Oh POOP!

Come to find out Lincoln has an ear infection...again.  Poor guy.  I was hoping that he would be able to take the same pink stuff he took last time.  Man, he loved that stuff.  But sadly he has to take something a little less tastey.

Anyway, This morning I walked into the family room where Lincoln was playing and Payton was watching Dora and got hit with a very pungent poo aroma.  I look at Payton..."Did you poop your pants"  She shook her head no and said, "It's Lincoln."  As I turn around poo is coming up out of the back of his diaper.  "No!" I pick him very quickly under the armpits, hold him at arms length, and run as fast as I can to the changing pad.  it was at least a 10 wipe diaper.  I managed to save the pants but lost the shirt.  Poor guy.

Payton locked Rumba in the hutch.

So I was sitting in the family room and I heard a scratching sound.  Actually it kind of sounded like the cats playing with something on the floor.  I thought to myself, one of them probably found a ribbon or something and is flinging it around the kitchen and didn't think any more about it.

A little while later I hear a muffled meow.  I thought, "Did one of the cats get themselves shut in the closet again."  Then.  Stop.  The meow is coming from the hutch.  I look at Payton and say, "Did you lock Rumba in the Hutch?" To which she replied, "Yes. Yes, I did."  So matter of factly.

Laughing and shacking my head I go over to the hutch and let Rumba out.  She not only shut him in but turned the wood piece and locked him in.  Luckily he wasn't in there for very long...I think.

Christmas Shopping

I am having so much fun shopping for Christmas this year!  Maybe I should specifiy, I am having so much fun shopping for Payton and Lincoln for Christmas this year.

I am so excited for Christmas, I can't wait to see their faces when they come into the family room.  I wonder if my parents ever felt this way.  I remember every Christmas we would get my parents up insanely early, dad would go down stairs first and set up the video camera while saying, "But he didn't come.  Santa didn't come."  Jennifer and I would be hiding around some corner giggling.

Unfortunately, for me one of the hardest people to shop for is Dave.  Why is that? 

Hobbs

 Dave had the day after Thanksgiving off and this is the week that our garbage collectors will take shrubbery that you leave on the street so Dave decided to do some major pruning to the trees in our side yard.

His younger brother Steven brought over the chain saw and they got to work. 

Payton had a blast watching.  She wanted to be outside but it was just to dangerous, the branches coming down were huge.  At one point she said, "I don't want daddy to fall.  I will catch him."  That is when she put her hand out to "catch" him.  It was so cute.

Meet Hobbs.  He was the biggest branch that was cut down.  Dave said that one branch was equivalent to three times what they had already cut down.  He is a bit of an exaggerator.  :)  Even thought Dave got a little chop happy on one of the trees, they look a ton better.

We had one scary point in the day.  I had taken Payton out to watch several times.  Well, we were in the house and I had to go to the bathroom.  While in the restroom I heard the door to the garage open and I yelled to Payton to stay inside and close the door.  Then I heard the door shut and then silence.  I am trying to get dressed as fast as I can calling for Payton at the same time.  When I got out of the bathroom she was not in the house.  I ran out the door and into the garage, she wasn't there.  I ran out to the driveway yelling her name and she is not there either.  I turn to go to where Dave and Steven were working and I didn't see her at first because my eyes went to the two stray dogs in our front yard (a golden retriever and a mutt of some sort) and she was on the other side of them getting ready to step into the street.  I yell "STOP!" and it seems the only things listening to me were the dogs because out she went into the street. I run as fast as I can to her, grab her arm and yank her off the street.  Yikes!  I am so glad the car driving by was going slow because of all the branches.  The whole way back to the house I yelled while having a tight grip on her arm, "Don't ever go outside without mommy or daddy!", "Don't ever go out into the street without mommy and daddy!"  I was so scared.  I couldn't stop yelling.  It took a while for my heart to stop racing.  When we got inside I took a couple of deep breaths, gave her a big hug, told her how much I loved her, and told her that I was sorry for yelling but that she scared me. 

I do hope that she doesn't ever do that again.

Tangled 3-D

I was so excited when I saw the previews for Tangled coming out.  I immedeately started talking it up to Payton trying to get her super excited to see it.  So I totally jumped at the opportunity to go when my parents invited us to go.

