Me and the Impala

When you picture me behind the wheel, do you picture me driving a large black Chevrolet Impala. No? Me either.

We had to take my car to the shop for the week to have some body work done. My sweet little sister-in-law's boyfriend accidentally backed into my car a couple of weeks ago while we were at my in-law's house one night. (Technically its Lantis' car that I'm currently driving because we sold my car, but that's another story for another day.) I'm sure he was a basket of nerves that entire night. Can you imagine backing into your girlfriend's older brother's car? Yikes. That would be like walking the plank having to walk back inside to notify the girlfriend and her family of what just happened. Poor guy, I don't at all envy him at that moment. Lantis took the news well. It really didn't do much damage, just a small dent. No biggie--at least its was a simple incident in the driveway rather than a huge wreck with Hudson in the car! There's always a bright side.

So while this body work is taking place I'm driving a nice rental car--an Impala. Yep, exactly what I would have pictured me driving also. Its a really nice vehicle, but it feels very large under my control. I feel like I'm driving a ship. I need someone to drive ahead of me with one of the "Wide Load" signs. Ha! I'll probably get used to the size of this thing about the time I have to turn it back in. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy putting miles on Enterprise's car.

It was a circus!

We had a fabulous weekend. We had a lot of family time and we got lots accomplished around the house. We finished painting the bedroom which I'll try to post pics of soon, we cleaned up the back yard and got everything ready for spring-time. It felt very productive! Lantis originally planned to go hunting, but thanks to mother nature he ended up staying home and I'm thankful for it because our house, yard and family needed some TLC.

Saturday my friend Alesha (aka LuLu) and I took Hudson to the circus. She was my date since Lantis had previous hunting man-plans. Hudson loves Aunt LuLu! He was so excited that she was with us. We had a blast, but we were pretty tired after keeping up with a two year old all afternoon and being in an arena full of screaming sugar-filled kids. Here are a few photos of our circus adventure. I wish I would have taken more photos, but it was hard with my huge lens and a wiggle worm in my lap. I'm a horrible mother (or maybe I was preoccupied) and I didn't take any photos of Hudson, Alesha, or myself! What was I thinking?! Oh well...

Nothing is off limits

Don't lie to me and tell me that your pantry is incredibly organized and junk food free just like mine. Ha! This picture cracks me up so much that I am putting pride aside and allowing you to see my disaster closet so that I can show you what my hilarious little boy did two nights ago. We were sitting at the table having dinner (read: picky Hudson not eating) when he climbs down from his chair and opens the pantry to go for some cookies. Of course following this photo opp was a tantrum because mommy doesn't allow little boys to eat cookies when they haven't touched their dinner.



There is not one thing or place in our house that is off limits to Hudson now. All of the doors have lever handles which is super easy for a toddler to reach up and yank on. Apparently Mac-n-cheese boxes and similar items make for great climbing tools. There is no more child-proofing. All I can do at this point is make sure sharp objects and writing utensils are locked away somewhere and say help yourself Hudson. We have three levels in our house and he's totally mastered the steps so he can go anywhere he wants to go. If my eyes aren't glued to him I loose him at times because he's gone to visit Daddy downstairs in his office, or up to his room to play by himself. God forbid he be quiet because that means havoc is taking place somewhere.



Oh its so fun though--watching him discover the world and be independent. When he's not saying "No Mommy", not eating what I want him to, or throwing a tantrum about something, life with Hudson is a blast. He's actually using his manners now which is so sweet and makes me giggle. This morning I caught him covering his mouth when he coughed and I didn't even have to mention it. He always says "thank you" when you give him something. If the answer to a question isn't "no" its "ok Mommy" which sounds more like "ooogaaayyy". Too cute!! Now we are working on "yes ma'am/sir, and no ma'am/sir".



Can life be any better than this? I have loved every stage of his little life so far. I keep thinking it can't get better, or more fun and then it does. He amazes me every second that I'm with him. What unbelievable little creatures these toddlers are!!

Photo Time!

My beautiful baby

A sweet passerby offered to take our photo.

He was excited about the ducks AKA: quack, quacks

One of my favorites!

He followed the ducks around for a long time.

He was so excited about the quack, quacks!

Checking out the water.

He loves his daddy!

I really just want to eat him!

Looking for fish...

Good job behind the lens Lantis!

He found the mud puddles!

splish, splash!

We let him play in the puddles with his rain boots.

Again, looking for fish.

Hudson and Daddy

Hey Mommy!

He's so silly!

Lantis and his mini me.

This weekend I felt the need to be behind my camera for a little while, get out of the house, and I really wanted an updated photo of Hudson and I together. So Saturday morning we set out on a little family adventure to Aldridge Gardens. We killed several birds with one stone: Hudson could play outside, I could take photos, Lantis could see Aldridge Gardens for the first time, we could cure some cabin fever, and we could spend some quality time just the three of us before the skies opened and the rain started. My husband who is also great with a camera took over for a few minutes during our outing and he got some great shots of Hudson and I together and for that I was very greatful. I have tons of photos of Hudson--so many that I've nearly crashed computer and had to go buy an external hard drive--and I have a lot of photos of Hudson and Lantis together, but I have hardly any photos of Hudson and I together. The few that I do have are mostly just quick snapshots of he and I being silly around the house which means I'm wearing no make up and a T-shirt. So finally I have some decent photos of us worth framing. We had a great time wandering around the gardens and seeing the ducks. Hudson loved it!

Lens Envy Freebie

In case you don't follow my Lens Envy blog, I'm offering a February Freebie. We all love freebies, right!? I'm feeling generous, so pass the word on to your friends. If this isn't your month for photos, never fear. I've already planned specials for March and April as well.

Who's child is that?

Whos child refuses to stay clothed in public? Whos child screams and pitches a nasty fit when his mom tries to put his shirt back on? Whos child can stroll through the freezer section of Costco completely unaffected by the low temperature? Whos child was putting on a gun show at Costco? Whos child danced for a group of women in Costco while half naked? Whos child was winking at women as he rolled through Costco eating his goldfish? Whos child was bribed into putting his shirt back on after the promise of a Coke was made to him?

...Yep, that would be mine. Although yesterday I wasn't so proud to claim him.

As we are rolling through Costco (aka Erin's grocery shopping heaven--the amount that I LOVE Costco will have to be expressed in another blog) Hudson decides that he no longer needs to wear his shirt. He decides that he is completely comfortable riding through the store half naked. I tried to convince him nicely to put his shirt back on, but he refused with a big fat ugly, "NO Mommy." I then resort to mean teeth gritting mommy and say, "Hudson you must put your shirt on or you will be in trouble. No snack and time out when we get home." That was met with another, "NO." Mean teeth gritting mommy then wrestles the shirt back on over his head and insists that he wear it. He's crying and when I turn to pick up something out of the freezer, he again removes his shirt. At this point we are in freezer section where the sweet little ladies are handing out food samples--typically our favorite part of a Costco excursion. The food sample ladies yesterday just happened to all be African-American women and to say that they were loving Hudson's repeated attempts at removing his shirt is an understatement. They are laughing at him and basically encouraging him to put on a show. As I've mentioned before, my son has NO problem being the center of attention, especially for the ladies. He starts showing his muscles, dancing, blowing them kisses and winking at them. While this was quite humorous, my inner mommy "I'm-not-going-to-raise-a-brat" voice is telling me that I must win this war against the naked child and force him to wear his shirt as I asked him to. When we get past the employees who were urging on the naked show I put his shirt back on and told him we would buy a Coke if he wore his shirt the rest of the trip. Bribery works every time, but I'm quite sure that creates a brat, right? This is only going to make him think that in order to mind, I owe him something.

I was faced with a OMG mommy moment--do I allow my child to happily ride through the store unclothed, or do I make him wear it and scream the rest of the trip? By going with the later I was afraid we would possibly end up with a ripped shirt becuase of his temper and we were sure to endure stares from other shoppers wondering why I didn't shut my kid up. Its a no win situation. Help me out blog mommies--what do you do!?!!??

By the way, while I'm on the subject. I hate the other staring shoppers when my child is being loud, or just generally being a kid. Half of them had kids at one time too!! Half of them have children in their buggies also--they just happen to be having a well behaved day, or are older kids that you can threaten and it works. If you are a parent you are sure to endure at least one miserable grocery shopping trip in your lifetime. Its like an unspoken rule, so don't look at me like that! Give me a look of "Its ok, honey. You're halfway to the register. If you can just make it past the candy aisle without WW3, you're homefree. You can do it, Mommy!"

A Lazy Day

Me and my sweet little man had a nice relaxing weekend together. We barely got out of our PJ's or off the couch. We watched several movies (gasp! I allow my child in front of the TV!). He and I rarely get that much alone time, but Lantis went hunting so we had some really good uninterrupted bonding time. This is a photo of Hudson and Bear-Bear enjoying their lazy Saturday. :)