Blue Eagles

Despite his undying devotion to the sport of football, we have gotten Hayden to broaden his horizons by signing him up for basketball. He plays in the 4 and 5 age group. We really don't know for sure, but sorta suspect him to be one of the younger guys on the team. His team is called the blue eagles and there are about 10 wiggly little guys that are in constant motion for the hour a week we go. There is a Hayden, Brayden, Kaden and Aiden on the team. That adds to the challenge for ol' coach Steve. "hey, Hayden, come stand over here!" All four come bouncing over, three of them leaving the spots coach Steve just assigned them. They practice bounce passes, chest passes, dribbling with each hand ("your other right!"), and shooting. They play with an 8 foot tall rim, and some of them can shoot it up there. Not Hayden. He tries with all his might, but is lucky to graze the bottom of the net. We have only gone to three practices, but he improves each week. I don't think it will be too long before he is swishing them. Today they divided up into two teams for a little scrimage. Coach had Hayden's team take their shirts off and be "skins." Skins agains shirts. OH MY, how cute. The skins were very shy and hesitant to take off their shirts, in fact, I was a little unsure of it myself. Well, coach is no dummy, he knows he was going to need help so he had a few dads come help and of coarse Heath was the first to jump up and volunteer (but he kept his shirt on). Hayden was so excited. At one point he came running over to me in the middle of the game and exclaimed "Mom, Dad is the coach!" It was very sweet. Hayden is quite sure that the skins won, however I am not sure how we should have kept score, it seemed to be a hybrid of football, soccer, basketball, and wrestling. All-in-all it was very cute and I couldn't be more proud of my little super star.

Trick or Treat

Well, halloween has come and gone. Good times were had by both the pirate and the monkey. It always amazes me how the weather can be in the 70s the day before halloween, but with out fail, it will surely fall well below freezing the night of. Rumor has it the temp was in the upper 20s at trick or treat time, but not sure if that is fact or not. I was wishing I had a full body fleece monkey suit too, however it might not have been as cute as Sage. She played the part well!
Hayden had many pirate friends; we knew that it was going to be popular this year, and sure enough. Turns out that several of his friends were dressed identical to him. (bought the costume at Costco, guess I am not the only one who shops there!)
Hayden has got it down, he knows how the whole trick or treat thing works. Sage is a quick learner. It only took a few tries before she could yell out trick or treat, well maybe it sounded more like treat-treat!

Know a good dentist?

Sleepy Head

Sage played hard Sunday morning. When she had finally had enough, she found herself a sunny spot and cuddled up with her "meep meep" and had a little rest. So cozy!
I know all moms think that their children are brilliant, but let me tell you that this little girl is phenomenal! She has taken to singing the alphabet. She knows most of her colors. Green seems to be her favorite. Her daddy likes to wear green shirts because he knows she will poke him and say "neen!" This girl can color too! I am amazed at the time she spends hunched over a sheet of paper with a crayon pressed in her pudgy little hand creating wonderful squiggles (Jess, Brenton, and Grady might say squiggling :) haha, guess you would have had to be there). She always spots Nissan Titans on the road and yells "Daddy!" She used to get excited about diesel trucks, but now not so much. And what a sweetheart, the other night her brother was on timeout, and she kept taking him pieces of popcorn. They look out for each other. She loves her Haydee. Tonight she got a package from her Grandma F, and she was tickled with the princess slippers and light up bracelet. She insisted on wearing the bracelet to bed; I am sure there will be a light show all night long. Her teachers at school tell me that she has amazing verbal skills, well, I guess I shouldn't be to surprised about that, I know her big brother :) Besides, she's my brilliant girl.

Football, Football!

