Happy Thanksgiving!

For the second year in a row Kevin has had 4 days off of school for Thanksgiving. We were blessed again to be able to head to the coast and take advantage of my parents home in Pebble Beach. This would be our first "vacation" (or rather relocation as I've heard it described) as a family of six. I was most nervous about the drive there as the older two would be in the very back row of the van and both have proven to get carsick on road trips. So armed with towels and plastic bags and a little drugged up on Benedryl we set off. I am happy to report that everyone did FABULOUS on the ride there and the ride home! The babies slept the whole way and the older kids loved their Curious George movies. We got to the house later on Monday night so after running around for a while and making beds everyone was asleep a couple hours later than normal. I also anticipated sleeping problems from the older two, but again the kiddos surprised me and slept wonderful! Tuesday was cold and rainy, otherwise the rest of the week was sunny and clear, but still very cold!

Hudson and Brooklyn didn't see much of the ocean since it was so chilly. This is what they looked like all bundled up in their stroller.

Morgan and Ethan checking out the waves. Ethan must be laughing at Daddy.

Mommy and Morgan. It was so great to go to the coast this time and be able to do everything with the kids. Unlike our trip there this summer when I was "on restriction" due to my pregnancy.

Walking with daddy, definitely a highlight of the week for Ethan and Morgan and Daddy.

The twins...sleeping to the sound of the waves. We have an ocean sound machine in their room at home so I think they felt right at home. I think they were pretty cozy in their stroller too.

Playing at the Dennis the Mennis Park. Again, so great to be able to run and play with the kids, instead of sitting on the sidelines.

One of the crabs Ethan and Daddy caught. This was as close as Ethan would get to holding the crab!

We now have another photographer in the family. Thanks for a good picture Ethan!

Back at home....Ethan is really in to setting up imaginative play situations. Here he and Morgan are in a space ship on their way to the moon. Don't those look just like astronaut helmets?

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family on Sunday after we returned to Ripon. We took some family pictures for Christmas. Annika wasn't too thrilled to be posing with her cousins:)

Papa and Nana and all their grand kids. Ethan is holding baby Audrey, Eric and Kara's newest addition. (check out the Jung's blog on our blog list for details)

Such loving brother and sister, they're always like this...yeah right! I wish that were the case. They are playing better and better together the older Morgan gets and the better she can communicate with Ethan.

The "big kids"

With the arrival of fall comes the rain. It is so refreshing after a long hot summer. We've taken a few walks in the rain with the older two. It's fun to watch them splash around in the puddles.

Last week Sunday it was raining pretty hard in the morning. We wouldn't let the kids go out before church so Kevin promised a "walk in the mud" after naps. This is what they came home looking like. They had sooo much fun. Guess who got to wash them up in the shower and do the laundry though;)

Cousins reading books together. They are shirtless because we had just eaten pizza and it's easier to wipe off a naked tummy than get stains out of their shirts.

Update Pics of the babes

Not a whole lot to say tonight, but I did want to post some pictures of the babies. They are growing so fast! After holding little Audrey today I realize how much Hudson and Brooklyn have changed in the last 12 weeks. They don't make any little newborn sounds anymore, they both love to smile and Brooklyn especially loves to "talk" to us. They are sleeping at least 6 hours at night and they are starting to self soothe, aka cry themselves to sleep for naps and bedtime. It's not easy to listen to, but necessary for mama's sanity in the long run.

Mr. Hudson, chillin on the couch.

This is one of a couple "matching outfits" that they have. Pretty cute I think:)

Both Hudson and Brooklyn do pretty well with tummy time. Hudson enjoys it a little more than Brooklyn. I think he just like to show off his strong neck. He has rolled over a few times too when he gets his arm tucked under himself just right. So fun to watch them grow and learn.

12 weeks old last Friday!

We finally took the babies to church today. We decided to attempt a kid pic too. It was interesting to say the least and I think this is the best one we have. We'll have to see what we can come up with for a Christmas card this year:)

It was so fun to dress the babies up. Since we spend most of our time at home I don't dress them up very often. I had fun today:)

Hudsers laughing at daddy.

Sweet Miss Brooklyn. We've yet to capture a good smile from her on camera.

My dear friend Mary started the weekly picture tradition for my kids. When each of my kids was born she sent them a stuffed animal and note cards with week1 - week 52 written on them. I took pictures of them each weekly and put them in a little photo album. Ethan and Morgan love to look at their books of when they were babies. It has proven to be a good way to make sure I take regular pictures of the kids, especially the twins. I'm going to try to take yearly pictures of the kids with their animals as long as they'll let me. we finally got around to taking EJ and Mo's pictures a couple weeks ago. A few months late, but better than never!

Yep, that's about as still as I can get this little girl to sit these days.

Ethan's preschool class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. I found babysitters for the other three so I was able to go along with him. It was fun to watch him interact with his classmates. Although I wasn't paying very close attention to what group we were in and we ended up in a group with only one boy, the rest were girls....oops!

Hudson loves to smile and interact with anyone who will take the time to chat with him. Here he is giving daddy one of his adorable smiles. Brooklyn likes to smile as well, but she really likes to talk to us. One of these days we'll have to get a video of her chatting.

Hudson and Brooklyn had their two month check up this past week. They are growing well and look "perfect" as the doctor said. But then we already knew that:) They each had to get 3 shots which is never fun. Here are their stats:

Hudson:

11 lbs 10.1 oz

23 3/4 in

head 16 1/4 in

Brooklyn:

11 lbs 2.7 oz

24 in

head 16 in

For Halloween this year we hung out at my parents house so that we didn't have to hand out candy at our house. Ethan was an army guy and Morgan was a nurse. My mom and I took Ethan, Morgan and Annika around to a few houses by them. Ethan was of course very timid at first, but the girls jumped right in. After a couple houses Ethan warmed up and didn't want to stop trick or treating. The got a lot of candy, most of which found its way to daddy's "prize stash" at school. It was fun to watch them get into knocking on doors, ringing the bells and saying trick or treat. All three were good about saying thank you. Annika even signed "I love you" to several people.

A day we've been waiting for.... Hudson is finally enjoying his baths. He screamed bloody murder during his baths for the first 9 weeks of his life. He screamed every time we changed his diaper for the first 5 weeks. The kid just doesn't like to be naked.

Warrior Dash

This past weekend me (Kevin) and a few friends ran the Norcal Warrior Dash.  The race consisted of a variety of challenges designed to test only the fiercest warriors in California.  OK, there were plenty of weird people in costumes who looked liked they trained for the race by consuming cake batter, but not us.  Some obstacles encountered during the race were jumping over cars, a hill run, cargo nets, tunnels, jumps over fire, and a large mud pit to wrap things up.  This picture was taken upon the completion of the race and right before we went to claim our hard earned free beer!  You can check out the warrior dash website for more information on this race.  We'll be doing it again next year!