boy scouts

monday was boy scouts. you have to start out with the pledge of allegiance and prayer. you also have to do the boy scout salute. this is payton's interpretation.

it was awards day for various things. badges were given to the scouts who move up. those who earned different belt loops at camp. there were prizes and badges for popcorn sales. baylee sold over $600 dollars in popcorn. way to go. you got to choose from several different prizes and this is what baylee wanted. he got a telescope and microscope. every day for the longest time he asked when his prize would be in. the popcorn came and was delivered, but no prizes. he was super excited about this.

then to finish the night the boys were supposed to bring a collection and talk about it. baylee brought his seashell collection. i was really afraid he was going to pull each shell out and tell where he got it. i think he made it through around 10 before i could catch his eye and tell him that was enough.

it was a good meeting.

side note: baylee has really become interested in reading my blog while i type it. really annoying especially when your 7 year old catches your typos.

tara

my me.

until payton we never had a kid that had to have a specific thing to go to sleep. baylee loved his elephants but never had to have a specific one, as long as we grabbed one when we headed out the door that was fine. tayte is so easy going that nothing really phases him, so he didn't need anything. then came payton. somehow this blanket became his "me." not quite sure how it came to be this blanket or even why it is called a me, but everyone knows what to look for or grab when we talk about payton's me. he has always been a blanket over the face kind of kid. it use to freak women out at the store that i would lay him in the floor and as soon as i put his blanket over his face he would quit crying. now i didn't leave it there for hours, but if you pulled it off he would fight to get it back on. so he has a me. and he sleeps with it every night. when he wanders from bed to bed he brings his me. the other night he came crying into our room saying his me was stuck. i went into the room to see and when he pointed to where it was i could quit laughing. lee and i had been fighting him all night to get in his bed and stay in his bed. so he climbed into bed with baylee and baylee rolled over onto payton's me. it was stuck and payton couldn't get it. you can see the love this blanket has been given. thankfully that is the only tear we have and this blanket lasts until payton is ready to give it up.

well after payton had a me, tayte saw the affection and care he took to his me and decided he needed a me. so we have larry the cucumber. we have had this stuffed doll for ever and no one really played with it. then tayte took it over and decided it was his me. now him and baylee fight over it all the time. but it goes to tayte because he decided it was his me. that one thing that you cherish and love. now you find larry everywhere you find tayte. and if tayte leaves it in another room payton brings it to him because you always have to have your me.

finally, baylee decided he needed a me. since i am all about them being kids as long as possible and keeping their innocence i let him find one. again another stuffed animal that no one ever played with became something that you have to kiss and hug goodnight as you kiss and hug the children. but, i am sure that baylee would never admit to his friends that he sleeps with a dog.
so we will love these cherished belongings as long as the boys see fit. and then we will pack them up and give them back to them when times get hard. because what sooths us as kids usually can make things a little better as adults.

tara

why's

i am reverting back to a 2 year old:

why does ice cream sound so good when it is cold outside?
why when things are hard do people have to be mean? don't they see that is it hard for lots of people and by being nice you might make someone's day?
why are plaid coat-topped pj sets so hard to find? i seriously checked out 7-10 different places.
why do people feel they are entitled to certain luxuries just because they breathe?
why does that woman walk her bike almost every day? i have seen this lady walk her bike any where from highland park almost to the big texan. why?
why am i still tired after i wake up in the morning?
why do i feel like i haven't done something if i don't post something every day?

these are just some of the things i wonder. if you can answer them feel free, especially the one about the lady walking her bike. or add your own why's.

tara

i lost my child today

don't freak out he is here beside me now, but...

also, remember that people lose their kids all the time and find them so the story i am about to tell is not the first nor will it be the last time this story is told. or maybe he ran away. and also remember that i did break a mirror the other day so my 7 years are beginning (maybe the last year can count as time served).

tayte had a couple of friends over to play. they were running in and out of the house so i left the backdoor open. it could do the house some good to get some fresh air in, right? anyway payton went outside, he came in, went back out and so on. he was upstairs in his room pulling every toy out of the crate the last time i saw him. i went about changing sheets, washing sheets, picking up and so on. well it had been a while since i had heard anything from him. he can spend a lot of time in his room so i ran upstairs to check. not in his room.

not in the bathroom (another favorite place because of the water).

not in my room (loves to pull out all my scrapbook stuff).

checked his room again, maybe in the closest, or under the table. nope.

checked in the backyard. yelling his name. nothing.

at this point i am beginning to freak out. he will answer when i yell at him.

go back in the house to see if he is inside, i must have missed him. yell at tayte and caden to help me find him.

