Merry Christmas from the Peytons

It is a little embarrassing that I have not been on here since April but we have been a teensy bit busy to say the least. It is unbelievable how a year can go by so quickly!! I thought this might be a little easier to recap our year rather than sending out a trees worth of paper to each of you:) The Lord has blessed us so richly. If you read the previous posts this can get you caught up the first few months of the year.
D had stayed busy with work but can never have enough free time to suit him. With the new Harley he acquired for his 40th birthday, he is literally in hog heaven. He likes to occupy his early Saturday mornings with a ride with his crew the Forgiven Sons. On occasion I have taken a ride with him (when we can find a sitter that is crazy enough to take on 5 kids) and let me tell you a great time is had by all. The kids keep trying to convince me that I need a pink sportster to ride but I think I will stick with being co-pilot for awhile.
The kids are all growing like weeds. H and MA turned 10 this year, followed by J turning 8, A is 6 and C is 4. We are still homeschooling and really having a blast doing it. D was a little concerned for me as he thought he would have me in a mental hospital by now but we are plugging right along. Needless to say this Christmas break is much needed and much appreciated!! A and MA are working neck in neck on 1st grade material. It is amazing to see how in under a years time MA is speaking and understanding a new language and is now reading books on her own. She is quite bright and continues to have a hunger for learning. In her spare time she has taken to doing crafts, playing with her sisters, and enjoying time with friends. In October, we had a luau in the backyard for her 10th birthday. She is quite the queen of limbo. It has been really fun to see how she takes everything in for the first time. I can't tell you the number of times she has inquired why we are doing something. For example, why are we sitting in a bunch of vegetables taking pictures (pumpkin patch) and why are we going around begging for candy.
H leads quite a busy life herself. She attends a fine arts school on Mondays to make sure she isn't turning into an awkward homeschooler and receiving all the appropriate socialization (note the sarcasm in my writing). She auditioned for the Con Spirito choir and was accepted. Along with choir she is taking drama and ballet. I cannot tell you how proud she makes us:) Not only does she excel in talent but she is a terrific helper to me. I don't know how I would have survived this crazy year without her help! Her studies are coming along so well that I think sometimes she had no need for me at all. I guess that is one of the perks of homeschooling- to self teach as much as possible and I just assist in her learning process. Some of her other loves right now are horses, horses, horses and spending time with friends now that she is a big preteen.
Our little A is also taking some classes at TAFA. She loves her ballet, music and Bible classes. This has been really good for her to come out of her shell. Her stature is still so petite ( a whopping 36 pounds at almost 7) and she makes the most adorable ballerina! They will have their recital in the spring. She has taken more of an interest in school this year. Reading has really been a struggle for her but I am so proud at how hard she tries and she has made tremendous gains in the last few months. This year she finally lost her first teeth and was even able to lose her two front teeth at the same time. Yes, I did capture that adorable snaggle-tooth on camera.
J and C are like two peas in a pod. Neither one seems to notice the 4 year age difference:) It has been really good for C to have an older brother around. He has become a lot more fearless and way more daring. He is now riding his little bike without training wheels. If J can do it then by golly so can he. He attends Little Learners preschool a couple days a week and I am amazed at the things he has already learned this year including an adorable version of Jingle Bells that will for sure make that carol your all time favorite after you hear his sweet rendition. He cannot get enough of playing with his brother, riding bikes, and of course what we call "daddy time".
J is certainly all boy and has been so great for C to have around. His English is coming right along and we are starting to work on academics for the first time in his life. It was a little concerning at first when he wasn't retaining as much as I thought he should and was tempted a few times to pull out the special ed handbooks, from what seems like a lifetime ago, and become a diagnostician. He is finally making great strides to becoming a productive, little student. His enthusiasm for anything he is doing is quite contagious. He enjoys being outdoors and was thrilled when we took our first camping trip to Lake Brownwood. All the kids were ready to abandon our city life for a more simple one of hiking all day and roasting marshmallows at night.
As for me I am always a little too busy for my own good but I wouldn't have it any other way. I am still directing the childrens choir at church, serving on the praise team, and assisting David in anyway I can with his Worship Ministry. Our goal this year is to really get going with our adoption ministry at the church called Mosaic. I still enjoy my Bunco group and my wonderful group of girlfriends. An old hobby made new again is my love for reading. D was so thoughtful and bought me a Nook for my birthday and I am so excited about trying out my new toy!! Hopefully my computer will be revived and I can begin to keep you updated on a more regular basis all the Peyton pandemonium that is happening around here.

