital.

Dance Recital 2011

2011-04-30T19:27:00.001-04:00

Sort of: Jeff and I are going to be in Haiti during Landree’s dance recital and I couldn’t bear the thought of missing it or telling her she had to miss it. I asked about rescheduling, but that wasn't good for the other 300 people involved :) I’m only ~~sort of~~ joking. So I thought it would be fun to have a little dress rehearsal at our church on stage and then a small party afterward. Only three other girls were able to participate today, but we had so much fun and Landree loved it and that’s all that matters to me. And Jeff and I got to be there ~~and we didn’t have to sit through another hour and a half of the recital!~~

They did both a ballet and tap dance. Quite entertaining!

Dance 2011 from Jennifer Gray on Vimeo.

Dance 2 2011 from Jennifer Gray on Vimeo.

I’ll post more dance pictures soon!

Happy Anniversary

2011-04-27T15:29:00.001-04:00

Nine years ago I married my best friend. I am so blessed! Jeff, I love you more than ever! The kids and I are so blessed to have you. You are a wonderful husband, dad, and provider for our family. Your love for Jesus and people is obvious in everything you do, what a great example to our family and others. You always think of us first and you are so generous. I love you!

We joked that the first year or two of our marriage seemed like an eternity, and we can’t believe now that it’s been 9 years. We got married and moved 9 days later, Jeff started seminary, we started new jobs, etc. and to say it was stressful would be the understatement of the century. I hated Columbia, and made it very clear daily. I did not want to be here. I am so grateful that the Lord placed the right people in our lives, a wonderful church, and that he began to change my heart. I’ve gotten to experience pregnancy and motherhood with friends and (at least for now) this is our home. And, I think, it’s the best thing that every happened to us. We have had to be dependent on each other for everything and I know that our relationship is better for it.

A sweet couple from church kept the kids for us last Friday night so that we could have a night away. It was really nice just hanging out and catching up. We went to dinner and the movies, slept in, went to Starbucks and then lunch before heading home. FUN!

I love you Jeff! I can’t wait to many more years to come! Happy Anniversary!

Strawberry Picking

2011-04-19T23:03:00.001-04:00

This week is spring break for our local schools and Landree’s preschool follows the same schedule. This morning we went strawberry picking! I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but I can tell you that Hudson ate his weight in strawberries and really enjoyed playing in the dirt. Landree loved eating too and picking and talking with her friends. After we picked two big baskets we headed to the park to play for a bit before we headed to lunch. Poor Hudson feel asleep on the way to the park and on the way home from lunch. Strawberry picking is hard work! (actually, they were super easy to pick :)

He also liked eating the dirt (more like sand). He must be deficient in something! He did the same thing at the beach last year.

Landree loved the strawberries too!

The girls :)

Don’t be fooled by the picture. I had her pick one for the camera. I think the kids ate more than they picked.

I bet I took 50 group pictures. They are funny! The first 20-no Samuel and they just go down hill from there :) This is the first shot and probably the best, but we had a fun time :)

And the last shot-not even one of them are looking.

LOVE. THESE. TWO

2011-04-16T22:23:00.001-04:00

We’ve had a fun week and lots to talk about, but for tonight, here are a few sweet pictures of my little loves! Here they are playing firemen going to save Aunt Megan’s house (I couldn’t make this stuff up-Landree doesn’t forget anything! Aunt Megan’s house burned last summer and we are still talking about it!) before bath time. They play so well together. I hope they always will (fingers crossed!)

PJ Days

2011-04-03T22:53:00.001-04:00

We have spent lots of time in our pajamas the last few weeks, and I haven’t even picked up my camera until my dad asked me to update my my blog, so Daddy these are for you!

We’ve been passing some sort of bug around for the last few weeks-maybe even longer. Hudson was sick when my mom was here, the next week Landree and Jeff were sick and we stayed home most of this past week because Hudson was sick again. And I’ve been about to claw my eyes out because of my allergies the last few days, but we push forward! Praise the Lord Hudson is better! We got to go to church this morning (after missing last week) and small group tonight.

