Janeane's baby shower!

The past few days have been pretty crazy! Luckily Audge had done all the planning, shopping, organizing and hard work getting everything together for Janeane's shower. I can barely take any credit for the next few pictures because they were all Audge's ideas, but they turned out so cute I just wanted to share. Janeane isn't due to have her baby girl until February 1st, but we decided to do her shower a little early because of the holidays and everyone having things to do. Her shower turned out super cute and we were proud of all the decorating we helped do.

I loved these balloons! They looked so good above the food table. I took this picture before all the food had made it to the table...

We did a dessert table instead of having a cake. Audge made cake pops that are always a huge hit. They are so yummy!

We made a few poms to hang above the dessert table. It was my first time making them and I was shocked at how fast I picked up on how to do it, but then I looked at the final product and realized it didn't look at all like it was supposed to so I had to start all over... I think the more you make them the better they turn out. Practice makes perfect right? I wish we would have made a few more. Maybe we will for the next shower!

Quiche is soo good, especially when Audge makes it. I'm usually not one to rave about a salad either, but the one she put together was soo good... Marie Callender's Poppy seed dressing in the cold food section is the secret! Try it and you'll love it. The feta cheese gave it a really good taste too.

I'm sad this picture didn't turn out better, but this idea was too cute! Originally we were gonna hang baby pictures of mommy and daddy, but when Janeane couldn't find a lot of hers we decided to hang her ultrasound pics of her baby girl instead. I think it was really cool to have pictures of the baby up. It made it feel more like she was real, if that makes any sense.

We hung David and Janeane's baby pictures above the fireplace.

We were glad we didn't plan any games because it was so fun just to socialize, eat and open gifts. It seemed like the perfect shower.

I'm so excited for my sister to have her baby. She's been such a great aunt to my kids. She's taught Peyton so many things that I never thought she would be able to pick up on at such an early age. She opens my eyes up to Peyton's potential all the time and has such good advice on dealing with problems that I sometimes have with her. Teaching has taught her a lot when it comes to kids and I'm stoked that she can use what she's learned on mine and now hers. I'm relieved her shower went so well because she definitely deserved it!

My sister Sarah and niece Kinsley. Sarah helps out so much with our kids I don't know what we're going to do whenever she has her own. By then things might be more crazy than they are now. Our family seems to be growing so fast and it's such a special one to be in! I'm so grateful for it.

My cousin Leia and her baby Eli. He's such a cute little boy. None of my sisters are excited about the idea of having boys. To tell you the truth I wanted a boy more for Derek than I did for myself, but Jax is my little man and I like to think that he was sent here partially because God knew I needed him. It's fun to see Jax interact with another boy because he is always around girls.

Grandma and Jax. It's fun to see my parent's light up because of my kids and Kinsley. I remember the days that my mom would joke about when she would ever get a grand kid  like it was yesterday and now she has three almost four! Days like these are what life is all about... family!

Santa has email?

Does Santa have email? Peyton now thinks he does... I've already started using Santa as an excuse for Peyton to behave when she's getting a little to out of control which seems to be getting more and more frequent. Terrible 3's are getting the best of her! The other day we were hanging out at home and she was having a rough time so I suggested we send an email to Santa. We sat down and I asked her what she wanted to tell him and what she wanted him to bring her for Christmas. I obviously helped a little with the email to let it have some type of flow to it, otherwise it would have been a jumbled mess, but almost all of this was Peyton...

 

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good girl this year! I've been a great big sister and I take care of brother. I like to color pictures of Donald in my coloring book. I watch cartoons, eat lunch and do everything I can do. I like to eat and drink and do cartoons and everything. I mind my mommy and audge too! And Kinsley too! I mind my daddy too! I help mommy with cleaning the t.v. and my camera. I don't work, but I help with laundry and picking up the echo. Brother's been a good boy too! I want you to bring me a cookie monster that says, "cookie" and a elmo that says, "hahaha" when the song's over. I think you look very christmasy with a long hat on the top!

Love,

Peyton

 

 

Ever since we saw this Elmo toy in Walmart and listened to him sing the same song 50 times she has wanted it. Maybe Santa will end up getting it for her! ;) Anyways, I thought our email was cute and wanted to share... Obviously I sent it to myself and forwarded it to Audge because I thought she might want to know that Peyton is proud of herself for minding both her and Kinsley, who can't even talk yet.

