Hudson's School Play

Hudson was Joseph in his school Christmas play.

 He did a great job saying his lines & singing the songs!

 I wish I had a picture of all the kids in the play

Hudson wanted me to take this picture of his pilgrim outfit from celebrating Thanksgiving at his school. He also insisted on putting his hip out for the picture. This is his stance for any posed picture. :)

Children's Museum

A friend from church recently gave us a family pass for the Children's Museum of Naples. The museum had given it to her, but all of her kids are out of college. So, she asked if she could pass it along to a family who would use it. After 7 months, the museum decided they would allow this and we now have a 5 month pass. :)

 Build your own snowman

 Hudson & Anna Kate cooking for me

 They have a hill to play on, which my kids love

 Anna Kate uses her left hand 99% of the time and loves making the letter "H" for Hudson

First Black Eye

The first black eye of our household went to Anna Kate this week. The kids were playing nicely together while I made lunch. They both said Hudson's head accidentally hit Anna Kate while they were playing. Hudson's leaving his mark...a black eye in the front, the hair cut he gave her in the back & he drew all over her stomach, back and legs yesterday with marker. She really loves him and would do about anything he says though.

West Virginia

We traveled back to West Virginia last week for Thanksgiving with Trent's family. Although it's a long drive and we had less than a week (we couldn't miss a Sunday), it was definitely worth it. 

Hudson got to take his school bear, Spencer, on our trip with us. Spencer enjoyed the fresh mountain air.

We took peanuts to feed the squirrels with Nana.

Hudson & Anna Kate helped Nana carry branches that were knocked down from Hurricane Sandy in Nana & Papaw's yard to make one big pile. 

We had beautiful weather and the kids loved playing with their cousins! Hudson & Anna Kate each have a cousin that is their age.

Hudson & Anna Kate with 2 of their cousins at the little kids table for Thanksgiving dinner at Nana & Papaw's house.

Here are all 12 of the grandkids for the annual WV picture. Hudson was pretty excited to get to wear a Mountaineer outfit (although you certainly can't tell in this picture). 

We visited with so many family members and unfortunately don't have pictures. In addition to a couple nights at Trent's parents house, we visited with each of his grandparents and lots of aunts, uncles & cousins and Trent's great friend, Kenton. It was well worth the trip!

Anna Kate at almost 2.5 years

Anna Kate loves caring her baby doll everywhere! She loves acting like a little mother to her and often insists that I hold her. Anna Kate also loves pink & purple and having me draw hearts. 

She's fiercely independent and loves to dress herself, potty trained like champ a couple months ago and has definite opinions on her outfit everyday. She can recognize lots of letters, write H and draw a circle. She knows her colors and can count to 12, then mixes several of the teen numbers up before getting to 20.

 She loves going to the playground, beach and story time at the library, reading books, coloring and looks up to her big brother so much. She often wears her sunglasses upside down, it's just the way she always puts them on herself.

She's stopped napping on most days. She started a shy phase last month and now doesn't want to respond or crack a smile when we're around others. She loves sitting on the kitchen counter and helping me cook. She's a fairly picky eater; her only vegetable she'll eat raw is baby carrots.

Sleeping with her yellow blankie which is often in her arms (with her baby doll) and her "purse", a new zipper bag from Nana & Papaw. She enjoys putting things inside of zipper containers and carrying them around. Oh, she also insists on giving hugs to things when she's excited. She often has to hug her shirt or dress before she puts it on because she's so excited about wearing it.

What a fun, sweet, lovable blessing Anna Kate is to us!

Beach

After living here 2.5 years, we still go to the beach all the time and love it! 

 Hudson found a horseshoe crab skeleton

Halloween

For Halloween, Naples closes the main street to traffic and kids are invited to trick-or-treat at the stores and restaurants. This was our second year doing this and it's great for us! There are some special things set up in the street as well.

 We took two middle school girls with us who had never been trick-or-treating before. They were excited!

 Hudson wanted to be a pirate and loved every second of dressing up and trick-or-treating. He confidently approached every person handing out candy, sometimes gave a pirate response like "arrrr matey" or "shiver me timbers" (in addition to thank you). We went early and stopped at church to learn about pumpkins on our way home. When we got home, there were lots of trick-or-treaters still in our neighborhood. Hudson really wanted to hand out his candy to some trick-or-treaters and sincerely loved giving his best candy he got to others!

Anna Kate did not want to dress up for Halloween. We suggested a few things we thought she might like (a pirate like Hudson, a cat or a princess), but she insisted she didn't want to be anything else, she wanted to stay Anna Kate Casto. :)

Reformation Tour Part One

We had the privilege of going with 36 people from our church on a tour of the Protestant Reformation through 5 countries in Europe. The senior pastor of our church leads a historical trip every fall for interested individuals and someone from our church paid for Trent and I to go along! 

The kids stayed home with several caring people who loved on them while we were gone. The kids did great and enjoyed their time with both sets of grandparents and several friends from church.

Trent & Pastor Bob at the site of the Diet of Worms where Martin Luther refused to recant his position on the absolute authority of the pope and Catholic church. He also reaffirmed his view that salvation was by faith alone.

In Erfurt, Germany, a cute, quaint town. I love the charm! (Also, a site where Luther studied for 6 years).

We enjoyed a date of fondue in Geneva, Switzerland on a free evening.

A view from the top of the castle in Wartburg, Germany where Luther hid.

A pulpit from where Luther preached

love this couple walking and thankful they were on the trip

from Wartburg Castle

Berlin Wall, not as much Reformation history as just history

In London

We had so much fun going to see "Wicked" in London during another free evening. We didn't take any pictures there, but will always remember it as an awesome date. :)

More Baby Number 3

Baby Number Three

 A sweet friend made chocolate chip cookies with a color in the middle (pink or blue) for us to find out the sex of our third baby. She knows I don't like cake. We didn't know she was doing this. We have awesome friends :)

 It's a boy!!! 

 One of Trent's first comments were how the boys would rule our family...

We are thrilled! Everything looked good from the ultrasound, always sweet words to hear.

Hudson singing

From church yesterday. He thought they put him in the front center because he was so good (not because of his height :)).