Thanksgiving

Peyton and I started off Thanksgiving watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade while Kyle slept in a little. Peyton enjoyed seeing the Sesame Street float, the Abby Caddaby balloon, and the Mickey Mouse balloon (shocking, huh?). He was also excited to see Santa Clause come at the end of the parade. After the parade I made an apple pie and the death by chocolate to take to dinner later on.

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my family!

We went to my cousin Nadean's house for Thanksgiving dinner, as we do every year. Here is the annual picture of everyone before we started eating dinner.

Dinner was delicious. There were all of the usual suspects: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, my mom's cracker corn, green bean casserole, sausage and sauerkraut, and bread. Everyone ate until they were stuffed.

We took a little break before dessert to make some room in our stomachs for more food. Here's Jeremy and Jill relaxing.

And here is a picture of Pop-Pop and Peyton.

Peyton entertained us with some piano playing and singing before dessert. We heard such classics as "Sing" and "Jingle Bells."

Next, we ate dessert. There was lots to choose from including Death by Chocolate, apple pie, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, eclairs, 7-Up cake, peanut butter tandy cakes, and some cookies. Everything was so yummy!

After dessert, Peyton played with this bank for a really long time. He'd put all of the coins in, then Nadean would get them back out for him and then he would do it all over again. He doesn't need toys for Christmas, just a bank and 5 pennies. That would make him happy.

Austin is always nice and lets Peyton play with his old toys. Last night they played with this pirate ship. Peyton liked that too.

We headed home around 7:30, just in time for bedtime. Happy Thanksgiving!

Giving Thanks

For Thanksgiving, I thought I'd make a list of things that I'm thankful for, so here goes!

I'm thankful for:

• My very cute, very smart, very loving son, Peyton
• My wonderful and supportive husband, Kyle
• My awesome parents
• My super cool brother, Jeremy and his beautiful girlfriend, Jill
• All of my other family and Kyle's family, especially my sisters-in-law
• Our house
• Our health
• Peyton's daycare teachers
• My friends

I'm a lucky girl!

Surprise Party

Saturday morning we went to the Maryland game. They were playing Virginia Tech and there were so many Hokie fans there that it was more like a Tech home game than a Maryland one. Maryland sucked as usual and got blown out. Needless to say, it was not a fun afternoon.

In the evening, we went to a surprise 70th birthday party for my cousin's mother, Miss Sis. It was in the banquet room of OPI. Here's a picture of Miss Sis when she arrived. She was definitely surprised!

Peyton had a great time at the party. He mingled with everyone. Here he is with Kim and Dougie. As you can see, he has a cracker in his hand. He ate pretty much constantly all night.

This is actually a good picture of Kyle and I.

The party started with hors d'oeuvres of cheese, crackers, and vegetables with dip. Dinner consisted of turkey, london broil, green beans, roasted potatoes, and bread. Peyton ate like a champ. After dinner, Dougie helped Peyton send his very first text message.

Next it was time to sing Happy Birthday. Peyton, of course, sang along too. After we were finished singing, he knew it was time to eat birthday cake. Peyton loves birthdays.

As a party game, each person got a raffle ticket. The kids' tickets were entered into one drawing and the adults' tickets were entered into another drawing. Peyton won the first kids' drawing! He got a gift card and lots of Ghirardelli chocolate (which I will gladly help him eat!) I think the contest was rigged though, because Peyton is the one that chose the winning ticket. What a smart kid, picking his own ticket! Haha.

After dinner, it was time for dancing. Peyton is a DANCE MACHINE! He danced with everyone. I don't think he sat down at all, except to eat some cake in between dances. He needed to get a little more energy from all of the sugar in the icing so that he could get back out on the dance floor.

Here is Peyton and I doing the Electric Slide together.

Then we slow danced together.

And he danced with Grandmom,

and Nadean and Vester,

and Aunt Bev.

