Cookies, Cookies and MORE Cookies…….

Every year,  I take a day and do some baking.  Over the years it has become LOTS of baking.  This year I made a huge platter of treats for three of my bosses at work, my parents home, my Aunt & Uncle and my Grandmother.  Oh and, of course, SANTA!

I love the fact that Peyton is such a huge helper in the kitchen.  He loves helping me do all kinds of cooking, but especially cookies.  He started just decorating sugar cookies, but now he even likes to roll out the dough.  This year was especially great since Jaxson joined in with our fun!

The Christmas Tree……….

Each year I used to try to get the whole family involved in decorating the Christmas tree. And every year it would end up being just me who got to decorate 99% of the tree. I finally resigned myself to the idea that decorating the tree was just not going to be one of our family traditions and to enjoy the quiet time to myself.

Well, be careful what you wish for, right………..This year everyone decided to help! First, let me say that just about every ornament on my tree means something to me. I’m not one of those people who collects magnets from every vacation we take, however, I do collect ornaments for our Christmas tree. We started this little tradition when Jason and I went on our honeymoon and we saw a beautiful bell with the name of the town we were staying in. Ever since then we get ornaments from every place we visit.

To get started, Peyton had the fun job of helping me unpack boxes. Doesn’t his face just scream Christmas cheer!!

Jaxson loved having his own little section of the tree where he literally hung every ornament he could get his hands on!

Peyton was concentrating very hard to make sure all his ornaments were hung perfectly.

Both of the boys were very excited and the night was going all pretty well until………a very excited Peyton jumped onto a chair to be able to reach a little higher and slid right off into the tree! I won the terrible mother award that night because all I could think was Oh My God, the tree. His father was the one with the foresight to ask if he was ok.....which yes, he was. Mostly just embarrased and upset, but physically fine. We lost 2 ornaments and the bottom branch of the tree was broken, however, Jason did manage to mend it enough to hold in place for now. Poor Peyton.

Science Center in Baltimore

The boys and I had the BEST time on our latest POLP adventure!  Last Saturday Peyton, Jaxson and I set out for a trip to the Science Center in Baltimore to meet up with a bunch of our friends.   Here’s the infamous group shot (ha, ha, these are always fun!)

Love this photo of Jaxson and Nathan “talking”….

Sweet Simon with the boys!

Parker and Peyton

 

The boys had a great time checking out all the weather stuff, everything from tornados to sand dunes.

After lunch we checked out the Shipwreck exhibits.  Aren’t these two of the cutest pirates you’ve ever seen?!

Peyton and Preston steering the ship!

Poor Jaxson was exhausted after lunch so he missed most of the Shipwreck exhibits…….

We also watched a show at the Planetarium where I did not get any pictures.  However, I did take a few pictures of the telescope on the roof which had special lenses so we could look at the sun.  I think the constellations and sun were one of our favorite parts of the day!

After such a great day we decided to walk around the Inner Harbor and find dinner with Kim and Preston & Melissa, Sonya, Zoe and Akela.  It was a perfect way to end our day.

I just love all these girls and their kids,  including those that could not join us today, we missed you all!!!  I can’t believe what amazing friendships I would have missed out on if Jaxson was not here to introduce me to them.

Halloween 2010

Halloween was a little different this year.  We carved our pumpkin the day before Halloween, but neither of the boys seemed very interested.  I think they spent all of about 30 seconds “helping” and then were off to play or just watch Jason finish it.

We did peak Peyton’s interest a little more when we let him use the knife to actually cut out the face. 

The boys had a lot more fun making the “Mr. Potato Head” pumpkins a few weeks ago.  These are really nice as they last a lot longer than the carved ones.  Unfortunately, Peyton was not in the mood to pose for pictures, but I did manage to get one of each of them with our pumpkins (just not together….)

We usually take the boys trick-or-treating around our town each Halloween, but this year we went to Jason’s sisters house and spent the night walking around their neighborhood with a big group of kids.  Peyton had a great time running around with all the older boys, but it was a little more difficult for Jaxson to keep up.  No big deal though, he had plenty of candy and Peyton would always run back down the driveway with a second handful of candy for Jaxson!

Here’s my vampire and black night.  Hope everyone had a great Halloween too!!

The Pumpkin Patch!

Ok, so I’m a little behind.  We actually went to the pumpkin patch weeks ago, but I just haven’t had a chance to write everything down yet. 

Jason, the boys and I joined my sister, brother-in-law and my niece and nephew at a new pumpkin patch this year.    Here’s all the kids(Peyton, Jaxson, Erin & Zach) checking out one of the big pumpkins!

Both of the boys had a great time picking out VERY SPECIFIC pumpkins.  Good grief, they were cute, but I think this process took forever for each of them to finally pick the perfect pumpkin!

Along with picking out our pumpkins there were all kinds of things for the kids to do.  We all took a hay ride and the kids got to play on some rides.  Jaxson just loved driving this train and the bigger kids were nice enough to pose for a picture!!

There was also a nice petting farm with all kinds of animals.

And finally on our way out we stopped at the bathrooms where Peyton made me take a picture of the out house.  He just thought this was the funniest thing ever!

LPA Fall Regional 2010

A couple of weekends ago was our LPA fall regional in Annapolis.  Since we only live about an hour away we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see some of our LPA family.  Peyton had a soccer game that morning so we didn’t make it to the hotel to register until 12:30.  Unfortunately by that time we missed all the meetings and group discussions, but we still had a chance to spend time with everyone and we had decided to go on one of the suggested boat cruises.  Even though we live in the area it was a lot of fun to see the Naval Academy and stadium from the water and just cruise along. 

 

Taylor and I wanted to sit on the top level of the boat and we finally convinced Peyton too!  Here’s Trace, Jaxson and Peyton enjoying the view from the front of the boat.

I think Peyton was pretty happy we sat on the top level too since he got a chance to drive the boat!

Destini helped hold Jaxson steady while he and Trace got a chance to steer.

The kids all got really cool “Captain for A Day” stickers too.

After the boat ride we all went to Quiet Waters Park for dinner.  I know someday we’ll really enjoy the banquets and scheduled dinners that LPA puts together, but this was so much easier with small kids.  It’s difficult to get my kids to “sit down” for a dinner so it was really great to just let them play and be able to actually talk with some of my friends. 

Taylor, Peyton & Trace:

Preston, Peyton & Trace:

Jaxson & Ben:

 

Jaxson & Parker:

I just love these pictures Amanda got.  It was so cute watching the two of them.  Parker was talking the entire time and Jaxson was intently watching him.  I just wish we knew what he was saying!!

Amanda also got a great picture of Peyton and Trace while we were waiting to get on the boat.  I just love this picture!

It was an absolutely beautiful day and I was so glad to spend time with our LPA family.  Love you all!!