Weekend Recap: Birthday Edition

It was such a FUN weekend as we continued to celebrate Hudson with our family! The older I get the more I appreciate our close family and how much it has grown as we (siblings) all have gotten married and had kiddos together. 

On Friday, I was busy making Hudson's cake and Andrew was busy putting together Hudson's big birthday present. We had gotten him a big Star Wars figurine set for his birthday Wednesday as something to open but his BIG present was a trampoline. We couldn't wait for him to see it.

A nod to Star Wars Episode III when Anakin and Obi-Wan are fighting. We added dry ice under the top character to make it "smoke" since the cake was supposed to be the burning planet. 

That afternoon after Hudson got home, Andrew's best friend from high school stopped by and hung out for awhile. I made dinner and went to drop off some items that I had sold from our closet clean out and donated the rest. 

I made this chilli. I was nervous about not having any beans but the flavor was yummy and all the veggies gave it the heartiness I love about chilli. 

After dinner and baths, the boys and I were settling in for the night to play and hang out. Andrew has been itching to be outside so he invited our good friends down for a fire. Mind you, it was super windy and cold on Friday but these guys are all hunters so they layered up and didn't even care. Our friend, Matt, and his wife just had a baby a month and a half ago. His wife, Kim, was out with a friend so I got to spend some snuggle time with sweet Caroline and my boys while the dads were outside. A little later, some other good neighbor friends stopped by. My friend, Jenny, and two of her kiddos came in to play while her hubby joined the other dads, And Kim showed up too. 

I seriously love that we have such great friends that live just down the street. After they all left, I got the boys settled down for bed and since Andrew and Matt were still outside, I totally relished the me time and took a nice, hot shower and read before bed. 

Saturday morning was pretty lazy. We had a family breakfast and hung out. The boys played. I did some laundry. We picked up the house after lunch while the boys jumped on the trampoline for awhile. They didn't last too long since it was another windy, chilly day. 

Hudson's face cracks me up. 

Three little ducklings all in a row. 

Hudson's party was at two and all our family got to come. It was super simple. Playing with his cousins, presents, cake and ice cream, more play. Their giggles and squeals are the very best. 

Hudson wanted to wear his Jedi costume for the party because, "it is all Star Wars, Mom."

Sweet cousins.

I love this sweet face! 

Saturday evening after everyone left we picked up, had dinner and relaxed a little bit before bed. Our kids were so tired with all the fun and no nap. Gabe fell asleep within 2 minutes after putting him to bed. #sosweet 

Andrew and I vegged out and watched Girl on the Train. I loved that book so much. I liked the movie enough but will always love books more than the movie version. {Except for the Notebook. That movie was magic!}

Sunday we slept in a bit. Andrew had to drive to Oklahoma Sunday since he had an early meeting today. I serve in First Kids at our church every other Sunday during late service. So we spent the morning together before leaving for the day. 

After church, the boys and I took my mom to lunch after church. Her birthday is today so we wanted to spend some time to celebrate her. My boys seriously adore their Gammy. 

After lunch we went to Target. The boys needed to pick out their Valentine's for school and Beau wanted to look for a toy. He even had brought his own money. We didn't find it so it looks like Beau will be learning about the magic of Amazon later today. Ha! 

When we got home it was way past nap time and the day was beautiful so we changed and went out to play. We jumped and jumped and jumped. The boys thought their mama was pretty cool showing them some jumps and teaching them "crack the egg". 

We also went for a bike ride/walk to stretch our legs and soak up the sun. 

When we got home Hudson's friend from school and his dad pulled into our driveway. They had seen us walking and were gassing up their Polaris and Jordan suggested asking Hud to go for a ride. Well, of course the little boys didn't want to be left out. So the three boys took off with Jordan and his dad for a quick ride. They were too cool for school! 

We had a low key night after dinner and an early bed time since they were wiped after a busy weekend. 

We are definitely ready for Daddy to get home this week. 

The Big 6

Oh my word...SIX! Six years since I got to experience for the first time the best role I've ever had the honor of having.

