We're Home

We are home and getting into the groove of things. Judy, Keri's mom, is visiting with us and helping us out. Thanks to all for welcoming our son and making this transition as easy as possible. Here are a few pictures from the hospital and from when we introduced Sophie to her brother.

First Pictures

On 5/28/2009 we welcomed Rhys Hudson (Rhys is pronounced Reese) into our lives.
Stats:
Born 5:03pm
Weight 8lbs 3 oz
Length 21in
9 hours of labor, pushed through 2 contractions, and Wha-la!

Does anyone have a pin? Pop this already!

Our little boy is due today but we have a feeling he will be camping out for a bit. Keri has a doctor's appointment tomorrow with a sonogram to see where we all stand.

Spray Park

Our city has a great variety and number of parks. With a nearly 2-year-old we finally had a good reason to visit the spray park so we went this past Saturday.

Summer Concert Series Begins

We were happy to kick off our summer with the first concert in the park offered by our city. Totally free and right next to our house. The band played 90s music to present day. It's a great community event. Kids go amok having the time of their lives while parents sit back and enjoy the music and friends.

Kenzie's Birthday Party

This past Saturday, Kenzie, Sophie's friend, celebrated her 4th birthday in comic hero style. She dressed as batgirl and there were masks and capes for all guests. There were balloons, and cake, and games, and a special visit from Batman himself. Sophie got Kenzie a Super Heroes puzzle and jump rope. Our party girl left the festivities to enjoy a decent nap!

Huh?

Sunday afternoon the whole family enjoyed a nap...or so we thought. Sophie apparently slept or was quiet enough to trick us into thinking she was sleeping for 15 minutes or so. Neal slept for 20 minutes and Keri for an hour and a half (thanks sweetie!). After 20 minutes, Neal was awakened by Sophie trotting plastic farm animals over his face. When Keri awoke Neal suggested that she check out the guest bathroom to see what Sophie was up to while he and I were sleeping.

This is what we discovered... She had opened her closet door, dragged out the empty hamper basket into the hall and left it in the guest bathroom. Then she must have proceeded to empty the diaper stacker in her room and deposit them in the hamper...And the sink just for good measure. Heck, that's what we'd do with our time if we could find a moment to ourselves.

Grapevine Main Street Festival

Today Keri and Sophie joined with some friends and went to the Grapevine Main Street Festival in, well, Grapevine. It was almost all free. Sophie played in a huge play area fitted with bikes, blocks, play-doh, coloring, dirt pile with sand toys, and so on. I found out that Sophie, having no experience with play-doh, just pulls it to pieces. While her friend, Ella, age 3, makes things with it. After that we checked out the petting zoo where she called goats "cows" and llamas "horses." Sophie attempted to lift the "cow" a few times but finally accepted that the goat was a "heavy" animal. Then it was off to the bounce house which she LOVED! Following that, she went on her first carousel ride (our only expense-$3) and in pageant princess style Sophie waved to all on-lookers.

Then we ate our brown-bag lunch and checked out the street vendors. While doing so, we saw a painter creating a mural and met up with the Budweiser horses and dalmatian. It was a long, warm, fun day and thanks to our friend, Carly, and her sunscreen, we didn't get burnt!

Spoonerisms

Two of our most favorite mispronounced words by Sophie are "beeza" for zebra and "parket" for "carpet"--both spoonerisms. Although she consistently uses these erred words we will not be adding them to the vocab list at right because no else would know what the heck she was talking about.

Breakfast with Friends

Saturday morning Keri had breakfast at La Madelaine to celebrate our old Primary Presidency (Church program for children ages 18 months-11 years). Lorraine was released (but now plays the music for the Primary's music time. We now have a new 1st councilor who is also a gem. Keri loves working with these women. They bring so many talents that bless our little ones and they are a hoot to hang out with. Jamie is due to have a baby girl just a week or so after my due date!

Jamie (President), Keri (2nd Councilor), Lorraine (now our pianist), and Mary (Secretary)

Happy Mother's Day!

Thanks to all the wonderful women in our lives and, especially, our own moms. You have made us better humans. Thus, we are learning to become better sons, daughters, husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, friends, and citizens and so on. We love and appreciate you very much.

Earlier this week Keri received a special card from Sophie. It seems she was in cahoots with her Grandma Susan again. Thanks for the Chili's gift card. We love to eat and will use it soon. Also this Mother's Day morning Neal, yet again, let Keri sleep in, and then later was awakened by Sophie presenting her card and gift. The card was sweet, but sweeter yet was the gift--Sublime Chocolates!

These are very, very nice chocolates by a local chocolatier. I will be relishing 6 candies which include dark chocolate raspberry, the signature Sublime dark, caramel with sea salt, and solid dark chocolate with almonds. Sublime sells unique chocolates such as golden curry & coconut, white chocolate mango, and dark chocolate caliente.

Then, for breakfast, I was treated to cinnamon rolls, bacon, and a fresh fruit salad of blackberries, black grapes, and apple. Good Job, Sophie (and her little helpers)! The only thing Rhys gave me was kicks in the ribs but he will learn more about Mother's Day etiquette when he comes out.

At church we enjoyed speakers who taught us about the sanctity of women and all women ages 18 and up were presented with an instrumental CD.

All in all, this was a wonderful Mother's Day!

Nursery Completed

See here is matter unorganized...

Step by step, Neal and Keri, with advice and assistance from a few of our freinds, created Rhys' nursery.

So, anytime now, cutie...

Piggy Tales

Thanks to Kim, the mom of our friend, Kari, Keri was treated to a pedicure in preparation for Rhys' coming. Of course, she chose blue to welcome in her little boy. I don't know who said it first but Kari says if you're going to have your feet up in the air while you're pushing, you might as well have something pretty to look at.

Sophie Quirks

Watching her father lovingly care for her mother, Sophie now will offer to help mom up when dad is not around. Just figuring on the weight ratio of an adult vs. a toddler and then adding the fact that Keri is 9 months pregnant, it just doesn't seem doable. But Keri humors her anyway.

We finally have persuaded Sophie to take a baby doll along in the stroller instead of nothing when we go for a walk down our street. We want her to get used to the idea of a baby. Well, several times during the short walk, Sophie will peek in to see her baby doll and then roughs the hell out the stroller until the baby falls out. Then she puts her hands on her cheeks and exclaims, "Oh no!" Then abandons both baby and stroller quite contently. We are hoping her concern for her baby doll will change soon, real soon.

Seeing mommy getting dressed, Sophie wanted to put a bra on too. So she swiped an extra one off the dresser (because, yes Mom, I still don't put anything away) and put it on--over her head.

Another Day at the Arboretum

While Neal was experiencing nirvana (see post below), Keri and Sophie buddied up with friends, Kari and Kenzie and took in a day at the arboretum. I love the picture of her strolling with her hands behind her back. It was a great day finished off with a visit to Opa's work on the way back home. Still,...kinda craving a burger.

A Better Burger

Neal here (is case the title didn't tip you off)

On Monday April 27th my favorite T.V. show Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. on Food Network featured a place in Dallas called Twisted Root Burger Co. I knew I had to go. So today myself and 3 co-workers took off down to Richardson for lunch and experienced nirvana. One of the top 3 burgers that I have ever had. They make their own Ketchup and brew their own Root Beer and have it on tap at the soda machine. So for those of you in DFW, I highly recommend it and for those who don't live here, guess where we're taking you.

Heres the website http://www.twistedrootburgerco.com/