joy to the world...

wishing you all a very merry christmas!  we pray that you will be filled with the hope and joy of Christ this season!  

too funny!!

if you need a good laugh...CLICK HERE to see pictures of my adorable boys!!  :)

our christmas miracles...

.....................last year ...................................this year


each year we've done a "lights" picture like this since the time hudson was just a baby and now it's a tradition. it's amazing to look back at the other pictures like this and see how much hudson has grown and changed. what a miracle it is to think that greyson wasn't even in the picture last year! wow! how great is our God!?!?!

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"worship the Lord in all his holy splendor. let all the earth tremble before him. tell all the nations that the Lord is king. the world if firmly established and cannot be shaken" ~psalm 97:9-10

in the holiday spirit...

sorry it's been a while since our last update! hope you all had a good thanksgiving...even though it was a couple weeks ago now! ours was spread over a couple different days so we spent thanksgiving morning making cookies as a family and then later delivered them to the Refuge of Hope in canton. hudson especially enjoyed the baking but it also gave us an opportunity to teach him about having joy in giving to others. we told him that we were going to give them to people who need them, even kids just like him. it was great doing that as a family! later that week, we decorated the house for the holiday season and hudson had a ball! he loved helping set up the trees and hanging the ornaments all by himself. he's got such a sweet, lovable personality and he loves to showcase that for the camera...as you'll see in our picture slideshow! lately, he has loved having his picture taken and he especially loves taking pictures himself, too! hum...i wonder where he gets that from? :)

hudson finished his first session of swimming lessons yesterday. he even got a little report card at the end and he has "officially" mastered kicking, blowing bubbles and listening and following directions. he now likes to show us all he can do during his bathtime...even with greyson in there he somehow still finds room! he loved his "pool class" and is excited for the next one. another exciting event for hudson was taking down his crib and putting together his "big boy" bed. hudson had never tried to get out of his crib so we've made it this long just letting him stay in it. we were going to make it into a toddler bed first and then we thought, why not just go to the big, full-size bed and make one less transition! he loved putting it together and getting his new mattresses. he has slept perfectly in it since the day we set it up and he's never tried to get out of it. we tell him he has a nicer bed than mom and dad!

greyson is 8 months now and getting so big. he got his first tooth and started to stand on his own all in one day. he loves standing all by himself and will do it forever! he now has two teeth and is starting to take a couple steps with his walker. he doesn't seem big enough to be doing that...he's our baby!! have you noticed his hair??? it's red!! everyone always ask where it's from and actually, it's on both sides of our families. it was destined to happen. it suits him perfectly! he is such a happy, easy-going, sweet boy. both our boys are constant reminders of how GREAT God is...they are truly gifts from him (psalm 127:3)!!!

we uploaded a ton of new pictures! CLICK HERE to see them!

circus and swimming...

i guess i haven't been doing too well at keeping this updated! hudson has had 3 swim lessons at the YMCA and he LOVES it!! we watch him on the monitor and he sits at the side of the pool splashing and kicking his feet. (he is allowed to splash while the teachers are working with the other kids!). he especially loves the fun shower after "pool class".

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andrew has always wanted to take hudson to the circus and it was in cleveland a couple weeks ago. he, papa and hudson left early and headed up for lunch in the city and then the circus. hudson loved seeing all the animals and the motorcycles. he still talks about the "big show"!!

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greyson will be 8 months next week. he's rolling all around and loves to stand at his activity table and play. today he pulled himself up to stand so it won't be long before he's all over the place!!

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CLICK HERE to see all the recent pictures.

a scare and a thrill...

most of you already know about our scare with hudson this past weekend but for those who don't...saturday morning, hudson passed out and had a small seizure. we called 911 and they came and took us to the ER. they did some tests that all came out normal and then admitted us so that hudson could be hooked up to a heart monitor for a few hours. we waited until the evening for him to be seen by the pediatric neurologist. he said that even he does not know "why" this happened but it is likely that it will never happen again. comforting...sort of! hudson was great through all of this and very cooperative with all the doctors and nurses. thank you to all of our family and friends who have been praying for us. we REALLY appreciate it! God has truly shown us how amazing He is...and for a mom who is always concerned about the health of her boys, He has reminded me that He is in control and i need to continue to put my trust in Him. :)

on a completely different note...andrew and i went to the mccain and palin rally that was in green yesterday. because andrew is green staff, we were able to park right at the stadium and also go straight to the front of the line!! that is something that we may never have the opportunity to do again so it was very exciting to be a part of.

