The day after Christmas

The gang sure knows how to have fun. Santa brought many terrific items. Some needed and some just because they are fun. On the day after Christmas the gang settled down to business and dug into the gifts. You could see Thomas making bouncy balls and locking stuff up in his laser protected secret code safe. Julia was seen feeding her new baby Ally and strolling her around the house. Matthew was busy hiding out in his tent and riding around the house on his super speedy bike. Henry just tried to get everyone else's items, but he did like riding on his little just his size fire truck. Macie had a friend over and they did spa treatments. I love watching my group of people enjoying their gifts. We only had a couple of items to take back, but the store didn't have the correct sizes. Oh, well the girls will just have to grow into them.
It was a great Christmas filled with many magical moments and love was felt by all. Grandma and Pa came over to watch the unwrapping and then Tom's brother came by to see us. It was great to see him. We had dinner at Grandma and Pa's along with Auntie, Uncle and the cousins.

A Reindeer

So, this morning started out very early. Julia is an afternoon Kindergartner and because today is the last of school before Christmas break the teachers had all kinders come at the A.M. time. This meant we had to have her at school at 7:50a.m. She was excited because she got to wake up early. Matthew has to be at school at 8 and the others have to be at school at 8:25. You can see how our logistical nightmare was. I took Matthew, Thomas and Macie to school then went onto Julia's school. Tom had already dropped Julia off and I was needed there at 8:30 for the K-3sing-a-long. Julia was so cute in her reindeer hat. Her class sang and led the audience in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. She shined with her beautiful smile and great voice. My heart grew more today and Henry just sat there and watched. He let out a little howl every now and then.
Here are some shots of the cute Reindeer:

A Santa Play and A Recorder Show

As school is winding down for the Christmas break there are many activities the kids get to participate in. Last week we had Macie's recital and today we had Thomas' Play and recorder show. I love being their mother and watching them shine. My heart always grows big (kind of like the grinch :) ) when I'm watching my children do terrific things, even if it is unloading the dishwasher without being asked. Anyway, today was another heart growing moment. Thomas was an elf in the play and did an amazing job on the recorder. He, too, is playing his mother's old recorder. His teacher is terrific and is teaching the children recorder because she thinks it is important to learn to read music. Yea for her. Tomorrow I get to go to Julia's school and participate in a K-3 grade sing-a-long. Julia has signed to me that she is scared of me coming and watching. She's probalby worried about my heart growing too big and embarrassing her. Or maybe she is afraid to be in front of a lot of people.
Here are a few shots of our recorder playing elf.

A violin Recital

Last night we went to Macie's first violin recital. She was a bundle of nerves waiting for the performance. When the violinists came in (4th grade violins) I was so proud of her. She was all smiles and very happy to be there. She is playing the same violin that I played when I was a girl oh so many years ago. They played 3 tunes and then we listened to the 5th and 6th grade bands. If you want to still play the violin in 5th and 6th grade you can. Macie showed some interest last night in sticking with the violin next year. Thomas of course is coming unglued with excitement about playing the violin next year. Grandma and Pa joined us for the recital and they were very impressed with our little violinist.
Today is my Dad's (Pa) birthday and the gang called him this morning to wish him a Happy Birthday. We will celebrate here at the Hay House on Sat. with dinner.

Christmas decorating

Now that the tree is up I still had to finish putting out all my treasured Christmas items. As I took each one out of the storage bins I lovingly decided not to do it to the beautiful item. I just couldn't put my beloved items out for my little people to find and give scary love to. I came up with the plan to just put out things that could be place on the tv stand, piano, buffet, or on the mantle. The gang still has the magic of Christmas and my treasured Christmas decorations are safe for another year.
Macie has a violin recital tomorrow night and Pa and Gram are coming to watch. I get to go to my bunco groups annual Christmas ornament exchange. I look forward to this during the year. It is such a nice night.
I accomplished so much yesterday. I organized all the presents and even wrapped some. Matthew insisted that some of the gifts under the tree were for him. Sadly none are his. He will be getting a few gifts soon enough.
Thomas gets to be in a Christmas play at school and will be an elf.
The Holidays are in full swing and the gang is so excited about all the traditions and fun that goes on around here. Tonight we see Santa. Macie's list is full and ready to go.

