Teaching them young

#futurerkobh

The other night, plans for our normal Wednesday dinner with Grandma and Grandpa had to be postponed. And, at the last minute, Martin got stuck at work late. So instead of settling for a quiet dinner at home with Peyton (so boring!) I called on Jen and her daughter for an impromptu dinner date. #hallpass

We brought the girls to North at Kierland (choosen for the good patio and even better wine selection). Within moments, Peyton and Gabriella were taking selfies on Gabriella's toy Frozen phone. That of course set off a frenzy of Instagram and Facebook posts because it doesn't get much funnier than that. #wearesofunny

#lookatthecamera

And then Gabriella showed her love for Peyton by strangling her to death. 

#takeiteasygabriella

We decided to show the girls how it was done, and attempted to get a shot of the four of us.

 

#badlighting

#foxblock8

Lazy blog post

Just a few recent gems of Peyton's many expressions and looks...

Heading to school in style.

Dressed for dinner.

Her favorite bath toy.

Wondering if Mommy will ever be ready to leave for school/work.

Aloha

Because I'm such an amazing wife, I surprised Martin with a five day vacay to Kauai in celebration of Christmas and our 10th anniversary. The major downside - leaving monkey for five days. We knew she'd be in good hands - spending half the time with Grandma and Grandpa, and the other half with Papa and Abuelita. But I had never left PK for this long before.

Peyton's attitude didn't help matters. When it got closer to our departure date, she began to tell us on a regular basis how much she'd miss us. While shopping at Nordstrom for Hawaii clothes, she complained that us going without her sas "no fair." And she informed me that when she was older and married, she'd go on a trip to Hawaii, but she would bring her daughter with her. Hello knife, meet my heart.

Despite her best efforts to guilt us into staying, we hopped on the plane and left Arizona for the Garden Island. We spent a relaxing week sleeping, eating, lying on the beach, and buying Hawaiian crap for Peyton.

Yes that is a bee in my hair.

View from hiking the Kalalau Trail on the NaPali Coast.



The trail includes climbing over many waterfalls. We are so outdoorsey aren't we???



Poipu Beach

Martin looking like a total loser attempting to snorkel. He lasted about 10 minutes.

Normally, Martin and I have a useless conversation on the last night of every vacation about how we should stay an extra day or two. But not this time. We were anxious to get home to the monster. She greeted us with glee when we walked in - but we're still not sure if she was more excited to see us or the bag full of presents we brought back for her.

Pink ukelele, flower bracelet, shell necklace, and hair bow. That's just what fit in the carryon.



Like father, like daughter

We took Peyton to dinner at Oregano's a few weeks ago. Nothing out of the ordinary happened until we ordered the restaurant's famous Pazzuki dessert. Peyton is not really a dessert eater - she'll have a few bites of a cupcake, or a bite or two of some ice cream, but that's it. Until the Pazzuki. She devoured the treat and was "mmm-ing" with each spoonful. She repeated at least three times "This is a really yummy dessert."

She is her father's daughter. Martin and Peyton were almost fighting each other for the next bite. (Pazzuki happens to be one of his fave treats as well). At one point, Peyton even positioned her body to block Martin from reaching the plate. Next time we'll order two.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The annual Valentine's Day pose off in our front yard produced a few good shots of Peyton in her sassy heart outfit. Peyton has relished this artificial holiday - and her favorite part was the craft afternoon at school because she got to play with glue and glitter.

And, she was so proud to pass out those ellusive Frozen valentines to all of her friends.

Gabriella and Peyton getting ready to glitter themselves.

Please take note of all the glitter in her hair. She dumped a spoonful on her head.

Craft + Peyton = intense concentration

Charlotte's birthday redux

Poor little Miss Charlotte was too sick for her original Breakfast at Tiffany's themed birthday party in December. Instead of cancelling, Aunt Ginger did what any mom with a determination to celebrate her daughter's 1st birthday would do - rescheduled it for February.

Peyton donned a perfect black cocktail dress, pearls and did her best Audrey Hepburn. Even though she has no clue who Audrey Hepburn is. The party was complete with adopt-a-kitty favors, Tiffany blue box cake and mimosas for the growns.

