The Hudson Family: Merry Christmas and Happy 2011!

This Christmas was a lot of fun with an excited 17 month old. We made the trip to Longview on December 23rd and stopped through "Santa Land" on the way to see the millions of lights! I think we are going to make this an annual event for our Hudson family because Kaelyn enjoyed it so much (and so did we). We took her out of her car seat and let her look out the sunroof and windows at all the lights and scenes. She loved to wave "Hi" to all the characters and kept saying "lights" over and over.

On Christmas eve, we spent the evening at Chandra's parents house in the country with a bonfire and fireworks. The rain thought about keeping the festivities at bay, but we prevailed. Kaelyn loved the sparklers and thought the fireworks were cool from a distance. Santa delivered presents for Kaelyn in Longview that evening and we woke early Christmas morning to see all the new toys! Kaelyn loves to take care of her babies and got a baby-care center where she can put her baby to sleep, feed her, and give her a bath. She loves it! Santa also found some of my old toys and pulled them out of the attic for her too. There were "little people" galore and the whole "Potato Head" family joined in as well. Christmas morning was very special this year, not only because of Kaelyn and the pure delight she showed when seeing all of her toys, but we also revealed Rylan's middle name at my Nana's house that morning. We asked my cousin Brice to give us a Christmas present. We wrote a letter and presented it to him. Brice, my 25 year old special-needs cousin, read the letter with the help from his mom. This was a special treat because I've never heard him read so well. To make a long story short, we gave him the reasons why we would like to use his name as Rylan's middle name and asked him if we could. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Our baby boy will be named Rylan Brice Hudson and his name couldn't be any more special. After more gift opening, Kaelyn was worn out with overstimulation and excitement from all the new toys. On Sunday, we spent the afternoon at my Grandad Killian's house and celebrated with my mom's side of the family. This was a very special time for all of us. My grandfather gave each of us girls a Pandora charm off of my late grandmother's bracelet with a special note. Every time I look at the charm, I remember what a special lady my grandmother was. Kaelyn got a riding rocking horse that wags its tail and makes horse sounds when she squeezes its ears. She loves it! We enjoyed celebrating with the Perry and Killian families over the Christmas holiday.

Santa left lots of goodies for Kaelyn in Longview

The traditional Christmas morning photo before we see what Santa brought us!

Kaelyn testing out her vacuum (it actually works too)

Kaelyn stopped playing and decided to feed her baby a bottle.

At Nana and Grandad's house, Kaelyn got a bouncy cow

named "Howdy" that proved to be quite entertaining for everyone watching

Kaelyn bounced like a maniac! (Thank you Nana and Grandad, Pop and KK)

Riding her new rocking horse at Grandad Killians house.

As tradition has it, we celebrate with Robbie's family over the New Year holiday weekend. We hosted everyone at our house again this year and thoroughly enjoyed having everyone in town together. Uncle Dale made it in from San Diego and this year Robbie's cousin, Jordan, surprised everyone and brought Aunt Diane to celebrate with us. It was truly a special weekend with good food and fellowship. Our Christmas eve also coincided with New Years Eve and we spent the evening playing games and watching a little football. Santa visited Kaelyn on Christmas Morning (New Years Day) and left her a little kitchen, a pink chair and ottoman, and so much more! She loves all of her toys! The kitchen has become a fixture in our living room because she loves it so much. We feel so blessed to have such loving families with whom we share our lives with. We are looking forward to an exciting 2011 and adding our sweet Rylan into the mix.

Her talking puppy from Uncle Bentley and Aunt Lisette.