Show and Tell

Hayden has show and tell each Thursday, and they have to take an item that begins with the letter of the week. Well, this week the letter was W. So, I got his whale for him to take. This is how the conversation went:
Mom: Here’s your whale for show and tell
Hayden: I can’t take that it doesn’t start with W.
Mom: Yes, it does
Hayden: No it doesn't, it’s a Killer Whale.
Mom: Well, it’s a type of whale, so you can take it.
Hayden: No, that doesn’t start with W.
Mom: Well, what letter does it start with
Hayden: T (for type of whale)
Mom: (laughs) well, you can take your watch then.
Hayden: No, I want the other whale.
In the end, I realized he had another whale, which he must not have known that it was a humpback whale. Because I’m sure if he did, then he wouldn’t have been able to take it either.

Our Easter Egg-citement

It seems like every holiday seems to be stretched out over a period of days when you have little kids. Hayden's Easter adventures began on Thursday when they had a party at school with dyeing eggs, an egg hunt, and everything else. Then, Thursday afternoon, he attended the Easter party at the church. So, he had fun hunting eggs and playing games there. He kept wanting to find more eggs, but we told each kid they could only find 5 eggs, that way everyone would have the same amount. So, it was a little hard for him to stop at 5, he kept spotting eggs, saying "there's another egg" "oh, and another one".
On Saturday, we went down to my mother-in-laws for the egg hunt there for all the grandkids. Right before, they started looking for eggs, Hayden tells me, "Only 5 eggs, right, mom?" and I just laughed and reassured him that he could find as many as he wanted this time. And finding a lot is what he did!!! He even found one with $5 in it, and lots of other eggs with money too, for a total of over $15.

Look at all those eggs!!!

Kayla wasn't too sure what to do at first, but it didn't take her long to catch on and start gathering up eggs. But, she got bored with it after awhile, and ended up finding some snow to play in. Thankfully, there isn't much left, Finally!!!

The weather was really nice on Saturday, so the kids ended up playing outside most of the afternoon with their cousins. They all had a lot of fun!!!

Hayden enjoyed getting pushed in the swing by his cousin, Hailee. While, Kayla enjoyed going for a ride in the wagon with cousin, Ethan at the wheel. Hang on, Kayla!!

Later Saturday evening, the kids had fun getting to dye all the eggs. Hayden had fun having Uncle Ben help him. He even had to make an egg for Brinka, our dog.

Needless to say, Kayla ended up climbing on the table! Imagine that!! She didn't care too much about dyeing eggs.

That wrapped up all the egg-citement for Saturday. Then, Sunday there was more with the Easter bunny. The Easter bunny didn't make it to our house until we were at church, thank goodness, since both kids slept until 8:15, and we have church at 9. Hayden didn't think much about it that morning, he didn't even ask why the Easter Bunny hadn't come. He was excited when we got home from church, and knew that the Easter Bunny hadn't forgotten him. He was excited with everything he got, "it was just what he had always wanted."

Kayla was pretty excited too, she started emptying out her basket right away, and of course, she liked the candy more than the outfit, bunny, and bubbles that she got. She ended up getting it open, and emptying it all over the floor, while Hayden hunted for all of the eggs.

We wanted to get a "cute and good" picture of the kids in their Easter outfits. We tried before church, but we were running late for church, and Hayden didn't want to cooperate, and Kayla wouldn't stand still long enough. So, we took a few when we got home from church, Hayden was more cooperative then, since we told him we thought the Easter Bunny had come, but he had to have a picture taken before he could go in and see if he had. But, then there's Kayla. She never stands still for longer than like a nano-second, so this is the best we got. Better luck next time!!!

Well, that wraps up our extra long Easter holiday. We had a great one this year, and are sure that next year will also be full of lots of fun and egg-citement.

Update on the Hoover Household

Well, it's been awhile since I last posted, so I thought I'd do a post and update everyone on how things are going in the Hoover household. Hayden went back to school this morning, after not having gone for a month. We left on Feb. 20th for Georgia, got back one day before their spring break started, and he didn't go that day because we were all too tired to get up that morning. Then they had their spring break last week, then yesterday, he had a dentist appointment so he missed that too. So then today is March 19th, so it has been exactly one month, at least it's only pre-school, and only 3 days a week. I thought for sure, he wouldn't want to go back after so long, but he went and all was well. --But that wasn't so with his last dentist appointment, this was his last one of 3, and they save "the best for last." His front teeth!! Everyone says those are a killer with shots. And I guess they were. Waylen went back with him this time, and he did fine until they gave him the shots, and I think the "pinches" just pinched a little too harder. But he made it out, and hopefully won't be too traumatized to go back for his cleaning in 6 months. At least that's over and done with!!
Waylen took Monday and Tuesday off, so we left on Sunday afternoon and went over and stayed in Pueblo for a few days. We usually stay with Waylen's brother, Ben, and his wife, Kaley, but we decided to stay in a hotel this time, since Hayden is always asking when we are going to use his hotel key again (he has a card from a previous stay somewhere). He always wants to stay in a hotel because he knows he can go swimming. When he was little he was deathly afraid of the water, and wouldn't let go of whoever was holding him for anything. But now he is much braver, and had a lot of fun swimming during our stay. Kayla is already much braver than Hayden was at his age. She sat in her little "boat" most of the time, but finally got to where she wanted to climb in and out of the pool using the ladder. Of course, since she loves to climb on everything else!! She was a pistol during our visit to Pueblo. I think she is hitting her terrible twos about 6 months too early. She kept giving us her mean look the whole time, and she had to fight with Hayden several times. One time, he was enjoying his sucker, (she had already eaten hers earlier), but she saw him with his, and she wanted it, and tried just about everything to get it from him. She screamed at him "mine", and tried to take it from his hands, and she got pretty mad when she didn't get it from him!! She's already gotten to that point, to where she knows what she wants, and she wants it or nothing. She's already gotten that way with her clothes. One day, I was trying to put some jeans on her, and no, she didn't want those, she kept grabbing her "pink polka dot" pants from her drawer, and I kept putting them back. She finally got them, and handed them to Waylen, and he solved her problem. Then, a few days ago, I went to put her crocs on her, and no, once again she didn't want those, she kept reaching up trying to get her boots. Needless to say, she ended up wearing the boots. --Hayden is a hard-headed kid, and once he gets his mind made up about something you usually can't change it, but I think Kayla may be just a little bit more hard-headed than he is. He especially didn't care what he wore when he was 18 months, but then that could just be a girl thing.
During our visit,we spent some time with Ben and Kaley, and Kaley's sister, Avery. They came over and went swimming with us, so Hayden was happy that Uncle Ben went swimming with him. He also got to take a short ride on Uncle Ben's new motorcycle, which he loved too. Kayla is just the opposite on that: Anytime you get her near a motorcycle, she tenses up, and starts to shake, and she didn't want to even sit on the motorcycle. Whereas, Hayden has loved motorcycles since he was younger than her. Can my kids be any more different than they are? --Hayden got to visit the Easter Bunny, who he thinks he can give a big list to of "presents" that he wants for Easter. Kayla didn't like the Easter Bunny at all!! We had a lot of fun on our little trip, it's always nice to "get away" for a few days. Now, we are staying busy with getting ready for Easter parties and Hayden's birthday on the 29th, and keeping Kayla out of everything and off of everything. Well, that's our update on how things are going in the Hoover household!!!

PICTURES FROM TRIP TO GEORGIA

The "Devils" went down to Georgia

As you all know, the kids and I went to Georgia to visit my family for a couple of weeks. We left on Feb. 20th from Alburquerque at 1 in the afternoon, we had a 3 1/2 hour non-stop flight to Orlando. Overall, it went good, Hayden was excited to get snacks and pop, and then he stayed busy watching movies on the DVD player. Kayla was a little more "restless", I had given her a sleep-aid in hopes that she would go to sleep, but it failed to work. We were in the very last row, so she didn't bother too many people. She kept entertaining the flight attendants when they were back there. We also lucked out and got in a row with just us, so she was able to sit and stand in her own seat. She acted like she was going to go to sleep a couple of times, but then she would sit right back up. She finally crashed about 30 minutes before we landed. We got into Orlando sometime after 6, and my dad and brother, Bradley, were there to pick us up. Hayden was pretty excited to see Papa Mike. When we were leaving the airport, my dad's GPS started saying "Turn around, etc." and my brother was like what, why, you crazy thing, etc. (I think it was telling him to go a different way then what they go). Anyways, I guess you had to be there to get how "crazy" Hayden thought it was because for the rest of the night, he kept asking "Are we lost?" "Where is this thing taking us?" --We didn't get back to my parents' house until past 11 o'clock. I was so tired and ready for bed, and thought for sure that Hayden would be too. But he was too excited to be at Papa Mike's house, we ended up going to bed around midnight. I also thought, since we went to bed so late, that the kids would sleep late the next morning, but no they were both wide awake by 7:30. -We had a lot of fun while we were in Georgia and it was nice weather while we were there. It did rain a few days, but rain is much better than snow!! Some of the highlights from our trip include:

• We went to Monster Jam on Sat, the 23rd. My mom kindly (and thankfully) volunteered to stay home with Kayla, so it was me and Hayden with my dad and my brother's family. Another family went down with us too. We had really good seats, we were about 10 rows up from the bottom. Hayden got a little bored waiting for it to start (we got there about 2 hours early). But he enjoyed it once the Monster trucks got started. He lasted until about the last 30 minutes, he fell asleep. It didn't end until after 11, then we had to get out of the stadium, get to the car, then get out of all the traffic. So we didn't get back to Waycross, until past 2 o'clock. We had a lot of fun, and will have to plan on going again when Waylen can go with us.

• We were able to attend the annual Mobley reunion (which includes my Papa Mobley's brothers and sisters families) the next Saturday. It was good to see some of my family, 5 out of 6 of my dad's sister's were there, but my uncle was not there. I was able to visit with some of my cousins too, but only about 7 out of about 20 were there. But it was nice to see and visit with those who were there. They had people share their talents, and I tried to get Hayden to sing his "Tiny Tim" song, but he didn't think it was that great of an idea.
• We went down to Brunswick, about 45 miles from Waycross, a couple of times. We went the Friday after we got there, and did some shopping, and to visit my sister-in-law, Rheann, at her and her mom's consignment shop there in town. Then, we went back to Brunswick, on the following Wed, the 27th, to have a birthday dinner for Rheann at her parent's house.
• During our visit, I was able to visit with one of my friends that I haven't seen since high school. She and her 8 year old daughter came by one evening, and visited for a couple of hours. Tiffany's daughter, Bethany, kept trying to be a "mother hen" so to say to Kayla, and Kayla didn't want anything like that. She let her know, and she did the same thing with her cousins during our stay. If they "smothered" her too much, she let them know it right away. --It was nice to visit with Tiffany and catch up on things. I had planned on visiting with one of my other friends too that I haven't seen since high school, but our plans kept falling through. But maybe next time, we'll get the chance to see each other.
• Most of our days were pretty laid back, no big plans. We spent a lot of the days with Bradley and his youngest son, Corbin. Rheann works Tuesday - Friday, and Bradley doesn't go to work until 11 at night. So luckily, we had someone to spend our time with on the days that my mom and dad had to work. We went into town several times, and some times we went more than once a day. I'm used to having to do everything you have to do in one trip and usually once a week. Then, the kids had fun playing outside at Bradley's house, and Kayla loved playing with their dog, Gi-Gi. We even took the kids to the park one day after school. It was nice to be able to spend time outside of the house for a change.

We had a lot of fun during our trip to Georgia, and enjoyed the time that we got to spend with my family. Hayden enjoyed playing with his GA cousins, although he and Corbin did have their share of "arguements" but they and Porter had fun racing trucks around and around my parents' living room and kitchen, playing on the trampoline, riding the John Deere big-wheel, and even playing some computer games. Kayla loved being outside, and from the minute she woke up she was ready to go "side" and feed "Gi-Gi". --One day, Kayla was playing outside with Corbin, and I told him, "Don't let her go over to Papa Mike's house." (My brother leaves diagonally behind my parents, so they have a gate between the two yards.) One time I had checked on them and Corbin was sitting on the ground in the dirt, and Kayla was picking up dirt and pouring it in his lap. Well, about 5 minutes later, Corbin came in and said, "Tayla's over at Papa Mike's" I thought she'd just be in the back yard, but no she was inside the house. I asked Corbin, "How did she get inside?" He replied, "She stand on her tip-toes, and opened it." Still not sure how she got in, not sure if I had left the back door opened, or if Corbin opened it for her, or if she really did "stand on her tip-toes and open it."

We left Georgia, on Wednesday, our flight home went pretty good. Hayden slept for about an hour and a half, and Kayla went to sleep about 30 minutes after Hayden did, and she slept until we got ready to land. The turbulence was really bad when we were descending into Alburquerque, and it was way too bumpy for me. I thought for sure I was going to get sick, but thankfully I didn't and the kids didn't. If they had, then I know I would have too. It was horrible, and I felt sick for a couple of hours after that. Hayden was so excited to see his daddy and told Waylen " I missed you 30 times". Kayla acted like she had no clue who Waylen was, he started talking to her, and went to pick her up, and she just looked at him, no smiles or anything. --Like I said earlier, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed our trip to Georgia and the time we got to spend with my family. We can't wait for them to come out and visit us this summer. June won't come soon enough this year, and hopefully all the snow will be gone by then.