Thumbsucking party

So we tried to bribe Hadley with everything under the sun to get her to quit sucking her thumb. We even showed her pictures of what it would eventually do to her teeth as well. But nothing was worth stopping for! Until....

...one day we asked Hadley what it would take. And her answer..."I want to have my friends from school over and have a movie night, pizza, ice cream sundaes, and a sleep over." So we did just that (minus the sleepover). After three weeks of wearing her "thumb cast" and two more weeks of no sucking her thumb without the cast we knew she had broken the habit. So I called the mom's of the girls in her class and told them about the little party we were having. All of them were able to come and Hadley could hardly contain her excitement. We went to target to pick out some plates, cups and goodies for them to take home including lip gloss and friendship bracelets. 

Mama and Papa came over an hour before the party to surprise Hadley with a congratulatory cookie cake:

And at 3:00 her friends started showing up. I managed to take a few pictures of them playing outside and having so much fun together. I was so amazed that 5 friends can be together for over 4 1/2 hours and never get in a single argument.

Hadley, Kate, and Charlotte.

Playing 7-up. I can't believe we played this as kids and it is still played at school.

After they got a little bored playing games at the house we all jumped on the golf cart to head to the park. I took a picture of Clara climbing all the way to the top. This is just right before I made her get down because I wasn't wanting to call her mom about a broken arm!

Love this picture:

It started getting a little chilly outside and the girls were getting hungry so we loaded up and headed back to the house. The girls cuddled up in the movie room, watched a movie, and ate popcorn while Matt picked up the pizza. The girls must have played hard because they can put away some pizza!

And then for some ice cream sundaes with chocolate and vanilla icecream, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and cherries.

After eating the girls had gotten a little more energy and made their way upstairs to play dress-up. They put on all of Hadley's makeup and came back down for a fashion show!

Even Hudson, who had been gone most of the evening, decided he deserved to play dress-up with the girls as well. What a cute little cowboy!

We had such a great time and the girls were incredible! I am so proud of Hadley for kicking such a hard habit. She was so attached to that thumb and though she never admitted she wanted to quit, she sure was proud of herself when it was all over. And she looks so much more grown up without her thumb in her mouth!

A reminder of what the thumb cast looked like...

November pictures

Presley's birthday party at the zoo. After the party we had admission to the zoo and I promised Hadley we could stay and play for just a little bit since it was just the two of us. Here she is taking a picture with her party favor. 

Peyton's 8th birthday. Ryan picked her up from her moms and we were all waiting at her house to surprise her with cake, balloons, and presents. She was totally surprised and so excited.

Looking through magazines and circling all they wanted for Christmas.

Hudson giving me the pouty lip at bedtime. He is pretty good with this face and knows how to work his mommy.

The only good thing about construction next door! Hadley loved sitting on these hay bales and watching the sidewalks and driveways being poured.

Hadley playing school with Hudson and her dolls as her students. He just followed along with anything she told him to do.

I took the kids to see a movie while Matt went to an OSU game. I was a little nervous to take them by myself for the first time because of potty breaks and keeping them (especially Hudson) in their seats. Thankfully, we loaded up on candy, popcorn, and icees and they were perfect angels the entire movie! Definitely something we will be doing more often when we have an entire day without daddy.

Hudson thought he was looking in a mirror...

Where's Hadley?

When I pick Hudson up at school this is what I always see. He is the ONLY kid that does not nap in his class. Because his room has a divider they put all the napping kids on one side of the divider and he gets to stay on the other side and watch movies while they sleep so that he stays quiet. The kid is not stupid....he figured that out pretty quick!

Playdates with friends from school always turn into dress-up parties.

Suckering mommy into a few more minutes before bedtime by being oh-so-sweet to each other. This actually is not a rare occurence. Hudson HAS to say goodnight to Hadley every single night AND give her multiple hugs and kisses.

Matt played in a golf tournament with Drew in Tampa and I had 5 days by myself with the kids. We actually had a great time and just tried to keep ourselves busy so that we didn't go stir-crazy. These next few pics are from our final day when we were really excited to see daddy again. We went to unpluggits where I put on a puppet show for the kids, Hudson made sand castles, and Hadley got to paint ANOTHER piece of pottery for her room. We were pretty excited when daddy's plane landed the next day but I really couldn't have asked for the kids to be any better!

Hudson is pretty incredible with puzzles. And not even the type where you match the pictures. He can take a puzzle with no direction and put it together in minutes.

Shouldn't we be over this phase?

We went to Richard and Ryffel's house while Abby and Katie were in town for Thanksgiving so all the cousins could play. They had a great time...until Hudson decided to bite James and we quickly had to make our exit. It doesn't happen very often anymore but I sure am ready for it to NEVER happen anymore. Hudson is still working on communication and was over 3 years younger than any of the other kids so, unfortunately, he still uses it as a way to be heard.

Loving Rebecca and James' new kitten. That face is hard to say no to but sorry, bud, we won't be getting a kitten...ever.

A fresh haircut forced me to take a couple pictures of Hudson. Of course, he wouldn't smile but I think these (especially the last one) are a couple of the cutest pictures of his sweet face!