Has it been a whole year already?

Wow. I can't believe it's been a whole year since our last blog update!

Over the last year, Camden quit the blog. He says that blogs are "so 2008" and he has moved on to Twitter. He now spends all his time running around the house with his dump truck like a crazy person. He has become quite a fun little 19 month old. Both Mary and I are greatly enjoying being able to really play with him and interact with him. He is starting to say lots of words and repeats most things we say to him. It seems like everyday he surprises us with something he knows or says. For example, Mary was reading to him a book about shapes today and he pointed to a circle and shouted "circle!" We are very proud parents.

Camden's favorite thing, however, is trains. Our house is close enough to the railroad tracks that we can hear the trains blow their horns when they come by. Every single time Camden hears a train, he yells "beep beep!" and runs to either the door or a window to try to see the train going by. When he is not looking for trains he is often playing with his train set, building tracks, and pushing his trains around. Here is a couple pictures from the pumpkin patch this year:

So over this last year, we have been a little bit busy. Being a stock broker is, in a word - exciting. Actually, I love it. Everyday is interesting and it is always changing. I absolutely love having a job that allows me to make a significant, positive impact in people's lives (although - everyone does if you really think about it).

Speaking of work, Mary started a preschool this year with two other women from church (one being her sister). She loves it. God has clearly gifted her in the area of working with little children and it shows. In a tough year for preschools (and really all schools), they have been steadily growing, adding more students every few weeks. It's been great hearing the stories of what the preschoolers are up to and seeing how much our little niece, Emma, is learning.

The preschool is called SonShine Christian Preschool. Check it out here for more info if you want.

Mary hasn't worked in a few weeks though for a very big reason. We had another baby! If you haven't met him already, this is Andersen David Gudgel:

He was born on November 9, 2009. He was 19.5" tall and weighed 8 lbs and 4 oz. He has been a great early Christmas present and we couldn't be more thrilled. And as you can see, Camden has been having some fun with his little brother.

Okay, so we didn't actually let Camden push him around in the dump truck, but he gives him kisses and holds him every now and then. So far, they get along just fine. I'm excited for the day when they can play together.

Looking back on a very full year, we can't help but be thankful for how blessed we are. God continues to provide in amazing ways and makes his blessings new everyday. We are looking forward to a great Christmas and an exciting new year next year.

Merry Christmas! God bless you.

Merry Christmas

We're borrowing Camden's blog to write our annual Christmas letter since we didn't send it out this year...

This past year has been quite an exciting one!

We've been in our house for about a year now and we absolutely love it! We are definitely learning a lot goes into taking care of a house, but so far the work has been worth it.

Tis the Season

I'm learning about this new thing called Christmas and I'm loving it!

The house has been decorated for a few weeks now and last night Dad put up all the lights outside. There are colorful ones on the house and then lots of white ones all over the bushes and trees out front! I love it. We have two Christmas trees. I like the one in the family room more because there's presents under that one! Mom and dad don't worry much about me playing near the presents... I try and open them but I usually can't get a piece big enough to pull any paper off. Besides I can't read yet so I can't even tell what presents are for me anyway.

Sorry for the delay

It's been so busy around here I haven't had much time to write... sorry about that!

Two weeks ago Nonna and Grandpa Gudgel came to visit me! It was very fun. They were both a lot of help to mom and dad while they were here and we got to spend lots of time together. I loved my long walks with Grandpa, I love being outside. Nonna also made me the coolest Halloween costume ever while she was here. I was a pirate, I know my costume was cool because every one that saw me on Halloween at the Fall Festival told me so!

My first trip to the mountains!

Last weekend I went on a really fun trip with mom and some of the other ladies working in the children's ministry at church. We all went up to a cabin in Oakhurst. Most of the moms that came brought their kids and we kept everyone very busy.

I did pretty good most of the trip, especially during their meetings. The only thing was for some reason I didn't want to sleep in my travel crib. The first night mom kept getting me when I fussed, nursed me back to sleep, and then would put me back. This happend about 5 times that first night, mom didn't like that very much. So she finally gave in the second night and kept me in bed with her! She was very worried I wouldn't sleep in my own bed when we got home, but I like my bed so that wasn't a problem.

No more peas

I found out I definitely do not like peas this week! Mom read somewhere that it takes about 10-14 different times of me eating a kind of food for me to be able to tell if I like it or not. Well we must have gotten there with peas because they're just not working out for me anymore. I realized it one night when Grandma Hicks was watching me. (Mom and dad went to the movies to see fireproof)

I let her know I was hungry so she went and got the food mom left for me... PEAS. Well I took one bite and swallowed it hesitantly making a horrible face. The next bite I gagged when I tried swallowing it. Grandma thought she better try one more bite. I spit a spray of peas all over the place. I communicated my dislike well because instead Grandma gave me my rice cereal, and even added bananas! Mom had done this before and I just loved it. However, now I wont eat rice cereal alone, it has to have those yummy bananas mixed into it!

Mom didn't believe Grandma when she picked me up. She said that I've never had a problem eating anything and that I loved all food. Mom had to see for herself that I wouldn't eat the peas. She got the jar back out of my bag, and tried again to feed me those peas. I communicated my dislike of peas to her the exact same way I did to Grandma only a few hours before. I made my point clear, mom's not buying peas anymore and she's going to give the last jar that's in the pantry to my friend Asher, he still likes them. (He must only be on time 8 or 9 of having them)

Once again another eventful week! This weekend especially was super busy. Mom and 24 other ladies went to Women of Faith in San Jose. Of course she brought me. Asher and I did very well. We got to go to the mall and people watch during the day Friday. We loved all of the music and lights at the conference. Believe it or not though we actually got tired of being held. Towards the end of the conference mom actually laid a blanket on the floor so I could play, I loved it. She also let me sit in one of the seats all by myself. I felt like such a big boy I loved it!

We sure missed Daddy though! He had a busy weekend helping Aunt Tami and Uncle Bo move. He also got to see this really cool motocross show that was happening in the shopping center right by our house! I wish I would have been there for that, but I can't be everywhere at once!