Mega family outing, 1st edition

We all firmly decided that a once-a-month family outing is a must. Especially after this weekend's success. The outing consisted of a trip to McKinney Falls state park that included 6 kids, 7 adults, and a ton of snacks. We took a little hike down to the water and threw rocks, played on the playscape, ate our weight in sandwiches and fruit, and looked at bugs, flowers, and more rocks. It was a blast and the kids loved being able to run wild in nature. Sadie wouldn't let me hold her hand even for a minute while we were hiking. She wanted to hang with the big kids. She did like holding hands with the big girls though, and the twins positively loved escorting her down the trail. Where should we go next month?

Prolly the cutest kids God ever made

Is Sadie almost as big as Jonah? Yes, I believe so. She's a big girl, even the doctor said so. She's got a determination about her, a strong will, and a very happy disposition. Its wonderful when you start to see actual personalities develop in your children. Jonah's a slow walker, a lolli-gagger if you will. You can't get him to hurry up no matter what. He likes to look at everything, sing to himself, and kick rocks. Sadie puts her head down and barrels down the sidewalk like a mini mac truck. These kids crack me up, gosh I love 'em.

A day in the life....weekday

Here's a brief run down of a typical weekday in the Peyton household. Hold on to your socks, its really captivating.....

6 am: Daddy literally has to sit mommy up and pull her out of bed and direct her to the shower. Bless him for being so gentle and kind to this sleep-deprived mommy.
6:20: Make coffee and lunches for Jonah, Sadie and Daddy. Feed annoying cat and dog
6:30: Kids start waking up and daddy oversees the dressing of the children and good morning songs.
7 am: Daddy departs for work, mommy prepares breakfast and follows up with "eat your breakfast my darlings" about 35 times. Shoes and socks, sippy cups, lunch boxes, check. off to school, work, and more coffee.
8 to 5: mommy slaves away at work writing reports, chatting with co-workers and secretly doing crossword puzzles. Daddy runs around town looking dapper, citing regulations and blowing up people's skirts (figuratively, of course).
5 pm: Mommy goes to pick up the kiddos from school, chats with teachers and carries all of their miscellaneous crappola to the car
5:30: arrive at the casa, cuddle with daddy, dog and cat. Play, play, play until daddy asks....so, what's for dinner? Mommy promptly says, FOOD. Daddy says yummy and asks if he can do anything to help. This is his southern gentlemanly way of saying, yo I'm hungry woman.
6:30: Dinner's on the table, Sadie's is on the floor, and we are bargining with Jonah about what he should be eating....eat three bites of your pasta, and two grapes, etc. "how was work today honey?"
7pm: Bath time, chase after a naked kiddos and laugh a little booties, jammies and brief pick-up. Milk for little sister and she is out like a light. A little TV and reading for Jo. Daddy acts really sleepy on the couch, Jonah's in bed by 8, then up at 8:05, and 8:14......
8-10pm: dishes, walk dog, jog in the neighborhood (only a couple of times a week), PBS or netflix, maybe a beer or glass of wine. Hit the pillow by 10. adios amigos.

Rockport 2010

A couple of weeks ago we spent a wonderful weekend at a quaint beach house in Rockport, which we shared with the Fuller's. We spend most of the day saturday swimming at the public beach in Port A. Then we retreated to our house to watch the wonderful sunset, chase after kids, eat snacks, and drink a few beers. In this picture everyone is really wiped out after a long weekend, as we forgot to take any family photos until we were just about to load up and head out. On the way home we stopped at the Mission at Goliad. The mission and the chapel were really beautiful, I'm glad we finally made the detour.

Some good family shots

I found these a while back. They were taken at my little cousin's birthday party a couple of months ago. Daddy showcased his circus trick with Sadie, and I subsequently freaked out. Jonah enjoyed a lot of ice cream, and mommy did a little hula hoopin'. Fun was had by all!

Happy Birthday Sadie

I haven't had a chance to gather picture's from Sadie's 1st birthday party, but we have a wonderful time at Barton Springs with some close friends and family. Here's some recent pictures of her. She's just about to walk and babbles alot. Her favorite things to do are steal toys from her brother, eat just about everything in sight, and wiggle.

At Zilker park just before her birfday party.

Taking a little nap with Hudson at my cousin's house.

Our favorite place

Barton Springs pool is our favorite swimming hole in Austin. Its a huge spring fed pool with cold clear water that is surrounded by huge pecan trees. Its been an Austin favorite for decades, and I'm sure the natives treasured it for eons too. We go almost every weekend in the summer and enjoy going off the diving board and flopping around in the deep end. My grandparents met for the very first time at Barton Springs nearly 70 years ago. My grandma was swimming and got caught up in the current near the dam, and my grandfather saved her! How romantic! She claims that he was trawling for women that day, and boy did he catch one. I hope the kiddos grow up to apprecieate this gem of a place as much as we do. Happy Father's day.

Good ole days

Just found this picture of David on an archaeology survey somewhere deep in the Texas wildlands, where cacti are larger than city buses.

Zoo trip and new front yard

David built the wall, when we moved in it was just a dirt lawn that sloped down to the sidewalk.

After a couple of dump trucks full of dirt, a lot of sod, and probably some creative landscaping, the front yard looks wonderful. So proud of David for all his hard work!

Kiddos were fascinated with the fishies

Momma timbo! Anyone get this movie reference?

My babies

Guide to natural cleaning

Every once in a while I get a little freaked out, as I'm sure every mother does, thinking that I am feeding my kids too much junk, sugar, or processed food. I admit that I usually don't buy all organic, but I am a conscience shopper and typically opt for fruits over sugary snacks. Recently I've been hearing alot about the dangers of high fructose corn syrup, and just read an article about pesticides in fresh fruit linked to kids with ADHD. We are surrounded by artificial goods, toxic chemicals, and convenience and processed foods. It seems like there is a substantial link between our steady adoption of these unnatural products and the higher incidence of cancers in the overall population. Well, who knows really. But I do know that our long past ancestors probably lived lives that were much more in tune with nature and were better for it. In any case, I've just purchased this new book and hope to slowly rid my home of some of the harsh chemicals that I use for cleaning. It basically is a guide for using baking soda, vinegar, borax, and essential oils for cleaning instead of harmful chemicals.

P.S. I once had a rather unsighly wart on my arm that wouldn't go away. I even went to the doctor to have it frozen off, but it promptly returned. After some internet research, I started putting apple cider vinegar on the wart. After a couple of weeks it turned black and just fell off. I didn't even notice it was gone until sometime later. So, these natural products work!

Weekend in Vegas

This past weekend Leah, mom, and I flew up to Las Vegas (sans kiddos) to visit the little sister Kathleen. Her soon to be inlaws were throwing her a bridal shower, but it was to be held in Bakersfield, CA. We arrived in Vegas and immediately hit the road for a 4 hour drive to Bakersfield, where we met most of Brandon's family at a local mexican restaurant. After the bridal shower the following day, we all loaded up in the car and made the long trek back to Vegas. Finally, the gambling could being. As I had never really gambled before, I promptly lost a bunch of money on the roulette table and quickly figured out that I am pretty lucky on the slots. I hit a $45 jackpot on the nickel slots, and later hit a few more smaller jackpots. Oh man, I am I hooked. We had a blast.

A little bored on the drive to Bakersfield

Now starting to go a little crazy

At the bridal shower

Might be a little early for these two

some little fruit stand on the side of the road

Little Kathleen and her future in-laws

And finally we get to it, the roulette table. I kept betting on 17 (for Sadie's birthday), and as soon as I would bet on something else, 17 would hit. This happened 3 times, I nearly barfed.

Snake sighting

I saw this dude in the field the other day. I'll admit that I was a little shaken up afterward, but thankfully I had my snake leggings on.

Ah dang, Dixie Carter.

