The Hay Gang

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T14:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve in our new PJ's from Gram

We had a terrific Christmas and New Year's holidays. Christmas was great because all of us were able to be here at the Hay house for the unwrapping palooza (aka chaos). We had breakfast of our traditional sitcky buns, and egg/hashbrown casserole. We played with our new "toys" and then went to Grams and Pas for a feast. Tom was able to be home the whole week after Christmas. He played 2 days of golf and went the Emerald bowl game with mom and dad. Thomas was lucky enough to go with him on one of his golfing days and tot he bowl game. We had freinds over for New Year's eve and played games and ate and ate. Everyone stayed up until midnight except Henry. He just couldn't take anymore and put himself to bed. On New Year's Day we went to Chuuch and then had the Watford's and Phil Vassion over for dinner. It has been a great week even if I was sick for most of it (insert cough here:) ). Here are a few pictures of our good times.

Our Stockings

Look what Santa brought!

Santa brought bikes too!

Waiting for the kids to enter the palooza.

The whole Chappell clan. Do you see Uncle Matt?

The Hay gang!

My new PJ's that Buddy got me.

Henry is ready with a lot of his loot.

Thomas got a kindle.

Purple was Macie's theme this year.

2011 in Review

2011-12-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

The gang doing their thing.

Another year has come to an end, and I wonder where did it go. If I think real hard I know exactly where it went. It went to fun times with the gang, homework, basketball games, baseball games, swim meets, camping trips, hanging out with Antsy McClain in Red Bluff, visiting with friends and family, welcoming home Uncle Matt, going to the Dr and dentist, getting a new puppy, and participating in Church activities. Wow! it sure was a lot. Here is just a little sampling of what the Hay gang has been up to in 2011.

Buddy at 6 months old.

Buddy - Our newest member of the gang. We welcomed him to our house last Christmas and he has loved every minute of it. Even when everybody mauls him. We have found him with gum, suckers, and drool in his hair. He loved going on our family camping trip in August, and loves to sleep on the couch. I need to work on getting him to hang out in the dog bed on the floor.

Finishing off some yummy frosting.

I got a dollar for my birthday!

Henry - We now have an official pre-schooler here. He goes to Sierra College State Pre-School Monday thru Friday 8-11 a.m. He loves his teacher, Teacher Joy. Henry has become quite the entertainer. He was in the talent show at church where he sang the ABC's. He could be heard running off stage saying, "That was awesome, can I have a cookie now?" He was the hit of the show. :) He and I are home together for about 4 hours in the afternoons before anyone comes home. We watch movies, fold clothes, do dishes, and take naps. (Yea, right) He loves to help with the cooking. We think we have a budding chef in our midst. He enjoyed swimming at Grandma's this summer. He loves it when Pa picks him up from pre-school. He has even asked me not to pick him up so much.

Cute as can be and always has something going on.

Loved playing baseball.

Matthew - This year Matthew is in 1st grade. He is learning to add, subtract, and read. His handwriting is getting better, and his teachers have nothing but terrific things to say about him. We are very pleased with his progress. He still is very funny, and loves to be on the move at all times. We have recently found him in the tree with an umbrella at the ready. I wonder when he saw Mary Poppins. :) He played basketball and baseball this year. He is very excited to play basketball and baseball again this year. We are hoping that he will also be on the swim team with the older kids. He swam a lot this last summer at Grandma's and became very good at it. We'll see if he makes the team. We have a toothless wonder. He has lost 2 bottom teeth and more recently lost his 2 front teeth. He now has 2 front half teeth. Sooooo cute. :)

Game face on for swim champs!

It's great to be eight! I got baptized.

Julia - Our Julia is in the 3rd Grade at Cobblestone School here in Rocklin. She has been learning cursive, and doing really well at it. She is now 8 and got baptized on July 2, 2011. It is great to be eight. She now gets to go to Activity Days at church and mingle with all the other 8 year old girls and have F U N. If you know Julia she is all about the fun. She played basketball last January and February and can't wait to start again. She also swam for Loomis Basin Dolphins and reached personal best marks. Way to go Julia. :) Buddy is her best bud. She has taken to him and loves petting and loving on him. Most of you know that Julia has schizencephaly which causes her to drool. She has had 5 rounds of botox under her chin. The neurologist inserts 4 shots each round we do. She has responded well and has had a better time at school because of not drooling. She is such a happy child.

First day of 6th grade.

Red Ribbon week at school.

Thomas - We now have a 6th grader in the house. He loves school and especially loves to read. This kid has read enough books for AR in school that he has over 150 points so far this year. He made the honor roll for Parker Whitney this trimester. We are very pleased with him. He plays the trombone, sings in the choir (I think he does this for me so I can help direct the choir. So fun!!!), played spring ball and fall ball this year, played basketball, and swam on the Loomis Basin Dolphin swim team. He also entered into 11 year old scouts at church and went on an over night camping trip/hike. He had a ball. Thomas is a terrific big brother to his little siblings. They look up to him and he tries to be a good example. He has discovered that he loves Chinese food, go figure. :) Last April Thomas sang with the Parker Whitney Choir at the River Cats baseball game. They sang the national anthem.

It wouldn't be champs without the t-shirt. :)

Being crafty at camp. Is that a new hair color?

Macie - Macie is now a Sevie. Macie continues to work on her art and even took an art class from an artist this summer. She played basketball and swam for LBD. We were so happy for her when she made all personal best times and even placed 1st in the individual medley in her heat. She has really become a good swimmer and loves it. Macie also loves to cook. She is our resident cookie maker. Whenever we need a sweet treat she is right there whipping up a batch. I love watching her do her homework. She works very hard and always does her best. We are very proud of the effort she puts forth. Macie is now officially in Young Women's at church and has the best time socializing with everyone. She has been called as the Beehive president and has the awesome responsibility of remembering each girl in her class. When you enter YW's you get to go to girls camp, and this last summer she went as a first year. I can't begin to tell you all the fun she had. I will say that the polar bear swim saw Macie every morning. Good job sister sue.

Big Basin Redwood State Park

My team of swimmers. :)

Stacey - I have been doing the same thing I always do. You know, drive kids to practice, pick kids up from school, go grocery shopping, laundry, clean the house, prepare meals, plan camping trips, visit with my family, hang out with the kids, clean up after the dog, and swim at my parents pool. I also joined with my friend and am helping out with the Parker Whitney choir. I am having a ball. One of the best things I was able to do this year was go to girls camp with Macie. I went as a leader of the 16 year olds, but I was able to watch Macie have a great first year experience. We put in a new floor in our bedroom and painted the walls. It feels like a re-treat. Tom and I will be celebrating our 20th anniversary come April so we are heading off to Hawaii in February for some fun and relaxation. Can't wait! I have been called into Relief Society as an instructor. That has caused me some anxiety, but I am getting over that. I just am enjoying this phase of my life and hope that I can continue to stay home and care for the family. I truly am happy that I can be the one the kids come home to in the afternoon after school.

Putting in our new floor.

Who's that gangster?

Tom - Continues to work for Stantec Consulting. We are so happy that he has a job and that it is here in Rocklin. Tom was in Daddy's heaven this year as he was able to watch 2 of his boys play baseball. He did a lot of coaching of Thomas, and gave Matthew pointers as well. He is still in the Elder's Quorum at Church, and loves to go to Antsy McClain concerts. We don't know where we would be without Tom for our camping trips. He is the trailer packer extraordinaire. He was the assistant coach for Macie's basketball team last January and February. Tom put a new floor in our bedroom. It only took about 4 weeks for him to finish, which for us is fantastic. We also had a fabulous garden once again because of Tom. He plants, tends, and harvests all of our veggies. The dog had a great time in the garden this year and was a constant irritant to Tom. He had to find ways to keep Buddy out of our tomatoes. :)

Merry Christmas from the Hay Gang!

If you have gotten this far you are indeed a good friend or a beloved family member. We love you and wish nothing but a great Christmas for you and your family. Our family is so very blessed and we hope that you can feel those same blessings of love and family this time of year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 2012 here we come! :)

Thankful Day 24

2011-11-24T10:22:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Today I'm thankful that I can gather my family and enjoy each of them. I'm thankful that we can gather with other members of our family and enjoy them. I'm thankful that we can all enjoy a great meal together. I'm also thankful for our family gift exchange. I'm also thankful that everyday I can choose to be happy.

Thankful Day 23

2011-11-23T18:57:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thankful for the neurologist, Dr. Asaikar and the staff at Sutter Memorial Pediatric out patient surgery center. Julia had botox injections today for her drooling and she did a great job of being a brave girl. Usually she has a very difficult time of it, but today because of the great staff she was all about doing up right. She received 2 prizes for being brave, 2 art projects to do, and got to watch movies all by herself. We hope that she will get some needed relief from this procedure. Thanks, Dr. Asaikar, you rock!

Thankful Day 22

2011-11-22T08:11:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thankful for the Internet. I know that sounds a bit weird, but I am. I get so many recipes, ideas, and deals from the Internet that it helps my family stay within our budget, eat healthy, and have great family time. I made cranberry sauce for Christmas gifts and got the recipe from the Internet. The recipe is super yummy and easy. What a blessing the Internet is if used correctly and appropriately.

Thankful Day 21

2011-11-21T07:53:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thankful for my sister. She is an amazing person and my children all love her to pieces. Yesterday I met up with her in Folsom and she picked up Macie to come stay with her. Macie is beyond happy to be spending time with Auntie. Thanks Kelly you are the best! I'm also thankful for a driveway full of wood that we can burn in our fireplace. We had our first fire of the season yesterday. Warm and inviting!

Thankful Day 20

2011-11-20T11:02:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thankful Steve Andrews. He came to our rescue yesterday. He brought his wood splitter and helped Tom split some wood that received for free. Now we have a pile of wood in our driveway ready to stack. If you are in the neighborhood and want to kill some time stop by and stack wood for me, Thanks! :) Thanks Brother Andrews for you help and generosity.

Thankful Day 19

2011-11-19T08:25:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thankful for school vacations. How great is it that we get to have the kids home next week all week to celebrate Thanksgiving and being a family. We have lots of fun things planned. We will be making our famous cranberry sauce for Christmas presents, going to a play date at the park with friends, going to Thanksgiving dinner at my cousins restaurant, and maybe even getting a Christmas Tree. Wow, I hope we can fit it all in. :)

Thankful Day 18

2011-11-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thankful for Tom and his ability to work and earn money for our family. Because he goes to work I am able to stay home and take care of the family. I get to enjoy the children and keep our home. I love to learn new recipes and cook for our family. Tom works so hard for us and I'm thankful I am married to him. Thanks, honey!!!!

Thankful Day 17

2011-11-17T07:36:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thankful for the Young Women's program at church. When Macie turned 12 she got the honor of becoming a Young Woman. This past Sunday I was able to go to the Young Women in Excellence presentation. All the young women were able to showcase something that they have done that is "praise worthy, or of good report". Macie shared that she has been a swimmer for 6 years and that this year at Championships she place 1st in her heat in the IM. She was very pleased that she could share something that she loves to do. I'm very pleased that she has this fun talent. :)

Thankful Day 16

2011-11-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

First day of school 2011 - Many great things to come!

Today I'm grateful for school. This week I get to go to the schools and hear terrific things about my children. I get to hear about what they are learning and how well they are doing. I am truly enjoying it this year. My children are learning and growing, and I get to witness this on a daily basis. It is sure fun to hear from someone who is with my children the majority of their day about how they see my children growing and learning.

Thankful Day 15

2011-11-14T17:16:00.000-08:00

Today I'm grateful for service. It is wonderful to be able to forget about ourselves and do for others. Yesterday I was able to take a friend, who had lost her 20 year old son last week, a meal. Matthew and Julia went with me and understood why we were there giving them food. I love that we can teach our kids about service. I'm also grateful for all the service that has been given to me. I feel truly blessed.

Thankful Day 14

2011-11-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

Today I'm grateful for my husband. We have been married nearly 20 years and I'm happy to say that we want to be married many more. To each other, of course. :) He takes care of me and our family. I don't think there is anything he wouldn't do for us. He is an honorable priesthood holder and sets a great example for our boys. He also sets an example of what a good man should be like for our children. I'm so thankful he is in my life. Thank you Mon for the many good times.

