Long time no blog!

Christmas season is upon us! Somehow, it doesn't seem possible. Wasn't it just Halloween?! That must be why this is my first blog this month (sorry y'all). I blinked and the month of November flew by! Our busy household got kicked up a notch this month. Kyle officially started his head coach position coaching freshman girls basketball, and was busy with tryouts and now practices. Not to mention school conferences, sports nights, working football playoff games... plus trying to squeeze a little family time in there! He's been a busy little bee, but he's very good at balancing everything on his plate. He doesn't even do schoolwork or grading while Payton's awake, because that's his family time. He waits until she goes to bed to get to work, which creates some late nights for him; but he doesn't complain, and I'm so glad he makes spending time with Payton such a priority. His b-ball season is going well so far, their first game is tomorrow and they've been practicing every day getting ready. I'll be sure to get some pictures of Kyle coaching this year!

I'm sure the one you really want to hear about is Payton! She has a little bit of a cold right now, just the stuff that's going around at daycare. A runny nose with a little bit of a cough, but we started to run a humidifier in her room at night and that helped tremendously with the coughing. She is SUPER independent right now, I feel like every other sentence out of her mouth is "I do it!" or my favorite one, "that's my job!" She can now climb into her booster chair by herself, climb into the car and her carseat by herself, wash her hands by herself, put on her coat and shoes by herself, for the most part get dressed by herself... she's doing a lot for herself! Sometimes it's frustrating for me because it would be so much faster if I could just do it, but I know it's important to build her confidence in her skills, so I just sit back and try to be patient. She's even trying to read by herself, and Kyle and I were both surprised at how many of her books she could recite back to us. Usually when one of us has finished reading a story she'll say "now I do it" and take the book so she can try to read it to us. It's really cute! Potty training is going ok, if peeing was all she needed to do she would be potty trained by now. Because of constipation issues in the past, she's still terrified of pooping on the toilet. I think we're starting to make progress though; she has pooped on the potty several times in the last week or two! That's a big deal around here! I'm hoping she realizes it's not as scary as she thought so we can really up the potty training effort. She turns 3 in less than three months, and it would be amazing to have her potty trained by then! Payton is also a big imitator these days. I'll never forget the moment I was using the bathroom and she came around the corner, started clapping and said "good job mom! I so proud of you!" She asks us a lot if we're ok, and then she'll say "you're ok, Payton's got you". It's so cute! She's a really good mommy with her babies as well, she gives them lots of hugs and kisses. She's going to be a great big sister someday! Lots of happenings in the month of November, I'll try to cover a few of them thru pictures...

I helped celebrate Aunt Brittney and Uncle Tanner's birthdays!

Watching the Duck game with Uncle Bryan was serious business

I don't even have a caption worthy of this picture :)

Halfway through the month Payton and I travelled to Gig Harbor to visit one of my mom's dearest friends, a woman near and dear to our whole family, Jo. She had been battling cancer since the spring and I didn't want to miss the chance to see her and spend some time with her. She really wanted to see Payton too, she had never met her. I am extremely thankful I went, because Jo passed away one week later. It meant so much to me that I could see her one more time and say goodbye... she was an amazing woman, there was no one like her. She will be greatly missed!

Hanging with Grandma Jo!

And Papa Scott!

And..... Uncle Richard!

Aaaaaaaaaand...... Aunt Chelsea! Can't you tell I'm getting better at posing for pictures? :)

I don't have any pictures from Thanksgiving unfortunately, but we had a very nice and quiet one at Kyle's Aunt Pam's house. Good family, good football, and waaaaaaay too much good food. Payton even took a nap there so Kyle and I got to stay all day! 

This last weekend I was on call part of the weekend, so we kept it low key and spent our time decorating the house for Christmas and Kyle put up all of our Christmas lights (which are a LOT!) I will post pictures of those soon, plus the tree we have yet to get. Hopefully that will go up by this weekend! Payton is super excited about Christmas, and she really loves all the lights. Whenever we drive home in the dark she will point at the lights and yell "Look mom! It's Christmas! I see it!" :)

Kyle and I are getting Payton a "big girl" bed for Christmas. She has always slept so well in her crib that we figured "if it ain't broke don't fix it", but... we know it's time. I'm really hoping the transition goes well, and I actually think she's really going to love it. Her bed has shipped, so now we're just waiting for it! 

Hope you are all enjoying the holiday season... I just love this time of year! The decorations, the lights, the music, the movies, the treats, the list goes on and on. I have 5 days off at Christmas time this year, so I'm really excited to just relax with family and enjoy everyone's company. I can't wait! Blog again soon!