Time for Fall!

Last Friday Daddy had to have his eye worked on again (hopefully this time it works!!!) so he was pretty out of pocket for the weekend but Peyton & I had a busy weekend. Fall weather finally arrived and we took full advantage! Our weekend included visitis with Grammy & Grandpa to the Louisburg Cider Fest and Deanna Rose Farmstead (including a trip to the pumpkin patch!). This was our first time to the cider mill and it was a ton of fun! Peyton got an Elmo balloon (of which she was VERY proud), tried cider for the first time, had a cider donut and attempted to ride the ponies (twice - and both times she was not successful - poor thing - she so badly wanted to ride the ponies but just isn't quite ready yet...). Definitely will have to check that out again next year! We visited the Deanna Rose pumpkin patch last year but this was Grammy & Grandpa's first trip to really see Deanna Rose. Peyton was primed from our visit last weekend and checked-out many of the same things only this time she also got to go on a hayride (which did NOT go well even though she loved it last year) and spend some time in the pumpkin patch. Although the ride to the back was a little rough she had lots of fun picking out pumpkins, playing in the dried corn and several of the other games at the patch.

Peyton also received her first pedicure this weekend and she is quite proud of her painted toes! So adorable!!

The Mayberrys were in town this weekend too!! We are so excited when they come back to visit! The kids, as usual, picked-up right where they left off - it is so fun to watch them play together!

Overall it was a busy weekend but we had a great time!

And while Daddy finished working...

Peyton & I headed to Deanna Rose Farmstead to explore. And explore we did!

We visited the flower garden -

Fed the ducks...

Tried-out the tractor tricycles -

Fed some baby goats...(Peyton looks terrified here but she was so excited to feed them. By the time the bottle was gone she was asking for more milk to feed them!)

And here's a "cheese" pose by the dairy cow -

Peyton also got to pet a baby chicken which she thought was very cool and saw all kinds of other animals. We had a great day and I think Daddy may have been a touch more efficient without his project manager though I think he had more fun when she was helping! :)

Project Manager in the Making

The weekend is only half over and we have already had an awesome weekend, even if it has been busy! Friday, Daddy had 7 tons of dirt delivered - by the way, that is a "ton" of dirt! He moved some of it around on Friday night under the close watchful eye of Peyton. She did an excellent job of telling Daddy "more" when he needed to fill-up the bucket and then pointed to where he was supposed to dump the bucket - hence her new nickname of project manager! We also had a chance to catch-up with Kylie & Carson (and their Mommy too :)) while hanging outside Friday evening. We are really enjoying being able to be outside more often so we can see all of our neighbor friends!

This morning Peyton slept in until 7:30 which may not seem like much but is way past normal for her! We ran several places this morning while Daddy got back to work on his big project. After lunch and a very short nap, Peyton was ready to be Daddy's helper in the afternoon. She had her princess shovel and again put on her project manager hat and she was ready to go! Here are a few pictures from the afternoon -

This is the pile after it was already half gone!

Helping Daddy "carry" the bucket -

Pointing to where the dirt belongs -

After a long afternoon of work it was time for a little play. We were hanging out in the back yard when Noelle & Parker spotted us and ran over to play! Peyton loved it and even asked Noelle to push her in the swing and swing with her on the glider. They had a great time! While Daddy cleaned-up, Peyton & I ran to Chipotle to grab some dinner - YUM! Peyton did eat more than guacamole but managed to polish-off 3/4 of the container of guacamole all by herself!

This morning Peyton started repeating A-B-C while we looked at one of her books. By bath time tonight she is up to saying A-B-C-D-E all by herself and sometimes even throws in F & G! Wow - she is so smart! She can also count to 6 or 7 on her own and can repeat numbers up to ten! She is learning so much.

And spelling things may be coming to an end in the Todd household. Tonight after Peyton's bath I mentioned to Daddy that I didn't have a p-a-c-i upstairs and Peyton turned around, looked at me and said "paci please" - oh no! I thought we had WAY more time to spell things out!

Time for Winter??

After our vacations we used our short week to get back into the swing of things. Peyton has had a little bit of a rough time saying goodbye to Mommy & Daddy when we leave her at home/school for the last little bit but starting yesterday we seem to have turned a corner and our easy-going little girl is back!

Last weekend we headed to Clinton to visit and for Daddy to play in the Boy Scout tournament with Grandpa (or maybe Pa Pa now...or so Peyton seems to have named him). While the boys played golf, Peyton, Grammy (now sounding a little more like Gi Gi) and I hit a few garage sales as it was the citywide garage sale day in Clinton before visiting with Granny & Great Grandpa and overall just having a fun morning! After a nap we all headed to the aquatic center for a little splash time - this was the first time that Chad & I had been and it really is a great center for the community! We had dinner at church and after lunch on Sunday we were headed back to Olathe - what a fun visit! PLUS - Daddy & Grandpa's golf team placed in the tournament - even better!

Peyton splashing in the puddles after Friday night's storms -

Peyton practicing riding her tricycle in Grammy's kitchen - I'm still quite shocked this was allowed!

