A Trip to the Zoo.....

So it has been forever since I last blogged... so over the next couple of days, expect a plethora of posts from the last month or so. I have been super busy with all of my last minute stuff for graduation, but now that I graduated on Saturday (!) I have a lot of extra time.. So all of the blogs that I haven't posted, will be posted now :)

So about a month ago we took a trip to the zoo. It was on veterans day, and since everyone was out of school it was packed. It took us a good 15 minutes to find a parking spot, since everyone and their mother were there. But we finally parked and had a great time. Peyton loves the zoo. I think it's one of her favorite places.

Meghan was glad to show Peyton around the zoo.

Happy Birthday to a little Princess

Last Monday (the first) was Peyton's second birthday. I can't believe she is so old!!

She wore her little sash proudly all day.. She kept saying "It says Happy Birthday to me!" 

I went to visit her at school so we could have a birthday treat. She was so excited when all of her little friends started singing happy birthday to her. The birthday song is one of her favorite songs, she sings Happy Birthday to someone at least once a day... usually it's to Papa. So I think she was pretty excited that this time around kids were singing happy birthday to her. As we were leaving her school I asked her what day it was... fully expecting her to say "It's my birthday!" But instead she looked at me like I'm an idiot and said "It's No-bember Furst Mommy" .... Silly me for not knowing what day it was!

Nana and Papa got her a bike for her birthday. She can't reach the petals quite yet, but she should be able to by the time spring/summer rolls back around :) . She keeps walking by it and saying, "That's my bike?" 

She got clothes and a train set "from" Grandma and Grandpa in New Jersey. She was playing with them in the store so I got them for her, but I was unsure if she would actually play with them or not. Since November 1st, she has gone to bed with them almost every night, and wakes up almost every morning say "I go play on the choo choo track??" She also constantly asks to watch Thomas on TV. .. I'm thinking it was a successful purchase. 

TJ got her a tent that has a little tunnel attached so you can crawl through to it. She loves that too. She put a pillow and a blanket in there and just goes and hides out sometimes. She was playing in it the other day and had my dad come in and see, and said "Awww, TJ buyed this for me"

This is the shirt I got her.. It says "Owner of Mommy's Heart" :) I also got her toy story 3! I was excited. All in all it was a pretty successful day :)

Trick or Treat

Well, Halloween 2010 was a success. Although, I think maybe Peyton is confused by the whole concept of Halloween. She asked me on Sunday if I wanted to go to "her" trick or treat, and when I told her that everyone gets to trick or treat, she cried. I think that maybe she thinks Halloween is just a continuation of the never ending celebration that is her birthday.

Peyton dressed up as Belle. She wanted to be Cinderella, but since mommy was able to find a yellow dress (unfortunately, no blue) on sale at Babies R Us, she was Belle instead. She plays the part pretty well :). In case you couldn't tell, TJ and I were Sandy and Danny Zuko from Grease. We were clearly the best dressed people on the block.

I wish I could say we got some good candy. I'm pretty sure this is the part where TJ was trying to convince Peyton to get some chocolate. Every bowl we went up to she would search through to get a sucker. Some houses she would say "look, I got a sucker!", so they would think this meant they should give her another one... There was even one house where a lady tried to give her a handful of candy and Peyton shoved her hand away and picked a single sucker out of the bowl. I mean, come on! I like a good sucker now and then, but you have to get some chocolate too!

TJ was not very happy when he discovered that we had somehow managed to finish trick-or-treating without getting a single Snickers... Aww, better luck next year babe :)

I'm pretty sure on Monday morning Peyton was still going nuts from the sugar buzz... But I think she really enjoyed Halloween this year :)

School Parties

Peyton had her little Halloween party at school last week, she was so excited!!

All of her little friends looked so cute all dressed up, and they kept wanting to get their picture taken.. so of course, the proud parent I am, I took about 900.

She kept asking to be able to take a picture with her little friend Charlie... I think that this one was without a doubt the cutest picture of the day. I mean seriously, how can you not think that it's adorable??

After we got home we blew some bubbles that Peyton got out of her goody bag. Sometimes I really think that she could be a baby model. If you disagree, please keep your comments to yourself :)

Birthday Celebrations

We celebrated Peyton's birthday yesterday with a party at the pumpkin patch. We didn't want to have it next week because I didn't want to compete with all of the Halloween festivities. She was soo excited. She walked around all day saying "It's my birthday party" and showing everyone her birthday outfit.

