Random

Hudson is about 99% potty trained. EXCEPT when he sleeps. When he conked out on the couch the other afternoon, I thought I could just wrap a diaper around the outside of his pants and not disturb him. WRONG. Thank heavens for steam cleaners! He's going to hate me for this picture when he's older...

Here's Hudson in his element-OUTSIDE! Taken after church a few weeks ago.

Nielson after his Sunday afternoon nap.

I took Ellie to see the Nutcracker in Richmond a few weeks ago. I used to go as a child with my mom in Chicago and loved it. Ellie was pretty quiet during the entire show, except towards the end when she kept asking if it was over yet! I didn't think she liked it very much until I heard her talking to other people and saying how "cool" it was.

Ellie in the Landmark Theater

Before the show

Is it over yet?

Hudson's 3rd Birthday

It was the year of the Deere....John Deere, that is. Hudson still has JD on the brain all day every day. With that in mind, we had his friends come over, eat tractor-shaped cake, play on a hay bale tower and go on a tractor (ok-riding lawnmower attached to a trailer covered with aforementioned hay bales) ride for his birthday. We all had a great time, and Huddy was able to add to his ever growing collection of all things John Deere with several new tractors and his requested scale model of a Cotton Picker. I'll thank the "All About John Deere" dvd series for that request.

All ready for the tractor ride.

Check out that cotton picker ready to destroy my masterpiece. The big yellow clumps are supposed to be hay bales. I panicked and didn't think I'd have enough cake so I slapped those together, obviously!

Hudson still hasn't quite mastered blowing without some accompanying spit. Yum!

Moving the hay bales. Thanks, Connor!

Hudson and his pal, Jackson.

Ellie and Bryan, the boy next door. I'm still not worried.

Fishing on the Chesapeake Bay

We were able to keep our somewhat informal annual tradition of going fishing with the Lynch family every year in November. It was COLD, but we had a great time. Thanks again to Grandma Judy for watching the kids so I could go!

Doug looking like he walked off the set of "Deadliest Catch."

Doug and our nephew, Connor.

This is what happens when the fish aren't biting. Conor Lynch starts speaking Democrat and his Dad starts debating whether or not to give him a ride home.

Conor mugging while poor Mike is freezing trying to put on the whatever you call the thing which keeps the wind and water out of the boat!

Fish on!

Our one catch of the day

Yes, that is a container ship in the background.

Mike Lynch and Doug

Maureen Lynch and I. I know I look doofy but I had everything draped on me that I could find to stay warm. Vanity went out the window the second we pulled away from the dock. I think it's a cute picture of Maureen though.

Oyster Festival

Doug and his partner, Irv participated in the Urbanna Oyster festival again this year. They tried something new and had roasted oysters in conjunction with the company booth, which turned out to be a roaring success.

It's a festival, for Pete's sake. Food, booths, fake pirates. Where do my kids want to spend their time? On hay bales.

Behind..again!

I wonder if there will ever come a day when I'll sit down in a chair and drum my fingers, wondering what to do. Doesn't seem likely anytime soon! Once again I find myself with a solid month and a half of things to blog about. As Bill Murray once said... baby steps! Here goes:

The third week in November I was fortunate enough to go out to Utah for my friend, Amy's wedding ALONE! I can't post any pictures because I didn't have my camera (long story) and SOMEONE (ok Camille) was supposed to send me some of hers. No matter. I had a great time and loved the fact that I got to spend some time with my parents all by myself. This makes it sound like I don't love my children. That is not true. Any mother will tell you that a break from the kids is good every once in awhile. I love my kids, always will. Taking occasional breaks from them ensures that I will continue to like them. Any mother that says she doesn't need a break and wants her children by her side 24-7 is lying, by the way.

I digress. I stepped off the plane and was picked up by my mother, who whisked me off to an afternoon at the Grand America Spa. Kill me now, it was incredible! We each got massages and then I got a pedicure and she got a manicure. I really didn't want to change out of my robe back into my real world clothes. Couldn't I just live in the lounge area, with the gorgeous basket of red apples and enormous glass dispenser of cucumber lemon water? Alas, it was not to be and we eventually had to leave. Met my niece, Rachel for a late lunch at the restaurant downstairs and then Rachel and I went shopping for awhile. What a great day!

The rest of the weekend was a blur of non-stop activity. I really didn't have a ton of time so I tried to see friends and relatives who I hadn't really been able to spend time with in August when I was there. Anybody reading this who I didn't get a chance to see, please forgive me and I owe you Cafe Rio the next time I'm in town.

In a nutshell, I had a great lunch with two of my cousins, saw some great movies (Secret Life of Bees and-what else?- Twilight!), had breakfast at the Pancake House with just my dad, did some shopping, went on walks with my mom, and had dinner with my brothers Joey and David and their families on Sunday. There's more that I'm forgetting but it's a month later and I'm tired so I'll fill in the blanks later.

