Birthday

My 31st Birthday was last week and we had a great time. Birthdays have always been a big deal to me. I love celebrating them and not just for one day. I think birthdays are special and should be celebrated for a week or at least an entire weekend. Brian doesn't agree with me, he thinks I am nuts for wanting an entire week, maybe he is right. But I secretly hope that Hayden feels the same way I do, because you can't agrue two against one right?

Anyway, this year I actually got my wish and we started celebrating my birthday a whole 10 days early. We had my birthday dinner at my parents house early and I got to choose dinner, which was Jim N Nick's bbq and my very favorite strawberry cake. I even got to blow out candles (and thank goodness there were not 31 of them). It was quite entertaining trying to get a picture of this and I even got to blow them out three times trying to get a good picture.





Then the next weekend we got Brian's parents to watch Hayden so the two of us could go to my favorite restuarant for dinner, El Rey. It is a little mexican place in Cloverdale. It isn't really Mexican, but more of a healthy mexican. Everything there is locally grown and organic. It is truly the best!

So looks like I got my wish and we were able to celebrate for a few days. Thank you to all who helped make my birthday very special. I LOVE Birthdays, for now anyway!

Here are a few pictures from the dinner at my parents house, we had a blast and so did the kids.

Wild Kingdom

Ok, not really, but I felt like we were living in a wild kingdom the other day. When I grew up, it was common place to see all kinds of animals but in our neighborhood now, not so much. So when I heard Hayden making all kinds of squeeling noises while standing at the window looking out at the front yard I went over and checked it out. This picture does no justice of course because I am not a photographer and because you just can't see it good enough, and because I think I forgot to have the flash on. But needless to say she was looking and pointing out the window at I swear must have been at least 200 black birds.

It was a really hot day and Brian had turned the sprinkler system on and as soon as he did, hundreds of birds flocked to our yard and driveway. They were splashing in the water and laying in it. I have never seen such before and honestly I don't like birds at all - frankly they scare me, but I felt really sorry for them that day. I can't imagine how hot they were. Just amazing. Some had flown to another area of the yard when I snapped this, but you get the picture.




And a few minutes later (once the birds had flown off) we walked outside and low and behold there were cows out back! Hayden especially loved this and I had my camera, again not a photographer, but I wanted to share!

Water, Water, Everywhere

The last two weekends have been almost unbearably hot for us all. With all of the heat we have tried to find a couple of ways to cool off, or at least Hayden has. Late Sunday afternoon Brian was grilling out for us and Hayden and I walked outside to say hi to Maggie. I turned around for a moment and then looked back and this is what I saw!! I couldn't help but laugh and then I joined her (white dress and all).



She wasn't sure what to think when the water hit her, but she soon learned that it was fun! We both ended up soaking wet, but on the bright side we both cooled off, glad none of our neighbors were out because my dress was also dripping with water and did I mention it was white??





Then last weekend Hayden was invited to a birthday party for one of my best friends (we were college roomies)and the party was at the Riverwalk Splash Park. We had an absolute blast. I had never been there before, but what a cool place. The views are great, the landscaping awesome and the water features are fantastic. We will be making another trip before summer is over. Here are some pictures from that as well. Hayden's eyes lit up when she saw the water coming up out of the ground. I wonder what she was thinking, I know she has never seen anything quite like it before. I realize in the pictures below it looks like no one else was there, but when Hayden decided to go into the water the other kids were eating cake!



And I think here Hayden was telling me "Go over there Mom, stop crowding me - I can do this!"



And sweet Daddy always at a safe distance to swoop in just in case Hayden needs him!







And as you can see, she got the hang of everything really quickly and loved it!

Long Days of Summer

I am officially ready for Fall. Fall means cooler temps, AU football, and several fun trips planned!

Because we have been trapped inside for days now because of swealtering heat we have had to come up with some fun things to do and in doing a few of these I have realized that Hayden has a lot of HAIR!! We have some work to do to keep that child's hair in a pretty bow, she just refuses to leave it alone.






And Hayden has been keeping busy too - I think she got tired of seeing Brian's shoes in the kitchen floor, so she decided to put them up. Funny Girl!!