Our Halloween

Unfortunately Daddy had to work this Halloween, but he was at least able to see the kids in their costumes before he left. I took this little witch and her pirate brother to Oroville to celebrate with family!

When picking out her costume we tried to talk her into so many different things like princesses or something cute and frilly, but she was stuck on being a witch so we finally gave in. She even picked out the last witch costume I would have chosen for her, but after we put it on her we realized it was a cute one. We practiced her witch laugh a thousand times at home and she got it down perfect, but once we actually got out and around other people she was too shy to do it... We started out our night of trick or treating at Grammy's work(an assisted living facility). All the elderly people were so excited to see these two at their door and I'm pretty sure grammy loved showing them off to everyone.

Jax made such a cute pirate! I was surprised that he left his hat on all night, even after taking it on and off while getting him in and out of the truck.

His costume was a little big, but it worked. It came with shoe covers that looked like boots, but they were way too big for him. He picked up on the concept of getting candy in his pumpkin pretty quick and was blowing kisses at everyone as a thank you.

After trick or treating Country Crest we went to Derek's Aunt Edna and Uncle Dale's door and stayed a while. Then we went to Jeff's to see aunt Sarah. The kids got tons of candy and little gifts from all of them. Peyton loved showing off her outfit all night! I wish I took more pictures through the evening...

We ended the night at my parent's house in Gridley with Audge, Damon and Kinsley. Kinsley's owl costume was to die for, but I think both her and Peyton were over their hats... We were all pretty beat by the end of the night, but it was worth all the running around we did to see everyone we wanted to see. 

Interview with a 3 year old...

So, I keep saying that every birthday the kids have in the future I want to record an interview with them using the video camera. I think it would be the coolest thing for them to watch when they are older and remember how they thought way back when. I haven't done it yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to start on Peyton's next birthday. Anyways, I was on Pinterest today and I saw a pin that said 21 questions to ask your child. I read through them and thought it was pretty funny, but they were all about what the kids thought about mom. I started asking Peyton the questions and she kept saying I don't know, so then I started asking her other things and she was crackin' me up so I decided to share the rest of the interview with you. Here it goes(I'm the one asking the questions obviously and she's the one answering):

Q: How old are you?
A: 3!

Q:What makes you happy?
A: Going down the slide!

Q: What makes you sad?
A: When you put me in the crib. (I swear I've done this 1 time when she was throwing the biggest fit and would not stay in her bed. How does she remember that?)

Q. What do you like to do?
A: I like to watch cartoons and go down the slide and play outside and I'm gonna all eat candy!(the last part doesn't really make sense, but that's what she said)

Q: What do I like to do?
A: Umm.. you like to put away dishes and i'm going to answer these questions so then I can watch the cat movie!(She's really into busytown mysteries on netflix!)

Q: What's your favorite thing to help me with?
A: Laundry!

Q: What do you wanna be when you grow up?
A: Umm.. I'd like to be a doctor when I grow up...(what a smarty)

Q: Who's you favorite person?
A: You mama! And Jax!

Q: Where is your favorite place to go?
A: To the doctor..(lol, what kid likes the Dr. office?)

Q: What's your favorite cartoon?
A: The cat movie! Can I watch the cat movie now?
In a minute, just a few more questions...

Q: What makes mommy happy?
A: we can do everysing we know(umm... k)

Q: Where does daddy work?
A: Trains!

Q: What makes brother happy?
A: What makes brother scared?
Hey I'm the one asking the questions here... This isn't working very well...

Q: Tell me something silly?
A: Umm... I want the cat movie! Can I have my cat movie now?