We have a tree

The whole family at the annual christmas tree get.

As you can see we took our annual trip to the tree lot. In a few years past we have gone to a tree farm and cut down our own tree, but this year with my bum leg we were unable to climb the hill and cut our own tree. The tree getting extravaganza was on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I did manage to get up at 3:00 a.m. and get to my mom's by 3:45 a.m. to get to Wal-mart by 4:00. My sister and I were in line for the great deals. It has been years since I have been able to go to Black Friday shopping. We then picked up my mom by 6:30 and were off to Target and then back to Wal-mart and on to Costco. We were done by 11:00. I then had to take the van in to be looked at. It turned out to be nothing very big and then we were off to tree hunting. The tree we picked was the 3rd one we looked at. It is a noble fur and very pretty. We decorated it last night. The gang loved the magic of it all. Tom and I decided that this year we would only decorate with the gang's ornaments. We have way too many and some are fragile. As you can imagine we wouldn't want fragile on our tree with Henry and Matthew around.
This year we got ourselves a gate for the living-room so that the littles could stay away from the tree and the fire. So far so good.

The Hay Gang tree dcorated by the gang. :)

I've Been Gone Awhile

Hi all, I've been gone for awhile. I'm back to my blogging ways though. I was hit by a car while standing on the sidewalk on Oct. 4, 2008. I was taken to the hospital and treated for a dislocated left knee. We were in Arcata, CA for my nephews Homecoming game at Humboldt State University. He plays football and is in his senior year, so we thought it would be fun to go up and watch his game. They won and it was very exciting, but as we got back to the car and was preparing to get everyone in their seats the car that was parked behind us jumped the curb and hit me from behind. I have been at home reouperating. I'm now able to bend my knee a bit and am excited to be back in the blogging world. I have many things to report and I will in a few days as soon as I get some pictures uploaded.

We're Working For A Living

Saturday is a glorious day, you get to do things that you don't normally do during the week. This Saturday morning Thomas and Tom went to the dump and home depot to pick up a much needed rubber mallet for the floor installation. The girls and Matthew and I started in on moving the 2 cords of wood from our driveway to the pile we were building in the back yard. I love accomplishing big projects. Tom worked on the boys floor while the rest of the gang moved wood. Tom and I came up with what we thought was a genius idea of paying the children 5 cents per log moved. I pinned paper to their back and every log they moved to the wood got a tally mark on the paper. (think job-a-thon) We underestimated our gang. Those 2 worked tirelessly all day. We took a lunch break and a few little breaks for water during the day and finished the wood pile at 5:15p.m. Macie ended up earning $20.75 and Thomas earned $13.90. They hauled and hauled and hauled. We are so proud of their working spirit. Tom finished the floor around 9:00p.m. He seemed to be moving so much slower than at the beginning of the day. He says every part of his body aches. To that, Macie, Thomas and I say ditto. :) Anyway, here are a few photos of our working for a living day. Enjoy.

New Baby Signing Time! DVD's

Signing Time! has done it again. They have created 2 more DVD's just for babies. I can't wait to get them then maybe Henry will take off with his signing. We have been working at teaching him some signs, but he has been refusing to sign. The only he will sign is more and by the looks of him he gets plenty of food after signing more. :) Signing Time is having a contest to win the Baby Signing Time! gift set. Check it out and you might be one of the lucky ones. I'm hoping to win, but of course if I don't you can bet that I will be ordering the new ones for the Gang here at the Hay House. Anyway, take a look at these great previews of Baby Signing Time! 3 & 4.

