Bubbles!!!

One of my very best friends, Hannah, and her family came to visit us last week. Hannah and I were good friends when I lived in England. We only get to see each other every couple of years, so it is always such a treat to spend time together. She has a precious little girl, Ella, and we got to meet her for the first time. Hannah met William when he was just 7 months old, and of course, this was her first time to meet Hudson. The kids had a blast together. We were so busy catching up and having fun, that I didn't get very many pictures...especially not of us together!! But, these were just too cute. I bought a new thing of bubbles at Gymboree (highly recommend), and the kids had a blast chasing the bubbles and trying to get them all popped. They even tried to catch them in their mouths!

It was such a fun week, and I hope we get to see each other again soon!

William's girls

Caroline, Katie, and Kelly (our pastor's girls) are William's favorite 'big' kids EVER. We had them over for dinner a few weeks ago, and it was like William's dream come true-- all 3 girls to himself, at his beck and call. Pathetic, really. They dote on him like crazy. We love them too-- and we can only hope and pray that William will end up with someone as great as one of them. I can understand why he loves them so much-- they're great girls!

It's water weather!!

The last week the weather was finally warm enough to go to the spray park in our neighborhood. It's just a few blocks away, so we can walk there without sweating to death. (but come July, we WILL NOT be able to even walk to the mailbox without dying of heat exhaustion!) Hudson wasn't too sure of it. I think the water was still a little too cold for him. William, on the other hand, thought it was the best thing ever. He jumped around and ran through the water NON-stop for at least 45 minutes.

My students

For those of you who don't know, I teach piano lessons to a very small group of girls. It's enough to keep me busy, but not so many that I feel overwhelmed. I really love it! A few weeks ago, I held my very first piano recital!! It was so much fun, and the girls did so well.

New York City!!!

After our Pittsburgh trip, we felt that we had to take advantage of being in the Northeast, so we headed to the big city to visit Trent and Paige. And what a trip that was...

We didn't waste any time getting started. After we got to Trent and Paige's apt (which is super nice, and in the PERFECT location), the boys took naps. Then, we headed out to Build a Bear. SO FUN! William designed a NYC fireman with Aunt Paige.
Day 2 we felt that we had to do SOME touristy stuff, so we took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. William and I had done quite a bit of reading about the Statue before we went, so he was very excited to finally see her. Although, he was bit irritated that she couldn't walk around... :-)

That evening, we had to make a stop at FAO Schwartz! It is by far the best toy store ever. It was like the kids were in heaven. We walked around and played until closing. Hudson loved dancing on the piano, but William just wanted to watch. I was a bit surprised, since he's a bit of a showboat!

Hudson has a newfound love-- these ENORMOUS teddy bears. I wanted to buy him one because he just couldn't stop cuddling with them, but there was NO way I could get one in my suitcase!
William loved it when we went on the subway. The subways were probably the most frustrating thing about NYC b/c very few had elevators or escalators. So, we had to do the ole "3 man carry the stroller down lots and lots of stairs". It was a major pain in the butt, but thankfully there were 3 of us there most of the time to share the load.

As most of you probably know, William is OBSESSED with Mary Poppins. So, Aunt Paige watched Hudson one afternoon and we took William to see it on Broadway. It was a great show, and William LOVED it. He got a little stressed with Mary Poppins, Jane or Michael left the stage, but he was so good and loved every minute of it.

Hudson fell in love with Aunt Paige....and her boots!
What's a trip to the Big Apple without a hot dog from a hotdog stand, right? Even William and Hudson enjoyed one.

On our last night there, a friend of Trent and Paige's volunteered to watch the boys for us so that we could all 4 go out for dinner and dessert. We went to a very yummy African restaurant and then to Serendipity for dessert. It was SO YUMMY!! It was the perfect way to wrap up the week.

Pittsburgh

We went to Pittsburgh nearly 2 weeks ago to attend the wedding of Dave's cousin, Steve. Actually, Dave was one of the groomsman. Dave and Steve were roommates in college for several years, so they are pretty close. It was an added bonus that the wedding was in Pittsburgh because that is where Dave's sister Atria lives as well as my MIL's family.

One of the highlights of the weekend was getting to meet some of my MIL's birth family. She is adopted and an only child. A few years back, she connected with some of her birth family. She had lots of brothers and sisters, all of whom have passed away. But these 2 ladies below are her neices. So, Dave got to meet cousins!! We got to meet a few of Pat's cousins, as well as these ladies' kids. It was so fun to get to know them.

Thanks to my brother-in-law, Jeff, Hudson didn't have to go unentertained during the reception. Every time Hudson got fussy, Uncle Jeff stepped in and saved the day!

Steve and Gabby having their first dance. It was such a beautiful wedding, and so much fun!

All the little cousins had so much fun dancing. I had a hard time getting William to dance with me. I think in this picture below he is looking for his cousins Isabella and Elle!!

We had a really great time seeing Dave's family. Of course, William will probably mostly miss his crazy Grandpa. Somehow William always ends up with really bad habbits after spending time with him. I can't figure out why that is.....

Easter

Well, since everyone else is posting pics from Easter, I guess I better jump on the bandwagon! Here are my boys on Easter:

We did something a little less traditional this year: we decided against a big lunch so that the kids could get good naps, and then we could have a nice egg hunt and dinner. Hudson is always so fussy after church because of missing his morning nap. It just wasn't worth it to have him cranky all during lunch and then not enjoy an egg hunt. It's was a good choice because both boys had so much fun hunting for eggs with their cousins, Keira and Emery:

Here is our family picture: