Seeing Double

Sorry about the foggy bath picture. The boys weren't being modest in the clearer ones. They are having fun living with each other. Hudson does have a problem sharing his mom. If I hold Bentley you can bet that Hudson will be there in no time with his blanket in tow, climging onto my lap. I'm managing two alright- I mean, I've got an arm for each one. How do you mange three?

Deckin' our Halls

After rearranging the office, Hudson and I put up the Christmas decorations. He loved when I'd plug in any lights, "Wow." After watching me hang ornaments, he picked one up and tried to help me out. I think Brent and I are in for a fun Christmas- now that Hudson is old enough to play along. Christmas is such a magical time for kids.
I must have worn Hudson out because he fell asleep in hisbooster seat eating his lunch. I fed him lunch while I continued decorating. Pretty soon he got really quite. I talked to him, but no response. I had to look twice because I didn't think he could really fall asleep in that position.
I'm glad to have gotten the decorations up since Bentley came to stay with us for a week while Nik and Chod are in Hawaii. I don't imagine I'll get much accomplished with 2 boys. Hudson was excited for Bentley to get here. He tried spoon feeding him dinner tonight- always on the look out for a way to be helpful. For 20 months I think he's a pretty intuitive kid.

Dough Boy

I was responsible for making the rolls for the Hillman Thanksgiving dinner. As usual, Hudson pushed his chair over and kept the bosch company on the countertop. Whenever the lid was opened to add more flour or check on the dough, he would beg for some dough. He loves it. After about an entire roll of dough, I decided I'd better quit feeding him before he became the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

Bah Hambug

Am I the only one that snaps into grinch mode as soon as I hear/see ads soliciting donations for the needy? It's not that I don't want to help others this holiday season, I consider myself a generous and compassionate person. I just feel overwhelmed by all of my "options" for generous and philanthropic giving. Our society seems chock full of needy people. This year I plan on helping those who are truly in need, as for the unmotivated- try standing in the cold and ringing your own dang bell.

New Chest

The chest I'm talking about today are freezers. I am the proud new owner of 2 non-working chest freezers. I couldn't be happier. (I know, it doesn't take much to make me happy.) The reason I am so excited is because I now have some food storage space without it taking over our office. It is a great solution for big, bulky dry goods because it's 100% mouse proof and the extra insulation buffers against the extreme outside conditions, since ours freezers have to be in a shed. No worries, my canned foods still live in our office closet. I don't expect it to deal with the freezing temperatures.

Who says you have to have an exciting life to blog about?

The Writing on the Wall

Hudson has really enoyed drawing in his notebook lately. I decided he could be premoted from the ballpoint pen to a crayon. I knew I shouldn't have done it. I knew what was going to happen. After getting his notebook and crayon I hopped in the shower. I got out to magenta scribbles all over my wall and window sill in the entry way. But how can you get mad at a kid whose Mom gave him the crayon in the first place and then left him unsupervised? Totally my fault. After my google search, I took some baking soda and toothpaste to it. With a little elbow grease, it quickly disappeared. And then I remembered I should have tried my magic eraser. Oh well, I imagine I might have another opportunity to try its magic.

Like I say, this crayon scribble shouldn't have come as much of a surprise since the surprise came last week. Hudson snuck a green crayon out of the restaurant. I put him in his carseat while Brent and I visited with his sister and brother-in-law. When I peeked in to check on Hudson, the thighs of his khaki pants were green. I didn't know crayon colored so well on fabric. I'm not as successful with crayon removal from fabric as I am from walls. I'm up for any suggestions.

It Once Was Lost. . .

About 4 months ago Brent realized that he no longer had his wallet. He looked everywhere and to no avail. No biggie, who really needs a wallet anyway? I could pay whenever we went out for dinner, buy the groceries, and pay all the bills. Life was just fine without it. Well, up until about 3 weeks ago. Brent decided he'd like to have some buying power so he cancelled his cards and had them reissued. And then it was time to vote. You need a license for that. So $30 bucks for a new one. I was on the verge of buying him a new wallet to put his new cards in when Nik and I went to Idaho Falls.

The boys fell asleep in the car, so we'd take turns sitting in the car while the other went into a store. While Nik was in Roberts I decided to look for a spare diaper I remember putting in the jockey box (for those of you not hicks- refined people call them glove compartment boxes.) I open it up and what do I spot in the corner. . . that's right the lost wallet and two check books. I continued digging and found the spare key for the car. That will be nice to have since I have a record of locking my keys in the car. (The cops will dispatch a locksmith for free if you happen to have your child in the car although I don't recommend it.)

So for the jockey box being small, it sure was good at keeping the wallet and key hidden for a long time. What once was lost, now is found.

Give your Daddy a holla and eat squash for Dessert

Lately when I ask Hudson to go and get Brent, he'll turn his head a bellow "Daaaauuu" in his deepest and most manly voice. Must be a guy thing. It doesn't matter where Brent is in relation to Hudson, he lets out a big holla for his daddy.

