Happy Easter

Hudson's Easter Loot

Easter is tomorrow! This year is just flying by, and Easter in March is not helping.

I keep seeing this blog hop post on whats in your little ones Easter baskets, so I thought it would be fun to share what the Easter Bunny put in Hudson's Easter basket. the Good Life has such a fun blog hop going on!

Blog Hop 

Growing up the Easter Bunny always put spring toys in our baskets. We would get chalk, kites, bubbles, sand toys, and other little goodies. So the Easter Bunny sticks to this type of theme for our little man. I kinda go a little over board...but I don't care. I love making the holidays special and watching Hudson's face light up.

Hudsons Easter loot:
[sorry the pics suck..when I went to take these I found out my battery on my camera was dead, so these are phone pics.]

In the basket he has Chalk, bubbles, magnetic letters, bunny ears, a dinosaur construction book, his chocolate bunny & a grabber toy. We got him a sandbox a little while ago for summer, so I had to get a few sand toys. the orange and blue sand wheel toy was only 3 bucks at target, then the jake shovel and pail was only 2 bucks. Finally, we got him a buzz lightyear scooter. He is going to LOVE it. Im so excited. He used our friends daughters scooter and rocked at it. We knew we had to get him one.

That is the one thing that sucks about having a winter birthday...only a month from Christmas. He never gets spring/summer toys or spring/summer clothes, & there are no real 'gift giving' holidays until next Christmas. I gotta spoil little man somehow ;)

Im so excited for this Easter. Each holiday gets more and more fun the older he gets. He understands a little more whats going on, and I know he will enjoy the Easter egg hunts. [which he has 4 of!] Tomorrow were going to my sister-in-laws parents house for a fun little egg hunt. Its Hudson's only cousin [ella] and then Ella's cousin from her other side. Should be lots of fun! And sunday its a busy day of running around to both grandparents house. I really do love the holidays....hectic and all.

Lift Me Up

So, I have never really gotten religious on this little blog of mine.
Mostly because, well I've never been very religious.

Growing up my extended family was [and still is]. Just not my immediate family.
I was baptized and attended young women's [youth group for the church], so it's not like I'm completely clueless.  The husband was raised religious, but while dating/getting married he was not active in his faith. Recently though, without getting entirely to personal, religion has been re-introduced into our lives.

Im dipping my toes into it, I love my husband and this is very important to him and our family. One day I may take the full plunge...but for now lets keep things simple.

I'm sure your wondering by now what exact religion are we talking about. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know, I know. I am from Utah...shocker right?

And before you completely stop reading, I promise this isn't a very religious post. I came across a talk that was given at a Stake Conference. I have to admit, this is the first talk I have EVER read in its entirety. Meg from Meg in Progress wrote & gave the talk. Honestly, if it wasn't meg that wrote it I probably would not have read it. She is AMAZING. I love her and her blog. I would LOVE to meet her one day. She has an amazing couple of posts on how to grow stronger as a couple. She basically tells couples to have sex every. single. day. Ok...I'm getting side tracked. Ill have to do a post on those another day.

Back to my point, her talk was on women. It was amazing, and inspirational. I think every woman should read and take something from this. It came at the perfect time for me, I feel like I needed this and here it is. Amazing how things like that happen right? The talk is more on woman, the amazingness that is women. It will lift you up, I promise. Take just a few minutes and read it. Like I said, this isn't so much about church and trying to convert ya'll...promise! This is just for women. Women of all shapes of life, were united in the fact that we are women. I could go on and on about how wonderful her talk was...instead though. Ill let you read it for yourself.

here is the link to the talk on her blog, seriously check her out!


Lift Me Up...by Meg In Progress:

"I spoke at an LDS women’s conference on Saturday on how embodying genuine aspects of our womanhood lifts us and others up. I thought about rewriting my talk into an essay for Meg in Progress, but decided against it. Because I wish each of you had been there. And I wish we could talk to one another across more than this screen. And finally, I really do think you are each beautiful and a blessing in my life. 

