The Vorndran Family Blog

School worksheet

2011-11-16T08:52:00.003-06:00

Hagen wrote and drew this story yesterday at school. It was about us going to his friend Sam's house. That's Shawn on the left, holding Brodie upside-down playing airplane with him (notice Brodie is smiling), and that's Sam's dog, Cleo, at Shawn's feet. To me the dog looks like either Brian from Family Guy or a Sandra Boynton dog. LOVE THIS!!!!

That's entertainment!

2011-10-21T09:45:00.009-05:00

Hagen is the best entertainment for Brodie. I told him once we don't need all these baby toys; as long as Hagen is around, Brodie is happy and engaged. I took a video just a couple of days ago of Hagen making his little brother laugh (well, crack up). This is just too cute; I love that Brodie is so VERY easily amused by Hagen.

Kindergarten projects

2011-09-26T20:28:00.006-05:00

Hagen has already had a couple of projects since starting Kindergarten. The first was over the Labor Day holiday; they were talking about families in school and they had a homework project to do a family tree. Now, when I first head of said project, part of me panicked. I was thinking, how big is this project?? Do we need a bunch of pictures?? How far back will this go?? Can we get this done in the time frame we have?? Turns out it was a drawing of a big tree with spots for the child's name, sibling(s), and parents...I was WAY overthinking it. Hagen finished it at Mom and Dad's house in about 15 minutes over Labor Day in Glen Rose.

See? Mommy WAY overreacted.

On Friday, Hagen brought home a piece of paper that said he would be his class' MVP next week. That means the child has to put together information about him/herself on posterboard and present it to his/her class. The poster gets displayed on the Kindergarten hall the rest of the week, I believe. That night Hagen and I went over some of the suggestions from his teacher of what to put on his poster and we wrote down some ideas. Over the weekend we printed out pictures, photos, and Hagen did the writing - and VOILA! He was very proud of his poster and even a little nervous about having to present it to his class, so we rehearsed it. How freaking cute is that???

Around the house

2011-09-10T21:35:00.008-05:00

Here are some really random pictures from August. I try to take a lot of photos of Brodie as I think back to how often I was runnning for the camera when Hagen was little...I don't want Brodie to be asking me someday, "Hey, Mom, how come there aren't very many pictures of me when I was a baby??". I'm trying.

One day when Brodie was in the Intellitainer, Hagen started dancing to the music and being goofy. As always, Brodie was completly fascinated by his brother's antics and I loved how he was leaning back just staring at him. And of course Hagen was eating it up.

These pictures remind me a LOT of Hagen when he was this age...probably because Brodie is wearing one of Hagen's old onesies...and he's on the same blanket that Hagen would play on...and Mocha is there, juuuuust out of reach.

2011-08-30T21:35:00.008-05:00

Last month there was a reunion at Medical Center of McKinney for babies in the Special Care Nursery. Apparently this is something they put on every year and it just so happens that this year it was about 4 months after Brodie was born.

This is Miss Deborah, one of the nurses who first took care of Brodie. She is the one who made the creative nametags for the babies that hung over their cribs. At the reunion she was painting faces for the kids. She put a little black nose and whiskers on Brodie; she said it was the first baby she ever painted. He looked pretty darn cute.

Hagen chose a bull and here she is in the process of painting him...

...and the final result. He also got to pick a tail to go with his face.

Brodie + solid food = messy boy

2011-08-29T13:42:00.007-05:00

We started Brodie on rice cereal recently. The first go-round wasn't so great because he was too hungry to start something new, so we tried again after he had a bottle. Much better results.

This past weekend we tried peas and he had a few good spoonfuls. He put his fist in his mouth while eating, hence the peas all over the face. He never spit them out and didn't make any yucky faces, so it was a hit, I guess. I asked Hagen to choose either peas or green beans for him, and he chose peas. He told me after Brodie ate that he made the right choice. :-)

Brodie's room

2011-08-28T20:34:00.005-05:00

Poor Brodie...his room is not entirely "his" - there are still two big bookcases that we just don't have anywhere else to put them, plus some other...stuff...that just needs another home. He has his crib on the main back wall where the guest bed was, and his changing table is on the wall next to that. So he kind of has a corner. It works, but we didn't go to the lengths to make his room so perfect like we did with Hagen because it wasn't going to be entirely his room. Plus I didn't want baby stuff painted on the wall because eventually we might get that room back as the guest room.

Anyway, I was trying to think of ways to decorate his wall so he didn't completely get the shaft in the room-decorating department. Awhile back I thought it might look cool to hang wooden letters spelling out his name over his crib. At first I thought of using ribbon to match the bedset but then thought ribbon would look too girly and/or babyish, even if it was "manly" colors. So I got some wooden letters and picked out paint colors that match his bedding, and over the course of a couple of weeks, Hagen helped me paint the letters, and we hung them today. Voila!

Hagen painting the "B". This was taken with my phone so the picture quality is not great, but I wanted to get a quick picture of Hagen helping.

Kindergarten!!

2011-08-28T20:33:00.002-05:00

I know it sounds cliche, but I can't believe Hagen is old enough to be in KINDERGARTEN. The big leagues. He has made the transition well and seems to love it; it's difficult getting specific information from him when we ask about his day, but he has consistently said "computers" when we ask what his favorite thing is. He has made a few friends (one he saw down the street recently so we went over and played for awhile; the little boy is in first grade and knows Hagen from the aftercare program) and has really adjusted quite well to this new adventure in his life. Plus he looks so freakin cute with a backpack on.

Our little fishy

2011-08-11T20:47:00.010-05:00

Brodie and I went to watch Hagen at his swimming lesson at Metroplex. I went about a month or so ago and he was doing really well. In that time, he can now TOTALLY swim BY HIMSELF! It was so amazing to watch. I mean, he doesn't even need the instructor next to him. The last 10 minutes of class are for free time, and he would go down "the big slide", swim to the edge, and get out - all by himself! I was so amazed and proud of him. Some of these pictures aren't exactly National Geographic quality or anything, but they show that he was totally by himself. Some of the pictures are of Miss Elena helping him float on his back; he was having a little trouble with that but he was able to hold himself up briefly. And Brodie was fascinated with it all, FYI; I was just holding him in one arm, cradling him so he could see forward, and I don't think he moved the whole time we were there; he was pretty entranced with all the kids in the pool.