Somehow I missed the fact that it was in 3-D... In the past it seems that there was always a 2-D version of the movie playing too.  However, in Gilroy there was only the 3-D version. 

I had no idea how this was going to go.  Payton did pretty well, she wore the glasses for about a third of the movie and then didn't want to wear them any more.  Lincoln wore them for the first two previews.  LOL 

Overall we all really enjoyed the movie.



Thanksgiving

We spent Thankgiving at Dave's parent's home and my family came too!  I just love holidays that involve lots and lots of food.  Well, I guess I should say I have a love/hate relationship with the holidays that involve lots and lots of food.  Ha!  Ha!
My sister, Jen and her husband, Anthony, decided to go to Tennessee for Thanksgiving this year and none of Dave's siblings were able to come besides Steven and Ashley.  My grandmother, Vella, and her friend Bob were also able to come.  It is too bad that we were missing so many of our family but at the same time it was so nice to be able to share Thanksgiving with both sides of our family.

Food.  Someone should warn you that when you combine the traditions of two families that there is a lot more of it.  LOL  Every Thanksgiving and Christmas since I have been out on my own I have been responsible for the Sweet Potato Casserole.  Yummy!  This year I also made the annual cheese log.  Yummy!  Yummy!  My mother made the comment that they were happy that they were passing on the family recipes and that she was just surprised they were being past to me...Well, maybe they didn't say it that way but that is what I remember.  :o)  I totally understand, my sister went to culinary school it would seem that she would be the person to take over all that stuff.  All I care about is that people like what I make.

One of the things I was so looking forward to was Michelle's cheesy potatoes.  I had been telling my parent's all about them.  Yummmm...I can just taste them.  When we were getting all the food out and ready to eat and I saw mashed potatoes...Where are the cheesy potatoes?  :(  I looked at Michelle and asked with tears in my eyes, "Cheesy Potatoes?"  To which she told me that they were a Christmas tradition.  Ah man!  At least I got my coconut cream pie.  :)

Lincoln took two steps.  Yup!  Took two steps, I pulled out the camera and he spent the rest of the evening sitting on his bum.  Ha! Ha!  I'll catch him doing it.  I will.

Pilgrim Hat Cookies

 So last week my friend Jessica made pilgrim hat cookies as the dessert for our playdate.  They were so cute and very tastey!

I am always looking for activities to do with Payton and thought that making these cookies for our Thanksgiving dinner would be fun.  Why didn't I forsee the mess this project was going to make.  Ha!  Ha!

I did learn something from making these cookies with Payton.  When I set out to do activities like this I need to have in mind the outcome I would like to have.  Do I want perfect little pilgrim hat cookies to display at Thanksgiving or do I want Payton and I to have a blast doing something together.

If it is that I want perfect little pilgrim hat cookies, don't have Payton help; just make them during her nap or something.  Being a perfectionist and a little on the anal side will not cater to a fun outcome.  Just a stressed out mommy saying, "Stop!", "No, don't touch that", "Don't lick your fingers", "Payton, it is dripping..."  I think you get the idea. 

If I want Payton to have a blast, why not just let her dip the marshmellows into the chocolate with her fingers.  So what if the marshmellows are half hanging off the cookies, just let them be her little creations. 

I wish I would have learned the lesson before making the cookies instead of after.  I think she still had a good time.  :)

Another thing I wish I would have learned prior to making the cookies is that you need a cake decorating tip for the premade frosting tubes... My buckles look horrible, it was like trying to make a nice line while squeezing the frosting through a garden hose.

Dave told me to tell everyone that Payton put the frosting on...

Singing

I have this habit of singing primary songs when Payton and/or Lincoln are sad or frustrated.  This morning Payton had been a little sad so I started singing.  I must have gotten the song stuck in my head and was singing it a little later because I heard Payton saying, "Stop singing mommy, I'm happy."

Today...

Do you ever have those days where all you can do is laugh because what else are you going to do? Here is mine...


Walked out to the kitchen to make breakfast for Payton and Lincoln and found that a cat had pooped in the office...

Started making breakfast, cream of wheat, for the kiddos and reached into the cabinet to grab the salt to put it into the water. Normally the salt is in the front because I use it often but I rearranged that cabinet yesterday and accidentally put the pepper in front. When I was putting it in the water I was talking to Payton and didn't realize that I had put pepper in until after I put the shaker away and smelled it.

Brought breakfast over to the table and set the plate with the toast on it a little too close to Lincoln and he pulled it off the table onto the floor. I had walked away to get something else and when I hear the toast hit the floor I turned around I sighed and laughed and said, "you little brat", patted him on the head, and started picking it up. That is when I hear Payton saying, "little s@$%" over and over again. The conversation continued...

Me: Payton please don't say that word.
Payton: But you forgot to say it. You say it when you are mean
Me: Mommy should have never said that word to you. I am sorry. It is a bad word, please don't say it again. (get up to get a paper towel to wipe up the jelly)
Payton: Little s@$%
Me: Payton...

Not long after that, we were eating breakfast and Lincoln was upset that I wasn't letting him hold his spoon. He is starting to become very independent like his sister. So I handed the spoon to him with cream of wheat on it thinking he would stick it in his mouth. Nope. He flung the cream of wheat at Payton. All I can do is laugh...

Put Lincoln down for a nap and am getting ready to make cookies with Payton and I start to smell poop. I check the litter box...clean. Think to myself maybe it is just a lingering smell. Walk into my bedroom and find a pile of cat poop. “Which cat is pooping all over the house!”

All this before lunch. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the day brings… :o)

At least the cookies were good.  :o)

Payton helps make dessert.

Payton, Lincoln, and I took a little walk down to the grocery store yesterday to pick up some odds and ends.  While there I found these little individual graham cracker crusts and thought Payton would have a blast making little pies for everyone.  She is so into helping lately.

Boy was I right.  She loved it.  We put chocolate pudding in the crusts and topped it with cool whip and sprinkles.  I ended up making Dave and mine from a separate pudding source because she wanted to make sure the spoon was "clean" by licking it off each time she put it back in the pudding to scoop out more to go into the pie.

The funniest part came when doing the sprinkles.  I handed her the bottle of sprinkles at the same time I heard Dave come through the front gate.  I walked to the door to open it and by the time I turned around she had opened the bottle and emptied all the spinkles onto her little pie and had begun eating them.  Boy she is quick.

Her masterpiece!

Under Cabinet Lighting

I think the "Clean House" efforts followed by the closet doors being hung in Payton's room gave Dave the fire he needed to start putting up the under cabinet lighting.  :o)

After hanging the first light he said that he was not going to hang any other ones...He just didn't want to.  LOL

I am so glad he changed his mind.  They look so nice.  Dave said the lights almost make it look like we are staging our kitchen.  Whatever, it is so much better than the wires hanging down from under the cabinets.

Our new addition

When we moved into our new house we quickly discovered that we have less cabinet space than we did in our Gilroy house.  We were able to get the majority of our kitchen things into the cabinets however, our china was not one of those things that fit.

In some random series of events it turned out that Dave's uncle was looking to down size and was more than willing to pass on Dave's dad's parent's China Hutch.  Ralph made the drive up to Sacramento yesterday to pick it up for us.  It fits perfectly in our dinning area.  I can't wait to get our china out of the boxes and into the hutch.

It definately has character.  I like it!

Payton pees on the floor...Part 2!

Standing in the entry way, she says, "Mom, I have to go Pottaa."  I looked over and she was in the pee on the floor stance.  I said, "Go, go, go!  I will meet you there."  She runs down the hall and I run to through the office.  Once in the bathroom I realize we are too late...Yup.  A puddle in the entryway and a trail of wet foot prints all the way down the hall.  I went ahead and set her on the toilet.  Then I quietly shut the bathroom door, walked out to the dinning room where my mother in law, father in law, and Dave sat waiting... 

Dave goes to take care of Payton and I begin the process of cleaning the pee up.  I hate cleaning up pee.  Yuck!  I was very tempted to run to the store and pick up some pull ups.

Payton has closet doors!

Ralph and Steven came over to help install Payton's closet doors Saturday night.  Yay!  They look so nice!  I can't wait to get the closet doors up in our room.

Caeden's Birthday Party

When my sister first asked me if she could have Caeden's Birthday Party at our house I had no idea what I was getting into.  My sister has grand ideas and she is great at pulling those ideas off. 

