2007 NWTF Best of Show

Over the weekend, the National Wild Turkey Foundation had their National show at Gaylord Opryland. Brian entered a turkey and 2 deer in the taxidermy competition. Keep in mind that this is the FIRST competition that he's entered. The judging started at 10:30am on Saturday. We arrived shortly after it started and after standing there for just a few minutes, they announced that Brian won NWTF 2007 Best of Show in his category for his turkey mount!!! It was so exciting. (I even cried!)


Here's the picture of the prize winning turkey and Brian (you can't tell by the picture but he was really excited):

(notice the cool trophy of 2 turkeys behind the mount)

The fun didn't stop there! One of his deer won 2nd place and the other won 3rd (each were in a different category). Overall, it was a GREAT day!

Photo Fun

Hot Mommy!

So this morning on the way to "school" Hayden and I had an interesting conversation.

Hayden: Mommy.....Hot
Me: What's hot?
Hayden: Hot
Me: Hayden, what's hot?
Hayden: Outside
Me: Outside?
Hayden: Mommy, hot outside! (with a bit of aggrevation in his voice)
Me: (laughing) No baby, that's fog!
Hayden: Hot.....fog


I had to laugh because it took me FOREVER to understand what he was telling me. He is really good about seeing steam and telling us "hot". So this morning as Brian was putting him in the car, Hayden would say "hot" and point to the back yard. After the storms last night, it was really foggy this morning. (Here's where 2 + 2 = 4). He thought the fog was "hot". It was adorable!

60 Degrees

So Tennessee has had some strange weather lately. Friday night it snowed and yesterday it was 64 degrees! We definately took advantage of the nice weather yesterday. (Hayden loves hats so he got this one on Saturday!)

Doesn't he look so grown?!?

Here he was counting..."1, 2.....3 GO!" Brian was shooting his bow and Hayden was counting for him. It was sweet.

Playing Around

As most of you know, Brian is a taxidermist in his "spare" time. Over the weekend, someone was coming to pick up their rack. When Brian brought it in the house, Hayden screams "D-E-E-E-E-R-R-R-R-R." He just get so excited.

(Yes, he was still in his jammies)

Twinkle Twinkle

Another of his favorite things is singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". He gets a few of the "moves" confused with "Itsy Bitsy Spider" but it's adorable. I caught him singing to the Wiggles last night. (Note: You might need to turn up the volume to hear him well.)

Watch out John Travolta

Hayden has really gotten into dancing a lot here lately. He had his teachers at school in a laughing fit one day last week. Here is a small video of him dancing on cue (not as great as catching him in the act).

The Boys

Here are a few pictures of Hayden and Caleb Darnell from his Mommy's baby shower on Saturday. Caleb is getting a baby sister in about a month. We are definately excited to meet her!!!



Caleb is 3 months older than Hayden and they've been playing together since they were both tiny babies. I found these pictures which was taken when Hayden was 3 months old and Caleb was 6 months. Aren't they adorable boys? I think us mommies are in trouble with these two!

(They were cooing and laughing like crazy)

Great Weekend

We had such a great weekend! Hayden and I went to a baby shower for some friends on Saturday. He had a great time playing with Caleb and loved the attention from everyone. That night, we had pizza with "Toot Toot" (aka Aunt Beth) and "Mo" (aka Michael, Beth's fiance). On Sunday, we woke up to about an inch of snow. We opened the front door for Hayden to see the snow and quickly ate some breakfast so we could play before it all melted.

Here are some great pics of our snowy adventure. He got to ride on the snow shovel up and down the driveway with Brian pulling him. We had a hard time getting Hayden to come inside. He loved it!

(click to enlarge)

Here is a short video of Hayden sledding. Whiskey was even excited aboout it.

Last night we went to Nonna and Poppa's house to watch the Super Bowl. Hayden got to meet a new friend and the boys played like they were old friends.

Here is Sherri (Nonna's friend) holding Hayden and Aunt Beth is holding Caleb (Sherri's grandson). Aren't these some cute boys!!!

Uh Oh Spaghetti-O's

We've really been working with Hayden on using a fork and/or spoon with his meals. Instead of using plastic kiddie utensils, we've just given him our smaller silverware. The plastic spoons and forks don't really let them pick anything up with them being so shallow. I got brave last night and gave him Spaghetti-O's and let him figure it out himself. He'll let you show him once and that's it. He is so self sufficient (at least he thinks he is). These are a few pictures of the great job and mess that he created.

