In the lobby at Great Wolf Lodge, it's all decorated for Christmas!

Mommy and John at Great Wolf Lodge

Hayden getting his Tiger Cub badge

John wanted to play Hayden's DS. He watched Hayden and figured out what buttons to push. Too funny!

Grace loved the snow. She was eating it and running around. She had a blast! Hayden all bundled up and having fun!

We got a good snow last week probably 6-8 inches in places. The kids were out of school for two days. The first day was fine, not too cold and Hayden had a blast playing with his friends. John loved it as well. He would have stayed out longer if I let him. He doesn't really have any snow clothes so we couldn't do too much. The next day was freezing in the single digits and not much fun. Hayden could only stay out about 30 minutes so he wasn't much fun that day. Thankfully it's warmed up a little and we are back in the 30's and 40's. Reading a book with Daddy

John wants to be a Cub Scout too!

John with his first Starbucks(milk). He likes drinking out of the big cup with a straw. I now just give him his milk this way instead of a sippy cup. He has to be like Hayden!

Ninja Hayden. We went trick or treating around our neighborhood. Hayden got so much candy he could barely carry his bag!

John was more interested in carrying around the watering can. He wore Hayden's old dragon costume.

Halloween, John would not sit still for a picture with Hayden. This was as good as we could get!

I will really miss this weather in N. C.

We had a beautiful mild fall with great weather. The leaves were very pretty. John loved being outside and playing in the leaves as did Hayden!

They had an end of season soccer party where they got certificates and trophys. Hayden was MVP for one game.

Our Cub Scout

Throwing the ball back in.

At one of Hayden's soccer games. His coach was great and would have a theme for each game, like crazy hats and star wars. It was fun for the kids and they actually do pretty good. They don't officially keep score but the kids did. They knew who had more points!

John likes to dump the toys out of the basket and sit it in!

October, November and December

Well, here's what we've been doing the past few months. In October, I flew down to Fayetteville and found a house we are buying. It has been a long drawn out process with lots of hiccups but we should finally close this week. Which is good because we leave here Saturday. Heath graduated on Friday from the Command and General Staff College and we are now hard at work getting the house ready for packers. We pack out this week and get everything cleaned up to go.

John and Hayden have been busy as well. Hayden had a good soccer season and is loving Cub Scouts. He already earned his Bobcat and Tigercub badge. Hopefully we'll be able to continue in N.C. He is doing good in school. They are working on fractions and word problems in math along with addition and subtraction. And he's already taking spelling tests and learning how to read. It's crazy how much they do in 1st grade. He's sad to leave his school behind but looking forward to something new. Although his only complaint about the new school is that it doesn't have a planetarium. I told him his school is the only elementary school in America that has a planetarium. Yes, he goes to a really nice school right now!! We will miss it!!!

John is into everything. He tries to do everything Hayden does and sometimes can. He climbs now which is fun! He has his top molars with more coming in. He says share and see when he wants something. If one of us is eating anything, John thinks he needs to have some too. He's pretty funny. He tries to do too much sometimes and gets hurt. Last weekend, he feel off the 2nd step right onto his head. Thankfully he had a hat on for cushion and he only got a bruise. Thankfully we avoided the ER. Then the next day, we were at the JAG office and he tripped and fell into the leg of a chair right on his eye. So he had a nice bruise for awhile. He's pretty tough though thankfully. Having the packers here should be fun with him. We'll be getting him out of the way for two days. Wish us luck.

On Friday, we had a little vacation before the craziness and went to Great Wolf Lodge. It's an indoor waterpark and hotel. The boys had a blast. Hayden would hold John on the small slide and go down together. John loved it, he would get off and say again, again. It was nice to have a little break. This will be my last post for awhile. Christmas cards are coming soon with our new address. I'll post again in January after we get settled. We have a lot to do getting there and getting the house ready. Heath has to deploy soon so we have to get a lot done in a short amount of time. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

GG(Heath's mom) sent this to the boys for Halloween. It's a chicken that plays a song and dances. The beginning of the song is this funeral march and then it goes into the "chicken dance." John didn't like the funeral march at first and would crawl into our laps or stay behind us until the other started. Now he's used to it and he just goes up and picks it up and carries it around. He likes it and Hayden thinks it's hilarious!

