Sad

Hudson is starting to properly say "Evan."

Up until this morning, when Hudson said Evan's name, it came out sounding like "Eyan." It's just cute how he yells Eyan, Eyan!

This morning I heard him yell out Evan's name with a distinct "v" sound.

I am sad because he's going to lose his baby voice and cute phrases before I know it, and there are some parts of him being my baby that I'm not ready to let go of just yet. (Peeing on the garage floor can go, but the sweet mispronunciations cannot.)

P.S. If Hudson starts saying "water" instead of "wager," it is going to break my heart!

New

Hudson did something new today. Something he has never done before. Something no one in our house has ever done before.

This morning Hudson peed on the garage floor right next to the car. Yes, peed in the garage.

I had gone out there to switch laundry, and Hudson followed me out there. Perfectly normal so far. The only strange thing was that he was a few feet away from me instead of inches from me like normal.

I was doing my thing pulling out shirts that needed to be hung, throwing socks and underwear into the dryer, and cursing the fact that that my "laundry room" is in the garage.

Suddenly Hudson tells me, "Mom, I pee right here." Huh?!!!

I start screaming and make a leap towards him. He doesn't even acknowledge me as he relieves himself all over the cement. I'm yelling at the top of my lungs for him to stop. He doesn't even know I'm there.

I was hesitant to get too close for fear of being peed on at 7 a.m. Hudson peed on Eric last week while on vacation. I'll have to share that story later. There wasn't much I could do except wait it out.

And wait. And wait.

It was morning pee and he had a lot of it.

I guess I should be happy that he is able to go all night without wetting the bed. However, I still don't trust him enough to let him go without a Pull-Up.

Once he was done, Hudson stared at me with those enormous eyes of his, as if he just realized his mother was a hopping yelling lunatic. I made him take paper towels and mop up his mess, which he was reluctant to do. Oh well little stinker. He did it. I calmed down.

The fun never stops. I just can't figure out why he would think peeing on the ground in the garage would be okay. He's never done it before. We've never encouraged him to pee in there. I don't get it. I'll never get it.

Morro Bay

Last Friday Eric had business in Morro Bay. Rough, I know! We went along and made it an overnight vacation.

While Eric was doing his business, the boys and I went looking for something to do in the gorgeous coastal town. We found a little park and hung out there for an hour or so. Then we went in search of candy and walked along the water.

Eric was done soon enough, so we were able to get lunch with him and hang at the beach for the rest of the day.

It was pure heaven hanging out in 60 degree weather. It was so pleasant, in fact, that I was pretty grouchy when we got back home to 90 degree temps. Ugh. I just hate hot weather.

Anyhow, I took a few photos at the park with my phone. The rest I'll have to wait for Eric to download off the good camera.


All the parks here have an ocean theme! Go figure!


I'd love to live in that house up on the hill. Cute little park, boats, and ocean view. Nice.


Boys posing on a whale's tail.


The amazing-ness of being able to play at a park and SEE the ocean. Jealous a bit? Yup.

I'll post more about our trip when I get more pics.

Don't Do It

When the directions on the contact lens solution says, "Don't rinse contacts with solution prior to placing in eyes," I guess I should NOT DO IT!

I use a new solution that bubbles up inside its special case overnight. I guess the enzyme bubbles aren't meant for delicate eyeballs. I guess there is a reason they say not to use the solution for rinsing.

The reason is that you can burn the crap out of your eyeball like I just did. Good Lord it hurts. I thought I was going to be blind in my left eye.

Now my eye just looks like I ran into a door. It is bloodshot and ringed with red from upper lash to lower lash. Stupid me. Guess I'll be wearing glasses today along with following the instructions on bottles.

Bees?

I spent the day with my mom today (thanks Mom!). We had a very nice day shopping, having lunch, and talking.

Mom bought Hudson a Buzz Lightyear toy. He loves it! He was so excited when I gave it to him. He can't quite say "Buzz," so he calls it his "Bees." It took me a few tries before I realized that he was using the word "bees" to refer to "Buzz."


Hudson and Bees.

Besides having a great day with my mom, I also ran two miles this morning. I am quite proud of myself.

Summer

Sorry for the lack of posting...again. We've just been doing ordinary stuff for the middle of July. That and trying to keep cool in triple digit heat. Yuck. Here are some of the things we've been up to.

-Swimming
-Eating ice cream
-cleaning (sort of)
-Playing with Lincoln Logs
-Going to the mall to stay cool
-Watching tv
-Playing games on the computer
-Summer school and daycare
-Going to Grandma's
-Playing with cousins

Other than going to Grandma's, there hasn't been much that has been blog-worthy to write about. Oh, my dishwasher broke yesterday, so that was fun washing an entire load of dishes by hand last night. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was just dinner dishes, but the whole dishwasher was filled and ready to be washed. Good summer times.

I'll leave you with a picture of Hudson and Evan. Evan is now a great sleeper and usually falls asleep within minutes of us tucking him in. Hudson...not so much. Hudson will play in the playroom until one of us notices. Hudson ventures out to see what we are doing. Hudson climbs into the top drawer of his dresser to play with the radio and gets stuck. HUDSON!

