The Payne Family: November 2012

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Reese at 15 Months

Here are Reese's stats at 15 months:

Height: 29 inches (25%)

Weight: 21 lbs 3 oz (25%)

Here are a couple videos of her attempting to walk at this point in time :)

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Bows

My sister, Mel, has given Reese some hand-made bows a couple of times. They are so cute and are the only ones that stay in her hair. Reese loves them!

Asking for me to put another one in her hair!

Yeah, look who else LOVES the bows. He puts them in his hair all by himself. I let him walk around the house with it, but when we go out, he knows the rule is that Boys Don't Where Bows!! haha.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

One afternoon, I had the opportunity to hear Renee Swope speak at Hope Presbyterian Church. She is an author with Proverbs 31 Ministries, and she is a mom who loves to encourage other moms. I bought her book/chart called Mining for Gold in the Heart of Your Child. I love it!

She talks about how children have gold hidden in their hearts waiting to be discovered by their parents. And the more gold we dig for, the more we will find. Renee developed a chart with golden attitudes and actions and paired each with nuggets of truth, or Scripture.

The goal is to talk to your child about good character traits, and then reward them when you see your child displaying one. Many of the golden attitudes that are in the chart are ones that James will have to be a little older to completely grasp. But we are working on the ones that fit his age best right now.... Being Helpful, Showing Kindness, Being Obedient, Sharing, and Being Thankful.

I took Renee's idea and literally made "gold nuggets" for my rewards for James. One afternoon, James and I went to the Big H (Meme and Papa's house) and collected a jar full of rocks. We took them home and spray painted them gold. James LOVED them! So each time James demonstrates a golden attitude, we reward him with a gold nugget. When he fills up his jar, he gets to pick out something or do something special. Hopefully we can keep this up! So far it's worked very well. It keeps me focused on Biblical training. And it keeps James excited about having good behavior. Sometimes when we are having a bad day, we just start focusing on the small good things James does, and THAT gets him going in the right direction and makes the day go smoother!

Once he filled up his jar, his asked for his reward to be "go get a blue doughnut and eat it on the railroad track". And that's just what we did! haha.

Recently he has loved getting vehicles, such as this train....

and this ice cream truck. I have been going to CVS and using some of my extra bucks to help make these little bit pricier purchases. I might be encouraging more doughnuts soon!

And recently, Reese has really wanted to participate, so I thought, it's never too early to start! We have gone more "girly" with her. She gets what we call "Warm and Fuzzies!"

But same idea :)

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Some More August Pictures

Some random pictures taken throughout the month of August :) :

After a trip to the library, we ALWAYS hope that a train goes by in our little town of Arlington!

Hanging out in the hot evening waiting for daddy to come home from football practice.

Another late afternoon outside in the front yard.

Popcycles this time!

A little early potty training?

Nope :)

Playing in the back yard.

(excuse the tall grass)

love the hair!

Trying to stand without too much wobbling :)

Being all boy ;)

Arlington park

James is all over that place!

One evening, I was trying to hold the kids off for dinner, waiting for Justin to get home. James looked out the window at the pouring down rain and asked, "Can we go out there mommy?" Sounded like fun to me! We played in the puddles for 30 minutes until Justin arrived. So much fun!

Watching the polar bear at the zoo.

James is to the right. He loves that bear!

Best buds :)

Pretending to sleep

(well, not Justin.....exhausted from football) :)

Snack time

During room time, I checked in on James because it had gotten quiet, and this is what I found. Hehe.

Stories before bed.

hmmmmm....I think Reese wanted out :)

Monday, November 5, 2012

Lake Weekend with Friends

Our great friends, Brad and Amber Cole, asked our little family to go with their family to the lake one weekend in August!

Justin had a football game to coach on Friday, so he decided to come Saturday morning. The rest of us piled in the car on Friday and away we went! ......to Lake Quachita outside of Hot Springs, Arkansas.

The three big kids were crammed in the back :)

Here are James and Taylor.

And Law and James :)

Reese sat in one captains chair, while Brad sat in the other.

Amber drove, and I got to sit in the front seat and talk girl talk with her! Thanks Brad!

We got to the cabin and got to look around. James loved the loft. One day, he and the kids might get to sleep up there! But the ladder goes straight up, so we will give them a few more years :)