John is working on using a spoon. He actually can use it for his yogurt really well. He would rather use his fingers though. One morning, I was feeding him with the spoon, he then took the spoon and fed himself. And then when I turned around, he put the spoon down and used his fingers again!

Sitting on the couch with Daddy

With Daddy's bird calls. He loves the sounds they make, he just laughs!

Walking around with Hayden's lightsaber. He even makes the sounds like he's heard Hayden make!

Looking out the window at Grace

Hayden's first official Dove Hunt on post with Dad. He was really excited. They didn't have a great hunt but he had fun! Hayden getting ready to go on the Dove Hunt with Dad

Happy Baby, after supper. He's always happy to eat!

John won't really eat corn off the cob but he sure loves it this way. He eats it from the end which is funny!

I was vacuuming one afternoon and John wanted to help too!

August/September

We are in a full schedule now and staying busy. I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted. Hayden now has Cub Scouts on Mondays and Soccer on Tues, Thurs. Plus we are getting ready for the yard sale in a few weeks and our move coming up in December. For those of you I haven't talked to yet, we are going to Ft. Bragg. We're excited that we will finally be close to home but we have lots to do before Dec. I will be going down in Oct to hopefully find a house!

The boys are doing good. Hayden really likes Cub Scouts and we've been doing lots of different activities for that. He is also enjoying Soccer and has his first game on Thursday. School is going well for him and he is staying busy.

John is still growing like crazy and continues to do new things. He is into everything!!! He is talking more and sometimes we can understand him. He tries to say Grace, who he loves. When he has a dirty diaper, we say shooy-stinky. So he says that now plus he'll fan his hand over his face. He asks to be picked up by putting his hands up. And sometimes, I think he's using some of the sign language I'm trying to teach him. He loves to eat, as you'll see in a few of the pictures. He LOVES books and will just sit on the floor and look at his books over and over. He is weaned and a good milk drinker. Today he went over to the refridgerator and put his hand on the handle. So I opened it and he grabbed his sippy cup and pulled it out. Too funny. He can also drink out of a straw now. He likes our camelback sports bottles and walks around with those and can drink out of them. One morning, we were putting Hayden's shoes on for school and John grabbed his shoes and sat down to put them on too. Next year, he'll be standing at the door with his backpack wanting to go too! Pics to follow...

The start of school!

With my stoneware racks. He had a blast with these.

This about sums it up, John chewing on a clone trooper. He has tons of one year old toys and he walks around with the Star Wars figures or a lightsaber!John with the balloon from his birthday. This entertained him for awhile, it was cute!

Getting his name tag on at his desk.

Hayden and his friend were excited to see each other. They were in the same class last year but not this year.

Hayden's first day of school. We always take a picture in front of the door.

John likes to be on the computer too. He was moving the remote around like a mouse. The kid is even more observate that Hayden!

Well, we're in our second week of school now. Hayden is officially a first grader. School started last week and he already has a day off on Friday for parent/teacher conferences. It's going good and he's making new friends. Plus he has some of the same kids in his class from last year. He likes his teacher, she's great! He's still adjusting to the long day, he comes home really tired but it's going well.