When I was little my mom always bought me a birthday outfit. The morning of my birthday I would wake up and a brand new outfit would be sitting at the edge of my bed for me to wear. I decided last minute that Peyton would get her birthday outfit on the day of her birthday party (although, who am I kidding.. She'll probably get another one on the day of her birthday too...) so she didn't get her new outfit on the edge of her bed. She did get to change into it right after her bath though, and she walked around all day puffing out her chest and saying "See? See my birthday outfit?" 

If you didn't notice, we were twinners. Unfortunately though I couldn't find any knee high suede boots for a two year old, so I was forced to wear my flats :)

She's a total Mommy and Nana's girl :) 

I tried to get her to wear this hat for her whole party. Naturally, she refused. I did convince her that to get birthday cake she had to wear it, but it didn't really fit her, so that didn't work out so well. 

She was so excited about all of her presents. She took them all out when we got home, and just spread them all across the floor. I hope she doesn't expect this to happen every weekend.

She loved her birthday cake. When she went to pick it up she said "Is that my birthday cake?? Oh thank you!!" 

A great group shot :) Thank you Cindy for taking the picture.... I wish you and Gabriel could be in it though! Peyton had a great day, thank you to everyone who shared it with us! :)

School Pictures

Peyton got her school pictures back last week. They are soo adorable.

I mean, I know that I am biased, and that of course I am going to think my own daughter is adorable. But look at that! How can you not think that she is the cutest thing on Earth. 

...And a Day at the Fair

So after our big night out at the Melting Pot, we spent the afternoon at the State Fair. Peyton was so excited. She kept saying "We're going to see the animals?" Although, the whole time we were there she seemed to think that we were actually at a pumpkin patch. Which we were clearly not. 

She was so excited about those bunny rabbits. Those two right there. She pointed to the one on the left, and said "That's my bunny rabbit" and when I asked her what his name was, she said "bunny".. Then she pointed to the one on the right and said "That's TJ's bunny rabbit!" and when I asked her what his name was she said "It's rabbit!" ... She's so creative. 

This was one of three games she played. Let's just say, we paid $2 for a pillow. We wanted her to be able to play the games where "kids win every time". In the first game she got to use her fishing pool to catch a shark. In this game, we walked up and they told Peyton to pick up a duck. We expected to have to do something cool, or anything... but after she picked up her duck the attendant said "Alright, get your prize!" ... Biggest rip off ever. 

This game was better. She got to pop her own balloons, and she won an adorable pink duck. The attendant was great, he helped her pop them and everything. She talked about it for weeks after, she was so proud of herself :)

I was unsure of how she would do on roller coasters. She LOVED it. After we got off she said "Can TJ ride it too?"

So TJ rode too. This time we sat on the outside, so she would get the full effects of the roller coaster. As we were walking off she looked at the attendant and said "That was fun! Sank you!" in her little voice. I don't know if he thought she was adorable, but I sure did. 

We won her goldfish too. TJ tried so hard to get his ping pong balls into the fish tank.. and I got it on the first try! :) She named them "Fishies" and "Two fishies". Again, very creative. They lasted less than a week. But she was so excited about them, I think I might have to get her some more. Just to hear her say "Look at my fishies!" is enough to endure having to flush their lifeless little bodies down the toilet. We literally watched "Two fishies" take his last breath. Not pretty, I can assure you.

I'd say it was a successful day at the fair.... and Peyton was asleep about 30 seconds after this picture was taken...

A Night at the Melting Pot...

I'm a little late at posting this, but last weekend was TJ and I's anniversary, so it was a very busy weekend for all of us. I think Peyton in particular had a fabulous time. We started out by going to the Melting Pot on Friday night.

Peyton was very excited about the card that TJ got me... I ended up leaving it there though :( Oops. But it had Cinderella on it, which she loved. 

She loved the steam. She kept raising her hand and saying "Ohmmm" like she was creating it. It was hilarious. This was one of the few times she would actually sit at the table. Otherwise she was running all around the restaurant because she refused to sit still. 