Good morning, Sisters! I generally open my talks with a joke. Something just funny enough that the people listening will decide to forgive me if everything else that follows is jumbled and boring. This talk is a little different, I wrote most of it sitting in the hospital during the aftermath of my dad’s bone marrow transplant. It was written in a white room with black wires and metal rails. Not the stuff inspiration is generally made of, or so I thought. As I sat there, I tried to think of something funny. A real zinger, something to wake us all up in the morning. But over and over the only thing that came to mind was the vision of your beautiful faces. One row after another of choice daughters of God. And my goodness, the joy and awe of being in your company. Sisters, I felt it even as I sat all alone in a room I pray none of you ever have to enter.

So this talk will not begin with a joke. It begins with a thank you. Thank you for being lovely daughters of our Heavenly Father. The mere thought of you brought brightness and color to a time that had little. The existence of so many of you lifted me, even when most of you don’t know my name. (It’s Meg, by the way.)

This vision of your sweet faces and the effect it had on my spirits is a fitting way to begin, as today I will speaking about “lift”. What is lift? What does it mean to lift? And is it something that little, old me can actually do?

The principle of lift is an interesting one. Flight has been an object of man’s desire since he could look to the stars. However, for thousands of years mankind was always just a few simple insights away from understanding how to reach all those high places we wished to go.  For centuries, great and small minds alike believed that, as ships float on the ocean, so birds flew in a sea of air. They hypothesized that in flight a bird’s wing looked much like a boat, curved on the bottom and flat on top. The exact opposite is true. In flight, the top of the wing is curved, while the bottom is flat. If you have been on a plane you can attest to this yourself. That curve on top, called camber, forces the air to flow more quickly and with less pressure over the wing. Because of the lack of pressure above the wing the plane is actually plucked up into the air. Lift is a phenomena waiting to occur, it simply needs to be allowed to happen.

Blah, blah, blah, physics. I am sure you are all thinking, “Man, she really should have begun with a joke”. I promise there is a point.

I don’t think you and I are all that different from my imaginary plane. We are all just a few insights away from a better understanding of how to allow the Lord to pluck us up into the air, to the high places we are meant to go.

Luckily, for you and me, we are women. And I think that the most effective way to let lift occur is by adhering to the most genuine aspects of our womanhood.  I realize that the phrase “genuine aspects of womanhood” is a loaded one. You and I could sit here and discuss that concept for days. However, I was only allotted a few minutes. So I am going to discuss oh-so-briefly three women that embodied a few different aspects of womanhood and  by doing so were able to lift themselves and those around them.

First Eve. The mother of all Living. A woman that has been hated and loved and mythologized till she seems too distant for us to really know. I wish this wasn’t so. Because in so many ways, what Eve did is no different from what many of us do every day. She was simply the first to do it.

Eve was a leader. In a paper called Patriarchy and Matriarchy, Hugh Nibley spends an entire paragraph praising Eve and her go-get-it attitude. He says, “So who was the more important? Eve is the first on the scene, not Adam, who woke up only long enough to turn over to fall asleep again; and then when he really woke up he saw the woman standing there, ahead of him, waiting for him… In all that follows she takes the initiative, pursuing the search for ever greater light and knowledge while Adam cautiously holds back. Who was the wiser for that?…The first daring step had to be taken. It was an act of disobedience for which someone had to pay, and she accepted the responsibility…And had she been so foolish? It is she who perceives and points out to Adam that they have done the right thing after all. Sorrow, yes, but she is willing to pass through it for the sake of knowledge—knowledge of good and evil that will provide the test and the victory for working out their salvation as God intends. It is better this way than the old way; she is the progressive one. She had not led him astray…”

Sister’s, we are leaders. In our communities, in our church, in our homes. As daughters of God, leading the pursuit of ever greater light and knowledge is our heritage and our birthright.

Eve was a homemaker. The first homemaker. She went out into the wilderness and created a sanctuary out of brambles and bark for the man she loved and the children they shared. Now be honest me, after the wedding and the reception, didn’t it feel a bit like you had been cast out into the wilderness. A big wide world and just the two of you? And still you managed to create a sanctuary for your family. Only rather than brambles and bark it was made out of a basement apartment right next to the creamery.

Eve worked to impose order in a world that had little. And my darling sisters, you do this every day. With every load of laundry, all those washed dishes, each memo at the office and new spring garden. You each have the courage to wake up every morning and make the world more of what it should be. And that does take courage, because you know you will just have to do it all again tomorrow.

