Happy Birthday Hayden!

5 years ago today Hayden Kristine Averett was born! I can't believe it's gone so fast. It seems like not that long ago I was posting that she was turning 4. She is so excited for her birthday and has been counting down the days for about 3 weeks now. We decided to hold off on a friends party for one more year, which she was surprisingly okay with. We usually let them choose where they want to eat for their birthday and she chose Olive Garden a couple of weeks ago and I'm not sure who is more excited, Hayden or her parents. We will celebrating with a family party on sunday for anyone who is interested in some Highschool Musical cake and ice cream.

I can't believe what a gift Hayden is to our family. Everyday is a new adventure and it is usually an entertaining one. It is rare that Hayden isn't singing at the top of her lungs or dancing with all her might. I'm not sure if she can walk a straight line without bouncing or twirling. One of her favorite things to do is put on talent shows or performances of some sort at home. That girl is destined to be the next Hannah Montana! We love her so much and wish her the Happiest 5th Birthday ever!!!

More Flash-

Well it's been a week since Flash came to live with us. I still am not sure what I've gotten myself into. Needless to say, the house training isn't going great. It's a good thing he's so stinkin' cute or otherwise he would have been out the door the morning after we got him. I can't complain too much because it was my big idea. The girls have been asking for a dog for a while and when I saw some on KSL.com that were in Kamas, I mentioned it to Greg and he didn't adamantly oppose so I decided to go for it. Why didn't I do it at the beginning of the summer? It's a little chilly to be standing outside waiting for him to do his business. And I do have to stand out there with him or he climbs the stairs to come back in and then can't get back down. We have to carry him out because #1 he can't go down the stairs yet and #2 he doesn't like the cold either and when you open the door he runs the other way. Greg says he feels just like Rosco P. Coltrain as he's packing him outside (he better not start calling me Boss Hog). I feel like I'm staring at his butt all the time to see if he's pooping or peeing or just sitting. Chandler LOVES him. She sits on the floor and puts her arm around his head like in a head lock and she says "he wuvs me", and she calls him baby boy. Hayden likes him but only if he isn't interfering with whatever she's doing at the moment. And Gracie will touch him with 2 fingers and then immediately wash her hands. It's been an experience so far. Not sure if I would do it again but when I was growing up, I had the same dog for like 18 years. Mutley was another member of our family. We even had family portraits with her one year and she was totally smiling along with the rest of us (I'd post a picture but although Mutley looked cute It was not one of my best). I want my kids to be able to experience a pet like that. They've always been pretty frightened of animals because they just haven't been around them that much and it's sort of bugged me. I hope they will grow to love Flash or at least tolerate him. I just wish we could flash-forward a couple of months and get past this 'crappy' stage. I've got to go now. I think I smell a turd. Here are some more pictures.

He loves the girls too. Hayden left for dance the other day and he sat and whined by the door.

He's taken over the bean bag and when he's not shut in the mud room that's where he is. He's pretty lazy which is good. He fits right in.

Hello Flash- Goodbye clean carpet!

I wanted to quickly post some pictures of the newest and possibly the last male member of our family. These are for you Jamie. I'm still trying to get a really good shot but these will do for now. His name is Flash (for you Dukes of Hazzard fans you'll understand-coo coo!) Greg said if he had to get that kind of dog he got to name it so the girls didn't even get a chance which is good because his name probably would have ended up being sparkles. I'm not even going to start complaining about poop or pee all over because it's pointless. I'm already picking out the new carpet for when he is house trained though. If he lives that long. What on earth was I thinking?!

My little snow angel

Well one is at school, one is napping, that leaves poor Hayden to entertain herself. She can be a total couch potato most days so I'm glad there is something other than TV that will entertain her for a while even if it means work for me. We haven't gotten all of our snow clothes out yet this season so it took a little digging but we outfitted her good enough to keep warm for a little bit. She's been itching to get out in the snow since the first snowflake first fell then melted immediately. Today she was lucky enough to get some snow that is sticking around. Notice nothing matches. Poor middle child. She has on a cousins purple hand-me-down pants that are a little snug, her sisters pink and black hand-me-down boots that are a little too big, and her own brown coat and hat that doesn't fit well over her messy buns. I know it's not a fashion show in our own yard, I just remember how bad I hated hand-me-downs! Luckily she still thinks it's cool to wear something that use to be her big sisters. How long do you think that Will last? I've got to go find something for a snowman nose because we're out of carrots again and all we have is a soggy cucumber. Last year it was a stalk of celery and they just wont forget about it. And I better make sure we have hot chocolate because we all know that you can't build a snowman and not go in for hot cocoa.The finished product.And the finished product.

