field day 2010

today was hayden's field day at school. it was a beautiful sunny day with a nice breeze, so it was just perfect to be outside for most of the afternoon!
mom came over to watch talan and london and i headed over to hayden's school to help out. there were about 9 different stations and the kids had 20 minutes at each one. they all seemed to have a great time, but it sure tired them all out!
as always, the favorite was probably the relay bounce house. and the popsicles, of course!
i just can't believe this is already the end of hayden's 1st grade year and his last here at macgowan elementary!

filling up a bucket with a soaked sponge relay. hayden and his team (on the right) won:


tug of war. the girls won the first game (their assistant teacher helped) and the boys won the 2nd:


the sack race that seemed to go on for hours:

crab soccer. someone thought it was a good idea to use the entire soccer field for this. most of the kids dropped out pretty quickly:
this game of volleyball was mad chaos what with the wind blowing the balls all around and children fighting over who's turn it was to hit it over the net:
showing off his muscles while waiting in line for the bounce house relay:
eye of the tiger:


i was just planning on taking a picture of hayden and a couple of his friends that were next to him and the next thing i knew, his whole class ran over to have their picture taken. i think it turned out great...they seated themselves and everything:
hayden showing off his mad hula hoop skills:
monkey bars:


hayden made it all the way across this set which apparently he had never done before:

author's nite

the end of the school year is here and with that brought "author's nite" at hayden's school. all year, the first graders at macgowan elementary have been working on their reading and writing skills. they had several "author celebrations" throughout the year where they would get dressed up and read one of their stories to their classmates.
tonite, to celebrate all of the young author's, the parents were invited to come and see their accomplishments. we started off in the gym where we watched a slide show filled with pictures of the first graders reading. then we moved to their classroom where the each student got a turn sitting in the "author's chair" while the teacher read one of their stories.
hayden chose his story "i just got started" a story that he wrote on 12/15/09. and here it is:

I just got started playing Wii. "Mom, NO SCHOOL," I said. "I know you don't want to go to school, but you have to go to school today." "okay, I will." I got home. "Can I play Wii?" "No. Every time you come in you always want to play Wii." I listened to my mom. "I'll play the Wii later." I want to play Wii ooooooohhhhhhhh mannnnnnnnn wii wii wiiiiiii.

his about the author page read like this:
My name is Hayden. I live in Redford. I have 1 brother and 1 sister. My favorite foods are macaroni and cheese and cheese pizza. In my spare time I like to play soccer. I like learning about animals. If I could have one wish I would ask for lots and lots of ice cream.
I hope you enjoy reading my stories.

we were also able to walk around the class and look at every one's stories and "about the author" page.
hayden has told me several times throughout this year that when he grows up he wants to be an author and an illustrator. he has come home several times and just wanted to sit at the table and write a story and illustrate the pages.
when all of the kids had their stories read, we were all given something to drink (juice boxes for the kids and water for the adults) and a brownie. we then all stood and toasted the author's.
we had a really nice evening and are so proud of all of the hard work hayden has done this year!!


hayden reading his "about the author" page:


one of hayden's illustrations:
mrs. taurence reading hayden's story:




hayden and some friends waiting for the toast:

5 school zone celebration!

hayden's school behavior chart starts out with each kid in the "school zone." if they misbehave during the day it will change to a green, then a yellow and then a red. while hayden hasn't had too many red's this year, school zones can be quite difficult for him to get.
we've always told him that if he gets a school zone every day one week, he will be rewarded handsomely. while he's come close before, he has never gotten a week of school zones until this week!!!
we were SO proud of hayden today when he came home and excitedly told us he had gotten his fifth school zone of the week. dave was home early from work today, so he was also able to hear the news right away.
we asked hayden what he might want for dinner, knowing he'd probably want logan's. he told us he wasn't sure and when we asked if he wanted to go to a restaurant he excitedly said "yeah! how about logan's?!" he loves that place mostly for the peanuts that he gets to eat before his food comes and that he gets to put the shells on the floor.
so the family headed out to logan's and after that we went to 7-11 where hayden (and talan) got a "frozen drink." we made it home just it time before a big storm hit and dave and hayden played mario kart for awhile.
hayden was so proud of himself and was so excited to call grandma and grandpa to share the great news with them as well!
he's now on a mission to get 5 more school zones next week!

hayden loves logan's!:


"frozen drink" time!:
hayden really wanted me to take his picture with iron man:

spring soccer

for the past 2 years we have put hayden in soccer during the fall. the place that we take him also does a spring soccer which we have never done. this year we decided it would be a good idea to put him in it for the spring as well.
unfortunately, the first game day...april 23rd, was rained out. so we went over to the field to pick up his shirt...this year he's on a new field with the oldest kids (7 and 8 year olds) and on the yellow team. he was very happy that he was on yellow and not on the purple team.
so today was the first game hayden had. it was a little chaotic as there was only one coach and the field was really wet from all of the rain we've been getting. but hayden still seemed to really enjoy himself.
talan just wanted to get out on the field and kick a ball around as well. it's going to be pretty difficult to keep him on the sidelines this time around! in the fall he'll probably be able to play as well though!

hayden as goalie:
talan sitting RIGHT behind the line:
talan wanting in on the action:

talan was scared that dave was only holding his feet. so he held dave's face:
hayden blocking the ball:

u of m spring game

hayden headed to ann arbor with dave once again this year for the u of m spring game. they met up with chadd and ashton howard and seemed to have a great time. earlier in the week they were saying the weather was going to be great for today. unfortunately, once today finally rolled around, the forecast was much different. a high of only 47 with some scattered showers.
thankfully the rain never came in, but it was a bit colder than they would have wanted.

hayden, ashton and chadd:

bingo for books

tonite hayden and i went to his school for "bingo for books" as we did last year. last year hayden ended up winning the raffle for a webkinz dog, and this year he won something again!
this year they not only had bingo, but they also had 6 math stations set up with games that the kids played that also helped them learn more about math (as if hayden really needs that!). after completing each game they would get a stamp. when they filled up all 6 spaces with stamps they could then put their name on 6 pieces of paper that would enter them in for a drawing to win 1 of a bunch of different prizes.
also at the raffle table they had a jar with marbles in it that the kids needed to make a guess as to how many were in it. immediately hayden said "i think it's 115!" i would have guessed far less. one of his teachers asked him how many he guessed and then she said "i guessed 80." hayden replied "oh, there are WAY more than 80 in there!"
after hayden completed all of the math games, we headed into the gym to play bingo. each kid was able to win 2 times so they were able to go and pick out 2 books to take home. shortly after winning for his second time they held the raffle. the first thing they gave out was a giant frog stuffed animal which was given to the person that guessed the correct number of marbles.
they said that 2 people had guessed exactly the right number so they had a drawing to find out who would win the frog. and the winner was....hayden skiver!!! there were exactly 115 marbles in the jar!
when the drawing was over, we headed home so hayden could tell dad all about his amazing win.

math station #1. jumping and counting by 2's, 5's and 10's:
math station #2. crab walking around a figure 8:
hayden and julia playing bingo:

they had hawaiian punch. can you tell?:
hayden's new stuffed frog: