This was the start to a night I will never ever forget. I have to say that I felt something crazy coming on but I didn't know it would be this extreme. As you can see, Ethan is strapped into his booster seat doing his favorite activity so I could tend to the twins. Mason and Carson had been to the doctor earlier that day and had shots so I knew they weren't feeling well. Not to be too graphic but stuff was coming out of both ends of their bodies. I picked Carson up off of the couch to discover that he had a massive explosion (not of the mouth) all over the couch. Horrified, I yelled for Eric to come and help. As Eric was transferring him to a place to clean him up, Mason began projectile vomiting all over his vibrating seat. Meanwhile, Ethan is about to tip himself backwards in the chair screaming that he wants to get down. After discovering that he had painted his face, I rushed him upstairs to bathe him while Eric cleaned up the puddles that our sons created. I think the whole ordeal lasted an hour and a half from start to finish but it felt like an eternity! I must admit that I was in complete and utter shock. So much so that I don't think I spoke much at all last night. I just couldn't wrap my brain around the chaos!

Little did I know that this morning I would be reminded of last night's events. How could I forget to mention that Ethan decided to stick peas up his nose during dinner last night? Eric removed a few last night and Ethan removed the leftovers this morning at Pump it Up. For those of you wondering, Pump it Up is a place full of inflatable bounce houses for kids to go wild in. I was telling a girlfriend about the craziness that swept over our house last night and I truly don't think she believed me.....that is until Ethan comes up and hands me two peas from his nose. Tonight HAS to be calmer than last night. Stay tuned for more tales from the Payne family and Ethan's latest trick!

I have so many things to be thankful for this season and this is the biggest one! Here is Eric over the Thanksgiving break with all of the boys. He is truly a Superdad/Superhusband! He is someone who works incredibly hard at his job and as a father. As soon as he walks through the door he asks me how he can help. This is usually one of my only moments during the day to relax for a minute. I don't think I could ask for anything more!

Here is an example of me having no patience at all. One of Ethan's gifts for Christmas is a play kitchen. Yes, I know Christmas is a month away but we were so excited for him to have it. For some reason Ethan loves kitchens! Whenever he goes to a friend's house that has one, this is what he mostly likes to play with. Maybe this means he'll be a chef or just a really helpful husband one day. Anyhow, I think I was enjoying this a little more than he was. Maybe this is me getting my little girl fix, or because I always wanted one growing up. I'm not sure, but I do know that we had lots of fun "cooking" that day.

Since we didn't go home to Texas for Thanksgiving this year, we had our good friends over to our house. We all had so much fun preparing the meal and watching the kiddos have a great time. Here is Ethan and Danielle enjoying their Thanksgiving meal. I'm happy to say that Ethan tried everything on his plate this year. Peer pressure can be a good thing!

Here is a picture of all of the babies together. Kyle, Danielle's brother, is on his belly. He and the twins are only a few weeks apart. Instant playmates!

This week was one of many accomplishments for the twins! To begin, here is an update of their latest stats: Carson now weighs 14 pounds 5 ounces and Mason was 13 pounds 15 ounces. Wow! It's truly amazing to go back and look at their NICU pictures and see how far
they've come. Pretty soon all three boys will be eating everything we have in the pantry. We love SAM'S for this exact reason.

Last week we had to take the boys to the children's lung specialist for their RSV shots. We found out we would have to take them once a month for the next 6 months. Poor babies! I hate watching them get shots. Their faces turn 4 shades of red and they let out an enormous cry. Not fun at all! However, being at the lung specialist and seeing all of the kids hooked up to breathing machines once again made me extremely grateful that our boys are healthy.

I just had to snap this picture of Mason on his playmat. I guess all of that stimulation tired him out. That is another accomplishment! The boys are now sleeping without being swaddled. No more baby straight jacket!! However, now that they're free to move their arms and legs, they wake eachother up in the middle of the night so it's time for them to be seperated. We're very curious to see how they take that one because they really do enjoy eachother's company....but sleep is soooo precious! Sorry boys!

Twice the teething means twice the drool. I had completely put this stage out of my mind. Ethan used to soak several bibs throughout the day and it looks like we're headed down that road again!

I saved the best pictures for last. We discovered Ethan drawing on the walls yesterday morning. Mornings seem to be difficult for us on the weekends. If we don't get him out of the house and on the way to the park or running errands with one of us, this happens. I know we should have probably gotten on to him a little bit more as to prevent this from happening again, but it was just too funny. I always predicted he was right brained and this just confirms it! The hilarious thing about this was that when we asked him to clean it up, he started scrubbing the wall with a Clorox clean up wipe. I think he enjoyed that more than he did creating the masterpiece!

This is the look of "Yes, it was me but don't I look so cute and innocent??" I think he got this tactic from his mom! I can remember getting myself out of a lot of trouble this way. Let's just say that from now on all of the art sessions will be supervised!

Wow! I can't believe it's that time of year again! It seems like the holidays come earlier and earlier each year. Stores are already selling Christmas decorations and holiday music is playing everywhere you go. We decided to get a head start this year by taking the boys to get their picture made for our Christmas cards. Eric and I decided to sit this one out this year and just send pictures of the boys. Thanks to our VERY patient photographer, we were able to snap some great ones.

Lynette, our photographer, pulled out her candy box to try and get Ethan to cooperate and pose for some pictures. This seemed like a great idea until he decided not to let go of the sucker just to try and get one good picture. I took this shot of him laying on the bench in the studio. Meanwhile we were getting shots of the twins individually while I pleaded with Ethan to come and take his picture. He wasn't going to budge!

This picture cracks me up! I love the way he got so comfortable on the bench. He knows he has won the battle at this point. This is where I decided to leave him alone, thinking maybe he would get bored and decide he wanted to have his picture taken after all.

Finally! He finished his two lollipops by now and we persuaded him to come over and sit with the boys. We had to use a little bit of reverse psychology to get him to smile. We kept saying, "Don't you smile at us!" He thought this was hysterical and finally gave in. Yes! We may just have a Christmas card to send this year after all.

If only Ethan would have been in this one throwing a fit, this picture would have been the one I would have chosen for the card. It amuses me that every year I have these ideas of taking the perfect picture. I can see it clearly in my mind. Ethan hugging the twins while they all flash bright smiles for the camera. It never seems to go as planned but I love it anyway. That is part of the fun of trying to take pictures of three kids two and under. You never know what you'll end up with. As this holiday season begins already we wish you lots of J O Y!

I thought I would take a moment to post some pictures of the boys that were taken today. I must admit that I've been bad about not posting a lot of pictures of the twins. I've been making a real effort to leave the camera out so I can snap some quick shots if I need to. There is always something hilarious going on in the house with a 2 1/2 year old and 5 month old twins! Like today for instance, I was running around the house trying to make bottles, clean up, feed the dogs, and chase Ethan all at the same time. I went out to the garage to bring the bag of dog food in and I enter the laundry room to find Ethan kneeling over the water bowl and lapping it up just like a dog. My first reaction was to raise my voice and give him a stern no but I just had to laugh. I grabbed the camera and he sat there smiling and saying "cheese." That's been my rule of thumb to handle this with as much grace as possible- laugh when you feel like shouting or crying. It makes things so much better and you really enjoy these moments that you'll never get back.

Ethan continues to keep us on our toes! Eric and I are always waiting to see what will come out of his mouth next. The sweetest thing he does lately is give us bunny rabbitt kisses on the nose before he goes to bed. He always says "I love you" and "bless you " when you sneeze. He has his tantrums like any other two year old but everyday I get glimpses into the future and I see what a boy and eventually man that he will be.

As for the twins....where do I begin?? They are sleeping through the night (hallelujah!) and they are smiling and even beginning to laugh. I just had to dress them in their dachshund shirts today. We can't forget about the dogs! I tried to have Tucker pose with the boys to show off the shirts, but I think he just ended up getting freaked out. He looks like a deer in the headlights here. Poor Tuckie.

It's rare that I can get them both smiling at the same time so I had a quick second to snap the next picture. Last but not least I had to get one of Mason sucking his thumb. He looks like such an angel baby! I think the word blessed just about sums up how I'm feeling. When most people find out we have twin babies and a two year old they say "wow- you really have your hands full" or "how crazy- better you than me" (that's my favorite). I just respond with a smile and think to myself how blessed we really are. It's triple the smiles, laughter and most of all the love. I can't wait to see what's next. That's it for now. My eyelids are heavy and it's only 9:00!

Ethan and dad dancing around

This is what Mason thought of all the Halloween fun!

Here we are wrapping up a full night of Halloween fun. We all had a great time, although I must say I'm kind of glad it's time to pack all of the costumes away and hide all of the chocolate! There is only so many times you can put three little crying little ones in costumes!

I think Ethan agrees with me!

This year Ethan decided he wanted to be a monkey for Halloween. He loved getting dressed up in his costume and making monkey noises. Here is a picture of him at a Halloween party.

What is more appropriate than dressing the twins as "two peas in a pod"? The costumes turned out pretty cute I must say!

Here we are trying to get all ready to go to Eric's Halloween party at GES.

We finally made it out of the car (an hour later) and into the building. Whew! That's a lot of work!

This was towards the end of the night. It was so much fun to kick Jason's butt in the pumpkin carve off!

Number one it was really warm that day so Ethan is clearly burning up in his long sleeved shirt. Number two-this was at the end of the outing so Ethan clearly needed some water and a nap. Oh well- there is always next year!

Ethan has been insisting on feeding the twins lately. He actually does a pretty good job! It's nice to have a little helper.

On Friday, October 19th, Jason came over with some pumpkins and pumpkin ale. We decided to have a pumpkin carving contest. The night was just getting started!

Mine is the one on the left. It is clearly the best one don't you think? Jason kept making fun of my 7 legged spider. I think he was just jealous because his pirate ship was so inferior. Ha!

The Halloween festivities continue! Every year Mom's Club has their outing to the pumkin patch. Here is Ethan posing in front of the pumkins. I couldn't get him to smile. He was more interested in the rides.

Ethan and his girlfriend Danielle. Last year they rode together in the cars so we had to get a picture of them this year as well.

They look so serious!

Ethan loved going in the swings!

Riding the pony!

Kendra's wedding

Aunt Cindy, Baby Kaitlyn (niece), Ethan, Ryan (nephew)

Let's try this again- I tried to put these pictures with the captions but something happened! Read the captions below to find out more about the pictures. Ethan loved feeding animals at the farm!

Ethan's first pony ride at the farm. He loved it so much he cried when it was over.

While in Texas, I sang at the wedding for a dear friend of mine from highschool. It was a gorgeous wedding and reception. I also got the chance to catch up with some old friends of mine. Left to right: Jennie Cipriano, me, Jenny Crawford and Alex Nagy. We had a blast!

One of the main reasons we came to Texas was to visit my new niece Kaitlyn Elizabeth Roup. She was born September 10th, 2007. It was so much fun to hold a tiny baby again. Also, I get the chance to buy cute girly clothes! Ethan loved his new cousin "Baby Kaitlyn"

On our most recent trip to Texas (October) we made a trip to Old McDonald's farm with Nana, Papa and Mimi. Ethan loved to feed the animals with Papa.