Brodie's 4 month checkup

2011-08-04T12:10:00.007-05:00

I was very curious to see how Brodie would measure up (get it??) to Hagen at his 4 month checkup. At 4 months old, Hagen was 13 pounds, 10 ounces and 25 inches long. Not So Wee Baby Brodie was 12 pounds, 2 ounces (wow!) and 23.5 inches long. Not too shabby considering his low birthweight! His doctor is really pleased with his growth and development and we can even start feeding him rice cereal if we want, and start on stage 1 baby food in a couple of weeks. WOW. I think Hagen is excited to help us feed Brodie so that will be fun. As soon as Dr. Dan came into the exam room Hagen asked him if we could feed Brodie rice cereal. I remember the rice cereal and solid food stage being so fun (and maybe a little messy...) and I'm looking forward to it.

Here is Brodie at his appointment. His onesie says "I Wasn't Born Yesterday". Thank you, Carrie - pure greatness. :-) And I did not take pictures of him crying after the shots as Hagen wanted me to do....

Brodie Alexander Vorndran

2011-07-14T16:24:00.040-05:00

Ever have one of those days when things don't go exactly according to plan? Monday, April 4, 2011 was one of those days. Here is Brodie's story.

I work in a tax and accounting office, so with the biggest deadline of the year looming in two weeks, needless to say it was pretty hectic at work. I started realizing in the afternoon that I hadn't felt Brodie moving much, and I didn't know if it was because I had been crazy busy and not really noticed, or if he honestly hadn't been moving a lot. I called my doctor's office and the nurse gave me some advice, and said in the end if I felt like something was off to go get checked out, just to be safe. I felt little movements but nothing as strong as usual, and not as frequent. After work I picked up Hagen, got dinner, etc. Later I was getting ready for bed and decided I would go to the hospital to get checked out, so I got dressed again. Shawn asked if I wanted him to go with me but I said no; I didn't want to wake up Hagen and scare him for no reason if it was nothing (it was about 10:00 or so). The hospital isn't far and I told him I would call him if I needed him. I was hoping it was no big deal and I'd be home in a couple of hours. Boy, was I wrong...

When I was initially hooked up to get looked at, we heard the heartbeat right away so that made me feel good; I figured if that was strong, everything was okay. The nurse started asking me addmittance questions to get that out of the way for when I came in for my scheduled c-section. Being a planner, that sounded fantastic to me! We were talking while she was waiting for the sonogram tech to come take a look at Brodie, and she said after a little bit that he didn't like me lying on my back and for me to roll over onto my side, so I did (no easy feat for a 9-month pregnant person). Shortly after that I needed oxygen, and more nurses were coming in. Eventually someone said they had called Dr. Sadler and she wanted to take him tonight, which sent me into a panic. That was NOT what I planned on! One of the nurses told me to calm down because my blood pressure was going up, and one nurse was rubbing my back and hand, telling me it would be okay (I think that's what was happening; I was crying pretty hard so I'm not sure). I called Shawn, freaked him out, and asked if they could wait for him to show up. They asked how far away he was. Oh, boy. They said they would start prepping me and they would wait. I give lots of kudos to Shawn; he called our parents, my boss' husband, got Hagen up and not only dressed but dressed in his "big brother" scrubs that we were planning on having him wear for the big day. Luckily they made it to the hospital in time, and wee baby Brodie was born at 11:55 that night, weighing 4 pounds, 7 ounces and measuring 17.5 inches long.

I am really glad we chose the hospital we went to (Medical Center of McKinney). All the nurses that night were so great; one watched Hagen while Brodie was being born because Hagen couldn't be in there during surgery. The anesthesiologist was so calming and comforting. I can't remember his name but I'm sure it will show up on a bill somewhere. One of the nurses that was there for the delivery gave me the Penn State shirt she wore into work because she hardly ever wore it and thought it was cool that Shawn went to Penn State. The nurses in the Special Care nursery where Brodie was for 10 days were all wonderful - one nurse, Deborah, made little name signs for each baby to hang on their little cribs. He was in the Special Care nursery basically because they needed to keep his body temperature up, and eventually also make sure he could eat either with a bottle or breast without being tube-fed every other feeding. He was so little that it was hard for him to suckle for all 8 feedings in a day; it would wear him out. Once he got over that hurdle and was able to nurse or bottle feed for a 24 hour period he was cleared to go. He also had to be on special extra-calorie formula for the first two months to catch up (think Cartman and Weight Gain 2000 - Brodie was our little beefcake). He had a couple other minor issues while he was there, but nothing was ever life-threatening or permanent.

Hagen was able to visit his brother in the Special Care nursery after his shot records were faxed over from his pediatrician's office. Over the course of Brodie's stay, when we would visit the nursery, Hagen would read to Brodie and he even colored pictures to be hung by Brodie's crib (which the nurses did). Hagen even got to hold his little brother and I think that made him quite proud. When we were in the hospital he would say, "I want to go see my baby".

Thankfully, everything turned out all right. It was hard for me because NOTHING went according to my plan, and I like to be prepared. Nothing went "my" way; Brodie didn't get to be in the room with us at all; I hadn't packed the things I wanted ahead of time; he wasn't able to go home with us; I wasn't prepared to start maternity leave before the tax deadline. I had to tell myself that it wasn't about me and what I wanted. It was about the fact that Brodie was okay, even though he was tiny, and we are blessed beyond belief. He was in the Special Care nursery for 10 days; I know there are people who have had their babies in the NICU for weeks, months, years, or who may never get to come home. I finally realized a week and a half was nothing, and the fact was that he was (and is) perfectly fine.

Arrangement from Hagen's best friend, Sam's, family. This was the talk of the L&D floor for the duration of our stay!

