Christmas: Ringoes, NJ 2009

We arrived in NJ, after 2 days of trying to leave Milwaukee, happy and safe. The east coast was hit with a terrible storm the day we were leaving. I think Paeton and I spent over 12 hours in an airport between Saturday and Sunday - for a 1 hour and 58 minute flight. Unreal! This is the morning after we arrived - lots of snow on the ground but my dad cleared the driveway perfectly, the sun was shining and Paeton ran around crazy in the yard.

My dad also cleared a snow tubing path down the front of their yard for Paeton to go sledding. This was her first time in this snowsuit, in a tube flying down the hill.

She loved playing in the snow!

And she loved getting tube rides from Grandpa!

I think she may be eating a little snow in this picture!

She also loved swinging in her swing - Grandma always pushes her SO HIGH!

Here's Paeton and Jodi opening a few gifts on Christmas Eve. Paeton's hair is still wet from taking her bath earlier - she had to get all shined up for Santa!

My sister and Paeton have really formed a good Aunt/Niece bond. Paeton so fondly calls her 'shell' after her name Michelle. Michelle gave Paeton this doll stroller on Christmas eve and we learned quickly that Paeton was satisfied with that one gift.

Christmas Morning: I had a very rough evening. I was sick all night long and barely slept. I made it to the couch with the little energy I had left. I just wanted to see Paeton open her gifts. Here she is waiting patiently to open gifts with her ponies and baby doll bottle on the couch.

That's me on the left barely alive on the couch. As you can see, Santa really outdid himself this year.

Paeton has been obsessed with the potty for a few months now. She received a potty for her baby dolls but felt that she should try it out first. She opened many of her gifts sitting on the potty.

My sister did such a good job of helping Paeton explore her gifts and put stuff together. Paeton's hair is a little wild this day - mommy had no energy to fix it. But...it's pretty classic Christmas morning hair right?

Giving her fish a kiss.

Playing with Aunt Michelle - still sitting on the potty.

Getting a new hat!

We had a wonderful Christmas with my family and were so happy to have made the trip despite the airport delays, illness and the black eye I got. Oh...I forgot about that. Paeton jumped in the bed with Jodi and I one night and had a little too much sugar that day. She threw herself backwards and her head hit my left cheekbone just right. I've been purple since. Tis' the season to be jolly!!!!

Visiting Santa & Good Friends

Dec. 12 we went to Third Lake, IL to visit our good friends, The Perzs. We took the kiddos to a local park where Santa was making a visit in his sleigh. We stood in line for quite some time and waited our turn. Paeton was a little antsy in her stroller, so we let her wander for a bit in the snow. Also to note - Paeton is wearing the Santa pin that my mom made her. It's absolutely adorable. Thanks mom!

Paeton wandered up by Santa's sleigh and checked him out for quite some time. Then it was our turn to finally see Santa!

Total, utter nightmare....

Santa then invited me into the sleigh to sit on his lap and tell him what I wanted for Christmas. He thought that might calm Paeton down. I had to laugh through the experience just so I didn't cry too. You can see how Paeton is clutching my coat. Maybe next year?

After the santa disaster, we came back to the Perzs for some yummy lunch and playtime for the kiddos.

Here's Owen flying high with daddy.

Paeton riding around on the truck.

We had a great time visiting with the Perzs and definitely want to make that trip more often in 2010. Thanks for having us over!

Christmas: Menomonee Falls, WI 2009

We (Jodi, Paeton & I) celebrated our family Christmas on Saturday, December 12. Paeton and I were leaving the following Saturday for NJ so we had to celebrate early this year. We set the date early in the season so everyone was ready. Paeton will never know right? Here we are Christmas morning - we didn't wrap Paeton's new princess chair so she ran right over to this as soon as she came downstairs.

Jodi also put together her new basketball hoop that Santa brought :) Here she is making her first basket. Jodi is so proud!

Opening gifts like a champ - she's come so far from last year!

