Blue Permanent Marker

Hudson snuck away to the upstairs today, and somehow got a hold of a blue permanent marker from Johnny’s desk. I was unaware of his whereabouts, and had no idea that he had a permanent marker in his possession. Just when I was starting to wonder where Hudson had run off to—something he does a lot—I saw him come down the stairs with a paper and the despicable marker in his hands. I immediately confiscated the marker, and then I looked at the paper in his hand, which was covered in blue ink. With dread, I immediately went upstairs to investigate. Luckily, I was surprised and happy to find that he had only colored on the paper (which was a sheet of Avery labels). However, just as I was sighing a huge relief at not having my carpet or walls colored on, I noticed Hudson’s mouth. Not only was his tongue blue, but so were his teeth. I can’t imagine that a permanent marker tastes good, but obviously Hudson did not care. He sucked on it anyway. It took an entire day for his saliva to wash his tongue and teeth clean. Needless to say, we no longer have ANY permanent markers in our house—especially blue ones.

Zoo Excursion

Even when the weather is on the slight cold side, the zoo is still fun. Children—especially mine—never care about the temperature when they get to run around, view animals and play on numerous slides. This is precisely what we did the other day at the zoo. Elle and Hudson practically wore themselves out—as well as their mother—running from animal exhibit to animal exhibit; and then they topped off their exhaustion by going down the slides as many times as they possibly could. Hudson is still a little young and small to be going down the slides all by himself, so I had to take him down every time—which was a lot. But in the end, we all had a fun day—freezing—at the zoo.

The Boise Temple

On a whim, I took Elle and Hudson to the Boise Temple. We were driving by on another errand, and I asked Elle is she wanted to go and see the temple. She, of course, readily agreed. We drive by the temple every time we run errands, and Elle loves to point and exclaim, “The temple!” But sadly, we hadn’t up to that point, taken the time to stop and view the temple grounds. But all that has changed; for we have now taken the time to walk and view the temple. And I am so glad we did, because the temple was beautiful, and the spirit there was so strong. It is a wonderful place. I am pleased that I had the opportunity to view and share this sacred place with my children.

Shoes

Johnny will not be happy in the least that I am posting this, but post I must.



As one can see from the pictures, Hudson is obsessed with shoes. But he is not obsessed with just any shoes; he is obsessed with his sister’s shoes (probably due to the fact that they are so close to his size that they almost fit him; and probably due to the fact that he has to do WHATEVER his sister does). Not a day goes by that Hudson isn’t scrounging around in our shoe closet to find a pair of Elle’s shoes. Once he has found a pair to suit his interest—even pink furry ones—he runs to me and grunts for me to put them on. I find it very comical, and I always comply. Johnny, of course, wishes I would not comply when it comes to pink, furry shoes. And he especially wishes that I would not then proceed to take a picture. I, however, wholeheartedly disagree. I think that a picture is a must. I just love my children’s antics, and I want to capture every single one.

Luna

Elle watched a My Little Pony episode the other day, and at the end of the episode, there was a blue unicorn named Luna. Elle instantly fell in love with this pony. Though Luna was only on for a small portion of that one particular episode, she straight away became Elle’s favorite. So much so, that Elle just had to dress up as her. She and I immediately searched her room for blue attire that would be fit for a Luna costume (thankfully we found adequate clothes to satisfy Elle). Once the blue items were acquired, Elle spent the rest of the day pretending to be Luna. I decided that it would be fun to make her a blue wig to complete her costume. Elle, of course, couldn’t agree more. So, we found the right shade of blue yarn, and I spent one night making her a wig. Elle was ecstatic when she awoke to find her Luna hair. To her it was perfect. And I was all too happy to encourage her imagination and creativity.

Elle

Elle is my sweet, silly, goofy, fun, kind, caring, energetic, independent, happy, imaginative girl. Not a day goes by that she does not entertain and delight. She has an imagination that concocts and creates the best games, crafts and stories. She has a huge heart that reaches out to those in need. She also has an ornery side that loves to tease and tell jokes. And although she has quite the flair for the dramatic, we could not love her more. She is our adorable little girl who makes us truly happy.

Things I love about Elle are:

• I love how she always comes down in the morning and yells, “Surprise!”
• I love how much she loves horses and ponies.
• I love how much she loves to pretend to be animals.
• I love how she creates her own stories.
• I love how she makes up new songs everyday.
• I love how she asks everyone to tell her stories about themselves when they were little.
• I love how she wrinkles her little nose when she is telling stories.
• I love how much she loves to read books.
• I love how she whispers, “Mommy,” at the top of the stairs when she needs me at night.
• I love how she always has a reason for everything.
• I love her secrets.
• I love how she hides in obvious places.
• I love how much she loves to “pretend” cook.
• I love how she writes the letters in the alphabet.
• I love the way she pronounces big words.
• I love how she creates mazes for us to do.
• I love her silly faces.

This is just a few of the things that I love about Elle. She is a wonderful little girl.

Hudson

Hudson is my sweet, caring, determined, independent, funny, content boy. He is extremely rough, and he is not scared of anything (no matter how many times he falls and bumps his head, he is not afraid to climb any stable—or unstable—object). He loves to laugh, and he usually—okay always—gets the rest of us laughing with him. He is very sweet, and he is unusually content (it takes a lot to ruffle his feathers). We all love Hudson very much, and are so glad to have him in our lives.

Some of my favorite Hudson things are:

• I love how he spins around and around when we ask him to dance.
• I love how he shakes his head from side to side often and for no reason whatsoever.
• I love his smile and his belly laugh.
• I love how nothing deters him when he is determined to have or get to something.
• I love that his favorite game it to pretend that his foot or hand is stuck, and then how he sweetly grunts for me to save him.
• I love how he now signs sleep, all-done, more and food.
• I love the crazy way he waves hello and goodbye.
• I love how he takes deep breaths when asked.
• I love how much he loves his football and gold clubs.
• I love how he thinks everyone should hold one of his golf clubs.
• I love how he says Mama.
• I love how he yells Da at the top of his lungs.
• I love how funny he thinks it is to stomp his foot.
• I love how he loves to plug things—fans, monitors, heaters, appliances, the vacuum—in and out.
• I love how much he loves the vacuum (he cries whenever we turn it off).
• I love how he says mmmm when he takes a bite of anything.
• I love his open-mouthed kisses.

This is just a few of the many things I love about Hudson. He is such a wonderful little boy.