Dudley Family Christmas Part 2

Christmas 2005: T&K Dudley family are in London
Christmas 2006: B&B Goldie family are in Ohio
Christmas 2007: B&B Goldie family are in PA, unable to travel because of pregnancy.
Christmas 2008: We're FINALLY all together for the holiday, for the first time since 2004. No wonder I was excited!

This trip could not have been more perfect. We had a chore chart, a meal chart, a devotional chart and a posterboard calendar marking our activities hung on the wall to keep things organized. 8 adults and 4 little boys in such close proximity could have called for disaster, but instead the house was full of laughter and peace. I love this family I belong to and will always cherish these two weeks we had all together ... heaven knows when this will happen again! Now get ready for more pictures than I have ever put on a single post before!

Nick was obsessed with playing Santa just about the whole time. Here he made my dad and Mara sit on his "sleigh" while he drove it around, delivering toys.

Jack and Nick are the greatest combination. I love these two boys together!

Lounging away...that's what vacation is for!

On Christmas Eve my parents gave the boys monkey jammies and Curious Geoge stuffed animals. Four little monkeys sitting on the bed...bet you can guess how long that lasted!

My parents were nice enough to treat us to a day trip in DC on my birthday. I had never been before and I loved it almost as much as NYC (where we also went, but I forgot my camera). Here we are in front of the Lincoln Memorial, the whole family minus Katie, who always gets stuck behind the lens (thanks, Kate). When we got up to the Lincoln Memorial, Nick stared at the huge statue in awe and asked me if he could walk and talk. I tried to explain that it was a statue made of rock, honoring a great man, blah blah blah. Well, the boys got restless, so Brad took them back down and left me to marvel and read Lincoln's speeches. When Nick met my mom at the bottom of the memorial, they had the following conversation:

My mom: Nick, did you see Abraham Lincoln?

Nick (disappointed): Yeah. He can't talk. He just walked into a rock and sat down.

My cute Tim and Katie

Nick's loot from Santa on Christmas morning.

Opening presents (yes, in his underwear. Honestly, he's usually in his underwear. It's a battle I choose not to fight unless we're going somewhere).

The boy loves his puzzles!

Our little Chasers on Christmas morning. He loved playing with all the wrapping paper!

The four of us in front of The White House.

WW2 Memorial. Look at my hubby's cute hat that I made him buy! :)

Chase slept in his stroller for about 2 hours of the sight-seeing. Such a good babe.

All bundled up! It was in the upper 40's that day (which sounds like heaven compared to the 6 degrees it is right now in State College)!

The huge van my dad rented to transport us there and back (everyone was really thrilled I was taking their picture at midnight if you can't tell).

Daniel and I had to sit on the front bench with Chase because we get car-sick (I know, lucky us!)

Brad and I carried over a Goldie family tradition and we had an appetizer party for New Years Eve. Yes, it was as good as it looks.

Chase...just being himself. Can you believe it's almost his birthday, because I can't!

One of the best things about this trip was spending time with my Brad. He hardly did any school work so we were able to just play and relax the whole time (Iknow, lovely picture).

Calahan (the sweetest, cutest, funniest 18 month old alive) playing with Daniel.

On the way home, we stopped in Hershey, PA and went to chocolate world! Nick loved it and we're looking forward to going back in warmer weather!

All in all, a trip I will never forget! Love you each Mom, Dad, Tim, Katie, Jack, Cal, Daniel ,and Mara!

Goldie family Christmas 2008

One of the best things about our move to PA has been that we're within driving distance (just over 6 hours) to Brad's family. So even though we spent the majority of the Christmas break with the Dudley side, Brad's parents and two younger sisters came to spend a few days and have Christmas with us before we left. I don't know why I didn't take more pictures, but here are a few of the highlights:

I love this picture of Jeffrey Allen, Bradley Allen, and Nicholas Allen. Jeff put up a bird feeder and two squirrel feeders in our "back yard" for Nick, and we all LOVE them! Nick and Chase both get excited to see all the animals in the back.