The Ant Invasion

It is so hot outside that I think some ants decided to come into the coolness of our house. I noticed them yesterday and they were quickly crawling all over the floor. As you can imangine we have a lot of items on the floor that might appeal to an ant. They came in over by the family room window and then migrated towards the kitchen table. Well, Julia, Matthew and I cleaned them up with, what else, the vaccum. I then moved onto other cleaning matters and put Julia and Matthew on ant detail. They loved the opportunity to suck up some ants.
Here they are in ant removal action.:)

On another note, it is the annual fall picture day up at Macie and Thomas' school. I took pictures of them just incase I don't like the results. Mine aren't all that great, but it is what they look like today August 29, 2008. I can't believe they are in 4th and 3rd grade. How time flies.

We are making progress!!!!! :)

I had a custom closet company come and install the girls closet. We went back and forth on installing ourselves or having a professional. After some consideration we decided on a professional. I know, I know it shouldn't have been that hard of a decision with us being the half done family and all, but the cost of it was the stumbling block. I am so glad we had a professional. It took him a couple of hours and it looks great and is very functional. We are not going to put doors on the closet so we hung a cieling mount curtain rod and put light and airy appliquied curtains up. The girls think they are so cute.

I do have to do a bit of hemming to make sure they don't hit the ground.
What are we going to do with all that room? Julia has lots of toys and we aren't sure how to organize yet, but once her bed gets here we can figure that all out. They are just thrilled to be sleeping in their own room again.

The first day of school

Well everybody had their first day on Tuesday. Matthew had his on Monday. Everyone seemed to like their new situations and classrooms. Thomas has the same teacher and same classroom, but Macie has entered a whole new world. She has a "homeroom" teacher and then goes to another teacher for Social Studies and Math. The other teacher is a man and I think she has a crush on him because she talks an awful lot about him. :) We'll see. Julia goes to a Kindergarten at a school across town and rides the bus once again. Matthew thought that he would be riding the bus because Julia gets to, but his bus happens to be daddy. Matthew has been having a hard time adjusting. I was called on Friday to come sit with him because he was crying for about 40 min. I got there and of course he had stopped crying. The teacher (young and new) wanted me to go outside and see him. I said no because he will start crying again. I then asked what the adjustment policy was. She had no idea what I was talking about, so I had to talk with the director. The director and I were on the same page, let him cry a little bit and he will get used to school. If I come and rescue him every time he cries he will learn that crying gets mom. We still have to get used to the schedule. The way it is now I am never alone with Henry except for the time between Julia getting on the bus and me going to get Matthew. I think that is about 1 hr. Henry has been taking 2 naps this week and seems to be sleeping well.
On another note we finished putting Macie's bed together and the girls are sleeping in their bedroom. Julia's bed is due to arrive next Friday or so, and the closet people are coming Monday. Yippee!!!!
Take a look at the living/bedroom. You can now see why we have been living in such a mess for a few weeks now.
Now I have to concentrate on the boys room.
I think that one might just take us longer because Kelly and Scott are now into Football season and will be traveling to all of Brad's games. We are very proud of Brad he has been chosen as Humboldt State's team captain. We get to watch him at the season opener against Sac State on Saturday. Go Jacks!!!!

5 Minutes For Mom Laptop Contest

I have entered Julia into a contest at 5 minutes for mom. I am hoping that she can win a laptop to help with her communication. Most of you know about our situation with the school district and the talking box. Well, this laptop could help us out with her communication at home and with many of you. It would work just like the talking box. Because the laptop has speakers and sound it could talk for her. We could put the talking box program on it and presto she can talk. Here is my nomination letter. Let's hope we win. Go Julia!!!!
I would love to nominate my daughter, Julia, to have a laptop given to her. She is only 5, but she has a brain disorder, called schizencephaly, that has left her without speech. She was born with the disorder and has struggled to communicate. We have taught her sign language and the school district has purchased her a vantage/vanguard communication device. This is a great talking box, as we call it, but the school does not allow her to bring it home or have it over vacations. A new laptop would make it easier for her to communicate with us and others out in our community. We would be grateful for the opportunity of getting this valuable communication tool for her.

