THE HOUSE OF BRODT

Landon ~ My Have You Grown!

2011-03-06T22:23:00.003-06:00

Landon, my oh my, have you grown into quite the charming and inquisitive little boy! You are definitely getting more and more into things these days and seem to be learning SO much every.single.day. Why, just in the past week you've mastered three pretty BIG milestones. Funny enough, these ALL have to do with climbing....probably because you must be psychic and knew mommy was just talking about how she was fearing the next step in the 'movement' phase which would be climbing!

You've learned to climb up on and back down off of the not one, but BOTH couches in the house. You are so proud of yourself I can just tell with that cute little grin and giggle you have every time you climb on up. You are definitely excited to be able to join all of us on your own.
You've learned to step onto the step-stools in all three of the bathrooms!
But most impressive, you've decided to top all of these things and to tackle the biggest climbing challenge in our house.....dum.dum.DUM! THE STAIRS!!!! Yep, you are getting too big for your own britches and have decided to start doing all these new things all at.one.time. It's awesome to see you growing and learning new things by leaps and bounds, but a little exhausting too. ;)

A little piece of me is terrified that pretty soon you'll be climbing out of your own crib, starting your first day of school and getting chased by all the cute girls, but hopefully, we've got a good stretch of time before that becomes a reality. Promise me you'll slow down just a little to smell the roses along the way and give mommy and daddy a break! Ha!

Be Still My Heart.....

2011-02-17T16:47:00.000-06:00

My two little Valentine's.....two pieces of my heart!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T23:11:00.000-06:00

We had a lovely day which included a trip to Target to pick out cards and sweets for daddy and then I picked up Chick-fil-a and had lunch with my precious and oh-so handsome sons. Then we spent the evening at home when David got off of worked and he cooked me a yummy grilled rib-eye steak dinner with baked sweet potato. It was really good and definitely made this mama happy since she didn't have to cook, score! All-in-all, it was a really nice, low-key Valentine's Day, which was just what we needed!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you from my two sweet Valentine boys!

Fix You...

2011-02-08T09:30:00.001-06:00

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

My Sweet Boys....

2011-02-07T23:11:00.024-06:00

Big Announcement - Blog Going Private

2011-02-05T14:38:00.001-06:00

We've decided to go private with this blog and will be making the switch quickly. Please post here or email me with your email address should you wish to be added to the reader list. We would just prefer to share our personal lives with those who are truly an active part of ours.

Hudsonisms

2011-01-19T09:52:00.001-06:00

Just before I forget....here are a great couple of little quotes, I like to call them Hudsonisms, straight from the mouth of Hudson.

'I've got my ring on too, now I'M married too Mom!" (he said this after putting on a plastic Toy Story Rex ring that he got off a cupcake at a recent birthday party at MDO. He had asked me about my wedding ring recently and I explained about marriage and mommy and daddy wearing rings because we are married and so, he wanted to join in too! He!)
'No, Mom! Don't change it, I love Strawberry Shortcake!' (His response as I asked him and attempted to change the channel since Strawberry Shortcake had come on and I hadn't noticed, LOL! Apparently, he's her biggest fan! I told him he could watch it all he wanted and that I liked her too!)
'I need weight loss mom, my pants are too tight' (LMAO! What do you say to that?!?! He definitely does NOT need to lose weight, what a silly little boy!)

I know there have been several more just this past week, but I have the worst memory these days! Thus, why I am documenting these before they disappear in my poor memory as well!

Boys in my House

2011-01-14T14:21:00.000-06:00

Boys in my House

There are boys in my house - and Spiderman shoes
And 200 papers in various blues.
There's Bob (he's a builder) and Thomas the Train,
There's a fireman coat to wear in the rain.
They have cars on their shirts and frogs on their hats
There's a glove and a ball and a red plastic bat.
There's dirt on a face and a smudge on a nose;
Grass stains on knees and sand between toes.
There's bathtime at night with bodies to scrub,
And when we're all done there is dirt in the tub!
There's bandaids and bruises and curious bumps,
There's smiles and laughter and sometimes there's grumps.
There's odors most icky; there's boogers so green
There's more yucky things than I'll ever get clean.
There's piles of laundry; there's stories at night;
There's bedtime and bathtime and dinnertime fights.
There's cars and there's trains and there's books about trucks
There's Scoop, Lofty, Dizzy, and Travis, and Muck.
Sometimes there are bugs, and sometimes there are frogs;
Sometimes they are lions, or dinos, or dogs.
There are cute little vests and darling neckties
Dragged right through the mud - oh what a surprise!
There's running and climbing and jumping and falling
And laughing and crying and hugging and brawling
And rolling and losing and finding and creeping
And whining and stealing and sometimes there's sleeping.
There's tantrums and time outs and extra loud noise -
There's love in my house shaped like two little boys.

Author: Erin Jo Kilmer

Snow Day

2011-01-10T09:43:00.000-06:00

Living in Texas by definition means that we are at the mercy of some of the craziest weather around from blistering heat and drought one minute to torrential downpours another and in the winter, it can flip a switch from spring-like conditions to winter wonderland in just a 24 hour period. (or less!) And of course, even our winters are so very mild, that we typically don't see much snow or if so, it's usually a small handful of occurrences for the entire season. and this winter in particular, it has been unusually mild, lots of nice warm weather more appropriate for April than December and January. Until this week that is....

Apparently, Old Man Winter must have FINALLY gotten the memo that it's not supposed to be in the upper 60's and sunny everyday (not that I didn't enjoy it at least a little bit) and we got our first real cold snap and snow of the season. And we couldn't have been more thrilled to have gotten an unexpected 'snow day', but even more-so because it was on the weekend so daddy was home as well to enjoy it, unlike last year when he had to work during the record snowfall days we had in early February.

Silly me hadn't even been paying attention to the weather forecast all week long and happened to mention to David on Saturday morning that I wanted to maybe go do some shopping at Home Goods on Sunday and possibly go scope out and try on some cowboy boots as I've been eying a few pairs online for quite some time now. Little did I know that my shopping plans were going to be derailed by the supposed impending bad weather, that I thought was, well, somewhat of an unlikely reality since SO very often our forecasts call for snow and then nothing happens or we get ICE instead of the snow. He told me that the weather was going to be bad and that so I went ahead and decided to go do all of my grocery shopping that afternoon so that it was out of the way and we didn't have to worry about getting out on Sunday should we actually get any winter weather. I was definitely excited to hear that snow was a possibility, but didn't necessarily get my hopes up since we have such wacky weather patterns and rarely do we get any accumulation even when it does snow.

So, when I woke up way too early Sunday morning and looked out our bedroom window, I saw nothing, just a bunch of rain, LOTS of it. Great, SUPER, lovely, now it's going to just freeze and be a total mess, is what I initially thought. I crawled back into bed and when we all got up later on in the morning, I asked David when the snow was supposed to start and he said, "Oh, it's not supposed to even start until around noon." Me - "Uh, okay. I was wondering because right now it's just a soggy mess out there"

Fast forward to right around noon and it starts to snow, but not just little itty-bitty flurries, I mean it REALLY starts to snow and they are big, FAT, fluffy snowflakes and it is a heavy mix coming down. It snows for hours and we surely got at least a couple inches or more, but nothing like the 12"+ we got last year. Even still, enough to cover the yard, the rooftops, the trees and everything else in our neighborhood instantly transforming it into a temporary Winter Wonderland. It was beautiful, as it always is when it snows. Hudson could NOT wait to get out and play in the snow, but by the time it had accumulated, it was Landon's naptime. So, we promised him we'd go out and play as soon as baby brother got up from his nap and he was really patient and good with waiting until after Landon had a nap and a late lunch and then we all got bundled up and went out to enjoy it for a short bit.

Hudson was SO excited to finally be able to go out and play in the snow a bit.

Landon curiously checked things out and decided to hang out on the sidewalk.

(the snow was actually already melting away and kind of slushy at this point, so although I wanted him to play more in the snow, I didn't encourage it since it was more like slush and not so much snow. We should have gone out before his nap probably)

What is all this stuff????

David showing Hudson the trick to a perfect snowball.

Stomping snow is SO gratifying.

He took no time in getting all wet and yucky....my little snow loving boy!

Landon was content with just sitting on the sidewalk and watching on....

Hi mama! It's cold! Brrrr.....

No, really, it's pretty cold out here guys.....

