Friday, June 27, 2014

Tractors and airplanes

We recently went to Home Depot to pick up some solar screens for our house one Saturday. As we pulled into the parking lot, Hudson saw the row of lawn "tractors" out in front of the store, and he asked to get on them. He then proceeded to climb into the seat of one, play for a couple seconds, and then climb down and move over to the next one in the row. He wanted to try out every tractor that Home Depot offered.
Sara Beth was content to sit in the largest (and almost most expensive) one while Hudson tested out all the others.
Sara Beth decided one day that she wanted to wrap some presents for her mom. She crafted a full set of artwork and bead bracelets and then wrapped them all up individually. She then watched and helped as Heather unwrapped them all.
For Father's day, we went to the Frontiers of Flight Museum. The main part of the museum had some sort of event going on. They kept having people talking extremely loudly over the speaker system, so we quickly moved over to the kid's play area, which was much more calm and quiet.
Hudson found the controls for the kid sized airplane and he sat there for at least 15 minutes pretending to fly the plane.
There was part of a full size airplane in another part of the museum. Sara Beth and Heather bucked into some seats and pretended that they were flying on vacation.
Just in case you were wondering, FAA regulations that explain how to buckle a seat belt are unnecessary. Hudson figured out how to operate the latches without needing a demonstration from a flight attendant.
 Hudson and Sara Beth had swim lessons last week. Sara Beth's swimming skills are greatly improved. She can now confidently swim out in water over her head. Hudson did not like swim lessons as much. According to Heather, he cried for a vast majority of the time he was there. At dinner, when I asked him about lessons that day, he would burst into tears and kept repeating that he did not like his head to go underwater. One evening, after dinner, Hudson was playing in the swing and Sara Beth came over and said that she would protect him and help him to keep his head out of the water. Hudson was thrilled to hear that.
By the end of the week, when he had almost nearly calmed down from swim lessons, Hudson fell onto his face in the shallow end of the pool and scraped up his nose.

Friday, June 20, 2014

The end of diapers and school

Well the day has finally come: Hudson has begun potty training. For the past several months, every time we clean his diaper, we mention that if he used the bathroom, he could earn a jelly bean (two jelly beans for going #2). The training is ongoing, but number of diapers used in a day has gone down to only one or two. And Hudson really does like getting to wear "Big Boy pullups."

We swung by my parent's house to check on the status of their grape vines. The grapes have grown to the correct size, but they are still quite tart. Sara Beth tried one, but ended up spitting it out since it was so sour.
We went out for Chinese food one day. As always, Hudson saw us eating with chopsticks and decided he needed to eat with them too. This time, however, he actually ate his meal with them and didn't make too big of a mess.
Sara Beth, of course, has had plenty of experience eating with chop sticks.
Sara Beth has started doing more chores around the house. She will set the table and feed the cats. She also scoops the cat litter some mornings at 6:20am while waiting for everyone else in the house to get up. Because of this, when Sara Beth saw a Hello Kitty lanyard at the store that she really wanted, she had earned enough money and excitedly purchased it for herself.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Camping, zoo, and awards at school

A couple weeks ago, we decided to go camping at Pilot Point state park. We had a wonderful site far away from most of the other camping spots. It had plenty of leaves, which Sara Beth pushed into a big pile. Heather snapped a picture right as Sara Beth leaped into it.
Hudson then made an effort to jump into the pile of leaves as well.
Unfortunately, we cut the camping trip short after one evening there. I decided that the kids needed to get a full night's sleep in their own beds, as the one day was enough to wear them both out.
Before we left, Hudson called me over to let me know that he had found a spider. If you look closely, you can see it on his arm near his elbow.
Hudson certainly likes watermelon. When Heather brought it out for him to eat, he was grinning so much you could see the smile from the back.
 Sara Beth and Heather worked together over the past month to complete a 300 piece puzzle together.
Sara Beth's final week of school had all sorts of fun activities. There was a movie day, a "wear your clothes backwards day" and field day. Heather went up to the school and helped out. No ribbons were given out as "everyone is a winner" but Heather said if there were ribbons given out, Sara Beth would have earned one.
Sara Beth received two special awards in this last 6 weeks of school. She received the "Wylie Way" award for greeting people warmly and sincerely.
And then she receive the "Caramello Award" during her kindergarten graduation ceremony for being "so sweet and easy going".
The same day as Sara Beth's graduation ceremony, my dad found a turtle in his backyard and asked if we wanted to have it as a pet. Sara Beth and Hudson loved having it around. Even the Cats got excited about the new pet. After being at our house for 3 days, Heather and Sara Beth took the turtle to the nearby creek and released it.
Here is a picture of our sand table. Note the distinct lack of sand in it. I've filled and refilled it over the course of the spring with bags, but it keeps getting tipped over and the sand get distributed around the yard. Apparently, rain water has no trouble staying in though. I think I am going to give this table away and just build a sand area under the play house. That way, it cannot tip over.
Sara Beth is still working on trying to train Lilly Belle to perform tricks. Somehow, she was able to successfully put the collar on the kitten. I'm not sure I could do that without getting a couple scratches.
Sara Beth's girl scout troop went down to the zoo as a reward for selling so many girl scout cookies earlier this year. Heather, Hudson and I drove down with the troop and while Sara Beth went around with the troop, Hudson got to go around with two parents giving him their full attention. He kept pointing out the animals and saying their name.
When Sara Beth was off at school, Hudson would occasionally play with her toys. Here he is taking one of her horses out for a walk in the front yard.
Hudson went to the polling station at the library with Heather for early voting in some elections. He enjoyed getting the "I voted" sticker, and so when I went, a couple days later, he came with me and got an additional "I voted" sticker.
I had to replace a rubber gasket on the underside of my car. Hudson came out into the garage, wanting to help me. He was very helpful handing me the lug nuts as I placed the wheels back on the car.