All that outside of the glorious wedding of Amy and Mike. I just love it when one of the "good ones" gets married. Amy is the best of the best and I'm so happy for her. She looked absolutely beautiful and the events were a perfect representation of her. Another side benefit was being able to catch up with another old friend, Camille. I loved meeting her sweet baby, Madden and actually having a conversation with Dean, her husband. I just wish all these lovely people would move closer to the east coast! I miss them.

Pathetic

So here are our Halloween pictures, such as they are. I got one of Hudson. Here it is:

Now you understand why I entitled this entry "pathetic!" This is what happens when you take the kids trick or treating solo AND have to wrangle a stroller AND have to make sure that two little bodies aren't darting out in front of passing cars (third little body was trapped in the stroller, thank heavens!)

Supergirl Ellie and Olivia the Good Witch

Huddish Quote of the Day

Doug: Hudson, we're going to go vote now.

Hudson: Yeah, I want to go on the boat!

Doug: No Hudson, vote with a v.

Pauses...

Hudson: I want to get on the vote with a v!

This week's life lessons

1. Don't wear flip flops through newly-laid mulch. Your feet will look like a hobbit's (dirty and slightly hairy.) This happened to me at the farmer's market yesterday. I didn't notice until I had been there for an hour or so and had conversations with several people. I'll probably be known as "dirty feet Karen" for awhile.

2. Wal-Mart is a great place to show your kids that you are, in fact, NOT the meanest mom in the whole world. Without fail, I can always count on some other mother to hiss at, yell at, spank, or belittle their child in some unspeakable way. It really is sad, but it actually inspires me to be a better mom. I think it also gives my children some much needed pespective on what the meanest mom in the world really looks like!

3. Grandparents are the best thing in the whole world. We are so fortunate to have Doug's parents relatively close by and I am so fortunate to have unlimited long distance mintues to talk to my mother on. I remember as a child loving the time I got to spend with my grandparents. So many good memories. Did you catch that, Mom and Dad? It's time for a visit! Doug's parents were down for a few days last week and Doug and I were able to go to the DC temple EARLY Friday morning. The boys had a great time with Grandmom Judy and PopPop while Ellie was at school. Doug and I had ten hours all to ourselves. WOW!

4. No matter how smart I think I am, my five year old daughter will always be smarter than me. Maybe not smarter, but more stubborn. Methinks she is channeling my Grandma Ila. I''ll have to expound on that later.

5. I wish I would've thought of High School Musical. I took Ellie on a girl's night out on Saturday to see HSM3 and it was great. Cute movie, nothing to worry about content-wise. Nicely done, Disney! I just wish they could get their actresses to sign anti-hooch agreements.....

6. I am listening to Jeffrey R. Holland's talk from conference a few week's back. It is quite possibly my favorite talk ever. You can read it here or listen to it/watch it here.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for Halloween pictures. As soon as I remember to get my camera out of the car.

Catching Up (Again)

Where the heck did October go???? We've had a busy month and November doesn't look to be any slower. Here's some shots of our recent activities. Stay tuned in another few days when I will have to post another "catch-up post." Right now I'm off to watch Ironman with Doug, which is the closest thing to a night out that I can hope for at the moment!

Huddy on a tractor ride at Family Fun Day at Ellie's school. I love the little spray of freckles across his nose. That alone probably saves him on the days he is being a complete menace.

Ellie and "the boys" from next door: Bryan, Erik and Jack

Nielson doing the tried and true "Frankenstein Walk"

Ellie hanging out...or in

That's a long way up....

but the ride down is worth it!

Ellie and Huddy with a wonder horse. I just wonder what they're good for!

Note the TWO leashes on the llama.

Nielson's reaction after meeting the llama!

Doug's old friends from college, The Nobles, came for a visit. They kept us up way too late , but we enjoyed having them here and catching up.

Yes, that's my son trying to smack poor Griffin Noble. The ironic thing is that's actually Huddy's way of saying he likes you. And no, Ellie doesn't usually dress like a cowgirl Bratz doll (which are not allowed anywhere near our house, by the way!) ...she did in fact have riding lessons that day, and those are her riding jeans!

Ellie at the Farmer's Market in Irvington. She is growing up so fast...is she really only five?

Pumpkin Patch

While we were up in Delaware, we went to the coolest pumpkin patch just over the Pennsylvania state line called Linvilla Orchards. Tractors, pumpkins, and doughnuts...oh my!

Moments later, a duck would mistake Nielson's pudgy little fingers for his afternoon snack. Not a pretty sight.

This is what happens when Mommy leaves the children in Daddy's care while she ducks into the store. Candied apples? Are you kidding me???!?

Nielson literally swimming through the mulch at the playground. When he wasn't channeling his inner Michael Phelps, he was eating said mulch.

Here's proof.

Go Grandmom Judy!