Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

The Todds were busy over Christmas this year, as usual! We started our Christmas celebrations in Clinton on Christmas Eve. Peyton helped Grammy & Mommy get the meal ready - she especially liked glazing the ham (and maybe sneaking a bite or two along the way). The St. Louis Mintuns were running a little late due to bad weather so Peyton ate early and then joined the entire Mintun clan (minus Mary - we missed you!) after our lunch for some opening of gifts. Peyton wasn't quite into opening gifts yet but by the time we had our Arthur family celebration later that afternoon she was quite into "pulling" all of the paper off of her packages! Although she got a lot of awesome gifts, her favorite during the gift opening time was a box that she could jump off of and do somersaults off of - imagine that! Peyton entertained all during our time in Clinton and enjoyed telling everyone about her trip to Disney, listening to a personalized video from Santa with Grammy, decorating Papa with all kinds of stickers and even convincing Great Grandma to chase her around the house! Here are a few pictures from our celebration -

















On Christmas Eve night we headed back to Olathe to get ready for Santa to come and visit! Daddy started working on putting together Peyton's new kitchen from Grammy & Papa while we got Santa's cookies ready and Peyton kept working on riding her tricycle. I loved the picture below where she grabbed Daddy's hat and put it on - too funny!


Peyton wasn't too hit on giving Santa any cookies but after much convincing (and letting her have a bite of every single one!) she left Santa some cookies and her glass of milk.


When it was bedtime we headed upstairs for Daddy to read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas before saying our prayers and heading to bed.



Luckily, Santa didn't mind Peyton sampling his cookies and left her all kinds of goodies in her stocking & otherwise! We had to wait around for Peyton to wake up on Christmas morning (probably the last time that will ever happy) - she slept 12.5 hours and didn't wake up until 8:15 - the girl has NEVER slept that late!! She got a new Dora memory game (which she was quite good at) but her absolute favorite was her very own make-up!!! (aka Lip Smackers) She carried her make-up around the rest of the morning and even kept from trying to eat it most of the time! Good thing her last minute request made it to Santa - I think we have our Elf on the Shelf to thank for that! :)


Don't you just love the headband???


And finishing off the cookies Santa left behind -


After lunch on Christmas Day we loaded up the car to head to Lexington to celebrate with the Todd/Sanders clan. Peyton loved telling her Disney stories and showing her pictures to anyone that would listen! Peyton also convinced Grandma & Grandpa to play a little game of hide and seek - an all-time favorite. While at Grandma & Grandpa Todd's Peyton still wasn't super interested in opening gifts but did enjoy her new 4-wheeler (though I think she may have had as much or more fun watching Whitney ride it!). Santa had already arrived by the time all of the family got there so we started with opening gifts and then enjoyed a tasty dinner with everyone! Peyton looks up to Whitney like you wouldn't believe so was quite thrilled with her tutu, one just like Whitney! They had a ball playing dress-up and with all of their new toys. Here are a few pictures to enjoy from this celebration -












Wow - that was another busy Christmas! We had such a wonderful time seeing everyone and having a chance to visit. We are very blessed to have a wonderful family - and Peyton is definitely spoiled rotten!

Our visit to the House of the Mouse!!!

As most know, last week we headed to Walt Disney World and man did we have a blast!!! Peyton LOVED the carousel and endured the Dumbo Ride and Teacups without much complaint. Much to our surprise, the Winnie the Pooh ride and Nemo ride were not big hits due to some scary dreams (Pooh), bouncing (along with Tigger) and those scary deep ocean fish (from Nemo). Oops! Hopefully we didn't traumatize Peyton forever! We had lots of fun character meals and met Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso, Leo & June (Little Einsteins), Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet & Eeoyre, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine & the Evil Stepsisters! Peyton was pretty hesitant at first but by the time we met Mickey & Minnie she was blowing them kisses and giving high-fives. We even got a video of her talking about giving Goofy a high-five - too cute!! Here are just a few (of the over 200) pictures we took during our trip - enjoy!!!

Peyton all settled in for the plane ride - we got the CARES restraint system and it worked perfectly! Highly recommend this!

A favorite riding spot for Peyton while walking around the Magic Kingdom - much easier to see from the top of Daddy's shoulders!

We didn't actually see this show (Peyton wanted NOTHING to do with it) but she loved the outside and drug Daddy to go and point out all of the characters - it was priceless to see how excited she was to see them all in one place!

Isn't the castle beautiful with all of the Christmas lights??

We have a similar picture of just Chad & I from our last trip to Disneyworld (well, Peyton was in my tummy at the time, but you get the point)

Checking out the World at Epcot -

And her absolute FAVORITE ride - the carousel!

Getting ready for the teacups - Daddy was nice enough to keep us from spinning too much!

This was right as we were about to board Dumbo after Peyton had asked several times to ride - Dumbo, Dumbo please...we waited in line for 30 minutes to get to this point at which time she said - No Dumbo, No Dumbo!!! We still rode and she had a good time!

She loved the ducks at the Grand Floridian and got pretty close to them saying "Hi Ducky, Hi Ducky!!!" We also asked her about her character visits while we were here and got a great video of her telling us about blowing kisses and giving high-fives to Mickey & his gang!

And while I ran to get some snacks and Daddy was packing, Peyton settled herself into Mommy's spot to drink some water and watch TV. Every time we came back to our room she ran straight in and turned the TV on saying "TV On Myself" - the girl is independent!!

