Peyton's Daddy Daughter Dance

Only one more year for Peyton to go solo with her Dad to the elementary school sponsored Daddy Daughter Dance. After that Hailey will have to join and I'm sure Peyton won't like that too much although Tom said she pretty much hangs out with her friends the whole time they are there so maybe Hailey, who is definitely more of a Daddy's girl, will be his sidekick when he's there (although I know Tom does love hanging out with the other Dads too).

This year's theme was Emojis so Peyton wore an Emoji bracelet and a different dress of her choosing (non Emoji). Her dad picked her up a corsage (ordered by me) and she had fun dancing to her favorite tunes, partaking in the raffle (no she didn't win) and going out for ice cream at the end of the night with her friends.

I know she looks forward to this night every year but mostly because she doesn't have to share her Dad with either of her siblings.

I did double duty that night taking Austen to a soccer game and then a baseball game and poor Hailey was a trooper at both too since we didn't get home til 11pm. I couldn't even have worked in a babysitter for her our schedule was so tight. In fact, I had just enough time tor run home and do Peyton's hair in between when I dropped Austen off for warm ups and Hailey's swim lesson.

Anyway, memorable night and a special time for all!

Peyton and Ella

Smells good!

Ice cream with her besties!

Goofin' around with Daddy

Peyton's First Communion

If it wasn't for my aunt, I wouldn't have remembered to post my continuation of my blog about Peyton's First Communion so thanks for the reminder!

Peyton had a gorgeous day to celebrate her First Communion. It was sunny and warm so she didn't even need the cute bolero sweater I bought to go with her First Communion dress (even though if I hadn't it surely would have been freezing that day).

We woke early to head to the salon so she could get her hair done and veil put in. After that, it was a quick ride home to step into her dress and then off to the church for the group picture before the 10am start time. Her grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and godparents all joined us at the church too. Peyton was surprisingly confident about the whole thing. Unlike Austen, she was sure of which hand to pick up the host with and which one was to be placed underneath. She wasn't nervous and she even had a role in the ceremony where she needed to bring up the gifts/Eucharist to the priest with several of her fellow First Communicants. She did tell me though that she did not want to drink the wine because it tasted gross and they said that the communicants had to take the wine. So I told her to fake it. Just let it touch your lips and don't drink it, I told her. That made her less anxious about that part of the ceremony.

After the ceremony, we were off to a special luncheon just for Peyton at a nearby restaurant where we had a private room and Peyton got to pick out the meal (well, at least the kids one). We decided to do something different for her and not have it at our house because she is the middle child and needed something special of her own (but also because our streets were getting redone and it was a mess outside).

At lunch, Peyton opened her many wonderful gifts -  bracelets, rosary beads, prayer boxes, etc. but I did get her a few little (non-religious) things that she really wanted and Hailey was right there to help her open them and observe her big sister's big day.

She had a great day and an even better weekend because it was all about her (for her there is nothing she craves more than attention - well, maybe some crappy toys!). Austen even had to miss a game to attend her big day so that made her feel good too.

Mother's Day 2018

My perfect Mother's Day would be beautiful weather (say 70 degrees), a leisurely brunch outside and then the afternoon spent watching a soccer game or two.

Now, the weather did cooperate today and while not 70 degrees, it was warmer than anticipated and the rain held out. Our soccer coaches decided to give the moms the day off from soccer so there were no games today and I decided to forego a calorie-laden brunch to continue in my quest for good nutrition. Still it proved to be a good day without those seemingly "perfect" items.

First, I got to sleep past 9am (even though I heard Hailey shouting Peyton's name at 7:20am because she wanted her to wake up and go downstairs with her). Then Tom made the kids breakfast and took out the dog while I took a leisurely shower. I opened presents and cards and my favorites were the ones the kids made me at school (a small dish from Hailey and poems from Peyton and Austen). Then we stopped at Starbucks on the way to Grandma's house and enjoyed some time there before returning home for the other Grandma and my siblings and dad to stop over and wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day for a bit.

After that it was on to dinner with just our family where we enjoyed playing trivia about mommy in the car with Hailey guessing many questions correctly including what my favorite family vacation spot was (Austen and Peyton failed to guess the right place). I think this means that I spend a lot of time with Hailey, which is true!

It was a good day (with a bit of whining and craziness mixed in from the kids) to enjoy family and celebrate all the mamas out there.

Peyton's 2nd Grade Program & First Communion

This weekend was all about Peyton. The middle child gets all the attention...finally! It started Friday with her 2nd grade performance. And, what a performance it was with her belting out all the songs she learned for her Family Heritage event complete with a face full of expressions.

The teachers also interviewed the students asking them various questions and recording their answers to play during the entire second grade performance for all the parents and grandparents. Peyton's question was 'Tell me how you got your name?'..."Well," she begins, "In college, my mom used it as her fake name at the bars!" Now the best part of this wasn't that my phone started blowing up from friends commenting - "Really?" and "Amazing Peyton!" as I sat slightly incredulous that she didn't tell the whole truth on this one but that she knew it would make a better interview if she said this partial truth instead of saying where her name originally came from and that was from a TV show. Oh my smart and sassy Peyton. Always looking for the drama when there is none!

You win! said one parent to me, or rather Peyton did with the best line of the whole performance. Well, I don't know if I won but it will definitely be one that we'll tell stories about when she's older!

Anyway, my favorite part of the event was surprisingly not Peyton's interview but the sweet family photo she drew. The best part - Adler floating in a cloud with angel wings. It almost brought a tear to my eye that she still saw her as part of our family and remembered her even though she was only 5 1/2 when she died.

After the performance, the all about Peyton day continued with her grandparents and me and Hailey taking her out for lunch to a place of her choosing. I think she loved the attention especially since she told me multiple times that Hailey could not come to the performance because little kids were not invited! (Good thing Hailey had school anyway.)

Stay tuned next week for more on Peyton's First Communion but here's a sneak peak of her getting spoiled getting her hair done the morning of her big day. (It was safer to have someone else do her hair than us getting into a shouting match the morning of because either I pulled her hair too hard or because it was taking too long!)