Payton The Wonderful

I was having one of those days where I thought I was Mom of the year. I hiked me and my 3 lovely children through Forest Grove down to the Dutch Brothers cart to get us coffee and chocolate milks. The air was crisp and cool, with a little bit of a burnt smell from all the chimney smoke. I was truly enjoying the walk with my kids. I couldn't have been more proud to be a mom of 3! We were picking up different colored leaves and the kids were pretending they were birds, using the leaves as wings. About half way to Dutch Brothers something in Payton flipped a switch and I was suddenly walking with ADD boy. He was hugging trees and jumping around flailing his arms and really just raising a whole lot of a ruckus. I didn't mind that, but it was just him almost falling into oncoming traffic a few dozen times that I really started getting irritated. I had yelled 'Payton Johns!' about 20 times in course of 5 minutes and it really wasn't helping. I said it one more time, and he looked at me and said:

"I wish I had a different name"

"Like What? Payton the boy who doesn't listen to his Mother?", I replied.

"No, like Payton the Wonderful.", he answered.

So I hearby proclaim from this day forward my son Payton Michael Johns will now be called Payton the Wonderful.

Banks BBQ

I cannot believe its October and I never even blogged about the Banks BBQ that happened in August! Of course it was on the day my baby girls was supposed to be born, so I was a little distracted! Anyways the above picture is my son throwing the ball to knock the poor dance team girl into the water. He got her twice, and I must say I was gloating while all the people around him exclaimed how great he was. (Bragging, I know!)
Now here is the frog jumping contest. There was much build up in the Johns' family household as we awaited the big day! Payton's frog 'Snoopy Froggy Frog' and Chloe's frog 'Frogalicious', were caught at Daddy's work for just the occasion. We fed them Crickets, which brought a little ambiance to my home every night. They filled our home with gentle chirping....although at 3 in the morning it can really wear on a person. Not that I was really sleeping anyway because I was as big as a whale. The above picture is Payton's frog that only jumped 64 inches. Each kid has to make their frog jump 3 times and that is measured. The frog that jumps the furthest wins.
Here is Chloe and Daddy setting out her frog, which she was very scared of. She jumped back everytime the thing moved, or she thought it was thinking about moving. Her frog faired better and jumped 72 inches! That held the top spot until the family that has won every stinkin' year for the past 10 years brought in their ringers! They I would classify as Toads, not frogs and they were huge! Jumping over 100 inches each. Seriously next year I am going to demand they test these things for HGH.
My poor children were devastated that they weren't getting a trophy! I was so heartbroken for them, I almost thought about buying them a trophy! However, its building character. Lucky for Snoop Froggy Frog and Frogalicous that I don't eat frog legs, because part of me was tempted! Daddy took them back to the land of their birth the next day, so they could be safe from the wrath of a angry Mama!! My kids got over their sadness soon enough because it was time for the Combine Demolition Derby!! Thats where local farmers take perfectly good combine tractors, decorate them and then smash them into each other until only one is left in one piece. Its awesome! Some of these farmers work year round on these things.
Here they are all lined up and ready to go at it! The yellow one was the winner. It was my favorite, the Crash Test Dummies, as it were. He has won 5 out of the 7 years they have done this. The kids loved it and thankfully made up for the sad defeat in the rigged frog jumping contest!

Sisters

I dare you to guess which one is Chloe Ava and which one is Stella Rose. (The pictures aren't their best) You can probably tell by the clothes their wearing, but the similarities are pretty amazing. I've put a picture of Payton below. As you can see, he looks nothing like the ladies. BTW, Stella is the first baby and Chloe is the second baby.

My Little Sunshine

Just a little update on my sweet baby girl! She is growing so much! I am already feeling sad that the newborn phase is fading. She is filling out in her cheeks and her thighs, like a good girl should. She doesn't fit in any of her newborn clothes anymore. She is smiling and cooing now and is constantly looking for my face. Stella is already very attached to me, she knows where the goods are!! She sleeps 5 to 6 straight hours at night, nurses, and then sleeps another 4 hours, nurses and sleeps another 2 hours. So I could be getting a ton of sleep if Chloe Ava didn't wake up at 6:45 every morning. (This is a new thing...she used to sleep in until 9.) Anyways our little Stelli Bean is doing great and has kept her quiet sweet demeanor. I am grateful everyday for such an easy going 3rd born!