Well, its football season! We are getting into the action around here. Hayden is obsessed. His dad took him to a high school game on Friday night. He was soooo tired, but managed to keep his eyes open through most of it. He was so excited to tell me about the game the next morning. He is begging us to buy him a helmet so he can be a real football player. I thought maybe a Seahawks jersey would be a good alternative. He was so excited to get the shirt, but that just made him need the helmet even more. We had a Seahawks party tonight. Well, we called it a party, but Hayden was quick to point out that we didn't have any friends come and that we didn't play and games or go to the park. (what a lame party!) The Hawks didn't help our situation either. It is amazing to have my little guy tell me about shotgun plays and such. He seems to have a good grasp on the game. He even does the worm when he scores a touchdown. (sort of looks like an epileptic seizure) Sage has apparently been taking notes when we all play in the back yard because last week at daycare, her class played football one afternoon and the teachers found it hilarious when she grabbed the ball, bent over and yelled HIKE! a few times and then tossed the ball. She likes to tackle :)

All about me

Aloha, so I notice that it has been awhile since I have posted anything! I have had a little vacation. It was mostly wonderful as any trip to Hawaii should be. The picture above was what I saw when I stepped out onto my lanai at the Sheraton Waikiki. I have lots more pictures, unfortunately, they are not downloaded yet. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow! I got to go to a conference (Yee Haw), surf, swim, eat everything i could get my hands on, and build a sandcastle. My next trip to Hawaii may not include much time in Honolulu, however I think it would be a good time to climb diamond head, missed it this trip. The free Trolley to Hilo Hattie was about the coolest part of the trip!
But it wasn't all fun and games. The stupid airline lost my luggage and so i spent half the time worring and trying to replace the missing stuff. That stunk! But, it was Hawaii, so I guess I can't complain too much. Next time i will write about my cute kids, I promise!

Wordless Wednesday

What a Joker

Some of Hayden's favorite jokes:
knock knock,
who's there?
Interupting cow
Interup-
MOO!

I was at Mcdonalds the other day and there was a pirate there. He had a big ship steering wheel attached to the front of his pants. So I walked up to him and said, hey pirate, is that a steering wheel on your pants? and he said, arrgg and its driving me nuts!

What is the best time to go to the dentist? tootin hurdy! (2:30, tooth, hurty)

Wordless Wednesday

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Saturday night we decided to do something fun since we spent most of the day cleaning and running errands. Heath had gotten tickets to the Dust Devils, our minor league baseball team. It was a beautiful night for baseball. A friend from Hayden's class, Parker, got to throw out the first pitch, Hayden was in awe. The crowd was small because, well, its minor league. It was also the last night of the Benton Franklin Fair, so that probably helped keep the crowds down. The stadium is general seating, so we just found an empty row for the kids to wiggle. Sage climbed all over the rows around us. Hayden quickly made a new friend, his name was Bill. Him and his wife, Lori are big Dust devil fans and go often. Hayden climbed up next to Bill and spent most of the game visiting with him. (Bill is the guy in the FDNY hat in the picture). What a great time Hayden had yelling at the umpire and cheering on the team. It was quite funny. We had soda, licorice, and popcorn to snack on and when the game finally ended at 10:30 pm, there was a great fireworks show which might have been a tad loud for Hayden. Sage found it comforting and snuggled up to me. The dust devils led from the first inning but let Spokane score a few runs in the ninth to win! Bummer.

Pony Tail

Miss Sage is finally getting enough hair for a real pony tail. She looked so sweet in her new skirt from Grandma!
Sage's favorites:
Song: Row, Row, Row Your Boat (row, row) Wheels on the bus (sish, sish, sish), I have a little Turtle(bubble, bubble), Little bunny Foo Foo (foo foo), Black Horse and a Cherry tree (no, no, no)
Book: Animal Noises, anything in Hayden's hand
Activity: coloring, emptying Hayden's underwear drawer (undies!), calling Jamie and Kyle on the cell phone, climbing around in the back of the van
Toys: Dolls, play food-especially the chicken leg, stroller-real and toy
Food: broccoli, salmon, cheetos (gotta love that!)
Drink: Apple juice, slushies(sushey)
No tolerance for: Hair brushing, sharing with Hayden, diaper changes, drop off at daycare, the Tri-cities Dust Devil mascot Dusty

