Barber Shop

Our surfer boy got a haircut. I am a bit sad but there is no one to blame but myself. We were out the other day at a birthday party and his hair was all in his face so I thought....his bangs could use a trimming. Well, lets just say my trimming was a bit crooked and shorter than Chad would have done (he is our barber in the house). So he decided to fix it up and trim all over. He looks sweet but not so babyish. Makes me sad. For those wondering...we will be growing out his hair again but keeping his bangs and sides a bit shorter.

A couple other fun things he is doing is throwing fits, throwing everything that fits between the stair railing down below, saying uhuhuh...oh wait...those are all the annoying things he does. Now seriously tho...he is cute and fun but definitely has an attitude. His recent word is DONE. I like that b/c he hands things to me vs throwing them across the room. Also, he knows his eyes, tongue, nose and ears! So much fun to see him stick his fingers up his nose when you ask him to show you his nose. One other fun thing is 'where did it go?' -with hands up looking around. Very fun. He is a ball of energy and we are so blessed to have him in our lives!

Ellie & Jackson are getting thier Edamacashun

It was official, Jackson and Ellie are officially kindergartener's! We are so excited for them. I honestly cannot believe my sweet babies who weighed less than 4 pounds each are big enough to start school. WOW!

They have both transitioned so well. The school is in our neighborhood so it is easy breezy to get them to and from school. We have walked once and chad rode bike with them once as well. Fun stuff!

Ellie has Mrs. Archer for her teacher. She is gushy lovin'! Made for that age. She is so sweet. Ellie came home after a couple days and said, Mom - i love her, really i love her. AWE!!! I am so proud of her b/c she has made tons of friends already. Although I am finding she loves to play chase daily at recess with the boys. Oh boy!



Jackson likes school. His teacher is Mrs. Braxton. She is brand new to the school. She seems really nice and knows computers really well. Jackson will be a big fan! His biggest complaint at first was that it was eating into his PS3 and tv watching time. Ha! Such a boy. He is trying hard but like his mom his conduct will probably always be a problem.



They talk about a couple different things....their specials (PE, Library, Drama, Music & Art), when can they buy lunch, and why can't they ride the school bus....Ahhh the important questions of little ones.

Let's Ride. And do Flips.

"Mount up! It means...get on your horses." It was those words uttered by Lucky Day in Three Amigos that I recall each time we go for the family ride. I bought one of those seats that goes on the back of my bike (now Kiley's bike - i'm not getting on that silly thing) so we can take Cooper on a ride. Now the entire Haught clan runs the neighborhood as part of our new bicycle gang - The Fantastic Four and a Quarter.

And Ellie finally got a new bike (not pictured). I ran over her other one. A valuable lesson is being learned thru all of this - check your mirrors. And if you want a new bike you have to do chores and earn money so that you can afford a new bike.

Riding as a family is so much fun.

We went to the pool today with our neighborhood pals, The Violi's. Our community pool has this cool area with slides and water shooter gun turrets attached to forts. So awesome. And there's this huge tank that fills up with water and then dumps a large amount of water all over this one area and scares Cooper. He runs away as if he were being chased by a wolverine.

So Jackson and Ellie tell me that they want to go swim in the deep pool. I mean what's more fun that leaving the adventure area of the pool than going to the big square of water that doesn't do anything. But on our way there we see the diving boards and I say to Jackson, "There's no way you'd jump off the high dive." Minutes later he's on top of the thing doing a cannonball. He's crazy.

Then just to top things off he does some tricks off of the regular diving board...

Another Weekend at the Lake

It is now a major tradition with the Haught family to return on the 4th of July to the Haught House on Possum Kingdom Lake. It is so much fun I must say. This last trip we had 3 boats and a couple jet skis out there so needless to say the kids were loving it. A couple new things that happened this round....

• Cooper rode on a boat for the first time. LOVED IT!

• Jackson and cousin Cade attempted to knee board and succeeded with GREATNESS. Or as Cade said it...WICKED AWESOME

• Ellie remained outside for the firework show without getting scared and actually enjoyed it.

