The surprise of Christmas.....or lack there of!

I have only wrapped one Christmas present this year so far. I wrapped it yesterday with the help of Bryson. It was the present Bryson picked out for Carter for Christmas so he got to help me wrap it. Well, today I was in the kitchen and I heard Bumblebee talking. If you haven't seen the movie Transformers Bumblebee is one of the good guys. He is an Autobot. Alright back to the story....so, I was in the kitchen and I heard....Transformers more than meets the eye!! Then I hear Carter yell really loud "Yeah Transformers more meets the eye, Mommy it's Bumblebee!" How do I even get mad at that. You should have seen the look on his face. He was so excited to see his brand new Transformer.

I just have to laugh because there was only one present under the tree. One lone present that didn't even last 24 hours. I can only imagine what would have happened had I wrapped them all.

So, I ask...Is there really a point to wrapping the presents? Alright, I know the answer to that, but maybe I won't wrap the presents until the night before Christmas. Now that I think of it, that sounds like a plan!

No more Mimi!!

That's what we call a pacifier around the Hudson hosehold. Carter has been Mimi free for over a week now. Go Carter!!!

By the way I think it was harder on Joseph then it was on Carter.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year after some thought Joe and I decided we wanted to have Thanksgiving with just us, just the Four of us. Last year fortunately we were with family but in previous years we have always been surrounded with friends and though we love it, it was nice to just have us. The years we have spent Christmas by ourselves we usually lounge around and since this Christmas we are going to be so busy and surrounded by thousands of people we thought it would be nice to lounge around this Thanksgiving. Boy were we right!

Joe and the boys had a great time this Thanksgiving. Bryson threw the football around with dad while he watched the turkey and Carter played on his tricycle. I was busy inside cooking while all this fun was going on. Though lucky for me i could see all the fun from my kitchen window.

Joe did a fantastic job frying the turkey this year. The turkey was so moist and so good. I made the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls and escargot. Let me tell you they were all great also. Last night I made an apple pie, key lime pie and a pumpkin roll. All three of those were a first for me. I usually just buy the frozen pies and cook them and then claim them as mine. Everyone knows my secret so therefor it's not really a secret then huh?

I had never heard of a pumpkin roll until one of Carter's playgroups. It was so good that I have had dreams about that pumpkin roll non-stop ever since. So, last night I was going to make a pumpkin pie and I thought to myself "self why don't you just make a pumpkin roll" Wow, what a great idea. I looked through my stuff to see if I had all the ingredients and I was missing two. Next door neighbors to the rescue, I got my ingredients made the roll and it tasted just like I remembered.

I had a bit of an ego boost today. My friend that lives across the street Terra came over to try my escargot. She has never had it before and I told her to come get some. She came over and brought one of her friends, she was visiting Terra for Thanksgiving and she loves escargot. They both came inside and got a plate of food. Terra's friend Jana saw my wedding pictures in my hallway and then she heard the boys voices coming form the back bedrooms. In more of a statement she asked "you have a kid?" I said yes I have two a five year old and a two year old. Then what she said next was music to my ears......she asked with sort of a wondering, confused tone...."How old are you?" When I told her I was 28 you should have seen the look on her face...amazement.

I always knew I had great DNA but I have to say THANKS mom and dad for the great genes.

Once again Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

What I am thankful for when.....

my children are sick:

1. A Washing Machine
2. A Shower
3. Plastic Bed/Pillow Liners
4. Disinfectant Wipes
5. Knowing that it will be over soon.

What a Success!

This past Thursday was our fall festival. I actually helped plan the festival and it turned out great. We ended up having it inside because of the weather but I think it turned out better that way. The only thing outside were the pony rides and the jailhouse. The events that we had inside were spread out all over the school in different classrooms. Some of the events we had were a duck pond, a sucker pull, cake walk, musical chairs, ponies, bean bag toss, hula hoops, face painting, ping pong toss, and we even had a jumpy castle and an inflatable slide inside the school. There were a total of 19 stations with different games. It was awesome and so many kids and families showed up.


I was in charge of the chili cook off and getting the donations for the winners and the raffle we had. I was amazed by my own success. I was able to get two hotels to donate a room, Texas Roadhouse and O'Charley's donated a 25 dollar gift card, Olive Garden donated 70 kids meals, a spa and a hair salon donated services and various other restaurants donated free appetizers and kids meals as well.

