Hudson's First Christmas

Christmas 2013 had to be the best Christmas Thomas and I have ever had. There's just something extra special about the holidays when you have a little one! Hudson sure had a blast visiting with the family and playing with lots of wrapping paper (oh, and just a few toys too)!

We started off the festivities with a trip to the Fox Theatre in St. Louis to see "Elf". We went with Trista and Joel and left all the kiddos at home with babysitters. It was quite the entertaining trip, to say the least. Thomas drove and as you can probably guess, he gets distracted very easily. Between me and Trista back-seat driving, it was like WWIII in the truck at times… Luckily we made it to St. Louis in one piece. We had made dinner reservations at Charlie Gitto's and Thomas said he knew where he was going so no one looked up directions. Of course, once we were in the city and asking him which exit we were supposed to take, he somehow didn't have a clue! So Trista started looking up the directions and that's when we realized that our reservations were at the super nice Charlie Gitto's instead of the casual Charlie Gitto's restaurant which is what we were dressed for. Luckily, the one we wanted to go to didn't require reservations so we walked right in and got a table!

After dinner, we headed over to the Fox. Trista got tickets for Joel for Christmas because she thought he would enjoy the show and he agreed. After the first minute or so, both Joel and Thomas were already checked out. Actually, I think they were both ready to go as soon as the singing began! Joel was forewarned that it was a musical, but he was apparently expecting something different?!?

Mom sent me this pic while we were at the Fox. Hudson was
playing with a bag of diapers and chewing on the coffee table.

The next day was Avery's 3rd birthday party. I still can't get over the fact that she is already a big 3 year old! She had a Minnie Mouse themed party and received all sorts of awesome presents including several princess dresses and lots of Doc McStuffins "stuff"! She enjoyed cupcakes and Papa Frank's homemade ice cream. She thought it was pretty funny that we were all wearing Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears! We played "Pin the Bow on Minnie" and Avery spun each person when it was deemed "your turn." There was no "peekin" allowed… until Avery's turn that is! She got tired of watching all of us do such a bad job of putting the bows on Minnie while we were blind-folded. Her bow miraculously ended up precisely on target!

Happy birthday Avery!

Our little Mickey Mouse!

We had Christmas at my mom and dad's after Avery's birthday party. We thought Avery would be very confused going from birthday mode to Christmas mode, but she didn't skip a beat! Hudson and Callie played together and they had lots of stuff to keep themselves entertained.

Callie Jean likes to hold Hudson's hand :) Such a sweetheart.

There she goes again… trying to hold his hand! If only he would sit still!

Hudson wanted to color with Avery's coloring kit!

Hudson is showing Callie some tricks… not sure where his pants went!

Chunky baby legs!

He couldn't get enough wrapping paper in his mouth!

We had Christmas at Grandma Shelly and Grandpa Mark's house. Hudson and Lily were very interested in Rowdy!

Chillin' on the couch

Rowdy says he wants a little brother or sister!

Thanks for the hat, Grandma Shelly!

Christmas at Grandpa Bill's was a blast too! Hudson loves his Mickey Mouse chair. He sees Mickey's face and wants to attack it!

Grandpa Bill got Hudson a bouncing/rocking horse!

Thanks Ainsley and Lily for my new ride!

We made it to a couple other Christmases while we were home, and they were all very entertaining. Hudson received way too many gifts and maybe a few too many germs as well!

Hudson's first Christmas

He thinks he's big stuff in his Mickey Mouse chair!

Christmas evening - still content but not feeling well.

By Christmas night, Hudson was one sick little boy. Daddy took him to the doctor the next day, and he's been fighting either respiratory symptoms or the stomach bug (or both) ever since. The poor guy just can't catch a break!