Birthday's

Well, our busy month of birthday's is fast approaching! For those that may not remember, Garrett's 4th birthday is February 1, Payton's 1st is February 16, mine is February 18, throw in our 6th wedding anniversary on February 12, and Valentine's Day and well, February is a VERY busy month!

I promised myself I'd get through Christmas before I started worrying/planning the parties. I'm already knee deep into planning Garrett's, I went back and forth and finally settled on a Star Wars theme. He is OBSESSED with Star Wars, but I also feel he's just way too young. Then I stumbled on this website and there were tons of ideas for little kids Star Wars parties, so I really got excited. We are going to host a Jedi Knight Training Camp. He can wear his Halloween costume, I'm borrowing a Yoda costume for Payton. I'm going to make these super simple Jedi Knight costumes and light sabers out of pool noodles (if I can find them in January!!), and duct tape, and we will have an obstacle course set up for the kids to "train" on. I am SO excited and really hope the weather cooperates, if not, I'm trying to plan things for inside too. I've even secured a Chewbacca to come and make a guest appearance (thanks "uncle" Josh)!! I think G will be out of his mind. I've told him a little bit and everyday he asks if it's time for his party yet.

As for little Miss Payton, I really want to do an Owl theme. Being that it's her first party, there won't be much in the line of games, I hope the older kids aren't bored! Maybe I need to reconsider that...... Anyways, I've found some designs for ADORABLE owl cakes and I'm just really loving the idea. I'm still just gathering ideas for hers, I think I need to get through G's party first!

I'm going to do G's party the weekend before his birthday and Payton's the weekend after. I'm apologizing in advance, since a lot of the same people will be coming to both parties! But, I'm just not very into the idea of making them share a party. I'll see how this year goes and maybe I'll reconsider it next year. And for those who care, I wanted P to be a fall baby!! I almost, well, I think I did cry, when the Dr told me her due date, lol!!

Kisses

Payton is not much into giving kisses, she may still be too young, I'm not sure. She isn't much of a hugger either, she'll hug you when she's really tired and I think she's trying to tell you to put her to bed more then anything. But, we do a lot of air kissing around here, and I've noticed that Payton has started doing it and it's SO cute! It usually starts with Garrett playing and saying, momma, I love you and then making a kissing sound. Now, Payton makes the noise, and I have to say that I love it! Just now I was getting her out of the car and she was doing it. Mostly it's in response to us, but I've noticed in the last day or so, she'll just crawl up to you and do it. Someday, I know she'll give out lots of hugs and kisses, but for now, I'll take this, it's super cute.

NYE

Everyone kept asking me what we were doing on NYE and I kept saying nothing, but that wasn't really the truth. As Matt & I laid on the couch listening to the kids chase each other, I realized I was exactly where I wanted to be. Payton was crawling as fast as she could after Garrett and then they'd switch and Garrett would chase after her and they were giggling SO hard. It was the most beautiful sound in the world.

We just didn't go out for New Year's, maybe that was a better answer. We stayed in and enjoyed the last day of 2010 as a family, and seeing as 2010 made us a family of 4, it just seemed fitting to spend it all together. As I laid Payton down and kissed her sweet cheeks and the same with Garrett, I knew, just knew that 2011 was going to be a much better year for us. 2010 was a hard year, and maybe I tend to remember the bad more then the good, but it felt like a very difficult year, so I'm hoping and praying that 2011 will be better. Maybe it will be only because 2010 made us stronger and more able to deal with the trials of life. But, I know that we are all together, we are all healthy, and we're going to survive just fine.

So, come on 2011, we're ready for you!!

Heirloom Renovations

The reason we've been SO busy these past few weeks is we are opening our own business!! This was completely unplanned, and unexpected. One day, about 2 weeks before Christmas, Matt came home and said that he was losing his job, after I cried over the fact that we were both about to be unemployed, we pulled our heads out of the sand, and said, ok, what now?!?! And what now led to, Heirloom Renovations.

We were unable to get a bank loan, the economy just hasn't recovered enough for banks to want to loan to startup companies, so we borrowed from my parents and a couple close friends and we've borrowed everything we possibly could and have managed to get this business set to start on January 3.

We are very excited, yet very scared. We don't know if we will be successful, but we know we need to try. It is a granite countertop business, for those that don't know what Matt did/does for a living.

We imagine things will be very tight, tighter then they have been, but we are hoping it leads to better things in the long run. So, look for more posts, and pray for us, we are going to need it!!

Christmas 2010

This year was a VERY tight Christmas for us. But, through the generosity of our family, I don't feel like our kids were neglected one bit, lol!! On Christmas morning, Garrett even said, "I think Santa brought too much", I could have cried. What we did, was bought more, smaller, couple dollar items, so it appeared to him that he got a lot, when in reality we didn't spend much at all.

We were able to spend time with my parents the week before Christmas, then we saw Matt's mom's side of the family the weekend before, and Christmas Eve with Matt's Dad's family and then Christmas Day was here with just the O'Banions.

We had a very enjoyable Christmas, seeing the delight on Garrett's face when he opened up his green light saber from Santa was SO very worth it!! Payton, of course, just wanted to eat the paper.

I know this post is a bit late, but we've been extremely busy around here! I'll explain why soon.

10 months old

We were in Dallas for Payton's 10 month birthday, so I'm a bit behind on the blog update, I'll try and get pictures up later tonight.

Payton is an absolute joy, I do think it's the age, but a lot of it is just her personality, she's a very happy baby. She's also extremely active, taking her out to eat is an adventure, she just doesn't sit still much, and she's so curious, just as you go to spoon some food into her mouth, someone walks by and her little head whips around and food ends up in her ear, lol!

She is so close to walking, I'll be surprised if she doesn't walk before her first birthday, but since you can't predict these things, she may surprise us all and wait a bit longer.

This past weekend she spent her first nights in a hotel, I'm pretty sure I didn't sleep in a hotel until I was in my teens, so she's definitely ahead in that department! But, we went to see her godmother and Aunt graduate from college!! We were all so proud, and think so highly of her, we know she'll do great in whatever she does next!

So, Happy 10 month birthday Payton, and Happy Graduation Aunt Heather!!

Babies and Dogs

Have you ever thought about how similar babies and dogs are?? I"m not being mean, but think about it.....

we clap/whistle at them to get their attention;

if food drops on the floor, they will clean it up for you;

they like to chew on shoes;

you worry about them peeing or pooping in the wrong places;

if they eat too much, they just yak it up;

we love when they fall asleep on our laps;

strangers love to look at them and touch them;

we buy them special food;

they drool on us;

they hate having their hair brushed;

but love water;

and, of course, we love them to death and would go to the ends of the earth for them!