*Adorable Alert*

I went down to the NYS office yesterday to pick up our team's photos for this season of T-Ball.  Their photographers really aren't the best usually, but Hayden is photogenic so they are usually decent photos.  When I saw these, I cried.  They are sooooo adorable and I love them.  Look at the Daddy/Hayden photo and how Hayden has his little chest all puffed out...so so cute!

I passed Pike swim class!

Hayden is so excited that he passed his first level of swim class at the YMCA, the Pike level.  He was able to go under the water for 15 seconds, show elementary backstroke with support and he can do front crawl with belly support.  I am so proud of my little guy for getting in the water with his teachers and learning so much in just 4 weeks.  The next level is Eel, where they learn to swim with less support from the teacher and build confidence when under the water.

Since we have Becky and Alan coming the first 2 weeks of August, I didn't want to be tied down to going to swim class Tuesdays and Thursdays with them here, so he starts Eel in September.  He loved his teachers Sam and Victoria and he was sad to hear Sam is going back to school but as soon as I said he gets Victoria all to himself, that totally made up for it.  He LOVES her and tells her every time he sees her that she has pretty hair.  She requested that he stop by to visit during August so I think I'll have to make that happen!

Today, the focus of class was all about fun and all of the instructors put on a "pirate" play for the kids and also showed them how to help someone out of the pool by laying on their belly and pulling them to the edge.  They also dumped them out of a little boat to show them how to float if they ever fall off a real boat or off a raft in the pool.  Hayden DID NOT want to wear the life jacket around his neck, but good old Sam got him to do it and helped him float to the edge.  I got some cute photos of the little play and Hayden's reaction to "sword fighting" so up close.

We will post a lot this weekend since we may be VERY scarce the next 2 weeks since Alan is staying in the computer room and we want to focus on having fun with the family, not the internet.  I am so excited to have Matt home for the last 2 weeks of our school break.  We are going to have a ton of fun!

Imagination

Going back to my post a couple of weeks ago about Hayden definitely being a future actor, he also LOVES to dress up when he puts on little plays for us.  Here he is pretending to be a "Potty Pirate" and singing a song that went something like this...
"We're sitting on the potty with our pirate swords
I'm the potty pirate and I go potty with my sword
I'll let you use my sword if you need to go potty
We're going potty, oh yeah yeah yeah yeah"

He makes up at least 1 or 2 songs a day and most of the time they actually have a decent melody and he remembers EVERY word to sing later.

Here he is being Valentino Rossi in his costume Grandad and Grandma gave him last year...He went around the house finding his stuffed animals and action figures and "racing" them for the championship! Aren't you glad it still fits Grandad?  It's got lots of room for him to grow still too...not to mention it brings out those beautiful eyes!

The last one I have today is his Superman costume from 2 YEARS AGO.  Aside from the arms being a little tight, it actually still fits him.  I couldn't believe it when I put it on him and he could still wear it!  This time he flew to Buster and saved him from a bush full of cookies.

I love his imagination!

Playing in the Back Yard

Hayden has always loved his back yard.  He enjoys watering the flowers, sweeping, his version of "organizing" the rocks and of course he loves to play with the hose.  It maybe took him 3 days after he started walking to figure out how to turn the faucet on and he would drag the hose around "watering" things.  He asks every morning to go out back and water the plants and he is very careful not to over-water them...it's very cute.  We have been trying to beat the heat by playing in the hose and baby pool once a day to take some of the edge off of how hot it is.  Here's some photos of Matt and Hayden splashing around today...yes, Mommy got soaked 2 seconds after I set the camera down!

All Ready For School!

With Becky and Alan due to arrive next week for a 2 week visit (the last 2 weeks of our summer break) I decided to get Hayden mostly ready with supplies for our return to school so it won't be on my list with company here.  Hayden loves going to "Big Kid School" in an elementary school because all of the kids have backpacks and folders for their stuff.  He thinks they are just the coolest and he loves wearing his in every day and putting his little drawings and such in his folder.  I decided to go with our usual tradition of getting a new lunch box each year and I also figured a new backpack was in order as well.  I took Hayden shopping and he was absolutely thrilled to see the Batman backpacks hanging there.  When he realized there was a matching lunch box, he was so happy to get the set.  Of course, the fact that both of them have capes on them is a huge bonus!

I also let him choose a folder for his little papers and he thought the robots on the Star Wars one were awesome, so he chose that.  I love letting him make his own choices and he is so happy with his decision.  I have hidden them in the closet until we go back to school so he will be able to rediscover them the day before we go back.

Hayden is so excited to be going back to school soon and keeps asking me who from last year is coming back and what the new kids names are.  I am going in to help set up the classroom Monday and Hayden gets to come, so he will love seeing all of the toys he hasn't played with all Summer.  I definitely think it is great to only go to Preschool 9 months of the year and have the summer off.  This has been such a blessing and I am so glad I am able to do it.

