Monday, July 18, 2011

The Magic House

We had so much fun here! I sure wish we had something similar closer to home. The boys had a blast and I am pretty sure we could have spent a whole other day here. There were so many fun things to explore. I hadn't been there since I was a kid!


This was a HUGE climbing structure of leap pads that went up about a three floor staircase. Hudson loved it and climbed it a few times.

Both boys loved fixing this car. They "added" oil and fluids and changed tires out over and over. Maybe if Hudson's dream job at Chick-Fil-A doesn't work out this will be a good back up (ha).


He also loved serving up pizza's at the restaurant.



Checking some newborn babies in the St Louis Children's Hospital nursery room.


This baby took a bottle better than Jack ever did:)


Grandma was such a trooper and chased these little guys around with us all morning. 

"Dana's" park

One of the highlights of the trips was going to "Dana's park" which is an amazing new park just down the street from her apartment in Clayton. It had these awesome swings, a sprayground, three huge play sets including one in a tree house, and oversized musical instruments along the outside. It was also enclosed in a gated fence which I liked too! Hudson still asks to go back!









A few days in St Louis


Last week while John had to travel to Montana for work, I took the boys over to St Louis to visit Pa, Aunt Dana and Great Grandma who was in town from Detroit.We had a great time playing in my hometown. We got off to a great start on the first night with some St Louis style pizza, followed by snow cones and go karts of course at Hudson's request.


Jack's first snow cone. Of course he said over and over "I do" as he fed himself.

Dana taught him to show us his food. Thanks Dana:)


Reading with his 85 year old Great Grandmother.

At Aunt Dana's place


Sunday, July 10, 2011

Painting the driveway

I made some sidewalk paint the other day that I saw on my new favorite website (www.pinterest.com) and it was a huge hit. All you do is add equal parts of cornstarch to water then add some food coloring. 



Jack painted for a few minutes then was more interested in dumping the paint, then looking right at Hudson to see what kind of reaction he would get. Such a stinker!

the "in trouble" face

But then he heard the doggies across the street and it was all better

Cleaning up with the hose was just as much fun

Jack turned 20 months last week! It is so hard to believe he will be two in a few months! Although he is quite a handful these days, he cracks us up and is still a sweet, cuddly little guy. Every time he gets hurt, he will run over and tell you which body part he hurt and give you a big hug complete with pats. His new favorite phrases are "I do" (I do it) and "mine" complete with a scowl which he clearly expressed at a playgroup last week. If he can't find you he will run around repeating "mommy" or "daddy" till he finds you then scream your name in excitement when he finds you! Just like his brother, he can spot Buzz or Woody anywhere and is saying their names well too. He is talking up a storm these days and attempting to repeat everything you say. He loves to say "chugga chugga choo choo" over and over again. If he hears any one ask a question he will raise his hand and say "ME!". He also claps and says "yay" at the end of every song!

Hudson has also been growing and changing so much lately. We just completed two months of his first swim lessons and although he isn't swimming independently yet, he is making some progress. Some days, he thinks is quite a bit older than he actually is as he tries to do many things we do that he is not old enough for. He is such a planner and plans steps for everything with his "I got a good idea" phrase. He always wants to know what we are doing next or tomm (after the sun comes up). A few weeks ago, he drew a family picture then pretty much on his own took a picture with my phone, then texted it to daddy at work. He loves to send him messages throughout the day and luckily daddy has unlimited messaging! He is such a smartie with technology and teaches us new things all the time. After we read books and lay with him for a few minutes at bedtime he has turned into quite a chatterbox. He has been repeatedly asking for me to grow him a baby brother and sister in his belly Don't worry.....no more babies planned anytime real soon:). I told him two was too many and he told me it was fine, it is just a couple! He has it all planned out though and even has a plan to buy a baby girl a swimsuit because we don't have any girl swimsuits and how first we can even check the computer to see what is on sale (ha - he knows me well!). He keeps us laughing! He still loves all Toy Story and recently is into pirates as he loves the show, Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Most of the time, he is really sweet with Jack and they play pretty well together. He loves to teach him new things and always "misses" him when he is napping.

We are excited this week to head to St Louis to visit Pa and Aunt Dana while John is away on a business trip! More pics to come soon!

Roadtrip to CO for the 4th

Last week we packed up the car and headed  to Colorado to visit John's family for the Fourth. We had a great time and the kids did unexpectedly well on the 9 plus hour drive. It took a little bit longer as we had to take some detours due to the flooding in Northwest Missouri. Of course we packed along many toys, books, snacks and electronic movies toys for the trip which really helped.

 
On the way there, we stopped and got a pizza to go and they both ate two pieces just like this! Guess we don't need to cut up their pizza anymore! Jack made us laugh when he noticed some wheat fields in the middle of Kansas. He must have thought it was the beach because he repeated over and over for about 20 minutes, "beach, water, fish"!

It was getting pretty late on Thursday night so we pulled off to sleep in a hotel because we thought they were tired - HA! Not even close.


With Daddy in Uncle Pete's tractor. Pete called us on  our way home and told us he thought something was wrong with the tractor because it wouldn't go very fast. Turns out Jack must have turned a dial. He always leaves a mark somewhere!


The kids had  blast playing with their cousins. We didn't see much of Hudson this trip unless he needed something! On our first day, he hated his shoes getting "dirty" but after a day or so the kid was covered in dirt and didn't mind at all.

Helping Hudson play ball

Sliding down the slide at the park in Ovid. It seems like not long ago Hudson was this age at this park!


All the cousins


Uncle Nick and Aunt Liz's new puppy! Jack loved it and would just go sit right next to him and pet him. 

Hudson's first sparkler

We had a great trip and left with some very sleepy kids!