reconciliation

baylee had his first reconciliation today. he is getting ready for his first communion. i was telling someone the other day he was doing this and they asked what does a 7 year old have to confess. well baylee and i were talking about it last night and he found 3 things that he needed to confess. he was in and out quickly so he must have only talked about the three things we discussed. i will leave those up to him to tell. he looked so handsome today. he loves to dress up and look like lee. here he is doing his penance.

father john said he did a great job. he was a little nervous and was thumbing through the book he took in for help, but did a fabulous job. i am grateful for father john. he is extremely patient and sometimes i know i need that.

tara

the christmas season is here

baylee has been begging for us to put up our tree. i am a firm believer in not putting your tree up until after thanksgiving. so today we decorated our house. we have our traditions we turn the tv to christmas music. lee hauls everything in, it's cold outside. lee puts our fake tree together and wraps lights around it. i take the pictures. this year lee decided to wrap lights up the center before putting all the branches on. i do think that made a big difference.

baylee helped lee this year walk around the tree holding the strand of lights. he loves to help put the branches on as well. the other boys found anything they could do but be in the living room, which is hard because there are no video games until after the tree is complete. after the lights and branches are on everyone helps put on the ornaments. i really like to have a tree that you can tell kids decorated, which translates into all the ornaments are grouped together.

baylee putting the angel on the tree.

this year payton fell asleep during the assembly of the tree so he put his ornaments on later. he was imitating the grinch during this time, i got him to put on three ornaments and that was all. the few pictures of me during were taken by baylee. he wants me to be in the pictures as well. i always give him the same speech before i hand my camera over. but i am really impressed with how well he can take a picture. he took 4 to get this one with me only changing one setting. he is not too shabby.

i really needed this day to put me in the spirit. i really dislike the holidays, even more after my dad died. i hate the rush that i always feel: have to go here, have to leave now, now go do this. i am a real laid back kinda person and the hectic time really bums me. the last couple of years have been better because we stay at home christmas day. everyone in their jammies all day playing with the things santa left. i need to be better for my kids sake. we spent the whole day today running errands as a family and decorating as a family so maybe a few more days like today and i will be all the way in the mood.

i'll add the pictures in the morning.

tara

it's not even thanksgiving yet...

it drives me absolutely bananas. people already have their christmas lights up and ON. i completely understand putting you lights up when the weather is nice.

in fact lee and baylee did that last weekend. don't worry we only left baylee up there for the afternoon and then went back after him. he didn't yell too much.

but come on. let thanksgiving be over before you turn them on. why don't you just leave them on all year round? it seems each year it gets earlier and earlier that stores put christmas stuff out to sell and people start decorating earlier and earlier. enjoy the holiday that is here and quit hoping for the next one.

not really. we didn't even leave the yard the whole time he was on the roof.

i remember putting the christmas lights up with my dad. he would put me on his shoulders and we would walk along the house sticking the lights up there. i remember being really scared and thinking that he was going to drop me. but he never did. he may have moved a little too quickly for my liking but he never let me fall. i hope baylee has those same memories some day.

sorry for the rant.

tara

dinner tonight

we went to eat dinner at logan's. while we were there lee gets a call from a friend saying they are playing cards. lee tells him he'll be there and hangs up.

baylee looks at him and asks "who's gonna watch us?"
lee looks at him,
"you have a mother."
"oh."

lee laughs at me and says i want you to blog that. implying that i am never around the boys. apparently the time from 8 am until he picks them up at 5pm doesn't count as time with the boys. and from 5pm until 9pm when they go to bed is days long. even if i get home at 11pm we are both with them until they go to school. baylee just thought that i had more stuff to do at the store and wasn't going home with them.

so i blogged that. he can't say that i don't tell all the stories.

tara

the polar express

we left panhandle early enough to do a little shopping before we went to lubbock. the boys got kung fu panda to watch on the way there. i am thankful for dvd players in cars. the ride there was great. we ended up in lubbock about the time the movie ended. we met daniel's family at fuddruckers and had dinner before we went to the train depot. when we got there a long line had already formed, but i thought it was great. we were almost to the end so we didn't have to feel like we were in a rush to get on the train we could take our time, perfect for picture taking. as we were standing waiting i got some great shots of the boys looking at the train.
the best part about most of my photos is that they are not staged. most of them are the boys in the moment. i loved how the light made the perfect shadows on the boys. every child was in their pjs and even some adults. i searched everywhere for these jammies and was super excited when i found them. my favorite photo is this one:

baylee has already started asking the question but when i took this photo the light was right and the magic ticket showed. the tickets are a baby blue very similar to the ones you get at the movie theatre, but because of the magic of santa this one turned green. then we heard it.


"all aboard"




just like the movie. you climbed on and found your spot. we were upstairs on top level of the car. i was so impressed with how hard they tried to make you feel like you were in the movie. there was singing, dancing, balls thrown in the air, hot chocolate and cookies. the conductor came by to punch the tickets. they read the story while we went to the north pole. you could walk around and you had to be careful because the train rocked, a lot. then we got to the north pole surprisingly enough it doesn't take long to get from lubbock to the north pole. they did tell us when we got on that it may not look like we are going fast but we were speeding through quickly. santa was waiting on his own train with all the elves jumping up and down. they were so excited to come onto our train. santa came on and talked with every child. he gave every child their own bell. baylee loved it. the bell was his favorite part. tayte didn't want to ride the train, but as soon as he saw santa he changed his mind for a minute (he always needs nudging for everything). payton wasn't sure about santa either. he did take the bell though.


the elves came on with santa and talked to the kids as well. baylee had a long conversation about the wii. according to this elf they spend a lot of time playing wii on the north pole. i always thought they made toys all year but apparently they try the toys out to make sure they work. also santa says he doesn't make the wii's. he has elves that make the electronic gadgets. the elf talked with baylee for quite some time. the other boys weren't quite sure about her either.


lee was not impressed. he wanted more. he has forgotten that you have to view these things through the eyes of a child and not have such high standards. but i am grateful that he went and he didn't complain to much and he even took some photos. he really is a great dad.


on the train ride back to lubbock there was jokes being told, more singing, and more dancing. the elves said there were no parents dancing but i have the pictures to prove that i danced. rachael made fun of me saying that i look 12 so that is why the said none of the parents danced.


i also noticed that santa is either worried about his health or mrs. claus is using fat free ingredients. he has slimmed up some since i last saw him.


i am glad that we went. i am grateful that i have a friend who finds out about these things and spreads the word. i get so much pleasure out of watching the boys during events like this. i hope we can keep this magic for ever. i may have to pull out the ticket picture just to prove the magic behind the whole thing. i would recommend this to anyone with small kids. you may not enjoy it as much as they do, but to see their face when santa walks aboard is all you need.



tickets for a family of 5: $95
dinner for 5: $40
gas to get there: $30
watching your children through this ride: priceless.


tara

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