A DAY (AND A HALF) WITH ELIAS

guess who came to visit?

baby elias!

eeeeeeeee!

we got to take care of him

while his folks worked

in seattle.

we were so happy.

and excited.

and enamored.

he is a doll and getting to spend time with him

was a treat.

we are lucky.

a sweet cousin and nephew.

my guys were such a huge help.

honestly, i was exhausted.

it's been a while!

 boon and hudson kept saying,

"i love him so much!"

and

"i love babies, mom!"

they are going to be super amazing dads,

these two sweethearts.

until next time, sweetest nub.

we love you.

BUNNIES!

our friends were taking care of some baby bunnies.

we got to hold those bunnies.

those bunnies were cute!

TAKE YOUR KIDDOS TO WORK DAY

i brought the boys to wyatt's company

for take your kids to work day.

he showed them what he's been working on.

 they got to explore all the cool equipment and whatnot.

it was fun to see where daddy goes all day

and get a glimpse of what he does

while he's there.

and as we got our tour,

i couldn't help but think...

during the day,
my husband and i
totally live
on two different planets.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUDSON!

as i may have mentioned,

our huddy buddy turned 8 last month.

for his birthday breakfast,

he got an "8" pancake

(oh my, his mom is so creative...

a pure genius).

for his requested birthday cake,

he got white on white,

with blue and red frosting.

and for his partay,

he wanted to spend it in spokane

with his family and cousins.

now that is cool,

i have to say.

so we took the trek

to the can

(we call it that affectionately,

i can assure you).

his grandparents

and aunts

and uncles

and cousins

all came to help him celebrate.

 we snuggled this guy,

our little elias. 

oh, and what do you know?

here he is again.

such a sweet, sweet little guy.

we got to hang with this guy,

our cutie patootie camden.

and we played with this guy,

our goofy goofster ezra.

also per hudson's request,

we celebrated with donuts.

incidentally,

it was national donut day the previous day.

hudson is totally in tune with the universe.

totally in tune.

it was a whirlwind trip,

but totally worth it.

it made this guy super happy.

WHO IS THAT MUSTACHED MAN?

the other day, i went to pick

hudson up from school...

 and this guy showed up instead.

awesome.

8 IS GREAT!

and so is this guy!

smart

silly

sensitive

cute

creative

cuddly

runs

reads

wrestles

popular

paper airplanes

plays

legos

likeable

loving

one heck of a great guy.

happy birthday, hudson!

we love you so so much!

TWO DUDES

two dudes

posing for the camera.

sigh.

so dang cute.

both of them.

BEFORE AND AFTER...A STORY OF HAIR

here is younger dude.

he set out to look like harry potter,

obviously the shaggier harry potter, 

not the more clean cut version

in the later movies.

and here he is after choosing to go short for the summer,

and also because his brother was chopping his off

and he wanted to keep it same, same.

here is older dude,

who only grew his hair out

because his brother decided to do it,

and things have to be fair, you know.

and here he is with his much desired shorter style.

one night he said accusingly,

"mom, can i please get my hair cut this weekend?"

as if his parents hadn't been hinting and suggesting this course of action

for quite some time!

so there it is.

the long and the short of it.

OBSESSIONS OF MEN

currently, the men in our household

are obsessed with chess.

all 3 of them.

here we have wyatt and boon

battling it out

while hudson plays a chess app

on wyatt's phone.

boon is in chess club at school.

the boys often play each other

in the mornings before school.

there are always games on the weekends,

and a lot of challenging the computer

and each other

with the phone app.

books are checked out of the library

to read up on rules, moves and

winning strategies

it's a chess fest!

the two younger boys have

another obsession.

one that's been around for years and years,

but they are just now becoming acquainted...

the world of pokemon.

trading cards,

playing the game,

and having a blastola

buying new decks, and

browsing through them

over and over and over,

discussing the merits of each character.

as i am no stranger to obsessions,

i welcome these new family interests

and wish the men in my life all the best

as they immerse themselves in the sheer delight

of obsessive geekery.

it's a good place to be.

CRUSHES

either i was totally out of the loop

or first grade has really

changed over the years.

there seems to be a lot

of little crushes going around.

here's a few that gave us a chuckle.

hudson is at school
a girl asks the teacher if she
can be hudson's partner.

a nearby boy says,

"hudson, she loves you!"

the girl replies indignantly,

"i do not!"

then she leans over to hudson and whispers loudly,

"i actually do!"

(after hearing this, boon said,

"it makes sense. hudson is pretty irresistible.")

hudson tells me that one of the girls in his class

 has a crush on him.

"how do you know?"

i ask.

"because she told me",

he replies.

hudson came home with

a little stuffed monkey

named coco.

a girl in his class said

coco wanted to stay with him

for the week.

the next day, another girl

sent him home with

one of her treasures.

hudson tells me,

"mom, guess what xyz girl

gave me and i didn't even want it."

"what?" i ask.

"a my little pony," he tells me

in this deadpan voice

complete with an eyeroll

to beat all eyerolls.

"and i couldn't even give it back to her because

she went home early!"

i asked him why he thinks

she gave it to him to borrow.

he said,

"i know why. she said it was because

her my little pony is awesome

and so am i."

my oh my!