Summer 2011

Our summer usually starts off with one of the children going to the E.R. for some stupid thing that have done , we have had broken noses, stitches in the knee, broken toes and glow stick liquid in the eye, but this year we made it through the first couple of weeks just fine we thought we were in the home stretch.

No that was not the case this year. Instead of one of our children getting hurt it was the house breaking down. First it was the car needing a costly repair due to all the potholes around town we thought ok we can survive this, then our computer broke down for a week while Mike who luckily was home took apart and repaired and put it back together and it didn't cost to much. In that same week our stove caught fire while my daughter was getting ready to bake some brownies, those brownies did not turn out , once again my wonderful husband took it apart and fixed the problem. At this point I figured we have had three bad things happened bad luck seems to always come in three we are done. Mike's work wasn't sending him out to much for July so we thought lets plan a last minute vacation. We talked with the kids and we all decided to go to Washington D.C. and then down to South Carolina to see some friends that had moved there.

But as luck has it our shower had other plans for us. While my daughter was taking a shower she leaned on the wall and it caved in on her. She was fine just upset thinking she broke the wall it took alot of convincing that she didn't do it that the wall was molding and need to be replaced. So we thought there goes our vacation so lets just do both bathrooms. By the way we were planning on doing both bathrooms in another year or so when we had the money I guess the house wanted them done now! So once again Mike worked his magic with the help of his father which is another story that will not be put up on cyper space. We now have two showers in the house that work wonderful and we love them just not the bite it took out of our savings. You would think we are done with home repairs right, WRONG. Our air conditioner sprung a leak which flooded the laundry room and once we ( I say we but really it was Mike)fixed that the washer thought it would join in and flooded the laundry room again. A good snake job by my most amazing husband and it works just fine.

Now if you counted that was six things we did this summer so I hope to be done for a long time. I am very happy to send the kids back to school and hope to have a calm fall so that I can put the house back together.

payne news

Its been a while since our last post and not much has happened. Mike has been traveling alot but has slowed down for the holidays which makes us all happy, unfortunately he starts up again in January. He has taken on a home improvement project that when its done I will be a very happy wife. He is redoing our kitchen to give me more cupboards and counter tops here hoping it goes well.
Cecilia has kept us busy going to Basket ball games she didn't get to play a whole lot but it was great to she her trying something new. School has not been easy for her this year and hopefully it gets better.
Holly is busy doing Girls Scouts and taking dance and tumbling. She is doing great at school and is full of life. She likes to see what she can get away with which is giving me gray hair.
Maggie is involved in a home based preschool and loving it and has finally learned to spell her name!!!! She is also taking dance and loves it her first performance it this Saturday and she can't wait to get her costume.
As for me I am busy trying to keep up with the three girls and mike's schedule and being the PTO treasure as well as learning my new calling in the RS.
We hope everyone of friends and family are doing well this holiday season and wish you a happy new year.

School Year

We have started the school year very quietly which is the way I like it.

Cecilia is now in seventh grade and decided to try out for softball. She practiced for several weeks and gave it her best shot but didn't make the cut. She is fine with it as she has already decided to try out for the Robotics team we will wait and see how that goes.

Holly is now in third grade and she loves her teacher. She is taking jazz and tumbling lessons and likes being one of the older kids at the bus stop.

Maggie is sad that her sisters are off at school and she doesn't get to go. She did just start preschool that a group of moms in the church has put together, I took the first couple of weeks and she is loving it. She has been going around finding the letter A but she is sad at the same time because we didn't start with the letter M, which is her favorite letter.

Second part of our trip at a glance....

We spent four days in SLC visiting my parents and college friends. We had a lot of fun catching up with friends and watching our girls play with thier children and of course having to deal with Maggie and Holly wanting to move closer so they can play with thier new friends more. We took the girls to the Days of 47 parade so they can say they had been there done that . They all thought it was a little to long and they didn't need to see it again.

Our last part of our trip we headed up to Meridian ID to visit with Mikes parents. The girls got to go white water rafting for the first time and they loved it, they wanted to go again and again. Mike and I also were able to visit the Boise Temple and were able to family names which was beautiful. We had a great family vaction and thank all our family and friends who let us stay at their homes and putting up with us.

