Red Day

Today for Red Ribbon Week is Red Day. The kids are to wear all red. I would have loved for Hayden to wear red pants but you had to wear your uniform pants and the only ones they can wear are khaki or blue. Hayden is all into khaki pants and has not asked to wear blue at all this year. So here is our sweetie with his red shirt, red belt, red shoes and red socks (that you cannot see). Here is a close up on "red boy" today. (I took this photo with the new lens Hayden and Harold gave me yesterday for my birthday. I LOVE IT. Thanks guys!)

Here is a close up of Hayden's red shoes. We looked all over for red shoes. There was a small store in the mall and they had these converse. Aren't they cool?

Yesterday, the kids had a substitute teacher in their class. It was not a great day apparently. Hayden described it as having a teenager in there with them. He explained that she gave them LOTS of warnings. He also explained that they did not behave well and were loud. He is too funny. He said it was not just him but lots of people. This is his face when I told him at the breakfast table that he was going to have to tell Mrs. Faith the truth today about what happened yesterday and that she was not going to be happy.
Right after this photo, he started coughing and then said I don't feel so good Mom. When questioned about that, he 'fessed up that he did not want to go to school since Mrs. Faith was going to be so sad, disappointed and upset. When reminded that it was all red day, he decided he would go to school but "Oh man......."

Hope you have a great Wednesday!

Crazy Hair Day

Tuesday for Red Ribbon Week was Crazy Hair Day at school. This pic is of my sweetie before we began to make his crazy hair.

Next we spiked his hair up.

Then we began the color....or should I say colors.
We had the best time spraying his hair and fixing him up. Daddy took photos while we worked and worked to get it just right for school. Hayden is so much more brave than Harold and I ever would have been. All these colors would have just been TOO much for us but not this fella. He loved all the colors and actually picked them out himself. He was a little bummed that the gold and silver from previous years did not work but it all turned out good.

After all the creating, we had the photo taken of the finished product...you would think the kid could smile given the fact that Mom's hands were all different colors too!!
In addition to being crazy hair day, it was also the day to donate spare change to the Animal Shelter. Hayden and I scoured the house to find loose change everything. (Sorry Daddy if you start looking for your stash of quarters, they have been donated.........)This is our before school photo. Wouldn't he have been great as a punk rocker?This is our after school photo. The green has toned down a bit but you can still see the colors.
Now, what do you do with a kiddo when it is too cool to get out at the park and you did not get home from work until almost dark? Well, you put him on the treadmill....obviously. I started it up and put Hayden on it and told him that I would be back to get him off when he had walked long enough. You should have heard the whining after about 15 minutes. "Mom, Mom, Mom, can I get off now? Please MOM. The sweat is in my face MOM" HA I'm not sure what he is doing in this photo but you can see that he is "glistening" for sure.
Finally, he whipped off his shirt and walked a bit more. He slept like a log last night. There was not a peep made after lights went out until almost 6:45 this morning. We may have to try this treadmill exercise every evening.

Boo at the Zoo!

Last night we went with the Cash Family to Boo at the Zoo. This is a family tradition for them. For us, not so much so.... However, when your son's best bud and best girl are going, then you must invite yourself and go too! We had a blast. It was such a family friendly time. The kids had a ball and I cannot remember when I laughed so much. Harold had a great time visiting with Jack. Here they are at the end of the evening after riding on the Carousel. Let me tell you that thing started going fast. There was one guy on there that Ms. Michelle and I were sure was not going to make it to the end without tossing some cookies....... guess it was not very nice that we were laughing about that huh? The next picture is Jack, Scarlett and Ethan waiting on Hayden and Ms. Michelle to come out of the Haunted House. We did not have to wait too long. Hayden wanted so bad to be big and brave. He was going to go through that Haunted House even if his buds did not. Ms. Michelle volunteered to go with him. (good thing because you know I was not going). She said when the third person in a mask jumped up and at them (not too far in the house), Hayden said "I wanna go home, I wanna go home". So instead of coming out of the door at the end of the Haunted House, they came out the front door. That big boy of ours did not say a word, he just walked up to me and buried his face in my side.

Such good looking kids in the "pumpkin patch" They had so much getting candy and walking the zoo although Hayden was a little upset that they did not get to see the animals. I think the whole "Boo" at the Zoo part escaped him until later.

Aren't these the most handsome fellas you have ever seen? Hayden is so lucky that God chose Burns Park Baseball to allow him to meet Ethan. I envision a lifelong friendship with these two.

Batgirl...man, let me tell you she is just precious. On the train ride, while Hayden was "smooshing" Ethan, Scarlett was waving at the goblins, demons and spooky creatures. Hayden just kept sliding closer and closer to Ethan. Bless Ethan's heart. He never fussed about it. It is a good thing Mr. Jack was in the seat with them and had his arm around both of them because I am thinking after the first creature jumped out, Hayden would have bolted the other way out of that train.

I just don't think Captain Jack Sparrow has anything on this handsome pirate. Do you?
Happy Halloween.

Drug Free Week - Crazy Sock Day

Today is the first day of Drug Free Week at Hayden's school. The students were to bring socks to donate for soldiers in Irag. This photo is of Hayden with the socks to be donated. (I promise he was not as tired as the photo appears to indicate - he just got lucky in his genetic makeup to have his Momma and Mommaw's dark undereye circles. Right Mommaw?) We went and bought Hayden some fun socks to wear over the weekend. How do you like the Halloween and Sports mixed up socks?

Let's not tell my little friend that the purple ones might just be girl socks. YIKES. How upset would this "all boy" boy be?

Have a great Monday.

I LOVE Sundays

We had the best Sunday. Seems like we always do. There is just something about starting the day with God's word, fellowship, presence in church and wonderful music. We do love to make a joyful noise to the Lord. (some of mine is just noise, I'm sure, but we love it) We have found a new church home and Hayden is absolutely thrilled with it. He even referred to it as his church today so we are here to stay!

Hayden studied some more about David this morning in Sunday School. He explained that the three boys were wolves and the "11 or 8" girls were the sheep that David saved. Can you just imagine?

Today after church, we went to Target and bought stuff to donate at school this week for the drug free week. The first item for tomorrow is a package of socks for soldiers in Iraq. Hayden thought maybe his cousin Stephen would get them from his school so, of course, instead of sending one package - we got two - just in case.

Later in the afternoon, we went to see Ethan play soccer. It was his National Championship and his team won. Hayden was a bit jealous that Ethan plays soccer and he does not but Mrs. Michelle made it all okay when she told Hayden that they would have to come and see him play basketball because Ethan was not going to do so this year. Hayden got to hang out with Scarlett too and once again Mrs. Michelle and I had visions of years down the road with those two sitting under a tree talking to one another. :-) (No pictures because I forgot my camera) The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed sharing time together.

Finally this evening we were back at the church for Fall Festival. It was great. I had the best looking pirate there. He played all the games and went on a hayride. Later when Hayden got his food, we snuck off to the school playground and just hung out while he ate. It was awesome.

I am SO BLESSED.

Last Fall Ball Game

Hayden's last Fall Ball Game was today. Always hustling even after the game is over...He was sad that the season is over. He had a great time with these kids. Hayden had a good game today. He hit the ball well and paid great attention in the field. Mr. Fred came to see Hayden play. Hayden loves to have an audience and was excited that Mr. Fred was there and saw him play. We stayed out and watched Ethan play too. Hayden loves the play area at the park and any time he can hang out or be where Ethan is, he is happy! Of course, getting to hang out with Scarlett is always a plus too! Hayden asked us on the way home if we could move to Maumelle so we could be closer to this ballpark. Oh if life was that easy. I was so impressed with him on the way out of the park today, he leaned over and told Harold, "Dad thank you for bringing me here and giving me the opportunity to play out here". What a neat kid he is!

Friday - What a Day!

Wow, what a great day we had today. I took off work early and went to Hayden's school to help Hayden's class with pumpkin painting. It was GREAT. The kids are so adorable and were so into painting their pumpkins. Hayden was no different. He wanted to make sure his pumpkin was special. They were all so cute. I just loved how pretty the girls wanted theirs and the boys, of course, just wanted lots of colors (for the most part). There was one ALL black pumpkin that was a little um...interesting.Hayden's pumpkin
Getting ready to start....Working on all the colors......
Some of the classes' pumpkins....

After the pumpkin painting, the kids got to celebrate Good Citizens Day. This is the activity to celebrate good behavior for the nine weeks. They got to have ice cream sundaes (really frozen yogurt but hey, who was telling?) Then they had a sock hop. Let me tell you, you have never seen dancing until you see a cafeteria full of Kindergarteners, First Graders and Second Graders breaking it down. :-) I tried desperately to get a photo of one of Hayden's friends break dancing but never quite got one. :-( It was a great activity and then they got report cards and headed home.

One sweaty puppy......Hayden made all As. We are so proud of him. To celebrate, we went to the Purple Cow for him to have a purple vanilla milkshake with Halloween toppings. Hayden had never been to the Purple Cow so it was just a big treat all in itself. It was very fun.
A thumbs up for the shake....

Isn't it cute?

After the shake, Harold and I took him out to Pinnacle Mountain for him to get to play at the play area. He LOVED it. He was so surprised that we drove out there for him to get to play. It got cool but we went on a nature walk (he was missing Ethan and Scarlett though - a nature walk with just Mom is not as fun as hanging with our best buds) anyway. It was loads of fun and lots of physical activity which is something Hayden misses with the way the school day is now.

Peeking out of the hollowed out tree on our nature walk


So handsome.....When we got home, Hayden wanted to read some of his library books to me before he went to sleep. He got through two books but by the end of the last one there was some big yawning going on - and not just by me. Hayden said his prayers and was in bed early for an early Saturday morning baseball game - the last one of the Fall Ball season.
(I don't have any photos of Hay sleeping because I think I went to sleep before he did!)