Haircut

I finally decided it was time to cut Hudson's hair. A part of me didn't want to cut it because then my little baby would look all grown up. As much as I am ready for Hudson and Brooklyn to grow up and not be as needy, it is crazy to think that they are growing up so much.

The before pictures.

My friend Monique came over and cut his hair for me. He did pretty well, but got really wiggly at the end.

Here's my handsome boy. It took some getting used to, but now I think he looks great. He looks a lot more like Ethan now.

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On another note, we have had crazy colds over here. It has pretty much 3 weeks of coughing and runny noses over here. At the beginning of this week Hudson and Brooklyn both got croup. They were whiny and clingy and just feeling crappy. I felt so bad for them and did my best to cuddle them both. I think we're nearing the end of it though, so I just pray we can all be healthy for a few weeks.

Christmas Celebration #1

Kevin's family was here this past weekend to celebrate Christmas with us. This is the second year that we've done Christmas in California. I must admit it is a little warmer than when we head up north, but when we do it this way we don't get to see all the extended family which is always a bummer. Here are some pictures of what kept us busy.

Morgan and Ethan helped me make Christmas cookies. I used the most fabulous sugar cookie recipe this year that I found online. Decorating cookies is one of my favorite traditions of Christmas time.

Ryan and Jessica also came to visit this year. Ethan loved having lots of people around to play Uno with him.

Brooklyn unsure of what all this present stuff is about.

Oma is helping Morgan with her present.

Santa Ethan. He was beyond excited about opening gifts. He handed them all out and had to help everyone open them. It was fun to see his excitement.

Hudson had a great time with the paper and bags.

Morgan got a Hello Kitty necklace and jewlery box. She was in heaven.

Big brother helping Brooklyn.

All the kids love this car ramp that Hudson got.

Ethan recieved Battleship and has been loving to play it. It was great having extra playmates around this weekend!

Mo and Uncle Ryan.

Ethan and Morgan loved having Uncle Ryan and Auntie Jessica here. I think Kevin's parents commented that it's good they normally leave them at home because the kids wanted to play with their auntie and uncle more than Opa and Oma;) It was again a great visit and when by way too fast. We are thankful we get to have these weekends so frequently because it helps maintain our relationships even though we live far apart. Thanks for the visit!

Thanksgiving Break

Kevin and Ethan had 2 1/2 days off school for Thanksgiving break so we headed over to the coast with my parents. My sister and family went out to the Midwest to see my dad's family, so it worked out ok for the rest of us to go to Pebble Beach. It would be pretty cozy for ALL of us to be there at once. We only took a few pictures this time, and none at the beach. I was hoping Hudson and Brooklyn would be walking by then so they could walk around by the ocean, but they're taking their sweet time just like big sister.

My mom and I took the kids to the aquarium on Thanksgiving morning while the men went golfing. This is the second time we've gone on Thanksgiving morning and it is a perfect time. Since we're members we can get in early and it felt like we had the place to ourselves for the first hour or so. It was much better than when we were there this summer. Brooklyn loved it all right away, Huds was a bit more cautious at first, but warmed up and had a great time.

Checking out the puffin birds. It was feeding time so it was fun to watch the birds dive underwater and go after the fish.

Clam shell pics, a must do. A nearly impossible task to get all four looking at the camera at the same time. I think this is the best we got.

Reading time with Papa.

Making whip cream with Nana.

It was nice going with my parents because it gave us some help with the kids and Kevin and I were even able to get away for a run together one morning. My mom and I went shopping and took Morgan. It was a pretty fun girls morning. Kevin, my Dad and Ethan all golfed Peter Hay one afternoon. It was nice to give them some one-on-one attention.

Papa and Nana and the kids. Thanks for a fun weekend!

November Happenings

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures of our November pre-Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving will be another post for another day. Enjoy!

My Grandma Bulthuis turned 92 this year. The nursing home where she lives has a birthday party each month to celebrate the birthdays for that month. This year Kara, our kids and I were able to join my mom and a couple others to celebrate with Grandma. She loved having some of her great grandkids there and smiled at them the whole time instead of eating her cake. It was a sweet time. We have lots of great memories with her.

Kevin had Veteran's Day off a few weeks back so we decided to brave a little hiking trip with the kids. It was forecasted to rain that day, but we had beautiful hiking weather in the morning, the rain started on our way home.

Brooklyn and mommy, let's just say that I'm glad Kevin's been able to carry the kids in the backpack until this point. It's a heavy load!

Hudson and Daddy checkin' out the river.

Ethan striking a pose, totally created by him.

Morgan on her way up a big rock. They both did great hiking over all the rocks.

There is a beautiful covered bridge where we were, it is fun to walk through and check out the water below.

We had a little picnic lunch after our hike and let Hudson and Brooklyn do some moving around.

This is Brooklyn's latest picture face. She says "eese" and gives us a super cheesy grin.

All in all it was a great trip and made me feel a little "normal" again.

The kiddos in the back yard. I wanted  a picture of our neighbor's beautiful tree. Of course the camera doesn't do it justice. We do have a little bit of color in the fall around here.

Hudson's latest feat is climbing into the toy box. He thinks he's pretty hot stuff.

Helping daddy with the Christmas lights.

Last Tuesday Ethan and the rest of the kindergartners put on a  Thanksgiving program. They performed a few poems and songs and then we all had a big Thanksgiving Feast together. It was so sweet. The kids did a fabulous job. They even made place mats, name plates and center pieces. It was a special night for just Ethan, Daddy and Mommy. He was beaming the whole time and as we left he said, "This night couldn't have been any better." How sweet is that?

Hudson watches Football

Hudson was really into the Niner came today. It was quite adorable watching him talk and yell at the TV. He was pretty into it. Kevin caught a little bit of it on film.

End of October

I'm not very good at posting pictures as things happen, so I tend to just lump several pictures and events together into one post. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to.

Daddy's arms are full of love. It is approaching the moment Kevin feared, all four kiddos attacking him at once and winning!

People have asked if we notice a special bond between Hudson and Brooklyn. I can't say that we do yet. They still just do a lot of parallel play, which is typical of their development stage. They do bite each other when they get frustrated though, and neither of our other two were biters. There are moments though when they will both be busy playing side by side and it's pretty cute.

Ethan's school had fun dress up days for Red Ribbon week last week. This was the last day when he had to dress up like a nerd. Take note of the daddymade pocket protector.

H and B have started to give kisses to us and each other. Hudson gives wide open mouth kisses and Brooklyn puckers her lips and says "mmmwah". So sweet!

I was able to go with Ethan and his classmates on a field trip to the fire station. We walked there from school, which was about a mile walk each way. That night when we went trick or treating he was complaining about being tired of walking, I think his little legs got quite a workout. It was fun to watch them soak up all the information from the fire fighters.

All the kids got to squirt the hose for a minute or so.

Here are our trick-or-treaters. Spiderman, Cinderella and a Peacock.  Annika, Kara and Audrey joined us for a walk around our neighborhood. It took us about a half hour to hit maybe 10 houses...little legs walk pretty slowly. Annika was pretty unsure of her scary spiderman cousin. Isn't she the cutest peacock you've ever seen? After hitting up our neighborhood we went to our church for some Trunk-or-treat fun. It was fun for the kids to see their friends and to see all the cars decked out for the occasion.