Morning giggles and a popcorn bucket

Hudson has never been a great eater and we often have to get creative to get him to eat. Hadley is an amazing helper with this and loves to make it her mission to "trick" him into eating! Anyway, here are a couple pictures of her, once again, being the best big sister and making Hudson laugh so he would stay in his chair.

Hudson laughs at just about anything Hadley does which only encourages her to keep the sillyness going...
One night while I was wrapping presents Hadley and Hudson got ahold of a popcorn bucket and started throwing it all around the room. Hadley then decided it would be funny to put it on her head and run around bumping into things.

After watching for several minutes, Hudson decided it was his turn. This carried on for about 30 minutes and the kids had so much fun playing together.

Love this little belly!

Silhouettes

I found a lady on the internet that does original silhouettes, where she looks at a picture and cuts out a piece of black paper using tiny scissors. I took a picture of Hudson's profile and then looking back through our millions of pictures, I found a profile picture of Hadley at the exact same age (14 months). I mailed them in to her and got these back about a week later:

They are perfect and brought me to tears! The silhouettes show how much they really look alike and the sweet innocence of a one year old. It is fun to see Hadley's picture and remember her with her short hair and tiny bows always on her head. I have already taken another profile picture of Hadley and when Hudson turns 4 I plan on taking another one of him and adding to the collection.

Santa Video

Santa sent Hadley the greatest video...all the way from the North Pole! He emailed it to us and after bathtime Matt and I surprised Hadley with her very own video. Her reaction was priceless! I am not sure I have ever seen her so surprised and excited.  She has wanted to watch the video every day since. Santa talked to her about being four and going to school. He said he knows she has been very good, to which Hadley responded, "Aiden must have told him!"

Hadley has been working really hard at not sucking her thumb but when she gets tired it is still just a little too hard. Santa reminded her to keep trying and her eyes got SO big! We have since had a few days in which Hadley has been in some tears because she wants to make Santa happy so bad. We finally had to tell her it is ok to suck her thumb sometimes and Santa will understand.

Here are a few pictures of Hadley watching the video:

She kept getting closer and closer to the computer

Family pictures

We had a perfect day for some family pictures. And we actually got a few with both kids looking and no thumbs in the mouth! I have, however, decided this is a once a year ordeal because getting myself and two kids ready (even with Matt's help) is just too exhausting!

My Favorite!

North Pole Breakfast

Aiden is back....and he brought us breakfast!

This morning we had our first "North Pole Breakfast." Our elf (whom Hadley named Aiden last year after the prince in her favorite princess movie) came early in the morning with a few surprises for Hadley and Hudson. Here is the table all set up and ready for the kids.

Aiden wrote Hadley and Hudson each a letter.

He brought snow covered donuts...

...and frozen hot chocolate .

He also brought along an early present, "Santa Buddies" dvd. Hadley wanted to watch it immediately!

Hadley was a little skeptical at first and wanted to know why Aiden's eyes didn't blink if he was real. We talked about a little "Christmas Magic" and she soon believed again! Hudson, on the other hand, dug right into the donuts and couldn't have cared less that Aiden had made his arrival.
We re-read the Elf on the Shelf book to remind us that we can't touch Aiden and we need to be really good since he reports back to Santa each night.

As we were cleaning up from breakfast Matt and I overheard Hadley having a quiet conversation with Aiden. We couldn't hear her well but she did say, "I love you, Aiden. Thanks for breakfast."

Hudson is 15 months today

We are having a blast with this kid right now. As long as he is getting your undivided attention he is a really happy baby...so basically he is SPOILED! Hudson is learning how to throw tantrums and if he gets his mind set on something you better be prepared to hear lots of screaming until he finally gives up (or we give up)!

Hudson is a TERRIBLE eater. I have no idea how this happened but he has decided he will ONLY eat the babyfood that is in the squeezable containers. What kid would actually prefer these over table food? I am hoping we get over this phase quickly. Here are some pics in his chair as we tried to get him to eat some grapes, hotdog, etc.

He has in the past been a pretty early riser but has decided lately to sleep until 7:00 which is super late for us! We are all feeling refreshed and it is so much nicer to wake up when it is light outside than pitch black at 5:30 in the morning. Keep it up, Bubby!

Still a climber and still accident prone! Here is Hudson after climbing out of his wagon, falling face first on the concrete, and busting up his lip. Poor guy cried so hard until he finally fell asleep in his daddy's lap.

Just a few more pictures of our baby boy looking so grown-up!

One of my new favorites!!!

And this next one pretty much sums up his personality. He is happiest when he is making us laugh. He runs around acting crazy and doing anything he can to get our attention. This particular night he put this bucket on his head, we'd say, "where's hudson?," and he would crack up laughing as he took it off. This went on for several minutes!

Favorite things right now: giving hugs and kisses, throwing anything, baths, climbing up and down the stairs, balls, cars, playing with the dogs, playing outside, climbing, applesauce, chasing his sister, wrestling on the bed, wonderpets, yo gabba gabba, building blocks, drinking from straws, biting (unfortunately), shoes, watching the construction trucks drive by our house, looking at pictures when we walk down the stairs in the morning, playing pat-a-cake, playing in the car, and copying Hadley.