A Day Out with Thomas!

One of Hudson's birthday presents from us was tickets to go on a Day Out with Thomas! Last Saturday, we made the trip to Nashville for the big event. What usually takes a little over two hours to get to Nashville ended up taking us over four! There was a bad wreck earlier that morning that left traffic on the interstate at a stand still for hours. We ended up having to take a detour so that made the trip even longer. Hudson was a trooper and was so excited when we got to where we were going. Luckily, we hadn't told him where we were going so when we pulled up and he saw Thomas stuff everywhere he finally figured it out! He loves trains and since our trip to Colorado he has been asking to ride a train again. He was sad to leave Thomas but he got to buy a new train for his train table in the gift shop so that made him happy.

He was so excited to be on the train!

Hudson and mommy in front of Thomas.

It was hard to get him to stop looking at Thomas long enough to get a picture.

He is getting to be such a big boy!

We are enjoying every second with our three year old!

Surprise Party!

Labor Day weekend we went to St. Louis to visit Todd's family. Todd and I had planned a little birthday party for Hudson while we were there since they didn't get to come for his party here. What Todd didn't know was that we were planning a little surprise for him. His 30th birthday is coming up (September 21 to be exact!) so we decided to surprise him for the Big 3-0! He just thought we were having a party at some friends for Hudson so he was surprised when it turned out to be for him too. We had a great time with lots of family and friends in St. Louis celebrating these boys.

Happy birthday to two of my favorite boys!

I even got him an Alabama cake for the surprise!

I was glad we were able to pull off the surprise. I am sure he will get me back one day. Good thing I have a few years until my 30th:)

Three years!!

I can't believe our sweet boy is already three years old! It still seems like yesterday we were waiting for him to make his entrance into the world. We can not imagine our life without him in it. He is wild and crazy at times but can be so sweet and loving too. We celebrated his birthday last weekend with my family and then we are planning on celebrating it again next weekend in St. Louis with Todd's family. He has been so excited about his birthday this year. I think he finally realized that it was HIS special day so he ate up every second!

He loved his cake!

Hudson waiting to blow out his candles!

Hudson's big present this year was a train table. It took Todd several hours to get it all put together. He was so ready for him to be done so he could play with it.

He was beyond excited when he saw his new train table!!

He has played with his new trains for hours. He loves it! He didn't want to go to Mother's Day Out this morning because he didn't want to leave his train table. I am so happy he loved his birthday present this year.

Happy Birthday Hudson!

Mommy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know!

Hudson's first day!

We decided to start Hudson in a Mother's Day Out Program this year. He is at the age where he needs to get out of the house and spend time with other kids. He is such a smart boy so we knew he would love it. I just wasn't ready for him to grow up. I had a few break downs before his first day. Overall, I think we both did pretty good with the transition. He went to an open house the Thursday before he started so that he get acquainted with his new "school." When we dropped him off last Monday he just walked right in like it was no big deal. When Todd started telling him bye, Hudson asked if mommy would be there with him. I lost it. He is used to Todd leaving him but not Mommy so it was so hard for to tell him that I was leaving too. He handled that much better than I did:) He had a great first day at school. He has been a couple more times since then. So far he is loving it! I always look forward to hearing about his day.

Eating breakfast before his big day

He has his lunchbox and he is ready to go!

He was all smiles before school

We were so glad that daddy came for the big drop off:)

It's a......

We are very excited to announce that we will be welcoming a sweet baby BOY into the family in December!

We are so thankful for our healthy baby boy! I was so nervous going into this ultrasound. I just wanted to know that he was healthy and growing like he should be. Everything looks great! We do have to go for a follow-up ultrasound in 8 weeks to check the position of my placenta. Praying it does what is supposed to between now and then.

I can't wait to love on those sweet little feet!

I ordered these a few weeks ago off of Zulily. I promise not to dress them alike all the time but I thought they needed at least one matching outfit! I still can't believe I am going to be the mom of two sweet little boys. We are so excited for December to be here!

*Sorry for the iPhone pictures. Maybe I can scan the ultrasound pictures later and put them on here. It was just quicker this way for now!

