Too Fast

Boy, time keeps getting past me. We've had an eventful month, but as a quick update, we had a lovely Thanksgiving, we bought a new house, and Hudson has learned to crawl. (I'm seriously shocked by this last thing, since at 8 months, he is by far our earliest crawler!)

Here's a little proof. More details on the house to come…

Caring for the Cranes

I had the wonderful opportunity to serve on a community committee to help give aid to a family who we have become friends with over the past couple of years. Two of their 3 children have terminal illnesses. And they are some of the funnest, sweetest and wonderful people. You can read more about their story at www.caringforthecranes.com. 

We held a large fundraising event yesterday. We worked to organize a BBQ dinner, a carnival, concessions, and a silent auction. I'm not going to lie, it was a lot of work. We spent just 6 short weeks preparing for the event. But it was so worth every minute.

Getting set up the night before. I got to work with some seriously amazing people.

I worked at the front table at the event, giving people their will call BBQ tickets, selling carnival tickets, bracelets, T-shirts, and taking donations. It was non-stop busy from 3pm until about 6, when it finally slowed down. We ended the event at 7 pm. I loved talking to everyone who came!

Dickey's BBQ here in Kyle donated all the food for the BBQ plates. We sold over 500 plates.

My kids had a total blast at the carnival. I honestly didn't get to see it in action- but it looked like fun from afar! And can you believe that everything at the carnival was donated!?!

This is Emmalee Crane, who is currently battling cancer. She loves horses, and we were super excited to have the Little Horses of America come to the event.

Local TV station came out to the event to interview the family and publicize their story. We are still getting donations online, thanks to them.

This was our total after the fundraiser. We still have money trickling in, which will not only help the family with their medical bills, but allow the mom, Lisa to quit her job and stay home with her beautiful children. I know you can't buy time, but I think we just did a little.

This was Steven and Lisa Crane getting the total. Pure awesomeness.

There were so many amazing things that happened to us while working on this project. So many people who were SO generous, and so many people who reached out to us to find ways to help. There was always someone crying at our meetings while telling everyone about these amazing experiences (and a lot of times it was all of us).

At our very first "Caring for the Cranes" committee meeting, our chairperson, Michelle, said that not only would we bless this family with our service, but we would feel blessed to have been apart of it. I didn't realize how profoundly true her words would be. I absolutely felt blessed to have been apart of it. 

Halloween Festivities

We had a successful Halloween this year. We really don't do much, other than the standard trick-or-treating, church trunk-or-treating and our Halloween cookie painting party. But now that my kids are getting bigger, we've enjoyed a couple of years of pumpkin carving. It's always a little tricky here in Texas, because it's usually very warm at Halloween, so we can't carve our pumpkins too early. (We learned that the hard way.) This year we timed it pretty well. 

I let all the big boys pick out their own pumpkins this year. It wasn't until after the fact that I realized that Dustin was out of town till just a couple of days before Halloween, so I was going to have to supervise this project on my own. But it worked out well. The boys were awesome about cleaning out the insides of their pumpkins (once I had scraped them down really well inside) and they helped pick out the designs. Carson and Jensen helped transfer the designs and did some of the carving. They turned out great!

 Mason loved his Mickey Mouse pumpkin. (I did too- can we say easy-peasy?)

Jensen has been learning about bats at school recently, so his choice was very obvious.

 Carson actually carved his all on his own! (I just cleaned it up a little for him.) 

 I didn't actually get a picture of the boys on Halloween, so I made sure Dustin took one of us when we did our Trunk-or-Treat the next night. Carson and Jensen loved wearing their ninja costumes again, and Mason and Hudson were SO CUTE in the lion costumes that I made for Carson and Jensen 5 years ago (was it really that long ago?) Plus, it was awesome not to have to "figure out" or make new costumes for everyone this year. It was just what this mama needed. :)

Twin Day

For Red Ribbon Week the school has different themed days. Today was twin day. I kinda hate when they have twin day, because it's a pain sometimes to coordinate with other kids, and I'm always afraid of excluding someone. But, so far, it's been fine. 

Carson and his best friend wore "Caring for the Cranes" shirts (along with a ton of other kids they knew!) That worked out perfectly. (These two boys crack me up- they just love being friends.)

Jensen's was a little harder for me, because I don't actually know any of the other parents in his kindergarden class. So I made a few of these silly little shirts, packaged them in a bag with a note to their parents explaining what it was and left my email address. (Then I hoped that no one was going to think I was a big weirdo.) But pleasantly, all 3 of the other boys Jensen wanted to be "twins" with wore their shirts! I even had several of the moms email me, excited to have been included. In case you're wondering, the shirts have a corn stalk + a dog. His teacher is Ms. Corn and she calls her kids her "corn dogs."

 And this is a picture of Jensen's class pet, a hedge hog named Chester. Mason loves when we occasionally walk Jensen to class because then we get to see Chester. Today we could actually see his face!

Baby Trick

Hudson has been cracking me up with this little lip popping trick. I wanted to get a video of him doing it before he stopped!

