Hayden's First Day of "School"

This week Matt and I decided to start Hayden on the local Mother's Day Out program here in Mountain Home.  I have heard great things about it from many of my friends and we were looking into starting him in January after the holidays.  When I called recently to get some more info, however, I found out that his class only had one spot left.  We thought about it for a couple of weeks and decided to sign him up.  He will be going on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-2.  

Monday evening Matt and I took Hayden to Walmart and let him pick his own lunch box.  He was very excited getting ready to go the next morning:

 I realize the back pack in the above picture is too big, but I did not have time to get him a toddler one.
It was cold that morning, hence the hat.
Once at school, Hayden got right to playing while I was filling out paper work and talking things over with the director.  He had no problem with me leaving and I had to talk him into taking a picture with me and giving me a hug before I left.

When I picked him up he was very excited to see me and told me he had a fun day.  The teacher said he did great, like he had been there all along and said he was "a true delight."  I am sure she was being generous ;)

On the way home we had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: Hayden, did you have fun at school today.

Hayden: Yeah, they have trains in there.

Me: They have trains?

Hayden: Yeah, and dinosaurs,  they have dinosaurs in there.

Me: Did you take a nap today?

Hayden: Yes, I left my pillow at home.

Me: Did you miss your pillow today?

H: Yeah.

Me: Do you want me to get you a new one for next time?

H: Yes.

Me: Do you like your new school?

H: Yeah!

Me: That's good.  Do you want to go back again sometime?

H: No.

Me:  Well, maybe in two days.

H: Maybe not two days.  Not two days, mommy.  Maybe not.  Not two days.....

Point made, son.  We shall see how tomorrow goes!

After we got home we made brownies together and waited for Matt to get home from work:

The Little Things

Just a few of the every day moments I was looking forward to while Matt was away...

Hayden's first time flying a kite:

 Breakfast with daddy:

Afternoon reading and relaxing: 

 Enjoying the recent fall weather with some pumpkin bowl soup, complete with biscuits and pumpkin butter.  Yum!

The End (Seattle Part 4)

Our last day in Seattle was pretty laid back.  We went back to the market a third time to sample all the yummy food we had been too full to try before and to buy some flowers to bring home.  We took one last picture and while it is not the greatest family pic, notice the beautiful flowers that we got for $5!

After the market, Hayden fell asleep in the car and we headed to a park to sit and relax for a while.  

 After nap time, we got out to let Hayden run around and burn some energy.

Fall was just beginning to show up while we were there:

One of my favorite photos of the trip:

 

Matt was attempting some creative family portraits.  Here's how that went:

All in all, a beautiful place to kill some time and a great way to wrap up our trip.  We loved Seattle and I would highly recommend visiting if you ever get the chance!

Seattle Part 3

One day while in Seattle we took a ferry out to Bainbridge Island.  The island was beautiful and seeing he city skyline coming and going was fun as well.  The State Park (I forget what it was called) out on the island was one of our favorite parts of the trip.  

Once we got to the state park we walked through a forest for quite a while and eventually came to a small beach.  We could here seals barking in the distance.

 

Walking along a path by the beach.

Small cottage tucked away in the woods:

Checking out an orange leaf.  Hayden was all about the colorful leaves lying around.

Berries:

The ferry ride on the way back was during sunset.  Beautiful!

Seattle Part 2

The second day of our Seattle trip we were able to meet up with some old friends from San Antonio who are now stationed just outside of the city.  They were in our small group bible study and Hayden and their little girl were born a couple of weeks apart just before we moved to Idaho and they have had another little girl since then.  We met at the aquarium and then had lunch together.  It was great catching up with them and seeing their girls.  Kinsey and Hayden had a great time playing together.  

The next day we took Hayden to children's museum and he loved it.  Here he is trying to feed Clifford the Big Red Dog a bone:

His favorite part of the day was the little grocery store they had.  He went all over collecting his food and then Matt checked him out at the end.  The whole rest of the museum trip he kept askign to go back and shop.

At the children's museum they had an arts and crafts area and Hayden had his first experience with painting.  He loved it!  I was amazed at how quietly he sat and how intently he worked for about 20 minutes.

 

Later we went to the zoo.  It was one of the nicest zoos we have been to.  Hayden had his first experience feeding birds there.  He loves birds so it was a real treat for him.