Utah Trip-Ashley's Wedding

Finally got our Utah trip post up and running. Really should've gone with a slideshow, one day I'll figure it out.

April 30th our little family crowded into our van, bags packed and headed to the airport. The girls couldn't have been more thrilled. They love to fly and they love Utah, they love seeing family and friends and spending time with them. The girls walked through the airport chanting, "we're going to UTAH!", they squealed in delight as the plane took off and then screamed and ran to their grandma Harris' open arms for a big hug. McKenna immediately started asking for her Purple Easter dress, she couldn't get it on fast enough.

May 1st we were able to go to the Draper Temple with John's parent's, his brother Steven his wife Silvia and Ashley John's baby sister in preparation for her wedding the next day, May 2nd to Jordan Dziendiel. It was the perfect way to begin the wedding festivities! Ashley was beautiful and the couple looked extremely happy!

our attempt at Family pictures

The next morning the girls were thrilled to have new white dresses and to get their hair done so cute for the wedding. But nothing made them happier than when Ashley and Jordan stepped out of the temple, they went running, yelling, "Ashley, Ashlely" and then they proceeded to show her how pretty they were.

Silvia Thanks for taking our family pictures

Tate was cold & This is classic Trevor

Alex, Micah, McKenna, Nicholas & Tyler

It was fun to meet Jordan's familywho seemed really nice and fun to spend a day celebrating the happy event with those who could make it from the Payne Klan including the Chapmans and Jenny & Rebecca Willis who we hadn't seen in years. Everything was perfect that day. It started out quite rainy and blustery but miraculously there was a break in the weather as we stepped out of the temple that lasted just long enough to get pictures. The reception hall, decorations, cake everthing was PERFECT!

Audrey, Mom, Ashley, Jordan, Dad, Jenny, John

(Steven was there, but MIA-aka taking care of kids)

Sunday Steven & Silvia blessed Alex their little boy who was born a week before Tate. Afterwards we gathered at her parents home for a wonderful meal with lots and lots of meat. I believe we were told they were BBQing 50 pounds? Very tasty!

Alex & Tate-born a week apart

At the last minute we were able to put together and meet some friends at the Children's Museum on Monday. The swine flu panic worked in our favor as the place was unusually empty. The girls LOVED it and had a ball! Their favortie was the "store" & I think McKenna spent a total of 10 minutes outside of the "house" and that was to get stuff to restock the house with food. (Wonder where she learned that from?) They are still talking about this place.

Man those 5 days went by too quickly and we wished we had been able to see more people. It was fantastic to be able to see so many of our family members! Nothing like a wedding to bring us all together, or as many as possible and able. It was a great Family Reunion for us!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all Women everywhere! Married or single, young or old I think this day is for all women as we work, play, laugh and cry together as we age through the years and help one another through through the good times and bad.

Today in Sacrament meeting Bro. & Sis Stuard spoke. They are a wonderful couple who's spirits are as sweet, kind and as wise as they come. I have a very soft spot in my heart for them. Brother Stuard's talk especially touched my heart as he touched on the subject that Mother's Day isn't a happy day for all, whether it is a single sister, a married sister unable to have children, or a mother or grandmother who reflects or thinks about all the things they could or should've done while raising their children, or someone who has lost their mother etc...these are circumstances I think about every year during this holiday as we all know someone going through a experience. I was in and out of the talk due to busy children but he did have the Young Men & Women stand, and then the primary kids and then had us look around and how we all are there to help one another and the influence we have on these kids. I strongly believe that it takes a village to raise a child, because i KNOW that I can't and don't do it alone.

My mother's day was very nice. It began at the crack of dawn when Tate decided to wake up at a quarter to six. After he ate he sate and played and laughed and talked until Tyler woke up and John took the kids downstairs and allowed me to sleep in. That in and of itself made for a great day! John and the girls surprised me with breakfast in bed, pancakes, strawberried and cream and a Mother's day card from Tyler. The girls then proceeded to help me eat my breakfast and tell me why they loved me. McKenna told me that she loved me because I bought her toys and took her to the store. Tyler liked me to draw with her. It really was quite cute and sweet!

