Relaxing Weekend at Home

We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend at home this weekend so not a lot exciting to report. We did get a little bit of snow and since it warmed up a little today we headed out to test-out Peyton's new sled. She loved it!

We also had a visit from Uncle Clint this weekend and of course Peyton had to teach him how to play with some of her toys (see pic below)!

Peyton is also doing lots of fun things - she has mastered the "please" and "help" signs and now uses them frequently. She did also learn where we had the Thin Mints on the cabinet and would walk over to them and point and sign "please". How do you say no to such a polite little girl?!?!

Peyton is also really putting things together. About a week or so ago she was reading books with Daddy and he pointed at a picture and said "dog" - Peyton then went to another book and found another picture of a dog and said "dog". She also likes to point at Apollo anytime we read about a dog in a book. Then, today, I was looking for one of her puzzle pieces and kept saying, "Peyton, where is the apple?" Soon she returned with the apple puzzle piece and put it back into the puzzle all by herself. What a big girl!

On Saturday night we went to mass and at the end I spoke about the Mom's group at our church. I was quite proud that I got a round of applause when I was done! Although I've spoken at church many times before, at our current church there are a few more people than I am used to, like, maybe a few hundred extra!

Peyton continues to amaze us and shows how much personality she has, so much fun! She loves to play chase, run to hide when Apollo comes in, try to walk and drink her sippy, ride on her toys, read her books and in general make us laugh non-stop. What an amazing adventure this is, we are very blessed!

Peyton all dressed in her cold weather gear!

Wheee!!!

See, Uncle Clint, this is how it works...

Mmmm...ravioli is quite tasty!

I guess this one was technically from last weekend but too cute not to include! Toys can be used as seats too!

Time to catch-up on pictures

Peyton playing with her cousins Emily & Claire -

Peyton getting ready to climb onto Grandpa's lap

Peyton found the bubbles in Grammy's cabinets and boy did she have fun chasing them!

Look at that grin while hanging out with Grammy!

Lots of New Things for Peyton

Last weekend Peyton had a chance to spend a ton of time with family, many of whom she had never even met before! Our trip to Clinton last weekend was unplanned but although it was a very sad time for the family we truly enjoyed our time visiting with family! Peyton kept Grandpa & Grammy in good spirits during a very tough time, met lots of Grandpa Arthur's family, including Great Uncle Bryan, Great Aunt Brenda, cousins Tom, his fiancee Reece, Will & Claire and got to visit with Great Uncle Merle, Great Aunt Debbie, cousins Ian, Tyler & Emily once again. I could continue to list family members but I'm afraid that Blogger may kick me off if I typed that much! Peyton even got to visit a few times with Granny & Great Grandpa Mintun and enjoyed spending time with Grandma & Grandpa Todd while Mommy & Daddy attended a family viewing of Great Grandma Arthur. I think everyone enjoyed their visits with Peyton - this girl is VERY loved! And Peyton did a fabulous job of behaving at all of our many serious family events over the weekend, quite a young lady.

Peyton also had a few firsts over the weekend which are both quite entertaining. First, she has learned to shake her head no! It finally clicked - cute! Well, it is at least cute for now! ;) When she is eating now if we offer her something she doesn't want, she just shakes her head no until we hit on what she wants. And the next bite she may want one of the things she just said no to - it is so great having a better idea of what she wants!!! Peyton's other first of the weekend was learning how to say "ought oh". Talk about C-U-T-E!!! Of course, she is quite proud of her new words and uses them all the time, even when something wasn't an accident (like throwing down her paci - over and over again) but it is still super fun!

I feel that I am missing a lot of what she is doing right now, I need to do a better job of keeping up with everything since not long after she does something she is doing something new! Hopefully I can keep up with her! ;) I also still need to download pictures from the last week - those will come probably in the next couple of days.

Great Grandma Arthur, you will be missed!

Last Friday we received a call that Great Grandma Arthur had suddenly passed away. It was quite a shock for everyone but in the end we were thankful that she did not suffer when it was her time. Unfortunately it is often tragedies such as these that bring families together. As was the case this time as well. Although we got together to mourn the passing of Great Grandma we also had the chance to see many family members we hadn't seen since before Peyton was born. As a small tribute, below are a few pictures of Peyton with Great Grandma during the short time they had the chance to know each other. Great Grandma, you will be missed!

Four generations, about 2 weeks after Peyton was born -

Great Grandma holding Peyton for the first time -

Here's Great Grandma & Peyton at about 1 1/2 months -

And Peyton showing off her standing skills at around 8 months -

And what we believe may be one of the last pictures taken with Great Grandma at our Christmas celebration just about a month prior to her passing -

Just Like Mommy & Daddy

That's right, Peyton loves to do everything just like Mommy & Daddy! From eating with a spoon and fork (yes, it is messy but she loves it!) to playing peek-a-boo to reaching up to the sky to stretch. It is so fun to see the little wheels turning in her head as she sees something she wants to try and do and then manages to figure out how to do it! Amazing.

