Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christmas Eve, our friends, Kelsey and Joe came over. We hung out at our place, had some chili sauce stew, then squeezed into Kelsey's car and drove around looking at huge mansions and christmas lights. It was just a fun and relaxing evening. When we got done with lights, we came home, and Hayden opened his gifts from the family. He was sooo tired, but he still managed to show some energy when it came time to play!

Hayden's big gift from Mom and Dad was the Radio Flyer wagon. He LOVES it!! He also got some great 'Little People' toys from relatives, some good books, a stuffed Elmo, puzzles, a hippo, magnadoodle, and a barrel of monkeys!

Dirk got a new light saber that has spring action and makes lights and noises. It's pretty cool.

We decorated the table pretty- not quite Martha Stewart- but I still think it looks nice. It was kind of hard to have it real nice, because Hayden likes to sit at the big person table now. He got his own little snowman placemat - but keeping him from tugging on the tablecloth was difficult. He ended up doing really well!

We had a delicious ham dinner- with a few mishaps of putting garlic cloves in the microwave for too long and stinking out the house for a while. Good thing it was 70 degrees, so there was no problem opening the windows and doors! It all turned out really yummy. Then for desert we had chocolate fondu with all kinds of stuff to dip in. It was a really fun night, and I'm sure we all gained at least 5 lbs!

Kelsey and Michael hanging out after dinner- It's Michael's first Christmas!

The Many Faces of Hayden

We all looked so cute before church today, so I thought I'd try and get some pictures. Unfortunately, Hayden was extremely cranky and uncooperative! And of course, he was being the cutest when I wasn't ready for it - I still managed to capture some amazing looks!

The Kid and The Kids

We went to the zoo on Thursday, and since the petting zoo wasn't busy,

I let Hayden go see the goats.

The airplane in the sky was more exciting than the goats...

When we first walked in, I wasn't sure if Hayden would be scared or not. He just walked right up to this one and whacked him in the butt! In return the goat tried to either kick him or pee on him. The picture is blurry because I couldn't decide whether to take a picture, or be a good mom and rescue my son!

Tonight I was messing around with my camera, playing with the settings. I took a bunch of really bad pictures, but somehow I managed to get some cute ones- though the color/exposure isn't too good.

Hayden shows us his lack of belly button- proving that he is in fact an alien...


What a Ham!

After running circles around the living room and kitchen with Daddy for 20 minutes, he ended up with a big purple bump on his forehead. :(

And this is the best picture of them all!

Daddy's Boots

We Have Such A Cute Family!

Hayden's new thing is to go get us a clean diaper when he needs a diaper change. I had just bought a new box of diapers, and dirk stuffed them real tight, into the basket. So when Hayden went to go get one, we heard [scuffle, scuffle, bump], "Oh noo!" We went in and found this.

Hayden was a little unsure at first if he was in trouble or not. I think he was a little scared!

He was very proud of his work however. And when he realized Daddy was trying to be angry, while trying not to laugh, Hayden decided it was a good time to go pose next to him.

Hayden helping (un) wrap a present for his friend's birthday party.

Posing by the Christmas Tree!

This one reminded me of Nick when he was little: "Two Bottles!"

What a handsome boy!

Dirk and I at the USARSO Holiday Ball. It was a lot different than they usually are, and not very fun. The most fun we had all night was taking goofy pictures with our friends.


The one on the right- we were making fun of the fact that you really aren't supposed to show signs of affection while in uniform... not even to your wife while you're at a party. No one really follows these rules, of course, but occasionally you'll see someone who's a little uptight, getting upset about it. This picture was kind of posed to also look like those portraits from the 50's or 60's. I wasn't very good at the serious face!

What We've Been Up To Lately...

I just thought I'd write a quick post about what we've been doing lately.

Dirk has been busy for the last week and a half, including his whole weekend, working on some sort of Field Training. I'm not quite sure what he's doing, but he seems to really be enjoying it. He's been leaving before the sun comes up and getting home 10-11 hours later when the sun is already down. We've been missing him a lot lately!

I (Laura) finally finished my work, helping throw together the Christmas Party. Just when I thought I was going to have a chance to relax, I was offered a babysitting job. So for the last two weeks, five days a week for five hours, I have been watching 2 1/2 yr old twins (who are a little crazy) and their baby sister (who is very cute and good). It's been a whirlwind of energy and messes around here. Just when I seem to get one thing cleaned up, another mess is made. I'm attempting to do laundry today, even though the laudry I did last Monday is still sitting in the baskets waiting to be folded! I just realized Christmas is coming real fast, so I've been staying up late, working on some presents. I'm also WAY behind on running errands, shopping, and going to the Post Office (Carol- I promise I'll mail it someday!).

Hayden has been very active lately. His new words which he loves to say are "up!", "no" (which he really says with an 'm' so it's 'mo', "Ank Oooh" (Thank you), and "Hes Hes" (which is Jesus). If you ask him any question at all his response is either "Mo" or he raises his hands up to the sides of his head which means "I don't know".

He loves to read his Christmas book about Baby Jesus, along with his new book he got from the Christmas party, which is about counting. He's a little jealous of all the time Mommy is spending with other kids these days, so as soon as they leave we have cuddle time on the couch. He is getting really good at being soft and petting the little baby's heads. He currently has 5 teeth coming in at the same time. He's growing up fast!

Pics of The Week

We came home from church, I put in a movie for Hayden, left the room for a few minutes, and came back to find him passed out, asleep on the floor!

And then he woke up when the flash went off.

Just messing around with my camera.

The flowers are blooming on our shrubs we planted earlier this year.

Hayden was a good sport, hanging out in the stroller,

while I took some family photos for our friends.

Hayden and his friend Lilly (whom I babysit) hanging out in his room.

Looks like he's trying to get me to leave!

Hayden discovered his toy basket can be fun to wear!

I chopped my Hair off... and other Random Photos of the Day