Part one

This year we decided to take a couple of weeks and visit family out west that we haven't seen in a while. We started the trip by me and the girls packing up the car and heading out to grand junction co. to pick up mike who had been out there working . The girls loved going through the mountain pass between Denver and Grand Junction, they thought it was beautiful I did to except I have never driven that pass and was clutching the steering wheel while telling them all the memories I had of my dad driving us through here almost every summer to visit my grandma and grandpa. For some reason driving there with my kids made me miss my grandparents and all the fun we had when we were, I am sure my kids were sick of me reminiscing. We meet up with mike and took off for St. George Ut to hang out with Mike's brothers family. We made a stop in Moab to show the kids the beautiful arches, they were not to impressed to due the fact the heat was overwhelming and they were tired of hiking. We did get to see some beautiful scenery and I am mike enjoyed it.

We finally made it to St. George and enjoyed several days with Chuck and his family. We tortured the children with more hiking in the heat and we also took them Gunlock Res. to swim which we learned our children are city children and have never really swam with fishes and it freaked them out at first but the over came and enjoyed their time. We also took them to Dixie State College where we took them done memory lane and showed them all the spots dad and mom used to work and what we did while we were at college. We took the girls to play laser tag Payne Family vs Payne Family sort of the girls feel in love with laser tag and now want to play as often as possible. This should take care of part one of the vacation part two will be later.

May

So happy may has slowed down for us in so many different ways. Mike hasn't had to travel as much this month and after school activities have come to a halt and school projects are almost over. But with summer just around the corner brings on the busy schedule again. which is fine with me the busy I am the better. Holly has started softball, mike has been told he will be traveling again and cecilia will be turning 12. Maggie gets to start swim lessons this year and she is so excited.
The weather here is heating up and the pools will be opening very soon bring on the sunscreen and swimsuits. The girls have new suits and can not wait to try them out. Cecilia gets to go to girls camp for the first time this year and I am so excited for her and scared because my baby is growing up. Will try to keep this updated throughout the summer and let you know of all our adventures.

April

April has been a very busy month for us here are a few highlights.

~I ran in my first 5K at the end of march and I made it to the end without fainting. I wasn't last and I didn't run the whole thing but it felt great to try.

~Mike has been traveling for more than half the month he goes to Dallas, Nashville and St. Louis quiet a bit her is rarely home which means he wasn't home for his birthday or mine. He did make it home for Maggie's which is what was most important. He has also entered into a 5K in may we will see how he does.

~ Cecilia has been very busy with school projects and working on the school play"The Wiz:." She is a munchkin and is in alot of the dancing scenes which means lots of costume changes. Every time I thought we had everything bought she would come home saying " mom I need another costume." The play is finally here and we are hoping that may will calm down for her.

~Holly hasn't been to busy this month until this week her tumbling recital starts Thursday and doesn't end until Saturday night. Three nights of recital should be fun. Holly also has softball clinic on Saturday which will start off softball season at our house.

~Maggie has been shuffled around from one thing to the next and is great at going with the flow. She turned three this month and according to her that means a whole week of celebrating her. She started off the week with a card from GandG Payne with monies in it which made her day she then had a lovely time picking out just the right out fit with her monies. She walked around singing happy birthday to herself and she couldn't wait until her friends came over to play with her and eat her cake. She asked me everyday for a week and had her own little count down. She is going through a dress and bow stage, she will only wear a dress and wants to wear a bow to match every day she says is a girl not a boy and only boys wear pants. Not sure where she got that but we are letting her have her fun.

Well may should be a little less busy but I wouldn't count on it.

Spring

Spring is finally here! We have opened up the house and let all the winter germs out but with doing so let all the spring time pollen in and maggie was sick with allergies for a day. She woke up throwing up and then laid around the house and wouldn't eat much, poor little girl. We closed up the house and and have been giving her alegra since.
Cecilia just finished up ISAT's at school and is busy with her play. She was able to help make pizzas for the girls camp fundraiser since she will be able to go this year. She is a little nervous but at the same time excited.
Holly is just busy. She never likes to stay in one place to long and since the weather is getting better is out side riding her bike and running around the neighborhood with all her friends. She just started doing art classes and loves it.
Mike is busy traveling for work and we are just happy to have him when he is home.
March has been a very busy month and April doesn't look like we are going to slow down.

Holly

Almost eight years ago we brought home our second child and second girl to our family. It still amazes me that it has been eight years since we had Holly. She is a very strong child, she lets you know her opinion on things and loves to push your buttons. She loves to play outdoors with her friends and loves to do art. She does like to talk a lot and has an attitude but if she didn't I would wonder if she was really mine. Everyone says she looked like her daddy when she was born and even called her little mike which didn't sit well with mike since he thought his daughter looked like a girl and not a boy. Now as she grows older I think she is looking more and more like me and my sisters, people I grew up with take one look at her and say I know who your mom is and you look just like her. I say she looks like me but much prettier. Holly is having her first slumber party tomorrow night and is so excited to get to kick Cecilia out of the basement , which is what happens when Cecilia has her friends over. Mike is such a good dad her just rolls with the punches and is learning a lot about little girls. Holly will also be baptized the Saturday following her birthday and she is not nervous at all , she does wish they didn't have to give all the talks before and after, she would rather be baptized,confirmed and have refreshments. That's my kid keep it short and sweet and get right to the point.