Oh well, I'll make the most of it......Woohoo! Yay for snow!!!

Hudson was not so happy with mom snapping away with the camera. He said "Only ONE picture mom!"

Snow days ROCK!


Obviously, he LOVED it!

Two of my loves....SWOON!


Daddy + sweet baby boy = heart.melt

Then I jumped from behind the camera for a few shots...

Landon and mommy...

Landon wanted to show off his new first big-boy haircut too!

It was fun, but would have been SO much better and more fun had there been more snow and had it not already been melting so badly. Hopefully, we'll get at least one more good snowfall before the winter is over. We have to have another snowman opportunity since this time was a FAIL due to the melty snow. Just as long as it doesn't snow in March, we'll be good!

New Year, New Beginnings

2011-01-09T16:33:00.000-06:00

So, here I've gone off and neglected this blog once again. Even after countless promises that I would do better and be more consistent in my posts and documenting our family life, more than anything, for the enjoyment to be able to look at it again down the road and have a wonderful documentation of SO many fond memories, but to also share our daily lives with family and friends whom we can't always connect with on a daily basis.

Yet, here we are again and I've done a terrible job at updating this poor, poor pity of a blog. I do hope to do better and am hoping that this year I will be able to follow through a bit on old promises to keep it updated and do a little bit better even if it's only a post here and there.

So much has happened in the past year and quite honestly, it was a whirlwind of sorts. A year filled with SO many cherished memories and milestones and the year that I became a stay-at-home / work-at-home mother of the two most amazing sons that I could have ever asked for. I want to acknowledge that the sheer presence of these two beautiful people are the driving force behind everything I do and everything I want to be and often times, that means that certain things, like this blog for example, have been inadvertently neglected since they have been my first priority on a daily basis which also has been a huge learning process for me. Not to learn to put them first, but to learn how to accept the new me, to learn how to lose a lot of freedom, a lot of myself and for things to be so different in this new life then I ever thought it would be. To let go of control (well, I'm still working on that), to let go of my passionate career-driven mentality (I still have a huge passion to be professionally successful with my businesses, but that's all-together a different story) and to learn and adjust to always have a little one at my beckoning call. It was a difficult first year, but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way and I feel so very blessed to have had the opportunity to stay home and spend so much cherished time with the two of them. It's been a life-changing experience and one that I've grown infinitely from. Being Hudson and Landon's mommy is the best thing that could ever happen to me. I cannot even explain in words how much love I feel for these boys. And the love I receive in return, priceless.

My hope is that I will be able to catch up a bit on some of the important moments from the past year, here and there if I can, but my main goal is to do at least a little better at posting here and sharing on a regular basis. I love to write and to share photos of moments that I find special, whether it be a funny, sad, happy or sacred moment and I love being able to capture these all in this blog as a special documentation of our lives that can be enjoyed for many years to come. Here's to a New Year and New Beginnings and the many, many wonderful memories 2011 will bring!

To The Moon And Back....

2010-12-28T23:21:00.001-06:00

Loves my two sweet little boys so, so very much, more than I can ever express in words and am so beyond blessed to be able to call them mine. And even more blessed that they love me back and are so, so sweet and good to me. Love you both...to the moon and back.

Santa Success!

2010-12-08T21:47:00.000-06:00

This year's annual visit to go see Santa was another success and both Hudson and Landon did SO well!! We had initially planned to go to Allen again to see the jolly ole' fellow, but decided to skip the LONG drive and meet him at the Uptown Village shopping center in Cedar Hill instead. I was truly quite reluctant at first and REALLY wanted to go to Allen, but it was already so late in the day and our original Santa plans weren't likely to come to fruition so I agreed to give the local meet-up a chance instead so the boys wouldn't have to endure such a long drive to and from Allen and plus, it would have really messed with Landon's lunch time and nap times too since it would take up so much time.

Amazingly, I was really impressed with NO wait and a super jolly and SOCIAL Santa that was ready to give the boys full-attention since there wasn't a million other screaming kiddos waiting in line. Neither boys cried or acted scared, not one bit except I would say that Landon did look quite a bit curious at first when Santa was talking to him, but after a few minutes, he was good to go and just smiled and hammed it up for their photo. SO glad it went well and we had no meltdowns this year! (we've been lucky enough to only have had one really, but last year Hudson was not so happy by the time we got to see Santa, so no wait was even a bigger bonus this year!)

