Zoo time!

We haven't been to the zoo since last Fall. That's a little unusual for us, considering we used to have a membership and would go at least twice a month! I let my membership lapse this year though. Now that Hayden's in school full time, and Tay is in preschool, I figured I wouldn't use it as much.

So last Thursday, on a whim, we hitched up with Becky, Kady, Faith and their grandma and went to the zoo. We enjoyed a picnic, soaked up some sun and let the girls overload on cotton candy and snow cones. I came home and had to go to work, so I let Conal deal with the repercussions of the sugar high! ;)

Taylor Update

Tay's about to turn 4 in just a few weeks. That meant that her IEP was due at her developmental preschool. I was pretty convinced that she wouldn't be approved for the program any longer, but wasn't quite sure if they'd keep her through her birthday, the end of the year, or what. The week before her IEP the school psych. told me that they would be releasing her on the last day before Spring break. That was music to my ears!!

On March 12, the last day before Spring break, I met with her teacher and the therapists at Erie school and we all signed off on Taylor's release from the developmental education program.

Taylor has done so well and is now mainstreamed! Her vocabulary, vocalization and socialization have exceeded far beyond the expectations and goals that were set for her a year ago. In fact, all of her educators and support staff involved recommended that I get her into a program or class that will allow her to express herself. They think a quiet dance class is too docile for her. She's been around quiet kids for awhile and they'd suggest I enroll her somewhere where talking, singing, and noise in encouraged. So, I did just that! I enrolled her in the summer Broadway Kids camp at the Chandler Center for the Arts. It's a bit pricey, but she's never done anything fun like that. By this age Hayden had participated in dance, gymnastics and soccer...now it's Tay's turn!

We also left her school that day after her IEP meeting, and went over to St. Tim's. I had spoken to Monica the week prior about enrolling her for next Fall. When we went in on Friday, Miss Terri took Tay into music class with the rest of the kids. Taylor had a ball! Miss Mary has a small class right now, only 6 kids in the afternoons, so they invited her to attend for the rest of the year. I'm not sending her until the week after Easter when they resume their schedule. I wanted her home while Hayden is off on Spring Break. Taylor is really excited to go to the "big kids school where Haynen went". She will only go for the remaining six weeks left in the school year, but will return in August.

Taylor is doing really well, it does my heart so good!

The social butterfly with Emme, Reagan and Jackson

Neighborhood fun!

I've been a slacker and haven't been carrying my camera with me too often. It's really too bad. We've been having so much fun with new friends in our neighborhood, and I'm missing out on a lot of photo ops.

Our neighborhood school has been more than just fun and new for Hayden. Living here as long as we have, we've always been a little down on our neighborhood. There's nobody fun, or even friendly on our street. Well, since Hayden has started school, and I gotten involved with the PTO, we've met so many nice families that live in our development, just blocks away! AND, this isn't a crappy development! There are actually friendly and social families around...they've just somehow skipped our street!

We've been to everything from a Mardi Gras party to a Sangria party. Dinner parties, lunches, and playdates. We've gone out to dinner and had friends over...it's been so much fun! And it's great, because the kids are included in most everything, we don't have to find a babysitter as often as we used to!

Hayden and Lauren at Lauren's House
Hayden and Lindsey at the Sun's game. It was a school sponsored event and so much fun. Their friend Ryan's mom is a local newscaster who had Media passes. So, she took Hayden, Lindsey and Ryan down courtside during the game and for a behind the scenes tour. These two crazy girls had a BLAST! They met cheerleaders and the Gorilla, and their friend Ryan even high fived Steve Nash!
I watched the Moore girls, Faith and Kady, last Friday while their mom worked. These girls all get along really well, and we see them often!Sitting in a bubble 'copter

The Haydens...aka H1H2End of season (2) soccer party. Hayden with Coach Randy and Coach Efren (who I actually went to highschool with). Crazy, small world!

A blossoming friendship

One of my biggest fears with Hayden has been the fear of her making a friend. Since she's socially awkward and is often embarrassed, obnoxious and doesn't know how to act around her peers, I worry that nobody will want to be her friend. I think I worry about it even more, because she often complains of it...not having lots of friends like some of the other girls in her class. BUT....I constantly tell her that she doesn't need 10 friends, 1 best friend is perfect!

Well, she has a friend. Her name is Lauren. This is not a frienship that quickly bloomed overnight. It's been in the making since the beginning of school. They have developed a friendship solely by themselves without the guidance of Mommies.

Once Lauren's mom and I realized that the girls had been consipiring for a playdate for quite some time, I offered to take Lauren on a Friday after school, as she had a lot of work to catch up on. Lauren got to ride home with us, stay and play and the girls made pizzas for dinner.

They had so much fun just being silly 6 year olds. Lauren is only a few weeks younger than Hayden, and they really balance each other out well. So well, that their teacher said she'd like to try and keep them together in 1st grade next year! Yay..hopefully so!

Lauren and Hayden had so much fun playing that Lauren turned around and invited Hayden over to her house for a few hours the very next day. They just live a few blocks away, so it's very nice and convenient. Hayden can't wait to be old enough to cross the street on her bike so she can just ride her bike there. (YAH...that's gonna happen ;) )

They also had Hayden over this past Friday after school. It was her turn to ride home with them. Lauren is very sweet, and they think the same of Hayden. Phew...such a relief. I'm glad to know that behind my back when I'm not around, that she's well behaved and polite.

The girls are now working on us for a sleepover!

Ringing in 2010

Traditionally, we have a quiet New Year's Eve. I make some type of steak and a feast of King crab legs for Hayden and I. We watch movies and rarely make it till midnight!

This year, Bonnie and Andrew called around 3:00 to see if our ping pong table was set up yet, and if they could come play before the party they were headed to. An unexpected 7 hours of ping pong, errr....beer pong ensued in our garage! So our NYE meal this year consisted of Miller Lite and beef jerky! We saved our 'special' meal for New Years day! We're stingey ;) But we had so much fun...the laughter was never ending!

The kids had a blast singing and dancing in the driveway, running crazy and getting to be loud and obnoxious without getting in trouble. It was New Year's Eve, afterall.

Hayden just barely made it to 10:00, so I put on the East Coast ball drop to celebrate! They left around 10:30, and none of us made it to midnight. Conal passed out as soon as they left and Tay puttered out on me at 11:00.

What a way to send out 2009. Playing, laughing, drinking, reminiscing on the craziness that was the year leaving us and looking forward to all that 2010 will bring.

Happy New Year!