Peyton getting out a few of Mommy's music boxes - She loves the Charlie Brown and Lucy music boxes - too cute!

Grammy & Peyton with the bean box. Surprisingly, most of the beans actually do stay in the box -

Mommy, Daddy & Peyton at the aquatic center -

Daddy making a BIG splash at the end of the slide -

Practicing a little more with Daddy -

Peyton in her stylish new boots - one of our garage sale steals from Saturday - she LOVES her boots!

And while I was putting Peyton's Fall/Winter clothes into her closet she found her Chief's stocking cap so she wore it for dinner last night and again for a good portion of the evening tonight - guess she is ready for Winter!

Mommy & Daddy's Vacation

While Peyton enjoyed her time in Clinton, we had an awesome time at The Royal in Playa del Carmen. The resort was absolutely amazing and we enjoyed, for the most part, doing absolutely nothing! Our days at the resort consisted of some serious beach time where we caught-up on some reading, eating at some tasty restaurants, enjoying tasty tropical drinks, listening to a few bands and yes, even exercising a little! The resort had a roof-top tennis court which was really cool! We had never played tennis together before but we had a ton of fun! Of course, the tennis pro was a little less than thrilled that we lost two balls over our time on the court but man it was fun!

Here we are before dinner after our first full day - note that we (especially me...) got a little red. The next day we decided to sit in the shade on the beach but we didn't think about the indirect sun impact since we were sitting by the ocean - oops! We (again, especially me) came home a little toasty but it was definitely worth it to spend practically two solid days on the beach!

Our suite is the one on the far left on the top floor - we were in the main building which was nice because we were close to everything and the view was amazing! The balcony had a hammock too which was a bonus.

Now this is the life -

View from our balcony -

When we arrived, our room had a bottle of champagne, cake and a welcome letter wishing us a Happy Anniversary -

A view of the bed - the room was absolutely amazing!

We had such a great time!!! Now, when can we go back?!?!

Peyton's Labor Day Vacation

Over Labor Day weekend, Chad & I took our first vacation away from our baby girl to Mexico (see next post) which meant that Peyton got to go on her very own vacation, to Grammy & Grandpas! Although it was hard to see her ride away with Grammy & Grandpa we knew they would all have a good time, and so would we! We of course missed her but we enjoyed our little getaway. I'm still not quite sure who had more fun on Peyton's vacation - Peyton, Grammy & Grandpa or Granny & Great-Grandpa.

We didn't have access to e-mail while we were gone but we did check in a few times. Peyton asked where we were fairly often but was consoled when Grammy told her Mommy & Daddy were on vacation, though Peyton repeated that Daddy was at work - I guess I'm the slacker of the couple since Daddy worked the whole time we were gone and I was on vacation! :)

I'm sure I will miss some of the fun they had but Peyton stayed very busy with visiting Granny & Great-Grandpa, going to the aquatic center and playground, helping make guacamole and other meals (Peyton always likes to sample the meal as it is coming together!), swimming in her little pool, playing with her bean box, enjoying an ice cream cone, making and decorating cookies for Mommy & Daddy and making fruit loop necklaces. The fun was endless I believe!

Here are a few pics from Peyton's vacation -

Potty, Potty, Potty

So I need to download vacation pictures so those are coming but I'm trying to get a little caught-up tonight!

Tonight while we were playing out on the playset, Peyton looks at my feet and says "flip flop" plain as day. Then she says "Daddy flip flop". I told her, no, these are Mommy's flip flops. We had probably a 5 minute conversation about flip flops and it was GREAT!

And then while we were getting ready for bed she said "potty" so I asked her if she wanted to use her potty chair. She of course said yes, which has happened many times but we got out the potty chair and she sat down. She stood up and said "all done" which again, has happened many times before so I didn't think she had done anything but when I picked her up she felt a little wet. I looked down in the potty chair and she had actually gone potty! Wow!! So of course I gave her a big hug and told her how proud of her I was and we danced around a little - she had a huge smile on her face! She then pointed at the chair and said "potty" and I said, "yes, you went potty - what a big girl!!!"

Daddy's Number One

A couple of weekends ago, Aunt April, Wyatt & Whitney came up to visit and boy did we have fun! The kids all loved playing on the playset (the picture below is the best I could do to catch all three of them at the same time!)! After some play time we went to take pictures at Portrait Innovations. Peyton wasn't too thrilled this time but we had a good time. We had a tasty dinner, a trip to Borders followed by a visit to Peachwave - one of our new favorites! Here are a few pics from our afternoon -

On Sunday Daddy played his second round of the Golf Channel Amateur Tour Championship tournament and he WON!!! Daddy got a huge trophy that is now proudly displayed on the mantel! Peyton was initially less than impressed with Daddy's trophy but later when we asked her about it she said "Daddy Number One"!

Also on Sunday, Grandma & Grandpa Todd came to visit (and help with our broken garbage disposal) - here's Peyton with Grandma & Grandpa slowly waking up from her almost 3 hour nap!