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