Hunter, Bradley, Owen, Baylee, Elizabeth, Will & Nolan. We hosted our first get together at our new house. We had never been able to host anything more than one other couple at our old house. Our living room was just too small. (which Luke secretly loved. And I won't lie, did come in handy at times.) Not anymore! We had 19 people over for the "Priest/Schum" Christmas. (only two of the 19 are still Priests - and no Schums) It was perfect. We had a great time and the kids played downstairs the whole time. It was so peaceful! :) (unless you ventured downstairs)

Will and Dane love their Opa & Oma!

Fun with Opa & Oma!

My dad came down last Friday and watched Dane while we went down to the house and started to clean. The boys are still going to my Dad & Sharon's on the first Monday of every month, and they LOVE it. I have some pics to upload from one of their recent trips but they are on a different camera and I haven't uploaded them yet. This morning I was getting Will ready and he said "I wish I was going to Opa's house today."

Will had a great weekend! He spent the night with Grandma Becca on Friday night. His cousins Landon & Payton came over on Saturday and then they all spent the night with her. (The boys all slept on the couch together. Will is getting to be such a big boy!!! - gone is my baby boy.) We practically had to force him to come home on Sunday. The Fall Foliage Festival was going on just outside her front door so they got to play games, ride rides, eat pizza and people watch. Good times!

Landon, Grandma Becca, Dane, Payton & Will. (we didn't know we were supposed to bring Will's Halloween costume so he was an Impromptu Pirate)

4 Years Ago

4 years ago today Luke and I got married under a giant oak tree. May 20, 2006 was the happiest day of my life. I know, I have 2 children and shouldn't the days they were born rank as the happiest? The days that Will and Dane were born were definitely the most unbelievable, divine and incredible days of my life. But the day I married Luke was by far, the happiest. I have never been happier than I was that day. It was a perfect day because I knew from the bottom of my heart that I was marrying the right person for me. Four years later, I feel the exact same way. We were so fortunate, so madly in love, and so happy to celebrate our marriage with the support and love of our families and friends who shared that day with us.

Sometimes I find myself reflecting on the crazy path my life has taken. I have to admit that my life definitely took an unexpected turn in January of 2005, when I met Luke - and I thank God that my life didn't turn out like I had expected. Often when I'm taking the boys on a walk I will close my eyes, take a deep breath and inhale the fresh air. I will look around at this beautiful land we live on and know that I'm exactly where I am supposed to be. In life, in love, in my marriage, and as a mother.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we spent the Holiday in Michigan with my mom and my step-dad's parents, Barbara and Gerry. There are so many things that I'm thankful for these days that I hardly know where to start. I'm so thankful for my family and our health. I'm beyond thankful that I have a loving, sweet, hard-working and devoted husband. I look at our son and I don't even know what to say my heart overflows with love for that sweet and perfect little boy. I'm incredibly grateful that God has blessed us with another pregnancy and I am loving feeling these first few kicks. I am so grateful for my mom and the wonderful relationship we have. Luke and I are both blessed with caring and loving families and are so fortunate that we have close relationships them. We are also blessed with some pretty fantastic friends. I could go on and on.

We are so excited to spend this long weekend here in Michigan at my mom's beautiful and peaceful cottage. Barbara and Gerry are leaving tomorrow for their house in Gulf Shores, Alabama and my mom is leaving on Sunday to head back home to Bloomington. Luke, Will and I are staying for the whole next week. We are so excited to spend some quality time together. With Luke working in Ohio, these weeks that we get to spend together are sure a blessing.

Payton Pumpkin Carve-Off

One thing that Luke's and my marriage does not lack is a little competitive spirit. We both love to win and figured that the upcoming Halloween Holiday called for a little friendly competition. A pumpkin carve-off! I figured we would do it the old-school way and use markers to draw our designs and knives to carve, but Luke informed me he planned to use a dremmel tool. For those of you who don't know what a dremmel is, it's a power tool that has different heads on it and it rotates the heads very quickly. More or less, a Power Carver. Of course he was; I should have seen it coming. Of course I wasn't going to let him have the edge, so off we both went to our respective corners to get to work with our pumpkins and dremmels.

