Peyton & Brady

Peyton and Brady are just 5 months apart- and since we live so close to each other, they get to play all the time. Usually they do a great job together, but sometimes they fight like cats and dogs.  Mostly we laugh at the funny things they say.

While playing kick ball at my Grandma's house we overheard this:

Brady: Peyton! Open your legs!

Peyton: NO!

(Brady wanted to kick the ball between Peyton's legs)

At Lisa's house:

Peyton: Back off sister!

Brady: (crying) I not a sister!

Peyton: Back off brother!

Brady: ok

Visiting Santa

On Wednesday, Peyton, Josh, and I loaded up the truck and headed out to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa.  We had been talking to Peyton for a few days about seeing Santa and how she could sit on his lap, tell him what she wants for Christmas, etc.  She seemed pretty stoked about it.  

On the ride from school to pick up Josh I asked Peyton what she was going to tell Santa she wanted.. "presents" she told me... and then added "Mommy & Daddy".  I'm not sure if she meant presents for Mommy & Daddy OR a new Mommy & Daddy as her present?!  I'm going to opt for version 1, but I still haven't officially decided if I should be offended or not.

Anyway, we get home and Josh is working on putting up more Christmas lights (no, his hands haven't fallen off yet...).  Peyton was very excited to see that he had taken the geese out of the box and was pounding the stakes into the ground so that they don't fly away.  She decided to then roll in the grass.. I had just finished telling her that we were going to go inside, change shirts, comb out her hair and then go... so much for that idea.  So rolling in the grass and falling sounded like a lot more fun.  Mind you, by Wednesday it had been raining here in Arizona for like 3 straight days (maybe 2... I lose count easily)... so Peyton has not been allowed to play outside at school... AT ALL.  She is a wild child... more so than usual... for reals... she couldn't stop running.  At this point I started to worry if seeing Santa was maybe not such a good idea, but alas, I rounded her up, got her changed, combed her hair, and threw her in the truck. 

We got to Bass Pro Shop a little after 5:30 - a friend had told us that the week days are supposedly the least busy and have the shortest wait time.  WRONG.  They were passing out cards for 7:30 slots.  2 hours? Are you kidding me?  As Josh and I were discussing if we should stay or not Peyton spied Santa.  "Now we have to stay!" says Josh.  And he's right. We can't just drag her out of the store after promising her Santa!  Crap!  How are we going to waste 2 hours?!  If it were just us shopping 2 hours would have been no big deal, but we had a 2 year old with us who hadn't seen daylight in like 72 hours who was WILD! 

We decided to have dinner at the Fish House (or whatever the place is called).  Good food- prices are a bit high.  Peyton did well since they sat us next to the fish tank... kept Josh and I entertained too which is a plus.  Peyton even had some alligator.  

So we finish eating and we still have an hour or so before we should even get in line... we wander aimlessly around the store finding random gifts for a few people and we finally go get in line... and there are like 45 people in front of us with a 7:30 slot.  Crap!  Should have waited in line while Josh and Peyton ate... oh well.  Finally around 7:15 they start letting people from our line go... slowly we start moving... thankfully Josh was able to occupy Peyton while I stood in line.  I was actually kind of thankful just to stand and not have to talk to anyone. (ask any teacher around this time of year... we are done talking!).  

We get to the front of the line... Peyton is excited... I pose her in front of some fake snow and.... THE CAMERA BATTERY DIES.  Seriously!?  I had checked the battery earlier, it was low, but not dead... I took a few indoor pictures to play with my settings, all was good.  But when we get up to Santa... it's dead.  I almost cried... thankfully Bass Pro does a free picture and Josh used his phone camera... but I was still pissed.  That camera is heavy... and i just lugged it around for 2 freaking hours.  The battery was not COMPLETELY dead... just a little dead.  It had PLENTY of juice to take a few nice pictures of Peyton with Santa... but no.... it just couldn't handle the pressure.

Whatever.  I'm still bitter.

Anyway, Peyton was a champ seeing Santa!  She walked up to him all by herself and started talking to him.  Santa, however, was not the most personable guy in the world.  I really can't blame him considering her probably gets peed on daily and whatever, but seriously.  My kid is cute.  And she's only 2.  Be excited to see her.  When P was getting off his lap I asked her "what does your shirt say?" She said "Dear Santa I love you!" and Santa's reply?  "Oh!  Would you like a candy cane?"  Really Santa?

I guess our time with Santa was just fine.  The pictures are cute.  We've done our civic duty. (I'm pretty sure visiting Santa is a civic duty?)  

Next year my battery will be charged.

Here are our previous Santa pictures.

2009:

 2010:

She says the funniest things....

Me: Peyton, today is pocket day at school!  You can put something in your pocket to show your friends.  What would you like to put in your pocket?

Peyton: Ummm.... a lizard!

Me: Ummm... no.  How about a quarter and the ticket stub for your first movie?

Peyton: ok!

Peyton: Mommy, hold baby (she was going to eat dinner so I needed to hold the baby)

Me: Ok, but what do I do if the baby is sad or starts crying?

Peyton: Just drop her.

On the way home from school we saw a tractor:

Peyton: Oh tractor big. No carry tractor

Me: You are right, a tractor is too heavy.

Peyton: But Daddy a good helper.

Me: Absolutely

While in the car with Josh going to autozone:

Peyton: Po Po!

Josh: What?

Peyton: Police Car!

Peyton asked for help putting on her backpack:

Peyton: Me go to Brady house

Me & Josh: Oh, can you take Duke?