On Thursday when I was taking Landee to school she said, “Mommy, I’m not sick anymore?” And I told her no she wasn’t and she told me she was glad because, “she likes to get around.” My dad always tells me I am going to ruin the kids by going all the time. I guess this just proves I already have, but that’s ok, because they are happy going and I am too.

I don’t think Jeff has ever played Rock Band in front of Hudson, but somehow he knows how to play the drums.

Jeff and Landree created a little cave in our bedroom and Landree has loved playing in there. When I’ve had to pull the blanket back onto my bed at night she asks why I tore up the cave.

More Soccer

2011-03-21T22:46:00.001-04:00

So our games usually start out something like this…

And even though she is holding Daddy’s hand as she runs down the field, it just takes a little time to warm up before she is playing on her own.

Jeff is the one that pulled her socks up like that. And thank goodness we have ONE orange bow. We were expecting pink jersey’s, but had to settle for orange.

I’m pretty sure this was some sort of dancing, not soccer :)

A little pep talk from coach Dad.

And Hudson had fun on the sidelines playing soccer too :)

Soccer Season 2011

2011-03-14T23:29:00.001-04:00

Soccer is going to be so much fun! Saturday was a beautiful (FULL) day! Landree and Jeff woke up early and headed to Dad’s breakfast at school before heading to the soccer field. We originally thought an all girl team would be so fun, but considering 3 of our 6 girls couldn’t make it through a practice we were starting to doubt ourselves :)

We do have one superstar that is almost 2 years older than everyone else and thank goodness! She got lots of play time which I’m sure she enjoyed and helped our little team out lots! We don’t keep score, but if we did I’m pretty sure we lost. Jeff was running up and down the field holding both Landree and L’s hand at one point. To our defense, our practice time was rained out and after the game was about over our girls were really getting into the game :)

Soccer 3 from Jennifer Gray on Vimeo.

L started out a little shy, but by the end of the game she was running up and down the field holding Jeff’s hand :)

Jake and Hudson had fun playing on the side lines.

Our soccer girl in action!

After a quick lunch at CiCi’s we headed home for a quick rest time before going back out for our friend Logan’s 4th birthday party. Mia is in town for the rest of the week. I am working on getting consignment sale clothes in order and getting this house cleaned up!

Yesterday was Mia’s birthday. Happy Birthday Mia! Poor Hudson had a fever yesterday so we stayed home from church and rested-the time change along with Hudson being up off and on was hard on us. I turned around yesterday and realized that I was making my coffee (with my Keurig) in Hudson’s sippy cup. So I would say it was a much needed rest.

Hope you’re having a great week!

Together forever, never apart. Maybe in distance, but never in heart.

2011-03-09T21:46:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday my two BFF’s in the whole wide world (and Hayden, our little BFF in the making) came into town to visit with us. We had so much fun hanging out, eating, shopping, playing and laughing! I am so blessed to have ~~good~~ the best friends! I’ve know Megan since birth and Shauna has been my friend since 4th grade. That’s a long time folks!

We headed over to have Hayden’s pictures made on Friday at this really cool Ag area in the Northeast and Stacy took a few pictures of Megan, Shauna and I too. It was so fun! Never mind that we had all three kids with us and they aren’t in one of these pictures. Don’t worry they were throwing dirt at each other/eating it by the handful :-) Just kidding, sort of, the good thing is that it’s really off the road so they could play while we had our little photo shoot.

Background: Megan and I were cheerleaders. We had so much fun making fun of ourselves noticing my tight fists and straight arms while I jumped. My necklace hit my teeth while we were jumping. So fun and funny! I’ll treasure these pictures forever. Love these girls!

I love Megan and Shauna’s faces, and I love Shauna’s (not cheerleader) fun hands.

