Trick-or-Treat

We had such a fun time trick-or-treating tonight. Payten really understood what was going on. All day long I kept telling her that tonight she was going to get all dressed up in her lady bug costume and we are going to go walking around the neighborhood getting candy from all the neighbors. About 6:30, we started getting ready and she was clapping her hands, yelling, "yaaaa", and couldn't hardly wait to go outside. I was really impressed with her trick-or-treating skills. Before we left to start our journey for the best candy, I prepped her on what to do.... ring the door bell, say "trick-or-treat" and then say thank you and then walk away and go to the next house with their light on. She got it down by the second house and now we have a HUGE amount of candy that I don't know what to do with. We have been really trying to cut out the sugar around our house, since I am now officially on my way to being an aerobics instructor!!!! I need to look my best so everyone will want to come to my clasees!! :) Anyway, it was the best weather ever tonight. After we got back Daddy and Payten played football in the street and I continued to hand out candy. Her favorite candy was M&M's and a Dora the Explorer sucker. :) So here is a list of Payten's favorite things. I want to start doing this so I won't forget all the things she loved at age 2: 1. Airplanes (She will randomly start talking about them and my mom and dad got her a remote controll airplane and she LOVES it!!!!) 2. Jesus (The other night she couldn't sleep so I got her up and we went and looked at the stars. All of a sudden she pointed to the sky and said, "Jesus". It was the cutest thing, so I started telling her how Jesus made the stars and the night sky. She listened so intently. And another thing she has started doing is making me sing a Jesus song before she goes to bed while I am rocking her. She will be lying there is my arms, and say, "sing....Jesus". She gets a smile on her face when I start singing about how much Jesus loves her. She just soaks it all in.) 3. Eggos (About a month ago I bought a box of Eggos from the store. And now she cannot go a day without eating an Eggo my Leggo!! :) I toast them in the toaster, put a little butter and then cut them up and she LOVES them. Every morning when she wakes up the first thing that comes out of her mouth is, "Eggos". That is usually our breakfast every morning. :) 4. Nala (Nala and Payten have become the best of friends. They play together every day while I am getting ready or cooking dinner. When Payten was sick a couple of weeks ago, she would just lay on the floor and watch Dora or Nemo and Nala would come up and lay next to her. Payten would pet her and love on her and Nala would roll around and start purring. Nala has never once been mean to her, maybe a little frustrated, but never mean. They play chase around the house and it is so cute to watch. Payten calls Nala, "my kitty". :) One more thing... the other night Paytie got invited to a costume party. She had so much fun playing with Charlie and Avery. When we were on the way to the party, the moon was very bright and full. She noticed how pretty it was and started talking about it. Then the moon went behind some trees.....I said, "Payten where did the moon go"? And she looked at me with the most serious face and said, "It went night night." Matt and I were cracking up. The minds of a two year old!! :)

Pumpkin Patch

We had so much fun in Oklahoma this past weekend. Right before we left town we went to the pumpkin patch and ate at Ted's Mexican Resturant. It was so much fun getting the girls together and letting them play. Well I guess they're not quite playing yet, just staring at each other. :) Hopefully they will start to play together in a few months. Here are some good pics I took today. Jennifer took some really good ones of the girls, so I will post them on the blog once she sends them to me. Matt and I had a nice time visiting and hanging out. My parents had Payten so a few times we didn't know what to do with all of our free time. Friday I went with Jennifer and Brooke to help Jennifer register for all of her baby stuff. That was so much fun and it is amazing how much cooler stuff they have come up with since Payten was born. Saturday night we went to the OSU Homecoming game. That was a BLAST!!! I was nervous the entire game. I chewed my nails down to little nubs! :) I really thought we were going to lose, but somehow they pulled themselves together and ended up winning!!! Thanks everyone for the great time.....we'll be back in four weeks for Thanksgiving!! Can't wait!

Please Pray

Just real quick I want to ask everyone to keep little Payten in your prayers. She woke up this morning sick..... coughing, weazing, and a high temperature. We stayed home pretty much the whole day and relaxed, watched movies and ate ice cream. I feel so bad for her. I wish I could do something to make her feel better. Hopefully she will feel better soon and be back to her normal, playful self. Thanks so much for praying.....