At church the "men" took over and the women were able to go to Sunday School and Relief Society. We were then treated to a fine buffet of treats in the gym while the father's kept the children occupied and we were able to visit with one another while we had desserts. So fun!

This evening after naps we called our Grandma's to wish them a Happy Mother's Day and talked to them about their days.

Throughout the day I found myself experiencing Motherhood at it's finest. There was the fight during sacrament meeting over my lap, crying for "mommy, mommy" all day, but also the need for extra hugs before bedtime, holding Tyler while she finished waking up from her nap, feeding Tate.

It really was a fabulous day! So thankful for the wonderful women in my life who helped me become the person I am, the person I'm becoming and the person I hope to be some day. Happy Mother's Day!

Here's a little history for you: "The modern Mother's Day holiday was created by Anna Jarvis, as a day to honor mothers and motherhood; especially within the context of families, and family relationships.[1] It is now celebrated on various days, in many parts of the world. Father's Day is a corresponding holiday honoring fathers.
The practice of celebrating Mother's Day is a relatively recent tradition, first established in the U.S.A. in the early 20th century. It should not be confused with other pagan and Christian traditions honoring mothers, or with the U.K. holiday, Mothering Sunday, which is also known as Mother's Day and dates back to the 16th century.
Many countries around the world now celebrate a "Mother's Day", generally this is a recent practice, derived from the U.S. tradition. Exceptions include, for example, Mothering Sunday in the UK, which predates the U.S. holiday"

Where do they come up with this stuff?

Last night I put the kids to bed by myself as John was at a meeting. After leaving the room McKenna called me back in, and when I went back in she pointed to her eyes and said, "my eye ball is broken." She then held up her hand to her ears and proceeded to tell me that her bones were speaking to her.

She was so serious, and concerned about it, I had a hard time not cracking a smile. I did successfully say good night without laughing, but it was too darn cute not to document.

Kids say the Darndest things!

Beginning Solids

Tate is 5 months old and I decided to finally start him on a lil cereal. We woke up and decided today was the day. Here's Tate's experience, how do you think he liked it?

Thinking we should've waited because his 1st poopy diaper is here and it's not smelling like roses anymore. :)

I know more information than I should probably be sharing.

Happy Easter!

My memories of Easter are usually full of sunshine, Talks in church on the resurrection, easter egg hunts and foot races. Two out of four isn't too shabby. It rained, poured and misted, as Victor would say, "water" all day. :) Good thing I mowed the lawn yesterday. After waking up with sick kids all night I woke up this morningfully intending on sending John and McKenna on a 2nd Daddy Daughter date to church. Thankfully I jumped in the shower before everything got going because as I was finishing dressing McKenna an hour before church was to start, Tyler miraculously sat up on the couch and practically demanded we go to church. What do you say to that? She wanted an easter dress on and her white shoes on and she wanted to go to church. Her fever had been at 104, and subsided to a nice calm 99 just long enough to get her dressed and into the car. Her fever was up and down all day, and I think she's come to the conclusion that being sick is not so bad. She'd be laying there in either John or my lap and would only have to command, "binki, water or blanket" and we'd do it for her. Plus she'd be sleeping in her shoes and dress tonight if I'd let her. She's pretty funny!

I noticed on the drive to church how empty the usually busy streets were and then realized that being Easter Sunday where everyone was, at church or a sunrise sermon in a stadium. Talking with John growing up the streets always used to be pretty empty on Sundays, but not anymore...

We stayed for Sacrament meeting and enjoyed the talks on Jesus Christ and the atonement and on the Living Christ, as well as the musical numbers that were performed. I just held Tyler the whole time, McKenna pretty much entertained herself and John held Tate, so we actually did get to enjoy Sacrament meeting.

This afternoon the Colin's who's family was also out of town joined us for a wonderful ham dinner complete with "funeral potatoes", rolls and of course Jello Jigglers in the shape of eggs of course. We then had a quick little Family Home Evening, and then a trip to visit the baby chicks while the Easter Bunny stopped by to hide some eggs and baskets. Couldn't believe 45 plastic eggs, 2 baskets, Peter Cottontail & a dvd all hidden in the family room space. That Bunny sure has talent!

