Holiday Season

So, we've been super busy this holiday season and I've just neglected taking the time to sit down and reflect on all the things we've done. Here goes...I'll do pictures later. We went South Carolina for my Mama's family Christmas. We went to my uncle's house in Aiken. He has a horse and a pony...and my aunt took us out to see them. When someone mentioned going out to the barn to see the horses, Walker excitedly jumped up and said he wanted to go, Hudson looked at my Mama with this scared look in his eyes and said he didn't want to go! But, he went anyway. While out at the barn, Walker fed the pony and the horse treats and even said he wanted Pony to come out. Hudson, on the other hand was quite the opposite! We went out a second time during the evening and this time, we brought out the big horse. Hudson was quite frightened of this. (I think Walker was just a little scared, too...those things are BIG). But, Walker petted the horse, while Hudson didn't want to get close and cried a little. Although, right after he said...I did good, I just cried a little bit and I was close to that horse! My sweet guy is so self aware! We had fun visiting with family and playing our white elephant Christmas game! We also celebrated with the Stephenson family one Friday night in December. The boys always have sooo much fun playing with all their Stephenson cousins, and this was no exception! They played hard and even with dogs running around!
On December 20, Hudson sang at church in both services! This was such a huge deal because last year, he was supposed to sing, my parents drove all the way from Commerce, and even brought Papa along and the boy would not do it! I could not convince him that it was fine to go up and sing on the stage that Mommy sings on sometimes...he just wouldn't do it...he cried and cried, and I wasn't going to force him, so he sat with us while all the other kids sang. Well, this year, that kid was such a big boy. He walked in a line right up to the stage(however, he stopped at the row where Tony and all his grandparents and Beverly and Clay sat and said "I'm gonna sing again in a minute.") He also told me after that he didn't sing last year, he just cried and that he was a big boy this time. I really was so proud of him, and he beamed on the stage...so proud of himself! There were over 55 three to five year olds who sang that Sunday.
There's lots more, so I'll post more with pics and maybe video tomorrow! I can't believe that it's almost 2010!

Winner...

So the winner to the giveaway is...


And, because I have two boys, and they both wanted to pull a name, I decided to have 2 winners. The second winner is...
So, Kristy and Angela...let me know what kind, size and colors you want for your hats!

Giveaway...

So, with Christmas coming, I thought it would be fun to do a hat giveaway! I'm going to give away 1 hat...whatever color and size you'd like. I will custom make it for the winner. The choices are the Finley, Hudson or Walker hat. To enter, go visit http://www.finlindesigns.blogspot.com/ , then come back here and tell what your favorite hat style is and who you'll give the hat to if you win! For a second entry, blog, tweet, or facebook about the giveaway and then leave a second comment that you did that. I'll pick a winner on Saturday morning, December 12, so you can comment until then to enter.

Hats

So, I'm going to really start making the hats to sell...I've set up a website with some of the hats that I've made. Hudson and Walker both have their own beanies, I just don't have pictures of them yet. Need any Christmas presents for boys or girls? These would make good ones! Go check out http://www.finlindesigns.blogspot.com/ . Starting out, I'm going to do totally custom ordering...whatever colors are requested. Lori is going to make picture frames to custom order...and that will be coming soon. Let me know what you think...comments friends, comments!!! I vowed to take a picture of each hat that I made...and the other night I made one for a friend and forgot to get a pic...I guess I'll have to request a picture of the baby in the hat...that'll be even better!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins

A friend and I were discussing blogs the other day and talking about how you can make yourself look or appear a certain way based on what you choose to post about. So the end of this blog is to let you see that yes, I am only human too, and nothing is perfect. And, if you think someone is, you are totally fooled, because no one can do everything perfectly...something's gotta give somewhere!
The boys got to paint their own little pumpkins the day before Halloween (one of the things I love about my days at home with them...doing fun things like this). We carved our family pumpkin that night. Finley was a little fussy in the swing, so we put her in her bumbo on the floor with the bowl of pumpkin goo and I let her play. We made sure she had her pacifier at all times so she didn't try to eat it! She had so much fun squishing that stuff around and putting it on her feet, her face, all over her clothes. I would have never ever let Hudson do that...but by the third, you just kinda roll with it more! The boys had fun helping pull out the goo and separate the seeds and guts (I just realized tonight that I never got around to roasting the pumpkin seeds...and I do that every year...). Here are some pictures of our fun! And just so you don't start thinking that we've got it all together, a few pictures to prove we don't. The morning we painted the pumpkins, we cleaned the car out first. And yes, all of this STUFF was in the car! And...now it's all in the garage...still! :)I also told the boys they had to pick up the den and put toys back in the toy box before we could paint, and they did. But this is what it looked like. So, while they painted, I took this picture...sometimes(or a lot of the time) I let what they do to help stay the way they helped do it...and let it be good enough!

Scarecrows and pumpkins

We put our scarecrows out after church one Sunday in the middle of October. We went to the pumpkin patch at Washington Farms on October 29. We rode the cow train, watched the pig races, played in the corn box, looked at the animals, raced the ducks, rode tricycles, and raced through toddler sized maze. We really had so much fun spending the afternoon together!

My computer and I have had some issues this month. It wasn't letting me load my pictures from my camera onto the computer, but I finally got it working today! So, maybe I'll do a few pictures a day for the next few days so as not to overwhelm the eye...or the blog. Here's a hat I made for Finley recently. Before she was born, I learned how to make hats and made about 3 newborn ones that she outgrew very quickly. I just figured out how to do this ruffly edge and made this for winter...I think I'm going to start making them to sell...I already have one "client" friend! This is a placemat clutch that I made for my sweet friend, Tiffany, for her birthday. I made the clutch purse using a placemat and this tutorial from Happy Together.

