Peyton Speaks!

I just had to tell you about the cutest thing Peyton is doing today. I noticed him doing it once or twice during the day but he really got the hang of it tonight when we were going through his train book. Every night we 'read' his train book (that is shaped like a train) and identify all the different things. He points to the tunnel, and the tracks and the light, and the baby, etc... Well tonight I asked him where the 'whatever' was and he would hold out his hands and say 'i dun nuh'! I have no idea where he picked it up but it was really really cute!! He keeps saying clear little phrases out of no where. Sometimes its a one time thing but I accidentally reinforced this one so I'm thinking it might stick. I laughed at him and tickled him when he did it so he did it for most of the book. On his birthday he said 'i love you' back to brandon. Both of us heard him or we wouldnt have believed he said it. He hasnt said it again even though brandon has tried (and tried and tried) to get him to say it again! He said something else today too but I cant remember what it was now. He does say 'oh no!' a lot too (again with the hands out in front of him). But other than that we're still trying to translate. I usually can figure out what he's saying but no one else can understand his language. He has lots of single words but phrases are new this week. He's getting there though!

Garden Update

As promised, here is the latest update on the Sweet Baby watermelon. I think it will only get to be about 5 lbs. So very cute!

The other day a bad thunderstorm rolled through and got our house. Peyton and I were at Walmart and Brandon was at work so luckily our cars weren't at home to get the damage and the house seems to be damage free but the garden was kind of shredded. It was sad... I'm still picking up fallen peppers! But it only took a day or two to turn the plants around. Everything except the corn is doing great again. Here is the hail that accumulated on the deck. Its probably 1/2 melted here.

You can't see it very well but the plants were very droopy from the hail.

Poor corn! You can see the damage here. It was literally shredded.

This is what I collected the next day, though. I always pick the tomatoes a day or two before they're really ready b/c the bugs get to them before I can if I don't.

This is the last couple of days' findings. The red peppers on the right are drying to be crushed later. I just ate the very first tomato to be ready. It was delish!

Garden Update

Time for a garden update. I dont know why the pictures are so small. Maybe its just my computer. Certain sites are showing up tiny today.

This is my wilty garden. I dont know if everything will survive the heat. The bell peppers really might not. They are all squishy now. The tomatoes would except the bugs keep getting the ripe ones. The hot peppers are flourishing!


Watermelon just keeps on growing! Only one so far but lots of vine so we'll see.

Two days' bounty. The hot peppers just keep coming! The heat is turning them ripe a little quicker than I'd like. The jalapenos are on the small side when they are ready to come out but thats okay. The quantity makes up for it!

4th of July and Tractor

Here is Peyton at the firworks show this year. He really enjoyed them! He got bored of the whole thing after a while but he was really cute in the beginning! He would hold out his hands and try to catch the fireworks as they fell.

Peyton has decided that he needs to go EVERYWHERE on his tractor! This is him on our 'walk' the other day.

Grown up Peyton and the garden

We'll compare this one to a sr. portrait one day. It occured to me that you need a point of reference to tell how big these things are. So I used my hand.

Biggest bell pepper
Small bell pepper

New budding bell pepper
Watermelon
Little jalapeno
Newly budding jalapeno
This one will be big enough to pick in a couple of days

The garden today and Peyton on his tractor

Today's picks. The flash made the cayenne look greener than they are. The one on the right is very red. The one in the middle was covered in dirt so I thought it was redder than it actually was.

I was excited to find a teeny tiny watermelon today!!! See it? Its right in the middle of the picture. Its little bitty! I have high hopes for it! It will be a challenge keeping toddler feet of of this one, though.


Here are the biggest bell peppers. They look tiny here but they're actually pretty big. Maybe 2 inches long.

Almost all of the garden. Everything except the corn and watermelon.

Peyton riding his tractor around.

Peyton watching TV on his tractor.