• Cooper learned to eat sunflower seeds with Honey. mmmm good!

These weekends truly are precious to Chad and I. We really enjoy watching our kids experience life with such fullness and be surrounded with family. The memories being made are priceless! We can't wait for the next trip out to Possum Kingdom.

The Flower Girl & The Ring Bearer

My sweet little ones were asked to be in their 'Aunt' Sarah's wedding on June 21st. There were so precious. Ellie was so excited that she got to dress like an official princess. Jackson on the other hand was loving his black dress socks and shoes that he begged us to wear to the rehearsal dinner with shorts on. We were a bit worried about Jackson following the rules but when it came down to the day of, Ellie threw her roses and Jackson didn't throw any pillows up in the air. Sarah looked absolutely gorgeous and the wedding went off without a hitch.
CONGRATS SARAH & ANDREW!

What I love about Cooper...

is that he is soooo DANG cute. Seriously. It is so much fun to watch him do life. I thought I would give a bit of an update on him. He is growing so quickly and you forget when you have 5 year olds that they soak up things like little sponges. The following are some fun little updates:

**He has about 4 teeth on top and 4 on bottom - he eats anything and everything
**He grabs my hand and leads me places
**He loves giving kisses - he even is learning to blow kisses
**He can say dada, uh-oh, again, and many other things we don't understand
**He loves to sit and read books
**He has been walking since 9 months and running since 12months
**He is loving the water already. When at the pool I think he thinks he can swim if I let go of him.
**He loves to slide and step up and down on steps.
**He really thinks he can play basketball with his dad outside
**His favorite past time is riding in the escalade with his sister driving him.
**He likes to bat at the ceiling fan chains. It is a routine as you leave his room.
**He is really good at opening and closing doors without hitting his fingers

Most of all he is just pure sweetness. He is such a content happy little one. Enjoy the pics from the summer so far.





Proof that Cooper will eat anything.









Summer fun swimming!

Ellie & Jackson Graduate Preschool

It's official. Jackson and Ellie have played house enough times and colored with every crayon in the mega-crayola pack to graduate pre-school! I kid - we actually had a parent-teacher conference a few months back and they went over how ready they were for kindergarten and I was pretty amazed at how much ahead of the game they will be starting off. The teachers have done an amazing job. The kids can spell and even read some short words. I recall starting first grade not knowing how to read a dad-gum thing.

We went to the graduation ceremony and I watched as parents in the crowd worked overtime to get the perfect angle for their filming of the entire shebang. Can we come up with some sort of society-approved solution for reserving seats at events like this? How do people get into these places so early to stick homemade "Reserved" signs on so many seats? I picture moms crawling thru the AC ducts and repelling down into the auditorium to reserve their seats hours before everyone else gets there.

But I digress... The graduation was adorable. The kids we dressed in all white cap and gowns. They sang songs and had speaking parts. One little girl made my loud cackle laugh erupt when she walked up to the microphone then blew into it like 4 times just to make sure it was on before speaking. "Check one, check. Sibalence. Can you hear me in the back people? Okay good. Today is a good day because the Lord made it."

Ellie and Jackson both nailed their speaking parts. Jackson even had a "Woohoo!" in there that was funny. They called them up one by one handed them their diplomas (probably all written in crayon), shook their hands then had them pose at center stage so the parents fighting for a spot in the middle of the auditorium could capture the Kodak moment. Then after it was all over they gave them gift bags including a really loud, annoying horn that said "Graduate" on the side. I was sure to lose theirs in another kids bag.

So our kids are all growds up. They'll no doubt have their own Facebook pages soon and start asking for cell phones so they text their bff's.

The Bash 2008

The Haught family has a tradition of every other year traveling to Destin Florida and enjoying life that exist on no time table. Each time we go we make it an adventure by picking a new home to stay in. Let me just say that the homes are always amazing and I could do life like that always! Our Haught party exists of Chad, myself and kiddos, His brother and family, his sister, His mom and dad, and then my mom and stepdad. It is amazing but every year we still continue to like each other :-).

