Girl Scout Cookies

Well, now that Sara Beth is in Daisy Scouts, she needs to sell girl scout cookies. Her troop set the goal of at least 100 boxes per girl with the proceeds being send to the zoo to help out an animal. After selling some cookies around my work, we set out door to door to sell off the rest of them. I carried Hudson and helped make change, but I waited at the sidewalk with Hudson while Sara Beth went up to each door. Initially, she tentatively knocked on the door and quickly moved on when no one answered. By the fourth house, she decided to start ringing the door bell, and then the cookies started selling like crazy. In the course of 90 minutes, we had depleted our entire stock.

While selling cookies, Hudson REALLY wanted to pull the wagon as we were selling the cookies. Since he was not really wanting to be careful with the cookie transporter, I insisted he carry some sticks by the side of the road instead. But he was not deterred. That evening, he insisted on taking his own wagon outside and hauled it with him as we went for a walk around the block.

Whenever we bring out the whipped cream for cake or ice cream, our kids will ask for us to spray a bunch in their mouth. Sometimes we spray a little too much in, and it makes a bit of a mess.

Sara Beth had her first sleep over two weekends ago. My parents picked her up from school and then she stayed over at their house playing and baking pies. Heather and I took Hudson out to dinner at a burger restaurant and let him walk around an out door mall as it got dark. He loved looking at the fountains and got to play on a tractor in front of Whole Foods while we were there. Sara Beth came home Saturday morning with a cherry pie (Heather's favorite).

My dad and I took the kids to the fishing expo over the weekend. Hudson got very excited when we found the tractors. Honestly, I wouldn't be too surprised if he grew up to be a farmer.

 Sara Beth saw a booth that was selling sand filled sculptures. She decided it was worth paying $4 of her own money to fill a little plastic cell phone shaped container with colored sand. She absolutely loved her purchase. At least, until she had to come home and repay the money from the purse that she had left in her room. At that point, she had a bit of buyer's remorse.

 The best part about the expo was the fact that they had a little fishing pond for the kids. My dad stuck the line in the water and caught a fish to show Sara Beth how it was done. Then Sara Beth went and caught 2 fish on her own. I pointed out that she had caught more fish than her Grandpa, which made her really proud.

Sara Beth is getting pretty handy around the kitchen. This past weekend she got up early on Saturday and made us breakfast. After she prepared it, she brought down her blanket and made a little napping spot in the pantry. You can see her pink blanket in the picture. I'm not sure what Sara Beth was planning to do with the bagel, but I do know that she was not all that excited about me taking her picture.

Hudson likes to play doctor with his stuffed animal whom he has named "Nice." He will bring him out to the operating table and check blood pressure and take out splinters. Heather provided the band-aids, which he placed on the animals feet after extracting the splinters.

Sara Beth will sometime help put Hudson to bed. Hudson will pick out the books he wants to read, and Sara Beth will point out the pictures and tell him a story. She even helps with the singing and praying as I put Hudson down for the night.

In Sara Beth's class there is a stuffed monkey named Macy that gets to come home with one student each weekend. It was our turn to bring her home. Sara Beth made a cozy bed out of her bean bag for it to nap on.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I had to work, but Sara Beth got a break from school. Heather took the kids out for lunch and let them eat it outside at the park. Hudson had decided that now that he is a big boy, he no longer wants to be strapped in any high chairs. He will sit at tables like an adult.

Christmas

Before Christmas, Heather took the kids down to the zoo by herself. Though it was cold, the kids had a great time, and the reptile house was nice and warm.

While Sara Beth checked out the snakes, Hudson found a turtle friend that was swimming back and forth in the water. Hudson loved watching him.

We have a membership to the zoo, so the next week, I took a half day and we all went back to the zoo. Hudson loves playing in the land rover, but Sara Beth and he both wanted to use the steering wheel.

My mom sat with Hudson and tried to convince him that a good time could be had without needing to shove Sara Beth away from the steering wheel.

Here we are at the beginning of the Christmas Eve service. Hudson was not nearly as full of smiles about half way though and he was ready to head home. Heather and I alternated who took him out into the lobby until the service finished up. Maybe next year we will be able to stay for the whole service.

Here he is again smiling.

Hudson, for the most part, was able to open his presents all by himself this year. I had to help him at times to get started.

Sara Beth often helped me get started on my presents as well. Sara Beth asked for a "Baby Alive" for Christmas this year. It is a doll that you have to feed special food packed mixed with water, and it then "poops" that neon mess into special doll diapers. Sara Beth loves it.

Every Christmas, we have done a scavenger hunt for Sara Beth for one of her presents. This year it was a doll bed. She ran up and down the house finding the clues.

The Saturday after Christmas, Me-maw and Pa-paw arrived from Alabama with a whole new set of presents for everyone to open.

Sara Beth got a tiny tea set. So as soon as we were done opening presents, she wanted to host a tea party. She convinced her mom and grandma to sit down with her as she poured tea and offered milk and sugar for her guests.

There have been several wet days so our backyard now has several muddy spots. We let the kids run around the back yard and by the time they were done, their clothes were all brown from the mud. They had big smiles on their faces though.

Hudson has got himself in a phase where he will claim to be "all done" at dinner, get out of his chair, and then decide that he wants to sit in someone else's lap and eat off their plate. I refused to let him sit with me until I was finished, but Sara Beth was more accommodating.

Bubble baths are way more fun at my parent's house. Whenever we go over there for dinner, Hudson asks "Bubbles?" while running towards their bathroom. Sara Beth is a fan of excessive bubbles too.

We sat down and re-watched Wall-E again. Hudson was excited to see his favorite robot friend and it's insect companion again and pointed them out to us with a big grin on his face.

Sara Beth also sat still to watch the whole movie while munching on popcorn.

Heather noticed an extra picture on her phone that she didn't remember taking. I think I have some ideas...