Dear Hayden,

We entered a photo contest at your swim school. The rules of the contest were that you had to be wearing your swimsuit that you wear to swim school, and be playing in the bathtub in a 3 picture series. There are probably a lot of people entering the contest, so we are not expecting to with the prize (5 months of free swimming!) but it was fun just to participate!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

Holiday festivities are in full swing! We usually decorate for Christmas on Thanksgiving night, which Dad and I did after you went to sleep last night. We left you a little pile of decorations for the tree, and you had a great time putting them on this morning. Also, you have your own nativity scene (a great gift from Uncle Ramsey and Aunt Lisa) to play with, which is great because you LOVE to touch all the different people!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving in Tucson with Grandma, Jiddoh and some old and new friends. It was a very good time!

You ate a good dinner:

You explored in the yard:

You played with some new friends:

You managed to climb into 3 laps in time for 3 tastings of dessert:

Then, you looked longingly at the pool, but we had to explain that even though it was warm enough to eat and play outside, it was not warm enough to swim!

This year, I am most thankful for the health and happiness we enjoy as a family. We are so blessed to have each other!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

We are in Tucson spending some time with Grandma and Jiddoh for the Thanksgiving holiday. Today we went to visit The Desert Museum. We had a fantastic time looking at all the animals and walking around. As we predicted — the birds were your favorite!!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

Uncle Darryl is here to visit us for the next couple of weeks. We are all having a great time having him here… especially you! He reads to you, has chats with you and watches the NFL with you. Overall, this makes him a fantastic person in your life. Uncle D. also drives a motorcycle. Today, he let you sit on it and check it out! You are one lucky lady!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

Tonight, after dinner, we made a Thankful Tree. We wrote different things we are thankful for on the leaves — you loved looking at the different leaves. You are thankful for a lot of things, like swim school and Polly Pocket!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

This morning, as soon as you got up, you wanted to put on your fairy skirt and wings. So, you put them on right over your penguin pajamas. (You call them pway-gin pajamas!) It was too hilarious to not snap a few photos!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

You had the best Halloween ever! Your cousins were here, which made it awesome! We trick-or-treated with all the neighborhood kids and then we went to the Pumpkinfest at church! You rode a pony there and trunk-or-treated from car to car around the parking lot. It was a very good time, and you are the sweetest bumble bee I’ve ever seen!

Love you,
Mama

Charlie AKA Anakin Skywalker

Alex the T-Rex

Oliver the Bug

You and Alex had the same costume! It wasn’t even planned!

Bumble Bee Buddies!

Bumble Bee Buddies!

Dragging the bag!

Trick-or-treating with the neighborhood kiddos and your cousins!!

At first, you insisted on standing in the front of the group for the group picture – you looked like a choir director with your bumble bee wand!

Quite a crew!

Checking out your stash!!

First pony ride! You loved it!!

Alex on a pony

Charlie’s pony ride

Oliver’s ride

A great ending to a great Halloween!

Dear Hayden,

Tonight, after dinner, we carved pumpkins. You are very excited about Halloween this year, so this was a fun activity for you! You did not like having your hand inside the pumpkin — in fact, you really didn’t like having to touch anything that was inside the pumpkins! Other than the yucky insides, you enjoyed it!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

This weekend we had a visit from Great Grandpa Rog. It was fun to see him! He sure gets a kick out of you!

Love you,
Mama