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 ;)