At one point I made her come back to the table, because she was literally running all over the place. This is her sitting in her "cry corner" and crying. She does this all the time at home now, because they have a cry corner at school. I think it is hysterical. She sits there and fake cries for awhile, and then gets up and plays again. She never actually really cries, only fakes. This is what I think is so funny. 

She loved the chocolate. The chocolate and the cheese, those were the only things she actually sat at the table for. When we were eating the cheese, she was so excited. When we got bread, and apples, she would say "Ooooh Thank you!!" She loved it. She didn't eat much of the actual chocolate, but she loved the "dippers". The marshmallows and the brownies... Needless to say, the Melting Pot might be a little bit of an expensive treat for a two-year-old. But when you have a coupon for a free dinner, it's pretty perfect. :) 

Big Girl

Well, we have yet to have another trip to the potty. We have however, made a new purchase. 

Big girl underwear. And no, I didn't tell my daughter to pose like that... it just happened. So far we have had one accident, and no peeing on the potty, but I feel like it's a start. Getting her thinking about it, at least it's something.

In other news, Peyton has caught a nasty virus. I'm not sure if I brought it home from elementary school, or if it is her first daycare-induced illness, but either way. She has an ear infection in both ears and "croup" which is like a barking cough. She sounds terrible when she coughs, like she's literally coughing up a lung. But other than that she is happy as can be. Her teachers were shocked when they found out she had an ear infection, if I hadn't taken her to the doctor we would have no clue. She's such a happy kids, I swear she could be lying on her death bed and still giggling up a storm. She tears around the house, jumps on the couch, and giggles like a maniac every second of every day, and in no way indicates that she is feeling sick in any way.

When we went to the doctor the other day Peyton was given a "Mickey" mask. Of course, while we were at the doctors office Peyton refused to wear it. After we left the doctors though....



This was the next day. I luckily convinced her to take it off before school started, they don't seem to appreciate it when we show up with things from home (ie. the princess slippers she refused to take off this morning....)

We're planning on heading to the pumpkin patch tomorrow, Peyton is so excited. Hopefully she'll feel well enough. First pumpkin patch of the season! I'm pumped. And it definitely won't be the last. Unfortunately, I do not have a functioning camera. Shocking, I know. I feel like I shouldn't even get out of bed in the morning. But hopefully the pictures I take on my phone will be fairly decent.. We'll see how it goes!

The Time Has Come....

Well, it's here. Potty training time. Now technically, we have been potty training for quite some time. Wayy back in March I decided it was time to buy a potty chair.

As you can tell, Peyton was really excited about it. She had barely started walking and I decided, hey, if she can walk into the bathroom she might as well use it. 7 months later, here we are. 

But my thoughts were this. If I introduce Peyton to potty training early (say, oh.... at 16 months), then I never have to "force" her to potty train, it will just be a natural occurring thing. That way, she can potty train at "her own pace" but it will still be early, which is what I was hoping for. I must say, my plan worked exactly the way I wanted it to. Just one month shy of her 2nd birthday, and Peyton is "using" the potty.

Now I must admit, I am using the word "using" very loosely... She has used the potty twice. Once for number 2, and once for number 1. (And kind of a third time, when she started going potty on the floor and Mommy plopped her on the potty to finish, but that's another story). I'm hoping that by the time my last set of diapers are gone, she'll be relatively ready to start wearing "big girl underwear"... In fact, we are going shopping this weekend to buy some. 

I'm not going to be unrealistic and think "Oh my gosh! Peyton went on the potty today, she'll be potty trained tomorrow!" But that is what I'm hoping for ;)

Nana's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA!!

Today is Nana's birthday, but we decided to celebrate it last night since Mommy has to work tonight. One of Peyton's favorite things to do is celebrate birthday's. She sings Happy Birthday at least once a day (usually it's "dear Papa") and is constantly asking if we're going to have birthday cake. Whenever we have dessert after dinner, it's always considered "Birthday Cake" and it always requires a song. Needless to say, last night was probably Peyton's favorite night of the week. It definitely helped that we were seated outside, so she got to wander around all night instead of actually sit at the table.

On a side note, Nana got hurt on a golf cart last weekend and is full of boo-boos. This makes Peyton very concerned, so it is her new favorite thing to talk about. She tells me every chance that she gets that "Nana's Sad", and last night she said she was going to "walk sad" like Nana...

All in all it was a pretty successful evening :)