This ones for the Girls

She's ingenious really, she can turn anything into either a necklace, bracelet, purse, of some kind of foot wear. Thats my girl, although I'm really not sure where she got it, heaven knows I am generally inept at all things fashion, foot wear, and SHOPPING! I am not much of a shopper, (although Darren and the bank might argue) you have to make decisions in shopping, and I try to avoid that whenever possible. But this little girl of mine is oh so girl, nine times out of ten I only have one of every shoe in my closet and its a hunt as to where Riley ran off with the other one. And bowls. Bowls are her other choice in fashion foot wear, watch for it on the red carpet. She loves to skate around the kitchen in whatever type of bowl she can get her hands, and feet, on. I suppose it shouldn't be quite such a conundrum as to why I always seem to be doing dishes.

She also loves babies, but most of the time she has to get her baby fix at Grandma's or her cousins, she should be easy to shop for this Christmas. She is not totally wanting however, we were given a small baby for her that we have affectionately nicknamed "ugly baby", and it does not disappoint. Check this out....

Rightly named isn't it? 

The best part is that this thing came with a Certificate of Authenticity. Which is good because I don't want just any old knock off of Ugly Baby. Only the best for my daughter.

Now our conversation progresses from ugly baby to super super cute baby! I'm pretty sure I have a Certificate of Authenticity for this one too, I like to call them scars. Well worth it!  

This girl is so darn cute and so much fun, she cracks me up and has so much personality for a 21 month old. Where does she get it? 

What separation of church and state?

So Mason comes home the other day with a sticker on his shirt. He is so excited to show it to me and tell me how he got it, here is how it went. "Mom, guess how I got this sticker?" Me: "I couldn't you'll just have to tell me." Mason: "We were talking about the three boats and how they came to the island. (Boats=Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria. Island=Americas) and when my teacher asked who it was that drove the boats, I said it was Jesus. She gave me a sticker for saying Jesus drove the boats to the island!"  I tend to thing that the sticker was a result of good old fashioned children's hilarity. And although it warms my heart to know that Mason is being spiritually minded, may he keep it forever, for it is life eternal. I have a feeling that it may take many Columbus Day celebrations before he is willing to renounce Jesus' physical discovery of the America's. Not to say there wasn't divine intervention, but the whole separation of church and state thing may make the teaching that Jesus discovered the America's problematic. Ah, the innocence of youth, if only we could keep that forever too!

Compromise

So Darren hated my blog. Ok, maybe he didn't it hate it per say, but yeah ok, he hated it. He didn't care for the template I was using, although I, of course, loved it. But seeing as how I am such a nice wife (stop your laughing!) and I don't want to alienate him from our blog, I decided on a compromise (and you said it couldn't be done). Here it is: for my pain and suffering at the loss of my bowling blog, I reserve the right to make a playlist of songs that Darren would otherwise taunt me endlessly for listening to, but which he will not do now in the name of compromise! See how great that worked out, and although I will miss my bowling pins and Darren will mute his computer each time he checks out the blog, we hope that all the rest of you out there enjoy the result of a little conflict resolution.

Sunday Sweethearts

Having never been in a Primary Presidency I can say whole heartedly I love Primary Program Sunday. I do feel for those who have to write, organize and execute the program, but for those of us who simply get to sit back and enjoy their hours of hard work, its a rather delightful Sunday. This year Spencer dazzled us with his bilingual skills, spouting a little "I am a child of God" in Portuguese. While Mason informed us that he was going to "serve a missionary some day".  All in all this years program was a huge success, and the kids were as adorable as ever. So here is my thanks to all you Primary Presidencies, and teachers out there for taking one Sunday to do what we parents can't seem to manage the other 51 weeks of the year, getting our kids to sit quietly through Sacrament. 

My kids looked so darn cute today, all ready for the program, that we had a little photo shoot before church. 

Aren't they so dang adorable?!?!

Don't hate us cause we're beautiful

I am sure it is not hard to see just why I love these amazing, shall we say ladies, for lack of a better term. These beauties before you make up our Young Women's presidency, and I really do consider myself lucky to be among them. We have the greatest time and I learn something from them every moment I spend with them, it may not be makeup tips, but trust me its always something profound. I had to share with you all just how lucky I am to serve with two of the most incredible women I have had the pleasure to know. I know I am not the only person who's life has been changed because they had the pleasure of associating with these ladies. I have learned how to be a better person because of them. 