Flowers from Grandmommie, Granddad, Opa and Oma.

Flowers and balloon from my boss. The balloon is STILL inflated - it's in our kitchen!

Random pictures from the hospital stay.

Home! Brodie came home April 14 after his noon feeding. He wore a preemie outfit that said "Little Brother".

Here are some random pictures from the first few weeks at home.

So that is the story of Brodie. We like to think it would be really funny if he ends up being taller than Hagen, but I don't think Hagen thinks it's as funny as we do.

Hagen's 5th (yes, I said 5th) birthday party

2011-06-08T16:04:00.012-05:00

Hagen turned 5 in May and when I asked him awhile back what cake and theme he would like, he was insistent on Pokemon. I really know nothing about Pokemon but that's what he wanted, so that's what he got! My mom (aka Grandmommie) now knows a LOT about Pokemon and some of the various characters through her research while making an AMAZING cake for her #1 grandson. Hagen also wanted his party at the Natatorium so we had a Pokemon pool party...say that 10 times fast.

The totally awesome Pokemon cake that Grandmommie spent weeks on - amazing!!!

Party!!!!

Grandmommie had the difficult task of taking care of Brodie for a little bit in the air-conditioned comfort of the entrance.

Singin' in the shower

2011-03-31T09:49:00.004-05:00

Hagen has been taking showers lately (which makes him seem SO grown-up...but that's another story....) and last night he was singing "I've Got a Feeling" by the Black-eyed Peas while he was "cleaning" the door with a cup of water. Shawn and I were in the bedroom chuckling and I thought, I have GOT to get this on video. I didn't want to do it right by the shower, obviously, so I took it from the doorway so you can't see anything that can't be posted online. You might need to turn the sound up, but you should be able to hear him.

Texas snow!

2011-01-11T11:54:00.005-06:00

We got a few inches of snow in Allen on Sunday. I love it!! We were de-Christmasing the house and cleaning and it was raining, and all of a sudden Shawn told Hagen to look outside - there were huge flakes coming down. It stuck and we got quite a bit, so later in the day Shawn and Hagen went in the backyard to throw snowballs and build a snowman. I did have a carrot for a nose (albeit a small one) but I had to get creative with the arms and eyes. I gave Shawn two celery stalks for the arms as Hagen was about to go breaking branches off the Bradford Pear tree... When they were done, Hagen told Daddy the snowman didn't have eyes, so I took two eggs and colored pupils on them with a black Sharpie. Not bad for Ms. Uncreative, I say!! Anyway, here are pics of the snowman (I think he's cute) and a few shots Shawn took of the backyard. I love snow!!!

No Longer Scared of Santa!

2010-12-02T10:17:00.012-06:00

We went to see Santa (aka "The Big Guy") at the Village of Allen recently. I was hoping maybe a weeknight would be better as it hopefully wouldn't be so crowded, and it was perfect. I don't think we'll ever go on the weekend again after this! When I picked Hagen up from school I told him we were going to go see Santa if he wanted to. He had a picture he had colored in aftercare and told me he wanted to show it to Santa. When Shawn met us there we went in, and I automatically walked over with Hagen, expecting him to be clingy and very shy. Santa scooped Hagen up onto his lap, and Hagen didn't even complain or look at me! I was SO proud of him. He showed Santa his picture and Santa said he loved it, and gave Hagen a hug. Hagen had written his name on the picture so Santa saw that and said, "Hagen?" and kind of glanced at me, and I nodded. I think Hagen really liked that and it kind of made it seem like Santa knew him. The visit was perfect and we got some great pictures. It was nice being so quiet because Hagen really got some good quality time with The Big Guy and I think that may have helped ease his previous fears. We weren't rushed at all - it was great. No more "Scared of Santa" pictures for us! Well, with Hagen...we'll see how "the newbie" does. :-)

Halloween 2010

2010-11-05T12:06:00.005-05:00

I know, I know...this is really late...sorry. To make a long story short, Hagen was not really sure this year what he wanted to be and kept changing his mind. Finally, shortly before Halloween, we went to Super Target (again...) to take one last look and see if we could get any ideas. Hagen saw a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume and said he wanted to be that. They actually had his size, and it wasn't expensive, and he loved it; SOLD! Hagen LOVED the costume and he looked like such a big kid to me; not a baby, not a toddler, but a big kid. We went to our neighbors' house for dinner and then the dads took the kids trick-or-treating; they came back sweaty and happy and loaded with candy. :-)

Checking out the goods at the end of the night.

Catching Up

2010-11-05T09:38:00.035-05:00

Okay, it's been awhile since I've posted anything aside from that recent video. I have some catching up to do. Here goes!

On a recent trip to the zoo, Hagen wanted to feed the giraffes - that is one of the cool new things about the Giants of the Savannah exhibit. Turns out Hagen was a little too scared to actually feed the giraffes himself, so I held him while I did it. It is really cool how close you can get to the giraffes and they are not shy!

More pictures from the zoo.

We went to Glen Rose for Labor Day weekend, which is when we told our parents that I am pregnant. I bought Hagen a hospital scrub set that says "Big Brother" on the shirt that he can wear at the hospital. Anyway, we were going out to dinner with everyone one night to celebrate my and Tom's birthday, and Shawn took Hagen into the restroom and put the scrubs on him to come show everyone. That way Hagen got to spill the beans on a secret he'd been keeping for awhile! He got VERY shy, though, and wouldn't actually say anything, but it was still cute.

While in Glen Rose, we went to Dinosaur World, which was pretty neat. We've gone before to the gift shop but have never done the walking trail with all the dinosaur statues. They were really cool and some of them were huge; it was really a fun exhibit. Hagen REALLY liked it and acted like our little tour guide, always being up front and running to see the next dinosaur. At the end they had a fossil dig where the kids got to sift through a big trough of sand and pick out 3 fossils to take home. Shawn helped Hagen and they both had fun.

Hagen on the phone with Opa.

