Tis the Season

Tachy Wacky Christmas Party, doesn't that sound like fun? That was how we started our Christmas celebration. On December 20th we had the Christmas party at our house. It was great to see so many good friends and celebrate the holiday all together. Amy, Lindsey and I made some goodies and we hung out in our Christmas gear. Randi got best dressed, he came as an elf, tights and all.
The following day Lindsey and I threw a baby shower for our good friend Amy. Luke and Amy are expecting their first baby boy at the end of May, and the shower was a hit. She received many of the necessary baby items for becoming a mommy.
On the 23rd a snow and ice storm came through Olathe. We had plans to go to Crown Center for the day with my grandparents but due to the weather that didn't happen. Instead we hung out at the house and my mom brought my nieces and spent the day with us. We made soup for lunch and made Christmas cookies. We played the Grinch that Stole Christmas for the kids to watch. It was a fun indoor family day. Mitch had the week off work so he was even home for the crazy ciaos.
Christmas Eve we went to church service at 5:00 and from there we went to my Grandparents house. Jack stack was there waiting for us for dinner. Once everyone was finished eating we started on gifts for the kids. That was a fun disaster, they enjoyed every minute of it. They all got baby dolls, which they loved. They all got matching Christmas p.j's from Nana of course. Nana always has some surprise for all the girls, talk about spoiled rotten. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve at the Blanton's. Once we came home and put Payton to bed, we made monkey bread to have Christmas morning and finished our chores we needed to have done before bed.
Santa had finally arrived. Payton woke up and came downstairs to find that Santa had left her a present. She got her first front door. It isn't really a house but a front door to a house. It has a door bell and a door that she can crawl through and push more buttons on the other side. Santa must have know that she loves to push buttons. It lights up, talks, sings the alphabet all kind of fun things for a little person almost 1. She has played with it non-stop so far.
We had breakfast with my grandparents and parents, which was nice to sit and visit. After we were done opening our presents we got ready and went over to Nana and Papa Jim's for their Christmas. Tyler, Erin and the girls arrived shortly after we did. The girls almost immediately started in on the gifts. We were on a time crunch since, the two youngest were approaching nap time. The Blanton girls got a kitchen set and tons of clothes. Payton got a walker and tons of clothes. Uncle Tyler gave her a pony that you ride on and push with your feet. They all got books that Nana made for them about themselves. They really like to see their own picture. Mom and Dad also got a Wii for Christmas so while kids napped the adults had a great time playing. Christmas night is a yearly tradition to go to Austins after the family visiting has ended and there will be many different classes of people who went to South visiting. Mitch and I went up for about an hour and a half and visited some old friends.
The day after Christmas we went to Mitch's parents house to have Christmas with them. We had a late breakfast together and Payton took her morning nap. Once she woke up we opened presents. Payton is learning to grocery shop early, she got a shopping cart. She got a couple of books and a movie from Uncle Sean. Once Payton was finished with her presents the adults opened their gifts. We had a great day and relaxed for a while. That evening once we came home my 3 best girlfriends from high school came over to have some girl time. We all played catch up on what has been going on with each other and did a small Christmas exchange. It was great for us all to get together. We don't see each other very often but when we do we have such a great time.
I love this time of year it goes by so fast but is always so much fun. Even with all the running around and feeling crazy it seems to always put a smile on my face. I feel blessed that we can all celebrate Jesus birthday together. I hope you all had just as good of a holiday celebration as my family did. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.

Thanksgiving

This year our Thanksgiving was pretty relaxing. Mitch was a little more relaxed than most people but that was because he was on pain pills. He had his 5th knee surgery the day before Thanksgiving. It was an out patient procedure and went very smoothly. He is recovering very well and we are praying that this will bring him a little less discomfort.

On Thanksgiving day we went to my Aunt and Uncles house in Belton with the rest of my Dad's side of the family. We enjoyed lots of good food and visiting. We watched a couple of movies and had a great time. We even made it home right around Payton's bed time. The day after Thanksgiving we avoided all of the crazy early morning shoppers. We just stayed home and made breakfast. We went to Phil and Karen's house around noon to celebrate Thanksgiving with Mitch's family. His brother came home that morning from Springfield and we ate wonderful smoked meat that Phil made. We watched a couple movies and just relaxed some more. We had a great time, Payton was our main entrainment.

This year was much better than some because we didn't have to cram both of our family celebrations into one day. We got to enjoy time with them separately and on no time schedule. In the blink of an eye it will be time to celebrate Christmas.

Winter's here along with the flu

This past week our poor baby got sick for the first time. It was the worst thing ever to look at how bad she felt and couldn't make her better. Payton spiked a fever on Tuesday night. I got a phone call to see if I was on my way home from work because she was up crying with a fever. Once I got home I changed and we rocked in her rocker. We were up half the night off and on until about 2:30. She finally was so exhausted that she crashed and stayed asleep. The next day her fever got up to almost 104. She also had projectile vomit, that was great fun to clean up. It was hard to even know where to start, when we both were covered in it along with the couch and the floor.

