Introducing...Shannon

This was the hardest one to do, hence, it's last. It's so much easier just to write some basic things about my and so this might get long, but it's only fair for me to do the same thing I've put everyone else in my family through this week. So, here goes....

Color? Purple
Food? Mexican
Show? What Not to Wear
Character? anything but a cartoon
Song? In the Bulb there is a Flower
Book? probably whatever I'm reading right now and The Bible
Sport to play? Soccer
Sport to watch? Football
Holiday? Birthdays
Snack? Chocolate Ice Cream
Favorite thing to do with Peyton? anything where I can see him learning
Favorite thing to do with Layla? play with her hair after her bath
Favorite thing to do with Daddy? see Daddy's introduction

I have lots and lots of hobbies. Most of them revolve around the house in some way. I love to sew, knit, decorate, garden (flowers and vegetables), cook (mostly baking), and read. I am blessed to stay home with my kiddos most of the time, but that means I have to do all of this and more on a budget which I usually like and enjoy the thrill of finding things at garage sales and thrift stores and re-purposing old things is usually fun, too.

I also try very hard to keep in good shape, which for me, right now, means lots of running. I've attempted to train for a half-marathon and found out my limit is not that high at this point. It's still on my bucket list, but not in 2009. I made 10 miles once and vowed not to try that again for a long time, but I still think of it often and when I hear about registration being open for another race I always have to think twice and remember back to that fateful day in the summer of 2008 when I attempted 10 miles. Someday, maybe when one of my kids wants to run with me!

That's all I can think to tell you right now, but I'm sure more will come out as this blog takes shape. After all, this space is all about us and the things we love to do, day-in and day-out as well as the special occasions in our life. Things are always changing and growing and that is what makes life exciting!

Introducing...Jeremy

According to Jeremy, his favorite...

Color? Blue
Food? Big Fat Steak
Show? The First 48
Character? Peter Griffin
Song?
Book? Men With Balls
Sport to play? Golf
Sport to watch? Football
Holiday? Thanksgiving
Snack? Pringles
Favorite thing to do with Peyton? play ball
Favorite thing to do with Layla? make her laugh
Favorite thing to do with Mommy? better not write that here

Let's see...what else should I tell you about him. He adores his two children. Most of the time, they have him wrapped around their pinky fingers and most of the time, I'm ok with that. He loves to wrestle with Peyton and give horsey rides to Layla.

When it's too cold outside to golf, he's inside bowling.

He loves to cook, especially weekend breakfasts or when we decide to have breakfast for dinner. He could grill out all year long and has been known to attempt to smoke ribs in single digit temperatures!

From time to time (read short spurts with multiple year spans in between) he likes to paint. We have several of his pictures hanging on our walls.

Introducing...Layla!

Here are her favorites! This "interview" was a bit different from Peyton's. Most of the time her response was "i dunno" followed by several seconds of silence and then a phrase that may or may not have pertained to the question I was asking from across the room. So, this list is a collaboration of what she said and what I observe to be her favorites.

Color? She said purple, but blue is the first color she always names when asked to name the color of something

Food? Jelly, definitely!

Show? Clifford, most of the time, or George

Character? According to her, Dora, but only because Peyton was also assisting with this question and answer sesssion

Song? Twinkle, Twinkle...she wakes up singing this song, but she is our singer so this is likely to have changed by now

Book? "Caterpillar" (The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle) last week, What's Wrong Little Pookie? by Sandra Boynton this week, but Dora was her answer this particular day

Sport to play? we aren't quite there yet...she said bowling

Sport to watch? again, it's not really a good question and Peyton had a lot of influence, but she said bowling

Holiday? She said something weird like Christmas, but if Peyton didn't understand the question, I'm pretty sure Layla was making up something

Snack? grapes

Favorite thing to do with Mommy? Music...we love Kindermusik class every Tuesday morning with Miss Lorie

Favorite thing to do with Daddy? talk on the phone and just recently started have decent conversations with him

Favorite thing to do with Peyton? Ring Around the Rosie

Introducing...Peyton

So, here's the idea behind these posts...I "interviewed" each family member with these same questions and I want to do this each year on our birthdays (or at least the kids) from now on just to see how things change.