Hagen didn't believe that we checked on him after he went to sleep at night, so on two nights we actually documented it on film to show him the next day. I'm still not sure he believes us...

Shawn wants to take a picture of my belly at the first of each month and this was from September when I was about 7 weeks along. Hagen wanted to be included and wanted his belly photographed, as well. :-)

Hangin' out with Daddy, eating strawberries.

The week or so before Halloween, the head of our HOA was at the pool pavillion parking lot giving out pumpkins and his wife was taking pictures with any kids that wanted a picture with their little dog. Hagen was shy at first, but he eventually got acquainted with Chompers and even sat still for a couple of quick pictures.

Hagen "reading" a Halloween book to me

2010-10-29T13:11:00.022-05:00

We've been reading "Inside a House That is Haunted" pretty much every night and Hagen has it memorized, for the most part. It's one of those where each previous line is repeated on the next page, with little pictures of the creatures to help. I've told Hagen it's my favorite book (the illustrator is Tedd Arnold and I love him) so we read it all the time. The last few nights he has wanted to switch roles and read it to me, and because he has it memorized, it looks like he's actually reading the book. The book makes me laugh because at the end (**SPOILER ALERT**) the Frankenstein monster opens the door to see a little boy, dressed as Frankenstein, trick or treating, and it scares all the monsters when he takes off his mask. It sends the monsters running. See...that's funny...haha.

In this video clip, courtesy of Shawn, Hagen needs a little help in a few spots, but most of the time he reads it pretty much perfectly from memory.

What I've Learned at Summer Camp

2010-07-26T12:30:00.006-05:00

Hagen is obviously getting lots of exercise and learning how to tumble and do flips at camp. He uses our bed as a trampoline, and since he's getting really good at doing forward flips now, I thought I would try to capture this on film (can I call it that since it's not really on film anymore??). Enjoy. And yes, I realize we probably shouldn't be letting him do flips on our bed...I'm sure most parents would say "no jumping on the bed"...well...ummm...okay.

Fun times

2010-07-22T12:20:00.016-05:00

Last weekend, Hagen and I went to Going Bonkers in Lewisville for a playdate. It is this huge indoor play area for kids (kind of like the world's biggest McDonald's playground) and it was FUN!! The premise is that kids AND adults can play on all the equipment (for ages 4 to 104, it says) and it was loads of fun. Hagen doesn't usually go up to high on things like this, but with me tagging along he was much more adventurous. Another great thing is that it is super-cheap, so we will definitely be going back soon!

Hagen and Steven at the beginning.

Having fun climbing and playing.

Hagen and Steven on the teacup merry-go-round.

Hagen and Steven in a racecar.

Playing air hockey (with Donna looking on).

Val and Noelle!

I tried to take pictures to show how high up he was getting, but these pictures still don't really do it justice.

Random picture from 4th of July in Granbury.

One day Hagen put together ALL of his big floor puzzles in the dining room (and put each box next to the corresponding puzzle....) so I took his picture because he was pretty proud of that.

Summer Camp

2010-07-16T10:26:00.014-05:00

This year for the months of June and July, we put Hagen in a summer camp at Metroplex Gymnastics in Allen (where he had his birthday party in May). He was old enough to participate in the camp, plus he would get swimming lessons every day since he is full-time, every day. I gave him the option before school was over of doing the summer camp, explaining that his Star Creek friends wouldn't be there but he'd make all new friends, or staying at Star Creek for the summer, and he chose the camp. He has been having a GREAT time, and Shawn and I even took him to Parent's Night Out there last Saturday night to try it out, and since there were two counselors there that he knew, he did great! I've been told he is quite spoiled at camp and all the female counselors just love him. He seems to have fun playing with the dudes, too (one told me when he came the other day, Hagen was waiting for him by the window). He is getting over his fear of some of the activities they have there, too, since he's been going so much; he does flips into the foam block pit (Shawn and I witnessed that Saturday night!) and does the zip line, also, which he wouldn't go anywhere near at his party.

One of the awesome things, too, is that Metroplex has a Facebook page and they post pictures every week from camp. I've saved the ones that Hagen has been in. Here's a little glimpse into camp life from the last month!

This is Coach Colin, the one Hagen was waiting for.

Hagen is sitting in the female counselor's lap on the far right of the picture (the girl in the red shirt). This is when the spoiledness (yes, I know that's not really a word) started, I think.

They had a day where they played with shaving cream, and the older kids had a shaving cream fight. I remember having shaving cream days when I taught preschool and how much the kids loved that, so I guess that hasn't changed. And the benefits are twofold; the kids have great fun, AND the tables get all nice and clean and smell so good.

Hagen and a new buddy.

This week is "Abracadabra Week" and they had a magician come on Wednesday. Hagen had told me he assisted her with a trick and there are a couple of pictures of him helping her.

That's my boy...lifting his shirt up...*sigh*.

One of the main reasons I was excited about this camp, also, was that he would get swimming lessons every day. Unfortunately he got off to a rough start when the instructor put him underwater the first two days, and Hagen was DONE after that. He wouldn't even let me bring his swim stuff to camp, he was THAT adamant about not doing it. I talked to the swim director about it and asked if they could go more slowly with him and not put him underwater until he said he was ready. Miss Lacey, the director, was really sweet and she flat-out apologized to Hagen for causing him to lose their trust and she she hoped they could build that trust back up. The first day we attempted to get him back in the pool I came to watch and he actually did more than I thought he would - I told her it might take major baby steps to get him back in the water, but he did get in and after a little bit let her take him out a little ways. He made sure to tell her he didn't want to go under, and she promised she wouldn't make him. Over the weeks he has built up trust with her and last night, he told me he went underwater! They have done a really good job of teaching him to blow bubbles and he told me he did that and didn't choke, so I think he's okay with it now that he's tried it. Miss Lacey messaged me on Facebook and shared a picture she took (Hagen was with another instructor this week) and there was one more on Facebook, so here they are!

Pictures from my phone

2010-06-18T08:57:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures I took with my phone on the trip.

