Josiah's Birthday Weekend

As you may know, birthdays in the Payne house are never a one day event. We turn them into birthday weekends and sometimes into birthday weeks. This weekend we celebrated Josiah's 5th birthday. Due to losing power all around the city on Saturday, we decided to make our pizzas on the grill. They turned out really good. (pics included) Losing power can be fun, but not when you had just done two weeks worth of shopping. Fortunately, the power was only out for a little over an hour.

This weekend we also took our annual football picture. In addition to the traditional picture that we always take, we added a few action shots to this year's photo shoot.

On Monday (Josiah's actual birthday) he started the morning out right by opening presents. Present opening continued after I got home from work, and then we enjoyed a relaxing meal at the McDonald's playland. (When you see relaxing and playland in the same sentence you should be laughing. :) The evening ended with a motorcycle birthday cake and playing with his new presents.

Chris

Happy Birthday, Levi!

Birthday Week 2010

As you may know, we like to extend birthdays as long as we can around here. Birthday week started on Tuesday and went through Friday. (Technically it’s still birthday week, as I am supposed to be getting another package in the mail on Monday) On Tuesday we celebrated my 32nd birthday at home. The kids got me the traditional birthday present of Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch. Cari made me my ‘special quilt’ (something I have asked for for a couple years).

On Wednesday we drove to my mom and dad’s. It was a beautiful day. Temperatures in the mid-high 70’s on March 31st is unheard of in Wisconsin. It was so nice that we were able to have a picnic meal outside. Surprisingly, it was still very warm when we got to Superior. Of course that was not the case the next day. The temperature back home was about 80 degrees. At the same time, the temperature in Superior was at least 30 degrees cooler. The term ‘cooler by the lake’ was definitely in affect that day.

On Thursday we had a combined birthday party for me and my niece Kathleen. It’s funny when you have a combined birthday party with a 4 year old girl. Who would have thought that I would ever have a ‘princess birthday cake’. I received a GPS as one of my gifts. Now I have no excuse for getting lost.

When you have a 4 hour drive with 4 kids in the van you have to find ways to keep yourself entertained. Part way through the trip Cari brought out some questions for the kids to answer to pass the time. Below is one of the questions that she asked. We thought it was very interesting how each person answered the question. You can see the personality and thought process of each one, especially the kids.

“5 things to bring on an island by yourself”

Levi
Toothpaste/toothbrush, Bible, hoola hoop, books, swimming suit

Samuel
Nintendo/TV, toothpaste/brush, bike, book, hoola hoop

Josiah
Nothing. “I don’t want to be on an island by myself”

Nathanael
Road, Dude, Nana, Papa, banana

Cari
Bible, knife, blanket, change of clothes, toothpaste/brush

Chris
Matches, sunscreen, hat, Bible, Bocce


Chris

Nathanael's Birthday

It was the start of another birthday weekend in the Payne house. We celebrated Nathanael's 2nd birthday with presents, making personal pizzas, a movie, and cupcakes. Enjoy the pics. At the end of the album I added some pics from when Nathanael was just a few days old.

Chris

Josiah's Birthday Weekend

Enjoy the pictures and videos (including Josiah singing 'Happy Birthday' to himself) of Josiah's Birthday weekend. The theme of the birthday was guitars and motorcycles.

Chris

Samuel's Birthday Weekend

The Payne's spent this weekend celebrating Samuel's birthday. His real birthday is on Monday, but it worked better to do birthday celebrating a little early. We enjoyed a round of mini-golf (Nathanael actually got a hole-in-one, with a little help from mom), dinner at Burger King, and baseball cupcakes. Below you will find a couple of video clips. I have also added a link to some pictures. You may have to copy and paste the link into your browser.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=94400&id=513017606&l=75b6610b26

Chris

Happy Birthday, Levi!

Yesterday was Levi's birthday. It's hard to believe that we have an 8 year-old son. We celebrated with Chinese food (that we actually paid for), and chocolate cake. For those that don't get the Chinese food inside joke, that means you don't come out to visit us enough and buy Chinese food for us :). In this photo album are pictures from this birthday and some pictures of Levi through the years. Enjoy!

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

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

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).

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