tow-head messes
 
First year of T-ball is under the belt.  The Beavers were undefeated - ha! Everybody wins.  T-ball was a great learning experience for Hudson and our family.  I managed to pull-off the "Team Mom" role -  I think successfully!  All games ended with treats, everyone participated in the Peach League Fundraiser, and we even had a team party at the end of the season WITH trophies!  

After each game, if asked how he did, Hudson would reply, "I hit a home run". No he didn't.  Each batter had to stop at first base.  Don't get me wrong, the kid can hit, but the chance to run all the way home only happened when he was the last batter.

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Hudson graduated from preschool this year.  The graduation ceremony went off without a hitch; the songs were cute, the kids were adorable, and Hadley had to go tee-tee at the exact time the kids were making their way to the stage!  Fortunately we made it back to our seats before the graduates got settled in, and for Hudson to speak his "A" line.  I cannot say enough good things about Summerville Baptist's preschool program, it is an excellent program and I look forward to next year when Hadley attends.  
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I've been slacking on my blogs...I'm going to get caught up this weekend - well, over the course of this week and weekend.  Here are a couple of topics I'm preparing to discuss: 
  1. Graduation
  2. Hall of Fame
  3. Perfect Purees
  4. Crawling Freckles
  5. The Breakfast Club
  6. Father's Day Weekend
  7. Hadley's Room
  8. New Recipes as well!!!


 
For Mother's Day I asked for a potted herb garden.  My wish was granted, we headed to Home Depot-no questions asked, and I got cold feet.  I don't know what happened, I usually don't have commitment issues.  I guess the thought of maintaining the planters, and actually cooking with the herbs gives me a little anxiety.  My list of herbs includes: lemon thyme, parsley, basil, and cilantro.  I was also thinking of planting a cucumber plant and pepper plant.  I don't know...I'm still on the fence about this,  Hudson is still really excited about planting an "irv" garden, and I'm sure we can handle it.

I will admit that I got a little freaked out this week picking vegetables from my parents' garden.  I picked a zucchini (no problems there) and cut off some romaine lettuce.  I took the lettuce inside to wash it and discovered two snails - grossed me out and tossed the lettuce in the compost.  I realize there are bugs on the veggies, but come on...snails with no shells.  Technically I'm not sure what the slothy things were, other than disgusting.
  
Maybe I'll think about for the next couple of weeks, and if it's not too late when we get back from vacation I'll take the plunge.  In the meantime I will continue to find amazing examples (like the one below - from modernbackyard.com), and listen to Hudson ask about when we're going to plant our "irv" garden.


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This weekend we attended our friends wedding in Panama City Beach.  It was a BLAST!  We had the best time ever.  The weather was great, the rehearsal party was festive for cinco de mayo, and the wedding was the best one we've been to in years.  Andy played the guitar before and during the ceremony, and Hudson was the ring bearer.  Awww, just writing about it makes me want to go back.  The taste of the salt water, the sand between my toes, I want to go back!  The kids have been to the beach one other time, but during off season so they didn't get the full effect. 

I only have a couple of things to complain about.  #1 - We all slept in the same bed the first night down there, and there was more sand in the bed than a 1/2 square mile of the beach. #2 - SPF 50 doesn't protect my children.  Every morning I lathered the sunblock on them, and they still got sun burned.  Hudson didn't get burnt as badly as Hadley, but he prefers to wear his "swimming shirt". #3 - Our time at the beach was way too short!

Anyways, congratulations to Shana and Jarred!  Thanks for the wonderful weekend and we're so excited for you both. 
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The kids and I went to the river walk after church this morning so I could snap a few pictures of them.  I was really trying to get some snapshots of Hadley for her 2 year pics, but she wouldn't cooperate.  Hudson; however, was more than happy to pose. He was being quite the cheeseball, and it was hilarious!  Hadley wasn't necessarily posing, but I did manage to get a couple good ones.
 
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We had a great Easter and the kids loved hunting for eggs over and over again. The Easter bunny hid our baskets, so first thing Easter morning we found our baskets and ate too much candy before Church.  It was a great morning that we were able to enjoy as a family because Andy didn't have to work.  I have a video that I'm going to try and upload at some point.  It's of Hudson looking for his basket, but finding Hadley's instead - it's hilarious!

Oh, and I made an awesome dessert - Strawberries & Cream Dessert Squares
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My friend Shana lost a great friend of hers to breast cancer this week.  Her name is Jamie and she was only 34 years old. I didn't know her, but I do know that she was an amazing person - mother, wife, sister, daughter, and friend to so many.  Someone that can turn such a devastating event into something positive is without a doubt A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  You can read about her life story and battle with cancer at lovingpink.com.  When you're visiting her site, it appears that you can make donations as well.  Like I said, I didn't know her, but her story definitely touched my heart and I think it will touch yours too.  

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I bought these towels months ago - with the intentions of embroidering on them.  I did their names a while ago and am now just getting to the rest of it.  Originally I was going to embroider animals on them (similar to what you see at Pottery Barn) but changed my mind today.  I think they turned out really cute.  My mom got a new machine this week and this was our first project on it. Not too bad for the first trial run.

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We celebrated Hudson's birthday last weekend by having a pirate-themed party.  Andy and I made an awesome Pirate Bean Bag Toss, I created an amazing treasure/scavenger hunt, and the weather was wonderful!  If I sound like I'm tooting my own horn - toot toot toot...I am!  I made Pirate Punch labels for the juice bottles, I made name tags for their scavenger bags, I made a pirate pennant (that I didn't hang), oh and I made chocolate cake pops. Refer to my "Preparing for a Party" post for all of my adorable labels.
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These are the pictures that made up the scavenger hunt.  At each of of the items above, there was a prize for each kid and the next photo clue.  The prizes included pirate tattoos, bouncy balls, eye patch, and hankies for their heads. The last clue was the police car lights and the picture was hiding on the playground.  When the kids found it, Andy wooped on his car sirens and scared them all, and then gave them bags of candy.  It was great!
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I'm not going to lie, the party got off to a bit of a rough start.  I tried making a pirate cake on Saturday and ended up throwing in the towel after creating a turd.  I was really disappointed in the cake that I made so I started calling bakeries.  Nobody could have a cake done by 1pm the next day, except for Walmart on the north end of town.  So, I showed up at Wally at 1pm the next day to pick up the cake that I personally had ordered - it was never made, go figure.  I waited around for 25 minutes and then dashed home to a house full of people.  I was a little stressed in the beginning, but just had to let it go...on with the party.
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