Route 66

Over the past year Peyton has been taking a dance class every Wednesday evening.  In December, her class performed at the Chandler Tumbleweed Tree Lighting.  She was doing a great job until her shoe came untied, came flying off during a move, and made her slip and fall HARD on her hand & booty. Poor thing!  It was so sad. But she looked super cute...  I think that may have been the beginning of the end.  

This spring her class began practicing for the big summer recital (and we started PAYING for it... holy cow!).  Her class was chosen to perform a dance to "Route 66".  Peyton felt the dance wasn't exciting enough and added her own twist(s) to the routine.  Again, good thing she is cute. I think her favorite part was having her hair curly and wearing make up (mascara, eye liner, blush, & lipstick).  When I picked her up after the recital I was telling her how great she did... her response, "Now I don't have to dance ever again!"  We are now looking into gymnastics lessons!

Spring Break, Part II

I am truly blessed to work in a district that has two week intersessions after each quarter.  Sure, my summer is pretty short, but when it is 925* out, I'd rather have the district pay the air conditioning bill. (Nevermind the times the a/c goes out- it is always 5th hour after a majority of my boys have just had PE....)

Anyway, our second week of Spring Break went something like this:

~ Sunday: Papa's birthday!  Peyton and I went to the airshow at Luke Air Force Base.   My dad was working the air show, so Peyton and I went to hang out with him.  On the way there, I had Peyton working on a birthday card for Papa.  It was a long drive and I think she was looking down a bit too long.  We were almost to Luke and Peyton starts screaming in the back seat.  I ask what's wrong and she says something about her throat... then she vomits.  Of course I was driving Josh's car (better gas mileage), so it wasn't equipped with any of my "Mom Supplies".  Thankfully I hadn't made Peyton get dressed before leaving- since it was a long drive I let her stay in her jammies.  And thankfully I hadn't given her any milk prior to leaving- she had had a bit of a cough and I didn't want to make it worse - so her vomit was a combination of juice and a small amount of cheerios.  We quickly pulled over and got her cleaned up.  I had brought wipes with me, and had tissues so we made do.  I changed her into her regular clothes and asked if she wanted to go home.  Nope!  She still wanted to go see Papa!  Once we got to the parking lot I asked some random person if they by chance had an extra plastic grocery bag that I could have.  Thankfully they did and I didn't have to carry puke wipes in my bare hands.  I was very thankful.  The airshow was amazing and LOUD.  Peyton loved the quiet airplanes.  She did NOT appreciate any of the loud airplanes.  We didn't stay to see the Thunderbirds, although I wanted to.  I knew she wouldn't survive the noise they made.  I'm glad my dad told me how loud it was going to be!

~ Bandit- also on Sunday Josh went to the airport to pick up our friend's dog.  Matt was coming to stay with us for a bit and his dog had to be shipped before him.  I was very excited to hear that Bandit was (is) a boxer.  Let's not talk about Bandit anymore.
~ Monday: Peyton had an eye doctor appointment to make sure her eyes are kindergarten ready. (she is good!  a little far sighted, but that is normal at this age!).  After having her eyes dilated, we make a quick stop at Kohl's, then off to Kei Lani for shaved ice.  I had a groupon for $10 to spend and it was getting ready to expire.  We had never been to Kei Lani before and it was NOT in the right spot according to Groupon's map.  Anyway, for $10 both Peyton and I got huge shaved ices (?) (and we got the smallest size possible) and 3 bottles of water.  No, we actually didn't need 3 bottles of water, but I couldn't get change from the groupon, so we used as much of it as we could.  They were SO yummy, but neither of us could finish ours!  Once we got home, we locked ourselves in the master bedroom to watch tv and rest. (the dogs were too crazy so we stayed in the bedroom).  We eventually ventured out of the bedroom to make s'mores cupcakes for Papa's birthday.  The family came over to celebrate Papa's birthday.  The cupcakes were the favorite.

~ Tuesday: On Tuesday, Brady hung out with me and Peyton and we went to the zoo to meet up with Evan.  Peyton and Evan used to be in the same daycare class at Hamilton.  We hadn't seen Evan in quite a while so we were very excited  to see him AND hang out at the zoo!  After the zoo, me, Peyton, & Brady went to Red Robin (YUM) for lunch.  Apparently we went on the only day that they didn't have crayons so I had to search my purse for random pens.  Thankfully I found two partially working items for them to use.  

~ Late Tuesday night, Josh went to pick up Matt and I went out with friends to Postinos.  We all got home fairly late.  I was tired and the dogs were crazy.  

~ Wednesday: Josh went off to work, so Peyton and I hung out with Matt.  We did exciting things like go to the DMV and Wal-Mart.  Peyton was super excited about our trip to Wally World though- because she finally got the movie FROZEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We immediately went home and watched it.

~ Thursday: We did something during the day, but I literally can't remember what it was.... in the evening we went... Ohhh!!! ON Thursday morning, Peyton and I went to hang out with Baby Blake while my mom went to the doctor.  Then in the evening we went to one of my friends' houses for a playdate.  Peyton loved playing with someone "older" (Phoebe is 6 and in KINDERGARTEN!!!).  I was excited for P to play with someone new and BOSSY!!  Although Phoebe was not nearly as bossy as I had hoped!

~ Friday: We waited ALL week to hang out with Abby and Ella and the day was FINALLY here!  We couldn't have been more excited.  The girls bounced on the trampoline, demanded lunch at like 10:30, went on a neighborhood scavenger hunt, and pretty much destroyed all cleanliness in the playroom.  Completely successful playdate!

Ma! Your Margarita is Ready!

Peyton has a fun little play house structure thingie (technical term) in our backyard.  Although she is getting a little big for it, she still uses it all the time.  On one side there is a little table that comes down and opens up to a window.  Peyton has decided that this is the "ordering window".  You have to go to the window to order food or drinks from her.  Yesterday she asked me to order something.  I went over to the window and ordered a margarita and chicken piccata. (Side note: I've only had this dish like once at Cheesecake Factory, but it is amazing.)  She informed me that they were all out of stuff to make margaritas.  I went and sat on the patio to wait for my order to be called.  A few moments later she let me know that they found the ingredients for margaritas, but could only make one.  Phew.  I ordered my drink JUST in time.

She let me know that there were a lot of people behind me waiting to order, like one hundred of them.  The next person was apparently a young boy.  He tried to order a margarita but was politely informed that they were all out. (Note to self: teach Peyton NOT to talk about margaritas at school and explain that it is an adult drink...) 

Anyway, the boy then chose to order pineapple yogurt.  This is the conversation (with herself that I observed).
- Listening at window to boy ordering.
- Turns around to shout at imaginary staff "Get a pineapple yogurt!  For a KID!"
- Looks back at the boy, listens intently, then turns to staff again and shouts, "Make it a medium size!!"
~ She then shouts at me, "Ma!  Your chicken piccata is ready!"

I just love her imagination!  I couldn't help but giggle while she was doing all of this. 

Spring Break 2014

A brief overview of our first week of Spring Break:
- Peyton & Josh started off Spring Break by going fishing and camping.  I was stuck in class all day on Saturday. NOT fun.  Fishing & camping was a success!

