Happy Birthday Haden!

My little boy is 3!! Where does the time go? Haden has been counting down to his birthday for some time now. He occasionally would ask me, "Mommy, can you believe that it is almost my birthday?" He woke up that morning and bounded into our room. His pile of presents that I had stayed up late wrapping were on the floor. Haden persuaded Clint to let him open "just one" before breakfast and the rest were quickly ripped open immediately after breakfast. We went with a Bob the Builder theme for his presents. Craigslist is the best!
Haden and Regan played fabulously well together all day long. Haden would dress up in his knight costume from Halloween last year and pretend to be the "Nutcracker" while Regan was a fairy. They ran around, Haden fighting the Mouse King with his sword and Regan was frantically waving her magic wand at the invisible enemy. Clint set up the tent as their refuge.

They were pretending to take a nap before their next fighting round.

The crib mattress came out, I am pretty sure Clint was the instigator, and the kids had fun sliding down the stairs on it.

We still had plenty of birthday cake leftover from his party, but he needed to be sang to, so I used the same truck mold and he got a Rice Crispy Treat cake. Haden insisted that we add chocolate chips for the garbage.
And then, of course, he had to roast marshmallows on his candle flame. It didn't work, but he was happy. After shoving a piece of treat in his mouth he and Regan ran off so they could keep fighting. That night, Haden said that his favorite part of the whole day was opening all of his presents! Surprise, surprise. Happy birthday little guy!

Haden's Birthday Party

Haden has been asking for a friend birthday party since Regan had hers in June. Since Stinky the Garbage Truck is one of his favorite toys to play with while wandering around the toy section of the store, we settled on a garbage truck theme. We invited a few of his close friends and planned some games. We read "I Stink!" (a book about a garbage truck), colored some pictures of garbage trucks, picked up some "garbage" and ate cake.

The boys were pretty loud and crazy until they were picking up candy. It was almost silent as they filled their buckets! The noise level returned once the candy was all picked up.

Regan's Nutcracker

Regan's ballet class performed 3 dances from the Nutcracker for their end of semester performance. The first dance was the fight scene between the mice and the soldiers. Regan was a mouse and got to fight her friend, McKenna. (It is very hard to get good pictures of dancing girls when they are in the back and you are confined to your seat!)

The soldiers won, killing all the mice!

The girls were very graceful as they danced around with their scarves during the Snowfairy dance.

And the Russian dance.

Overall, the girls did a wonderful job. Their teacher, Ms. Sue is fabulous! Regan cannot wait for ballet to begin again in January!

The Nutcracker

Regan's ballet class was performing several dances from the Nutcracker for this year's performance. Regan had only ever seen Barbie's version of the Nutcracker which is quite a bit different from the original. A group of us took our girls to see the Colorado Ballet perform. It was wonderful! Regan loved the first half, where there was an actual story to follow, but lost interest during the second half asking several times when it would be over. She said her favorite part was when the sugar plum fairy was dancing and asked if we could go see it again next year!

Styrafoam, tools, and an almost 3 year old

They don't mix. I am going to be cleaning up little balls of styrafoam for years to come!

Thanksgiving 2010

We started our pilgrimage to Idaho on Saturday before Thanksgiving. There was a big storm coming in and we didn't want to drive in it. The kids are very good travelers, as long as there are plenty of snacks and lots of movies to watch. The storm hit Sunday. Sunday afternoon, Clint's nephews and niece came over asking for Clint's dad to send Clint out. It was just like he was a kid their age instead of their 30 something year old uncle. They were all waiting to ambush him. Clint sneaked out the back door and surprised them. After several attacks, most of which ended in retreat, (Clint would pile them on top of each other as they attacked), they gave up and came inside for hot chocolate.

Regan & Haden helped Grandpa and Clint feed and move the cows. Apparently, a few calves were going the wrong way and Clint had to go pretty fast on the four wheeler to catch them. He drove through a mud puddle and covered both kids in mud. Neither one of them appreciated it and still occasionally complain that dad is a bad driver.


Clint got to help pull a breach calf. Thankfully, they brought the kids home first. I am not ready for that conversation! The kids earned their trip to the Blue Goose candy store by collecting the bailing twine in the field.

Haden is always very excited to go the Blue Goose. He's usually a pretty shy kid when it comes to talking to people he doesn't know very well. Clarence, the store keeper, for some reason, is an exception. Haden ran up to the door, enthusiastically waving to Clarence as he went before bolting inside and back to the penny candy.
Haden was upset that we left all of his tools at home. Luckily, Grandpa had some he let Haden borrow. A week or so before we left for Idaho, Haden noticed that one of his figurines of Bob the Builder had a pipe wrench on his toolbelt. Haden decided that he needed a pipe wrench. We didn't have one, so Haden called Grandpa to see if he had one. Clint's dad told him that he would get him a pipe wrench when we came to visit. Since we surprised everyone by showing up earlier than expected, Grandpa didn't have the pipe wrench yet and couldn't get it until Monday. Haden asked regularly if it was Monday yet, so he could get his pipe wrench. Finally, Monday morning, Haden groggily walked into the kitchen and asked if he could now have his pipe wrench? That kid has the memory of an elephant! Haden is now the proud owner of a real pipe wrench and a few pipes.
Thanksgiving, 4 of my siblings and 3 nieces came for dinner. It was fun to see everyone! My kids love their aunts and uncle.

Gemma and Lila (Lila is 5 weeks older and about 3 inches shorter.)
Veta, Regan, and Hazel

Suzanne and Dale, my 2 youngest siblings. Dale has never been able to have his picture taken without making a doofy face.
Savannah and Dale. We were teasing Dale that we were going to post this picture on Facebook and all his friends would wonder who the hot, older girl was!

Lila is 4 months!

Okay, she's really 5 months, but I am a little slow about getting this post done. At 4 months she weighed 13 lbs 10 oz (34%) and was 24 3/4 inches long (52%). The stats make her seem like a light weight, but the rolls on her thighs and arms speak differently! Lila is still a dream child. She is always smiling and laughing. She still tolerates Haden's affection, although this morning Haden stormed into my room to tell me that Lila wasn't being gentle! According to him, Lila pushed him and pulled his hair. Apparently she is finally getting old enough to retaliate! Haden always omits his previous actions that elicit such responses from his sisters. Lila loves eating just about anything we put in her mouth. (She yells if we eat and she doesn't get to.) It is so much fun watching her personality develop! Even though Haden told me he wished she was a brother, we all love her very much!
One night, I read a bedtime story to all three kids in Regan's bed. I left Lila there while I took Haden to his bed. I came back to both girls sound asleep. So sweet!

First Snowfall

We finally got snow!! And it, of course, coincided with my procrastinated shopping trip. Four stores later, we were all very wet but the kids couldn't wait to get home! They had the best time throwing snowballs, and wrestling each other and then coming inside and drinking hot chocolate. The turkeys thought they were going to get me with their snowballs while I was taking their picture, thus the big smiles. They missed, and I retaliated!

Power tools!

So a while back, Clint let Haden use his power drill. I knew we were going to regret it! Haden has been begging to use it again and again and again! The problem is that he can't use it unsupervised and the last thing I want to do is spend my day watching Haden drill hole after hole after hole. For some reason, his attention span is considerably longer if the activity involves power tools! Clint compromised and handed over the electric screwdriver. Haden keeps it in his toolbox and spends long stretches of time multiple times a day "working". Haden insists on wearing his hard hat, tool belt, and his workglasses that he stole from Clint's toolbox this afternoon as he works. (Apparently stealing tools is genetic-I have found several tools with Clint's dad's name engraved on them in Clint's tool box!)

Haden likes to have an audience as he works. Luckily, he only has a small piece of 2x4 that can follow me around the house, although he discovered the pumpkins today. Our collection of baby pumpkins harvested from our garden is now riddled with little holes! Fortunately, the drill bit kept getting stuck and was getting covered in pumpkin. Haden is rather a neat freak and did not appreciate a dirty drill. He washed the bit, and returned to his 2x4.

Haden has even let me use his "drill". He insisted that I wear the hard hat to be safe. I once had the nerve to ask Haden to do something while he was drilling. He looked up with complete indignation and said, "But mom, I am working!" I had to wait until the hole was adequately drilled before he would complete my request.

Leaves!

The kids LOVE leaves. They spend hours helping Clint rake them into a big pile so they can jump in them and rake them up again. We leave the pile in the front yard for a few days until all the fun has been had and then we haul them to the garden. This year I caught several teenage boys eyeing it as they walked by. I know they were really wanting to jump in! One man from down the road even came to the door and asked if he could have my leaves! (Just to clarify, this is Colorado, not North Carolina. We don't have nearly as many leaves and they are apparently a hot commodity!)
Clint and Haden must have decided that we didn't have enough leaves. They were stealing the neighbor's! I doubt they'll mind, they sweep their leaves to the sidewalk and leave them. Even on windy days. Needless to say, they spend a lot of time sweeping leaves!
At the store a few weeks ago, Haden and I were wandering through toy section. It doesn't seem like I can get out of a store these days without spending a substantial amount of time in the toy section! They had a kid-sized leaf blower. Haden knew exactly what it was and did his best to talk me into buying it for him. It didn't even blow leaves. I knew he would lose interest in it when Clint got out his leaf blower. So after the novelty of raking and jumping and ended, we started raking and then blowing all the leaves! Haden LOVED the leaf blower and refused to share with Regan who really only wanted it because Haden had it. Anytime she tried to come near him to take it, he aimed it at her blowing leaves all over her. It was pretty comical to watch! She did get a couple of turns, though. Haden insisted on wearing his hard hat and tool belt because he was "working".
Lila was entertained just watching her siblings play in the leaves. Next year, she and Regan can team up against Haden for the leaf blower!

Happy Halloween!

We got a lot of mileage out of Halloween this year! We started by painting pumpkins that we grew in our garden. We got 6 big pumpkins and at least 12 little pumpkins this year!
Haden's 0utfit was unfortunately sacrificed for the activity. Acrylic paint and 2 year olds just don't go together very well! Luckily, it is the end of the season and time to get out his winter clothes.
We went trick or treating with some friends at the Medical Plaza just up the road. The kids were thrilled to be able to wear their costumes. (Alright, Regan was thrilled. Haden has been wearing his costume everywhere we go for sometime now!) Lila was an adorable butterfly, Regan was a beautiful mermaid, and Haden was Bob the Builder.
We got to explore an emergency helicopter. Haden was not interested in the helicopter at all and refused to cooperate for a picture. He was too interested in the firetruck.
By the way, Haden is wearing Regan's very most favorite cowgirl turned cowboy boots that she wore nearly every day for almost 2 years until it was just too painful for her to walk in them. They were in very good shape when she retired them. Haden has had them for less than a month and they already are beginning to look well worn. What is it about boys??
Regan had no interest in either the helicopter or the firetruck. She wanted to ride the train and go get more candy!
It was windy and the kids were sure their hat/flower were going to blow away!

Next was Regan's ballet party. Ms. Sue, Regan's teacher, told us the week before that the girls could dress up and they would perform a Halloween dance, unless their costume was something like a mermaid that would not be conducive to dancing. I was so glad that of all costumes she could have named, she picked a mermaid. I didn't even have to argue with Regan when it came time to get dressed for ballet because Ms. Sue had already said that she couldn't wear her mermaid costume. Luckily, last year's outfit still fit Regan! (Thanks to Emily for taking the pictures! Lila was not cooperating!)


Clint was in charge of carving pumpkins. Again, more from our garden. The kids drew the faces on and Clint cut them out. Regan's had eyes all the way around it, and Haden's just had random holes in it, but they loved them!
And finally, was the ward's trunk or treat. Once again a butterfly, mermaid, and Bob accompanied us. They got tons of candy and had fun seeing all their friends!
Happy Halloween!