Happy New Year!!!

Well, 2009 has been absolutely wonderful to us and I am grateful for such an awesome year!!  We plan to celebrate the New Year toddler style by ordering Hayden his favorite dairy-free pizza and taking him to Frost for his special sorbet.  We will make party hats and I got some noise makers today.  I plan to let him stay up until 9 to see the East Coast Ball Drop so he gets to be a part of the action.  Here's a little look back at the year by month.  I hope everyone has an amazing New Year and love to all!!

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Ok, I'm back now

Well, after I noted that Uncle Mike and Frankie were set to leave Monday, they decided that hanging out at a hotel in Phoenix didn't compare to family time, so they decided to stay until Wednesday! We have spent the past 2 days hanging out around the house, shopping and going to various local restaurants. It has really been nice having them here and we will all miss them, especially Hayden.

I sent the camera back to Canon yesterday, and I am really hoping to have it back soon. My guess is that it won't be back until mid-January which sucks because Jane's camera is downright terrible and the one I used the past 2 weeks was Frankie's...who is now taking hers back to England. I am not promising you will get any pictures of Hayden in the next couple of weeks, but I am hoping to find a camera to borrow, at least for Hayden's birthday party and Phoenix Zoo trip.

I haven't written anything about Hayden specifically lately, which is the purpose of this blog, so here are a few things.

We are entering the 3 year-old independence phase and he has decided he needs no help with anything what-so-ever and then gets frustrated and upset if he can't do whatever the task is. We are working through it by explaning it is ok to ask for help sometimes and he is responding to that very well. He doesn't get upset often, but I still want to give him the tools to work through his frustaration because life is full of it.

The last few weeks, Hayden is talking like a total adult and I am loving it. He has no idea what some of the words mean and most of them he understands perfectly, but it cracks us up to hear phrases like, "I appreciate your help" and "My, it's quite chilly out here today."

I was shopping for birthday party supplies with him last week and we were having a very in-depth discussion about pinatas, and a lady that was shopping near us stopped me and told me she's a speech therapist and she couldn't believe his speech at his age. I have always known that he is well-spoken and articulate, but it's nice to hear that from someone else too!

Hayden and Buster have also gotten even closer together the past couple of days. They have been cuddling every day and Hayden reads him his books. Today he told me, "Buster is like my brother, but I wish he could talk to me." I love that they are so close.

Our vacation together is going absolutely wonderfully. I am so happy to have this extra time together and I wouldn't change it for all the money in the world. Birthday party preparations are in full swing and we are very excited. I'll write about some of that this weekend. I will also post a Year 2009 post on New Years. Love to all!

Snow Day!

Today we took a Trek up Mt. Lemmon with Uncle Mike and Frankie.  We wanted to do something fun for their last day here and it was perfect.  Hayden got to go tobagganing and made a little snowman.  We also had some wonderful pizza and hot cocoa at the cookie cabin.  Once he got the hang of walking on the snow and ice, he was so happy just throwing little snowballs at everyone and yelling "Snow Attack!"  It was an awesome day for all and a great way to spend our last day together.  Hayden and Frankie are best buddies and I know he is really going to miss her when they leave tomorrow morning.  We are going to hear, "Where's Uncle Mike and Frankie?" about as many times as we hear "Where's Grandma and Grandad?"  When Sid and Di leave after a visit!  I will write more tomorrow but now we are headed to a Mexican restaurant to convince Uncle Mike that not EVERY Mexican dish is spicy!! 

Merry Christmas!!!!

Wow, Merry couldn't begin to describe our wonderful Christmas this year!!  It has been an absolute joy and I am cherishing every minute of it.  It's an added blessing to have Uncle Mike and Francesca here visiting, as Hayden has really taken to them and it's great to see that he has an infinite amount of family around him as he grows up...across the ocean or not.  Christmas Eve was spent doing some shopping and relaxing, playing the Wii together and just talking the day away.  We made cookies for Santa which I sort of burnt because we were too busy chatting away, but nothing a little frosting couldn't cover up!  Last night, Hayden got 2 pairs of Christmas jammies, which he chose to divide his time in...one pair for bed, one for Christmas morning.  He put out milk and cookies for Santa and carrot sticks for the reindeer.  Right before bed, we read him "Twas The Night Before Christmas" and talked all about Santa. I expected Hayden not to sleep all too well out of excitement, but he slept through the night and didn't wake up until 5:20 which is his normal wakeup time.

This morning was just downright awesome.  We let Hayden dive right into the great presents Santa left him and he loved all of it.  Here's a rundown of what he got: a scooter, a space shuttle, moon set, helecopter, garbage truck, igloo tent, 4 puzzles, 4 games, art supplies, clothes, shoes, Trio blocks, Transformers, sunglasses, army men, lightsabers (Daddy's special gift), books, trains, and a space movie.  I think I forgot some of it but you get the idea.  He was happy just to get the first thing he opened and it took him a while to open all of his gifts.  We just hung out looking at each thing and we let him open things at his own pace.

After he opened all but about 4 gifts, we went to TTT for breakfast and had a wonderful meal, as usual.  Going there for breakfast on Christmas has become a tradition and we really enjoyed it, as did Francesca and Mike.  When we got home, Hayden opened his last few presents and then promptly passed out for a while in our bed.  The rest of today has just been about playing with all of the new toys, relaxing as a family and soon we will have our huge Turkey feast with all the trimmings.  It has been a little bit of a challenge trying to adjust the holiday menu to accomidate Hayden's dairy allergy, but we are getting used to it.  I have set aside portions of each dish to make on their own with soymilk and it seems to work just fine.  All in all, I am just so happy with how things are going for us this year and I can't say it enough...we are truly blessed with our sweet, intelligent, funny little boy and Christmas just reminds me of it all over again.  It's now 3 weeks until the big boy's birthday and I can't be more excited about that either!!!