We had an ice storm while they were here, so we took the top off of Nick's sandbox and used it as a sled (he has since received a real one, although this one worked quite nicely!). This perfectly-Nick-sized-sledding-hill, is right behind our house. I took these pictures standing on our back patio.

As usual, the Goldie's showered us with too many presents! The big surprise of the night was the double stroller, which I am ecstatic about! How this will make my life easier!!!

This picture was taken on the day that Debbie taught Chase how to say "Grandpa." Whenever Chase sees Jeff, he puts his head forward to engage him in an affectionate head but. I love to see the special relationships that are developing between my kids and their grandparents!

For the seeing impaired...

For a very important man in my life who may just be getting a little older, I upped the size of my text and changed the font a bit. If you (or any of you) still have a hard time reading the red on black, it helps to highlight the text. I tried to change my blog background, and I just can't do it. I'm not cutesy enough to do anything scrapbook-y looking, and the black background is just too "me" to be messed with. Hope this helps, DAD!

I only have a minute, but I keep forgetting to post on here that Chase has started to repeat words! When the Goldie's were here, Debbie taught him how to say "grandpa" and he has since said "uh-oh, all done, Jack, ma ma, and da da." When he gets in a jabbering mood he just repeats these 6 words over and over. I was a bit skeptical and kind of in shock at first because Nick was so much older when he started talking. I keep trying to get in on video, and will post it as soon as I do.

More posts are in the works (in my head, at least), and will come to fruition as soon as I get the motivation and time! :)

The Dudley Family Christmas Vacation (part 1)

Hello all. Long time, no post. I do this when I feel overwhelmed with anything. I've had so much that I want to blog about, so I feel overwhelmed, and then I never blog anything. Awesome. December is always the busiest month in the world for everyone, and we are no exception. I love being busy and I love all things Christmas. We're in Philly right now with the entire Dudley family, and life couldn't be sweeter. Some highlights from our trip include:

* Having 4 boys ages 3 and under opening presents (and presents and presents) together on Christmas morning.

* A day trip to Washington DC on my birthday (yikes, I'm 27!)

* Lots of games of Settlers and Scum and Euchre

* Sleeping in almost every morning (because my husband is AWESOME!)

* Nightly devotionals

* Only having to cook every three days -- wahoo!

* Shoe shopping, just mom and me.

* A game of HORSE on Christmas day, in which I took second place, beating all of the boys except for Daniel (this really is amazing considering that I stink at basketball...and all sports).

*Becoming acquainted with the new wii that Daniel and Mara received for Christmas (and that is now on Brad's wish list for next year).

What's even greater is that we still have a week left! Some future highlights include:

* A day trip to New York City

* A date DAY (10 whole hours) with just me and my Brad (I love free babysitters) 

* An appetizer party on New Years Eve

* A day for Katie and I to get projects done that we've been putting off all year

* Many more games and devotionals and yummy food and laughter and joy.

Christmas is so much better with FAMILY around to share it with! Hope all of you had the Merriest of Christmases and that you have a very happy New Year!

HAPPINESS

I just got a call from this boy...

...telling me that he'll be at my house in 4 hours (I wasn't supposed to see him until Monday in Philly)!

Then on Thursday these lovely people...

and these crazy girls....

...are coming to my house until Sunday, at which point Brad, Nick, Chase and I leave to spend two glorious weeks with all of these people......

And, as if that were not enough to fill my heart with joy, I get to bring this boy home with me in January to stay for a few months...or forever (hopefully)!

Life is beautiful!

