My first baby...

Hayden....My first sweet little baby that rocked my world.  So strange to me that he is 4 1/2 now.  I had no idea how fast time really does go by until I had kids.  I blinked and all the sudden he is so grown up and asking me, "are Pteranodon carnivores or omnivores?"  Uhh.. first of all, weren't you just learning to crawl?  And second...what is a Pteranadon? (It's the flying, birdish looking dinosaur, and I totally had to google how to spell it.)  On December 28, 2008 I had another name, Mommy.  

I was 22, so young, and head over heels in love with this little boy.  He taught Cory and I how to truly be unselfish, to give just a little bit more of ourselves when we were exhausted, and helped us turn to Heavenly Father for guidance and gratitude that we get to be his parents. 

Hayden has an imagination that is always going.  I joke that Hayden lives in Imagination Land at least 85% of the day.  He has had multiple imaginary friends. The main ones being: 1: O-Y the puppy.  He carried him around on with his hand out. (all. day. long)  2: Scabby the Leprechaun.  Scabby lived with us for awhile and stayed in a "house" by his bed. He loves playing pretend.  The other day he was playing pirates with Cory.  Which Cory dives head first into Imagination Land with Hayden.  It is amazing, and it makes me love him more.  Anyway, Hayden was of course the Captain and Cory was his first mate.  I hear Hayden fake belly laugh and announce "Oh it was the pleasure of the Captain! Ha. Ha. Ha!"  What in the world?  Crazy kid.  No idea where he learned that. The things he pretends the most lately are pirates, robots and dinosaurs.  Even on the rare instances he is in time out he is still pretending.  Like when he is singing "What's that smell in the galley...?"

He also loves to learn.  Hayden has always been ridiculously smart.  That boy is a sponge.  He hears or learns something one time and it is forever categorized into his little brain and he will pull things out at will.  His memory is amazing.  He was dismissed from his speech preschool program at the end of last year.  Cory and I are so proud of him.  He worked and practiced so hard.  There are still a few sounds that need practicing but you would never know he had such a severe speech disorder and delay.  He has a whole year before Kindergarten. Hallelujah I am pretty happy about it since I am not ready for my buddy to leave me.  Especially when Kindergarten is all day here. He can write his full name, all his letters(upper and lower) and numbers.  Because he learned to speak learning the letters with their sounds he is starting to sound out words and spell.  He is learning basic math and loves learning facts about everything! Craziness I tell ya! I can't keep up with the kid. 
He loves to draw and anything art related.  Play dough, painting, markers, color by number, all of it. 

Hayden is the best big brother ever.  He loves his little sister.  Like, he LOOOOVES her.  I can't tell you how many times he hugs and kisses her throughout the day.  It has been amazing to watch him really grow up and become a big brother.  He takes the job and title very seriously.  He is super protective, and is a huge helper.  He is the best at getting giggles out of her and she adores him. 

Hayden is super obedient and wants to make good choices.  He is so well mannered and polite.  Lately when he has made a mistake, like accidentally breaking something or spilling something... He is so apologetic and always says "sorry, what can I do to help."  I know some adults that can't do that, and he is apologizing for just spilling cheerios.  Cory and I have to be careful with his sweet and sometimes emotional little personality. 

Hayden is the best helper.  He loves helping me cook or bake.  He helps with the laundry and vacuuming.  Which usually turns into a epic battle with the "monster." He is great at helping with his chores.  Picking up his toys and room.  Brushing his teeth and making his bed.  Getting dressed. Helping to fold towels. Helping with putting the silverware away and setting or cleaning up the table.  If there is a job to do Hayden always wants to help.  Especially if it involves Daddy and tools.  

He says the funniest, off the wall things I have ever heard. It is also really important to him that he is funny.  And that others know how funny he is.  If I tell him how smart and handsome he is, he will always add "...and I'm funny."  Yup he's funny.  Really funny.  He loves telling knock knock jokes and making up other jokes on the spot. Cory and I laugh and laugh at some of the things he comes up with.  

 

He loves snuggling, his little blue and white dog(still), playing with friends, wrestling and playing baseball with daddy, books, peanut butter, m&m's, breakfast for dinner, and family dates.  He loves big, plays hard, has a great imagination and sense of humor.  He is obedient, a good friend, kind, silly, and caring.