Hagen with his new cap

On the airplane

Hanging out in the hotel (with Grandmommie and Aunt Chris)

And, finally, in love with Miss Promise...

Vacation!

2010-06-17T12:24:00.023-05:00

We went to Cleveland, Ohio last week to have a little family reunion of sorts with Mom's side of the family. Our whole reason for going on this trip, basically, was to see the Red Sox. Most of the Murches (one of Mom's brothers and his family, and her other brother's kids) live in Ohio so we decided to meet up there. I haven't seen Uncle Rod and Aunt Chris in quite a few years except for a couple of years ago when they had a layover in Dallas and Mom, Hagen and I went to have lunch with them, but it was a quick visit. We used to see everyone pretty much every summer at Nana's in Vermont and I miss that. We had a ton of fun (even though the Sox lost...both games...) and it was also Hagen's first-ever airplane ride.

Our flight was at 6:00 a.m. so we had to get up WICKED early, although it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I put a Pull-Up on Hagen the night before (just in case...wouldn't want to have an accident on the plane...) and planned on just getting him from bed to car when we were ready to leave, and I figured he would just fall asleep once the car got going. Wrong! He was completely awake and excited about the plane ride. I brought a change of clothes for him for once we got to the airport so he got dressed in the car when we parked at Love Field. Hagen did an awesome job rolling his Thomas suitcase through the airport - he never complained about it and I was so proud of him for being such a big boy. The only nervous moment we had was when we were lined up to go on the plane, and all of a sudden he just stopped and said, "I don't want to go on the airplane". He didn't cry or fuss he just said it very matter-of-factly like he had changed his mind. I was worried we were going to have a Rain Man moment but we didn't. I just picked him up and took his suitcase and told him we would be right there with him and it would be fun. He never seemed to get scared or upset and he did GREAT. He got to visit the cockpit at one of the brief layovers and he was very shy with the pilot but seemed to think it was cool. Some people commented on how cool his Thomas suitcase was so I think that made him feel good.

We got in around noon or so on Monday and my cousin Julie (with her adorable son Julian) picked us up at the airport. We went and checked in at the hotel, then we went to lunch with them and Julie's stepdaughter, Promise. Promise is 14 and, as you can imagine, Hagen fell in love with her, although he was VERY shy at first. We went to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. Uncle Rod and Aunt Chris arrived that afternoon so we all went to dinner at the hotel restaurant and crashed after that. We got a room with a pullout couch for Hagen - I figured that might be safer than putting him in a big hotel bed. I think he liked having that big bed to himself and pretty much every night he zonked out within minutes of lying down.

Uncle Rod wanted to take a picture of Hagen and Julian, and Hagen was being really shy and wouldn't do it. I said, "I'll take a picture with Julian!" and Hagen quick snuck in behind me.

The next day we all went to the Cleveland Zoo. We got a discount for being Dallas Zoo members which was kind of cool. The zoo was really nice and the weather was awesome - it was about 20 degrees cooler than Texas the whole time we were there which I absolutely loved. Anyway, here are some pictures from the zoo.

You can't really tell in this picture, but Promise FINALLY got Hagen to hold her hand when we went into the aquarium.

I LOVE this little red panda...too cute!

Having lunch at the zoo.

So, since the big reason for us being there was to see the Red Sox, of course we had to look for Sox stuff before the game. Mom (Grandmommie) bought Hagen a really cute cap. He wore it pretty much the rest of the trip.

Hagen and Julian were looking at bugs while we were looking at shirts.

Ready for the game! I had on my 2007 World Series Champs shirt. Hagen's jersey is about two years old now and I didn't realize it was a little short, but he was still very proud of it, expecially since Daddy and my cousin Cindy had the same one. We had dinner at the ballpark before the game, part of a picnic package that Uncle Rod found out about and got for us.

Hagen was intrigued with seeing some players up so close; the pitcher was warming up right below where our tables were.

Our friend Joe from Maryland ("Big" Joe to us, Uncle Joe to Hagen) also joined us for the week. Another friend of Shawn's from college lives in Cleveland so he also came for the picnic and game; it was fun.

Thanks to Uncle Rod for getting our name on the scoreboard in the 6th inning! My other four cousins from Dayton were also there along with a few of their kids but I didn't get pictures of them; I know Uncle Rod took a lot of pictures of everyone but I completely dropped the ball on getting pictures of them.

A couple of guys got chased by security and were escorted (errr...taken) off the field for jumping the stands and running on the field with something burning. Geniuses.

Shawn, Hagen and cousin Cindy in matching jerseys.

The view from our 12th floor hotel room. Hagen had great fun watching little airplanes take off and land from the little airfield right there. He also spent quite a bit of time, whenever we were in the room, tapping on the glass to knock off bugs that were on the outside of the window.

Little boy crashed after a long day......

The Hard Rock guitar by night.

The hotel had an indoor pool and hot tub and we went there a few times during our stay. Shawn got some shots of Hagen jumping into the pool. I had told Hagen about the pool before the trip and told him it was indoors. He asked if we needed indoor sunscreen. :-)

After all the family left on Thursday and Friday, we went with Uncle Joe to the science museum which was right by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and just a few blocks from the hotel. The science museum was really cool and they had a lot of hands-on exhibits which Hagen liked. We also saw the Omni movie called "Hubble" about the Hubble telescope which was REALLY cool.

Shawn, Joe and Uncle Rod went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame one day while the girls (and little boys) went shopping. Here are some pictures that Shawn took. Of course Joe told me that Jon Bon Jovi was actually there dedicating his motorcycle and I missed him since I didn't go...that was not very nice.

I think this is cool:

Other vehicles: Billy Joel motorcycle, ZZ Top car, and Bruce Springsteen convertible.

Some cool guitars.

We bought Hagen a little Southwest Airlines playset at the Cleveland airport on the way out as a memento of the trip and since he really liked the plane. He fell asleep on our last flight. :-)

Hagen turns 4!