Let's see, what else has Peyton been up to - she dances absolutely non-stop, especially when she turns on all of her "talking" toys at the same time. She has graduated from only dancing in circles to also "stomp" dancing. She is also talking more and has now mastered "dog" and every once and a while will pull-out "cat" and "frog". She recognizes all sorts of animals in her books which is fun. Speaking of books, she loves to read books. Here she is reading like a big girl -

Peyton has also developed a "signature move" - the Peyton fist pump! When she gets real excited or someone comes into daycare (mostly her boyfriend Evan) she pumps her arms up and down - can't explain how adorable this is - always brings a smile to our faces! :)

Peyton is also becoming a magician - the other night she hid her hand in her sleeve and waited for us to ask her where it was and suddenly popped it out with a HUGE smile on her face!

The phone is one of Peyton's favorite toys - she is quite good at dialing it though thankfully she hasn't actually called anyone yet. She even knows how to hold it up to her ear and say HI!

Peyton had her first real diaper rash over the last few days but thankfully it is now all cleared up. We tried to let her go sans diaper as much as possible to let her rash dry-out. Most of the time this worked out fine - that is, except for Sunday night. Yep, in a matter of 30 minutes Peyton peed on the floor twice and filled her PJs with a much less pleasant present for Mommy. Ugh! Looking back it is hilarious but at the time it was not much fun!

Last weekend I also got to have mom's night out with my friend Marla. We went to Bravo and had an amazing, relaxing meal - what a fun evening!!

Then on Monday, Peyton & Daddy had MLK day off so they got to spend the day together! From what I've heard they had a fun day and even snuck in some good cuddle time during nap time!

Here are some pics from the week -

The many smiles of Peyton -

Here's Peyton throwing the golf ball into Daddy's putting green hole - she loves how it pops back out and hits her in her belly!

Grammy & Grandpa Came to Visit!

Last Sunday, Grammy & Grandpa came to visit Peyton! We had a great time! We started our visit with a tasty meal at Cheddar's (we LOVE having one in KC now!) followed by some shopping and then hanging out and relaxing at the house. Peyton kept Grammy & Grandpa entertained with her stellar dance moves and her ability to turn all her "talking" toys on at the same time! Grammy & Grandpa also brought a sled for the next time it snows in KC. Of course, Peyton doesn't really need snow to enjoy her new sled, she sweet talked Grandpa into taking her for a sled ride around the kitchen - hilarious! What a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Peyton on her sled -

Grandpa & Peyton at Sam's Club and Grammy & Peyton hanging out -

Dancing with Sweatpants, Playdough, and First Trip to Chuck E Cheese!

Peyton is such a live wire! Friday morning she woke up early so she was playing while we were getting ready, looking super cute dancing around with my sweatpants on her head, and then... crash - Peyton fell into our bed frame and cracked her eye right below her eyebrow. Daddy was able to get the bleeding to stop and then Mommy got to swoop in to calm Miss Peyton down. We thought she was a-okay but when Daddy went to drop her off at school they thought we should have it checked-out to see if she needed a stitch. I met them at Children's Mercy (a little worried that they would start recognizing us since this was I think our 4th trip there). They cleaned-out her cut with lots of saline (while Peyton was wrapped-up like a burrito) and the Dr. checked it out really well and decided it would probably heal just as well on its own. Here's Peyton playing while we were waiting to get our final instructions from the Dr. - the bandage made her look like she had been to war!

And then on Saturday her boyfriend, Evan, brought her these beautiful get-well-soon flowers and a super cute card. Quite a gentleman already!!
Here's Mommy's shot of trying to get a pic of her little cut -
Also on Saturday we made homemade playdough! Unfortunately Peyton thought it was for eating (one of her favorite activities). Since it is just made with flour, salt and water it didn't hurt her but she surprisingly went back for seconds - yuck!
Evan also joined in on the playdough fun after we had a tasty dinner with his parents!
Then on Sunday, since we didn't want to get Peyton out in the super cold weather on Saturday for cousin Whitney's birthday party, we met-up with Aunt April, Wyatt & Whitney for a fun afternoon at Chuck E Cheese! Peyton couldn't play any games and wasn't really interested in the rides but she sure did have a super fun time playing with her cousins! Here she is with Wyatt dancing to the Chuck E Cheese show right after lunch -
And posing for a pic with Whitney, the birthday girl! We had such a good time!!
Peyton continues to learn more and more every day. She has now started to say "Moo" and "Hoo" when we read Oh the Wonderful Sounds Mr. Brown Can Do, that is, if I can ever convince Peyton that we do have more than just two books (Brown Bear and Hop on Pop)! Peyton loves to brush her teeth and thinks it is great fun when I share my chapstick with Peyton - she loves putting on "makeup" like Mommy!

So much for a toddler to do!

