Halloween 2011

I am really quite embarrassed to even write this post since today's date is December 12th, but seriously I have been pretty busy and on the days that I wasn't really busy I have been super sick. Did you know I am pregnant? We are expecting baby number 2 in June and I have been extremely sick, I mean throwing up every time I eat, which has made for some not so fun weeks around our house. I seem to have it mostly under control for now with medication, but I still have my moments throughout the day. But the good news is I am almost 15 weeks along so the sickness should be making it exit very soon. I go back to see my doctor on Wednesday and I am so hoping to hear this new little heartbeat!

I have been wanting to post our Halloween pictures for sometime time now and just haven't gotten around to it, but here you go! Hayden was a little princess/ballerina/pretty little girl. She does not do much of anything on her head so I knew she wouldn't go for a real costume and I wanted to dress her up somewhat, so this is what we went with. We didn't do too much, but the night before Halloween, Frazer had their "Trunk or Treat", so we took her there and let her trick or treat some and then we stopped by my parents house. She really enjoyed herself and I am so thankful for the precious pictures and memories.

There's that face again!



Hayden and Daddy, neither one looking at the camera.



And here is a creation I made from Pinterest for all of Hayden's classmates, they were the cutest little treats for her class party. I just loved them!

Animal Weekend

Last weekend was a long holiday weekend and I wanted to make the most of it. Brian was on call on Saturday so, I took Hayden to the Zoo and met my Mom. We had a great time, even though Hayden wasn't that interested in the animals. She was enjoying her time walking around looking at leaves and things on the ground and then we discovered the playground and that was all she needed - until we needed to leave, that was painful! Here are a few pictures of her playing, she had a great time.

This looked fun!



Pure joy on her face...especially since she kept tilting backwards and would almost fall out, she thought that was hysterical.



Hanging, another favorite of Hayden's.



After we visited all of the animals, we took a ride on the train and enjoyed being able to sit for a few moments.

With Mommy



Resting with Gram



After a good nap at home, it was Arts & Crafts time! We decided to make a bird feeder. My sister, Lori, found this awesome craft on Pinterest and we couldn't help but try it out. You only need a few items, a sugar ice cream cone, peanut butter, cheerios, and bird seed. That's it!

As you will notice in the next couple of photos, my little helper couldn't resist trying out the arts & crafts herself, so she pretty much ate most of them. She just couldn't help herself :)





Putting bird feed on, she probably tried to eat this as well but it didn't taste as good as the peanut butter or the cheerios.



And here is the finished product hanging from a tree in our backyard.



UPDATE - I checked this for a few days and not much action, a few missing pieces here and there, but the entire feeder is now gone. The ribbon is still hanging, but the cone and all have been taken off, probably by squirrels, we have tons of those. So funny, I wish I would have seen the critters munching on their treat. We will have to make another one soon.

And lastly, we make cookies as well. As if Hayden hadn't had enough to eat already. But she thought it was fun to get these into her hands and put them on the pan.

A Taste of Fall

Last weekend the weather was perfect, it was really cool outside and we decided to spead a lot of time outside. It was the first weekend that actually felt like Fall.

After naptime we had our little arts and crafts time. We decided to have a little nature time and Hayden and I made an outdoor picture, complete with trees, leaves, and dirt. It was fun and easy and we got to walk around the house and the yard looking for the items to place in our picture.

Here we are working on the craft!

Hayden is glueing the dirt and rocks on first, then we took a break and went and looked for the trees and leaves for the branches.



She looked adorable here, so I couldn't resist snapping a picture!



Working on some of the branches...



While we were working on this, Daddy was grilling our steaks. So we had dinner and once it got dark, we went outside and made smores'. This was Hayden's first time, but she caught on pretty quickly! What an awesome weekend.





All done! This little girl was just about pooped.

Fall Weekend Activities

Sorry again for the delay in blogging, I just can't seem to get my act together.

