 |
| Down in the city. Hudson loves his Daddy! |
 |
| Santa lost his sleigh in the middle of this park. We were just devastated about it. But then we realized how much fun it was to play on and the two of them weren't feeling so bad anymore. |
 |
| Cold does not mean it isn't sunny. Gotta be stylin' on the road. |
 |
| Who's the kid that can't get enough popcorn in his mouth at one time? Yeah, that's our son. |
 |
| Face 1: Happy, adorable even hunk-ish right? Nothing could go wrong kind of look. |
 |
| Face 2: This is the fence line: the deciding face, "Do I stay happy or throw my back out and start wailing?" |
 |
| Face 3: "Just try and stop me from being totally put out". I can't help but still love his sad face! This face also comes with a free log roll demonstration. It doesn't matter whether you're on a hard blacktop of a parking lot, on the all too familiar cement of a quiet store, or at the top of the stairs ready to plummet to the bottom. This tantrum will take place and rolling uncontrollably will be part of the show. |
 |
| Hudson was Bamm Bamm from the Flinstones for Halloween and his friend Sarah Navarro was Pebbles. The comical part is that we wanted to use one of Thomas' anatomy bones as a club, but Hudson is a little too good at finding objects to whack things/people with when he doesn't have a dangerous object given to him so we saw it more as a hazard than anything to let him carry around a club of sorts. He therefore looked like a pumpkin... |
 |
| The fork...it should be so straightforward, but even Scuttle from Little Mermaid got it all wrong. Although you can't see the detailed sauce figurines Hudson drew on himself with pesto sauce, they're there. We are getting much better with how to properly use a fork, spoon and cup. I want me a little' gentleman! It's been fun:) |
 |
| We have a lumberjack outdoors-man on our hands. Our little friend, Sawyer that lives next door to us, lets Hudson use his "extensive yard equipment . He has a blower, a lawn mower, a shovel, rake, and hoe that Hudson loves to borrow and put to good use. I could leave him outside all day and he would be in toddler heaven. It's the misuse of the equipment that forces me to keep an eye on him... This kid is innovative! |
 |
| This is taken along one of our walks that we like to go on. I had to capture the color before it all fell. It truly is SO BEAUTIFUL out here! We just said goodbye to our dear, dear, dear friends, and walking buddies, the Tranter's who moved away for Residency. We won't ever stop missing them! |
 |
| Here is a picture of Hudson and Emily (the Tranters' little girl). She is too cute for words. Hudson and Emily have spent a lot of time together the last year and a half and I can't help but be sad for him to lose his little friend. |
 |
| Aren't they cute?:) Gosh, I love these two. |
 |
| It was FREEZING!!!! |
 |
| Jennie is so talented she even whipped out her camera and took a picture while we were running:) |
 |
| We all finished! We started together and ended up breaking off from each other to do what felt comfortable for each of us. It was a great morning to run through Independence Grove (a forest preserve)! It was lovely. |
 |
| I am going to miss this girl!!! She is moving at the beginning of next month:( Jennie, you have been and will continue to be an amazing friend. Thank you for getting me to move my buns and do a half marathon after having Hudson! |
 |
| I need to time Hudson's "sippy cup sucking" to when we aren't taking pictures. I feel like he is always sucking a sippy cup in our pictures! |
 |
| This was our birthday crew including Hattie, Fleury and Emily, their aunt. They seemed to enjoy the festivities . Who doesn't like a reason to eat delicious things and throw a party? C'mon. Unfortunately, Thomas had school obligations the whole day until 7 that night. Talk about dedication and sacrifice! Such is life as an adult. |
 |
| Hudson loved singing to his Dad. He got down on the floor and started laughing and dancing while we sang. The second the camera came to his attention he was as stiff as a board. Why is that? I'll never understand. |
 OBI WAN??? |
| At our next stop, we watched a family of 4, the Walkers. Such a cute bunch. Nothing like going from having 1 child of my own, to adding two more at the Robbins, then going to the Walkers and adding 4 more! I think I am destined to madness. While playing outside in the chilly air at the Walker's, we bundled Hudson in what looked like Obi Wan Kenobi:) |
 |
| An early Halloween get-up:) |
 |
| It has been getting chilly here in Chicagoland! Fall is beautiful as ever and I am amazed at the color and magnificent feeling of Fall in the air. This is something everyone needs to experience in their lifetime. We are enjoying the season and we try to get out as much as possible while we still can. Hudson is our little explorer and could play outside for hours and be in heaven the whole time. |
 |
| During the 3 weeks of babysitting, my time was overly consumed with kids. I felt like my life flashed forward to life as a mother of 5 children. It was pretty wild! I had to sneak my time to get out into a 2 hour block of time I had while the youngest was in Preschool during the mornings. During this time, we would run errands or go on bike rides or run to prepare for the Prairie Half Marathon Jennie and I planned to do (Oct 6). Pictures to come... |
 |
| Hudson has enjoyed having a number of new siblings and toys over the past few weeks. He has played so hard and has loved every minute of it. Although I was overwhelmed and stressed at times, I was happy to know Hudson was having the time of his life. It kept me going! |
 |
| VICTIM: Ummm HELP! |
 |
| He really does match his sippy cup. This is enough to make me dress my kid in a mummy suit whenever we go outside. |
 |
| I can't believe we made all the way into September and then he got his first sunburn.... |