Thankful Day 13

2011-11-13T08:18:00.000-08:00

Today I'm grateful for turkey guard dogs and monkey boys. Yesterday we were able to have a turkey for a pre-thanksgiving dinner. I'm thankful that we have the time to spend at home with our family and eat yummy food. Macie cleaned a lot of the house, and Thomas was able to help the new neighbor across the street. She paid him 20 bucks!!!! I found Matthew up in our Muskogee Crepe Myrtle tree. He told me that he was going to use the umbrella in his hand to help him get down. Imagine Mary Poppins here. :) I'm thankful he is a monkey and didn't really need the umbrella to get down. I also looked out the window and saw one happy puppy dog watching over the turkey cooking in the BBQ. It is a good thing we have him or who knows who would get into the turkey. You can never be too careful. What a nice Saturday it was. :)

Buddy, will you be getting Turkey?

That's a long way down. Do you need an umbrella? :)

Matthew has always climbed anything he sees, but he addition of the umbrella now, that's somthing new. :)

Thankful Day 12

2011-11-12T07:06:00.000-08:00

This is pre-photo session. I hope it doesn't tell what is to come. :)

Today I'm grateful for pictures. I was able to have pictures taken of my children yesterday. They turned out great. I will post when I get the actual picture. Every Holiday season I have pictures taken of my children. It is truly great to be able to see the growth of each one and to see the growth of my family. To think that only 13 Christmas' ago we had one child in the picture and today we have 5. What a blessing. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and if you look at each one of those Holiday pictures you can conjure up many words and memories. Here are some photos I took before our photo session. I was a little worried going into the session, but I'm very happy with the results. The Gang came through. :)

Julia and the littles ready to go.

Waiting for our turn at Target.

Henry you better look at the camera when we get into the photo room.

Thankful Day 11

2011-11-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

Today I'm grateful for our veterans who have served this country and helped us keep our freedoms. I'm thankful for mom's who volunteer their time and provide great activities for my children. We got to go to a Veteran's Day Ceremony today and Thomas was able to sing with his school choir the National Anthem. I'm very proud of my son wanting to do things like this and I'm grateful for Emily Matthew's for making it happen. :)

Thankful Day 10

2011-11-10T08:55:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thankful for sweet treats and my food storage. I was able to make a fresh batch of milk chocolate chip cookies just because. I had everything I needed to get this sweet treat fix in my food storage, and yes people I do store chocolate chips. I usually store them in the freezer. You never know when you might need a little chocolate in your life. The kids are thankful for my storage and sweet treat cravings too. :)

Thankful Day 9

2011-11-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thankful for friends who help make things better. I have a few friends who I rely on to help me fumble through my life. Whether it be about my kids, dinner selections or keeping house I can expect some sort of help in figuring it out. Thanks friends, and you know who you are. :)

Thankful Day 8

2011-11-08T08:18:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thankful for modern technology. I can sit at my computer, pay my bills, transfer money from my savings to checking, and record receipts onto my budget. I am financially aware of our spending. I don't even have to get dressed to do this. Now, that is something to be grateful for. :)

Thankful Day 7

2011-11-07T07:18:00.000-08:00

Our Grandma likes to get into the fun with the Gang. :)

Today I'm thankful for Grandma's. My mom is great. She helps us with the kids a lot. Last night we took the kids to the 1080 and Pa fed them dinner and Grandma brought them over to our house and gave them Sunday Sundae's then put the gang to bed. This made it possible for us to go to an adult fireside for church. It was just what we needed. Thanks Mom!!!!!

Thankful Day 6

2011-11-06T08:18:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thankful for our abilities to change our environment if we want. Tom and I have been working on remodeling our bedroom. We have painted and put in new floor. Last night after almost 4 weeks sleeping in the living room we moved our bed back into the bedroom. Now, we aren't completely done, but we slept in our room and it was great.

What Am I Grateful For?

2011-11-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

The Hay Gang on October 31, 2011

Today is November 5, 2011 and we are 5 days into November. I hope to post each day in November something I'm grateful for. I have 5 children and on this day November 5th I am grateful that I get to be their mother and serve them. Each one is blessing in my life. That big kid in black in the back is my partner in crime and I'm very thankful to have married him. He takes care of all of us, but especially me when I need buoying up. Thanks guys for letting me mother all of you. :)

Fall Is Here!!!

2011-10-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

The first day of school August, 2011

I'm so glad it is fall. I love the briskness of the mornings and the chill in the air at night. Soon we will start having fires. Happiness! Today is my brother's birthday, and it is the first time in 17 years that we will get to spend it with him. He is home from prison and we are happy. He will be getting a Starbucks gift card and brownies ala Macie. We are supposed to go the Ward Trunk or Treat tonight, but it being Matt's birthday we will not be going. I haven't broken it to the gang yet.
Tom and I are living in the living room due to the fact that we are still remodeling our bedroom. I painted and Tom has been putting in a beautiful laminate floor. The room is looking very pretty, and I can't wait until I can lay in my bed without who ever walks through the front door looking in and saying "Hi". :) The kids love having our bed in the living room because they can play the wii while sitting or jumping on the bed.
Everyone is in school and studying hard. We are waiting anxiously for Halloween to come. We will have a bumble bee, sock man, blue witch, Darth Vader, and a cape wearing karate man. The caped karate man will be going to a birthday party today. He is so excited. :)
I wish I had more of my fall pictures loaded so I could post them, but at least I'm posting. Have a great Saturday and Trick or Treat!

Tom working hard on our bedroom floor.

Matthew is officially wanting 2 front teeth for Christmas!

Our Halloween decorations. Thanks Auntie and Uncle!

One of our Friday night homemade pizzas.

Who gave Henry that sticker?

Red Ribbon Week and Thomas went all out. :)

Halloween at Grandma and Pa's.

Before we went Trick or Treating.

Big Basin Redwood State Park

2011-08-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

This year we went on our annual vacation to Big Basin Redwood State Park. It was very fun and exciting seeing the places that Daddy grew up in. We went on August 1 and came home on August 7. One whole week of dirt, sun, raccoons, hiking, riding bikes, eating, making new friends, going to Jr. Rangers and Big Basin nature club, and swimming in the ocean. We had camp visitors on Wed. Mark and Mary Treuge from Santa Cruz came up and had dinner with us. It was fun to reconnect with them and have a great meal together. Buddy went to visit them on Thursday as we went to the Natural Bridges Beach in Santa Cruz. The kids had a ball in the surf, in fact Thomas went body surfing and Henry actually "surfed" ( picture to come later). Every year at the end of vacation I always think to myself, no way am I doing this again next year, but after a few days at home I'm on board again. :) We think next year will be closer to water so we can swim most days and lounge by the water.
Thomas made friends as usual with a little boy and spent time with him. We got his address and I suspect Thomas will write him. We also had a young family of a father and son camp next to us for 2 nights. They were from Minnesota and didn't have much of the camping gear we had. So we invited them for smore's 2 nights and they shared our campfire with us. I let Thomas go for a walk on night before dinner and he still wasn't back at camp 45 mins. later. I went into a bit of a panic. I could just see us having to send out a search party for him. I sent Mark and Tom out looking and they came back 30 mins. later with him. He had hiked all the way up the mountain and saw the ocean. I think he will have to really think about his scouting skills and remember that you need to go hiking with a buddy. At one point Macie counted Henry's mosquito bites and he had 62. Yikes! I also had to use the self timer on my camera to make sure there was documentation that I was on the trip. Here are some pictures of our trip. :)

Matthew thought every tree needed to be climbed.

Henry "surfing"

I was on the trip. :)

Macie and Thomas on their hike with Daddy. The Pine Mountain Trail.

Just some of Henry's mosquito bites.

The Hay gang in camp 110 in Big Basing Redwood State Park.

It's Great To Be Eight!!!!

2011-07-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

When you are eight in our house you get to make the choice to baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Julia turned eight in May and decided to get baptized. Our stake has a new procedure for children of record baptisms. We are instructed to have our children baptized on the first Saturday of the month at 9:00 am. Well, Julia could get baptized on June 4th, but we had a swim meet so we chose to do it on July 2nd because there was a bye for our meets. So she got baptized on July 2nd. She was baptized and confirmed by her daddy. We loved going to the church and celebrating her decision. She had a moment of being afraid that everyone would be look at her, but she was able to step into the font. We love her and everyone that was there love her very much.

The Gang before the baptism. You can see the excitement of everyone. :)

Julia before the baptism. She is so excited.

Julia and Tom ready to go into the baptismal font. I love the smiles on everyone's faces.

Everyone who was at the baptism. We were all there to celebrate Julia. Our Bishopric member, Brother Hall, took the picture.

....

2011-06-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

sorry about not posting latley i was busy like camping and i kind of forgot anyway sorry please stay in tune later

This post was posted by Macie, who was like indeed camping with her mother. We had fun at girl's camp. :)

Promotions

2011-06-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

We have all sorts of promotions around here. First of all Macie is now a 7th grader and will be going to Jr. High in August. Of course, all the other children have been promoted to a higher grade. Matthew will be a 1st grader, Julia a 3rd grader, and Thomas will be a big man on campus as a 6th grader. Our lilttle Henry will be going to Sierra College State Preschool for his final year before he enters kindergarten. He has also been promoted to that of someone who wears underwear. He is potty trained. I feel like I got a raise because I no longer have to buy diapers or pull ups for the day time. Yay me. :)

The biggest news around here is this. My brother who has been in prison for 16 and 1/2 years will be coming home. He has been deemed suitable for parole and has been reviewed for coming home. We are just waiting on the actual release date. We are thinking it will be within 10 days. Sometimes things move slower than we want in the prison system. We are all so excited to have him home and be able to do family things with us. :)

We went camping again with Antsy McClain and The Tralier Park Troubadours over Memorial Day weekend. As always a fun time was had except for the extreme cold and rain. The gang didn't seem to mind although I did. We are flamingoheads through and through. We played games, listened to music, laughed with new and old friends, rode scooters and bikes, ate terrific food, and created in the craft shack. Whew I needed a vaca from the vaca. :)

Now we start summer and all the fun activities that come with it. Yahoo can't wait to get our summer on. :)

It's Spring!!!

2011-04-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

You would think that with Spring here we would be doing all the springy things you think about. You know, putting in a garden, cleaning the yard, deep cleaning the house, enjoying all the baseball games, but no, we haven't been able to do much with all the rain and cold. We celebrated opening day of baseball (we have 3 ball players), we've gone to the River cats to enjoy Macie and Thomas singing with their choir the National Anthem, celebrated Thomas' birthday, watched, Thomas perform in the band concert, watched Macie perfomr in the Parker Whitney talent show, 3 days away from Macie's 12th birthday, and lots of other fun family things.
During Spring Break we went to the zoo and saw the movie Soul Surfer. It was great. Now the kids are all back in school. I hope all is going well for them. Here are some pictures of the last couple of months.

February 2011 ( You know Valentine's Day )

2011-02-15T13:13:00.000-08:00

I now have my camera back. Yipppeeee! I found just a few Christmas shots on it and then I took more. I now have pictures of our new puppy, Buddy, Matthew's first lost tooth, Julia at basket-ball and many from our annual Valentine's dinner. The gang was very loving yesterday. I love when they know something is very special and they are almost reverant during the fun time. It was a very plesant night. Anyhow here are some shots of our Dec, Jan, and Feb.

The Gang and their new Christmas pajamas from Grandma and Pa.

The Hay House on Christmas morning. Santa was good to us this year.

Our new puppy, Buddy. He has grown so much since this first day we had him.

Matthew lost a tooth and there was already a tooth growing behind it.

The love dinner.

Take the shot!

I'm worth millions!

2011-02-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

My brother in law Scott has stated that I am worth lots of money. You see when I was younger (in my late teens) I was making popcorn I think and burnt down my mom's kitchen. She got a new kitchen out of the deal and we laugh that if anyone wants a remodel I could come over and cook. I was then hit by a car 2 1/2 years ago and received a small settlement to cover some of my suffering. Well, on Christmas day, I tripped over the camcorder cord and hit the ground. It is on video and Scott thinks it should go to America's Funniest Home Video. I don't. :) After I hit the ground and got up, the Christmas morning festivities started. I realized that my camera wasn't working well. I fell with my great Nikon camera in my hands. I broke the flash. I thought I could fix it on my own. I tried, it didn't work, so I took it to a camera repair place. $220 dollars later it is waiting for me to pick it up. Maybe I should send the video into AFV and get my repair money back. :) I have been out of sorts without my camera. The kids have done great things and I wasn't able to record any of it. I don't like blogging without a picture or two of what's been going on. So hopefully within the next few days I can take some pictures and blog. One can hope. :)

What Have We Been Up To? 2010

2010-12-10T11:34:00.000-08:00

Our 2010 Christmas Tree

Here we are again at the end of a year and I'm writing about our family and what we have been up to. I can't believe it is that season again. The children have grown and we are so proud of their accomplishments that we just have to share them with you. :) We had a ball as a family this year. There were 2 big camping trips, many swim meets, more basketball games, some baseball games, alot of doctor visits and appointments with the dentist, and a whole lot of homework, but there were many more laughs, celebrations and good old fashioned fun here at the Hay House. As mentioned before, we went on 2 great camping trips. Our first one of the season was with Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadours in Red Bluff Ca. We had oodles of fun at Woodflock. After swim season we went to Grover Hot Springs camping. Many adventures were had on that trip. We had rain, hail, cold, bears, mountain lions, and sun. My nephew graduated from Humboldt State and we made a trip to Arcata to celebrate. Tom and I are still enjoying this parenting gig that we have. Tom is still in his same job, but his company was sold and he now works for Stantec, a company located in Canada. He loves being so close to home. I am continuing my efforts on the home front and love being able to be home when people get out of school. We are also serving in our church. Tom is working with the men, and I am working with the Primary children.

Macie's big news is that she got braces. We have known for a while and even thought she was getting them last year. It finally happened and they were put on in November. They hurt her for a bit, but now she doesn't notice them all that much. I love seeing her smile with a mouthful of silver. She is in 6th grade and sings in the school choir. Macie loves to play basketball and is excited for the new season to start. She swam for the Loomis Basin Dolphins again this year and had some of her best times. This was the first year that she swam 50 yard races. Macie is a very good artist. She wants to learn to sew so she can draw and create fashion. We enjoyed watching Project Runway together.

Thomas is in 5th grade, sits on the Student Senate, plays the trombone, and sings in the school choir. This year he added baseball along with playing basketball, and swimming. He loved baseball and looks forward to another season this year. Thomas played for the A's and improved in all areas. He loves to read and has read all 7 Harry Potter books in 2010. He is really trying to convince me that the new Harry Potter is an appropriate movie for him to watch even though it is PG 13. :) We let him read after the other children go to bed and he is so quiet we often forget that he is in the living room. He loves this as it gets him an extra 30- 45 min of reading.

Julia is in 2nd grade and has the privilege of being in a regular ed. classroom along with her special needs Communicative Delayed and Disorder classroom. Her speech is really coming along and she has become a whiz at her AAC device. (we call it her talking box). She played basketball and swam for Loomis Basin Dolphins. I think she likes the meets and all the socializing and food better than the actual races. She looks so cute in her cap with Hay on it. Julia also got to be on the Tri City Little Leagues Challenger baseball team. She received a trophy which she loves. Julia is really good at computer games, and playing with her barbies. She loves the book Pinkalicious. Pink after all is her favorite color. :)

Matthew has entered Kindergarten and he loves it. The first few days of school though he kept asking us if he had to go back. He is so excited for this new year because he gets to finally play basketball like the rest of the gang, and he will be joining Thomas on the baseball field and play T-Ball. He is doing well academically in school, but as we all know he is a very high energy child (quoting the teacher :) ). This year marked the first year that Matthew got to participate in the annual Tony Crane dance. He danced to Shake It Baby and he was great!

Henry is 3 and is in a speech pre-school through the school district. He goes to the same school as the others and is there M & W from 8:45-10:15. He loves it. We have a group of 7 little boys at church, so the moms got together and started a playschool. We meet at a different house each Friday and the boys have a blast playing together. He is working on getting potty trained. He loves wearing big boy underwear.

Well, there you have it the Hay House year in review. We hope you have a terrific Holiday Season and are blessed with a healthy and happy family.
Merry Christmas!
Love,
The Hay Gang
Tom, Stacey, Macie 11, Thomas 10, Julia 7, Matthew 5,
and Henry 3

Do You Have Room for the Savior?

2010-11-29T17:50:00.000-08:00

2010-11-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at our Ward's trunk or treat. On Halloween we stayed home to pass out candy to the kids who cam to our door. We had a great time. Macie and I made "Mummy Dogs" for dinner, and then watched the Giants game with all the lights off and glo light necklaces on. Macie also put her ipod attached to speakers outside with halloween music and sounds to scare trick or treaters. My camera battery went dead on Saturday night so I do not have any pictures of the trunk or treat. Thankfully I took a few before it went dead of the gang in costume. :)

Our little hulk. GGRRRRRRRRR

Henry decided to try on one of Julia's princess dresses. He liked being the hulk better, but he sure makes a cute princess.

The First Fire of the Season

2010-10-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up to rain. Yesterday we spent most of the day getting ready for the fall. Cleaning out the garage, cleaning the house and battening down the hatches. It is a real storm out there today, so after church when we got home Tom built us a fire. It is nice and warm here at the Hay House. The whole family loves sitting by the fire. Hot chocolate anyone? I love a nice fire to cozy up the house.

Dance Performances

2010-10-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

Every year at this time our school hires a professional dancer to teach each class a dance to perform for the parents on a given night. This is something that my children look forward to. Macie performed her last dance at Parker Whitney and Matthew performed his first. I love watching the little kindergarteners perform every year and this year I was so proud of my Kindergartener. :) Macie and Thomas had "in front" roles and did very well. Julia's school participates in the dance performances in the spring. This year since we had 3 performing we went to the dance shows on both nights. Macie performed on the first night and then Thomas and Matthew performed on the second night. Grandma and Pa even got to come and watch the dancing goodness. Here are some great pictures of my ultra good dancers. :)

Our Friend, Greg

2010-09-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

One week ago today our friend Greg Petersen lost his battle with cancer. We will miss him very much. Greg was a contractor, in the bishopric of his ward, a great father and husband, and a terrific person. He did all the work on our kitchen, and two bathrooms. He and his family moved about 4 years ago to Fall River Mills (about 4 hours away), but they would stop in when they were in town. In fact, Greg did just that last spring. He came by to see us and we had a great visit. He was healthy and happy, and I'm glad we got to see him like that. I am making pumpkin bread right now for his funeral and my house smells heavenly. If you know Greg you might like to check out this memorial about him.

Our Dirt Road

2010-09-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

The machine that runs only at naptime.

There has been a big project going on on our street. We aren't really sure what they are doing. We think they are going to eventually repave the road, but first they had to drop dirt on the road, then pound it in with the enormous roller, then dig the dirt up and put it elsewhere on the road, then bring more to us and drop it on our road and then pound it into the ground again. This has been done over and over. Our house shakes and rattles. One day I thought the windows were going to break. They bring the big trucks, rollers, and diggers by around 1:00 p.m. everyday. I don't have to tell you that is exactly naptime at our house. We are happy with the way the road looks and is monitored. No one is allowed down our street unless they live here. This makes our usually busy throughfare of a street not very busy. It is great and right now very quiet. Maybe we can let the kids play out front. :) Here are some more shots of the work going on out front.

View from out my front door.

Digging up the dirt and putting it in yet another big truck.

What To Do? Have To's or Want To's?

2010-09-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

Henry are you doing homework?

Today is yet another day of what we do here at the Hay House. I don't get much done in the way of keeping up my house, but I do much in the way of getting kids ready for school, taking kids to school, picking kids up from school, serving snacks, lunch, and dinner, taking a webelos to scouts, running errands and getting everything on the oldest child's wal-mart list. :) Tom serves breakfast. I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed with the unfinished things in the house. There are so many things on my want to do list like painting the living room, my bedroom and the kitchen area, finishing the boys crown molding, and organizing the garage, but I'm the type of person who can't do the want to's until the have to's are done. How long do you think it will take for me to get the have to's done. Well here I go off to work some magic. :) Yeah, right.

New Haircuts

2010-09-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

My boys with their ears lowered. :)

My dad takes the boys one by one to the barber when they need new cuts. Today is the day. He took Henry this morning and Matthew after Kindergarten. He is picking Thomas up from school and taking him. What a great Pa. I think it will be a special time each boy will remember having with his Pa. Henry is pretty funny I guess at the barber. No matter who's turn it is once Henry has walked into the shop it is his. He waits for the next chair and climbs in. All the men in the shop get a big kick out of it. Parker Whitney is having school pictures tomorrow so I'm glad Dad took them today to get their new do's for school pictures. I'm even going to have Henry take a school picture, he is in pre-school after all. :)

The Family Vacation

2010-09-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

Is that snow or hail?

How can I not write about our family vacation this year. It has become a tradition for us to go on a camping trip for our family vacation. We have, in fact, become quite good at camping. We have all the gear in our garage organized and in bins so we have easy access to it. We also borrow a friend's trailer because we can not fit all our gear in our van. This year was no different. We were packed to the gills and headed off to Grover Hot Springs (about 3 hours away). We left on a nice summer Sat. morning. All was right with the world. The gang was happy and looking forward to the 6 days of camping bliss. As we traveled farther into the mountains it began to look stormy. We didn't pay much attention to it it was summer after all and it didn't storm in summer right? We get our campground and we were informed at the ranger's station that there had been mountain lion and bear activity even during the day. Tom and I had to "act" brave because the ranger said all this loud enough for the gang to hear. There were plenty of questions as we began to unload. We had just started on the tent when the hail started. Yes, hail. We hadn't had time to put the rain fly over the tent so soaked we got and some of our gear got soaked. We have a waterproof tent so there was a lake on the bottom of the tent. I was cooking dinner during the downpour and we decided we could eat there so into the little town we went and found a picnic table with an overhang to eat under. Everyone was wet and cold. Tom and I did not want to stay there that night so we drove 30 min. into a town in Nevada called Minden where we got the last hotel room at the casino there. The next morning we washed and dried clothes at the laundry mat and then went onto setting up camp. I was a little skeptical of how fun our trip would be after all the rain, but we had a ball. Scott, Kelly and Ali came on Sunday and stayed for a few hours with us and brought us fried chicken and bread. Just what we needed as it also rained on Sunday. Monday we went to the hot springs and pool. After we spent a good amount of time there we went back to camp and Grandma and Grandpa came to visit with us they stayed until Tuesday around noon. We went looking for a lake to swim and picnic by. Wednesday we went into South Lake Tahoe and had a picnic and swam. Thursday we came home. The kids rode their bikes and joined the Jr Rangers. They made friends and played in the dirt. We had smores, campfires and went to the campfires put on by the rangers. It was great and we are even talking about going back next year. Here are some of our photos from the week. Notice the hail it looks like snow. BRRRRRR!

A changing tent and a sleeping tent. I'm a mom who doesn't like footprints on her pillow.

Henry was trying to channel a bear. The rest of us were enjoying the campfire.

Henry enjoying a smore. Are those glasses to keep the smoke out of your eyes? :)

Macie do you love marshmallows or the chocolate to go with? Am I the smore making station?

Thomas found a fishing line at Blue Lake. Macie got into the ice cold water. The lake was a beautiful blue.

The gang playing at Lake Tahoe. Juli is behind Macie digging in the sand.

Ali, Scott, Macie and Stacey playing cards, and trying to stay dry.

