Such a sweet boy!

Except of course when he is not. Peggy asked me after the car incident where I was when Luke was drawing on my car with a ball point pen. My response was that I ask myself that EVERY time! But I think you should all know, in case you don't already, how sweet Luke really is. He does not mean to be bad. He does go to time-out and he knows how to count to twenty very well from doing it so many times while standing in the corner. The thing is, he really is so sweet and good so much of the time. He will quietly play with his wooden train tracks, always puts his toothbrush away, likes to throw away his own diapers and he likes to have clean hands. He is really good about not touching anything and will hold his hands up like a surgeon until we can get them washed. He loves Wesley and always wants to play with him. Allie for that matter too. And so really for so much of the time he is so good and so easy. He is just... curious. And he loves art.

So I guess that is just what happens. One moment he is quietly entertaining himself. The next... heaven help us.

By the way you are probably wondering about the photo of the sippy cup. I saw him, lying under the kid's table one morning while he was still in his pajamas, nursing that thing. There was something strange about it and about his guilty smile when I looked at him. My sweet boy- that is honey in his cup (not apple juice). At least he did not leave a sticky mess while filling it up. Which is kind of miraculous in and of itself. Can you even look at honey without suddenly everything getting sticky?

7 Years Ago Today!

Two little lovebirds-wearing sunglasses
Winking at each other and making silly passes

First came love
Then came marriage
Then came 3 babies in a double jogger carriage.

Devil's Kitchen

We were in our living room chatting on the phone with our cousin Maureen when we started hearing some unexplainable noise. It was popcorn kernels on tile. Luke's special dish "Eggs Mischievous" was not detected until we went into the kitchen.
Apparently, he had to make room for his new condiment drawer. For all those who would question- just you wait or just you remember!
We had a babysitter as kids who worked in my dad's law office. Her name was Yvette and we did not care for her so much and in the end she did not care for us too much either. Apparently she decided not to come back after she emerged from the shower to find the aftermath of an Easter egg and wet paper towel war. She put Erin in charge who must have led the revolt. My poor parents- they must have been so embarrassed but it sure made a great memory for the perps. Hopefully Luke does not have any Easter morning ideas swirling around in his genes...

Allie was serving hard time in her room for not helping clean and she redeemed herself by surprising us with a clean room.

We love each of our kids so much and enjoy telling them so. They bring us so much joy even if it is three steps forward one step back at times.

Without egg in his face, here is our little Wesley before bed tonight.

A Little on Allie

Tuesday was the Spring Sports Assembly at the high school where Allie attends preschool. For part of the assembly they invited the preschoolers to do a dance- the "Cha Cha Slide". The kids did great! We expected some of the kids would not go out, some would go out to the center of the gym and just stand there and then some would actually dance. Well all minus 2 kids (who stayed in the bleachers) danced! It was so fun to watch them and the hundereds of high school kids went crazy cheering and clapping! I sat in the bleachers with Wesley and Luke, video taping with all the other moms, cheering with all the other "teenages" (as Allie calls them) and silently crying with tears running down my cheeks. Wow, I never thought I was going to be that mom! I was so excited and proud of her and it was so fun to see her out there dancing. When I asked her later about how she felt, if she was nervous or what, she said "I was scared but I was brave". Yes, doing something even though you are scared is very brave.

Although fear has nothing to do with it I have had a hard time playing Barbies with Allie. My Barbie doll never seems to do the right thing or say the right thing. Allie very clearly and quickly lets me know. You think by now she would rather play with someone else.

Allie has really been attracted to jewelry lately. Earrings in particular. She put stickers on her ear lobes and wore them to preschool the other day (and they actually stayed on the entire day)! We were talking about it in the car. She was asking about when should could get her ears pierced. I said that Jason and I would have to discuss it and that who knows, maybe when she turns 8. Allie responded "Let's make it 6". She's quick.

And if you didn't know, her favorite color is light blue. During Christmas, while playing in the garage at Kelly and Erin's house, we played the colors game. It is one we used to play in the swimming pool growing up. The person who is it has their back turned to everyone else and begins to call out colors. When your color is called you have to try to make it to the other side of the room (or pool) either really fast or stealthily. We limited the colors to the basics- red, orange, yellow, green, purple, pink, brown and black. When it was Allie's turn she turned her back to us and yelled out "sparkly blue". We reminded her the ones from which she could choose. She turned around again and the next color she called out "Light blue"!

And speaking of Christmas, I wrote this down because it was so funny and I did not want to forget it. This was the conversation overheard between Reed and Grandma Payne.

Reed: Grandma, why are you so shaky?
Grandma: I am old and sometimes old people shake.
Reed: Oh. Is grandpa new?

Will he reach 3?

Luke has sunk to a new low.

Artisan Bread

Soooo easy!
No kneading.
Four ingedients.
Five minutes a day.

Sailing

[Editor's note: "Growing Paynes" is not only our blog but also our journal so thanks for putting up with the detail of blog posts like this one.]

On our final day, we got up and played tennis. It's a good thing we are equally matched in our skills of tennis or one of us would have been really frustrated. The sun was warm and we got hot and sweaty which felt GREAT! We only had to retrieve one ball. The Guardian of the Yucutan was watching it for us.
Did we mention that we saw iguanas everywhere?! It makes us laugh how excited we were the first time we ran into one. I thought it was a pet and part of the tourist attraction. By the end of our stay and after seeing hundreds of them, well they are just part of the landscape. It reminded us of our trip to Yellowstone-- the first time you see a buffalo you nearly wreck your car trying to stop and look, and by the time you leave it is just another cow blocking the road.


After our tennis game I had an appointment to use the resort's sailboat. They only give you an hour per day and I had to have some instruction first (thankfully I smiled and nodded and the guy left the boat after about 10 minutes. So, Joy and I went out on a sailboat that looked a lot like the one below. The water in the Carribean near the coast was perfect for sailing - a light sea breeze and just a bit of swell. After I got the hang of it, we sailed out a mile or so over some reefs that were bright turquoise blue. We stayed out until my instructor motored out in another boat and made us come back in... It was breathtaking just like everything else we did and saw. It was hard to come home. We felt so cold for days. The kids as we mentioned did very well. They were excited to see what gifts we had brought them. We got home at midnight so we picked up our sleeping babies and loaded them in the car. Wesley woke up when we got home and put the kids in bed. He was so happy to see his Dad. He would not let him go! A kiss and a big squeeze and then we tried to put him in his crib. He could NOT be peeled off. So we brought him to bed with his. I thought he would snuggle up in the middle be he refused to let got of Jason so he slept on him all night.

My friend was telling me her conversation with Luke that last day:

Doreen: Luke, what am I going to do when you are gone and I don't have anyone to copy everything I say?
Luke: Everything I say?