Happy Halloween!

Well it has been a busy week for sure. With all the Halloween celebrating and the Dance performance with it's dress rehearsal and my part time gig babysitting on Monday and Tuesday, it sure flew by. We got off to a bad start Sunday night with Chandler throwing up all over our bed right as we had fallen asleep. Talk about a rude awakening. If that isn't motivation enough for us to get her sleeping in her own bed, I'm not sure what is. So Monday I didn't dare babysit and get my friends kids sick too so it was a pretty mellow Monday for a change. That night we had our annual Averett family Halloween party at Gramma Dixies. She always goes all out for the kids. We're all suppose to dress up but this year Addison was the only fun one. He made an awesome Mr. Incredible. We had yummy food, including maggot stew cooked inside a pumpkin, and even yummier treats. (Have you tasted Dixie's sugar cookies? Mmmm! My fave!) Then all the kids carved their pumpkins with a lot of help from the parents, and the prize for the best pumpkin was handed out. Guess what! It was like a 20 way tie and everyone got an envelope from Gramma.

Then Tuesday after babysitting, we had dress rehearsal for the dance show and didn't get home till later and even Hayden kept saying what a long day it had been. Wednesday was Hayden's preschool party and she had to dress up. I should have been that cute mom who sends homemade treats for the class but I just couldn't fit it in this year. That night was the actual Dance show and this year they did 2 separate performances to accommodate all the people who come to watch. It's hard to have a big event in a small town unless it's a football or basketball game. Of course the girls biggest fans came all the way up to see them dance like they always do. Grandpa Joe, Grandma Linda, Aunt Jamie, Ally, and Cooper. The girls are always so excited to see them all and we appreciate them running up for such a quick show.

Thursday was a total waste of a day and we didn't do anything, including getting dressed for the day. Chandler and I stayed in our pj's all day long and prayed nobody stopped by. Then came today. Halloween! Gracie had her party at school and got to dress up for the second half of the day. She chose to be a ballerina (which I'm not sure why, she's that once a week) Hayden was so excited all day. She kept asking if it was Halloween yet and I kept telling her yes it's Halloween but we can't get dressed until the house is clean and Gracie and Daddy get home. So when Greg walked through the door she says "dad's home time to change". We like to go the trunk or treat at the stake center. They get more than enough candy and you pretty much run into everyone you know. Hayden was the first to say trick-or-treat at every car and Chandler was not sure at all about it. There were some pretty scary costumes and so I packed her and did all the work. Then we left and went to Gramma Dixie's for more treats and homemade caramels.(Yummy! My fave!) Then we came home and ran around with a sugar high until Chandler tripped and landed super hard face first on the hard wood floor. I was afraid her teeth had gone through her top lip and she would need stitches from the amount of blood, which totally freaked her out, but I think it's just a small cut and a really fat lip. I think it will be pretty sore for a couple days but nothing that an otter pop can't fix.

Here is Gracie witch. She thought if she wore her hat cocked to the side she looked like a "punk witch".

Hayden was Belle. It looked kinda dorky with a long sleeved shirt and leggins underneath but I hate to buy a costume and then cover it up with a coat. What's the point of that?

Then there's our little penguin Chandler. This was Hayden's costume from when she was 2. Thank goodness she was excited to wear it. Call me tight but I hate spending money on something they'll wear once. That excludes princess costumes of course, because we have a princess costume on constantly at our house and we've now almost completed our collection of princesses dresses. So that's our busy week in a nutshell. I hope the next few are a little less hectic. I think we all could use a little break before the holiday rush hits us smack in the face. Happy Halloween everyone!