Finally

Well it has taken forever seems like but I finally have photos of the first day of third grade. Gosh, that still hurts to say.
This is Mrs. Pack on the night before school started. I am afraid she may have gray hair and wrinkles by the time this year is over. :-) Hayden is loving her and really liking 3rd grade but as she had to tell him on Friday, he is MUCH TOO SMART to talk all the time like he does. Gotta work on that. In fact, today I put sports tape on his wrist wrote I love you on one side and no talking on the other as a visual reminder. Let's hope it sinks in!! Here we are before heading off to the first day of school. Have I mentioned how much I adore this child?
He and Daddy before we headed off to school.
He had a good day, talked too much and enjoyed seeing his friends. After school, I took him to eat at a restaurant beside a pond so he could be outdoors and move around.
He did not like the cornbread at the restaurant. Can you tell?

Seeing Bobby - Being Spoiled ROTTEN

We took Hayden to Oklahoma City the weekend before school started for a last hoorah. He had no idea why we were going just that we were taking a mini vacation. He was so absolutely thrilled when he found out the Bees were playing the Redhawks and he was going to get to see Bobby.

Woo hoo, woo hoo.
With Hayden playing more baseball and all "his" players playing at far away teams, he has not gotten to make those connections as much this season and he has not liked it one bit. He is very partial to only a handful of fellas and they will always be "his" ballplayers and since we spoil him as we do, we will always take him as often as we can. There were LOTS of big hugs when we surprised Bobby too!

And as if we do not spoil this child too much already, Bobby took him on the field two nights. Good grief. He thinks he belongs on a baseball field and saw absolutely nothing unusual about being out there. This is one of his teams anyway.

Now going in the dugout, this was special. Hayden loved it. Wish I had gotten a picture of his face when Bobby motioned for him to come on over the rail and come in there. He had panic written all over his face. He did it though. (There was a teenager sitting down close to the field who was none to happy about this and wanted to know why "that" kid went in there. Oh well.....

They went and played a little catch before the last game we got to see for the weekend.

It was such a great way for Hayden to end his summer!

Thinking Outside the Box / Missing Special Hugs

Hayden has really been going through some withdrawals from not being able to see Mrs. Faith at school. He wants so much for her to see him in 3rd grade and be able to go talk with her and especially get hugs. Someone said to me today, you just never know what will come out of that boy's mouth and it sure was true after the first day of school. We were driving along and Hayden asked me why did Mrs. Faith have to move? I explained that her husband got a new job and they went to another State for it. Without blinking an eye, this child of mine wanted to know "did she ever consider divorce?" Completely aghast (ha), I asked him well would that have been good for her? In his most spoiled way, he said probably not but it would be great for me!

Times Passes By Too Fast While Life is Happening!

Well, this morning Harold and I have a 3rd grader in our home!!! How in the world did this happen so fast? It was just yesterday that Hayden started Kindergarten....I mean seriously.
It is simply amazing that sometimes the days are so long, but the years go by so fast.
There were no tears this morning but my heart aches knowing that my baby is growing up. I have been told so many times that 3rd grade is a transition year and a growing / maturing phase at school. I know that Hayden is ready to grow up but I miss my little baby sometimes too. Harold and I are blessed beyond belief that he still enjoys hanging out with us and even for all his bravado sometimes he DID hold my hand at the open house last night as we walked the halls of the school.
His teacher is going to be amazing. She is a very strong teacher who will bring out the best in my boy. Now, we understand also that she does not put up with a lot so the behavior is going to have to get in check quickly. :-)
Hayden believes wholeheartedly that God chose Mrs. Pack for him. When they met last night (and he had on baseball attire....), she asked him if he liked the White Sox (that was the t-shirt and hat he had on), his reply was I just LOVE baseball. She told him that they were going to get along great because she does too. I cannot begin to tell you how much that thrilled my fella.
This morning as Harold was finishing country boy breakfast for Hay and I was finishing up a note and basket of goodies for Mrs. Pack for the first day of school, Harold heard Hayden stirring upstairs. I thought that had to be wrong because we had not gone to wake him. But then I heard...."Good Morning Momma!" and there he was at the top of the stairs. He said "I set my alarm and got up with it this morning for my first day". Yep, my baby is growing up. I don't have a photo of Hayden from this morning yet but here are a few from the past years.
He and his Daddy as he went off for the first day of Kindergarten.

