Payton's 9th Birthday

Payton's special dog birthday cake made by Charlie and Mom.

 Now I know this blog is about Charlie and Roxy, but I had to make a post about our first born. On Thursday, we celebrated Payton's 9th birthday! It's amazing to think that Pete and I have had him in our life for 9 years. I still remember the first day we got him and brought him home:
We were living in Indiana. Pete and I were both going to grad school, and we had this tiny little house out in the middle of nowhere. Now those of you that know me well, know that I asked for a dog every year for my birthday and Christmas when I was growing up. My parents had two dogs, but losing them was so hard that they didn't want me to have to go through it. Plus, we traveled A LOT, so a dog wasn't the best for our lifestyle. Well, after being in Indiana for 6 months or so, my birthday was starting to approach. Pete decided it was time to get me a puppy. It was March (I remember this because Pete's Uncle Ken & Aunt Linda were coming over to take us out to dinner to celebrate his aunt's birthday), and Pete was looking in the paper for dogs. He just happened to find an ad that talked about 8 week old, AKC Lab puppies that were ready to go. We decided to go check them out. When we got there, we found out that the guy was a hog farmer, and they bred labs on the side. They took us into their garage and there were three puppies left... all black, all male. We went over the check them out. There were two of the puppies that were just jumping all over each other. We decided to check out the one that was just kind of sitting there hanging out (Payton). He was very sweet, snuggled into us, and put on his cute little show. After looking at him, we decided to check out the other two. As we tried, they wouldn't stop jumping on each other to let us check them out. As we struggled to do this, we noticed Payton kept following behind us and just sitting patiently to be given attention again. The owners told us that there was another family pulling up to come look at the puppies, so if we wanted first pick, now was the time. Pete and I decided that the two brothers that were all over each other probably shouldn't be separated... and that they might have way too much energy for us. We decided on Payton because he was so sweet and just followed us around. He snuggled on a blanket on my lap the whole way home, shaking because he was scared and nervous. Right when we pulled in our driveway, he peed all over the blanket. We played with him that afternoon, and then when Pete's aunt and uncle got there, we had to put him in the kennel while we went out to dinner... bad mistake. Poor guy freaked out while we were gone and shredded the cardboard box that was in the kennel with him. He was crying so loud when we got home. For those of you that don't know, Payton's real name is Walter's Sweetness. He was named after the Chicago Bears player, Walter Payton.
The last 9 years with Payton have been the best 9 years I could ask for with my first dog. He's loyal, loving, energetic, snuggly, and just has the best temperament you could ask for. You hear horror stories of puppies as they grow up, and even in their adult years, but we've never had any with Payton. We couldn't have picked a better dog for our family, and we are so lucky to have him in our lives. This is a very special birthday because it is actually our first that we are home with him! In the past, we've usually been traveling around this time, so Payton is usually with Pete's parents. They've been great and celebrated his birthday every year (I think they love him as much as we do!) It was pretty nice to be home and helping him celebrate this year! We love you, Payton! You truly are our best friend, and we look forward to many more wonderful years with you!

Such good buddies... Charlie wanted to eat Payton's cake though. =)

I think he liked the cake... I could barely get this picture. He gulped it down in one bite!

Christmas Morning

Charlie set out cookies & milk for Santa and carrots & and an apple for the reindeer.

 We had a wonderful Christmas morning here at the Hrodey house. We had traveled a lot the week before, so it was nice to settle down in our own house for a couple of days. Charlie was very excited on Christmas Eve. We watched some Christmas movies, set out a snack for Santa & the reindeer, and then we even went outside to see if we could see Santa in the sky. We read Twas the Night Before Christmas, and a couple other Christmas books, then Charlie went right to sleep. He didn't wake up too early, so we did get some good sleep. He was very excited to see the presents. He checked everything out first, and then asked if he could start opening. He ripped through all his presents very quickly, then he wanted us to open everything to play with it. His favorite by far was his new cleaning cart. A friend of mine had it at her house, and Charlie always played with it there, so I thought it would be a good gift. He vacuums every day now! =) The rest of the day was spent just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. We are definitely looking forward to next year when Roxy will be here, and our little family will be complete!

Checking out the stockings.

Dumping out his stocking.

A cool new lantern for camping!

Opening his Matchbox motorcycle toy.

Llama Llama Holiday Drama book.

A very cool Cars book. It's a bunch of little chapters that tell the whole movie!

A new shark towel!

A Cars Aquadoodle.

And his favorite gift... the cleaning trolley!

He loves using the vacuum to clean! If only it was a little more powerful. ;-)

Finishing off the leftover cookie Santa left behind. =)

Week in TC

Outside the Festival of Trains.