She looked terrible, puffy eyes and all she wanted was to held and loved on. She was attached to my chest the majority of the day. Mitch picked up pedialight on his way home from work. She lived off that for the next couple of days, along with some oatmeal. Her temperature started coming down and was around 100, then she started getting diarrhea. The poor thing just got to experience it all in one week. Her little bottom got so sore, she would try to fling herself off the changing pad when you were wiping her bottom. Luckily she didn't accomplish that. We would smother desitin all over her bottom as quickly as possible. Yesterday she was almost back to her self. She was still cranky but was eating better and wanted to play some of the day. She now wants to stand all the time and hold on to everything, she gets very upset when you make her sit down. She even let go and was on her own for a whole second. Hopefully this next week brings fun and healthy times. It really breaks your heart to just watch how bad your kids feel and not be able to make them better. They look at you with sad eyes and are crying because they want mommy to fix it for them. Being mom is still the best job in the world even through the tough times like last week.

Halloween

This year we had our own little bumble bee. She was the cutest bumble bee that you have ever seen. She started her day off buzzing to Grandma Karen's work to visit her and trick-or-treat with all of Grandma's co-workers. She got her very own bag off puffs to put in her bumble bee treat bag. It actually was a beautiful day believe it or not. That usually is not the case on Halloween it's usually rainy and cold. The problem with the nice weather was that we got a very warm thick costume in preparation for the cold that didn't arrive. So she was in and out of her outfit throughout the day.

Once the little bee woke up from her nap in the afternoon we took a trip and visited Nana at work also. She was a hit everyone was so excited to see her. We also made a stop at Saint Luke's South to visit my co-workers and get Mitch pre-registered for his knee surgery.

For the evening festivities we got dressed again after dinner and went to church for the Trunk or Treat they put on. Payton got to visit with her cousins and family friends. She was on her down hill slope of getting very tired. On our way home we stopped at the babysitters house. We were even able to squeeze in a couple of the neighbors when we got home. We were having a small Halloween party after the trick-or-treating was done. They all started to arrive after 8pm. Payton was able to stay up and visit just for a little bit and then she was done. She turned in her wings for a pacifier and her lovey.

We had a great time with our friends. We ate some snacks and relaxed. It was great to get to just visit and we let the guys practice talking to young children by taking turns handing out candy. It was a great Halloween.

Pumpkin Patch!

It is officially fall, the leaves are turning colors and the cool air at night. Kansas looks so pretty in the fall. I enjoy the beautiful colors and with fall comes pumpkin time. Today Payton had her first adventure to the Pumpkin patch. My mom and Erin met us at our house with Roxanne and Aubrey. We went to the Cider Mill and had donuts and fresh apple cider. I ordered Mitch and I hot apple cider, and of course burned my mouth, and tongue. I hate that feeling that is left after you burn it. Your mouth feels terrible for 2 days after that. Once we were done with our donuts and attempting to take some pictures drove to The Powell Pumpkin Patch. They played on the hay bails and all around the hundreds of pumpkins. It rained the day before so it was pretty muddy. Roxanne did not like that mud was on her shoes, but they had a great time.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. Payton found a pumpkin that was just her size. We ended up coming home with three pumpkins. One for each one of us in the family. We have our pumpkin family sitting out on the front porch. I love when we can have family days on such a beautiful day. Kristen and Josh Levitt also came along for the fun. Payton can hardly wait for Halloween to get here so she can get all dressed up.

On the way home from the pumpkin patch we stopped to pick up Payton her big girl car seat. She has officially graduated into a car seat now and we have put up her infant carrier. She looks so much bigger sitting in a car seat. Payton then got to spend the evening with Daddy and mommy went to work.

Weekend road trip

We went to Springfield this last weekend. Payton got to go on her first road trip to go see her Uncle Sean. We had a great time. We arrived Wednesday night and had a wonderful surprise Thursday morning. A flat tire, yes that is always a treat, and of course it couldn't be patched so we got to buy a new one. We got to go see the new building Sean teaches in and while he had class on Thursday, we took Payton for her first Brandson experience. She could hardly contain her excitement. We did a little shopping at the outlet mall and then drove back to Springfield.
Payton was excellent the entire trip. She let us all run around and she slept great all the way there and home. We walked down to a park at the end of Sean's street and she had her first encounter with swinging, she loved it. Friday Sean had a barbecue at his new house in honor of Payton visiting. Mom and Dad are just chop liver. She played with everyone and let anyone hold her and talk to her. We also went to a tailgate party on Saturday morning before there Homecoming football game. The weekend was fast but lots of fun and then we drove home Saturday afternoon.
I got a wild idea and cut off all my long hair before we left town on Wednesday. It will hopefully help out. Payton just pulls it all the time and I never really had much time to try and do it and make it look nice and out of a ponytail. So I just went for it, we will see how I like it, only time will tell.

Baby profing

We have been working on baby proofing the house. We put up our baby gate and I took down a couple of breakable candle stands. I am not really putting a lot away, she isn't really left unattended to wonder around the house. We will see what all she tries to go after. So far the only target she aims for are the two moving targets, Bailey and Bentley. I timed it out well in honor of baby proofing we got a dining room set.
We got it yesterday and it looks great. I am so excited. It actually looks weird to have furniture in that room because since we have lived there it has been empty. The furniture is a nice dark wood and makes the first floor look complete. The dogs lost their room where they roll around and attack each other. I guess they will have to do that outside more often.
We also got the news on Friday that Mitch will be having knee surgery again. This makes the 5th one. Poor guy he is limping around and hurting pretty bad. They are going to go in clean out all of the scar tissue that has built up. It is probably his last step before a total knee replacement. We are hoping to get it done the day before Thanksgiving, so he will have a long weekend to recover before returning back to work. Mitch also started his new position at Cerner this last Monday. So far so good, it wasn't a very busy week for him but he is getting his feet wet. Well that about sums up our new news.