Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was low key and lots of fun... Just the way we like it! We celebrated the holiday with my family this year. Hudson ate his meal with the adults at the dining room table, while the two little ones napped during the meal.  They ate when they woke up.  I didn't take many pictures simply because we were enjoying visiting and relaxing... not many picture moments.  Although, we would have liked to get one of all three boys together, but somehow there just didn't seem to be a perfect time for this.  However, the boys and I went back over on Friday morning to have breakfast with Derek, Kitty and Will before they headed back to Oklahoma, so we took a couple pictures of them in their pjs that morning (although Will was not in the mood for pictures).  The few pictures I took on Thanksgiving was during a walk the four of us took after our delicious dinner.  We brought the wagon, police car and Hudson's tricycle to play outside.  Instead of riding in the wagon, Hudson wanted to follow in his police car.

 Luke LOVES to ride in the wagon!

 Laughing together

 Will, Luke and Hudson enjoying Opa and Memee's tree the next morning.

 Will was not in the mood for pictures, but we tried!

Family Photos

Our family photos arrived a few weeks ago, and I'm just now getting around to posting them!  I was was happy with how they turned out!  Christmas cards were ordered today, and I can't wait to see them!

We definitely had more pictures of Hudson than Luke simply because Hudson was much more cooperative!

 Not long into the photo shoot, Luke dug through Mommy's bag and found his snacks... Let's just say, he was not giving those up!  So we have snacks in the rest of our shots.  I specifically didn't pack his nigh-night for this reason because he loves to dig through my bag.  Well, I learned my lesson that snacks are also not a good idea for him to find!  At least his snack cup is purple!

I  like this picture except nobody is looking at Luke.  :-(  I think we were tickling Hudson to get him to smile and she snapped a picture, but I wish one of us was looking at Luke.

 This picture cracks me up!  I love it!  Heather, our photographer, thought this shot was perfect!  What a great interpretation of our family during the shoot!  Heather said smile, and Hudson leaned over to the left goofing around, while Luke was eating his Cheerios.  This was one of the last pictures we took, so the boys had smiled enough!

  Hudson was tickling Daddy's chin to "get him to smile".

Arnold Adventures

Our family enjoyed another fun and busy weekend!  On Friday, I went with my friend, Jennifer, to the Chi Omega Market.  This is our second year to go to this event, and I hope to make it a tradition!  We had a lot of fun, and surprisingly, I didn't buy anything this year!  I made up for last year when I made way too many purchases!  Matthew took the afternoon off to spend time with the boys while I was away for girl time.  He decided to take them to the ranch where Uncle Justin, Uncle Andy and Mia later joined them.  Matthew sent me several picture throughout the day!

Mimi and Papa came over Saturday afternoon.  While they were here, Matthew took Hudson out for his first spin on the bike.  Matthew has been wanting to get a seat for Hudson and Luke, so he finally did!  Hudson was excited to ride on Daddy's bike, but Luke didn't want anything to do with it because Mimi was pulling him in the wagon.  I'm sure he'll have fun riding on Daddy's bike another day... when the wagon isn't in sight!

Taking another lap around the block

Hudson was wearing Papa's helmet, which was way too big!  So after the ride around the block, they took Hudson to pick out his very own helmet.  This is what he picked out...

 Peace! (Actually he was saying "two")

On Saturday night, we went to Supper Club at the Yancey's.  Jessica and her fiance, Bryan, came over to watch the boys.  Hudson took a long nap, so I told Jessica he could stay up until we got home.  Even after we were home, he didn't want to go to sleep knowing Jessica and Bryan were still there!  They stayed and hung out for a while, so let just say that Hudson had a very LATE night!

I have an awesome tip to share!  I found the best way to order fries at In & Out!  I tried the original way- not a fan!  Then tried "well done"- not much better.  Then Jessica and I read online that the best way to order In & Out fries is to ask for the "Two Minute Fries", which they also call "Fries Light"- Delicious!  This is definitely the way to order fries at In & Out.  I had them earlier this week, so we went back after church this morning, and Matthew loved them too!  I'm glad because I love their burgers (and I'm not a hamburger fan except for theirs), but I started not even ordering fries because I didn't like them... until now!

This evening I made our pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for this week.  These are my all time favorite muffins!

On a side note, I wanted to share our new "Masterpieces" wall in our playroom.  Hudson and Luke both proudly display their art and craft projects here!

I can't wait until we finally find a house because I know exactly what I want to do for their art wall but don't want to do it at this house (since it's temporary), so this is what I came up with in the meantime (with some help from Pinterest). We have a couple more fun projects to spice up our playroom over the next month or so!

Just for kicks, these are a few pics we took on Matthew's phone at Jaxon's birthday party last weekend.

Quote of the Day

While at the Thanksgiving Feast at Hudson's school, Hudson showed me his cornstalk treat:

"Look at this Mommy! A treat to bring home!"
"How cool!"
"Just like you Mommy!" (as he gives me a hug)
"What's like me?"
"It's cool just like you!"

I swear I have two of the sweetest little boys in the world!

Pickles!

Observing Hudson in his classroom environment was a neat experience because I got to see how Hudson is with his friends without Mommy around. During the lunch, Hudson was his usual chatterbox self, talking excitedly to anyone who would listen!  I have to say that he was one of the most outgoing of the bunch, and even had a class clown moment!  While Ms. Maureen was trying to take a picture of the class she said, "Everyone say cheese!".  When everyone else said cheese, Hudson replied in a funny voice "PICKLES!"  The class laughed, and Ms. Maureen got her picture with everyone smiling due to Hudson's response.  I love that boy!

Thanksgiving Feast

Hudson's class celebrated Thanksgiving at lunch today.  I took the day off to join him for lunch.  Matthew came and got Luke, so they could have lunch together, while I ate with Hudson.  The kids had lots of fun, and I really enjoyed observing Hudson with all of his friends.  He's cultivating some great relationships!  For lunch, the kids enjoyed turkey, mac 'n cheese, mashed potatoes, corn, grapes, popcorn and a roll.  For dessert we had a chocolate chip cookie and a piece of pumpkin pie!  I learned that Hudson loves pumpkin pie!

The class made pilgrim vests and noodle necklaces to wear to their feast.

 Ms. Maureen's class had a nicely decorated table!

 Hudson and his classmates- What a good looking bunch!

 The class sang the Gobble Song before sitting down... How precious was that!

 What a great meal!

 Getting our prayer hands ready to say the blessing

 Time to eat!

 The adorable pilgrim hat popcorn cups the class made!

 Enjoying the meal

 All three of the 3s classes ate together for a big feast.  The fun decorated table on the right is Ms. Maureen's class!

 One of the room moms even made the Hudson's class these cute cornstalk treats to bring home (made with Kits and dried cranberries).  The kids also made the cute turkey name tags using their fingerprints.

 Preston and Hudson goofing around for the camera

 This picture cracks me up! I'm not sure what he's doing here!

 Showing Mommy his necklace, which he's been wearing since he's been home!

 Hudson was very glad Mommy joined him for his feast!

 In this picture, Hudson and Tyler (across from him) are playing footsies.

 So much to be thankful for, including this face!!

 Before I left, I walked with the class to Chapel, so I took a quick pic of the class sitting down for their lesson.

The cute cornstalk treat

 The name tag Hudson made, which is now displayed proudly on the "masterpieces wall" in our playroom!