Brandi & Scott Wedding

Hudson was the ring bearer and I was the Matron of Honor in our friends’ Scott and Brandi’s wedding. Hudson's tiny tux was just about the cutest thing I’d ever seen. 

Tuxedo Fitting

At the rehearsal, he spent more time practicing with the musicians than he did walking down the aisle. We got some video of him “helping” to play the piano. The best part is when he starts to sing along. We got some of it on video – wait until the end to hear him start singing. 

The wedding ceremony and reception were absolutely beautiful. Hudson did a great job walking down the aisle at the rehearsal, but at the wedding he needed a little ride down the aisle from Dad. He joined my parents for the ceremony. Afterwards we got some great pictures out on the course at Indian Hills.

 Just before his walk down the aisle

 A little help from Dad.

 The fam out on the golf course

 The bride and bridesmaids. Love our shoes!

Rachel & Dustin Wedding

Rollie’s sister Rachel got married in West Des Moines, Iowa in May. Hudson wore the most adorable little three piece suit and tie to the wedding and reception. Almost all of Rollie’s extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmas were in attendance, so we had a really fun weekend packed with dinners, shopping, golf, and late night cocktails. 

 I love everyone's expressions in this picture.

A Day for Mom

For Mother’s Day we went to the extremely over-the-top buffet at Indian Hills. The chef at IHCC puts together the most amazing buffet displays and stations and this one was by far the most extreme I’ve ever seen. There were seven ice sculptures (yes, seven) including one towering over the tables holding plants and flowers. There were stations for breakfast, omelets, desserts, seafood, lunch items, a kids table, and even a fill your own deviled egg station (which was my favorite). After brunch we took pictures on the golf course and in our front yard. Then we all changed out of our nice clothes and got out the water table for some fun in the front yard. 

 Water Table Fun!

First Birthday Pictures

Here are the professional first birthday and family pictures.

I love the expression of him looking at the cake.

Crawling, Walking, Running – Oh My!

This little baby turned into a full on toddler practically overnight. He started crawling at about 10 months, and cruising around (climbing up on the furniture or walls and walking around it) about three days after crawling, so he really didn’t crawl much. He had taken a few steps around 11 months, but wasn’t fully walking on his own until 2 days after his birthday. Then he just took off and we’ve been chasing him ever since. People say that often times babies skip crawling and go straight to walking  - it seems like Hudson skipped walking and went straight to running! Here's video I took of some of the first steps (not the very first ones, but close)!

  

And he's off and running (and playing soccer).

Birthday Boy!

April 29 was Hudson’s first birthday. It felt like we blinked and an entire year went by. To celebrate the first birthday, Rollie and I took the afternoon off work to take Hudson to the zoo. We rode the carousel, saw Nikita the Polar Bear, and walked through Africa. It was a gorgeous day for a zoo trip.

For his first birthday party, we planned an ocean and whale themed party in the park. Franklin Park was completely overhauled and reopened just before his birthday, so we reserved the beautiful new pavilion and invited just close friends and family. The park is a great location, just a few blocks from our house in Prairie Village. Here's the invitation:

 

We had an amazing cake, decorated with frosted cookies to spell Hudson’s name and ocean décor. Hudson had his own little “smash cake” – and smash he did! I don’t think any of it actually ended up in his mouth, but he loves smashing it (and I think he liked having an audience). Here’s video of the smashing of the cake.
 

Birthday Boy!

Gorgeous cake - the decorations are made of frosted cookies

Simple snack foods

Ready, Set, Smash!

I think he's looking at us to see if it's ok that he's smashing the cake.

Really getting into it!

Covered in cake.

Smashing Complete!

A beautiful day in the park for a party. 

Scott, Chris, Rollie and Jake

Hudson Meets the Bunny

For Easter weekend we took Hudson to Indian Hills Country Club to sit on the giant bunny’s lap. I’m not exactly sure why sitting on the bunny’s lap is a ‘thing’ like it is with Santa, though. This bunny kind of freaked me out. Hudson doesn't know what to think.

Big Bunny

He was happy just crawling in the grass to get Easter Eggs.

My favorite part was petting the live baby bunnies.

 Easter morning Hudson got up early to see what the Easter Bunny had brought him. Molly had some treats dropped off for her too.

 Hudson knows which basket is his.

 And Molly knows which basket is hers too!

It's the Easter Puggy!

For dinner we went to my parents’ house and Hudson got to open yet another Easter basket. His favorite part was the plastic grass! 

Summarizing Summer

It would appear I’m averaging about every four months for family blog updates! But life feels like it moves so fast, and my free time flies by even faster. When my laptop crashed this summer, I lost my easiest way to access photos and update the blog. Luckily I still have all the photos backed up and just needed to do a massive photo transfer to get up and running again. I really want to keep an online record of everything that has been going on in our little family’s life, so I’ll do my best to “summarize the summer”.