Quotes of the Day

While looking through pictures from our trip to Fairview 2 1/2 years ago...

Audrey: Mom you were SO skinny back then, that must have been right before Hudson was born, he must have given you some baby fat or something.

Cam: No, that was WAY before Hudson was born, he wasn't even invented yet.

I am Thankful for...

These are a few of the things I am most thankful for:

Eternal Families

Freedom

The Scriptures

One Half of My Big Family

Our Fairview Mountain Spot

The Other Half of My Big Family

Sisters

Jobs

Cute, Healthy Kids

The Savior

Our House

David


Love you all

Happy Thanksgiving!

New Word

Hudson has a new word. Sometimes it is bo, sometimes it is mo, sometimes it is oh or go. Despite the different pronunciations, the message is a loud and clear "NO!" Ahhh, toddlers.

Football

Cam played his first season of flag football this fall. He had a lot of fun and is looking forward to playing again next year. Playing has helped him really start to understand the game and so now he will sit and watch the games with Dave. He seems particularly fond of climbing into our bed to watch the monday night games for some reason. Dave likes having a little football watching buddy.

Go Cam go! He's so fast he's blurry (or, mom can't take a decent picture) One of the boys on the team is in Cam's class this year and they had a bet going to see who could score the most touchdowns. I think it ended up a tie with 5 each. I'm not sure what the winner would have gotten besides first grade bragging rights. Cam's first big run of the season he slowed down to almost a stop and started looking around thinking something must be wrong, that he shouldn't have been able to run clear down the field. But he figured out pretty quickly to not stop until the whistle blew. The first seasons of new sports with little kids are very entertaining.

Lining up at running back

His team after the last game. Cam is #36 if you can't tell, because of all the hair in his face.

He also played baseball this spring at the same time Audrey was playing softball. Dave coached his team so I ended missing most of his games because I was with Audrey. I of course forgot the camera on the games I did go to, so no pictures.

Taekwondo

Braxton got his green belt in Taekwondo, right now he is taking a little break to play basketball this winter and will pick it up again in a few months.

Working on his form

In full battle gear.

Softball

Audrey has been playing softball pretty much non-stop since April. She has had fun, had some really great experiences, had some not so great experiences, gotten a couple of second place trophies, to add to her other second place trophy (still waiting on a first place one), gotten a few bumps and bruises and even a couple of homeruns. Here are some pictures in no particular order because I am not good at that!

Audrey and her team after the tournament championship. Hooray for second place!

Audrey and her spring ball team before the tournament championship game.


Audrey's knee after getting hit by the ball. She thought it was really cool to have softball stitching bruises.

Introductions at the All-star Game

Hitting a triple during the All-star game.

She is practicing through the winter and will be playing for the Westerville travel team in the spring and summer. Should be a fun new adventure.

Boy oh boy, what to do with the boy!

Hudson is a busy, busy boy. His days mainly consist of sleeping, eating, and undoing. He un-shelves books, he un-folds laundry, he un-fills trash cans, cups, bowls, boxes, baskets, bags, drawers and pretty much anything else he can find that needs emptying. Somtimes I think his sole aim in life is to un-d0 whatever it is I am doing at the time. The boy even follows me when I am sweeping, swishing my dirt piles behind me. Sometimes I think this is all so shocking to me because it has just been so long and the other kids must have been like this too. But then I remember that Cam was younger than Hudson when we moved here and we didn't even bother to childproof. Of course they all got into things, but this time around it is CONSTANT. These pictures just give a few snippets of what goes on around here:

Mmmm...donuts!

When I need to do something like empty the dishwasher I will put him in his seat so he doesn't get a hold of the knives and to prevent him from making more messes when I am trying to clean up. As this picture clearly shows, that plan doesn't always work. He managed to reach his hands through the bars of the chair and grab a box of hot chocolate, open three of the packets and well, you know.

Yes, that is my dryer. One might assume that the boy doesn't have much supervision. Not so! He is very quick and stealthy.

Pots and pans, always a favorite

If you look closely at this one you will see that he is covered in flour, my big bucket full is just too hard to resist.

Good thing he's cute!

Quote of the Day

Yesterday when Cam was getting ready for his football game I told him he needed to wash his face and brush his teeth and hair and his response with no hesitation: "Men don't brush."

