Dear Hayden,

We’ve been busy celebrating Christmas! Last night, we ate enchiladas at Nana and Papa’s and went to church. I had to stay at church for both services because I was in the Christmas skit and Dad brought you home to put you to bed! You got up this morning and opened your presents and played all day! We ate dinner this afternoon and you were exhausted by bed time!

Christmas Eve

Stocking

Stocking

Penguin

Purple Hippo Chair

Hamper from Mom and Dad!

Vacuum Popper

Christmas Purse

Hugging Lucy

Feeding Grandpa from your play groceries!

Christmas Shirt (Nana made it for you!)

Playing with Nana and Papa

Dear Hayden,

We have been doing some holiday things and we are having a lot of fun! We took holiday photos, sent out a Christmas card with a photo tree of you in it, we went to zoo lights and you got to chat with Santa. You had a blast at zoo lights! You made your dad carry you because you couldn’t see everything from your stroller, and you pointed at everything you saw and asked  him “What’s that?” throughout the evening! Santa totally freaked you out. In fact, you couldn’t take your eyes off of him, even for a picture.

Love you,
Mama

Holiday Photo, 2008

Christmas Card, 2008

Zoo Lights

Zoo Lights

Zoo Lights

Staring at Santa

Dear Hayden,

Elizabeth gave you a beret and a bag. You LOVE them!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

Tonight we went to the Christmas Celebration at church. There was SNOW! You had a blast playing in it!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

We are working on getting settled in the new place, and you are enjoying this process!

Every bin or box we empty, you climb inside:

And when Dad takes out the ladder, you are right there to help:

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

Today you attended your second Thanksgiving dinner, but last year you were too little to eat! We went to Nana and Papa’s house for dinner, and you loved every bite!

Here are some pictures of your mashed potato face and your pumpkin pie face!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

Moving day is here! After 7 months at Nana and Papa’s house, we are moving to our new home today. It will be an adjustment for you, as you have enjoyed spending time with them. We are sure to make some lasting memories in our new place. We are so excited to move you to the home you will always remember as the place you grew up.

Love you,
Mama

Here you are going through our new front door!

Dear Hayden,

Today is election day. You and I went to vote this morning. People were very excited to see you there because we live quite close to Sun City and there are a lot of older people at our polling site. In fact, two older gentlemen got into an argument after one of them encouraged you to run for president in 20 years. As the second guy explained, you’d have to run in at least 34 years because you can’t be president until you are 35 years old according to the constitution. Then, as I was voting, you kept running from my voting booth and this nice older lady named Sandy who was a volunteer at the site was running after you for me so I could complete my ballot.

Tonight, Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States. This is an historic election because he is the first African American to be elected to this office. This has been an intense campaign season, and we are lucky to live in a time and place where we can talk freely about our political opinions.

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

Happy Halloween! You are the sweetest little butterfly I’ve ever seen.

Love you,

Mama

Dear Hayden,

You are officially a walker! You have been taking a few steps on your own at a time since before your first birthday, but just this last week, you became a confident little walker. Your favorite place to walk is right into your dad’s arms.

Love you,

Mama