hudson's firsts

huddy had a big week this week! he's the cutest, by the way. so happy and independent and laid back -- jack was a pretty happy baby, but he was (is) definitely more high maintenance than hudson. not sure if that's just different personalities or if it happened because i don't have time to give hudson my undivided attention like i did for jack, but it's an interesting shift for sure.

i posted this picture on instagram a few days ago with a caption that mentioned how he has zero teeth at nine months old...and literally two days later one of his bottom teeth popped through!

we had super nice weather this week and spent a lot of time at the park. the park is NO GOOD for a crawler. all he wants to do is get dirty and eat wood chips...i'm dreading summer, let's hope he starts walking soon. anyway, he got to try out his first swing and he loooved it. (another difference from big brother, who cried the first time he went in a swing. ;)

it was spring break this week (and i was kicking myself ALL WEEK for not booking tickets to california when i had the chance) so we tried to get out and do some fun stuff. we went to the zoo with our favorite field trip friends, the wingers, and it was hudson's first time! this is the only documentation i have that he was actually there. ha.

jack & the boys:

then, yesterday was hudson's first visit to the gym child care. i am always hesitant to leave small children there (germs, ugh) but b was out of town and i wanted to go to body pump. when i left, hudson was in a walker and jack had taken a knee right next to him. the workers all told me that jack stayed with him the whole time and played with him. sweet brothers! <3 p="">

we love this cute guy! can't wait to see what he does next. 

jack + emery

jack met his friend emery our first sunday ever in washington, when we were in the same ward in issaquah and they were just a year old, and they've been buddies ever since. (here's an old post about them -- i can't even believe how tiny they were.) (their third musketeer friend, rose, moved away last year and we still miss her. sorry, jen, this post might make you sad.) jack & em stayed friends even after we moved across town, and as of last month we're in the same ward again! these two couldn't be happier about it.

i've collected a bunch of photos of them over the past few months -- jack & emery are hilarious together. now that they're sunbeams together in primary, i get at least three comments every sunday about how rowdy they are. ha. they just love each other, what can i say?

they've been taking a preschooler sports class together the past few months, and it has been completely entertaining to watch. they greet each other with a hug at the start of every class and usually run drills holding hands. (insert laughing-with-tears emoji face here.)

little buddies. i can't wait to watch them grow up even more. 

seattle aquarium

a week ago we met up with some friends at the seattle aquarium. jack is really into finding nemo right now so i figured he'd be excited, but i highly underestimated how awesome our visit would be. he is finally at a fun age where he can understand and look forward to learning new things and he was delighted at every exhibit and creature. being there with his three favorite guy friends made it even better. they raced from one spot to another, excitedly calling "over here guys! come see this!" at every turn. it was adorable.

here are a few pictures from our day (all from my grainy iphone :( no time to carry my big camera around when i'm also toting an active 9-month-old) -- it was such a fun day.

they've got a huge fish tank in the lobby, so we hung out there for a while and even got to watch a diver go inside to feed the fish! an eel came out to say hello as well -- jack is still talking about that one. (not jack in the pic...haha.)

the four little musketeers:

this octopus was totally swimming around his tank -- it was so cool to watch:

true to form, jack was squeamish about touching anything...until he saw jacob & ian doing it. if they're in, he's in. hooray for peer pressure ;)

little boys are so much fun. i loved watching them interact and run around all morning. before we left, we headed out onto the pier for a picnic lunch in the (cold) sunshine and watched boats and the great wheel. it was a perfect morning and i'm so glad we have fun friends to share our adventures.

concert date

b and i discovered the head and the heart right after we moved to seattle -- they're a local band, starting to get more famous around the world. they've been one of our favorites ever since, and last fall when i heard they were planning a couple of hometown shows as part of their 2014 tour, i snagged a couple of tickets for b's christmas present. 

feb. 22 we headed out to the paramount, dressed in our finest hipster apparel. ;) they were SO good and it was so much fun. going to shows reminds me of my younger years spent moshing my brains out to every pop-punk band in the western US...these days i much prefer sitting in a comfy seat, listening to mellow tunes. 

we left during the encore because i'm insane and incredibly paranoid about staying till the end of any live event. haha. i'm trying to be better about that but really we had to get home to let our babysitter go. i was singing another story for three straight days. such a fun date with my favorite guy. 

these kids

LADIES MAN

yesterday was a particularly cute day for the wells boys. we started out with jack's sports class (he's currently on the basketball rotation, not the easiest sport for preschoolers!), made a costco run and had his friend emery over for the afternoon. playdates with 3-and-a-half-year-olds are increasingly becoming my favorite thing. they seem a bit more volatile than ever, BUT they are hilarious too. i love eavesdropping on their little conversations ("did you see frozen?" "yeah, with my mom." "i like markers." "me too, what is your favorite color?") and watching them actually interact, without needing as much supervision. after hours of toys and bikes and the park, i put finding nemo on and the two kids piled onto the couch like this. HA. young love?

