Who needs baby dolls!

Who needs baby dolls when you have your own little brother to play with.  Colton hasn't yet figured out to run or crawl like crazy when they come after him!  Hayden put him in her baby doll stroller yesterday, buckled up and everything and was pretending that he was her baby.  Gracie had her stroller too, but she really did have her sleeping baby!  He was a pretty good sport, he actually enjoyed the ride and even though the stroller is purple with polka dots, he didn't seem to mind.  He fit perfectly in it. They are both really good with him, except for the fact that Gracie tends to be a little bit rough sometimes.  She doesn't mean to be and since she is our VERY sensitive child, when you get on to her tears immediately start rolling down her cheek and then she runs to her bedroom and lays on her bed.  It is pitiful, but she has to understand what is right and wrong!  Hayden makes me nervous because she is always picking him up and moving him around.  No matter how many times I tell her not to she still does it.  He doesn't seem to mind but I finally told her that I know she is not going to hurt him but if she were to trip and fall he would get hurt too. She has gotten better since I told her that! 

Gracie is a little entertainer, she is always singing to me in the car and showing me all of her ballet moves.  She is a great ballerina with her long legs!  I never realized how long her legs were until I was looking at the video from yesterday...she gets that from me...long legs and skinny.  Hayden has never been an entertainer but she is certainly coming out of her shell here lately, I would like to think that her sister has helped her out in that area.  They performed for me on the deck yesterday...Hayden played the guitar and sang about ballet while Gracie danced around in her ballet outfit!  It was hilarious!!! 

Hayden also has a part in the Kindergarten play this year, I was surprised that she asked for a part.  She is a flower and she already has her lines memorized after only a week.  In fact, she said she got a sticker from her music teacher yesterday in class because she was the only one that knew all of her lines.  I am so proud of her for trying things and overcoming her fear of being in front of people, which is something that I never overcome!

Isn't this the cutest baby doll ever!

Nine Months Old

I can't believe that my little man is already 9 months old!!!!  He is growing up so fast and he is absolutely getting into everything.  He is the most handsome little man I have ever seen!  When he smiles at me, it just warms my whole heart...he has a million dollar smile just like his sister Gracie!  Hayden has a sweet, angelic smile...Gracie and Colton have really big smiles, the kind where they show all of their teeth off!  Colton isn't a fan of Dr. Beeber yet but he did good yesterday.  He was 21lbs 8oz and 29 inches long, which translates into 90th percentile for height and 80th percentile for weight.  So he is slimming up a little bit, well everything except his super chubby legs!   He is crawling all over the place and pulling up on EVERYTHING and I do mean EVERYTHING, even stuff that he shouldn't and then it falls onto of him.  I am pretty sure he is going to be a rough little boy, but that is what boys are supposed to be.Right?  He also chases his sisters around the house, you should see how fast he can crawl after them.  Then Hayden either carries him back to his little play area or she sits him outside the bedroom and closes the door in his sweet face!  He then sits there and cries his little heart out, pretty much breaks my heart but he really doesn't need to be in their room...they have way to much little stuff to choke on.   He loves his sisters and thinks they are very funny girls, I love to hear him laugh at them especially in the car.  He was perfect for his check up and he got his little finger pricked and he didn't even flinch or cry.  I don't even think he noticed at all!  He did try to eat the band aid, so we had to take it off.  Whatever they check when they do that was perfect too and he didn't have to have any shots this time.   I don't think it will be too much longer before he starts figuring out how to walk...he already walks  around the fireplace and last night he stood alone for about 3 seconds.  Not sure if he meant to but it still counts.  Oh and Dr. Beeber said that he is like a tank...he runs his head into everything before he tries to pull up on it...I thought it was funny because that it what Mark calls him too!  We sure do love our little man!!!!

Now I guess I have to start planning his tractor birthday party for May!  It will be here before I know it.  When we left Dr. Beeber's office yesterday he told us that he would see us again at 1!  Wow!  I am going to have fun too because I have found lots of amazing ideas and one really awesome cake!  I thought it would be hard planning for a boy, since well lets face it...I am very girly and I love pink and purple..but its not I can't wait and Mark can't either, finally some dirt and tractors for him too!

Softball!

Hayden started Softball last week.  She is excited about it now, at first she just tried it again for her Daddy but now she is getting into it!  She has been doing a great job at stopping the ball and an even better job at throwing the ball back to her coach.  She is going to be a great player, I do believe and I am so excited about games this year.  I think they will be a little more competitive and exciting than they were in T Ball.  Her team name is the  or the Mud Chickens as she calls them, and they are wearing navy blue and white.  She will be the cutest Mudhen out there, I guarantee it!!!  Her practices are a little bit later this year so that means that maybe Daddy can be there too.  The first game is March 10th at 9am, so everyone come out and cheer on our little Mudhen!!!  The games will also be in different places this year, some will be at Criswell Park, some in Loganville and some in Social Circle!  We will have to figure out where all the fields are for everyone!


Hayden also had her first spend the night over with her best friend Kierstin last night.  From what I understand they had an awesome time.  She obviously didn't miss us too much!  They went to Sundial, Hard Rock for Dinner, and rode a horse and carriage around Atlanta.  They also raced big wheels, played with their American Girl dolls and danced with the Wii.  I am so glad they had fun for Kierstin's 6th birthday!!!!  They are two sweet little girls and love each other so very much! 

Picture Update

Grandparent's Day with Gracie

Gracie is so lucky to have such wonderful Grandparents like Mimi and Pop.  They both took time off work today to go to Grandparent's Day at Preschool with Gracie.  She was so excited this morning, she couldn't wait for them to get there.  She made them each a book about why she loves them and she sang a super, cute song for them.  Mimi said she was the sweetest and prettiest one there, but we all already knew that.Right!   I am so glad that they all enjoyed it!  Gracie was so excited that Mimi and Pop were picking her up from school, for some reason that is a really big deal!  I guess anything new is exciting at 3 years old!  Gracie, Mimi and Pop met Colton, Kim and myself for lunch.  Gracie had already eaten pizza at school but the rest of us enjoyed Butcher Block!  Thanks again Mimi and Pop for making time out of your days to make one little girl very happy!  She loves you both so much! 

I don't have any pictures but I think Mimi took some and a video of the song.  I will try to get it and update on here.

INK Field Trip

Friday, Mimi and I went on a field trip with Hayden's class.  We went to INK in Gainesville.  It was a lot of fun!   It is an imagination place for kids where they can pretend to work at the post office, bank, hair salon, diner, vet, doctor, x-ray technician, dentist, music and they also have a train, fire truck, police car and airplane.  Hayden enjoyed it so much and she played with Kendall and Abby the whole time.  It was so funny watching all of them pretend and be silly.  She was still very shy but she opened up a little bit by the end of the trip.  After all the playing we all had worked up an appetite so we went out to lunch with Kierstin, Stephanie, Abby and her grandmother, Blakeney and her dad.  Hayden was more excited that she got to go to lunch with all of her friends and the fact that they got to sit at a table without us adults was even better.  We ate at a deli and it was delicious!!! Then it was back home again to pick up Colton and Gracie from Aunt Sheri's house!  A big thanks to Aunt Sheri for watching them so I could go on the field trip!

I tried to upload pictures but for some reason it keeps making them blurry, so I will try again later!

Silly, Precious Babies

Here are some updated pictures of my babies!  I hope you enjoy!  I love them so much!

Hayden and Gracie wearing their new outfits from Grandmama!

Little Man playing outside for the first time!  He loves leaves and crawling in the grass.  This is my favorite picture of him...I bought an 8 x 10 of it and it is perfect!

My babies!  They are all so precious!

