Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas Happenings


I hope you all had an amazing Christmas, I know we did!  I won't bore you with every detail of our vacation or a list of what Peyton got, but here are some pics of our get togethers. 

Here are some from Christmas Eve.  We have the big Killette Family Oyster Roast every year, and it's always a blast.  This year Peyton and her cousin Mikey were actually able to run and play...they had a blast together!
(Sorry for the bad pics, we forgot the camera!)

Christmas day was packed fun of family, fun, and food!

Here is Christmas morning, checking out the gifts from Santa...

Christmas afternoon with the in-laws...

Christmas evening at my Grandma's house with my parents, Nana, my Uncle and his wife...



The day after Christmas we spent with my parents at their house.  We had shrimp and grits (we were tired of the traditional foods we ate multiple times the day before) and opened our presents and stockings.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera, and I haven't gotten any from my Mom yet.

It was an amazing Christmas, and I'm definitely sad the lights and decorations will soon be gone.  There's something so warm and inviting about Christmas lights.  I am glad to get Peyton back on a normal schedule.  She got a little overwhelmed and exhausted by all the coming and going, people, and presents!  Today has been spent in our jammies, relaxing, and taking it easy.  I plan on enjoying every second because tomorrow I go back to work.  Thankfully it's only a 3 day week and will be VERY quiet in my office, then we're off Monday for New Year's!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!



Monday, December 19, 2011

Life

Life has just been crazy lately....crazy, chaotic, and fun!  I know I've been slack with my posts, but the free time I have had has been spent wrapping presents, cooking, and cleaning!  A week ago we had a packed weekend filled with Holiday Express, family get together, I hosted a baby shower for a friend, and celebrated the hubby's birthday.  It was exhausting and fun all at the same time.  Holiday Express was probably  my favorite part of that weekend because Peyton absolutely loved it.  A local park puts this on every year and they actually just opened after a year long remodel.  They have the place decked out for Christmas, the carousel, choo choo train, live entertainment, hot chocolate, food, Santa's workshop, the works!  Peyton's favorite part was the carousel, hands down.


This past weekend we had a birthday party (more on that to come) and another family get together on Saturday, then church and small group on Sunday. 

The birthday party...
I took Peyton to a friend's 3rd birthday party at Monkey Joe's Sat. morning.  If you've never been, it's full of all types of inflatables.  I had to go alone because the hubby was on call and has to be able to get to work within an hour of being called in.  We had a blast, Peyton loved every second, and refused to stay in the toddler area.  My daredevil wanted to do what the big kids did, and she did for a whole hour.  Then we had a "bounce house mishap" that almost caused me to come unhinged.  I was in the bounce house with her and she fell and jammed her wrist...of course I didn't know it was just jammed at the time.  She was holding it and crying, refusing to close her hand.  She wouldn't even reach in to her snack cup...that's when you know it's bad for Peyton! 
I was a complete wreck on the inside, but thankfully I was able to hold it together on the outside so I didn't freak her out more than she already was.  We quickly left and I fought back tears as I put her in the car seat.  She was crying, holding that tiny arm, and it hurt my heart.  After a call to the peds, they gave me the address for an urgent care nearby that does x ray's on site.  I got her out of the car and realized I was at the WRONG urgent care and needed to go about a block further.  When I was gently putting her back in I realized she wasn't whimpering anymore and was acting like she was OK.  I gave her some M&M's for the short ride, and when we got there I noticed she was eating her candy...with her hurt hand.  So I got in the back seat and made her show me how she could clinch her hand, twist it around, lift it up and down, etc...  Praise the Lord, she was OK!  We never even went in.  I was so relieved, I went by McDonald's and bought the poor girl a happy meal.  I'm so thankful we averted a crisis, I just knew my poor baby would be in a cast for Christmas!

Here are some pics from the past however long!  Enjoy!





Monday, December 12, 2011

Photo Card

Mod Merry Ornaments Christmas
Don't send boring Christmas cards , personalize them at Shutterfly.
View the entire collection of cards.

Friday, December 9, 2011

When a Police Officer Dies

For those of you that don't know, yesterday we lost 2 fellow LEO's in the line of duty.  Officer Deriek W. Crouse and Deputy Rick Rhyne were both shot and killed yesterday.  Officer Crouse was shot during a traffic stop.  He was sitting in his car and a man unrelated to the traffic stop walked up and shot him in the head.  Deputy Rhyne was shot while arresting a man that had a warrant for outstanding child support. Both of the murderers later committed suicide.  Tell me, why couldn't they have just offed themselves in the beginning?!  Why did they need to take the lives of these men who were both husbands, fathers, brothers, and grandfathers??  The loss of a police officer hits me hard every time, and I can't help but think what if that had been my husband?  Our LEO family extends far beyond our department, town, or even state.  It's a bond few can, or will, ever understand.  

With that being said, I'd like for you to take a minute to jump over to A Life in Need of Change and read her post When a Police Officer Dies.  She takes the words right out of my mouth.  Below is a small excerpt from her post...

