FIRE!

The other day Payton kept saying "ah pck" and I had no idea what he was saying. He kept handing us this green bucket and wanted it around his neck so it would hang down in the back. I didn't get it. After he kept doing this a million times, it finally dawned on me that he was saying "air pack". Duh! I should have known it had something to do with firefighting. So he wanted it to be an airpack! So we rigged up something alittle better for him! He also uses this mop that he has as a hose. He calls it a "ho!" Check him out in action!

Thanksgiving is almost here

I know this is an awful picture of me, but I had to show you that we survived our Friday!! After a bumped head, a knocked over and shattered lamp and 2 cuts on Paytons fingers it ended up being a good day. My mom talked me out of my stress and we had a great weekend. Thanks to Nonny and PopArt Josh and I had a date night! I got to sleep in and my boys made me breakfast in bed on Sunday! How lucky am I!? We got lots of cleaning and laundry done and Thanksgiving is in sight:) I have so much to be thankful this year, as always. I can't wait for family and food! This is one of my most favorite holidays! Yay for a 3 day week and a 5 day weekend for us!

OH Friday

Here's how I woke up today. Josh gave me a kiss and left for work as he always does. A couple minutes later I hear the keys in the door and Josh walk back in. Only to speak the words..."The tire is completely flat." Thank you Friday. The tire had been low in air earlier this week. Josh filled it with air and it seemed fine. I drove to and from work last night without any problem. I even checked to make sure it didn't look low. We just had to get a new back tire a couple weeks ago and it looks like our Christmas shopping will be put off until the next pay day and a new front tire is in store. Yippee. I've had a terrible back ache this week and I've been stressing about a lot of stuff, some necessary, some unnecessary. When I get stressed my mom always tells me to get a plan and work everything out. But, I'm having a problem getting a plan, I don't know why? Usually after I hear those words I get right to it. Maybe it's cuz she hasn't said that to me yet...Mom? Where are you? Maybe my overwhelming email of complaints wore her out?! Doubtful. Anyways...I'm thinking of taking the day off today.....(can stay at home moms can say that?) My house is a mess, I have no idea what we're going to have for dinner or lunch for that matter, there's tons of laundry and other stuff to get done. But today Little Ryan is coming over to play...and I think I'll spend my day playing with him and Payton. Maybe making some play doh, watching movies, playing trains and of course supporting our "all things firefighter" obsession! So I've decided, flat tire or not, it's going to be a good day. I hope you decide that too!

Thanksgiving Art

Here are some things that we've been doing to get in the Thanksgiving mood around here! P.S. I'm dying to put up my Christmas decorations and tree, but I'll wait till Thanksgiving day....I guess! We made Native American headdresses and talked about Native Americans and Thanksgiving! I made Payton color, name and shape matching cards out of cardboard and bottle caps. He is so good at them. He did the color one perfect immediately! I got this idea off of a different blog! Love it!

Shape matching!

My favorite Thanksgiving project...the poem is adorable!

Here is Paytons winter tree with the snow made out of sugar!

Champaign

This past weekend we went with some friends (Rachel & JJ) to visit some other friends (Ian & Mel) in Champaign, IL! We had a great time. Ian and Melanie just bought and fixed up a house and they also just got a golden retriever puppy, Josie, who is aboslutely adorable. They also have a cat named Nuggle, who Payton called "meow" the entire weekend! It was funny! He would say "here meow" "where meow?!" haha, just like when they're playing that 'who can say meow most game' on Super Troopers! We got there on Saturday, had lunch at a little cafe, went to a winery and for dinner went to a place called Jupiters 2 which had awesome pizza and tons of stuff for little man to do! We had a blast! I had never been to a winery before but Ian insisted that it was ok for us to bring Payton. (It was absolutely fine) I expected a big building filled with alcohol samples(obviously not a place for kids), not what it was at all. It was a pretty log cabinish looking home. They had art and jewelry inside and things for sale. It was decorated really pretty. You could try 4 or 5 kinds of wine and of course you could buy some too. The pizza place was great. Payton had a blast! They had a mini bowling alley. It had little balls and the lanes were shorter! This was Paytons favorite thing to do. They also had other games like you'd see at Chuck E. Cheese. Sunday we of course watched the Packer game and then headed home. Check out the pictures below! Daddy and Payton bowling! Bowling!