Peyton danced to Cotton Eye Joe, he danced to Friends in Low Places, and he danced to everything in between. At one point, he got a little angry at the number of slow songs and said, "New song." That was pretty funny. Everyone at the party got a kick out of Peyton. The party started at 7:00 and we didn't leave until after 10:00. Peyton wasn't tired at all, but he was wheezing from all of that dancing, so we had to get him home to give him a treatment.

I can't wait until there is another party or wedding so that Peyton can show off his dance moves again. He is a party animal! We had a really good time at the party.

Peyton-isms

Peyton has been saying some cute things lately. I just wanted to document them here, mostly for myself so that I don't forget. He's so darn cute (most of the time)!


1. Peyton has been saying this one for a while now, but whenever he accomplishes anything, he loves to yell, "I did it!" He is just so proud of himself. I don't exactly know where he got this from though.


2. When it is almost time to do something (like go to bed), I will tell Peyton that he has "5 minutes" and then "3 minutes" and finally "1 minute." While I know that he doesn't understand the concept of time, he gets the countdown idea and realizes that when we get to 1 minute, time is just about up. Lately, Peyton will tell me "5 minutes!" For example, on Sunday when he was finished eating his lunch, I told him it was time for a nap, and he said, "No, play. 5 minutes!" So funny.


3. Peyton also says "Yes" now, instead of "Yeah." He sounds so much more grown up. He learned this from his daycare teacher who, every time he'd answer "Yeah" to a question, would correct him with, "Yes, please." I guess he does listen sometimes.


4. At just about every meal, Peyton will state, "I'm making a mess." And it's true.


5. When someone leaves the room, Peyton always asks, "Where'd (blank) go?" That's his nosy side (which he gets from me!) coming out.

Relaxing Weekend

This weekend was the first in three that we didn't have to travel out of town, which was a relief. However, we did end up going to Virginia to visit with Kate, Dave, and Noah. We headed down there after Peyton woke up from his nap Saturday afternoon. We planned to get together to exchange pictures of the kids and to pick up our cousin group photo. But, JCPenney and/or FedEx was dumb and the pictures had not arrived to Kate yet. Noah was a little cranky because he was cutting his second tooth, so he didn't want anyone but Kate and Dave to hold him. He also had to take a nap, so we didn't get to spend too much time with him. For the little bit that he was awake and happy, Peyton played with him on the floor. He did peek-a-boo with Noah and helped him play with his toys. Each time Noah cried, Peyton gave hims hugs, kisses, and patted his back. So cute! Kate made us a taco dinner, which was yummy. We hung out a little more after we ate, but it was getting late and we had to get Peyton to bed, so we left for home a little before 7:00. (I have no pictures because we forgot the camera.)

Sunday morning, I woke up and tried to take a shower but the water was freezing. I checked all of the sinks in the house, and no water would come out hot anywhere. I figured something must be wrong with the hot water heater. Kyle and I took a look at it, but we didn't really know what we were looking for, so we ended up calling my dad. He and my mom came over around 11:00. My dad checked out the water heater, and realized that the pilot light would not light (or something). I don't know what he did, but he eventually got it working again. Thank goodness! My mom and dad played with Peyton for a little while after that, and then they left so that Peyton could eat lunch and take a nap.

The rest of the day we just relaxed and watched football. It was so nice to just hang out for once. Next weekend we're back to the craziness with a Terps game Saturday afternoon and a get-together Saturday evening.

Halloween

We carved our pumpkins for Halloween on Thursday evening. Peyton posed for a few pictures before we started the carving.

Peyton wasn't too interested in helping me with pumpkins. He sat near me for a minute, but left before I even finished cutting the top of the first pumpkin off. I offered to let him help me scoop the insides out, but he just wanted to play, so I did it myself.

I carved both pumpkins, but Kyle drew the face on one of them and I cut it out for him. We're not incredibly creative, but here are our pumpkins all lit up.