Crafting...

I don't very often talk about the things that I make...but oh, how I love to make stuff! I like to see what other people make and then try to figure out a way to make it myself! Recently, I'm loving making appliques. The other day, I made Finley this owl and I think it's too cute to not share it! I got the pants at Target, and knew right away that I would make an owl for a shirt...

Review in Pictures

My posts have been few and far between the last few weeks. I'm not sure why...we've been super busy. Hudson had a birthday party that I never wrote about, Finley started eating, rode in our little car for the first time, tried drinking out of a cup, is sitting up, Tony had a 30th birthday...lots of fun things going on at the Dudish house. Here are some of my favorite pictures...Hudson in the pirate ship at his pirate birthday party.So proud with his new guitar and his flum picks.Okay...seriously, this boy might be an artist. He does not ever stop...always on the go. He sat and painted with watercolors for like an hour. Hudson finished and got up and Walker kept painting. And he'd say that what he was painting were different things, like pine cones, trees, footballs...love it!

Finley...riding in the little car, sitting up, eating the first time, then my favorite eating picture so far...the look on her face...Hudson said "Mommy, I don't think she likes it!"Sweet girl drinking out of a cup for the first time.

Tony's 30th birthday "cake"...our boys LOVE rice krispie treats!

New Fun

Today we did something new. It was also very fun. It entertained the boys for at least an hour. We made play dough. We've never gotten to play with the store bought kind before b/c it is made of wheat. So, today, we made our own. We had different recipes, one with flour (we used soy flour) and one with baking soda and cornstarch. We made the first with flour and when it didn't turn out like I wanted (it was really sticky and I could forsee the mess), we made the next recipe and it turned out great. It really felt just like store bought play dough. We colored it using Wilton's paste food coloring, which we had b/c that's what we used to color icing for our birthday cakes. The colors were very vibrant and even colored our hands. I think the more we play with them the less this will happen. The boys really had a blast. And, so did I...getting to watch them experience playdough for the first time. They were so excited!

New Stats

Today we went to the pediatrician for 2 well check ups. One for Hudson -4 year, and one for Finley-6 months. To say that taking 3 little ones to the doctor's office by myself is easy now, would be a lie! It's not easy, but do-able. Oh, and we were there from 10:20-12:10! That's ridiculous, but it didn't really seem like we'd been there that long. Hudson had a hearing and vision screening that all kids have to have to enter school, even though he can't go to school for 2 years b/c of when his birthday falls! He did so good during these, and I hadn't told him about it, b/c I didn't know that they did this at the 4 year well check. He had to look at pictures of things like a boat, star, circle, cross, hand, etc and tell the nurse what they were. He then had his hearing checked. They put a earphone on his ear and he had to say beep when he heard some birds chirping. He also had his blood pressure checked AND the biggie was his FOUR shots and finger prick. He was not happy about these! When he was crying after he and Finley had both had their shots and we were getting ready to go, I asked if he wanted to call Daddy and tell him what a big boy he'd been. Through his tears, he said, "I'm not a big boy. I was for the learning(that's what he called the hearing and vision screening :)), but not for the shots." I then cried. How totally sweet this boy is. He thought that crying for the shots meant that he wasn't a big boy. He was a trooper. That's a LOT of sticks! Now for their stats...

Hudson weighs 38 pounds 4 ounces and is 39 3/4 inches tall. He's in the 75th percentile for weight and 50th for height.

Finley weighs 21 pounds and 6 ounces and is 27 1/4 inches long. Finley is in the 95th percentile for both height and weight.

Hudson

My sweet Hudson is 4 years old today! I thought I'd tell about the things that Hudson likes at 4, and the things that we LOVE about Hudson at 4.

1. Hudson loves to pretend. He likes to dress up, he likes to put on anything he can find and pretend to be someone else.

2. Hudson really likes to work! He goes to work all the time, and he's always carrying around his "work-up stuff" (the treasures with which he works)

3. Hudson loves to take care of his brother and sister, and his mommy. He's always telling me that he takes care of us when Daddy is at work!

4. Hudson loves to watch Word World and it teaches a lot!

5. Hudson LOVES to sing. He can remember words to songs like nobody's business(that is if he knows the words...if not, or if the song goes too fast, he makes up his own words...too cute).

6. Hudson loves anything that has Spiderman on it!

7. Hudson likes to get ears...cold ones! It's like his sign of love! :)

8. Hudson adores his Daddy. He wants to be with him all the time when Daddy is home! I love that!

9. Hudson loves the colors yellow and red!

10. Hudson's favorite thing to eat at 4 is hamburgers and chips(he would literally eat this for every meal if I allowed it)!

1. We love that he is so thoughtful...always remembering to thank us and others when things are done for him!

2. We love that he is such a good big brother. He is always very helpful and gets Mommy lots of diapers and wipes and burp cloths!

3. We love that Hudson has a memory to rival any adult. The child will bring up things that we have long forgotten or never knew that he even knew!

4. We love that Hudson is super observant...he catches everything!

5. We love that Hudson says the absolute sweetest prayers! I love that I get to listen in to my sweet boy talk to our God!

6. We love that the boy gets up at the crack of dawn ready for the day...he's got his "stuff" and he wants his clothes immediately! I can usually convince him to go back to sleep though, and I love that too!

7. We love that he still loves to cuddle and snuggle and get our ears!

8. We love that he still likes to be held and hugged and kissed!

9. We love everything about that sweet boy, from his sweet curls down to his toes!

10. WE LOVE YOU UP, 4 year old Hudson!

It truly is a joy being Hudson's mommy and I am so blessed that God chose him to be my son 4 years ago!