First Day of First Grade

Hudson's first day of first grade was upon us. I think I was more nervous than he was!  Traditional first day of school picture and "When I grow up..." sign:

My mom came over to stay with Harper (while she slept) so we could walk Hudson in.  He was very excited to see his new desk:

Of course I have to do a flashback:

Harper, mom and I enjoyed a ladies lunch at the tea room to take our mind off how much we missed Bubba. This might be the closest we get Harper to Santa...ever....:

Later that day was our first experience with the fabled car line:

Cookie cake to celebrate an AWESOME first day:

Hudson had a great first day of school! He has a wonderful teacher and has transitioned beautifully. So proud of my (always my) baby boy!!!

6 1/2 years old!!!!!

Dear Hudson,

You are 6 1/2 years old! I am so proud of the little boy you have become.  You are the sweetest, most tender hearted kid that I know.  You love your family, your friends and life.  You approach everything with such a sweet spirit and you try your hardest all of the time.  A week after turning 6 1/2, you started 1st grade.  You are thriving and flourishing.  It is such a joy to watch you.

You have such an imagination. You are constantly coming up with creative ways to play.  You love movies and tv, but most of your favorite tv shows are educational like Sid the Science Guy and Reading Rainbow (that last one makes your mommy so, so happy!). You love to read and be read to.  You love creating your own little books.  You like to draw and create.

You still love to go. You love the museum, the zoo, Fossil Rim, pretty much any activity we do, you love.

Food. Sigh.  You still don't love to try new things and have a pretty limited palette. I pray that you grow out of it, but you are healthy and growing and that's what matters to me.

You LOVE your sister.  She is your best friend and you guys play so well together. She misses you so much when you are at school. And you are beyond thrilled about the new baby sister joining us.  You tell me every day how you can't wait to hold and rock her and I have no doubt that you will.

You are a FUNNY kid.  You make me laugh so hard. And inquisitive. You are so curious and have so many questions all the time. I love it, you challenge me.

I could not be more proud of you. I love you so much and I am so thankful God blessed us with you, sweet boy.

Love,
Mommy

Last weekend of summer

We had big plans to road trip to Salado with my parents, but oxygen issues popped up. So, instead we hit Creative Hands:

 We asked Hud what he wanted to on his last day of summer (major sniff). He chose the zoo and swimming. So, that's what we did:

It was a beautiful summer.  And I was very, very sad to see it go.

Last week of summer

We lived it up the last week of summer. We hit a candy store with our friends:

We had our traditional back to school lunch with our friends-since-birth playgroup:

Flashback to that crew a year ago:

We enjoyed a lazy pj morning:

Hudson wanted to write his new teacher a note:

Meet the teacher night was upon us. These two were excited!

We took Hud's new teacher a little gift:

Hud's amazing new teacher:

He was so proud of his locker:

We went to Trent's office for lunch:

And then the boys golfed:

The girls swam. And when bubba's away, we wear his pjs:

The kids got to have a sleepover in our bed as a special treat:

Legoland!

I wanted to take Hudson on a special Mommy date before he started (sniff) First Grade.  He chose Legoland!  So, we were off:

My phone died halfway through so that was all of the pictures I got. He had a great time and I was happy to have one-on-one date with my buddy.

Hudson's peanut allergy has been an issue of concern for me for a while.  He has tested positive for a peanut allergy, but had never reacted (and had eaten peanuts until he was 3). I wanted clarification once and for all since he was started a school that wasn't peanut free.  We ran a blood test that tested the peanut components.  There are 8, I believe, components to a peanut allergy and a few are anaphylactic.  His came back negative for those (thank goodness!) and the only positive one he had was only slightly elevated.  So, the doctor and I decided to do an oral food challenge in the office.  While, I felt confident he would be okay, I was nervous.  Trent met us at the doctor's office:

An hour later and we were in the clear!  No reaction. The doctor told me he wished he could go in my brain and delete the file that ever told me there was an allergy.  So, so relieved.

My Captain America:

Meanwhile, we had a home renovation project going on.  We seem to like to do these things when I am pregnant. We converted the attic into a media room and we are so pleased: