So I Don't Forget

This story will not be very interesting to anyone else but Paul and I.  Sometimes I think Hayden is in her own little world and not paying much attention to what Paul and I are saying.  One day we were trying to watch something and we both wanted to lay down but we only had one pillow.  Paul said, "this pillow needs to be longer."  Then we noticed Hayden was nowhere to be found.   I heard her coming down the stairs and in she walks with one of our king size pillows and handed it to us!  She found a "longer" pillow so both Paul and I could lay down and watch our show.  It was so hilarious when she walked in grinning from head to toe holding that pillow out.

Hayden rarely leaves a room Paul or I are in and NEVER goes upstairs when we are not there.  But she picked up on what we needed and solved our problem.  It was so cute!

Happy Halloween From The Flintsones

This year we got invited to a family Halloween party and we were all encouraged to dress up.  So I decided the Flintstones would be a cheap and easy way to all go matching (I did everything for about $25).  Hayden absolutely LOVED her costume although it was a bit tight and once I showed her a picture of Pebbles online she let me put the bone in her hair (thanks for the idea Susannah Sanders, Petco worked great!)  I didn't even think to get a picture of Hayden by herself, I am mad at myself because her costume is covered in sugar now!

As usual these days, Hayden was pretty clingy when we first got there, but once she felt comfortable, she was running everywhere with all the other little kids.  I'm so excited for Halloween this year, Hayden is finally getting holidays!

 Paul got back from a business trip right when the party was starting, so we had to race to get ready.  He forgot his tie in this picture...but I had to include it because I love Hayden's hair!

Here is us at the party!  Don't you love how I made Wilma's outfit modest :)

Prayers

This is a video from the summer and it really doesn't do Hayden's prayers justice, but this is how she usually ends them.  We have no idea why, do we ever sound like this?

Hayden at 2

We recently had Hayden's 2 year pictures taken at Downtown Acworth which is about 10 miles from our house.  It was an adventure to say the least.  Hayden LOVED the photographer Cindy a little too much and did not want to sit still.  She wanted to play right next to her.  We actually had to come back for a second session because the only pictures she got of Hayden the first day were "blurry" because she was always on the move.  Family pictures are hard enough to get done once, let alone getting everyone ready twice!  Anyway, this is one of my favorites.

I'll post the link to all the pictures once we get them...

Hayden at 2:

• LOVES singing.  Some of her favorites are "Twinkle, Twinkle" "ABCs" "Popcorn Popping" "Book of Mormon Stories" "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" "The hokey pokey" and many more.  She is getting really good at singing on key and saying the right words.
• Loves to "color" and by "color" she means, draw with pens, colored pencils, crayons, and anything to do with stickers.  She loves to have a pen and a day planner like me and plan out her day while talking out loud to herself saying "ok" about a hundred times.  I must say that a lot!
• Favorite movies include: The Lion King, and any Elmo's World DVD.  
• Thinks it's hilarious to strip down naked and pee during her nap time.  This one is getting so old and I have tried everything: She can get the onesie off no problem, duct tape gives her incentive to get the diaper off and she usually goes for it even quicker, and so on.  I have tried more active potty training because she hates having the diaper on, but she rarely pees while sitting on the potty.  How many more times do I have to strip her bed and wash sheets????
• Loves taking care of her babies: feeding them, washing their hands, taking them on walks in their stroller...
• Has fun dancing with dad to Mumford and Sons
• Loves drinking out of straws and thinks it is such a special treat when I pull them out
• Still walks on her tippy toes everywhere she goes
• Loves playing with her friends and will do anything I ask her to do if I tell her we are going to go "play" after she is done.  
• Loves soft blankets and being wrapped up in them while she eats her breakfast
• Loves having her toe nails painted.  I had no toe nail polish so we went to buy some.  When she saw it, she took off her shoes and wanted them painted in the middle of the store!  Loves showing everyone her "pretty toes" 
• Likes counting to 10 as she goes up and down stairs
• Getting good at recognizing yellow, blue, red, pink, orange and triangle, square, circle and of course star :)
• Tries to run away from us when we want to put her down for a nap or change her diaper!
• Favorite flavor: MINT

Vent

I just need to vent so the next few paragraphs will be all negative and complaining.  I know I am being materialistic and that really I do have LOTS to be grateful for.  The past week I have felt so good about life and everything going on in it, and there always has to be a low for me I guess so I can later appreciate my happiness more.

When we first looked at this house we noticed a crack above our garage.  We were worried about foundational issues, but our home inspector said it was just a cosmetic problem and that nothing was wrong with the foundation.  I guess now I am smarter and would have had a mason come out and give a second opinion.  But we assumed that the home inspector knew what he was talking about.  So this week I had some people come look at the "cosmetic crack" and it is not cosmetic at all.  It is going to be a huge expense to have it fixed and a very necessary thing to fix.  If we don't do something about it, the problem will only get worse and worse.  My garage door also stopped opening again and I'm wondering if this has something to do with it???  I thought maybe the masons were trying to just make money so I asked one of my clients who does lots of construction to look at it on his way out.  He said, "I already saw it our first appointment and felt bad for you, yes, it's foundational."

This month we finally pay off Hayden's surgery and I was hoping to start making some headway on some new carpet, paint, cutting down a few of our overgrown trees, maybe getting a "normal" tv like most people have, but that will not be happening once again for the foreseeable future.  Such is life I guess.

We called USAA to see if this problem may be covered under our home owners insurance, but of course it isn't.  It seems like nothing that goes wrong is ever covered under our insurance!  Did I also mention that our AC isn't working so next summer we will have to replace that.  Sorry friends and family, we will not be visiting Utah for a long time...   

On a positive note, I finally got a good coupon for carpet cleaning and have been wanting our basement carpet to be cleaned (the owner had it cleaned when we looked at the house and then made a huge mess when he moved his things out!).  But it was cheaper to have our whole house cleaned with the coupon than just the basement.  I was really worried because the man seemed really sketchy as he pulled up in his beat up car and wore nothing that resembled working for a carpet cleaning company.  But anyway, he did a great job and got out stains in our family room that the carpet cleaners back in January "couldn't get out" even with the more expensive cleaning solution.  So at least I can have stain free ugly carpet for the next few years!!!