ANATOMY OF A SELFIE

while those two were gallivanting around, huddy took a nap and hung out with me. at the park, i tried entertaining him by showing him his image on my front camera. these pictures are the result -- from ambivalence to interest to delight. third one down on the right is my very favorite. those gums!

i really love these boys. 

valentine's day 2014

i LOVE valentines day. i've come a long way from hating it as a single person, to tolerating it as a married person, to now pretty much being obsessed with it. i was offended this year by friends who thought it was silly to treat it like a major holiday (even b questioned me when i asked why people had to go to work that day) but hey. having kids and making valentines has turned me into a valentine zealot and i am perfectly fine with that.

we kicked off valentine week by decorating sugar cookies in memory of my dear friend jen who recently relocated to nor cal. she used to host a cookie party each year and i miss her, plus i love cookies, so friends came over & we did our own this year. yum!

jack's awesome preschool had a little party the day before v-day, so we spent one very chaotic morning putting the finishing touches on his valentines (free printables from the internet with dollar section pencils washi-taped to the back, thank you very much -- practically free) and cranking out jello jiggler hearts before dropping it and him off at school. he is the cutest.

our actual valentines day was kind of crazy. i made a valentines day breakfast before we skipped off to seattle -- a friend had called late the night before to offer us tickets to the seattle symphony's kids series, so i couldn't pass that up! we enjoyed a valentine safari from orchestra members, then headed back for a play date, target run, lunch date and doctor appointment (hudson had an ear infection).

by the time we finally got home we were all wiped out, and b worked late, so i scrapped my v-day dinner plans and we laid low. not super exciting. but my FAVORITE part of all this year was the valentine swap i host on my stationery blog. this is the fourth year i've done and this time was by far the most successful -- more than 300 people signed up from all around the world and everyone seemed so enthusiastic. i always add my address when i send out swap partner information, just in case people have an extra val to send me, and i got a tonnnnn of valentines in the mail this year. it was so delightful to open my mailbox every day and find a stack of pink, red and gold envelopes with my name on them. i don't have good ideas very often, but this swap thing is definitely one of my better accomplishments.

sunday snow

last night b and i watched captain phillips (intense!) and when it ended, i checked instagram and saw a bunch of local friends posting about snow. it had been sunny most of the day and i'd been totally engrossed in the movie so i didn't even think about a weather change. i looked outside and gasped so loud b thought someone was breaking into our house -- it had totally snowed!! haha. we got about three inches and woke up to a winter wonderland.

hilariously, it was enough snow to cancel church! after living in utah for a few winters, i find this hilarious -- but there are tons of hills around here and facebook informed me that a bunch of friends got stuck / slid out / freaked in the snow so i guess it was a good call, though in our area all was fine and clear.

jack was suuuuper pumped to play in the snow. we spent at least a good hour out there, making a snowman and throwing snowballs and exploring. his favorite thing to do is make a snow angel. b has taught me the importance of having proper snow attire and i give him full credit for making sure jack is good to go -- between his snow pants, boots, "football gloves" and down jacket the kid doesn't know it's cold outside even when he's rolling around in snow. he was SO happy out there today. 

it worked out nicely to not have to go to church, actually, because i ended up taking hudson to urgent care. the poor little bug caught jack's cold last week and has developed the WORST hacking cough ever...he's so, so sad and doesn't even want to crawl around, so you know he's not feeling well. poor buddy wouldn't even smile for the camera phone:

i included this photo also to commemorate his sweet little hands. see how he's holding onto me up there? that is the default huddy hand position. ever since he was born, his little hands have grabbed onto mine any time they are near and i love it. i always feel bad when i have to pull my hand away to do something else. anyway, turns out he has RSV and we are hoping he gets better soon. :(

all in all, a fun day to spend together with family. but i can't wait to get back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. ;)