Family Birthday Party

Yesterday, my mom and dad hosted a family birthday party for the 3 grand kids who have November birthdays: Makenna, Hudson, and their cousin Lane. Makenna was SO excited to celebrate with all of her cousins. There were 14 adults and 9 kids total, so it was a full house. It was really fun to celebrate all 3 birthdays together. I think this will become a new tradition for us.

All of the presents

Eating dinner at a table set for 20! (Three of the older kids sat up on the bar stools on the island.)
Opening presents

After presents, we sang to each of the kids separately. My mom bought a cute little toy to put on the cake to represent each child.

First was Hudson with his 2 candles
Then Makenna with 4 candles
And finally Lane with 7 candles
Hudson didn't even eat any cake or ice cream, because he was too busy playing with his new trucks.

After running around for a few hours with her cousins, Makenna was ready for a little down time, which she found snuggling on the couch with her grandpa.

Makenna's 4th Birthday!

Nine days after Hudson turned 2, Makenna turned 4. She was SO excited for her birthday, and talked about it everyday for weeks.

We started the morning with some Lucky Charms, and silly faces.

Then we made and decorated cupcakes. Makenna very carefully put sprinkles on all of the cupcakes.

After Hudson's nap, we headed to the zoo, where John met us. It was the warmest day of the week, and as we went to the zoo during the last 2 hours that it is open, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was so fun to just let the kids run around and not have to worry about losing them in a crowd. It was also feeding time at the zoo, so we got to see a lot of very active animals. Our favorites were the bats that were flying everywhere.

After the zoo, Makenna picked McDonald's for dinner, and then it was time to head home for cupcakes and presents.

We bought Makenna a Leapster Explorer, which she absolutely loves. Hudson was pretty interested in it as well. I have a feeling that we may have to get him one also in a year or two. I love how the games are fun and educational. This is how Makenna spent the rest of her birthday night...playing her Leapster.

Hudson's 2nd Birthday!

Hudson turned 2 earlier this month, and we had a fun time celebrating. John was out of town on his birthday, but luckily 2-year-olds don't mind celebrating a few days early.

We started with some cupcakes.


And then quickly moved on to some presents. Makenna had fun picking out and wrapping 3 little cars to give to Hudson.
John and I got Hudson the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, which he LOVES. Since it is starting to get colder here, we set the car up in our unfinished basement, where the kids have plenty of room to ride around.

The kids took turns riding in the car and the trailer.

Hudson is starting to talk a lot more on his own (not just repeating things that he is asked). He is also starting to say 2 and 3 word sentences. Hudson has also recently made the transition to a toddler bed, since he figured out how to get out of his crib. So far, he does a really good job staying in his bed at night, but sometimes ends up taking his naps on the floor or in the rocking chair. So far the 'terrible two's' have not hit yet, and Hudson continues to be such a sweet, happy little boy. We are so grateful to have him in our family.

Halloween Costumes

This year our family costume theme was from The Little Mermaid. I'll give you 1 guess on who decided on that theme...and no, it wasn't John. Makenna already had her costume, given to her by John's parents, so we added a red wig, and she was done. Hudson was originally going to be Flounder, but the only costumes I could find were either too small, or WAY too expensive (like $200+ !!). So, we decided to let him be the shark. He loves sharks, so this worked out well. Makenna wanted John to be King Triton and for me to be Ursula. I made/put together these costumes with the help of my mom and her sewing machine. We sewed and stuffed Ursula's tentacles, and then also sewed John's skirt...I mean tail, and fins. It was actually quite fun coming up with what we wanted to make. Thanks mom for helping me out!

We all wore our costumes to our church's Trunk or Treat.
Makenna was thrilled to see that one of her cute friends from church was dressed up as the human Ariel.
Of course the best part of it all was the candy.

On Halloween night, the kids were really excited to go trick-or-treating. My mom and dad joined us for a trip around the block, during which time the kids both filled their baskets.

When we got home, Makenna and I sorted all of her candy into piles. I use to do this every Halloween as a kid, so it was fun to be able to start this tradition with Makenna.

Pre Halloween

We had a lot of fun this year celebrating during the weeks leading up to Halloween. We visited the pumpkin patch, went on two other family hay rides, decorated sugar cookies at my mom's, painted baby pumpkins, carved big pumpkins, went to our church's Trunk or Treat, and then finally celebrated the main event with some neighborhood trick-or-treating.

My mom invited all of the in-town grand kids to come decorate sugar cookies. It got a little messy, but the kids had a lot of fun.

This is Hudson's plate of cookies. Notice how he took a small bite out of each one!

Another messy but fun project was painting baby pumpkins.

We were joined by some friends to carve our big pumpkins.

John is not a huge fan of carving pumpkins, but he loved the 'polk-a-dot' pumpkin idea I found on pinterest because the only tool he needed was his drill.

Vala's Pumpkin Patch

The first week of October, Makenna's preschool class took a field trip to Vala's Pumpkin Patch. For those not from Omaha, Vala's is basically a pumpkin patch on steroids. There is SO much to do and see there (44 attractions to be exact - according to their website). John even took the day off to experience Vala's for the first time. I remember going as a child, so it was so fun to bring my kids back to enjoy all of the fun things they have, and to see everything that has been added over the years.

We enjoyed going with the preschool, as it meant discounted tickets, free train rides, and a free pumpkin for Makenna. All of the preschool families drove and arrived at the pumpkin patch on their own, and also explored the pumpkin patch separately. The only activity where we even saw Makenna's preschool teachers and other students was lunch, as they had reserved and designated a spot for all of the preschool families to meet for lunch. Makenna enjoyed seeing everyone for lunch, and we enjoyed having family time during the rest of our visit.

The first attraction that we saw was the Haunted Farmhouse. It was a favorite of mine as a kid. I was worried that the kids would be really scared, and there were a few parts that Makenna didn't like, but overall they did great! Makenna even went back to part of it for a second time!

Here are a few of the other activities we enjoyed:

The train ride
Playing in the sand with tractors

Jumping on the giant 'pillows'

Finding the perfect pumpkin

Old-fashioned hayrack ride

Feeding the goats

Hudson laughed when the goats ate out of his hands

Sitting in Cinderella's pumpkin carriage at Storybook Barn




It was a beautiful fall day, and I was so glad that John took the day off to enjoy the pumpkin patch with us. We will definitely be making Vala's a part of our fall traditions here in Omaha.

Summer Swimming

Well this post is about 2 months late, but I just have to document what we did during the hot summer days. When we moved to Omaha, we started looking for a gym to join. After comparing several different gyms, we ultimately decided to join Lifetime Fitness. One big reason was the amazing outdoor pool that they have. The kids and I LOVED going to the pool this summer. We usually went swimming a couple of times a week, and it was a great way to spend our mornings.

Makenna's swimming skills improved drastically over the summer. She can now swim underwater by herself short distances, and can float on her front and back. She can also hold her breath for a pretty long time, which she also practices in the bathtub.

Swimming underwater

Floating on her tummy
Hudson also loved the time we spent at the pool. Although he still doesn't like to put his head under water, he does enjoy playing in the shallow water.

Pretending to be a shark.