 |
| This is Hudson in his hunka-little-man suit given to him when he was born from Ashley (my sis). It is an 18 month suit with everything including the pants, coat, vest, shirt and tie. I have been dying to get him into it ever since! I had to do a little hemming of the pants, which will be totally worth it when we are enjoying the cuteness for at least an 3 extra months:) The pictures don't give the handsomeness justice! |
 |
| I don't know if he is trying for the "I'm hot and I know it" kind of look that would be totally blown if he even tried to crack a smile??? I took this before church last Sunday, maybe a little too early for smiles. |
 |
| 15 months and his neck is noticeably thinning out. We think anyway:) We love you Mr. Chubby! |
 |
| Hudson has been enjoying a lot of different foods now that he has several molars. It's cute to watch little kids eat. It appears to take a lot of concentration. This is after breakfast when Hudson is his happiest. |
 |
| Although I caught this picture right when he is bearing down on the duck beak... he really is fascinated with true purpose of puppets more than just chewing on them. He will make the sounds of the animals and put one in my hand then take a seat to tell me he's ready... fortunately, he does occasionally try to help me out with dialogue. Oh 15 months is a fun age! |
 |
| Our first day, we ate at Good Stuff Eatery... a 5 thumbs up! We stuffed our faces then met up with Ash's friend who gave us a tour of the Capitol building. This picture was taken on a balcony that overlooks the heart of the city with the Washington Monument and the Mall (No, there isn't any shopping at this "Mall" much to our dismay). Later on, in the evening we did get our outdoor shopping feel when went down into Georgetown and walked around a bunch of really cute little shops as we made our way to dinner. |
 |
| There is so much artwork and ornate work put into every detail of the Capitol. We loved all the history and the first hands experiences we were able to have. |
 |
| We just had to get a picture by this picture which shows Washington handing over his position as President. He sacrificed a great deal for our country to be the many good things it is today. Now that that's been said, glance your eye to my favorite part: Hudson passed out in the stroller:) He was such a trooper through it all. Seriously, he is such a well-tempered little man! He was basically our prisoner all week and he did his best to just roll with the punches. Thank you Hudson! |
 |
| We tried to get a picture with the three of us and the Capitol... No capitol, but a good biggie-sized pic of us. Good job us! On our way over to the White House after seeing the Capitol, we saw a motorcade of the "man himself". It was kind of crazy watching as these motorcycles came tearing out of the White House roadway followed by several blacked-out suburbans, two limos and then some more black suburbans with the back hatch open and guys with guns poking out. It was kind of a big deal:) |
 |
| This is a totally awesome picture. The sky and the Capitol. Don't mind the green bug at the bottom:) |
 |
| Our All-Star player for the team during the week! Smiles and all:) We are walking through the Zoo during the late afternoon, when all the animals were asleep so we saw a tortoise and some small turtles...we love our shell friends, but let's be honest, it was an anti-climatic zoo trip! |
 |
| We went to several Smithsonian Museums including: The National Museum of Natural History (the picture above), the National American History Museum (saw the first ladies' outfits and many presidents' artifacts), the National Museum of Art (we got our fill of naked sculptures!), the National Holocaust Museum (a solemn experience...), AND the National Air and Space Museum. Pretty cool stuff. |
 |
| On Tuesday, we went to the Iwo Gima Memorial and watched the Marines do a parade on the field. Let's be honest, Hudson just ran around while we tried to catch glimpses of the event. It is a beautiful monument with a powerful feeling of sacrifice. That night, we rode bikes around to see the Jefferson, MLK, FDR, and Lincoln monuments that surround the Potomac river. It was a brilliant idea from my sister Ash. We got to see all we wanted to without all the heat and traffic of the day. The monuments were outstanding all lit up at night as well. |
 |
| In the little town of quaint Alexandria, we ate dinner at a delicious Thai restaurant and then we made a stop for our hankering sweet tooths at Ben and Jerry's. Hudson loved this cow and we loved the picture below of the two stooges (Ash and Hudson) :) |
 |
| After satisfying our taste buds, we went to a state park that is right before the Reagan airport. It was pretty neat to feel like we could nearly touch the bellies of the planes as they landed on the runway. Hudson loved it. We also know where to go if we ever feel like making out in public with 20 other couples:) Not my cup of tea. |
 |
| On one of our last days, we made a trip to Mount Vernon where we visited the "estate" (not home, as we were corrected) and grave site of George Washington. It was a pretty neat experience. Not to mention, the back yard had an amazing view. |
 |
| The open space was a dream for Hudson. The only downside was that there was a steep sloping down the backside and Hudson was a little too curious... |
 |
| One of our favorite stops was the Library of Congress. Once again, this was such an ornate building, with every detail done with such care and beauty. This is an exhibit of "Books That Have Shaped America". We also got to see the library of Thomas Jefferson which was pretty inspiring. |
 |
| Around the molding of the ceilings were quotes about knowledge, wisdom and learning that were also inspirational. Also on this day we saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights at the Archive Building. |