Our Saturday

This Saturday was a do nothing kind of day. Todd did some work around the house but that was about it. After a hectic week and trying to get back in a routine with more kids and Todd going back to work, I think we all needed some rest! Hudson never sleeps past 6:45 so Todd got up with him so that I could try to get some sleep. I over did it this week so I was physically exhausted. It was nice to get some extra rest. Once I got up, I made some cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Breakfast is Hudson's favorite meal of the day so he was excited about getting cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

He was being silly while he was eating his breakfast!

After breakfast, Todd went on a cleaning streak and mopped the floors and vacuumed. Hudson loves to vacuum so he was excited to "help" daddy. He is getting to be such a big boy!

Saturday night, we went to my parents for dinner. My dad made his famous ribs for us. I have been craving them for awhile and he finally decided to make them. I should have taken a picture of them but we were too busy eating them! I took a hashbrown casserole that I had made and I also tried a new dessert recipe. I got the recipe for the Butterfinger Cake I made here. It was delicious!!

Hudson playing his "pinio" at Nana and Papa's.

Just a few prayer request...

I have had several things on my heart the past few days and I wanted to share them with you hoping that you will remember them in your prayers. I think it is important to share whats on our mind rather than keep in it. For me it is healing to talk about things and it is comforting to know that others are praying for these things.

1. A sweet family lost their sweet baby boy this week. Please pray for them in the days ahead. My heart breaks for them.

2. Please continue to pray for all the expectant mothers and those who long to be mothers. Being a mother is a gift and I think many times we take that for granted. Pray for those who are waiting to bring their babies home through adoption.

3. School starts next week! It is so crazy to me that they are already starting back to school. Pray for the kids as they start this new school year. Todd will also be starting at a new school this year. He is leaving the elementary school and going to the middle school. This will allow him more time to work on the schools website. He is also went from coaching high school football to junior high football this year. This will allow him to be home with us more so we are very thankful for this. Please keep him in your prayers as he adjust to all these changes.

4. Do you have a prayer request? Feel free to share it with us so that we can pray for you too!

Four years!

On July 21, Todd and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary! It is hard to believe that we have been married for four years. It still seems like yesterday that we were busy wedding planning, moving to St. Louis and starting new jobs.

Now here we are four years later living in Tennessee with our handsome little man

and expecting our second blessing in December.

We couldn't be happier!

We celebrated our anniversary on Friday in Memphis. We went to dinner at this amazing restauraunt. Flight was recommended to us by some friends and we were very pleased with our experience there. We both ate way too much and still stuffed ourselves with dessert. Our server was wonderful and we were told Happy Anniversary probably five times while we were there. We are already planning another trip there. It just may be awhile!

Here is a picture of our dessert Flight.

A Smores cupcake , vanilla cheesecake topped with strawberries and oreo cheesecake.

Ella Kate turns four!!

I can' t believe our sweet niece is four! I know every birthday I say that but time really is flying by! She is such a blessing in our lives. We miss her living close but we love every second that we get to spend with her. We celebrated her birthday with a pool party at the country club where they are members at. It was so fun seeing her with all of friends at her party. I am so thankful they have made a lot friends in the short time they have lived there. Here are a few pictures from the big bash:

The view of the lake from the country club

Hello Kitty cupcakes

The birthday girl on the slip n slide!

He loved it!

Hudson making the climb up the slide

Todd sliding with Hudson and EK!

I love their faces in this one. It was over cast that day so the water was really cold. I was worried about Hudson getting too cold but he was having so much fun!

Can't believe this sweet girl is four!!

We love you Ella Kate!!

Race car driver!

A little over a week ago we went to Guntersville to celebrate my sweet nieces fourth birthday. We haven't been to see my Zack and Cherith in awhile so we were excited to get to go see them. We went on Thursday because on Friday the guys headed to Atlanta to Atlanta Motor Speedway. Todd has always wanted to do the Richard Petty Driving Experience so guess what he got for Father's day?! Zack got a really good deal through his work so I knew he had to do it. They had a great time! My brother who has never been into NASCAR says he will now be a fan. They got to do a ride along for three laps around the track with another driver and then they got to DRIVE a race car...yes...just them...in a race car. Scary! They did have a lead driver in front of them that told them when to speed up and slow down. Todd said the hardest part was figuring out how to drive a stick shift! It had been years since he had so he was a little worried about that. I don't have many pictures of their adventure. I had planned on going with them so I could be the photographer but I ended up staying in Guntersville with Hudson. Todd took a few pictures with his phone and he did get a plaque with some pictures of him in the race car. He also got a DVD of his experience. It came in the mail yesterday and we watched it last night. I don't think he stopped smiling the whole time he was there. I am so glad that he had a chance to do this and I know he will remember it forever!

