Spaghetti Dinner

Just some dinner time fun.

The Payne family has competed their 2nd and 3rd Christmas celebration. 2nd Christmas was and grandma and grandpa's (West's) house in St. Paul. 3rd Christmas was at nanny and papa's (Payne's) in Superior. At the West's we had our traditional lasagna dinner on Christmas Eve. The entire faimly was there and we had a great time of food, poppyseed bread and opening presents. Christmas at the Payne's is always exciting. With 9 grandkids between the ages of 8 and 1 it makes for a loud and very fun time. Thanks to both sides of the family for making it another great Christmas celebration.

Payne Family Christmas

Today the Payne family celebrated their family Christmas. As one of my co-workers says, we are starting our 12 days of Christmas celebration. This is because Christmas starts early and ends late due to travel. We also had our traditional "Birthday Party for Jesus". This helps us remember that Christmas is not about presents, Santa Claus, etc., but about the birth of Jesus Christ. We pray that all of our family and friends remember the Christ child this Christmas, and also remember that this child grew up to be a man that would pay the ultimate price for all of mankind.

Chris

Christmas Concerts

This has been a very busy week for the Payne's. It started with the kids' Christmas concert at church. Chris was out of town, but he was able to see the dress rehearsal. The kids did a great job and seemed to have a lot of fun. The day after Chris got back from Dallas he had to get ready for 5 nights in a row of choir. One dress rehearsal and four performances. Chris' mom and dad came to town to see Saturday's performance. The choir sounded great and the drama was very powerful. The message really spoke to the people. Chris is now able to check two things of of his "Things to do in my lifetime" list. 1. Sing in a real choir, 2. Sing a solo in a real choir. The solo's went well and he really had a good time.

Christmas Decorations and Ranger of the Year

The Payne family spent Saturday decorating the house for Christmas. I love being able to get the tree from the basement. When it's 2 degrees outside, you can't beat having an artificial tree. I'm sure that some of you are die hard "real tree" people, but for us the fake tree is the way to go. We will also continue the tradition of putting the Christmas presents under the tree about 30 minutes before we open them. This has nothing to do with making the kids think that Santa brought the presents. I has everything to do with our tradition of having an infant/toddler around that would go through all the presents in a flash. Maybe next year we'll be able to put presents under the tree a bit earlier, maybe. The photo album will show the steps of decorating the house.

Earlier in the week Levi received his medal for completing the requirement for Royal Ranger of the Year. To meet this accomplishment he had to earn a certain number of badges, memorize Scripture verses and participate in Outpost events. We are very proud of his achievement.


Preview of next weeks post: Children and Adult Christmas Musicals

Chris

The slip covers are done, and Levi has an MP3 player?

For those that have been to our house recently you know that Cari has been working on slip covers for the chairs in the living room. We are glad to say that they are done. They really go well with the color of the couch and with the rug in the living room.
Levi doesn't really have an MP3 player, but he does have a pocket-size radio that he purchased through the Royal Rangers store. This picture sure makes him look grown-up.

Chris

Nathanael is Walking!

In our last post (Baby Steps) you read that Nathanael was starting to take a few steps on his own. I am proud to say that he is now walking around the living room and dining room without any help. To me that is enough to say that he is now a walking toddler.
In other Payne family news, Levi and Samuel both received their first report cards for the year. We're proud to say that they both doing well academically. Josiah continues to grow in his vocabulary and in his independence. He is starting to do things that Levi and Samuel would not even try until they were almost 5 years old.

Chris

Baby Steps

For those that have children I'm sure you all have had the experience of helping your children learn to walk. Most of the time we try the "come to daddy", or "come to mommy" tricks to get them to walk. We've been trying that with Nathanael but he wasn't really interested in that. Tonight he decided that he was going to take this walking thing into his own hands. As we were sitting in the living room he just starts to walk to Cari. It was hilarious because neither of us saw it coming. This video shows him taking a few steps on his own.

Chris

They sure grow up fast

Here is some video of Nathanael feeding himself. It's good to see that he has been eating more recently. After his 1 year checkup we found out that he had lost weight since his nine month appointment. The doctor recommend PediaSure. It's a high calorie, high fat (about 10 grams in an 8 ounce bottle!) drink.

Chris

Candy Carnival

The Payne's attended the annual Candy Carnival at the Rapids Mall on Friday. This is probably the warmest Halloween that I can remember. It came close to 70 degrees! The costumes this year consisted of Spider-Man, Tigger, a teddy bear and a monk. The kids had a great time playing games, eating candy and watching a juggler.

