Our Valentine

Happy Valentines Day!
Harold and I are so blessed to have this wee one as our Valentine. Oh my goodness, we love him so so much.
These photos were taken on our snow days here. Do you just love our little redneck's camo? He was in heaven playing in the snow, chasing Ranger, pelting me with snow balls and pretending to play baseball with snowballs being pitched to him. What a one track mind this kiddo has.
But we would not have him any other way!!! Hay, you will ALWAYS be our baby and we will ALWAYS love you!

Christmas - I think the looks say it all!!!

Spelling Bee

Hayden was one of two participants from his class for the school spelling bee earlier in the month. We were so proud of how hard he worked and studied. He learned some really hard words. He was focused and really put in lots of time studying. He knew it would be hard and that beating 5th graders would not be easy but he had high expectations for himself. (He even won one of the practice bees that they had at school getting ready for the bee itself).

He was so nervous the morning of the bee. His teacher and I thought he might just throw up on the stage. Bless his heart he was so pale. (Of course, he told Mrs. Pack after the bee was over that his Momma was more nervous than he was --- now where does he get that?) I talked to him about it being no different than playing baseball but informed me quickly than when he is on the ball field he has either his bat or his glove with him. Okay...then.

He did really well. I am not a good enough Momma that I kept a list of the words he had but thankfully Dawn is!

There were 24 kids that qualified to be in the Bee. (8 3rd graders, 8 4th graders and 8 5th graders). Hay's words were:

1. Receive (and you could see him thinking as he got ready to spell..."i before e, except after c") There were 3 kids out after this round.

2. Sculpture (you cannot imagine how many times the kiddo left the "p" out when we studied at home. And when he nailed that word and said the "p", he gave a glance over to me and Harold as if to say "see I was paying attention while we studied) There were 10 kids out after this round.

3. Casserole (there were 12 kids out after this round)

4. Affiliation (this is another word we struggled with at home because he would leave the "a" out but he was so confident spelling it to the Judges) There were 14 kids out after this round.

5. Shuttle (This was not even on the list of words we had to study even though the Counselor told us that the words would be from the list...oh well. In fact all the words from here on out were not on the list) There were only 5 kids left after this round.

6. Dimension (He missed this word but everyone else but his friend Kate missed in this round. She missed her championship word so the remaining 5 spelled again)

7. Humility (Hayden missed this word and his Daddy and I laughed because he really has none of this so why in the world would he know how to spell it) A 4th grader was the only one to get a word right in this round and then got his Championship word correct to win the Bee.

8. Interim (Hayden spelled this just like it was pronounced and put a "um" at the end. Kate was the only one to get a word right in this round so she won the 2nd place trophy)

9. It was now down to Hayden, a 5th grade girl and his friend Rebecca who was in his 2nd grade class with him. His word was parable. And as his teacher said, he asked for the word to be said a second time, thought about it and then nailed it!!! The 3rd place trophy was his and he was thrilled. (until he learned that only the top two got to go to the county bee).
So in true and total Hayden fashion, he announced right after the Bee pictures were taken that he is going to learn to spell 50,000 words between now and next year and he IS going to win the Bee next year. What a kid.

Fun Time At Dickey Stephens

Hayden attended the Miracle League Baseball Camp yesterday at Dickey Stephens. He had so much fun. He, of course, was missing "his" ballplayers. It just was not right to not have them there as far as he was concerned. He did have a good time and tried hard on all the drills. My wrist is hurting today because I took about 600 pictures. Good grief, who does that?
Hopefully you will enjoy my sweetie's photos! If you don't just pretend!This is the sink hole in centerfield. Hayden was very worried that they need to get this fixed before the "guys" get here!Running the bases. Oh my, he loved this part of the camp.After diving back into 3rd to avoid being tagged out. :-)
A pitcher? Hmmmm, I think NOT.These I love because Hay was so proud that he caught the ball. "Mom, it was just like I robbed a homerun!" And YES, he held the ball there a while. I am not sure it was for the photo op as much as it was for him to make sure more than a couple of folks saw he caught the ball. :-)
And of course banging into the wall was a big hit with all the boys.
The best part for Hayden was that he got to spend time with Ethan too!!

Such a Mess!!

Hayden kept us incredibly busy the past two days. He wanted to get the house decorated for Christmas. I think we worked four or five hours straight yesterday getting all the "stuff" out. The best part for me was watching him meticulously put up all the Nativity scenes we have. He wanted to do them himself and he did SO good. I am so proud. Then today after church he wanted to have all the outside lights put out. He is very opinionated about where he wants those lawn ornaments. (I just cannot figure out where he gets that personality trait.......). Before we put up the outside stuff, I thought today would be a good day to get those Christmas card pictures taken of him. What was I thinking? This child is such a mess. (I would not have him any other way but...) Seriously....this is what I got.....

You know it would just serve him right if I put these on a Christmas card and mailed them to all the little girls in his class.........hmmmm...................

Thankful

On Thanksgiving, I am so thankful for so much. I am thankful that I am a child of God. That God loves us and takes care of us in all we do.
I am thankful for a silly little boy who laughs and smiles and melts my heart every day.
I am thankful for his health and his joy in being outside in God's world.
I am thankful that he has heroes who love God and express it so he knows how important that is.
I am thankful that we have a family who loves us through the good and the bad.
I am oh so thankful that this precious child sees the wonder in life always.

I am thankful for his silliness!!
I am thankful that he knows and loves God like he does.


Most of all I am ever SO THANKFUL that God trusted me enough to be this fella's Momma!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Be glad and rejoice in the day!!!

My Heart

This boy of ours....oh my, he is something else. Yesterday (the 28th) was crazy hair day at school for Red Ribbon Week. How is this for crazy? He had me put many different colors in his hair.
No shame for this boy, he wanted CRAZY.
It was also my birthday. Hayden made me a homemade card. He drew it himself and wrote on it. As I read what he wrote on his own, I cried like a baby. At one point, he said "Momma don't be sad, I know I did not draw you good, but I tried." Oh if he only knew. He wrote that he prays for me Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Talk about being covered in prayer. I am so honored to be loved that way and to be given the chance to be his Momma. He also had on his card that he thanked God for letting me be his Momma. (I let him know quite frequently how much I thank God for choosing me to be his Momma too!)

There is no doubt that my heart goes with this child EVERY MINUTE of EVERY DAY of his life.