Josiah Sings the ABC's

Josiah sings the ABC's. The video quality isn't the best, and you may need to turn up the volume, but it's still pretty cute.

Chris

Payne Train 500

The boys had fun racing their bikes today. It wasn't 500 miles, it may not have even been 500 feet, but they had fun. Enjoy the pics and videos.

Chris

Josiah the Worker Guy: Part II

It's that time of year again. Making several trips to the compost site each Spring is an annual event in the Payne house. Josiah (the worker guy), was very helpful with shoveling and spreading compost. Below are two pics and a video.

Chris

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

Levi's Presentation on Austria

Earlier this week Levi gave his first oral presentation of the year. For his project he chose to research the nation of Austria (aka, the country of 'our people' as I like to say). Below are some facts that he learned about Austria the he shared with his class.

-The capital city of Austria is Vienna
-Austria is in Europe
-Population: 8.2 million
-Crops grown in Austria: barley, corn, grapes, potatoes, sugar beets
-Natural resources: copper, lead, salt, zinc
-The president of Austria is Heinz Fischer
-5 NHL players were born in Austria



Chris

Samuel Reading a Poem

The poem is titled "Regurgitate". It's not a Samuel original, but something he had to read for school. The context of the poem is a young penguin speaking to his dad.

Chris

Regurgitate
It's been one whole hour since I ate.
Why is my dinner always late?
While you and Mom procrastinate,
I might become a featherweight.
You know what I'd appreciate?
Cough it up Dad! Regurgitate!

Josiah the Worker Guy

Josiah has a lot of respect for the blue collar worker. Any time he sees a city worker, carpenter, trash collector, or anyone wearing a Carhartt jacket he points out to us, "Mommy & Daddy look, a worker guy!". On this beautiful March day Josiah helped me cut down some large branches from the tree next to our house. Here are some pics of him next to the branches and setting up 'safety cones'. For some reason Cari didn't get any pics of me going up on a ladder and cutting down the branches, but I swear I actually did some 'worker guy' work.

Chris

PS: My favorite pic is the one where it looks like he is using the chainsaw as a guitar.