This past weekend, was by far one of the most fun weekends we have had at home in a while. I took some pictures to show you what all we did and how much fun Hayden had. First on Saturday morning, we got up (after Hayden and Daddy had a breakfast date at McDonalds, that is becoming a habit for the two)and went to a local farm - Barber Berry Farm and picked berries or muscadines rather. We all like to eat them, but the main goal was to do something a little different and let Hayden have some fun.

Picking them off the ground, just at her level.



I decided to pick her up and let her pull them right off the vine.



But she preferred the ground, more fun I suppose.



On the golf cart after we were done with a full bucket.




Next up, during Hayden's nap I made a strawberry pie for Brian. I had never made one before and I don't particularly like them, but Brian said it was wonderful. He even said it tasted just like Shoney's and that is saying something because he loves those pies!



If you are interested in the recipe, I found it on Pinterest. You can click here and go straight to the blog where this yummy dessert came from!

Next up, after Hayden's nap, we had Arts & Crafts time. Hayden was so excited, I wish I had a video of her running around the house so excited to start arts and crafts. She was running up and down the drive-way saying "I'm So Happy". I can't tell you how my heart felt! I am hoping to do a craft with her every Saturday. For this one I choose a Sunshine, since the weather was so pretty. It was very easy as well, and again if you would like to know how to do this - click here. I got this from Pinterest too! It was so much fun. Here are the photos as we progressed through the craft.

First we started by painting the sunshine (it wasn't until we were about to start when I realized I didn't have any yellow paint so we improvised and used Orange)



Still painting...



And while the sunshine was drying, Daddy realized we were having arts and crafts and he wanted to join in on the fun. He went and found some blue paint and painted Hayden's face Orange and Blue in honor of Auburn! Hayden loved that too. By the way was football on this past weekend? I wouldn't know, we never slowed down a bit. I never even saw a single down of the game, not really a bad thing I don't guess.



The finished product! We used yellow tissue paper and glued it on the back in little squares and little funny eyes and a little fuzzy ball for the nose. The project called for black construction paper for the smile and that would have been cute, but I opted to just draw it on there. I thought it turned out perfect nonetheless.

Georgia Aquarium

Last weekend we decided kinda spontaneously to take Hayden to Atlanta for the weekend and enjoy some of the sights the City has to offer, like the Aquarium.

We really enjoyed ourselves every step of the way, it was crowded and it was hot outside, but that didn't matter to Hayden one bit. She loved everything we did - which included a whole lot of eating, all weekend. We ate pizza, (and Hayden got to make her own at a great pizzeria called Max's Coal Oven Pizzeria)fruit, pancakes, eggs, more fruit, cereal, homemade granola, cheeseburgers, more fruit, french fries, ice cream, and sandwiches. We ate a lot and Hayden thought she was in heaven.

Here are a few pictures from the aquarium. I have to tell you though, not to be negative, but I wasn't extremely impressed with the place - but I had really high expectations. It it rather large, but for some reason I was thinking it was going to be much bigger. It was crowded, which I was expecting, but I am not sure why I thought there would be more, but I did. Needless to say Hayden loved it and I am sure we will be making more trips back there in the future. It was still a great place to see lots of marine life.

When we fist walked in there was a penguin and Hayden wanted to get our picture made with him, he was really nice!



In our first exhibit - "Look Up Daddy, What's that?" It was a huge whale shark, and by huge I mean HUGE!



One of the touching pools.



Not sure what it was they were touching, but Hayden liked it and that was all that mattered at the time.



Hayden found a mermaid to play on, we stayed here for a while.



At another touching pool - what are we waiting to touch? You'll see...



Yep - and by the way, in case you were wondering, it was super slick and sort of gross feeling.



Lots and lots of fish, they were so pretty though.



With Daddy



Pure Joy! She was playing in bubbles right before we had lunch! This is the face of happiness...



We loaded up on goodies on the way out the door - which by the way is excellent marketing on their behalf. The only exit out of the aquarium is all the way through to the other side of the gift shop. We ended up with a pink dolphin purse, a penguin (Hayden's favorite animal) a bubble gun that the workers were playing with to show all the kids, and two books one about the ocean and one about penguins.