2010-05-26T15:41:00.033-05:00

We celebrated Hagen's 4th birthday at Metroplex Gymnastics in Allen. I think the kids all had a really good time, and Hagen's hair was plastered in sweat by the end of the party. Many months ago, he requested a Buzz Lightyear cake for his birthday. I would ask him every now and then if that's what he still wanted, up to about a month before. He never wavered so we got a Buzz cake from Hands on Design in Allen. It was really good and she did a pretty good job - it wasn't nearly as good as a Grandmommie cake, but it was still nice.

There wasn't enough time in the party room at the gym to open presents, so we opened them at home with Grandmommie and Granddad after the party. Hagen seemed to like all his presents and it's fun that he can pretty much open things by himself now. I also love seeing his reactions and exclamations when he opens something REALLY cool.

These were the presents from Grandmommie and Granddad, wrapped by Grandmommie, of course...not me.....

Hagen had his Celebration of Life ceremony at school the day before his birthday. It was really neat and Hagen was being a HAM the entire time....I brought a few pictures from when he was a baby until now. One of the pictures was of him and Sam on their first playdate when they were about 11 months old. SOOOOOOOOO cute to see how they've grown, and I figured Sam would get a kick out of seeing that old picture of himself, too.

We went to the new Giants of the Savannah exhibit at the Dallas Zoo that weekend, also. It was only open for members that weekend and opened to the public the following weekend. I'm glad we went; I'm so happy that the elephants have so much more space, and it's really cool to see the giraffes up close and be able to feed them (we haven't done that yet, though). Hagen seemed to enjoy it and I'm really impressed with the animals' new digs.

Hagen was playing around on this rock when we were leaving the exhibit and I told him to growl like a tiger.

We bought him a new snake in the gift shop for good bedtime behavior over the last couple of weeks. The new snake's name is Spotty Spot. I love how Hagen comes up with these names for his animals so quickly.

I took this picture one night after Hagen went to bed because he didn't believe it when I told him I check on him every night after he falls asleep. Since he doesn't see me, clearly I'm not really there, according to him. So I told him I would take a picture that night to prove it. I showed him the picture the next morning, saying, "See? I checked on you last night, but you didn't know it because you were asleep". He said, "no, you didn't". I can't win.

On the phone

2010-05-20T13:50:00.004-05:00

One night Shawn was on the phone with his dad and handed the phone to Hagen. I ran for my camera because he sounds so grown-up on the phone. We are planning on trying a sleepover for Hagen (sans Mommy and Daddy) at Opa and Oma's house sometime, but only if he can sleep through the night in his room and not come into bed with us, so he was telling Opa about that.

April with the Vorndrans

2010-04-29T12:17:00.017-05:00

I realized I almost missed the entire month of April for posting pictures!

First, let's start with Easter. We went to Glen Rose and had a nice time. Mom made an INCREDIBLE bunny cake (that did NOT have red cake inside as Shawn requested) and had a beautiful Easter basket for Hagen, complete with homemade egg-shaped cookie - expertly decorated, of course.

Mom even made the napkins on Easter Sunday into bunnies. :-)

Hagen likes Mom and Dad's cat, called Momma Cat. She is an outside cat but extremely friendly and affectionate. Hagen was talking to her behind the screen door while he was inside and she was out.

These are two pictures I took of Hagen sleeping one morning when Mocha was also still on my pillow. It's a good thing we have a king-sized bed for when ALL of us are there...gets crowded. And no, there's not much room for my head.

Hagen's school had a Presentation Day the weekend after Easter in the gym and we went back to the classroom after to see the kids participating in their favorite learning activity. Hagen's was the 100 board, where you have to put the numbers in order from 1-100. The first row is 1-10, second row is 11-20, and so forth. The numbers are on little tiles that they put on the appropriate squares. Hagen's teacher has told me that he really likes math and this is one of the activiites he is really good at and enjoys, so she put that out for him to show us. The kids each had their name on a star by their activity in the room. Doesn't Hagen look thrilled?

My vacuum-cleaning hockey player...very helpful.

Hagen was building some tracks for his Thomas trains and Mocha decided, as cats do, to lie down right smack dab on top of it when he walked away for a second.

We did a make-up skating class a couple of weeks ago on a weeknight for a missed class and Hagen got a private lesson with Miss Abbie, the teacher who was there on his very first day when he was crying and a mess (see earlier post titled "Winter Fun"). She came off the ice halfway through to tell me how amazed she was and couldn't believe that was the same little boy from just a few months ago. She is very sweet and a great teacher - she's very patient and was so great with him on that first day when he was upset. You could tell she was having fun with him in this lesson. He loves her, of course.

And, finally, my two boys watching a Penguins game recently. Daddy is nursing an injury he got when he and Hagen were playing hockey in the kitchen just moments before. Hagen slashed Daddy's foot with his stick and Daddy limped off the "ice". Hagen went and got Daddy an ice pack for his foot. It turned purple the next day.

Awwww....

2010-03-23T21:53:00.002-05:00

I was putting Hagen to bed, back in his room for the umpteenth time and we were having kind of a rough time (took WAY too long to go to bed). I tried to take a step back and lighten up when it seemed like he was ready to settle down, and he fell asleep shortly after this conversation.

Me: Guess what?
Hagen: What?
Me: I love you!
Hagen: All the time?
Me: All the time. Even if I'm frustrated, I always love you.
Hagen: I love you, too.

:-)

Snow: Part 3...or 4...I don't know, I lost count

2010-03-21T22:05:00.010-05:00

On Saturday, March 20th, Opa came to visit and went with us to the last regular season game of the Americans at the Allen Event Center. They raised their first flag in honor of their inaugural season, which was cool.

Before the Americans game there was a hockey game between the Allen Police Department and the Allen Fire Department. It was very entertaining. We were rooting for the police since Shawn is a COP (Citizen on Patrol) and they were ahead 2-0 but ended up losing in a shootout. Bummer. We'll get 'em next year.

Here are a couple of pictures from the hockey game. It was a lot of fun. There was a skate with the players after the game and it was really cool. A couple of the players were so impressed with Hagen's skating and so encouraging of him - one said he was still holding onto the boards at Hagen's age.