January has found us live and well but with a touch of cabin fever. The snow finally came on Christmas day and hasn't left us yet, not to mention the bitter cold temps we have had on top of the wind that could make you think twice about living here. I am not sure how our ancestors survived these types of conditions. O,K of the subject of weather, the girls are back to school and doing much better this semester Cecilia is trying out for the school play today and I hope she gets the part she wants and I really hope she enjoys doing this. Holly is on a count down to her eight birthday she is so excited to be getting her first slumber party and getting baptized. She tried on my baptism dress yesterday and found it to be a tad sung on her which upsets me a little since I was really hoping all my girls could wear my dress to be baptized in. I am taking it to a friend of mine next week to see if it can be let out a little to help fit her. I'm crossing my fingers in hope it works. Maggie decided to use her vocab alot more lately and has been coming up with phrases that crack us up. On our trip to St.Louis mike got to use his new GPS system and every time the GPS told us to turn Maggie would say"People that lady told my dad to turn left" if we didn't say anything to her she would just getting on saying this phrase over and over until we responded. It cracked us up to think Maggie has people we later found out that her people are her sisters. She is talking so much some days too much, luckily she has not started into the why phase yet.

Holidays

Christmas was a success! Santa brought the girls just what they wanted and family far and close did a great job as well. We ended up with duplicates of some presents but the girls we are aloud to return them and they were able to shop one of their favorite pastimes but not mine.They love to look at everything in the store and weight their options I on the other hand like to have a list get into the store and get out especially when I have the girls and Mike with me.

The snow finally came to Illinois and stuck around for christmas and the days after, we had fun the other day trying to make a snow man and sledding down our hill in the front yard neither activity was succesful we just ended up playing in the snow and making snow angels.

We have had a lot of fun this winter break with the kids and are enjoying having Mike home for the rest of the week. We have seen on movie and are planning on another one tomorrow. Wishing everyone a Happy and safe New Year.

This is a picture of mike'shandy work in our basement , he did a great job and I love it.

Christmas is almost here and we have been busy making lots of goodies for teachers and friends. Cecilia really enjoys making chocolates but not cookies since they need to be watched and careful done, she prefers to just throw things together and call it good she may turn out to be our chef of the family while I am still the baker. Holly has been learning to deal with partial braces she was excited to receive them then after a few days she didn't think they were so great. She does like it when she goes to the ortho and she gets to change the colors of the bands. Maggie is talking so much more and loves to imitate anything Cecilia does which of course iterates Cecilia. Mike is getting closer to finishing up our built ins but every time he starts to work on it another issue which takes priority comes up. I am not doing anything different just the mom stuff ,keeping peace in the house and making sure everyone gets to where they need to be on time. We are wishing everyone a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year.

Not a whole lot of things happening here in Peoria, just the usually mike is hard at work and is traveling alot but at least he has a job, the girls are hard at work doing their school work and their after school activities,Maggie is hard at work finding new things to get into and talking more and more. We just took her fall pictures and she gave the photographer a run for her money she wouldn't sit still and refused to smile long enough for a picture we ended up taking 150 pictures and only four turned out well, good thing it was a friend that took all the photos. Right now we are just getting ready for the holidays I can't wait my sisters are coming for thanksgiving it should be fun, hopefully the husbands will survive the three of us together.

Here are some of the pictures we took of Maggie.

Long week

This past week has been a very tiring week for me. It all started Thursday night when Maggie woke up at midnight with a high fever, we spent most of the night tiring to cool her down and get her to sleep. I then spent Friday watching a ton of kids shows and taking care of Maggie and her fever that wouldn't go away, Saturday I went to Nauvoo with the youth on a temple trip and left the mike and the girls behind ,when I arrived home nothing had been done and I then had to get everyone going on their chores as well as make dinner and take care of Maggie, how is it a mother never gets a break. Sunday through Wednesday we pretty much the same take care of the kids and stay up half the night with Maggie while mike was gone on a business trip. Thursday I saw a little light at the end of the tunnel Maggie wanted to eat and drink something she has refused to due all week. I am hoping that this little light grows larger and we are on the way to a happy healthy Halloween. Have a Happy Halloween everyone.

