Like a hole in the head...

Sunday, March 30, 2008

I know, I know, I need more fabric like I need a hole in the head but I could not resist. (Also I'd like to clarify that the fabric that I do have is all flannel & the fabric I got was cotton & is more quilter friendly) I was surfing around on Craigslist, don't even know what for & I came across this ad for a garage sale where there was a ton of fabric & other sewing/quilting supplies. I was so excited! I told Donald about it & that's when he said "Sweetie I don't care how much fabric you get as long as it's cheap." Yes those sounded like marching orders to me too. Without defining 'cheap' I made arrangements for Payton to be with my mom & I was off.

This house had tables lining the walls of 2 rooms with a table or two in the middle & boxes underneath all of them. All of the tables had at least a foot of fabric on them in several stacks. I started out laying my finds it over my arm. Then a lady (probably seeing that I was just beginning & maybe starting to break a sweat) offered me a box. Right then & there I said to myself, "I will stop when I have filled this box". And I did just that. 70 different patterns of fabric & $45 later I was done. None of these were less than 1 yard & at least 10 are longer than 5 yards & one that is close to 8 yards. The stack on the left are all Christmas patterns. I found so many cute fabrics. I pulled them out & re-folded (this was the second time, the first was at the garage sale because I had filled the box but wasn't done yet & knew I could fit more. ;) & found myself getting excited all over again. I have promised myself that I am not going to begin anything new until I finish 2 other projects. So once that is done I think I'm going to do a patriotic themed one next. Now I just need to find a place to put all of my new treasures!
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Easter Egg hunting can be painful!

Friday, March 28, 2008

Easter Egg hunting can be painful for dad's. Payton found the last egg of the day.Donald was so good to give her a boost. I was glad that he put her on his shoulders & not just lift her up there... for some reason that always makes me nervous when I see that.
Just in case you can't see what's going on in the picture above, here is it zoomed in below.
Donald can't help it that he has such a prominent brow that is perfect for holding onto. The only down side to the spot is the eye!
Look at that face, not Donald's, Payton's. Such accomplishment! I didn't even notice that Payton was 'trying' to gouge out his eye until I edited the picture. What a good father!
There will be more Easter pictures to come. But as you can tell, Payton really got into it this year!

Melissa & Tyler were in town last week & while they were here we went to the arboretum on the free day. It seems like every time we go she spends less & less time at our 'usual' spots. I translate that as her being bored with it. So we did not renew our membership & we just go on the free days.

We found this fountain that grabbed her attention for quite a while. Yeah there was never any doubt she wouldn't enjoy herself.This is just another sign that she is ready for summer & a lot more water fun!

Ryan joined in on the fun.
I love the expression on Ryan's face in this one below.
Isn't it great that they can have so much fun together! All it takes is water to create such happiness in these two!
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Happy Anniversary... & Patty's Day

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

For our anniversary we went out to Chili's. I have to say that Payton is so much fun at restaurants. She is very well behaved & loves to perform. So what better audience than one that is held hostage at their table by their food!

Yeah you have be careful what you asked for.

"Payton where does the food go?"
"Payton did you take to big of a bite?"
"Daddy play cards with me."
"I Love You Daddy!"
To finish off the day we bought Coldstones & took it over to my parents & shared with everyone.

For our anniversary we weren't suppose to buy anything but Donald came home from Costco with a fishing rod for himself. I guess my gift to myself was fabric so it all worked out. 7 years have gone by semi-fast... Slow at times (while Donald was in Iraq) & fast at times (especially since Payton has joined our family). So here's to many more years!

I'm trying to catch up...

I do really well for a little while but then I fall off the wagon. Payton has noticed that Donald has been gone more lately. Donald took 22 units at school last semester & will take 20 this semester, yes I do think that he is crazy sometimes too. So whenever Dad gets home Payton uses him as a jungle gym.
Donald will be graduating this August with a Bachelors from Cal State LA... I'm a bad wife... I don't remember what he will be double Majoring in... one is Finance & the other I think is Computer Science?

I should be posting a bunch of stuff in the next few days. Google video uploader is FINALLY working again on my computer so I'll cross my fingers that the video's finish uploading otherwise I will post without them... it's just that the videos are so cute!
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First of the season, & I'm sure it won't be the last...

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Last week we had some really warm weather so Payton wore shorts for the first time. She wasn't even outside 10 minutes before this happened.She went down & paused then got up & went back to what she was doing. There was no reaction at all! So I didn't think that she hurt herself but I still picked her up & brought her in. She didn't start crying until we cleaned it & had a major cow when we put the bandaid on.
Grandma offered her ice cream & all was better in the world of Payton.
Hey guys this is cold!
Where does the ice cream go? In the mouth
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I've got the bug...

Friday, March 14, 2008

As some of you may know I've caught the bug... the quilting bug. I lurk on several sites & I found a quilt give away that is awesome. So go check it out. Leave a comment on Old Red Barn by Wednesday the 19th & you may just win! Good luck & if you win & you live close I'd love to see it up close!!!

Looks can be deceiving...

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Can you tell if this is a picture of a happy girl? If you guessed yes, you would be wrong. She was throwing a major tantrum in this picture. Her tantrums are now including yelling, Oh Joy! Even with all of the tantrums she is throwing she really has a sweet side to her. If I'm sitting on the floor or on the couch she will come up to me & give me a big hug! The cutest thing is when she is sitting on my lap at the computer & she will reach her arm over my shoulder & pat me on the back to get my attention. There are easier places to pat to get my attention but that is her place of choice right now. She is not satisfied until I look at her, if I don't she leans in my line of sight & looks me in the eye. If I continue to ignore her, while still patting me on the back, with the other hand she puts it on my check & turns my head. She will then tell me in the pure Adamic Language that I do not yet understand, to restart whatever video we are watching, her favorites are of family, Ryan & Casey, Mia & Josh & her other cousin Ryan. You guys are her favorite movie stars!
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She must get it from Donald...

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

She got a card from Grandma & Grandpa Church that she LOVES. I don't know if it's the fact that there is a kitty on it or if it's the sparkles but she carries it around with her. Donald is the same way with cards. He keeps them & will put them up & leave them up until I take them down. He has every single card that he has ever gotten. I have kept cards too, but just not like he does. I have kept the birthday cards that I've received from Grandmother Grant (I think that I'm only missing a few birthdays) & Anniversary cards from Donald. And this smile... I don't know what that is all about. I'm debating whether it is even cute or not!?!?! I had to share it because this is what she does if we ask her to say cheese. So instead of telling her to 'say cheese' when we take her picture, we say 'show us your teeth' & it comes out much better. Donald makes this face sometimes too but it is only to mock me, in a loving way of coarse. I don't think Payton is mocking me in the picture, she's just trying to make a funny face.
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I just might finish...

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

For Enrichment tonight we are having a service auction & I signed up to donate something. So I decided to do a lap quilt & there's nothing like a deadline to get you moving. It only took 1 day to piece together the top quilt (not counting the butterflies). The butterflies took an afternoon & it was my first try at it & I impressed myself! That was probably the most exciting part of the whole thing, how well it turned out.
So last night after battling Payton to go to bed I started quilting. I originally wanted to try free-motion quilting but after practicing for 2 hours & have my thread break a million times & Payton not giving in until 9:00pm I came up with this alternative.
Wavy lines! Yes I know it's a difficult concept to come up with but I'm glad that Payton decided to be extra difficult so that I would have a lot of time to think about what I wanted to do.
The back is a little different & doesn't match exactly but I loved it so much that I had to use it.
All I have left is to bind it (put the finishing edge on it) & wash it. Since I'm out of quarters I'll be putting Payton to bed at my mom's & finish it there. I love this so much that if I hadn't signed up to donate something I'd keep it. So I'll be doing another one to keep. I'm glad to be getting some practice in & for my second quilt I think I'm off to a good start!

After her hair cut we headed over to the mall for dinner & little play time before bedtime. Payton always grabs onto Donald's ears while on his shoulders. She also likes to stick her fingers in his ear plugging it. We were talking & all of a sudden he started laughing because he couldn't hear what I was saying. Payton had plugged his ears.
Payton becomes a crazy women at the mall play land. She runs around trying to get as much play time in on all of the different things they have there.
She loves the slide. And yes I do keep her shoes on... last time someone with shoes on stepped on her foot & she got pretty upset about it. This time there were a lot of big kids in there running around & since I didn't want to try to convince her to leave I just left them on.

Payton in the last 2 times has been able to conquer the turtle.
My scare of the night didn't have anything to do with the big kids rough-housing around all the little kids that were there. Last time that we were here she figured out how to climb in. The first time that she tried to climb in she slipped & all I saw were her feet. Her feet were sticking up on the bench she sitting on, soles up, & her body was bent backwards with her face smashed up against the corner. She belly flopped & got stuck midway. I raced over & picked her up, she was only that way for 2 or 3 seconds, so she wasn't fazed. It was hard getting her out of that position & I couldn't believe she wasn't hurt or at least freaked out by it. She did avoid that toy until the very end but I could tell that she was being more careful that time.

Hair Cut #3

On Saturday we took Payton to get a hair cut at Little Kuts off of Lake. They did a great job! Payton was able to watch Nemo which gave enough of a distraction to get the job done.
Donald came too, that's why I am in these pictures & why pictures were able to be take in the first place.
Payton's favorite part was looking in the mirror.
She was being too wiggly to sit on the animals but afterwards she took advantage of the free space & took a quick ride.
I'm going to be sad to have her hair grow out & those precious curls be gone. That won't be for a little while though.
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Payton's Dr.'s Appointment...

Monday, March 10, 2008

Payton had her cardiologist appointment today & she was so good! She did not like it when they were doing the EKG (stickers with 12 or so cables attached to it, yeah I'd be scared too). Once she recovered from that Dr. Burke (the best Dr. Payton or I have ever had) came in. Usually Payton starts crying as soon as he comes in. He is so good with her... when he came in he sat across the room while we chatted then moved closer. Remembering that she hates the stethoscope he first 'listened' to her toes & her knees & my hand, then as he moved to listen to her heart she tensed up but stayed silent & STILL!!! She allowed him to listen in several different spots & tolerated it very well.

The worst part of the appointment for Payton hadn't happened yet so at this point I was pleasantly surprised but still was expecting a battle. Dr. Burke had me hold Payton & let us (Dr. Burke included) watch Elmo's World for a few minutes before beginning the echo-cardiogram, basically an ultrasound, gel & all. While watching Elmo's World Dr. Burke gave her a cookie... not just one but one for each hand. Payton squirmed & fussed for the first little bit but then I was able to distract her with pictures on my camera & Elmo's World. So with a cookie in each hand (which was ingenious because she wouldn't let go of either cookie to pull his hand away... did I mention genius!) she let him move it around with very few complaints & he was able to get a good enough look to clear us for another 4 MONTHS!!!

Results.... She is doing great. She still has some collaterals (passageways that the body creates for blood to deal with high pressures) but they seem to be working in her favor & not hindering her, if they were she'd be puffy in the face & really blue. So for the big question... Surgery... assuming that she doesn't show signs of needing it earlier, she will get a heart cathedarization (sp) in March or April of next year & have the surgery within 3 months of that. So not this but next summer. He said that they like to do it between 3 & 4 years old so that would make Payton 3 1/2 at the time of the surgery.

Now my only worry is insurance, because as Donald tells me, I have to worry about something. But I keep telling him that 'you can't tell me that worrying doesn't help because everything I worry about never happens'. :) Payton does have insurance but it's won't cover everything like Tricare (military insurance) did (to the tune of $800k for 2 surgeries). I know that this time we will have to pay a portion of her medical bills but I'm not sure what that means in $'s. We are thinking about setting up some sort of fund or non-profit company (tax deductible donation) that will be in place to take care of whatever medical bills that she may have. As soon as we decide what would be the best & have all the logistics worked out I'll let you know. As it always does, it will work out.

Right now Payton is watching Little Mermaid & enjoying the last of the spoils from Dr. Burke. I am so grateful that the Lord knew us enough to make us wait 5 long years to have Payton so that we could be in the best place for her to be born & have the best Dr.'s. I am so glad that she is doing so well & am anxious for her to start going to nursery again. We are still going to be keeping her out for at least another month, so we are almost to the end of our self-induced exile. Yippee!

Spring Cleaning...

On Saturday we cleaned out a few things to give to Desert Industries. In our area the DI bin is here one minute gone the next so when we heard it was there we didn't waste any time getting over to the church to drop our stuff off.
And as all kids do, they had to play with their new-found treasures. Although she just got it we got rid of the Ariel table & chairs & vanity thing. Payton's room was just not big enough for all of her treasures.

Here is a video of her rearranging her stuff. It was actually really good because there wasn't anyone in the hallway (if there would have been she would have ran inside to hide) & we were able to get a lot down. Don't get me wrong I love my little shadow but sometimes, most of the time, shadows slow you down.

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That's how she rolls...

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Payton loves to be laundry baskets. If I leave one out with clean, folded laundry in it she will empty it & get inside. This particular day she watched all of Aladdin while sitting in it.For this picture below I came around the corner & scared her. That's why she isn't giving her regular smile. Yeah it's kind of a scary smile.
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More Pictures from JD & Jamie's Wedding...

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

So here are more pictures from the wedding. They were too cute not to share.
This is everyone! We are a good looking family!
For about an hour they walked around holding hands. But it didn't last. Ryan decided to lead & Payton didn't like it.

We tried to set up this shot but we waited too long. Oh well. It was a good idea.




I love these pictures. They love to hug each other. Lately they want to kiss each other too & we are trying to teach Payton to kiss on the cheek. Ryan has it down but Payton still wants to plant a big wet one. She'll get it eventually.

Ryan is always aware of the camera & what he needs to do to get his picture taken. Actually that is just how this family makes kids. They just know where that camera is.

The only part of the meal that Payton did eat was the ice cream.

Such a good looking family!
Thank you JD & Jamie for sending us a copy of your wedding pictures!