Fall Leaves are Falling

When I was a kid, I remember LOVING to jump in the piles of leaves after my dad had raked them up. I took the boys outside so I could re-live this memory with them. :) The older two boys got over it pretty quickly, but Gavin LOVED it. He's a boy after my own heart! We are loving this fall and hoping we continue to get these beautiful sunny days.

Deja Vu?

Step 1: Place happy baby in door jumper.

Step 2: Take a quick shower, peeking out once in a while on happy, jumpy baby.

Step 3: Get out of shower and get dressed.

Step 4: Call over older siblings to ONCE AGAIN wonder how baby fell asleep in this position.

Step 5: Wonder why we even set up the crib in the first place. :)

Snoozing in the Saucer

Step 1: Put happy baby in the saucer to play.

Step 2: Walk away to go check your email.

Step 3: Come back to check on the now silent happy baby.

Step 4: Smile and call older brothers over to wonder how happy baby actually fell asleep in this position.

Step 5: Grab the camera, of course!

Step 6: Blog about sleeping baby, adding cute photos and an alliterated blog post title. :)

Rub a Dub Dub

Lately Hudson has been screaming his way through bathtime, so I tried a new approach this time: make him laugh! Clearly it worked. He thought it was hilarious as I tickled his little neck with that plastic letter 'O' that he's holding. And yes, I did post the same picture twice. On accident. But then I left it, because well, he's so stinking adorable! :)

You Are My Sunshine

You are my

sunshine

my only sunshine

you make me happy

when skies are grey

you'll never know boys

how much

I love you

please don't take

my sunshine away

4 months already???

How can it be that my tiny little baby Hudson is already 4 months old? I seriously blinked and 4 months went by. He is already eating baby cereal, smiling and laughing, rolling over, and capturing my heart more and more each day. Please, little Hudson Taylor, slow down!!! Stop growing, or I may have to just have one more baby.... ;)

Off to School

People always talk about how they cried when they dropped their first child off at school for the first time. I, on the other hand, felt like the mean mom who couldn't wait for school to start. Brayden has been asking me to go to school since he turned three years old. After homeschooling for preschool and kindergarten, we decided to give school a try for first grade. Brayden has been looking forward to it all summer, and as we got closer to school starting, I started looking forward to it too.

After breaking the pattern of waking up at 9 am all summer, we got up nice and early to get ready for school. We ate a solid breakfast, took the classic "first day of school" picture in front of our house (well, in front of Wilson Hall), and got in the car to go off to school. We were all really excited! No signs of any of the classic tears on the first day. That is, until I walked him into his classroom. Brayden kissed me goodbye and took off into his room, anxious and excited as his new teacher greeted him warmly. And there I was, standing at the doorway, realizing that a new era had begun with our firstborn. I walked back to the car, and in classic fashion, the memories of bringing him home from the hospital came flashing back. Then the memories of those first steps, that first bath, the first tooth, and rocking him in his little nursery. And then came the tears. Totally unexpectedly, I was just like every other first day of school parent.

Life at Judson

It's that time of year again! Fall! Fall is so wonderful here because it's when all the students move back into Wilson Hall. It's exciting and fun to meet new people and see old friends. Fall is also one of the most beautiful times here on campus. Everything is green and lush and soon will begin changing colors. It's also typically an "Indian summer" which means it will stay nice and warm throughout September! Today was one of those perfect summer/almost fall days. I can't think of another place I'd rather be than here at Judson.

A Day at the Museum

We took advantage of some free museum tickets (yay for summer reading program!) and headed to the Dupage Children's Museum. The kids had a great time exploring and trying new things. I think their favorite part was building with real tools. They hammered with real hammers and nails and sawed with real saws! So much fun for little boys! Extra thanks to Kaylie for joining us!!

The Many Faces of Hudson

All taken in a ten second time span. Now that's talent.