Highlights of 2007

If the rain would let up I am heading to Tybee for the rest of the holiday. I was thinking of the highlights and most memorable events that happened this year and here they are.

1. The birth of Packy is of course the best thing that happened all year. My sweet baby! (And yes I still nurse him at night if he wants.)

2. The most fun thing we did was go to the Justin Timberlake concert for Betsy's 30th birthday. You can laugh if you want but it was AWESOME, just ask Jason.
3. The most life changing event that happened was meeting Mr. Johnny and enrolling Jay in karate. Jay has really become more confident and controlled since we started and Mr. Johnny is so great at challenging and encouraging Jay. LOVE LOVE LOVE HIM!!! Happy New Year everyone!!!

Our "crazy" Family Pictures

It is ALWAYS necessary to take a "crazy" picture while posing for the family Christmas pic.

Packy's Present

Do you get it?

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

From our, everyone has been yacking but now we are better, sorry to those in our path, family, to yours....MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

New Addiction

Advent activities are on hold.
We are still doing some stuff but it is not as organized.
The reason-Jason and I are addicted to Guitar Hero III.
I stink but I'm getting better.
Jason rocks.
He has become the rock star I have always wanted to date.
I am so 16 right now.

Another Fairy from the Party

I just like this picture. This is Mary Blue Butler. Isn't she pretty? ANTM?

Lola Grace's BD

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=ayt0dd6p.33nu7a3l&x=0&y=lol9pd
For the rest of the pictures see the link above.

Swinging is Underrated

Emory and I have been swinging outside everyday since Sunday. I forgot how much fun it is to swing. Betsy and I used to sing the following poem as we would swing at my Nana Cable's house.

The Swing
by Robert Louis Stevenson
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside—
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Baby Wil

You wouldn't know it by looking at that sweet smile but this is Baby Wil and he is fighting cancer. He has been through one round of chemo and has 3 more to go. He is doing great but it still breaks my heart that he is dealing with this at such a young age.

You can read his updates at http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?cpn=BabyWil&cid=eminvite. So sweet.

This kind of Day

Have you ever had the kind of day where you really want the baby to sleep so you wake him up at the last minute to pick up his brother from school? Then you drag him to karate and since you don't have any time to nurse him because you have to take his sister to ballet, you make a bottle in the sink and give it to him in the car propped up with pillows while you drive to ballet. Ballet is short so you run to Blockbuster to grab a movie and drop your purse in the parking lot and then realize you don't even have a Blockbuster card because it has been so long since you actually rented a movie. Make it back to pick up ballet girl. Make it back to pick up karate boy. Make it home. Put baby in the bed. Thank goodness dinner has been in the crock pot all day. Make some caramel popcorn. Done.

December in Macon

I know I am behind on my advent days but we have been doing them. Jay is on it every morning! We went to a drive- thru Nativity Saturday night and tonight we are making caramel popcorn. BUT, what I really want to share is what we are doing today. We are having a picnic and playing outside because it is 80 degrees. It is hard to explain to our children that they should not expect a white Christmas or a white anything except for maybe a random day in March. I love it. I am not a cold weather person and I am as far north as I will ever live. Sunny days just make me feel better. So Mele Kalikimaka as they say in Hawaii!

December 3

The note said to play find the candy canes and eat one. I had mom and dad over for supper and after we were finished with our pecan pie, made by Nana, Mimi and Papa hid 28 candy canes. Jay and Jason were a team and Emory and I were a team and we searched the house for the hidden canes. So fun!

Weekend PRojects

DAY 1-When the children woke up Saturday morning they were very excited to see the advent bulletin board. THey read the first activity-Decorate the house for Christmas and get a tree and trim it-and they were ready for action. Jay helped Jason bring down all of the boxes and then they went and picked out a tree. We did a big sorting project this year and got rid of lots of broken decorations or ones that we didn't need anymore. The kitchen looked like a Christmas explosion happened! Emory went to see the Beauty and the Beast at the MLT with Lola Grace and Ceci and Jay went to the Music Hall of Fame with Jeffery. The highlight of his trip was putting pennies on the railroad tracks and finding them flat after the train went by. Jason loved this because he used to do it as a kid too. We had another fire in the fire pit and Jay and Jeffery ate roasted marshmallows and drank hot chocolate. Jason read them the Christmas Bogey story and they went to bed, very fast.