I entered the chili contest and to my disappointment I didn't win, but I'll be damned if my neighbor and friend Carson ended up winning the whole contest. I don't know what upsets me more....the fact that she doesn't cook and wins, or the fact that she doesn't cook and wins? No I am kidding, I am very proud that she won and think it's a great start to a life time of chili contests for her.


Carson is also first to tell everyone that I am the luckiest person when it comes to raffles and winning. She does have a good point. 9 times out of 10 I will win at least something on the raffle table. It might not be anything good but I am sure to win it. On Thursday I bought 5 tickets, they were a dollar a ticket. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to participate since I am the one that gathered the prizes and went from place to place to pick them up but I was told yes that I was allowed. I didn't tell them my secret. The first number was called and low and behold I won. I ended up winning back my Texas Roadhouse gift card. Yeah for me, The Hudson's love that place. I decided after I won that I should be null and void and pass along my tickets because I knew they still had a great chance of winning again. Two more numbers were called and bingo my tickets one again. This time it wasn't anything to fancy...it was a water bottle. After that ticket was called we decided to go play a few more games and then another ticket was called over the intercom of the school. I heard a ticket that sounded very familiar to the ticket I had very graciously given up. I walked back to the cafeteria where they were holding the drawings and asked my friend Kim whom I am given the tickets to if she won. I looked at the ticket and guess what....we have a winner. That ticket won the O'Charley's gift card. She said that I could have it back but I told her no to keep it she needed a night out. Her husband is deployed and she needed a little pick me up. (Kim if you are reading this you better invite me) (Carson if you are reading this I didn't tell you about all the other stuff I won because you would have gotten mad at me) Carson is a little jealous that I win so much....in a nice friendly competitive way. CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO MAKE THEM LARGER

Can you have to much of a good thing?

Apparently not! Like i have said a hundred times before Carter loves Lightning Mcqueen. Actually he loves all the cars from the movie Cars. Every time we go to Walmart, Target, Toys-R-Us, or the BX he has to go to the toy section. He searches or has me search for any new car. Disney makes a lot of money off the Hudson family. Every time i turn around they are making new cars, for example there is a car named Ramone, and in the movie he owns a paint body shop. Now Disney is smart for instead of having just one purple Ramone, they have made him in 7 different colors. Well, 7 so far for tomorrow they may have made an eighth. They will probably go through the whole rainbow and then start coming up with colors like magenta and periwinkle, and you know what...we will keep buying them. Here is a picture of Carter and some of the cars we could find for the picture. I know that we are missing a few but didn't have the time to search the entire house. I guess we will never know just how many Cars cars we truly have. If you want to see the cars up close and personal just click on the picture and it will make it larger.

No Cavities....Yeah

Bryson had his dentist check up the other day and did great. This is his sixth checkup and he does better with each one. He was able to get some x-rays done and i even saw his adult teeth below his baby ones. The only problem Bryson has are that his teeth are perfect now. His smile is so perfect and pretty that when his bigger adult teeth move in there will be no room for them.
He has no spacing in between his baby teeth right now and that is where we will have issues. Though in the mean time we have one happy, healthy, little boy with beautiful teeth.

What a night

Joe and i went to our first concert since becoming parents. Wow, that just sounds like we don't get out much. Now that i think of it, we actually don't. It's hard to find good babysitters when you move around so much. We are not fortunate enough to have family here to watch the boys whenever we would like to go out. Therefor our outings have to be well planed in advance.


For some of you old folks out there (wink wink) you will probably not know the bands but maybe my younger readers will. We went to see 12 Stones, Papa Roach, and Hinder. They play Rock music for some of you that are stumpted. Papa Roach was by far the best and sang one heck of a show. The others were great also just Papa Roach was in a world of their own. Our wonderful neighbors Carson and Derek went with us. We will surely miss them when they move to Texas after the first of the year.

Concert Tickets: $50.00
Babysitter: $30.00
A night out with my hubby: Priceless

I know cheesy but i had to do it!

Videos are working

The other videos that I had posted up here before are working. There is one with Bryson riding a motorcycle, and Carter spanking his butt. I have fixed them and they now work. You should go back and find them and let me know if you were able to see them or not. I believe they are both in the September file on the left. Let me know if you can find them and if they worked.

Nemo has a mom??

A brief recap for those who have never seen the movie Nemo....Nemo's mother dies in the first 10 minutes of the movie. She is eaten by a barracuda protecting her eggs.

