Kate and Ellie

Emma has some friends from the ward that are two weeks older than she is.  She loves Kate and Ellie.  They were in the same nursery and now in the same sunbeam class.  She loves to have them over to play and they all three like to play ponies together.  They had their birthday a couple of weeks ago and of course it was a My Little Pony party and Em was elated.

They had all sorts of pony related fun and treats....they were so cute.

Code red

 Ariel, Ariel, Ariel, Ariel.  She's everywhere.  On pillows and panties, toothbrushes, pjs, purses, dress ups, books, movies, squinkies etc. etc.  Emma has always loved Ariel.   Nothing of course rivals the actual Ariel doll that is practically attached to her hip though.  We always joke that she gets "special clearance" that no other toy or stuffed animal has ever gotten.  That doll goes everywhere with us, big trips like going to Hawaii to everyday errands.  Even if we are just running to the bank or to get groceries Emma will head out to the car with Ariel in her arms.  Emma almost always knows exactly where she is.  When she doesn't however it can turn into a sort of panic for Em.  So it was the other night...

   We had had a very busy day and had been running errands everywhere and at some point during the day Emma started complaining about not being able to find Ariel.  I told her to stop fussing and that we would have to find her later we needed to get some stuff done.  We ran all day and once we were home she began searching for her.  I got busy with dinner and she didn't say anything else about it so I assumed she had found her.  That night I tucked Emma into bed and headed in to kiss the boys when I heard her crying and calling me.  When I went in she was sitting on her bed tears running down her cheeks.  "Mom, I still can't find her. I can't find Ariel, she's not anywhere." Avery sat up in her bed "Mom I am pretty sure that Emma left Ariel today at Fry's when we went to get groceries because when we got back in the car I didn't see her anymore."  All I could think was oh no really? I tried to get Emma to sleep and she just laid and cried. not throwing a fit just a sad quiet cry of sheer concern.  Sure that she was not far I began looking.  I went into the bathroom where Deke was showering, "Babe, we have a code red" I said to him as he looked at me questioningly.  "Ariel is missing and has been actually all day.  I can't find her and Emma is really worried." Five minutes later Deke came out flashlight in hand ready to join the search.  We searched and searched and could not find her anywhere.  Emma was starting to panic that she had left her at Fry's and that someone had taken her. I was pretty sure that was exactly where we left her.  We searched for an hour and finally realized there was a chance that she might be gone.  We told Emma we would continue to search everywhere in the morning.  "I just love her" she continued to cry.  I felt so bad.  As we headed in to go to bed I noticed my phone charger wasn't by the nightstand. Figuring it had fallen under the bed I reached under my bed and saw a shiny green tail.  Ariel was underneath our bed right in the middle.  Deke and I were so excited to get her to Em.  When we walked in and told her we had found her, she grinned the biggest grin and then grabbed her up and started squeezing her, she looked so relieved.  Then she laid down, exhausted from all the emotion, pulled Ariel up close to her cheek and within five minutes Deke and I sat there watching her sleep.  Oh Miss Emma.  You are the sweetest.

Baby drag racing

This what awesome big brothers do.  They take your old walker and transform it into your own personal race car.  They cushion it up with towels and then spend the afternoon "racing" you across the house in it as you squeal with happiness.

Hunter may also have added an engine to it...

Hudson you are one lucky little bro :):)

Our happy guy.

Truly.  He is just the easiest baby.  Has been from the get go, super chill and super happy.  Always saying "hello" to people and smiling at them. If you hold your hand out he will extend his and knows how to shake hands.  We learned this about a month ago when we had the missionaries over.  Now he tries to shake hands with anyone that is interested. He will let anyone hold him and only occasionally makes a fuss when he is without me.  He says "Hunner, Ave and Emma." Some of his other words are: daddy, momma, nana (banana), olaf, bird, ear, nose, ippy (sippy), beep, i donno (i don't know), baby, papa, pease (please), tane tu (thank you), more and a ton more.  He is super verbal and in that little mockingbird phase of loving to repeat everything.  He is sixteen months now and some of his favorite activities include bubbles, playing cars on his new car track, and he will go to the art closet, reach for the doorknob and say "lolor, lolor" because he wants me to get him crayons and paper.  This kid loves to color.  When he wants to go somewhere he will come pull my finger until I get up and follow him so he can show me what he wants to do.  He loves for us to turn on music and he will dance and put on quite a silly little show.  After dinner he starts going back and forth from me to Deke saying "bubble, bubble?" and pointing to our room.  

Once there he will play in a bubble bath until he is well past pruned and still spend five minutes saying "bye bubble, bye bubble" until they all go down the drain.  Then he will wiggle out of his towel and take off running because he wants to play chase and I tease him and tell him I am going to pinch him.  He runs as fast as he can giggling so hard he keeps falling down until I catch him. If he is hungry he will come up to me and tilt his head to one side and say "nack pease?" and smile at me.

He like the other kids loves to snuggle and will hug me, then get really close to my face and say "hi!" and then give me a kiss.  He knows how to make a smoochy sound when he kisses now but the funny thing is that he will kiss you and then make the noise as he pulls away.  When Deke asks whose turn it is to say prayer at night he raises his hand and says "me!" just like the older kids, then folds his arms and tries to squint his eyes as it is being said.  He loves to do family sandwich and hurries over as quick as he can to put his little hand on the pile.  He is adorable, so fun and melts every single person in this house with his happy personality and sweet mannerisms.  Hudson life is so wonderful with you around :) :)

Children's museum of phoenix

The kids have been asking to go.  Every first Friday of the month they do a free night at the Children's museum of Phoenix. This month we finally made it over there.  We grabbed up Hunter's friend Tate and headed downtown to check it out, there was a ton to do.  From play car washes...

To a mock grocery store complete with a shipping/loading dock, aisles and carts and checkout stands.

A "noodle" forest and other fun hideouts...

and lots of other fun things for the kids to do.  We will definitely be going back.

Temple dedication

We had the opportunity to attend the Gilbert temple dedication.  It was extra special for us because Hunter was old enough to go with us.  He came out of his interview grinning with his card in hand and as we loaded into the car he excitedly talked about turning eleven soon and being only a year away from getting the priesthood and being able to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead.  That is unreal to me.  Can't believe it is that close.  The dedication was wonderful and I can't wait to go with Deke and do some family work at the new temple.  

Outside

We have been living outside these days.  Enjoying it before we are all forced indoors by the horrible heat.  Riding bikes, taking walks, blowing bubbles, playing in the playhouse, etc. etc. It is nice to be out in the fresh air.  These two like to chalk up the driveway until the sun starts to go down.  Fine by me, let's enjoy it as long as we can.