Hudson has taught me so so much! I have loved this last year especially! Seeing your kids really start to become their own person, getting sneak peeks into what's to come because of how they are being shaped and what they are learning now; it's humbling, cool, and so so fun.

Here are SIX things I love you about you, Hudson Andrew!

{O N E} 
You are a wonderful big brother. 
Being a big brother is a tough job. We expect a lot out of you. You were our first kiddo and so we learned a lot about this parenting thing with you. You saw our first successes but so many of our first failures. Because we've learned with you, I *think* we have learned a few things about parenting that we know better with your brothers. You are our support in making this family stick. You are patient with them, even when it is hard. You teach them so many things; not only what you are learning but through your actions they are learning how to be a good person. Even as we talk about growing our family, your questions, excitement, apprehensions--- they all point to what a wonderful big brother you are.

{T W O}

You are smart. 

You amaze us, little one! You are curious and inquisitive. You think differently, thoroughly, abstractly. You are learning and doing new things all the time that make us say, "WOW!" I know with that big mind you've been given God is going to use you for great things if you follow him. I pray you always ask questions, seek answers and truth and never limit yourself. 

{T H R E E}

You are hardworking. 

You try new things, Hudson. You started playing on a soccer team a year ahead and it has never intimidated you. No matter if the kids are bigger (sometimes MUCH bigger) you go right after the ball and work with your team. Seeing you practice for t-ball, or soccer...or learning to ride your bike without training wheels-- you don't give up. You want to do it right and you want to do it well. That hardworking attitude carries over to so many parts of your life and it makes me so proud. I hope you are never afraid to work hard for what you want; to put in the effort. 

{F O U R}

Your sense of humor. 

You crack us up lately. You are starting to become such a big boy that joking around with you has become even more fun. You are witty and quick. When you get tickled, your big, belly laugh makes us all join in! 

{F I V E}
Your love of Jesus. 
Oh this makes me so proud! I love that you love Jesus. You want to know more about Him. You love to learn His word and go to church. I love your questions about who He is and your faith (even though you sometimes ask me questions I don't really have the answer to). Your faith is so big and I pray that it continues to grow.

{S I X}
You are a great friend. 
You want everyone to be included. You are kind to others. You think about them and genuinely care. You make friends with ease and are accepting and inclusive.

We love you, Hudson Andrew! Happy 6th Birthday! 

Weekend Love

I love the weekends. Which is funny because now that I work from home, sometimes I don't even know what day it is because I don't work Monday through Friday, but nevertheless, weekends always seem to be filled with lots of extra fun.

Friday night we were all excited for Andrew to get home. He left Thursday morning and had an overnight for work. After having two weeks with him home for the holidays, the transition back to work has been hard on the boys (and ME!) so we were excited to have him home!

I deemed that evening pizza night and whipped up a homemade pizza. Andrew and I are really working hard towards our health and fitness goals so I made most of the pizza with turkey pepperoni and light cheese. On my little area, I also did light cheese but piled up chopped onions, green peppers, broccoli bits and carrot shreds. Andrew and I paired our slice with nice mixed green salad and totally felt satisfied.

The boys had a great week (and we had coupons) so I suggested to Andrew that we make a little trip to Culver's.  I spelled out Culver's just in case Andrew wanted to veto the idea.  Hudson has been on this kick lately of wanting to know everything going on. In true fashion, he didn't let the spelling slide. I told him if he could figure it out, he would know. I respelled the word slowly and by the "v" he guessed Culver's and tagged on ICE CREAM!!!!

Now I'm not sure if that means he is really getting his letter sounds down and putting it all together or if we frequent that joint too much! ;)

After dinner the boys got a bath while I cleaned up and then we trekked out to get some ice cream to go.  Andrew and I did really good here again and got nothing. If you know me, you know there is a deep love in my heart for ice cream so this was a big #NSV.

We wrapped our night with a few rounds of bumper motorcycles (remote control motorcycles the boys got for Christmas) and a chapter of Farmer Boy. Family nights are so much fun!

Saturday was deemed "Guys' Day" since I had my quarterly coach event, Super Saturday. I met up with a couple of local coaches from our team and we drove over. It was one of my favorite live events. I got so many great ideas to better help the clients I work with, ideas to help my team thrive and help more people and a KILLER workout! We were dripping sweat after the thirty minutes were up.