Play Time

Here we are once again playing!! I think that is all I do sometimes....but I must admit I think I have as much fun as she does... writing on her chalk board is so much fun. I remember when I was in school I would always want to draw on the chalk board in the classroom. Right now we are practicing writing her name and the numbers 1 through 10. I want her to recognize the numbers when she sees them on paper. She is also learning how to spell her name. She is learning so much right now. It is amazing how much their little brains soak up at this age. She almost knows her ABC's. We got her the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD. She loves to watch it in the car. That is my saving grace!!!! When were driving around, I just turn on the DVD player. It keeps her quiet and learning and also lets me get some peace and quiet while driving. She was giving the giraffe a hug, but I think she was choking it more than loving on it!! haha

Meme came to visit us for a couple days while Matt was in Oklahoma. We had so much fun. When she got into town we went to the Galleria and ate at the Cheesecake Factory and then went shopping. We found some good bargains!!! In the evenings we hung around at the house and made a tent with the pack and play. We turned it on its side and then put blankets around it. She played in it for hours.... and three days later, it is still up. She loves to hide from us and put her babies to sleep in it. Thanks Meme for coming down and spending time with us. We always have a blast hanging out and doing "girly" things!!!! Oh ya, mom...last night I was rocking Payten to sleep and she was almost asleep and then she jumped up and started talking about you and airplanes. I thought it would make your day that she was thinking about you. :) I love this little girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I finally started scrapbooking again after a full years break from it. Last night after Payten and Matt went to bed I got all my stuff out and organized into different piles. I have sooooooo many pictures just lying around and my goal is to get her first two years completly done by the end of this year. Last night I made two grandparents pages. It turned out really cute. I also put a couple great grandparents in there as well. Payten just has a huge list of amazing grandparents and great grandparents!!! I only plan to scrapbook Birthdays and Major Holidays from now on.....it would just be too expensive to continue scrapbooking every little thing. And when baby #2 comes along I will have to do the same for him/her that I did for Payten. Okay, I am rambling on. Have a good weekend everyone!!!! :)

Random Acts of Sweetness

It has been sooo long since I have posted new pictures. I have been so tired lately. And very busy!!! Tonight we were cleaning out closets and getting ready to move Payten into her big girl room, so we had to get rid of lots of stuff in the guest bedroom. It felt so good to have our house really clean for once! :) Anyway, Payten wanted to play in her pack and play and put her OSU jammies on (she doesn't care that they got their behinds whooped the other night. She will still be a fan!!).....I thought she looked awfully cute and decided to take a few pics for the blog. We had our first MOPS meeting last Monday night. It went great. I am a discussion group leader. We had over 200 ladies, maybe more. We had the best speaker ever. She talked about being a "yes" mom and a "yes" wife. I can't find my notes at the moment, but when I do, I will post some of her thoughts and comments. She was very encouraging and motivating. Love the moments because the moments go by so quickly!!!!! Cherish every hug, every kiss, every smile, every moment and even every cry!!!!!!!!! The other day we took a family run. She really likes sitting in her jogging stroller now. She went through a faze where it really bothered her, but now Matt and I can run at least 3 miles and she will be content and happy. She always talks about running. I think she likes to get out of the house and breathe fresh air. Once again, she had to have her sunglasses on. She wears them everywhere we go. She sees that I have sunglasses on, so she has to have some on too. And then when we go into the store I put them on top of my head....well, Paytie automatically puts them on her head too. She models everything that I say and do. I have to watch what I say, because the other day, I said, "man this is crap" and what did I hear, "man this is crap". I couldn't believe that she said it. I immediately was mad at myself for saying it. I think I was mad b/c once again the dishes in the sink were piling up. I think I do a load of dishes daily!!!! Well, I am rambling on....hopfully I will get to add more pics sooner than later. :)

Greetings from Mexico!!!

Mexico was a blast! It went by way too fast... like every trip does. It was so beautiful there. The resort was amazing and the ocean was crystal clear blue. It was so nice to relax and spend quality time with my husband. We would start the morning by running by the ocean in the sand... (that last few minutes killed my legs) then we would go get breakfast and then lay at the pool until about 5:00 that evening. We played sand volleyball, pool volleyball, floated in the ocean (the water was perfect!!) and talked and layed out with the girls. Around 5:00 we would head back to the room..... take a nap and then get ready for the evening out. The food was pretty good. The service was okay. Sometimes it would take a couple hours to get our food. I don't think Mexicans are too concerned with time like us American folk. :) After dinner we would all hang out and dance in the lobby. There was a Mexican band that played for us every evening. One night we went walking down 5th street in Playa Del Carmen. It was pretty safe. We all stayed together... overall the trip was amazing. I really enjoyed getting to know everyone better. There were lots of FUN times!!!! :) We missed our little Payten, but knew she was living it up with her Meme and Papa!! They had a blast together and Sunday night she even got to see her other Meme and Papa!!! She is so blessed to have 2 sets of wonderful grandparents!!! Thanks for helping out. We really enjoyed the time together, but was ready to get back and see our baby girl.

More pictures from Mexico