Easter/graduation

Hard to believe it's already the weekend again. This week really seemed to fly by! Between watching shows about the royal wedding (yes, I'm one of those people!), working, and keeping up with my one-year-old, time marches on. Last weekend was Payton's second Easter, but her first one that she could enjoy an Easter basket :)

Payton's Easter loot

Thanks guys!

My Easter outfit :)

We woke up, did Easter baskets, ate some breakfast and went to church. We were a little nervous about her being ok sitting there for an hour, but she did fine. She was pretty interested in my keys for a while, and actually fell asleep for a couple minutes. I was excited about that, but about 5-10 minutes later she was back up and ready to observe everything. We let her have her binky, which I hate because I usually never let her have it outside her crib, but she's in that "discovering my voice" stage and likes to yell for no reason (I know, awesome). I feel bad "plugging" her, but she doesn't really listen to reason yet. And plus, she LOVES her binkies. She has not formed an attachment to any type of stuffed animal or blanket, but man she loves her binkies. She likes to suck on one while she's holding one in her hand at the same time. That's her "lovie"!

Yesterday was Kyle's graduation from Concordia University. I can't even begin to put into words how proud I was sitting in the stands, watching him get his diploma and get "hooded". Kyle got accepted into their Masters of Arts in Teaching program a month after we found out we were pregnant; at the time, we were thinking "what the heck did we do? Are we crazy??" :) We weren't sure how we were going to fit in school, work, and having a baby, but Kyle has done a great job and now we're standing at the finish line. The only day Kyle missed of school was when we were still in the hospital with Payton, right after she was born. He has been extremely dedicated, worked very hard, and will be an exceptional teacher. It is wonderful to see him doing something he's passionate about and enjoys so much, and to think about all of the lives he's going to influence in such a positive way. Way to go Kyle!

Hanging out on Grandpa Scott's shoulders before the ceremony

With my daddy! I am proud, I'm just not showing it right now :)



Proud momma and son





Trying on my daddy's cap

This is Kyle's hood, which I learned that Master's degree recipients receive. He was officially "hooded" by a member of Concordia during the ceremony, and it has his alma mater's colors on it (in this case, blue).

Afterwards we went out for a family dinner to celebrate at Buffalo Wild Wings. My parents came down for the day to watch Kyle graduate, which was very special as well. The sun came out for us, and all in all it was a great day!

Hope the sun came out for all of you, and that you had a great weekend! :)

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

What an awesome weekend this has been so far! It was almost 70 degrees today, absolutely beautiful. I finally got to break out some of Payton's summer clothes! We had a pretty laid back day, went to Costco, took Payton to the park, watched the Blazer game (which was AMAZING!), and did some laundry.

Weeeeee!



Daddy pushed me on the swing! I wasn't too into it, just kind of sat there and looked around.

I went down the slide too!

I'm not kicking the soccerball around yet, but I do like to play with it!

Hugs from Uncle Tanner

I rode the seesaw with mommy too!

Payton did something adorable today that I want to share with you guys. She stares at us while we clean her glasses, really intrigued. We breath on them to fog them up, and then wipe them off with a cloth (or usually our shirt). Well today she got a hold of them before we put them on her, and she brought them to her mouth, so I thought she was going to chew on them. She opened her mouth, but instead of putting them in she breathed on them like Kyle and I do! When I realized what she was doing, I cracked up. She is hilarious!



As far as the glasses go, she's doing very well with them. She only ever pulls them off if she's bored and she wants to chew on them, so most of the time she does it when she's in her carseat (and I'm not looking) or in her highchair. It's hard to believe she's only had them for about 2 months, because her face looks naked when she doesn't have them on! We actually get lots of compliments on them, but we do get lots of questions too. We're just glad that the transition has been pretty smooth, and that she doesn't have any problems wearing them.

Hope everyone has a great Easter! I will post again soon with Easter pics :)

These boots are made for walking!

This isn't the video that shows her best steps, I tried to upload it and it's too long. I'll try and get another video that shows it better, but at least this way you can see!



In case you hadn't noticed, keep reading for the rest of my blog! :)

Long time no blog....

Alright, I know it's been waaaaaaay too long for those of you wanting a Payton fix. Let's get to it!

I have to tell you this first, because it's so exciting; my baby is officially WALKING!!! She's been able to stand on her own for short periods, and has even taken one or two tentative steps and then fallen forward. But tonight she stood there and took off! It's amazing how proud you are of your kids' achievements, especially something as simple as walking. But I was one proud momma! :) She can take five or six steps at a time, and stand by herself. Such a big girl!

A couple weeks ago we travelled home to Gig Harbor to visit my family. It's so nice to go home, my parents are excited to get up with Payton, and Kyle and I are excited to sleep in a little bit :) We loved seeing everyone!

Can I go outside please?

Who's that pretty girl in the mirror?

Mom caught me about ready to lick the doggy bowl! Gross!

Grandpa reading me a bedtime story. This is what mommy calls my tired eyes.

Wrestling with daddy

Why hello there!

Going for a walk!

