Pizza and swimming at Ryan and Lisa's house

The other day Ryan and Lisa invited us to their house to swim and eat pizza.

Hudson was a little skeptical:

But the girls jumped right in and loved getting to swim together. We were hardly able to get them out to eat!

Hadley's first family portrait

Hadley told me she wanted to draw me a picture of our family. About 10 minutes later she brought me this:

The best part of the picture are the explanations that go with it. I had just recently cut all my hair off so that is why my hair is really short on my head. Matt has short spiky hair (and looks like he's been electricuted). Hadley said she has long hair. When I asked why she drew it straight up instead of towards the ground she said because she didn't want it to get in her eyes. Hudson is "just silly because I was tired of drawing." Hilarious!

Take a seat

I was cleaning up some stuff in the kitchen the other day and Hadley kept running up the stairs and bringing stuff down. When I walked around the corner a few minutes later I saw that she had grabbed each of their stools so that they could have a chair while they watched TV. Hudson loves doing anything his sister does and he was so proud to be sitting by Hadley!

What an imagination

I told Hadley to read some books or color while I put Hudson down for his nap and I came back down to this:

She said the sun was too bright and she couldn't read her book:

She never ceases to amaze me....and make me laugh!

Some recent pics that I didn't want to leave out

Here are some random pictures from the beginning of August that I wanted to include since they didn't really fit into any other post.

Bathtime is always fun. Hadley can make Hudson laugh better than either of us:

Best dog EVER! and the most tolerant.

Hadley wanted to go golfing with daddy and she patiently stood outside our fence for him to come pick her up. This has become a nightly ritual for them. There is a sno cone stand right next to our neighborhood and Hadley manages to sucker him into one on most nights. What a great daddy!

This may be one of my favorite pictures at the moment!!! We were playing in the living room and I happened to catch Hadley in a full belly laugh. If I need to smile I can just look at this picture because it ALWAYS does the trick

Sweetest girl I know...

When the daddies are golfing...

...the mommies have a play date. Matt, Chris, and Derek played golf at Rose Creek a couple days ago and so LaNeale, Holland, Oscar, Alicia, and Tinsley all came over for pizza and a play date. Even in the 100 degree weather we played on the swingset, ate outside, and took a walk around the neighborhood. The kids were exhausted and threw a fit when it was time to leave but we all had a blast.

The last picture is one of my favorites because it is pretty typical for Hudson to walk around the house with a golf club in his hand while he searches for a golf ball to hit. However, we all know not to hold the golf ball in our hand. Poor Tinsley almost got a golf club in the face before I quickly dropped the camera and snatched the golf club from Hudson's hands!

Boosting my children's immune system...

Nothing like taking your kids to, quite possibly, the most germ infested public play area around...the mall play area. Three and a half years ago, when Hadley had first started crawling, I took her to play at the mall and quickly realized I could not be scared of germs. While all the other moms were rushing to wash off their children's dropped pacifier, I watched my daughter suck her thumb, rub it all along the floor as she crawled to the next toy, and put her thumb back in her mouth! Somehow, we have been blessed with two extremely healthy kids that rarely get sick...even though we do go to the mall playground about once a week in this extreme heat.

Anyway, Hudson made his first trip to the mall a few weeks ago and I just put the pictures on the computer to add to the blog. He had a blast. He would squeal with excitement and then try to follow all the older kids around and do what they were doing. Here are a few pics:

A little shy and unsure when we first arrived:

But loving it now!

Playdate

I feel so fortunate that most of my highschool friends have stayed in Okc/Edmond and we still get together often. We also managed to have 7 kids within two years and about 4 more since. Lindsey wanted to have everyone over to her house to swim and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun playing together. We enjoyed food, drinks, and lots of laughs. Here are some of the pics from the night.

Daddy and Hudson swimming together:

I love this picture of Jennings, not so happy that his mommy is holding another baby (Nash):

All the kids in a somewhat successful attempt at a group picture:

Hadley taking a little break. She keeps saying now she is four she doesn't need to suck her thumb but she seems to forget often!

LaNeale blasting Holland in the face with water:

Hudson and Tinsley:

I love this picture of Matt:
So here are where the pictures get interesting. With all girls being born first we began to wonder if a little boy was ever going to be born. Finally, after many girls we have had 5 boys in a row born. Needless to say, there is a lot of pink in our bedrooms. So all the kids were playing in Brooklyn's playroom and we went in to check on them. We found all the girls dressed up as princesses....

...as well as the boys.

Poor Hudson!

Our loss is Heaven's gain

The last few years have been a struggle, but nothing can prepare you for the moment you have to say goodbye to someone who occupies a big part of your heart. It is easy to say she won't hurt anymore, that this is what she would have wanted, and that she lived a wonderful life but it is hard...really hard.