Maybe it's a good thing I'm not filming her first interview till her fourth birthday! Now that she's watching "the cat movie" I guess I'll finish this blog up with what she's been saying lately. When we're telling her to do something sometimes her response is, "shush..." I'm pretty sure she got this one from me.. oops! When I tell her what we're going to do in a day she gets really excited and says, "maybe we can do all that!" of course we're going to do all that. That's why I said "this is what we're going to do today"! She's really into calling Jax "Jackie" I think she said it on accident the first time and thought it sounded funny so she's been saying it ever since. In the morning she comes into our room, climbs into our bed and yells, "OKAY, let's get up and get some strawberry milk!" but the way she says "lets get up" is like she's trying to make it sound convincing, like it's fun to get out of bed or something. When she wants Jax to go play with her she tells him, "come on Jax, you can come into my room if you want to!" like he already needs permission haha... She's really into singing songs and now has a few country songs memorized, or at least the chorus anyways and it's soo funny to hear her belting them out from the bathroom while she's on the potty. She is so smart too! She now knows Derek's, mine, Jax's and her birthdays and she has our phone number and Janeane's cell phone memorized. It's crazy how long she has remembered them too! Today in the bath she was playing with her letters that stick on the wall and tilted the I sideways and told me, "look, mama! I made a fat H!" she's hilarious! I love it! The last thing I can think of is whenever she's being chased by anyone she yells, "oh no the big bad wolf"! She's a chicken too.. she LOVES Dora still, but lately when it's on t.v. I've caught her a few times sitting behind the couch looking into the kitchen. I finally figured out why the other day. Whenever she hears the sound right before swipper comes out she gets scared and hides until they find him. She never did this before, but all the sudden she started doing it every time she watched the show! Anyways, that's enough for now about my crazy daughter! I'm still waiting to hear what my son is going to say! Look forward to that post in about a year!

Getting excited for Halloween!

Peyton and I decided we were going to make Halloween cookies! I hadn't made rolled out sugar cookies in a really, really long time so I thought it would be a fun thing to do together.

We did have fun and Peyton was a great helper, but they didn't turn out as well as I hoped so I didn't take pictures of the final product. Maybe next time will be better. :) I think I didn't let the dough chill enough before trying to roll it because it was still really sticky so I tried to add more flour and then ended up putting it back in the fridge. After all was said and done they tasted like pure flour. I felt bad for disappointing Peyton, but luckily Audge came over before she could eat her cookie and she got all excited to go stay the night at her house. So I was saved on that one!

The only thing Jax wanted to do with the cookies was to lick the mixing paddle. Typical boy wanted to play instead of bake.

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch. Jax was only 2 months old when we took him last year so there's no way he remembered it, but I think Peyton kinda knew where we were going.

Jax took one look around and didn't know what he wanted to do first.

He wasn't to thrilled that Peyton took over the wheel.

It was fun showing them all the animals.

Their favorite part was a tie between the petting zoo and the train.

She was afraid of the goats. It took her a while to even get up the courage to pet one.

I'm not sure what she was doing here, but I loved her face!

The train couldn't start moving fast enough he was so excited!

They got to ride a train like daddy does!

We found our pumpkins almost right off the bat which was good because it was pretty hot out there.

I think he looks like such a little stud in this picture.

Our pumpkins! We actually only got four, but Peyton kept trying to add more and more to the wagon. Pretty soon we will carve them, but that will probably be the next thing I blog about.

Photo Book

My mother in law prepaid for a photo book so I could capture Peyton's first year. I put it all together online and when I was finally finished and it came I loved it. I had been wanting to do one for Jax's first year so when I got a coupon in the mail from shutterfly for a free photo book I was so excited! It couldn't have come at a better time! I can't wait till this gets to my house! It was fun while I was putting this together to kind of go over the past year and see how fast Jax has actually grown. He's so big now. I love the little boy that he is. He already has his own way of showing Derek and I that he loves us and it is the sweetest thing.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly baby photo books are the perfect way to preserve your baby's precious moments.

Goodbye summer!

We've been spending all day cleaning and packing up things we don't use anymore so I decided to clean our little kiddie pool out and store it away till next summer... after letting it dry I brought it inside. The kids and I decided to have a little fun! Its awesome how the little things make them soo happy! I love it!!

Ba Ba Da...

