Happy Holidays

Well, things have been moving very fast.

The movers are scheduled to pack up the apartment on the 21st and load everything on the 22nd. Then they start the drive to Indy and we should have everything on by the 31st of December (holidays make it longer). Feels weird to know that everything will be moved in less than 2 weeks, even more strange to not box anything up.

We are scheduled to close on the house on the 23rd. So, fingers crossed, everything keeps moving smoothly for that to happen. I still don't know when my last day will be, but I do know my start date in Indiana is the 4th of January.

After weeks of discussion, we decided to fly Hayden and Amanda to Milwaukee on Christmas Day. The more I thought of driving 47 hours in a car with someone that cannot sit still for 2 minutes made my hair start falling out...add to that a 2 year old that talks non-stop and it would be a very "fun" drive. (Just kidding, Amanda =] )

It looks like "Papa" will be flying out to make the drive with me. Looking forward to spending time with him. It has been 3+ years since I first moved away, we have lots to catch up on. It will be a long drive, but a stop in Vegas makes it do-able.

As for the little man, he loved St. Nick. He woke us up and wanted cereal, when he saw the stockings by the fireplace...all you heard was "ooooooo" "oooooo". He did have a hard time understanding that all 3 stockings were not for him...Amanda was about to fight him for the chocolate covered cherries St. Nick left for her.

We will try to update a little more often until we move, but with everything that is going on, please forgive us if we don't get a chance to.

(Also, since out holidays are all screwed up with the move, we have decided to move our Christmas to the 24th of January. This way we at least get to enjoy the day and decorate a little. Hayden is young enough that it won't make a difference to him, so we figured, why not? If you would like to join us, let me know via e-mail. We will be treating the 23rd as Christmas Eve and Amanda will be making her traditional dinner.)

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

So much to do...so little time

As the time ticks down on our time in Washington, we decided to make a list of things we still want to see/visit before we move.

Last weekend we went to Pikes Market for, presumably, the last time for awhile. It was a little cold, but we had a great time. There is this awesome pasta stand that we had been talking about for 2 years...finally bought some. We also bought a piece of street art to go in the "new house", home-made doughnuts, and of course we had to get drinks from the original Starbucks. We took Hayden out to lunch on the pier, he got excited since "football" was on during lunch.

This weekend, unfortunately, we did not get to do much. I have pneumonia and Hayden has a little cold. So, we started packing/labeling boxes...you know, the fun stuff. Next weekend will be better.

Hayden has been speaking a lot more clearly lately. Sentences are flying out of his mouth. This week if I started coughing, he would come up and ask me "daddy ok?". If I was sleeping "daddy seeping", if bugging him "no-no daddy stop it". There is also "please mommy more chips now" and "i love you daddy/mommy" is stating to come out uncoaxed. Almost everything that we say he tries to mimic.

When he does something he is excited about, he proudly states "I did it!" to which he usually gets a big smile and a hug. His toys are starting to occupy more of his time. He lines them up and even drives/moves his cars around. Most of the cars have names..."Mack"..."Queen"...you know, right out of "Cars".

OK, we will post more as time permits...hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!!

Movin' on

It is official, we are moving to Indiana. I flew out on Tuesday, interviewed/toured the area on Wednesday, and flew back to Washington on Thursday night. We are looking at houses in a town called Fishers right now...seems to be out best option.

Realistically, this is somewhat bittersweet. We have established a nice life in Washington. The views are incredible, the ocean is only an hour away, there is tons to do/see, and we have meet some wonderful people and feel like part of the community in Tumwater.

We will also be leaving Hayden's first home, he has lived here his entire life. This is also where Amanda and I first started our family. I sit on the Tumwater parks board and have been pretty involved in community activities. The people I work with are incredible and as an Administrator, I couldn't ask for a better staff.

I understand that we will meet many new and wonderful people and have the same experiences, but is always hard to say good-bye.

Now we have less than 30 days to get packed up and out of Washington.

Halloween

Saturday we took Hayden Trick-or-treating. We worked with him for about a month to wear his horse costume and didn't think he would wear it. So, we took a back-up costume for him just in case. Earlier in the day, we stopped and bought him a cowboy hat. That is what sold him on the costume. So he was a cowboy on a horse for Halloween this year.

The first couple of houses he wanted to go inside. People would open the door and in would go Hayden. He got better at waiting outside and getting candy. He got "trick-or-treat" down and he would hold his bag out. Some people were silly enough to let him pick out of the bowl. 3-4 pieces of candy later he was happy. Then, there was the guy that answered the door with his dog. Lets just say Hayden thought he was getting a dog from him. Hayden wasn't happy when he found out he just got some tootsie rolls.

Hayden has also gotten a lot better with his speech and communication. Sentences are getting a lot more clear and he has no problem telling you "daddy stop now" or "mama sit down" or say "my mama" and throw himself on top of Amanda. On the word "now". It has been added to almost everything; "all done now"...etc. Also, he is able to say his name. (That started a couple weeks ago, but we forgot to mention it.) He loves to go on the computer and talk to "Daby", (Gabi) "nana", "papa", and "Haiee" (Hailee).

Well, thats all the time I have, will update more later...there is so much new happening it is hard to tell everything. Hope everyone has a great week!!!

New Hayden Moments

First of all we are trying to update the blog as much as possible. Midterms have begun to work their way into my schedule. Which means less leisure time (not that I had much before) and extra study time. Jon has been a great help, taking Hayden to the park in the evenings and helping with other things around the apartment.

Hayden has been pretty good with everything. He has been at play school more this term then the last. So he is being a good sport about everything. His new words now are I love you which sounds like olive. Also when he watches Cars, after the tractor tipping scene he wants more tractors. He looks at you with the most sweetest face and will ask for more tractors until he gets more tractors. I have decided that he gets that look from Jon. You know he is trouble but he is too cute to resist.

Anyway, this weekend we are going trick-or-treating. Hayden is going to be a little cowboy with a horse, well if he wears it. I will take lots of pictures and hopefully post again soon. Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

Side Note for the Day

So this morning Hayden clearly said two new words. First it was applesauce. Which he use to call just apples, this morning he reached into the fridge and pointed and said applesauce. The second word happened on the way to play school. Every day we look for buses, trucks, and tractors, while we are driving in the car. This morning I saw a bus and pointed it out to Hayden. I said look Hayden here comes a bus. Once the bus passed he said "scoolbus." He distinguished the difference between a transit bus and a yellow school bus. I was so excited I said yes that is a school bus. From then on he just kept repeating "scoolbus, bye bye scoolbus, mor scoolbus." It was the best moment of the day. Thought I would share with everyone else!

Taking a Sick Day

Well... Hayden has a little cold so we are out of school today. Which gives me time to finally update the blog and and flickr. So I have uploaded about 25 pictures to flickr, from the State Fair the first part of September, to our trip to Wisconsin, and finally this last weekends pictures of the pumpkin patch.

Hayden is getting a little more fluent with his speech. He still struggles sometimes when he is trying to tell us what he wants, but this morning he did pat his head and told me "hoz" which means hot. So that is defiantly a plus that he can finally tell us what is wrong.

He has a little peoples dump truck that goes everywhere with him. Every time we leave the house he has to take his "tuck." We found his new favorite movie is "rarr" or Madagascar II. We have tried to get him to watch other movies, but Bolt is now out of the picture, although he still watches Barney occasionally.

Anyway Jon and I are doing well. We are both extremely busy, me with school and Jon with work and helping me with Hayden. Everything is going great and we will try to keep you all more up to date.