We have had a fantastic week of nonstop excitement lately. Hudson is officially THREE! Oh how time flies and how much he has grown. He knows all of his colors and can recite the days of the week. Wednesday is called Hump Day and Friday is called Candy Friday, as daycare has a treasure chest packed with candy that the kids can chose from on Friday afternoons. He only skips a couple numbers when he counts (usually 7 and 13, so random). He loves to color and he is obsessed with stickers. Reading is still a must. Every night, he will declare, "Hudson pick a book, mommy pick a book!" We had to limit bedtime to only two books since some are sooo long. It's over a 30 minute process to get the boy to sleep.
And Hudson has been an incredible big cousin to Claire. Claire recently moved up to Hud's room and she had a rough couple first days. I was able to see Hudson in action as he took on the role of protector and friend to his sweet cousin. All the daycare rooms have video monitors that allow you to stalk your children from work at any moment of the day. Awesome stuff! So as I was watching, I witnessed Claire being dropped off in the new room and immediately breaking down into tears. Three seconds later, I witnessed Hudson dart from across the room, hold her hand and gently walk her around the room, showing her all the new toys in the new room. My heart melted. All day long they were side-by-side. When I picked him up that day, he got special candy bracelets for being so sweet!!
The neighborhood had their annual pool party. Adley got to play with her neighbor, Emma, who graciously pushed her around the baby pool. We have been lucky with nice weather lately and have spent every weekend soaking up the sun. And both kids always end up napping over 2 hours after a pool session, so it's a win for everyone.
During the pool party, Chris entered a hula hoop contest and won! It was a contest between dads and I'm being generous when I say he lasted 6 seconds....but the other dads were even worse. So now we have four free oil changes! Adley was so exhausted after the party, she fell asleep...bottle in mouth, as we took our two minute drive back home.
The princess hit the 11 month mark as well (and per her pictures below, she has mixed emotions about it)! She is basically in run-mode and moving all over the house. She loves to belly laugh, clap and wave "hi" and "bye." Her favorite foods are string cheese, bananas and strawberries, but she will still scarf down veggies better than most adults. She continues to sleep 12 hours through the night. And as long as Hudson is near her, she is content playing with trucks, balls and other boy stuff. She has two dolls and one stroller and Chris is on a mission to get more girl toys. Meanwhile, Hudson keeps asking to "paint nails, like mama."
Hudson completed his first round of swim lessons. He has graduated as an Inia and will move on to become a Pike, followed by an Eel once we sign him up again. He can now blow bubbles, jump in by himself and "scoop the ball" like a pro. He still gets nervous about floating on his back so we practice on the weekends.
And then we had the official birthday celebration. The Elf on the Shelf, Damien, visited our house (in a cupcake suit) and decorated a birthday chair for the birthday boy. The special birthday doughnut is another tradition we started; this year it was a blue star with sprinkles.
Hudson's elf always brings him books around the holidays, so it was only appropriate that Damien brought him new books for his new bookcase in his bedroom. If anyone is a history buff, Gene Barretta is a children's book author who wrote some amazing kid-friend history books. I have been learning a lot about Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison and Leonardo DaVinci lately.
Next up was a second round of celebrating, this time with the Kemp/Bockelman crew. The kids got to play with Hudson's new water toys.
The wiggly water sprinkler from Mimi and Pop Wilson was a hit...
Our neighborhood gets frequent stops from the ice cream truck, and Lolly has yet to skip a visit with the kiddos. So as soon as the kids heard the music playing, they all rushed to the street. Popsicles and ice cream before birthday cake; these kids don't know how lucky they are!
Claire continues to do a great job at helping take care of Baby Adley. She still wants to help feed her and walk with her. They continue to play quietly and perfect with each other.
Present time!
Hudson got a ninja turtle shell, complete with two ninja sais and nunchucks. Thanks to plan-ahead Shannon, Anderson got a set as well so the boys were able to battle...
We ended the evening with silly string, sparklers and smoke bombs. Below is a cute video of Hudson and his new Elefun toy he got for his birthday from LolliPop.
And since poor Adley doesn't get mentioned nearly enough as her big bro, here is a cute video of her at the pool, showing off her clapping skills.
Hope everyone has a great rest of the week! Another big weekend is in store for the Kemps. We get one last visit from the Wilsons before they head off to Heidelberg, Germany. Hudson also gets to embark on his very first horseback riding lesson! Fingers crossed he doesn't ask for a horse for his next birthday. And only a couple more weeks before Adley turns ONE...eek!
No comments:
Post a Comment