Monday, December 29, 2008

Hide and Seek

Tonight Payton wanted to play hide and seek. It's so funny how she will hide while you count but then run out at you before you even get a chance to go find her. When she does count she counts 1-10 then 11, 12, 14, 14, 16 before yelling ready or not here I come. She likes to hide in the same places over and over.
Then she wanted to play tag, we had to end the fun there, we cannot play tag in our house :)

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Williamsburg

Last weekend we went to Williamsburg to the outlets. Payton and Reagan were very good girls. Payton got new shoes which look like spaceships which she is excited about, when I tried to put her princess sneaker shoes on her last Friday she told me they hurt her feet.
She ate a lot at the Chinese buffet lo mein and sweet and sour chicken pieces, Payton was free because Tung told the waitress she was 2 :) We weren't going to pay for a girl that never eats anything, and then surprise, surprise, she ate! Reagan ate a napkin.

Yankee Candle was fun too and I wish I'd taken the camera, I had no idea it was such a winter wonderland inside, it even snows every 15 min or so and there was a cool bridge with lots of decorated Christmas trees and little lit up villages that would have been fun for a picture...now we know.
Payton saw Santa right away before we'd even seen him, she started crying and said "Mommy I don't want my picture with Santa, and I don't want Reagan to have her picture with Santa either!"

Our Christmas tree is decorated, but the bottom layer of branches is missing a lot of needles, Payton hung all the ornaments on the bottom herself, and continues to re-hang them every night when she comes home, all the off and on has many needles piled up on the ground. But she's very proud of herself and thinks it's fun. Reagan likes to look at the lights.

Reagan is reaching for toys and trying to sit up, she rolls over a lot now front to back and is so close to rolling from back to front, she just can't get her little chubby legs all the way over! I bet she will though within the next week.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Payton's Birthday week
















We started off Payton's birthday week last Sunday with taking her to Disney On Ice. Grandma watched Reagan so Tung and I could take Payton special just with us. She wore her special birthday dress, sparkle shoes and crown. We had a great time! She wasn't so sure about the Cars and Lion King but was totally glued to the Little Mermaid and the Fairies. After it was over and we were leaving she got really upset and we had no idea why, so we stopped and asked her what was wrong. She was upset that everyone else had a "treat" and she didn't. They had SO much stuff for sale and it was so expensive we weren't going to pay $10 for a snowcone or whatever, so we told her we'd stop and get her a cookie before going home. She was fine with that and we stopped and got Oreo's at Food Lion :)

Tuesday night, we made cupcakes for her birthday party at Gail's house. She's all about helping dump in the ingredients and she cracks me up trying to say the word "ingredient" she almost has it exactly right.
Yesterday when we came home, she asked me if she could have a cupcake, I told her no to wait until after dinner and we could eat one after we put the frosting on, she had this sneaky little smile on her face and pulled a cupcake out from behind her back. She'd climbed up on the counter and taken one and already started to unwrap it! So I caved and we ate cupcake then, and then had another after we frosted them. She helped dump in and sift all the powdered sugar and then just kept wanting to stick her finger in the bowl and lick the frosting!

Friday was her party at Miss Gail's, she was most excited for the goody bags. She must have asked me if I had them 5 times, I forget everything else, I guess she was afraid I'd forget those too! She loved all of her presents and even slept in the new princess crown and high heel play shoes.
Saturday all of our friends and family came and we had a great time. Payton got a lot of princess stuff and dresses, does everyone know her or what?! We had a lot of fun.
Sunday afternoon we just relaxed, Payton painted and I saw Reagan grab her toes for the first time. Tung said he'd seen her do it before but I didn't know that, but I saw her for the first time grab them. It's so fun to see her starting to show her personality.
What a great weekend, and I'm glad it's only a 3 day week because I'm excited to have 4 whole days with my family!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Gingerbread Men



Payton just couldn't wait any longer to make the gingerbread cookies that Nannie sent her in the box, so we made them tonight. They are all hers because she put every single gumdrop in her mouth and sucked off all the sugar before she decorated the cookies! Here's the finished product!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Cars and Pies

Payton was outside waiting for her Daddy to put on his coat so they could go to the swings. When he came out, Payton was already near the end of the driveway, Tung told her to wait for him because cars might drive by and hit her. She said "OK, I don't want the cars to squish me into a pie!"