That Big Jerry Kid

When I was in high school I hated babysitting kids. In fact I only babysat a couple of times through Jr high and into my Freshman year. I needed big bucks if I was going to put myself off the social scene on a perfectly good Friday night. My Mom made me watch these kids that I didn't know for the summer between my Freshman and Sophomore year. Every Monday and Tuesday I had to wake myself up at 6:00am and go and babysit for this family. It wasn't fun, but I got down all the talk shows that I loved to watch and helped myself to all their Schwans frozen food. One day the pesky little brats asked to walk up the road to the old man's house with a swimming pool. They wanted to go for a swim. I avoided the subject for a good hour, but they finally cornered me and I had to take them up the road. It was straight uphill and I was hot! We finally got there and there was this really pretty tan blond lady in a bikini with a little boy swimming. (Little boy is exhibit A to the left) She said hi and told me her name was Sheri and this was her son Jared and he was 5. She was super cool and didn't seem like a mom at all. We sat and talked while we watched the kids swim. Sheri then asked me if I would like to babysit for her. I was all over it, the only time I was super excited to babysit for anyone! She then dropped the bombshell and told me that she had 3 other kids and Jared was her oldest!!! Shea her next son was 2 1/2 and she had twin Jace and Aubrey that were 9 months old. Wow! She also let me know that this was her dad's house and they had a brand new house in the woods. Looking back now we both laugh, what possible made her think that all 96 pounds of me could take on 4 kids! But I did and I fell in love with them. Not to mention, they paid $40 for 4 hours! I was in the money! They became my second family. I even had my own Christmas stocking at their house with my name stitched on it. And the greatest of all things great in Rosieland, they took me to Disneyland. (Nevermind that Pirates was closed...I'm over it...but I have a great picture of me pouting by the closed
sign!) After I graduated, I stopped having them pay me and I just did it for free. All 4 of them were in our wedding and all 4 of them have been invested in my kids' lives.

Last summer I needed babysitters and well lets say I had 4 very qualified babysitters that love my kids to pieces. (Jared was 16, Shea 13, Jace and Aubrey 11.) Payton was scared of Jared becasue, well he's 6'3 and quiet. He kept telling Sheri,"I don't like that big Jerry kid". LOL! Jared will be forever known now as 'That big Jerry kid'!

Jared is now a senior in high school and wide reciever on the Banks football team. He towers over me, but is the sweetest kid! I'm telling you all this because he shares his birthday with a very special lady....my Stella Rose. Jared was thrilled when he found out he was an Uncle....affectionately Uncle Jerry. After every football game he comes off the field, past the girls asking him for a ride to Taco Bell and he picks up my baby girl and holds her. Then he takes his time with Payton and then Chloe, much to the dismay of the hot and bothered teenage girls that can wait to go to Taco Bell, OR better yet get their own darn car and leave my Jared alone!! In my eyes he will always be that 5 year old boy swimming at his Grandpa's pool.

Our Stella Bella Baby Girl

As most of you know, I had a baby almost 3 weeks ago.  However, since we moved we have not got around to getting internet as of yet.  I have been driving around town like a crazy lady trying to find free Wi-fi, but haven't found a good spot yet.  I'm pretty sure I'm known by the local Forest Grove teenagers as the "Crazy Lady in the Red Expedition".  They must think I have OCD because I move from parking spot to parking spot trying to locate the free Wi-fi!  Anyways, Now a little about my precious baby girl that was born!!  

Stella finally was induced 5 days after my due date!  I was beyond ready!  I was sent over to Tuality at 8:30am so that I could begin pitocin.  As soon as I walked into the room, the nurse looked at my bed and proclaimed,"That is not a birthing bed!  It doesn't even look like one, how did this get in here?!?".  I was immediately drawn to the door and debating weather or not I should run.  I got over it when I remembered that I was so over this whole pregnancy thing!  After I got the correct bed brought in, I was hooked up to the IV and started on pitocin.  However, the pump on the IV was broken, so I had to wait for a new IV pump to arrive.  Finally at 10:07 I was hooked up to pitocin and started my induction!  I was fine until about 2:00pm when my contractions got super bad.  Tuality wasn't going to give me an epidural until I was 3 centimeters dilated.  What they don't know is, I go from 3 to 10 