My brother, cousin Kristin, and I spent a lot of time at my mom-ma's house and my mind is flooded with memories as I sit today and reflect on my time with her. Some of my favorite memories are the countless hours playing the game Sorry with her and my Papa, eating grapenuts as a bedtime snack, laying on her couch if we were sick and my parents both needed to work, summer trips to Padre Island where I had my first jellyfish sting, an incredible trip to Disneyland that she was so excited to take us on, picking vegetables she had grown in the garden, wearing the dresses she spent countless hours making us, and sitting in lawnchairs in the driveway with her and Papa as we watched people drive down the street.

She loved us more than life itself. And then we had our own kids. And she loved them just as much (if not more)! She has had some physical complications since the kids have been born but you could always see her eyes light up when they came to see her. I love the innocence of children and how they are not sad about her leaving us. They know she is going to Heaven and they will see her again. They are stronger than us and it is times like this that we learn so much from a child.

I believe my Mom-ma and Papa met again today. And I believe we will all meet again too but until then some tears will be shed and a small void will exist in our hearts. I love you Mom-ma!!!

Never...

...wake a sleeping baby! Well, almost never.

I attribute both of our children's sleeping habits to our consistency with naps and bedtimes. We have lots of friends and family that think we are crazy but to me, nothing is better than a happy, well rested baby! We have had to miss some playdates and a few lunch outings but it is worth the sacrifice to have such great sleepers. And Hadley loves that Hudson naps so well because when he goes to bed it is her cue that she gets ALL the attention!

Anyway, the other day I had to wake Hudson from his second nap because we all had to go somewhere. I think it took me about 10 minutes of standing outside his door before I finally let myself go in. When I did go in I immediately had to grab the camera because I never get these pictures of my sleeping baby and he was so precious...and the only picture I can get of him staying still!

Birthday parties are exhausting!

Hadley, at 4 years old, is still an AMAZING napper. She will even ask to go take a nap! But I also love that if we have to miss a nap she can make it....usually. The other day we had a birthday party to go to at 2:00 which is typically when she wants to go to sleep. So we got in the car, played hard at the party, and then got back into the car to go home, all while saying she wasn't even tired. About 5 minutes into the drive she quit responding and I turned around to see this:

Yep...not even tired a bit.

Starting him early

We took the kids to the park and Hudson had a blast chasing the basketball around the court. Doesn't he look like a natural, all red-faced and shirtless? Hadley decided it was more fun to hang from the net and climb all the way to the top of the goal.

Tough girl

Hadley's 4 year check-up with Dr. Stephens was yesterday and I was so proud of her. I really wasn't sure how to approach the subject of her getting shots so I pretty much didn't! I had decided if she asked me if she was getting a shot I would tell her, otherwise I didn't want to bring it up. Well, she LOVES going to the doctor and all morning kept begging to go because she wanted him to see how big she had gotten. On the way to the appointment she told me all the things she wanted to tell the doctor...that she didn't drink out of a sippy cup, that she was a big sister, that she shares her toys, and that she sleeps in her own bed. We got to the office, she proudly stood against the wall to be measured, and she loved laying on the table to have her whole body checked out. The doctor said she looked wonderful and is obviously a very happy girl. And then she said the nurse would be in....

When the nurse came in and pulled out the three needles I said, "so at what point should I not make this a surprise?" She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "um...now!" Oops. I then leaned over to Hadley and told her she was getting three shots. She said ok like it was nothing and held out her arm. Wow, maybe this will be easy. Not really. Hadley was a champ but there were some tears and by the last shot (with the nurse taking her sweet time injecting) she wailed a little bit. My stomach was turning and afterwards I think it took longer for me to calm down than her. I thought shots were hard on a baby but it is a lot harder when they are looking for you to save them from hurting!

Afterwards we went to the store, Hadley got a toy, and then we went back home to rest and watch a movie. Sweet Hudson crawled up on the couch, right up on Hadley, and rested his forehead against hers. She gave him a big hug, showed him her band-aids, and told him that she would hold his hand when he got his shots because he is not as tough as her. Thank goodness for cameras on our phones because I was able to get a picture of this sweet moment!

Beating the heat

It is officially the hottest summer since 1980 and I am beginning to believe we are going to beat the record of the most days over 100 degrees. We are now sitting at 42 days over 100 degrees, only 8 days away from beating the 1980 record. So, we go to the pool...a lot! Our neighborhood has a wonderful pool that is always full of kids so we take Hadley and Hudson swimming just about everyday. So much that Hadley's hair has turned green and Hudson has drank about 10 gallons of chlorinated water. And even with gobs of sunscreen they have both worked up a pretty good tan. Here are some pictures of our saving grace to this heat:

Hadley and Holland sharing a drink

testing out her new goggles

SASSY

swimming at Ryan and Lisa's house.