Daddy Daughter Date

Saturday night was our ward Family Sock Hop. A few hours before the event Tyler suddenly developed a high fever and was out for the count. Thus McKenna was able to go on a Daddy Daughter date. I was surprised at how excited she was and that she understood. Daddy was then dubbed, "the prince" and couldn't get ready fast enough forher. We got the princess ready in her polka dot dress, white sweater, rolled socks and new white Tennis Shoes, she then went and found some fake white flowers for the prince to give her. She was really cute and from my understanding they had a great time at the dance-although apparently the princess ditched the prince during one of the dances to run around.
Awaiting her Prince

The glass slippers

Off to the ball

Hippity, Hoppity, Easter's On It's Way

Getting a family picture with everyone looking at the camera is impossible but we're all having a good time.

I finally dug our easter stuff out last Sunday no I think it was Saturday? I can't keep track, but the girls were thrilled to find their Easter Bunnies & Ears, Baskets and eggs. Who needs a bunny and candy with this kind of excitement around. Plus the sun was out and it was warm! Oh such a happy day!

Girls are doing their rooster impression-Cockadoodle-doo

Yep, McKenna is in her Swimsuit & Cover & sadley what you can't see is Tyler's fabulous 2-year old I dressed myself outfit.

In this order from bottom to top: Pants, shirt, swimsuit & cover and a sweater.

Couldn't talk her out of ANY of it or the order.

Tonight we did a little easter egg dying

Tate 4-Month Old Check-up

Today John and Tate went to see our good Dr Grubb. I struggle watching my children get shots and since John was off work this afternoon and I needed to go to Walmart to pick up diapers Tyler and I dropped the boys off and headed up for a quick visit. (McKenna was at school learning about bugs).

Here are his Stats:
Weight: 14 lbs 6 oz which is the 35%-I guess you are supposed to take off like half an ounce for the diaper.
Height: 27 inches long which puts him at like 105%
Head circumference: 15 in which I guess is really small because it put him in the negative percentile somewhere.

He's a Payne alright- he's growing the same as McKenna did, although I remember her being a lot chubbier by now, but same small head and long body.

Princess Married

Yesterday McKenna brought us her white dress and told us she wanted to be "married". We chuckled and John asked her who she was going to marry, to which she pointed to him and said you Daddy. He got a good little chuckle out of that and I thought it was really cute and quite endearing-what lil girl doesn't want to marry her dad? Right Amber?

Today she did it again-I've decided she thinks there is another princess called "mary or Married" who gets to wear a white dress. This pry stems from my bridal picture that hangs in my bedroom, she points at it occasionally and has for years and calls me a princess. Plus 2 of McKenna's aunts are getting married this summer and in explaining that they are getting married we have used the comparison of princes and princess and white dresses. It's amazing to watch the wheels of a little girl's(or boys) mind turn as they think and process what they are being told.

Again...

I'd just like to say that I've met my quota for sick days this year and I don't think a mother of 3 should EVER get sick. Kids just don't understand. They don't even think my sexy raspy, or rather "you sound awful" voice is cool. I used to get Tyler to fall asleep for naps while reading her but since this new voice has appeared I can't get her to settle down. Don't know what that says about my "normal" voice, but if it gets the kids to sleep I'll keep it.

Last night when I couldn't sleep I convinced myself I had pneumonia. I finally went to urgent care this morning and found out I'm just a baby with a really bad cold that should be gone in 7-10 days after it started. By then One of my kids will pry breakout with the chickenpox. Why they told me to take Claritin, an allergy medicine is beyond me. Our pediatrician called this evening and when John told him, he chuckled and said "Tell Melanie she can ignore that advice if she'd like."

I hate this time of year-cold & flu season!

Weekend Fun-Kids

It rained buckets all day Saturday which results in:
and then this:

Sopping wet clothes-we even ended up pouring about a cup of mud water out of Tyler's boots.
And this:

John told me Tyler took a couple of tumbles, one being a faceplant right into a HUGE puddle. Sadly I wished we'd gotten that on camera, only because she popped right up and kept on running around. That'a girl...

Our newest Piano/Singing Sensation

She's is sporting a beautiful North Richland High Track T-shirt (aka Tyler's craft apron). Apparently we need a lesson on Morality to go with some piano lessons.

Spring Break?

I've decided it's titled Spring Break to give the teachers and bus drivers a break from the kids. I mean for most they have our kids how many hours a day? This "break", and after only one day mind you has me fit to be tied. I went into this without a plan and it's been one of those days where the kids and I both needed some direction or at least some sun. Or maybe it's just in the air as Tate was struggling today as well-lots of holding, not so much eating or sleeping. Tomorrow is another day...

The thought comes to mind, Count your Blessings so here I go: I have children, there was a good 15 minutes when McKenna and Tyler actually played together without any screaming and a good husband who came home early without me asking him too. Plus I had a meal out that I just had to throw in the oven-Thank you 30 meals!

03-26-09

Yesterday it was actually warm, no sun, but warm and the streets were busy last night with activity as we all came out of our homes to enjoy the non-rainy weather. Our neighbor Freddie brought a lil chick over for the girls to see which was really fun.

John came home from a meeting last night and Tate was feeling a bit snuggly, I decided to snap a picture of them together

and then the smiles started coming out.

He's not Camera Shy.

I found I don't take nearly as many pictures as I used to since Tyler decided the camera and the computer are her new toys. Everytime she sees the camera she "needs" to take pictures and cries and begs for it. Yeah that was a bad thing to let her start, it only took once, ok maybe twice. Funny thing she's actually quite good with the camera, too bad she doesn't like the one they got for Christmas which is actually kid proof.

My time on the computer is limited to nap times and after the kids go to bed as Tyler has learned to use the mouse and loves to play and color on Fisher-price.com and Sesame Street and thinks if the computer is on its for her to "play" games. It's ok, I've been able to control my blog reading & writing addiction.

Monkey see, Monkey do-it's good for both of us to keep the computer off. :)

With my new found time, right...I found a recipe for Cheryl's Quick Bread Sticks. I don't know who Cheryl is but her Bread Sticks are YUMMY! and Easy!

1-1/2 c warm water mixed with 1 TBS yeast, 1 tsp salt and 2 Tbs Sugar.

After it gets bubbly stir in 3-1/2 to 4 cups flour. Mix Well & Knead.

Let Raise til double, Shape, rise again. Bake 400 degrees for 10-12 min.

McKenna

It's been a week since I sat down to post and thought I should jot down a thing or two about what's happened this week. Let's see...

Last Sunday after church we were all sitting around the kitchen table for lunch with our "long noodles" aka Ramen and McKenna started telling us the agenda for the afternoon, "Lunch, and then not a movie, first naps and stories then a movie, hot chocolate and popcorn." I don't know if she was reminding herself, but the interesting point being John always makes them popcorn for their snack while I'm usually napping on Sunday afternoons, it's one of his things, so she must have been looking forward to it. Not only that but she didn't put up any fights that afternoon-she went and got in bed and quietly waited for her story before naps, used the potty w/out a refusal, got ready for bed and brushed her teeth. It was an amazing transformation and appreciated change of pace.

Her behavior actually continued like that for a few days-and looking back I really think it has something to do with John being home last week. Last Thurs-Saturday he didn't work on the kitchen at all, spent all his free time with the girls playing and/or helping me clean the house. (Apparently I wasn't the only one who LOVED having the Daddy home.) I can see she really is trying harder to do what is right. She really tries to not scream (as often) when Tyler takes whatever toy she is playing with, she's been rather successful at not hitting when she gets frustrated, and has gotten quite good at expressing herself by folding her arms, putting on a rather stern face and saying, "I'm mad" (funny-I've been trying to do the same thing.) None of us are perfect-so I'll just focus on the positive :) and not the occassional bad day, at least not today.