We love him so much and his fun, huge personality.  

Where are they now....

I figured it would be a good idea to give a little update on our lives as of today....

We still live in Texas and love it.  We miss our family terribly but we know for right now this is where we are supposed to be.  We have made life long friends that have truly blessed our family.  When you are SUPER far away from any of your family it is amazing how close you get to your friends and people around you.  We are so lucky to have such supportive and loving friends and ward family at church.

Things I love about Texas:
The food...oh the food.  I could go on and on about it.  Best food you will ever eat is here.  BBQ that is shut the front door amazing.  And food trucks.  I don't know why food coming out of a truck is so magical, it just is. 
I love how nice everyone is to everyone! People just smile at people.  That they don't know! It is great. :)
I love the "yes mam" and "no sir" stuff.  And yes we expect Hayden to say it. I love how respectful it is. It is even better to hear it from some of my friend's kiddos who have a little southern drawl.  Oh my heart.  You say "yes mam" and I will give you whatever the heck you want kid. Cutest thing ever.
Texas Springs, Fall and most of Winter.  It's perfect.  And I don't miss driving in or shoveling snow.
Blue Bonnets every Spring.  Gorgeous.
Y'all.  Yup the word y'all.  I'm not sure at what point that word crept into our everyday vocab.  But we all use it.  Often. I really love it. 
Blue Bell Ice Cream.  It WILL change your life. 
Tim Riggins. Clear eyes, full hearts... ('nuff said...Texas forever.)

The humidity we are use to now. We are pretty much permanently sweaty all summer and I have really super flat and frizzy hair.  But so does everyone else so it's all good.  We live at the pool or indoors.

I have a love hate relationship with the bugs here.  I hate them because..well they are bugs. Usually they are HUGE, gross and either bite or sting.  When you walk in the grass you always watch for fire ant mounds.  I haven't laid in the grass forever.  BUT they pay our bills.  Cory is the regional manager for the technicians of a pest control company here.  He travels.  A lot.  But again, it pays the bills and we are blessed that he has such a great job.  We will also tag along sometimes on some of his trips to see more parts of Texas. Dallas...Houston here we come. Road Trip!

Cory is pretty swamped with the craziness of pest control summers, he works with the young men at church and plays church ball when he can.  He loves his kids, me, sports talk radio, BYU, funfetti cake with rainbow chip frosting, anything sport related and twitter.

Hayden is 4 1/2.  He has a huge imagination that is always going.  He loves pretending, learning, art projects, wrestling with daddy and helping me cook/bake.  We love him so much.  He has a HUGE personality that is always keeping us on our toes and laughing.  He wants to be obedient and make good choices.  He is our big helper and an amazing brother.  He is my favorite little buddy and I don't know what I will do when he leaves me to go to Kindergarten next year.

 Halli is 4 months.  That little but chunkalicious girl has so much sass!  She is determined, has an opinion, has found her voice, and is so spunky.  She thinks she is much older than she is and wants to be involved in whatever is going on around her.

She is already rolling all over the place.  She adores her brother, no one can make her laugh like he does.  She has rolls upon rolls of chubbiness and I love kissing her all day.  She has added so much joy to our family.  I didn't know my heart could love so much with my two sweet, beautiful kids.

I love being a mom.  I know my babies won't be babies forever.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to be home with them all day.  Sometimes it is rough.  I step on multiple legos, I smell like baby poo and spit up, I haven't shaved my legs in days, my kitchen may look like a dish explosion and most of my meals are eaten cold... but I love my kids.  I love watching them learn new things and come into their own personalities.  I am the Relief Society Secretary and try to keep things organized.  I love getting to know the women at church.  They inspire me to be better.  I am so grateful for the blessing of Relief Society.  I contribute to a fun blog called Momspotted.com.  It has been so much fun.  I forgot how much I love to write!  I am a stress baker and eater.  I love to bake, cook and try new recipes.  I will be posting a few on here every now and then of our favorites. I love to read, peanut butter m&m's from the fridge, girl's nights, I'm addicted to taking pictures of the kids and shoes.

That is a tiny bit of our life right now.  To be continued..... :)