Spreading Christmas Cheer

Here are a few videos for your viewing pleasure. Beware that they were taken while Hayden was in the bath last night. We hope that everyone is having a wonderful Christmas Season!

Let Me See Your Muscles

Hayden's new thing is to show us his muscles. He makes the face and the sounds to go along with it. It's too cute not to share... (ignore the applesauce on his pants...it was bath time)

Here's a shot of our Christmas tree. Hayden did a great job helping put up a few ornaments. I love the way our house feels at Christmas - so warm and cozy! Now we are just waiting for Santa Clause to visit!

Tractor Bed

Hayden got his much anticipated tractor bed on Friday (you can ooh and ahh now and be jealous because this bed is so fabulous for a little boy!). He was such a big helper to Poppa while he and Noona put it together in his room. Here are a few pics of him "helping".

Here he's telling me that he's working on his bed.

Fast asleep...

Hayden absolutely LOVES his new bed. He's taken really good naps and slept well at night. He is such a big boy!

Here are a few pics of us playing over the weekend.

Thanksgiving Pics

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving (other than Hayden's persistent cough) that was shared with all of our families! It is so nice to just hang out with your family and be thankful for all the love in the room! Here are a few pictures of the kids. You'll see exactly how many pictures it takes to get a descent one of them both not acting crazy.

Starting out ok...

Addie looking a little confused...

Hayden with a half-hearted "cheese" and I think Addison was aggressively smiling...

The finale....such cute kids!

Grandma Bev with Addison...

Grandpa with Bryson...

Hayden and Daddy...

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Thanksgiving

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
Psalm 100:3-5

Things I am thankful for:

1. My husband's health and his sister for being so giving
2. My healthy and wonderful son
3. Wonderful family and friends to share in the joys and sorrows of life
4. Everything God has provided for me

What are you thankful for?

We're Back

So it's been a while since I've posted and I wanted to update you on all the wonderful things we've done. We've gone from birthday party to birthday party and had a great time in between. Hayden has definately enjoyed having time to play with his cousins and friends. This past Saturday night, Hayden's friend, Haylee, came over to play for a few hours while her mommy and sister had some good time together. Here are a few pictures from the fun night. It was hard to capture them together and not running :)


Dinner time...

Popcorn snack time (caught Hayden with an itchy nose)...

Hayden has a little surprise coming in the next few days. He's moving to his big boy Tractor bed that Poppa is making him. Hopefully I'll have more pictures to post after Thanksgiving and spending time with our families.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!

Our little Indian from last year

Happy Halloween

This year was the first for Hayden that he actually enjoyed being dressed and saying "Trick or Treat"! Brian took Hayden and our neighbor, Codey, around our neighborhood and they had a blast. He came home on such a sugar high. All Hayden kept saying was "more candy, more candy please". We finally had to "sop" up all the sugar with some milk and a breadsick. Here are a few pictures from the night! (By the way, it was Hayden's idea to wear his Crocs.)

Halloween Party

Here are a few pics from the Atkins halloween party on Sunday.

Turkey Hunter, Train Conductor, Medusa

Happy Birthday Toot Toot Beth

Yesterday was my sister's birthday! I've posted before about her and what she means to me but I wanted to take another minute to emphasize how much I love her!



Back in 1982 when she was born, I'm sure I wasn't a happy camper to now have to share my house with her. I vividly remember a time before she was born when I tried to sit in mom's lap in the rocking chair and there wasn't much lap left due to the baby taking "my" space. Little did I know how important this baby would be to me.


Over the years, I had many frustrations hearing her say "Bec Be won't play with me" or "you're not the boss of me!" These phrases I heard for MANY years. We both have changed so much over the past 25 years. She has become my best friend. I talk to her everyday (at least once a day) and she's the person I call when I need to talk, vent, cry, or laugh. She is my "go to" person for many things, especially if something were to happen to me and Hayden needed a loving home. We are lucky that we have great family that would definately take care of him, but Beth is so much like me in the mothering sense that it is conforting to know that his life would be filled with love (and tractors)!







Happy Birthday Beth! We love you!!!!!!

Circus

Yesterday we took Hayden to the Shriner's Circus. It was small but just enough to keep his attention for the majority of the time. Here are a few pics of the things he liked most.

The tigers are gorgeous. They were so big and so cooperative. I loved this picture of the one tiger licking the other one's face.

The motorcycle was by far pretty cool. It was awfully windy so I'm sure this poor guy was a little nervous as well as the girl that was hanging below him.

This one is sort of blurry. The wind was so bad a times. This little monkey was very mischievous.

I think the elephants were everyone's favorite. They were so cute!

Here they are laying down...It was amazing watching such large creatures lay down and then get right back up.

Zoo

We had a great weekend! We visited the Atkins "zoo" yesterday after lunch and the kids loved it. Brian's uncle has a little "zoo" at his home and we haven't had a chance to meet the new members until yesterday.

Here's cute pic of Addison riding Arthur the Camel. She wasn't afraid at all. Hayden on the other hand, scared to death. He barely let me get close enough to pet it.

Here's Hayden bottle feeding George, the pot-bellied pig. He was too adorable. The kids loved chasing him around.

This is the Pikachu (not sure about the spelling). I don't remember his name but he is adorable. They are very nocturnal and softer than any animal I've ever touched. He loved Brian.

Here are more pictures from our fun day!

It's Been A While

We've been busy lately with odd and end things going on. I haven't taken many pictures but have a few from my camera.

First was a birthday party for Haylee. Her prince and princess theme was adorable. It was held at a gym so the kids loved jumping on the trampoline and running/climbing their way thru the course.








Here is a pic from the grocery store a week or so ago. He loved the fire truck.

This is at Toys R Us. He loved riding the tractor with Bob the Builder.

Freebie

Visit this site for a chance to win one of these...(Beth, this means you!!!)

Enjoying the Weather

The weather here in TN has been absolutely beautiful for the past week (compared to the 103 degree temps and no rain for 2 months). On Saturday, Hayden and I took a trip down to our friends house, the Lehmans. They have a levey that they built for when the river bottoms flood for duck hunting. I knew Hayden would love it down there with possible sitings of deer, ducks, frogs, and anything else that might appear.

Brian was down there as well working on building up a new section of the levey with his hunting buddies. Hayden was excited to see the tractors but was a little upset that he couldn't ride on them. He was excited that he got to ride on the 4-wheeler for the first time :) Notice his hat is turned around like Daddy's!

Labor Day Weekend

It was great having a long weekend. We did some things and also a lot of nothing. Mostly Hayden and I played in his barn with his animals and favorite matchbox cars. Boy does he love those things!


We took a trip to Books-A-Million since it was so hot outside. Hayden knows exactly where the Thomas Train table is. He will play on that thing for hours if I'd let him. It's a nice break for him to play with some other kids other than me on the weekends. Maybe Santa Clause will bring him this table for home so he can invite his friends over to play :)

This is another crazy picture of him wearing an old pair of my sunglasses. You'll notice that he turns them upside down so they fit him better. He's so silly!

We also went to Poppa and Nonna's house for a bit. Hayden loves to play on Poppa's "tractor".

On Monday, we took a short trip to a small playground for Hayden to run some energy off. With the heat, he only lasted about 30 minutes but had a great time playing with other kids.