Peyton's 2nd Birthday

Peyton had a great birthday. Some friends came for cupcakes on her birthday and she woke up to her new kitchen set. The next day, we played and took the kids to the Teddy Bear Factory for them to make animals. They really enjoyed doing this. Then, we had some more friends over for pizza and a "Princess Castle Cake" which she picked out. They all had a great time. She is such a fun 2 year old. Her favorite things are "dollies" and her favorite thing to do is to sing and dance. She loves anything pink even though she says it's "lellow." I am convinced it is because it is a fun word to say. She brings so much joy to our home. She walks around singing "Jesus loves me" in her sweet little voice and melts our hearts.

This is Peyton getting a Tinkerbell toy from her brothers.









Peyton and Drew while opening presents.


Peyton and me blowing out the candles.

Peyton opening her fairy doll.

Just a pretty picture of our pretty princess.

Christmas Parade

December 6, 2008

The kids enjoyed the Christmas parade even though it was FREEZING!! Drew said his favorite part was all of the candy and the "parades" meaning floates. Logan said the candy and then Peyton piped up "The Candy!" They really liked the floates with all of the fun characters on them. Logan loved seeing all of the snow men. They are his favorites. Peyton really liked the "Santitas" which are the Santas in her language. Drew loved the train and truck things (and of course, the candy.) We all had a wonderful time. Even Carter enjoyed all of the lights and sounds. As other babies were being carted off by their parents, our little trooper hung in their and was great!

December 5, 2008

December 5, 2008

Well, as it has been brought to my attention, I have failed at keeping this up to date already. I have only 4 KIDS 4 AND UNDER as my excuse!!! Seriously, we have been so busy (having fun) that I haven't thought to share how much fun we have been having. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mom, Bob, and Sam came to Chattanooga for a few days and we all had a great time playing with the kids. Now, we are knee deep in the Christmas season with church functions, parties, birthdays, crafts, baking, and shopping. Peyton will turn 2 next week, Drew is a Shepard in the church Christmas program, Carter is "cruising" along furniture and said "da da" (even though I am not sure he knows it means anything yet) and Logan is wide open as usual. Drew is reading better and better and still has a loving excitement every time he discovers he can read a new book. He has a new friend from church named Ms. Kathleen that comes and reads with him from time to time (while I sneak in a nap). She is a reading specialist at a local school for the first grade and has a wonderful supply of different books for him to read to her. She is a wonderful dear for volunteering to come spend time with him. Logan has started to recognize small words and sounds and loves to "read" with us. He also loves for Drew to make up stories to tell him. Unfortunately, most of those stories are made up after bedtime and get ended before he would like. They have truly become best friends and this makes my heart so happy. They are inseparable. Peyton loves to sing. She walks around singing the words that she can remember to a number of songs. Her favorite of late is "Jesus loves me." I could listen to her sweet little voice all day long. She absolutely loves her baby brother and "squishes" him often. I have to pry him from her arms on a regular basis. She tries to pick him up and put him in her lap for "kisses." Drew and Logan also adore Carter and lavish him with hugs, kisses, an endless supply of baby toys, and praises of how cute he is. He is such a joy. Now for the pictures. These are random pictures that I have taken over the last few weeks. They are mostly self explanatory. Enjoy.

This is Drew's first sentence. I was with the baby and when I got back, he had written this all by himself (notice the "u" for an "a") I was very proud of my little man. He went on to try to write, "it's sunny outside."

October 31, 2008 - Friday

Halloween

We all had a great Halloween! We had a full day of fun things starting with Jack-o-Lantern pancakes. We did Halloween crafts and carved and decorated pumpkins. We made Halloween cupcakes and had other special "treats" throughout the day. When Pete came home, we had a "ghost hunt" with cloth covered lollipops hidden (scattered) through the yard. We went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood then ended the evening on a hayride and with a bonfire with some friends from church. The kids loved the hayride. Logan fell asleep in my lap, Carter thought it was a giant bouncy toy, Peyton was a little scared but still enjoyed it, and Drew just had fun! It was a great day.

October 26, 2008 - Sunday

Picking out Pumpkins

We went to a produce stand to get our pumpkin this year. We can't find an actual "patch" but we are still on the hunt for future pumpkin gatherings. The kids enjoyed looking at all of the pumpkins. Drew tried to pick them all up because he is "so strong." Peyton enjoyed looking for ladybugs since that was the first thing that she saw when we got there. She thought every pumpkin had their very own ladybug.

October 19, 2008

We had our church picnic today and it was crazy as usual but we all had fun. This is where the last post of throwing rocks with dad comes in. Pete took Peyton down to the shore to throw rocks into the water and at some point, she took off from Pete's side and ran straight into the water and sat in it!! It was freezing! Of course, Pete went running in to get her. She was drenched and muddy. She is so funny.

October 18, 2008

Pumpkin Patch craziness!!!

