Maggie's One - Year Stats

Maggie had her one-year check up last week. She hadn't been feeling that great when we took her in, it was good timing since the doctor discovered an ear infection. This would be her 2nd.

Here's how she stands:

height: 31.75 inches (99%)
weight: 23.4 pounds (88%)
head cirfumference: 17.91 inches (63%)

Happy Birthday Dear Maggie, Happy Birthday To You!

It's so hard to believe that our little Maggie has turned one year old. Her official birthday was Tuesday, however, we celebrated on Sunday. We were supposed to have a houseful to celebrate, but as it turned out, it's flu and cold season. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Mindy were in Jamaica, and Cousins Hannah and Jack were sick....and Uncle Toby and Aunt Cynthia were still waiting for their little baby....We had a small, but mighty gathering of her Hudson grandparents and uncle Darin. Jami (daycare lady) and her youngest daughter (Maddie) stopped by for a little while. Her older daughter was also sick. Owen was sick, too....and Maggie's cold was just coming on....nobody really felt that great. Actually, I think Dan, Karen, and Darin all felt fine. Hopefully they didn't pick anything up while staying with us.

It ended up being a fine day. Maggie loved playing with the paper, and is enjoying playing with her new toys.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas...

Ho ho ho...Last weekend we had breakfast with Santa Clause at the Masonic Lodge. Since Owen is the oldest, we let him go first on Santa's lap....little did we know that he was a bit shy. (We practiced the night before...I guess I didn't make a very good Santa). Maggie sat on his lap without any hesitation. Once Maggie had her little babble session with Santa, Owen was a little more confident to climb up into his lap. He told him he wanted a new tractor for Christmas. Owen caught wind that Santa was going to be in town again (this time at the bank, different Santa, of course!) The second time around, Owen knew exactly what to do....he climbed right up on Santa's lap and told him he needed a new loader. Santa asked him if he really knew what a loader was and he replied, "I feed cows with Bapa. We need new loader." Santa asked him what color. Owen grinned and told him "gween."
Maggie really isn't asleep. She babbled his ear off. We didn't quite catch what she wanted for Christmas. She already has her two front teeth....she probably wants all those other ones that make her gums swollen to come in.
Here's Owen putting the first ornaments on the tree. They didn't stay on. Somebody kept taking them off, so we just put all the ornaments away for another year (or two. or three.)
Owen of course has to be Daddy's little helper.

We are just about ready for the holiday season. One more week of work and then some time off. We discovered however, that with our snowday and keeping the kids home it really was more work taking care of them and running (literally) after them, than our actual jobs. We did manage to go sledding on our snow day....

3 new videos posted

http://www.putfile.com/3hudsons
I posted some new videos on our putfile account. There's a video of Owen playing his guitar (he's singing Jesus Loves Me), Maggie crawling, and Maggie jumping in her Johnny Jumper. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grandma getting Maggie ready to go out into the cold.

Here's Owen and Hannah helping Grandma clean.
Owen sacked out after a heck of a performance.
Maggie's new "do." She's finally getting enough hair to play with.

Owen and Hannah, partners in crime. Grandpa and Maggie.
Jeff, Jack, and Dave...I think the Huskers have lost by this time in the day.
Maggie's always ready to smile.

Not sure what they're up to here. All in all it was another successful Thanksgiving. Mindy's pumpkin pie was fabulous, my stuffing was pretty good and Jeff's smosted turkey got eaten in a hurry. (It was half smoked and then finished off by being roasted). Everyone got a long fairly well...even the two-year olds! The babies got along fabulously. Just wait until next year....We'll have 2-three year olds, 2 two-year olds and an almost 1 year old!

Fall Pictures

Pictures from the Louisville State Park. Saw the geese....paddle boats were all put away for the year. Owen was so disappointed that the teepees didn't have their "covers" on them anymore.

Owen and Maggie in their tent.

Owen helping Uncle Jeff pick corn.



Owen and Maggie helping with the garden harvest of potatoes and pumpkins.

