Hayden's Performance Team performed. Here is the intro to their routine.
Hayden waiting to compete in Forms.
Hayden doing his form, Tae Guk Il Jong.
Hayden Sparring.
And for Posterity, here I am sparring. I sparred my good friend Karen. She is my Master instructor's wife and a Brown Belt. She kicked my can, but I managed to come away with the Silver.
Our school had professional photos done. Cute Hayden.
Hayden's roundhouse kick.
1. Lost (and later found) a video camera I borrowed from my friend.
2. Got a hold of Isabella's hot chocolate, called my name, said "See?", and then dumped it on the floor.
3. Took off his own diaper and ran around naked. The diaper was later found in the toy box.
4. Got into the Q-tips and vaseline in the bathroom.
5. Unrolled a whole roll of toilet paper and shoved half of it into the toilet.
6. Got into the fridge, and took out everything withing reach, including the onions which he thought were balls. I now have onion skins everywhere.
7. He got on the counter and demolished the roses my sweet husband gave to me. He then came and got me, took me by the hand, led me to the mess, and proudly said, "See?"
8. He got on the counter again, stirred the wax in my scentsy burner with a fork, and then poured the melted wax into Isabella's cup. 1/4 of it ended up spilled on my counter the other 1/4 is on his clothes, which are now in the trash along with the unsalvagable cup. And I had to take a knife to my counter tops. Amazingly enough, he didn't seem to burn himself.
9. He got into Hayden's markers and colored all over his window.
You're probably wondering where I was when all of this is happening. Putting a load of laundry in, helping Bella make her bed. And then, he usually moves on to his next disaster when he knows I am occupied cleaning up his previous mess.
Another reason to laugh...Gavin has decided he must wear Hayden's sparring head gear every day, for hours at a time. It totally cracks me up! 
First of all, Hayden was chosen to be the Student of the Month. They had a little assembly for those chosen where he was presented with his award. This is his second year in a row to be chosen and he was just as shy and embarassed as he was last year, which makes him all the more endearing. His teacher chose him because he is such a hard worker and never complains, but mostly because he is always happy and always smiling and he "has the cutest little giggle". For those who know Hayden know this is true. He is always happy and giggling! He also is such a hard worker. He struggles with learning but because of his hard work he is beginning to excel in his class. As an example, normally we do homework right after school but yesterday I spent the afternoon in the ER with Bella (another blog topic) and didn't get home until it was almost time for Hayden's karate, which was immediately followed by mine, so we didn't have time. He brought his homework to Karate and worked on it during my Karate. Turns out his pencil led broke, but instead of using that as an excuse, he did 90% of his homework using that tiny piece of broken led. And never complained, or even told me what he had done until I asked him. Such a good kid! We are so proud of our Student of the Month! (Above is Hayden being presented with his award, and below is all the kids with their teachers and principal. Isn't Hayden's teacher adorable?)
The second event is that our almost-eight-year-old finally lost his first tooth last week! All of his friends lost their first (and second...and sixth) teeth eons ago and have their big teeth already grown in, but Hayden's teeth decided to wait for a few years! He felt so left out, so needless to say he was very excited! And to add to the joy, his second bottom tooth came out yesterday! I'm going to miss those perfect little baby teeth, but it really was about time!
We made our annual pilgrimage to Gardener Village to fight the crowds, hunt for witches and visit the candy shop. Above, are all the children enjoying their candy by the pond.
We went to a corn maze and had a ton of fun picking out pumpkins and playing on all the fun things. That's the back of Isabella (in the solid black) and Benson up in the distance next to my friend Mandy. And this is the only picture I took of the whole day.
We carved pumpkins. It took the kids an hour just to select their images, but I think they turned out pretty cool. They lasted two days before they found their way to the trash. We simply could not endure the faster than normal decay and the resulting swarming flies. But they were fun while they lasted.
I managed to not get any good pictures of the kids in their costumes. These are it. Benson was Batman...for the fourth year running. Since his previous batman costume looked more like shorts, we invested in a new one. Hayden was a wizard, without a beard since his mom couldn't find one ANYWHERE. Gavin was Tarzan. My mom made that costume for my oldest brother, Chris, when he was a baby. He's now 44. Then My next oldest brother, Stefan, wore it, followed by Hayden on his Second Halloween. I love tradition. Bella, after our urgings to be a witch, or princess, or fairy, or anything feminine, latched on to this SpongeBob costume at the store. As much as I dislike the idea of her wearing SpongeBob, I sorta love it because that's exactly how I was when I was little. I'm not sure if they're trying to give the peace sign, or flashing gang symbols, but they are stinkin' cute.
Benson started soccer. He had a lot of fun and it was a fun season. 
Tory took Benson's training wheels off while he was at school one day, in early September. After Benson got home, and before we could even "help" him learn, he hopped on and took off like he'd been doing it his whole life. (I took this picture today. Mid October, Benson still in shorts, our grass is still green, the tree's leaves aren't even beginning to change! A true Indian Summer). 
I haven't blogged about it before because I'm super nervous about people knowing that I'm alone and the house behind us was robbed, adding to my anxiety. But now that he's home I can talk about it. Tory has been out of town since April. Yes, as in the last six months. He comes home on Saturday each week, sleeps half the day (his work is doing night testing), then has to do everything he needs to do in order to prepare for the next week (mow the lawn, do all his laundry, repack etc.) and then leaves again Monday morning. It's been a crazy six months. BUT, as of Friday, this handsome man is home! He has a trip to Maryland next month and one to New Orleans in December, but we can handle that! 
We went to Las Vegas over Labor Day to spend the weekend with Tory's brother and his family. We love visiting them and they always show us such a fun time! Here's our kids (sans Bella who was having a grumpy picture day) with their much loved cousins.
Hayden and I both had the opportunity to attend a seminar by Bill "Superfoot" Wallace. He is a six times world champ in kickboxing and a world champion martial artist, he's also been the bad guy in a bunch of movies. He is 65 and can still do full splits, and his kick is measured at 60 mph! Our Karate school was becoming certified by him. I could hardly walk for a week after his flexibility and kicking exercises. All 4 hours of them! 
Hayden with Master Wallace. In the picture above, Hayden is on the far left. He's one flexible kid! Me...not so much.
Doesn't he just look mischevious?
Gavin took it upon himself to decorate Bella's room. I haven't gotten around to it yet, so he took matters into his own hands. He colored every wall, her bed, all her toys and even the heat vent. He was pretty proud. And pretty cute. Luckily, most of it wiped off with a little elbow grease. As a side note, he also received his first haircut, as seen in the pictures. Now he looks like such a big boy.
My big second grader. I didn't even think of taking his picture until I saw all the other mom's taking pictures...Oh Yeah! I'm supposed to do that! Luckily my camera was in the car. But the back drop was subpar and the sun was bright. As a side note, Hayden has decided he is old enough to ride his bike to and from school, with a group of his friends. Uhg. He's growing up too fast.
Is he really old enough to be in Kindergarten? He spent the whole morning studying the Leapfrog Fridge Alphabet, just to make sure he had it down.
Miss Bella. She wore her backpack around for hours before school started. She usually doesn't smile for pictures, so you know she's got to be excited! Lucky for me (and much to her dismay), it's only two afternoons a week.
This little Sweetheart turns 18 months old this week. Here are a few of my favorite things about Gavin at 18 months:
Hayden 
Bella
Benson
Gavin
Another Bella
Isabella and cousin Elle dancing in the river.
Gavin getting loves from Tory.
Benson, drying out on the shore.
Hayden, showing how manly he is.
Gavin, being cute.
The kids and a few cousins having fun.
