Mad Scientist

My sister Pamela, who is an organic chemist, would be so proud of us... we turned our kitchen into a chemistry lab this weekend and it's all thanks to Chick-fil-A. Yesterday we stopped by to get something to eat (after we left the grocery store.. of course... we're always too hungry to make it home to cook!). Anyways, the toy was a flask with instructions on how to conduct your own science experiments. We just did one yesterday. We mixed vinegar and baking soda, then watched it bubble over the flask. Jackson loved it! We're going to try some more experiments, but I didn't have all the ingredients at home... so it will be back to Wal-Mart, then probably Chick-fil-A for more science toys! :)

Nom, Nom, Nom...

Brady did another first today... he ate his first meal... very liquidy rice cereal! He wasn't sure what to think of it at first... it just kind of dribbled right on back out, but after a few tries, he was opening right up. Hopefully once he really starts eating cereal, he'll be less hungry during the night! Ever since we moved him to his crib, he's been waking up 2 or 3 times a night and seems to be starving every time! The boy definitely loves to eat! Once he got a hold of the spoon, he forgot all about actually eating what was on it... he just wanted to chew it! To watch an adorably cute video of him 'eating' just click here.

Right Choices Farm

Last Friday we headed to Southwest City, MO to the Right Choices Farm. It was so much fun and well worth the 1 hour drive (well, two hours for us since we got lost!). There was so much to do.. from a pumpkin patch and corn maze, to a hayride and cow train! Not to mention all the farm games like pumpkin ball, hay jump and the corn box (instead of sand it was corn kernels). Here are some pictures from our day at the farm. If you go, pack a lunch because you can spend hours there!

Jackson had a blast sliding down the hill slide on the potato sack. There was also a slide where you sat on a board and went down rollers. I tried that one and it was really fun!

Here's the cow train! Jackson wanted to sit in the caboose, so we was really far back from the rest of the group. Brady sat on my lap as we rode through rows of corn.

Here we are on the hay ride. Brady only made it through half the ride before falling asleep in my arms. The bumpy ride knocked him right out! We learned all about corn and even got to see some 50 year old farm equipment on the ride.

Here's the group we went with. Jackson and his friends had a great time!

Charles is showing Jackson how to pump water the 'old fashioned' way. You could race rubber ducks on the wooden slides.

And here is Charles changing our flat tire on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. We saw three older men drive even older tractors by while Charles was working on the tire. At least it entertained Jackson for about 5 minutes... the other 25 were spent whining about wanting to get out of the car to help Daddy.

If you want to learn more about the farm, go to http://www.rightchoicescornmaze.com/

Brady's Big Night!

So I finally cut the cord last night and moved Brady to his own bed. Here he is sleeping soundly this morning (although I almost woke him up by snapping a hundred pictures of him sleeping!) I loved having him sleep beside our bed, not just for convenience, but because he's just so darn cute to watch sleep. He was on the verge of having his legs hang over the moses basket, so I knew I needed to make the move. He woke up a couple more times than normal, but other than that, he slept pretty good! In fact he slept until 8 am this morning, which is an hour later than usual... I have a feeling that is due to the fact he couldn't hear a noisy 3 year old playing downstairs!

Today was bath day, so I thought I'd get some new bath photos of him. Don't have any since his first bath almost 5 months ago! Here's the happy little guy playing with his feet!

All clean!

Happy Birthday Jackson!

I can't believe my Jackson is already 3 years old! It just doesn't seem right that he could be that old (because that makes me older too!). We recently celebrated his birthday weekend (yes, he gets an entire weekend... if it were up to him, every day would be his birthday!) We celebrated the big '3' on Saturday at Fast Lane. We'd never been before, so we thought we'd check it out. It was great! We bowled and played games (the prizes were way better than Chuck E Cheese, although it cost a lot more to play). It was his first time bowling and he almost scored better than me and his Granny! Saturday night we picked up his Aunt P from the airport and opened presents. This was the first holiday where he really tore into the presents and wanted more! He was adorable! Sunday was the big birthday party. We invited his friends over here for a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cookout. He prayed the night before the party that all his friends would come and they did! It was a beautiful afternoon. The kids got to play in the sand, on the swing set and in the bouncy. At the end of the day, Jackson asked if he could have another birthday because it was so fun! I'm glad everything turned out great and his family and friends were able to celebrate with him. Now that his birthday is behind him, he's already started compiling his Christmas list. Oh boy!

Fair Time!

It has been a very long time since I posted anything... so I figured I'd better get back into the swing of things since the boys seem to be growing faster than ever! We had such a busy summer, I hardly had time to work on the computer... but as long as those boys continue to nap at the same time, I'll have time to sneak in some blogging. I just downloaded 145 pictures from my camera from just the past couple of weeks (we've been super busy!) and wanted to share some here. We recently ventured to the Benton County Fairgrounds for our first county fair and boy did we have a great time! We saw all sorts of animals from cows and pigs to camels and zedonks (zebra/donkey). Jackson wasn't afraid to pet anything! The exotic animals were there thanks to the animal safari in Gentry. After the kids finally tired of the safari animals, we finally made our way to the show animals. I've never seen such clean cows, goats and pigs! They were all very pretty animals. Jackson was challenging the goats to a staring contest... he won. :) We also got to see the farmers milking some dairy cows (which I kind of feel like these days!). What would a fair been without checking out the tractors. Not sure they were meant to be played on, but Jackson sat on just about every one of them pretending to be a farmer. He loves his tractors! We all had a great time and will definitely go back next year so Brady can enjoy it with out. Brady enjoyed the view from his stroller, but hopefully next year he can do some petting of his own.

Brady is here!

Brady Hudson has arrived! He was born Tuesday, May 12th at 1:43 a.m. He was 6 lbs, 12 oz. and 19 1/4 inches long. So far so good with the new family! Charles has been on paternity leave for the past 2 weeks and we've had lots of help from family, so it's been a pretty busy 2 weeks. Charles heads back to work tomorrow and Jackson will be back in school, so it will be just Mommy and Brady in the mornings until we pick Jackson up.

Today we had family pictures taken by Photo Alli. I can't wait to see the proofs. What I got a sneak peak of looked great! Brady and Jackson both did pretty good. Jackson decided he wanted to show Alli how he can do somersaults and roll around the room... then he ran in and out of each room laughing the entire time... but I think he sat still long enough to get a couple of family shots. Brady was actually awake for some of the pictures... crying, but awake. When he fell asleep, Alli was able to get some amazing pictures of him curled up in his room.

Jackson loves his little brother and likes to help do everything involving Brady... including giving him baths and sharing tummy time on the blanket. Unfortunately, as much as Jackson loves being a big brother, he also wants the perks of being a baby... like being held all the time. The poor child wants to be carried everywhere. I didn't realize just how heavy he was until I only had a 6 lb baby to carry around! Other than that, he's doing really well with all the changes. Hopefully once things get back to normal and we get into a routine, I'll have more time to post pictures of the new family.