- I had a dermatologist appointment on Monday - I took Peyton with me.  Of course there was a man with an amputated leg and Peyton insisted on asking (really loudly) why he only had one leg.  
- Went to Bounce-U with Abby, Ella, Brady, & Lukas.  Two hours is plenty of time for 4 year olds... the last 20 minutes were filled with meltdowns, but overall everyone had a great time.  I sort of wished I could have played, too!
- On Tuesday we got our taxes done and had lunch with my Grandma.  Peyton is blessed to have a Great-Grandma living just a few miles away!
- On Wednesday I met my Grandma's last living sibling for the first time.  Bernard is 9 years younger than my Grandma- what a fun chance we had to meet him!
- On Thursday my Aunt Lisa (yep, I have an Aunt Lisa, too!) & my two cousins came up from Tucson to visit.  (They don't live in Tucson, they were visiting other family).  We hung out most of Thursday, went to Joe's BBQ for lunch, had chicken tacos for dinner and just had fun.
- Friday morning we woke up early to go horseback riding!  This was Peyton's first time on a horse (besides at a carnival).  Her and I rode double on the hour long trail ride.  I'm not sure how people can ride for 8+ hours a day.  My butt hurt after just a few minutes!  My sister and I were slightly horrified when they did not offer us helmets for the kids (and us, but mostly the kids).  Had we known, we would have brought their bike helmets.  It is a LONG way down from the top of a horse.  Thankfully everything was fine and everyone LOVED the ride!  After horseback riding we went to Scottsdale to check out Butterfly Wonderland.  There were WAY too many people there, but the butterflies were pretty cool.  

- 

Valentine's Day Bookmark

For Valentine's day, Peyton made bookmarks to give to her classmates.  And by "made", I mean "Peyton modeled for the picture then wrote her name on the back after mom did all the hard work" :)  And I wouldn't have it any other way! I think they turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself!
xoxo-Lori

The "Me Bag"

This week, Peyton was chosen to present her "Me Bag". Basically her teacher sends home a bag (like a reusable grocery bag) with a note asking the student to place things in the bag that help represent who they are as a person.  I'm sure you can imagine what most children want to put in the bag.  The moment we got the bag home on Tuesday, Peyton began filling it with crap.  Seriously, Josh and I just watched as she ran around her room like crazy finding random objects to stuff in.  One of the items that the list asks students to bring is a picture of his/her family.  I asked Peyton to draw a picture of our family - she drew herself, me, Josh, & Duke.  I almost choked on my dinner when I saw the picture because I was very confused.  See for yourself:

I gently asked her to explain what body parts she drew.  Apparently the circles on the edges of our bodies are our hips (I was thinking butt!) and the circle within the circle is our belly buttons.  I don't have a belly button in the picture because obviously I am wearing a dress.  Let me explain the picture.  Starting on the left, on top is Duke (who DOES have a belly button), I am on the bottom in yellow.  Apparently I was having a wild hair day.  Peyton is in the middle, drawn in black or brown, with fairly short hair.  She has hips, a belly button, hands, and feet/shoes.  I believe she is also wearing a dress, but there must be some sort of "belly button hole" in it.  Josh is on the right side in yellow.  He is much taller than me and Peyton, I'm not sure that he is wearing any clothes, and he has a smaller belly button than Duke and Peyton.  She asked how to spell Duke & Daddy and did the rest of the writing on her own.  Someday I'll teach her to write in a straight line.  Maybe.

Ok, so here are the contents of her Me Bag:  (after many discussions about what should/should not go...)
- Hand drawn picture of family
- Photograph of family
- Woo (her favorite pink & white puppy!)
- Baby Ava 
- Ariel (I hope her teacher doesn't hate me once Peyton makes Ariel "sing" a billion times)
- A random heart bracelet
- A Shutterfly book of her 4th year of life (3rd birthday to 4th birthday)
- Frozen Soundtrack CD
- Cinderella Book (the one Duke didn't chew on)
- Mini-Pillowpet - ladybug

We are also taking a bag of oranges & grapefruit for her to share with her class since he loves helping Josh garden.  I asked the assistant teacher yesterday if we were allowed to bring oranges and grapefruit and she said yes, but I'm not 100% sure they will be ok.  Her main teacher isn't usually at school when I drop P off, so I didn't have a chance to get the ok from her.  Hopefully I didn't waste time cleaning and cutting fruit for nothing!

Will hopefully update with a picture of P and her Me Bag tomorrow!

