About a Boy...

...who's had his mama almost all to himself for two days.

The same Mama who just got a new camera and is having way too much fun with it.

This puppy has been a part of his life since around his first birthday. She has endured two years of tail-pulling and horseback riding attempts, and loves him still.

Clearly, he loves her too. :)
A boy who is really great about sharing...even with Alvin the Chipmunk.
Maybe that comes with being the youngest brother...he's never known anything different but having to share with his big brothers and holding his own if they don't share with him. For being not quite three, he really is pretty amazing at it.

How very much I love this Cheeto-lovin' little boy.

Impossible that he will be 3 in just a few short weeks.

Have I mentioned yet....

...that I got a new camera from my parents for Christmas?

To say I'm excited about it would be a huge understatement.

Between that and my new iPod Touch from my very thoughtful hubby

I'm feeling incredibly high-tech. ;)

And you thought I blogged a lot before...

Christmas at the Farm

Wow...what a week! Don't know about you, but it's been Christmas-palooza here. We were SO HAPPY to pick Daddy up at the airport on Tuesday, and the fun began then.

On Wednesday we loaded up the car and headed to Mimi and Papa's farm.

This pic of Hud is my favorite....he looks SO MUCH like pictures of his Daddy at this age....crazy how he can look like his Dad one minute, and my Dandy the next.

He's been smiling like this all week long. :) Then again, that's pretty typical for him.

You can see that the happiness was contagious, along with the cough these two are sharing. No worries, just a cold that is not slowing either one of them down at all. :)

And the oldest H was thrilled to be celebrating too. How can you not be?

A glimpse of how Christmas exploded on Thursday morning. ;) Wish I could remember what Mimi and Reagan were talking about....

Daddy, Hud, and Hunter playing Hud's new fishing game.

Aunt Reagan and Uncle Jon playing on his phone, I think.

And Beth REALLY likes her new Ugg boots that Todd gave her, don't you think? ;)

Hunter is a BIG FAN of his Uncle Todd, if you can't tell. :)


While we were having fun inside, this was happening outside.

I have been hoping for a white Christmas since we moved here over 20 years ago.

So happy it finally happened...made it truly feel like Christmas. Couldn't believe how beautiful it was, and glad we got to see my parents' farm covered in snow.

The boys were so surprised! New bikes for them from Mimi and Papa.

Hud was thrilled ...this is the first bike he's had

that isn't a hand-me-down from his big brother. :)

We had the best time, a wonderful start to a great week.

Hated to cut it short, but we were all a little worried about the weather and the roads, so we headed home a few hours earlier than planned.


The drive home was non-slick and BEAUTIFUL.

Until next time....

The First Noel

Last Friday Hud's class performed a Nativity play.

He got to be Joseph.

So very cute...he took his role very seriously. ;)

It was obvious that the whole class had worked very hard,

and they did such a great job.

That class is just SO CUTE. Each and every one of them. They all did great with their lines and singing the songs....so sweet.

After the play we had a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party with a yummy lunch, cupcakes, party hats and all.

Hud sits in between these two little girls, Miss C and Miss R. I think they both mother him and take care of him, and he likes that a whole lot. ;)

For one of the crafts they made a Christmas tree out of an ice cream cone.

It was a huge mess, but totally worth it.

I think they preferred eating the icing and candy over making the tree,

but they all turned out cute.

Even Hunter took part in that craft, which thankfully kept him very busy.
And if you can't tell, he was super proud of that tree. :)

Weekend with Daddy

Last weekend the big boys and I hopped on a plane and headed east to spend the weekend with Brian. It was hard leaving Hunter behind here, but believe me when I say he didn't miss us one bit. He was partyin' it up with Aunt Reagan and Uncle Jon. You can also believe me when I say that

he was one spoiled rotten kiddo when we returned Sunday night. ;)

Thankful he had so much fun and was so loved and well taken care of.

The plan this weekend was mostly to show the boys where we would be moving so they can picture where their Daddy is and know a little more about what is ahead. Mostly, however, the plan was just to be together and have some fun, which was exactly what we did. Started off the weekend w/ a trip to Build-a-Bear, something we had never done before. As you can see, neither one of them built a bear~ Hud made a cat he named Furry, Harrison a dog he named Harry. Hud is way attached to that cat~ Harrison, not so much. He's probably getting a little old for this sort of thing, but b/c we have never done it I'm glad he got the chance to.
We ate out LOTS, which the boys thought was fantastic. Chili's is one of their favorite places to eat. We also hit Chic-fil-a a couple times, Domino's at the airport....needless to say, I've been eating nothing but Lean Cuisines all week. ;)

Brian and I were both very proud of how well the boys handled trying out our new church. They even wanted to go to Sunday School after service, which honestly surprised me. I thought they would be too nervous. They both said they had a great time and love their new church. Whew.

We saw the Princess and the Frog and loved it. Well, the boys and I did. :)

Daddy tolerated it with a smile on his face.

We looked at a few different neighborhoods in the town

we are planning on living in and found one we love. Still lots of looking to do though.

All in all, a really great weekend. Leaving Brian behind stunk, of course. We all four cried~ fun times. But we are adjusting to this new, temporary way of life and are making the most of the time we get together, while soaking up every bit of time with the ones we love here at home in the meantime.

The Gingerbread House that Wasn't

Look who we got to spend the weekend with! Yes, Daddy was home.

I'm so happy to report that this weekend was full of

fun, playing, shopping, laughing, and even a party with some of our favorite people.

No tummy bugs to be found. Not even a sniffle. :)

A few hours before he had to board a plane to fly back, we continued our seasonal tradition of making a gingerbread house. Crazily enough, this was our first Christmas-themed one. We're pros at spooky houses and Easter houses.

Normal, Christmas-y ones? New to us. Go figure.

We were less-than-thrilled when we opened the box and discovered that both roof pieces were broken, but pressed on,

hoping that the icing would be the glue that held it all together.

Apparently, we were wrong. :( The sad little roof collapsed.

And, as you can see, we didn't let it get us down. In fact, I think the kids were more excited because they actually got to eat the candy rather than just look at it.