Peyton: Yep!  Come on Duke! (as she is trying to open the door)

Peyton talking to her My Little Pony ornament:

Peyton: Hi Buddy!

Elf on the Shelf:

Me: Peyton what should we name the elf?

Peyton: (silence)

Josh: Snuffle __________ (we can't remember)

Me: Sir Snuffle ___________ is too hard to pronounce. Peyton, what do you want to call the elf?

Peyton: Pee Pee

Me: Um no. Try again

Peyton: Tiger!

Me: Ok, Sir Tiger it is

(I just pray that we can change his name next year)

Cousin Play Date

Way back in August, Taylor came over to play.  

The girls loved taking a bath together and wearing matching pajamas. 

Love

I just love this collage I made of Duke & Peyton.  I was inspired by a post on pinterest.com

Both Peyton & Duke were really well behaved while I strung the lights all over them and took about 300 pictures.  

Collages

Instead of updating the blog, I like to make collages.

Halloween

This year Peyton & Brady teamed up for a "group" costume... the Wonder Pets!  Starring:

Brady as Tuck Turtle

Peyton as Ming-Ming Duckling

Lisa and I even made a Fly Boat at Brady's insistence and with a little help from Papa Bruce.

Wonder Pets Wonder Pets

We're on our way.

To help a baby animal and save the day.

We're not too big and we're not too tough,

but when we work together we've got the right stuff.

Goooooo Wonder Pets! Yeah!!!!!!

Excuses

I was trying to think of some really good excuses of why I haven't updated our blog since July... things like:

- working a full time job

- chasing a 2 year old

- attempting to keep the house in a semi-presentable fashion

- attempting a few new sewing projects

But alas, none of those have really changed or become new chores, so I don't really feel like they are legitimate.

So I'm making a new years resolution (early) that I will blog at least 2 times per month.  Really I'm shooting for one time per week, but I don't want to set myself up for failure!

Peyton's 1st Day of School- in the 2's room!

Sweetest little girl ever!

Dance Dance Dance!

Over the summer I enrolled Peyton in a dance class through the Gilbert Parks & Rec department.  For 4 Saturdays, Peyton and I went to a dance class and acted goofy!  We ran around like different animals, balanced beanie babies on our bodies, and pranced around like fairies!  We had a great time and we were sad that it was over!!

Baking with Great-Grandma

Recently I saw a post on a friend's facebook wall for some delicious looking treats.  I checked out the recipes and thought that it would be fun for Peyton and I to bake something together.  Since I am not a blueberry fan, I decided to substitute raspberries (don't ask about shopping for raspberries... and I will never buy raspberries from Fry's again!!) 

Anyway, here is the recipe and a few pictures. 

Blueberry Raspberry Crumb Bars
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes 32 bars - ummmm... only if you cut them REALLY small...
.
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries raspberries
1/4 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch substituted flour for the cornstarch but I can't remember the conversion
.
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
.
3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

  

Unfortunatlely, Peyton did not enjoy the crumb bars and insisted on eating a cookie instead.  Oh well... that left more for me and Grandma! :)

Prescott

In an effort to get out of the heat for a few hours, Mom, Peyton, and I went up to Prescott!  

Play Date Fun!

Abby & Ella invited Peyton to a play date at "The Play Factory".  The place has lots of cool stuff to jump on, climb on, slide down, etc.  Most of the bounce houses were too big for the girls, but they enjoyed the toddler area and dragging Kelly and I down the "big" slide.

 

Peyton's BFF's for sure.  These girls are the sweetest!

 

Peyton finally got some courage and loved jumping around! 

(But dragged Mommy into the bouncey area with her!

4th of July

We celebrated on the 3rd of July this year... actually we celebrated on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.
On the 2nd, Lisa and I took the babies to downtown Mesa to see fireworks.  We inadverntly parked RIGHT next to the building that the fireworks were being shot off from.  Brady was not thrilled with this location and he covered his ears the entire time (with Lisa's hands and his!).  Peyton was bothered by the noise for a while but then took my hands off her ears.  She would blink and jolt a bit each time there was a loud boom!  I'm pretty sure Brady didn't stop talking about fireworks the entire ride home... and Peyton insisted on calling them firetrucks.  No matter how many times we told her that they were fireWORKS, she kept saying fireTRUCKS.
On the 3rd, my family came over for a cookout.  The babies had their matching shirts on so we of course had to take pictures. They are so fun to watch today.  And they are so lucky to have each other-so close in age and so close in proximity too! Lucky cousins!!

 

On the 4th we just hung out as a family.  That night we let Peyton play with sparklers while in her jammies.  

More Summer Fun

Happy Father's Day!

Ready for Tumbling... we went to exactly one class.  It was the free introductory class.  Lots of fun and lots of great activities but way too expensive for us!  It's a great way to get your child to socialize, but Peyton does that all day long at daycare, so I don't think she really needs a class that costs more that Josh's college classes!

We celebrated Josh's 30th birthday at Joe's BBQ in Gilbert.  We love that place... especially the $10 free on your birthday!

More summer fun with the water table. 

 Painting... I was making lunch while she painted... I should have known that something was up when she was super quiet.  She painted her paper, her hands, face, belly, arms... and many other objects!  Needless to say she got a bath before lunch time.

 Duke was so thirsty that he had to get in the pool so Peyton could give him a drink.

Checking out the bunny at the Phoenix Zoo.  We were there SUPER early so lots of animals were out!