centimeters in 30 minutes, so I was freaked out that I wasn't going to get my epidural!  At 3:00pm she checked me and I was 3 centimeters, so I was allowed to get my epidural!  The epidural was horrible, it was literally pounded into my back!  Shortly after he was finished...around 3:45....I felt my water break.  Then around 4:15 I kept feeling the need to push.  I didn't say anything at first, but I finally decided to tell Aaron and he got the nurse.  She came and checked me and said,"Don't push or move!  Your baby is right there!".  My doctor was rushed in and it went something like this...."little push, little push, little push....and there she is!"  In true Rosie form, my baby came rushing out into the world!  She was so beautiful!  She weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 20 inches long.   

She is the sweetest baby.  Now that she is almost 3 weeks old, I can say she has kept that sweet demeanor.  Stella wakes up to eat 2 times a night and she falls back to sleep right away.

Stella Rose if very loved by her big brother and sister.  She gets a bottle from them everyday.  We call her Stelli Bean and her daddy calls her Milky Minutes....if any of you have seen the AT&T commercial you will know what that means!  I am doing just fine adjusting to 3, I am actually ready for a 4th.  We will see what daddy thinks of that, but I'm giving him a few months to think about it!!!

Ode to the Man I Love!

On Monday Aaron and I will be celebrating our 7th anniversary. We've been together for over 11 1/2 years. I can truly say I am more in love with him today than I have ever been in my life. To many my husband is a mystery, so today I would like to take you through a lesson of Aaron. I think Emily is the closest to knowing Aaron as the town of Banks knows him. Most people think he is quiet and shy. Shy he maybe for a little minute, but its just not Aaron. To you left is my husband jumping through a fire out on a farm in Banks. This is how we have fun where we come from. He
Might have burnt some leg hair here, but it made us laugh and like any boy thats the goal.

We were fortunate enough to grow up in a small town. The boys around the fire here all graduated with Aaron and I am so happy to say that they are all still very close. They were on the baseball team together and most of them were in our wedding. They still get together and play poker as often as they can and they play softball with Hillsboro City League.


This picture is Tim, Aaron, Jake and Mike. Jake was our best man in our wedding and Mike is now in the middle of Iraq. We think of him often, as he is in one of the most dangerous parts. Before he was deployed their drill Sargent told them to look to their left and right, because half of them weren't coming back. I think that really hit Aaron to realize that one of his best friends is in such a dangerous situation.

This is the boys all spruced up for a wedding in the Summer of '01. My husband is the blond....oh yes I said blond....he goes through his weird spurts! Its Mike, Jimmy, Jake, Brian, Tim, Aaron and Doug. (Doug is the one that street luged down Wier Rd hill by our house...he is insane)

A little about my husband, he like the Oakland A's and Raiders. (You can bring that up in casual conversation if you want to get to know him better!) Aaron has a total of 3 tattoos. A tribal band (token male college tattoo!), Payton's name and My initials. My initials are on his inner bicep, so he flexes his arm and points to it every time he wants to make me laugh! He is way behind on getting Chloe's name and now Stella's. He has 3 ear piercings as well, although he loses his earrings all the time and now only has 2 in.

Aaron is very funny and makes me laugh all the time. I've put in all the manly things about him, so I can tell you what makes me love him the most now! I love how sensitive he is to me and my feelings. A man isn't supposed to be that intuitive, but he is. He encourages me to hang out with my girlfriends, but he feels real guilt when he leave me and the kids to something with his buddies. He may act tough, but his is my softy husband that I love with all my heart. A lot of
people didn't understand the pair of us so long ago. Aaron was the bad boy and I was the innocent Christian girl. However, no knew how much Aaron respected me and my beliefs and how if it weren't for him I would not have gone back to church ever. God put him in my life for a reason and I am just beginning to understand how Aaron fully completes me in all the places of my heart that are wanting for something. All my hurts and insecurities are fixed by the gentle hands of my husband. I can't believe that 7 years have past already since our wedding, but I also can't wait to see what the future holds for us and our family! I love you Aaron Johns!