Happy 1st Birthday Hudson!

We can't believe it's already been a year, but today is Hudson's first birthday! Here are a couple recent pics. Happy birthday little one, we love you dearly!

opening his card from Grandpa & Grandma Carol


at the MO Botanical Gardens last week

one of his new favorite ways to sit

Hudson's Hog

This weekend we did a little bike sitting for our neighbors. Hudson woke up Saturday morning bursting with excitement to find 2 bicycles in our living room. He spent almost all of his waking hours on Saturday and this morning playing with the bikes. He loved spinning the petals, touching the handlebars and mostly when we'd put him on the bike for a ride around the kitchen or living room. He was absolutely beside himself with joy, excitement and glee. Our neighbors have retrieved their bikes and we thank them for allowing us to "bikesit."

The videos are fun to watch (well, for Hudson's mom & dad), but we don't feel like quite captured his excitement

Oliver

I started babysitting our neighbor's 7 week old, Oliver, last week. I'm just watching him on Thursday afternoons. It was an absolute joy to hold him last week while he slept and looked around. I had already forgotten how little newborn babies are. Most of the time he was here, Hudson was napping. When Hudson got up, he was not very happy that I was holding another baby. So, I put Oliver in our little bouncy chair for a little bit while I sat on the floor with Hudson explaining who this new baby was. Hudson crawled circles around Oliver, stopping to inspect him from every angle. After much investigating, he seemed to decide that Oliver was okay to have around.

Washington, DC

This weekend we visited with my family in Washington, DC. We also got to stay with Trent's brother and sister-in-law and their kids and visit with my friend from Vandy, Martha Jane. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures with Chad & Jessie or Martha Jane. Hudson loved playing with his cousins (he got to see 6 of them!) and Chad & Jessie's dog. Here's what we have...

the fam in Alexandria

sisters

cousins

seeing the panda bears at the National Zoo

at the national arboretum



***I lost my cell phone while in DC, so please don't leave me a message on it (I can't get it). If you're looking to contact us by phone, you can reach both of us on Trent's cell phone now.

Spring is Coming!

Although it's only 40 degrees here today & feels very chilly, we have gotten some glimpses of Spring. We are excitedly anticipating Spring's arrival in our household.

a little bit of blurry color in our front garden (obviously I'm not a serious photographer!)




Last Friday we had a live taping of animal planet in our back yard. As Trent was sitting on the back patio with Hudson, they heard lots of rustling in the bushes right behind our house. When they went over to investigate, they found 6-8 snakes all tangled up together and slithering in the bushes. We have since learned this is how snakes mate. So, in addition to having 6-8 snakes behind our house, we're also going to have little baby snakes as well. Although it's neat to see animals in nature, I'd rather not have a handful of snakes by my patio where we love to eat all our meals and spend lots of time in the spring.

How many snakes can you find? Look in the middle of the picture.

the video footage isn't very good of the snakes, they're very hard to see


Some serious playing and investigating

Crossing

In North Korea, people are not allowed to leave their country. They have no

cell phones.

computers.

internet.

justice.

freedom.

There's a new movie coming out about life in North Korea called Crossing. Here's the trailer



More about Life in North Korea



The producers of this film are leaving soon to travel cross country showing the film to raise awareness. They are coming to St. Louis April 28 - May 1 and are hoping to show the film for free. All they need is a LCD projector and a group of people. Please let me know if you have access to these things or your church is interested in providing a place to show the movie. I can get you in contact with the gentleman who's coordinating St. Louis showings. They currently have none scheduled. It's a great (free!) way to raise awareness. Also, here's the movie's website.