After the hockey game and post-game skate we came outside to snow! It apparently snowed all night and was still coming down in the morning. I took pictures of Daddy and Hagen building a snowman and having a snowball fight. They had a blast. :-)

Ice Skating

2010-02-28T20:52:00.016-06:00

We just completed the fourth ice skating lesson and Hagen is SO comfortable now. He skates (well, marches - it's not really skating yet) by himself and can get up by himself from falling, too. He told me he will skate faster than me and Daddy and I believe him! We're going to continue lessons with Sam starting this weekend.

The last two public skating sessions were on the arena ice at the Event Center and it was really fun. Hagen can point out our seats. Mom and Dad came up to see Hagen skate and Dad joined us on the ice. The last time they saw him attempt to skate he was screaming so this was a nice change. :-)

Our friend Brian came with us to the public skating.

Winter fun

2010-02-23T21:05:00.011-06:00

These are pictures from one of Hagen's workbooks that he likes. He traced the letters to spell the color words and I took pictures because, of course, I was really proud of him. :-)

Here are pictures from the big snowfall we had a couple of weeks ago. It was SO pretty and really deep (well, for Texas). Hagen and I went out and played and our neighbors behind us came out to play with us. Hagen wanted to ride his motorcycle in the snow and actually sort of got stuck. We had a great time!

Hagen started ice skating lessons 3 weeks ago with Sam. The first lesson went as I expected; he cried for pretty much the whole thing. Needless to say I didn't really take any pictures. He calmed down toward the end when the coach (her name is Abby and she was really sweet and patient with Hagen) brought him a bucket with toys and let him throw them on the ice. He started out in a toddler class and they suggested he would be better off one-on-one to get him comfortable, so basically he is getting 3 private lessons...with an Ice Angel. I'll take pictures on the last class to post. He's doing MUCH better and seems to be enjoying it now so we are really glad. He has even moved by himself (I don't really say he's skated because they're not actually skating yet - just marching) and has gotten up by himself after falling a couple of times. He doesn't get upset when he falls but sometimes he still needs a hand getting up. It's fun for me, too, because I get to be on the ice with him and skate. After lessons we go to lunch with the Conners and come back for public skating after lunch. I love it! And Hagen seems to love it now, too, which is awesome.

The first picture is Hagen with Abby at the first lesson, and the next two pictures are courtesy of Emily from the second lesson.

Last weekend there was an event for Americans season ticket holders and we went for a little bit. It was a picnic at the apartments where a lot of the players live - across the street from the arena. Hagen was still wearing his snow pants from skating lessons. We met a few of the players including Bruce Graham - he's the one Hagen always pretends to be when we play hockey at home. Hagen also got to meet another Ice Angel and he offered her his potato chips. :-)

The guys had a water balloon tossing contest with some older kids and it was fun to watch.

I promise Hagen loves Mocha...I think...

2010-02-23T07:49:00.003-06:00

A few times lately Mocha has left messes of one kind or another somewhere in the house. The other day Hagen sort of scolded her and asked her why she was doing that after I cleaned up a mess. Here is a summary of the end of our conversation:

Me: Honey, I think Mocha is just getting a little older and maybe having some trouble.
Hagen: We should get a new cat.

Oops

2010-01-19T12:09:00.002-06:00

I thought I put this on the last post but I guess I deleted it by accident. Opa and Oma gave Shawn and Hagen these shirts for Christmas and I think they are so cute. :-)

Merry Christmas and a lot of other things!

2010-01-08T22:01:00.025-06:00

Here are some of the pictures we took of Hagen for the Christmas card. At first he told me we were allowed to take one picture, but luckily he let us take more. Oh, and the presents under the tree were wrapped by Grandmommie...not me.

This is a coloring page that Grandmommie printed out for Hagen. He spent two nights coloring it with markers and did an awesome job - he even colored the little detailed patterns in the gifts. I was so amazed and proud of him! He really loves coloring again and likes to use markers. He really takes his time and does a good job. The down side is that sometimes he gets really hard on himself and gets upset if he barely goes outside the lines, but that's actually getting better now. Hopefully we've told him "it's okay!" enough that he finally believes us.

We have been to many more Americans game since the first one. This particular game is one I took Hagen to and we got there kind of early. One of the ushers let us go up to the entrance of the ice then told us we could see the players as they came out of the tunnel to practice. One came out first and I asked Hagen if he would let me take his picture with him, but Hagen was totally in awe and overwhelmed. I asked the guy if I could take his picture and he was fine with that. He tried to give Hagen a fist-bump but Hagen shook his head. He told me later the hockey player was really tall and I told him it's because he had his skates on. I guess it was a little intimidating for him if you look at it from his perspective! I took pictures of the other players as they were lined up to come out. It was neat.

We had a full house at Christmas and it was a lot of fun! Mom and Dad gave Hagen a Fisher Price digital camera and Hagen LOVED it. He started taking pictures of EVERYTHING in the room - I said it looked like he was taking pictures for insurance purposes. :-)

Hagen helped me decorate gingerbread cookies the day before Christmas. He outlined this snowflake by himself.

These are the beautiful and yummy cookies that Mom made!

This year Christmas was really fun because Hagen is older and was REALLY into it. He "helped" eveyone open their stockings and was so excited to do that.

We had a white Christmas this year! It snowed Christmas Eve and there was still snow on the ground on Christmas, which was awesome. Hagen, Granddad and I went out back for a little bit and Hagen made a few snowballs and mowed the snow.

This is Hagen's first hockey injury. At one of Shawn's games, Hagen was playing hockey with another little boy and Alex accidentally hit Hagen on the nose with his stick. When Hagen started crying I went over to him and at first didn't see anything so I assumed he was okay. A few seconds later his nose started bleeding so I took him to the bathroom. It really wasn't bad but he was upset so I made him feel better by saying, "Hagen - you got your first hockey injury! That's so cool!!". Then he thought it was neat. Obviously if he had been really hurt I wouldn't have joked but he was fine - it was just a little nosebleed and then he had the little scratch on his nose to prove it.