This year was filled with fun. The weather was great, a bit windy, but enjoyable. Our days existed of, getting up, eating breakfast, putting our suits on, and heading down to the beach. mmmmm. Each year it gets better and better. This year all the kids LOVED the sand and water. They skimboarded, built sand castles, crab hunted at night, boogie boarded, and much much more. The beach is one big adventure for them.

Cooper was a whole new element that we added this year. We weren't sure what he would think but boy he loved the sand and was intrigued by the water. By the end of the week he would run towards the water and then come back but always having fun digging in the sand or watching the birds swoop down.

We ate some amazing meals! The great thing about our group is that we will shop at super walmart (spent right under $800 bucks) on groceries and then assign a night to each family. We have some amazing cooks so you can't get better than that.

The guys went deep sea fishing and had a blast. This was something Chad really was looking forward to and it met every expectation he had. He caught the biggest fish of the group - 14 pound grouper! Impressive! Check out the pics.

Chad, myself, his brother Jeff and wife Tanya played golf one day. Yes they took the women with them. We had so much fun. Check out the turtle on the course. Fun times. I have played again since then and am looking for some girls to play golf with!

These vacations are such an amazing time for our family. We desire to continue these trips for as long as we can do them. It is such a sweet time for us to spend as a family. We laugh, eat, relax together. We celebrate family! I want these memories to stick with our kids as they grow older.

a

150 or Bust

Chad did it!!! Chad rode in the MS150 this weekend and finished strong. I am SOOO proud of him. He did an amazing job. The one thing he said he didn't want was wind...what did it do Saturday morning early..start blowing crazy wind. He stuck with it tho. Saturday he rode 86 miles then came home collapsed at 7pm and then got up Sunday morning and rode another 74. He said today there was some MAJOR hills on the day 2 route. What are those people thinking when they plan a 150mile course to put hills on the second day. Crazy huh! He has been training for this for the last 6 months when my coworker Jeff talked him into it. He has really enjoyed it and said it was the hardest thing he has ever done.

Chad did this in honor of Tina, my sweet sweet friend at work. I have been blessed to have a friendship with Tina over the past 5 years. She is one of the most amazing people I know. You love her within 5 seconds of meeting her. She is full of life and her joy is contagious. Tina was diagnosed with MS about 9 years ago and has carried a spirit of strength that amazes me daily.
To know Tina is to love her!

Chad's Words:
I was telling everyone in our small group to pray for no wind but it did still end up being crazy windy on Saturday most of the day but I told God at one point - some little kids kite party needed that wind. Then I gave Him the stink eye. When we stopped at lunch Saturday all the guys that did the ride the year or two before kept saying they've never been that worn out on the first day due to the wind. When I got to the last rest stop with 14 miles to go it took everything I had to make it. I got home and layed in the bathtub for 45 min then went to bed at 7:30.

The next day was fantastic for the first 30 miles with NO wind. We made it to lunch in record time. After lunch the wind picked up a little and there were 4 hills that nearly killed me but getting to the tops of those hills were the best feelings in the world.

Here are some fun pics...




Day 1-Before the race










Ellie & Jackson with Tina









5 miles out from the finish line









Chad crossing the finish line - he is in the blue long sleeve pullover

Ellie Dances

Ellie had her first dance recital this past weekend. Well..actually 4 of them this weekend. She did so good. We enrolled her in a new dance studio this past fall and she almost quit. She stuck with it and really has enjoyed it. Ellie is quite shy but once she hits the stage you would never know it (sounds like her dad). She took ballet and tap. Next year we are going to add Jazz. I think that might be her nitch since she enjoys making up her own dances. She is quite the performer. The girls that she took dance with are Anna and Annalisa. Annalisa is 7 and Anna is 6 so there is a bit of an age difference but even with that she kept up pretty well. We are so proud of her. I even teared up watching her Friday night do her ballet. So big!!!! At her last performance we took her tulips and she was so excited. She kept saying 'thank you mommy for my flowers'. My mom and I were staring at her today and were discussing how much she is changing and how beautiful she is becoming.

Cooper is One

Cooper turned one yesterday so we had an official party for him. It was actually his second party for this birthday - when Kiley ran the marathon we had family in town so we figured we might as well have a party then too. So I'm sure we've confused him into thinking every birthday will be a month-long celebration of him. Kind of like the first time I took Jackson to a Rangers game and he got a foul ball. Now when we go back to games he'll say, "When am I going to get a baseball hit to me this game?" I think I've been to 100 Ranger games and have never gotten a foul ball.

The events of the day started with the cake. When we gave Cooper his slice then put the candle in it and lit it, Cooper put it out between his thumb and forefinger. How tough is that? No big deal though. When he finishes smokes his cigarettes he puts those out on his forearm. He did look at Kiley after that like, "That wasn't a very good idea was it?" then he got that look on his face that I get after I take a big bite of pizza and realize it's still piping hot.

He managed to fight thru the pain until we got the Curious George pinata up. That was a big hit. PUN! So when did they start making pinatas out of unbreakable material? Seriously. I'm importing all of my future pinatas straight from Mexico City.

After all the little ones took swats at it with a foam bat I broke out a wooden bat and let some of the bigger kids beat the crap out of it until a tiny crack formed in the back of it and candy started slowly leaking out of it.

Cooper had a great time and enjoyed having some of his friends over. The Escalade power wheel was a big player. Here's the Post kids (Zoe and Emma) experiencing the raw automotive power we have over in the United States. Their parents, Jason and Mandy are missionaries over in Ireland. They came all the way over just for Cooper's birthday party. We have such commited friends.

I asked Cooper what his favorite thing about turning one was and he said, "Da da." Awe. But he was pointing at the remnants of his Curious George pinata so I think he was insulting me.

Of Marathons and Softball

Kiley ran a marathon! For real. She did it in 4 hours and 52 minutes. I rode with her on my bike for the last 11 miles and I was so impressed and proud of her. From my perspective she made it look easy. There were times when she was worn down but her concentration on her task and how she pushed thru when she got really tired amazed me. Way to go Kiley.

I love the attached picture. The last 50 yards is the part where they have fences on both sides and everyone is cheering you on. Jackson and Ellie and their cousins - Cade and Kennedy ran with her the that last part so you can see them behind her.

Thanks to everyone that came out and met her at different checkpoints. That meant the world to her and kept her going. She said after mile 15 things started getting hard but it seemed like there was someone along the path every few miles after that.

What else is going on? I'm on a softball team that stinks. We've played 4 games and have yet to win. In fact on the way to my fourth game I got pulled over for speeding and when the cop asked me if I was on my way to a softball game (i was right by the field and had on a uniform) and I told him yes so he asked how my team was doing so I told him, "Not only are we 0 and 3. We've been 10 run rulled every game." to which he responded, "I'm gonna let you off with a warning." Funny.

The last game we were up 10-7 in the 5th inning and the game went 7 innings. We lost 12-24.

The kids are good. Cooper is saying "uh oh" and Ellie has a dance recital coming up. Her pictures for dance are tonight and they want us to roll her hair and put make up and lipstick on her. Jackson scored his first soccer goal of the year this weekend. He was so excited that he started to pull her shirt off. He also had his first baseball game this weekend. I'm pitching to the kids and hit one of them with a pitch. He was crowding the plate though so I just threw him a little chin music. No biggie.

My sweet Ellie

I wanted to share something sweet with you about Ellie. As you know Easter is approaching and the topic of Jesus dying on the cross is very much in discussion. It is amazing to hear a 5 year old share what she thinks it all means. So as I put her in bed and we began talking about her cuticle tearing, how it bleeds and makes her cry. From there she compared that to how Jesus had nails go into his hands and blood poured down his arms. She said that it was a sad day when he died on the cross. Then she went on to tell me how he had dinner with his friends the night before and told them his body was broken and that he would shed his blood. She continued to tell me that our hearts and souls would go to be with Jesus in heaven like her grammy and grandma honey (so sweet). I asked her why they got to go to heaven and she told me it was because they believed in Jesus. I told her that Jesus died for all the bad choices that we would all make and we just had to believe in him. She asked if he did it for Ms. Jacqui (her teacher), Ms Jennifer (her other teacher), Mollie Ann, Ella, and Isabelle (all friends at school). I told her yes. She then asked me about her kitty lamp (i told her probably not). She laughed. I asked her if she knew how to have Jesus in your heart. She told me yes, she did it at school. I said really. She told me to bow my head and she would pray....Dear Jesus, please come into my heart today, tomorrow, Friday & Saturday. Amen.

Man, don't you just love to see how it works through the eyes of a child. I am not sure that she has made the actual decision of understanding the sacrifice yet but boy she is getting it and how amazing that feels to get to watch her soak it in.

mmmmm mmmmm Good!

Snow Days in Dallas

Snow days in Dallas are few and far between but we had 2 last week. The kids missed the first one since it came late in the night and then melted by the time they woke up the following morning. On Thursday afternoon the snow began to fall. Beautiful flakes. It stuck on the ground a bit so we got out Friday morning for a bit of playtime. Cooper wasn't sure what to think. He just stared at it and then he cried when his hands touched it.

Amazing Kids

I decided it was about time for me to do a bit of blogging instead of pressuring Chad to get it done....This last week has been crazy. Jackson and Ellie had the flu since last Wednesday. Ellie started the fever on Wed and Jackson followed quickly on Thursday. I have never seen my kids have the life sucked out of them. They were taking 5-6hrs naps daily. CRAZY. Today they became a bit stir crazy (been in the house for 7 days) so I think it is time to let them back into the world tomorrow. Luckily so far Chad and I have escaped symptoms of the flu. Cooper has a little runny nose but we think that is all it is. Whew..glad that is over.

So back to the title of my blog...kids are amazing. My kids always amaze me. With Jackson and Ellie, it is what they say, or how they are learning to read or tie their shoes. They make us laugh at these personalities that they are developing. Lately I have been amazed over and over by our sweet Cooper. Not only is he the cutest kid around (come on you can admit it) but I forgot how neat it is to see them learn new things at his age. I am including a couple clips of his new learned trades. The below video is cooper showing us his pitching skills. You tell him to throw it to you and he does. Amazing!

The next video is of Cooper learning how to put the ball in the hole of the toy. I tried teaching him this a month or so ago and he just didn't get it. On Monday I was attempting to teach him the same task and he got it! it was so fun to see him grasp it and get excited. It isn't on tape but when he did it the first time he stopped and clapped. Oh so sweet.

I feel so blessed to have these 3 sweet amazing kids. I look forward to seeing what new things they will teach Chad and I about how to embrace and experience life. Enjoy.

Da-Da

Da-Da!

Oh wait, did you think that meant "Daddy"? No, don't be silly. It means many things. For instance it can mean "baby" when Cooper is looking in the mirror or at a picture of himself. Or it can mean "Jackson" when he sees a picture of his brother. It can also mean "that electronic thing on the wall at mothers day out with numbers on it that alerts parents in church service that they need to come pick up their fussy kid." But it by no means means "Daddy". Ask Cooper where Da-Da is and he'll point at the picture of himself on the wall in the living room. Does it hurt my feelings? Maybe a little. Probably about as much as it hurt my mom's feeling when I called her a taco as a kid. I thought it meant something much worse and I got in big trouble for calling her a taco. Seems like there should be a loophole in there somewhere but my mom didn't deal in grey areas.

What else is new with the Haught crew? Jackson' back to playing soccer. If you reference the blog I posted when he started that last season you'll get an idea of what I'm going thru all over again - trying to teach him that he's not going to make a goal everytime he gets the ball and he can't cry and complain that everyone's trying to take the ball away from him. Maybe I should enter him into one of those leagues where everybody wins and gets trophies.

Anyhoo - he's starting coach pitch baseball soon. I'm the coach so I'll be buying a whistle soon. I can't wait to strike out all the kids. I'm pretty sure I still have a serviceable split-finger fastball.

Ellie is taking dance still. I asked her the other day what was the hardest thing she has learned in dance and she told me, "Umm, the step-ball-chain." I pictured them taking all the kids out back, fitting them with prison stripe uniforms and chaining all their feet together and giving them pick axes to fix the railroad. Her first recital is in May!

Kiley is still training for her marathon. It's only 5 weeks away. The other day I rode my bike 26.2 miles in exactly 2 hours. I win! But seriously I'm extremely amazed at what she can accomplish when she puts her mind to it. She's incredible.

And Cooper is officially walking...everywhere. And he's got to be the easiest kid to entertain ever. If everyone laughed at me as much as he did I'd never complain about anything. It wouldn't do my any good, Cooper would just think I was being hilarious. I'm currently working on some new material. The fake sneeze is a big player but I want to add some variety to my repertoire. Maybe I'll work in the ole remove your finger gag and see how that plays.

Jackson and Ellie are fantastic at entertaining him as well. When you're trying to cook dinner and your wife is off running for hours on end you can just tell them to keep him busy and they have him giggling up a storm.

And you just can't beat hearing a baby laugh.

I'm better at walking than Cooper

Yes, Cooper is now walking. Big deal, I can walk so much farther than him. I'll get to that later. Meanwhile - look how much Ellie likes me.

We went to Austin to see my brother and his wife and kids. The cousins. Jackson and Ellie love going to see the cousins. We had a great time. Their new house is awesome - they have a creek right behind them with "lobsters" in it. That's what Cade calls them. They're really crawdads. That's Cade on the left in the tree.

Weird, Cooper is smiling. He rarely does that. Must be gas.

Okay, here's what we've been up to (other than going to Austin). Kiley has been training for her marathon all by herself (if Sarah reads this, insert guilt trip here). I kid! Her running buddy is getting married so is busy trying on dresses and stuff. Kiley ran 16 miles on Saturday. Go ahead and re-read that I'll wait... Yeah 16 miles.

Meanwhile I'm training for a bike race in May called the MS150. It's 150 miles over 2 days. I rode 40 miles this weekend. Only problem is I'm training on a mountain bike with road tires. If you know of anyone that has a spare road bike they don't mind lending to someone and wants to support my efforts have them email me :)

Oh we joined a gym too. I went in this morning after dropping the kids off and did a spin class. After an hour of that the hat I was wearing was completely soaked in sweat. The bill and everything. It was like I dunked it in the sea. Awesome. I was a disgusting sweaty mess after it was over. Then I ate some yogurt and cottage cheese. Gross.

Okay FINE! Here's the video of Cooper walking. He still needs something to pull himself up on before he gets going but he's all over the place. I could still smoke him in a foot race and look forward to challenge him in arm wrestling.

These Baby Shoes are Made for Walkin'

Hey look what Cooper is trying to do. As soon as Spring gets here I'll just replace that baby walker thing with a lawnmower and I'll be set!

Meanwhile Jackson and Ellie got two things that they could probably never put down.

1. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for the playstation3. Seriously. NEVER PUT IT DOWN.
2. Nintendo DS. They each got one and love them.

They also got a basketball goal. But you have to put down a controller to shoot baskets. LAME!

Kiley got a pair of 7 jeans. Oooooo.

Chad got several things but the one thing he has used the most is his new omelet skillet. I'm thinking about working at a hotel breakfast bar on the weekends. Or maybe I should open my own omelet bar right in our own house...hmm. Kiley could wait tables in her sexy new jeans. The waiting area could be out back where you could shoot baskets while you wait. And Jackson and Ellie could walk around from table to table and tell you stories about how they unlocked Han Solo and Darth Vader and just need to play a few more levels to earn enough lego money to buy General Grievous.