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!

Mommy Funny

Another of Peyton's favorite books is "Pout Pout Fish" - this is MY favorite to read to her because about every other page while I am reading she says, "Mommy funny, Mommy funny!!!" and giggles - so adorable! I guess she likes my pout pout fish voice! :)

Favorites at Two Years

Color: Purple, definitely purple

Character: Probably a close tie between Elmo & Mickey

Phrase: Mommy, my Mommy or Daddy, my Daddy or 'mon to anyone that she wants to go with her (and it is best if said person responds quickly!)

Book: Dragon in a Wagon or Another Monster at the End of this Book

Funniest Word: Almost

Food: Veggies still probably top the list - I'll say green beans, but the girl will eat almost anything! For sweets, probably ice cream, our Friday night tradition!

Song: Row, Row, Row Your Boat, ABCs

You Tube Video: Katie Perry & Elmo's Hot & Cold

2-Year Check-up

Today we had Peyton's 2-year check-up and she is doing GREAT! Today she weighed-in at 26 pounds (45%) and is now 34" tall (55%) so she is right around average! :) She was VERY brave with the Dr. checked her over and even dried-up her tears almost immediately after her shots were done (of course, I don't think that the sucker Mommy brought with her to the appointment hurt anything!). Our big girl is sure growing up!

Peyton Turns Two!!!!

Peyton turned TWO on Saturday and we had two fun-filled days celebrating with friends & family! There were too many pictures to include here but I have added a few of the festivities! Saturday we had Grammy & Papa, Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Landen, Aunt April, Wyatt & Whitney, Uncle Clint & Christy over for "Hot Diggity" dogs to stick with our Mickey Mouse theme! Peyton wasn't too awful interested in unwrapping her presents but she eventually got into it! She did love her cake though and is still asking to eat cake at about every opportunity she gets! On Sunday, we had Peyton's neighbor friends (and their parents of course ;)) over for some more fun! Check-out the little table of kiddos - we had 11 under the age of 5 in total - wow!!! I hope you enjoy the pictures even 1/2 as much as we enjoyed the parties!! Thank you to everyone for helping us celebrate Peyton's big day!!!

And my proud creative moment - check-out the cupcake tree I made for Peyton's friend party and Mickey Mouse's clubhouse that we had for her family party! :)

Peyton & her Daddy

Peyton is quite smitten with her Daddy, but I can't blame her there! She loves watching Elmo videos with Daddy and always asks to get on the "puter"!

This last week we also got to join Peyton at her school for their annual "Save a Turkey, Eat Spaghetti" lunch - so cute! Of course, we were quite proud to join our little girl for lunch!

And a few other pictures from the last week -

Our Little Girl is Growing Up!!!

So it has been a couple of weeks since I have updated the blog so I am WAY behind. Bear with me on this one. I promise to cover everything but can't guarantee it will be in any sort of order!

Before I get into what we've been up to - a few fun stories!

1. When Daddy drops Peyton off at school in the morning she has her breakfast first thing. Apparently, her friend Jacob is a little sweet on Peyton and pulls her chair out for her!

2. On a day where we could not keep Peyton full, Daddy asked Peyton, "Where are you putting all of this food?" With a smile she responded with "in my mouth." So literal!

3. Our nightime routine now includes going potty pretty much every night. Peyton prefers if Daddy also goes potty at the same time (not sure where this one came from) but is always proud of herself when she is done! The problem comes when she is done and loves running around naked before putting on her PJs! We have also added giving Apollo hugs & kisses every night before bed - she does love her puppy!!

4. Peyton is now one of the older kids in her class and we were so proud to read on her daily sheet last week that Peyton has become the mother of the group, making sure her friends are okay and included in everything. Also, in the next room at school they serve themselves lunch so Peyton has been practicing - almost every day now she serves herself for her entire meal, using the spoon to scoop, etc. Wow, what a big girl!

5. One of Peyton's new favorite games is hide and seek. She is adorable trying to hide her eyes but hasn't quite gotten the hang of waiting and counting before coming to find us! She could play this game for quite some time but likes to make sure everyone has their turn at doing the hiding!

6. Sometimes Peyton sits on the cabinet while we are getting a meal ready. Last night she was wiggling around so I told her she needed to sit still, her wiggling was scaring Mommy. She responded with "Boo"!

Two weekends ago we had a pretty relaxing Saturday and enjoyed spending some family time at home. Peyton wore her Missouri Tigers sweatshirt for the first time but unfortunately it didn't help them win. :P Regardless, she looked pretty adorable in her sweatshirt & Nike leggings if I do say so myself! Then on Sunday we headed to Lexington to see one of Daddy's high-school friends, Clay, before he heads to Australlia to work (maybe we should try and visit!). While in Lexington we also enjoyed a visit with Grandma & Grandpa (who helped Peyton try her hand at flying a kit), Uncle Landen, Aunt April, Wyatt & Whitney (see pics below - Wyatt luckily wasn't able to teach Peyton how to climb a tree ;) but she did have fun playing dress-up with Whitney), and Nana & Papa.

This past weekend was a very relaxing weekend around the Todd household which was awesome since this coming weekend we will be having party time for some little girl who is turning TWO! We had a 4-legged visitor for the weekend - Peyton loved having both Apollo and Sadie around the whole weekend! Saturday Peyton got a haircut and was such a big girl - she sat so still and let the stylist cut her hair, thin it in a couple of areas and even re-shape her bangs. Compared to the last few times we have gotten her haircut, this experience was AWESOME! Saturday night we headed over to a friends for dinner and had a great time! On Sunday since it was cold we headed to the mall to let Peyton play in the soft play area and ride the carosel (and get a jump start on some Christmas shopping!). While playing we ran into Peyton's friend Kate and her family from Goddard - small world! Peyton had a blast at the mall and after a tasty lunch at Cheddars we headed home. Since we were way past her nap time Peyton didn't end-up taking a nap on Sunday but we still had a fun afternoon hanging out around the house and watching the Chiefs game until half-time (at which point it was too pitiful to watch!). I have a few pics of Peyton in her Cheerleader outfit that will have to go into the next post.

Here are a few pics from the last few weeks -

Peyton & her friends from daycare - apparently this is a frequent way that Kate, Sophie & Peyton hang-out!


Watching some cartoons -

Peyton at School

Peyton's school now has a website where they load pictures from their days - here are a few that I thought were fun over the last few days.

Peyton in the box with Sophie being pushed by their friend Kate. Apparently, earlier, Peyton had helped Sophie into the box and loaded her up with toys and pushed her around before she decided to jump in for the ride provided by Kate!


Peyton's blow-paint art project. Have I ever mentioned her teachers are brave? It is a real shocker that Peyton chose purple paint! ;)


Playground time -



And this was a paste, oats, something or another art project - looks like a mess but she sure looks like she is having fun!

Happy Halloween!

Peyton LOVED trick-or-treating this year! We visited a few neighbors before coming back to hand out candy. Peyton wanted to stop at every house we walked past and very delicately always picked out her one piece of candy - such a young lady! When we were back at home she had a ball helping answer the door and would alert us that more trick-or-treaters were coming by saying, "kids, kids, kids" This chanting continued until bedtime as Peyton was VERY concerned that more kids would be coming after she went to bed. Eventually, we convinced her that all the other kids were going to bed too!

Wasn't our baby girl adorable as Minnie Mouse??

Here's Peyton saying "trick-or-treat" - she only said it at one house but she said it lots at home! Also, after getting candy at each house she would run back toward Daddy & Apollo pointing at her bucket saying "candy"

"Kids, kids, kids"

Look at all that loot -