My 100th post! And what an unusual sight

So this is my 100th post, and boy is it worthy! We had some very unusual weather the Saturday after Christmas. These pictures were taken in my back yard, in the end of December, in Southeastern Ohio, in 70 degree weather.

Scott was still recovering from the virus that has run through all of us but Hudson so far (poor Libby is still recovering today), so Libby and I took advantage of the beautiful weather to get some way over-do stuff done in the yard and garden. Libby took her shoes off after, ohh, 10 minutes outside, and then her shirt followed about 20 minutes later.
She helped me pull up dead flowers, a few weeds, and then ran off to do some much needed outside play.


And look what we found! A long forgotten potato! You'll have to look sideways, because for some reason it got uploaded sideways.

Have you had any unexpecteds happen this Christmas?

Yuck

Well, whatever Scott had, I got. I spent the day yesterday sick, and am recovering today. Libby, too, has been "spitting up" as she calls it, but not with exactly the same thing Scott and I had. We're just waiting to see what will happen with Hudson. In the meantime I have a nice post in the making (my 100th post!) and will get it up as soon as I can sit here long enough.

Have a great day!

What we've been up to (lots and lots of pictures!)

Lots of posing... (ps. these matching shirts are the brain child of my mother-in-law; every family has their own color; ours is red (yay! Go Bucks!))
Lots of playing...

(Libby actually posed for this picture. She was getting me food and drink while I baked (below) and she said, "Mama, take a picture of me getting your drink," and then she held this pose while I shot the picture. How funny is that?)
Lots of baking...

More posing...
Libby's pretty Christmas dress (if you enlarge the picture above you can see her pretty sparkly shoes that she kept pulling up her dress to show everyone)
The anticipation on Christmas morning!!!...
And possibly her favorite gift...
Sorry it's taken me a while to post. It's been a little hectic around here with Christmas starting last weekend for our families. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had a great time with family, and we're ending it with a bang with a missed weekend trip to my Dad's house because Scott is upstairs puking. Big bummer (truly!). It's time for the children to make up lost sleep, and for me to clean this house!

How did you celebrate this year?

One of those mornings

This morning is one of those mornings. It's one of those mornings where Scott wakes me up before he leaves for work and I had just gotten settled into the best sleep all night. One of those mornings that follow a night where Hudson cried all night long. A night where at one point Hudson slept for 17 minutes before waking up again, and then slept another 20 minutes. It was a night where he gets mad because he's not getting much milk, but that's because he had been nursing hourly the whole night. This morning follows a night that followed a day where Hudson tried to poo all day pretty much unsuccessfully due to his body trying to handle the increasing amount of food he has been demanding from me. This is a morning where I can hear Hudson sleep hiccuping on the monitor because of all the crying he did last night (in our bed...beside me...in my arms...just had to add that). It's a morning where the minute I come downstairs Libby says she wants to nurse, which she does every morning, but this morning follows a night where I nursed all night long. And this morning has me nearly falling sleep nursing said little girl while her baby brother sleeps soundly all morning to make up for the sleep he didn't get all night. Sigh.

Do you have mornings like this?

A Christmas tradition

Every year since the first Thanksgiving and Christmas since Scott and I got married, on the weekend after Thanksgiving we decorate the house for Christmas and take a family picture to put on our Christmas cards. This year things were a little off with Scott having to work different hours, and I just got around to taking our picture a few nights ago. It actually went a lot better than I imagined it would go with two kids under 3, especially with a 12 second timer! If I didn't say anything and left the eye directing to Scott, they both looked at the camera perfectly. If I even breathed loud, Hudson looked around at me, and Libby started moving. I love her big girl forced smile! =)

Happy memory building!

Edited to add: Scott and I are on our knees in the picture. Our tree is not nearly that tall, and I am not that similar in height to Scott=)

Violet, you're turning violet, Violet!

This is what my kids looked like yesterday, and this was after most of it wore off during the night and morning. They both had thrush, and I had gotten it too on my, uh, "nursies." It was getting really bad on Hudson's bottom, and mine was so bad that I had two cracks, so I said "enough's enough." The natural remedies that I was trying weren't getting the job done, so I turned to Gentian Violet. It took care of the thrush in their mouths and on me, but I and Hudson's bottom are still healing. Gentian Violet is the "big gun" when it comes to thrush care, and I hated that I had to turn to it, but it was really bad. As you can tell, it stains everything a pretty violet color. It stains mouths, skin, clothes, blankies, you name it.

And for your daily smile, I just had to share this picture of Libby after she finished drinking her yogurt out of a cup.
Have a wonderful day!

Hey, I wanna come out, too!

Hudson had a great time the other day watching Libby play out in the snow. One day soon he'll be out there with her.

Random goodness

Here are some random pictures from the last few weeks. I took some pictures for my in-laws of them with Libby and Hudson and my nephews for my in-laws to use for their Christmas card this year. It was a beautiful day, so I took advantage of the great lighting. Hudson's face had varying degrees of this same expression in all of the pictures.

