Disney 2015 Day 4: Happy Birthday, Hudson!

We were NOT going to go to Disney World in 2015.  In fact, the two main things that prompted us to book our trip were a postcard for a sale on resort stays, and the idea of Hudson turning 5 at the Magic Kingdom. He has the sweetest personality and is just joyful about everything, and we knew that he would LOVE celebrating turning FIVE at the Happiest Place on Earth!  I have to say, I love everything about Disney World, and I really enjoyed our days at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, but there is nothing like walking in to the Magic Kingdom!

The girls loved visiting with Tinkerbell!

We had Reese take pictures alone, too.  Sometimes Finley just wasn't feeling it :).

Splash Mountain is obviously one of our favorites!  These would be some of our first times...of about 15 on the trip!  Hudson also rode Space Mountain for the first time on his fifth birthday, He's a brave fellow!

This gal is a really excellent ride partner.

H got to ride Tomorrowland Speedway with his Daddy.  He truly enjoys everything.  You can't have a bad time with Huddoo!

We only booked our trip 4 months out, but I was able to secure some fun dining reservations thanks to Disney Dining Buddy.  It was shut down by Disney while we were planning our trip, but it was the. BEST. RESOURCE. for booking meals.  I would tell them when and where I wanted to eat, pay them EIGHT DOLLARS, and they texted me when a reservation was available.  It was perfection.  And Disney didn't like it.  Bummer!  I was able to get three reservations before it was shut down, though. One of them was for lunch at Be Our Guest.  Here is our collection of cupcakes.  The "Grey Stuff" really is delicious!

Ready to ride Big Thunder Mountain!

And the Barnstormer.  They paired up nicely when Brian and I needed to ride with Hudson and Finley!

COULD. NOT. believe that this girl was tall enough to ride The Barnstormer!

It would appear that Hudson spent his whole day riding rides with Brian.  #birthdaygoals

We had a Fast Pass for "VIP seating" for the Festival of Fantasy Parade.  We went to get our picture taken while we waited for the parade to start.

The ladies with Jasmine. She was so great with them!

More Dumbo!

Trying to pull the Sword from the Stone!

Wyatt was able to pull the Sword out when he was a baby.  He was pretty determined to do it on this trip, but didn't manage to muster the strength!

Brian's parents came to our hotel room after dinner for cupcakes and presents.  This guy was super excited to end his birthday with chocolate cupcakes and Miles from Tomorrowland loot!

Hudson's Three Year Check Up

Brian, Finley, and I took Hudson for his three year check up with Dr. Jones yesterday.

This little boy was an angel.  Seriously.  Sometimes it's amazing to me how different kids can be just based on their temperament - I'm pretty sure that Dr. Jones told us that we might want to find a way to better prepare Wyatt for his next appointment after his three year check up (yeah, it was that bad).

Hudson walked into the back and did what we asked.  I told Brian that I think that we might finally have the hang of this parenting thing with the third kid.  Hudson makes me feel like an expert. Ha!

He got measured.

And weighed.

And a blood pressure check.

His Stats

Weight: 32.2 pounds - 56th percentile

Height: 37.25 inches - 37th percentile

Blood Pressure: 83/49

I can't believe he's such a big boy!  We had his first parent teacher conference on his birthday, and he's busy at school mastering his shapes and colors, and he does the cutest little sound and hand motion when you ask him what sound an "H" makes. 

He is growing like a weed, which we knew because he has been looking so tall to us lately.  But he's finally above the 10th percentile in height (thank goodness, because I was getting blamed for that big time).

He didn't have any shots that day, so he considered it a successful trip - along with the stickers, of course!

Happy Birthday (Party), Hudson!!!!

Yesterday was Hudson's birthday party.  I tried to keep this one low key...and I succeeded in a big way.

I didn't go overboard on the decorations, we ordered pizzas and had store bought cupcakes.  I filled a pinata with candy and put a pin the tail on the donkey game up on the wall...and we didn't use either. 

 Writing on this chalkboard was about all the real effort I put in (besides cleaning the house)!

 The kids ran around my backyard for almost the entire party, and then came inside for cupcakes.  It was a gorgeous day for playing outside, and they all took full advantage!

This guy loved blowing out his candle and eating his cupcake!

 After cupcakes we opened some presents, and then his friends left.  Their cousins stayed for a little bit longer, and did they ever love getting in some extra cousin time running around our (completely dark) backyard some more!

Hudson spent the rest of the night with his Daddy,

 and showing his brother his new toys!

We're so thankful that so many people came out to celebrate Huddoo's birthday!!! Happy third birthday, Hudson!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Hudson!

How is it possible that this baby is three years old now?

 Seriously, look at this sweet baby boy.  My days with him have passed so quickly, and while it seems like he was just born, I can barely remember what it was like not to know him.