Caeden is very into Dora right now and so Jen planned a Dora Birthday Party.  She was going to send the kids on a Dora style excursion throughout the house.  They started in the garage decorating their very own backpacks.  When they were done decorating their backpacks they got to fill them with different items that they would need to complete their trip with Dora.  Each child got a foam number "2", a flashlight, umbrella, sticky tape, and a bean bag.

The kid's goal was to make it to lunch.  They had to go over the troll bridge, through the jungle, and finally to the kitchen.

At the Troll Bridge they met the Grumpy Old Troll (my dad).  Before crossing the bridge through our atrium the kids had to solve a riddle.  Once they solved the riddle and crossed over the bridge, they had to follow the blue circles through our master bedroom and down our hallway, being careful not to get off track on the yellow triangles or pink squares that let to nowhere.  But oh no, some of the blue circles were broken! So each child had a "broken" circle they had to piece together with their sticky tape.  After they were done with that challenge they ended up in our family room or should I say the jungle.  Here they had to avoid the crocodile and the snakes.  While Dora was explaining how the kids had to throw their bean bags into the monkeys mouth, Swiper appeared and tried to steal their bean bags.  Fortunately, the kids were able to say, "Swiper, no swiping" three times before he got anybody's bean bags and he ran away.  :o)

When swiper popped out from behind the couch Payton's eyes got huge and she refused to say "Swiper, no swiping" deciding to instead to hide behind me.  I thought it was funny, considering when she watches Dora on the TV she yells it at the top of her lungs. 

Anyway, after everyone tossed their bean bag into the monkeys mouth they made it to the kitchen where they picked up their pizza for lunch.

I think both the kids and parents had a blast.  The party went from 11:00 to about 1:00 and from the time people got here to when they left they were moving.  Caeden told my sister that she really liked her party.  I am so glad!

   

Payton told Dave that she had so much fun on her Dora adventure and has been carrying her backpack around with her since.

Play Date at Jessica's

Once again, my friends are sooo creative.  I had to take pictures of the kids lunch and dessert at our playdate this Friday.  Isn't Jessica clever, "turkey" sandwiches and pilgrim hats for desserts.  Very cute!

She will say she did not come up with the idea but I say it takes a lot of, if not just as much, effort to look up cool ideas and then actually do them.  Thanks for taking the time Jessica.  We loved it!

Payton pees on the floor

I just don't understand it.  One day she is going to the potty all by herself and the next she is peeing on the floor...TWICE!

The first time I think she just waited too long and in all fairness to her she was on her way to the bathroom.  In fact she was standing right next to the toilet when she did it.

However, the second time she was standing in the middle of her bedroom and just proclaimed, "I peed".  To which I walked in saying, "What?!?!?! You mean you have to pee?"  Nope she peed...right in the middle of her room.  I have to admit to calling her a "little *%$@", I was so angry.  I am so glad Dave was there to help her clean it up.  I hate cleaning up pee.  Yuck!

As a side note...I realized the error of my ways in calling her a naughty name as she kept repeating it all night.  It is pretty sad when you hear your husband telling your daughter not to repeat what mommy said. 

Payton goes potty by herself

I was packing the diaper bag to go and run some errands when a hear Payton in the bathroom.  I go in there to make sure she isn't filling the toilet with toilet paper and find that she had gone potty, wiped (with an appropriate amount of toilet paper), pulled her pants back up, and was getting ready to flush ALL BY HERSELF.

Yay Payton!

Park Play Date

We had a special farewell play date for the Adams family in our ward.  I am so sad they are moving.  Jordan (the mommy) is one of those women you just like.  She is so nice, I just wish I had taken an opportunity to get to know her better.  Her kids are so sweet too.  Her daughter, Sophie, is Payton's age and they played really well together.  Just a great family!

It was a beautiful day at the park.  The weather was awesome!  Payton and Lincoln had a great time.  Payton had so much fun.  She was climbing on the playground equipment...by herself.  She did play quite a bit by herself but I also saw her trying to include herself into some of the groups of kids playing.  Even with kids not even there with us.  This is a big thing for me because I always worry about her making friends and having fun at the play dates because she can be so shy and spends a lot of time playing by herself.

