EASTER FUN

We had a great Easter this year, and it was beautiful weather on Easter. The kids dyed Easter eggs the Thursday night before Easter, since Nicolette and Porter were going to be gone during the weekend. The kids had a total of almost 4 dozen eggs to dye, and they were done in what seemed like just a few minutes.

The Easter Bunny did manage to find the kids while they were staying at Papa Mike's and Nana's house. He brought the movie Madagascar for a combined gift, then some Tonka Construction trucks for Hayden, and a princess camera for Kayla. Plus, Nana got them some stuff for Easter, and later that afternoon when we went over to Rheann's parents for Easter dinner, they got another baggie of goodies from Rheann's mom. They got so much stuff we ended up having to mail a package home of just all the toys and souvenirs from our trip.

Kayla packed around her stuff all morning before church, and then had her arms full when we went to church too. She wouldn't even let us take it from her for pictures. The pictures that we took of the kids together before church turned out really blurry, so we took a few more after church. But before we could, Hayden had to go to the bathroom, so we tried keeping Kayla outside so she wouldn't get distracted and not want to take more pictures. Well, mission failed!! She did good for a few minutes, and even let us take a few more pictures of her, but then she went inside and when she came back out she had her chocolate Easter bunny. So, in the morning her arms were full of all her toys and purse. Then in the afternoon she wouldn't let us take the bunny from her, and when we did she had a complete meltdown (picture in center where she is reaching out)!! So, the picture taking went just as it does every Easter and Christmas, pretty stressful!!

We went after church, down to Brunswick to have Easter dinner with Rheann's parents. We had a delicious Easter dinner, then the kids enjoyed hunting for Easter eggs.

We spent about another hour or so visiting, then we headed back to Waycross. Like I said earlier, we had a great Easter, and the kids enjoyed all of their Easter goodies and loved hunting for the eggs. That pretty much wraps up our trip to Georgia, we got clothes washed and packed up on Monday, and took it easy all day Monday. Then on Tuesday, we left warm and sunny Georgia to come back to cold and windy Colorado, but at least the last few days have been really nice. Now, all we can do is cross our fingers and hope it only improves from here, Wishful Thinking maybe???

My Oh My, Guess who turned 5?

Hayden celebrated his 5th birthday on March 29th, and was pretty excited that his birthday had finally arrived. The night before he didn’t sleep very good, he was up for more than 2 hours complaining of a tummy ache. (Not sure if he was really sick or just anxious for his birthday to arrive!!) Needless to say, he was pretty tired the morning of his birthday, and he didn’t want to go to church (which really isn't anything new, he never wants to go because it takes too long!!) But we managed to make it through sacrament, then Waylen decided to bring him home for a little nap, and Waylen was pretty tired too from helping his brother move that weekend. So, they were able to get a nap in before Kayla got home and woke them up!! So, thankfully Hayden got all rested up for his party that afternoon. –He had a great party!! Papa Larry, Grandma Debby, The Snuffy’s, Aunt Melody’s family, and Aunt Jacki’s family were all here to celebrate his birthday. We enjoyed a dinner of barbecue sandwiches, then we went out into the garage for the smashing of the Monster Truck piñata. It was fun watching the kids, and watching wheels fly off and across the garage, and Uncle Tyler helped Hayden finish breaking the piñata, and that resulted in part of the handle flying off the stick and flying across the room. Luckily, no one was injured!! –After all the smashing and flying of car parts and handles, we enjoyed some of his Monster Truck cake and ice cream, then it was time to open presents. He got a lot of nice presents (Monster truck, slip-n-slide, Mater crocs, Whack-a-Mole Tower game, Hot Wheels Loop Track, fishing pole, and money too) and loved all of them. He stayed busy the rest of the night and all day the next day playing with his Hot Wheels track, and the batteries were almost dead by the end of the day on Monday. –All in all, Hayden had a great 5th birthday, and like always I wonder where the time went, it’s hard to believe that he is 5, and will be starting Kindergarten in less than 5 months.