Firsts

We have had a busy begining of the school year the girls are doing well and are loving the change. Being home with mom can get a little dull and they missed their friends. Cecilia has joined the drama club at school and is keeping busy with all her school work and learning to babysit. Holly just started tumbling last night and did better than I thought she would. It still amazes me on how tall she is and yet still so graceful. Maggie also started dance class and she was shy at first but towards the end she started to have fun and talked about dance class the whole way home.
My kids push every button I have but at the same time they are so amazing, Cecilia came home from school and was thrilled at her grade on her science paper, she received an 100% on her periodical tables not all of them just 20 or so but she studied very little and said it was easy just like her dad. When it comes to math or science she is just like Mike which is a great thing the bad thing is she inherited my spelling problem which her Grandma Shurts likes to tell her it has been passed down and that she comes from a long line of horrible spellers. This of course does not help my case when I tell her to study more she just replies "Grandma says it is genetic so I will never be a good speller." Thanks grandma.
We are still building a bookcase in our basement I say still because it was started the first week end in September and I am not sure when it will get done. With mikes work and church schedule as well as family things he may get it done for Christmas. I love the fact that he is trying to build it but maybe he should stick with electronics they work better for him.

Summer Fun

Our summer has been a busy one and our latest trip reassured us that the Midwest is where we should be. We drove out to Idaho for mike's grandmas funeral and enjoyed our time with his family. Maggie who loves her pa pop Shurts was very excited to go visit him and was a little taken back when it took longer than usual to get there but once she met pa pop Payne she was in love, she followed him around and loved his cabin. She was very sad when we left and has been making pictures for him everyday, they just are not always on blank paper. Maggie has also fallen in love with swimming and would swim everyday if she could. We hang out at the pool as often as we can and it helps that all her friends go there as well. Holly and Cecilia went to scout camp this summer and had fun catching frogs and learning to canoe for city girls they love the country life. We just ordered school clothes for them and started getting school things together, the summer is going fast and as much as I want them to go back to school I am not ready for summer to end.

Vaction

What a great vacation! One I hope the girls will always remember. I am going to break it down day by day to make it easier to read.

Day 1

We climbed in the car around 2:00 in the morning and we drove all day to Florida. The drive was pretty easy. In the south they have a treat called boiled peanuts, we all tried them Mike and Maggie were the only ones that actually liked them. We arrived at our hotel around 8:30 that night all we did was crash.

Day 2 We took the kids to Cocoa Beach so they can say they swam in the ocean. They had a great time collecting sea shells and getting a mouth full of salt water. Mike and I both ended up with a very bad sun burn. It doesn't matter how much sun screen we use or how often we still burn.

Day 3

Today we started our week of Disney World. Monday was Magic kingdom, Tuesday was Hollywood Studios, then Epcot and then Animal Kingdom. It was so hot on this day that the kids felt like they were melting. The lines were long but they meet Ariel and rode on alot of fun rides.

Day 4

We were able to see American Idol, little mermaid and met JoJo and Goliath , Buzz light year and Mickey Mouse. Maggie loved meeting all the characters and seeing all the shows. Mike and I rode on the Aerosmiths roller coaster. It went so fast and was great. We went to see the light show that night but instead the rain came and we were drenched. They kids were laughing about how wet they were but at least they were not hot anymore. It was good to see them laugh about it and not throw a fit.

Day5&6

We walked and walked we must of walked at least 5 miles a day and sweat about five buckets full. The kids loved it and loved seeing everything. We were able to see Epcot's light show and fireworks. It was amazing to watch the lights over the water and they displayed images on the world along with music. It was beautiful. We were able to sample food from around the world and the girls fell in love with a chocolate cake from France.

Day 7

This day was Cecilia's Birthday and we let her choose what she wanted to do. Disney World gave her a gift card since we already bought tickets and she was able to shop for whatever she wanted. That was the best gift for her, the girl loves to shop. We went back to Epcot and bought her the chocolate cake she loved and put some candles on it and sang to her. She loved it. The day was going great we met Belle, Jasmine and Snow White, we ate lunch Mexico and then Holly threw up on the bridge , the people of DW were great and sent us to first aid while they cleaned it up, Holly spent an hour cooling down while Cecilia and I went on some rides, they wouldn't let us all stay in there. We then went back to Magic Kingdom for the rest of the day. While Mike and Holly and Maggie went shopping, Cecilia and I rode on some roller coasters, while shopping Holly found 50 dollars on the ground she turned it in and the people there were so happy as they were deciding what to do Maggie peed all over the store floor, Mike and the girls quickly left. We ended the day with a great dinner and watched the light parade.They girls loved it their eyes were so big through the whole thing.