Now to the story:


I was sitting here in the living room yesterday when Bryson comes running in telling me that Nemo has a mom and how he has never seen her before. He went on about how Nemo's mom dies in the movie. He then says "mom did you know that Nemo had a mom?" The first thing that popped into my head was oh shoot, or another choice word. Then i told him that i don't like when Nemo's mom dies so i had always skipped ahead and that i forgot this one time.

I have never really understood why in some Disney movies the mother dies. Why is that? The two that jump to mind are Nemo and Bambi. So i have never liked the first part of Nemo and have always skipped to the safe part. Bryson fell in love with Nemo when he was about 15 months old. That was his favorite movie and he would watch it over and over, and I really didn't want him seeing Nemo's mother die over and over. I think that is why its so funny for me, Bryson is 5 years old and after having watched this movie for almost 4 years, he finally saw Nemo's mother and her brief appearance in the movie.

Guess who is 2 1/2 today?

Before i get started i want to let you know that i have a video of Carter below. You might want to go to the very bottom of this page and pause the music so you can hear him saying his numbers. If you can't see the video or hear it, let me know and i will send it to you.

Carter is learning new things everyday. We can't believe he is two and a half already.

Some of the things he has mastered:
1. He knows his colors. Well, all but pink, but what little boy needs to know pink?
2. He knows how to count to 10 minus 6 and 7.
3. He can identify the numbers 1 through 10. He has trouble with 6 and 9.
4. He knows all the names of the cars from the movie Cars.
5. He can spell Purple (with help).

Things we are working on:
1. Potty training
2. Loosing the Mimi (pacifier)
3. How to take off and put on his shirt.

Carter is 38 7/8 inches and he weighs 34 pounds.

Here is a video of Carter identifying numbers.

We are broke!

Not really but remember me saying how we had failed our North Carolina inspection due to our middle brake light being out. Well, yesterday i went to the dealership to buy it. All the other auto stores didn't have it because its an LED light and not just a bulb. I asked them if they had it and how much it was. I was thinking at the most 60 dollars and i thought 60 was a little on the high side. I about nearly fell over when he told me. With a military discount it came out to be 187 plus change. For a split second i thought how bad do i really need the inspection sticker? If i got pulled over i could talk my way out of it right?? Then reality set in and of course i needed it. So, i unwillingly handed my debit card to the man. We tugged it back and forth for a few and then i finally loosened my grip and he vanished. When he returned he gave me my receipt to sign and i reluctantly signed and was handed my box.

When Joe got home last night we put the light in and it worked. Yeah Joe!!! This morning he took it back to the inspection place at get our sticker. With not a day to spare we PASSED!

One tired little boy

Last night before i went to bed i always check on the boys one last time. I get Bryson up to go pee and make sure Carter still has his covers on. I guess from all that trick or treating we had one very tired little boy. When i walked in Carter's room he was asleep sitting up on the floor against his bed. I am not sure how he got there without waking up but he looked so cute. Here are some pictures. Click on the pictures to make them larger.

Power Rangers to the Rescue!!

The kids had a great Halloween this year. Bryson was the red power ranger and Carter was the blue power ranger. I think it's funny that they chose to be power rangers for up until they decided, they had never seen a single episode. Once they decided they wanted to be power rangers i picked up a few DVDs to see what the big fuss was about and i can honestly say i am not a big fan. I think the whole reason why Carter wanted to be a power ranger is because thats what his big brother wanted to be.

We trick or treated around our house and the kids made a killing on candy. After three streets they had filled their bags. They had so much fun and already can't wait until next year.

The boys with their friends.

Carter and his friend Kate

Greasy Grimy Pumpkin Guts

We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins this year. The kids were not afraid to get their hands in pumpkin guts. Bryson cleaned his pumpkin and then i carved a spider on it. Carter cleaned a little bit of his pumpkin and then the rest of the night he kept trying to cut his own pumpkin. Every time i turned around he had a pumpkin knife to the pumpkin or he was headed in that direction. Can you guess what he wanted carved on his pumpkin? If you have read any of my previous posts i am sure you can but i will give you a hint....he is red, fast and says Kachow. That's right Lightning McQueen. That was a tough one to carve as i had no pattern to go by. I also tried a new technique which is called pilling or shaving and i need to work on that. The third pumpkin i did was a pirate ship and Joe and Bryson really liked it. The last was the Air Force pumpkin. Last year was the first year i did that and it probably will be a Halloween tradition. Here are a few pics. Click on them to make the pictures larger. HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Ouch....Carter does that hurt?