The School Year is Here

2010-09-04T21:31:00.000-07:00

All I seem to be doing lately on this blog is catching up. I haven't posted in 3 months. It seems crazy that that amount of time has gone by. The kids survived the summer and swim team. All got personal best times. We went on a family vacation to Grover Hot Springs and stayed for 6 days. We all had a great time and were on high alert for bears and mountain lions. The gang rode bikes, played in the dirt, made new friends and became Jr. Rangers. Kelly, Scott and Ali came and visited and on Monday mom and dad came and stayed in their truck over night. Grandma and Grandpa have bought a new house with a pool and we have spent many an hour over there swimming to our hearts content. We went school shopping and met our new teachers before school started. The first day of school brought Emily and Ali over for some doing of the hair. Everyone looked great. Poor Henry was very sad that day as everyone left and he was all alone with me. The next day he got to go to his speech pre-school class and all was right with the world. Of course, when all is right with the world that means I'm in for some upsets of some kind. Matthew didn't disappoint. He has announced that he is not going back to kindergarten anytime soon. He told me he wishes he were still 4. Poor little guy. It is so hard to sit still for that long.

This new way of adding pictures is really throwing me. I need to figure this out before I post more. I was going to show some of my favorites from August, but with the troubles I've had posting these I'll spare you. By the way, we took 237 pictures in August all from our camping trip, Donner lake Eco Logic family picnic, and the first day of school. Wow that's a lot of pictures. :)

Woodflock 2010

2010-06-16T13:31:00.001-07:00

It has been about 3 weeks since we, the Hay Gang, have gone to Woodflock. For those of you who don't know, Woodflock was a camping experience for Flamingo Heads. Yes, we are flamingo heads. Antsy McClain and his Trailer Park Troubadours went to Red Bluff Ca for Memorial Day Weekend bash of camping, eating, singing, laughing, and making new friends. The kids had a ball and we grown ups had a great time talking with our fellow flamingo heads and hanging with the lead singer guy, Antsy. There wasn't a dull moment. I never had to really worry about the kids because let's face it we all know that it takes a trailer park to raise a child. :) Antsy brought his wife, Polly, and son, Grantsy, and a friend, Lorrinda all the way from Tennessee. My kids had an absolute ball hanging our with Grant. He was such a trouper, I'm sure I owe him lost of bucks for taking care of the gang. There were about 10 kids total and I had 5 of them. Good Times. We really can't wait until we get to go to Woodflock 2011. We had so much fun around the campfire with Antsy and Uncle Fred. Uncle Fred kept the children entertained until Antsy and friends started performing. Just think we were treated to 3 nights of fabulous music and friendship. Every night Antsy had different people singing and playing guitar with him. One night our friend Mike(Chigger) played his guitar painted by Antsy. During the day people played guitar with Fred Murray (85) who played with Antsy Friday and Sat. nights. One of the Woodflockers even brought his denim devil to show. The kids made friends with the Stewart family and with Kimberly, who was there with her Grandmother and Grandfather. I really enjoyed visiting with Polly, Lorrinda, Lisa, Cathy, and Ione. There were so many more people that I talked with and enjoyed getting to know. I'm sure at the next concert we will all meet and it will be like family seeing one another. We all left with hugs and smiles and wishes of safe returns home. It was such like a family reunion except we didn't have the reunion typed talent show. I think that would be a blast or have a type of karaoke to Antsy songs. They are talking about that one on the message boards. We arrived at Woodflock with a trailer full of camping gear, food, bikes, and enough flamingo decor to decorate a small mansion. We left with a trailer full of gear, and happy memories. I hope you can get the idea of how much fun we had through these pictures. My camera battery died and our friend Ione loaned us her disposable camera. I'm sure there are good shots on it as well, but I haven't had time to take it to get developed. I will add those pictures when they become available.

May, Where has the time gone?

2010-05-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

Clam Beach, Trinidad CA,
May 14, 2010

It has been a long time since I have posted anything. It's not that we haven't done anything in the 2 1/2 months since I've posted. It's quite the opposite, maybe we have been way too busy. I don't know where to start. The gang is looking forward to school being out in 8 days and they are looking forward to our trip to Woodflock. We will be going camping with the great Antsy McClain and his loyal following of flamingoheads on Friday. We can't wait. There will be music, food, swimming (if it is warm enough go figure this weather in May), frisbee throwing, and campsite decorating contests. We have a lot of flamingo stuff and hope to give a very good showing in this category. Matthew calls him Antsy McClean. I hope Antsy and crew won't mind our gang on the trip. :)
Swim season has stated and we have found it difficult to fit in the practices with all the end of the school year festivities the gang has. Thomas has a had a fun baseball season and has learned many valuable baseball skills. Matthew has voice more than once how he wants to play baseball next year. Watch out world here he comes. He didn't make the swim team this year they thought he was too young. Oh, well maybe next year.
We made a trip up to Arcata to celebrate Brad's graduation from HSU and had a ball going to the beach, lounging and eating. There have been 3 birthdays here in the Hay House since I last posted. Thomas turned 10, Macie 11 and Julia 7. Henry will turn 3 in 13 days and then poor Matthew still has about 7 weeks until his birthday.
My Aunt Margene died on May 7, 2010 and we went to the funeral on May 17, 2010. She was 75 and in good health when she died. It has been a shock to everyone. The brother who spoke at her funeral and who dedicated the burial site reminded us to journal our thoughts and feelings about the day and Aunt Margene. I liked that idea. Of course haven't done it yet. I will say that it was very comforting having all our relatives together to celebrate her life. We all loved her and I even said a few words at her funeral. I have always thought how great it is to have Aunt Margene on your side. She never said anything disparaging about anyone. She always stuck by you even if you did something wrong. She saw the best in everyone. I said that I liked having her on my side.
Emily gratuadted from American River College and Matthew graduated from Head Start Pre-School. He is ready and raring to go to kindergarten. I pray for his teacher that she will love him and have patience with him. :)
The kids are all growing and becoming their own persons. It is fun to hear their ideas on things and listen to their opinions of things.
Macie and I walked in the Susan G. Komen Walk for Breast Cancer with Pa, Ali, and Emily. It was on May 8, 2010. We walked in celebration of Aunt Jacci and in honor of Grandma Bea Hay and my friend Lisa Escott.
Till next time! I hope it's not 2 1/2 more months before I update. :)

The Things Going On At The Hay House

2010-03-14T09:49:00.000-07:00

We have had some great fun and adventures here at the Hay House since the last post. I realize that my last post was exactly 1 month ago. The kids had a week off the week of Valentine's Day. Tom had Monday the 15th off due to President's Day so we went to the snow. Gram, Pa, and Ali went as well. We packed a lunch, snow gear and off we went. We went to a snow park where we could sled. As we got there we noticed that everyone else in Placer County had the same idea as us.

Thomas was able to go see the famous Antsy McClain. He went with Tom. I would have gone, but we couldn't get a babysitter so Thomas got to go and he was in heaven. He knows many Antsy songs and can sing right along. Antsy drew on a baloon for him and it is still floating around our house. That is a miracle in itself with our gang.
One day Macie decided she needed another sister and Matthew was willing to play along. He is very funny and saw the humor in this dress up game.

Then the first week in March came the pinewood derby for Thomas' cub scout pack 220. He has begun playing baseball for the Tri City Little League AA division on the Athletics so baseball was first on his mind. He created a nifty little baseball bat car. I'm so pleased with his creative spirit. Check out the car and some of the happenings at the Derby.

Macie participates in Activity Day Girls at church and they had a stake wide evening with their Dads. It was a father / daughter dance. We bough Macie a wrist corsage for her to wear and they both dressed up and went off to the dance. They learned the waltz and she learned how to tie a tie on her Daddy's neck. So cute and fun. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall and watched them together. She had a good time and so did Tom.
Lastly we celebrated Tri City Little Leagues 50th year. Yesterday we went to opening day ceremonies. Thomas walked out on the field with his team the A's and then Julia walked out on the field with me and her team the All Stars. She is on the Challenger team for kids with special needs. She is so excited to be on a team like Thomas. Of course, Thomas was hoping they would play each other, but that won't happen. I got choked up when I walked with Julia and all the people cheered for her and her special team. It will be a crazy few months with baseball and then swim season starts. What have I gotten us into. :)

We are looking forward to the spring which brings birthday celebrations, garden planning and planting, games, practices, Tony Crane dances and much more. Good Luck to us. :)

Valentine's Dinner at "Chez Hay"

2010-02-14T19:09:00.001-08:00

We celebrated Valentine's Day in our traditional way. Tom and I served the gang a fancy candlelight dinner. They were all a buzz today waiting in anticipation for their LOVE dinner. We served them shrimp cocktail, bread, tomato basil soup, grapes, strawberries, cheesy rice, and London broil. They feasted and we served. We also served sparkling cider. The table looked very pretty and some of the gang dressed up and one member came in his diaper, which happens to be his outfit of choice. He is sooooo cute that I don't really care what he wears as long as he smiles and has fun. We are now getting them ready for bed and then Tom and I will have our Valentine Dinner. We love doing this because we can eat what we want and we don't have to make reservations and get a babysitter. It is Sunday after all. :) It has become such a nice family tradition. I hope the gang knows how much I love them and just how special we think they are. Happy Valentine's to all of you and may your special love treat you well. :)

I Love My Gang!!!!

2010-02-12T12:43:00.001-08:00

I just want to let the gang know how much I love them and how much I love being their mom. Valentine's Day is upon us and it's all about the love. I especially love days like the bowling day we had earlier this week.

A few days ago we went to the bowling alley for our family reward. We had made it through the month of January and our clean up after yourself experiement. We actually did it. So we were rewarded Monday night with a game of bowling. Everyone loved since they know how to play because of the fake wii that Santa brought us. Julia thought she would get a spare everytime. It was a lot harder than the fake wii. Matthew did really well and Henry was sad because we didn't let him play. He did take a couple of shots down the alley next to ours but the balls got caught in the gutters. Tom let him take a couple of shots down our alley and he was so excited he jumped up and down yelling "I win, I win".
When we left Matthew cried because he wanted to keep the bowling shoes. He loved them and wanted to wear them to school.

It's That Time of Year, Again

2010-01-18T18:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it that it is January again and that basketball season has started. The kids are once again in the Rocklin High School Little Thunder League. Julia is on the Cougars, Thomas is on the Hawks, and Macie is on the Rage. There weren't enough girls for Macie to play so they have put her in the Rocklin Rec. League. She practices on Friday nights and plays on Saturday mornings. Last Sat. Thomas made a 3 pointer and made 3 regular baskets for a grand total of 9 points and his team won. He was soooo excited. Julia has been learning how to keep her hands up and try not to let the other team make a basket. She gets to be on the team with her best bud, Billie Mae Bates. They are so cute playing together. We had to tell the girls the first week to let the other one play and not follow each other around. I love watching them play. Matthew will get to participate next year as he will be in Kindergarten. Watch out world Matthew is coming. :) Anyway, happy January and all the basketball that comes with it.
Tom and I got to go out on a date Friday night. Mom babysat and we went to the movies. We saw Leap Year. We both loved it. It was a classic romantic comedy with humor. We would definately see it again. It was nice being by ourselves, but of course we spent most of our time talking about the kids. :)

Hay, Happy New Year!! :)

2010-01-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

Well the Hay Gang made it to another year. Welcome 2010! One person here at the Hay House is very excited for 2010 because it is the year he turns 2 digits, you know 10. Thomas is thrilled to be into the year 2010. We welcomed the new year in Hay House style. We were going to have another family come over, but they couldn't come. The gang was a little disappointed, but it turned out all right and we had a ball. We rented 7 movies and watch 3 last night and 2 more this morning. We started the night out eating candy and watching Paul Blart-Mall Cop. It was very funny. Then onto homemade pizza and watching UP and then ice cream sundaes while we waited for the Ball to drop in NYC. At 11:45p.m. we put on our party hats and plastic leis and started blowing our horns. We counted down from 10 to 1 and then yelled and blew our horns. Not one Hay Gang member fell asleep and we were in bed by 12:05p.m. We had some fun! The only thing we missed was the sparkling cider and they usually get that on New Year's Eve so the gang was a bit sad about that. Happy New Year!