Here's some photos of his supplies and when I buy his school clothes, Ill post those too!

Thank You Grandma and Grandad!

We walked to the mail box today and found a surprise inside...a special package addressed just to Mr. Hayden Duffin.  He was so excited to read his name on it and he couldn't wait to get in the house to cut it open.  He immediately dumped the contents all on the floor and was so happy to see the awesome Preschool books he received.  Mommy was of course happy to see some cute little clothes that are the perfect size for him to wear to school in a few weeks!

We immediately got the crayons, pens, markers etc out and started working in his books.  He did about 10 pages this evening and he was so proud of everything he did.  His control with his pencil when he writes is amazing at his age and I really enjoy watching him concentrate.  MeeMaw is on her way home to read her Grantham Journal and to do some more pages in the book with Hayden too!

Thanks soooo much to Hayden's awesome Grandad and Grandma...he just adores those packages and gets the biggest kick out of the fact that he has something cool from so far away.  His clothes will forever be his "Grandad and Grandma from England" clothes when he wears them to school  :)

Thanks again and we love you both so very much!

Rain!

Well, it finally happened...RAIN and lots of it on Saturday evening!  It has been a brutal few weeks waiting for some sort of storm to hit us and we got a great one on Saturday.  Down the street at our friends' house, there was a trampoline in the road, that's how hard the winds were blowing.  The house got completely pummeled with the storm for over an hour and we all loved it.  We sat by the window, playing games and watching the storm together and when the lightening passed far enough away, sat in front of the house to watch the tail-end of it all.  Hayden got to get a little wet in the puddles, so he was thrilled about that.

Sunday morning, Matt, Jane and Hayden let me sleep in and they went to the park together.  They came back with a muddy 3 year-old, a muddy Buster, and lots of cute pictures of their adventure (running through puddles of mud).

Cuteness from today

I realized today that I haven't posted many pictures of this season's Tball games.  It has been so hot at the games that pulling out my camera is usually not something I even remember to do.  Today, Matt brought the camera and got some really cute photos of Hayden's game.  Hayden has made absolute leaps and bounds at tball in the past month or so.  He can properly catch the ball in his glove now, and can throw really far.  He's also making great contact with the ball when he bats and he is still the tiniest one out there and tons of fun to watch.  Here's some of the photos of the fun in the sun!

Happy Half birthday!

Today our sweet boy is 3 1/2 years old.   I am amazed every month that goes by with Hayden.  He's a true gift and I am so happy to celebrate 3 1/2 years with him today.  He's been growing and changing so much recently and I love watching it.  He's become so independent when he plays and makes up such awesome stories and games.  He's usually the organizer of the activities when he is in a group, which cracks me up because he is the littlest one as always.  He's learning more and more each day as well.  His handwriting is brilliant for a 3 year-old and he remembers so many things that just amaze us.  Making up jokes is Hayden's new favorite thing and they are usually just enough to send him into a super cute laughing fit.  Hayden has also gotten a little taller, measuring 37 inches now.  He has grown a full inch in a few months and I am so glad.  He's still teetering at 30-31 pounds, but the doctor blames it on his food habits due to his allergy and I think that's pretty right-on.  He will get bigger when he wants and there's no forcing it!  Hayden is still not keen on the idea of sleeping in his own room and we have been asking him for some time now, so we are taking that as it comes and figure he will get out of our room eventually...hopefully before college  :)  We are still enjoying watching him play T-Ball and after this season, Daddy is the coach and 4 of his friends are playing, so he's already excited about that.  I could go on for hours really, but I'll just say Happy 3 1/2 years to our very special little boy.  We love you so very much!

Braving the Heat

A few of my friends and I have been wanting to get to the zoo for a couple of weeks now.  We figured it would be hot anytime, so we decided to brave the heat yesterday and brought all of our kids to walk around the zoo, with plans to go straight to the pool afterwards, of course!

The kiddos had a great time walking the zoo together and saw all of their favorite animals.  Hayden took bunches of pictures of everything he saw and it wasn't unbearably hot at all.  Half way through, Hayden was pooped and refused to walk, but after a few minutes of carrying him, he perked up and finished the zoo.

Afterwards, my friend Jannette's Grandfather, who operates the train, took the kiddos on a ride and Hayden loved it as usual.

It finally did get unbelievably hot around 12:00 and we headed for the covered pool to cool off for a while.  I love taking Hayden out with my group of mom friends and their kids.  It's such a different experience than going out on our own and he always enjoys it.  These photos are some taken by me, some by Hayden  :)

P.S. Our windshield was not repairable and the crack has since spread all the way across the passenger side, so we are home-bound for a while until we can pay for a new one.  Hayden's friend Cassidy is coming over today to play so I'm sure they will have a blast.