chicken legs

aunt rachael said, "look at those chicken legs!"

payton's reply, "no, not chichi legs, apple feet."

no clue what that means but it was too funny.

tara

baylee turns 8

it is hard to believe that my first born is eight. i swear that i was just pregnant with him. you always here that time flies, but you don't believe it until you witness it first hand. i am so proud of the young man he has become. he is smart, friendly, and will stick up for those he believes is the underdog. i am amazed at how loving and caring he is. i can't even begin to explain the feeling of joy he brings me everyday. i look at him and think that lee and i have done a pretty good job of parenting, but i also know that he is one of the easiest boys to parent. i am so excited that i see the young man i want him to be already forming before my eyes.


baylee is really into pokemon cards these days. he wants to trade them at school everyday. he was super excited to get so many.

he had a slumber party for his birthday. several people told me that i should rethink the whole idea. i am glad that he had that experience. it was a lot of work for lee and i but, i am glad he got to experience that birthday. we started the day at the park. the bigger boys played football, while the 2 little ones played on the slide. then we went to the house and they played the wii, legos and outside. lee was awesome at the party. he played with the boys, wrestling with them. i think they did get the better of him at the end. it all started with a pillow fight and ended up with everyone dogpiling lee. there was movies and popcorn. kids trying to beat the record of how long they stayed up. all in all it was a great party. i hope baylee was as happy as i was.

"i am king of the world!"

in true tayte fashion he was laying there like nothing was going on. there was a wild chaotic war zone going on and if you looked at tayte he was unphased.

payton did not like that fact that all these boys were attacking his daddy. he tried several times to help lee. either he was flinging his blanket or he finally grabbed a pillow and was trying to help lee. he even tried to pull lee out from under the huge pile of boys.

i got up and cooked breakfast like i always do for a birthday, only this time i had 5 extra mouths to feed. i made baylee's blueberry pancakes and it was a success. since i am lazy and only make them from the box several of the boys loved them because they didn't taste like blueberries.

the aftermath of cooking pancakes for 8 boys.

i think baylee had a great birthday.

tara

sweet payton

i have been meaning to post this for a couple of days now, but i have been super busy.

a lot of the time i tell how onry payton is, but he does have a sweet side. the other night he was laying in bed with me. i was trying to sleep and he was watching tv. he was in no mood to sleep so he kept messing with me.

i felt a little hand under my chin. then i felt a soft kiss on my lips. he was so sweet.

"i wuz you."

he did that a couple of times and then rolled over and went to sleep.

tara

what do you do?

baylee has gotten in the habit of not bringing his homework home. he is an excellent student. the only grade that is not above a 94 each six weeks is his handwriting, and if you ever saw his dad's handwriting you would understand. he is a great kid, but twice this week he hasn't brought home homework. since christmas break he has forgotten 5-7 times. lee and i are at our wits end trying to come up with something that works. the last idea i had was a highlighter for his assignment sheet. any suggestions would be appreciated.

exhausted,
tara

dogpile daddy

lee and baylee started wrestling on the bed. i joined in trying to help baylee. payton thought it looked like fun so in he came. we yelled at tayte to come upstairs. finally he came and after lots of pleading he joined the fun. i yelled "dogpile daddy." we climbed on in order of age.

lee

me

baylee

tayte... at this point it was a large pile.

and, did payton make it on?
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yes payton climbed on.

lee commented on how much weight he added. apparently tayte thought the same thing because he said, "i should have climbed on last."

we need someone else around to take pictures.

tara

random sayings by the boys

i have been meaning to post some of these for a while now.

payton:

• pluh play = push play
• mau milk = chocolate milk
• fli fli = chocolate
• frink pepier = drink of dr. pepper
• had you = hold you

tayte:

• wudie = movie
• tayte is growing up so he is using big boy phrases: the other night baylee was pestering him so he looked at baylee and said "knock it off" we all started laughing because it was funny hearing that out of a little body

baylee:

• he is really into music so he has been singing a lot lately, my favorite is beyonce's put a ring on it. i don't know if that is the title or not but that is what he was singing "if you liked then you shoulda put a ring on it, if you liked then you shoulda put a ring on it. oh oh oh..." that cracked me up.

i will add to this post later.

tara

brothers

why is it that they boys can go from punching each other one minute to loving and hugging the next? they really do get along really well. they have been in a funk lately. i think that has to do with the bodily explosions (from both ends) that all the boys have had during the last week or so. they are better now, but there is the lingering whining that comes with being sick.

five minutes ago payton was hitting tayte. then payton fell and wanted me to hug him. so i was holding him and tayte decided he needed to be held. so i was holding both of them. payton didn't like that and wanted down, but after i started patting tayte's back payton decided he needed to help. he needed to love on tayte and hug him. i guess payton decides he needs to make up for being ugly and will love on tayte.

i really feel sorry for tayte. he is so much bigger than payton, but payton gets the best of him at least once a day. tayte doesn't liked to be screamed at and payton does it a lot, i think just to aggravate tayte. but, payton will try to be nice. he always wants to help wash tayte's hair, give him a cookie, or anything little like that.

i don't get brothers, they fight and then love. why does there have to be so much fighting?

tara