Matthew goes to school

Matthew has turned three and Alta Regional has kicked him out of special services because of it. Matthew was receiving speech, physical, and occupational therapy. He no longer gets them and the school district doesn't feel he qualifies for any of these services as well. So, I started looking into pre-schools that might take him. I applied for Head Start and he got in. They will watch him closely and if they feel he is slipping back into needing speech or any other service they will have the school district out to evaluate him. In the mean time he goes to school 5 days a week, 4 hrs a day. Today was his first day and he was tuckered out when he came home. He seemed to like it, but the teacher said that he was very busy. I tried to tell them that, but I guess you just have to experience Matthew for yourself to believe that he has issues. :) I'm sure he will get used to being away from us for that length of time, but today it was a little hard on him. The rest of the gang starts school tomorrow and we went today to meet the teachers. Julia will be in Kindergarten and is very excited. She will once again be riding the bus. I have a very full schedule of events this year. 4 different start times and 3 different ending times. I guess we will get through it. Anyway doesn't our little Matthew look cute. He got new Diego shoes and wanted a Diego outfit, so of course Grandma had to buy him one. :) Here's to a great 2008-2009 school year. Happy 1st day of school!

Back to School Giveaway

5 Minutes for Mom is having a back to school giveaway. They are giving away a Kodak ESP 5 All-in-One Printer and a Dynamo Personal Label Maker. I would love to win either one. I hope you will go and check it out and enter to win for yourself. Oh and happy back to school! My kids go back on the 19th. Isn't that just a bit early? Oh, well they are looking forward to it.

What am I doing?

Well, we continue to do many different things here at the Hay house. I don't seem to finish any one project. Tom and I for many years have called ourselves the half done family. I hope we don't do that this time with the girls room because I would hate to have them living in the livingroom for the rest of their childhoods. :) Yesterday I took Julia to her PT and OT appts. My parents took Macie, Thomas and Matthew their house and they pulled weeds. They came home and Macie and I canned 3 quarts of refrigerator pickles. I got the recipe from this new website that I found through my blog stalking habit I have. I'm not sure if the pickles will work out, but it was worth a try. I'll let you know in a week after they have been in the fridge for the right amount of time. Check Prudy out and you'll find some great recipes. Yummo.
Everyone in the Gang was very tired from the day before because we had gone school clothes shopping and we went to Aunt Kelly's for dinner. Kelly had a High School friend come to town and we all went up to Sutter Creek for dinner. We had a blast and the kids sere super tired. So anyway yesterday everyone had naps including Julia (yeah) and that is when Macie and I did the pickles. After nap we made some candy that a friend of ours gave us. It was an Easter candy making kit. So here we are in the middle of summer and we are eating Easter candy. :)
I plan to take the kids to the water park today, but things always seem to get in the way of my plans so we will see.
Well I'm off to play with the kids, do the dishes with Macie, help Thomas clean his room, and give Henry a bath, do some laundry. You get the drift.

This Week

So today is Monday and we begin a new week full of great things to do. Here is what we have to do this week.
1. spackle and chaulk the baseboards in the girls room.
2. Touch up the paint in the girls room.
3. Matthew has his last speech session on Tues.
4. Macie has an ortho appt. on Wed.
5. Grandma is taking the kids school clothes shopping on Wed.
6. Tonight we get to go to grandma and pa's house for dinner
7. Organize a couple of closets
8. Go to the kids swim team awards night on Tues.