Checking out her new snow boots.

We're not sure where this face came from. I wasn't trying to touch her gift but she gave me these crazy eyes. It was so funny.

Paeton received an art desk, princess chair, sled and basketball hoop. Jodi received his new baby that's hanging on the wall - her name is Samsung. I received a new Vera Bradley backpack (Love it!!!), additional cubes for my scrapbooking nook, some new Cricut cartridges, and oh...matching pj's with P!

We had a great Christmas morning with just the 3 of us. We feel very blessed for all that has been provided to us in 2009.

Elmo, Horses & Monkeys?

Hi Everyone! After not blogging for several weeks, I figured I'd do a collaborative entry with a few 'Non-Christmas' events we did before the holidays came. So...here we go!

The weekend of Thanksgiving, we took Paeton downtown to see Sesame Street Live - featuring her current idol, Elmo. A friend of mine at work had her a lady she knows who's a stellar seamstress make Paeton an Elmo dress for the show. It turned out so adorable. This picture shows Paeton getting excited for her breakfast before the show - we're at Big Apple Bagels.

Here we all are before the show started.

Here's Paeton standing on Jodi's lap intently watching the show. We had a ton of fun.

Paeton recently got into playing with horses. And she's determined she's too old for her high chair and has to sit on one of the big stools at the island. She's lined her horses up 'just so' in front of her cup - that's the way she likes them.

So happy to be at the big girl table.

My little girl is now big.

Friday Dec. 11 I planned a family night for the 3 of us. It really was just a ploy to keep Jodi out of the house while I had his christmas gift hung on the wall - more about that later. We went to dinner at Chilis and then over to Monkey Joe's. This was our first time and we had so much fun! This slide was super steep!

Paeton had a smile on her face the entire time.

So much fun with our little girl!

Now onto the holidays....

18 Month Update

My little Paeton turned 18 months on 11/20. I haven't really updated everyone on what's she up to recently so I figured I'd take this opportunity to do that. This picture shows how her hair has really come in since she turned one.

Here she is a day before she turned one - lots of hair in 6 months!


Paeton is 'high-energy' all the time but knows when she needs a break (like below) to just chill. She will watch a 1/2 hour video without getting up off the couch.


Paeton loves her dolls these days. She understands changing their diapers, giving them bottles, feeding them with a fork, walking them in the stroller and wrapping them in blankets.

On a side note - she has very versatile hair just like mommy. She can wear it straight or curly. Below it is straight and finally long enough for a high ponytail!

I think that Paeton looks so old in this picture. Where did my baby go?


Paeton is very close with all her friends in her classroom. She talks about them often at home. This is how their names sound when she says them:

• Desmond = "Desy"
• Ezri = "Ezi"
• Sebastian = "Bashy"
• Madison = "Mason"
• Tanner = "Tanuh"
• Bella = "Ella"
• CJ = "CeeAy"
• Teacher Ashley = "Ashee"
• Teacher Kristin = "Kissin"

We are so thankful that Paeton loves her daycare and learns so much when she is there.

We are still baby-proofing the house. At first, we thought it just meant putting those plastic pieces in all the outlets. Boy were we wrong. We then purchased gates and gated all the stairs. Then we realized she was opening all the cabinets. So Jodi put locks on all the cabinets. Then she opened the back door and got out. So we put baby proof handles on all the exterior doors. Now she's taken to all the drawers in the house and can reach high enough to get a fork out. So Jodi locked all the drawers this weekend. Below you can see she's now tall enough to reach even our highest tables. And of course you all saw her on our dining room table...What's next?


Favorite Toys:

• Any sort of flashcards (we don't know where this came from?)
• Baby Dolls
• Dishes
• Anything associated with animals
• Balls - rolling them, kicking them
• Puzzles

Paeton is also talking, talking, talking. Most of the time we understand what she is saying but sometimes it's just jibber jabber - just as cute though!

That's our 18 month old in a nutshell - and we love her so much!