Six months one way, half a year the other...

Our little Hayden Nicholas is 6 months old! The time has gone so fast, but it's been so wonderful! I don't know what we did before Hayden joined our family! He makes our family so complete and he brings such peace and joy to our home! We all just adore him! Here are some of the fun things he does at 6 months:

• At 5 months he was 18 lbs so I'm sure he's getting close to 20!
• He's in size 9 month clothes/size 4 diaper
• He's DONE with binkies! (This is just amazing to me because it was a nightmare to break T & B of them by 3)
• He loves to be with his brother and sister
• He eats two cartons of 1st baby food with a little rice cereal each day: bananas, peas, carrots, pears, peaches, apples, sweet potatos, prunes
• He is sleeping less and less during the day (2 or 3 short naps) but still sleeps great at night (down between 9pm and 10pm, wakes up to eat around 3am or 4am and then again between 6am and 7am and wakes up for the day between 8am and 9am)
• He is becoming very vocal and loves to squeak and blow spit bubbles
• He is so calm and mild tempered
• He's sitting up on his own
• He's SOOOO close to crawling
• He gets up on his hands and knees (hands and feet yesterday) and rocks back and forth
• He rolls all over the place; front to back and back to front)
• He pulls himself around in circles
• He loves to play with toys and paper
• One of my favorite things is when I pick him up, he grabs my hair (sometimes soft and sometimes not so soft) and just squishes into me with his mouth open like he's giving me a hug and a kiss (although I'm sure it's because he's hungy)
• He is such an angel baby and such a calming influence in our family; he's just easy going and generally happy!
• We feel so blessed to have him in our family! We love you, Hayden!!!

These are my best new glasses ever!

So, we've gone through 3 sets of frames in one year! But, when you have an active 5 year old in glasses, I guess those stats aren't too suprising!

Taysum had an eye appointment a couple weeks ago. His old glasses were barely hanging together by a paper clip (true story) and the whole school was looking for his lost lens, but we made it! Grandma Anderson was a big help and took Taysum to the appointment because Bailey had a doctor's appointment at the same time. He chose some new frames that he thinks are the coolest things ever! He thought he looked pretty aswesome in them! It made such a difference for him to have good frames and lenses with an updated perscription, no scratches, and didn't fall all the time!

Two days (yes, 2!!) after he got his new glasses, he fell on his face in PE! He bent the nose pieces pretty badly. However, the majority of the damage was done to his poor face! He was cut next to his eye and it gave him his first black eye! He was pretty tough, though and still loves his glasses!!

A Perfect Moment

Last weekend we decided to go to the park. Lovell has a new park and we've only been there once, so we thought it would be fun to go visit again. It's a smaller park and the pavillion is right next to the playground equipment which is nice for family dinners, etc. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun!! Sometimes in this life we are blessed with perfect moments; when everything seems just right and that it couldn't be any better! This is how we felt that day!

Looking at the "river" (canal)

Taysum's sand castle

Relief Society Card

My mom was recently called as the 2nd counselor in the Stake Relief Society. Their first activity was the General Women's Conference. They wanted to decorate the tables for the social afterwards with a specific quote and my mom asked me for some ideas. This is what I came up with. (Sorry the picture is kind of dark) I was pretty happy with how it turned out and it was really fun to make them for the tables. The social was very nice and I had a great time talking with sisters I don't see very often.

Dance Class

I just LOVE having a little girl! It's starting to get really fun! It was kind of last minute, but we decided to sign Bailey up for a Dance class! She absolutely LOVES it! Her cousin Carissa is in the same class and that seems to be the highlight of their week! I can remember being in tap and ballet when I was little and it's fun to have her so excited about it. Here is a picture of me in my dance outfit: And here is our little star!

Twirling

Carissa

Here's dance class!

Getting measured for costumes

Candida Jones is a great teacher!

All aboard the Dance Train!!

Riding the Dance Train

Bailey's First Day of School

And now for student number three at our house! Miss Bailey Grace started in the 3 year old Pre-School Group on September 13. All last year she would cry every time we took Taysum to school because she couldn't go, too. Well, now it is her turn! She did very well during the screening (they said she was very smart). I was worried that her being so young, her social difficulties and temper would keep her out until next year, but they were happy to have her and were excited to help her. She's done SO well since going to school. There's only so much I can do for her at home...she just needed to get out there and see what else there is to see! She loves school so much! She goes from 10am-12pm on Mondays and Fridays. She didn't have school last Friday and when I took her on Monday, she was jumping up and down and saying, "I'm so excited!!" I love it when she uses big words...it's so cute coming out of a little girl! B's Tinkerbell backpack

I'm a sucker for sentiment. I took a picture of Taysum by this sign on his first day at the CRC, so I had to do the same with B.

Every day she has to find her name and put it in a slot to show she's there that day. It's so fun to see her start to recognize her name! She loves the motor room! She was just so happy to be there, she barely let me kiss her goodbye.

She was having snack when I came to pick her up. She didn't even realize I was standing there watching her when I took this picture.

Getting her papers to take home out of her mailbox.

I'm so glad she's having such a great time! The teachers were so wonderful to Taysum when he was there and I'm so excited for B to get a great start there as well!

Bike Rodeo

That weekend, the town had a "Bike Rodeo." It's a big event where everyone is invited to learn about bike safety. They were giving away great prizes including helmets for all the kids who don't have one. Sadly, we got there too late and they were all gone! They had some obstacle courses set up that were really clever. Each one taught how to be safe on a bike. We met up with Lindsay and her kids just as they were leaving. Ken was on a youth temple trip, so he didn't get to come.

CJ waiting in line for an obstacle course Celeste and Carissa with her pretty princess helmet

(Taysum in the background) Taysum had a lot of fun riding through the courses

Bailey, Hayden and I tagged along in the double stroller Follow the line

Stop at all intersections and look both ways!

They had some side walk chalk in a pile for the kids to play with. I think this was Taysum and Bailey's favorite part of the whole thing!

Hayden had a fine time hanging out in the stroller

More chalk

I was so pleased with how good the kids were! It was a relatively stress free event and I felt so brave doing it on my own!! Usually I don't do much if Ken isn't with me! Even though we did pretty well on our own, we're always a lot happier when Daddy is home! My Dad took Taysum fishing, so Bailey "helped" Ken mow the lawn.

Hayden was pretty fussy, so I tried taking him outside to see if a change of scenery would help. It worked like a charm! He loves being outside!

Taysum came home later that day and he had been the only one to catch a fish! They let it go back to his home. He had such a fun time! I love that my Dad does stuff like that with the grandkids!!