Fishy Kisses

I have been trying to post this for some time but been having some technical difficulties; however, I am now able to present (drum-roll).....THE FISHY KISS!!

Anyone who knows Liz, knows she has the most squishy, plump, kissable cheeks. This is the most popular kiss, as of late, known as the Fishy Kiss. And the best part of it all (besides getting to kiss her) is that Lizzy loves it!!

One of the reasons we went down to Houston to the Cox's when we did was because Mom & Dad Woodbury were there. This is Lizzy recieving a Fishy Kiss in the bamboo forest at the arboretum from Grandma & Papa Woodbury:

Another Fishy Kiss from "Damma" & Papa Payne in front of the Christmas tree:

"She is my squishy, and I shall call her 'Squishy,' and she shall be 'My Squishy!'" (quote from Finding Nemo)....

A New Neice & Cousin

I finally got to meet my new neice!! Chloe was born November 1st, and she is such a CUTE little one-month old. It was sure fun cuddling with her, and I was very impressed with how patient she was with so many people kissing her (especially because 4 of them were 4 years old & under)...

I have an obsession with baby toes...

Chloe's not in this photo, but I thought it was pretty neat to see a six-foot tall Mommy cuddling in a toddler bed with her toddler:). Zetta sure makes a good big sister. She would often ask if she could hold Chloe, and whenever the answer was "yes" she was so soft & sweet with her baby sister.

"Supper"

The neighbors have a pet deer. They found it on the side of the road when he was just a baby fawn. He had been hit by a car and had a broken leg. So they brought him home, stinted his leg, bottle-fed him, and named him "Supper." He is the friendliest little thing, and it's been a lot of fun having him around.



He stopped to play with us while we were on a morning walk this last week...

Brian set up chairs out back so we could all come out and enjoy the outdoors on this beautiful Sunday evening. Supper saw the crowd and came to play. His antlers are starting to bud out, or whatever you call it, so he likes to pretend he's head-butting, but he plays like a dog. It is so funny to watch. I tried to catch it on camera, but wasn't able to, but I did get a pretty cute one with Faye & Lizzy playing with the deer...

Halloween 2009

This year we continued our traditional "night-before-Halloween dinner" with the pumkin casserole (thanks Wendy), worm graveyard, and witch's potion...

On Halloween night we went to a member's barn for a party. They went to a lot of work to make it a fun night. They had cute decorations, a chili cook-off, a photo set-up, pies, pumpkin-carving competion, hay-ride, and trick-or-treating. We had been working hard all day on the new addition, so it was a nice break and we had a lot of fun. Faye was a dancer, Daisy a kitty, and Lizzy was a frog. I'll let you guess the "origional" costumes B and I had--ha, ha...

Getting ready for the hay-ride...

Uncle Joseph & Liz...

Mom Payne went as a pregnant lady, which was so funny to me (since she's already had 10 KIDS!!). Good one, Grandma...

Trick-or-treatin...

Weatherford

I love living in Weatherford!! The girls are absolutely loving their new home, and I appreciate all the opportunities they have to explore and to get to be with extended family.

When we moved in, the new addition wasn't quite ready for us, so we have been working hard. Yes, "we" have. That means me, too. Papa Payne taught me about electricity, and I love it!! I can install outlets, light switches, fans, light fixtures, and most importantly I UNDERSTAND it all. It's pretty fun learning new skills. Here is a before & after photo that Faye took of me (& Daisy) wiring a 3-way outlet...

The downside to being an electrician (he, he) is that my hands sure took a beating. After all the scrapes, scratches, twisting, and pinching the wires, I was holding B's hand that night, and he said: "My, those are some sure rough hands." So, as much fun as I'm having, I don't think I will persue my career as an electrician:).

Farewell Galveston

In memory of Galveston, I added a few photos:

Brian sleeping in the closet after being on-call all night (it was the only place quiet or dark enough). And yes, Brian asked me to wake him up at a certain time, so I decided to let the girls help me...

I love Cub Scouts!! And if that's the only place I'll ever get to have "my boys", I'll take it. I cannot think of a better or more fun place to have a calling. These photo's also represent all the callings that we have held in Galveston, since they (our callings) were such a HUGE part of our lives while we were there...

These are farewell cards my fellow Cub Scouters made for me...

And I can't forget the missionaries. We had the missionaries over many times, and I appreciated every single visit. Missionaries have such a powerful spirit, and I could feel that spirit when they came into our home. What a blessing they are to members, as well as non-members!!...

Corpus Christi

Brian had his first residency interview, and it was down in Corpus Christi. They gave him a hotel for Thursday night, and he planned to leave Thursday night after school. During playgroup that morning, I had a friend (thanks, Cassidy) mention that I should go down with him. What--leave my house? :) Yeah, so we did a quick packing job & got ready to go with Daddy!! The hotel was so awesome--they had steps out the door that went right down to the beach. Even though it was pretty cold & cloudy, my girls wanted to go to the beach. You'd think they had never seen a beach before...:)

After freezing on the beach (at least we had the whole beach to ourselves:), then the girls decided they wanted to go swimming in the hotel pool-with some persuassive talk from Mommy:

While we were showering and getting ready to check-out of the hotel, B called and said that some of the doctors & faculty at Driscoll Children's Hospital wanted to meet us. So, all us girls, in our grungy beach & play clothes went up to the very nice hospital, found B in his spiffy suit, and met some of the faculty. They really liked Brian, and I think Corpus is definitely a step or two (or fifty) up from Galveston. We'll see what happens in the end...

After the greetings, Brian continued his interview, and we Payne girls took a picnic went to an awesome park we saw along the way to the hospital. Liz fell asleep for the first little while:

Doesn't it look like a fun park?...

It's actually very similar the the castle park here in Galveston:

There was also a pier at the park, where we could go out and look at the water. The water's not clear, but it's not brown, either. Faye took this picture:

And this is my favorite picture from our trip:

Home Life

It's amazing how exciting it can be at home, when there's really not much that happens. So, here are a few more happenings we've been having at home...

This is the Payne Train:


Daisy got her first haircut--thanks to Faye:

These are the ends of Daisy's 2 braids (like I said, thanks to Faye:):

This is my first Philipine dish. It is called Pavlova, and it was a very yummy dessert. Faye & Daisy helped me put the fruit on the top (only about half of the fruit actually made it to the pan):

Beach & Ferry

The Payne clan came to visit during Labor Day weekend. On one of the days they took Faye & Daisy to the beach:

Riding the ferry has been a great Payne hobby. I wish I would have kept track of how many times I've taken my girls on the ferry. At one point (when I was pregnant with Liz), I remember it being a weekly occasion:

This is perhaps the best picture I have taken of a dolphin. I know it looks a little small, but it's actually pretty good, considering they are difficult creatures to catch on camera. And technically, it is a porpous, as my husband just pointed out while looking over my shoulder:)

FHE

A couple weeks ago, we went to a park in Texas City for Family Home Evening. B had seen trains at the park and couldn't help but think of his girls, especially a certain train-loving girl by the name of "Dais-a-rooza."

Here's Daddy and his little girlies:

Faye, Liz, & Daisy on the back of the caboose:

This kid was in heaven. The whole time we were there she was humming to herself, wandering off to keep looking (there were only 2 cars), and she even had an extra "bounce" to her step (if you know Daisy, you know the "Daisy Bounce").

My train-lover: