Santa Claus is coming... to town!

Okay, so he already came.  But I'll still write a fun post about it!  Peyton had a nice visit with Santa this year.  We went on a Thursday morning when no one was there.  It rocked for that reason, but we weren't expecting to walk right up to him with no wait (which meant there wasn't much anticipation. Oh well!)

He walked right up to him and stopped.  Steve put him on Santa's lap and he was Mr Proper.  He was a bit shy and just looked out at everyone and folded his little hands and smiled for the camera.  They got a good pic of him:

Then I kept trying to snap a pic so I continued to tell him to smile.  He really put on a great smile, which I captured pretty good (darn blurry!):

And so the lady shot another one that turned out a little better than the first:

When Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas, Peyton said, "Ummm.... THAT!" and pointed to some balls hanging from the ceiling.  HA!

Bass Pro Shop is so awesome to visit Santa.  Not only is it free, but there's a {free} carousel ride and lots of things to look at plus crafts for the kids.

He kept a pretty good eye on Santa for the 5 minutes after he sat on his lap:

This year Peyton knew who Santa was, knew that Santa says, "Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!" and that his belly jiggles like a bowl full of jelly.  :)  But he didn't really connect that Santa brings presents on Christmas morning.  Until...

We needed to go to Toys 'R Us.  Steve and I both wanted to go and had to take Peyton.  Ugh (was my initial reaction).  Funny how things that you expect to go horrible turn out for the best!  We were at the Thomas the Train section and Peyton picked up the train, "Hiro." It was an electronic one and much bigger than the wooden ones.  He wanted this train badly.  I didn't wanna get it for him, as we don't have an electronic track.  He carried that train all around the store.  He picked out a few other things we were debating on and there you have it - he was getting exactly what he wanted!

How did we get out of the store, you ask?  Steve told him to go to the car with me while he went to find Santa and show him the stuff he wanted.  Peyton was totally fine with it and talked the whole way out to the car about how daddy was talking to Santa about "Hiro".

The next few days the whole, "you better be good, Santa's watching!  He won't bring you Hiro if you're bad!" totally worked!  It never would've without this experience.  Score!  And would you believe out of all the toys he got from everyone, Hiro is his favorite?  And the fact that it's electronic is awesome, who knew?!

And now every time he goes to bed, he asks if Santa is coming.  I think we drilled it into him a little too much the last few days!

Here's a few more pics from Bass Pro Shop...

And after Santa, we went to Peter Piper Pizza.  He used about 10 napkins, one right after another, to wipe his mouth.  Silly.

Holiday Fun.

This Christmas season flew by yet again this year with the daily scramble of trying to get it all in.  Here's some of the fun holiday events we went to!

We kicked off the month of December with a trip to The Polar Express.  Read about it here.

We got home just in time to attend our first Christmas party of the season.  The Gough family always hosts' a nice party and we had a great time.

My friends Megan, Siobhan and I got together for a "Christmas Playdate" with our kids that's now turned into an annual tradition.  This year we hung out at Siobhan's house and exchanged gifts.  Thanks to Megan, our boys all get cute matching hats each year.

A few days later, we attended Coldwell Banker's holiday party (Steve's work).  I'm amazed at how sweet & genuine everyone there is to me, after all these years I haven't really shown my face around the office, people still remember me.  I guess it's only been a few years, but I always feel at home when I go back and agents are so kind and personal with me.

I took Peyton to a Christmas playgroup in the West Valley where I grew up.  A friend from high school hosted it and it was nice to meet new moms and refreshing to be around new faces.  Oh yeah, Peyton had a great time too!  :)  He made a neat handprint ornament and played with new friends.

A few days after that, I spent an evening in the kitchen (where one of the oven coils completely split in half, sparked like crazy, and I was prepared for our kitchen to go up in flames... Steve & Peyton were gone, I was so scared!)  I was baking 80 cookies (& thankfully was on my last dozen when disaster stroke).  I attended a Cookie Exchange party the next day and came home with a ton of yummy cookies!

From there I met Steve's extended family at Olive Garden for a family holiday lunch.

We took a few days off, then were back at it.  We took Peyton to see Santa (more to come on that).  Later that night we took him to see this house not far from ours, that is DECKED (& that's an understatement) out in lights and toys.  We spent an hour there.  They had 3 train track displays.  Enough said.

The next evening we met our friends Genny, Ryan, and their 4 week old baby at the Maricopa Live Steamers train park.  We rode the train and then Peyton got to be the Engineer of a little train.  He loved it!

The next day we went to our friend Marissa's Christmas party.  We had a great time, and at this point, Peyton had HAD it.  He let us know the whole way home.  :)

Add a trip to California, a couple of trips to the airport to drop friends off,  and a few Christmas crafts and we've made it to Christmas Eve!

We desperately tried to get in the Phoenix Zoo Lights but never did.  I figured that'll be a fun thing to do after Christmas anyway!

2012 Christmas Card.

Our Christmas card this year...

Merry Christmas!!!

Del Mar!

A few weeks ago, Steve, Peyton and I went to Del Mar, California.  We had a great time!  It was nice to get away, but it was also nice to get back home after 5 days.

The reason for the trip was so Steve could go to an event for his new job.  I'm very proud to say that he was hired as an Elite Coach with Tom Ferry.  Something that will propel him forward in his career and offer a lot of new opportunity for him now and in the future.  He's loving it so far and is doing great.  Speaking and guiding/coaching other agents is definitely his forte.  He's continuing real estate as well, as both really go hand-in-hand, which is another reason why this is such a great new thing for him (he gets to do both things he loves)!

