Weldon and Randa Payne and our little family: 2016

I need to do better than just updating once a month, and I keep saying that, but honestly it will probably never happen, so this will have to do! Earlier this month we went to a county park to walk some trails and explore. It was pretty neat and the kids really liked it. The coolest part though was that they have a butterfly garden there and they hatch out Monarch butterflies and then they tag them and release them so they can track them on their way to Mexico. We got there just in time and they let us help tag them (put a tiny sticker with contact info on the lower part of their wing) and then we got to release them. We learned lots of stuff about them and it was just really neat. When we released them the scientist would take them out one at a time and put them on the kids head or hand where they would sit for a few seconds before they would fly away. I wish I had my camera because it was really cool. Weldon and I got to hold one too. They are beautiful creatures and are bigger than I thought.

We went back up to Lake Michigan and played in the sand and had a good time there even though it was on a cold and windy day and was too cold to play in the water. The weather here is so bizarre, some days it feels cold and you can tell that it is fall, but most of the days have been really warm and sunny. We did turn the heater on one day, but the rest we have been sleeping with the windows open because it is hot at night. I like it this way though because we are still able to go outside and enjoy things. The leaves are changing colors and it is so pretty. I have never seen anything quite like it. The people here are so nice and friendly and it is fun to do things like stop at roadside pumpkin stands and things that are just so different than in Arizona.

I love the fall feeling, it makes me want to cook stuff. I bought a little pie pumpkin and cooked and pureed it yesterday, so hopefully today I can make a pumpkin pie completely from scratch. I have never done that before so hopefully it turns out good. I also ordered an apple peeler and an apple sauce maker like Mom’s and I plan on going to an orchard later today or tomorrow to get some apples and do some canning. I am really excited about that but a little nervous too as I have never done it by myself before.

Colton: Colton is doing well at school and loves learning. He is a lot like me though in that if he doesn’t see the point to doing something that he just won’t learn it, so we have had to come up with ways to show him that we use math every single day. He was just guessing at all of his math problems, but now that we realized that and are working with him on it he is doing a better job of slowing down and actually doing the problems. He has discovered reading and how fun it can be and that is really fun to watch and makes me so proud! So funny story about him the other day… It was about 9:30 at night and Weldon and I were about to go to sleep and I hear Colton get out of bed and go into the bathroom and start to pee and I can hear that none of it is hitting the water so we get out of bed and turn the lights on and he is standing in the middle of the living room just peeing on the floor. We said “Colton go pee in the toilet!!” so he says “oh, ok.” And goes into the bath room, finishes peeing and goes back to bed like nothing happened. Weldon and I figure he was sleepwalking and took a wrong turn because he was perfectly lined up with where the toilet would be if he had gone straight rather than to the left. We were laughing while we cleaned the carpet. When we asked him about it the next day he didn’t remember it at all but he laughed and laughed and said “I can believe I learned how to sleep with my eyes open!” (out of the whole story that’s what he was hung up on, his open eyes, not the fact that he peed on the carpet. Lol) He is a fun kid and is never boring!

Kaci: Kaci has lost three teeth just this month. She is missing both front teeth and one bottom side tooth (her bottom middle teeth fell out last year and have already grown back) She stresses me out with how fast she is losing them. But she gets so excited and feels like she is rich from the tooth fairy. In fact one day we were explaining to the kids about how we were saving money to buy a house and Colton said that we could just knock all of Kaci’s teeth out and use the tooth fairy money. Yeah that’s not gonna happen! She is so dang smart, she just is. She Loves loves school and doing her homework. In fact one day she was pestering me about doing her homework and I couldn’t help her because I was making dinner, she started throwing a fit about it and I got frustrated and told her that if she didn’t leave me alone I wouldn’t let her do her home work for a week! Oh man you should have seen her face, her eyes got huge and she said “I’m sorry mom, I’ll ask you after dinner. I am still giggling as I type this because who would have thought that that would be an effective threat, but for Kaci it sure was. Kaci also learned how to ride a bike without training wheels this week. It took her all of about 10 mins and then she could do it. It was really cute to watch because I was busy trying to keep Owen out of the road so Colton helped her balance and ran alongside her holding the bike up until she could do it. I wish I had a picture of that because it was so tender and he was so excited and proud of her. She is amazing how quickly she learns things and once she puts her mind to something there is nothing that can stop her.

Preston: Ok most of this letter is going to be about Preston because I get to spend lots of time with him and this kid is just dang hilarious. First a few stories about him that I don’t think I ever wrote about while we lived in Safford. Preston is my little buddy, and he pretty much follows me everywhere. One time I was taking a shower and he had followed me into the bathroom and there was a gap in the shower curtain and he started laughing because he could see my bum. So I tried to be totally mature and normalize the human body and said “yep, I have a bum just like you do.” To which he innocently replied “yeah but I just have a tiny one and you just have a big one” and then I not so maturely kicked him out of my bathroom. Haha. Another time we were out on a drive and he says “Mom, I have a suplize (surprise) for you!” so I look back and he is holding out his hand and has his pointer finger and his thumb pressed together and then he slowly, proudly pulls them apart and I say “eww Preston! That’s not a surprise that’s a boogger!!” and then he laughed and laughed about that. Oh man this kid! There are like a million stories a day like that I could tell.

