Happy Easter

We had a very relaxing Easter Weekend. We played outside a lot of the time. Payten is really getting into riding her jeep. She is an expert driver now. It took her a long time to figure out how to steer the wheel. Now she is a pro. She just takes off....there is hardly any traffic on our rode so it is nice that she can drive around in the street. Easter day we hid Easter eggs in the back yard. We filled all the eggs with Starburst jelly beans. Payten was really excited to see what was inside of the eggs. She loves her Easter basket too. She has been taking it with her everywhere. She had so much fun finding the eggs in the back yard. We have about 50 Easter eggs strung around our house. She has been enjoying playing with them. After we played outside for a couple hours I started feeling sick to my stomach. Matt had the stomach virus last weekend and I thought that I was lucky enough to not catch it....well I guess I wasn't that lucky! I threw up about 15 times yesterday and then into last night. I thought I wasn't going to make it! :) Praise the Lord I got through....I feel better. My stomach still aches a little bit. Hopefully I will wake up tomorrow feeling 100%. There is nothing worse then having a temperature and feeling achy all over. I hope everyone had a better Easter day than I did!! Here is a picture of Payten and Daddy. Payten is soooo blessed to have a Daddy like Matt. Everyday Payten always asks for her Daddy and is so excited to see him when he comes home. When I was sick he entertained her the entire day and they slept together upstairs in the game room while I was downstairs not feeling so well. :) Matt is always so patient and loving to her. Thanks Matt for being such a wonderful Dad.

Saturday night we all got dressed up and went to the Easter service at Second Baptist Church. It was so nice to actually go to a church service. Since I work at the church on Sundays I don't get to go to a church service. I really enjoyed sitting next to Matt and listening to a really good message. Payten was so excited to wear her Easter dress. She begs me all the time to wear it. She didn't want to take it off that evening. I think she would live it the dress if I would let her. She is so funny. The other night we kissed her good night and closed the door. We heard her making noise....Matt went down stairs to see what she was up too.....she was in her closet taking all her clothes off of the hangers and playing dress up. The next morning she came and woke me up and she had a skirt on over her pj's. She is constantly getting into my jewerly and makeup ALL the time. She is a true girly girl!

My Little Sunshine

It has been a while since I have updated my blog. Things have been going really well these past couple weeks.......although Payten has decided she wants to throw some MAJOR fits just to test my patience.... and Matt's too! We have been very relaxed in our schedule and I can definitely tell it throws her off. The past couple days we got her on a rountine again and I can already see a huge change in her behavior. What a difference a little routine can make!!!!! We have been enjoying the nice weather by playing outside a lot, going to the park and taking walks around the neighborhood. I can't wait for the pools to open up so we can go swimming everyday!!! (well almost everyday.) I am anxious to see if she can swim all by herself. One of the last times we went to the pool last summer she swam all by herself, without floaties, and kept her head above water for over a minute. I hope she will catch on and learn to be a really good swimmer! Grandma Jan and Papa Mike came to visit us. Jan helped us plant flowers one day.... and Payten got a special flower just for her. The next day she decided to pick the flower and then she got really upset because she couldn't put the flower back on the stem......I promised her that a new flower would start to grow soon and within two days a new Daisy started to grow. She loves to look at the flowers that we planted. Thanks Grandma Jan for helping us..... it was nice to have someone helping me that knew what they were doing. :)

While we were planting flowers my next door neighbor found an unexpected visitor in his garage. He didn't want to kill the snake and I knew I wasn't going to do it so Jan volunteered herself and killed the snake with a shovel. I got some great pictures but I figured I would need Jan's permission first to post them. :) All the neighborhood kids came out to see what was going on. The kiddos ended up disecting the snake for atleast an hour. Payten was sooooooo interested in what was going on. Why are kids soooo fascinated with this kind of stuff? Anyway....it was a very entertaining afternoon. Below are some of the faces I captured while all this was going on. This face is Payten's, "Don't touch me" face.....she has soooo many facial expressions. I was chasing her around the house with the camera and she let me know she was not in the mood to smile. "Leave me alone" she says! :)

Trip to Oklahoma

Last weekend we made a trip back to Oklahoma. We had so much fun seeing everyone and visiting!!! Thanks Brooke for the pictures. I went off and left my camera, so I didn't get to take any pictures. Friday Payten and I hung out with my parents. We ate pizza and played cards all night. Sat. morning we got up and went and had breakfast with Memaw and Papaw. By the way Memaw, those pancakes were soooo yummy! After breakfast Memaw took me shopping for my birthday. Thanks Memaw for everything!!! :) Saturday night we went to Matt's grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary. It was so much fun to get dressed up for the night and hang out with the gang. Payten really enjoyed playing with Kennedi. They both looked soooo adorable in their little dresses. Thanks Jan for the dress and bow. Since we have been home, Payten sees the dress in her closet and begs me to let her wear it. I tell her that she has to wait until Easter and then she can wear it whenever she wants. :) Sunday we went over to my parents house and had lunch. Mom made the BEST Chicken and Dumplings. They were soooo yummy. I could have eaten three or four bowls if my stomach would have let me. :) Oh and Chris and Jennifer.... Baby Cole is so precious. He is getting bigger and bigger every day. Cherish every moment because they grow up way too fast! Payten decided that she wanted to have a tea party while we were just sitting at the table. She pretended to make coffee and tea for everyone. Her little imagination is sooo cute these days. I catch her pretending all the time. The other day she wanted me to lay down on the floor and then she put a little white blanket across my chest and she wanted to clean my teeth. She was pretending to be a dentist. It was pretty cute. I have spied on her a couple times while she was prentending to be a ballerina. She will put her little fluffy dress on and then she will put her hands in the air and twirl around in a circle. I will watch her for a while and then when she finally sees me she will act all shy and get a little embarrassed. Thanks everyone for a great trip back. We are so blessed to have such amazing families!!!

