Ginger's 7th Birthday.

I can't believe I forgot to give a shout out to our little Gingersnap for her 7th birthday!!

She turned 7 (so what's that, 49 human years? ha) on September 8th.  I must say, this past year has definitely been the roughest year with her.  She's been quite the handful (tics, uncontrollable barking, getting out on the busy street, to name a few) and we weren't sure how much longer we'd be able to keep handle her.  But I can confidently say I'm SO glad things have changed and I hope she lives to be another 5 years old.  (Boxers life span is only 8-10 years.)

Anyway, Happy Belated Birthday, Ginger!  We love you!

(PS - this post kinda makes me laugh)  =)

A not-so-good word. :)

For the past few weeks I've noticed Peyton saying, "oh shit."  Yes, my response to this was the same thing.  :-/

It started when one of us would say it and Peyton would repeat it right away, leaving us to quickly realize what we'd just said... and the affects of it.

Well now, he's saying it in context whenever he's talking.  He has no clue it's a bad word and I'm a little confused on how to handle this one.  Do I make a big deal about it and tell him not to say it (which will only confuse him, then make him want to say it even more to rebel) or do we ignore it and make 100% sure we stop saying it so he'll stop saying it?  So far we've stuck to the latter.

But here's the main reason I'm blogging about this two letter word -- to document this story...

Yesterday I was in Ross with my mom and Peyton.  He'd just eaten two cookies and was on a major sugar high.  We were looking at the toys when I told him, "Let's go!  There's more toys on this aisle over here!"  So he ran to the other toy aisle and quickly spotted a cool toy, ran up to it, grabbed it and said, "OH SHIT, MAMA!!!!"  This was not an oh shit as in oh crap, this was an oh shit! as in you've gotta see this!  My mom looked at me, I looked at her, and it was confirmed that indeed, he'd just said that.  What came next?  Uncontrollable laughter! (horrible, I know).  Now luckily it sounds more like this, "oh chit" so it's not clear as day, but still... no bueno.  

So then I was dumbfounded that he's using this term in two contextes and where did he learn the excited context?!  I never say it that way.  Then as I'm replaying it in my head, I hear this scenario clear as day coming from Steve's mouth, "Oh shit!  Oh shit!  Go!  Go!  Gooooo!!!"  Ahh yes, it's football season.

Then today, it was confirmed.  As my sister Laurie was talking to Peyton on the phone, she randomly asked him if he's been watching a lot of football.  His response?  "Dada!  Football.  Haslkdfslkdhf (not sure what he said)  Oh shit!  Dada!"  Oh.My.Gosh!!!!  I about died!  So yes, it's been confirmed where the excited context has come from.

Needless to say, Steve will not be saying that anymore!  And I guess I can't put all the blame on him, so I'll be watching my mouth from now on too.  :)

Peyton's BIG BOY BED!

We hit a huge milestone last night - Peyton slept in his big boy bed for the first time!  Talk about emotions... for me!  Who knew I'd be so teary eyed.  It still makes me sad to walk past his room and not see his crib.  When it came down to it, I was seriously depressed about this transition and I didn't even realize it until it happened!

When Steve came home from work last night, he said we're doing it.  I was dragging my feet on the whole thing, but I knew Peyton and Steve were excited about it and it needed to happen eventually, so I decided to go all in.  But really, there's something about your baby sleeping in a huge bed that makes it so sad!  (Just wait till he's out of diapers!  Then, the icing on the cake?  Taking away his blankie/making him not suck his fingers anymore.  Oh my!  One step at a time, Jenny...)

I must admit, yes, I'm a little disoriented by seeing this big bed in his room and sad, but deep down I'm very excited to put his new room together this weekend and for the next "big boy" chapter with him.

Sooooo, last night Steve and Peyton put the bed together and Peyton was so excited he was bouncing off the walls.  He was mimicking every move Steve made with the screwdriver and tried to do everything Steve did.  He was running up and down the hallway, just so excited. 

We've been pumping him up over the past few months by talking to him about a big boy bed and every time we'd go to Bed Bath & Beyond or somewhere, he'd see the made-up beds and just love it.  So when he finally saw one in his room, he was ecstatic.