Last night was no different except that Eric wasn't home. He had to attend a council meeting in Hanford to make sure technology was working. I was hand washing dishes. Hudson was refusing to sleep. I finally yelled loud enough at 10:30 that I guess he figured he'd better go to bed. Here is where I found him at 10:45.



I left Hudson there until Eric got home. Then Eric moved Hudson into his own bed. We know from experience that Hudson would twist and turn and wake Evan up in the night, and that wouldn't be pretty.

There you go. I don't want to say that our summer has been boring, because that's not the right word. It's just that we haven't done much. We've been relaxing!

Doctor

This morning, Hudson showed me that his beloved blankey has a hole in the corner.

Hudson: Mom, look at my blankey. It has a hole.

Me: Oh no! How did that happen?

Hudson: I don't know. It's broken. It needs to go to the doctor.

Hudson and his blanket went off to Linda's. This morning the hole was big enough for Hudson to fit his fist through. This evening, the hole is big enough for ME to fit my fist through. Yikes! We better figure out how to fix this hole before we are able to use his blankey as a hula hoop.

Anyone know how to fix a crocheted blanket?

Uno Attack!

Last Sunday on the Fourth of July, we were trying to decide what game to play as a family. I remembered that my mom gave Evan Uno Attack for Christmas...and we have never even opened it. Chalk that one up to Worst Mom of the Year.

Anyhow, we grabbed the box, put the batteries in the machine, and had a great time playing the game. The fun continued into the next day. This time, however, we let Hudson play with help from Dad.

Hudson's whole objective in Uno Attack was to press the button and hope and pray that cards came flying out at him. (That is what you DON'T want to happen!) Every time Hudson was successful, he'd jump up in his chair, throw his fist in the air and yell, "I did it!" We were cracking up each time.


Contemplating which card to use. The game was a good skill builder for colors. Hudson knows if he has a red, green, blue or yellow card and can place it on the pile.


That little brain of his is probably trying to figure out how he can fling himself across the table to press the button and watch cards fly out. Little schemer.


Evan had a great time playing the game, once he got past his bad attitude when the machine spit cards at him. He still needs practice in "holding" his cards as opposed to laying them out on the table for the world to see.


And because I am vain and insecure all at the same time, here is a photo of me with my new haircut. It's a photo I can actually tolerate. I'm growing out my bangs, and they are at that middle, what-the-heck-do-I-do-with-these-things stage. The haircut lady tapered the sides of my hair to blend in with the bangs. I wasn't really ready for that just yet, but it works.

Despicable Me

The summer school kids had a field trip to see Despicable Me. I had to take Hudson because Linda is on vacation, but I had hope that he might be able to handle a movie at the theater.

He did so-so.


Here he is settled into his seat right before the movie started. He enjoyed his popcorn snack.

About 30 minutes into the movie, Hudson started getting restless. He climbed all over me, whined a bit, stood up, rocked on his seat, and made the movie impossible for me to watch. Anytime the movie got really loud, Hudson would pay attention, but it didn't hold his interest.

I finally took him out to the lobby at the hour and 10 minute mark. He found a few things to do like pretend to play games, run around like a nut, and irritate me in general.


This kid loves toy guns.

We went back into the theater for another shot at watching the movie. And we left again after 10 more minutes. No more chances for him. The rest of the group came out about 10 minutes after that.

What I saw of the movie was really cute. I'd love to see how it ends!

Lesson to Mom: Hudson can't go to the movie theater again until he is at least four.

How do I know...

...this child is mine?

Because he is a champion worrier just like his mother and his grandmother.

This morning as we were driving to school, Evan and I were talking about how fast time goes by. I told him he was going to be in first grade and playing soccer before he knew it.

He responds by telling me that he doesn't want to be in 2nd grade. Huh? Knowing this kid, his answer shouldn't have surprised me.

In our Catholic faith, the kids go through their First Reconciliation (confession) and First Communion when they are in 2nd grade. Evan attended the First Communion Mass this past spring. It led to a discussion of the sacraments and what he would be doing when he gets older.

Well, he is freaked out by the confession. Mind you, this conversation about confession happened back in April. I guess he's been harboring the anxiety for two months because that was his reason for not wanting to be in 2nd grade. He doesn't want to go to confession.

I could hardly tell him that I don't either! I blame it on being a convert, and I'm sticking to that story. I've just never gotten comfortable with confession. However, Evan is only going to hear that it is an important part of our faith. I fully believe that...I just don't like it.

The part that amazes and frustrates me is that Evan is only 5 and has two years before he needs to even consider confession. He worries. Just. Like. Me. It is exhausting watching him worry the way I do. It is somewhat of a lesson for me to chill out at times. I hate to see him be anxious over things that are so far in the future.

I wish I could tell him to be calm and cool like his dad. It wouldn't matter, though. He's my kid. He's my mom's grandkid. It's in his genes. Hopefully Hudson will escape the worry fate.