I'm not totally ashamed to admit that I positively loved the show "Designing Women" when I was a young girl. The shoulder pads, the big hair, and oh yes, the sass. Julia Sugarbaker was a force of nature; extremely proper and extremely unruly. She was a feminist without being uncouth about it, and if you were racist, sexist, a cheat, or general wrong-doer, she would put you in your place with her sharp tongue and hell-bent attitude. I was sad to hear about her passing yesterday. Her piercing stare and stomping high-heels will likely never be rivaled. Thank you Dixie for teaching young girls to stand up for what's right and not be bullied by big men with over sized egos.....booya!

Sadie's circus trick

This is daddy's favorite thing to do with the kids, and it always scares the holy bejesus outta me. Grandma Marcelle captured this classic shot in our back yard. Sadie obviously loves it.

No more sweets!

So today I went home for lunch to help David out with the kiddos, as he was playing Mr. Mom. I asked Jonah what he wanted for lunch and the conversation went like this:

Me: Jo, are you hungry?
Jonah: Nope (his new favorite word)
Me: Well, its lunch time. What do you want to eat?
Jonah: My sucker
Me: Sorry, no sucker. It's lunch time.
Jonah: Cake?
Me: How about noodles?
Jonah: Ice cream?
Me: You're getting noodles.

A little bit of ranting

Just had to get this off my chest.....New Moon Really Sucks!!

I'm not really sure why the whole world is so taken with the melodramatic phenomenon that is the Twi-dim saga. I read the first book and could hardly get through it due to the constant droning of a love-sick teenage girl who can't walk without tripping over her own feet and has no life ambitions, except to stare into the eyes of Edward Cullen. The movie is even more bland with Kristen Stewart's utterly mono-tone performance and Rob's constipated, love hurts, look. BARF! Its only redeeming quality is Jacob Black (Lautner), who I fully intended to hate given the interstellar hype of his ripped muscles. But, he actually turned in a good perfomance and his character was genuine and, okay I'll say it, dreamy.

I don't ever get to actually go to the movies, so I usually only see anything after it is released on DVD. I do have to say that I enjoyed Hellboy II and United States of Tara. Star Trek is likely the best movie I've seen all year. Still haven't seen Avatar yet, as I can't seem to convince my husband to go with me to the dang movie theater....ugh!

Jonah's 2nd Birthday Party

A couple of weekends ago we celebrated Jonah's 2nd birthday with a wonderful party in our backyard. We borrowed the jumpy house from my sister and gilled up a boat load of hot dogs. All the family and close friends showed up to enjoy the wonderful weather and run crazy. Jonah's favorite gift was probably his cozy coupe, it has a perfect spot to stow a cup cake.

Auntie Lele and Sadie having some good snuggle time.

Daddy and Jo talking cars

Sadie giving grandma a big girl hug

Birthday boy enjoying the jumpy house

A couple of geniuses trying to get the balloons out of the tree

How did this happen?

Holy cow, when did these kids get to be so big?

Pops and nancy bring the good stuff

This past weekend dad (pops) and his sweetheart came down to Austin for a visit. They brought some goodies for Valentines Day and Jonah decided that he LOVES chocolate.
Pops and Jo enjoying a sunny day (finally) at the Austin Nature Center. We come here nearly every weekend when the weather's nice. Mostly because its free and close by, but also because it gives Jonah a chance to run around like a wild indian and play in the dirt.

Here's Jonah doing his best to convince mommy that he needs more chocolate. I only gave in once gosh darn-it.

Pops goes a little crazy with the kisses. He just loves to slobber all over my kids, god bless him.

The Girls

This past weekend Kathleen flew in from Las Vegas to commence her wedding planning. We went dress shopping, tasted wedding cake, and met with the caterers. Its been a long time since we've all been together. From Left to Right: Caroline (neenie and bride's best friend), Jill (cousin and organizer extradinaire), Leah (Matron of Honor), Kathleen (Bride), Abby and Sadie (bride's maid and comic relief), Mom (mom)