The Gunny Bunny

So I may or may not have accidentally caused Peyton to now be scared of the dark and sleeping.  

Let's back up... when my sister and I were little my parents told us about the Gunny Bunny.  I don't remember much about it, but my sister says that the Gunny Bunny would take our toys that we left out on the floor if we didn't clean them up.  Again, I'm not sure this actually happened, but my sister tends to have a good memory and I do remember something about a creepy bunny sneaking into our house.

So anyway, I have told the story to Peyton a few times and then helped her clean up her toys saying, "I'd hate for the Gunny Bunny to come tonight!".  On Sunday night, Peyton went to bed as usual.  She woke up around 3 and crawled into bed with us.  "I had a bad dream, Mommy! It was the Gunny Bunny" (cue instant guilt).  Then she was up at 4 because she had to go potty.  When she finally crawled back into bed she wanted me to face her while we slept.  I have a hard time sleeping on my left side, so I told her no, but that she could still cuddle up against me.  Then she asked, "well can we both think about going to the park and playing in the sand together?"  "Of course we can."  So we both went back to bed dreaming about playing at the park!
Monday night she asked, "so you are sleeping with me tonight, right?" umm... no.  I told her I would stay with her until she fell asleep and that I would leave her lamp on and her door open.  She crawled into bed with me around 2, but she hadn't had any bad dreams, thankfully.
I do feel bad that she had a bad dream, but I tried to tell her that I have bad dreams too sometimes and that we don't always have bad dreams.  She was so happy this morning when she woke up to report that she had "no dreams"!  
And before you try to judge me and my parenting skills, just back off!  Just because you wouldn't dare tell your child about the Gunny Bunny, it doesn't mean I am horrible for using it as a helpful cleaning tool. Quit judging.

Preschool

 Peyton has been in daycare practically her whole life. (yes, I know I am a horrible mother- don't worry I'm reminded of that often!) Anyway, she went to Hamilton's Lil' Express program from when she was an infant (10 weeks) until the end of the last school year.  She made some wonderful friends at Hamilton.  Another parent from Hamilton looked at other options for the important "before kindergarten" year.  She decided on a Reggio inspired preschool at one of the elementary schools in Chandler and I opted to move Peyton as well.  Peyton was SOOOO happy to remain in a class with her BEST friends Abby & Ella.  

Peyton doesn't particularly like school - it is hard work to be good all day, share toys, not yell and scream, etc etc however she has gained so much knowledge in just the past semester.  I am so happy we made the change.  The scheduling has been difficult because I can't drop her off until 7:30 and I have to pick her up by 4:30.  My school is only 2.5 miles from her school, but it is a struggle to not be the first one dropped off and the last one picked up.  The afternoons are especially difficult because my students are not released until 3:58pm.  I barely have time to pack up my purse and shut off my computer before I have to run out the door.  

Now, before you think that she hates school based on the first picture, I have to admit that the only reason she frowned was because I was taking  so many pictures. Poor thing!  And I will also admit that I was the one who cried on the first day when I dropped her off.  I was happy for her to be with her friends but I was sad to see her growing up so fast!  She had a rough start with a couple of bad days, and she has continued to have a few bad days here and there, but overall she has made a great transition.  Next year she will hopefully attend school with me. (I'm on a K-8 campus)  I can't wait!  Right now she thinks that would be the coolest thing (to go to school with mom), but I'm not sure how long that feeling will last once she is there! :)

California - Summer 2013

After a fairly rough spring we decided to head west to California.  We went last year and stayed in San Diego and hit Sea World.  This year we stayed with some family friends and hit up the San Diego Zoo.  We went to the beach many times, but the one time I wanted to get a little color on my skin was the day it was gray, overcast, and COLD.  Josh will say it wasn't cold.  But don't believe him. It was cold. Peyton was in a "I refuse to take nice pictures with Mommy" stage. I was not happy! Here are a few pictures from our trip.