Fair time came and went!

I haven't loaded pictures yet, but will do that soon.  Peyton has enjoyed the last several weeks traveling to each set of grandparent's county fairs.  Last weekend we were in Belleville and were able to ride rides with our friends Chase and Brodie Cottam.  Plus, Papa Mike and Peyton kept up the tradition of cheating at the duck catching game.:-) We also got to spend time with Uncle Drew and Aunt Erin.  We also got to hold and feed our newest cousin baby Rees.  This past weekend we headed to Stockton and stayed with Uncle Damion and Aunt LeAnn.  The girls had a BLAST!  They rode rides and hung out during the day playing.  Peyton also got to witness her first Demo Derby and she thought it was pretty "Wicked" as they smashed into each other.  I also had my 10 year reunion and we had 11 classmates show up for lunch on Saturday. 

All in all a great two weeks.  Now Travis is back to school, Peyton is moving to a new class tomorrow and GTM is in full swing for fall.  Next up for us is Miss Peyton's 4th birthday party! 

Summer is here!

Quick catch up on our "Adventures"!  We went on vacation to Omaha, NE first week in June.  We met my brother Damion's family there.  The girls had a blast!  We went to the zoo, children's museum, Coco Keys, shopping, circus and go karts.  Peyton has enjoyed her days home with dad and getting her blue pool out and swim.  Travis has also been busy with our large garden.  Tomatoes, green beans, sweet corn, red peppers, green peppers, jalapenos, cilantro, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe and pumpkins!!  Tonight we ate our first produce from the garden.  We fried zucchini and have 2 more for bread making, plus we had our first tomato.  Peyton and I got Travis a bike for his birthday and he's been riding it everyday to the middle school and lifting.  Peyton has been loving her bike rides as well.  She "runs out of steam" as she says after about 1/2 mile.  She has also loved playing baseball with our friends the Cottams.  I've been busy with my promotion and keep up with our busy cheer season at work. I have a few trips over the summer to Pennsylvania, New York and New Orleans. 

Hopefully, we will be making a trip to KC this summer to catch a Royals game and then check out the Schlitterbahn (new waterpark).  We'll also have our annual 4th of July BBQ!  Looking forward to that as Travis won't have to be in the parade like every other year.  It also seems that Wamego's fireworks get better and better each year.   Then we'll start fair time, Belleville and the Stockton.  Always a good time!

I'll download some pictures for the next blog as Peyton has changed because she's now a "Big Girl".  We can no longer call her little as she takes offense and will correct us that NO, she's a big girl :-) 

Hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as we are!

Time lapse isn't my fault!

So my goal of getting all our holiday blogs done was on schedule until our wonderful computer decided not to keep power!!  We are back in action now, but unfortunately I'm on the road in Harrisburg, PA.  Therefore, I don't have the patience to post pictures and all that jazz while sitting in the airport! haha  Today was actually one of the reasons I LOVE my job.  (Don't get me wrong there are some things I still don't love about my job too :-)  Through some connections I have we were approached to sponsor an organization called the Big 33.  GTM was able to become the official sponsor of the cheerleaders.  What I liked about this organization is the kids willingness to partner with a "Buddy".  Each student athlete is paired with a special needs individual.  They also stay with host families.  I heard so many stories today, but one in particular almost brought me to tears.  It was parents of a girl that had cancer and now they are trying to organize getting a slushie machine in every childrens hospital for cancer patients.  Go to http://www.big33.org/ to learn more about my day or go to http://www.angel34.org/ 

What a day!  It makes you feel good to know that there are organizations out there still trying to teach kids about the importance of life lessons and how to be a caring individual and not just about being an all star on the team and getting your name up in lights. 

Signing off for today!  Hope to blog again later in the week when life slows down:-)  Oh, wait that never happens! 

Christmas program

Peyton's daycare center puts on a Christmas music program.  She was so excited for two weeks singing Jingle Bells everywhere we went.  Here is our little dolly before the program.

Unfortunately, once they got on the stage and situated she started pouting because she didn't get to sit by her friends.  She ended up not singing a word to the song Jingle Bells. 

After they exited the stage she came back to sit with me and was really very sad.  Even bribes of ice cream afterwards wouldn't cheer her up.

The next day she woke up and wanted to go back to the program.  It about killed her again when we told her the program was over and she wouldn't get another chance to perform!  What a character :-)

Thanksgiving #2

As promised here is Tday2! Travis' parents and his brother and wife came Saturday and spent the weekend with us. I enjoyed cooking the full course meal of turkey, stuffing, potatoes (mashed and sweet), noodles, green bean casserole, gravy and a gingerbread/pumpkin/whipped cream truffle. The weather was so beautiful on Saturday and we had extra hands so we had them help us put up Christmas lights! (Drew would say we only invited him to do the lights! haha)

This picture is a testimate to Peyton's personality.  She has a great sense of humor and this was her version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!!

