The Circus!

We went to the circus a couple of weeks ago and Payton thought is was WONDERFUL! He was the most impressed when they put like 9 guys on motorcycles in a big metal sphere and they rode around and around BARELY missing each other. He also loved the tigers and elephants. He still talks about those elephants constantly!!! He was big clapper. Every time the audience clapped he made sure he did too. It was really cute. :-) We went with Anthony, Nicole, and Braxton and just had a blast!

We got there early to walk around down on the floor and Payton wasn't quite sure that was good idea at first.

He changed his mind very quickly.

Sitting in his own seat with his new circus toy.

Sitting in Mommy's lap.

He clapped for EVERYTHING! :-)

This is what Braxton did for pretty much the entire circus. ;-)

Our "Vacation" To The Beach

Well, we decided to take a quick, little vacation to the beach in July. We got up on a Sunday morning and left for Corpus Christie at about 10:00 and arrived at our hotel around 2:00. We went straight out to the beach when we got there. We spent maybe half an hour out there, and Payton decided he did not like the beach. I think it was the salt water he didn't like because he LOVED to dig in the sand and build sand castles. After that, we went to the hotel pool for a little while, then headed to dinner, and called it a night. When we woke up in the morning, Payton had a 103.3 temperature. I decided that was a little bit too high to pump him with Motrin and go ahead with our vacation, so I called his doctor and made him an appointment for later that afternoon. We packed up and headed back towards Austin less than 24 hours after arriving at the beach! Payton did okay in the car, but his fever kept rising (with medicine), and when we were right outside of Austin I checked it and it was 105.5! I FREAKED out and called the doctor back and they told us to get him to Dell Children's Hospital immediately and to forget coming to see them. So, we went and they got him back pretty quickly and put an IV in him in case they had to give him medicine or fluids. They got his fever down and did a bunch of blood work and everything came up perfect, so of course they said what they always say, "It's just a virus." He ended up getting over it in a few more days, but it was pretty scary there for a while. So, that was our vacation! Sounds like fun, huh?! I guess we will try the beach again next year and hopefully have better outcome! Here are a few pictures from our "Sickation" (as Rich calls it).

Payton was very excited to be at the hotel when we first got there.

He did not like getting salt water in his mouth!

He absolutely loved the sand though.

Swimming with Daddy in the hotel pool.

Swimming with Mommy in the pool.

Here he is at Dell Children's Hospital.

This was after they put the IV in his arm. :-(

Summer Full of Swimming!

Well, I'm sure everybody knows (that lives in Texas anyway) that our temperature is in the 100's everyday, so there isn't much else to do but swim! We go pretty much everyday. Our favorite place to go is the YMCA. Their pool is GREAT! When we don't go to the Y, we just go down to our pool where we live. I bought Payton this "floating" suit, and at first he was a little skeptical of it. He didn't quite trust it to keep him up, but after wearing it for a couple of weeks, he thinks it's wonderful. He just started to try to swim by himself. The suit keeps him straight up and down, and he swims like that. It is pretty funny to watch. He looks like he is just jogging in the water and splashing with his arms. It actually does work for him though. He gets where he wants to go, as you can see in the video I posted. Since I haven't done a post in a while, I am also going to post a few of our 4th of July pictures and some other random ones as well!

Payton swimming all by himself! (Underwater view as well!)

Lugging TWO noodles!

Jumping to Mommy in mid-air!

Rich caught him on the camera mid-jump!


Swimming at the YMCA.

Wearing Daddy's glasses at McDonald's.


Payton and his baby looking SO CUTE for the 4th of July! (Braxton is HIS baby!)


He was pointing at the fireworks.


Watching the fireworks with Daddy.

A Day at the Lake!

We went out on the boat with Nicole and Anthony yesterday for the first time this year. It was so much fun! Payton was much more interested and cooperative than he was last year. He put his life jacket on with no problem. We told him he was wearing a life jacket just like Diego does when he gets on a boat. He calls it his Diego jacket. Hey, whatever works, right?! He didn't get a nap before we left, so he fell asleep two separate times! I couldn't believe it! Braxton took a nap on the boat too. Maybe there is just something relaxing about the sound of the engine or something. Who knows! I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of time in the sun this summer. Rich thinks that Payton's hair is going to be super blond by the end of the summer. I still can't believe I have a blond-haired, blue-eyed child! I hope his hair stays light. :-)

Payton asleep on the way back to the ramp.

All the boys looking at the water.

Payton was very impressed to have is own big boy seat.

He loved feeding the ducks.

Daddy and Payton.

This was the first time he fell asleep.

Braxton is such a ham! He loves to get his picture taken!

It's been a while....

I know it has been like 3 months since I've updated this thing, sorry! I will keep up with it better from now on. I am now finished with school for the semester, and I had no time to do anything while it was going on! We are all doing great. Rich is still working in Sunset Valley. He just recently bought a '64 Thunderbird that is in really great condition and he is working on restoring it completely, so that is occupying a lot of his time. Hopefully he will be done with it soon!

Payton gets bigger everyday! There is not a word he can't say. He is our little parrot. He repeats everything these days (sometimes things you don't want him to). Nicole was watching him for me the other day and she asked him a question and he told her that he needed to check his schedule! I'm not sure where he heard that one, but it was hilarious! He loves to go to Nicole and Anthony's and play with his baby Braxton, and for Braxton to come play with him. He is much more interested in Braxton now that he can move around on his own. Braxton has Payton's Bumbo chair and the child is only 6 1/2 months old, but for the last month and a half, he has been flipping himself out of it to get the floor and get whatever it is he wants. It's hilarious! Payton always tells Nicole to put Braxton in it so he can watch Braxton "fall down!" I got Braxton on video doing it, and I am going to put it on here. It just baffles me that he can do that because when Payton was in it, it was hard for us to get him out, much less for him to get himself out! Braxton is a little Houdini!

