Preschool

Hayden by her cubby.

Hayden had her last day of preschool earlier this month. She wont go back until the end of February. They had a big holiday party on the last day. 

 Her is Hayden with one of her teachers, Sara. Cole was so excited and wanted to be part of everything going on.

 They sang songs, decorated pretzel sticks, and had cookies and punch.

 This is Hayden's other teacher Korianne.

Hayden decorating her bird house.

The teachers worked together to make a binder about Hayden's time with them in preschool. It's so great and will be fun for her to keep forever. They both said at the beginning she was really shy and didn't talk much, but by the end she wouldn't stop talking.
Hayden loved preschool and learned a lot. I love that she loves to learn! We are going to have to find ways to keep busy until school starts again.

7 Years

Ryan and I had our 7 year anniversary on the 18th of this month. It really is so crazy to think we have been married for 7 years. A lot has happened in that time and we are still so happy together!!
We celebrated the week before. We left the kids with friends and got delicious Italian food for dinner. Then we picked up the kids and went to a nearby hotel for the night. We had a free hotel stay we needed to use by the end of the year, so it worked out perfectly.

The kids were so so excited to go swimming. It turned out to be a lot of fun having the kids with us to celebrate. We had a fun time together as a family. They are 2 of the main reasons our marriage is so great!

Dancing Queen

 Hayden started a tap/ballet class a few months ago through the park district. She loves it!!

 Cole and I usually wait in the hall and peek through the one way glass, but they have parent's day every couple months. Hayden does not love that! She gets a little nervous/shy when parents are watching. She spends some of the time holding her stomach like she is starving or dramatically rubbing her eyes like she is exhausted.

 It's just so cute to watch. She knows a couple of the ballet positions and is learning the dance for their performance in June. She is excited about the fact that they will get to wear special costumes.

It's so fun to watch her having fun and enjoying dance!

Thanksgiving

 We headed down to Indiana for Thanksgiving again this year. We stayed with Camille and Eric. Steve and Darlene were able to come, also. I didn't take very many pictures. I did get one of Cole making a ham tower on his roll. Nice. We had great food and Ryan made some delicious pies.

 The kids enjoyed all of the new playmates.

It was a fun weekend.

Halloween

 We celebrated the Halloween season by painting baby pumpkins. No carving at our house this year.

 Hayden was princess Jasmine and Cole was Thomas the Train. They were both so excited about their costumes.

 They had lots of opportunities to dress up this year. We went to the community fall festival with friends. They had trick-or-treating, games, bounce house, and a hay ride. All free! The kids had a blast.

Cole and his best bud Justin

 We went to our ward trunk or treat on Saturday.

 Then on Halloween, we had a bunch of friends over for soup and snacks. After we filled our bellies, we all headed out trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. It was so fun having friends join us. The kids got too much candy, as usual!

 I haven't been crafting lately, but these are the last two projects I did. I couldn't get the glare to stay away from the turkey clip picture, but it's adorable. Trust me.

Firsts

Yesterday was Hayden's first day of real preschool. She goes to Little Eagles, at Lakes High School.

She was/is beyond excited about it! She has been asking for months when preschool will start. We went to orientation last week and met her 2 teachers. The high school students are the teachers. It's cheap and the teachers come to the car so I don't have to even get out. Perfect!

Her 2 friends, who live across the street, are in her class so we get to carpool. We showed up a few minutes early, so the girls were antsy waiting for their teachers to come get them.

Hayden got to be Star Student today! (No, she was not dressed like that at school. This picture is taken a few hours later, after playing with friends and painting) She was the first Star Student of the year. She got to take a few things in the big green bag. Then she stood in front of the class and did a show and tell. She took Goldie (her stuffed unicorn), a story she had drawn out (she loves to draw stories), a little bag her cousin Sara made her, and Pinkie Pie (her favorite my little pony.) She also got to wear a crown and necklace, and she picked names for the activities they did. She loved having this day to be extra special!

Every time we have talked about Hayden going to preschool, Cole has said something about his class. I tried to tell him he wasn't in a class and wasn't going to school, but he wouldn't have it!

So, I signed him up for a class at the Park District called "Gettin' down and dirty." It is every Wednesday morning for the month. Today was the first day and he had a lot of fun. It is an open play setting with lots of toys, a table with paint supplies, a shaving cream table, an art project table, a cornmeal bucket, and  some apple cider playdough. Aside from nursery at church, this is his first experience of being in a play setting without Hayden. As soon as we left to go home he said "Where's Hayden?" He loves his sister and is definitely going to miss her while she's at school. This class will be good for him and he had a great time!

Craftin' it up

I have some awesome, crafty friends. We have started "Crafting Wednesday." For the past 7 weeks we have taken turns hosting. We have a potluck and then after a few hours of crafting, we end up with some fun things!
Here's what we've done so far:

WEEK 1- Ribbon Wreaths (wow, my door is filthy. Note to self- clean front door)    http://sheskindacrafty.blogspot.com/2010/11/christmas-ribbon-wreath.html

WEEK 2- Hair Clips (We each brought an idea and enough stuff for everyone to make one)

WEEK 3-Halloween Topiaries http://craftysisters-nc.blogspot.com/2010/09/trickor-treat-topiaries.html
WEEK 4- Bead Spiders   http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2010/10/guest-project-make-beaded-spider.html

WEEK 5- Book Page Pumpkins  http://www.u-createcrafts.com/2011/09/book-page-pumpkin.html

WEEK 6- Wooden Turkeys  http://www.u-createcrafts.com/2010/11/creative-guest-2x4-turkey-by-craft.html

WEEK 7 (today)- Halloween Jars   http://notsoidlehands.blogspot.com/2011/09/guess-whos-cute-craft-is-on-front-cover.html

It's so nice to get together and have some adult time. The kids are running wild, ransacking the house, but it's worth it for 4 hours of girl time. Thanks Ladies!!