Thursday, December 25, 2008

Hudson's Bedtime Story

Last night, as we were getting ready for Santa to visit, we heard Hudson talking in his bedroom at Grammy and Pop-Pop's house. I thought he was calling for me at first, so I walked back there and put my ear to the door to listen. He wasn't upset at all, but he certainly wasn't asleep! He was busy telling himself a story. Here is what I heard:

"Once upon a time there was a little boy named Husson. And his mommy and daddy gave him some mashapotatoes. And they were sooooo yummy! But then Pop-Pop came by and took the mashapotatoes away and throwed them in the trash can. And Husson was not very happy...."

Sounds like Santa isn't going to come visit Pop-Pop!

Monday, December 15, 2008

A Vist With Santa



Tonight we took Hudson to see Santa. He really wasn't all that excited, which surprised me. And he didn't seem too awed at the jolly man; it was as if Hudson is used to seeing a big man in a fuzzy, red suit every day. And it certainly seemed routine to sit on his lap and have a little conversation about being good, eating vegetables, and always putting trash in the trash can. Santa had a little trouble understanding that Hudson only wanted Spiderman for Christmas, but he eventually got the message. Spiderman. That means everything ever made with the Spiderman logo. Yep, that's it. That's all he wants: everything Spiderman. Of course, visiting the Chief Elf was the first thing we did at the mall. By the time we left, Hudson's list had grown to include everything Buzz Lightyear, and Star Wars, and Vanderbilt, and Yoshi, and superheroes in general, and....

Saturday, October 4, 2008

At the Symphony Hall

Today was a free day of music at the symphony hall downtown. We decided to take advantage of it and Hudson had a *great* time. The first thing we did, which turned out to be the biggest hit, was to visit the instrument petting zoo. It was a tent set up just outside the symphony hall building where kids can try out a violin, trumpet, trombone, flute, clarinet, drums, and triangles. They had cleaning spray for all the woodwind & brass instruments so we didn't have to worry about getting germs from other kids. Hudson showed more interest in the instruments than the percussion. He did very well with the violin and actually sounded out some notes!

We then went inside and sat right in front for a symphonic brass concert in the atrium. They performed Canzon Duodecimi Toni Sacra Symphony by Giovanni Gabrieli, Arrival of the Queen of Sheba by Handel, Cantata No. 118 by Bach, Ave Maria by Anton Bruchner, Dies Irae by contemporary composer David Sartor, and Five Movements from Divertimento by Raymond Premru. Hudson sat through the entire concert with hands clasped and watching closely.

After that was over, we had some lunch and then Hudson asked to go back to the petting zoo. We went outside and caught them just a few minutes before closing it up. He became much more interested in the trombone. I think the Symphonic Brass inspired him! We went back inside and sat down inside the beautiful concert hall and saw the Cool Springs Symphony. Hudson and Mommy both fell asleep (Hudson played a soccer game early that morning!). The music was beautiful and very relaxing. 

After that we decided to go home, even though there were still many more hours of free music. It was a lot of fun and we will definitely do this again next year. Hudson now has time to decide what his favorite instrument is...

Saturday, September 6, 2008

What is your home planet?

We have been teaching Hudson about our solar system (at his request!). He can already identify Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. He also knows Uranus, Neptune, Mercury, Venus, and Pluto but they are a little tougher to pick out on the solar system map.


When Daddy was driving him to his pre-school yesterday morning, Hudson was informing me that his teacher lives on Neptune. He continued to tell me that Aunt Christina lives on Saturn (she used to live on Jupiter, but I guess she moved), Nana lives on Earth, but Grandad lives on Neptune, Grammy lives on Jupiter, and Pop Pop lives all by himself on Uranus. Poor Pop-Pop!
The solar system is much more complicated than when I was a kid. Now we have Ceres, Pluto, and Eris as "dwarf" planets and Kuiper Belt Objects. Remember when Saturn was the only planet with rings? Well now we know that Uranus and Neptune also have rings.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Learning About Mars

We recently got the movie Roving Mars through our NetFlix service (which we love!). It was an IMAX movie about the two rovers - Spirit and Opportunity that were launched many years ago for a 90 day mission that is still continuing today.

The best part of the movie is when, through a combination of live footage and computer animation, they show how the rocket takes off from Cape Canaveral, jettisons its various stages of booster engines, and flies past the moon. The second part shows the landing module entering the Martian atmosphere, deploying the parachute, inflating the air bags and then bouncing across the planet's surface.

Hudson loves these parts. We have to watch it over and over again and he still gives a running commentary of each stage. He also makes sure that either Mommy or Daddy is watching too. He is so excited about it.