And Landree wanted to jump in for a picture. Of course, she never wants her picture taken-unless it’s Hayden’s turn. Stacey was so sweet to indulge us. I love the way this one turned out. She is such a doll! I think that we may go back here for our pictures soon. The green field was so beautiful!

They are all gone now and my mom will be coming on Friday. So we are playing catch up for a few days. Landree has her first soccer game on Saturday. Based on our practices it should be interested. We have an all girl team (which we really wanted) but I’m a little worried since there hasn’t been one practice were 4 out of 6 of them have actually wanted to practice. Stay tuned for a funny video coming soon!

Hudson Walking

2011-03-02T23:52:00.001-05:00

Poppee this is for you! I haven’t gotten much video of Hudson walking because when he notices that I’m video-ing him he is more interested in that, case in point, the quick video below. He was so funny throwing Landree’s cat and then going to pick it up. That is his favorite game these days throwing something and then going to get it. He’s even better than a puppy because he even throws the object himself :)

He is also loving on Landree’s stuffed animals more these days it’s so cute! And he picked up one of her baby bottles and feed a puppy last night it was so sweet! I am amazed at how smart he is.

We love you family! And can’t wait to see you soon!

Also, my two BFFs {Shauna and Megan (and Hayden)} are heading my way in the morning! I am so excited! We’ve been so busy running errands and having play dates that I haven’t even cleaned the house. The good thing about BFFs is they don’t care and they will help me clean if it really bothers them (which it won’t!)

Hudson throwing cat and talking from Jennifer Gray on Vimeo.

Our Soccer Girl

2011-02-26T23:41:00.001-05:00

Landree just started soccer last weekend, and so far it’s a hit! She is loving it and Jeff is so excited that Landree is loving a sport (we don’t know a thing about soccer, but he’s just glad it’s a sport!) And Hudson is loving going to the soccer games and rolling in the grass and chasing the extra soccer balls down the side lines. These first few pictures are from last week. After I got her shin guards, socks and shoes she wore them all night around the house. I got her a pair of soccer shorts too and they were so big that they fell right off as she ran around the house so her first official practice she wore a denim skort and cute shirt :)

And these are from this morning. This slacker momma hasn’t been anywhere else to get soccer shorts so so we wore comfy pants, but it’s ok we still have a few more weeks before our games start. Jeff and a friend are coaching Landree’s team and we are going to have an all girl team. We may not score a goal the entire season, but it will be fun! And I think we are going to get to have pink jersey’s. Here is Landree and 2 of her friends at the back of the pack :) They have the cutest skip run :)

Landree and a friend were doing a drill and they were going to be kicking the ball back and forth to one another. The coach gave them a gray ball and Logan said, “but that ball is much cuter” after pointing to a pink ball.

And here are a few pictures of my sweet, growing, almost 18 month old little boy. He is so funny, and feisty, and growing too fast!

Valentine’s Day 2011

2011-02-14T22:31:00.001-05:00

We’ve had a great Valentine’s day here, Jeff and I decided that we wouldn’t do anything big and that we would go out on a weekend soon, but he never disappoints. When we got home from dance Jeff had left us a note on the door.

So we headed to our rooms to find out goodies =) Landree was so excited!

She loved her balloon and candy and her flower. She loves fresh flowers. And Hudson LOVED his balloon! I haven’t given him any candy.

And I loved my tulips! I much prefer tulips to roses! They are my favorite!

We played this afternoon and then Landree got ready for her big date tonight with Daddy. She and Jeff went to Cici’s and to play at Chuckie Cheese. They had so much fun-Landree ate more candy today than I think she ever has and she even got a princess figurine at Chuckie Cheese-one that was about 300 tickets and she only had 28 tickets. She told the lady that she wanted the Aurora and the lady said they only had Cinderella and Ariel, but she ended up with an Aurora. You don’t argue with a 4 year old about her princess-she knows them! :)

Landree wanted to look very fancy tonight. I suggested that she wear her red petti skirt and we painted her nails and she wore a fancy braclet and necklace too.