Bottomless Pit

So, the pediatrician says to not put any restrictions on how much Hudson eats at this stage, if he's hungry, let him eat. Well there are days that it seems like everything I put in front of him ends up immediately on the floor, then there are days like today. Keep in mind it is 9:02 AM at my house. For breakfast he had half of a giant Costco muffin, a banana, and a cup of milk. That alone is more than the big kids ate. Then he decided he wanted to eat my Cheerios which I gave him because as some of you know from experience, he just yells at you until you give in. So after finishing off my Cheerios, he walks in with a bag of potato chips from the pantry. I take those away (no pototo chips for babies, but especially not for breakfast!) Sans potato chips, he comes back with a bag of goldfish instead. Oh well, at least he isn't yelling at me anymore. Makes me wonder what he is going to be like when his is 16.

Before and After

Before

After

He looks like a boy now. Whimper, sigh.

How Do you Solve a Problem Like Marie?

The fourth graders' big project this year was a wax museum. They could pick anyone living or dead, then they had to write a report about them, and then on wax museum day, dress up like said person, stand still until a museum visitor stepped on the their "button" and then they would come to life and tell their story. Well, Audrey chose Marie Antoinette. I spent a month brainstorming ideas of how to turn her into Marie. I wanted to find a way to make her headless, but alas, I am not that clever, so this is what we came up with instead:

The wig was a big hit, one teacher even told her she had the best costume he had ever seen. I was feeling like a good mom for putting more effort into this project than I have most of the others until I got a call from the school needing me to rescue my girl because she had passed out in the library. In my defense, I don't think it was ALL the wigs fault. It was really hot and crowded and she was nervous and they were standing there for 45 minutes.

Her little report/speech was cute. I don't remember it all of course but the part that stood out to me was how she ended it: "Marie was accused of treason and mistreating her son and was decapitated by a deadly machine called a guillotine. And that was the great and amazing life of Marie Antoinette.

Mother's Day Tribute

Mother's Day Tribute By Cameron Smith

I think my mom is great. She is the cat's meow and the icing on the cake. This is how I would describe my mom:

My mom has blonde hair, the same color as Gramma. Her eyes are green, just like grass. My mom is pretty like Audrey. She has a nose that she says is smooth, just like a ball. Her smile makes me feel very happy, like Audrey. My mom likes to play family games. Pink is her favorite color, like Audrey. My mom is very smart and knows a lot about church. Her favorite food is bananas and mine is hamburgers. My mom is wonderful. My favorite time with her is when I play with her.

Love,

Cameron

Apparently the women in Cameron's life have a few things in common! There were a few things he mentioned that I didn't know about myself, like that I have green eyes and my favorite food is bananas...or that I say my nose is smooth like a ball. Funny, funny.

Random Little Kid Memory Part 2

When Audrey was three, on Easter Sunday we had gotten up, let them play with baskets etc, have a few pieces of candy and then gotten them in the bath and put the baskets away so that they wouldn't get chocolate all over their new clothes. Audrey had a new dress and little white gloves and a hat to match. Just as we were walking out the door to go to church after I had miraculously managed to keep them chocolate free, Audrey somehow managed to get a hold of a Cadbury creme egg of all things. Imagine me in slow motion running down the hall "Audrey nooooooo!" as soon as she saw me coming she shoved the ENTIRE thing in her mouth so I couldn't take it away from her.

Random Little Kid Memory

When Braxton was little, like two or three, he loved the song I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett. Believe it or not, Dave and I don't have a big collection of Joan Jett music, Braxton just heard it on the radio in the car and liked it. Every time it came on he would get his very serious rockin' out face on, bob his little head and sing "Wah-ho, wah-ho" until it was over. That song was on the radio the other day and made me think of little Braxton singing in the car.

Spring Break Etc...

The kids had Good Friday and all of last week off for Spring Break and Dave took vacation days to hang out with us too. We started with a marathon spring cleaning session which wore us all out. One of the nice things about having big kids is that they are actually helpful now! They got to do jobs that they usually don't do and that I usually put off doing because I hate them, like washing baseboards and walls. They worked really hard with a minimal amount of complaining so I took them to Wendy's for lunch and as we were driving home they asked if we could eat in the car. I asked why on earth they would want to eat in the car when it takes us a total of 30 seconds to get home and we could eat there. Then Braxton, with distress in his voice explained that we couldn't eat inside..."We just did all that cleaning!" It made me laugh because he got a sense of how I feel EVERYDAY when they come home from school.