He and Mrs. Koettel on the first day of Kindergarten. My goodness he looks little.
Hayden and Momma on the first day of First Grade. I did not have a first day of school pic with Mrs. Parker (whom we LOVE and go get hugs from at school every chance we get)Look at him stretching trying to be taller. He does not like these shorts at all. He did not like them then and he certainly does not like them today. He so wanted to wear cargos but we are not sure they are allowed......Getting ready to head out for the first day of Second Grade.
Mrs. Faith and Hayden on the first day of Second Grade. We miss Mrs. Faith SO much.

Just the Boys!

Ryan was in town the week of Hayden's birthday. Hayden was absolutely thrilled!!! He had so much fun being outside and hanging out with Ryan. I'll let the pictures tell the story.


This is what you have to do when you don't swing the bat as hard as you can everytime. Poor kid, he just does not do push ups very well.


Then when you finish getting hot and sweaty playing baseball, you go for a swim. It is so nice that the neighborhood pool is adjacent to the ball fields.

Turning 8 on August 8th!

Our baby boy turned 8 years old on 08-08! He is so proud because 8 is his absolute favorite number!!! We had a great day that day. Poppaw and Mommaw were here with us and we all enjoyed being together! (I did have more than a few crying spells on Harold but he was so kind and did not make fun of me even though I was going through some emotional crisis about Hayden growing up and not being our baby, blah, blah, blah) There are WAY TOO many photos following but they sum up our son better than words ever could.

All 8 year old boys put birthday present bags on their heads and dance around in their underwear, right?Do you have any idea how much we LOVE this kid?I really don't know if there is anyone in this world that Hayden loves any more than this Poppaw!My sweetie with two other sweeties at his birthday party at the Travs game. (Mrs. Susan was so kind to offer us a suite she had access to in order for us to have a get together and still enjoy baseball on Hay's special day. Mrs. Susan, we love you!! Thank you!) Ms. Deborah and Ms. Ashley came to see Hayden and I bet you can tell by the picture that he just could not stand having his photo taken with them.....look at that grin!Oh my...how much did Hayden love having Ryan with him on his birthday?Is it okay to have arranged marriages nowadays? If so, I believe Harold and I have found Hay's future bride. We just love Miss Scarlett. Now you know our buddy was thrilled to have a baseball cake. The cake itself was YUMMY. I do have to wonder though when I spend several minutes making sure when I order the cake (in person) that we can have the Angels' A with the Halo on it, we end up with an Atlanta Braves' A. Really now? Mommaw was proud and surprised that although I was mad as an old wet hen, I did not go across the counter at the girl. I tried to make a halo on the cake which Hayden promptly told me looked like an egg. He is just so darn honest but kinda lacking in the tact department. So we took the candles and put them around the A. Blowing out his candlesChecking out his presents with his best budHe was so excited about his rock star hatThe whole gang....not sure what is going on with that hair....Daddy gets a real smile
I get the fake one!
My favorite...he had just told me that this was the best birthday ever!!!

Happy Birthday Son!

Happy Birthday Hayden!

Momma and Daddy love you forever!!

Last Ballgame as a 7 Year Old!!

While Hayden was getting ready to go the park tonight to play ball, I reminded him that he needed to have lots of fun but play some serious baseball because as games go this would be his last one as a 7 year old. He looked at me so funny at first and then being Hayden wanted to know if I had told him when he played his last game as a 6 year old. Well nope I sure did not. In fact if his birthday was not so darn close I probably would not have even thought about it. But that birthday is sooooo close. He left it all out there on the field tonight which was too fun to watch. He had a couple of lapses in concentration baserunning but hey he is just 7!!! He made the first fielding out of the game playing second base, scored the first and last runs of the game. (Okay technically the last run did not count but he looked so good sliding into home, this Momma is counting in the memory book). He even got a line drive (which his Momma did not get a photo of ...well...because he so often drops those ....oops not supposed to tell that, huh?) and had a big fit when he had to go play right field. Hmmm, gotta work on that. In fact, recognizing that his Momma might not have been too proud of that little tantrum, he said on the way home, "Mommie (this is what we say when we know we are REALLY in trouble), I should never think I am too good to play right field and I should be more a team player, right?" Ya think?

As for batting....he went 4 for 4 - (maybe two of them were errors but...well he IS 7 and they were hard hit balls so yep 4 for 4) - three singles and a triple.

So I think that as his 7th year winds down -- he did just want he wanted to do ...he went out had fun and played some good baseball.

Tomorrow I am taking him to make some last photos as my 7 year old baby...