Chris

Birthday Surprise

Happy Birthday Nathanael!
Uncle Andy and Aunt Molly came to our house as a birthday surprise. The boys were really surprised and everyone is having a really good time. We had a lot of fun opening presents and eating cake. I think Nathanael's favorite present was the box for his new car seat. Check out the pictures and videos.

Chris

Nature Walk

On Saturday the Payne family went on a nature walk with the MOPS group. We learned about trees (Samuel even got to be a human tree) and leaves. It was a perfect fall day for walking in the woods. Chris is also very glad that this MOPS experience didn't involve a trip to the ER and stitches like his last experience.

Chris

The Start of Birthday Week

It's a Payne family tradition that birthday's are a multi-day event. Nathanael's birthday week started with getting his present from Nanny and Papa in the mail. He really likes his shoes, books, sippy cups, etc. Nathanael's birthday celebration will actually continue into November when Grandma and Grandpa West come to visit.

Chris

The People Have Spoken

The people have voted, so I must listen to the people. The Mr. Clean vote was the winner by a vote of 10-4. The most important voter of all (Cari) went with the Mr. Clean vote, so regardless of the outcome I'm sure I would have shaved it off.
To those who commented about Mohawks and Mullets, I had to say thanks but no thanks.
It must have been "cut your hair day" at the Payne house. All of the boys had their hair cut this afternoon. Thanks Cari for having the patience and skill to do hair cuts for 5 males in one afternoon.

PS: In case you were wondering, I will not be piecing my ear like Mr. Clean.

Chris

To shave or not to shave...

...that is my question to you. I know, I know you're used to seeing cute pictures of the kids, but for this post you're stuck with a picture of me. I'm going to use the polling feature of this blog and let my friends and family help me decide what to do. Do I keep the hair (at least for a while), or do I go back to the Mr. Clean look? Feel free to using the polling feature, or leave a comment.

Chris

Week in Review

This week was filled with the regular stuff: school, work, church, etc. We spent time with Jason, Toni and their kids (I told you that you would make it in our blog someday). It was pretty wild with 6 boys between the ages of 7 and 11 months. Everything from Star Wars costumes to Spider-Man muscle costumes.
I had to share this one. Levi decided that he was going to make a "List of things to do today" on Saturday. Here is his list. (You have to love his first born organizational skills. You first borns know what I'm talking about.)

1. Eat breakfast
2. Watch kids shows
3. Play the SuperWhy and WordWorld game on the computer
4. Eat lunch
5. Movie night, milk shakes and games
6. Eat supper
7. Play school

I am happy to say that he accomplished all of the things on his 'to do' list.

PS: Just like all males in the Payne family, he made sure that all 3 meals of the day were on his 'to do' list.

Chris

Weekend Fun

The Payne family enjoyed the first weekend of fall by cooking, farming and making a scarecrow. The house was filled with the smells of cookies and cake as Samuel and Levi helped Mom make some yummy snacks. We also enjoyed our time at Down on the Farm. We even got to see a cat playing with a chicken. Now that's not something you see everyday. While at the farm Cari got an idea of making a scarecrow. When we got home she and the kids made a scarecrow and put him in front of the house. And did I mention that I finally found a McCain/Palin sign to put up in the yard?

Chris

The trim is done!

It's been over two years since our bathroom was remodeled and about six months since the kitchen was remodeled. For some reason (mostly because of Chris) getting the trim up in both rooms was delayed. I guess Cari realized that if she was going to get the job done that she had to employ the assistance of Nanny and Josiah. Nanny cut the wood and Josiah helped with the nailing of the trim.

Nanny and Papa's Visit (aka, Josiah's extended birthday)

We had great weather for Nanny and Papa's visit this weekend. We were able to spend a lot of time outside enjoying the beautiful weather. Josiah's birthday was extended because he received his presents from Nanny and Papa when they arrived. Of course we had to make a trip to the cheese factory since Papa was in town. You just can't find good cheese curds in Superior, WI. We ate plenty of chicken (both fried and grilled) to last us several days. We enjoyed a great movie night that included pizza and Speed Racer. We also got a ton of laughs using Nanny's web cam.
Josiah really enjoyed his play kitchen stuff. He especially enjoyed the microwave and coffee pot (Grandma West would be so proud).

Nanny & Papa are coming!

We are so excited that Nanny & Papa are coming tomorrow! We are also excited that Grandma gets back from Azerbaijan today.

Payne Boys

3rd Birthday

Today we celebrated Josiah's 3rd birthday. We had to change our original plans due to the rainy weather. We had planned to go apple picking with friends, but the rain would have been pretty miserable. Josiah is kind of funny because whenever he gets something new he likes to carry them around the house. This time it was his new wallet and sunglasses. He took them everywhere he went. He also enjoyed his new sleeping bag by using for his nap. To get the full sleeping bag experience, he insisted on sleeping on the floor rather than in his bed.

Chris

Payne Boys--Annual Packers Picture

For the past few years we have taken a picture of all the boys (including Chris) wearing their Packers gear. I thought it would be fun to post pictures to show how the kids have changed, and how the family has grown.

Enjoy

Chris

First Day of School

Well it's that time of year again in the Payne house. This year we had two kids starting school. Levi is in second grade and Samuel is in kindergarten. Levi's class has about 19 kids and Samuel's class has 28 kids. Samuel's class is so big that they have two full-time teachers. After a full day of school Cari and I thought that both of the kids would be exhausted. Boy were we wrong! When I got home from work they were both full of energy. We think that by the end of the week they will be pretty tired after almost a full week of school. Like typical boys we were not able to get much out of them when we asked about the events of the day. But they are always able to tell us what they had for lunch. It's had to believe that half of the Payne boys are now in school.

Chris

Cabin Vacation 2008

We spent the last 10 days on our annual vacation to the cabin in northern Minnesota. All in all we had a good vacation, but there were some memorable moments. One of the kids had an upset stomach on the way up which meant making several stops (I don't think I have to go into detail). It was Nathanael's first trip to the cabin. That meant it was his first time to experience the cabin traditions: the candy store, pizza place, Turtle Races, the boat ride, etc. There were some new experiences too: tearing down an old outhouse, trying to level out a tree stump and a team building exercise that involved a wood splitter. The weather was great, but it could have been a little warmer to make swimming more enjoyable. Here is a link to the pictures of our vacation. http://picasaweb.google.com/cmpayne2/Cabin2008 There are a lot of pictures and a few videos in this album.

Chris

Ranger Camp 2008

We had a great time at Ranger Camp. I'll be the first to admit that I was not very excited to take the boys since I had never really camped before. We had beautiful weather and we were able to meet some great kids and parents.
Throught the weekend all of the kids participated in different competitions. Levi and Samuel placed in a few of the competitions. We had great assemblies in the evening and saw many kids come the the altar for salvation, healing and other needs. Here is a link to the pictures that we took this weekend http://picasaweb.google.com/cmpayne2/RangerCamp2008?authkey=T-_1ATOGex
You may have to copy and paste the link into your web browser.

Chris

Summer Vacation

Summer vacation has officially started. We look forward to a fun, and busy summer filled with baseball, softball, cabin vacation, cookouts and enjoying the warm weather. After the very cold and snowy winter we are looking forward to enjoying some time outdoors. Now that the boys are getting older they seem to keep themselves more occupied. We’ll keep you posted on the events of our summer.

Chris

Over 1,000 minutes read!

In early May we set a reading goal for Levi for the entire month of May. In school he is supposed to read 15 minutes per day, which adds up to about 450 minutes by the end of the month. The last two months he had read about 650-700 minutes per month. Because of this we decided to set a goal of 1,000 minutes for the month of May. If he met the goal we would take the entire family to Dairy Queen.
After a lot of reading, Levi surpassed his goal. By the end of the month he had read 1,043 minutes. That is a combination of independent reading and us reading to him. For the month of June his goal is 1,250 minutes. Does anyone have thoughts on his reward if he meets his new goal?
Way to go Levi! We are very proud of you.

Boys Day

Today was “Boys Day” at the Payne’s. Cari spent the day painting at the school and I stayed at home with the boys. With me in charge of lunch we had an excellent meal with chicken nuggets, tater tots and grapes. Of course no real cooking was required. It was a beautiful day (but quite windy), which made for great painting weather and a great day to take the kids outside to play. Just give the kids a ball, some dirt and a swingset to climb on and they can entertain themselves for a long time. Nathaniel is getting big enough where he can sit on a blanket and keep himself entertained. While he is doing that, I can type up this blog on my AlphaSmart.

Faith

I was talking to someone today and they mentioned that they were glad that during hard times they had their faith to “fall back on”. Is faith something that we “fall back on”, or is it something that should be part of our every day lives? Of course we rely on our faith during times of need, but shouldn’t faith be so integrated into our lives that it is with us through the good times and the bad times? Falling back on our faith only during the hard times seems to disrespect what God has done for us. I see faith as an every day event and not just an ER trip that we take every now and then.