Will loves tractors right now. Specifically John Deere tractors. Therefore, Luke carved him a mini pumpkin with the "John Deere" on it:

Luke's Pumpkin:

Sarah's Pumpkin:

According to the votes already cast the winner is........... ME! Luke is just one vote behind though, so it was a close race. (his witch in the moon was a big hit)

UPDATE: now that all the votes are in we have a new winner. #2, Luke's pumpkin has pulled out into the lead. His witch in the moon was apparently his secret weapon. Good job Luke. (I'll win next year)

Roadtrip!

Luke and I had tickets to a show at the IU Auditorium last Friday night and my mom had agreed to watch Will for us. Then one of our cousins who lives in Chicago invited my mom up for the weekend but - she was watching Will. So that turned in to Can you bring him? So Nana and Will headed up north for the weekend. Two nights away. Friday through Sunday! He was SO good. He did a great job in the car and (apparently) was extremely well behaved. They played games, went to a fantastic park, and had an overall blast.

Before he left I got Will his very own suitcase that he can roll behind him. He was so adorable with it when we were packing for his trip. Such a big boy!

Luke and I had a great time too. On Friday we went to see Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles, which was great. Then on Saturday after getting some things done around the house we went to see a movie and then to dinner at Fogo de Chao - which was fantastic! Overall, everyone had a great weekend. But it sure was wonderful to see my baby boy when they got back!!

First Football Game

Terri's step-son, Wills, is a freshman in high school and is quarterback on the football team. They had one of their first football games last week so I took Will to his very first game. He loved every second of it. He acclimated quickly, with his shades and popcorn. He loved hanging out with Aunt Terri and spent a large part of the time keeping tabs on, and staring at Jenn, Mike's younger daughter who was also there.

Little Fish

I told Will that were going to go swimming at Aunt Terri's and Uncle Mike's. He was so excited that he ran to his room, grabbed his inner tube and didn't take it off until it was time to head over.Here is will with his cousins:
Payton, Ricky and Landon. He LOVES his cousins so much!

5 years...

Today is the 5th anniversary of my Step-dad's death. It's hard to believe it's already been 5 years. He was sick with ALS for about 5 years before he died on August 10, 2004. Unfortunately there have been lots of loved ones lost in my family and every time an "anniversary" comes around it's inevitable that I have a rush of different emotions. Mostly sadness. Sadness that we've had to continue on and live our lives without that person. You never stop missing them, the pain may fade a little bit, but mostly you just re-learn how to live your life without them. And that is so sad.

Through the whole day today I will probably flash back to 5 years ago and think about what was going on at that particular time throughout the day. Around this time, I was flying down 65 with Anne, Steve's sister. I lived in Northern IN at that time and Anne and I met and drove down together. We were doing about 90 with our flashers on. The thought of us both just trying to get to our respective moms brings tears to my eyes.

Another part of these "anniversary" emotions is that you let yourself think about what it might be like if they were still here. Undoubtedly he would be crazy about Will. He would probably already be teaching Will about the stock market, how to play poker, and would definitely have taught Will how to golf with his little plastic clubs much better than I have. Of course there would have been so much love. And then those thoughts bring back on the sadness - and madness. It makes me mad that he, and we, don't have this time together. It doesn't seem fair that he was cheated out of the chance to know his grandson. And it makes me very sad that he was taken away from my mom when they had so much life to live.

I am thankful though that we had the time with him that we did. And about a month before his death I was in an accident and left with a broken clavicle. I couldn't work, so I had just spent a week with him and my mom - just going back north for a Dr. appointment. I am so grateful that the day before he died, we got to play one of our games of scrabble together. Of course he beat me.

You are missed, Pops. Not just today, but every day.