Gearing up for Christmas Celebration #2

2009-12-29T14:10:00.000-08:00

The Gang is all geared up for tonight. You see my parents were out of town for Christmas and they returned home last night. They are hosting the family tonight for dinner and more presents. My kids can't wait and are very excited to see what Gram and Pa has gotten for them. We are also looking forward to giving Gram and Pa their gifts from us. One is homemade and one is somethng great that Gram is going to love. We're going to be having create your own sandwiches, maccaroni salad, and chips. Yummy!!! More on tonight later. :)

The Day After

2009-12-26T13:06:00.000-08:00

Well we survived the Christmas fun. Grandma and Pa are out of town and were unable to come for the Christmas gift unwrapping, but Auntie, Uncle, Emily and Ali were here. It was a huge surprise for the gang and they did not disappoint in the screaming and happiness department. Tom and I just kept looking at each other and smiling. The kids were so cute and happy with their gifts. It was a very joyous time. On Tuesday we will have another Christmas with Gram and Pa. I better get to finishing Pa's gift and get Grams wrapped. I tend to wait until the last minute on some things. We had a really nice day playing with our gifts and relasing as a family. Our dinner was yummy and we had great company to share it with. We did have a couple of items break on us. Of course Tom and I weren't surprised at the breakage. We live with a few destructo derbies. Today, I have taken back an item and bought Macie a pair boots to replace the pair she got for Christmas that she didn't want. Tom is off to return an item that broke and Macie's boots. Other than that we are relaxing and having fun as a family. The house is a disaster, but that is easily remedied.

The Hay House 2009 End Of Year Report

2009-12-09T15:53:00.000-08:00

If you are here reading about us, the Hay Gang, you more than likely received our Christmas card telling you to come here and find out what has happened to us this year. Thanks for checking in on us. We want you all to know how blessed we are to have such a great support system of family and friends. Our year has been full of family outings, kids accomplishing many things as they grow older, and lots of fun. In March we went with Pa up to the snow. We packed a lunch and made a day of it. What fun we had. With Auntie, Uncle, Emily, Ali, Ashley and Grandma we traveled to Six Flags for a day of fun in the sun. We left Henry home and made a day of it seeing all the animals, riding rides, and eating. We went on our second camping trip at the end of July. We swam, ate, played in the water, roasted marshmallows, and got very, very, dirty. The 3 older children were on the Loomis Basin Dolphin's Swim Team and participated in the Rocklin Little Thunder Basketball league. The other 2 were always there cheering on their big brother and sisters. If you're still reading then we are going to fill you in on how each child is doing.

Macie who turned 10 this year is a very creative and talented girl. She loves to sing and is singing in the Parker Whitney School Choir, taking violin, swam on the 9/10 swim team, and played basketball. We also were able to watch her perform in the Parker Whitney talent show in May. She had a couple of lemonade stands this summer and has been given the money making job of co-recycler with Thomas. Macie says that the best thing about this year was going to Arcata to the HSU homecoming game where Pa was put into the Hall of Fame. She also said seeing her cousin Brad and meeting his girlfriend, Justine, was great as well.

Thomas is a very bright and active 9 year old boy. He also was on the 9/10 swim team and played basketball. He has taken up the violin this year and sings in the Parker Whitney Choir. Thomas has earned his wolf and bear badge in cub scouts this year and will be moving onto Webelos when he turns 10. Tom is his cub leader and that has been very fun for the both of them. He loves his job as a recycler. Tom brings cans & bottles from work and Macie and Thomas sort them and I take them to get the money. Thomas says that the best thing about this year was spending time with my family.

Julia is 6 and in the first grade. She has an Alternative, Augmentative, Communication device to help her speak. She is progressing very well. She is in Special Ed and is mainstreamed into Reg. Ed for all subjects except Language Arts. Julia loves all things pink and loves to play with barbies and dolls. Summer of 2009 was Julia's first season on the Loomis Swim Team. She swam for the 6 and under team and at the awards ceremony was awarded the most improved 6 and under girl and received a trophy which she proudly displays in her room. Julia says that the best thing about this year is being a first grader.

Matthew is a 4 year old pre-schooler. He is having the time of his life at school. There is sand to explore, bars to climb, swings to ride, and slides to slide down. He also is learning a few things as well. Matthew is taking swim lessons so he can try out for the Loomis Swim team like the rest of the gang. He is doing so well at lessons the only problem is that he doesn't like going and screams the whole way there. He goes on Tuesdays and is very happy when he finds out it isn't a Tuesday. During the summer he took gymnastic lessons. It was right up his alley, and he was a great little climber. Matthew says that the best thing about this year was that he gets to go to school.

Henry is 2 and into everything. One of his favorite things to do is watch Signing Time!. He will bring me the DVD's and keep at me until I put it in. Along with learning to sign he is also learning to speak better. He has qualified for speech therapy and sees a nice girl at JabberGym in Roseville. We are constantly amazed at how far he is progressing. He likes to play with cars, Julia's barbies, and loves to ride his stuffed pony. He is very funny and keeps us all laughing. Henry would say that the best thing about this year was that he got to see his cousins Ali and Emily, visit with Grandma and Auntie, but best of all going with Pa to get hair cuts and shop at the grocery store.

Wow! We can't believe what a year it has been. We love you all and wish you all a Happy Holiday Season and hope that you can find the true meaning of Christmas. Please check back with us here at the Hay House blog. You never know what you might find out about us. :)
Here is a sweet video helping us to remember the true maning of Christmas. Enjoy

A Tree, A Parade, and A Snow

2009-12-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

We here at the Hay House are officially in the Christmas Spirit. We have out tree up and that brings the Christmas season to us. We decorated the tree for family home evening last week. Of course, it wouldn't be a Hay House Christmas without something going wrong. I had bought 2 strings of lights at Costco and while hanging them on the tree we realize that we need more. I run to Costco with the girls and yes, you guessed it, they are completely out of what I needed. So the girls and I decide to go to K-Mart. I buy 4 more boxes, bring them home, and Tom hangs them. We have the tree lighting time and the lights are two different colors of white. Who knew that could happen. Then the kids got to stay up late and decorate. Once again this year we only put the kids ornaments on the tree. It is so pretty and they love seeing their ornaments on it. Saturday night we were in the Auburn Festival of Lights Parade. It was very cold and we got to ride on the Head Start School Bus singing songs, hanging out the windows yelling Merry Christmas. We did this because Matthew goes to Head Start. He loved that the night was all about him. Then on Sunday night we had snow. The gang couldn't believe it that it actually snowed in Rocklin. It has been very cold the last few nights. Things have frozen and some people are without power. We are busy getting everything ready for Christmas to come.

Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Christmas Trees

2009-11-28T18:50:00.000-08:00

We had a terrific Thanksgiving. The new picture at the top of the blog was taken at Thanksgiving. We very rarely have family pictures so this was a favorite for me. We ate and laughed and talked with our big extended family. I think the final count for dinner was 53, and if you can believe it that is not all of us. We left the gathering with full bellies and tired eyes. Got home and put everyone to bed and then I went because I was getting up early to go to BLACK FRIDAY. Yipppeee!! My mom and dad went with me and helped me get the items I wanted. I know that I said I was done, but who can resist a few last min. items at good prices. I even got a couple of things for birthdays coming up. I came home and got the gang ready to go to Costco where we got our Christmas tree. This year we got a Noble Fir. I love how green and piney smelling it is. Kelly and Scott and gang were with us as well. They got a huge tree. Costco is such a great value. Brad even got one to go back to school with. He won't be coming home this year for Christmas and we won't see him until his graduation in May. He will be working this year over the Christmas break. We also got our annual Christmas tree getting picture. We are in typical Hay form for the picture and we got a picture of everyone together. It might be our last year for the Christmas Tree adventure.

Signing Time is having a SALE!!!!!

2009-11-28T12:45:00.000-08:00

This Saturday, Sunday, and Monday Signing Time! will be having great sales. Please check them out.
Saturday November 28, 2009 $15 Off Any Order of $50 or more

Sunday November 29, 2009 Spend $50 or More and Get Free Shipping on Your Order

Monday November 30, 2009 Get 20% Off All Gift Sets at Signing Time

If you want in on the great deals just click here.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-22T18:09:00.000-08:00

I am grateful for this time of year when we give thanks for our blessings. We are blessed here in the Hay House to have such a wonderful group of people to be there for us when we are in need. I'm grateful for my parents, sister, brother, husband, nieces and nephew, and my little gang. I love being a stay at home mom and I'm blessed to be able to stay at home. This year has been hard for everyone to make ends meet and we have blessed to make it every month. Here is a video that gives thanks. Enjoy!

A Little Update

2009-11-22T16:20:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, A lot has been going on around here in the last month since I posted. I am very grateful for my family and all the challenges and joys that they bring. We have been knee deep into homework, violin, chior, swim lessons, and school. The month has just flown by. I am officially done with christmas shopping and looking forward to wrapping and getting the tree up. I love Thanksgiving with all the promise of the holiday season. This year we will be having dinner with 48 members of our extended family at my cousins restaurant. We have done this the last few years and it is terrific. A proffessional kitchen, restaurant dish washer, togo containers make it all very easy for us all to enjoy ourselves. Everyone brings something to contribute to the dinner and the feasting begins. I plan on going to black friday again this year, even though I am done christmas shopping it should be fun. :) I met with the kids teachers for parent teacher conferences. The gang is doing well and we can look forward to learning much more in the year to come. Macie and Thomas sang at the Veteran's Day ceremony at the city cemetary. I took Macie and Henry to visit Matt and we had a good visit. We are now getting ready to go to the church for tithing settlement. I now need to make sure that everyone has shoes, socks, and clothes on. :)

It's About TIme!

2009-10-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

Hello all! It has been a loooong time since I have blogged. Let me just tell you what has been going on around here. Tom has had to have his gall bladder removed. I'm glad to say that the surgery went well and he is doing fine. He is having a little trouble holding any of the gang and some trouble lifting. At the beginning of the month Fairytale town hosted a party with the Sac. 20/30 club for families of special needs kids. I took Julia, Macie and Thomas for games, crafts, music, and a bbq. It was very nice and they even gave us t-shirts. We were gifted some really nice and expensive carpet. Our neighbors across the street were given some nice carpet from a man who was re-doing his floors. The carpet he had was only a few years old. Our neighbors couldn't use it so they called us. We now have beautiful carpet in our living room. Please no shoes in there. Julia did you hear me? :) We had to have help moving all the furniture out because Tom can't and I have had a bad back since my accident last October. I also went to Tahoe the first week in October. I am serving on the Policy Council for Placer County Action Council. It is for Matthew's pre-school. The Tahoe trip was for training. I got my own room and they fed us some wonderful food. It was loads of nice alone time. Matthew went on a field trip and I got to go with him. It was a very rainy day so they just rode the bus to the Loomis Flower Farm, picked out a pumpkin, and got back on the bus for the trip back to class. I think it was a great field trip. To kids that little just getting on the bus is a trip. :)
The kids (Macie and Thomas) had their Tony Crane dance. They were cute. Thomas was awarded his Bear Badge at the last pack meeting, and Macie was declared the Grand Prize winner in the Rocklin Chamber of commerce Chili Cook-off coloring contest. She gets to go to a winners party at McDonald's this Thursday. They will give her her prize on that day. She is thrilled. Last weekend we traveled to Humboldt State University for my Dad's inductee ceremony. He was inducted into the HSU Athletic Hall of Fame. We all had a blast and went up on Thursday night so we could have some fun on Friday. We went to the beach which was gorgeous. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Then we went swimming in the hotel pool. We had the place to ourselves. In fact a couple of young guys came in and turned right around. Are we that bad? :) It has been a jam packed month, and I sure hope I can update a little more frequently than monthly.
Here are a few pictures from our adventures:

What's Happening?

2009-09-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

Do you think the girls loved their drumstick ice creams last night?