At one of the recent hockey games we went to the Americans were wearing the throwback Blackhawks jerseys and our friend Brian brought his from when he was a kid to let Hagen wear.

One weekend night Hagen wanted to sleep on the floor in his room. We laid out a blanket for him to sleep on, his pillow, and he wanted to outline his "bed" with all his animals. I thought he might wake up early the next day and maybe not sleep so well, but he slept 12 hours! I took a picture after he had fallen asleep. :-)

Hockey game and Christmas party

2009-12-18T15:51:00.011-06:00

Mom (Grandmommie) came to visit last weekend and she went with me and Hagen to an Americans game. It was fun! Our friend Brian bought Hagen a chuck-a-puck to throw on the ice during the second intermission. Hagen didn't quite make it on the ice but I'm sure we'll try it again next time.

Hagen's school had their Christmas party on Thursday. It was really fun and very festive.

In Hagen's Words

2009-12-15T17:58:00.002-06:00

I decided I need to be better about writing things down that Hagen says, especially now that his vocabulary is so large and we have actual conversations. This particular exchange took place on the way home from school tonight:

Hagen: I want to play hockey tonight.
Mommy: No, not tonight because you didn't go to bed easily last night like you said you would.
Hagen (with a hint of a whine): I mean after dinner. Dinner first, then hockey.
Mommy: No, because you weren't good at bedtime last night. Maybe if you do a good job tonight you can play hockey tomorrow.
Hagen (with very stern face and voice): You're being difficult.

Guitar Hero and the start of Christmas festivities

2009-12-08T12:40:00.017-06:00

Lately Hagen likes to play Guitar Hero with Daddy. He gets this very serious look on his face when he's concentrating and I had to capture that on the camera.

We went to "Light Up Lakeside" at the shopping center where I work on Saturday and it was fun - albeit bloody cold. The Ridgway family and Jenn, Mandy and Emma met us there. They had carriage rides, a carriage ride with Santa, pony rides and a petting zoo. We didn't even stay for the actual tree lighting at 6:00 because it was so flippin cold, but we stayed a few hours and had a good time.

Carriage ride! Matt was being super-cheesy in some of these pictures.

Carriage ride with Santa! These pictures are kind of dark, but you get the idea.

Hagen was REALLY brave this year and decided he would try the pony rides. Once he did it he wanted to keep going back - I was proud of him for getting over that fear. He really had fun and didn't get scared.

Madi on a pony.

There were balloon artists and Hagen wanted a sword, and he asked me to get one, too. Here's us swordfighting.

They also had face painting - here is Mandy and Emma with butterflies, and Hagen with a lion face.

Hagen zonked out on the way home.

A funny thing Hagen said last night: We were getting ready for bed and he said he had to go pee-pee. I told him I would go with him to help and he put his hand out to stop me and said, "I need some privacy". Ummmm...okay...I suggested I help him get started and he was okay with that. :-)

First Day at Star Creek

2009-12-01T09:18:00.004-06:00

Hagen started today at his new school, The Montessori School at Star Creek. He did so well when I took him in and I am really excited to hear how his first day goes. We went for a couple of hours last week before we went to Glen Rose, and after a little bit of hesitation he really had a great time and was comfortable. I'm glad we did that because I think it made this morning easier. I think he will also be okay because his buddy Sam is there. It was VERY emotional yesterday being his last day at Twin Oaks - he's been there since he was 6 weeks old and some of his teachers took it hard that he was leaving. I know we are doing the right thing, but it was really hard to say goodbye and one teacher almost didn't let me in the door to pick him up. :-)

Another reason I love living in Allen

2009-11-09T10:52:00.022-06:00

The Allen Americans' inaugural home game was Saturday the 7th. We have season tickets with friends and Shawn, Hagen and I were all able to go to the opener (it won't always be the three of us but it worked out this time, luckily). We also got free jerseys for signing up and paying when we did which is totally awesome. It was SO much fun, and it is awesome that it's so close to home and we don't have to fight traffic going home - no highways, no walking 10 miles to your car. It rocks. The sad thing is the Americans lost...but it was still fun. Hagen was really into it - he never seemed to lose interest and we stayed for the entire game.

Before-game practice.

Rolling out the red carpet. These pictures aren't very good but I still wanted to post them.

The players lined up for the National Anthem.

Olympic gold medalist Carly Patterson was there to sing the National Anthem and Hagen and I got our picture taken with her. I am not very happy with this picture of me, but since Carly's in it I had to post it. Hagen wanted to wear his winter hat because he thought it would be really cold but he took it off shortly after we got there.

Carly singing the National Anthem. Again, not a great picture, but there she is!

The first ever face-off on home ice.

No sporting event would be complete without the scantily clad cheerleaders. :-) Here are the Ice Angels. Two of them came up in the stands in our section when it was over and said hello to Hagen.

The Americans gave out these cool wall stickers (like mini Fatheads) that is actually the schedule and Hagen put his up in his room. Isn't that cute??

Here is a video of Sam and Hagen bopping to the music.

Halloween!

2009-11-06T13:55:00.015-06:00

Last Friday night we went to the Halloween carnival at daycare. Hagen was Buzz Lightyear this year - he told me awhile ago that he wanted to be Buzz. It was a lot of fun and Hagen was braver than he was last year in participating. The bride next to him in the third picture is Tia, one of his friends at school who is very sweet.

Halloween! Hagen really got into character when he had his costume on. On Halloween night if I called him Hagen he told me, "I'm not Hagen, I'm Buzz Lightyear". When we went trick-or-treating when someone answered the door he would say, "Trick or treat, please". He was really into it this year and every time we asked if he wanted to go home he didn't - he wanted to keep going. He carried his bucket for quite awhile then asked Daddy to carry it because it was getting heavy. At the end of the night, after he took his costume off, I asked him, "where did Buzz Lightyear go? We were hanging out with him all night...hmmm..." and he said, very matter-of-factly, "Mommy, that was just my costume". OHHHHH. :-)