Opa and Oma's

Recently we got together at my Dad and Sharon's. It was Will and me, my 1/2 brother and sister, their kids, and Sharon's son and daughter, and their kids. We all had a great time hanging out. Unfortunately Luke couldn't go because he was working. It was one of those days that was freakishly cool for July, which was such a treat. Will spent the whole day ignoring Megan - who was constantly trying to play with him, get his attention, and love on him. As we were leaving, can you guess what he was saying? "Megan! Megan! Where'd Megan go?" He is rotten. :)

My dad and Sharon keep Will one day a month while I go into the office. Will always has such a good time, going on walks, to the pool, playing the organ, and of course just hanging out with his Opa and Oma. We missed July because we were on vacation, so I know Will is really looking forward to their August visit!

Will and his Pa-Paw

I had to post this picture because it is too cute. This is Will and his beloved Pa-Paw (Luke's dad) on the lawn mower at our house. Sonny lives about a mile down the road from us and Will LOVES to spend time with Pa-Paw, take tractor rides with him, talk about him, the list goes on and on. Whenever Will pretend talks on the phone, I will ask him who he is talking to and it's always Pa-Paw. Will is so fortunate to have such a wonderful and loving Pa-Paw.

It's a wrap...

We ended up having a great vacation in New Smyrna. It was the perfect mix of relaxation and fun. We swam a couple of times each day. Mostly at the pool, which Will preferred. Midweek we got him a small inner tube which he could hang on to himself and kick around the pool. He loved it, and we loved it too as that meant we could all have a little more independence. He loved jumping off the edge of the pool and tolerated a brief dunk but preferred it when we kept his head completely above water. He wasn't sure what to think of the ocean. The waves would knock him over at waist level, so I guess his hesitations were justified. He had fun being carried out into the ocean though. Luke, and my mom and I discovered just how fun Boogie Boards are two days before we left. We wish we would have started playing on them from the beginning.

We saw lots of dolphins and at one point when we were swimming there were about 5 of them not more than 25 or so yards from us. Luke and I also saw a stingray jump up out of the water pretty close to us. But it was closer to a few unsuspecting people floating on rafts....

My mom was kind enough to give Luke and I some much needed and much appreciated time for just the two of us. We went to the race on the 4th and then also had another date night. We went to Daytona Beach, were I had vacationed as a child. We were so sad to see that it seems like that area has gone completely downhill. It seemed very run-down and kind of trashed. We drove along the strip and couldn't even find a restaurant that overlooked the ocean that looked decent. Fortunately we went over to the Intercoastal Waterway and found a great seafood restaurant Our Deck Down Under. We sat outside on the water and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, good food (very reasonably priced) and a beautiful sunset. Then we went to a bar in New Smyrna and had a great time watching the locals, listening to live music and playing pool.

Will LOVED having two new caregivers besides the usual Mama. Whenever I started to do something for him ("come on, Will, let's go change your diaper") the response was always the same: "NO!! Nana do it!" or "NO!! Daddy do it." Initially I was miffed by this unusual behavior but I quickly realized this was my best chance for a true vacation with a 2 year old. So I sat back and read my book or watched the ocean from our balcony and honored his wishes. :)

Everything was going great, until Wednesday. Luke and my mom had gone to the store and I took Will down to the pool. We were having a great time... until he got out for a drink, took my beach towel off the chair, stepped on it and tripped and fell. Immediately he had a mouth full of blood. I wiped it away, another mouth full. I could see his teeth were all fine, and then I got a glimpse of his tongue. It was a nasty, terrible, HUGE gash. I ran him up to the condo and sat on the floor with him, trying to calm him down to figure out what to do. Then my mom and Luke walked in. I called his pediatrician who said it would probably heal ok. He calmed down and we even took him back down to the pool. A little while later when he tried to drink or eat anything he was clearly in a lot of pain. Also, Luke and I both got a good look at it and it was awful. We quickly decided to take him to the ER... where we sat and waited. We met this woman who called her son's pediatrician and they said they would see us right away. We got right in and LOVED Dr. Corithers. The bite was about 3 teeth wide, and 3/4 of the way through his tongue! He called it "wicked" and gave Will an antibiotic and a painkiller. He said it's difficult to stitch up the tongue and especially a 2-year old's tongue. With the amount of blood flow in the tongue, he told us it should heal quickly, which it has. He was pretty upset that day, but the next day the painkiller was working and he was able to eat. It has healed well and now there is just a line across his tongue - I'm not sure if that will be a scar or if that will heal too. We were all glad it wasn't any worse.

Overall, wonderful trip. We were really glad to have my mom with us and Will loved his "roommate".

And now, back to the real world...

Will's First Roadtrip

Unfortunately Luke ended up having to work over Memorial Day weekend. Therefore, Will and I decided to pack up and head East so at least we could see him in the evenings and on Monday. I have taken Will to Michigan and to my mom's numerous times but this was his first "stay in a hotel" type of trip. I was SO impressed with him. He did wonderful, was so well-behaved, and had a great time.

We had a rocky start to the trip. We set out on Friday afternoon conveniently just before nap time. I envisioned a quick trip over with a sleeping little boy. Didn't happen. He had a pretty bad cough at the time and just before we hit 465 he got a coughing fit so bad that he ended up vomiting all over himself and his carseat. hmmm. I pulled over and stripped him down and wiped out his carseat as best I could with wipes. On the road again. 30 minutes later we had just hopped on I-70 to head over and it happend AGAIN. So I pulled over and repeated the stripping of clothes and cleaning of carseat. I ended up having to pull off the highway two more times for various reasons. Finally we got to OH, located the laundry facilities and moved on.

Saturday we went shopping during the day (Hello Memorial Day Sales!) and that evening we went to visit with our Ohio Cousins: Stacy and Matt and their kids. Matt's parents and his sister and her two kids were there, and my uncle Fred (Stacy's Dad) and his wife were there with Will's other cousin Bradley. They all loved playing on Don's 6-wheeler and we even took a ride down to the river. Note: Jake is looking for the keys to take Abby and Will on a ride!

On Sunday we went to visit Luke at his current jobsite and Will loved getting to ride up on the lift:

That evening we went over to John and Jayne's house and cooked out with them and Jennifer. It was great to see them and visit!! (forgot to take any pics)

On Monday Luke finally had the day off and we took Will to the Columbus zoo. It's a really neat zoo with lots of paths through wooded areas. You never know what you will turn a corner and see.

Will and I up close with a Tiger:

Taking a carousel ride:

Watching the manatees:

The big aquarium where you can get up close - here a sting-ray swims right up to Will. Also note how he has crossed into the "do not enter" area:

That night the weather was ideal so we went and had a nice steak dinner and sat outside in the shade with a nice breeze.

It was busy but a great weekend. By the end we were all pooped. (especially Luke who had been working the long hours!)

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Will absolutely loves it when I say this little rhyme and when I finish it's always the same: a big smile and "mooore?"

Spring is in full swing and we have had a lot going on. Some of the recent highlights...

• Baby birds! Will has loved watching the baby birds that hatched on our front (side) porch. They would stick their little heads straight up in the air with their beaks wide open waiting for some food from Mama Bird. One evening they looked especially fiesty - all three of them were piled on top of each other in their (growing smaller by the day) nest. I opened the blinds that are right next to their nest so Will and I could watch them for a while. As soon as I did they all three jerked their heads in our direction with a newfound alertness. I knew their departure would be soon. Sure enough the next morning they were nowhere to be seen. Hopefully they are all thriving in the abundance of worms that are out and about thanks to all the recent rain.
  
• Zoo! We are the new proud owners of a zoo membership. Thanks to Nana and BG & GG in honor of Will's upcoming 2nd birthday. Luke, Will and I took our first trip a couple of Fridays ago and had a great time. (aside from a sunblock in the eyes incident) Will loved seeing all the animals, the dolphin show, the polar bear up super close. His favorite was feeding the 2 giraffes - which he is still talking about.

• We have had numerous fun outdoor adventures already this spring. We rode the 4-wheeler down to the river. Will had a great time exploring the huge sandbar and throwing rocks into the river. We also found our perfect camping spot for this summer. It's beautiful and totally secluded, right next to the river.