These are the answers given directly by Peyton. Daddy and I's thoughts are at the end. To be fair, I made Peyton pause a Clifford show on TV to give these answers so I believe some of them are a bit skewed, but let's face it, this will never be scientific, but fun none-the-less.

Color? Red
Food? Pancakes
Show? Clifford
Character? Clifford
Song? Mommy's Good Night Song (This Pretty Planet)
Book? A Clifford
Sport to play? football
Sport to watch? football
Holiday? Halloween
Snack? "trails" (marshmallows, raisins and peanuts)
Animal? giraffe
Favorite thing to do with Mommy? play with play-doh
Favorite thing to do with Daddy? play wrestling
Favorite thing to do with Layla? play with a ball

He's holding a football

Peyton is 3 soon to turn 4. He is going to preschool 5 mornings a week and mostly likes it. It's still a challenge to get him out the door on time, but it's much easier on library days (Tuesday), gym days (Thursday) and popcorn days (Friday). He is definitely not a fan of Spanish (Mondays) and isn't excited about going to art (Wednesday) but always come home with an exciting story about what he did in art. He is becoming much more independent because of preschool and I mostly like that. It is helpful that he is starting to do things for himself and I've used it to my advantage many times.

This was after the first day of school. It is much better now!

He definitely loves the color red. If he's not wearing it somewhere each day then rest assured he had nothing to do with picking out his outfit and he's probably not happy that not even his red underwear are clean.

Not sure where the pancake answer came from, other than that probably is his favorite breakfast. He also really likes hot dogs, mac and cheese and peanut butter and jelly. He can make his own sandwich now and won't let it me any other way.

As I said, all the Clifford references are mostly true, but he also really likes Curious George and Dora the Explorer. He has recently latched onto a book called Rattlebang which is the longest children's book one can find, but a fairly good take on the Good Samaritan Bible story retold with cars. We don't even have many Clifford books and they are definitely not favorites of ours as they are hard to read. But, he does ask for George a lot and often brings Dora or Bob home from library day at school.

Sports! Sports? Sports! Peyton is our sports guy! I don't think there's one he won't attempt to play or watch. Football is definitely a favorite, but if you ask what Saturday is....it's bowling day. He bowls every Saturday morning with his friend Tyler and loves it! He has also tried to play baseball and golf in the snow this winter. The cold weather is not going to stop him; he was begging to go out almost every day.



News to us...Halloween must be has favorite holiday. When I asked him that question, he first reply was, "What's a holiday"?" So I mentioned everyone I could think of except Halloween and that was his reponse. I have no idea where it came from, especially since I didn't think he really had that much fun at Halloween last year. He was scared of most of the other costumes, wouldn't say "trick or treat" to anybody nor did he say Thank You. It was a long evening, but apparently he did like it.

Peyton does snack a lot. I feel like he could eat us out of the house if I let him. But, he'll usually eat fruit or vegetables first. "Trails" is definitely his favorite and he has it everyday when he watches a movie for his quiet time during Layla's nap.

Even though the zoo isn't open for the summer yet, we are ready and very excited for this year because we will be able to feed giraffes here in the Fort! We'll see how much he really likes them then. So far, things that are bigger than Peyton do not make him happy, but maybe that'll change and he'll find that experience as neat as I am hoping.

We do a lot of play-doh playing in this house, as well as, other crafty things. Peyton loves to do this, but only after Layla and I have started. If I ask him, he usually says no, until we're doing it and then he wants his seat and his material and he'll sit and do it for a long time. He could wrestle with Daddy for a very long time...Daddy always tires out first. And playing ball with anyone is fun, but I think it's all he could think of with Layla.

That was fun...we'll see what he says next year. Or maybe on his birthday, if it's a lot different.