Grandma and Grandpa Madsen sent us a neat book with easter activities to go with each day leading up to Easter Sunday. We had fun doing the activities and had some neat experiences learning about the events of the week and have started some fun new traditions.
With 8:30 church we had to get up super early to see if the easter bunny came. We tried to convince the kids that he wasn't coming until after church this year but it didn't work, he came early anyway.

Easter egg and hand, and clothes, and table cloth dyeing

Braxton showing off his "Dad Stinks" egg. Dave followed up with a "Braxton Farted" egg. Boys are so charming.

I had to take about six pictures to try to get everyone facing the same direction, and smiling. This was as close as I got before giving up.

On Tuesday we got to go see Braxton get his orange belt at his Taekwondo school. He is now tied with Grandpa Madsen and well on his way to becoming a deadly weapon.

We were able to get some things marked off the never-ending list like cleaning the carpets, getting Dave's car fixed-the bumper needed to be repainted from a previous crash, making 16 dozen cookies, putting together the basketball hoop that has been sitting in the garage since Christmas, putting up a new mailbox and getting some more stuff planted in the yard.

We were also able to squeeze in a little fun. Dave took the kids to a movie while I made cookies, we went to the zoo and Dave took the Audrey and Cameron to the park to play baseball and Braxton to the driving range. He also managed to squeeze in 9 holes with Todd and we got a babysitter and went to the temple and out to dinner too. All in all it was a good, successful week and I am sad it is over. It made me (and Dave too...I think) wish that he could be home like that more often.

At the zoo with a great big elephant friend. Notice how Braxton is almost as tall as Audrey now!

Climbing on a tiger

Hudson with the best seat in the house at the zoo.


It was an exciting visit to the zoo this time because several of the animals like the elephant and one of the tigers were right up close to the people watching them. One of the gorillas even ran past and banged on the glass sending little kids running and squealing in all directions. To borrow a phrase from Duncan it was fun and cool, the end.

Going Nowhere Fast

Here is a little clip from last week of Hudson thinking really hard about crawling, but not getting much further than that.

And So It Begins

It seems like the boy was just barely born and was just a warm, little, cuddly lump. And just last week he was still squirming around on his belly. And now this...

He is like a little bulldozer. He doesn't bother going around, he just goes through. For a new crawler he sure has managed to get into a lot of pickles in just a little bit of time. This week he has figured out how to climb up the step from the family room to the kitchen, pull books off the bookshelf, play in the ashes and with the fireplace tools and dig through the school baskets. No more cuddly little lump.

Just Because...

Pictures of babies falling asleep in random places are cute!

Hooray for Being Thrifty!

Right after Hudson was born Dave and I went to a great big baby sale out our community center. We were able to get a bedding set there that included the bumpers, a mobile, dust ruffle and even some coordinating wall paper for $10. The mobile wouldn't attach to the crib we bought and I wasn't going to put the wall paper up but I got creative and found uses for them.



I cut out the little cars from the wall paper and bought a papier mache H, canvases, coordinating scrapbook paper and paint and with Aubrey's help made things to hang on the wall.

Then I used the fabric and cars from the mobile to add trim to his curtain. So I was able to do his room for about $30!

Now I just need to convince Dave to let me get the really cool painting of a Hudson Hornet I found. I am still working on that one.

On the Road Again

I am officially out of excuses, Hudson is sleeping through the night (more or less), and it is warm enough and light enough in the mornings. I started running last week (if you consider run two, walk one to be running), but started having the "I need new shoes" pains in my knees and shins. Now I have new shoes too, so I can't use that excuse either. Time to get skinny again.

Celebrate Me!

The kindergartners each get a day to bring their families and a few things to share from home for a "Celebrate Me" day. After some pretty intense negotiating and a little help from the January weather, we were able to celebrate Cam when the grandparents were here. He was very excited to bring his "big group" to school. Here are some of the things we learned about Cam:

Favorite Book: Biscuit
Collections: Baseball cards and Transformers
Favorite Animal: Tiger
Height: 46 3/4 inches
Weight: 51 pounds.
He is smaller than his mom and the refrigerator, but bigger than Hudson and the kitchen stool.
When he was a baby he was really chubby and when he grows up he wants to be a policeman.
He likes to play tag and help his friends, play in the snow and play Wii with his family.

Sharing his "big group" and box o' things with his friends

Audrey and Braxton were thrilled with the excuse to get of class and tried to make it last as long as they could.

Cutting out his body to hang on the wall

The body, hanging on the wall