Hayes Family Happenings

• At the end of August David took his 3rd CPA test and passed!  So far he's 3 for 3, with the final test coming up next month!!  This will be a HUGE deal when he passes and becomes a CPA!  Much celebrating will then ensue (as David has already come up with a lengthy celebration list)! : )

• Over Labor Day weekend we were able to make visits to both of our parent's houses.  David's parents have changed things up a little at their house, and had put up their tree swing in the living area!  Eli had fun swinging with his grandma!

Always so many cars to choose from, and we sure love playing in the play house!

• When September came, Eli and I started attending Music Makers, a free Mommy & Me music class for preschool-aged children.  It's run by a mom in the Noblesville ward, and is almost all Noblesville ward moms/kids that attend.  I learned about it through a friend in my ward, whose sister is in Noblesville.  Anyone is invited, and you can come as often (or not) as you like.  The host lady has a big basement where we  meet.  It's mostly the same moms every time, with a few variations.  And it's mostly all boys, between 2 and 3.  : )  Perfect!  There's usually 7 or so moms there, with 2 or so kiddos in tow.  We meet once a week for an hour of class, then she lets them play with her toys for 20 minutes before she has to leave to pick up a kid from preschool.  Each month has a theme, so for every session that month we do the same songs.  The class incorporates puppets, fingerplay, marching/movement, singing, instruments, and other props that pertain to the songs.  At the end we finish with story time of books relating to the theme while the kids eat their snacks.  (If interested in learning more, visit http://www.musicmakersforkids.blogspot.com/).  

The first time we went I just laughed my head off watching Eli, and we both enjoyed it so much.  But the weeks after that were a struggle, as Clara was so fussy and just had to be held, and Eli reacted by being a bit of a pill.  We had much better success this past time, though, as Clara slept in her carseat and Eli and I enjoyed getting to do all the music/activities together.  He's so funny.  Whenever I ask him what his favorite part of music class was he responds, "Toys!"  Every single time they play after the class he heads straight for the toy fire truck.  : )  Besides for something fun to do together, I was specifically looking forward to a music class to help Eli gain a better appreciation of music, especially singing and dancing.  I think it will be really beneficial to him.

• A little under a month ago, my sister Emily and her son Noah (from California) came out for a visit.  It was so wonderful to see them!  The last time they came to visit (in June) Noah was sick and pretty miserable.  So this was our first chance to get to know fun, happy Noah and he sure was cute!  Emily and Noah came to our house for one day, since both of my parents were working.  Clara was pretty fussy so it was rather crazy and chaotic, but it was nice to have the time I did to chat with Em.  

The following day David took off work and all of us (my parents and sister Rebecca included) went to Terre Haute to visit my Metheny family there.  It was my aunt & uncle and cousins' first time to meet Clara!  It was a fun afternoon of good food and good conversation.  

We spent the night at my parent's that night, and that Saturday we headed over to Columbus where they have an awesome free indoor playground!  It was a very clean and fun playplace, with a huge climbing contraption that David and Eli climbed all the way to the top of!  We didn't have enough time to spend there, so I can't wait to go back again.  It sure would be nice to have something like that close-by for the winter months!  

Eli with Grandpa M.

Then we headed over to Johnson County Park to take a ride on a train!  Sadly it turned out that kids under 2 couldn't ride it, so Em, Noah, Clara, and I had to sit it out.  Luckily Noah was an awesome sport about it, and was happy enough with just getting to see the train!   : )  Eli was pretty excited to ride it!

Noah is so sweet and fun!  He and Eli got along great!  We sure wish our cousins weren't so far away!

Eli giving Noah a hug.  : )

• On the first Saturday of October we invited David's parents and brother, Josh, over for a visit and to join us in watching General Conference.  That morning we headed over to the Potter's Bridge Festival in Noblesville.  We had never been there before and it sounded pretty cool!  We both grew up going to covered bridge festivals every Fall, and so it just doesn't truly feel like the Fall season until we've been around a covered bridge.  The booths set up didn't really have anything appealing to us, but we still enjoyed looking around, and thankfully it wasn't too crowded.  Eli sure had fun at the kid area!  He took part in jumping in his first bounce house!  At first he couldn't balance himself well enough to stand, but eventually he made it up on his feet and had a grand time!  It started to rain just as we were about to leave, so we were very lucky our outing didn't get spoiled!

Drove out into the woods for the festival.  Eli kept saying, "Woahhh.  Woahhh."  He was mesmerized by the woods.

Potter's Covered Bridge

Checkin' out his loot with Grandpa H.

Sweet baby slept most of the time, and woke up with cute smiles!

Eli enjoying his first bounce house!

Between the Conference sessions the group headed down to Main Street in Westfield to watch the Grand Junction Derby, a race of soap box cars!

• Speaking of General Conference, we really enjoyed watching these past sessions.  We missed a little bit of the Saturday morning, so we still need to read those talks.  We watched the Sunday sessions at my parent's house, and Eli really did great through them all!  As soon as we began watching he pointed to the tv and said, "I like this show!"  During Elder Holland's talk he spent a little time standing right in front of the tv, looking at Elder Holland, and nodding and saying, "Yeah!  Yeah!" like he was in agreement with what was being said. : )  The talks that stood out to me the most when I watched them were the following.  Feel free to click on the link and read/watch the talk yourself!

• David's had some pretty fun days at work lately!  One day they spent downtown working with Habitat for Humanity to build a house!  It was very hard work.  Last year they just painted, but this year they were hammering as well.  Another activity they did was have a grilling challenge.  His tax department worked in teams to grill up some yummy meat as a competition.  We sure aren't looking forward to tax season looming on the horizon!

• We have enjoyed the absolute BEST Fall weather week ever!  Every single day this week has been absolutely gorgeous--blue skies, no clouds, perfect temperatures, continuing color-changing leaves, etc. One evening we were able to get out after dinner and take a family walk together.  (It doesn't happen often with Clara being fussy, baths needing given, messes to be clean, etc.)  It was so enjoyable!  Clara was happy in her stroller, and Eli had fun riding his big wheel, which Daddy would push far with his foot to make Eli squeal with delight.  

• This afternoon our friends the Barbosas came for a visit!  We got to know the Barbosas in our last ward when we lived in Castleton.  They had their first sweet baby last November (who we still hadn't met yet!) and so with two new babies it was definitely past time to get together!  It was wonderful to see them again and enjoy catching up.

Phew!  Lots of things were written about!  The most important thing is that we're all healthy and doing well and enjoying our time together!