ZOO trip

During Hudson's spring break, we took one day to go to the zoo. Unfortunately, it was quite a cool day, but the kids didn't care. They still got to see lots of animals! This time, we were accompanied by Aunt Sa-Sa, Andi Cate, Brooks, & Aunt Candi. We all had a lot of fun!

Here are Cade & Brooks. Brooks had a great time! He kept saying "more, more".


These three were pretty mesmerized at the sea lion show.


The panda bears were a big hit!


They really enjoyed seeing the lions out, too.

We look forward to the next trip!

More Egg Hunting & Easter

Hudson & Cade definitely had a blast hunting eggs this Easter, and they got to do it three times! First at church, with Maddox, too... Second at Hudson's preschool, with Maddox again, and they were nice enough to let Cade hunt, also!

Can you find Hudson egg hunting in his camo?!


Cade did his best to hang in there with the big boys & girls, but all the kids got to find 12 eggs, so he left with his fill just like everyone else!


The third egg hunt was at Cacki & Papa's house. We celebrated Easter with the Via family on Saturday before Easter. All the kids hunted Easter eggs & played outside. They always have a good time together! Then everyone came in for a delicious Easter meal. :) I, unfortunately, forgot my camera for this event. (I've gotten really bad about that!!)

Easter Sunday was actually a nice, relaxing day with just the 4 of us. We went to church, had lunch together, took great naps, and watched the golf tournament! It was a great family day.

The boys looked so handsome!! It's very difficult to get a good picture of the two of them these days, but Howie did a really good job. They're not all great, but I included several because I couldn't get over how similar their expressions are in most of them!






Mommy & her boys... Love you fellas!!


Anyway... Easter weekend was a great start for spring break week. The weather wasn't all we'd hoped it would be, but the company was fantastic!

Early Surprise!

Like I said, our "big" ultrasound with the OB is scheduled for May 1, BUT... while at work this past Thursday, Howie & I had the opportunity to find out the baby's gender. There's a lady that comes to the office once/week to do various ultrasounds. She wasn't too busy & offered to do one for us. SURE! Why not?! Then it would really be a surprise for the whole family because they wouldn't be expecting the news! SUPER!

So, she did the ultrasound...

and the baby looks great!...

healthy & normal thusfar...

moving around...

kicking its legs & even opening/closing its mouth!...

it was so awesome!

And we found out that the baby is...

if you really want to know...

a...

GIRL!

Surprise!

#3

Ok, ok... I've been chastised for not getting this information out "publicly" sooner, so here it is...

HOWIE & I ARE EXPECTING BABY #3!!!

We are all very excited - excited about another baby, and excited that we are closer to share this experience more with our families. This will be grandbaby number seven on the Freeman side (where boys greatly outnumber the one girl), and grandbaby number six on the Via side (where it's 3-2 boys). So, we're all anxiously awaiting this new baby's gender. We are 18 weeks along and will be finding out girl/boy in only a few weeks! This will be the first time Howie & I will know the sex before birth, so that's a little fun & new for us. Hudson is set on having a baby sister, so at least he'll have time to adjust if it's another brother. :)

Anyway, just wanted everyone to know our news now. We'll keep you posted!

Children's Museum

After Hudson was a very brave boy at the dentist on Tuesday, my mom and I took the boys to the Children's Museum. They had a super time! We'll definitely have to make a return trip sometime!

Easter Egg Hunt at church

Yesterday was our Easter Egg Hunt at church. Our nephew, Maddox, spent the day with us at church and joined our boys on the Easter Egg Hunt. They had a great time! And we enjoyed being with them!

Here are Maddox and Hudson on the hunt...


... little man, Cade, did pretty well hunting himself!


Uncle Howie/Daddy tried to help them look for more.


Even the Easter Bunny showed up at the hunt!


Maddox was the only one of the three, though, who would actually get close. Isn't this a sweet picture?!

This is the closest I could get to all three looking & smiling! ha!
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

Our little man...

Cade is our "little man". He seems to be in such a transition phase right now between "baby boy" and "big boy". He's physically grown a lot
since his birthday in November, and a lot has happened to him, too (bless his heart).
His intial move to a big boy bed was very smooth. After being so sick, though, and taking such crazy meds, he has thrived on getting out of his bed REPETITIVELY after he was laid down. (I'm talking sometimes an hour to make sure he stayed in the bed. Talk about exhaustion on the parents' end!) He's coming off a good week, though. I'm very proud of him. Four nights in a row staying in bed and one naptime staying in bed is awesome!
We're hoping this trend continues!
He's not too interested in using the potty yet, but will on occassion. (Potty training has not been an issue I've been willing to tackle until the bed issues were resolved.) I think as the weather gets warmer,
we'll be able to focus more on this.
Cade is our Jekyll & Hyde baby. He can be so sensitive & so rough, and so sweet & so ugly sometimes... He can turn on a dime!
His speech and vocabulary have always been good, but lately, he's begun resorting back to "baby-talk" more often. Sometimes I don't think he's sure he wants to grow up! (That's OK, little man, sometimes Mommy's not sure either!) He has said some really cute things this week...
1) Cade was with me at an appointment this week and we were reading one of his tractor books. A farmer is mentioned in it, so I asked him if he knew a farmer. He said NO. I said sure you do! He said NO. I said Papa is a farmer. He said NO HE'S NOT and laughed. I replied yes he is. Again he laughed and added, PAPA'S NOT A FARMER. HE'S A PAPA. (sweet boy)
2) Cade is a big singer. Sometimes he talks himself to sleep, but most of the time he sings. Tonight he went to bed singing to a familiar tune, "Mommy & Daddy, they love me, they love me, they love me... Mommy, Daddy, love me, love me, love me." Yes, we do, little man... yes, we do.