After the normal bedtime routine, we tucked him in and shut the door, leaving it cracked open.  Immediately the light turns on, then off, then on, etc.  CRAP.  His bed is right beneath the light switch.  HA!  Well luckily this is temporary - we're having a hard time figuring out where to place the bed since we don't want it by any windows/blinds AND we want it against a wall.  But looks like safety supersedes and we'll have to kinda float it.  Oh well, it'll work.  So until we get another bed rail, it's kinda in an awkward spot.

So anyway, we go to the family room and sit there waiting to see what will happen.  Meanwhile, the light switch is flicking on & off, on & off.  Then it stays on for a few minutes.  I say to Steve, "I don't care if he falls asleep with it on, let's just see what happens."  About 5 minutes later, Peyton comes running down the hall, "HI MOMMA!" with the biggest grin on his face!  Man, he was so happy and proud!  Of course we do all we can to not laugh and Steve gets up and takes him back to his room.  A few minutes later Steve comes and and that was it!  Peyton went to sleep!  He slept sound until nearly 9:30am! (Granted he went to sleep around 10pm)  Steve and I tossed & turned all night, anticipating a rug rat at our bedside, but never happened!

This afternoon I was nervous to see how he'd do napping.  Well, I spent no more time than usual getting him down and he was out!  For the normal 3 hours!  Can you tell I'm way excited?!?!  ;)

I just hope this isn't a fluke - and if it's not, how simple was that?!

We'll see how he does tonight, I'm still a little uneasy knowing he can roam around and fall off the bed, but he did so well last night that hopefully I can sleep better with a piece of mind.

I'm planning on getting the new room set up this weekend - pictures to come!

Here's Peyton this morning.

Nap time.

UPDATE:  Tonight after some major procrastination, we turned the lights off and cracked the door.  The lights went back on right away.  ;)  After 5 min, I peeked in and he was just sitting there sucking his fingers staring into space.  He finally laid down (light still on) and then started talking/whining a bit.  Steve went in and talked to him then turned the light off and he was out.  :)

Happy Birthday, Julie!

My sister Julie turns 34 today!  My mom invited us over for dinner last week to celebrate her birthday.  Here's some fun pics from the night!

My mom got out the train that goes around the Xmas tree.  What a HIT!  Peyton played with it all night long.  I could hardly get him to eat cake and definitely couldn't get him to eat dinner!  My friend Amanda came over too.  So here's JJ and Peyton playing:

Singing Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Julie!!!!!  We love you!!!

No Nite Nite -- HAPPY!

Lately whenever I tell Peyton it's time for a nap, he says, "No nite nite.  HAPPY!"  He's telling me he's happy so he doesn't have to take a nap, Bwahaha!  I have no idea where he learned this from.  He probably connected it, because he's also been telling us out of the blue that he's happy.  :)  That makes my heart smile.  I just hope he really knows what he's saying so it's true, but I think he does.  

So here's a video of him today saying it.  *Side note, he also has a cold for the first time in ages.  So he's looking pretty under the weather. 

It's Football Season, SON!!!!!!!

A few years ago, I remember sitting in the crowded, hot stands at the opener game of the Arizona State football season.  A man in his early 40's was sitting in front of us with his 10ish year old son.  You know that part where the crowd stands and gets all excited and loud, anticipating the first kick off?  Well it was that moment and he yells to his son, "IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON, SON!!!!!!"  Man was he excited and I realized at that moment, I'm freaking excited too!!!

There's something about training camp, draft nights, preseason games and the actual football season that puts a smile on my face.  Now ironically, there's also something about that last month of the season when you just CANT.WAIT. for it to be over.  ;)

We had a little schedule conflict Thursday evening, as the Sun Devils were hosting NAU at home, and the Cardinals were hosting the Broncos at home as well.  Which did we choose, you ask?!  The Sun Devils, baby!!!  {It was known that Manning wasn't playing, so that made Steve's decision easy.}

When I first started dating Steve, it seemed like all of his extended family went to the games.  It was a blast.  Then over the years, people didn't renew their season tickets {including his parents} and it was down to one set of Aunt/Uncles and us {and of course his brother Andy}.  Well, his parents have renewed their tickets this season, along with Uncle Gregg & Aunt Terri.  Uncle Bob & Aunt Sue never let go of theirs, so it's a mini family reunion again!!!

