Merry Christmas!

The week before Christmas the kid's were in the church's kid's Christmas program. They sang some songs and they each had a line. They did really well. Elaina got a little shy when it was time to deliver her line, but she delievered it and that's all that matters. The videos will be at the end of the blog. After church we went to brunch with Santa at the O'Club....3 Christmas in Korea and 3 Korean Santa's....can't wait for an American Christmas next year!
Elaina stayed behind Aiden for the first couple of songs, but finally came out towards the end.

Afterwards we headed to brunch.
Getting ready to go eat and had to get a pic of our 3 Christmas angels before we headed in.
Nope. Hudson still does NOT like Santa. Maybe next year.

On Friday night the 25th did caroling. Here is a pic of what we opened our door to. It's such a fun tradition. We had a hot chocolate bar set up for them. Then we joined in and caroled to the other 25th families.
30+ people singing Joy to the World, the 25th version.


On Christmas Eve we had some friends over to see Chanie and Bodey off (they are greatly missed already). It was lots of fun up until the goodbyes. Afterwards we headed to church. The kid's performed again there and several people have told us that Elaina stole the show. Unfortunately the video is too big for the blog. :( All the kids that were over for dinner. Wish I had gotten one of the grown-ups.
Trying to get one of our 3, but Hudson was having none of it. This was the best I got. We tried.
All dressed up for the service. Merry Christmas!
When we got home it was time to get dressed for bed and put our Christmas cookies. I only got to take 1 pic. Hudson wanted those cookies BAD...we had to put him straight to bed or Hud was going to eat all of Santa's treats.

We woke up on Christmas morning and had a wonderful day. We stayed in our jammers most of the day and then had a nice dinner and played some games. I don't take many pics on Christmas. I do mostly video, so there's not a whole lot to see. Also, my camera was on a funky setting and there were bad shadows on the pics. I attmepted to lighten them up, but they still aren't great. Aiden and his General Grievieous (sp?) helmet.
This was really funny. Hudson dumped this over looking for more stuff. He was a little disappointed not more came out.
Helping Elaina open a present with an Elmo fork.
Elaina got a microphone and she hasn't stopped singing yet. It's really funny. I'm going to have to take a video.
Dad and Aiden in there hats. Elaina got Dad a packers "summer hat" (her words for it) and Santa got Aiden a broncos winter hat.

The day before Christmas Eve we went up to the Express Bus Terminal because we were told they had a lot of Christmas decorations. They were right. What fun that was to see ecspecially since we don't get to see a lot of this stuff here. Only 50% of the country is Christian and my ajima told me that even if you are a Christan (she is) Santa is not a real big deal. Most don't have a Christmas tree and if Santa come he only brings 1 -2 gifts.
Dad checking out the Christmas goodies.

Elaina's turn. The prices weren't great. Ususally things in Korea are a lot cheaper, but that was not true here.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Since this blog is also sort of Hudson's baby book (I know, I know...poor 3rd baby) I wanted to give a little update of his favorite things. I only wish I had some pics to go with it. I'll have to work on that. The toilet...if it's open he will try to play in it. My blush brush also ended up in there. Closing doors. That one makes me nervous. I get worried about his little fingers. However, he slams doors and then bursts into tears. Even if we're in the room with him. My makeup. He loves to go into our bathroom and get our my eyeliner/lip pencils and chew on them. Yesterday he figured out how to take the lid off and colored our bathroom floor. Thank goodness for tile. Toilet paper. If he can find a roll he will shred it. We keep joking that we keep getting tp'd. Throwing things away. We finally got a cabinet lock because everything was ending up in the trash can. If he could reach it he was going in the trash. Kisses and hugs. Giant open mouth kisses and giant open arm hugs. It's the sweetest thing in the world when he walks down the hall with his arms open and squeezes your legs. I hope I never forget that feeling. He is into everything he can get his hands on and we love him to pieces. What fun a 1 year old is!

Thanksgiving, Cheerleading, Basketball and More

I only have 1 blog left to do before Christmas after this one. It's the kid's Christmas program at church. Super cute. Hopeing to get totally done, so that I have empty cameras for Christmas.