I LOVE to be outside! I'm not too sure about the grass though; usually I don't like touching it, so I just sit there "stuck" :)

Last weekend was a pretty productive one at home. Kyle and I went through Payton's closet and boxed up about half of it, stuff that is too small for her. She is now in 18-24 months clothes, and is about a size 5 shoe. Growing girl! We did some shopping, we went out and bought stuff for her first Easter basket. It's not technically her first Easter, but last year she was like a month old, so she wouldn't have been too excited about chasing Easter eggs :) We got her lots of little things, and I know she's going to love exploring her basket. Seems like one of her favorite things to do is take things out of bags, off shelves, out of cabinets, etc. Then she likes to try and put it back!

My little girl is talking (and walking!) up a storm these days. She has added "whoa" to her vocabulary, and is imitating a lot. I've heard her say things that sound like "fish", "up", "out", all sorts of words. We have a horse that she can ride, and when you press it's ear it nays and makes a galloping noise. The other day when it started naying, she would do it too! It was SO cute!



She loves stairs these days, they are her new obsession. She doesn't want to crawl, she wants to walk up and down, up and down the stairs. She could do it all day! She also LOVES to eat. Meal times are actually a little challenging for me, because she is pretty impatient and gets upset if I'm not giving her food fast enough. She sits in her highchair and yells at me! We've eliminated her morning bottle, instead we get her up and she gets breakfast first thing in the morning. She's still getting a bottle before bedtime though, that's our next step. One thing at a time! We try our best to make it a good transition for her.

Last weekend was also a first for me. Kyle and I went to prom! Well, kind of. We were chaperones! I never went to prom in high school, so it was a fun experience for me, and it was nice to do it with my hubby. Tanner and his girlfriend Brittney went, it was their last formal dance together. They looked great!



I made Kyle get a picture with me lol

We went to dinner beforehand with the other chaperones, four other couples. It was really fun, and it was nice to also incorporate that into a date night for Kyle and I. One of the other chaperones was the teacher that Kyle taught under at West Albany High School, and I really enjoyed hearing stories about Kyle teaching. Turns out he's pretty creative! The other week Kyle told me that he had detention the next day. When I looked at him funny, he said he lost a bet, so he had to serve detention. Turns out he bet a kid that if he got an A on his math test that Kyle would have to serve detention. If the kid got less than that, then he would get one. Apparently, that was just the kind of motivation that this kid needed, because he pulled out an A! Kyle kept his promise, and dutifully served detention. He said though that he didn't mind at all, because that meant that kid got an A, and tried hard to learn his math. He absolutely loves teaching so far :)

Payton started a new daycare last week called the North Albany Learning Center. She is in a class with seven other little girls, most of them right around her age. It's been going pretty well so far, although it's hard because Payton is at a tough stage right now. She's super aware of her surroundings, and she's right at the age for separation anxiety. She's also at the fun stage of throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way! I'm sure she will adjust, and they tell me she does just fine after I leave.

My first day at my new "school"

The video of her walking is a very large file, so I think I'm going to post this and then I'll post the video in a separate post...

Hope you all have a great week!

Coming soon!

We didn't have any internet this weekend (unfortunately I have no idea why either, I'm not nearly techical enough) so I wasn't able to blog. I have a big one coming soon for you guys, promise! :)

Bouncy girl!

Video of Payton bouncing around! :)

Spring has sprung

I absolutely love this time of year. The weather is finally starting to get a little nice (we can actually go outside!), and it's not dark when I leave work. Payton really loves to be outside, so it's been a lot of fun taking her on walks. I can't wait for the summer when she's walking around herself! I took her on a walk to a park by the house the other day, I thought she would love the swing and maybe even the slides. I think she was a little overwhelmed by it all, because she didn't have much of a reaction to anything, just kind of stared and looked around. Maybe next time!

Walking around on the patio

Don't I look like such a big girl?!

This weekend was my first weekend on call, and it's been going pretty well. Actually, call hasn't been bad for me. There's a running joke at work that I'm the "chosen one" because I rarely get called in when I'm on call. That's why I was kind of nervous for this weekend, because I figured I was due. Of course there's still the rest of the night (knock on wood), but I only had one call Friday night and two back to back Saturday morning. Cool with me!

Last week was Melina's first birthday, Payton's second cousin. Today we went to her birthday party at a bounce house in Corvallis! One of Payton's favorite games these days is getting to bounce on the bed, so we were hoping she would love it. She will climb up to the headboard and then fall backwards onto a mountain of pillows, then giggle and climb up again. We put her in one of the bouncy toys, and she immediately started to cry and wanted out. We thought oh no, this is going to be a long party, but... we took her over to an area where there were some toys and other things to play with, and after playing with those for a while she relaxed and was having fun. I think she was just a little overwhelmed at first. We took her back into the bounce house and she loved it!

This was not the reaction we were hoping for lol

I'm doing better mommy!

Going through the tunnel!

I swore my child would never go into a ball pit... oh well lol

Wheeee!

Hanging with daddy...

... and mommy! :)

Crazy to think they're already one!

Great uncle Tony, cousin AJ, cousin Melina, Great Grandma Sharan, Great Grandpa Ron, daddy, me and Grandpa Rick

Melina was such a cutie!

Melina and her mommy Mindy!

YUM! I think she had more fun playing with it than eating it!

Happy birthday to little Miss Melina! :)

Here's a couple more pics to get you through until my next blog...

I'm gonna get you!



I love playing with my feet!

So serious...

... seriously cute anyway! :)