Our Little Girl is 3 Years Old!

How is it possible that we are the parents of a 3 year old already? It seems like yesterday Kaelyn Elizabeth was a newborn. Time flies by too quickly! Kaelyn turned 3 on Friday, July 6th and is so grown up already. With our house being on the market, Robbie and I decided we would have Kaelyn's party away from home and Kaelyn made her pick, Pump It Up! The staff there makes it so nice and easy for everyone to enjoy themselves. On Saturday, June 30th, we celebrated with lots of friends and family with a Strawberry Shortcake themed party. We are so thankful for all our friends and family who joined us and helped make Kaelyn's day so special!

Kaelyn on Monday, July 6, 2009

Kaelyn at 3 years old! 

At 3 years old, Kaelyn:

• Is very animated with her talking and body language.
• Loves to dance all over the house.
• Is such a great big sister to Rylan (she occasionally annoys him with all of her sweet kisses).
• Has become much more social and often meets new kids at parks, etc.
• Still LOVES, LOVES her Piglet (our collection has expanded to include 5 different sizes of Piglets with the biggest one as a surprise birthday gift from her daddy)
• Is a VERY picky eater (she just prefers milk still).
• Enjoys watching Strawberry Shortcake, Wow Wow Wubzy, and many more movies.
• Loves Friday night pallet nights (with a movie and popcorn and all her babies).
• Doesn't always take an afternoon nap (this makes mommy sad for a variety of reasons).
• Loves the swimming pool and lake. She is a little fish!
• Can sometimes be a little bossy (which is usually cute at this stage) and opinionated.
• Enjoys joking with her daddy by saying something off the wall and then replies, "Just kidding."
• Started her first dance class this summer called "Delicate Dancers" from the FAC and is excelling at it.
• Loves to remind me that she's 3 now! (Whatever that entitles her to in any given situation)
• Favorite thing to do is playing baby dolls in her room.
• Sleeps with as many stuffed animals as possible including her 5 piglets.
• She easily opens up a straw and pokes it in the right spot on her juice boxes.
• Kaelyn is very independent and likes to dress herself and put on her shoes. Why is it that there is only a 50% chance of putting the wrong shoe on the wrong foot, but it happens almost every time?
• Loves her trampoline and has new tricks she can perform for any willing watchers.
• Enjoys swinging on her swingset; "higher and higher" each time.
• Can ride her Radio Flyer tricycle as far as we will let her go on a walk. She is really fast, but sometimes struggles with hills.
• Likes to color; we are working on learning to color within the lines.

Common phrases Kaelyn uses that make us laugh:

• We tell her "to stop talking back to us;" she replies with "mommy/daddy, don't talk to me behind my back." Completely missing the lesson.
• We will forever hold in our hearts her facial expression and "member that daddy/mommy, member that..."
• Recently with all the rainy weather, Kaelyn was a little scared of the thunder. I told her that when I was little her Pop and KK used to tell me that when you hear thunder it means that Jesus is bowling. Kaelyn loves the bowling at GattiTown so this really resonated with her. Now she walks around the house when it's thundering and yells "bowling ball, bowling ball."
• Still pronounces all l's like d's; for example, Rylan is "Rydan" to her. But ironically, phone is also a "done."

Party Pictures

Kaelyn and Avery (friend from school) jumping together.

Had to post this picture because it's a rarity to

have both grandmothers in one picture!

KK and Mimi

Cousin Kade sliding.

Kaelyn at the top of the slide with Daddy.

She must like it! 

Rylan enjoying himself...Mr. Independent. 

Friends and Family pic

Pop with Cousin Kooper and Daddy and Rylan

waiting in the background for their turn. 

Uncle Kylen with Rylan (look at that sweet face)

PawPaw ducking underneath one of the obstacles. 

Rylan flying SOLO on one of the slides!

Pop and KK enjoying the party. 

The Birthday Girl

Rylan loved Pump It Up!

Our littlest friend, Tate

(son of my best friend from HS, Brittany)

Aunt Kim and KK sliding with Kipton and Kooper

(our twin cousins, two months younger than Ry)

Kaelyn with her sweet friends from school, Lucy and Avery

(They weren't happy about being stopped to pose for the camera)

Our cake courtesy of my friend from school, Stephanie Portwood

Kaelyn loved hearing everyone sing to her and blowing out the candles.

The infamous Alligator that everyone searched for...

Kaelyn's 1st bike

Daddy's Surprise Gift

(The biggest Piglet ever made)

Kaelyn,
You make us so proud of you each and every day! You are truly a gift from the Lord and we are so blessed God chose us to be your Mommy and Daddy. We love your full body smiles and how you light up a room. We enjoy watching you grow, but often want to keep you smaller just for a little longer. You are a great big sister and bring so much fun to our lives. You make us all laugh with your little sayings and mannerisms. You are truly very special! We love you with all of our hearts!

-Mommy, Daddy and Rylan

Sum...Sum...Summertime!

