Will has officially completed preschool!  Here he is heading off to his last day.  He has grown so much this year.  I'm so proud of him!  And he absolutely loves school. 

His class had a ceremony to celebrate what they'd learned.  They went up and sang a few songs.  

 

Looking at this picture of his class, it kind of seems like it was run by boys!  There were girls in his class, you just have to look to the back row.  haha!

Opa and Oma and Jay came to Will's celebration.  And of course Cleo.  We played on the playground after for a while.  We are so glad they were able to come! 

First Snuggle

I have been waiting to see if Missy and Kramer will become friends. I think mostly she just annoys him, but a few times I've caught him licking her, they play all the time, and then this is the one time I've seen them lying together. Since the main reason that we got her is to be a friend to Kramer, I was so excited!

Missy

Do you see anything out of place in this picture?  

 

 It's been fun having little Missy.  She's so entertaining and so different than my Kramer.  She is much more playful, she tries to eat anything she can get her paws on (Kramer won't touch people food for anything) she bites - hard!  I'll be putting Dane to bed and all of a sudden something will attack my toes sticking under the dust ruffle.  I'll be lying in bed reading and out of no where she will attack my hands holding my kindle. One time she startled me so much that I jumped and dropped it.  She's getting better, but she will attack anything she can - I've completely covered myself with the comforter early in the morning so I don't get attacked - fingers and all.  She's very sweet, very playful, and not very affectionate.  Which is good, because nobody has to compete for the affection that Kramer is used to getting, or the spot near my head where he likes to sleep at night.  She is perfect for a family that has two little kids and a big dog.  And she tolerates Will carrying her around all over the place.  I truly think that most of the time she enjoys it.  And if she's had enough, she'll turn around and take a chomp.  She certainly stands her own ground around here. 

Last day of pre-school!

Hard to believe Will has completed pre-school already! What a big boy. He's grown so much. So proud of him! Next year pre-K!

Memorial Day

Enjoying the memorial day! Out for a ranger ride- this looks like a nice place to stop and have a root beer.

Eiteljorg

A friend of Luke's from work and his family were in Indy this weekend. (from Ohio) We met them at the Eiteljorg museum - there was a motorcycle exhibit that Luke wanted to see. Then we went to Edwards drive-in for root beer floats (the boys' first!)

Summertime

The Payton boys love the summer! More time to play outside, get dirty and best of all watch the tractors! The other day was particularly exciting because they cut and then baled the hay behind our house.

Miss Missy

I finally got it!!! When Missy's at her sweetest and cutest she sticks her little tongue out just a little bit and leaves it. I've been trying to get a picture of this since we got her and I'd all but given up. Finally today I happened to have my phone on me!

Big boy bed!

The glider chair that we had in Dane's room was a loaner from my step-dad's parents, BG & GG.  We got so much use out of it, we used it every night that we tucked Dane in bed over the last 2 years.  But it was time to return it this weekend.  When Luke and I got back from our trip on Sunday there was a big open space in Dane's room where the chair used to be so I decided to go ahead and set up Dane's toddler bed. (it was after bath, before jammies if you're wondering why my children don't have any clothes on)  This is the really cool antique toddler bed that Luke and his sisters slept in, the twins, and also Will.  I wasn't quite ready to commit to switching him out of his crib yet.  Mentally, I wasn't sure if I was ready to make that step.  (it's about me, right?)  Plus, Dane is an excellent excellent sleeper - and I didn't want to mess with a good (perfect) thing.  I figured we would set it up and he could play in it, maybe start taking naps and slowly transition.  But after we got the bed set up he was so happy, so excited, there was no way I was keeping him from sleeping in that bed last night.  I was a bit worried after I tucked him in - I checked on him before I went to sleep and spent a rather ridiculous amount of time worrying and wondering if he was scared, if he had fallen out, etc.  But he slept like a champ.  Of course.  Not a peep out of him until he called for me at 7:45 this morning.  He was just as excited to be put to bed in it tonight, so I'm pretty sure our crib days are over.   ............ :(  But I'm sure I'll leave it set up for a while still...just in case. 

Missy update

This little thing is feisty. It's so fun having a kitten, except that life is so busy that I feeling she's growing super fast and I'm not getting to enjoy her kitten-ness as much as I'd like.

Tonight I was just crawling into bed when I heard her zoom out of our closet, under the bed, out again and on around the other side. This is not abnormal in itself other than the fact that tonight it was doubly lightening fast. So much faster than her normal zoom speed that I took note. She then raced out the bedroom door into the dining room and kitchen when I noticed a wooden clanging sound on our hardwoods. hmmm. I stood up to investigate. Just as I reached for the light I heard the clanging zoom back toward our room, back under the bed, into the bathroom where I heard something metal sounding hit something wooden. What in the world? Just then she zoomed back out of the closet clanging along the way and back under the bed. Where she stopped. I ran over and turned on the big light where I saw her lying defeated, wrapped up in the string that has a toy on the end and a pole on the other end. Apparently she was playing with it, got tangled, then raced off with the wooden pole following behind her, which made her run even faster. I untangled her and she's fine, except her pride is a little wounded I'm sure since Kramer and Rosco witnessed the whole embarrassing debacle.

Will and his first love Avah hanging out a few Friday nights ago.

Bath Time!

A shower was not sufficient for the job I had on my hands tonight. Soaking was required.

Under the Rainbow

Yesterday we had a beautiful rainbow (over our tree no less!) and I went out to take some pics of it.  I ended up getting a few good ones of the boys.

 

This looks like a nice place to eat my yogurt tube.

School work

Some recent worksheets.

A few mornings ago there was a beautiful layer of fog out in the pasture.  Along with the purple wildflowers I thought it was so pretty. 

What A Weekend!

Super busy weekend! Luke and I completed the mini marathon on Saturday morning. I am so proud to say that we did it, and it was so fun to do together. It was interesting in that with both of us hardly preparing at all (Luke not at all) I expected that it would be just about all we could do to get across that finish line. But I think both of us still had quite a bit of energy at the end, our problems were aches and pains. My right calf felt like it was going to get a Charlie horse at any moment. Luke's calves were tight as well. So our minds wanted to sprint to the finish, but (my) body wasn't having it. Luke and I both being so competitive, it was funny and I found myself laughing during the race. We would get stuck in a pack of people and both look at each other and one of us would say something like "ok, cut left and meet back ahead at the purple shirt" and we would both take off sprinting to get ahead of the pack. As much as we are competitive with each other, we make a great team. I'm so grateful to have a husband that I love so much.
So sat night I went to a dinner at some family friends w the boys. Luke stayed home to recover and settle in since he hardly had a chance to even get home. This morning when we got up Oh. My. Goodness. were we both sore!!! We are ok when we are up and moving but after sitting still or sleeping. Wow. My hips, lower back and tops of my feet feel like they've been in some type of accident. Whew. Lukes pains are mostly in the tops of his feet. So today, we put in our new mailbox after it was hit so many times that it wouldn't shut anymore. We used the numbers from the old one, which I love. We also planted a new grape vine, blueberry bush, foxy foxglove I believe it's called, cala Lillies and annuals in the front planters. Oh, and a tomato plant. We also found an animal skull which we soaked in bleach water and now Will is keeping. Very cool find.
After another full day we are totally pooped. And I feel like I've had just about all I can take, physically. Not to mention that this week I whacked my head into a metal pole, hit my hip really hard on the corner of our cement thing out front, knocked my funny bone on a hook in our car and burned my finger while cooking and got a nice blister. So with that, I think I'll go on to bed now. :)

"I Do It"

Big brother is playing tball, so is Dane!