On another note, we were just sitting down to eat dinner. Brent heard the microwave beep so he got up to get what ever was in it. He opened it up and asked if I wanted the squash out for dinner. I said, "nope, it's for dessert." That's right, I made one of my favorite desserts today. It's one of my favorites because any dessert that includes squash has got to be healthy so you can eat twice, or three times as much.
It's actually a recipe for pumpkin crisp, but I substitute the pumpkin with my garden grown squash. It's easy to make and oh so yummy. . . so go ahead make it today. My Aunt Maren makes something like it. I originally got the recipe from her but I lost it somewhere so here's what I do now.
Pumpkin Pie Crisp
2 c. pumpkin
1 T pumpkin pie spice
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 can evaporate milk
mix thoroughly and pour in a 9X13 pan
top with 1 white cake mix
drizzle 1 1/4 cubes melted butter over mix and top with 1 c. chopped nuts
Bake for 1 hour at 350. Enjoy!!

Roundin' Up

Yesterday we had to go up to Zitlau's to bring the cows home. (This is the guest ranch Hudson and I got to hang out at while Brent baled their hay.) I decided that Hudson and I would go since I found him a little pair of Carhart bibs at DI and they needed to make their big debut. We weren't much help since it was cold and snowing, but he was the cutest bundled buckaroo there. He was also pretty content to play in the pickup while I helped sort cows.

When we got home, Hudson continued the round up. He saw a spider scuddling across our kitchen floor, so he picked it up and rolled it around in his fingers before throwing it away. We had one of those big, fat, sleepy flies on our hearth. After pointing it out to Hudson, he ran over and picked it up for disposal. He's quite the little bug catcher. Hopefully he won't try this with any of the stray yellow jackets that occassionally make it into our home.

Bear Lake or Bust

When Brent told me that Robert Jensen had reserved their condo in Bear Lake for us this past week I was kind of annoyed. What is there to do in Bear Lake this time of year? And then I realized the sheer genius behind that. There is nothing to do there this time of year, so we'd have to take it easy in celebration of the finally complete harvest.
Despite not having much to do, we had a lot of fun. There was an indoor pool with a separate kiddie pool which Hudson loved. (One little side note: On occassion Hudson would swallow some water and choke/gag. When he did this I would pick him up and set him out of the pool for a minute. During one such episodes, he grabbed my face and gave me the sweetest kiss in between his coughs and struggle for breath. He seemed to be saying, "If I don't make it through this, here's a kiss." Too cute.) We made it to the lake on Wednesday before the weather turned off cold and snowy. Hudson went splashing out through the water. I think he would really enjoy it in the summer. On top of that, we watched a total of 6 movies- even more surprising- I stayed awake for all but one.
All in all, our family vacation to "There is nothing to do Bear Lake" was a success.

Growling at Frogs

So it's a good thing that I have Hudson, otherwise I'd have no subject for blogging. Yesterday we went to the library- (for any of you that haven't heard- I love the North Bingham County Library.) Hudson isn't much of a follower, he wanders. So the entire time into the library I'm coaxing him to follow me. Once inside the doors, he notices a display case containing lots of frogs- stuffed ones, glass ones, all kinds. He gets down on all fours and starts growling at them. After his growling stint, he manages to find a step stool and pushes it up and down the aisles. I'm sure they dread our visits.

When Hudson is riding in the car, he's become very good at entertaining himself. As a matter of fact, he entertains everyone in the car. Lately he spontaneously bursts into laughter- weird laughs that crack me up. He also will tense up his neck muscles and make he entire head shake. I hope it causes no permanent damage. Somehow he even manages to smile while he's doing it.

That's not the end of Hudson's talent. Last night he decided to run around with his arms held back (like Superman or something.) It occassionally threw him off balance and he would tumble onto his head, like a poorly executed sommersault. He also found a new use for a little drawsting bag that we keep some of his toy pieces in. He puts it on his hand and uses it like a glove, fascinated by the movement of the mysterious hand.
Kids. . . what fun.

Candy Apple Red

Grandpa Parish heard that Hudson and I were in Burley, so he hopped in his little Caddy and came on out. He whipped in the drive way in his candy apple red Cadillac. It's quite the ride, a step up from his old Blue and White Lightning. It sounds like he never stays home because the car "is just so fun to drive, it practically drives itself." We had a fun visit with him. He said Bentley and Hudson sure look a lot a like, yeah. . . like they're both boys. And of course they're both going to be great athletes. Grandpa says that "every day he's getting older and weaker," but he still manages to make it to his grandkid's ball games. I think it's cute he got this fancy little car, he seems quite proud of it.

Candy for Bob

Hudson was Bob the Builder for Halloween. SURPRISE! He had a little tool belt, plastic tools, hard hat, and gloves. We had to bundle up for our ward's Trunk or Treat, but he was a trooper. It didn't take him long to get into the candy thing. He'd make sure to grab extra pieces out of the bowl for his Dad. He made a haul. I even got him to share a few pieces with me. I think he's confused, he says "Bob" while he points to his candy. Now Bob is synomous for candy.