John and I are settling back into a routine and trying to get his naps back on schedule with school. We walk Hayden to school most mornings but a couple of times Heath has driven him. When they leave the house, John cries! Before long, he'll be trying to go to school with Hayden. He is doing good. Got another tooth and several more bumps and bruises as you'll see in the pictures. He throws little tantrums now. He runs off and sits down and hits his head on the floor. They don't last long and it's usually pretty funny until he hurts himself. He wants to do everything Hayden does. He likes his toys until the big boy toys come out and then he wants to play with them. He's pretty funny. He's sleeping through the night and almost weaned completely. He's drinking whole milk now and he does good with that. He's talking more and sometimes it sounds like he's trying to say a word. Can't tell you what word but he tries anyway. Not much else going on, we are enjoying being lazy until soccer and cub scouts start next month!

Week 52- Happy Birthday John

This was last week. Heath pulled out all his old army stuff for Hayden and John wanted to play too. He put this on himself. It's the inner liner so not heavy!

John in his new fire car "I think I might like this present!" John had more fun with the paper than anything else! I'm having fun now!

Yummy cake!! We sang Happy Birthday while I held John's hands so he didn't touch the lit candle and then he dug right in. He really liked the cake and ate a big piece! He kept looking around as he was shoving cake in his mouth like it was too good and someone was going to take it away from him!

John's cake plus he had a little smash cake just for him!

John is a year old!! We had a party with a few friends on Sunday the 2nd. We had cake and opened presents and John loved it! The above pics show the fun. We went to the doctor today for his checkup. He weighs 22 lbs and is 30.5 inches. We had to have shots today so he's been a little fussy. He has however been sleeping through the night the past couple of nights. Hopefully that will continue. That's about all for now. We are gearing up for school to start. We find out who Hayden's teacher will be on Friday and then school starts Tuesday!

My boys!

Reading "Goodnight Moon," one of John's favorites

Weeks 48-51/11 months

I used to do this with Hayden, now I have Hayden to do it for John. John thought this was great!

John was trying to eat the sand again soon after this!

This is probably one of my favorites

We spent a day at the beach. John enjoyed eating the sand and Hayden liked running in and out of the water. John liked the water okay until I tried to clean his hands off and he got too wet. He mostly enjoyed the sand and shells. At the end of the day we tried to get some pics of the boys and a few came out good.

John loved pulling this little scotter along the floor. He got pretty good and going forward.

John got to get on just for the picture Riding on the 4-wheeler with Big Daddy in the backyard

Playing with all Uncle Ian's old G.I. Joe toys!

We spent the 4th of July with GG and Big Daddy. The boys played in the pools and on the slip and slide. John was so funny with this water gun. He kept putting in the water and then pulling it back out. He was imitating what he'd seen Hayden do filling it up with water! That night, we did fireworks and Hayden had a blast. He thought it was great!

Hayden and John with PaPa

Playing with my friend Brooke's little boy Thomas. They had a blast jumping on the trampoline and playing with Thomas's farm toys!

Hayden and Heath met Heath's dad in the mountains on the way down to go fishing. Hayden had a blast, he loved having all the gear and getting in the water!

Okay, so we needed a vacation from our vacation. We are settled back in now and back in our routine. School starts in about a week and a half so we are getting ready for that. We went home at the end of June and stayed about 2 weeks. John and I flew and Heath and Hayden drove. We stopped at my parents first and then went to Heath's parents. It was nice and the boys had a great time. The grandparents enjoyed seeing Hayden and John as well.

John started walking on his own toward the end of that time. Now he's into everything. He took awhile to get it without help but once he did that was it. He doesn't want you to hold his hand and he's now trying to run. He plays peek-a-boo now. He uses a book or hat or his shirt, it's pretty cute! He also tried lots of new foods while we were home. He loves watermelon and hush puppies!! He got another tooth and has another about to break through the surface. After we got back, Heath and I went to the movies one afternoon and John stayed with a babysitter for the first time. He did really well, it probably helped that Hayden was there but it was nice. We are now trying to get him to sleep thru the night without waking up to eat. He's been doing pretty good and will sometimes put himself back to sleep. Plus we are getting ready for his party this weekend. Can't believe he's almost 1, it's crazy!!

Lots of pics to follow...