 

Good girl

Sometimes Peyton's behavior makes me wonder how I got so lucky with such a good kid. For months she's been a champ at staying in bed until her green light comes on. But over the past couple of weekends, she has shown us that she really is growing up and becoming indepdent.

On the weekends, instead of bounding into our room the second the light turns green, she goes straight into her toy room and plays by herself for at least 30 minutes. I'm usually awake anyway (I can hear her open her door and make her way down the hallway), so the other morning I peeked at the monitor we have in the toy room to find this:

Peyton was sitting comfortably at her table, tracing letters in a Doc McStuffins workbook, watching TV. I asked her later that morning what she was doing and she replied, "letting you and Daddy sleep."

Love.

Anniversary pictures, copyright Peyton

Martin and I asked Peyton to take a quick pic of us on our 10th anniversary. She tried really hard, but this was the best she got.

Memo to self: ask Beth the photographer to give Peyton private lessons.

She got a little frustrated (likely spurred by my constant corrections and directions). And then she got pissed at us that she wasn't in the picture. So we took a family selfie.

Martin and I then headed out to Wildfish in Scottsdale for an awesome meal, largely due to my friend's husband who manages the restaurant. The staff treated us like celebrities and we enjoyed a nice evening out, came home, kissed our girl goodnight, and counted our blessings. The past ten years have been good to us.

The things we do for our kids

It happened. I became a crazy psychopath the other day, all in the name of making Peyton happy. It started with a text from my friend Jenny. "Just got G the Frozen pencil Valentines from Target."

I mentioned to Peyton that we needed to get Valentines, and I heard that Target carried Frozen ones. Her eyes lit up and she emphatically agreed that she NEEDED to pass out Frozen ones to her friends as well.

A few days later, we casually grabbed dinner after school and headed over to Target to pick up our Valentines. Peyton was so focused...she didn't even flinch as we walked passed the dollar section (which normally causes her heart to palpitate with all the cartoon toys and small trinkets she thinks she must own), and she cruised right past the toy aisles in search of her Frozen cards.

We got to the Valentine card aisle and scanned the shelves. Minnie Mouse, Princess, Tinkerbell, My Little Pony, Sofia the first, Doc McStuffins, and giant gaping hole where the Frozen ones should be. SOLD OUT. Crap.

This image will haunt me for years to come.

As the tears welled up in Peyton's eyes, I promised her I would go to another Target the following day in search of the cards. We picked out an alternative (Tinkerbell) just in case. But she was undoubtely disappointed.

 
And it was my fault. I shouldn't have opened my mouth in the first place. I should have just taken her to the store, let her pick from what was there, and gone about my business.

The next morning after I dropped her off at school, I went to another Target with my fingers crossed. SOLD OUT. I emergency dialed Martin, told him to drop what he was doing (nothing at work could possibly be as important as this, afterall) and instructed him to run to the Target by his office. GONE. I scoured the Target website. NOT SOLD ONLINE.

SHIT.

Finally, a google search turned up multiple eBay sellers hawking the coveted Frozen pencil Valentines to the highest bidder. I quickly placed my bid (I won't ever admit to how much I agreed to pay) and waited as the seconds on the auction ticked down. OUTBID.

DOUBLE SHIT.

I found another seller and tried again. Mind you, these damn paper Valentines with cheap pencils have now consumed more than 2 hours of my time.

Finally, after another nail biting auction, I won two sets of 16 Frozen valentines with pencils. And three days later, when they arrived in the mail, the look on Peyton's face made all of it worth it.

Leave them alone for two minutes...

And this is what happens. Gabriella and Peyton were left to their own devices for about 20 seconds and came out looking like this. Light up glasses, red feather boas, and suitcases/wagons packed for their "trip to California."

Peytonisms

"I know I talk too much. I will try to talk really quiet."

"I don't watch Dora anymore because you and Daddy don't like it."

"Daddy, please be a peach and get me breakfast."

"Mommy used to work there but then she left so she could be my mommy." (After seeing a picture of the White House).

When asking about how Martin and I met and got married: "But, were you guys like friends first? And then when you had me I became a part of your family."

"Mommy, are you going to get lost again? The best way to find something is to get lost first."