I was rocking Chase at bedtime tonight (no, I am NOT nursing in this video) and singing him some lullabies, when Nick came in to join me. He has just recently started singing songs in their entirety, and Brad and I cannot get enough of it. Although it's not in tune (I'm still hoping that all the hours I've sung to him in his short life will eventually pay off), he's still cute!

boring fest

I'm in a blogging funk. I've been all excited to blog about Thanksgiving, but I forgot to take my camera to Ohio (of course), so I'm saving that post until I get some pictures from my sister-in-law, Mindy. So I've decided to finally complete the tags I received from Mallory (another sister-in-law). So if you hate tags, just scroll to the pictures at the end of the post! :)

8 things I am passionate about:
1- Brad
2- Nick
3- Chase
4- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
5- My family (Dudley's and Goldie's)
6- health and nutrition
7- Having a clean and organized house(I'm not always great at it, but I love it!)
8- MUSIC

8 words and phrases I say often:
1- I love you
2- Use your words
3- Oh my word (this one is thanks to Melissa! :)!
4- Art time!
5- Quiet time!
6- Bed time!
7- Play time!
8- Time to go!

8 things I want to do before I die:
1- See my children grow into happy, healthy, and productive adults that have strong testimonies and know who they are.
2- Travel with my family
3- Serve a mission with my hubby
4- I want to stay active in music, serving others, being involved in the community, and continue to work on self-progression.
5- Is it so pathetic that I can't think of anything else?! I have ideas (write a book, become a music therapist, go to nursing school to become and labor-and-delivery nurse, learn to be a home-making goddess), but I honestly won't be that disappointed if these never happen.

8 things I want or need
1- a nice new camera
2- an automatic car starter
3- 72 hour kits for the four of us
4- a new Sams Club membership
5- winter shoes
6- picture frames for the wall collage I want to do on my dining room wall and up my staircase (not in our student budget at the moment)
7- decorations for Nick's room (it's the only room in my house with blank walls. I just can't decide what I want to do in there, nor do I have the money)
8- a new pair of jeans

8 "interesting" things about me (I'm not sure about this one. I think I'm pretty boring)
1- I always, ALWAYS have to know what time it is. There are clocks all over my house. But I don't wear a watch.
2- If I could have my way, we would own NO TV! I hate it!
3- I really really really wish I were a morning person and a person who required little sleep.
4- I love to read and research about health, nutrition, and exercise, but I hate having to watch what I eat and I hate exercising (but I do it anyway).
5- If we can afford it, we're going to put our kids in private school. I have issues with the public school system.
6- I love to decorate my house. I don't know what I'm doing, but I love it.
7- I am a very picky eater. I eat the same things every day and have for years (V8, string cheese, apples with cheese, fruit smoothies with protein powder, cereal, spinach salads, shredded chicken with black beans and salsa, cereal, ect). I don't necessarily like this about myself. It's just the way it is.
8- I am a member of the State College Choral Society (community choir), and am probably one of 20 people under the age of 50 that belong to it (there are about 140 people in the choir). Anyway, I just joined in September, and I love it! We're singing really hard stuff right now -- Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, ect., all in German -- but it's been the greatest thing for me.

I rarely post without pictures, so here you go.

I hate this picture of me, but love it of Brad. I just had to give him a shout-out today, as he has a huge presentation on a paper he's been working on for almost a year. Good luck, Babe! I know you'll do awesome!

Better late-than-never, here's a Halloween picture of my boys. Chase was Elmo, Nick was a firefighter (with a dumb hat. We couldn't get him to wear the real one). We had an excellent Halloween. We went trick-or-treating with our dearest friends, then went to a fun Halloween party. Nick was excited about his candy but was even more excited when he woke up the next morning to see that the switch-witch swapped it for a stick horse and a book! He never even asked about his candy after that. Here's hoping we have such luck in future years.

Brad put Nick to bed the other night and heard some noise in his room about 20 minutes later. When he walked in, this is what he found. This has been one of Nick's favorite activities lately. He props his books up like this, puts his little GI Joe men in them, and parks a car out front. He calls these creations tree houses for some reason, and makes little neighborhoods all over our house. Silly kid!

Now, I tag : BRADLEY ALLEN GOLDIE