Hudson's 8th Birthday!

My baby is 8.  Sniff, sniff.  

Okay, got that out of the way...now on to celebrating!

Rob, La and I blew up about 50 balloons and covered his room in them after he fell asleep the night before.  He woke up to this!

Then we had a fun little bday breakfast before school!

Gotta love the "8" donut!

His birthday was crazy busy!  Rob was a Watch Dog Dad at the kids school that day.  So, we all loaded up and hit the gate at 7:20...me to work and the kids and Rob to Bryant Elementary.    I brought lunch to school and ate with Rob and Hud.  Mimi arrived at our house after school.  The kids had a Watch Dog Dad's cookout and kick ball game that evening.  Mimi and I picked up Lawson a few minutes early from that event to get her the football game she was cheering at that evening.  Rob and Hud came over when they got done with kickball.  Then Nonie and Poppa came over to join all of us for presents and ice cream.  Showers and bed.  The birthday boy slept well.  The next day was his friend party after school....at good ole Chuck E Cheese! 

Lawson did Chuck E Cheese for a party once...but Hudson had never done Chuck E.  It's a little wild and crazy while it is going on...but it was very little prep work. An invite and cake!  Perfect for this busy mama!

Pizza, tokens, tickets, cookie cake and prizes!  I think everyone had a great time!  

The Pinata - Everyone pulls a string at the same time! And that gets a little crazy!

The gift opening was fun!  Everyone was so excited to watch him open their gifts. Cute!

 Time for the ticket blaster!  Those tickets are harder to catch than you would think!  Thank goodness for the complimentary 400 tickets they give you or he might would have been disapointed.  Good thinking Chuck E Cheese!

Hudson, you are the most creative, passionate and generous boy!  Three traits I hope you always have! I'm blessed to have you as my son.

Happy Birthday Hudson! 

We love you!

Soccer Take 2!

Hudson soccer once when he was four....and didn't love it.  However, after watching world cup soccer with Rob last summer he wanted to play again!  It's definitely different.  

They play 4 on 4 with no goalie.  He has played defender a lot.  He has a "sports brain" that gives him the ability to judge where the ball is going and where he should be.  So, he is good at this position. However, it is kinda like playing goalie but not being allowed to use your hands.  Really hard not to grab that ball with your hands and keep it out of the goal!

He got to play forward one week scored a goal!  He was so excited! He has enjoyed it...we'll see if he enjoyed it enough to sign up next time.  

New Endeavor for La

Lawson decided to take a break from dance this year and has joined a Pee Wee Cheer Team at Empire Cheer this year!  They are going to cheer at Bryant Youth Football Games and in a couple of other showcases.  She has really enjoyed it!  She has been practicing a lot on her own at home and told me she wishes she could go to cheer gym everyday after school!  

Watching her brings back a LOT of old memories from my cheer days! Here are some pics and videos from practice.

We all love going to her practices!  Even Hudson asks to go!  I've had to take him kicking and screaming to her dance class the last several reason!

Here are a few clips/pics from her first game!!

Go Queen Bees!

Did someone say Spencer Lloyd?!

So, I have mentioned before our love of American Idol.  Well, it was so much fun last season to root for a Bryant local, Spencer Lloyd, as he made it to the top 15!

He got cut before he secured a spot in the Top 10 much to our dismany.  Especially Lawson's.  However, we know that he still lives here in Bryant and leads worship at a local church. Rob ran into him once at Guitar Center and Lawson's girlfriend ran into at a restaurant one night. So, Lawson has kept her eye out for him...but hadn't been able to meet him until tonight! He played at Amplifest....a local Christian outdoor concert. We took the kids...and the rest was history!

Hudson wasn't so sure he wanted a pic with Spencer or an autograph but Spencer pretty quickly won him over by swooning over his prized "2 Legit trucker hat with a straight bill". 

He asked Lawson who the picture was for. She replied "Me."  He said if I make this autograph "To: Me  that is just going to be akward!"  She just giggled. 

She can now check meeting Spencer off her bucket list!

August Randoms

August.

Hudson decided to help Rob mow the yard one evening!  First he had to come up with the perfect outfit! Costuming is never a problem for Hudson! 

He realized mowing isn't as easy as it looks!  But, her stuck with it!

We practiced on our dives this summer! Getting better!

Nonie and Poppa treated Morgan, Lawson and Hudson to a week of  Kanakuk Kampout that is held at our church.  They bring their camp staff, climbing walls, bungee trampoline, water games, crafts, bible time, and crazy chants and hot a really top notch camp.  This is the kids second time to go ad they LOVE it!

The next week the kids packed their bags and headed to stay a few more days with Mimi and Doo Dad in Texarkana.  They keep an eye out of people practicing at the Texarkana Boot & Saddle Club each evening.  Usually they just get to watch..which the love!  But, they scored a ride on evening!  When I asked them, what was the most fun thing they did in Texarkana they both said this!  A real treat!

They spent a lot of time at the pool in Texarkana! Look at this pretty braid mom did on Lawson! 

When they got back home we suprised them with Circus Tickets!  We haven't been in probably 4 years or so!  But, we LOVE it! It's so entertaining!

This is the first time I realized that I may now be officially too old to watch the circus though!  All the acts make me incredibly nervous!  There was a guy riding a bike on a nigh wire with a girl standing on his shoulders....and I was watching with my hands clenched and a stressed look on my face apparently.  ( I do remember thinking...."This is not a good idea, this is not a good idea).  Lawson tapped me and said "Did something bad happen?"  I said, "No, I don't think so."  She said, "You look like it did!  Me"Oh...I'm sorry. "
I love watching it....but this time I was just really aware that you are a second away from sitting on the front row of a train wreck!

What a wonderful summer!  

Next week is back to school for the kids.  I started back to work Aug 1. I even made the school website!

First Day of 5th and 2nd Grade

Not sure I remember us ever having a rainy First day of School! But, it was pouring this am! No outside pics for us! We left plenty early which was a good thing!  The rain caused traffic to be crazy! Probably could have walked to school as fast and our parking spot wasn't much closer than our house!  We were wet when we got there but not late!

In the gym, ready for Stinger Start!

SO proud of these kids and how hard they work to learn and be good students in school!  Keep it up!

Meet The Teacher

After a wonderfully fun summer break, the kids have been talking like they were not too excited to go back to school.  BUT...after going to Meet the Teacher tonight....I think we all have a little excitement!  The kids had fun talking to all the the Bryant Elementary teachers and catching up with friends.  (I just realized that the past two years they have been "new students" in their school.  They went to Hurricane Creek when we first moved to Bryant and lived in our apartment.  This is the first time Hudson has ever gone to the same school back to back years. So, it felt more like "home" this year!) It was a fun night!

Lawson and Mrs. Lequieu

 

 

Hudson and Ms. Scoggins

Here we come 2nd and 5th Grade! 

How can then be that old?!

(Hud and La will not be at the same school together until they are 9th and 12th graders! Why does that make me feel sad?!)