Plus-I ran out of Pull-Ups for McKenna and has forced her to use her underwear. She's done really well with only a few incidents of not making it to the bathroom quick enough. Now if I could only figure out how to get through the night or teach her how to wake up to use the bathroom. Any suggestions?

Come and Gone

Almost a week has passed since my sister's came to visit. I had such a good time with them, just relishingin their company. Brooke and Shelly are just witty and funny, they always know how to make me smile. We started the weekend off with Sushi at a place called something like Ocean C-which is this sushi place where you sit and a conveyer belt goes by with different sushi dishes in it. The plates are color coded according to price. It wasn't the most expensive Sushi you could buy, but I haven't had Sushi in over a year and I loved every bite of it. We then did a little shopping and sight seeing (or rather people watching), Tate didn't go without his jabs-He just sat in his car seat staring, once or twice he make a lil noise to let me know he needed to get out of the car seat and S&B would just laugh asking, "is that his cry?" He really is a great kid.

Poor Brooke came down with a nasty cold right before they came and sadly we didn't help matters because she went home with walking pneumonia. :( But she didn't let it affect her attitude and she was in good spirits the whole time she was here. She did try and protect the girls, everytime McKenna would go sit by her or try to get too close Brooke would very politely I might add tell her to back up so she wouldn't get sick. Leslie pleasantly surprised me Saturday morning with the Movie "Twilight" and a bag FULL of treats. We tried to watch it Saturday night, but we're all getting older and well the girls-my sisters never made it to the end. I was surpised that John liked it so well. Wondered what he would think of it having not read it and hearing so much from me.

All to quickly the weekend was over and I was taking them back to the airport.

Birthday Wishes Come True!

The festivities don't really start until tomorrow/today/Friday, but today was my birthday. It has seriously been one of the BEST birthdays! John was soo sweet and took today and Friday off work to help with the girls and such. So after taking care of Tate I was able to climb back in bed for a lil more R&R. Then my favorite part began-just a lil after 8 am the phone calls, the birthday wishes, the personal singing of Happy Birthday. I love it all, talking and hearing from my family and friends. I guess it's a Love Language for me because it really does mean so much to me!

John also took the girls for a couple of hours so I could try and get some laundry and cleaning done around the house. I also took advantage of the time to finish the Gilmore Girls-started the series like 2 or 3 years ago and finally got the last dvd through netflix yesterday.

This evening I was able to escape and to go to the church for homemaking, "Becoming an 8 Cow Woman". It was a wonderful evening spent with friends with Chinese haystacks for dinner and then 3 wonderful classes: Holy Cow, Madd Cow, and Udderly Love. The women who taught the class are both wonderfully wise and insightful and I wish I could sum up the lessons as elloquently as they deserved to be. As they were wrapping things up I was surprised by all the sisters singing, "Happy Birthday." In years past I pry would have fallen to the floor, but in my wise old age I'm becoming a lil more graceful and appreciative of such gesters. Still not all that comfortable with that much attention and eyes on me, but alas it was really quite sweet of them.

Afterwards I came home with a few of the girls for ice cream and a little chatting (which lasted until just before midnight-haven't done that since pry before I was married). I was excited & surprised to find my kitchen very clean and a couple of birthday gifts (Wii & Wii FIT- WAHOO!!!!!) from John and the girls on the table.

It's been a wonderful birthday that gets to continue on tomorrow with the arrival of my sisters. So very excited to spend the weekend with them and so very thankful for such wonderful family and friends. Thank you for making me feel so very loved!

John's Thumb-update

The saga continues... Last December when they pulled the pin out of John's thumb they told him to protect it and sent him home. That night as he played with the girls (as all good fathers do) McKenna fell back and hit it and re-broke it.

The last couple of months he has basically been waiting and watching to see if things would improve on their own. He finally resolved that it was time for action and after seeing the Dr and getting an x-ray last week it was decided on a 2nd surgery.

X-ray taken 03-10-09

Monday he had the 2nd surgery where they placed a screw in his thumb. This a semi-permanent thing that will hopefully avoid another easy break and another surgery.

X-rays of the screw in his Thumb