We are so blessed beyond measure and look forward to seeing God continue to work in our lives in 2011. We pray blessings on each of you and hope that we are fortunate enough to cross paths with you in the coming year.

Love to All,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
The Peytons

Busy Living Life

Wow! It has been about a month since my last blog. We have been busy living life:) Well, where to start. Let me say that things have gotten a lot easier as we have been working out the kinks. I am proud to announce that I am now called "mommy" rather than "mama blanc" although I am going to miss being called White mama:) J has become a well adjusted little boy and his stubborn behaviors are showing up a lot less frequently. MA is becoming more of a typical 9 year old girl every day including the attitude from time to time. H can definitely give her lessons on being a drama queen! MA and H went to a sleep over at a friends house without any problems. I can see how much MA just wants to be a regular American girl- including her very own best friend. For a couple of Sundays she has chosen to go to a different Life Group class from H so that she can be with her best friend. We have everyone, who is old enough to play, signed up for soccer. This means 4 practices and 4 games on Saturday. D said that MA and H did great at their first practice and MA had no problem understanding what to do. It is going to be a busy but fun 9 weeks:) MA and J's English is coming right along. We haven't been able to do the Rosetta Stone everyday but they do enjoy it and are starting to use more and more words. I think we will hold off on the writing and reading sections for a while. I found it quite comical that Rosetta Stone was teaching plural and singular the 3rd lesson. They were supposed to decide if they needed to use the words is or are based on if it was singular or plural. Really?? How about starting with just good ole nouns?! MA had her second dentist appt. in which she got 3 cavities filled. She was such a trooper and didn't cry a bit. It was a little comical to see her drooling and she kept asking me to feel her lip as if I could feel how numb it was. Other important tooth news is that I pulled her first tooth (well at least it was a first for us). I knew that I could explain "Tooth Fairy" to her but we did put her tooth under her pillow and this morning I asked her if her tooth was still there. When she looked she said "whoa" and kept looking at her dollar. I know she has never owned her very own dollar (another first!). Another great reaction from her was when she saw her Easter basket on Easter morning. She kept repeating "Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness!" I think she was very impressed by the Easter bunny:) J kept telling C that those things in his basket were his. We had a quick lesson on "mine, mine, mine". It doesn't take long to pick up some habits. I am sure that he is afraid that everything will be taken away from him like it was at the orphanage but we just keep reassuring him that we won't take it (unless as a discpline consequence!) We had a terrific first Easter together filled with egg hunts, Easter baskets, friends over for Easter dinner and of course our traditional "peep fight". Sweet little A really had a great time telling everyone that Jesus dies on Good Friday but she was glad that her Jesus was alive again! Well that is Peyton Pandamonium at its finest! Tomorrow we are going to see precious C in his 3 year old MDO program. Great stuff!

I will sit on you!

Tonight at our Ladies coffee I was a little desperate sounding for discipline ideas:) I must have been because my dear friend insisted I drop by right afterwards to pick up some cds and material she and her husband just picked up at a Love and Logic conference last weekend. I am willing to try anything. The yelling and playing the bad guy is just not cutting it anymore! MA and J seem to be getting the hang of things and know now that they won't be able to get away with bad behaviors like they were so accustomed to in the past. Of course it only took me sitting on J one time for him to realize that he can either sit in time out on his own accord or I can assist him with that. All the kids thought I was a little crazy that day but it worked. H, A and C on the other hand have seemed to have lost their minds. I know that it is all the adjustments that everyone is going through. No matter how much structure I am trying to pour into our days the truth remains that there is way too much change going on all at once. It was very poor timing when C decided to give up paci inadvertently by losing it. Along with this came giving up naptime which seems like a good idea until about dinnertime. Sweet thing is just not able to hold it together when his naptime is missed. It is really difficult to keep the other 4 quiet long enough for C to think he isn't missing out on anything and drift off to sleep. Another big factor is that C's love language of quality time is being encroached upon in a serious way. Who said that 2's were terrible? I think it should be the "trying 3's" for sure! H is also having a hard time with personal space and finding time to get away. After several days of biting everyone's head off we had a little heart to heart. We came to the conclusion that when she starts to feel a little overwhelmed she will let me know and I will tuck her away for some alone time in my bedroom or the downstairs guestroom. I wish someone could do the same for me:) Actually, I did get a little break this past weekend. I was leading worship for our Ladies retreat and D kept all the kids. This wasn't an overnight, away kind of retreat but I did get some time with adults without any Peyton pandemonium lurking around! I think D was trying to show off a little. For some reason I mistakenly took all the sets of keys for the suburban which left D and the kids stranded at the house. He seemed to make due just fine. When I got home for the evening he reported that they ordered pizza and that the neighbor friend was also staying the night. What a show-off. Not only was he ok with our rowdy 5 but he took on an extra one by choice! Needless to say the house was still standing on Sat. It is going to take me a little time to get caught up on laundry and house work but the time away in God's Word was well worth it. Now I just have to figure out a way to apply my Loving Well information into my life everyday. Good stuff, Beth Moore.

