He thinks he is a big boy.

 As of lately Hudson doesn't want to be laying down unless he is in mommy or daddy's arms.  He wants to be propped up like he is sitting so that he can look around and better see what everybody else is doing.  His eyes get wide and his head bobbles around as he looks around trying to take it all in.  Pretty soon one of his siblings come cruising by and he starts kicking his legs and moving his arms getting all excited as if he is trying to follow along with them.  I think he wishes he could.  He thinks he is such a big boy and wants to sit up all the time now.  Don't worry little man way too soon you'll be crawling along behind them.  Don't get in a hurry buddy, let's just enjoy being a baby for awhile and snuggling together.

No place I'd rather be.

I'm doing this today and it is HEAVEN.  It's been rainy outside and Emma really wanted to snuggle with me.  So I had her lay down next to me and held Hudson and patted his back until he was asleep.  Then I reached over and patted her back until her eyes started getting heavy.  Within a few minutes both were softly snoring.  All warm in soft blankets and both of them smelling amazing like baby shampoo and lavender lotion.

Watching them sleep and feeling the warmth of Hudson's little body snuggled up against mine.  Staring at Emma's long eyelashes and the tiny new freckles starting to sprinkle over her nose.  Every once in awhile her nose crinkling up as if something is tickling her.  Hudson's eyes fluttering open slightly and then closed again.  Occasionally his little lips start puckering making sucking motions as if there is something there.  His fine baby hair so soft when I rub my cheek on the top of his balding head.  Even though he is getting bigger he still feels so wonderfully small in my arms.  I could lay here like this all day.  There is no where else I'd rather be then snuggled up with two of my beautiful babies taking an afternoon rest.  I really should close my eyes for a minute and catch up on some rest but I can't.  I just want to sit here and watch them sleep.

Zoo with Zeke

 Claudia has an annual zoo pass and invited us to go to the zoo a couple of weeks ago with her and Zeke.  Hunter and Ave were at school so I loaded up Em and Hudson and off we headed.  We went during the short lived Phoenix cold streak and when we arrived at the zoo at 10 o'clock the car read 33*.  Brrrrr for us, especially with little ones.  It was fun though to bundle up the kids in jackets, mittens, and blankets for an outing since I never really get to do that.  I love this picture of the three of them up top.  Emma loves "baby Zeke" and Zeke in turn loves Emma but is lately very interested in Hudson.  I think his little grin down at Hudson is so cute.

 Found a small beanie hat for little mister the night before at WalMart.  He looked so sweet in it.  He slept the entire time we were there other than a quick snack break :)  I think all bundled up in his carseat with blankets he was just nice and cozy.  Plus I took the wagon and he just enjoyed the ride.

 Zeke all bundled up in his stroller in his own comfy ride.....

 I hadn't been to the zoo in so long that they had some new things including a new kids play area that Emma spent some time investigating.

 Some of the animals were pretty sedentary because of the cold weather but there were still some that were venturing around.  Emma was really excited to see the different animals, this was her first time ever going to the Phoenix zoo.

 At the entrance we had picked up a map for her.  She loved it.  She would open it and look at it while she rode in the wagon.  Then when we got to an animal she would open it up and check the map and want me to point out to her where that specific animal was on the map.

 Side note: Never knew the zoo had a saguaro cactus slide but they do.

 I told her that she could either ride a camel or feed a giraffe this time and she wanted to ride the camel which worked out great because the giraffe feeding were too late in the afternoon.  I thought she might be intimidated by the size of it but I think since I rode with her, she was all in.

 She giggled when we rode "Dale" and kept saying "Him is bumpy" I didn't know that camels can carry about 1000 pounds on their backs. yikes.

 She really liked watching the tiger sit and clean his paws as he sat by his water pool.  However I think her favorite was the prairie dogs towards the end.  They were so cute to watch.  They make the cutest little squeaky noises and were having fun chowing down on some lettuce.  When they would start squeaking she would start belly laughing it was so cute.

 This one was our favorite a true Mr. Personality if you will who really liked to stretch out on his tummy like this.  There was another one that kept trying to get a twig off of a branch that was making us laugh too.  They are so chubby and cute they might have been the most entertaining of the day.

We had so much fun.  Thanks Claudia and Zeke for the fun day:)

Hoodie towel

Soooooo I pretty much can't stop smiling every time I see this picture of Mr. Magoo in his hoodie towel after his bath.  Big wide eyes and cheeks drooping down with chub.  He is so beautiful and could not be more perfect with his softest ever amazing baby skin.  Don't you just want to squeeze him????

Fingerprint analysis

Hunter has been wanting to use his CSI Fingerprint analysis kit for awhile now and now that life is starting to get back into a more normal schedule we decided to pull it out and try it.  First thing Hunter did was take everyone's fingerprints.  He loved getting to do this to his sisters :) He rolled everyone's prints then filled out their cards.

 Took their height, had them stand on our scale and recorded their weight and then requested their signature. All we have to do now is add a small of photo of each person and he has to fill out everyone's section of their form that says "known aliases"

 Then using the given tools of a magnifying glass and light he learned how to identify different characteristics of a fingerprint.  The kit had two different exercises to do to practice identifying prints and solving a crime scenario and identifying the criminal from five given prints.  It was pretty neat.

 love his serious investigator face.....next I place a fingerprint on a glass and with his fingerprint dusting powder he dusted the glass and suddenly the print appeared.  The girls were amazed.  I couldn't believe how well it actually worked.  Really cool.

  Then after he dusted the print he used the kits lifting tape to lift the print from the glass.  So cool.

 Then take the print and analyse it.  We spent three hours doing fingerprint stuff but it was so much fun and a cool way to teach the kids about fingerprints and the way they are used to solve mysteries and crimes.

Sylvanians

So the dollhouse is still in renovation.  All the demolition is done and it is ready to be sanded down and the porch construction will start soon.  However I want the girls to be able to play with it now, so even though it is in a very shabby state right now we got it down and have found its spot in the girls room.  When my sisters and I were little we played in the house with little animals called Sylvanians.  They are families of different woodland creatures dressed in little clothes.  We loved them and loved collecting different ones and spending hours and hours playing with our dollhouse.  There is now a brand out called Calico Critters that are pretty much identical to Sylvanians and when I saw them about a year ago knew I wanted to get some for my girls.

It was really fun to see them open them at Christmastime.  They got a rabbit family and a squirrel family and some kitchen and living room furniture.  The next day they spent all afternoon setting up the furniture and playing with the families.  

  Arranging and rearranging the furniture.  Listening to them change their voices for the different characters.  I had to smile when Avery said, "Let's pretend that they just moved in and haven't unpacked yet and that's why they don't have any other furniture, okay Em?"  Good idea sweets :)

 They let Hunter play with them for a little while late in the afternoon.  Leave it to him to make things interesting and within five minutes he announced that the dad bunny and dad squirrel that were watching the babies in the living room had been building forts with the couches and accidentally lit the couch on fire.  The girls eyes got wide not sure what to do with this sudden drama scenario and then suddenly jumped on board pretending to call 911 and get all the kids out and put out the fire.  After about ten minutes Hunter tried to suggest a tornado and the girls ousted him from there play.  Preferring to pretend to talk in the kitchen while making dinner and taking care of their babies or going to the grocery store.

 The house definitely looks rough right now without wallpaper, floors, windows or paint but it will be fun to watch it come together.  And for now the girls will be able to enjoy playing in it together.  Hope they enjoy it as much as I always have :)