Hudson enjoyed checking out his very first Christmas tree, though he didn't enjoy the million pictures that Mama had to take to get a good one (hence the tear in his eye)

We got some snow the last few days, and Libby just had to go out and help Daddy shovel the walkway. Her cheeks were red as can be when she came back in. Oh, the biting cold goodness of winter.

And this was Libby's creation the other day when I was nursing Hudson to sleep. I heard her talking about it being her (imaginary) friend Dah Dah's birthday, and when I went in to check on her she had made this birthday cake.
Have a great week, friends!

The fingers are a'flying

And now we eagerly count the days until Christmas, the season that celebrates the birth of our Savior. We are trying even more this season to not commercialize Christmas. We are trying to get the big things that the babes need/want (like a car seat for Hudson, a bike for Libby) from grandparents, and to handmake the things that they will be getting from us. I am making a whole slew of knitted farm animals for Libby and I am making play silks for her. I will be dying one green for grass with a blue "pond" for ducks and a brown "mudpit" for piggies. Then I'm going to go out to my parents house and gather small twigs and sticks to make a fence to house all of the animals. I am finishing up my first horse (I had to pause that project to hurry and retry his mittens so he could wear them when we go out hiking today, they are turning out better this time). I'll share pics when it's finished. There are also plans for making felt balls, and some teddy bears and rabbits for Hudson and friends. I've also got something special up my sleve for my knitting buddies, but I can't share that here, cause they read this=) I've got to get to work! If I don't post as frequently these next few weeks, it's because I am trying (and thoroughly enjoying) making these gifts for the people that I love. Enjoy this season, friends, for it truly is magical.

The joys of Thanksgiving

Here are some shots from our Thanksgiving. It's all about family at Granny's (my Grandma, Libby's Granny) house, and the dolls at Granny's house.

A quiet moment with a cup of coffee and a glance out the window.

A moment of pure baby-loving bliss for Libby, as she cuddles her baby cousin.

And a little Guitar Hero.

So very thankful!

May you share some love this Thanksgiving. We are truly blessed, especially this Thanksgiving and Christmas season. For us, it is a season of laughter, renewal, and reunion (mixed with a few tears). God is so very good. Please take a moment today and through the rest of the Christmas season and remember what you are thankful for.

Rainy days

It's a cold, rainy morning in these parts, perfect weather for staying inside and playing with toys. The toy of choice for the babes? Barbie dolls (these are the Barbies that I had when I was just a wee one).




The toy of choice for me? Mittens.

Poop on Michigan

Q: Why did they change from real to artificial grass at the Michigan football stadium?

A: Because they couldn't keep the Michigan cheerleaders from grazing at half time.

Ba ha ha ha. This is just one the jokes that my wonderful, football fanatic husband told me this week. You see, it's Michigan week. It's only the biggest game (other than the Bowl game) of the season for Ohio State and Michigan fans (though Michigan won't go to a Bowl game this year, hmm, bummer). If you're from Michigan and got offended by this joke, sorry, but I'm sure you probably told it this week substituting Ohio State for Michigan.

Ever since the first Ohio State/Michigan game after Libby was born I have been taking pictures of my kiddos in these Poop on Michigan onesies. I had to look hard for them, and even had to order the one that Hudson is wearing (which is the one I got for Libby in her first picture) online.

Watch a good game today!

Go Bucks!!

A little help?

Sorry, no new pictures. What I'm trying to figure out, though, is how to get video from my video camera onto my blog. Anyone know how and care to teach me? My video camera is just a regular hand-held one with a tape, but it's got lots of cords that came with it, maybe one to attach it to the computer? Any ideas? I'm dying to show you all a few snippets of the tape that I just watched that goes back to when Libby was 14 months old. Thanks!

Libby 2 yr 7 month, Hudson 10 months

Ever since Hudson was born, I have tried to take regular pictures of Libby and Hudson together. It is so hard for me to believe how much littler she was then than she is now. I just finished up a tape in our video camera today, so I rewound the whole thing and Libby and I watched it from the beginning. She loved seeing herself, of course, and I couldn't believe how little she was! She was 14 months old when I started the tape, and she was just learning how to walk. It was fun to see her progress in her movement and words. I'm so glad that I have that video record of her (and him, of course), because the pictures just don't do it justice, for me. So the above picture is when Hudson was a week old, and Libby was 21 months old. The pictures below are from a few minutes ago. Libby is 2 years and 7 months old, and Hudson is 10 months old. These were just 10 months ago, and look at how they have changed! Man, oh, man, I can't believe how time flies! I would really be blown away, I'm sure, if I got out the tape from her first year and watched it as well.

And Libby can't be near Hudson for more than a few minutes before this happens...

Just in time

This was the view out our windows this morning. They even canceled school where Scott teaches. It's nice that he's home today, but it's not even Thanksgiving, and they only have 4 snow days left!

Well, I finished Hudson's hat this morning, just in time for this snowy weather. I still have to add a button to close it, though. I am pretty proud of it, since it's only the third thing I have made (Libby's scarf, below, and a teddy bear being the first two things). I am going to start next on some mittens for him.

Enjoy the snow if you've got it!