Columbus Day 2011

Cameron, Jonah and Macy hanging in the back yard.

Fullers, Peytons, and Cameron. And why was it that only my kids were half naked? Because they're silly, and filthy, and if one does something, then the other on has to do it too. Believe me! Any guesses as to why they were all laughing so hard? Because I was dancing like a monkey behind the photographer. dur.

Yesterday I got to spend the entire day off with my kiddos. Daddy was at work, and I hung out with the notorious Jo and fabulous Sadie Sue. As a full-time working momma, I rarely get these days where I get to pretend to be a stay at home mommy. I even wore my yoga pants all day, and didn't wash my hair. It was quite niiiiice! We went to Zilker Park and played on the fire engine, looked for bugs by the creek, and visited the hillside theater and did some booty shaking on the empty stage. Its these kind of outings that my mother used to take my sisters and I on. She would make up games for us to play, and get us involved in elaborate obstacle courses with hilarious tasks (wipe some boogers on that tree, turn around three times, find a pill bug, and run backwards up that hill). I found myself channeling her yesterday while I instructed my children to rescue my dog, kitty, fish, and frog from a tree (they were fire fighters!), walk on rock walls, crawl on statues, and do some serious marching up a hill. They loved every second, and I did too.

TV recommendations

Yea, I'm mostly into watching more obscure stuff like cheesy sci-fy or British serials. I'll even watch the occasional mainstream show on hulu (Tina Fey still rules supreme). Here's a couple of shows that you may not of heard of that are worth checking out.

Justified: Tim, I love you.

Downton Abbey: British, PBS, fabulastic......Maggie Smith.

Lost Girl: Canadian series just picked up by the Scify channel. Supernatural creatures living amongst normal folk, lots of leather and quirky sidekicks.

Party Down: Snarky comedy about a catering company composed of out of work actors; actual actors include some that are now in some more famous roles (i.e, lady from Glee, dude from Parks and Rec).

Satisfaction: Australian drama about a legal brothel. Sexy times ensue

Skins (UK): all seasons, wonderful acting, unruly British high schoolers navigate adult issues.

Been hearing hubby laugh hysterically when watching a show called The League. Might be worth checking out.

And, I just added the original Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren to the queue. I'm looking forward to this one.

I think its love....on the range

This is an ode to my new favorite website/blog about a wife and mother living on the range in Oklahoma. Okay, I'm not a big fan of Oklahoma. Perhaps because I'm also a 7th generation Texas and that kind of loyalty runs deep. But this lady is living the dream. Well, my dream anyway. Cue ranch house with top-notch cookwares (I'm gaga for dishes), adorable kiddos wearing cowboy hats, floppy dogs, and lots of what I like to call man-work. Check out Ree Drummond of The Pioneer Woman, and don't tell me you're not impressed. You got it lady....

www.thepioneerwoman.com

Tina Fey rules my world

This is the funniest picture I've ever seen. I literally cannot stop laughing, so I had to share.

Summer 2011

These two monkeys..........

ah....those summer nights.

Hanging outside the beach house

Jonah fishin'

Jo and Sadie and their cousins

Dr. Jones and I at Sadie's 2nd birthday party

Happy birthday little girl!!

Pirates and shamrocks

We recently celebrated Jonah's 3rd birthday with a pirate party in the back yard. We blew up the jumpy house, dressed like pirates (well sort of), smashed a pinata, and enjoyed time with friends. I've also included some recent pictures of Jonah and Sadie at their school, celebrating St. Patrick's day

Jonah's pirate costume.

Jonah's class

Jonah showing daddy his special Montessori work that he does at school. It was dad's and donuts day.

Finally with the updates

Well I know its been a while since my last post, but the good news is that Santa just brought us a fancy new camera! So, I'll be able to upload more fantastic pictures of the kiddos and our adventures. But, not today folks since I forgot it at home. Today I've decided to talk about my new (actually old) favorite word: britches. You could say that this word is a little anachronistic, but I'm trying to bring it back. Here's how I work it....

Me: Jonah which britches to you want to wear?
Jonah: Mommy (imagine a very whiny and drawn out tone), I don't want to wear my britches, I want to wear my jammy pants. I love my jammy pants.

So there you have it folks. That's what you call cultural transmission....

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.