We drove over an hour and a half to go to this supposed pumpkin patch and there was no one there!! Score one for mom for not calling first!! All was not lost. We found "train days" in the Summerville town square. The kids had a blast watching a real steam engine come out on the tracks and turn on the round about. They got to climb on an old train car and go into an old train station. They had a nice playground too. The picture of the kids and Pete on the bank is of them throwing rocks into the water. This activity would lead to a funny story I will fill you in for the next day.

We drove back to Chattanooga to the Enchanted Maize where the kids went on a hay ride, a "cow tractor" ride, jumped in the big blow up jumpy things, and picked out a small pumpkin each. They had a great time. It was a crazy crazy day.

October 15, 2008

Peyton's Toes

For some reason, when Peyton gets stickers, she puts them on her toes! Then she walks around looking at them with her toes up like she had a pedicure! She gets so upset when they fall off and spends tons of time putting them back on. It's adorable and infuriating at the same time because they will inevitably fall off. Stickers aren't meant for itty bitty toes!

October 13, 2008

A Mandi Tip!!

I always burn stuff!!! I get so sidetracked that I forget to flip the grilled cheese or turn the omelet. Keep in mind that I am also feeding a 6 month old cereal, unloading the dishwasher, helping put a jigsaw puzzle together, sounding out a word with a 4 year old, holding an almost 2 year old that wants to "help" and a barrage of other things while making whatever it is that is always burning on the stove! I had an aha! moment tonight. Turn the timer on for a minute. The timer beeps every minute as a reminder until you turn it off! Of course, the kids scream, "it's ready!!!" every minute of cooking dinner but that itself is a good reminder to check on whatever I am cooking. I will never burn anything again. Well.....I will burn less.

October 8, 2008

Carter is sitting up!! This is such a fun milestone. I walked into his room and he was just sitting in his crib smiling at me. He seems so proud. He has been pushing himself up to sitting all day.

Peyton is becoming really cute with Carter. She is always concerned about him. She wants to know where he is and she makes sure that I am taking care of him. When he cries she quickly goes to him and says, "It's OK." over and over again. She always brings him toys and says, "here ya go" over and over as quickly possible.

October 7, 2008

Here is a quick update. I won't always write about everyone this way but I figured that it would help for everyone to know the latest. We have been doing pretty well lately but it has been crazy. We seem to be very busy, but I can't say what we've been busy doing!! Living I guess.

Drew is doing really well. He is so smart. I never seem to know what to teach him because I am always surprised he is able to know the things he does. He has an awesome vocabulary. We were watching the movie "Monster's Inc." recently and he said, "Mommy, that child is antagonizing Randle!!!" I asked him what "antagonize" means and he said that she was bothering him. He memorizes very well. He knows his address, phone number, and the first few catechisms. He is learning the alphabet in sign language also. I have a little bit of a hard time with getting him to write letters or draw. He would rather do computer things. I bargain with him already. If he practices his letters, he gets computer time. It's not that he can't do them. He just gets them and then thinks he has it right, why keep doing it. He is like that with many things. Once he learns it, he's done and gets bored really easily. He is so sweet and still such a cuddle bug. I don't like to think that one day he will not want to get in my lap and he will one day be embarrassed to give me hugs and kisses.

Logan is still a ball full of energy which is so funny since he is soooo shy. If you say anything in an "I'm proud of you" voice and he instantly puts his head down with his chin to his chest and looks up at you and then away. It is the cutest look. He is very concerned about the funniest things. He is also our hoarder. He decides he wants something for the day and that is what he carries with him all day. It is usually a Lightening McQueen car and one of his stuffed animals.

Peyton can count to 12! I am always amazed at what my kids can do. She almost has all of her letter sounds down also. She can sing anything. I don't remember the boys forming their words as well at this age. Her favorite song right now is a Nora Jones song about a little girl dancing. After that, she loves Laurie Berkner's "Moon Moon Moon." She loves all things Veggie Tales. Her favorite thing to do, after terrorizing her brothers, is dressing up. She is infatuated with all babies, especially her own baby Carter. She is always saying "Carter is cute, Mommy!"
PS. She has a new favorite. She made me sing the Little Mermaid song over and over before bed tonight. She also LOVES her pink blanket, "blankie" of course, with pictures of Disney Princesses on it. Anytime she is upset of tired, she wants her blankie.

Carter is almost over his cold but is still rather fussy. He has not slept well in the past few nights but I am hoping tonight will be better. He is growing way too fast. He can sit up while perched on his hands but he still falls over a lot. He can almost crawl forward. He scoots forward and backwards and rolls all around. He is simply precious. Our most joyful child yet!

Mandi's Munchkins

Well, I am going to give this blog/website thing another go. I have found myself to be somewhat of a website hopper, trying to find the absolute best place to put everything. The problem is that I am a perfectionist and it doesn't exist. So, here I am. I will do my best to update regularly, but no promises.