One thing I love about kindergarten is that they do so many cute projects! My fridge is covered in darling stuff from both boys from school and it makes me so happy. This little project was for Groundhog's Day, which I completely forgot about until Hudson brought this home. At school it was just the one groundhog, but he added a daddy and baby groundhog once he got home. When you flip it over on the back he'd drawn an elaborate sketch of their burrow, complete with bunkbeds and bookshelves.
We had another fun SuperBowl party at my parents house. Ray, Diane and Nathan came as well. My mom made a late birthday cake for Huds along with his favorite "blueberry cement jello" (a name Hudson came up with) with dinner. Hudson was so excited about the SuperBowl and was cheering for the Patriots, just because Aunt Heidi lives in Boston and we had to break it to him that he couldn't cheer for BYU. It was the most boring game but the company was excellent!
This is just a sweet memory. Davis, as toddlers do, had destroyed something that was important to Hudson, I can't even remember what it was. Probably something paper. Hudson was furious and heartbroken and sobbing. I calmly acknowledged his hurt, but also talked about how much he loves his baby brother. I asked Davis to apologize, and although I'm sure Davis didn't understand that HIS actions had caused Hudson's tears, he happily came over ready to give a "love" to help the sad big brother. This sweet little hug lasted quite awhile and a thankful Hudson was saying "Thanks Davis!" Once this happened Hudson immediately forgave the infraction and we all moved on.
We had a fun Chinese New Year dinner. In my effort to educate my boys and expand their world, I tried to teach them a little about China. We decorated with chinese writing, lots of red, some fun centerpieces that actually came from Chine (courtesy of my friend Megan who lived there). I asked Hudson to make a pig to represent that Year of the Pig and he made this cute minecraft pig, Roobin. I made Sweet and Sour Chicken and Ham Fried Rice and we gave the kids red envelopes with a little change in them. We talked a little about Chinese customs, found China on the map, and the kids were mostly concerned about which quarters they had each gotten. After the whole dinner was over Ben said "Why is there a pig on the wall?"
We had a super fun Valentines Day! I made pink waffles with whipped cream hearts for breakfast (Hudson's request). The boy's Valentine's from us were new socks (they needed them so bad!) and a little box of chocolates. They were thrilled! Both boys had fun parties at school that day. They prepared all their own valentines- hot wheels from Chase and Star Wars for Hudson. Ben got home from a business trip that night in time to have dinner with us and do our traditional chocolate fondue. It was such a nice day!
We had a really fun date night for Ben's birthday! It actually started as the gift we gave Will and Kate for Christmas, which was for all of us to do an escape room! Our friends Anthony and Andrea came with us too (and another random couple who just joined in) and it was such a blast! I'm proud to say we got out with 9 minutes to spare. Afterwards we went to get Korean food, and Will and Anthony treated us since it was Ben's birthday. It was such a fun night! While we were out my parents had all five grandkids (the fab five we call them) and they had an equally fun night- it was a party!
This sleeping babe. I am loving his babyhood so much and it's going by just way too fast. I can't get over how cute he is. Everything he does is adorable to me. He's perfect. Even though he's actually super demanding and exhausting, I'm just loving this stage! Anna used to call him DD, so we call him that sometimes. And we decided it's fitting, because DD stands for Demanding Davis! He's more attached than ever to Bei Bei, and frequently walks around the house with Bei Bei tucked securely under his little arm.
Davis tried to join the big boys story time one night. He was hilarious and it didn't last long, but when Ben went to snap a picture Davis yelled "CHEESE!" and made us all laugh. I'm reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to the boys right now. We read the first Harry Potter book through December and January- when we finished Hudson was TICKED that Snape wasn't the real bad guy! He felt so tricked he cried. We had to take a break for a day so he could process before finishing the book. We took a Harry Potter break to read Charlotte's Web, and now we are right back into the magical world of Harry Potter. I've been surprised how much Hudson understands of the story, but he's soaking in every word!
We've had some decent snow this month (on and off- it melts and then we get a little more). I grabbed several neighbor kids for a fun afternoon of sledding. Davis lasted about 6 runs and the big kids kept going for another hour. Slowly the kids trickled into the house, and finally after we'd been there two full hours I had to drag Chase and Luca off the hill and into the car. They had a great time.
A sweet friend gave Chase a giftcard to the Leonardo Museum for his birthday- so we spent a Saturday morning there as a family! My boys eat up this stuff. It clearly showed their different personalities though. Chase wanted to learn, read all the informational displays and take it all in that way. Hudson was in a pretend world the whole time- flying the plane, inventing things. And Davis just bopped around and enjoyed exploring.
