More Hudson, more partying...

Pep amidst the kids

The photos keep arriving - more albums and a wholly random smattering of what's within.

Mine (including never before seen Whole Foods shots) are here

Cousins around our grandpop.


Susanna's are here.

Ten's (including Honor and Will's Easter and a certian plane...) are here

Kelley's here.

Our favorite #8
(we got his back)

C - picturing it and missing all

A birthday well celebrated

So, readers can remotely participate in a big party, my first post from the weekend.


On Saturday afternoon, at a little patch of Dallas green, a little boy named Hudson celebrated his 1st birthday and Tietze's Toddler's Park was inaugurated in the name of his mother, Lindsey Stephenson Brown.

Hudson's birthday - hosted by Chad and attended by pretty much a Hudson entourage - was a success. Though freezing, in a way a southern state shouldn’t be, everyone layered, hugged and managed still to celebrated in Texas-scale style.

(I huddled behind the caterer's table, warming by the enchiladas bunson burners.)

Some 100 people sang Happy Birthday 3 times in unicent as Hudson gazed across, then smushed/ate, a magnificent cake depicting the park and his own personal cake...

That Hudson is now spoiled for every birthday from here-on-in is a given.

That this boy’s 2nd birthday – even if hosted in a football stadium - will be a come down is hard not to assume.



The Toddler Park was established by funds gathered in Lindsey's name. Perched on a bed of wood-chips, a sort of pirate-y, slide—centric, enormous jungly-structure with outlying bouncing things, the park is a toddler fantasy.

Thanks to our most organized attenders, there are photos of the party are here and here too.

Thanks, on behalf of Hudson and Chad, for attending.

C - full of cupcakes

Remembering Linds - from Shady Hill

Childhood friend to Linds and cool lady Kerry Tribe (writer, photographer, recorder), wrote this piece for the Shady Hill School Quarterly.

Linds attended Shady Hill, one of its happiest participants, from 2nd grade (we think - Dad and I are bad at year math) through 8th:
She made little friends who grew into medium sized friends,
went to Turkey and came back to make more friends,
hosted dance parties with J Geils Band and a spider-web game(all of 11, I chaperoned with a friend),
learned ribbon dances for May Day (wearing the letter "I" we don't know why),
got her first bra (Kerry's mention) and boyfriend (unrelated),
became a kid old enough to hang out at Steve's Ice-Cream at Harvard Square,
went from car-pooling to solo MTA travel,
from transferring water cup to cup to dissecting things fetal,
from learning about the Greeks to the Ch'ing Dynasty (Shady Hill international that way)...

Linds had many chapters to her too short life.
Shady Hill was a very happy one and friends from those years more than mere sand-box mates.

With thanks to a truly great school, the people Linds moved amongst and to Kerry Tribe for rounding it all up.

C – shady hiller too

Watching the park

As we celebrated the park, and Hudson, we were remembering Linds. The joy it will bring and memories make, are in remembrance of Linds.

I am sure Linds is watching over the slides and the boingy-car and the enveloping toddler swings; she's watching the 1 year old ingesting wood chips as the babysitter looks elsewhere.

Saturday was Hudson's day for sure but it was within the loving presence of his mother, and my sister, Lindsey.

Who we will not forget ever.

Lovingly

C

We ate cake

In one more instance of generosity and creativity run riot (good-way riot) this last weekend, the cake(s) that Pam created almost outshone the park itself.




Slides and clouds and aspiration-ally green grass - in CUPCAKES: a park of sugar.



When happy birthdays had been sung, and Hudson had absorbed as much love as 20lbs of boy could, we the gathered partook of the park.



(After which the jungley-gym-stucture went a little crazy with sugar-fueled small folks and some bigger folks too.)

To Pam from all of us.

C - eating cupcakes still

Hudson (happy birthday)

We're celebrating Hudson's first year.

He's been magnificent so far -
hitting all of his baby-marks and,
way beyond that,
his joy and charm and essential calm
have given a whole lot of people a whole lot of joy.

One little boy, a whole lot of joy.

We're lucky to have him.

We wish him the happiest birthday a very small person can have.

Love C - loving H

Hudson amongst family and girls

A grandparent portrait



A between lovely baby grils portrait

And the cleaning up the back deck in anticipation of spring and first birthday portrait.

Spring is Hudson time and photos of the remarkable boy have been coming in regularly.
Sadly, I've not been on-top of them but will try for batches over next week.

(Can't celebrate a first birthday, and inaugurate a park, without a proper and up-to-date on-line foundation.)

Not surprisingly, beside the cut incident and a case of very messy runs (that have a clinical name I can't recall), the boy is getting raves:
That he seeks out girls is apparent,
That he’s photogenic and camera loving as his parents, no surprise,
That he helps around the yard, digs nature, is intrigued by everything, charms everyone…

So really actually, no surprising news to report,
only that our almost-one-year-old is right on track to be the best 2 year old imaginable.

Love to all

C

Hudson 'mongst the tulips

Hudson had a nature Saturday at the Dallas Arboretum.



We have a budding
horticulturist/
squatting/
ground-cover-inspecting
little man in our midst.



Perhaps other people know cute almost-1 year olds,
and perhaps they also visit gardens in the spring,
but match them to Hudson -
unlikely.

Love + tulips

C