Sisters, the beginning of our world was rooted in much of what you do every day. If that doesn’t add meaning to your next Relief Society Meeting, I don’t know what will.

Born in 1828, Emmeline B. Wells was one of the most dynamic sisters of LDS history. She was on the forefront of the woman suffrage movement, traveled the world shouting equality, wrote beautiful poetry and was called as the fifth general Relief Society President of the LDS church at the ripe old age of 82. As one writer said, “She was at once a family woman and an ambitious professional, a sentimental poet and a pragmatic businesswoman, a romantic and a realist.” Sister Wells was the kind of woman that realized that we are here to do a great work and she dug in with her sleeves rolled up.

Emmeline was self-sufficient. She lost three husbands and spent more of her life responsible for the bread on her families table than not. She realized that work was a blessing. And my, was her life blessed. I know the women in this community. I have seen you can and work and bake and save and sew. I have watched you hold down two jobs while raising your children with love and patience. I have seen you pursue education and career with a clear vision of your future. You are a self-sufficient people.

Emmeline was confident. This was a woman that knew what she wanted from a very young age. Looking back on her childhood she said, “Was it under the hemlock boughs or ’neath the hardy old oak,” that I sat “with proud ambition burning in my soul, ambition to be great and known to fame, when a gentle whisper came. … ‘There is no excellence without labor.’ ” She was unafraid of the gifts the Lord gave her. Once, poet and activist Eliza R. Snow asked Emmeline to write an article on a particular subject. It was a request that would have left me shaking in my boots. Not Emmeline. She hoped she would be able to please Eliza but also admitted, “For my own part, I would not be at all afraid [to write what I wanted], I love this kind of work.”

Sisters, I would like to see more of this attitude in our ranks. You were made by the same hand that shaped the stars. He made each of you INDIVIDUALLY for an INDIVIDUAL purpose. Our dear Sister Wells understood that so exquisitely and that understanding allowed the Lord to work through her so grandly.

And finally.

In 1697, a little girl was born in a little village outside of Cothen, Germany. Nobody knows who her parents were and nobody knows how she spent her days. There is no record of serpents or world altering decisions or lofty ambitions. Over three hundred years later we only know three things about her. Her name was Katharina Amalia Dorothea Von Schlegel. She spent much of her life in a nunnery. And she wrote 29 hymns, including Be Still, My Soul. I imagine she wrote that hymn after a day like any other day and never thought it would be sung outside of her hometown, let alone outside of her lifetime. She could not know the comfort it would bring to the millions that have turned to it in times of need. She could not see the broken hearted mothers it would calm or the worried daughter sitting in a white hospital room it gave peace. 

Katharina listened to the Lord. She felt the grandness of his voice in her quiet life, she knew the power of inspiration, and could attest to the joy of being an instrument of the Lord.

Sisters, you do not know the power of a quietly inspired act on a day like any other day. Perhaps it will be the creation of a hymn that is sung for hundreds of years. But it is more likely to be an act of service for the family within your own walls, the neighbor down the street or a stranger at the store. Just as Katharina did not know her hymn would be sung in Utah 316 years after her birth, you do not know how your actions will echo through time.

Alright. So we have spoken about Eve, you know, the Mother of all Living. And we have talked about Emmeline B Wells, a woman that could raise a baby, bake a pie and write pro-woman manifestos with her eyes closed. And we’ve visited Katharina Von Schlegel, writer of the hymn that soothed a million hearts. All well and good, but perhaps a bit difficult to live up to… I mean my kids think the only way to make chicken soup is with three cups of water and two top ramen packets. Not exactly the stuff of which greatness is made.

If you are anything like myself, you may find yourself asking, “What about little, unremarkable me?”

My dear, dear sisters. I want to impress on you that each of these women, each so different, each so lovely were made of the same stuff as beautiful, blessed you. We were each made to be lifted. You are shaped for it just as surely as the bird’s wing. And yes, some of us will do it on the world’s stage and some will do it in the quiet moments of our lives, but each one of us can and will reach the same great heights.

I would like to bear my testimony today. Our Heavenly Father knows you intimately. Every bright spot and every flaw. He knows your hopes and he knows your depths. And He rejoices in you. He loves you. And He is just waiting – anxiously, anxiously waiting – for that moment when He can lift you to the places you are meant to be.

