Traditions

I cannot believe Christmas is in a week!!! But I am lovin' the season, even if it is shorter this year.

My favorite thing about Christmas are the traditions--traditions that are based around our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the reason we have so much to celebrate! It has truly been enjoyable for me to ponder the birth and life of my Savior this season. My little family will be having Christmas on our own for the very first time this year. At first I was sad, then anxious about what traditions I "needed" to start doing with my children, but then finally, it hit me that most of the year, we are already doing our Christmas traditions: making bread & goodies for our friends, reading the scriptures, inviting people to church, learning the stories of Jesus, having FHE, trying to be thoughtful towards eachother, etc., etc. Christmas time just includes a tree & pretty lights, as well as a big meal to plan for, which I seem to have been doing a lot lately, anyway. And then everyone else helps add to the season: Mom Woodbury's 12 Days of Christmas, The Payne tradion of doing acts of service to make a soft bed for baby Jesus, Christmas cards & updates from loved-ones (and even for the "thoughts" of writing a family update :). I feel truly blessed to know my Savior! He is the reason for this and every other good season. He is the reason we have hope and joy in this life--because He made it possible to have that true joy in the next life, as well.

...This is one of the Payne Traditions we are carrying on: B made this manger 2 days ago (I love it!). For every act of service we do this month, we get to put a cotton-ball in the manger. Our goal is to make a very soft bed for Jesus on Christmas morning, when we will sing "Silent Night" and lay Him in his manger (using Lizzy's doll).

A Rare Moment...

Do you ever wonder what is going on inside your kid's head? ...or ask yourself, "What is she thinking right now?" Well, I had one of those moments last night, with Daisy, and she actually continued her behavior so I could catch it on film (she never has been one to shy away from an audience :). I hope you get a good laugh...

She originally started crying, becuase I accidently dropped her (like 3 inches). She didn't get hurt but was offended, even after I cuddled with her for a few minutes. I personally think she is just loving the sound of her own voice--the way it resonates through that spacious mouth of hers--but then again, who knows???

Snowman Poop

Grandma Woodbury does the 12 days of Christmas for all 23? grandkids. It is something I'm sure every one of them looks forward to. I know my kids do. Yesterday was the 1st day of Christmas, and to start off, Grandma made candy-cane reindeer. Today is the 2nd day of Christams, and my girls got a ziplock baggie of "Snowman Poop." In the photo, my girlies are still in their pj's. It's only the second day, and already opening the bag becomes priority #1 (or maybe a close #2, depending on how full their bladders are :).

Thank you, Grandma Woodbury!!

I almost didn't get the camera out fast enough. In fact, Faye is sharing her poop with Liz, for photography purposes ONLY...

Some of Faye's marshmallows were hard, and she asked me why. I told her it's probably because Grandma likes them hard--when Grandma buys a bag of marshmallows, she brings them home, opens the bag up and puts them on the shelf. I explained it was like eating hard candy. Daisy could relate at this point and said, "Yeah, one day I was climbing in the car and found a marshmallow, and it was hard when I ate it!" I just laughed, but wondered when the last time I let my kids eat in the car was. How old WAS that marshmallow???... :)

I Spy...

Where is Daisy, where is Daisy...?

It was one of those nights where you stay out late, get home late, have grouchy, wired children who don't know how to calm themselves down, and then you become a grouch yourself (and of course B was on-call all night). Well, somewhere along the way, I lost count of my children (normally, I can count to 3) :). When, they were all supposedly in bed, Faye asked me where Daisy was. I told her in bed. She said "huh-uhh," (with attitude, cuz she was still grouchy) so then I became a little worried and started looking around the house. Thirty seconds later, when I couldn't find her, I became very worried, unil I heard the couch breathing heavily. Grouch number 2 had tried to hide, and accidentily fallen asleep in the couch...

Leaf Pile

My girls have only heard stories, read books, and used their own imagination on the definition of "leaf pile" and what a leaf pile may be used for...until now. Finally, we were able to make a leaf pile the girls could play in, and here it is...


They spent a lot of time playing in their leaf pile. Once I walked by and they were playing Hide-n-Seek. I wondered how long that would last--afterall, there's only so many places you can hide in a pile this size...

They, of course, did a lot of running & jumping into the pile, with some added tricks...

Then, after I had cleaned the rest of the yard and was inside, Faye (the Mini-mom) came in to let me know that she layed two eggs and she was waiting for them to hatch in her nest. I asked her what kind of bird she was, and she said "a chickadee-dee-dee-dee."

A few minutes later, I went outside to see the nest, and this is what I saw (Faye informed me that her eggs had hatched and they were now, her sweeties)...

Jumping Stream

I don't know where my life is flying off to, but I can't believe it's Thanksgiving week!! We have been busy, busy, and I find myslef "purposly forgetting" my camera, so I have the excuse not to have to worry about saving the pictures, blogging, etc. Pretty bad, I know.

Well, my girls have also been busy, busy. Yesturday they had the Primary Program, and they both remembered their lines perfectly, and even remembered not to mumble their lines! I had many people tell me Daisy is a good singer, and no, she did not sing any solos... :):).

Last week they built a "Jumping Stream." When living in Weatherford, Grandma Payne took my girls to "Jump X-Streme" (a big bounce-house). I realized that my girls misunderstood the wording. Kind of like the song, "Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam." My kids always say, "Jesus wants me for a Sun-BEEP. Yeah, it's cute, and I SHOULD correct them, but I figure it can wait a little while...

Here's their Jumping Stream (blankets, pillows, cushions, stuffed animals, etc.--all piled up):

I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving, and, as my girls Thanksgiving cups say, "Gobble 'till you Wobble!!"

Soccer Ends

Soccer is over...it went by very quickly, I must say. Here are my two soccer girlies, with their trophies...

Daisy will be Daisy...

And Faye will be Faye...

It was a lot of fun watching them play their first season of soccer!!

Grahm Cracker Houses

Appearantly we didn't get enough sugar from Halloween. This last week, Daisy was talking and drawing pictures about going on a Daddy-daughter date and making gingerbread houses. Daddy asked them what they wanted to do for their Daddy-daughter dates after their soccer games. Of course Daisy's reply was gingerbread houses, which the other two wanted as well. And Daddy delivers (close enough)...

Faye's grahm-cracker house...

Daisy's grahm-cracker house...

And Lizzy's grahm-cracker pile...uh, I mean, house...

Confesion: Brian and Tawnya are very competitive. They each took a daughter's house and tried to make it the "tallest." I will not tell you who did who's house, and I will not tell you who won (Brian might get offended and use the excuse that he only has one hand). :):)

Halloween

This year's Halloween was pretty low-key. I did not spend any money on costumes, and I really didn't want very much candy in our home, so we gave away candy that we'd gotten at the Trunk-or-Treat (on Thursday night). Should I admit to that?? Anyway, here's our traditional dinner of pumpkin casserole, and graveyard pudding. I usually do cool-aid with dry-ice, but the store was out (and sadly, I was grateful :)...


...and I forgot to get pictures before we went out, but here we are at home. Faye had already taken her belt off, so I told her to just hold her buckle. Hmm, d'ya think they're on their Sugar-drop?...

...maybe this one's still on her sugar-high...

A First for Faye

She did it!! Faye read her first "real" book this week!! It took her a few days, but she read the whole "Green Eggs and Ham" by herself. I even remember reading this book as a kid, but I don't think I was 5--I was probably 10. :):) She wanted me to makes sure and write on my blog that she read the last 16 pages in ONE day (she counted them herself). That's my readin' girly...



...and yes, those are blue lips, because in her other hand is a blue rasberry dum, dum. :)