Here she is posing for me-while waiting on her nails to dry :)

And before their big date:

They had a great night and so did Hudson and I we ate Chickfila which I loved because I didn’t have to cook and then he took a bath and we read lots of books before bed time.

We hate the stomach bug! Valentine’s box and catching up…

2011-02-02T22:55:00.001-05:00

You probably wouldn’t even believe me if I told you that this sweet little thing had the stomach bug just a few hours after slithering on our kitchen floor, in a petty skirt, like a snake on Saturday afternoon, would you? We headed to friends on Saturday afternoon to eat dinner and watch a movie. After walking in the door putting Hudson down, our things down, and taking our coats off Landree threw up mere steps from the hardwoods right onto the carpet. So we changed her clothes, cleaned the floor, packed up and headed home. Poor girl made it a mile down the road before she got sick again. It was awful! Thankfully, she only got sick one more time and was able to sleep the rest of the afternoon. I bleached every toy in the house before I got sick around ten on Saturday evening. All I can say is yuck! I hate getting sick! Praise the Lord Hudson and Jeff didn’t get it. We stayed home Sunday and have been pretty low key the last few weeks. It’s just too cold to do anything outside. I’m ready for spring!

Hudson wanted his picture made too.

And I know these pictures are pitiful, but I’m sharing them anyway. Jeff took them, but I made him. Poor Landree doesn’t get the concept of getting sick in the trashcan or toilet. She was actually sleeping twice when she started getting sick. So the last time she said her tummy hurt Jeff wanted her to come into the bathroom-poor baby laid her head down on the stool and feel asleep. After a few minutes I picked her up and took her back to bed. No more getting sick-yea!

Enough about that, we’re all much better and Landree was hopping around the house by Sunday morning! Monday we got a fun box in the mail from Grandma, it was filled with lots of goodies wrapped in pink and red tissue for Landree and Hudson. Grandma is so sweet to send us a fun box every few months filled with lots of special treats. Landree was so excited to open it because she knows it’s going to be something fun for her. And we weren’t disappointed. She got a new magnetic ballet/dress up doll book, and a pez dispenser, and a ‘Texas Princess’ shirt (never mind neither of our children were born in TX we are brain washing them! It’s hard for me to even grasp they aren’t Texans! Texans are the only ones that understand me now, I know) and a new fancy Nancy book and another sticker coloring book, and her FAVORITE, pink heart and flower marshmallows (they didn’t have her name on them, but she knew they were hers. Grandma always gives the girl marshmallows. And Hudson got a couple of really cute books and car and a cute cowboy (not Dallas, but spurs and hat) shirt. Thanks so much for the fun box Grandma!

And today we ran a few quick errands, I actually mailed my taxes (to the tax lady-they aren’t officially done). This is definitely the first time I’ve ever had them done this early. We have to keep up with all housing related expenses, bills, receipts, etc. because Jeff is a pastor. We can write off our ‘housing allowance’ but it’s a lot to keep up with. It’s really more like a beating to me! I hate paper work and keeping up with it! So I'm so glad it’s over! I plan to stay on top of it this year! Every year I’ve gotten a little better about keeping up with it.

Landree and I made a batch of funfetti cookies today. They are so yummy! It’s just a box of Funfetti cake mix (or any really) with 2 eggs and 1/3 cup of oil. They are the yummiest, fluffiest, easiest cookies ever to make! I need to go eat a few more dozen before Jeff gets home so they won’t tempt him.

Hope you’re all well and having a great week!

16 Months Old

2011-01-25T22:49:00.002-05:00

Hudson, in the last month, you’ve gone from a baby to a toddler in my eyes. You’re getting so lean and losing your baby fat. You are a doll. You are quiet, unless your loud :) You’re quiet compared to Landree at least. You don’t talk much, but you understand every word we say and can respond with a head shake yes or no. Your favorite word is “this” and that is how you refer to everything. You want ‘this, this, this!’ Your other favorite word is Momma, normal babel is ma, ma, ma and then when you want me it’s MAMA! You make elephant sounds, puppy, and kitty every once in a while. I think you like to watch me doing them acting silly instead, and you will only do the sounds when you want to do them.
You are so cute how you hand me your paci when you are about to take a drink. You probably use the paci a little too much, but I think it’s so cute and I’m so glad you don’t suck your thumb! (I know that is going to be hard habit for sister to break!)
You love to play with Landree. You already know how to push her buttons too (like every little brother should). The other day you had a fisher price horse that goes with your barn and she wanted it. She kept asking you if she could have the horse and you’d just shake your head no. You carried that horse around all afternoon (I think so she couldn’t play with it.) You love her to pieces and love to love on, lay on, wrestle with her. And she is so crazy about you too! You love to play in her room too with all of her toys. You are especially fond of her doll house and princess dolls. And you’ve both been enjoying her cardboard house, but you love to get in there and hide and then pop out of the windows.

We now know you can walk. You took your first steps a few weeks ago to me at church, but you still choose not to the majority of the time. I guess crawling is just faster. :)

You are such a happy baby! And you still let me hold and love on you. You love to bump your head against mine (or daddy or Landree’s) and leave it there to love on us. You also have a little temper (just a tiny one) when you don’t get your way you like to squeal and head-butt.

We went to the doctor last week for your 15 month well check (just a month and a half late) and you weighed 23.14 pounds, were 32 1/2 inches and in the 50-75%. You are still wearing 18 month clothes and size 5 diapers.

Hudson, I love you so much! I love watching you grow! You are so much fun and we are so glad you are a part of our family! Happy 16 months!
Love, Mommy

Welcome Home-The Master Bedroom

2011-01-16T23:44:00.002-05:00

I’m going to be doing a little ‘home tour’ and hopefully it will get me motivated to finish things up around here. Our house isn’t anything fancy. I don’t really know what my style is-I used to joke anything white with paint chipping off of it was my style. I buy what I like :) and lucky for me Jeff doesn’t say much about it. We managed to set up two other homes since we’ve lived in Columbia in a matter of days and we’ve lived here for just over a year now and I still have things that need to be finished. Not one single wall in this house had a lick of paint on it so we had to paint everything! Jeff did lots of the painting when we were at home last Christmas. He moved everything for us and handled our closing, etc. since Hudson was so little and we couldn’t really help. Anyway on to the tour…
I have something to say about everything. I am getting new lamps soon. I think I like one of these. I need to measure how tall they will be on my side tables. We have two different heights right now, but I will get two of the same of these.

The dresser and side tables are antique and have been redone. They are from Birdie’s Antiques in Canton. I LOVE them! When we knew we were moving and were buying a king size bed I knew we would be getting new furniture. I had a set picked out at JCPenny’s that I liked, but I’ve always loved the antiques at Birdie’s and Jeff agreed so I got the white furniture I loved. Now the down side is that they don’t make (or it’s hard to come across) king size antique headboards so we used our tin metal tile headboard thing that my mom and I made (from old tin metal tiles) from our old bedroom. I really do love it, but I HATE the color that it is right now. It’s on my to do list, and pronto! It was white with a green wash to match our old walls. Megan and I tried to use a little brown stain to pick up the browns in my duvet, and well, this is how it turned out. Soon enough it will be fixed. I got the coffee table that is at the end of the bed at Canton for (you’ll never guess) $2.50! We bought another coffee table from a man we know for $5 and he gave us this one for free. So $2.50 a piece, not a bad deal! Momma and I started painting it, but it needs to be finished. It’s all a work in progress! My curtain rods are from Lowe’s and if you’ll notice they have a sweet little bird on each corner. I love them. It took me FOREVER to decide on bedding. I’m still not 100%, but I’m most happy with what I have now. The white matelassé is the Shabby Chic line they carry at Target and the duvet is and matching shams are from HomeGoods. My mom got me the pillow there also. I love the ruffles on it! I was looking in the Ballard catalog today and think that one of their natural burlap billows with a monogram would look really good though :) I had a few duvets, but I decided that I don’t like the messy look of a duvet. I love them in magazines and other peoples houses, but I’m too much of a neat freak and if Jeff sits on the bed I would freak out.

