Family Fun

Well, this belongs at the bottom. At the zoo Katie got eaten by a dinosaur!

In September we went to the Dallas, Texas Fair with Josh's family. We had a lot of fun. The best part was a fountain. The kids saw it and had to get wet!

Katie running around the inside of the fountain. Michael and cousin Rachel playing in the water. Michael went into the middle a few times and one of the times he got stuck! Every time he tried to get out he got sprayed in the face and would move over just far enough that he was in the next stream! I finally pulled him out! Ha Ha it was pretty funny!

We went to a really neat petting zoo. They had zebras, Buffalo, kangaroo, ostriches, a baby camel and its mom, a giraffe, and lots more. The kids loved it!

This was a huge tractor. Uncle Teancum and Michael in the giant wheel.
Katie and Michael in the wheel.

Sleepy kids! Michael laid down on Joseph, Joseph was nice enough to let him! Josh and Teancum took the kids on a roller coaster.


This last weekend Josh and I took the kids to New Orleans. We are trying to get some fun family before Josh deploys. He leaves on the 29th. We are not looking forward to it.

Michael was inspecting the AC unit in our hotel room and decided the the filters needed to be clean. So our serving little boy cleaned them off... using his head!! The picture doesn't do it justice! Funny, but disgusting! After a picture he went straight to the bath!!

The drive to New Orleans was so neat! We drove about 18 miles on a bridge over a swamp. I'd never seen anything like it, it was so fascinating.

On Friday we took the kids to the aquarium in New Orleans. The kids had a blast. I must admit that after having gone to Sea World in San Diego, and aquariums in California it wasn't that impressive. Besides all the water was making me sick.

My kids are climbers especially Michael! People keep pointing at him making comments like He's too little to be walking! or Oh my, he' to small to do that.

Michael has been my smallest climber. I'm not sure if it is just his personality or having older siblings do it and he doesn't want to get left out. I've always thought that it would be really interesting if I could see what each of my children would be like if they were in a different spot in the family. Like if Katie wasn't the oldest would she still be as sweet and helpful and responsible or does part of that come from being the oldest?

Josh, Joshua, and Michael inside a hole in a tank. Katie is a little mommy. Sometime a little too much so but I love it. She loves to help me with Michael. While we were in Texas she was playing with Michael outside. When Josh went out to check on them he got there just in time to save Michael from his loving, big sister! She was just about to strap him into a doll bike seat on the back of a bike she rides while we are there. That would not have ended well had Josh not arrived soon enough! She is so fun!

On Saturday we took the kids to the zoo. It was a huge zoo and really cool. Josh was even impressed and that hardly ever happens at a zoo! Here are some fun pictures of the kids there.

Katie loves being on Josh's shoulders!

All the kids on a Komodo Dragon statue out side the exhibit (Theylove komodo dragons!)

There was a really neat dinosaur exhibit with huge moving dinos. Everyone loved it except for Joseph who cried the whole way through it. I have video, hopefully I'll get it to upload. As soon as we got out Joseph said he loved it and wasn't scared!

Joshua fell asleep in the stroller like this! That can't be comfortable and doesn't look like he would be able to breath well either!

We went on a "Free" ferry ride down the Mississippi river about 7 miles. We were going to ride it down to the next dock and then back to where our van was parked. When we got to the dock down stream a worker came and told us the ferry was broken and we'd have to get off there. We were now about 7 miles down the river from the van and on the wrong side of the Mississippi river! With no other option Josh called a cab and our "Free" 1 hour ferry ride turned into a $20, 2 hour ordeal. So if you ride a ferry, bring your car!

There was a really neat old tree at the zoo. It was huge and had a branch that went from about 7 or 8 feet up the tree to the ground. The kids loved it. Again Michael was climbing up as good as the rest of them, only I was mean and wouldn't let him go higher than I could reach him. He gets pretty mad at me sometimes!

This was every ones favorite part, there was a hill with a rock, gradual waterfall down to a pool at the bottom. The kids played here for probably an hour! There were two waterfall paths down the hill. One of them had water coming down from above so you had to walk through a waterfall. I wish I had some video here.

I have some fun videos but can't get them to upload. I'll try again another night.

Texas!

Over Labor Day weekend we spent about 5 days in Texas wish Josh's parents. We had a ton of fun! One of the days we went to a privately owned pond. The kids and I enjoyed the paddle boat, but it was making me sick so Michael and I left Teancum and the 3 older kids to play. Then Josh took the 3 older kids swimming , well Joshua doesn't care for water so he sat in the paddle boat and watched or pushed Josh back in the pond when he would get into the boat! Joseph on the other hand, we couldn't get out of the water. He was wearing a life jacket and was playing on the edge but the wind keep pushing him out towards the middle. It was funny to watch him try to swim into the wind, he still went with the wind! Michael sitting on Grandma's lap eaten' fried chicken.

Joseph and Josh fishing together. Joseph got board and left!

Katie's first fish that she has ever caught!

Josh's great big fish that he caught!

Josh ready to gulp down a fish!

(Okay, so he ended up frying it fist, yummy!)

A few weeks ago my Grandma and Grandpa came out to visit us from Arizona. My Grandma drove the whole way! She's crazy!!

We had so much fun with them and were so glad they came!!

Katie loves making things out of paper. This is her. The face and other cute details didn't show up in the picture, bummer!

Michael sitting inside our entertainment center where our movies go. He thought it was pretty funny! You can tell I have a lot of little finger that touch this, it's filthy!

I took the kids to our local Lowe's for the little craft that they do there. The kids loved it, especially Katie. They each got an apron and goggles. I can't say I enjoy bringing Michael though. He drives me crazy! Joshua thinks it's too loud, but it is still totally worth it for Katie and Joseph!

One of Michael's favorite places to play!

Katie made this for Josh today. I thought it was so sweet I couldn't help but share it! She and Joseph love to draw and write and make little crafts. My school room is always a mess!

For those of you that are not fluent in first grade spelling it says,

"While you are in Afghanistan I will give you letters like this. From Katie".

She also gave me a letter.

It says,

"Mom I love you. I hope your ankle will feel better. From Katie"

It will have been a year ago this October since I broke my ankle and still Katie worries over it, I think more than I do! She still prays for it to get better in every sweet prayer. I think that it was a more traumatic experience for her to see me brake my ankle than it was for me to brake my ankle! She is such a sweet thoughtful girl. Others pain is her pain.
By the way, my ankle is doing fine. Still a little stiff. I now get to sport 2 large red scares that are hard not to notice. Yuck!

Number 5!

We are expecting baby number five in April! Josh will plan his R&R (2 week vacation) for when the baby is born. Yeah! We are so excited!

Quick update

Well, I figured it was about time I updated my blog!

We moved into our house in May. We are liking our neighborhood for the most part. We are almost at the end of a dead end street with all 4 and 5 bedroom homes full of kids! Katie and Joseph have loved playing around the neighborhood and riding bikes. The only problem with that is that kids play until 8:30 or 9:00PM! My kids usually are in bed by 7-7:30 but it is very hard to convince them it's bedtime when kids are outside their window playing or that it doesn't get dark until after 8! I have kids asking to play from early in the morning until late at night! Over all we are liking where we are at.

It has been busy here with unpacking, 4 kids, Josh's job, finishing Katie's kindergarten year, starting up 1st grade with Katie and kindergarten with Joseph, church, and well life!

Josh is away at more training and after over 2 weeks he will be getting home Tuesday night!! Yeah! It is his last big training before he deploys to Afghanistan. He will probably be leaving mid October but it could be sooner we wont know for sure until about 3 days before he has to leave.

Anyways the kids and I have been having grand "adventures" at home.

I hate doing dishes so I teach my kids young!

We have this ugly stool the kids use around the house, mostly in the kitchen. Michael loves to get into whatever he can reach from it. This day it got left in front of the sink.
We had a social to go to for Josh's work. Joshua was so tired he knocked out sitting up! It was pretty cute!
In the Payne house Josh and I often play "where are the kids" after they have fallen asleep for the night. All of our kids fall asleep in the oddest places. It is a rare thing when we find them in A bed, even more rare is when it is their own bed!
Joseph cleared off the bottom shelf in a closet (not in his room) and made himself a cozy little bed one night, after I'd already put him in his comfy big bed.
I guess we own bed so that our company has a place to sleep when they come!

Alligator Farm

Josh had a four day weekend this last weekend! Yeah, his first day off in a month!

Monday we took the kids to an Alligator Farm.

We all got to hold this 2 year old little alligator. It was surprisingly strong for such a small gator.

As real as this may look Joseph really doesn't have his head in the alligators strong jaws, just Hollywood effects! Ha Ha

Joseph loves they picture boards that you put your head in. They are all over Louisiana. Joseph always wants his picture in them!

The kids scared this alligator so bad it turned white!

Large White Gator

Lots of baby gators!

The kiddos on Sunday just before church.

Joseph is my silly guy lately. He is always saying or doing things that make me laugh.

Like when he prays at night that I wont be so bossy because I had told him that it was time for bed! Or he can stay up late because he is almost a grown up! He is such a fun kid!

This is Joshua's usual expression lately. He is so sweet and loves to cuddle and wrestle. I love that he is talking better and better all the time. He still LOVES "Uncle" or Michael to everyone else! He can also be my most stubborn and defiant child. I know, from the picture it's hard to believe that he can be defiant! But, he is a two year old!

My little Katie is growing up too fast. She has lost all of her baby chub, what little she had as a baby! She is finding that she loves to be in charge, and her brothers don't always like to be bossed around! She is such a tidy,neat, and orderly little girl, she definitely didn't get that from me! She loves to clean and can't do any of her school work out of order, she really can not do things out of order!

My little mud monster!

No, that is not a brown shirt it's MUD!

My kids love mud. Saturday it rained a little and their mud hole filled with water, help with the cups of water add from the house! They played and played in it!

Michael sitting in his "pool". Joshua and Katie were kind enough to help him get even more muddy!

This is the reason I don't keep anything under my kitchen sink!

This silly boy is always sitting in my cupboards. He also loves to pull out all the pots and pans and sit in that one too! It's okay here since I don't have my things to fill them up with, but when we get our house and stuff I'll have to get some locks!!

Just a fun picture of Michael. He is 11 months old today!

We also rode the little train at the Alexandria Zoo.

The kids thought that was really fun!Here is a video at the Alligator farm of the gator feeding!

Josh got home today!

Yeah! Josh is home!! He was in Wyoming for the past 3 weeks doing some training. I knew the kids missed him but I didn't realize just how much until he got home. They are so excited! Even Michael is fighting for his attention! They have all wrestled and wrestled today! They all want to sit with him, talk to him, and play with him!! Josh is loving it (so am I)!

Here are some of the thing that we did while he was gone.

We went to the Alexandria Zoo for Joseph's birthday. They all loved it.

Here is an alligator snapping turtle.

Nile Crocodile, I thought it was fake it never moved or even blinked. Katie pointed out that its throat was more a little bit! They thought it was really cool. They ended up seeing 7 gators and crocs.


Joseph turned 4 years old!

Michael loved the cake!

Here is Joseph with his "Louisiana Cake" as he called it.