CLICK HERE to see some new pictures.

quick update

we've been keeping pretty busy around here so i wanted to get some new pictures out. we went to the open house at the fire station last week and hudson saw all the fire trucks and ambulances. he was able to get up in them and check everything out. this year he was more interested in the ambulances than anything else...i think it's because he knows that uncle nick now drives an ambulance and he thinks that is SO cool!! every time we see an ambulance he says "uncle nick!". greyson got in on the action too and drove the fire truck for a little bit.
we also went to chuck e cheese's a few days ago...CRAZY!! talk about over stimulation...but of course, hudson loved it! he was a little nervous at first about climbing up into the tubes but once he was up there he didn't want to come down. he had a great time playing all the games and wants to go back really soon.
CLICK HERE to see some new pictures.

fall fun!

today we went to may's farm for some fall fun! we went on a hayride and hudson was able to pick his own pumpkin. he loved feeding the animals and playing in the corn bin with his cousins. greyson loved the hayride too...even though he slept in aunt kim's arms the entire time!

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greyson is 6 months old now! he seems to be doing new things everyday. he sits up on his own and loves it. if he's not eating or sleeping, he loves to just sit with toys all around him. hudson helps him with that...bringing him almost every toy he has. greyson is eating all sorts of food now but especially loves bananas, and thinks he can hold them himself. it works at first, but then gets a little slippery! he weighs 19 lbs now...proving that he loves his food!! his cutest new thing is how he will start laughing at anything. he'll grab his foot and just start cracking up! you can't help but be happy when you're with him! :)

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hudson will be 2 1/2 this month. he's started going to a church program on sunday nights called puggles. he loves to go to "class"...as he calls it. he's learning about all the things that God created. if you ask him who created the sky or clouds or trees...his answer every time is "bible"!! between sunday school and puggles, all week he asks for "more class" and "more bible". it's so cute to see him learning and understanding new things.

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CLICK HERE to see some pictures from this past month.

a weekend of "firsts"...

labor day weekend was a big one for hudson. mimi and papa have their camper set up in the driveway so they planned a campout for hudson...and andrew. they went over on sunday night and roasted marshmallows and hung out. we were talking all week about sleeping in the camper so hudson was ready with his "cars" pajamas and his "cars" pillow. greyson and i went over in the morning for breakfast and hudson was so excited to show me where he slept! we ate breakfast and then all headed up to headlands beach in mentor. it was hudson's first time at a beach and right away he was very interested in the sand. it was so cute to see him knealing down and examining it! he wanted in the water right away...it was hard to get him out after that. daddy, uncle nick and papa had him pretty far out in the water and he loved it! mimi, greyson and i watched from the shade!! it was a really fun day. we'll talk about it now with hudson and he keeps saying he wants more. :)

CLICK HERE to see pictures from the weekend.

summer's over...

well, the end of summer is here and it's back to work for andrew. it was so nice to have him home these last couple months...hudson especially loved having daddy here all the time. he would wake up every morning saying, "no daddy byes!" and they would go down and make their usual for breakfast...homemade biscuits. i have to say that hudson has been a little disappointed when i walk in his room in the morning and tell him daddy isn't home but he gets over it as soon as i tell him there are biscuits downstairs!

we did go on a little overnight trip a couple weeks ago to a cool park that andrew and i found when we were away. it's called preston's hope park and it's set up like a mini town. hudson loved going into all the different buildings and playing on anything else he could find. we spent over 3 hours just playing...greyson was content in the stroller the entire time just watching hudson play. we then went back to our hotel and went swimming. it was the first time hudson had been in a big pool and he loved it. greyson actually liked it too...i just pulled him around in a little ring and he was happy! our plan was to go to a beach near cleveland the next day but the weather didn't cooperate. it was still a fun trip and we learned a thing or two about staying at a hotel with little ones! :)

both boys seemed to grow so much over the summer. greyson is 5 months old now. he is such a happy baby...always smiling. he especially loves watching hudson play and giggles when hudson does anything silly. hudson does a really good job at entertaining him and greyson loves every second of it. hudson is really expanding his vocabulary, repeating almost everything we say now. we're constantly amazed at how great God is for entrusting us with these two awesome boys and we can't imagine life without them.

CLICK HERE to see pictures from the last few weeks.