Out of the Mouth of Hudson

Hudson: Mom, who was the first ever American?
Me: Um...I'm not sure???
Hudson: You know, he stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni?
Me: Oh, Yankee Doodle?
Hudson: Yeah!

Chase: I'm hungry!
Hudson: Hi hungry! I'm Hudson!

In the car Davis was crying: "Davis is TICKED! And I am tocked. Tick tock tick tock."

Getting out of the car, Jazmyn always says "bye bye Hudsy!" to which he yelled one day, "I prefer Hudson!"

 I picked him up from a day with Papa, during which he fell asleep on the car ride home and thus missed the promised treat of chocolate milk. When I picked him up he was still tired and a little prickly and yelled down the hall (where papa was): Papa promised to buy me a chocolate milk on the way home which HE DID NOOOOOT do!

He told Nana "Our old bishop got fired. Either that or he died." (the truth is that he got released and moved shortly thereafter)

One night at dinner I reminded Hudson over and over to eat his dinner. He kept basically not eating it. I finally scolded him for it and he looked at me with a totally straight face/bored expression and said "I'm just waiting for you to feed me."

"Fritters!" - his expletive of choice one day. Once Hudson figures out what swear words are, I'm sure he'll be using them. For now he just makes up his own. Personal favorites are "blasty" and "bum-it"

He was calling tiny things "choking blizzards" (instead of hazards)

"Mom, do all churches have Jesus?"
Me: No, a lot of churches believe in Jesus, but some other religions don't and believe in other things.
Huds: Like they believe that the Titanic still floats? And that Apollo 11 wasn't real?
(I'm fairly certain that no one has introduced the moon landing conspiracy to Hudson, but he actually brings it up quite often that some people don't believe in Apollo 11- included on this list is his 3 year old cousin Nora and Unky Nate. I have confirmed that neither one is a moon landing conspiracy theorist, but Hudson is sure otherwise.)

Hudson was explaining, in detail, his nursery class. "In general, I like to play with boys. But not in general, like in nursery, I like to play with girls. (And then explained why- the boys in his nursery class are fairly challenging/mean) Travin, he sits by the trash and he pulls trash out of the trash can! And Daniel---He's our mean one! He calls us chickens! And hits and kicks us! So I like to play with Leah and Nora. My friend Nora, the one with the two babies (as opposed to his cousin Nora "with just one baby") She likes to think before she does things!"
Nana: Hudson, do you like to think before you do things?
Hudson: Um....I don't, but I think I'm going to start.

To Davis one morning: Hey there chicken box!
Me: Why did you call him chicken box?
Hudson: Because he's just so cute!
(that explains everything)

Chase: An odd plus an odd is an even. And an even plus an even is an even. But an even plus an odd is an odd.
Hudson: So what is an odd plus a coco puff? And how about a coco puff plus an odd plus a coco puff? (Said with a twinkle in his eye that he knew he was being silly).

Chase turns 7

Chase turned seven! Seven felt so old to me, but really Chase is mature beyond his years in many ways and in those ways, seven seems young! It's always a challenge for us to figure out how to best celebrate his birthday, with it coming right after Christmas (and so many toys and clothes and new things) and being in the deep of winter (making outdoor activities impossible), but I think this year we found just the right way to celebrate our amazing kid (and not drive mom crazy at the same time!).

I told him no friend party this year, but that we'd make his day special in a different way. He got his favorite breakfast "opimeal waffles" and we opened presents from just us. We gave him Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (illustrated version) and we've been reading it together. He's hooked! Such a fun present for both of us! In morning carpool both Jaz and Luca had brought simple little presents for him!

I checked him out of school at lunch and we went to Old Grist Mill just the two of us. It was a highlight of the day for me! He'll still hold my hand, he was so excited about everything (ordering a sandwich just the way you want! Mint brownies! Pink lemonade!) and it was so fun to have time with just him!

After school (and a playdate with his buddies) we had his favorite dinner (tacos) and then went to Sky trampoline park. The boys had a great time jumping and going crazy. Chase was super proud that he climbed to the top of the rock wall and got to ring the bell (it took him three tries to do it, but he kept trying). We went to Cold Stone for ice cream afterwards and on the way home Chase declared it the "best birthday ever!"