Strike!?

Eating pizza with Daddy and Ian!

Playing cars with Josie!

Payton also trick or treated at Ian and Mels:)

Fireman

Love the new picture? I do! We just got our engagement pictures back! They are awesome! We were so satisfied! And I've been getting lots of comments on them, especially people telling us how nicely Payton did posing for them! The photographers daughter, who was about 6 maybe, was standing by her and Janelle (the photographer) kept telling her to do funny things, so she was acting all cute and had Paytons attention! So thank you Jennifer...I think that was her daughters name! But now we have a super nice picture for our Christmas card and some really nice ones of Josh and me! I can't wait to take them to Walmart and blow them up and get them in frames! We took Payton back to the doctor on Monday. He ended up having a sinus infection and is now on antibiotics! Thank God. The poor child was miserable. Last week was really rough for the 3 of us. Especially Payton. He also has to continue with his nebulizer treatments. He thinks the nebulizer mask is a firefighters mask. He likes to wear it even when he's not getting a treatment. Below is a picture of him riding his 4wheeler with his fire hat on and his mask on! He also uses our old hose from the nebulizer as a fire hose! It's such a riot! He's so into the fire thing! He knows everything about it. The sound of the sirens to the damn smoke detectors in our house! This years birthday theme is going to be all things FIREFIGHTER! Bubba has already reserved the UG Fire Department again for his birthday party! (I know it's not until January but I'm a planner!) ONLY 41 SHOPPING DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS! Can you believe it?! I can't, but the entire holiday season, from about now until after Paytons birthday is my absolute favorite time of year!!! Well, except for the snow, I could do without that! Anyways, have a great weekend! We're going to Illinois to visit some of our friends! They just got a new golden retriever puppy so Payton is sure to have a blast!Our fireman!

Here is the rice tray we made. We colored the rice and Payton can pour and scoop and play. It's fun! He really concentrates on it!

Leaves

Fire hat in the bathtub!!!! (he was not thrilled about getting his picture taken though)

Payton and Eric's feet and hand print turkeys! (aren't they so cute? we traced both of their feet and then they colored them in brown, then I cut them out. We traced hands on colored paper and I cut those out. The boys assembled them and added a face! We attached a toilet paper tube to the back so they stand up!) Paytons is our centerpiece along with our fall fake leaves and a fall smelling candle!

It was 73 degrees here the other day! So we played in the leaves all evening!

Payton and I walking in the leaves! Laying in the leaves saying CHEESE! Playing with daddy in the leaves! Raking

Running

We took Payton into the doctor today because he's had a cold for a couple days. I wasn't too concerned about that, however he started wheezing today. So in we went. He's back on his nebulizer albuterol treatments every 4-6 hours until it stops. They're pretty sure that he has or is going to have asthma. It may only flare up when he is sick, which is what is happening now. The doctor didn't hear anything else like pneumonia or bronchitis so that was good. We have to call again on Friday to make sure everything is going in the right direction. Poor baby. He gets really naughty when he's sick. Obviously you're much more irritable and crabby than when you are healthy, that goes for everyone. So these past couple days haven't been so fun! Well, hopefully we're going to get some sleep tonight! *I apologize for the spelling errors!

VOTE

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!

Blurry

Most of our Halloween trick-or-treat pictures are blurry:( I don't know why either. I had to post them anyways! Candy! Cookie Monster!

Payton and his cousin Ryan trick-or-treating!

Trick-or-treat!

:)

Payton and Eric pre trick-or-treating pictures. Eric had a scary mask to go with his ripped up costume, but Payton was scared of it, so he took it off!

I couldn't get him to look at the camera and smile!

Paytons finished cupcakes!

Decorating!

Sprinkle face!!

Frosting!

More frosting!

mmm cupcakes!