DAY2-The note said to learn about the advent and watch a Christmas movie. Our family lit the first advent candle at church so we wanted to explain what the advent is all about. After church we decorated the tree. Jay wanted LOTS of ornaments and that's what we did. We made our own advent wreath and then cleaned up! Ceci came over to bbsit and she brought some Christmas crafts-an ornament for them to decorate and some foam stickers to make Christmas pictures-she is the BEST mother in law! Then they watched Charlie Brown Christmas and went to bed!

Christmas Countdown

Inspired by one of the blogs I read, I decided to really try to make Christmas special this year. Last year I was very pregnant with Packy and Jason had to do all of the decorating. We started the "projects" earlier this week with the cookies and pine cone decorating. Yesterday Jason blew the leaves in the backyard in to a giant pile and we played different games in it. Then he built a fire in the portable fire pit and we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Jay told Jason it was the best night of his life. He was in one of those "I love you Dad" moods. I decided to make an advent of some sort and the envelope bulletin board is what I came up with. Each day I will put a new "project" in the envelope that will tell the kids what we are going to do. Today's activity is to decorate the house and get a tree and trim it. Other activites include, read the real Christmas story from the Bible, watch Frosty the Snowman together and drink hot chocolate, ride around and look at Christmas light, etc. My goal is to post each day what we did. I can't promise it will happen but I am going to try. We also have a tree on the bulliten board that Emory made at school and each day we add a Christmas ball to it. She brought it home with office stickers to put on it but I chunked those and punched new ones from my old scrap paper. Much cuter!

Holiday Fun

I am trying to be more engaged with my children. Instead of just giving them stuff to do I am making an effort to do things with them. This is not the easiest thing for me. I could never be a home school Mom. Yesterday we did two projects (TV off and music on). We iced cookies for Ceci for her birthday and we decorated pine cones to use for Christmas decorations. It was a successful venture. Everyone had fun and no one cried. Yea! (Emory made the tie-dyed cookie with layers and layers of icing!)

Thanksgiving

I would like to give thanks that my children are well enough to go to school. Poor Jay had his last day of school on a Friday and was sick by Saturday morning. Basically all of my children have been sick the entire week. Not much of a vacation. Jay and Emory did get to go see Bee Movie last night with Ceci and Pop. Thanks to all of this at home time I am almost finished with my Christmas shopping. I do most everything online. It helps me to actually think about the presents and not go in to a store and start buying stuff because it's a good deal. I also do a lot of personalized presents and those are easier online as well. Now I am planning some fun things to do with the children. Today we are going to decorate giant pinecones that Emory collected at the farm where we spent Thanksgiving with glitter. One day we will decorate cookies that they can share with their friends. My goal is to have a simple, stress free, holiday season. If you have any tips on how to do this let me know. My next stress inducing event is the Christmas picture!

Tip for the Day

When your baby has a runny nose it is not a good idea to wear a black shirt.

Happy Thanksgiving from my sick house to yours!

Oprah

All I have to say is that I am glad my Sunday school lesson this week was on jealousy.

Packy Baptised

Paul Allen Churchwell was baptised yesterday. He wore a gown my mom made. This is the fourth one she has made for her grandchildren. What a special gift! Packy was beautiful and Emory kept asking why he was wearing a dress. Hattie is here. Jay is reading books to her. Such a sweet big cousin. Emory put on a "show" after Packy's lunch and sent Hattie around to sell tickets. After the show was over she had collected $8! I think we might have something here.

Disney Princesses on Ice

Before Disney Princesses on Ice.

And after.

We had so much fun. I bought the $12 opening night tickets which were great seats. I brought Princess candybars from Kroger that cost $1 to eat during intermission since the cotton candy cost $10 (it came with a plastic gold crown and people were buying them left and right-I am way too cheap for that). The show was very well done and all of the Princesses were there (even Mulan who E loves). Emory was asleep about 3 minutes out of the parking lot.

Good times!