Since moving here he has found a love for Rollie Pollies. They somehow getting in the house, I think through the sliding glass door and he just loves them. They are his special little friends and he holds them and likes to have them sit on his finger while he runs laps around the kitchen table, yelling “Look mom! He likes me, see how he’s holding on!” one time he put one in the cupboard to be a home for it and I told him to get it out and he says, “But mom, he likes it. He’s not afraid of the dark, see I can’t hear him screaming!” Oh and I have also had to ban them from being at the table because one time unbeknownst to me he had one sitting on his arm while we were eating waffles and it fell into his plate and he starts laughing and says “look mom, it’s like he’s swimming in the syrup!” So one thing I never thought I would have to say before eating is “Preston did you put your Rollie Pollie outside to be with his family while we eat?” but apparently I need to be very specific and cant just assume that he doesn’t have one on him somewhere! About a week ago he brought one to me and said its name was Randa and he asked if I wanted to hold it. Well how could I pass that up, so I held Randa, and actually felt quite honored that he named it after me because I know how much he loves them. He played with Randa for quite a while until he accidentally stepped on it while he was putting it out side. Oh the heartbreak, there were tears like I have never quite seen before from this kid! He was sobbing and felt so bad that he had killed it. Luckily it was a Saturday so Weldon was home and got to hold him and snuggle on the couch until Preston felt better. Then this past week he found a big one and brought it to Daddy and said he had named it Weldon. Daddy told him it was the best Rollie Pollie he had ever seen and Preston felt very very proud of it. It is cute to watch him with them, and it makes it so I don’t mind so much that a few come in in the mornings. We have fun going on walks and he likes to try and help me around the house. His favorite thing is to push the button on the dryer to get it started. We also got their Halloween costumes in the mail a few days ago. Preston is going to be the red power ranger and he is so dang excited. He tried on his costume and stood on the toilet in the bathroom so he could see himself in the mirror and made all sorts of tough faces and ninja moves. It is one of those costumes that has the fake muscles so he feels very strong when he wears it. We had to tell him he couldn’t wear it any more until after Halloween because he was wearing it literally day and night and we didn’t want it to get worn out. He can’t wait to get to wear it to go trick or treating.

Owen: Ok a lot of this will be about Owen too but its fair because I usually can’t think of much to write about him. Owen is getting so big so fast. He runs and plays and can understand pretty much everything we say to him. He loves to talk and jabber away like he is having an actual conversation with you. It is cute to hear him. He does actually say quite a few words and is pretty good at communicating what he wants. He probably says more than I understand but so far I have heard him say: Mom, Daddy, blankie, drink, sippy, eat, more, please, thank you, shoes (he loves his shoes!) hi, bye, ok, done, puppy, night night, yes and no. I think he probably says more but that is all I can think of right now. He is cute because if you ask him to do something, like come get his shoes on he will nod and say “k” and then come sit down for his shoes. He is getting more and more independent and loves to do what the other kids are doing. He hates getting stuck inside if they are all out playing with friends. He is so funny because he can flop and throw fits with the best of them but his are funny to watch. For example if he is really mad and is about to dramatically throw himself on the floor he will usually check backwards before he does so he doesn’t hurt himself. He is a bit of a drama king. He LOVES bananas, he pretty much calls any fruit or vegetable that he likes a nana. In fact it was funny because when we were still in Safford and would talk about moving to Indiana he would think we were saying banana and then he would get all excited and say “nana, nana!?” and then be really mad when no one would give him a banana.

He loves Shadow and is sometime a little rough with him, luckily Shadow is patient, and he is well rewarded for it because Owen is always sneaking him food. He knows he isn’t supposed to feed Shadow off of his highchair tray but he does it anyway. Once he thought I wasn’t looking and he was sneaking him some food and I turned around and saw him and I said “Owen!” and gave him ‘the look’. Owen looked at me with wide eyed innocence and shrugged his shoulders and shook his head and said “uh oh!” as if it was totally accidental that he dropped some of his sausage on the floor. Little goose! Yesterday I put a little bowl of popcorn on the kitchen floor to keep Owen out of the dishwasher while I was emptying it and Shadow was getting too close to the bowel so I chased him out of the kitchen. Well Owen though that was pretty messed up so he looked at me with furrowed eyebrows and picked up a piece of popcorn and walked over to where Shadow was and said “Who, who” and gave it to him. Then looked back at me with the same little grumpy face and walked back and finished his popcorn. That’s how I know if he is trying to feed the dog, he says “Who, who” in a really high pitched sing song voice. Hahaha ok so just this second I hear Owen say “Honk, Honk” so I look over and he is sitting on the floor next to Shadow ‘honking’ the dog’s nose. Oh yes, this is a patient dog, lol.

So as cute as Owen is, he is also kind of ornery, of course he is cute while he does that too so he is hard to get mad at. For example if I tell one of the other kids not to do something like jump on the bed or pound the table with a fork, Owen will immediately go over and start doing what I just told the other kid not too. And then he just grins at me like he is asking if I am going to make him stop too. Of course I can’t let him do something I just told everyone else to stop doing, but when I actually make him stop he gets so offended. He is so silly! Owen also loves to give everyone good night kisses and he can be quite persistent if he feels like he didn’t kiss you good enough. He makes the other kids laugh, but he grosses Colton out because Colton doesn’t like lip kisses from him, but according to Owen no other kiss will do, so that is funny to watch.

Owen has also come up with a new game called “Mom, What?” The rules are basically the same as Marco Polo except he doesn’t stop saying Mom once he has located me. He just follows me around calling “Mom? Mom? Mom?” even if we are in the same room and then laughs when I keep answering. He is a lot of fun.

I love all my babies so much and I have fun being their mom Life is good and I have so much to be grateful for. Some fall pics I took of the kids: