Long Time, Huh?

Long time, no see! I haven't posted since I posted our Christmas pictures, so needless to say, this post is long overdue! Around February, I began travelling much more so I could get all of my days done in the school district I was working in this year. I went from travelling two days a week to just about every day. So, my blogging went to the wayside because of the travelling. I finished all of my travelling for the school year at the end of March, but I guess I've spent the last month just recovering from travelling back and forth so much.

The bad news was that I had to travel so much, but the good news is definitely that I am done with all of my travelling for the school year and have been home with Hayden every day since the end of March. It has been so wonderful being at home with him every day...adventurous and busy and tiring but such a blessing!

Speaking of Hayden, he is 21 months old and has changed so much since my last post. He talks up a storm and learns new things every day. He really hardly ever is quiet and is such a ham. He loves animals, buses, trains, airplanes, Mickey Mouse (toodles), Pooh, and especially, his dog Gus. He and Gus play outside almost every day, or we will take Gus for a walk around the neighborhood (aka....tiring down Hayden so he will take a nap and/or sleep well at night). Right now, we are working on his numbers, colors, and shapes. I also bought him a potty yesterday at Wal Mart. Recently, he has been telling us that he needs to go potty, and a couple of times, he has successfully told us in time. I don't know that he is ready for potty training, but he went in his potty this morning...so we'll see how this goes. He also knows about Noah's Ark and Moses, and anytime, he sees angels, he says, "Jesus' angels." He has learned some of the blessing, too.

The other big news in our family is that we are selling our house. Yes, it is very unexpected. We built this home in 2008 and were expecting to stay in it for about 7 or 8 years, but God is just pointing us in a different direction right now due to financial and family reasons. We love this house, but it is just a house. It is For Sale By Owner, and our sign has been up for about 4 weeks now. We have a lot of ride-bys and people taking flyers, and we've had a few people come and look at it. God will direct the rest, and we are lucky to be in a good position where we don't have to sell but feel like it is the right thing to do.

So, I am posting a massive amount of posts to update everyone on what we have been doing. One of my friends told me recently that our Christmas pictures just weren't doing it for her anymore, so this should give y'all plenty of pictures to look at. There are five new posts below this one, so keep on reading after this! Once you get finished with our snow pictures, you are finished with the new posts.

By the way, my Mom (aka...Gran) recently started a blog of her own. It really is wonderful, and I hope you will visit it soon. Click here to visit her blog.

I'll try to do better with posting more frequently from now on! :o)

A Bunch of Random Stuff Lately

Like I said in my earlier post, we have been busy bees since I ended my work for the year, and I have absolutely loved my time at home with Hayden. The following are just some random events that have happened in the last several months that don't really fit into any other blog post.

Several months ago, I made another trip to Easely Amused. I had previously blogged about a trip with my Sunday School class where we painted some pumpkins. This time, the trip was with some women from our church, and we painted a paisley cross. I had heard that it was more difficult, so I was nervous...but I was pleasantly surprised that it actually turned out alright. I haven't hung my pictures anywhere in the house yet, since none of them really match our colors. Maybe, I will start an art gallery sometime soon. Hehehe....just kidding, of course.

This was the goal picture that was painted by the Easely Amused staff.

This was my finished product. Pretty good, if I do say so myself. They really do make it so easy for you. The paisleys are just backwards sixes.

This was the entire group from Morrison Heights. Notice that one girl did different colors. Hers was for someone's nursery and turned out super cute! I couldn't get that brave, though.

Recently, Hayden had his first experience riding on those little moving animals you see in malls and shopping centers. Hayden, because of his great love for buses, had to ride the yellow bus first. He loves yellow buses. Next, he had to ride the "choo choo kain"...aka choo choo train. Finally, he had to ride the donkey. He said "hee haw" the entire ride.

We had a great Easter weekend. Hayden isn't quite old enough to understand the Easter bunny yet, and he doesn't like chocolate (is this really my kid?)...so the Easter bunny didn't bring a lot this year. I'm hoping he can understand a little more next year and especially that we can teach him what Easter is really all about....the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here is a family pic and a picture of Hayden's Easter basket.

Hayden loves water! Although he recently went on a little streak where he hated taking baths and screamed every time, he is loving them again. Every time he sees water while we are driving down the road, he has to tell us all about it. He can't quite get the "w" sound down, so water actually comes out as "lader." A few weeks ago, Chris and I went and got some yogurt at a place in Flowood called Berry Berry Good Frozen Yogurt. (Their yogurt is outstanding, by the way...the white chocolate is the best!) They have one of those frog fountains outside, where the water comes straight up from the concrete. Hayden went over to it, and it was on! He had a fabulous time getting soaking wet, pointing, splashing, and exclaiming "lader!" the entire time. He was so funny and cracked everyone up who was outside. I knew he would like it, but I had no idea he would get right into it and stick his face in it. Thankfully, we had a change of clothes.

He was just getting started right here.


You can probably tell how soaked he is here.

The next pictures are just random pictures.

This is from the Natural Science Museum. He looks like such a big boy here. Of course, he is a big boy. :o)

This was his first ride in one of the car buggies at Kroger. He drove us through all of Kroger.

A trip to the zoo

Hayden loves animals! I mean, this kid really loves animals. Since he was about 18 months, he has been enfatuated with learning animal names and knows more animal names than any other 21 month old I know. What kid knows what a bison is when they are 19 months old?

So, the first warmer weekend that we could, we took Hayden to the Jackson zoo. It was a wonderful trip, and Hayden loved it. The entire trip was just one long exlamation! "Giraffes!" "Elephants!" "Tigers!" He was so excited. There were some birds that scared him half to death, but other than that, he had a great time!

He even got to go in the petting zoo. There was one goat that laid in a swimming pool the entire time and let the kids brush him. Needless to say, Hayden isn't professional with his brushing technique and ended up half hitting the goat with the brush. Chris and I are convinced they must have given this goat some tranquilizers.

A Trip to Gadsden

In March of this year, our family took a trip to Gadsden, AL to see some of Chris' family. Hayden had never met any of the Gadsden family, so needless to say, it was a long overdue trip. We had a great trip, and it was so great to see so many family members. Chris has family members on both sides in the Gadsden area - his aunt, uncle, and cousins on his Mom's side and his grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins on his Dad's side. And, it was especially wonderful for Hayden to meet his great-grandmother. I was so thankful that he got to spend some time with her.

Here are some pictures from our trip, even though I wish I had taken more pictures. Chris and I took Hayden to Noccalula falls in Gadsden while we were there. The falls are beautiful, and Hayden especially loved all the ducks.

Mess!

Hayden really is a mess, figuratively and sometimes literally. He never ceases to crack me up every day and is such a joy each and every day. He has his times when he can be really hard-headed and throw his little fits, but most of the time, he is really sweet.

There is one thing that he really hates...messes. I guess he has watched me being a kind of neat freak, and I have rubbed off on him. He is really good about cleaning up his toys and doesn't like having a lot out at one time, so he will pick up a toy and take it back to his room while simultaneously singing the clean-up song. After every meal, he takes his napkin and tries to clean his mess off the table. And, he hates getting food on his hands and only wants to use a napkin once after wiping his hands. He is always picking up things off the floor and taking them to the garbage. He has been going outside a lot lately to play with Gus, and if he gets the slightest bit of dirt on his hands, he comes to the door holding up his hand and saying "mess!" I'm really going to have to teach him that it is good to be dirty, especially when you are a little boy.

Well, this particular "messy" event happened several months ago. I was feeding Hayden dinner and was simultaneously getting ready for Wednesday night bible study. As a parent, you always know that when everything is really quiet, it is time to get scared. Well, I was in the bathroom getting ready and noticed that Hayden was being unusally quiet. Well, I walked in the kitchen to find a nice surprise. Needless to say, Hayden had a great time with his potatoes. When I walked into the kitchen, he looked at me with the biggest smile and said, "Mess!" All I could do at that point was just laugh and grab the camera. Of course, he said, "Cheese!"

What a mess! :o)

SNOW! - February 12, 2010

Can you believe Mississippi actually got some snow...and a substantial amount this year? The weather forecasters had been predicting large amounts, but because Mississippi never receives much snow at all, I must admit that I was dubious. Because of the large amount that was predicted, I knew that I wanted Hayden to have a full snow experience if we were going to get as much as predicted. It was hard for me to imagine staying in the city for so much snow, so the night all the snow was supposed to start, the four of us (Chris, Hayden, Gus, and I) headed out to my Mom's house in Pelahatchie. What better place to experience so much snow than in the wide open country!

Sure enough, the snow started the night of February 11th and continued through mid-day on the 12th. At my last measurement, my mom received a little over 7 inches of snow. It was beautiful. As far as Hayden goes, he had fun but hated getting down in the snow. He liked it for a short while and then just got mad at it. Chris was able to stay for a little while that morning, but then, he had to go to work.

So, after putting Hayden down for his nap, my mom and I started on my very first snow man. I had never built a snow man before, so it was really fun. It didn't turn out to be a perfect snow man, but I was pretty proud of it.

Hayden and I left after he woke up from his nap, and Clinton was still a blanket of white. Unfortunately, the snow had turned into an icee-like mixture, so that was the end of playing in it.

Here are some pictures from the snow.