Hayden has graduated.....

....to a BIG BOY BED!!

Monday, July 14th, 2008
marks Hayden's first night in his new bed.
And he did awesome.
My child never ceases to amaze me.

Just another shining example of
"like father, like son!"

Hayden helped put the "ladders" inside
his new bed.
He also helped hide the bolts and screws.
I use the word "help" very loosely.
But, he was so excited about the whole process,
you couldn't be bothered about it.

The sensitive boy that he is, Hayden kept his lion
aware of each step taken toward having a new bed.
He kept saying "it's okay buddy,"
so I'm not sure who needed the convincing.....

Hayden couldn't wait to get in and try it out!
He announced that, it was in fact, very "comfy."
He looked like such a big kid lying there
all tucked in.....
and I'm grateful I don't have to lift
my 34 pound big kid in and out of his crib anymore!!

The trial run was a success!!
He actually spent the next half hour
playing in his bed....I was hoping that would be a
good sign for the real thing at 8PM.

We did pretty well.
After about 45 minutes of negotiations,
Hayden was sleeping soundly.
I wanted desperately to take a picture
(there's a shocker!?) as he slept.
He looked so sweet.
All grown up.
But, I didn't want to risk waking him with the flash.

I had visions of going into his room and finding him
quietly playing with his toys at 11PM,
wide eyed and rebellious,
but he surprised me.

I'm not naive enough to think we won't
have our challenges, he's only 2 after all,
but I think we'll do just fine.

Incidentally, after45 minutes,
mommy won the nap-time challenge too.
Maybe that will be our magic number......for now.

It's Stampede time again!!

July 11, 2008

Yee-Haw....
from the little urban cowboy!
Now that I see this photo, Hayden looks a bit
mis-matched....and the hat
makes his head look HUGE!!

I should start a blog-poll.....
I think my husband looks so hot in a cowboy hat!
He is about the farthest thing there is from being a cowboy
but I think he totally pulls it off!

We met Keith, Jadyn, Jen and Cameron
at the lineup to meet Dora & Diego!

Hayden has been talking about meeting
Dora & Diego all week.
I think he thought Friday would never come.
After over an hour in line, and discussions
of what would happen when it was
finally his turn.
He wanted to give Dora a kiss,
and give Diego "knuckles."
He managed that part.....

.....then, HE FREAKED OUT!!

He was the only child in the whole crowd
who lost his mind when I turned him around for a photo!
Are you serious?@#!
(It was like meeting Santa Claus
for the first time!)
I still can't figure it out....he LOVES Dora!

We had our customary, and super healthy,
Stampede lunch of Corndogs and fries
while Hayden & Jadyn
nibbled on their snacks.

Then, it was ride time for the kiddies!

Don't they make a cute couple?!

We had a pretty great day.
The weather cooperated, we shared the company of good friends,
had mini-donuts, played Whack-a-Mole,
and experienced all the sights and smells of Stampede!

Hayden only had a few mini-meltdowns
over wanting to ride "again, again!"
It's hard to teach a 2 year old to be patient
and wait his turn, but they made it on
4 or 5 rides so that's not bad.

I think he enjoyed the C-Train ride the most!!

.....Huh??

July 10, 2008

Hayden has a pretty great vocabulary.
He can even put words into little sentences.

I'm aware that some of the things he says
need a bit of Mommy interpretation.
And since I'm with him every day, I figure this is normal.
Overall, he pronounces things very clearly.

There is one word that cracks us up.
Ask him to say vacuum, and he comes out with;
"gumper."

I have no idea where that came from,
but I laugh out loud
every time!

They sure don't put THIS in a baby book!

It's Baby's First......

BLACK EYE!

Hayden was running into the living room.
Lost his footing.
CRACK.
Face first into the coffee table.
Instant screaming.
I scooped him up and held him, almost
in tears myself, and set him up on the
kitchen counter to have a look.

Blood gushing out of his nose.

I'm silently freaking out for the next few hours
while I'm in mommy mode......
is his nose broken?
should I let him nap?
what if his nose starts bleeding again?
is he bleeding internally?
does he have a concussion?
he seems sleepy.
why is he lying on the floor like that?
does he have brain damage?
will he forget his ABC's?
Seriously.

Over the last few days, we have the remainder of a very fat nose,
a scratch under his nose (where I assume he hit the table)
and a multi-colored bruise
under his eye.

Poor thing!
He looks like he has gone a few rounds
with Rocky Balboa!

Oh, and the spot on his cheek.....
a mosquito bite.
They love my child, and feast on every inch
of skin I haven't sprayed with skin-so-soft.
Buggers.
They even bit him twice on the
back of his head!

My, what a BIG deck you have.....

July 5, 2008

Construction has begun on the new deck!!
Hayden enjoys projects as much as his father, so he
was out there "helping" like crazy.

He knows exactly what he's doing!

"Hayden hammen-in'!"

Check the dinosaur rubber boots....
the best $10.97 I ever spent.
he LOVES them!

Safety First!
Or not.....he put his goggles on
when he got back inside!!

Just For Fun!!

July 1, 2008

We had a TON of fun today at Calaway Park!
The weather was a bit overcast, but still pleasant.....
we were there for 4 hours and no nap!!
I was very impressed by how many rides Hayden
could go on all by himself.
(He was past the purple height marker and into the orange,
which means my baby is almost 36" tall!!)
He looked like such an independent big boy.
The adults sure had fun too!!

Henk, Eveline & Ralph flew solo for this ride....

I went with Henk & Eveline on the rollercoaster....
we're in the second car....
and screamed in Henk's ear the whole ride!

These swings were more Hayden's speed...
still too scary for mommy!

"WHEE!!"

Maybe we are sadistic parents,
but we took Hayden on the log ride!
He was really excited until after
the first "mini" drop.
If you look closely, he has his hands over his eyes!!

Our log boat is under all of that water....

I think we may have scarred Hayden for life....
but we sure had fun doing it!
He was laughing a few moments later.
We asked him if he wanted to go again but the
answer was a definite "NO!"

A lot of excitement for this little guy!
He power-napped for 45 minutes on the way home.
Daddy won him the kitty
(and the bumble bee tossed to the side)
which made a great pillow!

Just another day?!

Happy Fathers Day!!

To my husband.....
who is an amazing father to our little boy.
Hayden loves to play with his daddy,
"help" with tools to fix things,
and generally do anything
daddy is involved in!!

To my dad......
Who is always there for me no matter what,
and no matter how old I get.

To Ralph's Dad......
There is only one thing I need to say
that sums these two characters up.....
"like father, like son!!"

P.S. Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law, Tessa,
who shares her special
day with all the daddy's out there!

Hup Holand!!

June 9, 2008

Holland played Italy....and won 3-0.
We were all decked out in orange
to support the team!

Crazy hats....for crazy boys!

Hayden had no nap
'cause he just wanted to
"watch soccer!"

Hayden's 1st Camping Trip!

June 6-8, 2008

What a brilliant idea.
Let's take Hayden camping.....
we'll have so much fun....
when the forecast was for nothing but rain?@#!

All in all, we did have fun, but we got
tired of being wet and cold.
It's pretty tough not to have sunshine.....at all.

We went in to Banff on Saturday so that we could
hang out at the mall just to get warm!
We were stinky, and dirty and didn't care because
we were out of the rain for a while.
We even stopped in at Starbucks and enjoyed
a coffee....all huddled around the fireplace.
Now, that's what I call camping!

Our last day, Hayden looked at me and said;
"Back home, mommy."
We were totally okay with that.

We did manage to capture a few cute moments:

Playing tug-o-war with Zeus

Where's Hayden?

He loved being outside, camping, exploring,
and visiting with the neighboring campers.
Even in spite of the rain.

A face only a mother could love....
he was SO dirty....

Home sweet home.

Calling all squirrels!!

We were out for our walk and saw a train
up close. Hayden loved it!
However, he almost fell over
when the conductor blew the whistle!

My mountain men.

This picture was taken right before
Hayden almost took a dip in the river.....
what a great mom....sacrifice the kid
for a great photo-op.

Okay, so I lied a bit.
The sun tried to come out on Saturday night.

This is Martijn, Ralph, Hayden Roeland and Brechtje.
(Joost had to tend the fire, and I was happily
behind the camera!!)

I'm an Auntie...again!!

Congratulations!
to Scott, Tessa and Brody
for welcoming home their new baby.....

GIRL!!
Baby Sienna was born on Friday June 6th
and everyone is happy and healthy
and 'resting' at home!

I now have a beautiful niece
(who looks exactly like her mama)
and I promise I will share photos....

....I guess I should let the proud parents post
their pictures first!!

I'll just help myself.....

....when you aren't in the room!

Special K, Vanilla Almond flavor,

anyone?!