Kissing Cousins

Friday night we went to Jason and Danielle's for a cookout. Hayden and Kayla play so well together. It was cute how Hayden climbed up on the bar stool and then Kayla attempted the same. I didn't even know that Hayden could do this but he was already sitting at the counter ready for dinner. After a delicious meal the two played together until way past their bedtimes. They did a good job sharing. Hayden liked feeding and changing Kayla's baby doll while Kayla liked walking around in my shoes. She kept making laps around the family room. Although those two get together most days of the week we need to make it more of a scheduled event for us parents. I really like the company and did I mention the food was good too!

A Beautiful Busy Fall Day

Today was a beautiful fall like day. We started out at McDonald's for breakfast. I have never seen Hayden scarf down so much food so fast. He couldn't shovel it in fast enough..... biscuits, pancakes, hashbrowns, sausage, bacon and a few gulps of milk. We then went to church where the highlight for Hayden is the bus ride to and from the parking lot. We still can't seem to get him to attend Sunday school so for now we are in the cry room and this is less than ideal. We have promised that once back from vacation we are going to restart the attempt at the nursery. After church we went to visit Mimi's grave where Hayden left her a bracelet. He was eager to put it on the grave but didn't want to leave it. A few tears and then we raced back to the car which seemed to erase the thought of the bracelet that he wanted to take home and wear. We then picked up my friend Monica who was visiting from Boston and headed to the zoo. It was a perfect day for the zoo and Hayden got to ride on the merry go round with Daddy. After the zoo we made an impromptu visit for dinner at mammie and pee paws house.

Three little Kids Do and One Doesn't

Three little kids eating chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and yet the fourth one doesn't want any. Hayden (1), Kendall (5), Mackenzie (2), and Aidan (3) after a night of playing together while us parents had a chance to eat and catch up.

Our Trip to Cincinnati

Waiting in line only to find out he's not tall enough.

We have to hit the carosel every where we go as this is a Hayden favorite. Just be sure the horse you pick moves up and down and isn't a stationary one.

Getting ready to ride on a little train.

Jeff, Hayden and myself finally riding the helicopter after a wait of one hour with a toddler.

Won't do that again.

Hayden loved this ride that he got to go on solo and we liked it due to no waiting time.

Last weekend we packed up our house (or so it seemed) and went to visit Jeff's brother and his wife Emily. We had the truck loaded down with so much stuff that it looked like we were headed for a week long vacation not a 2 day stay that's less than 2 hours away. Hayden was his usual shy self at first but quickly warmed up to Uncle Keith, Aunt Emily and their dog Shiloh. We headed to Kings Island on Saturday and Hayden had fun riding the train around the park so much so that we didn't get off for four round trips from the main park to the water park and back. No wait for this attraction. We waited for about an hour to ride on the helicopter and by the time it was our turn Hayden's patience was running out. Then Jeff, myself, Hayden and Uncle Keith crammed ourselves into a tiny little blue train that would hold 4 children not 3 grown adults (one whom is 6 months pregnant). Wish i could have captured that on photo as it was a pretty funny site. Hayden rode a hummer around by himself and requested more and cried when we only let him ride it twice. Keith and Jeff then took off to go ride roller coasters and Hayden and I found some more rides to ride. We rode both the kiddie carousel and the main carousel and after about 4 hours he and I headed back to Keith and Emily's while the boys stayed behind a bit longer.

Hayden seemed to have a good time sitting on Keith's riding lawnmower, pushing Emily's Vacuum around the house and playing with Shiloh. Paul and Deanna came up on Sunday and we all went to Texas Roadhouse for a delicious dinner. We all had a good weekend and hope to repeat this before Emily and our little one's arrive. We were able to get some belly pics. She is due 5 days before I am and neither one of us have names picked out yet.

Preggo bellies at 25 and 26 weeks.

Riding on the big train for the fourth straight time. Time to get off this train!