We "tailgated" at a bar that I never know the name of because it's different every year.  Too hot to do the real tailgate until October.  Then we walked to the game and watched ASU destroy NAU, with a final score of 63-6!

Here's a pic of my {crazy} brother-in-law, Andy's leg - he has the pitchfork and "A" mountain scene in the background.  He also now has the Alma Matter written on the side.  This was taken on the beach, obviously!  :)  He's THE BIGGEST sun devil football fan I've ever met!!!

Last night we went to our friends Pat & Molly's house for draft night.  I can't remember the last time Steve participated in this, if ever.  The guys had fun while us girls and the kids played.

Hope you all are having a great Labor Day weekend!

End-of-summer catch up! {Part I}

What better way to spend the last weekend of the summer than to blog about the summer?!  Time for some major catch-up...

Early this summer we dog sat Genny's dog, Dobie, for the first time.  Peyton loves this dog.  He was lucky that we got to dog sit Dobie again later in the summer too.

Gosh, I think this was more like Spring time!  We had Brice over for a playdate and enjoyed some popsicles on the patio.

In early June I met my friend Megan and her boys at a splash pad in Mesa with her {our} friend Adrian & kids.  Adrian is the woman who took Peyton's 6 month and One Year pictures.  Again, Peyton's wasn't too fond of the splash pad.  Maybe we'll take him to one again, it's been awhile...

Think this was around mid June.  Just being silly ole us!

This was more recent, a month ago maybe.  Found Peyton in the bath reading a bath book.  Hahahaha 

This was in July.  One of the Wednesday's my mom has off, she and Julie came over and we went to Applebee's for all you can eat soup and salad!  {if you haven't gone for this -- go!}

In early June my dear friend Rachel was in town for a quick weekend.  We met up for coffee.

Oh my!  Father's Day!!  Here's some pics of opening gifts at Dennis and Joan's house:

Man, this was probably June too.  He has a stash of cars in his crib.  :)

End-of-summer catch up! {Part II}

We spent a lot of time celebrating birthday's this summer!:

One of my besties celebrated her 30th on June 22nd.  Her boyfriend set up a surprise dinner for her at Elephant Bar.

My friend Haydee's daughter turned two in June.  She had an awesome underwater themed party complete with a Kindermusik class.  Peyton loved it!

Brice turned two in June as well.  Siobhan did a cute baseball themed party for him:

And in August our friend's Jackie & Jeff's son turned three.  They celebrated at Chuckee Cheese:

Off the subject of birthday parties and onto juicing!  Steve had the wonderful idea to juice a week before our Carlsbad vacay.  Ya know, try to loose a few l.b.s.  He bought $100 worth of fruits and veggies and made it 12 hours.  I don't blame the guy, I hate extreme "diets!"  Just exercise and eat right, people!!!  Yes, he got the lecture from me again.  ;)  Needless to say, we had a boatload of fruits and veggies that I DID NOT want to waste.  Thank goodness Peyton loves fruit and so we spent all week juicing (as an addition to our meals) and it was soooo messy and time consuming, but VERY delicious!  I wish I could keep it up!

This equals...

This!  So yummy.

This was sometime in early summer I think.  I was trying to get a cute vintage-like photo of him in the Radio Flyer. 

Lululemon had a Hot Asna summer series of yoga on the rooftop of a hotel in downtown Phoenix at Cityscape.  I only made it once.  But it was very cool, er... awesome!

Peyton had a playdate with Grace.  Cutest thing about these pics?  After I took this first one, he leaned in for the second one - he was literally leaning in to get closer to her, like we do for pictures.  We about died!

This was actually just last week.  I did the whole shaving cream thing with Peyton and he hated it!  Reason?  He hates his hands being dirty!  As you can see from the pic below, he was begging me to clean his hands!  

 Don't be fooled, I caught a quick smile...

He played for a little while.  I was having so much fun writing letters and such, but he wasn't playing along.  :)  Maybe I'll try this again in a year or so.

Last but not least, I started the 50 Shades of Grey series this summer (along with the rest of the world) and I'm on the 2nd book.  I just LOVE this!!

~Happy Labor Day Weekend!~