Pictures with Santa and Mrs Claus

We had our annual visit from Santa and Mrs Claus last night. Both girls loved seeing them and Peyton, although she would not sit on his lap, greeted Santa by running towards him screaming "Santa, Santa!" Too cute :) Santa read the story The night before Christmas, passed out gifts and made balloon animals.

Happy 4th Birthday Addison!

Happy 4th birthday to a truely amazing little girl. I thank god everyday for bringing you to me. Your smile can light a room and your laughter can bring me to tears. I love you so much angel!

Love, Mommy

Back from our "Magical" vacation

We just got back from 2 days at Disney World and 8 days aboard a Disney Cruise...I am EXHAUSTED!!! But, it was worth every bit of missed sleep to see the excitement on the kids faces.

Aboard the boat we met all the princesses and Disney characters numerous times and have millions of pictures to prove it! We visited St. Marteen, St. Thomas and Castaway Cay (Disney's private island). Addison had the best time playing with her cousins who she loves soooo much and she has a new collection of sea shells which she adores. Peyton, although sick with a horrendous cough, enjoyed me chasing her through out the boat and loved to dig her nails in the white sand! And Jordan made some new friends in his teen club on the 10th deck and he really enjoyed having tons of freedom. All in all it was a wonderful vacation and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I am not sure how many pictures I can or want to load on here but I came home with close to 600 photos...here are a few.

Peyton's first haircut

I decided the time had come for Peyton to get her first haircut...not only had it become crazy but she was beginning to have a bit of a mullet :) Much to my surprise, Peyton did very well! I have to give a lot of props to the lady who did it b/c she obviously had quite a bit of experience working with small kids. She had Peyton set up in a booster chair with toys, books, crackers and combs. She did attempt to put a gown on Pey but that was obvioulsy NOT GOING TO HAPPEN so thank god she let her go without. She did comment though that if the health inspector were to stop by she would get a very hefty fine...good thing she didn't! The haircut probably only lasted 5 minutes...Peyton sat and played the entire time. And those moments when Peyton would realize someone was pulling on her hair, Addi was there to distract her for me. The only big fuss came when she tried to put her hair up after the cut was over. I actually couldn't believe there was enough hair to make a very small pony tail.

Here is a before pic...in serious need of a hair cut!

Happy Halloween!

The build up for Halloween seems like it takes FOREVER! There are parties after parties, parades, pumpkin patches, hay rides,pumpkin carvings, festivals and way too much candy. By the time yesterday finally got here, I was almost happy it was over!

The origional game plan was for Addison to be a ballerina and Peyton to be Minnie Mouse. By yesterday Addison had turned into a "Beautiful Princess" and Peyton into Elmo. Whatever...they were both happy and ADORABLE :)

It only took 3 houses for Peyton to figure out how trick or treating works. She even had her own version of saying "trick or treat" and managed to say "thank you" about half the time. She refused to let us carry her..wanting to walk just like the big kids. Poor baby was exhausted after an hour of walking in the dark dragging her candy bag behind her. We were about 5 houses away from ours and she finally reached up to grab my hand. Little Miss Independent finally gave in just a little :)

And props to Granpa who flew in from Australia (31 hr trip) 2 hrs before we went out for the night. Addi was so happy her Gramma and Granpa came to help!

I can check it off my bucket list...

Today I ran my first (and most likely only) 10K (6.2 mls) with some friends. I have been convinced to run a half marathon in December so we thought this would be something good to add into our training routine. Due to childcare, we have been training on a treadmill. The run this morning was our first outdoor run. And HOLY CRAP...it was quite a bit different! A treadmill keeps my pace whether I like it or not and I don't really have to judge just how fast I am going. We finished our first mile mark 3 minutes faster than our treadmill pace and I think that ultimatley screwed me for the rest of the race. I had a hard time controlling my breathing through out. BUT...I can say I did it and FINISHED in 1 piece. And yes, if you know me, you know there was some "bitching" along the way!

Addi was determined that I needed a trophy for my race although I came no where close to finishing first. Here is a picture us with my "trophy." After the 5k and 10k finished they had a kids 1k race...Addi and her friend Bailey ran in the race. They did GREAT! Ran the whole time adn even though they were the youngest I saw, they did not finish last! We gave Peyton a number too just in case but she never left the start line :)

Dewberry Farms

The girls and I made the hour drive out to Dewberry Farms in hopes that it was just as good as we have heard...and it was! We rode a train, went on a hayride to a pumpkin patch, played on a rope swing in the hay, saw some AMAZINGLY carved pumpkins, fed some animals and played on tons of different playgrounds. By the end they were filthy and tired! Here are a few pictures:

Karma

13 days after Addi got her stitches we returned to the emergency room...this time with Peyton. While browsing the sale rack at Kohls I let Addi and Pey out of the buggy to play. They were playing so good together, laughing and actually enjoying each other. Then all I hear is a blood curling scream. I reach down to pick up Peyton and her entire left side of her face was full of blood. So off we go again to First Choice ER and wouldn't you know it was 2 of the same nurses! Although I had a terrible time calming her down after the incident the numbing process was much easier than Addison's thanks to a lovely shot of Demerol :) She actually fell asleep during the stitching process! We walked out with 10 external stitches, 3 internal stitches and a pretty happy, seemingly unaffected, baby.

I made several comments while talking to the Dr and nurses during Addi's procedure about how surprised I was to be sitting here with her. "Peyton is my daredevil, crazy girl...she should be the one getting stitches!" How's that for Karma kicking me in the ass!

Time to play catch up....

I have been looking for my USB for my camera for weeks now and thank god for the cleaning lady!!! Now time to catch up since it has been awhile.

Addi started her second season of soccer at the YMCA. Here are some recent pictures from this season. It is so much fun to watch her play...just a single kick of the ball will send her jumping and screaming with joy. Gotta love this girl!


Next is Addi's first trip to the Dentist. She took it like a champ and told all of her friends about it. I absolutely HATE going to the Dentist...I guess I hid that pretty well :) Plus, she got a cool light up tooth brush that she is so proud of. Here are a couple of pics: And the major event of the last few weeks is about Addi too. She was sitting on her swing on the back porch (not actually swinging yet) and fell forward. Although Roger was out there we are not sure if she was able to break her fall with her hands or not but she ended up with 8 external stitches and "numerous" internal stitches to the underside of her chin. Thank god for First Choice ER bc we were in and out in about 2 hrs. Words can't describe how awful the numbing process was but we made it through and hopefully we won't have to do this again anytime soon! Here she is afterwards showing off her bandaid. Hello Kitty made it all better.

And not to leave her out but really nothing "exciting" has happened with Peyton for the first time but here are a few pictures just because she is so stinkin' cute :)

being a menace in the Emergency Room...

Peyton's first love...

Peyton has discovered Elmo. Luckily, he was Addi's first love as well so I have a ton of DVDs for the car. As I put Peyton in the car everyday she immediately points to the DVD and says "Elmo?" I think "Elmo" might mean any movie but it is still pretty cute :) And thankfully, Addi still tolerates Elmo's world so we have very few arguments over the movie selection. Here are a few pictures of Peyton feeding her new friend...