Here they are with Santa.......

Counting With Hudson

2010-10-19T00:19:00.000-05:00

Hudson randomly was counting to himself today and I couldn't help myself but to chuckle just a tad little bit when this is what I heard....

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, thirteen, thirteen."

L-O-L!

Gotta work on that, ha!

Pumpkin Patch Love

2010-10-19T00:14:00.001-05:00

Just a snippet from our trip to the Country Critters petting zoo and pumpkin patch last Friday.

The Many Faces of Hudson

2010-10-14T23:37:00.001-05:00

Birthday Cupcakes - YUM!

2010-10-13T23:45:00.001-05:00

Hudson's first birthday celebration cupcakes for 'school' or MDO rather. I decided that I would make a sweet treat for him and his classmates to celebrate his birthday tomorrow during snack time. Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and cute little toppers in Hudson's two favorite colors, green and orange! Can't believe our little boy will be four this Sunday!!!

Your Wish Is My Command

2010-10-12T23:35:00.000-05:00

Our little Hudson turns FOUR years old this upcoming Sunday and our little monster decided this year that he wanted a spooky Halloween theme for his birthday party and seeing that his birthday IS so close to one of my favorite holidays from my childhood, I couldn't help but say of course! 'Your wish is my command!'

SO, we shall be having a spooktacular birthday celebration this weekend filled with creepy treats and ghoulish decor and hopefully lots of fun for everyone, but most especially the birthday boy!

Here's a little peek of the birthday party invitation I designed for his party. I actually 'consulted' Hudson throughout the design process and this got a definite TWO GHOSTS UP rating from the birthday boy himself.

I will try to post a picture of the finished product later, but I've just been too busy to snap a pic of them yet. I'm just glad that they got the Hudson stamp of approval!

You Make Me Smile

2010-10-11T18:42:00.000-05:00

What WAS I Thinking???

2010-10-10T23:26:00.000-05:00

So, I accidentally stumbled upon this photo of myself from elementary school days on Facebook today when it showed up in my news feed because a friend of mine had been tagged in the photo and OMGoodness I about died when I saw myself, LOL! I am the third one from the left with the oh-so lovely denim short overalls and huge permed bouffant, ha! Such a fashion trendsetter I was!!! It looks like I was even sporting a huge handbag way back then too!!! At least I was doing something right, as for the rest of my styling, I am going to go with the excuse that I didn't know better. Yep, that's my story and I am sticking to it!!! WOW!

Publish Post

Help Wanted

2010-08-26T21:52:00.001-05:00

So, I'm looking for some help friends! I've entered a contest to win birthday party photography for Hudson's upcoming birthday party and need some help with votes in order to win. I would love it if you could help us in our quest to win and vote for Hudson's submitted photo. All you have to do is go to the first link below and click LIKE on the top of her page and then go to the second link, which is Hudson's photo and click LIKE under his photo. The photo that has the most LIKES wins!

I appreciate all of the support from everyone who has voted so far and thank you to all of you who help us by voting! I would absolutely love for him to win!

THANK YOU!!!!

Alyssa Maisano Photography Facebook Fan Page

Hudson's photo -

It's Been A While....

2010-08-10T01:19:00.000-05:00

Wow....I've done it again, gone almost TWO entire months without a single post. NOT what I intended for this blog. Feeling pretty sad that I've let it go so long, but I am going to *try* to resuscitate some life back into this sad postless blog and maybe, just maybe even finally start my other blog as well. In the meantime, here's a few pics from recent days.

Boxers or Briefs?

2010-06-14T17:45:00.000-05:00

Or maybe boxer briefs! Look at Landon in this adorable outfit that my mother-in-law, Marcia's friend, Linda gave us as a gift for Landon before he was born. He looks SO stinkin' cute in that little tank top and boxer briefs!!! I just love it!