I say these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Tot School

Were slowly trying to re-incorporate Tot school back into our routine. I used to be pretty good at doing some Tiny Tot school stuff. It helped Hudson learn his colors so fast! 

We actually do alot during the week. Hudson is learning how to use safety scissors, he loves glueing stuff. We play different alphabet games. We do lots of activities with shapes. Which he knows basically all his shapes now. Including octagon haha! I just never take pics of anything we do...Im to busy just playing and helping Hudson learn to pull out our camera. 

The other morning I did pull it out though. I try to let him have some fun sensory activities at least a couple times a week. We have done a few different rice sensory bins. They are so fun, but SO messy. I even died some rice green and yellow for st. Patricks day. Hudson LOVED it. 

He is getting pretty good at play-dough. He uses all his tools and makes impressions and cuts it and rolls it. This is usually what he does while I clean up the kitchen or cook. 

Another fun one we love is sorting pom-pom balls. At first I ask him to put them in the right color cups. He does really good for the first few minutes. 

As you can see...so far so good!

Then he just gets to play with them. It turns into shoving them all in one cup, then another, then he will poor them. He does really good. Eventually they all end up on my floor though and we move on to a new activity. 

What are some of your favorite tot-school ideas/activities?

Most of mine come from a couple blogs, or Pinterest. Hudson loves the one on one time with mommy, and he is like a little sponge. He really is learning so much!!

Bullet Points

Today is a bullet point kinda day.

• We got back the grand total to fix my car $3587.10! Thank goodness the lady that hit us had insurance. And thats assuming the only thing it needs from the tire place is a new hub-cap and an alignment. If they find anything else out it could go up. Its supposed to be done next Monday the first...keep your fingers crossed for me!! Were driving down to Phoenix on the 3rd for a little vacation and we kinda need my car for that. 

• We bought Hudson his new carsesat the other day. We decided to go with the evenflo Securekid 400 booster. I really have enjoyed this seat so far! It holds up to 110 lbs, so converts to a regular booster when Hudson is big enough. The latch system is AWESOME. works great...atleast with the rental. Lets hope its the same when we get my car back :) It has two cup holders which is something our other seat didn't have. Big bonus.

•   Also, in case your wondering buy buy baby S.U.C.K.S. seriously. we just had one open a few months back. Maybe last summer? We never went because, well we didn't need to. Hudson is older and I can get basically anything at good ol' target. We always went to Babies R Us if we ever needed anything. Anyways, after the wreck we decided to try out buy buy baby. Its right around the corner from my mother in law too. We went and I asked someone if he could tell me a little about the seats. He was apparently new but said he would get the store general manager, "she knows everything". So she comes walking over and I explain we had an accident and need a new car seat, and that we have a certain price range to stick in for the insurance to cover it. I showed her the couple seats we really liked and asked if she could tell me a little about this since they were booster type seats and we had been using a convertible seat. I also was wondering why one was about $80 more for the basically the same seat..I wanted to know if I'm just paying for a brand or if there is an actual significant difference. First off she didn't say a thing about the accident. Which fine...its not her job. But I worked in customer service for 7 years...its just what you do. You make small talk with the people your trying to sell the product to. I was expecting at least like "oh im sorry to hear about that. lets look at these car seats blah blah ..blah" lol, something along those lines anyways. Nope..she just walked over and kinda started reading the little tags in front of the seats that tell you the weight capacity, etc.  and then just looked at me. So I asked again about the price difference.  & she was just like I don't know. Umm...then starts trying to read the warning and how to labels on the side and touching the padding. So I ask...am I just paying more for a brand or is there a real difference. And she was like...well this one here (the more expensive one) feels like it has thicker padding...maybe like a memory foam.  Seriously lady? I was irritated at this point. I guess I was expecting the type of service I had received at babies r us when purchasing previous seats. I remember the guy telling us all about the seats, letting us try out the seats, telling us which car seats your paying more for brand, and which ones are really worth it. Telling us about all the safety features. He was great at his job and a great sells man! Finally I just said I wanted the evenflo one because that was in our price range. She said ok, and then I asked where the boxes were because we couldn't find any. She went to check in back. Apparently they only had the floor model left.  Again, this is the customer service in me, but she never apologized for not having one in stock, or said when they would possibly get more in. She just said, looks like this floor model is the only one we have. And just stood there, incredibly awkward. So Tanner took out his phone and scanned it to see if anywhere else had it. It came up $30 cheaper at Babies R Us. So Tanner said, its in stock at Babies R Us, and its 30 bucks cheaper. So I told the lady never mind, were gonna go to Babies R Us. Then she walked away. Really? Customer service says so much...I will NEVER go back to Buy Buy Baby again. Ever. We went to babies R us the next day and loved ever second of the visit :) 