I am already trying to plan our next venture - stayed tuned :).

Hayden's First Day of Preschool

Yesterday was a big day in our house, not only was it my birthday, but it was also Hayden's first day of K-2. She is attending Frazer's Preschool two days a week and I was so excited for her yesterday. She acted like such a big girl and wanted to carry her lunch box and her back pack all by herself.

Mommy did good too, no tears were shed, but my eyes did water up once while we were climbing the stairs to her classroom. I know she will love school and will learn so much. When I picked her up yesterday after lunch she hugged my neck real big and told her teachers bye and while we were walking out she started talking about Humpty Dumpty - so she is already learning, my sweet girl.

Here are a few pictures:

Hayden's new lunch box and book bag - she loves them both!



I have stressed over what to pack Hayden for lunch for weeks now. I knew this would be a big adjustment for her because being at home every day Hayden gets to "snack" pretty much whenever she wants and this girl, eats all the time! She loves fruit, so I packed watermelon, cantaloupe, white cheese popcorn, animal cookies, gold fish, and some yogurt fruit snacks. When I picked her up I checked her lunch box and she had eaten everything, except for a few pieces of cantaloupe! Ha!



Before heading out the door, I wanted to get a couple pictures of her just in case she didn't want pictures at school. She looked adorable, if I do say so myself. She loved holding her lunch box and book bag.





Here we are walking into Frazer, she was getting just a little apprehensive seeing all the people walking around. But she still wanted to walk all by herself.




When we walked in her classroom, she hugged one of her teachers Ms. Stefanie!



And then sat in Ms. Beverly's lap for a picture with both of her teachers, that face is priceless. She was itching to go play.



She told me bye and then went straight for the baby dolls - this girl loves to play.



And finally, here is a shot of Hayden's play/nap area at my office. On the days when she goes to school she will be coming back with me to my office - to hopefully rest, take a nap and watch movies. Yesterday was a success, she explored a little bit, had a snack, watch two movies and took a long nap while I worked. Doesn't this area look so nice and cozy? She has a tv, dvd player, a basket with movies, toys, and a comfy area to lay down and nap!

Leave of Absence

Unintentionally as it might have been I took a leave of absence from writing on my blog and from reading anyone else's blog. Quite honestly I didn't mean to do it, but I just never found the time to sign on. I suppose with Fall right around the corner maybe I will get back in to the swing of things and a little routine.

It's not that we have been super busy or jet-setting around the globe, nothing fantastic like that - I just haven't felt like sitting here and typing. It has been over two months since Hayden's birthday party, which was my past post and we have done lots of things, but I won't bore you with all our everyday adventures. But I would like to mention that early in the summer we did head down south to the beach with most of my family and we had a great time, some pictures are included.

I have been loving summer tv programs, almost more than the Fall which means at night, after Hayden has been tucked in bed, I would rather watch Covert Affairs, Rookie Blue, Expedition Impossible, or the Bachelorette than type. I have also been reading books, lots of books and I am so pleased to tell you that Brian has taken up reading too, it fills my heart with joy when Brian and I are both in bed with our table lights on reading separate books - together! Brian thinks I am such a dork, but I have dreamed of this since we got married, here's to answered prayers.

Hayden is starting preschool, technically it is Mother's Morning Out, but for her sake we are calling it school. And I couldn't be more excited and happy for her. I think after the initial adjustment period she is going to love it! She needs this quality time with other children her age and the time away from the house to learn and thrive. I can't wait to share with you everything she learns. On and we are in the throws of potty training - ugh! I knew I wouldn't enjoy this part of motherhood and I was right - not fun for me. But on the bright side, Hayden loves it and is doing really, really well with it.

Lots of things coming in the future and I can't wait to share them all with you, if anyone is still out there in cyber world after my break.

I hope you enjoy some of our beach pictures.