Playing Outside

Now that the weather has warmed up the kids are able to use some of their energy outside. They are able to use their swingset, ride their bikes, use their new scooters and just run around. We recently set up their huge inflatable soccer ball and goal. They think it is a lot of fun. We just have to make sure that we stake the goal down on windy days.
With Levi starting baseball in a few weeks and me starting softball, we will be spending quite a bit of time outside. We need to take advantage of it while we can, since the snow will start to fly again in 6 months.

Motivation

As a parent you find that each of your children is motivated in different ways. This weekend we found something that really motivated Levi.
Everyday Levi is supposed to read for at least 15 minutes a day. That is about 450 minutes a month. The last two months we found that he had read about 700 minutes per month. I asked him if he thought he could 1,000 minutes during the month of May. I told him that if he met that goal that we would take him to Dairy Queen. I guess that’s all he needed to hear because on Saturday he read for 150 minutes! That is a combination of him reading to himself and us reading to him.
I guess Dairy Queen is very motivating to a first-grader.

The joys of raising boys

Ah, the joys of raising boys. They never cease to amaze me. A couple of days ago Josiah decided to take the soap dispenser and walk around upstairs. It was in the bathroom, his room and Nathanael’s room. It could have been a lot worse, but boy was I mad.

Chris

Upcoming Projects

Now that the kitchen project it is time to start thinking about the other projects on the “honey do” list. Fortunately these projects are not as expensive and not as invasive to our daily lives. This summer we hope to accomplish some, if not all of these tasks: stripping the deck and putting a new coat of stain (this time we will buy a good oil based stain and not the bad stuff we put on 2 or 3 years ago), paint the front porch where we had the windows put in last year, put a fence up around the yard. We’ll see how much we get done, but those are the bigger projects on the list.
As I sit outside watching the kids play I’m typing this up on my AlphaSmart Neo, (it’s great not being tied to the computer in the house) I look at the house and it is hard to believe what we have put into this house over the past six years. The deck, remodeled bathroom, new double-hung windows, new shingles (before and after the hail storm) remodeled kitchen, new storm windows on the front porch. We really feel blessed with how we have been able to turn our house into a nice home. Now we’ll have to see if we ever get that garage we have been talking about.

99% Complete

The kitchen project that has seen two seasons (winter and spring), St. Patrick's Day, Easter, both Chris and Cari's birthday's the NCAA men's basketball tournament, tax day and yes, even Earth Day is now 99% complete. Just a few final touches to be completed. Since 99% is an A+ in my book this will be the last post on the kitchen project. The slide show will show you before, during and after pictures. By clicking on the caption icon on the lower left side you can see comments about each picture.



Chris

More Thoughts on Creativity

Last fall I wrote about how as a society we have lost our creativity. When I wrote last time I spent time talking about how one of my son’s started playing stickball on his own. This week he and some of his friends found out that stickball is much like regular t-ball. They had a blast with a simple tee and a stick from a tree. I hope they keep much of that creativity as they get older.

Excellence in Sportsmanship

This week we learned that Brett Favre announced that we was retiring from the game of football. For the past 16 years Favre has been the leader of the Green Bay Packers. Although Favre broke many NFL records in this career, I think there are two things that I will always remember about him.
1. His love for the game. There are not many men that have walked onto a football field that showed such a love for the game of football.
2. He stayed out of trouble. In today's world of sports it seems like we are constantly hearing about professional athletes that are in trouble for a myriad of issues. Brett Favre is a roll model to many kids and he was a good roll model because he stayed out of trouble.
Thanks for the memories, Brett.

The art of saying thank you

What is the right was to show someone that you appreciate them? Do you give a card? Do you give a gift? Do you write a note? Do you send a nice e-mail? Do you just say the words "thank you"?
I don't think there is a right or wrong way to show someone that you appreciate them. The important thing is that you do something. By saying, or doing, nothing at all you make the other person question whether or not they ever made an impact in your life.
So the next time some one does something that you appreciate, just let them know in some way. Especially if they have invested a lot of time into you.

Great Marketing Campaign

Have you seen the commercial for the new MacBook Air? It's the one where the inter-office envelope is placed on the table. Next you see someone taking a device out of the envelope. As the commercial progresses you find out that they placed a laptop (the MacBook Air) inside the envelope.
In my opinion that is a great marketing campaign. Here is why. In my office we use a lot of inter-office envelopes. Many times when I see the envelopes I think, "Is there a MacBook Air inside the envelope?". Of course I know there isn't, but it sure makes me think.
Even thought I wouldn't buy a MacBook Air, mainly because of the high price, I still think they made a great commercial.