He makes every single day fun.  He makes every single day different (for sure).  And he is just so stinking sweet and kind and obedient and funny.  With a dash of troublemaker thrown in there for good measure (but his big brother got a bigger dash).

 If you ask him who his best friend is, he's almost sure to answer with this girl's name.

 His favorite things are Jake, cars, trucks, and trains.  When he opened his new "Jake legos" he said, "I love it!  This is just what I wanted!"

We spent the day going to parent teacher conferences, voting, and taking the boys for (desperately needed) haircuts.  There was lots of playing too!  We stopped at the park before dinner and Wyatt captured this shot of us with Huddoo.

So very different than this one from three years ago!

Just a typical funny Hudson story:
At 6 and 5, Wyatt and Reese have never really had soda.  They get Sprite on VERY special occasions (usually it involves going to the movies), but we don't let them gave Coke or Pepsi or anything else.  Hudson has spent the last year of his life on a mission to drink some Coke.  No lie, he will hunt it down and find it.  If we have a soda and leave it on the counter he will find it and try to drink it.  While we were at Disney World, he would wait until we were distracted and try to grab a cup.  At Target, he tries to take it out of the cart.  And he is so, so sneaky about it.  We don't even notice that he's gotten it - until we see him with it, or hear him gulp it in and shout, "Deeee-wicious!"  So tonight while we were buckling everyone else in, he sneaked up to the front of the van and started drinking Brian's leftovers from earlier in the day.  When Brian asked him what he was doing, he shrugged his shoulders, smiled, and said, "What?  I'm the Coke bandit!"

After a Red Robin dinner, we came back home to have the cupcakes that Hudson requested - funfetti with blue frosting.

 He was excited to blow out his candles and dig in!

 He got them all by himself!

Happy Birthday, Hudson Ellsworth!  We love you!

One year of Hudson

Two years of Hudson

Hudson's First Soccer Game

Hudson had his first soccer game last Monday.  He's signed up for the same soccer program that Wyatt and Reese played for at the Y when they were three.

She was very excited to take him to his game.  She is an awesome big sister!

 After sitting on sideline watching the kids play sports since he was teeny tiny, he was so ready to play!

 It took him a few minutes to warm up and head out to the field on his own.  He completely understands what you're supposed to do in soccer...

 But he isn't always aware of where the ball is.  He's more into running around with the group.

 They spent the first few minutes practicing their goal kicks.  Hudson felt like he needed to give his family a high 5 after he kicked it in.

 Ready to say the Y pledge.

 It was definitely fun to watch him run around the field.  Occasionally he remembered that he was supposed to be kicking the ball, but he mostly just spent the first game running around with the pack!  We're excited to watch him play soccer this fall!

First Day of School!

On Tuesday morning we got up bright and early to get this little guy off to his first day of First Grade!

 And when I say bright and early, I mean bright and early.  Seriously.  We have to leave the house at 7:30 to get him to school on time!  It's not a problem for this guy who is up with the sun everyday, but it's not that easy for his mommy and daddy who were sleeping in a bit over the summer.  Fortunately for me, Brian's been dropping him off in the mornings while I get the other two ready for school.

He was very excited to start the new year, and I'm pretty sure that he ended up with the first grade teacher that was meant for him.  I think he is going to learn so much and have a blast in the first grade!!!  I asked him what he thought about his first week last night and he said that it was great!  I was worried about sending him off to a new school, but he already knows so many kids from his old school and our neighborhood and baseball and soccer, so he's actually listing off who he saw at school every day when he gets in the car.

This little miss was off to her year of Pre-Kindergarten!  She is going to school 5 days a week this year for half the day.  I know that she will learn so much, and she is already having the best time!

 She kind of insisted on having a "hand on  the hip" pose after she put her chalkboard down.

So there's that.

 And this little guy started school for the first time ever on Tuesday!  I can't believe that he's old enough for school!  He's in the same 2 day 3 year old program that Wyatt and Reese were in, but they actually let November babies in. He'll stay with the same group of kids until they separate for Pre-K and Kindergarten.  He won't meet the age cut off for Kindergarten, so he'll head off to Pre-K, just like Reese!

 He was so, so excited to go to school.  He wanted to get his picture taken with everybody, he wanted to leave the house with Wyatt, and he wanted to make sure that under no circumstances was he left at home. 

I was worried that there might be nerves of even some crying, but there was none.  He walked into his classroom, and only looked back once.  Then he moved on to washing his hands (yes, he likes to wash his hands!).

 I think the fact that his amazing big sister was there helped him some.  He loves knowing that she's just down the hall if he needs her - and she definitely didn't stop reminding him that she was only a few steps away!

The first week of school was a little crazy for us all (one new school, 3 new schedules, 2 different drop offs and pick ups, soccer starting, baseball games, and on and on and on), but we had a lot of fun.  I'm so excited to see where the new school year takes them!