We had a great Thanksgiving week. The kid's each had parties at school and then we did the annual Thunderbolt Feast where we cook and serve all of the maintainers in Dad's squadron. It's a really neat thing. Over 200 people come out for it. After we eat we head out and watch Pilots vs. Maintainers play a flag football game. Pilots won for the 2nd year in a row! Yea for the old guys!

I am adding 2 videos of Elaina cheering at the end of this post. The first is of her big intro. Before they cheered at half time they got to run out and do whatever they wanted. She always did a front roll. The second is of her halftime cheer. She's so sassy and cute. Love her!

Hudson and I went to Elain's school for a little feast and they started off with a song.
Our little Indian. She was so cute.

Later that day we had Aiden's Thanksgiving. It consisted of putting all the 2nd graders and there families in the cafeteria for a feast.

The family feasting!

Here are a couple of extras. This is Hudson's new trick. He has figured out how to climb up into his chair. It makes me so nervous while he tries to turn around (he's kind of got a big tooshy)

While I'm climbing up I think I'll pull down a few Christmas books.

I did it! (I think we've outgrown this chair). He was so tiny when we brought him home and put him in it. A year sure does make a big difference.

Elaina and I were trying to find Santa in a look and find Santa book. Hudson was not having any of it and sat on the book and tore a page out. Sure, Hud, we'll read while you're napping. All eyes on you.

Aiden played basketball and Elaina was overjoyed that she got to be a cheerleader. It was so cute. They didn't cheer for any particular team. Just went out and cheered for both teams.

Our little athletes. Hope we have a bigger version of this for many years to come.

Hudson had his last "first" with Thanksgiving. Unfortunately it's hard to get a pic during Thunderbolt feast, so we don't have a pic of him eating his first Thanksgiving meal. Trust us when we say he enjoyed it!

The fam at the end of T'bolt feast. It is held at the cafeteria at the high school on base. Dad is on his way out the door to go and play some football!

The day after Thanksgiving we headed to Everland for some Christmas lights. They don't celebrate Christmas like we do in America. In fact only 50% of the country is christian. Our ajima, Mrs. Kim, told us that Santa only brings maybe 1 present and noone puts up Christmas trees or lights. It's just not that big a deal. So, you can imagine how much we love to see Christmas lights. We think we'll try to go one more time if it's not too cold out. The temps have been dropping quickly here though, so we'll have to play it by ear.
The kid's at the entrance to Everland.
Family pic in front of the "tree of life."

I brought cupcakes to Aiden's school for his birthday. He had fun. I guess the big thing is to be the kid who gets to pass things out, so I think that was the hi light for him.
First bite of cupcake and being a silly goose.

We had an awards ceremony, so that the kid's could get there medals.
Elaina and her cheer squad. Aiden and his basketball team. He had gotten pretty good by the end of the season. He scored 2 goals in his last game!! Yea Aiden!!

The base had a Christmas party and Santa was there. If I had known I would have taken my good camera. The camera I had with me has no flash. Oh well.

Hudson is NOT impressed. Can I just say this is the best Santa we've had in 3 years...he's not Korean!

Aiden earned a trophy in TKD. No easy task. He had to get 100 stickers. Your peers and Master Moon administer the stickers, so he was pretty proud of himself.
Check out my trophy!

Now check out my smile! I'm losing teeth like crazy!

We took Hud in for his first haircut. It's not good. They chopped so much hair off the top. I almost started crying. He was a champion though and I know it will grow back. Plus if I comb it over you really can't tell. He only cried when they put the cape on him.
chop chop chop! No more baby. Now he looks like a little man.

Birfday! Birfday!

We have 2 birthdays in 5 days in the house now and that makes for a pretty busy week. First we celebrated Aiden's. He wanted to have a laser tag party. They have a laser tag place at Camp Humphrey's, an army post about 30 min from us. So, we brought Aiden and his 5 closest friends (all we could fit in our van) and has a laser tag battle!
Also, at the end of the post I posted a video of the Chili's "birfday" song. All the kid's here love it and most families end up here on there "birfday's". It cracks us up. We had to take a video, so that 1. We would remember it forever and 2. Y'all could see what we're talking about.
I wanted to upload a couple videos from Hudson's birthday, but they are too big. You'll just have to come to our house if you want to see them.
All the boy's ready for some laser tag.