I guess that is enough. It was a terrific Friday, Sat, and Sun. Tom went to Scout camp and my sister came to help me put the laminate floor in. Big surprise is that her husband showed up too, and they did the whole floor while I painted baseboards and took care of the kids. Sunday we went to church and got to relax afterwords. We are waiting for the loft beds to arrive so we can move the girls back into their bedroom and begin on the boys redo. Well I'm off to do a little spackling. :)

A Busy Week

I wish I had pictures to go along with this post, but I don't. This week has been a busy one. We started thinking that we could buy a new house. You know 5 kids in a 3 bedroom isn't all that fun. Well we found out that we couldn't afford the house we wanted so we thought why not add on and get more bedrooms that way. Our friend across the street is a spacial designer and she came up with the perfect plan. We are in love and decided to go ahead and get some bids. We will not be adding on. The one bid we did get was too rich for our blood. ($125,000) So, now we are re-doing the girls and then onto the boys rooms. We will be putting in closet organizers, re-painting and getting loft beds for each girl. We are hoping that this will give the feeling of more room or maybe just the illusion of it. So Monday Macie and I spent all day on line researching loft beds and found the one she wants. Julia loves this one. I know a bit expensive, but only a fraction of what an add on would be. The beds should be here in 2-3 weeks. Now we have to paint and lay the new laminate flooring. We got a smokin deal at Costco for the floor. We also made a big giant cookie.
Tuesday- I took Matthew to his Physical Therapy appt and then Macie went to the orthodontist. She had to have x-rays and will be getting a retainer soon. The ortho says that we will be doing extensive work on her in the years to come. Oh, Joy!
Wednesday - I took Macie to get a cavity filled and then onto Wal-mart to buy odds and ends.
Thursday- I made some plum jam and homemade bread.
Friday - I moved the girls out of their room and into the living room. We can now begin the re-do of their room.
Saturday - picked up the paint. Finished prepping the room, started priming the walls, washed all the blinds except my room and the boys, washed all the windows, went to the river cats game with all the kids. They had a ball at the game, and the girls love sleeping in the living room. I hope it doesn't last too long having a living/bedroom.
Anyway I should have taken pictures of the beginning of the re-model, but I didn't and I'm kicking myself. I would love to see the work that we do as it gets done. I guess it's not too late. The girls love the new colors that are out and I let them have a light neon green type of color. The color is called Scotch Mint #G040. You can search and check it out. It seems brighter in real life than at the website. It's only paint right? :)

The Sound Of Music

Ok, the annual Music Circus has started here in our town. It used to be in the round in a tent. They have built a building now with air conditioning, but it is still in the round. We used to have season tickets and loved going, but it has become to difficult to get a babysitter every Tuesday for 7 weeks in row. So this year we were able to go to one production and it just happened to be The Sound Of Music. My mom likes for the children to go so we took the three oldest kids. They loved it. I think I had something to do with the overwhelming support from the kids. You see, The Sound Of Music was one of the first movies I ever saw as a kid. I remember being so enthralled with it at the movies. As a young adult I purchased it on VHS for myself and have watched it many times. So you can imagine the happiness I felt in my heart when my three oldest children were equally enthralled as I was. I have to say this production of it by the Music Circus was the 3rd time I've seen it there and it was by far the best one. I'm not sure if you are familiar with the production or not, but there is a point when Maria and Capt. Von Trapp kiss and it was at that point when all was very quiet and still in the theatre that Julia decides to say very loudly "Yuck". I would say about three rows of people looked at us and were snickering at Julia. These people were in the same row as us and in front and back of us. I have to say it was pretty funny, and I am proud that she would find that yucky after all she is only five and we don't need a kissing bandit on our hands. My friend Lori babysat the other two at home, and I am grateful to her for her kind act of service to me. We had a nice family time and we even took the kids to the Clarion Hotel for desert before the show started. They loved getting desert in a fancy place. We would be glad to host a Sound of Music movie night if anyone is interested. :)

New Look to the Blog

As you all can see I have a new look to my blog. I found the background on a fellow bloggers site. I couldn't tell you who that blogger is because I am constantly reading blogs of others and then going to new blogs through links of the original blog. Yes, I know, mind boggling, but fun to see what others say and write about. I think the new look is soooo cute and fun. Who knows when I'll tire of it and change, so for now enjoy the stripes. :)

New Signing Time! DVDs

Hey everyone, there are new Signing Time! DVDs. You'll need to pre-order them. If you are one of the first 300 people you might just get it autographed. I ordered hoping for an autograph. :) I think I'll give them to Matthew for his 3rd b-day. He just loves Rachel and Signing Time! Be sure to click here to order your set of Series 2 Volumes 11 & 12 with free coloring book and crayons. Happy Signing!!!!