My Boys

Jay is 6 and does not like to have his picture taken. Or so he says. He likes to play a game where I am the paparazzi and I have to "catch" him in order to get his picture. This is not easy because he is fast and knows what sounds my camera makes when the flash is metering. Most of my pictures of him end up a blur or with his hand in front of his face but every once in a while I catch him and get a big smile. The payoff is worth more than a Britney in the gas station shoeless picture.

Packy on the other hand is so used to seeing the camera in his face that it does not phase him. He also is always smiling so he makes for an easy target.

Old dog, new tricks

I am trying to teach an old dog (Packy) new tricks (sleeping all night).

I have always lived by the 3 day to form a habit rule. Packy does not follow this rule. Night 1- 1 hour crying. Night 2- 30 minutes. So far so good. Last night-more than an hour and more than I could take. I nursed him and he went back to sleep immediately. Now this is my fault because I have been nursing him whenever he wants, including the night, and he is almost 9 months. I just know it won't last forever. I usually try to nurse for a year so really I only have 3 months left. Does he really have to sleep all night?

Below is a sneak peek of Christmas.

A Packy Kiss

This is how Packy kisses.

Open mouth to the nose.

Definitely for family only.

Who else would think it's cute to have baby spit all over your nose?

FYI

In case you don't know....my countdown is the days I have been nicotine free.
My name is Payton. I am a nicotine addict.
I have taken a vow along with http://www.whyquit.com/ to NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF.
I have had this habit since I was 15 so I am pushing way too many years.
A blog is supposed to be about real life right?
This is mine.
No more nicotine.

3 Days

I am no longer counting hours.
I am starting day 4.
Going good.
Keep praying.

A New Baby

Maddie James Wilson has arrived.

She was born on Hope's birthday and has her dark brown hair.

Hope looks amazing, of course.

Mom and baby are doing great and coming home today.

I was asleep at 8:10 last night. Does that say anything about my week?

I am also at 36 hours and counting. Keep praying. Hour by hour.

Favorite Costume

This was my favorite of the night.

More tommorow.

Terrific Tuesday

I used to get so frustrated when people did not update their blog.
I am now one of those people.
We are trying to ready for Halloween.
I walked around Walmart today and had Christmas anxiety.
Santa is on a budget.
We have too much now. I can't imagine more stuff. Stuff gets on my nerves.
We had a busy weekend with friends from college, a concert, a birthday party, and the kids singing at church Sunday night. I will put pictures up later and for sure some of Halloween.

Cookie Explosion

Here is my new thing-cookies.

For the past few days I have tried many recipes trying to find a pretty icing that tastes good. I found one and now I am a cookie making machine. This lady at Michaels was watching me check out with my various supplies and commented to Emory that her mom must have to take cookies or cupcakes to school. I said no, just a mom who loves to make cookies and cupcakes. How lucky are my children? And I let them lick the spoons!

I was watching The View today and they were talking about co-sleeping and bathing with your kids. Whoopie was saying how she never did either with her daughter and everyone else on the show did one or the other. I love taking baths with my babies. Packy and I bath almost every night and it is such a special time. He does not sleep with us and I have never let a baby sleep in my bed but almost every night at some point either Jay or Emory or both end up in our bed and I love it. My rule is they have to go to sleep in thier bed and they can't come in ours before about 5am. Sometimes they can come earlier if there is a reason like a bad dream, bloody nose, or they really need to snuggle. Like my mom always says, "They won't WANT to do that forever". I am enjoying it while I can.

Ya know what's fun?

*waking up at 8:30 on Saturday with everyone in the bed (minus Pacs)
*waking up at 8:30 and no one else is awake yet
*vacuuming with Rhianna (shut up and drive) LOVE my ipod
*having a clean house for a while
*walking to a Jazz festival one street over from us
*getting close to tears when scrapping Jay's 2k experience
*getting to hang out with my BFF from high school who moved back to town
*my son being BFF with her son and playing wii together
*being an aunt again in June

Is Friday here already?

OK, it's Friday.

This week we made it to school, ballet, karate, Wed night church.

JAY HAD AN ALL GREEN WEEK!!!! WOO HOO!!!

