4 Year Old Princess

Hayden turned 4 last month and was beyond excited. The picture above is from the morning of her birthday. She got the outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Woodland. She HAD to wear it that day. They were smart to get her a skirt because she wants to wear a skirt every day! Grammy and Grampa got her princess light up shoes which she has been dying to have for months now. Ryan and I got her a Repunzel baby doll and Goldie the Unicorn.

This year she wanted to have a princess party with a castle cake. The cake didn't turn out as nice as I wanted it to, but Hayden loved it!

All of her girl friends came dressed as princesses and her boy friend came as a super hero. We played some princess games, hot slipper (like hot potato) and pin the crown on the princess. Then it was time for cake and presents.

She was definitely spoiled by all of her friends this year. I love that she has such great friends. She got dress ups, ponies, barbies, markers. All the usual 4 year old girl stuff.

She had a very happy birthday! Thanks to all of our family and friends who made it special. She sure missed Daddy that day but luckily she got to talk to him on the webcam and tell him all about her day.

We love you Haydie babe! You'll always be our little princess :)

Grammy Time

Ryan went to China for just over 2 weeks in June. While he was gone he missed Hayden's birthday, Father's day and my birthday. Major bummer!! But while he was gone Grammy came to play, and play we did.

We went to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. It has been 5 years since I've been there. I forgot how beautiful it is!

The kids loved the adventure and Grammy and I got our workout in for the day!

These purple ball flowers (I can't remember what they are actually called) were our favorite. We had a great day enjoying the beauty of nature.

We also went strawberrry picking at Stade's Farm.

The berries were tiny but the kids really enjoyed picking them.

Cole insisted on wearing this hat, even though it is obviously too small for his head!

After sweating in the heat for a while, we ended up with about 4 pounds of strawberries. We ended our excursion with delicious apple cider donuts!

On my birthday, we headed to the zoo. I love the zoo and so do my kids, so it was the perfect place to go.  My kids were so close to the grizzly bear I was getting a little nervous, even with the glass. I decided I would never like to meet a grizzly bear in the wild. But It was pretty cool to get a close up view.

My kids are so lucky to have a Grammy who will be silly with them!

Of course we had to end the day with another picture on the Brookfiels Zoo lion. Good times!

Little Fish

My two little fish had swim lessons at the beginning of June.

Cole and I did the Mom and Tot class together. He liked it at first but the last few days it was pretty cold and he was done. We mostly sang songs and practiced scooping and kicking.

Hayden LOVED her swim class. They did a lot of songs, also.

She thought swimming with the "giant q-tip" was awesome.

They didn't even mind their ear plugs and often reminded me they needed them. They both love the water and it was great to go to the pool every morning.

Aloha- Day 1 and 2

Ryan and I had an awesome opportunity to take a vacation to Oahu. Ryan's mom, sister, and brother-in-law were so kind to watch our kids and make the whole trip possible. On Tuesday May 17th, we drove to Indianapolis to drop the kids at Ryan's sister's house. The next morning we arrived at the airport about 4:30 am. After 2 layovers and almost 12 hours, we landed in Honolulu. We checked into the Beachcomber hotel, right on Waikiki. Then we grabbed food and went to the beach and swam for a bit. After waking up so early, traveling so long, and the 5 hour time difference, we were exhausted. So, we went to bed at 7 o'clock!

We woke up about 3:30 and sat on our balcony for a while. Then we went back to sleep for another hour. About 5:30 we got up and headed to the beach to watch the sunrise. It was amazing and I loved the fact that there were already about 20 surfers out on the water.

I don't know that you can ever get over the beauty of Hawaii once you've seen it!

We walked a couple miles to Leonards Bakery and tried out their donuts. They had a sweet and sour donut that was funky but good.

Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the Polynesian Cultural Center. We took the bus service the offer and had a nice ride there.

We really enjoyed the shows. Especially this first one. He was hilarious and made fire right on stage.

Can you see the man at the top of the tree grabbing a coconut. Awesome!

Man are we white or what?! After the Fiji show, I went and got my own Fiji marking on my ankle.

We were able to see all of the shows and then we went on the LDS tour.

The tour took us past BYU Hawaii then on to the Temple. We stopped at the temple and went in to the visitor's center for a bit.

Then we headed back to enjoy the Luau and show at the PCC. It was such an awesome day. Learning about the Polynesian cultures and seeing their excitement for life was amazing.

I would definitely recommend going to the Polynesian Cultural Center to anyone heading out there. It was a wonderful day, but again, we were exhausted by the time we made it back to our hotel about 10:30!

Big Boy

I just want to do a quick update on this little man. He is such a big boy lately. He still talks A Lot. He finally started saying "Hayden" a couple months ago. He loves bubbles!! Multiple times a day he says "play bubbles outside". He's also very curious about sounds. Whenever he hears something he says "what that sound?". 
He is now binky free. He's only been having his binky in bed for a couple months. Then a few weeks ago, Ryan took him to the cupboard and had him put his binky in. Ryan told him no more binky and to say goodbye. He did, and hasn't asked for it since. It's been an awesome transition.
He also loves nursery now. All because of their bubble machine. He can spot an airplane a mile away. He loves to sing and read "Down by the Bay." He often sings throughout the day.
We love our big boy!!

Easter!

Dominicks Grocery store had an egg hunt the Saturday before Easter. We showed up right at 7:30am when it was starting, and it was already mostly over. Hayden was disappointed, but our friends, the Cottrells, were there and were kind enough to share their eggs.

They checked out their eggs. Then the store had fruit, juice, and donuts for everyone.

The next day we started out Easter with a basket hunt. This was the first year the Easter Bunny has left clues for the kids to find their hidden basket. They loved it!

 The kids checked out their baskets. Then we read "What does Easter really mean?" I love that Hayden already knew that Easter is really about Jesus.

After some wrestling with Daddy, it was time to get ready for church.

Hayden was not happy about her curly hair. When I finished it, she was bawling and said "It looks silly! I can't go to church with silly hair." Thankfully the tears didn't last too long!

I'm sad this picture of Cole turned out so fuzzy because he looks so handsome!

I'm so thankful for these two adorable kids!

After church, we had dinner at the Deja's house with them and the Cottrells. The kids enjoyed a fun egg hunt in their huge yard and the food was delicious!

It was a wonderful day and a great reminder of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Definitely a reason to rejoice and celebrate!

Pinkalicious!

Hayden has the book Pinkalicious (I actually bought it for her when I was pregnant with her) and loves it. So, when I heard about the musical I was excited to find out about it. We got tickets with a few of our friends and made a mommy daughter date out of it.

We all rode the train downtown together. The girls were excited for the adventure. Once we got downtown, we walked over a mile to the theater and the girls did such a great job with very little complaining.

The play itself was so fun. Hayden was dancing, singing, clapping, laughing, the whole time. I knew she would love it and she did! As I was sitting there next to her, watching how happy she was, it made me happy. I realized things like that are what life's about.

After the play, we made a stop at Garretts popcorn. So so good! Then we headed back to Union Station and caught our train. Hayden didn't have a nap and had a major meltdown while on the train, but we survived.

Ryan and Cole were waiting for us at the station. Hayden was anxious to tell Daddy all about our wonderful day.
While we were downtown, Ryan took Cole to the pet store to see the animals, which he loved! Ryan had also scrubbed my house for me. What an awesome husband!
A great day was had by all :)