phone photo updates

March

 Water, boxes, chalk - these are the things we do in the afternoon now that the winter "cold" months are behind us. :) Yes i know that may upset people living outside of a warm climate. Hudson drew this bike all by himself this week - entirely by himself. I'm so proud. :) 

 We've had this fairy tutu and wings for about a year, and Stella has not worn it until yesterday. Hudson was "flying" around in his spider-man suit, shooting webs to carry him across the sky, and Stell wanted to "fly" also. So she put on the wings, and flew around the yard. I don't think it will take long for her imagination to explode when she spends so much time with her creative, highly imaginative brother. 

 yes, we are doing our sprints before bed. yes, I know stella's pants are on backward - she put them on herself. and yes, i do recognize hudson may need a larger size pajama top. this just about sums up our typical evening. 

 We got to visit with JoAnn and Mike this weekend in Temecula at the duck pond. It was great to see them, and the ducks were pretty cool too!

 These are two of my favorite things...

Three years ago in the hospital

Three years ago today, we were in the hospital with Hudson for what would be the hardest two weeks of our lives with him so far. For some reason I thought about this experience yesterday, only to find out it was exactly three years ago that it all started. The vomiting, stomach pain, lack of eating or drinking. THREE times i called the doctor, and not until the third time did they tell us to go to the ER because of dehydration. Not that they could have known what was going on, but our little boy was in bad shape. Thank God it all turned out fine, and he is running around like a wild four year old today. But i reread the blog entries to Andy and we both took a few minutes to reflect on the experience and remind ourselves how lucky and blessed we are today to have each other and our two beautiful, healthy little kiddos.

But I can still remember the way I felt when the doctor told us he "had to tell us Hudson may not survive." I remember feeling like if he died, I would too. I remember feeling something so much more than fear or sadness there was no way I could describe it. I remember sitting, sleeping, and staying as close as possible to my boy for those two weeks, as he got test after test done, finally ending in surgery to remove the mass. He sat on my lap in the wheel chair to each room, reached for me crying each time he needed an X-ray, blood draw, CT scan, etc. He didn't eat, so I didn't eat. Never thought i could lose over 15 pounds in two weeks. Hope I never do again.

It's a sad, hard thing to remember. But it's good to remind myself what we went through, and where we are now. God gave us a miracle. He carried us. He saved my baby, not done with the time and plan He has for my Hudson here on earth. So I need to be thankful, appreciate this gift I've been given. And I'm guilty of not appreciating it. There are days it's hard and I don't feel like I am cut out for this. I have called those parent fails, among other things. But I still love my kids. And will try to remember my blessings and be thankful for these beautiful, rambunctious kids. :)

family time

 Hanging around the house in capes and boxes seem to be the COOLEST thing lately!

 Last weekend my amazing friend Sandra got engaged! Couldn't be more excited for her!

 We took a trip up to tahoe this last weekend, and got to do both sledding and playing in the lake on the same day, thanks to the crazy warm winter they are having! 

 Stella didn't like the snow, pretty much at all. She was held by one of us pretty much the entire time, other than this two minutes she wanted to say hello to the snowman. Hudson on the other hand, couldn't get enough!

 Gigi and Auntie Susie gave Hudson and Stella this big bubble kit, and we brought it to the beach. Didn't know we'd be the entertainment for any kid within running distance, but it was lots of fun! And made for some really cool pictures. 

 My children love water. This is not atypical, but these kids LOVE water. Thankfully we had towels with us to warm them up quick when they were finally done splashing, digging, running and playing at the Lake!

 At one point Hudson ran out to this rock, and he was so happy to be out there - even though it was so cold it was actually hurting my legs to even step in there!

 Reading with Oma - these two love their Oma so much.