Surprise!  She was so shy!  She is like her Mommy and doesn't like to be the center of attention!

Gracie at her Valentine's Party!  She was getting sick as you can tell in the picture!

She can almost climb all the way up the fireplace.  Mommy doesn't like this!

Pajama Day at School!  Isn't she the cutest thing ever?

We made Whoopie Pies!  

Silly Poot!!!!  I actually found this picture on my phone....I guess Hayden took it!  They are always stealing my phone and taking pictures of their dolls and each other!  Thought this one was really cute though!

Hayden's Valentine Party!  They had chick fil a nuggets and she ate 9 of them!  That girl loves chick fil a!!!!!

She is good at Twister!  It was soooo funny....all the girls did great at the game but the boys couldn't balance for anything!!!!

More Parties

Sunday, we went to eat at the Japanese Restaurant with Mimi, Pop, Kim and Artie.  It was very good and it is one of Hayden's favorites.  She always orders the Scallops, not many kids would pick that!  Gracie always picks the Shrimp, and that is amazing because she is one picky little girl.   She also got her ice cream for dessert, which is what she really, really wanted.  After that we came home and played outside since it was a beautiful, warm day.  We even let Colton crawl around outside and play!  He really enjoyed it and we had to make sure he didn't eat anymore leaves, yes he did try one on Saturday and he figured out they aren't very good but for some reason he still tries to put them in his mouth.  Gracie is so funny to watch outside, she just does her own little thing, she talks to her little pretend friends, plays in the playhouse and she loaded up what is left of the wagon and pretended to go on Vacation.  Silly girl, the best part was that when Hayden asked her if she could go on vacation too, Gracie told her "NO, not right now".   Of course, Hayden got upset so that is when Daddy suggested that they play ball.  She had her try outs Saturday, and she did great.  She already has a team and the first practice is Monday February 20th and she will be #3 again.  That was her number for Soccer too!  That is also her Daddy's favorite number of all time!   She is getting very excited about it and I hope she enjoys it.  I can't wait to cheer her on and watch some good games.  The other great part is that they will have Saturday games which means that Daddy can come watch too!   As I have said before she is good at everything she does, so I am excited for her.   Now we just have to get Mommy and Daddy a glove so that we can practice too because she can really hit the ball!   I bet Mimi still has Daddy's glove she can send to him, I bet Hayden would be amazed at that!!!!  

Monday was Hayden's Birthday!  She is officially 6 years old!  I thought it would be special to take 6 pink roses and a balloon to the school with me when we went to the cafeteria to do the cupcakes.  Her face was as red as red could be because the whole lunchroom was looking at her.  She was so quiet and shy, she absolutely does not like to be the center of attention!!!  Even Mrs. McDaniel was worried about her not feeling well because she was so quiet.  I told her that she was the same way at her party on Saturday and that she is just shy.  I checked her out of school early and we went to spend some birthday money.  She got what she wanted!  I told her that it is completely okay to be shy, I always was too!  I have grown out of it a good bit now, but Mema said I used to do the same thing when I was the center of attention!  Everybody loves Hayden and was so excited to celebrate with her.  She even got presents from other teachers and people in the office, now that is one special little girl! 


Gracie had her Valentine's Party yesterday at Preschool.  As always she was the prettiest little girl.  She was so cute!  They all sang a song about Jesus and at first she didn't want to go up there with all of her friends, but I made her go and she did a great job.  She is so very shy too!  We have two sweet, shy little girls.  She is out of school for almost 2 weeks now for winter break!  I think we are all partied out!  Well that is until Mimi's birthday anyway!

I keep trying to post some pictures but it doesn't seem to work.  I will post them later.

