Please vote in this poll to help us figure it out…your guess is as good as ours!

It has been a HUGE week for me. Daddy let me pick out a new bed for my room and I got this super cool one with cars all over the sheets.

I love it and I cuddle up every night with all my sleeping companions, including Jabulani (my world cup soccer ball), Mr. Yellow (my m&m clock), Piggy, my crown, my baby doll, and my huge heart pillow. I have been a very good sleeper lately, except for this past weekend when I got to skip naps and miss bedtimes to play with 58 of my new favorite people at the Castleton family reunion.

We’ve been talking about the reunion coming up for months, but I had no idea how cool it would be till we got there. Even though we had to spend lots of time in the car (see how I entertained myself during those car rides in these videos), it was SO worth it.

My favorite parts were playing outside in the dark and going on the really fast boat.

I had so much fun getting to know my relatives from Utah, Washington and other parts of Oregon – especially “Big Ezra,” Aunt “Dora,” and cousin Mason – and of course I also got lots of quality time in with my first cousins who I see all the time now anyway. The 2012 reunion can’t come soon enough!

- Maddy

P.S. I love it now that Hayden is an expert walker, and I can get away with harassing her more because she’s not so delicate. Here’s a video of us playing the other day.

Hayden is 13 months old now, and she’s in such a cute phase these days. She’s recovered from that scary fever she had, and we all just love spending time with her (except when she’s fighting her naps, which she does frequently although she sleeps perfectly at night). Fun things she does lately:

- “Toddle” everywhere with a funny chicken/grandma walk
- Blow kisses and imitate funny facial expressions like fishy faces
- Laugh uproariously when tickled
- Dance when music is turned on
- Clap spontaneously whenever someone nearby mentions “Good girl”, “Yay” or “Whee!”
- Mimic O sounds, like “uh oh”, “oops” or “oh!”
- Mimic hand gestures, like signaling to come here or waving
- Take things out of drawers or boxes and put them in other drawers or boxes
- Follow simple commands (sometimes), like “come here”, “stop that”, or “put that back.”
- “Read” books (or at least flip through the pages a few times before ripping or eating them)

I’m trying to get video of as many of these things as I can, but it’s not easy. Here are a couple:

In other news, today both Maddy and Hayden got their 1st haircuts ever. I’m having a bit of buyer’s remorse, but I’m sure I’ll get used to the bang look eventually. At least now I don’t have be constantly swiping their hair out of their eyes (or food) or trying to convince them to keep their barrettes in their hair. Maddy was quite nervous, but very happy with the end result (especially the glitter spray). Hayden didn’t really seem to notice that much was happening with her hair.