The great thing is that he now knows four planets: Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, and now Mars!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Star Wars Midnight Madness

Daddy and Hudson went to the Toys 'R Us midnight madness sale for the launch of the new Clone Wars product line. Fifteen members of the 501st were there and my little guy was both excited and nervous. The 501st is a volunteer organization for people who like to make their own highly detailed Star Wars costumes. Unless you are an honorary member, the only way to join to is make your own costume and have it reviewed and approved for "authenticity". What is great about them is that they also do a lot of charity work. They do fund raisers for Make-A-Wish foundation and make regular trips to the children's ward of hospitals to spread a little joy about the galaxy far, far away.

Anyway, the local garrison of the 501st had fifteen members attend the event. There were clone troopers, stormtroopers, Boba & Jango Fett, Padme, a Jawa, and even a "lifesize" Chewbacca who stood over seven feet tall (he must have been on half-stilts). Hudson was fascinated, but too scared to get close to him. He was content just waving to him. However, this morning (*late* this morning) when he woke up, he asked to see, "Chihuahua Chewbacca". I guess he liked him after all!

The big hit for him was meeting Boba Fett up close. He was still a little nervous and needed me to hold him, but he always wanted to know where Boba (and Jango) were.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

IndyCar Race

Hudson saw his first racing event at the Firestone Indy 200. We weren't sure how he would handle it since he doesn't like loud noises. We bought some ear muffs prior to our trip downtown to see the Motocross show, but he refused to weart them back then. Fortunately, the motorcycles weren't very loud and he was fine without them.

What helped this time was that our friend Carl joined us for the race. While Mommy and Daddy were wearing foam earplugs that he could really see, Mr. Carl had his own earmuffs he uses at the shooting range. So Hudson wanted to be like Mr. Carl and had no trouble wearing them for the whole evening.

The race itself was very fun. He loved seeing the cars go around the track "super fast". We bought him a few die cast Indy cars too, which he kept with him the whole night. He already had a Tony Kanaan car (Mom is a big TK fan, and Dad is too) - the Big Gulp 7-Eleven car. So we bought him Danica Patrick's car and Helio Castroneves car. Of course the one he really wanted was a Target car (his favorite store - for toys!), so we bought him boring ole Scott Dixon.

It turns out that Scott Dixon won the race, for the third time in a row. Also, sadly, we learned later that the IndyCar Racing League would not be returning to Nashville in the future. They have recently merged with the CART league and they had too many tracks for the 2009 schedule. This is really disappointing, but we're so glad we were able to see at least one IndyCar race together at our home track.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Space Adventure Day

Yesterday Hudson went on his Space Adventure Day (as planned by Daddy). June 28th marked the opening day of the new space wing and planetarium at the local science museum. It also coincided with the new release of Pixar's film Wall-E. So we decided to make a day of seeing these two events, along with Aunt Christina.

We first went to the science museum and Hudson was fascinated by it all. The new space wing was very impressive. They had a display of all the planets, all in proper relative sizes (Saturn and Jupiter were very big!). Daddy pointed to the third planet and told Hudson that was where he lived, that it was the planet called Earth. More on that later...

We then saw the new planetarium and its new show, narrated by none other than Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker). The beginning was a little intense for our little guy, it starts with the death of a star, but the rest of it had kid-friendly animations of a boy and his dog traveling through the history of astronomy. Every time something new would appear on the bowl-shaped screen, Hudson would gasp and say, "Ooooo!".

What truly floored us was when the camera pulled back and showed a blue, green, and whites sphere of our planet, Hudson pointed and said, "Earth! That's Hudson's house!" This after telling him about it once and that almost an hour ago! I think we may have a rocket scientist!

After the show, we left for the movie Wall-E. I won't go into a big review of the movie, but it was fun. Hudson definitely enjoyed it. The day was fun and exhausting!

Saturday, May 31, 2008

The Renaissance Festival

One of our favorite events during the year is the Renaissance Festival, which happens every weekend in May and on Memorial Day. This year, Grammy and Pop-Pop were up visiting and they went with us, along with Aunt Christina. It was Hudson's fourth trip to the festival; his first visit was when he was ust 6 weeks old!

As always, we had a blast. Hudson got his face painted and picked out a black sword and matching black and red shield (with a dragon painted on it). We sampled all kinds of food and drink - turkey legs, boiled peanuts, cinnamon & sugared cashews and almonds, strawberry shortcake, etc. We played several games too. Kristen was especially good at Bump-A-Monk, knocking off 4 out of 5 monks. Pop-Pop and Aunt Christina excelled at archery. Both of them hit the target and were "knighted" by the orders of Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and Larry, Curly, and Moe. Pop-Pop was best at knife throwing, and even tried his hand at the strong-man bell ringing thing-a-ma-jig. We watched the Birds of Prey show and then settled in for the regional championship jousting match. That was the most exciting jousting match we'd ever seen! Several lances got totally shattered and one night almost got de-horsed! With all the interesting booths and entertainment, I think people-watching was Grammy and Pop-Pop's favorite activity. This festival certainly brings out an "interesting" demographic, haha. And because this was their first Renaissance Festival, they didn't know what to expect. We hope they will come back and join us again next year!