How do you take a picture of a 6 year old who had an all green week? You sit on him. (see picture) Emory has brought home her class frog for the weekend and promptly dressed him in Princess pjs. Packy busted his lip (see picture) when his sister got too excited at ballet and carried him across the floor and then dropped him. He stopped crying in a second. She cried for the next 15 minutes because she made her brother bleed. The Riverdale Arts Festival is tommorow so we will be walking over to hear some jazz and then relax around the house. My favorite kind of weekend-no plans! I want to work on some scrapping and baking. The cupcakes I made for Keri to take to a baby shower. Magnolia Bakery buttercream. So good. So much sugar. French dip sandwiches sandwiches for dinner. YUM!

Back to Monday

We really enjoyed our weekend.
Jay built his firetruck with Papa at Lowe's.
Emory, Mimi, and I went shopping at Old Navy and Target. (new outfit in the picture) Drew came over and played with Jay. We went to the Senn's and watched the Georgia game. Mary made an awesome lasagna and salad. The kids played on the trampoline in the dark with flashlights and the babies wanted to be held. Sunday consisted of church, El Sombrero with Mom and Dad, naps for me, Jason, and Packy, and then "Daddy time" while I got ready for the week. Started off Monday on track and Jay had a green day. Yeah! He is at karate right now.

Friday Update

Yeah it's Friday!
I won last night 6-0,6-0 (by default).
I lost today 7-5, 6-3.
The weather is super but it made me
realize that Em has no clothes.
Old Navy here we come!
Mom kept Pac this morning and while he was sleeping she did laundry and cleaned the kitchen. It is so awesome to come home and be more caught up than when you left. Thanks Mom. Looking forward to a weekend of nothing. Family time around the house. Jay is going to Lowe's with Papa Watt tommorow to build a firetruck and see a real firetruck. So special to get to spend time with your great grandad. I made a Greek Shephard's Pie last night that was really good. Does anyone else have a car that looks like a bomb exploded in it by Friday afternoon? I can tell what we did by looking at my car-ballet, karate, church, school, Chick-fil-A, and other junk. Time for a car dump.

Pickle Pac

Babies don't like pickles right?

They make cute funny faces when they eat them?

Not Packy! He loves them. He is sooo my baby!

Catch up

Kissing 2nd Cousins:Clara and Packy Jay and Jason in Mario 64 trance-bonding over the wii.

Why is it that when I set my alarm for 6 am with great intentions of getting my day started early that the night runs something like this? The baby is teething and gets up more than normal. The six year old has a bloody nose and wants some company as he waits it out in the bathroom. When he finally goes back to bed there is a bug on the ceiling that must be killed since he is in the top of a bunk bed. Baby up again. By the time the alarm goes off I know I am not getting up. Best intentions.

The reason I was trying to get up is to "catch up". I always feel like I am trying to catch up the things I need to do to get to the things I want to do. This is basically an organization issue but as soon as I feel like I am somewhat organized I am thrown a curve ball. Thanks to http://karijo.wordpress.com/2007/01/02/calendar/ and http://www.grocerylists.org/ I do have my meals for the week planned. Now I just need to make a plan and work the plan...but oh the laundry!

The recipe below is for something that Jason and I always enjoy. Straight sugar but so good.

Freezer Candy

Line a cookie sheet with foil.

Place saltines on foil-about one sleeve.

Melt 2 sticks of butter with one cup of brown sugar.

Bring to a boil.

Stir and boil for 2 minutes.

Pour over crackers.

Cook at 400 for 7 minutes.

Remove and pour one package chocolate chips on top and spread evenly.

Put in freezer until set (an hour or so).

Break into pieces.

Yummy!

Friday Holiday

Friday holiday.

Jay likes taking only "invisible" pictures. He will not let me take pictures any other way. So six!

Emory is ANTM in her belly dancing outfit Mimi brought her from Istanbul.

Raining so hard. Lots of puzzles, wii, and SpongeBob. Pulled some weeds.

I have been on a scrapbooking tear. I will post some stuff here at some point.

Right now I am not really sure of the point of my blog. Do you have to have a point?

Most of the ones I read do but right now I am just playing around. Just having fun documenting our day to day life. I did win my tennis match 6-4, 6-1 last night.

After work

Afternoon playtime on the bed.

Look at those smiles.

Love it.

Had to do it

I can't stand it any longer.

I need a blog.

Why?

Who knows?

So here it goes.

My life in the Birdhouse.

(How cute is the Pac man?)