And here is my picture wall. I love it! I think I tell Jeff at least once a day how it’s my favorite part of our room. It’s on my side of the bed and I love waking up to the sweet family pictures we have displayed there. (Landree wanted to be in the pictures) I definitely have room for more pictures, but I am sort of a creature of habit and once I get used to something I probably will never change it.

And looking from our bed. I LOVE our dresser! I think it’s beautiful and our side tables match it exactly. And just ignore that pile of pictures that need to be put up or hung. I’m just keeping it real, and it’s really been much worse. Jeff just stacked them there a few days ago. Megan and I hung the plates when she was here last. I can’t seem to get anything done alone. I love for Momma and Megan to come. I make them work! I have been collecting plates for a while knowing I could use them anywhere, but I think most of these are from the Good Samartian’s in Emory. They were probably a quarter. Seriously! It’s the best thrift store ever! The platter in the middle is from TJMaxx and I think it was $4! Now, the plate hangers are $2 a piece, what a rip! Here’s a tutorial I wish I’d seen before I invested $30 in plate hangers around my home!
The chair in the corner is a blue and white gingham that belonged to my Nanny that I had recovered for my first apartment. It’s not the most comfy, but it’s sturdy! And I’ve slept many a night in that chair when I nursed Landree. Jeff has too when he would stay up and hold her. The back is really short so it’s definitely not a great sleeping chair for a man that’s 6’4. That’s why we ordered a comfy gliding chair for Hudson room.

I want to add something to each side of the dresser, but I’m not sure what. I love how home-y and warm it feels with collages/grouping of things on the wall. I’m currently in love with these looks from Holly Mathis’ blog, but somehow I feel like if it’s at my house it will look junky. Does anyone else feel like that? Also I don’t think my room looks near as bear as it does in the pictures. Plus these are over a twin sized bed so would it look weird with something on the sides of my headboard or dresser? Ideas please! Go.

Somehow I missed taking a picture of the other big wall in our room. It has the two windows on it and our television is centered in between it. I also have a hope chest on that centered under the television. I use it to store extra sheets and pillows.
I’d love to hear ideas. Somehow I felt like this room was a completed before I posted pictures :)

Blog Book and Baskets of Fun

2011-01-14T23:16:00.001-05:00

I bought a Blog2Print gift card on Groupon a few months back-it was $12 for a $25 credit. I jumped on the chance to have an excuse to print my blog. I’ve been meaning to have it done for too long. I even downloaded all of the Blurb software and it was just too overwhelming so I decided to do it later. So here’s my little personal review, all my own opinions, about Blog2Print.

I love the book! It’s almost like a year book. And I’ve loved looking through it. It was a very easy process I just plugged in my dates and it pulled it all from my blog for me. I definitely think it’s an easier option than Blurb, HOWEVER, I don’t like that every post that I had done via Picasa has a huge blogger picture tile thing at the end. Such a waste of space and it’s not cute! Also, it chose the pictures for me on the cover and back and I don’t remember it saying anything about the resolution being low and they are grainy. I couldn’t figure out how to swap them out. It could have been that I was working on this on New Year’s Eve (the day my gift card expired) but I’m pretty capable when it comes to this type of thing and I couldn’t figure it out. Also, it allows you to choose posts you’d like to leave out or choose posts with certain labels. I did try to leave certain posts out and for some reason it didn’t save. None the less, I love the book. It cost about $55 with my gift card so it would have been about $80 and this is the first 7 months that I blogged. I think I might try Blurb next. Has anyone used them? What did you think? Was it easy for you to use?