Spring Break

Last week was Hayden's spring break, and luckily (and thankfully) the weather was nice!!! Definitely can't say the same for this week, it was extremely cold yesterday, and today is going to be really cold too with a high of only 44. It's crazy how much the weather can change from one day to the next here. Anyway- I just thought I would write about how our spring break went, mostly for journaling purposes, so hope you don't get too bored since we didn't do anything overly exciting during the break. (Not sure why I didn't take any pictures during the week, I guess because I hadn't planned on blogging about it, but then decided I needed to write it all down before I forgot!!) Monday - After doing the usual Monday morning cleaning, we went outside to enjoy the wonderful weather that we were having. Hayden and Kayla stayed busy playing on the trampoline, on the swing set, in the sandbox, and drove Hayden's truck around. Hayden asked if we could eat our lunch outside, so we had a little picnic. Then the kids played for awhile longer before I took Kayla in for a much needed nap. After Kayla's nap, it was still really nice out (it seems like the wind always starts blowing during the afternoon, but it hadn't that day), so we decided to go for a walk to the post office. Hayden rode his bike, while I pulled Kayla in the wagon. We checked the mail at the post office, then Hayden said he wanted to go down to the church. So, we walked down to the church and circled around the building once, and Hayden wanted to go one more time. This time he rode his bike as fast as his little legs would let him go!! He was all excited that he beat me and Kayla around the building. When we got about four blocks from home, he was starting to get tired, and asked if he could just ride in the wagon. But he managed to make it home, and then we stayed outside for about another hour or so before it was time to go in and start making dinner. --It was a great way to start off the week, and the kids both had a lot of fun. Tuesday- We spent another day enjoying the nice weather. In the morning, we went down to the library and Hayden checked out some books for bedtime reading during the week. Then we came home and had another picnic. After lunch, we went on another walk, and this time after stopping at the post office, we headed down to visit with Papa Larry for a few minutes. Once again, Hayden got tired on the way back home, but once again he managed to make it. And really that's a long way for his little legs to take him!! -- Once home, the kids played some more outside and enjoyed blowing bubbles, trying to build sandcastles, and having me push them higher and higher on the swings. --That afternoon, I had to run to the store to grab a few things for dinner. When we left the store, I just sat Kayla in her car seat, which I know is unlawful, but we are guilty of doing it when we are just going to the post office, store, church, or Grandma's. O.k. well that's pretty much the whole town of Manassa. Anyway- she must have been standing up because when I backed out, I hear this thud and then hear her screaming! I look back and her feet are sticking straight up in the air. When I got her picked up off the floor and into the front seat with me, I noticed how much she was covered in blood!! When I got home, I cleaned her with a washcloth the best that she would let me, and was able to find the cut. It was still hard to tell how big of a cut it was because of her not sitting still, and all the blood. I wasn't sure whether to take her to the ER for stitches or not. After talking to my sister-in-law Jacki, I got Kayla in the bath and cleaned her up really good, then I was able to tell that it was only about 1 cm long, and that there wasn't any tissue showing, and the bleeding had began to stop. Jacki had told me to try putting a butterfly bandage on the cut, but that wasn't possible because of the cut being underneath her hair. But I did manage to get a little bit of an antibiotic ointment on it, and then just left it alone. --Waylen got home about 10 minutes later, and she had to tell him all about it. We tried keeping her settled down, and kept telling her to quit jumping and running around, but it just didn't seem to slow her down any!! --So, that is how our day ended on Tuesday, and both of the kids were sound asleep by 8:15, Waylen had a meeting at 8, and so I enjoyed some peace and quiet for a few hours!! Wednesday-We had to go up to Alamosa and run a few errands and Hayden had a dentist appointment in the afternoon. So, we went up and had lunch with Waylen, then I took the kids to the park for awhile before we had to go to Hayden's appointment. Then after Hayden's appointment (which he did great at; they didn't even have to give him a shot), we went and got groceries, then headed home. That was our day on Wednesday, I hate when I have to go to Alamosa and it ends up taking the whole day to get everything done and get back home!! Thursday-We did about the same as Monday and Tuesday. The kids enjoyed playing outside again, and after Kayla's nap we went down to Grandma Debby's and went on a walk with her. Friday-This was the only day that the wind decided to blow, and so it was a little colder. We stayed inside and had a lazy day. We watched some movies and Hayden had been wanting to get out the sleeping bags, so he was excited to watch the movies while curled up in a sleeping bag!! We played a few games and read some books too. Saturday-Waylen went skiing, so it was like any other day on Saturday, just me and the kids. We went down and spent the day at Papa Larry's and Grandma Debby's. We went on a little bike ride before lunch with Papa, Grandma, and Aunt Melody and the girls. This time Hayden just couldn't make it all the way home, Grandma ended up coming back in the car and picking him up a block from their house. I guess he had just had too much bike riding for the week. We packed up a lunch and took the kids to the park for a picnic and let them play for awhile. 

