Today marks Hayden's fifth birthday! And Christmas, of course! Merry Christmas Everybody!

Hayden you've become quite the little man. Your personality is much bigger than your body. You are amazingly smart and "your brain tells" you so much as you put it. Each day you amaze us with another fact or accomplishment we didn't know you were capable of doing. You love to count and math. You count to 100 ALL the time, if its shooting baskets in the house or just stuff you are always counting. You recently want to know about money and are learning all about quarters, pennies etc. You love your Shooting Stars Preschool with Mrs Starry at the Y. You play in the gym and show of your basketball skills! You are in the highest swimming class in your preschool and do well. Mommy was shocked that they taught you how to dive...you are still working on that skill! You still love to "snuggle" and lay with us in bed. You still use your "fringies" and love Rudolph(any time of the year) and Diego. Your imaginations is amazing and always doing things with Diego and Alicia. You like hats, milk, Reese's peanut butter cups, basketball, being outside, shoveling, swimming, baths, showers, waffles, golf, Wii and so much more. You look forward to Mondays with Papa Smith and love getting sprinkle doughnuts with Papa Moe. Green is your favorite color. You wear size 5 in pants and 5/6 in shirts. You weigh the same as you did last year! But have grown taller...you go see Dr. Maria in 4 days. You are a sports nut! Always playing golf, or basketball, or anything with a ball. You really want to learn how to play hockey and Mommy will sure try to teach you this winter. You love your brother and are a huge helper. You can always make him smile. You are always concerned about him crying and love to feed him puffs. You are daddy's buddy. You are also in Mommy's opinion is double...personality wise for sure! You are two peas in a pod. You do different things with Mommy. We've cooked, baked, played computer games, and let me dress you in all my funny outfits...and of course take lots and lots of pictures of you. You have beautiful eyes, eyelashes and curls!

We love you so much! Never stop amazing us. We have faith that you were grow up to be an amazing person that will accomplish much!

Yeah! Carson finally did it! He is officially crawling as of Friday. He now is a trouble maker, pulling himself up on things and pushing buttons on the DVD player. He isn't very fast on our hardwood floors yet...thank goodness!

He also has a few times growled at me, when I tell him no! 7 months and already back talking...I think I am in trouble!

Hayden's excitement for Christmas and his birthday are bursting at the seams. I can't wait to spend this week with him. I have a few things in store for him.

I am officially on Christmas Vacation, oh wait Winter Break. I couldn't be happier...I was getting snippy with those sassy teenagers.

My friend Sarah lost her dear father in law on Wednesday. Please keep her and their family in your prayers. Its so nice to have her home for the next couple weeks. I miss her terribly.

We've celebrated 3 out of our 5 christmas(es). We had so much fun at all of them. Hayden has so much fun playing with his cousins. Jessica on Jason's side and all the crew on mine(Jacob, Ben, Hudsen, Toby etc!) Its fun to see him play so nicely with everyone...we were always a little worried about his socializing.

Carson was Baby Jesus at the Routh family Christmas(Hayden was the wisest wise man!!Well in my opinion!) He was super cute sitting on stage in his swaddling. Hayden was very proud of him too. Hayden also loved his blue shiny dress and crown. We've talked about the birth of Jesus and he knows the role of the wise men, and thought it was cool he was bringing his brother a gift.

We've been to Bentleyville twice. I highly recommend going. It was well worth the 90 minute wait to see Hayden and Jessica's faces when they meet Santa and received their hats(Hayden picked Green, of course!)

I turn 26 tomorrow. Yikes!

Here is a mini slideshow of some of my favorite pictures I've taken recently...

Oh Carson! This month has flown by. I can't believe you aren't crawling yet! You try SO hard! But you get around pretty good by wiggling, squirming and scooting. You still love food and will eat anything! You are such a happy baby, except at night. You don't sleep! You are working on it though! You met Santa this month and was very pensive in his arms. You have started pouting your lip...just like me! Use it, its powerful! You love your brother and give him the biggest happiest smiles every morning!

You are now into size 3 diapers.

Clothing size 6, 6/9 and 9 month.

0-6 shoes still!

Eating fruits, veggies, cereal, puffs and crackers. Mommy is even making most of your baby food. Yummy things like squash, which seems to be your favorite.

We can't wait to celebrate christmas with you for the very first time!

We traveled with Nana, Papa and Brandon to the cities after Thanksgiving! You saw 3 parades! We went to Bentleyville and you LOVED the lights, you were so excited and were literally jumping in your sling for joy. You saw a play "Hansel and Gretel". You months are sure packed with lots of fun! We love you!

Nana took the picture! On the Santa Trolley in Excelisor.

Here are a few pictures! Jason got his 1st opening weekend buck! 3 bucks total were taken down between them. Jason was so excited. 2 nice little 8 pointers and a little 3 pointer. So now he is all mine this week! lol. But he does get to baby sit the kids!
Carson has used "more" a few times in the last two days to eat. Also when he sees his highchair he'll say "mmmmarh" So sweet. As this was Hayden's first word too! Even though he said "Hay Hay" to Hayden the other day a couple times, he hasn't said it since.
He is also on the move, scooting, turning and going from the sitting to crawling position.
Hayden has started basketball and I am so proud of him. He listens very well to the coaches and man can he handle the ball. He has total control over it! He is swimming too! He is already learning different backstrokes, and getting those butt muscles strengthened so he can become a strong swimmer! He is such a natural at sports and loves it so much! I don't know if I ever put on here that Hayden got his first Boogie in Sept at Nemadji!
Okay enough bragging about my boys!

Happy guy!

Bubbles on one of our wonderful Nov. days!

He looks like Mommy here!

Hands!

Happy 6th months Carson!!! This half of year has flown by in record time. I wish I could make time stand still and be able to hug you and see your smile forever, just the way you are right now.
Carson can now sit up alone for very long periods of time.( 5months2weeks) He has his two bottom toothers(Oct 27th the first one came through the second on the 29th). He loves, loves, loves food. Favorite is Sweet Potatoes, not too sure about fruit yet though. He can demolish a cracker in no time. He weights 16 pounds 6 oz, a whole 3 pounds more than at 4 months, crazy! Rice cereal must stick to your bones. You wear 3-6 and 6 months clothing and size 2 diapers. You still love your baths and now showers too. Your favorite toy seems to be the star stacker's(green star!). Brother can always make you smile and you love to snuggle with mommy. You are still a great nurser, Mommy never thought we'd nurse this long, and we'll keep going until you want to stop.

You've been to Madeline Island and rode a ferry boat, went to Madison and saw the capital. We travelled to Lutsen and rode a tram. We've been able to enjoy the fall weather, with you eating leaves and sticks.

You are closer to crawling probably another couple weeks. You can scoot backwards and turn yourself around.

We are amazed at you everyday and we eagerly await to see what this month will bring you!