Cookie Painting Party

One of my very favorite traditions in October in our Annual Halloween Cookie Painting Party. Even though it's a good deal of work for me, my kids love it, my friends look forward to it, and I enjoy the fun morning of decorating (and eating) yummy sugar cookies. This year we just had Mason's little friends and moms come. 

 Seriously, how cute is this little guy's hat? He had an adorable apron that went with it, but much to his mother's displeasure, he refused to wear it and chose to wear the "paint" instead.

 And I gotta thank my friend Michelle for taking the pictures of us. I go to all the work of making cookies, frosting paint, snacks, cleaning my house, etc, and then I never remember to take pictures!

And I'll say that this group of friends were the cleanest kids we've ever had! Normally there are crushed up cookies and drops of paint all over my kitchen floor by the time we're done, but there was hardly a mess when we were finished. Bonus for me!

Fall Festival

 Like I said before, in Kindergarten, they are constantly having events and special days. This past Friday was the annual Fall Festival. This happened to be one of the few activities that I did with Carson when he was in Kinder. The kids get to have an hour of playing, doing experiments, and eating treats. I helped with Jensen's class's table where they made "Monster Goo" out of cornstarch and green water. The kids got a big kick out of mixing that mess with their fingers and watching it go from liquid to solid to liquid again.

I think Jensen's favorite activity was bowling. He stood in the long line for that one a couple of times. This is Jensen and his cute friend Ash (or Sebastian) standing in line. (Ash is one of the Crane kids- it always cracks me up to see him standing next to Jensen. Can you guess who is the older of the two?)

Jensen guessed how big around that pumpkin was and totally nailed it! He was excited to put his string up on the board under "Just Right."

These are a couple of other kids in Jensen's class. The little girl actually gets babysat by her grandparents who happen to live 3 houses down from us. They are the sweetest neighbors, and lately the boys have had fun playing with Olivia.

I took Mason and Hudson with me when we went to the Fall Festival. Mason was so good about letting the big kids do their stuff, but he was excited about going on the hay ride (which didn't have any hay.) He also got to do a cookie walk with Jensen and left with plenty of chocolate smeared on his cute little face.

And this little cutie was so good for me! I'll admit, I wasn't the biggest helper at the class table, but we had more than our fair share of parents, so I don't think anyone cared. 

And we have been loving our cooling weather! It's kinda refreshing to wear a jacket.

I'm in a hurry to get things done...

Sometimes I feel like I'm living my life in that song, "I'm in a hurry to get things done, I rush and rush until life's no fun. All I gotta do is live and die, but I'm in a hurry and don't know why."

Carson and Jensen started taking a 6 week course of Art Lessons with some friends. Their teacher is a super cute, highly talented girl who lives in our ward. They had lots of fun at their first class.

 Mason and Hudson decided to play happily on the floor with some blocks the other day. It was precious.

Last Sunday I had to go visit another ward in our stake, and I left Hudson with Dustin at church. When I got back Dustin didn't have the baby, and I discovered that Hudson went home with Grandpa and Grandma Brudnicki and Uncle Jason and Aunt Jen. Grandpa thought it would be fun to spend Sunday afternoon teaching Hudson the fine art of casting.

 Kindergarden is full of activities - all the time. This week it was a pet parade. Since we have children instead of pets, Jensen took his beloved monkey, Nanners to be in the parade as his "pet."

 Jensen has also gotten some loose front teeth. Both of his top teeth are all loose and wonky. It looks a little scary in his mouth right now!

I play Bunco with friends every month and this month we did "Couples Bunco" and since it was October, we had to dress up. Dustin and I went as PB&J. 

Our friends pulled out all the stops. There were some seriously hilarious costumes. We had a fabulous time.

 Today is my good friend's birthday, so late last night after Bunco, Dustin and I  plastered her house and yard with a bunch of Justin Beiber cards. She almost caught us in the act. But it was an awesome birthday surprise. Her reaction made it all worth it.

6 months, a little late

Guess who turned 6 months old AND decided to get his first 2 teeth?

THIS GUY!

Hudson weighs in at 15 lbs, 14 oz. He's a little light weight (18th percentile), but he's doing just great on his height at 27 inches (63%) and he's got a nice big noggin at 45 cm (90%!). 

Aside from the two little teeth that have come in together, he has also learned to sit by himself. He's still a little wobbly, and the boys are always so disappointed when he falls over! He still loves all those big brothers of his, and has become increasingly attached to his mama. He loves playing "peek-a-boo," "patty cake," and "this little piggie." His laugh gets better everyday.

He is still on medication for acid reflux, but it seems to be much better managed now. He has also really enjoyed trying new foods (except for those banana's we gave him last week that made him super constipated) and he likes sitting up at the table in his new high chair. 

If it weren't for the fact that this 6 month old still sleeps like a 6 week old, we would be doing super great. So for now, we're just doing great…and we're tired. Really tired.