Friday, November 7, 2008

Underwear

Payton is wearing big girl underwear for the first time today. We'll see how she does. I can't believe in 3 weeks we've gone from crying when we ask her to sit, to wearing big girl underwear!

Update: She made it all day with the same pair of underwear! That didn't last once she got home, but she did very well at Gail's house!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Obama


Oh how observant Payton is... Over the weekend and again tonight, we've overheard Payton saying "Obama, Obama" So we've been laughing about how she's just been hearing us talk and has picked up on it. I figured she must like the sound of it. Then they show his picture on tv and just for fun i said, "Hey Payton who is that?" and she goes "Obama". Wow, I knew she learned and picked up on things we said, but we've never directly talked to her or told her the name or who he was. I was amazed.

After tomorrow we'll get to teach her that he was a President of the United States. This picture is from when Tung saw him at the rally at the Coliseum.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

The Target trip


We made the "big" trip to Target to get Payton her crown, necklace, earrings and ring for going potty. She was so excited and is now napping with the earrings and necklace still on.

On the way home we asked her if she was going to potty when she got home and she said "No, I'm ok, the pee's still inside me" haha!

Trick or Treat!






Halloween was a success! After Payton got over her fear of everyone in costume. Reagan rode around in the wagon dressed up as the lobster. Payton wouldn't stand still long enough to take a better picture than these. But she had fun and ate a lot of candy!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Pumpkin Carving




Last night we carved pumpkins. Payton's pumpkin has a face that looks like her pumpkin dress. Reagan's pumpkin has a bat on it and Tung carved a Curious George one and a tanked 401K pumpkin which is pretty funny.

Today is the Halloween party at daycare, Payton is Abby Cadabby, she wanted to wear her sparkle shoes but I told her she needed to wear her crocs and keep the sparkle shoes for nice. She said Ok Mommy I'll keep them for nice, not for mean! So cute, she knows the opposite!
Reagan isn't dressed up today but she is wearing her Halloween bib. She'll be the lobster tomorrow.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Little Miss Sensitive

You know those shirts they have at the Gap now, Little Miss Bossy, Little Miss Chatterbox, well we need a Little Miss Sensitive for Payton. She is such a sweetie and is so sensitive, she doesn't like to be told no, or stop or anything. Even telling her, "woah...don't put that heavy bag around your neck, you're going to fall over" evokes tears. She is so sweet and caring towards her sister and I'm glad she is so caring and sensitive so I hope she keeps this quality about her and someday it will all be in the right context where dropping her peanut butter sandwich on the floor and us saying "Oh Payton, be careful so you don't get your sandwich dirty and everything messy" doesn't make her cry.

We've had recent success with potty training, she went 4 times in a day and even on the potty at the Japanese Steakhouse to celebrate Tung's new job. She was so excited and screamed that I thought everyone still out at the table would be able to hear her. It seems like it's taking forever, but I think she's finally starting to make the connection.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Pumpkins!

Payton got her very first haircut today. It was getting so very long and though I didn't want to cut her hair, it finally needed to be. I cut maybe an inch off the bottom. She was fine with it and even told a random lady at the band competition that she got her hair cut today.

Before

After



Not quite 3 feet tall yet.

Payton trying to carry her own big pumpkin

What a wonderful day. We first went to Hanover High School to the band competition. We saw the JMU Marching band and then later we came back and saw Tech's Marching band. It was so much fun and Payton loved the sparkly outfits and color guard flags the best. She was definitely entertained. Tung wasn't as excited as I was, but I think once he saw the Marching Virginians he ended up liking it. Payton says when she grows up she's going to play an instrument and play the flags too.

We also went to the Ashland Berry Farm and rode the hayride back into the pumpkin patch. There were tons of big perfect pumpkins this year. We paid $20 for all you can carry and Tung carried 6 big ones and 2 little ones for Payton. Technically though he didn't carry them because the lady was too busy to make him pick them up...but he could have, had he tried.

Monday, September 22, 2008

"Once Upon a Time..."

Payton loves for me to make up stories that start "Once upon a time, there was a girl named Payton who LOVED....." I just fill in whatever I can think of to make up some kind of story to keep her entertained. I started making them up when we rode in the car because she gets bored, even of the Veggie Tales after a while. So today she wanted me to make one up for her when I was making dinner, I couldn't think about it at the time so I asked her to make one up for me. She says "Once upon a time there was a girl named Payton, she loved to brush her hair and she loved her Mommy. The End" In that instant, I forgot about all the "Go Away, Now!!!'s" that she had yelled at me 10 min. beforehand when I didn't give her more cookies when she'd already had two.

When Tung came home and we were eating dinner she started a Once Upon a time story for him and it was "Once Upon a time, there was a girl named Payton who loved her Daddy". She really is a cutie and when all the messes, jumping and almost falling off the couch, yelling and all of her "monster" moves make me want to lose my mind, she comes up with her Once Upon a Time story that makes me completely melt. That's why there's nothing better in the world than being her and Reagan's Mom.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Abby Cadabby and Beach Weekend




Payton is going to be Abby Cadabby for Halloween. However I made the mistake of telling her this and now she's going to want to be Abby Cadabby every day until Halloween arrives. I sewed her a skirt from netting I had left over from decorating for our wedding reception, who knew it would someday be repurposed into a Halloween costume for my almost 3 year old daughter. We made wings out of cardboard and made a special trip to Ben Franklin to pick out pom poms and sparkly rhinestones to decorate the wings and wand with. The wings knock over everything that she gets near, but she's super cute and thinks it's fabulous.


Sunday we went to Va Beach for the day. Payton had a blast in the sand and Reagan put her toes on the sand for the first time. We ate ice cream and stopped at Sonic for cherry limeaid before coming home. The beach was very windy and a little chilly, but that didn't stop Payton from wanting to get in the water. Tung put her in it and she came out chattering but wanted to go back. Here are some pics of our weekend.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

"I want to sing for Jesus"

While getting Payton dressed to go to church this morning, she said Oh I have to wear a dress and we can go sing to Jesus and I can spin around and show him how I dance. She always gets excited whenever we even pass a church in the car and tells us that it's where you sing to Jesus. They had communion this morning and the Pastor even gave her a piece of bread and said "this is the body of Christ" she thought she was such a big girl. She is always very good, we always take a snack and juice box and she colors with the coloring bag they have for the kids and then she can stay with us and "sing for Jesus"

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Reagan's first vacation




We just got back from Reagan's first vacation, we went to Blacksburg and just roamed around Tech, shopped for more maroon and orange because you can never have enough and ate good food. Macado's, Mike's Grill, Gumby's and the Homeplace were all worthy of a meal. Mike's has 2 things too good to pass up so we had to go twice for calzones and hamburgers. Payton loved her grilled cheese cut into triangles and the pizza the best.

Also a highlight for Payton was swimming in the pool, it didn't matter that it was freezing she loved it all the same. Payton was 8 months old when we took her to Tech for the first time, and Reagan was 8 weeks old. Both were such good girls, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and we had a great time. It's always so peaceful to go to Blacksburg, probably my favorite place in the world.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Staying Home

Oh the unbelieveable fun of being home with my girls. In one day you color, cut, paste, watch and laugh. I was going to take her to Gail's house but she melted me when she said, "Mommy I can't wanna go to Miss Gail's house." I asked her why and she said, " Because I wanna stay with you because I love you." So yesterday afternoon after being with me all day I guess Payton was tired of me telling her, no don't stand on your toys, you'll fall...no don't climb up there you'll fall...no don't push Haby, he's growling and I don't want him to bite you...no don't stand up in the desk chair with wheels you're going to bust your head...that as she walked out of the room chewing on her arm, I asked her where she was going, she said to the kitchen to chew her arm so I wouldn't yell at her.

Cracked me up but at the same time made me sad to think all she thought I did all day was "yell" at her... we had fun, and she really was a good girl, I guess just the perspective of a 2 year old.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Potty Training


So Reagan is 7 weeks old and I guess it's time to concentrate on attempting to potty train Payton again. This has to be the hardest thing I've encountered as a Mom. I thought introducing solid foods was awful, battling the independence of a 2 1/2 year old who has no time to sit still and potty really tests you.