Birthday Cakes

We have celebrated many birthdays over the past few weeks and Hayden loves birthday parties. He mostly loves the birthday cake. He has taken to singing the Happy Birthday song and asking for birthday cake on an almost daily basis. We went to Sarah Towery's surprise 30th birthday party and Hayden was so excited. He knew he was going to a birthday party and thus all day the conversation revolved around the CAKE. When Sarah arrived everyone sang happy birthday including Hayden and after she blew out the candles he clapped enthusiastically along with everyone else and was cheering "yeah" more so for the fact he knew what happens after everyone sings... the eating of the CAKE. Well at this party there was no cake to be eaten just yet, for everyone was socializing and dinner was served. We explained to Hayden that later we would have cake. He really wasn't happy with this situation but seemed content to know later he would indulge in a piece of cake. Well about 2 hours later everyone sang happy birthday again and Hayden cheered just as merrily as the first. When the cake was sliced and served we discovered it had nuts all through out the cake. Ugh oh! Hayden couldn't eat the cake You see Jeff is allergic to nuts and the pediatrician has recommended Hayden wait until 3 to consume any nut products. Devastation that is what he felt. Here he waited all day and now it is 9pm and he didn't understand nut language and allergies. He only knew we are "nuts" because now everyone was eating cake and he wasn't. I thought we would be in for a melt down but I had a few snack size chips an o'hoy cookies in our bag so he ate those and asked politely for cake. Jeff told him they could bake a cake tomorrow. Now comes tomorrow and Hayden and I head to "mammies" house (formerly "grammie" but Hayden doesn't say g's yet so mammie it is) She gave him a nice little boy haircut then we headed home. Jeff had kept his promise and made Hayden a cake. Hayden was able to ice it and then after eating dinner with our guests, Aunt Jilly and Uncle Travis, he finally got his cake. He wanted a candle to blow out and thinks that all cakes are for Peepaw's birthday (as this is the last one he remembers, before that all cakes were grandma Hamilton's). Today he finally ate the last piece of cake and was singing the happy birthday song on his way home from Dede's and pawpaw's house. That boy sure does love his cake and I don't think he will have another one until it's time for his real birthday cake in October. He should be a pro at blowing out the candles.

Sprinklers and Slumber Parties

While Aunt Kellie was in Phoenix with Uncle Mason shopping for a new home we had the pleasure of keeping Connor and Carson for a sleep over. Hayden was so excited as we had been telling him that Connor and Carson were coming over. Hayden loves his only older and male counterparts. They played outside in the Elmo sprinkler and then with the water table. Later all the boys changed into their jammies and Hayden got to join them to watch 5 minutes of his first real movie... Ice Age. He thought he was a BIG shot. After 5 minutes Hayden headed to bed and Connor and Carson got to stay up for another hour and then off to bed they went. Carson was excited to be sleeping in the transformer bed (pull out sofa). He was so excited and was telling me about how he had seen one before in Florida. Connor slept on the sofa and wanted his "own space". The next morning Connor was up first at 7:30 followed by Hayden who was yelling "Connor, Carson" from his bed. I attempted to cook pancakes after Connor feed and let out Linus only to take him downstairs to wake up Carson who was still sleeping. After breakfast we had planned on a trip to the zoo but mother nature didn't cooperate so we all played downstairs and then headed to McDonald's in the midst of a monsoon. The three boys thought this was so much fun as we made a bee line in the pouring rain. Hayden had to sit in the booth right between Connor and Carson and wanted Connor to feed him his lunch. We all had dessert then headed home for some charades. Later that afternoon Aunt Jilly picked up the boys and Hayden was sad to see them go. For days after he kept asking for Connor and Carson and when I would tell him that they were at home he would say "see 'em" He sure is going to miss them when they move to Phoenix. In fact we all are!

Wish we Could Have done More of This this Summer

Fun Times With Aunt Jilly and Uncle Travis

While Jeff and I were away at Hilton Head Uncle Travis and Aunt Jilly kept Hayden for us as did Grammie and Peepaw, Dede and Pawpaw and Aunt Kellie. Everyone pitched in. Jillian and Travis took Hayden to All About Kids and Hayden looks like he had a good time by way of pictures.
Thanks everyone for pitching in and helping out so that we could have a nice trip without worry about Hayden. We knew he was having a great time and getting lots of attention.

Hayden about to slide down the "weeee" as he calls it. Over and over again he went down.

Stomping with one foot is his idea of bouncing.




Travis wishing he could bounce on the giant trampoline.

I'm sure he would do this all day if he could!

Glad we don't have this many balls in our ball pit at home.

Having a good time on the slide ...... again



One of Hayden's favorite places... the Great Outdoors.


I love my "mammie"

Favorite thing to do outside is weed eat.

Thanks Connor and Carson for the awesome toy