On the Sunday following his birthday we did cake and ice cream and a mini family party at my parents house. He ordered a funfetti cake, which I happily obliged.

We love this kid so much! Chase has been such a pleasure in our family since day one. He was the cutest, friendliest baby and he's turned into the cutest, friendliest seven year old! He's such a good big brother to Hudson and Davis. He works so hard in school even though most of it comes easily to him; he keeps pushing himself to do better and learn more.  Here's a few more things about seven year old Chase:

• He loves absolutely everything about school, but especially loves art, PE, computers and music. And he loves having all his little friends in his class.
• He loves riding his bike and even though it's winter, still rides to friends houses all the time.
• He loves to read and is obsessed with Box Car Children books. He's probably read 30 of them already and keeps checking them out of the library every time we go.
• Loves to eat veggies these days and get genuinely excited when I pack bell peppers or cucumbers in his lunch. He also goes nuts for steamed broccoli. I don't get it, but I'll take it!
• He is the most social child and he loves to play with friends every chance he gets. His closest little buddies in our neighborhood are Luca, Jazmyn, Quinn, Ella and Adam (all but Adam are also in his class at school! He got so lucky this year!).
• He loves to help around the house, especially with cooking or helping Ben on any home repair project. He vacuums and dusts now. He loves to help crack eggs and open cans and anything else I'll let him do in the kitchen. He takes the garbages out for me every day and is doing so well with making his bed and keeping his room clean.
• He loves church and learning there. He really wants to be a good kid and tries so hard to do the right thing.

New Year

Wow, 2017 was a crazy year for our family. Ben and I like to do a date night and go to the temple right before New Years. We reflect on that last year and make goals and dreams for the upcoming year, and decide on a new theme scripture for our family. The scripture we chose for this year is 3 Nephi 27:27 "Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." We are excited to talk a lot about this scripture this year and as a family become more Christlike.

As Ben and I reflected on 2017, we decided it was a roller coaster. Some of the highest highs, and some kind of hard lows as well. It was an exhausting year for sure (new baby, lots of work travel, three kids, along with normal everyday life) but one that was full of so much joy and adventure. Hands down, Davis's birth was the highlight of our year. He is the sweetest little baby and has made our family so happy this last year. Seeing our boys completely embrace him and their new roles as big brothers to him has been nothing short of magical for us. We are all just smitten! I hoped the transition to having three kids would go smoothly, but it has far surpassed anything I could have hoped for. Not that it hasn't been hard at times, and exhausting (ahem, Davis STILL doesn't sleep through the night consistently), but the bond and love we all have for this baby has been the best part of the year. I have no doubt that Davis was exactly who we needed in our family, he's been a perfect fit and we all just adore him!

Besides the whole experience of adding Davis, another highlight of the year has been the few trips we've had together. Ben, Davis and I got to see Boston. We took the kids to Virginia and DC, Torrey and camping. We also have had a lot of fun game nights as a family, fun reading together, swimming and hiking and just being together. We've grown closer to our ward and neighborhood and love where we live so much. We have so much to be thankful for this year.

2017 also was the crazy year with Ben's job(s). 4 jobs this year! We started the year knowing he'd need to leave Polycom by the end of January and felt so blessed with Pragmatic fell into his lap. That lead to six busy, but fun months of lots of travel and working for an exciting new company before it's abrupt end in July. That was the hardest thing we dealt with this year. He had his quick stint at Paychex (which wasn't a great fit) before joining Redlist in October. Through all these crazy changes, we feel blessed and content with where he ended the year. He really likes his job at Redlist and we think it has a lot of potential for the future. Through all these changes, we only went one week without a paycheck, which is an amazing blessing. It was rocky and crazy, but we both feel stronger for having gone through it (and hope to never have to repeat something like that in the future!).

So good-bye to 2017! We loved you, you were a great year for our family, and we are excited to see what 2018 has in store for us!