When I got home, Andrew and I pushed play on day 13 of Hammer and Chisel while the boys were napping. It was a doozey!

With all the family time we had been blessed to have lately, I felt like Andrew and I needed some 1:1 time.  It had been almost a month since our last date night.  Fortunately one of our go-to sitters was available!

Andrew and I got to head out to a late (for us) dinner at one of our favorite local places.

Sunday flew by! Church, naps and workout, housework and playing with boys. We did get to cap it off and meet some friends for a quick dinner at a near by Mexican restaurant.

Overall, a pretty low key weekend. Looking forward to this week and all that is in store! New indoor soccer season kicking off, three day weekend for Hudson, babysitting our sweet nephew, and finalizing Hudson's birthday weekend.

Favor: We are planning a fun, family weekend in Chicago for Hudson's birthday coming up. Any must-do suggestions or must-try places to eat?? Remember, family of 5; three kiddos (almost) 5 and under! Thanks in advance!!

Gabe turns ONE!

It happened. Saturday our sweet baby turned one. The first birthday is always really hard for me. I reflect on how fast the first year goes. I feel as though the stage of being a baby is over. All things baby seem to end (in our house): bottles, pacis. They seem to sprint into those next stages of learning and grow up over night.

Typically, the first birthday was eased because we were planning our next member of our family. But this time, although the door isn't closed on another baby, Andrew and I are both shelving adding to our family right now. We love being a family of five and the stages of our boys so want to focus on that for the time being. Which made Gabe turning one, just a little bit harder.

Friday night I snuck into his room to take a photo of him on the last night as a baby. He looked so big and sweet. I walked out of the room with tear-blurred eyes.

We had planned to have an outdoor party. Being that it is August in the Midwest, my husband was immediately concerned that the weather would be sweltering as it typically is in August.  Luckily, and surprisingly, the weather has been beautiful. Sunny skies, cool, mild temperatures, and less than average humidity.  The day called for clear skies and the same beautiful weather. 

We choose a carnival theme for Gabe's first birthday. It was whimsy and fun, bright colors. It was one of my favorite parties to plan. 

We rented a bounce house for the bigger kids and had a face painter come. There were also a couple of carnival-esque games; a giant ring toss and bucket toss. 

I wanted the food to match the theme. I also wanted to serve foods that people could walk around and eat while they watch their kids play and converse easily. We did corn dogs, giant pretzels, fruit cones, veggie cups, popcorn and peanuts.  I served cupcakes for dessert too. 

We kept the decorations simple. The backdrop for the food table, balloons, a carnival sign, tissue poofs above the cupcake table. Really simple and easy but the bright colors were eye-catching. I also drew up a little stat and fact sign about Gabe and his first year favorites. 

I loved sharing this day with some of our closest friends and family! The kids all played so well. Their sweet faces were so cute painted. Our face painter was a doll and did faces, their arms, legs; seriously whatever.  They looked so cute. 

Hud and his sweet friend

Gabe was such a great sport. He is the most lovable, easy going baby. He rolls with it all. which makes him perfect to be the third guy in our line-up, since our family seems to be on the go often with all of our schedules. He was loved on by everyone, passed around from arms to arms. 

Not sure if it was all the excitement, or if he takes after his daddy who also doesn't like to be sang to, he wasn't a fan of being sung too!

Is that not the sweetest sad face though??

Singing?? Not a fan. The cupcake? HUGE FAN! He scarfed the entire thing down. Icing in his nose style scarfing!

Although the weather called for clear skies and no rain, it was overcast the entire afternoon leading up to the party. With about half an hour left to go, the skies opened up!! So we moved inside to open presents.  Gabe had no interest after about five minutes but my sweet niece, Paisley, was all about helping! She was a hoot!! Loved hearing her commentary as we opened gifts! Gabe did love playing with all his toys as they came out, however!

It was such a sweet time celebrating our Gabers. I can't believe the day has come and gone. 

Here is to another year as a family of five!