Friday, May 16, 2008

My Little Maestro!

Hudson discovered my music stand this morning. Well, he has always seen it, but I guess he was too short to realize that sheet music was on it. For some reason he became curious today and dragged a chair over to it so he could see better. Once he climbed up and saw the sheet music, he got very excited and started waving his arms around and "directing" his own orchestra. He amazed me because I didn't realize he knew what sheet music was! Here are a few clips of his virtual concert. The first is what I've titled Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Wars because he starts off with the child's song and ends up with his own version of Darth Vader's theme from Star Wars. What a creative little guy I have!


This second clip is of Hudson directing his invisible orchestra to The Imperial March, or Darth Vader's theme. Notice that he even gets the dynamics! He directs his orchestra to play piano or pianissimo (I'm not sure which) toward the end of the clip!

The following clip is the ending of the Star Wars concert. Hudson is such a focused director that he doesn't even wait for the applause before asking, "Now what?" He's already on to the next number!

End of Year Program

Last night was Hudson's end of the year program for his school. We were so excited! Hudson performed beautifully, and was such a handsome guy up on stage. He didn't really sing the first two songs, which were performed with all the students in the preschool - he just stood there and watched the director. But he did sing all the songs that his 2 year-old class sang by alone. He didn't do many of the hand signs during the "Jesus Loves Me" song, but he sang most of the words! Mrs. Tina, the school's director, also chose Hudson to be the representative for his class. So when all the diplomas were given out to the graduating 4 year-olds, Hudson presented his teacher, Mrs. Pam, with a small boquet of flowers on behalf of his entire class. We were so proud of our little guy!




Oh and by the way, apparently Hudson thinks it's funny that Mommy dressed up for this occasion. I guess he doesn't ever remember seeing his Mom in a dress, because when I came out of my bedroom wearing a skirt, he stopped in his tracks, pointed a finger at me, and started laughing! He was like, "What. Is. THAT?!" Haha....

As we were driving home last night, Hudson was entertaining us with a singing review of the program. Here are a few clips of what he was singing (it was dark, so you can't see him - just listen). "Oh be careful little hands where you go! Oh be careful little mouth where you go! Oh be careful little feet where you go!" Apparently the "Father soup above" is very concerned with where things go...

Here is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Nana's favorite)....

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

My heart swells with pride!

Oh wow, I couldn't wait to share this little memory! Tonight at dinner, we all sat down to the table together and proceeded to bow our heads, clasp our hands, and say the blessing together. We always say the same one - "God is great, God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen." Well tonight, Rob added, "...and help Aunt Christina get well" before the "Amen." The two of us said, "Amen" together and looked up. Hudson's hands were still together and his eyes were still closed...he was obviously not finished. Then he proceeded to say, "Thank you for Mari Cagle. Thank you for Atticus. Thank you for Riley. Thank you for Dada. Thank you for Mama. Amen." Oh my goodness. I thought my heart would burst. I was SO proud of my little man. (By the way, Riley is the only little girl in his class at "school," and Atticus is the most rambunctious of the other six boys.) Where did that come from?! This was the first time that he has spontaneously said a blessing or added to a blessing all on his own. I just burst into tears right there at the table. I couldn't control myself. And that, of course, prompted Hudson to pat my arm and say, "It's okay, Mama. It's okay." How did I become so blessed with such a perfect little treasure? My cup runneth over....

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

My Naked Cowboy

Hudson "helped" me cut the yard yesterday, and when we were done, we both jumped in the shower together. I washed him first, gave him a towel, and sent him out to dry himself off. Then I proceeded to shower myself. Before long, I heard someone clomping through the bathroom and this is what I saw....


Are these the best "blackmail photos," or what?! HAHA! I love it. My cute little nekkid cowboy!

Last Week of School

This is Hudson's last week of "school." Thursday night is his end of the year program. We're so excited and can't wait to see what he does. We hope he will be good and stand up there and sing his little heart out! (And not just make goofy faces and stick his finger up his nose, which is what he's been doing a lot lately.) His class - the youngest of the 2 year-olds - will be singing several songs including "Jesus Loves Me" (complete with sign language), "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (Nana's favorite), "Jesus Loves the Little Children," and "Oh Be Careful." We've got the camcorder and digital camera batteries all charged and ready to go!

Take a look at some of Hudson's artwork from the past year in his Tuesday - Thursday School.






Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! We hope 2008 will be the best year ever, for you and your loved ones. And no, we didn't forget you with our Christmas cards this year. We just sent them out REALLY late. Actually, we took everything with us to Connecticut and mailed the cards from up there, on Christmas Eve! Yeah, Kristen isn't as organized or on top of things as she used to be. Sorry! :)