Hayden Family Christmas 2013

This past weekend we traveled down to my parents to exchange gifts with the my family.  We had a very nice day hanging at Grammy and Pops' and the kids were spoiled as usual.  It was a unseasonably warm day so the kids were also able to spend some time outside.  Here are some pics from the day....

The boys in their matching outfits from Nana.

Best cousin group shot we could get.  :)

Lets get this open already!

Linc loves puzzles!

Exploring Grammy's house now that I am a walking pro.

Hayden's favorite gift.   A castle to go along with his collection of Knights.

B&O Train Museum

On the first day of Eric's Christmas break, we decided to have a fun family day at the B&O train museum in Baltimore.  Eric had taken Hayden the last two years but it was mommy and  Lincoln's first trip. They had a few miniature train displays, a carousel, and we all took a ride on the real train which was lots of fun.  Here are some pics from the day...

 

Christmas Fun

We love the Christmas season and have fun visiting some of the local events and hosting some events of our own.  Here are some pics to document our Christmas Fun the last couple of weeks...

Blinkin Binkies at Symphony Woods

We had fun walking through the light show in pretty mild December weather.

The Boys!

Hayden's closest encounter with Santa to date!!

Hayden still loves trains so we visited a couple of the local train gardens with the boys.  I am not surprised that Lincoln loved it too!!  Here are some pics from a fire-station nearby.

We also hosted a Polar Express Playdate for the 3rd year in a row at our place.  We had a couple friends over to watch the Polar Express, decorate cookies, and just play.

Grinch treats

Cookie fun

Lincoln was chilling with the big boys!

Snow Fun 2013

We had two snowy days recently in Maryland.  The first was two Sundays ago.  Hayden was so excited to get out the sled with daddy.  They had lots of fun on the small hill behind our townhouse.  Here are a couple pics from our first snow of the year....

Two days later, we got even more snow.  It was more of a wet snow so not as great for sledding but the boys made a pretty awesome snowman instead.  Poor frosty fell over a couple hours after his creation but Hayden had fun building him!

Family Dedication

We recently took part in a family dedication at our church.  We had never done a dedication for Hayden in Alabama so we did so for both our boys at our church in Elkridge, Mosaic Christian Church.  Family Dedication is designed for parents to dedicate themselves to raising their kids to know and love Jesus.  We feel so blessed to have found an awesome church home.  Here is a link to a video of the service.  The dedication was first so you can see us on stage in the first few minutes.  :) So proud of my big boy Hayden for standing up there on stage! 

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/41271604

Donuts with Dad

Last week, Hayden's school had a Donuts with Dads event.  For the last hour of class, dads came with a favorite book to read to their kids and were also able to share donuts.  Each child had drawn a picture of what they like to do with their dad earlier in the week.  They were able to present their picture to the dads and class.  Eric enjoyed his special time with Hayden.  Here are a couple photos the class mom took....

Hayden presenting his picture.  He explained how they ride bikes to the park and play superheroes.

Eric reading one of Hayden's favorite books.  No Donuts were eaten by Hayden.  :)

Thanksgiving 2013

On November 1st we started a Thanksgiving Tree for Hayden.  Each day we asked him what he was thankful for and he taped a leaf to his tree.  His first few leaves were for his friends, his school and for church which made us very happy.  It took a while for him to be thankful for mommy (even the dog beat me out) but I was thankful that he finally thought of me.  :)  Here is a pic of his completed tree.

We spent Thanksgiving Day this year at my mom and dads.  It was a team effort as far as cooking the meal and everyone helped out in some way.  We had a very nice and delicious dinner!  Lincoln had his first piece of turkey and enjoyed lots of new foods.  All the kids had fun playing outside despite the cold and were wore out by the end of the day.  I captured this picture as we were all sitting down to dinner.  Hayden's last thankful leaf was "I am grateful for all my family" and I think that says it all! 

Lincoln - 1 year old!

We celebrated a little early but Lincoln turned 1 officially on November 20th.  He had his 1 year well baby the next day.  He was almost the exact same weight from his 9 month appointment, weighing in at 23lbs 14oz (85%).  He was 2'6"(56%) and still has a big head at 18.5" (74%).  He had to endure 5 shots but took it like a champ.  Lincoln is still our happy, silly boy.  He loves to play with brother and daddy the most and wants to do everything they do.  He is still crawling mostly but can stand in one place for quite a while and has taken 1-2 steps towards us before resorting back to the spider-man crawl.  He is a great eater!  He loves green beans, chicken, strawberries, and cheese the most.  He is very observant and inquisitive and is into everything!  He is keeping me on my toes these days but I am enjoying his fun little personality.  Here are a few of my favorite pics of Linc that I took before his party. 

Lincoln's 1st Birthday Party!

Last weekend we celebrated Lincoln's 1st birthday at our house.  We did a circus/carnival theme and I had lots of fun planning the big day.  We had a wide range of ages attend so I tried to make it fun for all.  We started the party with a little silly dress up/photo booth (see blog post below for photos).  We continued on to a few party games....duck pond, tattoos, pin the nose on the clown, spin a prize, ping pong ball toss, bean bag toss, and basketball shoot.  After the games, we had pizza and hot dogs for lunch.  Lincoln then had a wardrobe change for his big cake smash.  :)  He was just the cutest thing as we sang happy birthday and was not afraid to dig into his cake.  While the kids were eating cake, Eric snuck upstairs for a costume change of his own.  The kids loved it when he came down dressed as a clown!  It was a great ending to a great party and I so appreciate my husband for doing just about anything for his boys. Here are some pics from the day....

Big Boy ready to party!!

Party Food

Tattoos and Duck Pond

Pin the nose on the clown.  Wonder if Hayden was peeking?

Placing bets on the spin-a-prize

Ping Pong Ball Toss

Linc and Emily want in on the action

Bean bag toss pro!

Shootin Hoops

Singing Happy Birthday

Hayden helps blow out the candle for baby brother

Hmmm, this is good stuff

The Fam

Straight to the bath

Here comes Chuckles the Clown!

Group shot

Outdoor fun with Chuckles

Lincoln opening his first gift!

Nana flew in from Georgia for the Big Day!

Grammy was so happy to make it to the party too!