Day 8&9

We drove home, it took us two days to go home because we woke up late each day and we didn't want to push it. We also stopped and looked at things we didn't see on the way home. We went to Metropolis IL and say a very large superman and had lunch at Dip n Dots the girls love this ice cream I personally think it tasted weird. For Father's day we gave mike a can of boiled peanuts he loved it. This ends our trip to Florida, it was packed full of fun and laughs. Sorry for the long post but I did shorten it there are alot more fun stories. Until next time.

Memorial weekend

This past week end has been a busy one and this week has flown by. It all started with my parents getting ready for their mission to SLC Family History, while getting all their doctor visits done my father found out that he has prostate cancer. So instead of a farewell BBQ we changed it to hope all goes well BBQ. My father went in on Thursday to have his surgery but before surgery he came over to the house and mike gave him a blessing then it was off to the hospital. I gave Maggie her lunch and a small nap before I dropped her off at a friends and then I spent the rest of the day at the hospital to wait with my mother and brother Paul. The hospital was so over booked that dad ended up waiting for the surgery in the children's section which is not an ideal place for my father. They whisked him off and that left me and mom and Paul to wait around in the waiting room. We had a great time talking and watch the monitor for progress in dads surgery. All went well and know he is home and poor mom is taking care of a 69 year old kid. The rest of the week end was spent with family we had a 40th birthday party for Paul nothing to big until Cecilia and her cousin Haley decided to have a chocolate cake food fight. They were covered from head to toe in chocolate we told them the only way they were getting home is if they were hosed off. Aunt Chastina stepped in and literally hosed them off. Sunday came and mike and I were assigned talks in sacerment meeting we were worried since neither of us like to give talks but I thought Mike did a great job and I actually talked long enough. It was then back to the house for a BBQ and then send family members home. The rest of the week just flew by with all the kids activities, soccer, softball. piano and church. I am glad to have today to rest and clean before the weekend where Saturday is non stop games and activities.Pictrues of the chocolate fight will come as soon as I get them from my niece.

Silly moments

This last week has been one for silly little moments. Maggie started it off , on our way to a soccer game we were caring our camp chairs and Maggie kept yelling "mommy your sit down" it took us a few minutes to realize she was talking about our chairs we tried to get her to say chair but she insisted that they were our sit downs. All we can figure is that we have told her to sit down so many times that now she assiocates chair with sit down. Holly has hit the middle child syndrome already with her she says "I wish I didn't have any sisters and why does everyone pick on me" and other such lovely thoughts. We have tried to reassure her that she would miss her sisters and we are not always picking on her, that doesn't seem to be working. It is funny though that when Cecilia went to her friends house for the night all Holly did was talk about her and wanted to know what she was doing, but we do need to remember Holly doesn't want any sisters. Cecilia is getting to be old enough to take on some more responsibility and one of them is mowing the lawn. Yesterday I went out to teach Cecilia how to mow the lawn and had to bit my lip so I wouldn't laugh to hard at this little 75 pound girl trying to push the lawn mower. She was trying so hard to push that thing on our flat backyard and instead of pushing the mower you would see her kicking her legs up behind her and grunting to try and push it 10 feet . It was so cute to watch her she did do most of the yard but I think I will wait until she has a little more strength in her arms. After she was down she said that mowing is a boys job and that when she is married she will have her husband mow the lawn. I argued that it was not a boy job and that you should share all the jobs of the house she said then I will hire someone to do my lawn mowing. You just got to love the things that come out of their mouths other wise I might just go crazy.

Busy week

Last week was a busy one, Cecilia was in her first play and it was great. She was Thing 2 from Dr. Suess stories. She didn't have to talk which is why she loved her part all she had to do was dance and sing and act silly she does that on a daily bases so it was a snap for her. So we spent the first part of the week getting her ready for that then on thursday we celebrated Maggies second birthday. She spent the whole day saying " Happy to me". When she woke up I showed her her birthday cake which was probably a mistake since as soon as I was downstairs she reached up and starting eating whatever she could reach which was icing. Her cake soon had little finger marks. She loved blowing out her candles and getting presents. She has spent the weekend showing everyone her new clothes and playing with her new kitchen set. Its good to be two. Holly has been busy being draged from place to place but she gets her pay backs, she has soccer and piano which means the other two will be draged to her activites for a while. I am going to try and post video and pictures but we will see if i can do it. They video shows her coming out with cotton candy I will see if I can find a better one.