I think Linc would have been right along side her if he could have kept up.  Instead he spent the day trying to eat tambark.  I got a real kick out of him because he got his hands on a plastic fork and would not let go.  He carried that thing all over the place.

Payton gets dressed

Payton is very into Dora right now.  I can pretty much get her to do anything if I tell her that she can watch a Dora episode.  :o)

Today was no different than any other day.  She woke up and the first thing she asked me was if she could watch a Dora movie.  I told her that after breakfast and after we got dressed she could watch one.  So after breakfast she starts in again asking if she can watch a Dora movie.  I tell her after I am done with the dishes I will help her get dressed and then she can watch one.

A few minutes go by and in runs Payton fully dressed.  She picked out an outfit (that matched and looked cute) and got her self dressed.  My she is growing up.

Payton

My mother and I were getting Payton and Lincoln ready to head over to the doctor.  Payton runs in saying, "I am bringing a book and that is the case."  Alrighty then...

Clean House

Have you ever seen the TV show "Clean House".  It is about people who's houses are so filthy and cluttered that they have this group of people come in with a TV crew and show the whole world how horrible you are at keeping house, sell your crap in a garage sale, and then clean and makeover a room or two of your home.  Not that my house has gotten to that point but we have a bunch of boxes that have not been unpacked and stuff in every nook and cranny.  The reason I bring this up is because my sister asked if she could have Caeden's birthday party at our house.  I told her sure, thinking for sure by then we would have our home in order.  LOL  This week she volunteered for the job of task master to help me get through these last few areas of chaos in our home.

I usually pride myself at being a good housekeeper.  My mother passed on many skills and the proper way to vacuum was one of those skills.  :o)  However, I think I am overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we have and the limited space to put it in.

Jennifer did her job well.  I wish I took before and after pictures of this project.  Let's just say that she gave me enough of a kick in the pants to get things put away so that I felt comfortable with 50 people running through all rooms of my house, including the garage.  Details and pictures of the party will be in a later post. 

Thanks for your help Jen!  Love ya!

Lincoln Walks?

So Lincoln has been toying around with the idea of standing on his own for about a week now.  However, on Sunday he decided to give walking a try.  Ok well not walking on his own but walking behind one of those push toys.  We put the push toy in front of him and he took off.  He was so excited and had a big smile on his face. 

Click here to see the video we took of him walking with the push toy.  Way to go Linc!

Dylan's Birthday Party

Our good friend Dylan Watson turned one!  I can't believe he is one already that means Lincoln will be one soon...nope don't want to think about that yet.  Ha! Ha!  For his birthday Cassy turned our regular playdate into a monster birthday party. 

I will never cease to be amazed at how creative my friends are.  She made these little puff ball monsters from tissue paper and construction paper and hung them all around.  They were so cute!  After lunch she had the older kids decorate their own cupcakes and even made monster eyes, horns, mouths, etc out of chocolate to stick on the cupcakes.  All of the kids had a blast decorating then had even more fun eating the cupcakes...or should I say the frosting.  :o)

I don't know why but I love taking pictures of kids with frosting all over their face.  It makes me laugh everytime.

Linc had a good time finishing his lunch and watching all the action from the high chair. 

I didn't get a picture of all the kids together.  Let's face it, that is pretty much impossible these days but I did manage to get a picture of the little boys with a Payton in the back.  Benjamin is on the left and Dylan (aka the birthday boy) is on the right.  So cute!

We had lots of fun.  Happy Birthday Dylan!

Chiropractor

My back has been hurting for the past couple of months.  I hate to complain but it pretty much hurts all the time and pretty much everything I do gives me pain.  So I finally broke down and went to the Chiropractor.

I know that Chiropractic care has really helped me in the past but I HATE being "popped"...ehh...adjusted.

I really like the Chiropractor I am going to.  He is my parent's Chiropractor.  Very nice and very gentle when adjusts me.  The adjustments still hurt but they are helping to relieve the pain for a little while.

This last time I went he did two of my least favorite adjustments.  The one where the Chiropractor twits your top half back and your bottom half forward. Ouch!  And then the one where he has his hand on my back and then leans me back onto his hand and then pushes down.  Double Ouch!  The way his office is set up, the people waiting for their adjustments are in the same room as the person getting the adjustment.  There was a lady waiting that heard me say, "I hate that one" and she said, "There are worse..."  I thought to myself, "Bring it on, you have already done the two adjustments I hate most"  Well he ended up having to do one more adjustment, after he did it the lady said, "That was the one".  Ha! Ha!  I couldn't agree more, I didn't like that adjustment either.