It seems anymore that what I want to share on the blog consists of a lot of short little stories – so many of the things Peyton does are just so darn cute and I know I will forget them if I don’t write them down right away! Here goes -

Reading is Fun! – Peyton is in a stage right now where she LOVES to read books. It is so cute when she goes over to her bookshelf and pulls the books off until she finds just the right one and then brings it over to you, turns around, backs up into your leg and sits down to enjoy the book. She has also started to develop a few favorites including Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Go Dog Go! and Hop on Pop. For example, we read Hop on Pop at least 5 times before bed last night – every time I got done reading the book she would hand it to me again and would get quite testy if I tried to switch to a different book. She definitely knows what she wants!

Talking – Peyton is also talking more and more these days – recently we have heard “ok” and “Go Dog Go!” repeated a few times. She also loves to pick-up the phone, push a few buttons and then hold it up to her ear and babble. So far she hasn’t actually dialed anyone though we have gotten VERY close a few times! Should we be worried that she loves the phone this much at age 1? I’m guessing yes…

Breakfast Date – Peyton & Evan had a date at First Watch on Sunday (of course accompanied by their parents). We had a great meal! Afterwards we headed-up to Oak Park Mall to let Peyton run off some energy somewhere other than home (I think she was beginning to get a little bit of cabin fever). While there, Daddy took her on her first carosel ride! Daddy said she was quite amazed at the horses going up and down (she liked the going up part much more than the going down part)! Since the mall was pretty empty due to the bad weather we let Peyton walk on her on most of the time while we were there – it was great – she would take a step but then stop and reach out for one of our hands and then turn to the other and take their hand too – melts my heart!

Peyton sporting her snazzy boots -

Evan & his Mommy Marla and Peyton & her Mommy - Too tired to play – At daycare yesterday (her first day back in almost 2 weeks) Peyton apparently walked over to the pillow area around 10:00, laid down and proceeded to fall asleep! They asked Chad when he picked her up at daycare if she had been taking morning naps while on Christmas vacation (which she hadn’t) – guess she was exhausted from all of her activities the last couple of weeks!

Christmas Vacation

Peyton's school is closed the week between Christmas & New Year's and since Chad & I had just taken a week off for Cabo a few weeks ago we didn't have vacation to take off to stay with Peyton so we called in the grandparents! Although they were doing us a huge favor I think they were all very excited to spend some extra time with Peyton! Grandma & Grandpa Todd visited on Monday & Tuesday and Grammy & Grandpa came up to stay on Wednesday & Thursday. I think a fun time was had by all - here are a few pics from the adventures they had!

Grammy & Peyton making rice krispy treats -

Grandpa, Peyton & Apollo checking-out all the snow!
Peyton stomping around in the snow -
Grandpa & Peyton reading books -
Then on New Year's Eve Grammy & Grandpa spent the evening with Peyton and her boyfriend Evan so that we could go out to a tasty dinner at Lidia's with Evan's parents Kip & Marla. We had a great time at dinner and even stayed-up to ring-in the New Year (I think we were all shocked we made it to midnight - believe it or not, we made it until 1:30). Kip & Marla got a fun new Wii game - Just Dance - for Christmas so of course we had to try it out - hilarious! Although they look a little stunned in the pic below, Grammy & Grandpa reported that the kiddos had a fun evening!

Merry Christmas!

What a wonderful holiday season we had! A few days before Christmas we started our celebration with an annual tradition - delivering Christmas goodies to our neighbors - 6 years running! Peyton loved getting all bundled up (she amazingly now loves to wear her hat) and taking a ride in her wagon to make our deliveries!

Then on Christmas Eve we headed to Grandma & Grandpa Todd's house to celebrate with the Todd side of the family. Most of the usual characters were there - Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Landen, Aunt April, Wyatt, Whitney, Uncle Clint, Nana, Papa, Great Aunt Linda, Kelli & Danielle - a fun time was had by all! Here are a few pics from the afternoon -



Our plan was then to head back to Olathe so that we would be at our house for Santa to visit. The weather, however, had other ideas in mind. After celebrating with the Todds we headed down to Grammy & Grandpas, mostly ahead of the storm, to get ready for our celebration with the Arthur grandparents! Peyton woke up on Christmas morning to one of the whitest Christmas' in the area since sometime in the 60's I think - crazy! Probably a good idea that we went to Clinton on Christmas Eve, otherwise we may not have made it. We celebrated with the Mintun clan (Grammy, Grandpa, Uncle Mark and Tom - Granny & Great Grandpa weren't able to get out that morning so we took their gifts and a sampling of our tasty lunch over to them later in the day) on Christmas morning. Then since Peyton was about ready to pass out she had an early lunch (while half asleep - see pic below). After a nap we opened presents with Grammy & Grandpa - fun, fun, fun!!! Here are a few pics -

Luckily, even though we weren't at home to leave any tasty cookies and milk, Santa still made a stop for Peyton - she must have been a VERY good girl because she had several fun new toys waiting for her to find! Here's Peyton & Daddy playing with one of her new favorites - a ball popper!
We had a great time celebrating with everyone - a Christmas to remember!!