Transitions

What a week! We have had an eventful few days. Both kids are transitioning at school. Hayden has moved to the pre-K class and Sage is in Transitions (creative name for 2 year olds). Both are enjoying their new surroundings and making new friends.
Tuesday after work, we decided to head to Seattle to visit Nanny in the hospital and to see some family. We got to visit with Grandpa, Aunt Angie, Cousin Heidi, Lachelle, and of course Nanny. Wednesday it was time for some serious back to school clothes for the kids (hey, moving classes at daycare counts as back to school right?) Grandma F and Jamie and Avery joined in the fun. The notion that girls are more fun to dress than boys seems to really hold true as miss Sage has a truck load of darling things but Hayden just got a few things. Sage, however has shot up like a little weed and has NOTHING to wear anymore because she has outgrown it all! Hayden can still fit into all his stuff from last year, so he will not be naked with out some new things. But hey, a guy needs new stuff too. Grandma bought him some courderoy army pants that he immediately wanted to wear, slept in that night and wore all the next day, even after we got home and it was 86 degrees. Sage was tough to shop for because we still have a good month or so of hot weather, so she needs some transition clothes (back to that word again!) So hopefully the stuff can stretch into fall and early winter. She is now in 2T, the real cute stuff! kind of exciting. We no longer shop the baby racks. We rode the carousel; Hayden picked the biggest horse on the thing. When it started up, he got a little nervous, but his sister was having a blast so he at least put on a smile and pretended to like it and by the end of the ride, i think that he convinced himself that it was actually fun. After a nap, we headed to Jamie and Kyles; little did they know that dinner with my kids is always an adventure and sure enough, they performed like never before, it was aweful. Animals-thats all i can say... Early to bed in hopes of a better day Thursday. And it was. We went to the beach with grandma and grandpa and got squirted by geoducks, or "bouy ducks" according to Hayden. We had a very pleasant time and then decided to head to the hospital where we got to visit with Nanny and Arlene. Nanny seemed to be doing much better and the kids were happy to get a visit in, especially since the hospital put a brownie on Nannys tray and Nanny doesn't like chocolate. Guess who helped? :) Then home, and fast because Daddy was waiting to take us to the rodeo! Wow, what an exciting night. We had VIP tickets and got to sit above the chutes. Sage wanted to ride the bulls so bad but we wouldn't let her. It was a late night but the kids had a great time eating cotton candy and watching the animals. mooo.
Then it was back to work today-ho hum. I guess we will have to see what is in store for the weekend.

Water Park

Our park on the Columbia where I love to walk is the best. They have great trails for walking, beautiful scenery, ball fields, boat ramps, swim areas, picnic shelters, you name it. But the playground is incredible. Its called the playground of dreams. You could lose your kid in there (it happens often!) because it is huge. My kids, of course love it. It has been a little too warm for running around the play structures, so the water park adjacent to it is more our style these days. It is fun to see all the kids play. Its quite crowded, but there are enough fountains to keep everyone busy. We had a great time last week playing. Sage thought she was in heaven-water fountains galore! She tried a gulp from each fountain; no worries about dehydration! Hayden has played in this park many times, usually he is pretty timid (I know, shocking). But on this day, he let loose and got soaked. He would stand over a little hole in the ground and stare at it until he got a face full of water. I think there are unwritten rules that all kids must try to cover the holes with their toes, resulting in a high pressure guyser when the water shoots up. Typically mom or some small unsuspecting child gets blasted. Its fantastic.

No Training Wheels For Hayden

What a big kid! Heath taught Hayden to ride training wheel free. We went to the park with the bike stripped of training wheels, but also, he took the pedals off and lowered the seat all the way down. Hayden practiced balancing and coasting around for awhile. Then when we raised his seat, put the pedals back on, and away he went! Sage was a great cheerleader in the stroller. How exciting to watch my little guy learn such a big boy skill.

Arggh Matey!

Ahh, a blog of our own! So much to say about my little darlings that we need our own space. It is supposed to be quiet time here-Sage naps, Hayden pushes the limits on quiet activities. Not sure how successful we are going to be. Big excitedment here today, Hayden finally got his Halloween costume! I know, just 2 1/2 months until halloween, we were really getting down to panic time. What will he be? A pirate, no surprise there. We looked at princess dresses for my little princess, but I don't think we want to start that yet. I saw a cute monkey costume in a catalog that I thought was more appropriate for her. However seeing as it is already mid-august, i guess i better get on it. :)