Pete had to go back down and work in Detroit one more week, so Charlie and I decided to stay in Traverse City  for the week and spend some time with family. We spent most of the week at Pete's parent's house, then we spent an evening with Mark and Kelly. We did some shopping, went to story hour at the book store, baked cookies, make bird feeders with Grandma, went for a walk & played in the driveway, went to the Festival of Trains, and just spent some quality time with everyone. It was nice to be with them to help the week go by faster while Pete was gone. Unfortunately Grandpa and I ended up getting nasty colds at the end of the stay, but I'm glad it waited until the end. It was a perfect little week before Christmas, and we were home in time to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day in our own house.

Charlie tickling Drew. These guys had SO much fun together.

The boys getting ready to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas. I asked for a smile... this is what I got.

Throwing rocks in the lake with Grandpa.

Making pine cone bird feeders with Grandma. Someone wanted to eat all the peanut butter!

Heading to see the trains with Grandpa.

Charlie pulling the Thomas the Train horn.

Charlie and Drew riding in the train together.

Seeing what all the buttons do with Grandpa.

Hanging the bird feeders on Charlie and Drew's tree in the yard.

Taking a little stroll with Grandpa.

Riding the scooter in the driveway. This was right before his big wipe-out. He cried... then got right back on! 

Mooradian Christmas

Last weekend we went to Elk Rapids to do our annual Mooradian Christmas celebration. We met at the cottage late Thursday night, and then stayed through Sunday. Friday we woke up early and headed to Avalanche Bay water park at Boyne Mountain. It was perfect because there was nobody there! The boys and Gwen LOVED all the swimming, and they even tackled the water slides! After an exhausting morning swimming, the kiddos napped and then we started the Christmas activities. First the kiddos helped Papa decorate the tree, then We let them open their presents so that they could play with them during the weekend. Charlie definitely knew how to tear open presents this year. =) On Saturday we visited the horses down the street and participated in our annual gingerbread house building contest. Auntie Mary thought a step ahead this year and brought stuff for the kids to make their own. They had so much fun! The adults waited until the kids went to bed to start their competition. We started at 8:30 and didn't finish until 11:30! We definitely need to make it a 2 night activity next year... we were all exhausted. 

Overall it was a great little Christmas celebrations. We are so lucky to have the cottage and to be able to have a tradition of celebrating there. A big thank you to my parents for hosting all of us, for all the wonderful gifts and for memories we'll have for a lifetime!

Going to see the horses.

Charlie petting the horse. This was the first time he did! The "little" horse was his favorite.

Helping Dad feed the big horses some apples.

Spreading the frosting on his graham cracker house.

Taking a break from decorating and tasting the frosting.

Mom helping Charlie decorate his little house.

Charlie's finished product!

Pete's and my barn house.

All three houses (we actually had real lights on them this year!)

Helping Papa decorate the tree.

Three excited kiddos ready to open presents!

Charlie tearing into his first box.

Papa and Mimi got Charlie this cool Handy Manny motorized quad. All three of the kids LOVED it!

Gwen and Charlie being Picasso's with Matthew's new easel.

Papa giving Matt and Charlie a horsey ride.

Little Lambs

Charlie's teacher, Ms. Louise.

For the past six weeks, Charlie and I have been going to a Little Lambs mommy and me preschool class at the Lutheran church in town. It's every Tuesday from 10-11:30. I thought it would be a good way to get him used to school, since this is where he will start attending preschool in the fall. A typical day goes like this:

* 10-10:30: Playtime when we get there.

* 10:30-11: Snack and gym time.

* 11-11:15: Song & story time.

11:15-11:30: Craft time.

It has been so great to see Charlie grow in the six weeks we have been going. In the beginning he was super shy and didn't want to leave my side. Now... he sings all the songs, knows where to go when the activity changes, helps Ms. Louise be the leader, and runs over to the table when it's craft time. We had our last day on Tuesday and he asked if we were going to see Ms. Louise before we left, and then he was talking about some of his classmates after we left. It's been such a great experience, both for him and me! We will continue to go until the fall, and I am hoping by then he'll be ready to push me out the door when I drop him off for preschool (sniff, sniff).

Being the shark in the song Slippery Fish. Charlie grabs his mat right when we walk in the door and sits down in the same spot every time!

Spinning like a helicopter in Ring Around Josie.

Story time (some kiddos have trouble sitting for the entire story ).

Playing the xylophone.

Play-dough time!

Doing a puzzle with Ms. Louise.

Playing bean bag tic-tac-toe.

Charlie and his hand wreath craft for Christmas.