• Im getting kinda worried about Hudson's speech. Obviously he is my first, and I have absolutely no clue what "normal" is. But he talks in third person. ALL the time. I wasn't worried at first, I mean he is two after all. I thought thats what all little kids do. Apparently not. Everyone comments on it, and says how cute it is he talks in third person. I have yet to talk to anyone whos kid ALWAYS talks in third person. We try to tell hudson to say "my" or "I" etc...but it lasts for just the second we tell him. Once in a while he will combine the two and say something like "Hudson wants to play my truck" but 99.9% of the time it goes more like "hudson wants to play hudsons truck" or "hudson wants hudsons mommy". Does anyones kid talk in third person? or know if this is something I should bring up with his doctor??

• Im baby hungry. Like VERY baby hungry. I have been baby hungry for like...a year now. Not even kidding. The hubby isn't totally on board with the idea, so I have accepted that and just gone with the flow hoping he would come around to the idea soon. That is until recently. I feel like babies are EVERY-FREAKING-WHERE. Everyone is either pregnant, or just had a baby. Everywhere I look there is a baby, or something baby related. Its like the universe is taunting me. Ugh. 

• Hudson calls me Lacie. [or usually just lace]. Especially when he is mad or upset. He always says mommy. But if he is getting my attention it usually goes "mommy, mommy, mom, mommy, lace, LACE" or if he is sad/upset/hurt he comes running "Hudson needs Lace!" I secretly love it. I know some people hate when kids call them by their name..and it kinda bugged me at first. But now I just think its cute. 

• Were leaving for Phoenix next week! So excited :) We have lots of family down there, some of which haven't had the pleaser of meeting Mr. Hudson. Im mostly looking forward to the warm warm sunshine.

• My house looks like it was hit with a tornado. It actually was, the tiny terror that is the Hudson Tornado. If anyone is board you are more then welcome to come clean up for me ;)

• Im kinda sad Easter is so soon. Its gonna be over before we know it!! There is still snow on the ground as well, and it had better be gone before sunday! Were gonna have a little easter egg hunt with Hudson's cousin saturday. Should be lots of fun im excited! 

• Im officially done rambling your ears  eyes? off

Trendy Tot Tuesday, Little Ladies

link party from megan, kelly & lindsay

Its that time of the week again :) 

Today I thought I would do something a little different.
Today Id like to share some of my FAVORITE girls clothes, ya know, in hopes that one day I might actually have a little girl :)

I think everyone knows how much I love little boys clothes. They are SO cute..and just keep getting cuter ;) but there is something about tu-tus and ruffles and pretty hair bows that I love.
One thing is for certain, if I ever have a little lady she will live in dresses and bows. No ifs ands or buts about it!

First up...ETSY.
I mean, seriously who doesn't love etsy?

by MooseBaby Creations

By Classic Stiches sTL

I know, everyone and their dog is loving Chevron right now...but its adorable!

By 4everTuTu

Because, if I ever have a daughter she will have an older brother who LOVES super heroes. This is very fitting right?

A sweet sweet boutigue

And who doesn't want newborn pics this adorable?!
Seriously guys...im baby hungry! Its intense.


I could go on and on and on about Etsy, they have literally everything on that dang sight! But you get the idea.

Next up, an all time favorite Old Navy.

Link

Becuase what little girl doesn't look good in a romper?

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Every little girl  NEEDS an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini :)

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Those blue ruffle sandals would look ADORABLE with the blue polka dot romper.

Now, we move unto Target

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More adorable ruffly swim suites.