Landon's First "Meal"

2010-06-14T17:09:00.000-05:00

Oatmeal that is! And although the first few bites were followed by strange looks, winces and shudders, by day three of trying out his first round of solids, Landon was turning into quite the pro and was slurping up that oatmeal like it was the best thing since sliced bread! It is now day six and today I baked and pureed sweet potatoes for him for the very first time that he will be trying this afternoon. It was so fun and easy to make his food for him and I am so excited about trying out all different kinds of things in the coming weeks. I actually gave him a little taste of the sweet potato right before I nursed him prior to his nap today and he went crazy just eating the little bit that I gave him off of my finger. So, I have a feeling that he is going to LOVE the sweet potatoes too, which makes mama really happy!

Here are a few pics of him having oatmeal for the first time and shows just how unenthusiastic he was that very first day! He was simply NOT having it to be honest!

Brotherly Love

2010-06-14T16:05:00.000-05:00

Just a few pics of Hudson and Landon playing together.....and loving on each other......this is what it means to be brothers. I just love my boys!

Horrible....but not without reason

2010-05-05T23:39:00.007-05:00

That would be ME! Horrible, horrible, horrible for not blogging in well over a month and I really don't have much of an excuse except for my life is pretty hectic right now and has been for well, months and HOW that happened, I just don't know. I knew it would be difficult and that staying at home would have it's own challenges, but WOW. I truly don't understand how in the world I ever kept up with everything I did before when I worked 40 hours a week previously and balanced that with running my own business, being a wife and mother and friend, a blogger, an online junkie and everything else that I managed to squeeze into each and every day and week and month to now barely being able to keep up with much of anything sometimes! Don't get me wrong, there are days and even weeks that I feel like I am on top of it all, on the verge of being caught up and virtually feeling like I can proudly shout "Success! I've made it all happen and done it all, everything I want and need to do on my time and with time to spare!" Yet, that never quite happens. I'm always derailed by something, even if it turns out to be my own laziness or lack of motivation to push on through. It's very difficult....all of it, yet ironically, so rewarding in the end.

I guess what I am saying is, is that I am far from perfect. I am far from a superwoman or a supermom or a supermodel, LOL! (just had to throw that in, I know that goes without saying for those who know me, ha!) But that doesn't mean I won't continue to strive to be the best I can be to everyone around me, but lest not forget, that also includes ME, which is why I've been a bit laid back, reclusive in ways and possibly even vague and neurotic in others. It's been hard on me. I've had anxiety at times like I never had before. Before now, I would have never thought I would have this kind of anxiety when I don't even have to go to work outside of my home or deal with employees or co-workers or any kind of drama. I don't have to drive 2 hours plus a day back and forth to work. I don't have to drive nearly 100 miles round trip to bring Hudson to my mom's house and then back and forth to work. I don't have to balance all of that along with everything else. You would think it would be easy-breezy in comparison, but no, not so much. This transition has been difficult. Staying at home and having very little to no adult interaction at times is very difficult. Running a business while caring for two small children is very difficult. Having a husband that is working more than before and works odd shifts and times is very difficult. Having TWO children rely on you 24 hours a day, seven days a week is very difficult. Having to make every right decision for them and to mold them into the amazing children and then someday, adults that you want them to be is very difficult, consuming and rewarding and that too, has kept me beyond busy these days. Dealing with a newborn and then infant that has very different needs and a very different temperament from his older brother is very difficult. Going outside of the house with an infant and an overactive toddler is very difficult. And dealing with a very challenging, curious and outgoing little toddler whose virtually always busting at the seams with energy is also very difficult.

BUT I love being a mom, I love my life and would not change it for the world, I'm just trying to find a better balance in order to make all of these things work better for me so that it's not so difficult and so I am a better person for every single person in my life as they deserve. Despite all of the challenges and setbacks, I remain confident that with a little patience and faith along with a lot of motivation and hard work, that I will eventually find that balance, but it might just take some time and unfortunately, even more setbacks and disappointments to get there. I guess what I am really saying here is that I am struggling and that all of this "mommytasking" as I so lovingly call it, is far from easy. Probably the main reason why my new blog is named as such....it's not ready yet, but Manic Mommytasking is where I am at in my life and what I will be sharing with all of you in the future. It takes a lot of juggling to get it all done and even with your best efforts, sometimes, it just doesn't happen. But, you don't throw in the towel...instead, you get up, dust your shoulders off and try, try again. That's what makes life interesting. If you never had to face a challenge or work for anything, what would be the fun in that?!?!?!