6 Years Old

Dear Hayden,

Today you are 6 years old and I can't believe how fast the years are going by.  Six years ago on Superbowl Sunday you decided you were ready to make your arrival.  Your due date was February 21st, so as you can see you were almost 2 1/2 weeks early...good thing Mommy had already been sent home from work the Friday before.  I still remember the song Stick with you playing when I got in my car that day and headed to Mema and Pop's where I could be took care of a little bit.  I also had a goofy grin from ear to ear all the way there.  I was so excited about you and I must admit a little nervous about delivery.  That Sunday Daddy was going to finish the dog pen he was building, so I got in the shower and he was going to make a quick trip to Home Depot to get what he needed to finish and then we were going to watch the Super Bowl.  Well, as soon as I got in the shower you decided you were ready to make your appearance, so I had to hurry and call Daddy and tell him he had to come back home to take us to the hospital.  Needless to say as of today the dog pen is still not finished..heehee.  We got to the hospital at 2pm on Sunday, we started the process of waiting for you.  You then decided to take your time, so 24hrs and 1 minute later you made your arrival.  It was a feeling of happiness that I will never really be able to describe.   Daddy was the first to see you and he cut your cord, his face that day was so full of love and happiness.   I didn't get to hold you first because the doctors had to weigh you and check you before Daddy and I could hold you.  You were perfect and crying as loud as you could.  The nurses then announced to us that you were 6lbs 9oz and 19inches long, they also held you up for us to see you.  Then one of the nurses asked "Mommy what did you do to my nose"  and Mommy got upset and asked "what is wrong with my baby's nose.  They replied that it was a little smushed where you had been all cramped up in my belly but that it would be fine later in the day.  You were perfect in every way!  Daddy was the first to hold you and of course it was love at first sight...you had him wrapped around your little finger immediately and just for the record you still do!  He still can't tell you NO!  When Daddy put you in my arms, it was also love at first sight and I couldn't believe that you were here and in my arms...me and you bonded a lot while you were in my tummy!  We were so excited and happy, we couldn't wait for all of your visitors to come back to show you off and share all of the excitement.  Everybody was there and all thought that you were just as perfect and beautiful as Mommy and Daddy did!

You have had so very many accomplishments in these 6 years!  Words cannot describe how proud of you Mommy and Daddy are!  You are amazing little one!  Your birthday will always be a wonderful day for everybody, especially us.  You have come through so many things, things that Mommy and Daddy will tell you about one day, but I know one thing is for sure you are one strong little girl!  Like I tell you all the time, you are a shining star!  You always remember that and set high goals for yourself because you are good at everything you do!  You are one of the best things that has ever happened to us and we love you so much!

We hope you have a Happy, Happy Birthday Sweet Girl,

Love you always,

Mommy and Daddy

Hayden's 6th Birthday Party

Yesterday we celebrated Hayden's 6th Birthday with all of our family and friends at the 78 Skate!  She had so much fun and she skated so good, I was very impressed with how much she has learned since the first time we went.  She didn't skate as long as I thought she would because she was so overwhelmed with all the games, velcro wall and friends.  She did have a great time but she was still my shy baby!  She looked unsure of everything until she got in her comfort zone.  That's my girl though, its okay to be shy!  Gracie was also extremely shy yesterday, but she had lots of fun with Aunt Linda!  I think Aunt Linda spent a whole bunch of money on all the games!  The velcro wall was hilarious, Hayden went first and I don't think she knew what was going on, but then later when it was time to go, she stood in line for 30 minutes to do it again and she used all 3 tickets that time so she could do it 3 times in a row.  For those of you that don't know the big surprise was "Cinderella" showed up at Hayden's party!  Mimi asked the Art Teacher from GWA to do it and she was a beautiful Cinderella.  Hayden's mouth almost hit the floor when she realized that she was there for her party!  Although she was extremely shy with Cinderella, she loved it.  Cinderella stayed for the whole party...presents, pizza and cake.  I am pretty sure that all of the girls loved her.   I mean what girl doesn't love princesses.   I am so glad that most of her friends from school were able to attend and I am pretty sure that they all had a blast.  Hayden is such a loved little girl, she got so many wonderful gifts from all of her family and friends from school.  She was so worn out that she was sound asleep like an angel at 8pm last night.   Thanks to everyone that came and partied with us and for the gifts!  She will officially be 6 years old tomorrow and I can't believe it!  Where does the time go? Today we are going to hot fire to eat(Japanese) for her birthday lunch/dinner with the family.   I sure do love my little angel and can't wait to celebrate with all of her friends at school tomorrow during lunch!  