The video is dark (sorry about that) but you can hear how excited he is about eating like a big boy.

More Random Pictures

It looks like these pictures/video were taken between Christmas and New Years when everyone was sick and the house was a mess.

In this picture, Hayden and I were playing around with Daddy's new digital camera. It's not great by any means but fun to share.

Here is some video taken on Brian's camera of Hayden practicing his duck calls (on one of Brian's old calls). Hayden calls it his goose call. Between him calling and wiping his nose, it's a mess!

Random Things

It's been a while since we've posted anything. It seems we've been spending so much time playing and learning that we've not taken many pictures. Hayden is learning so much and is so smart. We are working on our ABCs and continuing to count to 5.

Here are a few pictures of him playing in his jammies one Saturday morning while I tried to clean the house.

He absolutely love his cowboy hat from Halloween. It's getting a little small but he continues to wear it.

If I remember correctly, he was a little upset with me in this picture for putting up the Christmas decorations. He loves the "noman" (snowman) and didn't want to see it go.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Hayden and I were out shopping at Target with Nonna a few weeks ago when we stopped in at Steak N Shake. He loved the paper hat that they give to the kids. He put it on and off a million times it seemed.

He's a Genius

Recently we've been working with Hayden on his shapes, colors, sounds, animals, and counting. He is such a quick learner. His favorite color as of now is "green". Everything is green. You can ask him just about any normal animal and he'll tell you what it says.

At dinner the other night, we were counting. He is in such a hurry to get to 5 so that he can give you "5". Enjoy!

Christmas ** Updated**

We had a great Christmas despite Brian and Hayden both being sick. Here's a picture of the tree and gifts before Santa Clause came.


Voila! Santa came to town!!!!

As you can see, Hayden is the proud owner of a 4-wheeler. It took a little coaching for him to get on it but he definately knew what the button was for. I'm working on some adding some video of him riding it in the kitchen. Hilarious!!!

**Updated**

Here is the video from Hayden riding his 4-wheeler on Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve

We traditionally have Christmas with the Atkins' on Christmas Eve. Since Brian and Hayden were both sick this year, we had it at our house. Here are a few pics from the fun event!

Here is Hayden checking out T.J. Bearytales that his grandmother got for Christmas. He is very much like Teddy Rupkskin with his story telling and songs. Hayden absolutely loved him from the get go.

Here is Addison hugging the bear.

Here's Hayden after a hard day of playing and unwrapping gifts while being sick. Notice the cute outfit :)

Mr. Potato Head

One of Hayden's favorite things to play with now is a hand-me-down Mr. Potato Head. For some strange reason, he wants to wear the glasses.

Shouldn't Every Store Have These?!?

The one of very few positive things about shopping at Kroger are these adorable baskets with the car in front. It is so much easier and faster doing the grocery shopping when you have a "driver"! He absolutely loves riding in there. He manages to drive both steering wheels (typical man) and honks the horn. He is very polite and says "hi" to EVERYONE in the store. He is very much the politician in the making. Remember: Vote Atkins!!!

Napping at Dinner

So it appears that our stimulating conversation at dinner last night bored the boy. Brian and I were talking and happened to look over at Hayden and he was fast asleep. His poor medicine makes him sleepy. This is by far the first time he has fallen asleep at the table.

We continued with our conversation but every few minutes, Brian would either cough loudly or clear his throat in an effort to wake Hayden up. Poor kid was getting his father's revenge for some of the times he's woken us up and I sent him upstairs to calm him down. Hayden would just sort of look at him and then close his eyes. Don't you like how he puts his hands behind his head. He looks so peaceful. He definately got the arm thing from his father!

I know this makes us bad parents but it was way to funny not to capture and share. I still giggle thinking about it.

Christmas Moose

Hayden had a good time playing with the Antler Headband last night. He would shake his head to hear the ornaments jingle. Needless to say, it was short-lived but I managed to snap a quick shot. Aren't those cheeks just to die for? I'm the lucky one that gets to kiss on them all the time :)

Tis the Season

We bought an artificial tree this year (with much disappointment) so that the new floor won't get ruined with a leaking tree stand or Hayden pulling it over. After only a few seconds of shopping, Hayden and I found the perfect tree. It is quite gorgeous!!! I put the tree up on Friday night so when Hayden got up on Saturday morning this is what he saw...

He kept saying "tree" and "pretty" and "lights" over and over. He was so excited to see it.