2014

2013.....was a year of great surprises.  We started it off celebrating Lulu's two year birthday then Gabe's bday on the 24th.  After that, I was praying to God that I would deliver early!  Hudson's pregnancy was kinda rough on me in so many ways, lol.  As early as the middle of March I was already experiencing mild labor cramps at night, which was why I was in high hopes of early delivery.  Each week that went by I got bigger and bigger and labor cramps were stronger and stronger and then finally a week before my due date I just knew it was time.  Gabe and I got the surprise of our life....a baby boy!  I am so glad I stuck to my guns and never gave in the multiple ultrasounds I had to find out what I was having.  We look back and smile remembering how we still couldn't agree on a name hours after he was born.  The best part is when Gabe was filling out the official hospital form for his birth certificate- he turned in it with the name crossed out two times!  First it was Hudson Finn, then it was Hudson Hawk, then it stayed at Hudson Joshue.  I really wanted our son to have Gabe's middle name.  After Gabe gave it some deep thought he agreed =)

Another big surprise was when my sister called to tell me she was moving from Hawaii to good 'ol Texas.  I was shocked, I asked her if she was pulling my leg.....then I proceeded to tell her I won't believe till I see it.  Well, two weeks from that phone call my parents and Gabe drove two cars to the airport and filled their truck bed with luggage....lots of luggage.  It's pretty nice to see each other whenever we can.  We are 2.5 hours away, but in Texas that is considered close! 

Many great things happened this year and as always I thank God for our blessings and keeping my little family safe and healthy.  I look forward for 2014 and I believe we will have a better year. 

The last two years we have spent New Years at my sister in law's house, but since my grandma flew in from California for the holidays we decided to stay and celebrate with her!

Fire work show right before our eyes.....

Celebrating with family

We started Christmas eve at my parents and it was so nice to have my grandma with us this year. The girls were very happy to get everything on their list and were very excited to go to my sister's house the next day.

At my sister's house 12/25

 
Then the days to follow, our family from Dallas and California came for a couple of days to visit =)

My grandma with her great grandchildren

My grandma with her two daughters and her 4 granddaughters. 

The ladies after an ornament exchange game





  All the cousins after playing a white elephant exchange game!  Almost everyone got what they wanted..

The last photo is the best....So many kids just from my grandma's two daughters!  WOW!  My grandma who is 90 years old is very blessed to be loved by so many.  We all treasure her and love her so so much.  I'm so glad she gets to relish these moments and to see us all grow up.  She helped raise my two cousins who are the right of this photo and my sister and I.  She has been around for all our babies since they have been born.  She even came to Texas when Hannah was born and took care of her the first 6 months of her life when I still had my full time job.  What a blessing she is.

First smiles & first excitements of Christmas 2013

Going by the title you may assume this post will be about Hudson, but it's about Lulu! This will be a Christmas we will all remember because she was so excited about everything this special holiday has to offer. For starters she loved the holiday decor in our home, stores and christmas lights. When she helped decorate my tree and my mom's tree she would gently touch all the ornaments and say- "oooh, how pwetty." Any time she saw a large older man with a white beard she would say...."yook (look) it's HO HO HO." Every year I would drive around the neighborhoods and check out the lit up houses with Hannah. Even though she enjoyed seeing them, she was ready to go home about 20 min into our eveing tradition. Lulu on the other hand couldn't get enough! She had something to say about every house and just enjoyed the late evening drive. She reminded me of how excited I use to get when my dad would take us out almost every night the week before Christmas. Sometimes we would drive blocks away from our house and other times we would drive about 20 miles out for one big house he wanted to show us. I was never ready to come home- I wanted to see it all! Another highlight was that I was able to get a great picture of the three kids with Santa. Hudson was too little to even know what was going on, but I was so relieved that Lulu wasn't scared this year. Last year I didn't even bother to print the pictures I took of Hannah and Lulu because she was so scared of Santa.

Family outing to Buda Lights

Santa came to the Library!  What a surprise for us....

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving sure came late this year! It was very nice to spend the holiday with my sister and her family. Nothing gives me more joy than to see all the kids play and laugh. I have so much to be thankful for and I am so glad that God's blessings don't stop here. I look at Hudson and think how lucky I am to have this chubby, cuddly baby boy! I never thougth in a milllion years I would end up with 3 kids and one being a boy is a bonus =) The last two months have gone by so quick....like in a blink of an eye. Ever since school started my days end quick! It's just non stop from the moment I roll out of bed. Once Hannah is off to school I try to get Lulu out of the house and make a trip to the library. She loves to go play on the computer and sit for storytime. Whenever she sees me get ready after breakfast and start packing Hudsosn's bag she says- Libawee, momma? Well, as always I never stop snapping away so I have lots of picturs to share!

Hannah's first day of school!  She was so excited to start a new year and anxious to find out if she will have any returning students from Kinder.  She met new friends and was super happy to have her good friend from Kinder in her class!

7 years old my big girl turned on October 27.  She had two birthday celebrations.  Both were with family.  My sister drove in to spend the day with her and all the cousins had a blast with the water slide I rented out for the day.

We hit the pumpkin patch twice in October.  When I took the little ones it was full of beautiful pumpkins and fall decor.  When I returned with Hannah a few weeks later there were probably 10 pumpkins left!  But I was able to take a photo of her and Hudson!

Carving pumkins and Hannah did a good job on hers, but I did not take any photos of our finished products.

Halloween night was a blast!  We spent the evening at a friends house and the girls got lots of candy and had lots of fun.  Hannah was a bat witch and Lulu was a bat fairy. 

So of course Hudson is the center of everyone's attention!  This boy is LOVED by all!  The girls just can't get enough and we are just enjoying the chubby cheeks to kiss. 

These are my favorite photos.  Hudson is now 7 months old  =)