My 30th bday

I'm 30. I'm still having to get used to the sound of that. I liked the age 29. It still sounded young but wasn't too young either. I guess there really isn't a way to hit pause on an age although sometimes I would love to do that with the boys. Sometimes! Geoff had very strict instructions regarding my 30th birthday. No party! I know that a lot of people are into surprise 30th bday parties and I just did not want one at all. I didn't have a surprise party, however I did have a really big surprise. Geoff bought me a new wedding ring. I was totally shocked!! He's mentioned a few times over the past year or so that he wanted to get me a "bigger rock." He's a geologist....he likes rocks. ;) We had talked about how we would maybe look into that for our 10 year anniversary which is still a couple of years away. So needless to say, I was really surprised when he handed me a Moody's box with a beautiful diamond ring in it! I'm one lucky girl.

He gave me my ring on the 27th, the day before my birthday. We were still in Tulsa and I opened up the presents from Geoff's family. This is Geoff's reaction as I opened up one of the presents.

Meet Hedro, Sr., our metal bird to look over our pool. Hedro, Jr. was given to us this summer by Geoff's parents. I love him and smile every time that I look out the window and see this. Read this story to hear why I wanted a metal bird. I came across this sometime this summer and laugh every time I read it. It made me need a metal bird for our yard. http://thebloggess.com/2011/06/and-thats-why-you-should-learn-to-pick-your-battles/

We came home on my birthday, the 28th.

My friend Sarah, who I've known since I was Dawson's age, sent me this edible arrangement. We eat tons of fruit at our house so this was a big hit!

More pics from Tulsa

Here are a few more pics from Tulsa. We went to the Aquarium while we were there. I think that the last time we went there was when Dawson was a baby. He had a good time checking things out. Hudson had a good time running. That's his favorite thing to do right now!

Allison, Aidan, Kate, Dawson, and Hudson.

Kate, Aidan, and Dawson. They had such a great time playing together! I wish we could see each other more often.

Hudson and Allison. Hudson is almost 3 months older than Allison so they are close in age.

They LOVE Papa's train!

Game time!

We made it home and have all of the new toys put away. The kids have new cars, trucks, a train, blocks, DVD's, Leapfrog toys, a scooter, stop light, keyboards, games, puzzles, etc. This should keep them very entertained and busy for a while, right??

Christmas afternoon

We loaded up the car and headed to Tulsa on Christmas afternoon to spend a few days with Geoff's parents. We had a great time and Dawson loved getting to play with his cousins. I have a lot of pictures that I'll add from our trip, but here are some pictures from Christmas day.

Hudson opening up presents.

Dawson checking out his new train set. He loves it!

Allison and Hudson

Dawson and Aidan

Christmas morning

Jingle the elf must have had good things to report back to Santa because he brought the kids two cars and a Cars race track. Dawson loves his Mustang but Hudson is a little unsure of his car. Maybe it is because he's really more interested in big brother's bigger car. They both had fun playing with their new toys for a little bit before we packed up and headed to Tulsa to enjoy Christmas with Geoff's side of the family.

Christmas Eve, part 1

This is the first of a few posts about our Christmas celebrations. We had a great Christmas and loved getting to spend time with all of our family. My mom came over on the 23rd and stayed the night with us. On Christmas Eve morning, I made breakfast and celebrated with my side of the family. Around noon, all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins came over to our house. 28 people! We ate lunch, played our usual game over Dirty Santa, and enjoyed visiting with each other. We went to church that evening and then came home to prepare for the big visit from Santa.

Merry Christmas!

pics from the week

We made a trip to the science museum today. Both of the little boys were great and had a wonderful time playing! Charlie and Dawson They have this new "building" exhibit that is really cool. There are things in that area for both kids to enjoy. Hudson was having a great time stacking blocks up with me and he had made a pretty tall tower. I was attempting to take his picture and Dawson decided to plow down the tower right as I snapped this picture. We have had a few wrestling matches this week...... and bundled up to go play outside.Amanda stayed with us this week and the boys had a blast having her around!

"I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas"

Have you seen this commercial on TV? Dawson has seen this commercial on TV a lot and has his version of the song. Enjoy!

Ice Skating

My friend Valery and I have talked for a few weeks about taking the boys ice skating at this outdoor ice rink in town. The weather was great today so we decided to go there this evening. Geoff is not an ice skater, he's a "wall hugger." He watched Hudson and was the photographer. After being on the ice for about 45 seconds, I began to think that 1, it might be a miracle if we made it around and 2, if we did make it around, Dawson would want to get off right away. It wasn't pretty at first but he got better.....much better! He had a lot of fun and kept wanting to go around. He never stood totally on his own, but held on to my hands and basically leaned back into me the entire time. I'm pretty sure that it was the best arm workout that I've had in a long time! After spending about 45 minutes skating, we loaded up and went to eat pizza with Charlie and his family. All of the little boys were really good and we had a great time!!