Taekwondo or Not

Hayden has been going to The Little Gym for forever. Okay maybe not forever only the last two and half years or so, and this semester I decided not to sign him up again, but to branch out and let him try other options. Dave and I went to the local martial arts studio and took the tour. We then got sucked into their introductory offer and signed Hayden up for a two week trial. So for $30 we got two weeks of classes (four total) and a cute karate pajama outfit (I know it has a real name, I just don't care) for Hayden. We then told Hayden about this great new opportunity, which he seemed to like, though come the first day of class and he didn't want anything to do with it. Dave was a master cajoler and talked Hayden into giving it a go which he did. The first day he came home with these two pieces of wood. He had broken them at the end of class with his hammer strike. He was so proud of that wood, it really wasn't very big only about five inches wide and about a foot long and maybe a quarter of an inch thick, but he was so proud of that wood. That night at bed he insisted on sleeping with the wood in his bed and the next day he took it to school. If he would misplace it, as he is known to do, he would cry "Where is my lumber?" So he was good with taekwondo for the moment. The following class he didn't get to break anything and was disappointed. Same with the third class. By the last class he was into full on boycott and decided he didn't want to do taekwondo anymore and even refused to go to class. I'm good with him not going if that is what he wants, but he sure did look cute in his little PJ outfit. What to do with it now? And how do I get the taedwondo place to stop calling? Well on to the next event, T-Ball starts in May. He looks so cute in his little PJ outfit.

Utah, February 2010!

The boys and I took our semi annual trip to Utah to visit the grandparents. As always it was great, the food was awesome and we were exhausted by the time we got home. It is not quite as relaxing to visit my parents with two little boys in tow as it was when it was just me. As a matter of fact my mom asked "What did we used to do when you would visit before you had the boys?" We couldn't remember.

One of Hayden's favorite things to do when we visit my parents, besides swimming in the pool, is looking for ducks in the canal behind the house. Normally the ducks are not around this time of year, but this year we had a few stalwarts. Hayden loves to feed them and my mom usually buys him a loaf of bread from the day old store just for the occasion. He's not tall enough to see them but he is quite adept at maneuvering the deck furniture to stand on, and if you don't watch closely, he will throw the whole loaf of bread.

This is a picture of me being a bad mom. Hayden was crying because he didn't want to wear his church shoes to church. I had to take a picture to show him how silly he looked.


Salt Lake has an Aquarium. Who knew? Well a lot of people besides us, because it was packed. It was President's Day and lots of kids were home and so there were crazy crowds. I really wasn't expecting much from an Aquarium in Utah, Utah being land locked as it is, but I was very impressed. Despite the limited space they had tons of stuff to see and lots of hands on exhibits.

Hayden got to touch a sting ray, a star fish and some other things I'm not quite sure what they were. There was even a live octopus that was climbing up the glass enclosure.


They are even getting some penguins in March. I guess we'll have to go back on our next trip.

While we were walking around there was filming crew for the show "Little Chocolatiers". They were filming the little people visiting Aquarium. I didn't get a picture of the little people because I thought that might be a little tacky, (and we all know how I feel about tacky), but I did get a picture of my dad with Turner and most of the film crew. So if you watch Little Chocolatiers and you see the episode when they were at the Aquarium in Salt Lake (actually Sandy) we were there.

Another visit came and went. It is always good to go home and visit, and I love seeing my parents, but we sure missed Dave and were glad to head home.

Stop and Think!

I'm not one to post video's normally, but this one just touched me so much and I had to place it here if for no other reason then to remind myself I need to stop and think about my children, about my parents and how much they both bring to my life. And how I should be more patient with them because of their continued patience with me.

Valentines

Okay so I'm not ever going to win mom of the year, but I was quite proud of myself this past valentines day. Hayden has a party at his school, and it would never do for my boy to take a store bought valentine in for his party. So I got a cute idea off of the Internet (I'm good at mimicking an idea, not necessarily coming up with it on my own.) and we put together some really fun valentines flowers for his class. Hayden was even a big help in making them. And then of course we couldn't end there we had to make. . .

cookies for the party. I was quite impressed with how these turned out. Nothing really creative, but lots of fun.

And just a little mess.
And for Valentines day, even though Dave and I didn't get to spend it together because I was in Utah, that incredible man sent me twenty tulips, my favorite. Have I mentioned recently what a lucky girl I am.

Makes me laugh!

I was in Clayton the other day and passed by this statue. It is called Man on a Horse by Fernando Botero. I love this statue, it just makes me laugh. I remember several years ago when they installed it and there was a huge uproar about this statue of a chubby naked guy on a horse. But I like the statue and I'm glad they kept it so when I'm driving in Clayton on Hanley Road I can look forward to a good laugh. It just makes me happy!

How cute is that chubby bumb?!

Sometimes I scare myself!

There is this web-store I occasionally buy things from called Personal Creations. As you can imagine from the title they make items that are somewhat personalized. For Christmas I found these really cool name puzzles and decided to order one for each of the boys, especially because Hayden really likes to see and read his name. So I ordered the puzzles and they came to the house and I promptly wrapped them up and put them under the Christmas tree. After Christmas morning and all of the hub bub was over as we were putting things away and cleaning up, Hayden and I opened his puzzle and put it together. Not a problem it looked so good and we were quite happy.

The problem came when I went into Turner's room and tried to put his name puzzle together. It didn't work! I couldn't imagine how they had made this silly puzzle and it didn't fit together at all. Some of the connecting pieces were even pointing in the wrong direction. Needless to say I was a little upset.

So I called up Personal Creations and explained to them what the problem was. They were very nice and apologized for the "defective" puzzle being sent and promised to have another "Turner" name puzzle made and sent out to us. So I put the unassembled puzzle up on the shelf and promptly forgot about it. Several weeks later there is a new package sitting on our door step with the new name puzzle inside. I was very excited an opened the box and took out the puzzle. While pulling out the puzzle it dawn's on me that the "n" and the "u" are very similar looking. And then it really dawn's on me that I have been a complete idiot. So I put the name puzzle together and take it into Turner's room, where the "defective" name puzzle is and I promptly put that one together also. So now we have two "Turner" name puzzles. And the only thing defective in this house is me.

Pictures by Hayden

Hayden got a digital camera for Christmas from Santa. It is made by Crayola and is specifically designed for kids. I am actually quite impressed with the camera itself, and the quality of the pictures it produces. Hayden thinks this camera is pretty cool and likes to take pictures of lots of different things. I thought I would share some of the pictures Hayden has taken.

A self portrait

Turner - Can you see him in the upper right hand corner?
Dave

Shannon

Pictures from his school when he took the camera to Show & Share.

Showing Grandma and Grandpa his new camera on the video phone.

So the pictures are a little blurry and he needs to work on keeping a steady hand, but he is having fun and isn't that what it is all about.

Hayden's Thought for the Day

On the way to daycare/preschool this morning, Hayden told me, "Mom, Turner is a rock star, but I'm not a rockstar, I'm a movie guy." He just amazes me with the things he comes up with.