And moving on, we’ve been having baskets of fun around here. I mean really look at Landree’s face :) I’ve been working on cleaning/organizing during our ‘snow storm’ and Hudson and Landree were having so much fun crawling in and out of the laundry basket while I worked in my room. You can’t tell from background, because we moved all of our extra frames, etc. to one spot and it happens to be behind them. Megan has started a home tour and I can’t let her show me up. She’s been in her house for a whole month and we’ve lived here for over a year. I need to get things finished up!

We are still enjoying the house. This morning Hudson was about to crawl out the window. Seriously, I recommend this house. Target. Run, they might sell out!

Today we ran to the store and the bank while Jeff went to work for a few hours (missing work isn’t any fun if you still have to make it up!) Hudson was reaching for a balloon as soon as we walked in the door, so I got one for he and Landree. It was a good 3 minutes before Landree’s was floating at the top of the store, but Hudson had a death grip on his. And this is how he spent most of the afternoon.

Weather.com is calling for more snow next weekend. I don’t know if I can handle it. It is fun for the first hour outside, but then I’m over it. Good thing we have our cardboard house.

Snow Day-take 2

2011-01-11T22:42:00.002-05:00

So yesterday was a great day, but this momma can only be at home so long (especially in a dirty house). My dad says that I am ruined, always going, all the time, and that I’m ruining the kids too. And I may be, but we have fun going :)
So on our second day at home-ALL. DAY. LONG. Hudson lifted weights.

I pulled out all my tricks so I could clean and keep the kids entertained. Jeff was here and was helping clean too. And while it might look a little messy right now we got a lot done today. Landree got this super fun play house from Aunt Gigi and Uncle Brian for Christmas and it was the perfect entertainment for our snow day. It’s from Target in the marker/school-ish section. I highly recommend it!

We colored the outside for a while and then Landree wanted to play inside. I suggested she decorate the inside too. It was the perfect opportunity for her to hang the princess poster we used for a game at her birthday party. Yes, I am the type of mom that wouldn’t let her hang a princess poster in her room. But, in my defense she never asked ~~since I hid it~~. I drew her a frame so she could draw our family in it. I love her sweet little happy face drawings. She said that princess picture was her TV. She and Hudson had the most fun playing in it most of the afternoon. And I got the Christmas tree down! Now I just have to get the totes into the garage and eventually into the attic.

I hope you’ve all had a great day! Hats off to all you Northern girls. I seriously don’t know how you do it!

Snow much fun!

2011-01-10T22:35:00.002-05:00

We’ve had the best family day today. It started snowing last night around midnight and Jeff and I were so excited we could hardly stand it! I mentioned to Landree that it might snow today and she already had plans of playing outside ALL DAY LONG. That’s what she said. So after breakfast and a special treat of hot chocolate with whipped cream on top we got on our southern snow gear (a few pair of pants, leg warmers, an undershirt, shirt, vest, jacket, rain boots, hat and coat) and headed out to play. Hudson and I started getting ready and after he found the chalk and had a little fit I decided he needed to go ahead and take a nap and forego the outside play. Poor little guys misses all the fun, but really he had a blast playing all day long in his jammies in our toasty house :)
I joined Jeff and Landree outside and we started rolling snowballs to make a snowman. Of course Landree remembered making 4 snowmen last year (one for each of us) so she insisted we do that again. After about an hour our neighbors joined us outside and the girls played. I took a few pictures, but put the camera down so I could really play. Once Landree declared her hands as ‘cold as ice cubes’ we headed in and started making lunch. The neighbors joined us for black bean soup and grilled cheese and we sat at the table all afternoon talking while the girls played dress up and doll house (they play so well together) and Hudson played I the kitchen floor. It was a great afternoon!