So why do I keep going?  It has to help me feel better doesn't it?  I have only been twice, the Chiropractor said it could take a couple of weeks to a couple of months to get me straightened out.  I am hoping it will just be a couple of weeks.

This may be a little TMI

Dave and I enjoy watching the TV show "Outsourced". 

On the Halloween episode they were talking about scary pranks to pull at a Halloween Party.  The one guy said he would hide in the bathtub and wait for the person to start going to the bathroom and then jump out with a chain saw.  He said, "The body has to make a desicion, continue or run."

Well, today I was in the bathroom...going to the bathroom and I heard this buzzing sound.  I started looking all around to find the source of this buzzing.  Now I don't know if it was just my imagination or if something actually "buzzed" me but I found myself standing and facing the toilet before I could even blink.

I never did find what was buzzing.  However, I can proudly say that I managed not to pee on myself in all the excitment.

Crafty Lady Night

It's that time again, Crafty Lady Night!  My Gilroy friends do a "craft night" once a month, we all get together and work on whatever craft we have going on.  This month my "craft" was finding a play kitchen for Payton...for Christmas...from Santa. 

I know, I know I am full of talent.

Believe it or not I have completed a couple of projects at these craft nights but more often than not I enjoy the conversation and snacks.  Hee! Hee!

Mom My Hands Are Dirty...

I am looking up something on the computer and in runs Payton.


P:  Mom, my hands are dirty.
M: Why are your hands dirty? (Still looking at the computer)
P:  Because I had to put lotion on my forehead.
M: What? (As I turn to look at Payton)

Friday Play Date

Play date at Aimee's house this week.  It is amazing how fast the number of kids increases when every person in the playgroup has a second baby.  Ha! Ha! 

I love these play dates.  I love to watch all the kids interacting.  It is sooo fun.

Rumba's Trip to the Vet

Rumba has been a little under the weather lately.  He normally weighs in at about 10 to 11 pounds and has been feeling a lot lighter lately.  I decided to take him into the vet just to get him checked out.

In 2006 Rumba got really sick.  He lost a bunch of weight and was just very sick.  At his lightest he was 7 lbs. 1 oz.  We almost lost him. 

A little nervous, I scheduled the appointment.  My mom came with me to help with Payton and Lincoln.  We walked into the office and the technician said, "So, he's aggressive?"  I said, "Wha?"  Thinking, "He is a teddy bear."  Then I looked down at he file and noticed there is CAUTION written in big red letters.  It all came back to me, he was a little out of sorts when he was so sick the last time... I held him through the whole examination.  He weighed in at 7 lbs. 5 1/2 oz.  Dr. Greg Martinez said he couldn't find anything seriously wrong with him and suggested that he might have IBS.

He suggested changing his food and look for food with no wheat or gluten.  Mentioned cooking it for him.  Ummm, we shall see how that goes.  For now he has gotten a can of tuna and some canned chicken.  All the kittys are loving it.  He seems to have perked up a little.  He is still so skinny!



A Trip to the Park

We have a park in our neighborhood.  Everytime we drive by it Payton says, "That's my park."  She wants to go to it everyday.  I am almost embarassed to admit that today was the first time we went, it is only two blocks away...

Payton and Lincoln had so much fun.  They were so cute playing together.  A couple of other kids came to the park after we got there.  They were so funny to watch and all ended up playing very nicely together.

I in no way claim to be a photographer but I think some of these pictures turned out great.  Then again how could they not be with Payton and Lincoln in them. :o)

Believe it or not she wasn't strangling him 

I know this picture is almost exactly like the one below it but I loved his expression in this one.

Alex is the little boy behind Payton.  I have to admit I think he was part monkey, he climbed on, jumpped off, and hung from every part of the playground.  Payton wasn't quite as daring (thank goodness) but did try climbing a bit more than normal. 

This little girl's name is Bella.  She might has well have been a Lincoln magnet, he followed her all over the playground.  It was hilarious.