Halloween

Amazing...two posts in one day. I'm actually doing some serious procrastinating. I am avoiding grading 144 "Eureka" stories. I guess technically only 139. I submitted 5 of them for our "Write Touch" contest. They were due to me about a week ago....but, I haven't started grading them, yet. I think there's some dishes to do....maybe some cookies to bake....too bad the kids are in bed, I'd vacuum!
Owen made this "thingy" all by himself. At first it started out as an airplane, and soon turned into a "thingy." He looked through it like he was sighting something...which makes sense, because we went to the Council Bluffs train museum yesterday, and he looked through a surveyor scope.
Here's Maggie, cute as can be.

No one believes me when I tell them I'm raising a monkey. Here's the proof. Curious Owen. We survived our first Halloween trick-or-treating. It really wasn't that great. We thought 5:30 would be early enough. So Dave took Owen out around that time, but only 1 person on our block came to their door. I don't think Dave really wanted to take him to a bunch of places where we had no clue who lived inside the house, so they came back, Owen's pumpkin only slightly full. The upside is that we don't have to worry too much about tooth decay!
Here's a happy Maggie....laughing at the monkey, again.

Here's Owen all serious. He loves his new church outfit. He was very careful to not get it dirty.

The last of Summer Fun

Here's the last of the summer pictures. It only took me 2 months to post Owen's 2nd birthday

party pics. The cute picture on the couch is right before church (Owen and Maggie were baptised, finally...same day as his birthday). The following weekend we went paddle boating.

I will try to post Halloween pictures soon! (Hopefully before Christmas! :-)

A few less leaves to rake this Fall...

We had quite the storm in our neck of the woods last weekend. (around 75 mph!) We had some slight tree damage, luckily the 30 foot limb did not land on our cars, the house or shed. Unfortunatly, the tree did suffer a split higher up, and will have to be repaired. If we don't repair the split, the next high wind, or heavy snow might result in a HUGE limb on someone's garage or house...I have to say we have some pretty great neighbors and family with chainsaws. We had the majority of the mess cleaned up by noon the next morning. Since all the wires (power, cable and phone) were ripped off the power poles we were without a few of life's little luxuries. I am very thankful it was a cool night! In a few days we were back up and running like "normal." Whatever that is. Until my family surprized us with their arrival, Owen, Maggie and I mostly stayed indoors. I didn't want to have to be carrying Maggie around and chasing Owen away from Mr. Nielson's chainsaw. Or, having Owen trip and gowging out an eyeball from the many other small branches that fell. Owen enjoyed helping pick up sticks after there was an extra eye to look after him!

Here's Maggie, cute as can be. The storm didn't bother her at all!

Mini-vacation and yummy garden goodness

First off, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised to see Kerry Wood back on the mound a few minutes ago. Seems like years since I've seen him pitch. Also, I never can get these pictures in the correct order. This picture was supposed to be last, after the picture of the tomato in Dave's hand. (fresh picked, warm from the sun right outside our house)

More awesome summer veggie goodness from our neighbors yield. (The tomato is ours).
Owen and Maggie learning how to share.

We took a quick trip to Cheyenne, WY to visit my super-great friend Ann. This is not a picture taken in WY, though. On the way back home we detoured through Estes Park, CO. I had never riden a tram or ski lift up a mountain. So for $9, I got a heck of a ride. Before getting in the elevated cable tram lifty thingy I made sure to ask the attendant if she'd ever had any scary experiences riding up and down the side of the mountain. She assured me, that no, nothing bad had ever happened. However, she advised us not to look down on a very windy day. You'll see the cable wires going crazy, which I guess could be a little nervewracking. This picture was taken from the top of the tram ride before we got out to walk around.
This is about half-way up the mountain. Everything is getting smaller.

This is my friend Ann and her son, Lane. I've been friends with Ann since my "North Bend" teaching days. She's one of those gals that you meet, get to know and just want to stay in touch with for a very, very long time...

The first tomato of the season! It was yummy!