This is my open letter to those who point a gun at an officer of the law and shoot:

He’s a man. Just like you. He breathes in and out, sleeps, eats, laughs and He comes home to his wife and children each day. They want to keep it that way. Point a gun at him and you take away a husband, father, son, brother, man.
When he pulls you over, HE’S DOING HIS JOB.
When he writes you a ticket, HE’S DOING HIS JOB.
When he pulls you out of a burning car on the side of the road where no one else can hear your cries, HE’S DOING HIS JOB.
When he risks his life to keep you safe, HE’S DOING HIS JOB.
When his wife lets him walk out the door every day, leaving his family to protect yours, HE’S DOING HIS JOB.
When he works overnight so you can sleep in safety, HE’S DOING HIS JOB.
When he crouches behind cars with an assault rifle looking for a madman, HE’S DOING HIS JOB.
When he pulls over your son for driving drunk, HE’S DOING HIS JOB (& keeping other people alive).
When he arrests you for drug use, HE’S DOING HIS JOB.
When he’s hunting you because you broke the law, HE’S DOING HIS JOB.
HE’S DOING HIS JOB

Thank a police officer for DOING HIS JOB today, because he might die for you tomorrow…

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Christmas-y Photos

These aren't Peyton's "official" Christmas shots, i.e. the ones that will be on our card, but we snapped a few Christmas-y pictures last night after one her ensembles came in the mail. 

Speaking of ensembles, I had a really hard time finding a cute Christmas outfit this year for Peyton (thanks so much for the help Hannah and Paige).  Everything was either super dressy, which is pointless for us, or it just wasn't cute...wasn't Peyton.  I finally found a cute black dress (with an adorable ruffled bottom) and some sassy sparkly red tights, an awesome dress from Etsy which should be here any day now...that's her official outfit, and then a holiday sweater dress. 

I love the sweater dress, but you can imagine my distress when after all of my hunting they shipped me a 12M instead of an 18M.  I knew I didn't have time to exchange or return it because our Christmas get together's start this weekend.  What's a girl to do?!  Just for grins I decided to try it on her, and wouldn't you know it actually fit!  Thank goodness she's so stinkin skinny.  The only way I can tell it's not 18M is because it's a little short, but it works and it looks adorable.  So enjoy a few Christmas photos!






Monday, December 5, 2011

Christmas, and tantrums, and teeth...oh my!

Hold on for another really long random, all over the place, post!  I'll try to follow in the order of the title. 

This weekend we took Peyton to a few Christmas celebrations, and had a great time (for the most part).   Friday night our small town had the annual Christmas tree lighting, and Nonnie and Pa Pa were there playing hand bells.  Peyton had a good time, with the exception of a melt down because she couldn't follow some dogs that were there.  She got to hang with her boyfriend Owen, so that cheered her up.  We dropped her off back at home with my in-laws, and headed out for our church Volunteer Appreciation night.  We had a blast.  Saturday we went to the local library for their Christmas party.  It was great, they had crafts, stories, cookies, and Santa.  Her boyfriend Owen came, and he actually sat with Santa.  Our Santa experience did not go quite as well.  There was no massive meltdown or tears, but she made it very clear we would NOT be getting a picture with Santa and clung to me with the death grip.  She did, however, make sure to get her candy cane from Mrs. Claus! 

** I thought the Santa visit might work because she seems to be over her fear of men and has been really in to hugging and kissing EVERYONE lately.  But alas, that did not carry over to Santa. **





Saturday night was a rough one, which brings us to tantrums.  I'm not bragging, and I know I've said this before, but Peyton has always been an awesome sleeper.  I can count on one hand how many times I've had to get up with her in the middle of the night in almost the past year, so when she started screaming on Saturday night at 10pm I knew it wouldn't be good.  I went in her room and felt A-W-F-U-L.  We have a tower heater that automatically turns on and off based on the temp you set it at, well she apparently hit a button so it just stayed on...it was 87 degrees in her room ya'll.  Mom of the year right here!  On top of the heat, I determined she's cutting her bottom 2 k9's, and she had some tummy issues earlier that day.  Long story short, she screamed from about 11 until 2:30am non stop.  If I went in there, she wanted me to hold her, as soon as I left she flipped out.  Usually if she has any issues like that, she'll cry for 5 or 10 mins then go to sleep but not Sat. night.  I think between teething pain and tummy issues, it was just too much.  She finally went to sleep close to 3am and then was up at 7:45am, so basically we all had about 4 hrs of sleep.  She woke up covered in diarrhea so we had a nice early morning bath, but thankfully she was in a good mood. 

We had a lazy Sunday while Daddy worked the Christmas parade.  Peyton seemed to feel OK, she was just dragging from the lack of sleep (so was Mommy).  I decided to put her down for her nap a little early and cue the 37 minute long tantrum, yes I timed it.  Oh.my.word.  It was obvious she was over exhausted and I expected a tantrum, but this one was off the charts.  She spent pretty much the entire time running through the house completely naked (except for her socks) and screaming at the top of her lungs...all because I tried to put a clean diaper on.  I finally just sat back in her room until she decided she was done.  Eventually she came back with her juice, crawled up in my lap, let me get her clothes on and read a book.  I'm still recovering from that tantrum. 



Tantrums seem to be very prevalent over the past week at our house.  She goes weeks with none, then a week of 100.  They come out of nowhere.  One second she's fine, then I didn't pour her juice right and she's stomping her feet (her newest tantrum trick) and screaming. 

I know I'm whining, it's my blog and I'm allowed to!  As exhausting as this whole toddler hood thing is, I wouldn't trade it for the world.  For every bad day, we have tons of good ones.  This age really is so much fun, you can just see the wheels constantly turning in her head and everything is so new and amazing.