We had a great Easter. Payton actually understood the concept of hunting for eggs this year and loved it. He also loved dying the hard-boiled ones.

One of our biggest milestones just happened yesterday. We have started to go to church at Celebration in Round Rock and absolutely LOVE it, and Payton has never been left in any nursery or childcare room at any church (or anywhere for that matter). I decided to try to leave him in there for the first time (because his best friend Addison was there too) and he did GREAT! He cried a little bit at first, but I checked on him a couple of minutes later and he was fine. I couldn't believe it! I'm so excited because I actually got to sit and listen to the message for once without interruption. Anyway, I am posting some Easter pictures and a couple of other random pictures taken in the last few months.....

Payton loves to have his hair spiked up.

Dying Easter eggs.

Looking at the goodies the Easter Bunny brought him.

Holding his basket full of eggs.

Braxton getting out of his chair.

Rich's Thunderbird.

The Rain Boots!

Payton's new favorite thing to wear are his police rain boots that his Aunt Nicole, Uncle Anthony, and cousin Braxton got him for his birthday.  It doesn't matter what he is wearing or what the temperature is outside, he has to wear those darn boots.  Since it has been in the 80's and 90's this week, he of course has been wearing shorts and he looks absolutely rediculous in those boots!  Oh well, I'm sure it is just a phase and it will pass!  Here are some pictures of him right before we left to go out to dinner last night.  And yes, he went to dinner just like this:

And this is just a cute picture of him taking a bubble bath.  :-)

Messy Boy!

Well, it figures that I just wrote all about how clean Payton is in my last blog post and then he goes and makes a liar out of me!  He loves to eat peanut butter from a spoon and the last time we gave it to him, he got it all over his face and arms.  Then today, I got him out of the bathtub and put his diaper on him.  He was in the living room watching TV while I got ready in the bathroom and he apparently found his lunch plate that had ketchup on it.  Well, when I walked in the living room with his clothes to put on him, I found him smearing ketchup all over his face and chest!  He looked at me and said, "I doowaty (aka "dirty") Mommy!"  It is so unlike him to get himself dirty!  Needless to say, I stuck him right back in the bathtub to get clean.  

The latest thing Payton is doing that he thinks is just too funny is calling Rich and I by our first names.  He knows it drives us crazy, so he does it and then laughs and says, "I funny Mommy!"  Hopefully this little phase will pass soon!  Anyway, I have posted some pictures of "Dirty Payton."  Enjoy!

Fun With Pudding!

We painted with pudding this morning and Payton absolutely loved it!  I was hoping he would finger paint, and he did at first until he figured out that his hands were sticky and dirty.  He said, "Mommy, hands goss!"  So, I had to clean off his hands and get out a paint brush.  Oh well!  For those of you who don't know Payton all that well, he can't stand to be dirty in any way!  If he even has a crumb on his hands he flips out until someone gets it off.  His Aunt Nicole calls him Monk (from the USA show about the insane clean freak LOL!).  Once he got his paint brush, he had a blast!  He was just as interested in eating the pudding as he was in painting with it.  He would dip his brush in it and paint, then dip it back in and put it in his mouth.  One for the paper, one for his mouth, one for the paper, one for his mouth........  It was so funny to watch him!  I posted a few pictures and a video of him painting.  Please excuse his grungy clothes that are just a tad too small...I didn't want to get food colored pudding on any of his good clothes!  ;-)

Happy January!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year!  Ours has come with some changes. Rich is no longer working for the City of Manor.  He got a better paying job in Sunset Valley!  (It is in South West Austin in the Oak Hill area.)  It is going to be a little tough on us because he has gone from working 6 am to 4 pm, Monday through Thursday to working 8 pm to 6 am Saturday through Tuesday, but I can already tell he is going to be so much happier at this new department, so Payton and I will adjust just fine to his move!  :-)  

School started back up for me this past week at Texas State, and with only 3 more semesters to go, I can really see the light at the end of the tunnel!!!  I go on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings and my Mom, Nicole, and Kit have all volunteered to help me with Payton on those days.  I am really enjoying my classes this semester.  There is no more memorizing boring Physics facts to take a test just to forget them right after, and no more sitting and listening to a professor lecture and taking endless notes on boring things I don't care about!  My classes this semester are really training me on how to do what I want to do, teach!  I am getting my degree and certification in Early Childhood through grade four, and I plan on teaching elementary for a year or so, then I want to take the test to be certified in math.  I want to teach math at the secondary level, preferably high school.    

Payton seems to never stop talking these days.  He has gotten quite the little attitude on him now.  If he doesn't like something you're doing, he will let you know very quickly!  His favorite TV shows right now are Max and Ruby and America's Funniest Home Videos.  He says "Max and Ruby" very clearly, but he calls America's Funniest Home Videos "Uh Oh's" because someone is always falling down or getting hurt.  ;-)  I think one of the funniest things he does right now is recognizing car symbols.  Rich drives a Ford, so every time he sees a Ford of any kind he says "Daddy's car!"  Every time he sees a Mazda he says "Mommy's car"... a KIA he says "Ganna's car" (he calls my mom Granna)...a Nissan he says "Tony's truck" (Anthony is Tony to Payton)...and so on!  I was just amazed that he recognizes those symbols because it doesn't have to be the same model of car that the person drives for him to say it!  Well, I guess that is all for now.  I am posting a few pictures of Payton below!  

He is looking for tadpoles in a little puddle of water.

Being a silly boy!

He loves to slide!

He was so excited to see me at the bottom.

He was watching the football game with Daddy on his couch.