The past week we have had a handful (literately) of joyous parenting experiences...Sometimes I wish I could have Payton unlearn some things like: how to unscrew a lid, how to climb up on objects/dressers, how a box of diapers is really useful to stand on so he can get to the top shelves of his dresser where mom tried to keep things out of reach. Yay! (said with sarcasm)
It started off with Payton attempting to be a nice big brother. He was trying to calm his crying sister while I was getting dressed; but was doing so by putting a pillow over her face because it makes her quiet. YIKES! I leapt over to them, quickly removing the pillow from Emma's face while yelling (I know, bad mom) at Payton telling him how dangerous this is and that he could really hurt his little sister this way. Lesson learned? I sure hope so since they will be sharing a room soon.
A couple days after this Payton is playing in his room having "quiet time" (aka Mom's sanity break) when he comes running down the hall to me holding out his hands saying, "Look, messy!" His hands are covered in chalk that I had put on his highest shelf. Somehow he managed to scale up between Emma's crib and dresser so he could get to it. Great! I go into his room to assess the damages and see lovely chalk art all over his carpet, sheets, and pillow! Yippee! Thankfully bedding is washable and I was able to vacuum most of it out of the carpet. Man I miss him actually taking naps!
Two days later also during "quiet time" I thought Payton was in his room quietly reading his books (that mom was so kind to let him have unsupervised since he thinks it is fun to rip them sometimes) and I am in the kitchen reading some blogs when the dreaded footsteps come running down the hall saying, "Mom, look!" Yup, he has done something again! This time his hands are covered in good ol' scented lotion, along with his pants and shirt sleeves. (I had set some on top of his 5-drawer dresser because I need to clean out the basket they were in, but hadn't gotten to it yet. Procrastination is a bad thing.) I walk down the hall to see what he had done with the lotion and see a nice puddle of it on his carpet and Emma's box of diapers next to his dresser used as a ladder.
Oh, wow! I figured I should clean up Payton first so he doesn't get lotion anywhere else in the house. I take him into the bathroom trying to figure out what would be the best way to clean it all off without making a bigger mess. Yet I also wanted to use the "event" as an opportunity to teach him a lesson. As I start to remove his pants he says, "Me don't want to take a shower." Thanks kid!! I tell him he was naughty and got his clothes all messy, so I needed to rinse them off in the shower while he is still wearing them. He immediately starts yelling/crying (which wakes up Emma from he nap an hour early, dang it!) and I put him in the shower and rinse off all the lotion. I discovered this form of torture last week when I asked him to go potty and he decided to pee in his pants while standing right next to the toilet. So I stood him in the tub fully clothed with pee soaked pants and turned on the shower. He did not like it at all, and still doesn't. At this point I have two crying children and lotion soaked carpet, man I love being a mom! Needless to say I managed to calm Emma, explain to Payton that what he did was naughty, and wipe up the lotion. Thankfully, while giving my neighbor a haircut earlier that day, and telling him about the chalk experience, he told me they had a carpet steamer that I could borrow to try and clean out the stains. Little did we know that I would really need it to clean up the lotion later that day. Sheesh! Daddy was the winner that got to do this job, thanks babe!
Among all the recent naughty moments, Payton has also been a good kid. He is pretty much potty trained by the age of 2 1/2. I am still waiting for him to tell me he needs to go, but accidents are pretty rare, even at night, so I can't complain!
He absolutely adores his little sister and she adores him (I never knew that kids could have a connection so quickly, I love it!).
He can get Emma to laugh more than I can.
He is a great helper if I ever need a diaper, wipes, or anything thrown away.
He always makes Marcus and me laugh by doing something goofy and amazes us daily by the stuff he remembers that happened days, weeks, months before.
He is a very observant kid and even though the two's are full of many (
very many) challenges, I love seeing how much he has learned and wonder what he is going to pick up on next!
It is a super cool ice sculpture that had gerber daisies frozen in the middle and said "We 'heart' U" and "MOM" all around the base. Thanks babe and kiddos!
For Easter we had an Easter egg hunt at Grandma & Papa Witkamp's house with half of the cousins and a few some neighbors. 
As usual the kids were anxious to get outside and find all the eggs. Payton really got into it once he figured out there was candy inside of them. He dug in as soon as they were back inside. Emma really enjoyed holding the plastic eggs and drooling all over them. It was a lot of fun watching all the kids go crazy.
On Easter Sunday we took some pictures with the kids in their cute little outfits. 
They looked so adorable. Payton had fun hanging from the tree
Emma enjoyed the new experience of sitting on the grass with bare feet. Springtime is so pretty!
We had the opportunity to join Marcus' dad in Kauai this year and we had a lot of fun. We didn't have the greatest weather there, but at least it wasn't snowing there! Payton had a blast in the hot tub and splashing anyone close by.
We were able to go to the beach a couple of times, which Payton absolutely loved.
