New Discovery

Hudson has been exploring his surroundings, and of course wants to get into anything that he's not supposed to. Today was no exception. He finally figured out that there are things inside the cabinet doors. He's been playing with the doors the past few days, but today he made this new discovery. The first cabinet he chose was the one with all of the small kitchen appliances. So I moved him to the Tupperware cabinet. It has been a huge hit today. Kyle and I took some pictures to mark the occasion. I guess it's time to go get some cabinet safety locks!

Over the Weekend

This weekend was pretty full!  The whole family tried out a new grocery store on Friday because of a flyer in the mail that showed some pretty good specials.  The grocery store is in Cedar Hill, which is almost thirty minutes from our house.  It's only about ten-fifteen miles, though.  I must say that I have never been the type that sees the beauty in the landscape of DFW.  It's just, well, plain in comparison to the gently roaming hills of my hometown.  I especially have a difficult time during fall here.  In Birmingham the hills are painted rich with vibrant colors that take your breath away.  Here I get excited just to see one tree that is yellow.  But, on this drive out to Cedar Hill we discovered one of the prettiest parts of the metroplex that I have seen.  And you could even see fall colors in the trees!  I was pleasantly surprised and truly enjoyed the drive to the grocery store.

The store was actually pretty small, but they had some great deals.  One of those deals was whole chickens for $.99 /pound.  We ended up buying six chickens to smoke on Saturday.  So when Saturday came around we set out to smoke the chickens.  We have smoked brisket, ribs, pork tenderloin, but never chicken.  My cookbook said that it should take about 4 to 4 1/2 hours.  We didn't get them on the smoker until 3:30.  Oops!  Two of the chickens were done at around 9:00.  (We had to move them to the oven.)  Two more were done around 12:30.  The final two were done around 2:00.  What a night!  And what a MESSY kitchen!  But the great thing is that we were able to give some chickens to some family and friends to enjoy.  I think next time we'll just roast the chickens.

I think one of the great things about Hudson getting older is that he will play on his own.  So while we were cooking/smoking/cleaning, he did a great job playing by himself.  He did wander into the kitchen to talk to us.  We also put the jumper on the back patio so he could talk to Daddy while he was using the smoker.  He's just a great baby.  I can't complain at all.  God has been good to us!

Even though we were smoking chickens, we of course still had football to watch.  We had the windows open in the house to keep it cool, and later on our neighbor told us that he heard me yelling at the game.  Uh oh!  He lives two houses down.  Kyle and I did manage to make Hudson cry only twice during the game.  Both times were during great offensive plays.  As long as we look at him after yelling or cheering and then smile and say "Yea!" he won't cry.  He needs to learn to cheer on the Tide, too!

Yesterday was a great day at church.  Kyle, of course, was preaching.  I was working with the younger elementary age kids.  We're beginning to feel like we're right on the edge of some growth at church.  We're getting excited about that.  God seems to be bringing new faces and even former acquaintances across our path.  Kyle also is really enjoying studying for his sermon series in Genesis.  He keeps talking about the subject even when we get in the car to go home on Sundays.  You know it's a good sign when your pastor is genuinely excited about what he's preaching.  Hudson's Nina is now working in the nursery on Sunday mornings, so he did a great job with her in there.  Apparently he is becoming much more assertive in the nursery.  He felt comfortable enough to take some toys away from another little boy.  And so it begins...

I'm really looking forward to this next weekend.  We're planning a trip to the zoo!  We'll post pictures of that next weekend.

New Face

Today Hudson actually took a morning nap that was an hour and a half.  This is HUGE for him!  He normally just sleeps for a half hour in the morning, then a half hour in the afternoon.  The afternoon nap will last longer if I lay down with him on the couch. 

Back to today, though.  When I walked into Hudson's room he was in a great mood.  I started talking to him, and he proceeded to make a new face at me as I smiled.  He crinkled up his nose and started breathing through it loudly.  I had never seen him do this before.  I had, however, seen his dad do that.  Kyle makes that face at Hudson sometimes to get him to smile, and it seems that Hudson has picked up on it.  He and I made that face back and forth at each other quite a few times today, but when his daddy got home, Hudson stopped!  He made a liar out of me.  I'm sure he'll make the face again.  I'll try to get a picture of it soon.

Hudson also has a new bruise on his forehead.  I'm not surprised.  The little man constantly tries to make his way around the coffee table, but ends up falling half the time.  

I guess there's a lot to learn from a little guy like that.  He never stops trying to accomplish his mission, whether it's to get the dog food, grab the remote control, or dig in the garbage can. Sometimes I give up pretty easily.  Most of the time if it's something I don't think I'll be good at then I won't try at all.  I'm scared of failure.  So I need to take a lesson from little man.  It's okay to try; it's okay to fail; it's okay to keep trying.  I need to realize these things now because he'll be watching me as he gets older.  If he sees that I'm scared to take a chance, then he might learn fear from me.  I guess this is where prayer really comes in handy--trusting that God's going to guide Kyle and me as parents.  He's the ultimate example of the perfect Father. 

Halloween 2009

Tonight 412CC had a booth at the Mansfield Fall Festival. Children were able to come by and take basketball shots for candy. Kyle was working the booth and meeting new people. Jessica and Hudson were just there to hang out. Nina and Papaw were also there. Nina had bought Hudson a new Halloween costume just for the event. He looked too cute! Even though he's not old enough to play games and get candy, we still had a great time just walking around and visiting with our 412 friends. Hudson's first Halloween was good, but we're pretty sure next year will be much more exciting!