• Will's new favorite summer activity is blowing bubbles. This past weekend he was at Nana's. When I arived to pick him up I noticed he had a bubble mustache (see below) and he actually blew a bubble out of his mouth as he said "mama." Clearly we're going to have to work on the art of blowing bubbles.

Where in the world is Martinsville Indiana

If you would have asked me 10 years ago where I thought I would be at 30, I guarantee I wouldn't have said "living in the country outside of Martinsville." I have gone through many ups and downs coming to terms with "where" I am now. Sometimes I have found myself thinking "what the hell am I doing living here?" but those thoughts seem to be fading away with the years and now I usually find myself being thankful to live on this beautiful land. I have come to accept that the city you write down with your mailing address certainly doesn't define who you are and is less important than the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that I am with my wonderful husband and our healthy, precious son and we live on hundreds of acres of beautiful land. Land that my son will be able to run around on until his little heart is content. He has woods that he can play in, pastures that he can run through, endless trees that he can climb and farm land where he will be able to see crops grow each year. There are many wonderful things about living here and one of them is the unique and exciting opportunities that my son will have.

The Cragen Family farms part of the land here on the Payton property. Last weekend Luke offered to help them get some of the fields ready for planting this spring. Therefore, Luke spent the day in a tractor and guess who wanted to help. Will absolutely loved riding in the tractor with Luke. He ended up falling asleep after about an hour and a half, so I went to pick him up. Once we got home all he said was "dada tractor" over and over. Finally I asked him if he wanted to go back and ride with Daddy again and of course the answer was yes. He ended up spending about 3 hours in the tractor with Luke. He likes talking about the "tractor bump bump". Apparently it's a bumpy ride. :)

Trip to Michigan!

Will and I are in Michigan for a week with my mom. As usual I was thrilled to get up here. We are very fortunate to have this beautiful place to enjoy. For those of you who have never been here it is nestled in the woods just across the street from Lake Michigan. It's perfect: offering a woodsy ambiance with beach life a stones throw away. It is truly one of my favorite places to be. I often let myself dream about what I will do when I win the lottery (which I don't play) and one of the first things will be to buy a helicopter to whisk us up here quickly for more frequent trips. The wind blows through all the trees and it makes this unmistakable sound that I absolutely love. Sleeping here in the summer when the house is all opened up and you can hear that wind is just about the best sound in the world.

Anyway, on to our current trip. The weather has been surprisingly warm in the mid 50s to low 60s. Which means we've been able to get outside, walk along the water and spend some time on the beach (there are still big ice chunks melting which makes for fun terrain for a 20 month-old). It's obvious now that Will is going to prefer living on the beach when we're here in the summer. He loved picking up the sand and throwing it. Fortunatly he hasn't shoved any fistfuls in his mouth yet this year. He could have easily entertained himself for hours and that was without any toys. I can only imagine how much he will love it when we pull out all the sand toys and he can actually get in the water. (which happens to be crystal clear and gets deep very gradually) We went down to the beach yesterday afternoon and when it was time to go he threw himself down on the sand in protest. I finally had to pick him up kicking and screaming... and then eventually carry him off like a sack of potatoes.

Enjoying the beach...

Tent Mania

For our wedding Luke and I received a ginormous tent and we thought it would be really fun to set it up in our living room and camp out with Will. Well, our living room couldn't accomodate this beast of a tent and poor Will was left wondering what in the world the crinkly heap on our living room floor was. So off to Wally World my boys went in search of a more "fitting" tent. And there Will's new obsession was born. We moved this new smaller tent into his room and he has barely left it since. He even has a little turle nightlight that projects stars (aka "tars") on the tent walls. We may have to move in a weenie roaster this summer!

ps: Yes, he does wear clothes in his tent, he's just going through a phase where he prefers only his diaper.

Happy Birthday Luke!

On Luke's 31st birthday, I would like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY! He is a wonderful man, a wonderful father, a wonderful husband, and a wonderful friend. I am fortunate to have him in my life, and especially fortunate to have him as my husband.