Fun at Kema Boardwalk

This Sunday we went down to Kema and had so much fun. The weather was 82 degrees and it was the perfect day to be outside. We ate at Saltgrass, rode the "choo choo" train around a couple times, played in the water, walked around the pier, and watched all the sailboats in the water. Payten had lots of fun! She was beside herself when we were riding the train. It took us all around Kema and into a tunnell where there were cowboys shooting guns. Once we got out of the tunnel she looked at me with really big eyes and said, "Mommy that was scary." In other news... Payten can now sing Jesus loves me. It is the sweetest thing and absolutely melts my heart. I am hoping to video it and put it on the blog if I can ever learn how. She has the sweetest little voice. Oh and she is pee peeing on the potty reguraly now. I am so proud of her. Once we get home she will take off all her clothes from head to toe and go potty. And then she tells me, "Mommy I am naked" and then laughs. I guess she thinks she needs her shirt off too potty.?? :) She will spend hours sitting on the toilet and then getting up and flushing and then gets back on the potty and then will get up and flush again......she makes a complete mess and has toilet paper everywhere, but I don't care one bit! :) You can see the beautiful palm trees and clear blue sky. If you look close enough you can see Miss Payten running around. She had so much fun playing in the water. She of course didn't stop playing the whole time we were there.

Thanks Meme for coming down and visiting us and taking me shopping and to the Cheesecake Factory for my birthday.I am still thinking about the Lemon Rasberry Cheesecake I ate......it was sooooo yummy!!!!! I always have a blast when you come to visit and I know Payten was extremely upset to see you leave. It always goes by too fast. Thanks for baby sitting Friday and Saturday night so Matt and I could hang out with our friends and spend time with each other. I love my baby girl but it is always nice to have a night out!!! I had so much fun shopping at the Galleria....thanks for all my cute clothes and shoes! :) Love you!

Greetings from Texas

Greetings from Texas everyone! We have been having too much fun lately! (Is there such thing as too much fun??) Not for a two year old!!!! She got a new bathing suit the other day to go along with her Mickey Mouse slip and slide for the back yard. Since it was raining outside she had to go swimming in her new swim suit....in the bath tub. She played for atleast 2 hours! One Saturday afternoon we all pitched in and washed the cars. She was such a good helper!!! Payten really enjoys being outside and playing in the water. By the time she was done "helping" she was soaked from head to toe!

Last night we went to Chuck E Cheese for Josh's birthday party. (Mike and Tracy's little guy) We had so much fun, although Payten wouldn't sit still. There was soooo much going on that she was a little spaz!!!!!!!! By the time we left, Matt and I were in need of major quiet time!!!!!! I love this picture of her hair. It is getting so long and looks even longer when I straighten it.

Trip to Oklahoma

Last week Paytie and I flew to Oklahoma to meet the newest addition to Chris and Jennifer's family. He is sooo precious and I cannot believe how little he is!!! He is definitely going to be a heart breaker when he gets older! :) We had so much fun seeing everyone and praise the Lord the weather was beautiful while we were there....although the flight home was a "little" rough!!!! We flew through a couple storms going to Dallas, not to mention we were on a small plane. I kept gripping the seats as if that was going to keep us in the air. Payten loved riding in the airplanes. All 4 flights she was perfect...never made a peep, just was so happy and content sitting in her seat looking out the window. I had a few people tell me that I had a very good and well behaved traveler. That always makes a mommy feel good! :) Here is the crew of kiddos. We each have children now. Family get togethers should be nice and quiet from now on! haha

Payten just loves her "Bu Brad". She was very excited to see him. They spent a lot of time together playing around my parents house. She had lots of fun. So, we decided to take Payten on a tractor ride. She was soooo excited..... well until the tractor took off and she decided she wanted "off NOW"! She kept saying, "mommy I want off now". I couldn't help but laugh. She likes to look at the tractor but she wants no part in riding one. The day before we left the weather was in the 80's so Dad, Mom, Paytie and I went for a 3 mile walk. We went down the new trails in Skiatook. It was really nice and there was a creek so Payten got to get out of her stroller and run around a bit. She even took a little jog with Grandpa and me. I think she is going to be a runner just like her Aunt JJ. Meme and Payten got to play Mickey Mouse games on the computer. Disney has the neatest games for toddlers and preschoolers. I think they played for a couple hours one time. Payten LOVES Mickey and Minnie......she was pretty content sitting on Meme's lap! Thanks Dad and Mom for the trip! We had so much fun hanging out and spending time with you. We will see you in March!