School has started and we have been trying to get into a routine around here. The children that are in school go to 3 different schools. While this is probable nothing new to people with older children it has been a transition for us. Julia goes to school by bus which helps a lot. She does get on the bus at 7:05 a.m. and comes home by bus at 3:00 p.m. it is a very long day for her. She thrives when there is routine so this has been no trouble for her. Tom takes Matthew to school and I get the other 2 to their school. He is still taking swim lessons and is becoming a good swimmer. We're hoping he can get strong enough to be on the swim team next summer. Next week Macie is starting a before school reading program which starts a 7:20 a.m.. This just throws a minor wrench into things, but we will get it worked out. Macie and Thomas are both taking violin, participating in the Parker Whitney Choir, and going to after school homework club. They are very busy. We were supposed to go camping over Labor Day weekend, notice I said supposed to. Tom got violently ill and ended up in the ER on Sunday that weekend. He has to have gall bladder surgery and is still not feeling well. I have been doing most of the work around here and have a huge respect for those single mothers out there. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon, what is normal?

Should we start potty training Henry? He loves messing with the toilet paper and is very curious about what the potty does. :)

Our Family Vacation

2009-08-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

We went on a family vacation a few weeks before school started. We had to wait to go until swim team was over. The day before we left we went to the awards night for the Loomis Basin Dolphins. You bring your own dinner/picnic and then the personal best awards and coaches awards are handed out. This year we bought the hot dogs and hamburgers that the team was selling. I didn't have time to pack a picnic as we were leaving the next morning. To our surprise Julia won the 6 and under girls most improved award. She received a trophy and coach Lizzie said some might fine words about our Julia. We were so pleased with her efforts this year and all that she accomplished she was even in the newspaper. Check out this article that ran in the Loomis news (front page), Auburn Journal (front page), and Placer Hearld ( page 3) click here There was a picture of her, but now it doesn't seem to be coming up. Anyway check her out!! She loves being a celebrity.
The next day we packed up and headed out on our 5 day camping trip to Collins Lake, which is near Marysville. We (Tom and I) are genius' when it comes to planning a camping trip in the Summer, we choose the hottest place near us and then go there. At least there was a lake for the kids to swim in. As is turned out it wasn't as hot as they were predicting, but it was hot enough.
I was very organized this year, or so I thought. I kept saying boy I have packed well, I just hope I'm not forgetting anything. Well, the minute we got there I realized that I hadn't packed the hot dogs, hamburgers, or sausage. I had to buy hot dogs and sausage at the little highway robbery store there at the entrance to the lake. We had friends from our ward go with us. Both families had a ball and we want to camp again, just not at the dirt pit we were at this year. :)
My mom and dad brought us dinner on Sat. night of our trip. I didn't have to cook and the kids loved seeing their grandparents.

We swam, played at the playground, rode bikes, ran from our camp to the Watfords camp, ate tons of smores, and slept on the ground. Who wouldn't love a trip like that. Now to get ready for our last camping trip of the season. We are heading to Plumas/Eureka State Park with the Bates and Techau's for Labor Day weekend. Could someone please remind me to pack the frozen items? :)

The First Day

2009-08-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was the first day of school, and we, here at the Hay House, had 4 children going to school. Macie and Thomas are in 5th and 4th grades. They will be in a 3 teacher rotation and since Thomas is in the 4th/5th combination classroom he will be rotating with the 5th graders. We will see how this will go because as we all know brothers and sisters together in the same group of students doesn't always go well. :) Julia entered 1st grade at a different school. She is in a K/1 multi-age classroom (that's fancy speak for combination of two grades in one room). She has some of her friends from Kindergarten in there and some new ones to make. All is well on the 1st grade front. She starts school a bit early at 7:50 and gets on the bus at 7:10. I have to say that we were rock stars this morning and had breakfast, a good one at that, and she was ready to go waiting for the bus. One day down and many more to go. Matthew is at the same school as last year and his hours are 8-12 a.m. everyday. Now, what is a family to do about getting all these children to all their places on time. The daddy has valiantly accepted the job of taking Matthew to school before he goes to work. This means an hour change at work, but his job is very flexible on time to start the day. After Julia and Matthew are off to school then I can take the other children to school. I plan on walking them up to school and then taking Henry on an extended walk. Wow, a lot happens around here before 8:15 a.m. Now that school is on I guess I need to start thinking about Christmas, yes I said it. :)

We had some very special visitors yesterday morning. Ali came and did hair for first day viewing and Emily helped with dressing. Gram and Pa showed up because afterall it is the first day. :) Thanks for all the help getting us up and out on time. We love all of you!!!
Backpack time came and Macie got a plain black pack. It wasn't up to her liking, she wanted something a little more jazzy. So we went to town and jazzed it up. I think she may just start a trend. Nice job Macie. :)

She also looks like a fashionista. Before going school shopping Macie created 3 different outfit drawings. We were on the hunt for the looks that she created. We weren't able to find the exact colors, but we got the looks that she wanted. Maybe she has a future in fashion. :)

Here are the other children with their first day outfits. You might ask why Thomas doesn't have a fashion shot of his own. Well, he is a boy need I say more. :)

It's been a while

2009-07-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while and I really don't have a good excuse for it except that a house full of 5 children, swim season, and Julia and me being sick with the flu for 3 days kept me busy. I got sick the night before my birthday and then Julia showed up sick. Tom had to take Macie and Thomas to the swim meet and then I took 7 loads of laundry to the laundrymat. Matthew had a show at his gymnastics class and then he turned 4 on the 25th of this month. The other 3 kids had swim champs this last weekend over Matthew's birthday. He is such a sweet little boy that he didn't even complain that his birthday was spent at Sierra College pool. Mom and Dad took us out to Home Town Buffet for dinner on his birthday so he was very pleased with that.
Macie had a great champs she came in 39th out of 144 swimmers in the 25 Yd Back stroke and she was 40th in the 25 Yd Free stroke. In the 100 Yd IM she came in 61st She had her best times in the free and back. Thomas made his best time in 25 Yd. Back and Julia made her best time in the 25 Yd Back with her time being under a min. She was 58.86. I loved it! They all did so well. :)
Tom's company had their annual summer picnic at Donner Lake on Sat. the 18th. We had a ball. The gang loves going to Donner, playing in the water and participating in the company picnic games.
Julia also lost her top front tooth to offically make her toothless. Then a few days later she lost one of the bottom teeth. She is rich with quarters. :)
Here are some great shots of the days since I blogged last.

Thanks Chris for checking up on our family every Friday. We are on vacation as of the 29. So I will not update until next week. Enjoy! :)

The 4th of July

2009-07-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

What a blessing to live in America. Even with things the way they are we are truly blessed to live here. We went to the parade in Grass Valley. This has been a family tradition for many many years. My mother and father used to go to this parade when they were little, and when I was little we tried to go as much as possible. Of course, when we moved to Roseville 33 years ago we started going every year. Now we take out little gang to the parade and they love it. It wasn't too hot this year and we enjoyed it more than in years past. Then we went to Aunt Jacci's for some after parade food. We feasted and visited with cousins and played. Then onto to home and a great BBQ dinner and home made chocolate ice cream. And who could forget the fireworks. Matthew had a ball this year. He was literally break dancing in the street. We laughed and laughed at his performance. He is quite good despite it being so funny. I think I love the 4th of July so much because it is so close to my birthday and as a child I would anticipate my birthday with such excitement. What better way to start the it's my birthday coming up mantra then with a big celebration. It is also in the middle of the summer and summer is full of adventure and fun. Anyway I hope you all had a Happy 4th and I can't wait until my birthday. :)
The Hay gang before we went to the parade.
Henry enjoying some Grandma time.
The gang and their 2nd cousins. My cousin Shae has 4 children and here are 3 of them with our gang. Charlotte, Landon, and Ava.
Sparklers anyone? The gang loved doing sparklers. I remember loving those as a child also. F U N

One of our fantastic fireworks. :)

Another Summer Adventure! Six Flags

2009-07-01T14:43:00.001-07:00

Well, yesterday we went to Six Flags with Grandma, Auntie, Uncle, Emily, Ali and Ashley. Grandpa stayed home with Henry. Thank heaven Henry didn't come. We wouldn't have had as much fun. Sorry Henry, but you are 2 and quite the runner. We would have had to lock him in the stroller and he wouldn't have liked that at all. We saw the whale show, dolphin show, visited the butterfly house (man was it hot in there), experienced the shark experience, saw walrus', petted a sting ray, rode lots of fun rides, drank soda and ate popcorn and cotton candy. What a time we had!!!! I had packed a lunch and dinner. We fed the kids before we went into the park and then fed them after we came out. They were troopers to wait until 8 for dinner, and walk the many miles we walked. Ali took Macie on many of the "scary" rides. Thank heaven I didn't know about it because I would have been very nervous. Thomas helped me out with the two little kids and rode rides with them. We didn't get home until after 10 with Julia and Matthew snoring away in the back seat. Matthew had a great day of potty training. He is now able to say when he has to go, well all except number 2. He does withhold it until he gets home. We have had 2 accidents today. He just won't go in the toilet. Oh well, he is getting there. It was hot yesterday, but not as hot as the previous few days. Wonder what summer adventure awaits us next week? :)

Shark Boy or Thomas Hay

2009-06-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

I just had to post this picture. It is soooo funny. We went to Folsom Lake with family and friends. Our friend Patty has a seedoo and invited us to go jet skiing with her. We jumped at the chance, and when I told my mom and Dad they wanted to come as well. My sister, her husband, Ali and Ashley wanted to come and join in on the fun. Everyone who wanted to got a ride on the seedoo, even Matthew. Julia rode with me and Auntie rode with Macie. We all a ball and took out a picnic. This is one of the many adventures that we plan to have this summer. I wish Tom could've come with us, but someone has to work to pay the bills. :) Our next adventure was on Saturday with all of us getting up early to go a swim meet and then onto Kelly's house for food and onto a football game that Brad was playing in. It was an alumni game. His team lost, but I think he had fun playing with his old friends. Saturday turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far and we literally baked. It was 106 degrees out at 5:30pm. We had been out in it since 7:30am. We were fried and are paying the price today. I am finally feeling better at 3:00 in the afternoon. The kids had a ball with a hose that had been turned on. They were able to cool off. We got home around 10:00pm. Everyone had fallen asleep in the car. Matthew is being potty trained and did exceptionally well. He loves being a big boy and going on the toilet. I'm just wondering when the training will be over and the trained part can begin. :) He is often heard saying "I potty training" all with a big smile.

Father's Day

2009-06-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to my Dad and my husband, who is a great father to our children. We had a nice day with us getting up and making Daddy a breakfast fit of a king. The kids loved it and it was really fun eating breakfast together at the table. We then got ready for church and headed there. The 4 oldest kids were to sing with all the other primary children to their Dads for Father's Day. I say were because Matthew went up on the stand and looked out and said or should I say yelled I don't want to sing. He was brought to me and I picked him up and escorted him out of the chapel. He then, on the way out, yelled I want to sing, I want to sing. Well he had already been up there and I wasn't going thru that agian so no you don't get to sing to Daddy. Oh, well maybe next time. :)
We then went to Grandma and Pa's for dinner. Pa was making his own Father's Day dinner which consisted of spaghetti, ribs, potato salad, watermelon and homemade ice cream made by the Hay gang. What a yummy dinner and surprisingly the gang loved it and ate many ribs. While at Grandma and Pa's Henry decided he had lots of work to do. These pictures show just how "busy" he was. :)

Everyone else had loads of fun hanging out and eating at Grandma and Pa's. We ate berries off the raspberry bush and Emily did toenails and fingernails. Even Matthew got into the act.
I love my Dad and am so blessed to have him. He is the best. He is always looking out for us and taking care of us. He is also up for any fun adventure that we try and think up. I am also very blessed to have Tom. He is a great husband and the kids love their daddy. He, too, is up for fun times, but mainly he loves to wrestle and have dance parties with the gang. They love having the dance parties and watching America's Funniest Home Videos with him. He also has taught them many fun songs that they just bust out and we smile at each other and can't believe they actually sing and like those songs. All in all it was a fun day.