I apoligize that the pictures aren't in order but you get the idea!  I am off to continue the fun and help get the last minute foods we need ready, so MERRY CHRISTMAS and look for snow pictures and other pictures of our adventures this weekend with our visitors.  Love to you all!!!

Pre-Christmas Fun

Well, our camera broke and we got a huge nail puncture in our tire in the past 2 days, but good news is they both have extra warantee protection and the tire was replaced this morning.  The camera will take 3 weeks to fix and if it's not repairable, they will give us a new one completely free.  I was having a little bit of a fit that we wouldn't have it for Christmas but luckilly we have Jane's camera to use until it comes back.  I aologize if the picture quality isn't quite the same, but pictures are pictures when the baby in them is adorable, right?

That's all for the drama...Here's the cute Hayden dish that you all enjoy.  We went to Winterhaven again Sunday night to show Jane all of the beautiful displays and it was wonderful.  Hayden had his dairy-free kettle corn and this time he walked around hand-in-hand with his MeeMaw off in their own little world marveling at the lights. 

Last night we did our own Christmas with Hayden's godparents, Hayley and James.  They got Hayden an AWESOME Optimus Prime helmet that makes voices and also alters his voice when he speaks.  I actually thought he may be afraid of it, but I was wrong.  He absolutely loves it and walks around saying "Transformers" with a silly voice.  They got us the greatest gift of all...A gift card to a restaurant and an offer to babysit while we go out...We will be taking them up on this next weekend for sure, and may even sneak in a trip to the movies! 

Here's some cute pictures of the fun.  This afternoon, we are taking Hayden to but 3 new pairs of shoes (courtesy of his wonderful Grandma and Grandad!) since he has outgrown his size 7 shoes now.  It's time for some big size 8 shoes and I plan to let him pick them out at the store.  I will try to get some pics of the shoes for you guys. 

Matt's Great Uncle Mike has just turned up from England with his daughter as a surprise, so we are even more blessed now this holiday!  They will be staying with us for the next week or so I believe.  Tomorrow is going to be filled with last minute Christmas prep and a playdate with Hayden's buddy Amelia and Thursday is going to be an awesome day of playing in the snow on Mt. Lemmon and baking cookies for Santa.  I will have pictures of all the fun.  Love to all!!!

What a Weekend!

Wow, we have had an absolute blast this weekend and I am exhausted.  Yesterday we relaxed at home in the morning and then went to Winterhaven for 3 hours and walked around looking at the gorgeous displays.  Hayden loved pointing out all of the raindeer and his favorite house was of course, the space shuttle display. 

Today was packed with great activities and we enjoyed all of them.  First up, we went to Hayden's friend Marshall's third birthday party.  The kids had a blast climbing and jumping in the jumping castle. 

After the party, we went to Matt's Christmas party for work at the Gaslight Theater.  The show was great and even the kids really enjoyed it.  Matt received a special gift that we both really love.  He got a MagLight flashlight set engraved with the TriSports.com logo and he also got a very generous Christmas bonus which was definitely well deserved by him!  At the end of the party, all of the kids got a special gift from the company's owners.  Matt's boss goes out shopping for each and every kid in the company and chooses a special gift for them. Hayden got a really cool Superhero playset and he was thrilled over it all afternoon.

When we were all partied-out for the day, MeeMaw was cool enough to watch Hayden for a couple of hours and Matt and I went out and finished our Christmas shopping together.  Hayden is now officially spoiled rotten and that's ok with us.  He is such a good boy and he is so very excited for Santa to come! 

MeeMaw and Hayden met us in town this evening and we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then went back to Winterhaven for another 2 hour walk.  Hayden just loves the lights and he is so damn observant.  He picks up the tiniest little details while looking at the lights.  This evening, one house had a LED drum set made out of tubes of lights.  Hayden walked straight over there, looked at it for a second, and said "They forgot one of the cymbals."  I explained that some drum sets only have one cymbal and the people who made it liked it with just one.  He said, "Ok, I just think it would sound good with two" and walked away.  We all about fell over laughing...It was really cute.

I apologize for the lack of pictures this evening.  It is way past my usual bedtime and I am exhausted from such a busy day!  Tomorrow I am meeting my dad for lunch (he's in town just for one day) and he is taking Hayden to Toys R Us to choose a Christmas gift with him.  Tomorrow night after soccer, Hayden's godparents are coming over to celebrate Christmas with us early since we have family things going on for Christmas day.  I will try to post some pictures of today when I post pictures from tomorrow.  Love to all!!

Zoo Lights

Last night we went to the Zoo lights event with our friend Alison and her kids Alex and Yazzi.  We had a great time walking around and the kids loved the lights.  There were some 14 year-old girls performing some very inappropriate dance moves up on stage, but other than that it was great!  I was a little sad that we had to run past the hot cocoa and cookie tables in order to avoid him feeling bad for not being able to have any, but he never noticed a bit, so it worked out well.  They even had some "snow" falling from the sky, which turned out to be bubbles, and he loved it.

Hayden is still in love with Christmas lights and we plan to walk through Winterhaven tonight!