Happy Birthday Peyton!

I'm feeling very old. My oldest, Peyton just turned 6 today. It is so hard to believe. They grow up way to fast!
There were a lot of fun things that happened today for Peyton's birthday.
First, today was the first day back at school after three weeks off track. That's how the year round school thing goes. Anyway, Peyton was thrilled to be back on her birthday. After a fun first day back she came home to help make her birthday cake. I even let her decorate it herself with sprinkles. That is pretty impressive for those of you that know how hard it is for me to let my kids take over a decorating project. I am a perfectionist....I can't help myself! I have decided this year to turn over the party to an outsider. I will not be putting together a cool-themed party this year from home. I just recently had a meltdown. The Meltdown of 2006 as Jimmy likes to refer to it as. Maybe I'll explain the details on my Mel Tells blog at a later date, but for now that is all your getting.
Anyway, the Meltdown allowed me to put my life as a mom, wife, nursery director, homemaker, room mom, friend, etc into a perspective that I needed. Since those totally non-productive days a few weeks ago have passed, I'm doing a lot better.
Ok, so back to the party. Peyton will be having a fun, girly dress-up type party outside of the house on Saturday. Basically, all I have to do is show up and hand over a check. I'm so excited, and so is Peyton.
Another big moment today was the fact that I told Peyton she no longer had to take an afternoon nap. What a thrill! So, while Emily and Andy slept me and Peyton hung out and took pictures of the snow!
Yeah, you heard me right....SNOW! Today was the first snow of the season, and a good one at that. It started coming down around 2pm or so and is still going strong.
I told Peyton that I would make her favorite dinner for her tonight. She proceded to tell me what that consited of: A chicken leg, mashed potatoes and salad. Not a bad appetite for a 6 year old, huh? Of course, my kids don't get much of a choice. They have always eaten what their given....or they just don't eat! That's my motto! It seems to have worked, because all my kids are great eaters!
After dinner we had our neighbors over to share the birthday cake. Then, I told Peyton that she could open one of her presents. Of course she picked the one that Grandma sent that appeared to be breathing through the wrapping present. Turns out, Grandma was true to her word that she would send Peyton a dog for her 6th birthday. Momma is glad that she picked a dog that appears to love to sleep and is quite calm. Thanks Grandma! Peyton loves it, and has named her new puppy, Benny.
I'm posting some pics and two videos of all the stuff I just talked about so you can all enjoy!
Oh, the last few pics are of Emily talking on the phone with her favorite person in the world, her Papaw! They have the cutest, slightly sickening relationship you've ever seen. When Papaw called to talk to Peyton for her birthday, Emily was quite upset that she didn't get to talk to her precious Papaw. So, I had to call him back so she could have her own time with him. She immediately took the phone upstairs for some privacy. As I was walking up the stairs to get the girls ready for bed this is what I'm hearing: "I think about you every day too, Papaw!......I miss you.......You can come over tomorrow to see me......No, you're a silly-willy!" As I get to the top of the stairs trying not to throw up too much in my mouth I find her lounging on my bed just having the time of her life. This one is the one that is going to give us all the teenage trouble....I guarantee it! I had to take the pics to prove it!
Tuesday, October 17, 2006