We have a Roller

Today was the day we finally got Hudson to roll from his back to his tummy! And now that he can do that, along with rolling from his tummy to his back, he is really moving. 

Also, I think this poor little guy's teeth are making his mouth hurt. Looks like some little teeth are on their way.

I Love School

Yeah for school!!!! I know a lot of people are sad to send their kids back to school, but not this mama! Let's face it, having a new baby at home meant that we didn't get to do anything fun all summer. Day in and day out we pretty much stayed trapped inside our house…together…too hot to even go outside and play in the yard. It was a long summer for all of us. 

But now that's in the past. Jensen has been so excited to go to Kindergarden! His teacher is named Ms. Corn. The nickname for her class is "Ms. Corn's Dogs." Hilarious. She totally plays up any dog or corn related phrases. Plus, Jensen likes her.

Carson's teacher is Ms. Gripp. (Sorry Ms. Gripp, I didn't realize your eyes were closed till I got home and checked this picture!) She was actually a 1st Grade teacher last year, so the 2nd graders are familiar with her already. She's pretty awesome. She has a tarantula, and so their class nickname is "Ms. Gripp's Creepy Crawlers." Plus, Carson likes her.

How cute are my boys together on their first morning of school? I love that they have matching tennis shoes and that Carson protectively put his arm around Jensen.

This kid is so grown up.

The big deal for us this year is that my boys are walking to and from school together everyday. So far, I've been going with them (with the two littles in my double jogger) and walking part of the way to pick them up. I mostly make sure they cross a kind of busy street along the way without getting run over. It's been really good so far. It helps them (and me) get exercise and I save a boat load on gas!

And this kid is so big, too!!! He's so handsome!

He loves all the fun things in his classroom. I think his favorite is Ms. Corn's globe. He told me today that he found Texas, Illinois and China. :)

  And not to be left out, Mason will be heading to MDO next week! We are both pretty stoked about that. This morning we went to the MDO open house and met his two teachers. He was excited that he had the same teachers who taught the class he went to last year. Here's another one of Mason's classic "smiles" with his teacher Miss Sheila.

 And of course, when the kid actually puts out an adorable smile, I take a blurry picture! (I need help…) This is his other teacher, Miss Stephanie. His MDO program just built a brand new building and so we had fun checking it out today. They did a beautiful job and Mason is very excited to be a big boy and go to school too! 

I'm very excited to have a couple of days with Hudson and a mostly quiet house all week!

Baptism Day

 We were so happy that Carson was able to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, August 24, 2013. The actual baptism was wonderful. Carson felt good and I felt like he was well prepared for the experience. The baptism planning was another story. Lets just say, I put on a lovely (last minute) stake baptism for Carson and 4 other kids. Because of that, I didn't get a chance to take any pictures of our family or of just Carson and Dustin. (Thank goodness for my camera wielding friend, who took a few for me- and of course, they look fabulous.)

Carson was glad to have several of his good friends come to support him. His friend, Lusia sang with a couple of other kids for the musical number. 

 Carson also had a good friend from school come to his baptism. Having her there was really neat, and he felt like a good missionary. 

Carson was also lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa Brudnicki, Uncle Jason (who gave a talk in the program- at Carson's request) and Aunt Jenn, and even his Grandma Jensen there for his special day. We feel very blessed to have so many people who love and care about this special boy. We're very pleased with the knowledge which he has gained and how he tries to implement it in his life.

Biggest Little 3 year Old

On Friday, Mason had his 3rd birthday! It's been a crazy couple of weeks around our house, so we kept the birthday celebrations very low key. When I asked Mason what he would like to do for his birthday he said he wanted a "Binana" which I figured out meant a "Piñata." (I was too busy making sure no one sustained any injuries during the "Piñata" portion of his day, so I didn't take any pictures of that, but believe me, they had fun!)

Mason also wanted to invite two little friends over. One of them couldn't make it, but he was happy to have his little buddy Drew to help him celebrate.

 We decided to add to our already impressive collection of train tracks for Mason's birthday by getting a cool 4 way switch piece and a round house. They have really enjoyed playing with those new pieces.

 Mason also requested a chocolate cake. He found a picture of an octopus cake in a cake magazine, so we made something similar, only it became a monster instead. The kids loved that it had Skittle spots and fruit roll up legs. (I also love in this picture that Drew is helping Mason blow out his candles from way over there!)

 Mason's last request was that we have hamburgers for dinner. I planned on having Dustin grill them for us, but Dustin wanted to go out on the town instead. Here's me and my big boy at Smash Burger. Seriously…this kid could never be a model. His smiles for the camera are ridiculous.

 After burgers, we decided to take Mason bowling. For about the last 6 months or more any time we would ask Mason what he wanted to do for a date, or family night, or whatever, he always said, "Bowling!" So that's what we did.

 And of course he couldn't have been more excited about getting an orange ball! 

He had a great 3rd birthday. It seems like he's been 3 for forever, though. I guess that's how it is when you look like the average 4 year old. I love this BIG boy!