{Since Steve was at the event all week, it was just me and Peyton.  I found this golden spot, with train tracks, a park and the beach all right there!  We hit it up every day!}

~DAY 1~

I told him to say cheese and he flung his
head back and said it.  I think he was
tired of it! haha

Steve+Jenny+Peyton+Baby #2.
This summer in Carlsbad I took this same shot, minus
the #2.  I really wished I'd been able to write
that #2 at the time, so I here I was given another chance.  :)

~DAY 2~

The hotel was very pretty so I used Peyton to capture

it.

Steve met us in the lobby one day before we left for the

beach.  I missed it on the video, but right before this Peyton

yelled, "DADDY!!!!"

I guess I didn't get any pics of our 3rd day at the beach.  We were pretty beached out by then... who knew that was possible?!

Peyton Sayings.

Peyton is increasingly asking to give the baby hugs, kisses, or belly rubs.  Out of the blue.  Or whenever he sees me rubbing my belly.  Today he said, "Peyton give baby hug" then I bent over so he could hug my tummy.  :)  The other night, I thought you could see her kicking outside my stomach, so I lifted up my shirt to see & rubbed it then Peyton rubbed it and said, "oh mama, baby in belly?" and I said "yes!" and he said, "baby loves you Peyton."  Now I'm not sure if that meant he loves the baby or vice versa, but either way it melted me.

We've been reading the book, "God Gave Us You" a lot.  He loves the part where the mama bear says her belly got "bigger, and bigger, and BIGGER!"  Out of the clear blue, Peyton pointed to my belly and said, "Mama!  AND BIGGER!!!!"

Last night Peyton was trying to pull off this guitar ornament from our tree.  He couldn't get it off and I told him to slide it off, don't pull it off.  He gave me this blank stare, then goes, "WHHEEEEE!"

A few weeks ago when we were on our way home from the beach, I was trying to keep Peyton awake.  (If he falls asleep for even a minute then wakes up, forget nap time.)  He was wiped.  We were at the last stop light and he was awake.  Right before it turned green, I looked back and he was asleep!  I kinda freaked and said, "No Peyton!  Wake up!"  and he opened his googly eyes with a look like, "what's going on?  what did I do?  what's the emergency?!" haha.  Well ever since then, whenever he wants to close his eyes in the car or knows he might be falling asleep, he'll ask me, "Peyton go night night in mamas car?" It kinda breaks my heart!  I must've scared the crap out of him that day!

It's a...

GIRL!  A GIRL!  A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm dreaming of blonde pigtails and cute clothes.  Oooh, I can't wait!!

Steve's reaction:  he was very happy and a bit shocked.  He said he was 100% happy but it may take a few weeks to sink in.  Then, he wore a pinkish/purpleish shirt to work the next day and told me it was in honor of our baby girl... yeah, he's diggin it.  :)

Halfway There!

I turned 20 weeks yesterday!  I'm halfway (if not more) there!  Hurry Hurry!

Peyton sayings.

Me (at Taco Bell): Peyton, do you want a cheese roll-up?

Peyton: Umm... no.  Cake!

When we got to the hotel last Friday in Williams, Peyton picked up the hotel phone and said, "Call Dennis Olson."  I just about died!  He got that from Steve using Siri all the time.  Bwahaha!

Until next time!!

The Polar Express!

We (Dennis, Joan, Steve, and I) took Peyton to The Polar Express in Williams, AZ last Friday.  I've heard so much about it from friends over the years and was super excited that Peyton was old enough to finally take and it just so happens that he's in love with trains!

I prepped him all week by reading the book and on Thursday night, Steve, Peyton and I sat down to watch the movie.  It was fun for all of us!  Peyton especially loved it, I swear he didn't blink the whole time.  He didn't really connect the whole meaning of the movie -- that you can hear the bell ringing if you believe.  If I'd mention the bell, he'd say, "train bell?!"  haha.  But he still loved it.

Friday afternoon we headed up North to Williams.  We stayed in the hotel there, so dinner and breakfast were included.  We ate right away and already Peyton was pumped up just watching all the excitement in the cafeteria -- toy trains were going all around, kids were in pajama's, and the big train was outside.  I don't think he ate a thing!

After dinner, we went back to our room and changed Peyton into his Christmas pajama's.  We walked around outside a bit and then it was time to board the train!!

Once inside, it was so neat.  The whole trip was about 1.5 hours.  We sang Christmas carols, got a cookie and hot chocolate, Santa came aboard and passed out bells, they gave us a golden ticket, and they read the book.  It was the perfect amount of time for Peyton to really enjoy it and not cry for more when it was time to get off.  :)

The next morning we ate breakfast and then walked around.  Peyton had a ball looking at all the trains and tracks.  After that, we headed home!  It was a fun trip and I'm looking forward to doing it again in the years to come.  *One thing I might change up for next time is to do it during the day (our train departed at 7:30pm).  Only because it's still light out and that makes the whole riding-the-train-experience more fun for kids since you can see out the window.  I thought nighttime would be better so it'd be more magical, and it was, but I think Peyton would've enjoyed the train ride more if he could see everything whizzing by.  Nonetheless, it was a spectacular time!

We stopped at the Anthem Outlets on the way home and stumbled upon Santa's Sleigh!