Peyton was Elmo for Halloween. We just couldn't get a picture where you could see the eyes and nose on his head. But, isn't he cute anyway?!

Halloween morning we went to Disney on Ice and then we went to my parents' house so that everyone could see Peyton in his costume. Laila (their dog) was a little confused as to what the furry red thing was. Next, we stopped by Kim, Bo, and Dougie's house. Peyton was being super shy and clinging to Kyle. We're not really sure what was up with that, but eventually Peyton warmed up. They gave Peyton some Halloween goodies including some silly socks, a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Halloween book, a rubber duckie dressed up like a pumpkin, and some treats. Dougie and Peyton played with some Thomas trains for a little while, but we had more stops to make, so we had to leave. We headed to Nadean, Vester, and Austin's house next. Peyton acted the same way that he did at Kim's house, but again eventually warmed up. They gave Peyton some treats, bubbles, a slinky, and the same book that Kim did. We went to Aunt Bev's house last. She also gave Peyton lots of treats. He'll be eating well for a while with all the cookies and crackers he got. Kyle and I will take care of the candy ;)

We didn't get home until almost 6:00. We quickly ate dinner and then I took Peyton trick-or-treating around our neighborhood, while Kyle stayed home to hand out candy. Peyton and I went to about 10 houses. He knocked on each door and said "Trick-or-treat!" Often, the people would just let him pick out which candy he wanted. He doesn't know the difference between one candy and the next (except for M&Ms) so he would just grab whatever. A few times, he'd take a piece and then reach back in for more. I always said, "No Peyton!" but the neighbors were cool and told him to take as much as he wanted. So, he got a decent amount of goodies. After each house, Peyton would say, "One more!" I was thankful that the rain held off and that it was warm. We went out around 7:00 and it was still almost 70 degrees. I felt bad for Peyton; he was sweating in his costume.

Peyton enjoyed answering the door when the doorbell rang. He always said, "Bye everybody!" as the kids walked away from the house. We got trick-or-treaters until about 8:00 when we put Peyton to bed. It was a fun Halloween!

Disney on Ice

As part of his birthday present, Kyle and I gave Peyton tickets to see Disney on Ice because he is so in love with Mickey Mouse and friends right now. The theme of the show was "Disney Celebrations." The show started at 11, and we arrived a little early. Here's Peyton anxiously awaiting the start of the show.

The first number of the show was Lumiere singing "Be Our Guest" and lots of characters came out and skated.

Next, the gang from Alice in Wonderland threw an Unbirthday party. After that, it was Halloween with Mickey as the sorcerer. There was a number to the song "This is Halloween" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas". It featured the villians - Jafar from "Aladdin," the witch from "Sleeping Beauty," the witch from "Snow White," and Cruella Deville from "101 Dalmations."

Next, it was Valentine's Day featuring Minnie, the Fairy Godmother from "Cinderella" and the princesses and their princes - Jasmine and Aladdin, Belle and the Beast, Ariel and Prince Eric, Mulan and her man and Cinderella and her prince. At intermission, Peyton said "More!" After intermission, Mickey and Minnie went on vacation, going to Carnival in Rio, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Hawaii (with Lilo and Stitch) and China (with Mulan).

Peyton was sort of bored with the show when Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy weren't out there because he doesn't know any of the other Disney characters yet. But, I think he still liked the show overall.

After the show, we headed over to my parents' house for lunch and to lay Peyton down for a nap. When he woke up, my parents gave Peyton his Halloween gifts. Peyton scored a new table and chairs to keep at their house, some magnetic numbers and letters, and a Halloween book. Jeremy and Jill gave him some coloring books and crayons. Next, we gave Jeremy and Jill their birthday gifts. Jeremy turned 21 on the 26th and Jill will be 21 on November 4. Happy birthday guys!

I'll write about the rest of our Halloween festivities in another post, so stay tuned.