A Funtastic Day! :)

2009-06-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

We got Julia up and at em yesterday and sent her to school on the school bus. She was going to therapy by bus and I needed to pick her up from there. I hurried around the house with housework and floor mopping. The kids helped with the dishes and Macie got a call from a friend to go to sunsplash. I said ok and bought her an online ticket. The friend was picking her up at noon. Julia needed to be picked up at noon and I need to leave to go with my to see an aftertoon performance of Forever Plaid. I also tried to get a babysitter for the days events and as luck would have it this week is girls camp in our stake so no young women available for sitting with my gang. I asked around and there is a returned missionary who doesn't have a job that might be available to sit for me. Mind you I have never met him, but I call anyway and he will do it. He was set to come and watch the gang at noon as well. My mom picked me up, the sitter came, and Macie was waiting for her friend to arrive. I left and never thought about it again until after the play. My dad went to pick up Julia and they weren't going to let him because I hadn't told them about it. I couldn't believe I had forgotten that little bit of the plan. They called home, but I wasn't there so the therapist let Macie say it was ok for that man (grandpa) to take Julia home. Tom arrived home at 4 and started getting everyone ready for the River Cats game that we were going to that night. He even fed them a little dinner. Tom's work got free tickets and we got some for Gram, Pa, Auntie and Emily. One problem though Macie wasn't home from her fun filled day at Sunsplash. What to do? I know go get her from Sunsplas. How hard could that be, right? The place was packed and they don't allow you in unless you pay. I did some sweet talking and I was permitted in to look for her. I finally found her after about 10 min. Not bad considering all the people that were there. She wasn't happy to have to go home. Tom met us at my mom's Macie changed clothes and off to the game we went. The game was fun and the seats were great. In fact, Tom caught the first foul ball of the night. Go Tom. The kids were so proud that their dad caught a ball. Smiles on everyone. Then Henry was acting up so I took him walking the park. The camera guy filmed us and the family saw us on the big TV in the park. How fun! We are just resting today, in fact, Macie is still asleep and Julia is already at school, Tom went to work and I'm doing laundry. I guess we might get to resting tonight. :)

The Hay Gang Doing Their Thing

2009-06-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

We, the Hay Gang, do have a lot to do. Saturday started out with us getting the whole gang to the El Dorado Hills swim meet by 6:40 in the am. The kids had to check in by 7:00 and we didn't want to miss check in. Macie and Thomas both got to swim 5 races and Julia got to swim 2. She was supposed to be in a relay, but 2 children scratched and her relay got axed. I was more disappointed than her. Oh, well. Auntie, Uncle, Grandma, Pa and Ali all came to watch the swimming wonders. :)

After the meet Auntie and Uncle went to Costco and got pizzas and we all met at the Folsom City Park to celebrate Henry's birthday. Henry loved it at the park. It is situated right next to the Folsom Zoo and there are many chickens running around. Henry found great delight in chasing the chickens. Auntie got Henry a swim suit and a cute hat and shirt. We went home to rest and then Macie went to her friend Kyla's dance show. She had a ball. I took Julia to the urgent care office due to the fact that she was coughing and sounded horrible. She just has an upper respitory virus. Last week Henry went to the doctor and he had a double ear infection with his left ear drum being brust. I felt like a horrible mother. So I was worried that Julia might meet the same fate, but no she has been cleared to start summber school tomorrow. Yippee!

The Hay Family Swimmers

2009-06-06T14:52:00.000-07:00

Aren't they cute? I sure think so. We have our 2nd swim meet next Saturday and thus begin the summer time Saturday nothing gets done season. Today, Tom, Macie, Thomas, Mom, Dad, and Brad went to Grandpa's ranch and cut down a tree and cut up another one for wood for us this next winter. We hope we can get up there another time this summer to gather wood so, maybe this year we won't need to buy wood. We usually go through 2 cords a winter depending on how cold it is. This year we only used about 1 1/2 cords. I stayed home with the littlest 3 because I'm not feeling well and neither is Julia or Henry. I kept Matthew because we all know that Matthew, chainsaws, a ranch, and nothing but running around isn't really a good combination when everyone else has to work. :)

Last Day and Fun Days Ahead

2009-06-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

Henry has a look of Einstein

Well today was the last day of school. I have 3 very happy children here at the house. The Hay House can say that we now have a 5th grader, 4th grader, 1st grader and a cute little pre-schooler. Where has the time gone. The gang had fun at the designated parties. Each one recieved a yearbook and go signatures. I can't believe how much each one costs, but it does bring much enjoyment so I can't resist. Henry is sick today and Thomas came home with what he calls a head full of 10 pounds of blood. I think that is Thomas speak for a headache. He is lying in his bed right now. He could just be recovering from a school year full of learning. Both he and Macie came running into the house today singing "No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks!" Ahh, Pa would be proud. :)
Macie is making the first batch of summer cookies, and Julia is playing dress up. Matthew hasn't napped and is being very loud. Henry is just plain sick and tired. He has cried a lot today, and I have held and snuggled him. Grandma and Pa are picking Matthew up and taking him to gymnastics. I'm sure they will get a kick out of it. I wish I had taken last day pictures, but I didn't so I'll just post pictures at random. Enjoy!!!!!
Here's to a summer full of fun, sun, and maybe a little bit of reading, writing, and arithmitic. We'll see. :)

Matthew enjoying family home evening treat.

"If we look cute can we stay up?"

I got to see Julia perform at her Kindergarten sing along. She is soooo cute.

Nothing Much

2009-05-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day May 23, 2009

Today is Friday and the school children are off to school, well we are waiting for Julia's bus. The little boys and I are going to Costco to stock up on food to eat at swim meets. We have our first official swim meet tomorrow. Julia seems a little nervous, but I'm sure she will do fine. Auntie and Brad are coming to watch and the big kids are amped up to do well for them. Yesterday we had the dishwasher fixed. Funny how an otter pop wrapper clogged it up. ? The big kids have been incharge of loading and unloading. I think a lesson in how to rinse before you load is in order. :) It has been very hot lately and I have the house all closed up, blinds closed and curtains drawn. I'm hoping that will keep us a little bit cooler.
Bus is here gotta run. Have a great weekend!

Getting it Together

2009-05-21T12:45:00.001-07:00

Before I went away for the weekend it was Open House at the kids' schools. We went to see Macie sing in the choir and square dance. Then we went to classrooms and saw all the fabulous work Macie and Thomas have been doing and then it was onto to Julia's school accross town. We actually made it to both schools and saw all there was to see. I'm proud of my children, they work hard and have fun. Being a kid is all about the FUN and they seem to know that. So I came home to a mini disaster. The kids were all in one piece, but the house was a wreck. I had expected it, but to see it was a shock none the less. I really didn't care because I had so much fun with my friends it made up for the fact that I missed the kids swim time trials, and the house was a mess. It is now Thursday and the house is still in a mess. I have done a bit of laundry and picked up a bit, but I do have to recover from the fun weekend don't I? Swim practice is taking up a chunk of time, and the little boys are very active so I am busy there. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I am getting it together and the house will be in order sometime next week. :)
Tom did a great job at time trials and my parents watched Matthew and Henry while everyone else was at the pool. Julia did great and really loves being on the team. I can't wait to see her swim at the next meet. Go Julia!!

A Couple of Birthdays and an Iris Garden

2009-05-09T22:29:00.000-07:00

Macie and Julia celebrated their birthdays together because they have them so close to each other. Macie is the 27th of April and Julia is the 8th of May so we decided to have a birthday brunch on May 2nd to celebrate. What a fun way to celebrate. Everyone that came were able to still have most of the day to do their thing and accomplish Saturday work. Julia was absolutely thrilled as was Macie, of course she recieved most of her gifts on her actual b-day, but happy none the less. We ate and then had gifts. Macie recieved an MP3 player from Grandma and Pa, and a knifty knitting kit from Auntie and Uncle. She went right to work and made a couple of hats before Sunday. Julia go a new talking dollie from her beloved Hunkins crew and a lite bright from Grandma and Pa. We gave her a new bigger bike.

Today (May 9, 2009) Grandma and Pa picked me up to go to an Iris Farm/Garden near us in Loomis. It is a beautiful farm with lots of flowers in bloom everywhere. You can go and wander the gardens and sit among the flowers and just be. Grandma got here and suggested we take Julia May with us. She was delighted and quickly went in the house and changed clothes. Nobody else really wanted to go because they were too busy exploring under the house. We have had a bathroom crisis. For Mother's Day I decided I wanted to update the shower/tub fixtures. Tom started with what appeared to be a very easy project. Let's just say we now need someone to come here and fix a pipe that has been busted. No showers or baths here in the kids bathroom for a while. So Julia was really the only one jazzed to go with me. It was beautiful and I got to escape the chaos of the bad plumbing at the Hay House.

My little Swim Team in the making

2009-04-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the day that Julia tried out for our local recreation swim team. Macie and Thomas have been on the team for a few years and now Julia has decided she wanted to join the team. She did a great job at her tryouts and she did infact make the team. With her special needs the team was a little hesitant in having her on the team, but I told them she really wanted to do this and that I would let the coach know what to expect from her. She will get scared, but what 6 year old isn't a little afraid of the big pool. Just wait until those coaches get to know her and she does what they ask and she tries her best at all times, they will fall in love with her. Just wait until she smiles at them and hugs them just because. This is going to be terrific for her if nothing else because she will be just like her older siblings and just like any other child her age. When we told her she had made the team she just beamed and said "Yesssss". We almost have a full relay. Matthew will be our next swimmer in the Hay family, but that will have to wait until he actually likes the water. :) Congrats to our Julia, well done you!

I made the team !!!!!!

Easter Day

2009-04-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

The gang woke us up at 6:15 to have the annual Easter Egg hunt and find the baskets the Easter Bunny brought. Everyone found eggs and the bigs helped the littles find their baskets. That Bunny can be very clever in his hiding abilities. We did manage to find every single egg so no leftover stinkers for the Hay Gang this year. :) We go to church at 12:30 p.m. this year so we were able to make it on time without having any problems. We spent our time at church learning about our Savior and his Resurrection. Then we were onto Grandma's for a terrific ham dinner and some more egg hunting and candy. Emily, Ali and Pa colored eggs for us to find and they even filled plastic eggs with candy to have more fun with. We got home stuffed, happy and spiritually fed. Everyone in the Hay Gang has one more day off from school except Matthew he gets to go to school today. Now to get some laundry done. Will this ever end? Somehow I'm not so sure. :)

A Snow Day

2009-04-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

No, it didn't snow here in Rocklin. We are on Spring Break so I thought wouldn't it be great to go play and sled in the snow. Now, Tom works so this little family memory making outing was up to me to pull off alone. Or was it? Pa decided he wanted to go with us. We went through all the snow gear last night and low and behold we had enough stuff to clothe everyone for the snow. The only item we were missing was a pair of snow boots for Macie. We quickly borrowed them from some friends and our trip was on. Today I made a picnic lunch and packed drinks and snacks and loaded up the van and off we went. Pa drove and I managed the gang in the back. We drove and drove and drove finally finding enough clean snow to sled in up near Donner Lake. (Next year we plan on going up in January :) ) The kids had a great time playing in the snow, throwing snowballs, and sledding. Then we changed clothes and headed back home. We stopped along the road and ate the lunch. I would say many happy memories were made today. Henry really had a ball after all, it was his first time seeing snow. Macie was terrific with him today and helped him up and down the little sledding hill. As I sit here writing this it is raining outside so I'm sure it is raining or snowing up the mountain. I didn't get any sledding pictures because of all the help the kids needed. Pa pushed them down the hill and I took care of getting the sleds up the hill.
What is this cold icy stuff?
Macie and Julia building a snowman.
Pa could you help me with my gloves?
Is this a snowball fight? :)
Thomas found himself a fortress.
Matthew spent a lot of time on his backside.
We had a great roadside lunch. It was very windy.

A beautiful Sunday

2009-04-05T18:50:00.000-07:00

Today was General Conference for our church. The Prophet of our church speaks to us at General Conference. The Prophet and Apostles speak to us from Utah and we watch it via satellite either in our homes or at our church buildings. We watch from home in our PJ's. After the 1:00-3:00p.m. session the gang went outside to enjoy the beautiful day. Tom threw the ball around to the kids and then they went out front to look at our fruit trees. The apple tree is in full bloom and as Julia says looks like popcorn popping. During the lookie loo session many bees came to pollinate the tree. The children also enjoyed climbing the fruitless plum (we of course thought it would give us fruit, but found out the hard way that it was fruitless).