Payton got knocked down by a wave one time as he was trying to run to Marcus, and Megan was taking pictures. She captured the moment of the wave going over him and Marcus quickly reaching for him. Payton got a nice taste of the ocean through his nose and mouth, but once he recovered from it he didn't seem too bothered by it. We think it scared mom and dad more than him.
He also liked running around and collecting sticks or chasing any chickens that were close by. Poor chickens got more exercise in a few days than they do in their whole life!
Some non-beach things that we did is we went on a little train ride around Gaylord's plantation. We got to see how pineapples and many other fruits grow. We learned little facts about the island, saw some horses, and we also got to stop and feed the "wild" boars.
We also went to breakfast and had yummy banana macadamia nut pancakes with "coconup" syrup. Later Payton discovered the semi-fear of a baby gecko being put on his shirt...
And he also got to feed the goats by Grandpa MOH's house...
and he even got to go toad hunting with Daddy and Papa Nick! He thought that was so cool! (no they didn't kill or eat them!)
Payton tried to help out his Mommy by carrying her bag for her. It was quite heavy for him and the only way he could keep it from dragging on the ground was by putting his hand on his head. It was very funny and cute!
Marcus was nice enough to hold and take a picture of one of Megan's least favorite things in Hawaii. A huge nasty dead spider that we found in our room (scary!). Not to mention the 4 inch centipede we found too! Yuck!
We saw some beautiful sunsets and Megan had us pose for a cheesy kissing picture.
The kids were very good for us on the plane rides. We lucked out on our way home and had a really empty flight so the kids were able to lay across the seats and sleep, while mom and dad attempted to sleep sitting up.
Payton and Emma now officially share a room, Megan doesn't have to climb over the port-a-crib anymore to get to her side of the bed. Payton seems to like having her in his room and thankfully they rarely wake each other up.
Marcus had a big birthday this year too! He turned 30!! Wow, it was a big one. We made a big deal of it and went to Pizza Factory and bowling at Fats Cats with friends and family to celebrate his big day. It was a blast!
Emma has started doing the fun little balancing act with her Daddy. She loves it! As soon as she gets up there she gets a huge grin and her arms start flying!
Our attempt to get a cute picture of Payton and Emma in front of the tree before we let him tear into the presents, we'll take what we can get!
A couple days after this Payton is playing in his room having "quiet time" (aka Mom's sanity break) when he comes running down the hall to me holding out his hands saying, "Look, messy!" His hands are covered in chalk that I had put on his highest shelf. Somehow he managed to scale up between Emma's crib and dresser so he could get to it. Great! I go into his room to assess the damages and see lovely chalk art all over his carpet, sheets, and pillow! Yippee! Thankfully bedding is washable and I was able to vacuum most of it out of the carpet. Man I miss him actually taking naps!
Two days later also during "quiet time" I thought Payton was in his room quietly reading his books (that mom was so kind to let him have unsupervised since he thinks it is fun to rip them sometimes) and I am in the kitchen reading some blogs when the dreaded footsteps come running down the hall saying, "Mom, look!" Yup, he has done something again! This time his hands are covered in good ol' scented lotion, along with his pants and shirt sleeves. (I had set some on top of his 5-drawer dresser because I need to clean out the basket they were in, but hadn't gotten to it yet. Procrastination is a bad thing.) I walk down the hall to see what he had done with the lotion and see a nice puddle of it on his carpet and Emma's box of diapers next to his dresser used as a ladder. 
Oh, wow! I figured I should clean up Payton first so he doesn't get lotion anywhere else in the house. I take him into the bathroom trying to figure out what would be the best way to clean it all off without making a bigger mess. Yet I also wanted to use the "event" as an opportunity to teach him a lesson. As I start to remove his pants he says, "Me don't want to take a shower." Thanks kid!! I tell him he was naughty and got his clothes all messy, so I needed to rinse them off in the shower while he is still wearing them. He immediately starts yelling/crying (which wakes up Emma from he nap an hour early, dang it!) and I put him in the shower and rinse off all the lotion. I discovered this form of torture last week when I asked him to go potty and he decided to pee in his pants while standing right next to the toilet. So I stood him in the tub fully clothed with pee soaked pants and turned on the shower. He did not like it at all, and still doesn't. At this point I have two crying children and lotion soaked carpet, man I love being a mom! Needless to say I managed to calm Emma, explain to Payton that what he did was naughty, and wipe up the lotion. Thankfully, while giving my neighbor a haircut earlier that day, and telling him about the chalk experience, he told me they had a carpet steamer that I could borrow to try and clean out the stains. Little did we know that I would really need it to clean up the lotion later that day. Sheesh! Daddy was the winner that got to do this job, thanks babe!
For Thanksgiving we went down to St. George with Megan's family. We had 11 adults, 9 kids, and 4 babies all under one roof! It was nice and cozy with the whole family. 
The moms made sure to come prepared with many crafts/activities for the kids to make sure they wouldn't get too bored and out of control!
Even Megan's parents got in on the action!
After the hours of baking ;) we got to enjoy the yummy Thanksgiving feast! We stuffed our faces (literally) and ate lots of pie. Thank goodness this only comes around once a year!
