Some more of my favorite people...

It's so nice to have a camera back and to be able to document the adorableness that surrounds me daily. Life's been good to us. I finished my doctoral coursework in December, took my comprehensive exams in November and am now working on my proposal...I hope to complete it and defend it by July so that I can do my research in the fall for my dissertation. I got offered another year of full time work at Utah State and resigned from the high school last month (though I'll still finish my contract for this year in May). This should give me more time to write...now, we're just crossing our fingers that all will work out with the job market, my qualifications and everything else...

Henry and Oliver with Grandpa Landon

These boys love their grandparents and Henry really gravitates toward grandpa...I think it's the "Bruiser" in him (as grandpa calls him). The kid is all muscle. He's held up his head since the hour after he was born and he's sturdy.

Henry William Hays

He's absolutely adorable...with a delightful personality to match. We can't imagine life without him and the 6 months have gone so quickly. We're so glad he's part of our family.

My Boys

So, it's been awhile since I've blogged or posted any pictures of my adorable sons...especially as Henry is now 6 months old and gets cuter every day. My digital camera broke and the new one holds hundreds of pictures in storage...I've just now figured out how to upload (I know, I know, with Ben around it shouldn't take me this long--but I'm not all that tech savvy). So, here are my boys...all together...with their dad.

Oliver's Missing Teeth

So, Oliver was the last person in his class to lose teeth. He's had loose teeth since October but he refuses to wiggle them. So, we had to have his first loose tooth pulled by the dentist in January. It was such a graceful procedure...they gave him "sleepy water" and pulled the tooth and then prizes galore! He got chicken noodle soup, pudding, a treasure chest for his tooth, stickers, coupons for free hamburgers and a sticker. He was in 7th heaven and said he wanted all of his teeth pulled by the dentist from now on. Well...he seems to have a bit of my side of the family in him as he has many loose teeth, but a tight mouth so the permanent teeth are growing in behind the loose teeth and since he won't wiggle them he just might get his wish (thank heavens for dental insurance). When he went for a check-up in February, they decided to pull a second tooth. He was so excited to get a can of chicken soup and pudding! Even though I told him we could buy chicken soup and pudding ourselves for way less than it costs to pay our co-pay, he insisted on having just one more tooth pulled the magical, dentist way. So, he's now missing two teeth and so excited. He's growing up too fast!

Jazzed up shirts for Oliver...

So, we really like shirts from Boden for Oliver...they are cute, stripy things with lots of personality added with appliques but way out of the price range for a 6 year olds wardrobe...Well, with the help of some leftover fabric scraps and fusable interface, I decided just to make my own. $5 Wal-Mart shirts and some fancy stitching later and we've got some shirts he loves to wear. Here they are in all their glory!

My first publication!

Just thought I'd share...I chapter I worked on with George Hruby and Sylvia Read has been published in a new book coming out...here's the link (chapter 30):

http://www.reading.org/Publish.aspx?page=/publications/bbv/books/bk9313/toc.html&mode=redirect