Payton- My girl!

Payton.  How do I begin to describe all that is wound up in this one little body to make Payton?  Oh how I love this girl.  And yet I'm convinced that every single gray hair on my not-so-old head is directly from Payton!

Payton is so loving.  She loves to hug, and kiss, and snuggle.  She loves to do things for others "just to be nice."  She loves to help.  She's a pleaser (for everyone but her parents I think).  Her love language is physical touch and meaningful time.  When she's out in public, at Sunday school class, or in preschool, she is pretty quiet, well mannered, and a sweetheart.

Then....we have the hormonal Payton.  At home she can be all of the things described above.  Or, she can be the complete opposite!  Payton likes to be in control of situations.  She doesn't like to feel rushed, and she doesn't like to feel like she has no control.  She gets overwhelmed easily and she can go from laughing and sweet, to yelling and throwing a massive fit in under a minute!  It's crazy!

Pay and I have a great relationship.  We really do.  After disciplining her, she always sincerely apologizes and wants to just be with me.  I truly believe she doesn't want her head to spin out of control like it does, but she's having a slow go of learning how to control it!  She's come a long way, but we still have a ways to go.

She's currently on a strike system.  The first strike is a warning, the second strike means no treats (candy) the rest of the day, and the third strike means mommy doesn't rock her at bed time.  We normally spend a good ten minutes just rocking, talking, and singing at bedtime.  When she looses this privilege, it hurts us both.  I love ending my day with precious time spent with just this little girl.

I love our church for so many reasons, one of which was a Father/Daughter dinner night.  The dad's committed themselves to raising their daughters to know the Lord and to love them.  Darron and Payton go all dressed up and she felt like a princess.  So sweet!

Payton wanted her fourth birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.  We had a great time eating pizza, playing games, and opening presents.  

I'm not sure if these two videos will show in the blog, but they are a good glimpse of Payton's goofy, silly personality.  She can be so silly it cracks us up!

Pay loves time with her cousin Max and he is so sweet to her.  They were having a great time sledding together at the cabin.

Two peas in a pod: Maggie and Payton.  Payton loves her Maggie SO much!  And Maggie has such a special place in her heart for Payton.  Maggie came to visit us last Fall and Payton was in heaven....Maggie was too.  I think this is how they spent most of their time together.  

Such a beautiful girl!  I'm gonna be in trouble one of these days!

Pay and Parker have such a sweet bond.  They spend more time together than they do with Preston, mainly because he's in school all day.  These two love to play together, and anytime Payton is sent to her room crying or throwing a fit, Parker is trekking upstairs to check on her.  Payton takes great care of Parker, and Parker imitates everything his sister does....and by everything....I mean the good and the not so good!

In May we realized Payton couldn't see distances at all.  She's now sporting some cute little glasses and she does a great job wearing them everyday.

How sad is this sweet little face?  After a few days of random vomiting and off and on fevers, I started to get concerned.  Pay would go from totally fine, to totally lethargic with a high fever.  Of course we were on vacation in Texas.  After a full work up of chest x-rays, etc, the doctor found that Payton had a good case of pneumonia.  Poor little girl!  With some strong antibiotics and breathing treatments, she bounced back pretty quickly.  It's so hard to see my little ones not feeling well.  This broke my heart...she was so miserable.

And the two inseparables again!  Saying good-bye at the airport is always SO hard...almost more than I can bear.  Thank goodness for a chatty Maggie and a chatty Payton.  They talk on the phone several times a week.  I love it!

Payton loves babies and loves helping with our friends little ones.  She was so excited and proud to feed Silas is bottle (by the way, all of her babies are currently names Sila....after this cute little guy)!

Payton would tell you that cousin Brookelynn is her best friend, eventhough their six years apart.  She looks up to Brookelynn and wants to be just like her.  Brookelynn is very sweet to Pay and loves to do little things to make Payton feel special.

A girl and her two brothers....love it!

And a quick shot of my girl being a girly-girl.  She loves all things girl!  Payton loves dresses, make-up, hair stuff, nail polish, purses, babies, etc.  But don't let that fool you....she's still dig in the dirt and she's generally covered in food, mud, or something that's hard to get off!

I am so thankful for my sweet girl.  She makes me trust in God.  She makes me humble.  She makes me pray.  She makes me feel so loved and special.  I am so thankful for the relationship we have now, and I just pray that as she continues to grow older, we continue to be close.  I also pray that she continues to learn more self-control and how to reign in her big personality.  I have no doubt she will be mighty in God's kingdom when she learns to trust God and not need to be in control all of the time.  But I sure love her....and she's worth all the gray hairs in the world (that's why they make dye, right?)

Preston- All Grown UP!

I truly can't believe my first born is almost 7!  In some ways it's hard to remember him as a baby, but at the same time I can't believe he's in first grade and doing so many "grown-up" things!

Preston is a great kid!  He's always been pretty laid back and easy going.  He can be emotional, especially when he's tired, but for the most part, he doesn't need a lot of attention and tends to just go with the flow.

Preston loves to laugh, especially with his cousin/best friend Max.  When those two boys are together, giggles and laughter are a constant!  They love to have sleep overs at each others houses, and miss each other terribly between the end of school on Friday and when they see each other Monday morning!  They are so blessed to have each other and I am so thankful!

Preston took snowboarding lessons this past winter.  He loved it, especially getting to ride the chair lift and boarding all the way down!  He's excited for this winter to try again!

For his sixth birthday he wanted a Pirate Party.  So he and I stained paper together to create piratey invites.  We had a ton of fun being creative together!

The official Pirate Party invite.  All of his friends dressed as pirates, had treasure maps to find their treasure box, and them decorated the boxes.  Cake was eaten, games were played, and a fun time was had by all.

At the end of Kindergarten, Preston and Max got to ride the train from Anchorage to Wasilla with their class.  They then played at a park, had lunch at McDonald's and rode the school bus home.  The boys had a great day.

Ahhh....fishing in Texas on Maggie and Peepaw's boat.  A boy after my own heart.  Preston has loved fishing since he was little.  This was the first summer he was able to successfully fish off the boat by himself, realing in the fish and all!  Love this kid!

Most of the time he's a great big brother!

Although Pres and Pay have their moments of arguing and annoying each other, they truly do love each other.  Pres has started offering to play babies with Payton and he's learning to help her control her attitude and fits with gentle reminders.  Times where they hug and play together are good for a momma's heart!

We spent one night a week on the soccer field again.  I was proud of Preston for wanting to play, eventhough Max didn't play this summer.  He had a great time and started to really get in there and go after the ball.

Ah yes, the two-wheeler.  At the beginning of the summer, Pres was determined to learn to ride a "two-wheeler."  While camping in Palmer, I took off his training wheels and with just a little practice, he had it down.  He also had a few good wipeouts, but he was tough and handled them like a champ.  We had so much fun riding bikes this summer!

Max's love for basketball is spilling onto Preston.  The boys played bball any chance they got this summer at Max's house.  And they are on a bball team this Fall together.  Preston is so excited....here's hoping he's got more coordination in his little body than his momma ever had!

My sweet boy.  He loves other kids, especially younger kids.  Alayah is new to our group of friends....she's currently in foster care with the Wilson's and we are hoping and praying they can adopt her soon.  Pres loves her and is always willing to play with her and help out.

I am so proud of my big boy.  He has a heart for God, loves people and is out going.  He gets along with just about anyone and makes life joyful and fun.  I know God has big plans for this guy, and I can't wait to see him continue to grow in the Lord and follow His leading!  

Catching Up!

Well, after about a nine month absence from blogging, it's time to dive back in.  I really have no excuse as to not blogging for so long, other than once you get behind, it's so overwhelming to get caught up!  I've done a great job creating posts in my head, but just not so great at actually getting them on the computer!

So....why blog?  I've said it before, but just as a reminder to myself, I'm blogging as a way of "scrapbooking" for my family.  As my kids get older, and eventually have their own families, I want them to be able to look back at our printed blog books and read the stories to their children, look through the pictures, and remember the years growing up.

With that said....here's my feeble attempt to do a quick catch up and then to be more diligent at blogging
again!

I think at this point, the easiest way to catch up is to just do one blog of each kiddo, highlighting them individually through pictures and text.  Afterall, pictures of the kids growing up and their adventures is really what we all want to see!

So...here goes.  A quick catch-up through the past nine months!

Be Still My Heart....

Oh. My. Word. I am SO in love with this handsome little man! This post is a "just because" post. Just because he is so stinkin' cute and adorable. Parker is 17 months old now, and the time has flown by. Yet, at the same time, I can barely remember him being a baby!

Parker is so fun! He is non-stop, always on the go. He loves to run, climb, jump, slide across the floor, and kick/throw anything and everything! He is all boy and then some. He is tough and has the stalky build of a football player in the making.

This kid makes us laugh. He's always up for adventure, and if it includes his big brother and/or sister, count him in!

Although the pictures don't really show it, his big blue eyes and blonde curls in the back are a killer! It's what everyone notices first about him. Parker keeps life fun. He plays the role of the "baby" in the house quite well and is learning to irritate his brother and sister by taking their things and running! Luckily for him, they are so in love with him that he is quickly forgiven.

Nothing is safe in this house anymore....not even the umbrellas! He's always into something, exploring, playing, getting into mischief! He's tiring, yes, but so stinkin' adorable....my heart is captivated forever!

My Big Kindergarten Boy!

Have you ever seen anything so handsome?? I love this kid! These are Preston's Kindergarten pictures. He is loving school! Because we decided to put Pres in a private Christian school, we had the choice of full day or half day class. We opted for the half day program so he goes to school from 11:45-2:45 each day. There are only ten kids in his class, one of which is his cousin/best friend Max.

We are so thankful for this kid. I have seen him grow and mature so much these past few months since school started. He is very independent, yet still loves to cuddle in my lap anytime I sit down. He's a leader, and a helper, and I adore that about him. He's always happy (at school anyways) and has fun in any situation. He's my calm, social, easy-going, emotional, sensitive, try anything at least once kind of kid. And I couldn't be more proud of him!