Happy 2nd Birthday to my precious Hayes!!

Whew! The last five days have been an absolute whirlwind! I cannot believe that it has been two years since God blessed me with the most amazing gift I could ever imagine...sweet baby Hayes. This birthday was such a great one and everyday brings more fun, since Hayes is able to carry on a conversation now and I feel like all I do is laugh. I love this age! The twos may be "terrible", but they are pretty darn fun, too!

Anyway, back to the whirlwind part. Hayes' birthday was Wednesday, September 15th and first thing that morning we began his first Kindermusik class, which he absolutely LOVED! Anything that involves singing and dancing, you might as well count Hayes in. After music class, we headed to Petsmart. For the last two months when we have asked Hayes what he wanted for his birthday, the only thing he would say was "fish", so we are now the proud owners of a Beta, whom Hayes named Boo. Thankfully, Boo came with a 14-day money-back guarantee. So far, so good.

After we got Boo all nestled in his new home, I had to start getting everything ready for Hayes' little family birthday party that we were having that night, and this is where the fun begins. As I was preparing for the party, David called me from work and told me he was really sick. Now, I love my husband dearly, but I truly believe that men (in general, and not necessarily you honey) tend to be a little dramatic when they are sick. So, I am thinking a little snot in the nose or a greasy lunch, but I tell him to go to the doctor, which I knew wasn't happening. Suprisingly, he agreed and made a doctor's appointment, and this is the point where I got really scared. David NEVER goes to the doctor. One doctor's appointment later, I get the call...he is running 102 degree temp and is highly contagious. Umm, what?!? So I do what any loving, caring, compassionate wife would do...I pack up the kid and get the heck out of town. Now, normally I would stay and nurse my sweet husband back to health, but the two-year-old birthday boy and my pregnant self decided neither one of us needed to be sickly and bed-ridden. So, we canceled the party and headed to Fort Payne, which we had planned to do the next morning anyway. Even though we did not get to Fort Payne until 7 p.m. my mom and I decided to throw Hayes a little mini party anyway.

When we are in Fort Payne, we seriously never slow down. All of my family is there, so we try to fit everyone in while we are in town. When we got up Thursday morning, I decided to have a little Hayes and Mommy time before all the hustle and bustle started, so we went to the park.

And we had so much fun that Hayes did not want to leave and sat and pouted for a good ten minutes.

Our next adventure was going to visit Paw Paw and Nana. My dad still lives on the farm where I grew up, so visiting them is always so much fun for Hayes. Not to mention, that my dad has more big boy toys than any grown man should own, so of course Hayes has to ride the tractor, the gator, the four-wheeler, etc.

Paw Paw also restored an old tricycle for Hayes and decked it out in Auburn colors. Hayes was definately digging it!!

After all the playing and riding, we took a little break to eat some watermelon and, of course, had to share with the "moo moos".

Speaking of cows, oh my goodness. One of Dad's cows, Tommie Faye (Dad gets pretty creative with cow names), had a calf on Hayes' birthday, and of course we were all obsessed with this precious thing. We let Hayes name her and, of course, he named her Boo. Not sure why, but he is really on a "Boo" kick lately. Now at night, when I ask Hayes what he wants to pray for, he says "Boo the cow cow", and we pray for her over and over and over. She is defiantely the most prayed for calf in DeKalb County!! Here is Boo, in all her beautifulness.....

Moving right along...the next day we had the pleasure of spending the entire day with MiMi (my Mom). We had a blast, but I am not sure if Mom's poor neigbors were quite ready for Hayes.

When MiMi and Hayes go outside, you can bet that they are gonna come back with some kind of critter. My mother is a freak of a woman and will grab a spider (or any bug for that matter) with her bare hands like it is nobody's business. Of course, Hayes thinks this is the greatest thing ever. So, Saturday was no different. MiMi and Hayes go outside for a mere four minutes and come back with a dang turtle. It was game day and being the AU fans that we are, of course we named him Cam.

Then came the torture. Poor Cam.

So, since we didn't have the best living and dietary conditions for Cam, we decided that we should probably free him. Hayes highly disagreed, so we waited until naptime thinking that Hayes would forget about him. Boy, were we wrong. The second that Hayes woke up, he started saying "Where turtle" about a gazillion times, so we explained to him that Cam missed his mama and had to go home to go night-night, but he might come back tomorrow. I mean, of course a two-year-old isn't going to remember that the next day. Wrong again. The next morning, Hayes awoke saying "Where turtle?" So, since it was Sunday, we explained that Cam had to go to church, then this morning, since it was Monday, Cam had to go back to work. So, if anyone has any good ideas of where a turtle could possible go on Tuesday, please email me because I am running out of hours to come up with something.

Anyway, on Sunday MiMi threw Hayes a big "Mickey Mouse" birthday party. Fun!! The party consisted of mostly family, with the exception of one of my best childhood friends, who still lives in Fort Payne. Amanda Duckett Davis and I literally grew up together and she brought her precious daughter, Lindsay, over to play with Hayes. Needless to say, he was smitten.

After he finished loving on his girl, Hayes was ready for his HUGE suprise. MiMi sure knows how to throw a party and brought in the pony! My cousin, Scott, and his wife, Donna, loaded up their horse and pony and brought them to Hayes' party. Oh my goodness, I think this could have been the best day of his little life!! He rode that sweet pony for hours straight!!

We had to break for lunch, but Hayes wouldn't eat unless he could make sure the pony wasn't going anywhere.

Although, it sure was sad to have to kiss the pony goodbye, we had such a great day!!!!

Thanks for such a fun party, MiMi!!! We love you!

After a fun-filled five days in Fort Payne and one awesome birthday party, we had to head back home this morning (and mentally prepare for ANOTHER birthday party this weekend!) We couldn't make the trip south, though, without making a pit stop in Birmingham to visit with our good friends, the Days. Hayes had a blast playing with Savannah and Cooper!

I always get a little home-sick when I leave Fort Payne and have a few days where I am sad and miss my parents. Not to worry, though, because we are going back in two weeks for the DeKalb County VFW Fair. Wooohooo!!