Christmas 2011

Luke was super excited Christmas morning to see what all Santa brought him! I think he has been most thrilled with the $4 foam swords I found at Target... naturally. We run around the house looking for monsters with them every day when I get home from work. But back to Christmas... Luke is still on a present high, and his birthday is right around the corner...

here is our little santa baby, enjoying his new exersaucer from Santa

and here he is in his PJ's having Christmas breakfast.

after opening presents we headed over to my parents to eat brunch

we had a great time opening presents and eating

here is everyone...

Luke and Troy

after lunch, Luke enjoyed making a pillow fort

then it was back to opening more presents... shhh, don't tell, but we still have quite a few we haven't opened. I am thinking they will be used as rewards for the potty chart I am making. No more messing around... 2012 is all about getting Luke in his big boy bed, and potty trained. I can't believe in two short weeks my sweet baby will be three...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Card 2011

*Card design by Meagan Davis, photo's by Haley Naegele

{four} Months

happy {four} months

Cole Hudson

You are the sweetest, so jolly, and happy most all of the time, although you wouldn't know it by this picture! You are not the best nap taker during the day, sometimes, like today, you will take two thirty minute naps, other than that, you are up! At night, you sleep great {as I hear you at 11 p.m. talking, I see you are trying to make a liar our of me...} but really, you have been sleeping through the night for about 3 weeks now. You have rolled over, and the first time was like a pizza commercial they are running right now... I could tell you were about to roll over, so I jumped up to run get your dad, and sure enough... when we rushed back in the room you were already on your back! You did it again right away, and then... not so much! You talk all the time, you love to stand on our legs and bounce, and speaking of bounce, we got the jump-a-roo out and cleaned it thoroughly, and you love it! We'll see what else Santa brings you... perhaps an exersaucer and some rattles? Who knows! You bring us such joy Cole, and I can't even remember what life was like before you were here! I can't wait to watch you and your brother grow up together, oh the fun you two will have.

stats

16 lbs. 15 oz., 87th percentile

26 inches, 87th percentile

Santa 2011

I know I know... I'm a terrible mother. I mean, if you remember the first two attempts at Santa, they both looked like this... you would think I would learn my lesson... but we have been talking about Santa, and Luke told me he was going to ask him for dinosaurs... and then this...
and it wasn't just Luke, Cole started crying right after this picture was taken. Poor guys. On another note, Troy and I really planned this one right. We got to the mall 30 minutes before it opened. Yes. You just read that right. We were the second people in line, and Luke had a blast playing on the mall playground for 36 minutes, in fact, he was really excited, right until he turned the corner and saw the man in red. I must also say, I might have scared my child for life... we have been trying to get him to move into his big boy room, and I may or may not have said that Santa planned on taking his bed on Christmas because another little girl or boy {or boy named Cole} needed it. However, if anyone is looking for ways to scare your children at Christmas time, hit me up.

On Your Mark. Get Set. Go.

Two of my absolute favorite pictures of these two.

Brotherly Love

So.. it finally happened today. We are about 3 1/2 months in, when Luke showed his first real sign of brotherly love. Sure, he's kissed him, read a book to him, inquires about him, and tells me to be quiet, that Cole is sleeping whenever Luke wants me to be quiet {regardless if Cole is actually asleep or not}, but today he showed real concern. Cole has a runny nose, and I had to use the suction thingy, for the first time on him. I put his nose drops in, and then... I did it, and Cole screamed bloody murder. Luke runs into the room as I am about to do nostril number two, screams, "YOU STOP MOMMY! COLE IS CRYING! STOP YOU DOING!" It was the sweetest thing ever.

Ah, sweet brotherly love

The Christmas Tree That Could...

It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and I was determined to get our tree {notice I did not say decorate the tree}. It was really cold and windy outside, so instead of loading the boys all up, I ventured out all by myself. I have become quite the pro at picking out trees very quickly, and within 5 minutes I had located the tree I wanted and was trying to find someone to tie it to the car. I was driving down the street, and got onto the freeway, when lo and behold, a huge gust of wind came, and blew my tree off the car. Yes. Off the car. Onto the freeway. The night before I had had an interesting conversation {after a few glasses of wine} and the people I was talking to said you had to always question people's motives, which is something I rarely do, call me naive. Well, as I sat pulled over on the side of the freeway wondering how in the heck to get the tree out of the road {I called the non emergency police, and my parents who don't live that far, and instructed them to jump in their truck}. As it turns out, before my parents or the police could get there, a good Samaritan got my tree off of the highway, had put it in his trailer, and pulled up next to me and told me to lead the way to my house. I couldn't believe it. He and his wife followed me home, got my tree, put it inside {in two different locations as I have mentioned how I am indecisive...} and then flat out refused to take money from me. I literally chased him to the car with $20, and he pulled out a wad of cash and insisted he had plenty of money, said Merry Christmas, and jumped in his car. I immediately thought about the conversation I had had the previous night, and I know that everyone has the right to their own opinion, and mine is that people, for the most part, are good, and we don't have to question everything everyone does. Please. Who has time for that anyway?!