Evan and Grandma eating ice cream...and NOT worrying about things two years in advance.

Baby Cakes

Mom, Joanne, Kay and Joyce. The best of friends.

Today Evan and I made an impromptu trip to Kingsburg to crash my mom's lunch with her friends and eat ice cream at Julie's shop called Baby Cakes.

Julie and I have known each other since we were itty bitty. We probably met in kindergarten, but it may have been before that. She now owns a little ice cream shop/bakery in a small town about 25 minutes south of me. I love going there to visit. It is a happy little shop with the best ice cream!

My mom mentioned this morning that she and her friends were heading to Kingsburg to have lunch and see Julie. I invited myself along. Luckily my mom has the best of friends, and they didn't seem to mind two tag-a-longs.


Julie. She's the best! She played the part of Tinkerbell (and I was Wendy Darling) in our production of Peter Pan back in first grade!


Evan and Grandma enjoy some ice cream. This photo doesn't do justice to how extremely dirty Evan is from playing flag football at school.


Julie sells all sorts of cute things in her shop. I bought this bobble ring on a whim. I love it! I can't wait to wear purple. Probably will be sporting it tomorrow!

It was a fun afternoon!

No Photo Fourth

I didn't take a single picture yesterday for the Fourth of July. That either makes me a bad mommy, a bad host, or a bad scrapbooker.

We started the day off with donuts. Later we had Chinese food for lunch. My mom and sister came over, and we ate, played Uno Attack, watched tv, and ate some more. My mom and sister took the kids and went to K Mart. They get excited when they come to the big city!

Eric BBQ'ed hamburgers and hotdogs. We ate. We played more Uno Attack. We did fireworks. Hudson scared me to pieces waving his sparklers around.

Mom and Tiff left. We watched the Boston Pops on tv. We went to bed.

It was a fun day.

And now I'm up before 7 because my body is trained to be up early, even when I go to bed late. If I somehow manage to sleep past 7, my bladder is screaming at me, and my lower back is aching. I feel so old having to put Icy Hot on my back every other morning. I smell sooooo good, too.

I'll leave you with a random, non-Fourth of July photo of the children. Hey, at least Hudson's blanket is red, white, and blue!

Backtrack

I forgot to share a bunch of photos that I took after Evan's kindergarten graduation. I'll share them now.


Mama and Papa got Evan this completely cool, giant, fun blow up ball that he can ride in! But first it had to get pumped full of air.


Evan climbed in the middle of the giant ball before I started rolling him around the yard! Too fun!


After rolling around the yard, we headed to Sweet River for lunch. Eric enjoys a yummy hamburger.


I think Evan chose not to eat lunch. He's weird like that. He was happy with a balloon and a coloring page. I remember back when he wasn't such an easy restaurant companion!


A weird photo of me. But look at the beer lights over my head. It looks like I am wearing a princess crown!


After lunch, we went to the theater to see Shrek.


If we buy snacks, we always get the kid pack. It's plenty of popcorn even for an adult. The drink is a little small, but who wants to have to pee in the middle of a movie?


As if a graduation, play time, lunch and a movie weren't enough, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner later that evening. That's when Hudson got to join the party. Let's just say he quickly learned how to work those tokens!


He loved this horse.


We had to send Evan up to get his brother out of the mouse maze.

It was a fantastic day celebrating Evan. I think by the time we hit Chuck E. Cheese, Eric and I were done with the celebrating, but it was a great day regardless.

Zoo Trip #2

Evan got invited to go with a friend to a day camp, so I took Hudson to the zoo again. I know we just went there last week, but he asked me yesterday if we were going to the zoo. So, off we went.

I stopped at the Classic Cut by our grocery store to get Hudson a haircut first, but much to my shock and dismay, our beloved $15 hair salon has gone out of business. Where ever will we go to get cheap trims?

Anyhow, off to the zoo.


Hudson standing in an elephant thing. I'm not really sure what this thing is. But see how bad his hair looks? Granted, I didn't comb it, but still! He looks like a fuzzy Q-Tip.


As many times as I have been to the zoo, I have never thought to have my children pose with this hippo. I don't even know that I ever noticed the hippo come to think of it.

We left a bit early because I wanted to purchase a parking pass. It currently costs $3 per car to get into the park. I don't usually have cash, so I scraped together $3 worth of nickels and dimes. Then I was told at the zoo entrance that parking is going up to $5! Geez! The zoo was graciously offering to members (I am a member) the chance to purchase a parking pass for $30. It wasn't a special price or anything, but it was the convenience of getting it right there at the zoo as opposed to going downtown to buy one. Since I have an unnatural fear of downtown, it's a good thing I was able to get one right at my happy zoo.

Unfortunately, the process took almost a half hour. Good grief. I was just about ready to give up. I lost Hudson for 15 terrifying seconds, and then the man waved to me that they found the credit card swiper machine. Talk about old school.

Now we can park and get into the zoo for free. All I have to worry about next time is money for popcorn.