Hayden's 4th Birthday!!

For Hayden's 4th birthday, we invited family and a few friends to join us on a train ride along the Arkansas-Missouri Railroad! Hayden had been asking to ride a real train, so we made reservations to ride from the Van Buren depot to Winslow and back. The train departed around 11am on Saturday, June 18th and returned around 230pm. We had a great time. It was very comfortable with velvet bench seats that flipped foward or backward so you could create groups of four. Mimi, Paps, and Lele all came into town for the weekend. Nana and Pop Pop with Chance, Jacob, Kirstie, and Lynlee all rode the train as well. Hayden's friend, Ariana, and her parents, Brandon and Sabrina with their son Owen also met us up there. We took up the back half of one whole car! We ate cupcakes, the whole car sang Happy Birthday to him..courtesy of the conductor and guides:). All in all it was a great day. Hayden opened presents when we came home. He discovered a Transformer costume from Lele and Paps..Optimus Prime; a scooter from Uncle Trav and Aunt Trish; Transformer racetrack from Nana and Pop Pop; Trio building blocks from Mom and Dad; and Leapster Explorer games from Mimi and Pops..just to name a few. Very cool.

Happy Birthday, Hayden Bear!! We love you!

Memorial Weekend

We went to Lake Fort Smith on Memorial Day and had a great time picnicing then swimming in the pool. Shelby did great and went with the flow. She took a cat nap on me in the shade at the pool while Hayden and Steve explored the splash pad area and water slides! The next day we went to Mike and Angie's cookout.

Hayden's 3 year old preschool

Here are Hayden's school photos from Eastside Baptist this past year. He looks so grown up and handsome:) He learned so much: the days of the week, counting to 30, writing letters, writing his name, seasons, learned more about holidays, Jesus and God. His preschool teacher told me in his reviews that he really likes to learn, loves storytime and really gets into telling his own stories and using his imagination. Yep, that's our Hayden! Such a good, good boy. We're lucky parents!

Trip to Henrietta, TX in May

Mom, the kids, and I took a trip to visit Memaw in Henrietta! We had a lot of fun!

Shelber Stats!

At Shelby's 7 month appointment (well late for her 6 month:), she weighed 16.4 lbs and had grown an inch. She is 90% for height and 40% for weight in 7 month olds. So far, it's tall and thin stats like her bro.

Hayden has starting calling her Shelber or Shelb Shelb:) He loves his sister and still gets so excited when its time to get her from her crib in the morning or after a nap. I need to record his sweet little baby talk he uses for her. She could be asleep or just waking up and he busts in her room with enthusiam and it's almost like she stands to attention and salutes with a grin from ear to ear at her big brother's voice. Little pumpkins.

At 7.5 months, Shelby is..

Crawling
Babbling (her first 'word' is some combo of Da-Da, and Bah Bah)
Pulling up
Eats baby food+ loves the Puffs and has started to feed herself those
Starting to reach for and hold her bottle
Sleeping through the night most nights, with an occasion 4am awakening but usually goes back to sleep until 6am
She is a wiggle worm now that she is moving, but still a very sweet and chill little lady!

T-Ball, ahem, Baseball

Hayden is playing T-ball this summer and having a great time with it. He loved picking out the baseball pants and socks..and thinks it's awesome putting on his cleats and hat. His cleats DO make him runner faster, ya know. Whenever he plays pitcher and is the main person retrieving the ball and tagging the runner (they hardly throw it to the bases..I guess it's the strategy for these young ones, although they all can throw! We'll see what it's like if he wants to play next year:)..he always sprawls to get the ball. We know he is copying the MLB players, particularly the Cubs that he watches with Dad! Along that line, we have to call it 'baseball' because it's the realll thing!