And they are flippin' hot babes too.

 (that ones for you Shauna)

A lot of makeup, tons of hair product, a few girdles later, and not bad eh?

And one last picture for the record books. It really should be no secret that I love squeeze cheese, I pretty much eat like a kid. I love hot dogs, pizza, popcorn, sour gummy candy, processed cheese, processed meat, yes that includes SPAM, and any other food that would seem absolutely disgusting to any civilized adult. And not only do I eat like a kid, I also act like a kid, its really no wonder I love being in Young Women's so much. It gives me an excuse to act the age that I feel (16ish), so here is me and Lauren getting a little wild with the squeeze cheese. I seriously don't know what I will do when I have to start acting my age (21ish right?)

Soccer & Birthday parties, a Mothers Life.

The boys started their first year of soccer this Saturday. Of course they love it and had a blast, Im just glad that Darren played because I am so clueless when it comes to soccer. I never did get into it and enjoy playing it that much so thank heavens for Dad. Although I will admit that there is a whole new enjoyment to soccer when your watching you 5 & 6 year olds playing. Spencer got to play goalie for a while, he enjoyed it until at at one point he stopped the ball in the goalie box with his hands and another kid kicked it at that same moment. Natalie, our ref, had to mention to the other kid that once the goalie grabs it, no kicking. Masons favorite thing was of course making a goal, of which he had one, I wont mention that half of the goals made for our team were kicked in by our opponents. At age 5 its hard to comprehend that there is a my side/ your side. All of the parents had a good laugh and loved watching our future David Beckhams start their careers, no pressure boys.

Then later that day we had Mason's birthday party at the in-laws pool. Thanks guys! It was the easiest birthday party I have ever done, and the kids all had a blast. Of course we had to do a Star Wars party, my boys biggest obsession, and how do you like our Darth Vader cake? We also had a Darth Vader pinata, and Mason scored a super fun battery powered quad-runner. I dont know about you guys but I wish we had stuff like that when I was a kid, I did hop on for a ride however, I felt like I was 5 again.

Now we are back to another Monday, ready to start another week of school. My kids are getting smarter by the day, Spencer brought home his first spelling & sight word test on friday, and of course got 100%. He also mentioned the other day that he wanted to go to PE at school, I said "PE Huh?" and he says, "Ya mom, physical education."  Well it has been a few years....

Mason's teacher Ms. Oliver gives me a daily report on how many times she calls him Spencer. She knew Spence from last year and just cant help getting them mixed up. But she says that every time she does call him Spencer, he looks at her with his hands on his hips and says "Im MASON", and then laughs. She told him to just be grateful she doesn't call him Riley. 

Speaking of Riley, she and I miss our boys while they are gone to school, but we have some serious mother-daughter bonding time. She is so easy going and low-key that most of the time she is just along for the ride. What a blessing for a third (and final) kid. 

So what more can I say....Life is Good.

My little Mason man.

Its a big day in the Payne household, its my Mason mans birthday! It is still hard to believe that Mason is 5 years old. Here are a few things that I love about Mason:

He loves to ask "Mom/Dad we're dudes right" and everyone is Mason's dude. He is such a loyal friend.

He is all boy! If you will play catch with that kid, he will be your best friend for life, and never let you stop. He is a natural athlete.

He is so funny, he cracks me up all the time, with something he says or something he does. He loves to make people laugh and is very good at it.

He is such a great brother! He can make Riley laugh like no one else can. He loves to play with her and they always have a great time. He is also so kind to Spencer, always wanting to make him happy.

He is so sweet, and gives great hugs (when you can get them out of him) He is a very busy guy.

The bottom line is that I love my Mason so much. He is such an integral part to our family, we would not be the same without him. I am so grateful that the Lord sent him to our family, and consider myself incredibly blessed to be this amazing boys mom. 

Love you Mason, happy birthday!

Ah, isnt he so cute. He will be a serious heart breaker, a toe head with gorgeous blue eyes, and so sweet.