7th Birthday Party

Swimming, swimming and more swimming. The kids all had a great time. Hayden was thrilled so many of his friends were there. He got a little wired (or maybe a lot) from time to time but for the most part I think everyone had a grand time. I enjoyed seeing all the Mommies and Harold enjoyed talking Jack's ear off. :-)

Not much to say about the party other than what has already been posted about our amazing God so I will just share photos from the party.

Cupcakes are so much easier than cakes with a lot of wonderful kids!!!!

Cousin Mattison

Miss Katie

Poppaw and Aunt Sara (yes Mommaw was there - she just hides from the camera)

Miss Laura (trying not to have her picture taken)

Evan - getting ready to dive right in the rather cold water

My beautiful niece Amelia

Zachary going off the diving board

Ethan - Isn't he adorable? He is Hayden's best baseball buddy!

Miss Kiara - we just think she is precious

Katherine and Ashley - somehow they managed to hide from my camera. Hopefully Mrs. Pat got some photos of them

Hayden and his best bud - Drew (check out those tans)

Hayden and Miss Kate - check out the sweetness!
My absolute favorite - Miss ScarlettIt was just a grand night for my little fella. It was a perfect ending for a wonderful summer and a great start to his 7th year. Thanks for sharing it with him!!

God IS Amazing!!!

I know that you all know this ... but I have to share. We have been in the midst of what you might call a drought for most of the summer here in Arkansas. When Hayden said he wanted a pool party for his 7th birthday, it seemed like that would be a great idea for the kids to be able to cool off and enjoy lots of outdoor activities. I mean really the temps have been in the 100s for weeks. So what happens on Sunday, it begins to rain..and it rains... and it rains. Then on Monday the 11th, the day of the 7th birthday party, the forecast is for 70% chance of rain between 7 - 9. YIKES. I prayed a LOT that it would be God's Will for the rain to not be over the pool for those two hours. Seems as if we had lots of prayer warriors for our special fella. Hayden was very good about it. He told me if it rained then he and his friends would just play, eat cupcakes and listen to music under the pavilion. Well, it rained on me on the way home from work at 3, ir sprinkled some more and the radar looked terrible. My buddy prayed on the way to the pool. It was a bit cold. Who would have thought 80 degrees would feel cold but it was given that we were all used to 100 degrees. The kids toughed it out and swam and played. And you know what...it sprinkled on the way there and it rained on us a bit when we drove up in the driveway at home after the party but....NOT A DROP DURING THE PARTY. Thanks God!! You are truly amazing.
Pictures of the party and more about it when I get home to my photos.

Lazy Sundays

Yea, maybe at some folks' homes but not with our Hayden. Granted there was no outside activity today but it was definitely not a day for Mom to be lazy. As I was reminded this was the one day you can spend with your kid mom! How do you argue with that?

We went to Sunday School and Church this morning. Being able to go just sets the mood for the whole week. We love the church service we attend. The music, fellowship and weekly messages all are wonderful. Hayden loves FaithTrax. Today, they learned about seeking God first. Hayden told me on the way out of Sunday School that when he makes a mistake or goofs up, he asks God in his heart to forgive him. How wonderful is that? I am so proud of our boy and his relationship with God.

After church we met Ashley for lunch at Applebee's to celebrate Hayden's birthday together. It was a wonderful lunch. Hayden was proud to see his Sissy and loved the Spiderman gift she brought him.

When we got home it was board game playing time. As much as I tried to beat Hayden, it was next to impossible. We played a mix and match game with baseball themed cards. The first game was close but he beat me soundly the next game. I also had him writing some sentences in between games in his summer journal. Oh my goodness, you never heard such wailing...too many words, too many sentences, my head hurts, blah blah blah Amazingly enough when he was playing the game, the head did not hurt and the whining quit. Can you just imagine.

We also read books together and watched a Disney movie. What a grand day.

Here are all the things we asked to do today. Each time the answer was "No, Hayden it is raining" :-)

We have swimming plans tomorrow evening with friends for the 7th birthday. If you get a chance, throw up a prayer that God would let the rain stop from 7 - 9 tomorrow evening. Thanks!

Hope you all had a wonderful lazy Sunday!

Being Seven

Hayden is all about being seven. He just is sure this means he is more grown up. We are so excited for him especially because he is so excited. He was so pooped last night, he went to sleep watching a movie and then slept until 8:15 this morning which for him is huge. :-)

He and I went swimming this morning. He was going to go off the high dive because he is now officially 7 and that is the rule. When we got to the pool, he decided "well it's not so hight but Dad is not here to videotape so maybe I'll just wait another time." This was just fine with me. We swam for about two hours. Of course, we both got a bit sunburned. Ooops

After we came home and got all the chlorine washed off, it was off to the tennis courts. Hayden wanted to go so off I went with him and whew, he ran me ragged. It is great exercise playing with him because you never ever know where the ball is going to go.

Was that all for the day? Heavens no! He wanted Daddy to take him to the batting cages so they went but the cages were closed. Hayden managed to talk Daddy into going out in 100 degree heat to play catch and hit some balls at the park. You would think this child would have been ready to call it quits but not our Hayden.

He played in his room until we went to hang out with Katy for a little while as she packs to go back to Michigan. He was so sad on the way home. He is going to miss her terribly. We don't even talk about how much he is going to miss the guys when the Travs season is over. Yikes!

The big news for him today was that Daddy signed him up for Maumelle Fall Ball. It will start up in September so we are looking forward to that.

I have no photos of all our adventures today. I will just leave you with some from yesterday.

08-08-2008

What a grand day today was! Hayden turned 7 today. I'm not sure how the past 7 years managed to go so fast but they sure did. Mattison got to come and spend the night and spend Hayden's birthday with him. We did lots of playing and lots of laughing. It was a fantastic day.

That's our two favorite fellas hanging out this morning before we got into some serious playing.

We had a mini-cake (cupcake) with a 7 on it for this morning.

After cupcake, candle blowing out and present opening, the three of us (Dad was having to work on cars - that is a whole different story for the day. Let's just say we are glad we all still have hair after the fits the van and truck wanted to give us yesterday) went to play tennis. I'm not sure you could call it playing tennis but it was fun. The boys were great and oh my goodness, I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard.

After trips to and from the service department at the local Chevrolet dealership, we had to take Mattison home. Hayden was not really very happy with that. You should hear the sniffling EVERYTIME Mattison has to leave. It is is just pitiful. It was made more pitiful this time because Hayden went to sleep on the way to Conway and that took time away from being with Mattison. :-(

We did get to see cousin Amelia, Aunt Sara and Winston (the Cato family puppy dog). Hayden was proud to see all of them. He was sad to leave because he loves hanging out in Conway but it was time to come home and have some serious Momma and Daddy time with the birthday boy. We did have time for photos first.

When we got back from Conway, it was time for 7th birthday photos with Momma and Daddy and present opening!

Now I'm not sure what most 7 year old little boys want for their birthdays but ours wanted baseball jerseys. Interestingly enough when he told us, he did not just want to have Angels. I asked him why since he has always said he was going to be an Angel and matter of factly, he told me that he could get traded! Well, duh?

Yep, he is spoiled!

After the jerseys and batting gloves were opened, I asked him what his favorite / best present was. This was his response........"Mom, my best present is that God gave me you and Dad!"

So I ask you where do I get this kid more jerseys????