Payden on the Attack

In our house, you have to be careful if you're lying on the floor because, if Payden sees you, she'll attack. Shelby was reading a book one morning and the next thing she knew Payden was attacking.





Of course Taylor found that hilarious and immediately laid down so that Payden would come get her, too.



A few days later Tom was laying down, and sure enough Payden attacked. Fortunately for her, Tom's able to play around with her (Shelby and Taylor always get smushed and hurt). She had tons of fun playing with him and kept coming back for more.

Poor Baby!!

At dinner Payden refused to eat, so, like we always do, we made her sit in her high chair until she at least took one bite. Initially Tom was on the phone with his mom while I dealt with her at the table; then we switched. I returned about 20 minutes later, and she was still refusing to eat (and yes there was a whole bunch of hollering and crying going on, too). I finally decided to put the bite in her mouth. Well, she had cried so much and made herself so upset (Shelby does this too) that she started to throw up . . . right after I put the bite in her mouth. Of course out came the bite plus everything she'd eaten over the past few hours.

I figured with her tummy in throw up mode that that would be the end of trying to get her to eat, so I got her down and gave her to Tom to get some hugs as she was still upset. She snuggled down next to him and just buried herself. A few minutes later I went to check on her, and she was asleep. I couldn't believe it . . . she NEVER goes to sleep on her own like this.





I put her to bed, but later in the night she woke up crying. When I went to check up on her, she had a fever. Poor baby!!! I kinda felt bad about the whole dinner ordeal, but I've learned with my other girls that if I don't let them refuse food now then it gets a lot easier when they're older and they're a lot less pickier than they would have been. The fever ended up lasting for 3 days and was accompanied with a runny nose, congestion, and a cough. I'm wondering if maybe my girls are allergic to Texas because it didn't take long for both Taylor and Payden to get sick once we've returned. I'm just hoping she'll be done with all of this before the baby comes. Hopefully!!!

My Cute Little Readers

I had gone to the bathroom right after breakfast one morning and came back into the family room to see this . . .








I thought it was sooooo cute. I love that they love to read and love that they love doing things together. I'm pretty sure that Taylor and Shelby sat down to read first and Payden, seeing what they were doing, just had to join in as she always does. Cute girls!!!

Just Watching TV

We were all sitting down watching TV. Tom was on our little couch with Taylor. Because of where I was on our other couch, I couldn't see Taylor. Tom turned to me and told me to get the camera and take a picture of her. This is what I saw when I went to snap the picture . . .






Apparently this was the "comfortable" position she had decided to sit in to watch TV. She is such a contortionist. There are so many things she does that just don't look right and definitely look like they would hurt. She has always amazed us with her flexiibility and continues to do so still.

I looked over at Payden and caught her watching on the piano. She looked so cute, but didn't look comfortable at all as the piano bench was only sticking out a few inches. I guess she was comfortable because she sat there for a bit.



The funny thing about that apple is that when she finished eating it, there was absolutely nothing left of it. I even wonder if she ate the seeds because she definitely ate every other part of it. Funny girl.

Independence Day

Since we'd gotten home from vacation early, early, early June 30, by the time the 4th rolled around our house was still a bit chaotic as we were still trying to get everything in back in place and laundry done.

We did pull out our swimming pool for the backyard and let the girls play in the pool for a good long bit; meanwhile, Tom and I played some XBox. After pool time, we finally got ready for the day. We'd bought 4th of July shirts in Washington for the girls, and I was fortunately able to find them so they could wear them (of course I did forgot to take pictures of them . . . it really was a blah kind of day for us). We did decide to make homemade ice cream for a special treat today. The girls really enjoyed this and every time Tom added ice cubes he had 3 helpers adding the cubes for him.



We were going to do some fireworks ourselves, but there was a ban on fireworks and the only way to do it was to go to a special designated firework area. The last time we tried going to one of those areas it had rained and there was mud everywhere in this huge field crammed pack with people and fireworks. The kids were miserable, and we were miserable. We decided that we really didn't want to do that again, especially as it had rained a bit during the day. The other problem was that the girls were still adjusting to a new sleeping schedule since returning to Texas, and by the time 8 o'clock hit, they were ready for bed. Of course darkness doesn't really hit until after 9, so we were very boring parents (maybe you could consider us mean, too) and made them go to bed on time tonight . . . without any fireworks. Fortunately, they really don't remember this holiday very much, so they didn't feel like they missed out on much. I felt bad later that night that they had missed out on seeing fireworks, but I did feel like we'd made the best decision. Hopefully next year will be better and a little more fun because we really love this holiday. We LOVE our country and are so grateful for all of the freedoms we have and for the kind of life we are able to lead because of this country. We are very proud to be Americans. Here's hoping that next year will be filled with fireworks and a little more celebration at the Orme house.

Doing Hair like Mom

Payden is a copycat. She LOVES doing things that everyone else does, especially her sisters. Well, Shelby and Taylor were playing on the floor, and Payden found this fake water bottle in the playroom. She picked up a Barbie mirror and decided she was going to "brush" and do Shelby's hair just like Mom does. She would pretend to squirt the water bottle on to the mirror and then she would "brush" Shelby's hair with the mirror. She did this for about 5-10 minutes. The cute thing was how much focus she had while doing it. Her face was sooooo serious and sooooo focused as she did it. It was too cute!!!