Yosemite Vacation 2008

We just got back from Yosemite and fun was had by all. We arrived on Sunday afternoon. It took us quite awhile to get there. We all met at Kelly's house in Sutter Creek and then followed each other all the way there. The kids loved that we stopped at a fish hatchery that Brad knew about on the way there. Of course they were starving so we headed to Groveland to stop at a park and picnic there before entering Yosemite. Tom and I decided not to allow food to be eaten in the car due to the bear situation in Yosemite. Mom, Emily, Kelly and Macie all saw a little bear in the camp. Mom got pictures of course I did not. I'm sure I was either feeding someone or trying to get someone to take a nap. The children had the time of their lives which makes all the work of going on the trip worth it. Sunday evening before dinner we took a bus ride around the valley. According to Julia this was her favorite of the whole trip. Matthew loved climbing a rock that was near our cabin. Thomas loved going rafting and Macie like seeing Yosemite Falls. By the way that is all I saw of the valley this trip due to having 5 kids that needed to be fed, napped, or taken to the swimming pool. I loved it though. Monday everyone went rafting and Dad stayed back with me to help me with Julia, Matthew, and Henry. We saw the gang come down the river from Sentinel Bridge. Tuesday we took a hike to Yosemite Falls and saw beautiful scenery. There was a fire nearby and the valley was full of smoke. Every pretty sight we saw was just a little hazy. The Hunkins went to Vernal Falls and then we all went to the Awahnee to have a drink. The Hay Gang had 2 yummy drinks one was even called the Awahnee Dream. What fun. Emily, Ali and Ashley had to go home Tuesday evening and we went to eat Hamburgers and fries. The kids got ice-cream and watched the nightly show in the amphitheater. We went swimming everyday in the pool at Curry Village. Henry even got in. Matthew had a very special private swim lesson with Auntie and he is surprisingly happy in the water. We packed up and came home on Wednesday. We were all sad to see Yosemite go, but know that we will be back. Macie even spent some of her hard earned money at Yosemite. She loved being able to do that. The Gang, of course, couldn't make it all the way home without stopping so we fixed a picnic and ate at the Groveland park. Henry was very happy to get home where he could crawl around to his heart's content. You see we had to keep him pretty much locked up the whole trip because of all the hazards that camping brings. Sticks, dirt, leaves all seam to end up in the mouth. Here are some of my favorite shots of the trip. Enjoy!
Matthew became quite the rock climber.
Everyone just loved rafting.The kids at Yosemite Falls.Emily and Julia at the famous Awahnee Fireplace.
Thomas enjoying the Awahnee Dream.
Scary Matthew.The Hay Gang.
Julia's dirty little foot on the way home. I'm not sure how much dirt I cleaned off of people during our stay, but this is the most I saw at one time. :)

Fun Contest

I found this fun contest. It is from a mom and she seems to love Signing Time! as much as we do. Check out her site and you may win a collection of Signing Time! DVD's. Good Luck!!!!

Our Baby Is 1 Year Old Today!!!!!