Three means forever!

The newness is beginning to wear off a bit as the kids are starting to bicker and argue like a real family. The jury is still out if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Another thing I have noticed with J is that he has started to cry when he gets in trouble. Not that I want my child to cry but I think this is a good thing. Before when he got in trouble he would stand there in defiance and refuse to look at you or do what you asked of him. I thinks this means he is starting to care what we think and doesn't want to have us upset with him. He has also started giving kisses at night. With all the kids we do this family thing called "three means forever." Three kisses and three hugs mean our love is forever. If you don't give all three you WILL be called on it. J had picked up on this and does this when he is tucked in at night. We'll make Peytons out of them yet!

It didn't really occur to me until the other day that MA and J are not used to being in the house so much. Usually at the orphanage the kids were outside all day long. With the weather turning so nice lately it has been a great release for both mom and kids:) Of course Texas weather is so fickle and can't decide what it wants to do so we may have to squeeze a day in here and there.

First Dental Visits

Well I finally made a trip to Target to get MA a doll. When I pulled the doll out of the bag she and J both started screaming for joy. J was so excited for his sister- it was obvious that they had been discussing a doll for several days. Someone asked me if I got her a black doll and I did not. Her doll is white with long blond hair (so she could fix it the way she likes) and she couldn't be happier:) All the girls have carried their dolls around for days. This has definitely been a time of good bonding for the girls. MA and J had their first trip to the dentist office and they both did amazingly well. J was very worried at first- I am sure that he was remembering the week before of shots and lab draws. He would not let the hygienist near him with the scary looking tool so I had to stick it in my mouth, poke around on his hand and eventually count the teeth myself before he would warm up to the idea of someone poking around in his mouth. Shockingly, there appears to be only very minor decay in his mouth so we will keep an eye on it. MA was another story. She did fabulous in the chair but her poor teeth are going to take some work. We go back to have 3 cavities filled and probably another cleaning since she had so much plaque buildup. She is also missing 2 front, bottom teeth that will take some orthodontics to fix. MA also has two very small canine teeth that will be visibly smaller than all her other adult teeth. This is more of a cosmetic thing than anything and will be quite awhile before anything can be done about this. Overall, they loved going to the dentist. How could they not- everyone there is so kind. Dr. Jeremy Rudd's office is highly recommended!!

Moving right along

We all had a first together... a visit to the American Girl store in Dallas. Our little A turned 6 and decided she wanted to get the American Girl doll, Kit, for her birthday. I truly cannot believe how expensive that store is and how we are sucked into the whole thing. My girls and I are going to start back up with the American Girl book club so A now has a doll to bring along. While at the store J kept telling me that MA wanted a doll and I explained that it was for her birthday. Later I asked MA if she wanted a doll for her birthday and she does so I guess it will be another trip to the store in Oct. Thankfully we have several months to save up:) I think in the interim I am going to go to Target and get one of their 18 in. dolls from the Our Generation collection so that she can play with the girls.

First Dr. Visit

On Tuesday we headed to the doctor for MA and J's first doctor visits. Everything on the outside seems to be in working order. We have lab slips to get testing done for things like lead, malaria, Hep B, HIV etc. This time I am going to let David help with this whole process. The doctor visit was fine and all smiles until the nurse came in with shots and TB test. MA was such a trooper- she didn't even flinch. J was another story! We had a second nurse come in and help hold him down so that they could administer the shots. I sat with J between my legs and it took every bit of strength of 3 women to hold him down. Luckily it went quickly and as soon as it was over he had no more tears. Poor little A was crying when J was crying. She said she felt so badly for J. Of course, I promised treats for being so brave so we headed to Target's dollar spot for the loot. I am not too prideful to admit I do bribe the kids from time to time! Thankfully they had just stocked up with some good stuff. (MA and J have gotten so attached to Spiderman. They want to watch the movie everyday sometimes 2 and 3 times a day.) Target had any and everything you could want with Spiderman. They each came away with a bag full of goodies.