A few months back my sister Sarah burnt me a CD that I put into the player in our truck. Every time it would come around to this song I would skip it because it sounded like Christmas music to me. I couldn't figure out why she would even put a song like this on the CD. I never really listened to it all the way through, but one day we were driving home from somewhere in silence and Peyton told me, "I wanna listen to the ba ba da song..." It took me a few minutes , but i finally figured out this was the song she was talking about. It was soo funny to hear her singing along with the chorus. Just ba ba da ba da ba... Then we started listening to it every time we went somewhere. Now if you know Jax, you know that he is not that big of a talker yet. Everything is ba.. ball is ba, bath is ba, bye is ba... he walks around all day saying ba so this was the perfect song for him. He started singing and dancing along after a while too. Every time we listen to this song we crank up the speakers and dance and sing! A little cheesy? Ya, probably, but I love every second of it. This song makes my kids so happy! We do so many silly things like this that daddy doesn't know about because it would just confirm his suspicions that mommy is a dork... He found out  about this one though on our way to Fort Bragg a while back. Jax was super fussy and I was trying everything to calm him down, but he was completely over it. Finally I turned on this song and his whole mood flipped around. He got all excited and started clapping and singing. Derek was soo confused. We still listen to this song every day and I have to say it is now my favorite song, just because of the kids. It's so fun to rock out to it with them. Jax nods his head to the music and Peyton yells/sings as loud as she can! This song will eventually be a memory that I never want to forget...

p.s. you might want to pause the song that's always on my blog before listening to this clip... to do that just scroll all the way down and you'll find the music player...

Peyton's 3!!!

Janeane, Audrea and Kinsley came over on Peyton's birthday and brought her a few gifts and this cute cake that looks like a giant cupcake! They weren't going to be able to make her party so they decided to throw her a little one to celebrate! It was so nice of them to be so thoughtful and of course Peyton loved it!

Janeane bought her this cute little outfit and the shoes... Dora, of course!

Janeane told her to make a wish and I guess this was her way of wishing it would come true!

Our little family is now all a year older! It's been a crazy few months, but we're finally starting to get back to normal!

Peyton has been obsessed with Dora since day 1! I thought she was finally starting to appreciate all the other cartoons that she's recently started watching, but when I asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday she told me she wanted a Dora cake... I tried soo hard to talk her out of it by showing her other samples of cakes that I thought were cute, but she stuck to her guns!

This probably wont come as a shock to you if you've read my blog in the past because I am annoyingly ALWAYS saying time is flying by soo fast! I wonder if i will ever get used to this feeling!? Peyton will always hold a special place in my heart as my first little angel because she was the one who changed my reason for living! I will always be grateful to her for showing me what life is really all about! Derek started the process of changing me into a responsible adult when we got married and settled down, but I didn't really get it until I was holding my baby girl and realizing that everything I'd do from that moment on would affect her...

Three years have gone by in the blink of an eye! My little girl is getting bigger and smarter everyday! She is like a sponge soaking up everything she sees and hears. We had a small get together with close family members to celebrate her birthday with desert and in front of my mother in law she used the expression, "oh crap!"... oops! My bad! 

As always, she was spoiled by everyone! I think she was even more excited because we just had Jax's party and now it was her turn to get presents!

My in laws bought her an easel and Derek's aunt Edna and uncle Dale bought some of the supplies for it! Peyton was soo excited!!!

She was finally able to blow out her own candle, unlike the years before! Kinsley slept right through all the best parts!

Daddy keeping Jax occupied!

A few days after her party I decided we should have some fun with the finger paints! I love how excited Peyton gets when we do new things and she is such a good listener..

We are anything but artists, there is no denying that! To explain the color blotches above what's supposed to look like a bee, we were trying to learn what colors mixed together made... Jax came walking up to us in his diaper and we attacked his belly drawing a big smiley face on it with blue paint. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of it. Then Peyton got a little crazy, with my help of course!

What's the fun of keeping it on the paper anyways??? This lasted about a minute, then they were both in the bath! Bath time is bittersweet... I love how they love to play in the bath. They have these colorful letters that stick to the wall so we learn letters, colors and spelling. Peyton can actually spell a few words! Jax just loves to knock the letters down and get yelled at by Peyton for messing up her hard work. The bitter part of it is getting them out. They NEVER want to get out of the bath! There is ALWAYS fits being thrown when bath time is over!

We had Kinsley for a whole weekend when Audge went out of town and we had tons of fun! Jax actually did pretty well for a while, but I think he was ready for her to go when Audge came to get her because he wanted all the attention back. She's so crazy now! She's almost nine months old and already trying to stand up ALL the time! I swear she will be walking in no time! We've been having so much fun with her lately!