Payton is 3!

We celebrated Payton's 3rd birthday this past Friday! We cannot believe how quickly three years has flown by! Cole and I are so very proud of the little guy that Payton has become. He is handsome, kind-hearted, giving, intelligent, and most importantly, he knows and loves Jesus! Over the past year he grew a little bigger, learned to count, learned the alphabet and a few of the sounds, learned to spell his name, swam in the ocean, played in the snow, tackled his fear of the swing, took a move in stride, and embraced brotherhood. God has truly blessed us with this little life and we thank Him daily for the joy that Payton brings our family. We love you, P, and look forward to your fourth year!

Sweet Brothers

I just wanted to take a moment to say how proud I am of my sweet babies and how thankful we are to God for these two perfect blessings! Payton has proven to be the best big brother anyone could ask for. He loves his "Baby Sam" more than anything and it shows every second that he is with him. That feeling is absolutely mutual! Sam adores Payton as well! The mere sight of him sends Sam into hysteria! Everything Payton does is the BEST thing Sam has ever seen!

God's timing is perfect! We are so blessed to have been given the opportunity to parent these two boys. They ,too, are blessed to have one another and they seem to realize it already! I've added a couple of pictures of them playing and one (my favorite picture of all time) of Payton praying with Sam. While they were there on the floor playing with their toys, Payton leaned over and started praying with his brother. Sweetest thing I have ever seen- thankfully the camera was nearby. I couldn't quite make out what he said, but I guess that will be kept between brothers and their sweet Savior, who I am sure was watching with the same tear in his eye as I had in mine!

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

2011

We had a wonderful end to 2010 and a wonderful beginning to 2011! The new year always brings birthday planning for us! Payton will be THREE years old in one month!!! We cannot believe how quickly our little dude is growing up! Cole, Payton, and I are considering several party location options, but have not decided on one yet!

The boys are both doing wonderfully! Sam is becoming more and more interactive every day and absolutely loves everything his big brother does! He is trying really hard to roll over and sit up, but no success yet. Payton wants to learn to read so he can read to his baby brother, so I told him I would teach him! He is learning the vowel sounds and so far knows A and E. He calls them "His Friends the A and E families"! What a cutie!

We look forward to the new year and what the Lord has planned for our family in 2011. Happy New Year!

Christmas Continued

We celebrated Christmas with the Stevens side of the family this past weekend. It was great to get to see everyone. Payton especially had fun playing with his cousins Emory, Bailey, and Rawlin. Gran cooked some wonderful lunch and then to top it all off, she also made us some chili for dinner! I plan to go ahead and add some holiday weight to the left over baby weight and then work it all off after the Holidays...we will see how that goes!

We wanted to snap a picture of the all the kids together, however, that was a bit more than any of us bargained for! I posted a few pics of the process, as well as the best finished product we came up with!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

It has been snowing in Madison now for 24 hours straight! Although we have had very little accumulation, it has been beautiful to watch! The temperatures have been very low, in fact this morning it only felt like 6 degrees outside! Between the snow and the cold, its beginning to look and feel a lot like Christmas! We had our first Christmas celebration of the year this weekend with the Down's side of the family. There was good food, fun times, and, of course, presents! I snapped a few shots of the kids opening their gifts. Poor Baby Sam fought sleep all day, finally giving in just before gift time. He was upset when he woke up, "I knew if I went to sleep I would miss something good!" Big Brother Payton was there ready to give a hand and help his brother open some gifts!

We also made it by Joe Wheeler State Park to see where Aunt "Boo Boo"(Melissa) works, catch a glimpse of some brightly decorated boats, and a quick visit with the Man in Red!! Payton told Santa that he wanted a "Nook Book" and a camera. Santa told Payton that he knew he had been a very good boy this year, so its looking good for a very Merry Christmas morning at the Rigney house!

Back Again!

I'm going to give this blogging thing one more try! Maybe this time I will do better. We have moved and so I think this would be a great way to keep friends and family up-to-date with what is happening in our lives! The boys are growing so quickly and I don't want our loved ones to miss a thing!

I will start with a quick update. Payton has become a wonderful big brother and loves teaching Sam about the world around them. He is talking like a grown man and makes us laugh with all of his big plans for when he "gets big." As of now he plans to be a "UBS" driver, as well as a pancake maker at Cracker Barrel. Much like his Father, his car choices change daily, however, he always seems to go back to a black truck! We have begun looking at Mother's Day Out programs here in Madison. I hope to get him started in one next fall to begin to prepare him for school. Payton made me order his "pack-pack" today to ensure that we would have it ready when he needs it. He was so excited about using it, that I didn't tell him it would be a while! Sam is already three months old! We cannot believe how quickly our little guys are growing. He is doing well holding his head up and loves to watch Payton do everything. He is very

much a Momma's boy and wants to be held much of the day. Sam is sleeping very well. He will usually take two good naps per day and then sleeps for 4-6 hours at night. That usually ends up being one overnight feeding and an early morning feeding as well. When he was first born, we didn't think Sam looked much like Payton, but as he gets older, we are beginning to see many similarities. We have some handsome boys! Cole is enjoying his new job and getting to know the territory and customers. We are learning the Huntsville/Madison area, but have a lot yet to learn! There are many churches in the area and we have tried a few, but so far have not found our place yet. We know God has one for us, we just have to find it!

I hope I will do better with this this go around. I need my readers to keep me accountable. If I haven't posted in a while, remind me!