Tis the Season everyone! May we all remember how truly blessed we are, and stop if you can, and help out your fellow man.

Thanksgiving 2011

This Thanksgiving as always, I am thankful for my family, but most of all, I am so thankful that my grandfather has decided to move in with my aunt and uncle. It will be so hard for him to leave his home in Oklahoma, but we will be so glad that he will be so close to us. We love you Buck!

Rachel and Claudia

Rachel was trying to get Luke to say Roll Tide... but Luke knew the price he would pay later... and kept his mouth shut! Okay, he was roaring. He loved the dinosaur Claudia, Shan and Rachel got him!

Rachel and I

Troy and I

Buck, mom, & Cole

the above plus Luke

dad and cole

the boys!

and the whole gang! I'm taking the pic of course!

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!

{Grateful for the many blessings in my life}

{three} Months

Happy

{3 Months}

Cole Hudson

You are such a happy baby! And you love your brother. He makes you smile. You smile a lot now though, and you really enjoy your swing. You laugh and talk a lot! And you love to stand on our legs, and bounce up and down. You are wearing anywhere from 3-6 months, to 6-12 months depending on the brand, and a size 2 diaper. We love you Cole Hudson Matthews!

Star of the Show

Haley took some awesome family pictures for us, but it is taking me some time to upload them. Our computer is acting up... but I had to share these of the star of the show. Our little ham.

We are FAMILY

The older I get, the more and more family means to me. It's always meant a lot, but... you know what I mean. It's amazing how having children really marks time, and my how fast it goes. I wanted to get the family together and have some pictures taken, and of course, Haley agreed to do it. Thanks Haley, for documenting this time in our lives!

It's Getting to be that time of Year Again...

I know I've said it before, but we are just so darn lucky to have Haley as a friend. She did us a ginormous favor and took the entire family's pics today. We were so grateful! She took us to the most beautiful place, here is a sneak peak. Isn't this place gorgeous? And it just so happened that on this fall day in November, it was a balmy 85 degrees. Here are a couple of pictures that I took while she was taking our pictures...

My silly, and very good looking boys

Luke had enough, and ran away, so Carol Ann snapped a pic of Troy, Cole and I.

Happy Fall Y'all!

Christmas Came Early This Year!

Grandma and Grandpa gave us this awesome present this year! Are we not so lucky? Luke loves it, and we love watching him enjoy it. Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa!

What took you so long?

Luke was never really that fond of the swing, so I assumed that Cole would not be that thrilled. Well you know what they say about people who assume things... It's very true. Cole loves to swing. The kid will even sleep in this thing. Making me think, oh precious swing, where have you been all my life?

Swinging out, since November, 2011.

Announcing...

{Cole Hudson Matthews}

Once again I had a terrible time deciding what picture to go with, so I had two announcements printed, just like I did with Luke... and at least I am consistently indecisive, right? So you can see the one you did not receive... aren't they so cute? Haley did an amazing job, as always. I love his little monkey tail... and his sweet little face, although, it's far from little now!

Sweet Skeleton

This one couldn't run away from me!

Block Party

It was our second year at the annual block party. We were 13 minutes late, which frankly, with a 10 week old, a 2 and a half year old that we literally had to bribe to wear his costume, and the fact that the street was blocked off and we had to park blocks a way and walk, I thought we did great... not great enough not to miss the group pictures... but we did start trick-or-treating right away. Luke had a great time collecting candy, but as I said in my previous post, this kid did not want to have his picture made today. In this picture you see the hand coming up to stop me...

getaway mamarazzi!

don't make me go all Justin Timberlake on you!

stealthy mom snapped this one while he was distracted by the thoughts of getting candy. We trick-or-treated into the night!

here is our friend Addie

and cute kitty Wyatt Claire

after a sugar high it was time to go home.

Happy Halloween y'all!