Yep, that's right Henry is 1 year today. We just don't know where the year has gone. He has reached many milestones and loves to play and giggle with his brothers and sisters. He is the most gigglie baby I know. Today he went to the see Dr. Wong, and poor Dr. Wong, she had to deal with the whole Hay gang coming to the appt. Anyway, he had his 1 year old shots and is now a bit cranky. Now, we all know how big he is, but he has weighed in at the 50 percentile with 22lbs. 11oz. and he is 29.5 inches long putting him in the 48th percentile. I guess he is right on average and is no longer a super big baby. I then took the whole gang to get end of the year/happy birthday ice cream cones. Henry loved the bites of chocolate goodness that he got. Yummo, something new to scream for when everyone else is eating it. I also took him to get his first year portraits done. Ooooohhh they are so cute. This picture I took with my fabulous Nikon camera. Isn't he cute. I also took a few of Matthew with him. Henry can crawl, pull up on things, try to stand alone, sign more (Thank you, Signing Time!), laugh when things are funny, and just be so stinkin cute that I could just eat him up. Here's to you Henry. We love You.
Here is a video of our favorite, Rachel Coleman of Signing Time!, doing her Happy Birthday song.


More shots from the Hay House birthday photo shoot.

What Type of Food Am I?

You Are Italian Food

Comforting yet overwhelming. People love you, but sometimes you're just too much.

What Kind of Food Are You?

Internet Shopping, Oh The Fun You Can Have!!!!!

I have been Internet shopping today. I love to shop the net. I find great things that I don't have to go to the store for. Today I bought shorts. Shorts, you say, so what, You can get shorts anywhere. I say not these shorts. I like to wear longer length shorts. I like them to be to my knee. I can't seem to find them around here anywhere except a few places and then they don't always fit right. Well I found this place on the net called Knee Length I was able to buy shorts that are to my knee and got a great price to boot. I then went onto to my favorite Signing Time! and bought the newest DVDs. I've been wanting them and have heard terrific things about them so now they are being processed and sent to my door as we speak. If you would like to order from Signing Time! just click on my Signing Time! banner and it will take you directly to the store. Isn't that just great. I know you might be saying, but what about the shipping? I feel that it is worth the shipping price to me so I don't have to back up the gang and fight them and the other people in the store. I'm much happier if I can get what I need and save the gang the hassle. Now all I have to do is find out how to buy the necessities on the web. I'm sure I could do that to. Just don't tell my husband how much I love web shopping. :)

Father & Son Campout

Our ward has an annual Father-Son Campout. Thomas and Tom have been going for years now, and this year a new Hay went to the event. Yes, you quessed it, Matthew went and had the time of his life. For those of you who are familiar with our little monkey, otherwise known as the terror of the west(Scotts Flat will never be the same), you can only imagine the fun he got into. Tom is now in the Young Mens orginization so he had some responsibilities he had to attend to. This almost kept us from letting Matthew go, but it is the Father-Son campout afterall, so he went. Tom spent most of his time chasing Matthew down, putting up and taking down a tent, changing diapers, changing wet clothes (Matthew and Thomas), wiping 16 tons of snot/boogers out of Matthew's nose, supervising the cooking of the camp breakfast, trying to sleep ( listening to a Stevie Ray Vaughn tribute from across the lake at 1:00a.m. he says he may have to buy that album), trying to stay awake, eating smores, watching Matthew burn marshmallows and drop them into the fire, watching Matthew juggle golf balls that came from the Farmer clan (thanks alot), kept track of Thomas' fishing, hideout making and golf ball throwing. At one point Matthew was unaccounted for so Tom went looking for him and found him sitting quietly in a tree. Turns out he was stuck in the tree. Matthew could also be found in various tents around the campsite. Tom thinks the men became good at zipping up their tents after he was found in a few. I'm hoping that next year will be just as fun and that Henry can be in a position to go. Maybe Matthew can teach him a few tricks of the trade. Never a dull moment with Hay Gang!!! :)

Thomas is Famous

Well we sent the pictures of Thomas' Antsy McClain birthday party to Antsy and he made a page on his website all about Thomas and his birthday party. Antsy sure liked that Thomas is a fan and would go to all the trouble of having an Antsy party. Anyway check out the Thomas Hay page on Antsy McClain's website. Go to unhitched.com by way of the title of this post and then click on the news link and the birthday party page is the top article. Way to go, Thomas. By the way, we are going to see Antsy sing at the Palms in Winters CA, on Friday night and Macie and Thomas are coming with us. What fun!