Carter took a spill yesterday. Joe had just taught Carter that morning how to put his hands in his pocket to keep them warm. Who would have known that this one little lesson would have a bad out come. Carter and I had just gone to Starbucks and picked up a coffee for Joe. We were walking to his office I holding the coffee and Carter with his hands warmly in his jacket, when the disaster happened. Carter tripped on his own shoe and fell flat on his face. We were on the side walk and i saw it happen. His hands were not free to brace the fall and his face hit the concrete hard. I feel bad for the little guy because when his face made contact his little feet even flew up in the air. It looks worse today because his skin that was scrapped off is now starting to scab over so it's a lot darker. Here is a picture of him shortly afterwards. You can click on it to make it larger.

Vincent Van Gogh vs Carter Hudson

We have all seen Vincent Van Goughs Starry Night well Carter made a masterpiece of his own yesterday. It looked a lot like Starry Night, you see he mastered the swirls. He colored on my dishwasher the kitchen floor and his arm with a permanent marker. I have been able to remove the marker from the floor, i thought this would be the hardest but it was by far the easiest. I also know that with time his new tattoos on his arm will fade. The problem i am having is with the masterpiece on the dishwasher. I have tried a few things and i can't get it off, it too has faded some but still very visible. If you have any suggestions please send them my way. I will leave you with a few pictures. You can click on the pictures to make them larger.

We have a dead dead bird

Yesterday was a sad day in the Hudson house. Bryson's bird landed in the belly of the cat. I did not receive a call home but it was very close. I know what you are thinking what could he have possibly done for his bird to be eaten. Well, it's what we knew all along. Ladies and Gentlemen we have a talker. He just would not shut his mouth yesterday. I have even had a hard time with this at home. From the time his little eyes open in the morning until he goes to sleep that boy is always talking. We will even catch him talking in his sleep some nights.

I asked the teacher if she had any suggestions and she said that he could sit at a desk right next to hers. Right now they have group tables. He sits with a group of four or five other students, so sitting at a desk all by himself with the teacher would be a big thing. I told her to let me try and talk to him and we would go from there. When Joe got home from work last night we talked to him about his talking and that if he couldn't stop he would have to sit with the teacher. He didn't like the thought of that at all. I am not sure how he did yet today, i can only hope for the best.

The luck we have had

Let me start off by saying its not good luck. We have a bit of bad luck with our vehicles. We took the Tahoe to have the tires rotated and get our North Carolina inspection sticker. They told us that having the tires rotated wouldn't be good that we needed two new front tires and the alignment fixed. They went ahead and changed the oil and did the inspection. I came back to pick up the car and they told me that the Tahoe had failed the inspection because our middle brake light is out. Can you believe that 30 dollars for them to tell me that we failed because of a brake light.

Once i got home i started calling around asking for prices for two new tires. I found a place and the following Monday Joe took the car in. He was the first one there that morning and it still took four hours to get done. Thank goodness he was off work for labor day. Later that afternoon he decided he wanted to get us Starbucks so off he went. He came back home with a bolt in the tire, and it was a big one.

The next day he went and took the car back to the tire place and it took another four hours for them to fix the tire. The tire ended up having to be replaced it couldn't be patched. Thank goodness i paid the extra 20 dollars for tire insurance. It covered having the tire replaced.

This brings us to the Rodeo.....which is now not working. Joe thought that the engine blew but we had our friend across the street Mike look at it and he thinks it might be something else. So, now we are back to the one vehicle again!!!

OUR BOYS ARE HOME SAFE

We are a military family living on a military base with military neighbors. Everything in our lives is military. Reveille plays at 6 in the morning followed by retreat at 5 and then taps at 9 at night. This plays on the speakers so that all of the military housing can hear. You really don't hear it inside your home unless you turn down the tv promptly at the times it plays and really listen for it, but if you are lucky enough to be outside when it plays the sound is loud and clear. At 5 in the afternoon when the national anthem plays you are to stop, place your hand over your heart and pay your respects. You do this in honor of everything the military stands for, for those that have fought for us and those that still are.


Today we were lucky to be invited to welcome home our neighbors. Carson and Terra's husbands arrived today from a four month deployment. We went out to Green Ramp to welcome them in. I took a few pics that i would like to share with you.

Once again, if the picture is to small you can click on it to make it larger.
Mike and his kids are on the right, and Carson and Derek are below.