What an amazing trip, one to remember for a lifetime!!!

Edited - And I'm not sure how I could have possibly forgotten about Peyton's absolute favorite ride - the white "yellow" bus - oh yes, the transportation buses were tops on the list!

Holiday Season is Busy Season!

Two weekends ago we made our annual trip to the symphony for a Christmas concert. This was Peyton's second trip and she got all dolled-up and ready to go! After a short nap in the car on the way there we found our seats. One short song later, Peyton was ready to go! Oh no! I ended-up taking her out to the lobby and she LOVED listening to the music from the lobby - I guess it was just a little loud for her in the concert hall - maybe she'll last a bit longer next year! It was adorable to see her clap for the pretty music and to see her eyes light up at different points in the songs - very cool! Here are a few pics from our trip to the symphony -

Daddy also has taught Peyton a cool new trick - how to dip your cookies in milk - YUMMY!!!

This Saturday was our Parish Christmas Party which my moms group puts on for the church. Daddy & Peyton came to the party to check things out and visit Mommy. It was SO crowded that we had to eat our lunch on the floor. As you can see, Peyton didn't mind much! Peyton won a book at the book walk and had fun see all of the other kids (and Santa Claus from a VERY safe distance)!

After the holiday party, Grammy & Papa came up to stay with Peyton while Chad & I went to my company holiday party. We had a great time visiting with co-workers and friends - and the dinner was as great as the company! Back at home, Peyton, Grammy & Papa enjoyed play time and even found time to make Christmas wreathes out of rice crispy treats - luckily they saved the finished product for us to enjoy too once we arrived home! Here are a couple of pics from their fun evening -

Since it was SO cold outside, we opted for a tasty breakfast of waffles & bacon at home before Grammy & Papa had to head back to Clinton.

Peyton's parents as teachers teacher came for a visit tonight and Peyton had her two-year assessment. She is doing GREAT (not that we are surprised!). One of the "tests" was to have her stack seven small blocks into a tower. I wasn't sure she could do it but she surprised me when she completed the task on her second try - way to go Peyton!

Peyton moved into her new classroom about a week ago and is doing wonderfully so far! They have a hamster, Twix, in their classroom and she has learned a new song which is a fan favorite, the Hello Song! We had to ask her teacher today how to sing the Hello Song as she wanted us to sing it to her all weekend and we had NO idea how it went! We now know, whew!

We have had a busy couple of weeks but they have been fun, as always!

TENT

Just as I suggested to Chad that we put away Peyton's tent as she didn't play with it much right now (to be brought back out later of course) she has once again proved me wrong! The last several days we have had great fun playing in her tent. Usually she asks us both to 'mon and then she asks me to get into the tent with her and Daddy crawls around the tent roaring and banging on the tent. I think Peyton could be entertained with this all night long if we let her! Her giggles are absolutely priceless and the joy in her expressions melt our hearts!

Tonight she also wanted to put both Daddy & Mommy to nigh-nigh so we of course obliged and laid down. At one point, Daddy popped his head up at which point Peyton quite forcefully pushed Daddy's head back down and reminded him - No, nigh-nigh!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

After our annual baking day we wrapped-up the kick-off of Christmas by attending a party hosted by Papa's bank before the Christmas parade in Clinton. Peyton made an ornament, with Grammy's help, and was highly anticipating the horsies in the parade! She got kind of upset when the woo-woo's blared their sirens but she bravely said "hi horsies" through her tears when they walked by - too cute!!!

Saturday Papa & Daddy took in the Mizzou vs. KU game at Arrowhead while Peyton & I started decorating the house for Christmas. Daddy was able to capture the final touch with Peyton helped me put the angel on the tree! Peyton had a blast hanging ornaments and did an excellent job entertaining herself with the musical decorations while I put several other things out. Sunday, Peyton & I tried our hand at making a Gingerbread house. May not be the prettiest around but we had so much fun. At one point I asked Peyton if she was having fun and she responded with, "fun, Mommy, fun!!!!" Since it was gorgeous we then headed outside for some play time. Peyton LOVES her new hat and scarf from Christy and didn't fight putting it on at all to go outside! Isn't she adorable in her new Minnie sunglasses too!!! Here are some pics (though not in order)...

So very many reasons to be thankful!

We have had an awesome year and have MANY things to be thankful for this year! We celebrated Thanksgiving by having lunch with the Mintun clan on Thanksgiving (Granny, Great-Grandpa, Grammy, Papa, Uncle Mark, Joe & Tom). We had an excellent meal and were stuffed to the gills by the time it was all said and done! After lunch (and when Peyton was ready to go down for her nap), we loaded-up the car to head to the Sanders celebration (Nana, Papa, Grandma, Papa, Uncle Landen, Aunt April, Wyatt, Whitney, Uncle Clint, Christy, Aunt Linda, Lindsey, Patrick, Kelly, Shane, Danielle, Aunt Connie). They had just wrapped-up lunch so we joined in with a little dessert (though I must admit I had already had dessert once - oops!). We had a great time visiting with everyone and when Peyton was starting to get worn-out we headed back to Clinton for our annual baking day at Grammy's house. Peyton participated much more this year by dipping pretzels but I think her favorite job may have been a toss-up between unwrapping chocolate (I think she may have snuck a bite or two during this process) and cookie taster! We had an awesome time!! It was a whirl-wind couple of days but we had a blast!!! Here are just a few of the pictures from our Thanksgiving celebrations!