Edited on April 21, 2008

We took Macie and Thomas to see Antsy McClain on Friday night. We got to sit in the front row and Thomas was absolutley thrilled. The concert went until 12 midnight and the kids hung on. They loved his song about Larry getting the cooties. Antsy even announced to the audience about Thomas having an Antsy McClain birthday. Thomas has told me that he wants to be like Antsy when he is older. He wants to sing and play the guitar just like him. We couldn't think of a better role model for young kids. Thomas knew many of the songs and sang along. Macie was completly mortified when I got up to take Thomas to the bathroom and Antsy stopped playing and asked "Where you going?" as I walked out the door. Then he asked Macie if I usually take a long time in the bathroom or if I was going 1 or 2. She jsut laughed and pointed at Tom and said ask him. He then proceeded to play licks until I came back. I have watched him to theis bit before and thought how funny it was, well not anymore. :) I vow to never sit in the front row again, unless of course we have the kids with us. What we won't do for our children. :)

Swimming 101

As of April 1st I began swimming with the Masters Swim Program here in Rocklin. Even though as a girl I swam on many a team I am in way over my head. It has been 12days and I have gone to workout 6 times. Today (Sat.) I went to the special time they have to let new members get pointers for their stroke. Man, I know it's been a long time, but I had no idea I was that bad. :) Anyway I won't let the lack of a good stroke get me down. I'm going again Monday morning bright and early. My workouts are at 5:30 a.m. I know, I know, that's way too early, but if I'm going to get into shape and lose some weight I need to get out there and do it. So, I go. I do feel better and stronger. I just hope my stroke can get up to snuff. I did learn a lot this morning about how to move myself through the water. Anyway I'm off my soap box now and I will continue swimming and getting better. Oh, and one more thing I already smell like chlorine.

Favorite Mom Contest

I want to tell you about this contest. It is for America's favorite mom. One of my friends has been nominated and I would love to ask you to vote for her.
You all know how crazy we are at the Hay House for Signing Time! and Rachel Coleman. Well she is the mom nominated please go vote for her. Because of her we have the gift of communication with Julia.



This takes you to vote for her. You will need to register, but you can also vote once a day. Online voting ends April 25th. Have fun and go Rachel!!!!!

We have a new 8 year old in our house!

Thomas turned 8 last Friday the 21st. He had a birthday party with 9 friends on Friday. His birthday party theme was Antsy McClain. Thomas loves Antsy. He is the lead singer of the Trailor Park Troubadours. WE tried to build the party around the songs that Antsy sings. Antsy sings a song about Wienies and Beans so we had a flamingo pinata with candy wienies and beans in it. There is also a song about a croquet king so we played croquet. You get the idea. The guys at Tom's work put together a lifesize cutout of Antsy and the kids all posed with him. Great fun. One of the favored songs though is Going on a Field Trip. We bought plain lunch boxes and put a "sack lunch" in it for the food portion of the party and then the boys got to decorate their own lunch boxes. Here's a picture of Thomas and "Antsy".


Then on Saturday the 22nd Thomas got baptized and became an official member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He was baptized by his daddy. The picture shows all of us in the Hay Gang before his baptism. Oh, Happy Day!!!!


Now because Thomas is 8 he gets to join the cub scouts at church. He is now a member of Pack 220 wolf den. Last night we went to the pinewood derby, which happened to be Thomas' first activity as a cub scout. He looked so cute in his uniform. Well, we weren't expecting much from his car considering it is his first time building one with his dad. Can you believe it, Thomas' car, TRF (Thomas Rex Flier) took first place out of all the boys there. He was very happy and surprised. Way to go Thomas. Pictures are of his car winning a race or two and him with his winning TRF and his ribbons.