It's that time again...Blog update that encompasses several months worth of fun. It is unusually busy in our little household, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Chasing around a toddler and a preschooler keeps a mommy on her toes at all times. But, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Back in April, Mimi (Robbie's mom) achieved her goal of walking a 5k in a personal best time and we joined her in the fun. Robbie and Kaelyn signed up for a 1 mile fun run prior to the start of the 5k. It was precious to watch Kaelyn stretch with her daddy and get all ready for the run. Unfortunately, about 5 minutes into the run, a little girl Kaelyn's age fell and tripped in front of her which caused Kaelyn to get scared. Needless to say, we didn't finish the whole 1 mile, but Kaelyn put forth great effort in the beginning. 

Smiling before the Fun Run with Daddy

Got to get in our stretches...

And the race begins...Look at her run!

Rylan was a great stroller rider for the walk/run! 

On Tuesday, May 8th, Robbie and I became an aunt and uncle for the first time. We are so excited little Landry is here and a part of our family now. Kaelyn is in love with her and enjoys holding her when we are all together.



Kaelyn's school ended on Tuesday, May 22nd with a splash party to celebrate the end of the year along with all the summer birthdays (all her classmates will turn 3 over the summer)! We were definitely sad to say goodbye to all of her friends and her wonderful teachers, Ms. Amy, Ms. Shelley, and Ms. Bonnie. In the fall, we will start at a new school for Kaelyn and Rylan at Kids R Kids Legacy when I go back to teaching! Lots of changes all around.

Rylan enjoyed the outside splash time too.

Kaelyn and one of her best friends, Avery

Loving on Ms. Bonnie, our chapel and music teacher

Kaelyn was a ham when it came time for the

birthday hats and singing!

Also, in the month of May, Kaelyn was enrolled in semi-private swim lessons with Harper Hughes. We love the Cusack Family swim school and were happy (most days) to drive to McKinney for our lessons. Kaelyn and Harper were a little timid in the beginning, but were champs by the last lesson. Kaelyn has since become a little fish in the water and more willing to try new tricks. After completing two years of parent and me lessons, Robbie and I decided we would teach Rylan this year on our own. We are working with him weekly at our neighborhood pool to help him feel more comfortable floating on his back, blowing bubbles, and getting his face underwater. He has also recently discovered how much fun walking under the shower faucet is and plays for as long as we let him.

We came a long way from this Day 1 picture (sad little girls)

Kaelyn before her last lesson (all smiles)

The girls with Coach Kelli

Flying Airplane (Kaelyn does so well with floating on her back)

Riding the turtle together!

They had to see how fast they could make it go by kicking! 

 Froggy Dive

Diving for Rings

(Kaelyn always picked the pink one and Harper the blue)

Hugs for Coach Kelli

Over Memorial Day weekend, we spent time at the lake with the Perry family. The kids loved playing in the water and riding in the boat.

Daddy and Kaelyn feeding the ducks

(the white one ate right out of their hands)

Rylan was such a trooper and just took a nap on the pallet in his life vest!

In other Hudson family news, we have had our house on the market for a little while now and picked out a new home nearby in Pearson Farms. It's exciting to say that they have officially started the building process on our new home. We expect to be moved in by early to mid-October. We are more than ready for our house to sell and suprisingly, ready to move into an apartment for a short time period. The process of "keeping the house show-ready" has really been wearing on me lately. It's not the easiest thing to keep a clean house with two active kids. My mother-in-law sent me a wonderful scripture to keep my spirits high and it has really been helping my attitude lately.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." -Phil. 4:6

I do pray that the Lord help us find the right family to purchase our house soon. We have been blessed immensely to have such a wonderful house to bring our babies home to, and a place where we can grow together in love and faith. We will miss our first home, but are ready to move on to the next chapter.

Our new home, 3139 Ivy Green Lane

Here are some other random pictures and videos of the life at our house!

A little technology time with Daddy

(Kaelyn loves "Dora' Skywriting ABCs, "Monkey Preschool Lunchbox",

and "Team UmiZoomi Numbers" Ipad Apps)

Sharing our milk time together! 

"Now I Know My ABC's"

(Kaelyn has been working on these for a while,

but her pronunciation has gotten so much better) 

Rylan and his clapper

(Watch his little happy feet move to the beat)

Love these two little monkeys

Bye, Bye Paci Round 2

As parents, we like to count our successes with our children. Taking away Kaelyn's paci was easy as pie. Success! Taking away Rylan's paci hasn't been quite that easy. However, we are now a paci-free family once again. A week ago today, we accidentally forgot to send Ry to bed with his paci. But, we were ready to take it away anyhow, so it worked out just fine. I did feel a little guilty that first evening and the next morning because he was feeling a little under the weather, but Robbie assured me that he'd be able to breathe better without it anyhow. So after several rough bed times and nap times, we've now been without the beloved paci for a whole week! Rylan is still adjusting and figuring out what he's supposed to do while riding in the car, when trying to go to sleep, and just any time he needs a little soothing, but it's better each day. As hard as it is to say goodbye to something that kept him as a baby in our eyes, we are thankful he's not toddling around with it and putting it back in his mouth after dropping it everywhere. We love you Rylan!