My Baby Boy is Four!!!!!

I guess my goal is now to do a post every month :) We just get so busy, this thing is hard to keep up with! Over the last month, the kids started school, our friends Amanda and Chase got married and the most important- Jackson turned four years old today!!!



We will start with Amanda and Chase's wedding, it was in Mount Pleasant, Texas-about 3 hours away from us. It is really nice having so many people around us who are so good to the kids and watch them when we have things like this to go to. We really appreciate all of you!! Love you!! Scott and I had a really good time, and it was so fun to be with our good high school and college friends during such a special time. Amanda and Chase are so cute together and seemed so calm and happy at the wedding. Congrats you guys, we love you!!! The Bride and her Daddy

Amanda and Chase during their first dance

Evelyn and Doug-Hope they are next to take the walk down the aisle ;)

My partner in crime, always willing to get into trouble with me, Lauren Clark

Scott and I

Crazy Pete

Oh no, the dancing begins

Jason and I

The kids started school at the beginning of September and they love it!! Jackson asks almost everyday if he can go to school :) Leah's teacher says she is such a good girl at school and always such a helper. Jackson carries his lessons home from school, the other day I was driving and he asked me "Did you stop all the way at that stop sign, mom?" We might have a little cop like my Uncle John on our hands...

Leah wasn't really cooperating with the pics on the first day of school

My handsome boy

Outside Mrs. Leath's (or Mrs. "Leaf's") classroom

Leah playing with the yoys in her classroom

Me and the kids, Jackson didn't want Mommy and Daddy to go to dinner, Leah didn't seem to mind

Looking like my "mini-me"

Krista and I were watching the seaon premiere of Grey's Anatomy, I guess the kids were wanting some attention, b/c they ran out from Jackson's room dressed up like this on their own. SOOO cute!!

Best buddies!

Crazy kids

Leah loves when mommy paints her nails!! Such a girly-girl

Weekend day at the park

Uncle Jason and Leah, she loves that guy. Cute smile, huh? She's such a cheese

Aunt Megan came home for Jackson's birthday, the kids love when she comes home!!!

I decided to "save money" and make Jackson's birthday cake this year. It ended up costing me $47 in supplies, so I don't know how much it saved me, but I loved doing the cake!! I was so proud, this is the first cake I have ever done!! The railroad crossing signs are cupcakes I made, too :)

The Ludlow cousins, Carly couldn't be there b/c she had a soccer game :(

Lighting the Birthday Cake

My Sweet boy

Thinking of his wish...one guess...Disneyworld

Big Boy

Jackson's Partner in crime, Christopher...they are TROUBLE together

One attempt to get pics of the kids together

GattiTown Train, Jackson's favorite part

One night, while making dinner, I heard Scott and the kids playing in Leah's room, I found Scott playing "kitchen" with the kids. It was so sweet to see him sitting at her kitchen table, sipping tea from her tea set. He is the BEST daddy!!

I hope that chair doesn't break ;)

The Ludlows Lately...

Well we are basically trying to get back into the swing of Scott going to school, mommy working and now the kids start their Mother's Day Out program on Tuesday!! They are really excited! We had meet the teacher night last week and I have a feeling Leah is going to be the terror of her class. Most the 2 year olds were hanging by their parents, coloring or being held...not my Leah she is in the back taking down every toy, trying to socialize with the other kids, she is so funny!! What can I say, she gets the socializing thing from me, I have always been a talker :) After Scott and I discussing it, we decided to put Jackson in the 3 year old class even though he will be 4 in October. We just thought since he is not starting Kindergarten for 2 more years and he has never really gone to school, besides his stint last year for 3 months in the 2 year old class. We thought he could benefit from starting the preshool curriculum from the beginning. The teachers were great and assured us their are other kids with late birthdays like his, and his teacher taught elementary school prior to starting a family of her own. It is very structured, they learn to prepare for Kindergarten, unlike Leah's class which is just to teach them to follow instructions and to socialize with other kids :/ Anyway we are excited for the kids, sad for me. It will be weird to not have my little buddies at home with me 2 days a week, but it's only for a few hours. It makes me sad they are growing up so fast! I thought this was so cute, we had our suitcase still out from the trip and Leah decided to turn it into a bed all on her own. This is her "bed"

Pretending to sleep

Okay, so this probably looks really bad...but the kids love to play in the dog kennel with Max!!! I will come to the room where the kids are playing, and they will be sitting in the dog kennel watching tv! In some regards, it's nice because I know they are not getting in trouble, but I told Scott's mom I am going to get CPS called on me when a sales person comes to the door and sees the kids in the dog kennel! So this pic is from when Jackson didn't make his bed right, he got put in the kennel...not funny :/

This is a picture of Leah the first time she went on the potty, she was so excited!! I sat there for an hour with her...halfway through her favorite movie "Marley amd Me," one cup of milkies and two popsicles later she went Poo-Poos on the Potty!! So proud of my sweet girl!! (Sorry about the make-up under my eyes, I had just worked out)

Restaurant week comes once a year to DFW where you can try fine dining at a lower cost and the money goes to the Texas Food Bank to feed those in need. It is a fun thing to do if you are on a budget, but have a nice restaurant you want to try. This year we went to Silver Fox with Scott's sister Lisa and her husband Mark. It was delicious, and tons of food! Perfect night...handsome date, good company, great food-what more could you want!

Mark and Lisa...they are so cute

My sexy husband!

Scott had a family picnic day at drill a couple of weekends ago and they had their helicopters out so the families could see them, Jackson thought this was pretty cool...he is ALL boy

Scott was gone at a Bachelor Party for one of our good friends, so I took the kids to a Train Museum in downtown Dallas with NJ and Mel. They loved it!! It was pretty cool, I even enjoyed walking through the old trains. They had some of the cars set up like they were still working, the dining car had menus and table settings, it was fun!! Jackson blew my mind, he knew so much about trains, stuff that I didn't even know. We walked by one "train car" as he calls them, and he told me "oh mom this is the coal car, this is where they carry the coal" sure enough he was right! Then in this picture he had just pointed out the brakes to me and said, "Look at these brakes mom" The most impressive thing, we were getting onto a part of the train and he said, "this is the pullman car mom" I don't even know what a pullman car is, but sure enough there was a sign saying it was the pullman car!! He is so smart, I love my sweet boy. Today Scott and I went to Firehouse Subs with the kids to eat, and Jackson pointed out the clock to us and told us it was 1 o'clock, he was right and we have NEVER taught him to read a clock! Enough bragging, but he is so smart, I am so proud of him :)

This was a working train in the 1890's, it was huge in person!

After taking this one, we saw a sign that I asked for us not to climb on trains...oops!