Here are all of the picture!

It's Almost Hayden's Birthday!

Hayden has been counting down the days until her 6th birthday since Jan. 1st.  To say that she is excited, would be an understatement!!!!!!!!   She can't wait for all her friends to come to her skating party this Saturday.  It is going to be so much fun! There will be lots of skating, a velcro wall(which I can't wait to see all of them try), arcade games and CAKE!  Hayden can't wait to show off all of her skills on the skating rink.   I can't wait to see her face when the biggest surprise arrives at the party, it has something to do with a Princess!  She keeps telling me that she is now a BIG girl, and I keep telling her that she will always be my baby no matter what.  Then she informed me that she is my "oldest" child, yes just like that, so she is a BIG girl and Gracie is the baby girl. For the sake of argument, I let her think that she is a BIG girl, just kidding I know she is, but it seems like yesterday when Mark put her in my arms for the first time and I remember thinking that she was all ours, and she was the most perfect baby girl ever!  I get very emotional around her birthday, her birthday will always be a very special day in all of our lives!  Mark and I love her so much and are so blessed that she is ours!  I can't believe that she is going to be 6, time really does fly by.  Hayden is a beautiful, intelligent, determined, independent, caring, angelic, loving, considerate, thoughtful, shy, happy, and last but not least perfect little girl!  I bet you are thinking that I am just one bragging Mommy, but she really is all of those things and many more.  Mark and I are so proud of her!

OK, so I was going to wait to post something really special, but as I was working on it...I had to go ahead and do it!  Hayden has had so many accomplishments over the past 6 years...from rolling over, crawling, walking, running, climbing, starting school, writing, reading, playing sports, ballet, making friends, being a great big sister!  She has lost 2 teeth and will be graduating from Kindergarten this year!  Here is a little flashback of my precious girl!  I hope she knows how much we love her!  She changed our lives forever on February 6, 2006 at 2:01pm!  One of the best days of our lives!!!

Hayden,

You make us so proud everyday!  You are still our shining star!  You are a shining star because you always sparkle and twinkle with everything you do.  You can do and be anything you want!  Always set big dreams!  We love you more than you will ever know baby!!!!



The moment we had been waiting for since we started dating!



When they placed you in my arms, you slipped into my heart-unknown
One of my favorite quotes!



6lbs 9oz, 19inches...Hayden Christine Stancil



One Month



Two Months -first trip to the Beach

Three Months - First Easter, you cried the whole time at Grandmama's

Four Months - you were rolling over and smiling like an angel

Five Months - you only liked this thing for about 5 minutes!

Six Months - you sat up alone, crawled and pulled up!  You were a very busy girl!

Seven Months - you and Kierstin playing

Eight Month - Second trip to the Beach...you ate lots of sand!!!!

Nine Months - You started walking and it was your First Christmas!

Ten Months - started entertaining us!

Eleven Months - My perfect little girl!

First Birthday!  Tinkerbell Party and you got tons of presents.

2nd Birthday - Elmo Party, you loved to watch Elmo!  You had lots of friends and presents

3rd Birthday - Strawberry Shortcake Party and for once it was warm and sunny on your birthday so we had it outside!

4th Birthday - Ariel Party and your friends from Preschool came too!

5th Birthday - Hello Kitty Party and you had it at the gymnastics place, most of your friends from Ms. Sherre's class came to celebrate!

We love you baby girl!  Happy, Happy Birthday to you!