'Tis the Season

Thursday, Dec. 17 was Hayden's first preschool program (Tues. & Thurs. 3's). He did such an amazing job and he sang the whole time.

Hayden made sure he did all the actions. There were some actions that were pretty exaggerated and I was afraid that he was going to hit some of the kids next to him (not on purpose, of course).

Visiting Santa afterwards. He asked him for a Sponge Bob TV, so afterwards I had to talk to him about some other ideas that Santa could bring him (I don't want him to have his heart set on that).

The following day I came to work and a bunch of the teachers I work with and I all wore black boots. We thought it was pretty funny especially since some of us don't usually wear boots to work. Hayden also had his second preschool program (pre-k class) that afternoon. Like the day before, he certainly didn't disappoint us--he is quite the little performer.

This is Hayden with one of his favorite friends, Abby.

One of my favorite things about this program was the cute dance they did. The kids actually had to bump their neighbors a few times during the song. Let's just say that the boy with the gold bowtie was lucky that he didn't make friends with the floor. It was pretty fun to watch Hayden get into the dance, and he knew all the moves, too.

Saturday, Dec. 19 we went to Millenial Falls to have breakfast with Santa. The first thing Hayden got to do when we got there was pick between a Santa hat or reindeer antlers. Obviously, he went with the antlers. We also got to write a letter to Santa while munching on fruit and muffins. Then we were served a hot breakfast of pancakes, french toast sticks, eggs, hashbrowns, bacon and sausage...yummy!

Santa came out during our breakfast, and the kids all followed him for a little program. Then we went and got a balloon animal (a dog--of course), Hayden had his face painted, then he played with all the kids while we waited to see Santa.

Here's Hayden with Santa while he's reading the letter--I just love Hayden's facial expression in this picture.

After visiting Santa, Hayden got a little goody bag with a toy, a game, a snowman jinglebell necklace, and some candy.

That afternoon we went to Layton to celebrate Christmas with the Jacos. Here's Hayden's new zoo keeper shirt.

What a bunch of cuties! Here are all the cousins with the newest addition--baby Gage. Hayden and Luke played so well together during our visit, too. Layna even woke up to join in all the fun.

On Monday, Dec. 21 we had a kid party at our house. Hayden invited Zaria, Graci, Cassie, Paige, Kelton, Abby & Ty, and Brennan who isn't in the picture because he was busy playing. Here are the kiddos having some lunch. After lunch I had the kids make Christmas Tree ornaments.

Here they are frosting and decorating sugar cookies. I thought that I could squeeze everyone in, but I didn't get all of Brennan in the picture.

This is Hayden right after he licked the frosting off of his popsicle stick--hence the reason why his face looks that way.

A Little Holiday Fun

Wow, I'm a bit behind on our blog, but I haven't taken as many pictures lately. December has been pretty fun, and busy too. The first weekend this month we went to the Festival of Trees and met up with my cousins Emily and Ashley along with their kids. Above is Hayden with Emily's kids (Eliza, Jacob and Ian).

Hayden and Ian are a few months apart and they get along really well. Here they are doing one of the kid activities they had there--fishing (Grandpa Wally would be so proud).

The next day we went to Brooke's baby shower. It was fun to see all the cute baby gifts and we're so looking forward to meeting Gage soon. After the shower we had to hurry to a work party at Jordan Commons. Summit Academy rented one of the theaters for all the staff and their families--the move was "A Christmas Carol" which wasn't my first choice, but you can't argue with free. Hayden made it through okay, but I wouldn't recommend this movie for young kids. That evening, after dining on pizza with Dan, we all went to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point.

Friday the 11th was a pretty fun day at school. I had my students make "gingerbread" (or graham cracker) houses. It took them awhile and they had fun--that's exactly what I was going for. That night Dan and I went to the Wise Guys in Ogden to see Kevin Nealon which turned out to be a pretty good show. The following Saturday I had another work party/lunch. I wish that I would have taken a picture of the Christmas cake I made. It's a 2-layer cake with red jello poked in the top layer and green in the bottom layer. We have it every Christmas Eve and it's one of my favorite cakes. The party was fun, and it's always nice to get together outside of the workplace.

Thanksgiving

Hayden had two "Feast Days" at school. Above is the one from his Pre-K class on Monday, and below is the one from his 3-year-old class on Tuesday. He said that he liked the grapes, cheese and the apple juice the best (he actually brought 2 out of those 3 things).

We made turkey-shaped pancakes with apple feathers the morning of Thanksgiving.

I decided that in addition to the pies I would make turkey cupcakes. They turned out to be pretty fun (and yummy, too).

My little pilgrim getting ready for our Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

I never posted this picture from a couple of weeks ago of Hayden with his Uncle Travis on one of their 4-wheelers.

Halloween

Here we are at school the Friday before Halloween. Hayden is a racecar driver (minus the helmet since he couldn't wear it to school) and I'm a fairy.

Hayden sitting with his class watching his teachers make the witches' brew.

Enjoying the yummy pumpkin shaped sugar cookie that I helped him frost.

Walking in the Halloween parade with his class (he's actually parading through my class in this pic).

Halloween morning...here I am running in the Provo Half Marathon. People could dress up and there were a lot of costumes. I was wearing a Halloween shirt and tattoos on my arms, but it was so cold that my sweatshirt stayed on most of the time. However, I look like I'm handless which is scary. Does that count as a costume?

My time wasn't what I had hoped for (1:47), but then I remembered that when I stopped to take off my sweat pants it took me at least a minute (pulling off pants over shoes is never fun). So I really think that I would have had a better time if I hadn't stopped. Oh well, I guess the important thing is that I had fun.

Hayden showing off his driver's license that he got from Disneyland.

Here we are getting ready to go trick-or-treating.

Grandma and Grandpa Barnes made him his cool racecar that he wore that night. Hayden is so lucky!

Some of the neighbors gave Hayden extra treats because they were so impressed by his ability to walk with his car (or just because of the fact that he looked so darn cute...am I being biased again?).

Disneyland

I'll add the text soon.