Todd's view from the track

16 1/2 weeks

I can't believe I am almost 17 weeks pregnant!

I didn't do this when I was pregnant with Hudson but I wanted to try to keep up with my pregnancy journey this time. There is so much that I don't remember about my first pregnancy and this pregnancy has been a little different then the first one so I want to document every detail. I hope I can keep this up and at least do an update every couple weeks. We will see!

Here I am at 15 weeks:

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 16 weeks and 4 days

Size of baby: 5 ounces (about the size of a turnip) 5 inches long

Weight gain: 3 pounds at my last appointment. I forgot to ask today. I'm sure I really don't want to know!

Maternity Clothes: I am wearing some maternity and some regular clothes

Gender: We know but aren't sharing yet:) We are calling the baby "Elf" for now but we are pretty sure we have a name picked out. I can't wait to share it with all of you!

Movement: I feel a few flutters every now and then. It feels like popcorn popping in my belly. I can't wait until I can feel "Elf" all the time!

Sleep: Sleep is still ok! I wake up a few times at night to pee but can usually go right back to sleep. I just wish Hudson would let me sleep a little later in the mornings.

Symptoms: Last week, I had a lot of fatigue but still feeling pretty good. Mornings and most days are good, just uncomfortable at times. I have had lots of heartburn so I have been keeping Tums by the bed just in case. I have had a major headache all day but it is starting to go away.

Cravings/Aversions: For some reason I have not been a huge fan of Mexican this pregnancy. Just the thought of it made me sick! It is getting better but I have to be in the mood for it to even consider eating it. I have craved "southern food" like corn bread, corn on the cob, fried okra and hash brown casserole. I have also ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the last couple weeks.

I can't believe my baby will be three by the time "Elf" gets here!

They grow up so fast. I am trying to soak up every second!

Fun in Denver

Our last day in Colorado we headed to Denver early to do some sight seeing before we had to go to the airport. We had a late flight so we had plenty of time to spare downtown. Todd wanted to see some of the sports stuff so we headed to Invesco field. We were going to do a tour but they weren't doing them that day. So we took some pictures anyways:

The Mile High Stadium!

Hudson playing in the gift shop!

You should have all the Tim Tebow stuff in this place. I think they have high hopes for his career there. Hope he doesn't disappoint them. There will be some mad Bronco fans!

Hudson wasn't so sure about the Bronco!

Todd in front of the stadium

Coors field

We got to tour the stadium. It is pretty interesting to hear the history of the Rockies and their stadium.

Inside the visitors dug out

Todd taking it all in

We had a great time visiting Chad and Brandy. We were so sad to leave and can't wait to visit them again! I know they missed us but I told him they might enjoy the quiet for a little while. Thanks Chad and Brandy for having us and taking us everywhere! We miss you guys already!

Royal Gorge Railway

For Father's Day we headed to the Royal Gorge Railroad for a trip through the Royal Gorge. This was probably one of my favorite things we did while we were there. My dad surprised us with seats in the Vista Dome where we were treated like First Class Passengers. We were there in the morning so they had a delicious breakfast menu we could order from. Todd and I shared the huge cinnamon roll and it was yummy! It was so nice getting to do something special with my dad and Todd on Father's Day. We also enjoyed getting be with my brother on this special day. We don't get to spend too many holidays with him so we were thankful to spend the day with him.

The Royal Gorge Bridge

Love my little man!

Todd and Hudson on Father's Day!

Hudson and Uncle Chad

Mom and Dad on the train

Amazing!

Leaving the trains.

Hudson still talks about his train ride. I hope it is something that he will remember forever.