June and July Pics

A quick recap of the summer, thus far. A trip to Fontanelle Forest....

A monkey in the tree?

Road rash....Owen has become an expert bike rider!

A little road rash on Mags...

A few flowers picked for good 'ol mom.

A great Nebraska sunset, July 16th...I was at Soaring Wings Vineyard with a few good friends - playing that night was Chris Straub. Although the breeze was really hot and muggy, the wine was cold and refreshing!

Maggie's tattoo that she designed and put right onto to her tummy!

More Fontenelle Forest!

Pirates attacking the bear and keeping Grandpa safe.

More pics to come later...

Need to Breathe

Wow-it's been a looong time without blogging...I think I'll skip the excuses...I wanted to share pix and videos of one of my favorite bands, "Need to Breathe." I got to see them last night (Friday) at the Slowdown up in O. I'll apologize now for the not-so-good pix-it was REALLY dark. Although, I had a great spot, pretty close to the stage (I could see them sweat!), I'm not sure my little camera is meant for dark stages. If you like the videos and want to hear more, here is their website. http://www.needtobreathe.net/

In other news (I'm waiting for videos to load)...Owen can skip and snap his fingers-he's a way cool cat, now. Maggie is almost 100% potty trained-no accidents in a long time (knock on wood!) we're just working on the independance part, now.

Dave has been busy with house projects. He's redoing the back step railing-taking it out and redoing it so you can actually hold on to it. It will be nice to have something to hold onto in the winter when the steps are covered in snow and ice.

School is almost out for summer! The 21st is the students' last day. I have a few days after that of science curriculum meetings and the I start my summer class at UNO. (I am taking a 5-hour writing class as part of the National Oxbow Writing Project.) If you want to more know about that you can go to: http://www.nwp.org/

Okay I think some of the videos have loaded...note-these are just snippets. Couldn't tape them and watch and enjoy at the same time... :)

This is "Girl Named Tennesee"

"Stones Under Rushing Water"




"Something Beautiful" This is the song I heard that hooked me onto this group.


"Washed by the Water" This was their very last song, they came out from the stage and sang without mics. I love "Bear's" (lead singer) voice. He doesn't sound like the lead singer of every other band out there. I also dig that they were very much into their music - I wish I could have taped more - but they were just too much fun to watch!

Potty Training News!

Here's our proud little girl in front of her dollhouse shelves. She's been working very hard the last few months to get herself potty trained. It was really tough with all the excitement of her birthday, the snow, Christmas, and then more snow! But I think we finally jumped over the last big hurdle these past few weeks. Dave made the shelves. The roof even opens up! By the way, yes - it's January - and yes, she chose to wear shorts and a tank top. She runs everywhere, so I suppose she naturally stays fairly warm.

Owen giving Maggie a congratulatory hug.

Stay tuned...next blog...update on the basement bathroom!

Last of the Christmas Pictures

Above are some pics of our Hudson Christmas. Because of the snow, our plans got totally rearranged...instead of heading to Gothenburg, we met everyone in GI at Darin's house. We didn't get to see everyone we intended to out in G-burg-but you can only travel so far in a whole bunch of snow with two little ones!

Hannah and Maggie.

Aunt Mindy, Owen, Jack, Hannah and Uncle Jeff's leg.

Emma and Uncle Toby! Everybody loved the red guitars!

Granny and all the kids...Owen, Hannah, Emma, Jack and Mags. Christmas is over. On to potty training news for Maggie!

Better finish loading pics of '09

Gotta finish putting up pictures of '09 before I can start blogging the new year. The new decade. Wowsers. Hard to believe that it's '10. Anyways, here's the Christmas '09 Damage.

Owen and Buzz.

Maggie, our new doctor.

Two kids who obviously can't wait to tear into their presents.

Maggie after a few bites of her Strawberry Shortcake cake at her 3rd birthday party.

It took her a couple of tries (and help from her brother and cousins), but she got all three candles out!)

Maggie celebrating with cousins Hannah and Jack, and, of course, her brother, Owie.

Mags and Dave on her birthday.

Maggie opening some presents on her birthday at home.

Hannah, Jack, Owen, and Maggie with Santa while we were in Phillips sometime.

Kids and I making cookies for Thanksgiving.

Fall...

So let's start recapping fall...here's the Spiehs/Hudson cousins...maybe next year we can coordinate with cousin Emma. From left to right: Mags, Owie, Jack, and Hannah.

Here's Miss Hannah, age 4.

Mr. Owen, age 4

Miss Maggie, age 2, and Granny, age 50 something?



















Mr. Jack, age 2



















Maggie playing in the leaves.



















Took an afternoon trip to Morrill Hall one afternoon.

I think someone is about to get paddywhacked in the Raggedy Ann and Andy book.

The shirt Maggie is wearing is MINE from way back in the 70's!










A couple of pics from Platte River State Park. Aren't they adorable?

Owen showing off his Super Hero physique!

Now that my fall pictures are caught up, hopefully tonight I'll catch up on the winter pictures!

Princess Maggie

This morning I had the pleasure of taking a leisurely stroll around town and swinging with Princess Maggie. She absolutely loves wearing this dress...She even played basketball with Owen while wearing it.

Owen's Birthday Continued

Here's Jack trying to take down Owen at the end of the party...Owen outweighs him by probably 15 or 20 pounds....

I thought I'd try the "no layout" for the pictures...that's why they are all scattered about.

As you can tell, I am finally getting around to posting Owen's Birthday Party pictures. We had everyone meet us out at Mahoney State Park at the Activity Center. It was loud-the kids had a great time.

The four cousins....Jack, Owen, Hannah, and Maggie.

Owen not too happy that his cousin Hannah (whom he wishes to marry-picked out a Dora card for him. He had forgotten that he had picked out a Spiderman card and Transformer toy for her birthday just two months prior; probably not her first choice, either...she took it with a little more grace, though, than Owen.

This is inside the activity center. Good place to get lost in!