After they headed home, we went all out and made sandwiches again for dinner and watched Stuart Little. Landree and I are reading the book together right now. They really are not alike, and Landree did not like any of the cat scenes in the movie. She is scared of something in most movies and really understands the emotional side. She got a little teary when Stuart was leaving his adoptive parents to go with the mouse parents. Maybe she’s too young to watch it. Any other 4 year old parents have an opinion? One of the cats did say a few bad words which I did not like-it’s a PG movie for kids. Not necessary!
After the movie we started getting ready for bed and Landree was singing and dancing (normal occurrence for her) so I got out the video camera. She does the cutest little dance and sings this little song she heard on the Cat and the Hat knows a lot about that. And while she was in a preforming mood I had her sing a few Christmas Carols too. If you can stick it out to at least 1:50 you’ll get a good laugh! She was singing jingle bells. That girl is a hoot and so fun to be around! And yes, she is jumping on her bed. We don't normally let her do that :)
I think it snowed around most of the south today. I hope you had a great family filled snow day like we did. It’s so nice to have an extra day to really rest unexpectedly! The snow is melting now and tomorrow is supposed to be an ‘ice day’ so maybe we’ll get to do it all again tomorrow :)

Landree singing from Jennifer Gray on Vimeo.

16 Months and my cuties!

2011-01-10T00:12:00.001-05:00

This little cutie is 16 months old! Is that even possible! And guess what? He just started walking today! Yes, he’s been cruising around FOREVER and could walk with the support of your pinkie fingernail, but wasn’t really interested in walking on his own. But this morning after church when I went to pick him up I reached out for him and he walked to me! And after we all cheered for him, he did it again. So I went to pick up Landree and we headed to the youth room to show Daddy and he wasn’t interested in showing off his new trick. Landree and I headed over to get a snack and Hudson stayed behind and then he walked to Daddy, TWICE! Baby man, I love you so much! I love this stage. You are getting to be such a big boy. Even a month ago I felt like you were still a baby, but you are growing and changing and getting so big!

Last night we were playing in Hudson’s room before bedtime and he was playing with these sensory balls he got for his birthday. He was so funny he would put them on the floor and then roll on top of them. And he’s in a stage where if I pull out the camera he will look at me and smile! Be still my heart! I know this won’t last for long!

And before bed I was taking a few pictures of the Christmas decorations in Landree’s room (because I never took any before Christmas) and she was in a smile-y mood :) Sweet girl!

And one of my sweet baby on the day he started walking :)

A little Holiday Recap and Blog Book

2011-01-03T23:18:00.007-05:00

I am a little overwhelmed with the blogging that I need to do! I have taken just about the entire month off enjoying our time at home with family and friends, but the break is over. Here is a list of the posts coming (that I’m working on right now-there will be even more)!
I also just ordered my first blog book ever. I used Blog 2 Print, and I’ll let you know how it turns out. I can already see a few plus and minuses on this particular company. I really like that you just type in the dates of when you want to print and they put the entire book together for you. I think it’s the simplest way to print your blog. I also think it’s a little cheaper than Blurb the only other company I know of that prints blogs, however, I couldn’t find an option to remove pictures and I had a lot of posts with this weird blogger logo that I couldn’t remove. I had a Groupon to use for a $25 book that I bought for $12 and I ended up spending about $50 to print November 07-May 08. I am going to have to break up having the blog printed because of price so I think I will try Blurb next time. I like that you have more editing options, but at the same time I think that is what has caused me to wait so long to get started. It’s a lot more work. So all that to say…I am working really hard to catch up on all we’ve been doing because this is our scrapbook and I don’t want to forget anything!
We have been busy busy unpacking, sorting, taking things out of closets, etc. today. I want to get everything put up before I drag all of our Christmas boxes out to put it up. And then this place is getting a major spring clean!

North Pole Breakfast
The Nutcracker and Park Street Carriage Ride
It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas
ICE
Christmas Book Exchange
Christmas Morning
Christmas Afternoon
Gingerbread House
A Christmas Journey