After playing for awhile, we went back to Papa's and Grandma's and the kids spent the rest of the day playing with their cousins, Hailee and Lexie. --After the guys got back from skiing, we had dinner and then came home, by then both the kids were ready for bed.

That pretty much wraps up our spring break, like I said nothing too adventurous, but it was nice that the kids were able to get outside and play. Hayden and Kayla played together so much better outside, or so it seemed that they did. It was a fun week, but it was pretty hard to convince Hayden that he needed to go back to school this morning. I'm sure it will be a real challenge trying to get him to go back after we are gone to Georgia for two weeks!!

Nine years of wedded bliss

Wow, where has the time gone?? It has been nine years today, since Waylen and I got married. It has been the best nine years of my life, although sometimes I want to just strangle him for being so stubborn. Just kidding!! He's the best!! He does so much for me and the kids. I'm very thankful that he is such a hard-worker and has a good job, so that I can be home with the kids. Although, some days I would like to go to work to escape all the "craziness", but then look how fast nine years went by. My kiddos won't be kids forever, and it is nice to be able to witness all the funny things they do and say that I would miss if I worked everyday. --I love the fact that I can never stay mad at Waylen for very long because he'll do or say something funny and I can't help but laugh!! This has helped us avoid many fights, which in reality are usually over silly little things!!

He is not only a wonderful husband, but also a wonderful Daddy!! Every morning, the kids ask "Where's Daddy?", even though they know that he's at work, they still have to check and see if maybe he decided to stay home for a day. Then, when he gets home from work it's always a race to the door to see who can get to him first!!! --He's always really good to take time with them when he gets home, but his quality time with the kids usually involves wrestling right before bedtime!!!

--Love you Waylen!! And to think it all started when we met at a family reunion!--

March 11, 2000

July 2000

Nov. 2001

Dec. 2003

Nov. 2004

Feb. 2009

Pluto: Yellow or Orange???

Usually every morning I fix Kayla's hair with her sitting on the bathroom counter. 9 times out of 10 it doesn't go very well. She's way too busy wanting to turn the water on in the sink, empty out the basket on the counter, move all around the counter, and her hair ends up getting pulled a lot as she is moving around. Needless to say, she ends up screaming, I end up screaming, and I just want to cut all of her hair off, so I don't have to worry about doing something with it everyday!! This morning, I thought I would try something different: I tried fixing it in the living room while she watched T.V. --She's not much of a T.V. bug, so she really wasn't too concerned with watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with Hayden. Instead, she would look around the living room, and see one of her toys, a book, a crayon or anything and decide she needed to hold it. So, really it didn't seem to help her "busyness" very much!! But at one point I asked her "Where's Pluto?" and Hayden (who I didn't think even knew we were in the room because he was so zoned out in the cartoon) quickly responded with "He's the yellow dog!" And Kayla who was crying, "I want my baby!!" heard him say this, and quickly said: "It not yellow, it orange!!" Then of course, Hayden had to respond back with "No, he's not Kayla, he's yellow!! So, then Kayla said, "Orange!!!" --And you can imagine how the rest of their "conversation" went!! So, my question is: Who is right? Is Pluto Yellow or Orange?