Happy Birthday Hayden!

Even though we’ve been busy with the holidays we can’t forget to say Happy Birthday to our favorite boy!! Hayden turned 8 years old on Dec. 23rd and is loving it! This past year has been a lot of fun for him. I’m not sure where to start with Hayden because there is so much to say about him! He’s such a fun, energetic, smart, funny and intense boy. He loves to read and is currently devouring the Percy Jackson series. He enjoys reading science books and watching Planet Earth, which has turned into a bad thing because he’s now “too smart” to go in the ocean where there are dangerous creatures lurking... we go to the beach a lot and he just digs in the sand or reads a book. Hopefully eventually we’ll get him back in the water!
He’s got great friends in the neighborhood and they love legos, computer games, climbing trees, making clubs, riding bikes and everything else boys do. He's playing basketball right now and looks forward to soccer season starting up. Hayden hates to do homework and will complain for hours before doing 5 minutes of work but he likes school and enjoys learning. He writes fantastic stories at school, with great detail and drama. To his excitement he just recently got to “s.a.g.”, his made up name for skipping a grade. After Christmas he went to third grade instead of second grade. So far he really likes it and hasn’t missed a beat. Hopefully it will continue to be a positive thing for him.
One of my favorite things about Hayden is his sense of humor. He’s always loved jokes and I took great pride in making a comment that was rewarded with “good one mom!” His current thing is to mimic a drum and say something like “ba da chee” in response to a witty comment. It’s awesome and I live for it. He still enjoys challenging me as the authority figure but more and more we will battle it out and in the end he’ll say “yeah, you’re right mom.” It's giving me hope that we will survive the teenage years. I wish I had the video camera rolling all the time. The other day he couldn’t find his ipod and I suggested he check the pocket of the pants he put in the dirty clothes. A minute later I was caught off guard by a huge thank you hug. Love it.
Hayden will tell you that he thinks his sisters are annoying but I know the truth. He plays with them all the time and they have so much fun together. Every morning before school he tries to coax one of them to get under the blanket and snuggle with him to stay warm on the couch. He loves long hugs before bed time but usually treats me to a head butt when I try to hug him at the school. He finally lost one of his top teeth... actually Tom yanked it out. Now we’re working on the other one. Here is the last picture of Hayden with his top baby teeth.
For his birthday party this year we did a movie party. Very easy. In true “Tom” style it couldn’t just be a regular movie, it had to be huge, like a real theater. It turned out really well. We did the party early in the month before his best friend left town. Then closer to his birthday we enjoyed going bowling together as a family. On his birthday he took a friend and we went to the zoo and the science museum there. Here they are feeding the elephant at the zoo...so dressed up! Later that night we went to a lights display at a botanical garden, it was awesome. All around he had a fabulous birthday!!! Hayden just seems to get better every year. I can't wait to see what this year brings!!!