Crutsing Crew

The Crutsinger crew came for a visit after their week at family camp. It was fun to have all FIVE boys together! Here's how roll call goes between the Crtsingers and Livesays...

1. Cooper - almost 5

2. Hudson - almost 4

3. Benjamin - 3 1/2

4. Major 2

5. Cole 1

That's right, they are 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1... wanna play! Watch out because it gets a little crazy! Girls might need protective gear. Just a thought.

Hudson arrived with the Crutsingers from a special, mini-session at family camp.

Here Hudson is running to his new playground that was installed while he was at camp.

Cooper - 5, Major - 2, Ben - 3

Ben and Hudson

They are only 6 months apart in age.

I believe we decided it was time for a movie at some point. We watched Toy Story 2, I believe, and then the entire gang went to see Toy Story 3 in the theatre!

Note to self: You can never have enough food when 5 boys are eating and 4 adults. I'll plan better next time.

Cooper, Ben and Hudson all slept in Hudson's room. The first night was hilarious as you can see a serious finger point coming from Stephen.

We got the playground slide really wet and put the pool at the bottom. The kids had a blast and I suggested adding some Crisco to the slide just to see how far they could really fly. Here are some of the highlights... (we didn't really add Crisco, maybe next time)

Laura and I took the big boys to the mall for a little Victoria Chuck E. Cheese and Chick-fil-a.

The Crutsingers live in Orlando, FL so this was a special treat for all of us!

We Start 'Em Young

Toy Story Insanity

This is Hudson, as Andy, from Toy Story

cute

Swim Lesson 2010

Coach Hackney Swim Lessons

(side note... if you say "coach" before a last name, it just sounds cooler...)

This is how they start out before lessons

Coach Hackney is in the sun hat and grey t-shirt which would normally seem dorky but because he is "Coach Hackney," it's cool, trust me. I asked someone what he coaches and is seems like that is a mystery... unless you count swim lessons as coaching?

The run down on how swim lesson played out for Livesay crew 2010...

Hudson -- not a huge fan, but did great -- he didn't want to jump off the diving board at first but by the end he was a jumping fool -- he swam by himself on day 4 of 10 and Coach Hackney was impressed and I soaked it up cause I'm a sucker for that stuff :)

Major -- another story, meaning wow, that kid can scream! -- I asked if it would be okay if I remove myself from the lessons due to my kid screaming in a way that left my heart pounding -- in the end, he did great and is very comfortable in the water -- he says "kick, kick, kick" and is very adventurous in the water now

I'm going to say, "mission accomplished" for this year!

Be Still My Heart

Hudson came into the living room after his bath last night. He looked at me and said, "Mommy, I missed you." Then he said, "Mommy, can I sit with you?" Then, he looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I think I love you."

He says I love you all the time but this was just extra sweet and it seemed like he had really thought about it, and he does love me after-all :)

Cousin Week 2010

All last summer I wanted to make a trip to Little Rock. The summer slipped away from me and we never made the trip. This year, I talked with Julianne in advance (shocker), and we figured out the perfect week. Jared headed south of the boarder the first week of June so I headed up to the beautiful hills of Little Rock (no I'm not kidding! if you've never been to Arkansas, you're missing out. it really is a beautiful drive). I got a little nostalgic, having not driven that way in a long, long time. We have mostly flown over the past several years, so driving brought back lots of memories. I thought of places we use to stop as a family, like Bryces in Texarkana, or the Friendship, AR sign that we took pictures under on a little girls trip up to Kanakuk. I also thought of a million lake trips to Ouachita, some camping, some in a cabin. Hot Springs is where my dad grew up and I love it there too. I saw that exit and thought about my sweet Granny and PaPa. Hot Spring is also where Stephen and I went on our first anniversary. We stayed at Mountain Harbor on lake Ouchita.

Hudson and Mojor were troopers, for sure. We left Victoria around 7:30am and arrived in Little Rock around 5:00pm. We had one long stop in Nacogdoches for a Chick-fil-a lunch, and a couple of potty stops for Hudson. We set up camp at the Hoerman's house and let the festivities begin!

Julianne got a very nice blow up pool that didn't take that long to blow up with the pump but filling it up with water took awhile. The kids didn't have the patience to wait so there was a lots of jumping around while we filled it up.

Ryan-Kate taught Hudson and Major about cool bath activities, like dying that water...FUN!

sweet girl

Hudson and Major are dressed and ready to go and "Miss Beauty Sleep" has just gotten out of bed and is still rockin' the PJs.

Julianne kept coming up with the coolest things to do. Here we all are at the Museum of Discovery, downtown. This place was so fun for them.

The next day we all drove to Brinkley, AR to meet up with Big Daddy. It had been awhile since the Livesay crew had seen him. We met at McDonalds and played, and then Big Daddy gave us a tour of where he grew up. I had been all around Brinkley, growing up, but it was cool to have Big drive the boys around and tell stories!

Frank Major Cole~~BIG DADDY

~

Graham Major Livesay

~

Big Daddy with his name sake

Okay, we did this every day after naps!

This place "rocks!" No really, there were rocks everywhere. Little Rock, I get the name now. The splash park was so fun and it sits at the bottom of a hill, and there are all the these tunnels that lead to a little park/climbing area/ slide thing... very cool and very entertaining.

Hudson at the top of the slide.

Major is crawling up the rocks to the right.

Major flew out and onto his biscuits.

Happy after a fun slide.

Watching a race car at the pizza place.

Oh yeah, we did it!

Hudson loved it but was a little bummed that he didn't get to drive. Sorry, buddy, according to the sign you need to grow about 5 more inches.

tiny bowling

Ice-cream Break

ice cream smiles

we're all happy

There was a girls night on Wednesday. Julianne, Nicole and I went out for dinner while sweet Laramie watched the kiddos. It was nice to get out and have kid-free time. On Thursday, Julianne and I had Laramie babysit again. We shopped for brick, for Julianne's new house, got pedicures, shopped more, and ate dinner out! Fun, Fun!!!

We left on Saturday morning and the road trip went great, until... We got to Houston, and my car got funky on me. Several lights came on and my AC stopped blowing cold air!!! Two Hours from home! It was miserable! I kept checking to make sure the kids didn't pass out because it was 96* out side. Horrible, but Stephen met us pretty quick after we got to Victoria. He took over the boys and I took a bath!