Payton's 1st Gator Game

Okay, so it wasn't a regular season game, but he did get to go to the annual "Orange & Blue" gator game in The Swamp. Brian and Payton had an absolute ball hanging out in Gainesville, going to the game, seeing Brian's old fraternity house, and apparently hanging out with some pretty girls along University Avenue (now I see what happens when Mama is not around).

Check out these cute photos from their exciting day:

And then there were tears...

Why did this box of trains bring me to sobbing tears today? Well, it all started last week when Payton announced, "I'm just not really into Thomas the Train anymore."
What??? All that money we've spent on those trains! All that time searching for the ONE train that you didn't have and HAD to have for your birthday. All the energy and commitment put into the miles and miles of track that we've built throughout the years. But alas... he's "just not that into them" anymore.
I decided to make one last ditch effort to see if he truly was over them. So, Wednesday while he was at school I made a very elaborate train track in his playroom and lined up all 20+ trains in front of it. When he came home he ran into his playroom and said, "Oh my goodness! I LOVE IT! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" A huge smile spread across my face... until I realized he was holding his new Mario Cart lunchbox that I had set out on his craft table. He didn't even notice the train track!
So this morning, I got out a box and put all of his trains away. As I packed up each one, I could just picture his chubby little 2-year old fingers wrapped around his Thomas not wanting to go anywhere without it... he even slept with his favorites for a while. I could remember where each and every one was purchased (or when it was given as a gift). Before I knew it, I was a sobbing, crying mess. My little boy is growing up right before my eyes. He doesn't need me to build tracks for him anymore. He doesn't need me to help him go potty. He doesn't need me... oh wait... he's calling me from the other room as I type this because he can't get the windows to stay on his Lincoln Log house and he NEEDS ME to come help him. (Wish you could see the smile on my face now.)

Eggs, hunts and crafts, oh my!

Easter was so much fun this year. I think 5 is a magical age... especially for boys. They still love their mamas and give kisses and hugs anytime one is requested, and they still believe in all the magic of the Easter bunny, Santa Claus and the tooth fairy (more on that later).

Of course we did some Easter crafts to kick-off the fun. Payton made a colored rice egg, and I made a "Countdown to Easter" calendar out of an egg carton. Each day, Payton got to poke through the tissue paper to reveal a new Easter treat. You can only imagine that he wanted to do this every morning around 7 a.m.


We had a great time at my friend Rachel's annual Easter Egg Hunt and Spring party. She made delicious food as usual and the kids had a ball hunting for eggs in her spacious yard. Here are some pics of the hunt in action...


On Saturday before Easter we went to the beach with our good friends, the Tosons. It was the perfect Florida day... breezy, warm, and sunny. Brian and Payton built a huge sandcastle mountain with a tunnel through it. And the kids had a ball playing on the beach together.

Sunday morning (bright & early) we did our family egg hunt at home. Payton had so much fun this year hunting for all the eggs. The Easter bunny even left him a note and some carrot remnants on a plate! After that, we enjoyed a wonderful morning of celebrating Christ's resurrection at church and then went to our friend's house for an egg hunt and delicious dinner (thanks April - I'm still thinking about those 4-cheese potatos au gratin... mmmmm!).

Even though we missed being with our immediate familes on both sides this year, we had a very nice Easter with all of our friends. Thanks everyone for making us feel so loved!

Crafts

Anyone who knows me well, knows I love to craft. Aside from shopping and organizing, it's probably my favorite thing to do. Several of my mom friends have asked me for craft ideas recently, so I thought I'd share some of our most recent ones from St. Patrick's Day and the one we did this week for Easter.

The St. Patty's sign was made my mixing plain white rice with food coloring in a bowl. Payton had so much fun mixing the rice and changing its color. I think we'll be doing this again for an Easter-egg shape this month.

The candles are just wrapped with scrapbook paper. I did some more for Easter with pastel colors and they look so cute.

The sock bunnies were an idea out of the Disney "Family Fun" magazine. Payton had so much fun making these and now he plays with them as a little bunny family. I highly recommend this magazine for fun ideas.

If you want any further ideas or craft web site/blog recommendations, just shoot me an email. Happy crafting!

Cousins visit

Payton was more than thrilled when his cousins recently came to Florida for a visit. They had so much fun together going to the Science Center, a bounce house place, the park and played at the house a lot. Here are some pictures of their fun times together...

This & That...

I've been slacking a bit on updating our blog and now I have a lot of random stuff to post. Bare with me if it doesn't flow that well... we've been busy!

First, we celebrated Valentines Day, which is always fun. Payton decorated homemade sugar cookies with a friend, we made lots of crafts and handmade Valentines for classmates (much cheaper and more fun than store bought). And of course Payton got lots of goodies from his grandparents (thank you!).

We also discovered a great little place up in Pasco County that has a miniature ride-on train. It was really cold (by Florida standards) the day we went, but it was still a lot of fun.

Last weekend, the weather finally warmed up and it was absolutely beautiful out. We went to a great Seafood Festival in Safety Harbor where they had tons of seafood vendors, live music, bounce house, a real LIVE mermaid, and a kite-flying area. We had a great time!
More to come in the next post about Payton's exciting bike news!!!

No more...

TRAINING WHEELS!!!

Our big 5-year old decided last weekend that he was "done with my training wheels." On the second attempt down the sidewalk, he was on his own! The starting and stopping aren't that pretty, but we were very impressed that he got the balance aspect of it right away. In this clip, you'll also notice Brian running along side him and his friend Dylan riding behind him...