Dawson is 4!

Our sweet little Dawson is 4 today! It certainly does not seem like he should be 4 already and starting pre-k in a few months.  Where has the time gone?   Dawson is a kind, compassionate and caring little boy.  He genuinely cares about others and is a people pleaser.  He loves his friends family.   He loves to giggle, laugh and to make others laugh.  He is a smart little boy who loves to learn new things.   He loves playing with Hudson and misses him when they are not together.   He is carrying on big conversations now and loves to talk with us.    He's constantly saying or doing something that cracks me up!!   We are so blessed to have such a precious little boy!!!  Happy 4th Birthday, Dawson!  We love you!!

4 years of birthdays

zoo trip

We made a trip to the zoo last week on one of the really warm days. We went went with their buddies, Charlie and Linc. It was warm enough outside that we let them get in the water area at the children's zoo. Dawson went right into the water area and was soaked in a matter of about 5 seconds. He's done this since the first time we went to the children's zoo. Hudson was much more reserved and stood back and watched. He didn't mind getting sprayed with the water but didn't go stand on top of it and run around like he's an animal at the zoo like his big bro does. ;) He had a great time putting his feet in the rock area and eventually went up to one of the smaller spray things. I remembered a towel and change of clothes for both boys and was glad that I did. Hudson HATES having on wet clothes!

MDO program

Dawson had a music program at school tonight for the older kids. They sang some cute little songs and it was fun to watch. Dawson has sang us a lot of the songs before so we were familiar with most of them. He gets really into the songs and has fun with the little motions. I didn't worry with getting a great video of him since they are selling them as a fundraiser but I do have one from my phone that's one of Dawson's favorite songs, "I'm an Acorn." It's hard to see him but Dawson is on the right side in a navy shirt.

Our week in iPhone pics

Something big has happened at our house this week. Hudson said "bye bye" to his binky. Well not totally but for the majority of the day. I picked him up at the church nursery on Sunday and realized that he was the only kid in there walking around with his binky. We had planned to take it away during the day time for a while but this did it for me. We took it out of his mouth when we got in the car to go home from church! He can have it at bed time, nap time and t-ball games. He's done very well without it. I've been telling him to put his binky on his pillow after he wakes up and he's been doing in the past two days. Maybe we can aim to have it totally gone by his 2nd birthday.....we will cross that bridge when we get there.

Trying to crawl back in his crib to get his binky the other day. He has really shown us some of his climbing abilities this week. I'm hoping that he doesn't try to crawl out of his crib anytime soon.

I brought out the pattern block yesterday for Dawson to play with and printed out some pages to make different shapes. He had fun with it for a little bit but then it became a little too much for his OCD personality and he was about to start crying over it. He got mad that when he would put a block down, some of the others would move a little bit.

Dawson had 2 t-ball game this week.

Geoff taught Hudson how to drive the Mustang. He's a wild driver but loves it!

This too shall pass....

I had a couple of friends share this article on Facebook this week and had to share it with you. It's called, "Apologies To The Parents I Judged Four Years Ago." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kara-gebhart-uhl/mom-judgments_b_1319775.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false This article, along with a few other "mom" articles that I've read this week came in great timing bc we are in full out terrible two mode!! It does not matter where we are or who we are with, a screaming fit could happen any second! A loud one. You know.....the kind where they literally scream at the top of their lungs while flapping their arms and legs around while you attempt to hold them. You should have been in Old Navy at 3:00 yesterday and you could have witnessed it yourself. So as I read through this article, I got to thinking about some of our events from the week that I thought one could have certainly judged me (or maybe I judged myself).....the screaming at the top of his lungs while watching a band preform at the zoo, loosing Dawson at Bouncin Craze, my car alarm being set off multiple times this week because I gave Hudson my car keys in hopes of keeping him happy, Hudson's healthy lunch of graham crackers, gold fish and fruit snacks on Tuesday, the crazy lady at Target who told Dawson that he needed to be careful in the parking lot (he was fine!), having to leave a gift store because Hudson was flipping out and I had a fear that I would be purchasing too many things that I didn't want from him breaking them.....the list goes on!!!!!!!! It was totally one of those really challenging weeks!! I had to remind myself frequently that this too shall pass. I had to really take advantage of the sweet moments when Dawson would cuddle up and play iPad games with me on the iPad or just cuddle. And the moments when Hudson would find a favorite book, turn himself around and sit down on my lap for me to read it to him or the moments where he would crawl up on my lap and put his face up against mine and crack up. Those little moments make all of the challenging moments that we had this week a little easier!

Playing outside and on his computer

Yesterdays t-ball game

This picture makes me smile for so many reasons. Two shirtless cowboys who have to use stools to play air hockey, while little bro watches on.....standing on his stool. This is Dawson and his new friend, Jake who lives by us. It's been so fun for Dawson to have a little friend so close.

Happy Easter!

I hope that everyone had a great Easter!! Click below to watch the video of our Easter celebrations.

Tball

Dawson had t-ball game #2 tonight. He had a great time again and seems to really enjoy it. He was supposed to have a game on Tuesday but it rained a lot that day. His teacher told me when I picked him up from MDO that he had been talking about tball all day! He was a little disappointed that it was cancelled. Hudson was better tonight. We took two different cars and Hudson and I showed up about 2 minutes before the game started. We had to frequently change locations but it wasn't a screaming fit like last time.

Amanda was able to swing by for a little bit and see a some of Dawson's game before she had to go to her night class.

They rotated positions today. Dawson started out playing pitcher.

Here is a video of Dawson hitting the ball tonight.

Random stuff

We had a great weekend! We spent time around the pool, went to a birthday party and went to dinner with some friends.

I had the tripod out this weekend and took this pic. Hudson was napping but he wasn't in a picture taking mood when we tried earlier.

Dawson and Charlie at dinner

I love this pic! Hudson loves to put his head against ours like this and stare into our eyes.

Hudson has started pulling our clothes (and hitting/pushing) if he really wants something. He thought that it was his turn to play the iPad today and started pulling on Dawson's shirt.

2 minutes later, he was all smiles after he got his way.

About a month ago one of my friends from the gym told me that her friends were moving into our neighborhood soon. Come to find out, they were moving in just a couple of houses down from us and they have a little boy that is Dawson's age and a little girl who is about a year. We went and met them on Sunday and the boys took off playing right away. Before I knew it, they were upstairs inside their house playing with Legos! They spent 3 1/2 hours together yesterday afternoon paying at our house, their house and at the neighborhood park. We have not had any boys Dawson's age on our street so we are all happy about our new neighbors!

A driver and a dancer

I have been meaning to video Dawson backing his car into the garage for a while now and I finally got around to doing it tonight. For some reason, he always feels the need to back his car into the garage. I'm pretty sure that he does it because he always sees my dad back his golf cart in their garage. He's really good at doing and and knows which way to turn the steering wheel. He clearly did not get his driving ability from me!!! Hudson's favorite TV show to watch is "Bubble Guppies." He gets so excited when he sees me turn it on for him and goes and stands right in front of the TV to hear the theme song. After he does his little dance, he will go sit down and watch some of the show. Dawson realized that I was recording him towards the end and jumped up to get in on the action.