robot's (and hayden) invade vbs

hayden headed off to vacation bible school for his very first time this past week. i remember going when i was in 1st or 2nd grade to first baptist of northville and then years after that to ward.
unfortunately, it seems like many churches don't even do a vbs anymore. some of the smaller churches do a 3 day one. but thankfully ward church still puts on a KILLER vbs. so i signed hayden up and drove him over on monday morning.
hayden is not a shy kid by any means. he has no problem stepping into new situations with new people. he certainly doesn't get that from me! he didn't have any reservations about it...he simply wanted to know what they would be doing.
when we pulled into the parking lot on monday morning, hayden suddenly got VERY excited when he saw all of the bouncers set up outside. talan also was very excited and wouldn't stop saying "bouncy!" luckily i was able to convince him that the bouncers were only for the "big kids" and the rest of the week he would tell me "bouncy. big kids." i still have no idea how we made it a whole week without him freaking out that he didn't get to go on them!
we walked in to the church on monday and it was INSANE. i later heard that there were around 1143 kids that had PRE-registered. and i believe they said there was usually an average of around 1150 kids every day!!! i walked hayden to his class and he sat right down ready to get to the fun with hardly a goodbye to us.
after the second day i was told that they were going to be moving hayden to a different class. the leader at his current table was a teenage boy and they felt with hayden being so overly active and having some hard times calming down and sitting in big group that it would be best for him to be with an adult. i was told that hayden was one of the sweetest boys and was always giving hugs and making playdough cookies for them and they just wanted him to feel comfortable.
so on wednesday morning i dropped him off to his new class and he was once again ready to get right back into it. i talked to the girl again and asked for some specifics on what they saw in hayden as he is going in to the u of m for testing in just a few weeks. i was told that in the large group hayden would get bored and had a hard time sitting and paying attention. he was even starting to crawl under the pews. they also talked about how active he is and that at one point he said he wanted to just be by himself as he felt he was bugging the other children. nobody really knew why he said that as they didn't see him bugging other kids and none of the other kids said anything.
when i asked hayden about it he didn't really know why he said it either. i'm thinking it may have been a way for him to just get out of the large group and maybe do something he was more interested in.
it was really helpful to have this info as we will pass it along to the dr.'s at the u of m so they know some of what we are dealing with in hayden.
but i am so thankful for all of the volunteers at vbs. they would ask him at least once a day if he just wanted to go take a walk around the church, which he would tell me all about and really LOVED it. he was even able to tell us a bit about the bible story he learned about each day.
he had a great time every single day and was always so excited to show the different robot crafts that he had made.
on thursday evening they had the family program where they had all sorts of robots set up (the theme was gadget's garage in which gadget was the robot mascot) and then we all headed to the sanctuary. hayden and the rest of the preschool-1st graders got up on stage and sang a couple of songs in which hayden seemed to know most of them. he looked so proud and happy to be up on stage.
after all of the singing, uncle jerry came out. uncle jerry was doing vbs when i attended and it was crazy to see him still up on stage and the kids still loving it! hayden would always come home and talk about how silly his chicken puppet was.
he headed back for one more day on friday and has said that he is looking forward to going back again next year.
ward really does such a great job with their vbs. all of the volunteers and the work they do is just amazing! we are so grateful we were able to be a part of it this year and plan on going back each year from here on out.

we stood here watching these robots for a REALLY long time and i still have no idea what the point was. but both of the boys LOVED it:

waiting in line to control the robot. it was a long wait and he was pretty patient:

finally hayden got the controls:

i think this was hayden's favorite robot. a lego robot that set up and knocked down domino's. hayden was asking this kid all sorts of questions about it:



getting ready to sing. oh how hayden loves to be up on a stage:
yes, this really is hayden shushing the kid next to him (a kid we actually knew from our old church...i'm hoping his parents didn't see!):




hayden was so proud he gave a double thumbs up:
gizmo the robot:

both seemed thrilled by this production:
uncle jerry:

last day as a kindergartner

today was hayden's last day of kindergarten! the school year went by so quickly. i very vividly remember going to orientation the day before school started and hearing mrs. holmes tell us about the "light system." i distinctly remember her telling the parents that if a student moved from a green light to a red light a note would be sent home that day explaining what happened. "but," she stated, "that rarely happens." and i laughed inside and quite possibly even outside saying "oh, hayden will be the child to change that statement." and i believe that he has.
hayden had his ups and downs in kindergarten, always due to his behavior. we did receive MANY notes about regarding his red light days. we turned to a punishment and reward system here at home to help motivate him to get more green lights. there were some months he was able to get 5 green light days in a row and other months where he barely got a single green light.
thankfully, hayden ended the school year on a great note! the week before school ended he came home with 4 green lights and then a red. and he was SO upset that with that red, something he usually doesn't care too much about. and then this week he came home with greens every day! we are so proud of him as we know that is truly a HUGE accomplishment for him.
despite his many red light days, mrs. holmes always told us that he was a great kid. always happy and very enthusiastic about learning. he was one of the smartest kids in the class and was reading when school started, something that maybe only 1 other student was doing.
hayden seemed to really love kindergarten and is already talking about how excited he is to be in first grade next year and that he will be able to go into the lunch room.
i remember being in school thinking how long the school year was, but as a parent it goes by in no time.
in order to celebrate hayden's kindergarten graduation and especially his excellent behavior at school the last two weeks, we took him to logan's (his favorite restaurant simply because they have peanuts on the table) for dinner. after logan's we all walked over to costco so that we could buy a new wii game (mario kart) and then headed to 7-11 for a "frozen drink." we got home, played some mario kart and then all went upstairs, popped some popcorn and watched wipeout...hayden's favorite show (he's been telling me for almost 2 weeks that when he turns 18 he's going to the wipeout zone). it was a big day for him and he was so excited about all of it he could hardly stand it.
congratulations, hayden! we love you so much and cannot believe how quickly you are growing up!

me and my baby before his last day of kindergarten:




hayden, eric, hannah, legoless and jason waiting for the bus:



home from his last day in kindergarten!:

hayden's favorite restaurant, logan's. he really just likes the peanuts:

field trip to nankin mills

because the last week of school isn't busy enough, hayden's class decided to take it's first and only field trip of the year. we headed to nankin mills in westland which apparently is some kind of a nature center.
because they are only in school from 9-12 it doesn't give a very big window of time to do much on a field trip. so i'm sure there is a lot more of nankin mills that we didn't see.
hayden's group went in to a room first and they were taught about reptiles and amphibians. they were able to see several different turtles and frogs and they all sat pretty quietly through the whole thing.
after that, they headed outside to the little pond and were able to fish out stuff and look for little bugs and frogs and such. hayden almost slipped in the mud and landed right in the pond...it was way too close, but i caught him just in time.
let me just say that i will NEVER get true nature people. they are some of the happiest people on earth. and if they hear a bird? even happier. they think that all living things are them most magnificent things ever. while we were outside, our guide walked around way too enthusiastically showing everyone a mosquito that was not quite a mosquito yet. after a bit he started telling us..."ok, i have to get this back into the pond now to keep it safe!" me? i would have hunted and killed them all.
they kids found all kinds of pond life and the guide was happy to tell them what it was and a story behind in. the kids weren't really listening, they just wanted to get back to finding baby frogs and scooping up pond water. but the guide had fun.
i think hayden was the only one that found a tadpole. most of the other ones were just about frogs. and hayden was SO excited that he found it.
we eventually took a little hike through the woods and learned about different trees and other wonders of nature like the rouge river. i think i learned a couple of things, but i have already forgotten them. all but one. i learned that if you come in contact with poison ivy, you have 10 minutes to clean it off with warm water and soap.
once we got to the bridge over the rouge we had to be quiet for 20 seconds and listen to the birds. then we headed back to the bus as it was already time to go.
hayden seemed to have a great time and was quietly and intently listening through the whole presentation at the beginning. he sure does love to learn. usually.

sue the snapping turtle that has never snapped:
turtle race. it was a tie.:
a tortoise eating a worm. the kids loved it.:
pond time:



he seems to care as much about the water bugs as i do:
yes! frogs again!:


hayden's tadpole:
eric and hayden:

the beautiful rouge river:
some chick hangin' out at the rouge: