Ugh....and Cecil

I am not going to talk a lot about this but do want to share some of my thoughts about last Friday. I know you all know what I am talking about. We all sat and stared at our TV in horror of what took place. When the kids got off the bus that day every one of them was greeted with BIG hugs. Obviously they were probably thinking we were all crazy, they were oblivious to our heart ache. Calyn did catch a glimpse of what was going on and said “what happened at that school?” She is so observant. Within a minute I had to come up with a way to explain to that sweet little brown eyed innocent little girl what happened that day. I didn’t go into detail, I didn’t want to elaborate but I just told her that a bad man walked into that school and hurt some kids. Of course in true Calyn fashion she had tons of follow up questions, what did he do? What were the kids doing when this happened? And of course the unanswered question….Why?


As a mother you repeatedly tell your kids don’t be afraid there is no such thing as monsters. I have always told my kids to be confident, live life without fear, don’t let anything stand in your way. But how do you do that when monsters do walk this Earth. Monsters that make life choices for you? True there is no hairy beast hiding under the bed or in the closet but there are monsters in this world that we should fear. The goal becomes don’t let fear consume you but how do you explain that to a 4 and 7 year old especially when it took everything in my being to send my kids to school today because of the fear I feel. I can tell you now, I have thought about my kids all morning and never will I take for granted, just one more hug, one more kiss or even one more minute that I get with my kids.

On a happier note…

We are almost ready for Christmas at the Payne house. I only have a few more gifts to buy and then I can officially say I will be done shopping.

Calyn had a busy weekend this weekend. She had a little friend, Calli, spend the night on Friday night (you will see from the Cecil pictures below). Then on Saturday she and Max had a slumber party at the Dautrich house while Matt and I partied it up with my work. Needless to say, by the end of yesterday she was just worn out!

Here's a picture of us before we "partied it up"

Max had a special visitor this week. Zoe the class mascot got to spend the weekend at the Payne house. He was all smiles when I picked him up from school on Friday so excited to show me that he was the lucky one that day and got to bring Zoe home.

Max and Zoe

And now the moment you have been waiting for... Cecil!!

Last Friday Cecil was playing with Calyn's Lego Friends that she has set up in the study.

 Saturday Cecil went for a midnight snack and got stuck in the goldfish bag.

 Sunday, there was a little trouble with the law enforcement

 Hangman anyone?

 Tuesday I think he was hiding from the monkeys

 Unfortunately on Wednesday the monkeys caught up with him and pinned him to the refrigerator

 Thursday he had a milk and cookie snack in the fridge.

 Friday that little rascal drew mustaches on all of our pictures! Calyn and her friend Calli thought this was pretty funny.

 Here is a picture that is a little closer up.

 Uh oh, Cecil! What have you done this time. (I personally like Flynn rider, wearing Jasmine's pants, mooning Cecil) I will give you one guess who through in that nice touch. Just a hint, it wasn't me...

 and finally, last night Cecil was hiding in Santa's little bag.

Letter from the North Pole

Calyn’s teacher sent out an e-mail before Thanksgiving asking permission to have the kids write to Santa. She said that every year she has the kids write a letter and they mail them to the Recreation center here in town. On the return address they use our home address and as long as you live in town, Santa writes them back. Sure enough, yesterday Calyn’s letter from the 25 North Pole arrived! Unfortunately, you can’t see exactly what she wrote but Santa did a great job of recapping her letter to him.


Calyn has been pretty concerned about kids that cannot afford toys not getting any for Christmas. You can see this is mentioned in line 5. She is such a sweet girl with a kind heart. The other day she asked me if she could set up a stand, like a lemonade stand, and collect money, with that money she wanted to take it and buy toys for kids that don't have any. What a brilliant idea for a 7 year old!
My heart so badly wanted to do this but we did not. Instead, we bought a toy with mommy and daddy's money and donated that toy to Toys for Tots.
So if you have a little bit of spare cash and are feeling a little giving, please take that little bit of money, buy a small toy and take it to your local Toys for Tots drop off. I know that would make Calyn happy!
I have a feeling Calyn is on Santa's nice list.

Cecil is Back!

Don't yell at me I know it has bee way too long since my last post. We have been busy around the Payne house preparing for that Jolly ol Elf. The kids are so excited and cannot wait for the big man to come visit.
With the preparations comes lots of glitter, lots of smiles, the smell of cinnamon and spiced candles and one special little elf that visits our family every year... Cecil.

What has Cecil been up to since the day after Thanksgiving? Here is a look into the life of Cecil. There are two days in the pictures that are unaccounted for. One of the days was our anniversary when Matt surprised me with a mini trip down town where we celebrated our 10th anniversary. The kids stayed with Charlie and Lois and I forgot to have them take a picture of where Cecil hid that night. If I remember correctly he was on top of the microwave that night.  The night before last my camera was upstairs and I was down and too lazy to go get it. That time he was crammed in a candle holder.

On the night of November 22nd, Cecil came back from the North Pole to spend the Christmas season with our family

The next night he was a sneaky little rascal and took all of our stockings off of the fireplace and replaced them with our underwear... what a tricky little elf.

The night of the 24th was the night Matt's parents watched the kids the 25th he got back at Matt and I by toilet papering our 1/2 bathroom downstairs.

The next night he found himself in a bind 

The next night he read "A Charlie Brown Christmas" to all the critters and decorations that were residing in the downstairs that night. 

 Weee!!!! Nothing like sliding down the banister

 The first day of Advent Cecil brought the kids Lego and Lego Friends Advent calendars! They were a hit!

 The next night Calyn slept on the couch so Cecil took full advantage of having a big bed. The kids found him all snuggled up.

 Sunday, the 3rd, Cecil was an angel and decorated my dining room centerpiece. He must have heard me and Calyn talking about what I should do to decorate it that day over lunch. It was looking so boring after the fall decor was put up.

 "I always feel like, some body's watching me....." Cecil was caught on the top of Matt and my bedroom window

Wednesday night was the night he was crammed into a candle holder. I really wish I hadn't been so lazy and had snapped a picture of him.

Last night Cecil and Max's beloved "brown bear" had a snowball fight. It appears they also made a snowman and Cecil made a snow angel.

The kids have been behaving very well and I think it is safe to say Cecil is giving them good reports back to Santa.

Our little Max is under the weather today. He had to go to the doctor. Flu has been ruled out and his blood count was normal. His lungs, however are not doing well. He is on breathing treatments and you can tell the poor guy just doesn't feel well. :( Hopefully he will recover soon.

Have a great weekend.