Fish & Butterflies

Last Monday, Chase and Gramma Joyce were off from work for Columbus Day, and we decided to take a little trip to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. Hayden wasn't feeling very well, so we didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked, but he had a great time, regardless! He loves fish and butterflies, so this was heaven for our little boy. He also got to practice some walking, which he has been trying more and more these days. He can get pretty far, but still prefers to crawl.
As he was falling asleep that night, he was making fish faces (as seen in the video) and doing the sign for butterfly. I'm sure that we will be going back quite often in the future!

I apologize...

As most of you may already know, we have moved back to the United States, and we are just beginning to get settled down. Hopefully, I can blog more now, but since I am so far behind, I will just post some pictures of my growing boy! :-)

One year ago today...

the most precious blessing we ever received came into our lives! We started the day out with breakfast made by Grandpa Maxey and then, after a little play time, we started the celebration. Hayden had his first taste of birthday cake and opened a few presents before heading off to the Roanoke Zoo! He was so worn out from all the excitement, that he passed out on the way to the zoo and slept some of the time we were there. He did wake up in time to enjoy most of it though, especially the goats, who he now copies by making a sound that is more like a giggle. After the zoo, we headed out to the Homeplace, a restaurant out in Catawba that serves good old southern food in a good old southern way. The waitress was nice enough to bring him ANOTHER cake for him (like he really needed it!). He didn't get to eat too much of that though, since he had indulged himself pretty well with the cake from earlier in the day.

We loved spending a beautiful day with our family, but most of all, we loved being able to enjoy the love of our lives! Hayden, baby, Mommy and Daddy love you so much and have loved watching you grow over the past year. It's hard to believe that you were such a tiny baby just 12 short months ago that could lay on Mommy's lap and fit perfectly! We are truly blessed and thank God every day for you...Happy Birthday!

Nashville Zoo

Yesterday, we decided to take Hayden to the Nashville Zoo to see all the animals that we would normally have to travel quite a ways to see in the CR. He made it through most of the zoo, but then passed out before we could make it out.

Checkin' out the giraffes....

Hmmm...do I really want to pet the goats?

Going...

...going...

...gone!

Camp Lisa

A few Mondays ago, we headed out to hear Lisa Loeb perform some songs from her new children's CD, "Camp Lisa". Hayden loved hearing her play, and really enjoyed seeing other children having such a good time. We bought her new CD (along with the new Barenaked Ladies' new children's CD as well) and then stuck around to have it autographed by her. Hayden made quite an impression when he immediately tried to steal her glasses. :-) If you haven't checked out this CD already, we would highly recommend it! Hayden has really begun to love music and this CD is full of fun camp songs that are easy to sing along to and are really fun (even for parents). Best of all, all the money from the sale of this album is put toward sending needy kids to camp!

More of Hayden and Justice...

Hayden and Justice have really hit it off! Every time he sees her now, he can't wait to kiss her little cheek! They are just so cute...how can I NOT post more pictures? :-)

"No, Mom, we're not getting into anything...well, maybe just the trash..."

Working together to try to make Blues Clues come on...

Uncle Mike's Birthday!

On July 5th we headed over to Mike and Maggie's house to celebrate Uncle Mike's birthday! The food was wonderful (of course) and the company was even better...

Yes, that is one of Maggie's homemade cakes...chocolate with raspberries...mmmmm

The Hawaiian shirt gang! :-)

Justice knows what it takes...

to deal with a Block man! :-) He was shocked into silence....

Only one more month...

and our baby will be a year old!

We are in the states for a nice, long, and hopefully relaxing, vacation. There are so many people to see and so many grandparents to love on! Bear with us if the blog is a little slow (I think you are used to that by now)...but we will keep it posted as often as possible so that you can see what a WONDERFUL time we are having here! :-)

Happy 4th of July!

We took it easy this July 4th and just had some friends over to enjoy the amazing weather. The best part was that Hayden got to spend time with Justice, who he hasn't seen since he was only 5 months old! They had a great time playing in the new "Froggy pool" that we set up in Babi and Zeyde's backyard. It was great to see them playing, talking, and crawling after each other...they both were worn out by the end of the day.

What a flirt...huh? :-)

Happy Birthday Grandma!

We love you Grandma Maxey! Hope you have a wonderful birthday,
and we will see you VERY soon!
Love,
Jenn, Chase, and Hayden :-)

What he is up to now...

Here are just a few of the many things that Hayden likes to do each day...oh, and some cute photos thrown in as well! :-)

Choosing from his DVD collection...

Pulling up on EVERYTHING...

Watching the swirling colors in the washing machine...

Playing in the sunlight...

Still putting everything in his mouth...especially his bath letters and numbers, which are scattered throughout the house!

Happy Father's Day!

We love you Daddy, Grandpa Maxey, and Zeyde!
We can't wait to see you soon!

We will miss you...

When Chase and I found out the news on Saturday morning, we were, and still are in shock. We were such big fans of Meet and Press and just Tim Russert in general. I, for one, never really got into politics until I began watching his program in the past year or so.
He will truly be missed...he was definitely one of a kind.

Congratulations Paul and Maurie!

They finally did it! Last Saturday, Chase's best friend, Paul Dowell, married his girlfriend, Maurie Ponder, in Nashville. Obviously, we weren't able to be at the wedding, but we have gotten a few photos from Facebook and it looks like it was a beautiful occasion. Can't wait to see you guys when we get home!

Chase's gang...

I really do love these guys...I hope we get to see them while we are home! :-)

Hayden turned 10 months!

And, no, I didn't forget...Mommy and Hayden have been sick for over a week now! He was NOT in the mood to go through the monthly "photo shoot", so I didn't push it. We are both much better now after some antibiotics for Hayden and finally some sleep for Mommy. I do, however, have some of the cutest pictures ever taken of my baby (in my opinion) from when a couple of the girls from school were here. They are all CRAZY about Hayden, so whenever they are around him they take hundreds of pictures of him (I do not lie...in this batch there were some where around 115)! He has almost mastered pulling himself up to standing and can do it in record time now. Which means....he is into EVERYTHING! As our friend Vivek told us the other day..."enjoy each stage, because the next is a little more challenging". I can't wait to really be able to sit back and enjoy him this summer...he just keeps getting more and more wonderful every day!

American Football in a land of Futbol

On Sunday, we got out and went to our first American Football game here in the Czech Republic. It was the Prague Panthers against the Plzen Patriots...it was more of a slaughter than anything, but it was just nice to see some American Football being played! Daddy and Hayden had a great time with our friends Lucien and Ben. :-)

Hayden sportin' the football jacket! :-)

Isn't he just too cute? :-)

Watching the game...

and learning to yell for the team!

Lucien trying to explain things to Ben while enjoying the brat, mustard, and bread...and a beer hiding around there somewhere!

Hayden wants a jersey like Daddy's

Prague Panthers

Lucien the redneck in is Castrol hat! We're such Americans!

See, I told you....slaughter...

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