surely he didn't get in the front yard. he can't open the front door or the door that leads to the garage-God bless a settling house. i ran in the front yard, yelling his name like a crazy person, and across the street there he was. the lady who lives 4 houses and an empty lot down the street had him.

he had been gone long enough to walk down the street, stand in the ditch crying, her find him, her walk him back down the street checking each house for someone who knew who this kid was. all the people on our block who know us were at work. and usually the boys play in the backyard so the old guy across the street didn't know who he was either. she was about to call the police and the two things that would have brought him back home were: most of the police force know us (no we are not in trouble the police-chief of police lives down the street) and the other thing is the little stinkbug had taken a card baylee had made that had a picture with baylee, tayte and i on it.

that is another reason we love living in a small town. this bad situation could have been worse. much worse. much, much worse. but he is home without anything wrong with him. except maybe his eardrums are sore for me yelling at him that he can't wander off like that. that little stinkbug.

tara

missing lee

lee had to go to san antonio for work. he left sunday and won't be back until tomorrow. we really make a good team and divide the parenting tasks equally (or pretty much equally). so to go 3 days without him has been hard. i have felt like a single mom and not so much a fan of it. don't think i will be doing it anytime soon. there are tons of other reasons i will be staying with lee but, that is for another post. i've not really enjoyed getting into bed by myself. the upside though is that i could lay in bed and watch tv until i wanted to stop. i like the feeling of knowing that lee (even though very ocd) locks every door.

i have not been the only one missing him. each night the boys have talked to him on the phone to tell him goodnight. tonight tayte started crying. it was a long day and to add to it not seeing his daddy was more than he could take. he is used to his daddy picking him up from the store everyday and getting to come home. so since that was not the case he was already in a mood. baylee is older so he understands but, that still doesn't make it any easier. i noticed his voice kinda soften when he told his dad goodnight. he asked if he was coming home tomorrow a couple of times. payton has been non-stop since sunday. he definitely is acting different so i think he misses his daddy as well. he even pointed to the office earlier today and said "daddy."

lee says with his promotion there could be more traveling. we all are ok with a night but, three nights is hard on us all. we only have to make it one more night. we can do it.

tara

i've been tagged

ok tag, and i'm it! my friend tammy tagged me and mentioned that this was a good way for jump starting your blog when you seem to be in a blogging rut. link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

*share 7 random/weird facts about yourself.
*tag 7 other people and link to them at the end of your blog.
*let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment.

1. i don't eat cheese often. it is the texture thing. gross.
2. rachael calls lee's friends and us saved by the bell: the married years because most of us met and dated in high school.
3. in high school i once dated 3 guys that were friends and guess still are friends. not at the same time one after the other.
4. even though payton will be the death of me i still want a fourth child. as i type this he squirted half the boys toothpaste in the sink.
5. i always have a jacket in my car especially in the summer.
6. i only wanted to boys and then no more children.
7. my best friend growing up was also named tara.

now i tag 7 people. some of these people may not even know i blog yet. hehe. they are rebecca, jen, cassie, brenda, and brandi sorry that's all i got.

i had to think about some of those.

tara

shouldn't have gotten out of bed

do you ever have those days when you know you should just climb into bed and pull the covers over your head? that day was today. this is how my day went:
first thing this morning:

baylee: mom come see what payton did to my bed
me: what did he do?
baylee: just come see.

so i walk into the boys' room. my eyes for some reason where so dry. i opened them and i swear i ripped my eye in half. (this evening as i type this my eye still hurts). i look at baylee's bed and there are circles the size of softballs, purple, orange, yellow and green. some time in the middle of the night payton got up got markers out of the closest and colored his skin and left the lids off and laid them in baylee's bed. luckily he didn't color baylee's skin, because there was no time to take a bath before school. and according to baylee, "luckily i am wearing long sleaves." they both had marker all over their skin.

this was the rest of the day:

• pulling out of the garage (running late because payton wouldn't get in the car) knocked the passenger side mirror and shattered it. $85 to replace.
• get to work have a customer ask: aren't you the only scrapbook store in town? (yes.) oh, i thought you would have had a better selection being the only scrapbook store in town. i found what i wanted at hobby lobby but i didn't want to buy a whole pack. (what i wanted to reply was go buy at hobby lobby i don't want your snootiness buying 2 sheets of paper. instead i just let her look and walked away). the joys of owning your store. (side note: there are a few girls that i met at the store please remember to take everything i say about the store with a grain of salt. i truly love owning the store, just every once in a while as with any job it sucks and i need to vent.)
• for some reason the boys were extra whiney-so they took a nap to save everyone's sanity.
• raced back to panhandle to go to boys scouts.

now it is time to go back to bed. tomorrow can't be any worse- equally as bad just not worse.

tara