After putting up lights and filling up our bellies we headed downtown Wamego for the Christmas parade.

Thanksgiving

Needless to say that I fell off the blog wagon! Sorry for those who have been waiting to see what our next adventure will be! I needed to start at Halloween, but can't find my pictures from then so I'll start at Thanksgiving. My goal is one blog update every night this week and I think I'll be caught up!

We spent Turkey Day at my parents in Woodston with my brothers and nieces. After all the turkey and desserts Peyton and Travis decided they needed a nap. Here is Grandma Kathy, cousins Olivia and Ava with Peyton. Travis had practice on Friday so we headed back to Wamego. What's a 3 hour ride without a little singing!



And what beautiful singing it was!  Signing off until tomorrow!!  Thanksgiving #2 will be next :-)

Fall Friends!

Since I was gone over the weekend to a show in New York, I picked up Peyton early from daycare. We had play time outside with Dakota. I was a little shocked to come home to such cold weather. While in NY we had lunch outdoors because it was so nice. I like this time of year and love to take advantage of being outside whenever we can. Here are some pictures of Peyton and Dakota while we were outside.

We've got Spirit, how 'bout you?

Last week was spirit week at Wamego Middle School and at Peyton's school it was Fire Prevention week. I was very proud of Travis for dressing up. For those of you who really know him this isn't typical and very outside the box for him. Peyton had such wild stories about when the firemen came to school. She told how they sprayed her in the face with the hose and how he climbed the ladder.




They had dress like a faculty member, Travis dressed like one of the science teachers with a lab coat and goggles. Crazy socks and shades day, as you can see he did very well on this day. Then they had 80's day and he insisted on being a rocker.(Yes, that's eyeliner folks!) Thursday was Red Raider day and he had a home football game where they beat Marysville 50-0. Friday was your hero/idol day. He dressed like George Brett with his KC Royals throw back jersey. I was gone so I didn't get that picture.

KSU Friends!

Saturday, Peyton went to the Tennessee Tech game with us. Here is Peyton and some of her favorite tailgate buddies!! We had such a good time. Peyton is really excited for the next adventure to "Willietown" as she calls it.

She also tried her hand at photography at the game! She's not half bad:-)

After the game, we went to Dairy Queen for some ice cream and then home to play. Here is Miss Crazy trying her luck upside down.

Peyton's Carnival

Time flies by to quickly! Peyton's 3 and her birthday party was two weeks ago and I haven't had a moment to even blog about it.....wowza!

Peyton was so excited when she walked into the middle school and saw all the balloons and decorations set up. We can't thank everyone enough who came to the party. I would usually have a neat little video or something, but at this point I figure I better post some pictures while I can! ha

Here are pictures:

Peyton is 3!!

Today, Friday, September 4th was Peyton's 3rd birthday. I can't believe how fast time has really gone. She's been excited for several weeks now about her birthday and this morning when she woke up that was the first thing she said. At a little before 6:30am we opened presents and then ate cupcakes for breakfast (at Peyton's request)! I figured "Cupcakes for breakfast" why not! It's your birthday do what you want. If only we, as adults, were that excited about our birthdays as a child is. She still has her party with family and friends on Sunday, so I'll be posting more pics from the party later. Here are a few that I took this morning.

This is Peyton trying to show me that she's three! That pinky was tricky:-)

Here we are showing off the yummy breakfast of cupcakes!

And what's a birthday without a little frosting on the lips!!

We love you bunches and bunches Peyton and hope that you've had the best 3rd birthday!!

Spa Day!

Tomorrow my mom and I are finally going to be able to use our Rock Haven spa certificates that Travis bought us for Valentine's day. Super excited to go and I'll report back how it was. Peyton is going to travel back with me because if is cousin Cole's 8th birthday party Friday night. So I should have some fun pictures to share! While bathing Peyton tonight we were talking about going to Stockton and going to Cole's b-day party and she started crying saying "No, it's my birthday!" She's been so excited for her birthday to come next week that everyday she asks. I sure hope that she loves her Carnival birthday! Well, it's bedtime for Peyton so I'm signing off and will post later this weekend about the spa!

Cool morning for some wild animals!

This past Sunday we decided since we were having such awesome fall weather in mid-August we'd take advantage of the zoo. The Manhattan zoo, while small, has so many neat animals. They had a baby orangutang and a baby snow leopard. Here are some pics from the zoo. Hopefully, the nice weather continues, but not likely since today was 100.