Julia is a crazy frog

2009-04-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

Thursday night brought us to Cobblestone Elementary for Julia's Tony Crane dance. Macie and Thomas had their dance night last October. This year the theme was "Turn the Beat Around". Julia danced to the song "The Crazy Frog". She was so cute in her costume. I was emotional when I saw my little girl up on stage. She was beaming from ear to ear. The children were all so excited and they did a great job. She waved to the crowd as she walked off the stage. I was so proud of her. This seemed especially important to her because her older brother and sister have performed a Tony Crane dance since they were in kindergarten. Now, she has joined the ranks of the school kids. Grandma and Grandpa along with whole Hay Gang were there to cheer her on. It was a happy night.

Saturday is a Special Day

2009-03-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, oh yes, Saturday is a special day, indeed. We all sleep in a little, have breakfast together, and get to work on the Saturday chores. We have a new plan where we make a list Friday night of everything we want to accomplish Saturday. First and foremost the children need to clean their rooms, sweep and vacuum the rooms as well. We always take out the garbage, and refill all the paper towels and toilet paper. So, today was like all the other Saturdays except Macie was wanting to have a lemonade stand with her friend Kyla. All chores have to be done before any privileges can happen. The lemonade stand started around 11:30 and took a break for 1/2 hour while the girls went to Kyla's tennis lesson. It resumed around 2:40 and went until 3:30. Each girl walked away with $9.25 (they made a killing). They paid Thomas 50 cents to clean up the mess, and I paid their helper Julia, who they didn't think was all that helpful. :)
Tom worked with Thomas and the others (if you can call it help) to put in the garden. We now have tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, beets, onions, beans and some herbs. We are going with plants and seeds this year. I hope we will get some good things because last year time ran out on us and we never did put in our garden.
I did a huge amount of laundry today, and cleaned up in the house. I love going to bed on Saturday night knowing that all is well in the house, and that the gang is bathed and happily sleeping in their beds. I also like being ready for Sunday.
Macie, Kyla and Julia putting in an honest day's work.

Our 2009 garden. Tom, you rock!

Henry and Matthew also had a great day!
Matthew, you are looking good. Who dressed you? :)

2009-03-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

Today was such a beautiful day. Tom stayed home from work because we were attending a funeral for a friend's mother. This woman loved the outdoors and her service was a graveside service. The grass was green and the flowers were blooming. The sky was blue and the air was still. Many wonderful words were spoken and another friend played the violin. I so enjoyed hearing about Jennie's life and how she touched many people.
I also took Julia to the eye specialists office. Julia sees many specialists to keep her disorder in check. Poor little thing she fell asleep on the way home and woke with a crook in her neck.
I sure liked having Tom home on such a nice day. He played outside with the boys. Henry sure loves being outside. Even as I write this at 7:45 p.m. there are 3 children still playing out in the almost dark. I remember this time of year as a kid. It was so exciting playing out on a Friday night. I remember thinking how great the weekend was going to be. Now, of course I still think that, but it is because I get some help doing the chores. :)
Being a mom to this gang is fun and full of adventure. I never know what to expect minute to minute. After going to the funeral today I have a renewed desire to be the best momma a gang could have. I hope one day my children will stand before their families and friends and remember life with Tom and me as happy and fun. I also desire to raise my children to be respectful, loving, happy, spriitual, life long learners, and prepared to be parents themselves. This is our responsibility and we take it seriously.

Finally a new post!!

2009-03-22T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hey, all you Hay Gang fans I am finally getting around to posting. I didn't realize that I hadn't blogged in over a month. Many things have happened to us in this last month. Where to begin. Well Tom and I served our little gang a beautiful candlelight Valentine's Day dinner. The children loved it. Then we were onto the cub scout Blue and Gold dinner. Thomas and Tom had to prepare a father/son cake. The theme was All American. Our pack chose to have each boy focus on a state. Thomas chose Tennessee because that's where Elvis and Antsy McClain come from. The cake was a guitar. It turned out great and won the Most Creative cake. As the month wore on we went to the ER 2 times. One time was for Henry to have stitches in his nose due to a backyard fall (push) off the picnic table. The other time was Matthew being rushed there because he was found unresponsive in his classroom. It appears as if he has had an absence seizure. We keep a very close eye on him. Macie has had to write the 4th grade mission report and project. She also got to sing the national anthem with her school choir at the opening day of Little League yesterday. We also celebrated Thomas' 9th birthday yesterday with his favorite dinner, steak. March brought us another pinewood derby and Thomas built a motor home car. It was a bit bulky and did not win. The motor home won Most Detailed car and Thomas showed great sportsmanship that night. Here are some pictures of the things that we have done this last month. I love them, I hope you will too.
Also, I ran into one of my dearest and oldest friends this last week. This post is for her. She mentioned that I haven't posted in a while, so, Ter here you go. It was great seeing you and I miss all the fun and adventures we used to have. :)

Photo-challenge

2009-02-21T19:34:00.000-08:00

I was reading our friend Jenna's blog and she had a photo challenge on it. She was tagged to post the 6th photo from her 6th folder. So here is ours from my new nikon camera:

Matthew and Julia playing with Henry's formula on the couch. One of the many daily messes I clean up. Ah the joys of motherhood.

Support Two Little Hands Productions in the 2009 StartupNation Leading Moms in Business Competition

2009-02-10T08:16:00.001-08:00

Support Two Little Hands Productions in the 2009 StartupNation Leading Moms in Business Competition

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You can vote 1 time per day. So, get out and vote!!!

A Talent Show and a Cowboy Birthday

2009-02-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday Macie was in the talent show presented by the 4th, 5th and 6th graders at her school. The show was 36 acts long and broken up into 2 acts. Macie was participating in 2 acts and they both were in the 2nd act of the show. Grandma, Pa, Auntie and Uncle were all on hand along with the rest of the Hay gang. We just couldn't wait to see her perform. Her first act was an original skit written by her and performed by Macie and her friend Carlie. It was very cute and she did a great job. The next act she did was a solo performance of the Hannanh Montana song Life's What You Make It She has a sweet voice and seemed like a natural up on the stage. We were all very pleased with her and the courage she had getting up there in front of all those people. The school also showed the talent show in the morning. Macie had to perform in front of the whole school too. Here are some shots of the night. I didn't get any of her performing because I was video taping it, of course.

Now onto the cowboy. Matthew was invited to his first friend birthday party on Saturday. It was a cowboy themed party. He had the time of his life. The party was located where people have property. Matthew was able to ride a horse, play on a zip line, jump on the trampoline, and swing on a rope swing. The little boys decorated paper-bag vests, played with water guns and shot toy lizards and ate cake. Oh what fun he had. The pictures tell the whole story.

Just Another Day

2009-02-04T20:52:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think about this blog and think that I have to only blog spectacular thing. Then, I remember why I started the blog and that was to record the everyday, normal. run of the mill things that happen to us the Hay Gang. Today was just another day. We woke up and did the morning rush to feed the gang and get them out the door to school and work. Julia had swim lessons and I picked Macie up from school and took her to the ortho. We are still in a holding pattern for the braces. (mom says yeah no payments yet. :) ) Since I had Macie my dad took Julia for her swim lesson and apparently she had her best day yet. She made it from one side of the pool to the other. This is what she needs to be able to do to make the swim team this summer. It will be fun having three of the gang on the LBD team.
I then went to Target and got the bushel of diapers/pull-ups that I buy each month and found a pretty new bedspread to buy for my bed. I actually have never bought one for this bed because it was given to us and was bigger than any bed we have had in the past.
Then I went and picked up Matthew at school. Put the boys down for a nap. Picked kids up from homework club, took Macie to Activity Day girls and came home to make dinner.
Now they are all in bed and Tom and I are anxiously waiting for our new favorite show to start, Life.
Off to watch the tube. Oh, happy day just like any other day!

The Gang having fun just like other days. :)

Floor Mate giveaway

2009-02-02T16:03:00.000-08:00

I ran accross this blog that is giving away a Hoover FloorMate. Check it out you have until Feb 15th to enter. Enter the contest here.

Basketball Saturday

2009-01-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

So, every Saturday this month and 2 into February the 3 older kids are playing basketball at the local High School. They each get a t-shirt and a new basketball plus play on a team and learn fundamentals of basketball. Macie and Thomas are playing this year for 90 min. and Julia plays for 60 min. Last week we had a game at 8, 9:30, and 11:00. I was at that school for 5 hours. It was crazy. This week Tom took the girls because they both played at 8a.m. Pa also went to watch. Last week The whole Hunkins gang except for Boppy of course were there and then we went out to lunch to celebrate Grandma's b-day. Anyway here's a couple of shots of our newest hoopster, Julia. Enjoy!

What's going on around here?

2009-01-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

I haven't kept up on posting very well. I get it into my head that I need to post pictures with everything I post, but I don't really. So here is a non picture post. We are kept busy here with school, pre-school, swim lessons, physical therapy(me), and just your everyday stuff. Right now Matthew is watching Signing Time!. He is watching Vol. 6 one of our all time favorites. He is right this minute jumping because Rachel is singing the song "I'm really good at singing, dancing, jumping" etc. Henry is down for a nap and I'm getting ready for PT. My dad is coming over to sit with the kids until I get home. Macie has activity day girls this afternoon. She is having a good manners dinner. She went to school dressed up for the occasion. Thomas had a pack meeting last night. I better get on the ball and help him earn his wolf badge. He turns 9 at the end of March. Time is running out. Julia has been taking swim lessons at the Starfish Swim School. They are hopefully getting her ready for swim team in April. It would be great to have the 3 big kids on the team this summer.
I guess that's it for now. Oh and I twitter you can find me there at staceyhay.

Magical Munchy Popcorn give-away

2009-01-10T15:07:00.000-08:00

I found this blog from a cafemom group I'm on and she is having a give away. Part of the give away is that I need to post about a time when someone did an act of kindness for me. Now, I have many people who are always doing kind things for me, and I'm sure they have no idea how it has helped me. My husband does kind things for me all the time and my family of course is kind to me. As many of you know we have 5 children and it can be difficult to get out. I have this friend Lori who called one day about a year ago and said that she would love to sit for the gang and let Tom and me go out. We took her up on it and had fun. It was truly kind and loving of her do to that for us. Thank you Lori!

Talent Show

2009-01-08T12:53:00.000-08:00

Macie continues to surprise me. She has told me that she wants to be a pop star when she grows up, but I havn't seen any efforts on her part towards that goal. Well this last Tuesday was tryouts for the school talent show and who goes to tryouts but Macie. She sings, and I mean sings not just lip sinc, Hannah Montanna's song Life's what you make it. I went to the tryouts for moral support and I ended up crying while she was trying out. I thought she was great. We're not sure if she made it, but the lady at tryouts told her that she needed to put some moves to the music. You know diva it up a bit. I think we can manage that. :) I, of course, could never have done this kind of thing as a child, but I am thrilled that she has that much confidence. Good luck to Macie!

Happy New Year and Welcome 2009

2009-01-01T16:23:00.000-08:00

The gang put out their money under the mat last night and brought it in this morning. We have done this tradition in out family for as long as I can remember. When you bring in your money in the morning it symbolizes you bringing in money all year. It doesn't matter how much money just that you do it.
Tom and I went to see Antsy McClain in Grass Valley for a New Year's Eve party bash. It was different than we are used to, but we had a great time dancing and being with our fellow flamingohead friends. They had a costume contest and yes, you guessed it Tom won. He went as Stubbie (of Stubbies Discount Fireworks), one of the Troubadour's sponsers. It was very funny.

The day after Christmas

2008-12-29T08:39:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-19T11:42:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-18T11:01:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-09T13:36:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-04T09:26:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-20T14:59:00.000-08:00

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

2008-09-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-07T17:41:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-29T09:41:00.001-07:00

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.