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Apparently I have a thing for polka dots

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Love neon & leggings

Last up...Gymboree.
I just have to say I am NOT at all a fan of Gymboree for little boys. Once in a while they have some cute stuff. But for the most part, its to "themed" for little boys. At least for my liking. They have a great quality in clothes though, they do hold up well. And their pajamas are basically the only thing Ill get for Hudson their. Only when on sale with a coupon though. This store can be a little pricey.
But for girls, I think the "themes" just work. They can be adorable and if I ever have a little girl Id probably let her wear Gymboree clothes up until she was like 5. There clothes up to like 11/12 years old, which is WAY to old for "themed" clothing to me.

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see what I mean about the "theme".  Its adorable though, and totally works on little girls.

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This outfit is named "i'm Sealy!" haha

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Those are a few of my favorite pics right now. I always will drool over the baby girl sections in the store, and if I end up that mom with all boys [which im pretty sure will happen, and i will love every second] at least I have 3 adorable little nieces in my life to spoil!

What a Week!

What a week it has been! 

Wow, on top of our first E.R. visit last weekend, we have been battling a nasty cold, dog sitting and Hudson and I got in our first ever car accident. 

Luckily it was in a strip mall parking lot kinda, so neither of us were going very fast. But the lady that hit us wasn't paying attention apparently (When she hit us she was holding her cell phone...but we will never know if she was texting/or calling) and T-boned into my passenger side. It was only a minor accident, but there is some extensive damage to my car. 

The initial impact was on my front passenger side tire and passenger door. The damage continued to the front of the back door as well. My back door wont open more then 1/2 an inch if the front door is shut, and when the front door is shut the top is still open, my hub cap is smashed and broken off & my car drives really really funny now. So were sure there are some alignment issues and possibly more. Im just crossing my fingers that the frame work isn't damaged. The lady that hit us, her car basically had scratches and paint on her bumper. 

UGH! car wrecks stink! And just an FYI, if your get in an accident in a parking lot or strip mall it is considered private property. So there was no citation given to the lady that hit us. She got off lucky. It was a pain in the butt with the insurance company though. We actually had the same insurance provider so they were screwed and had to pay either way.  Since there was no citation given, and the lady wouldn't immediately admit fault (her interpretation of the accident was "we were both driving straight and hit each other") I had to prove that she was at fault. otherwise they wanted us to pay our deductible. Screw that, I'm not having this mess my insurance up because some lady wasn't watching where she was going! Thankfully I took lots of pictures and was very detailed and persistent in my claim. They called this morning to say that they got my statement and pictures and have declared the other driver at fault. 

The tow truck came to get my car this  morning, now we just have to wait. It SUCKS being car-less. :( The body shop said it will be a couple days till they can asses the damage and fix what they can fix. Then it gets sent to big-o tires to fix any of the alignment damage. Were supposed to drive that car down to Arizona for our vacation in like 2 weeks. Its going to cut it super close...we might have to find another car to use. 

Today we also have to go look for a new car seat. Because we were in a wreck...even a minor one with no injuries...the insurance suggests getting a new car seat. There could be internal damage we cant see. I don't think we really NEED a new car seat. Im sure its just fine. But I am not taking any chances with little man, and the insurance will reimburse us for the replacement. I found an evenflo one I really like. The insurance company will only give us enough to replace ours, so it has to be in the same price range. This one we found is really nice. Its the Evenflo Securekid 400 Booster Car Seat. Its basically a convertible carseat and a booster seat all in one. Our current carseat only holds up to I believe 60 lbs. This new one goes up to 110 lbs and can be used with the regular seat belt when they get big enough. 

I think I just need a relaxing day cuddled up with my little man watching Wreck it Ralph and Hotel Transylvania. Which is exactly what were doing :)

Now some recent Insta pics :)

This is the wreck...it was minor and doesn't look like much. But its gonna be pricey to fix

My adorable niece

We got hudson a new sand box! Now if only the snow would just melt again.

Hudson watching my car get towed away. 

some adorable loving going on at toddler time

painting with water the other day. Genius!!!

Ive been working from home...These are some fun glitter nails I did for St. Patricks day 

My cute niece again humoring me since I don't have a little girl to dress up. I got to curl her hair and give her some glitter nails too. 

This is my parents-in-law giant dog Duke were watching for them. Hudson is loving it!