Mom and Dad even got in on the action and let me just say it is FUN!

Aiden and his awesome Harry Potter cake by my friend, Katie. She's amazing!

His party was the weekend before his birthday which was a Tuesday. We celebrated at home and then went to Chili's (of course)!

He opened up 1 present. He asked for a Matthews jersey because even though the Bronco's are his favorite team he does like Clay Matthews. The fam at home with the birthday boy! Wow! 8 years old! Aiden is the most amazing kid in the world. Sweet and kind and always putting others first. Don't change a thing my love.

HUDSON IS 1!!!

Next up was our baby's first birthday. Unreal that a year has already gone by. It's amazing. We celebrated the night before his actual birthday because we were going to Seoul with some friends on his birthday. We decided to just have a family only celebration. We truly do NOT need nor do we have any room for even 1 more toy, so this was the best way to do it.

Reaching for his presents.... with the birthday boy. I had to hold his hand back, so we could get a pic of him with his cake. Again from Katie. She actually made a big one for us, but I forgot to take a pic of it. Hmmm...not sure how to go about this. Now we're talking! Oh yea...this is GOOD! Can we do this everyday Momma? Opening up his present from Elaina. She picked out the paper and wrapped it ALL by herself. I mean absolutely no help from me. She's pretty good, huh?! Sweetest little one year old in the world. Showing off his moose hat from MeMe and Pop P! The kiddo's in their Christmas jams (I made the pants, MeMe made the shirts) on our baby's birthday.

On Hudson's actual birthday we went to Seoul with some friends and went to a Hanbok village (traditional Korean houses). We love Korean doors. They are now on our list of things to buy! Hudson was asleep for the first half of the tour. This bench was called "sharing a biscuit with a friend" Too funny. Elaina later "picked the statues nose." However, she wouldn't do it for the camera.
The fam in Insadong. All in all it was a great week. I'm sure next year will be here before we k know it!

Finishing Up Australia

I have to get these blogs done. I have birthdays to blog, holiday celebrations and Christmas is coming. Must get on top of this.


Our last couple of days in Australia were really fun. We went to a crocodile farm, another wildlife center, the pool and beach.

First up the crocodile farm. We were actually pretty excited about this, but it was kind of a bust. They took us to a farm where they breed crocs for there skins (we knew that was coming), but they advertise it with a boat ride where you look for crocs in the wild. Well, we were thinking it would be like a good old south Louisiana swamp tour. It was. Minus ANY wild life. While on the boat they told us that there are only 200 wild crocs in Cairns. Oh well, it was still a neat experience.

Looking for crocs (maybe we missed one while taking this pic;))


Handsome boy on the boat.

Momma and her baby boy's checking out some of the big crocs that they use for breeding.
Poor little babies. These crocs are all around 3 years old and are about to become lovely high- end hand bags and shoes.

Next day we went to another wildlife habitat, so that we could have breakfast with the birds.

The kiddo's with some birdies in the background.
Hudson is NOT a fan of crocs. Please notice how brave Elaina is...touching the crocs nose.
This emu was crazy. He knows you have food and chases you. S0, of course we had to take a pic with him. Aiden was VERY wary!

Hud doesn't like crocs and Elaina doesn't like ducks. At least 100 of them coming after her and pecking her feet for food. She is much too girly.

Daddy had to carry her out of there. She was not going to walk through that sea of ducks again.

That afternoon we hung by the pool.

My sweet babies and me. Ahh...love!
SERIOUSLY!! Have you EVER seen anything cuter? Seriously!
These were the signs up at the beach....
Aiden is NOT scared. I'm telling you this kid loves the ocean. However, Dad and I aren't totally crazy. Do you see the giant white tube thing behind him? It's a stinger net. So, you are pretty safe swimming in those.
Elaina is not into the ocean. She can't stand up in the waves, so she went coconut hunting and found one-pretty proud!
Doesn't she look like Fiona? This was the messiest ice cream and we had to really scrub to get it off.

Our last day in Sydney we found a park near our hotel and just enjoyed yet another lovely walk and some open spaces before we headed back home. We had an amazing time. We are still talking about our adventures and I'm sure we will be talking about the memories we made for many many moons!