2017!

Wow! Its been over a year since I have posted something on this blog. 2016 was a CRAZY year. It was a nonstop year full of all kinds of things. Luckily, for the most part, it was a really great year here at the Polk house.  Quick little overview from 2016:
 *Miss Penelope joined the family
 *Payson turned one
 *Payzlee finished her first year of real school.
 *We sold our house and moved to Missouri!
 *Payzlee turned six
 *Paxton turned three
 *Payzlee started cheer
 Even with all the highs we had this year, we did have one really big low. We lost our Noni in June. It was hard. Well any loss is hard but this one really got to me and made me look at life differently. We miss her more and more everyday. But we know she is in such an amazing place.

Now for 2017!




 Well this year has some fun adventures planned. It looks to be another great year for us! But the main thing why I want to get back to writing in this blog is to help me achieve my biggest goal this year and keep me on track.

 My personal goal for this year is to just be a better me. I have been feeling lost lately. I have been so involved in taking care of all four kiddos and being a wife I sort of quit taking care of me. It's been hard to realize I need to take a step back and focus on me a little bit. I feel so selfish about it. But I know that if I don't take some time to be focus on me, I won't be able to take care of everyone else like I want to.

 For one I have just figured it was what I had to do when I became a wife and mother. To a certain point it is I believe. I really have to talk to myself everyday to get a new mindset on all of this. But I can tell you since I have taken a step back and am relaxing more and going with the flow, I feel so much better! I have become even more patient with the kids. I feel happier than I have in a really long time. Every morning I feel like I can actually handle whatever today has in store.

 I'm mainly just taking it day by day and going from there. I still have a ways to go on getting all of this figured out. But I have the whole year to do it and I plan on sticking to it.


So I hope to at least do an update on how my resolution is going, and hopefully checking off all my mini goals to get to the big goal, every month. So far this month is going great. I'm determined to feel this great at the end of the month so I will definitely keep going with this.

First mini goal: Be 139 by the 27th!  

 

 

Hope all of y'all's new year resolutions are going great!
                                  Caitlin

Goodbye 2015!

  Since its the last day of the year I thought I would look back and share our biggest events from 2015.

  So first big thing that happened around here is having Mr.Payson. I had always said if we did have a third baby that I wouldn't find out the gender until they were born. We found out with the sonogram with Payzlee, and did a reveal with Paxton, so I wanted to wait to make them all different ways of finding out. I still can't believe we were able to hold off though. And the moment the doctor told us it was a boy was the best moment ever.

I was completely shocked. I just knew it was going to be a girl. Mikey wasn't as surprised. He knew all along it was a boy. Super thankful for my Payson Michael and glad he turned out to be a boy though.

  In April, Mikey and I celebrated 5 years of being married! 

  Crazy to think how fast those five years flew by but can't imagine having anybody else by my side for the rest of my life. 

  Then came May and Payzlee graduated from pre-k!

 And of course I cried and couldn't believe that was my girl up there. Seriously one of my proudest moments as a mom though.

 Two days after her graduation we had her second dance recital.

  My sweet little ballerina was Tinkerbell and the theme of the recital was the Magical World of Dance.

I always love seeing her dance on the stage. I always tear up from being so proud of her. Seeing how much she loves being up there in her costume and showing everyone how hard she has worked to learn all the ballet moves is just amazing. 

  So we had a pretty uneventful summer but at the end we went on a float trip to celebrate Peepaws 75th birthday with the family!

  It was so much fun! It was my first float trip and I can't wait to go again someday. 

  We did get a huge surprise during the summer though and found out we are adding to our family! Again!

  We were totally shocked. It was definitely not planned to add another little one so soon after having Payson or at all for that matter, but we quickly became excited to have a big family after the shock wore off. Payzlee was super excited since she had another chance at getting a little sister that she was wanting.

  Payzlee also started kindergarten this year!

 We got her into an awesome charter school that just came to Abilene this year and can't believe how much she has learned in just the first semester. She is learning how to read and loves to do her homework. She is always studying her sight words and playing school with her brothers and stuffed animals.

 A week after school started she had her 5th birthday and then a week after that Paxton had his 2nd birthday. I decided to do their party together this year and was planning on having it at a mini golf place here in town. Well unfortunately they scheduled a concert for the same time as their party so I had to cancel there and find a plan b.

  So we ended up having it at Chuck E Cheese. Their party was one of five parties going on at the same time. It was chaos but they loved it and had tons of fun. 

  After their party and birthdays were done, my mother in law asked me to help plan their 25th wedding anniversary! I was so excited to do this with her. I love planning a party. My dream job is to be a party planner. So we put our ideas together and found more ideas on Pinterest and created her party she wanted.

She also asked me to recreate their wedding cake! Not going to lie this part was a little terrifying just cause I wanted it to be perfect.

But luckily it turned out pretty close and it tasted good so I would say it was a winner.

 A couple days after the party we found out the results from my Progenity test which tested for any chromosomal disorders in the baby and would also tell us the gender. Luckily all the tests came back normal and I was able to go pick up the results from the doctor. It was also dads birthday so I let him open the envelope and tell us what we were having.

  He loved it. He was hoping for a girl just like the rest of us so it turned out to be a great birthday present. We announced it on Facebook to everyone else with a pumpkin.

Just when it seemed like everything was going to slow down for a couple weeks Paxton had his first ER visit. 

Him and his sister were having a pillow fight in her room when he fell and hit his head on her dresser. I knew as soon as I heard his scream and saw the look on Payzlees face as she was running down the hall it wasn't going to be good. Of course Mikey was out of town working and I don't handle injuries very well. So I called mom and her and dad came to my rescue and came with me to the hospital so I wouldn't have to be alone. 

Ended up with three stitches. He did so good too. Of course he screamed when they wrapped him up in the blanket and probably would have done better without being wrapped up. But for a two year old having to get stitches he did amazing. He got a bear that he has become very attached to and sleeps with every night and some m&m's and he was as happy as could be.

 He also made another trip to the ER later in the month because he fell out of the basket at Walmart and hit head first on the floor and became very weak and hard to keep awake. Scariest moment of my life seeing him act that way. He had a catscan just to make sure everything was good and was watched for a couple hours till he was acting like himself again. Hopefully he stays out of the ER this next year.

 Halloween came around and it was so hard to decide what the kids should be. But finally figured it out and they looked adorable.

 Cutest Princess Peach, Mario, and Luigi I have ever seen.

 November was Payzlee's first Nutcracker performance.

 And of course Thanksgiving which is my favorite holiday. 

 Then of course came Christmas season. My absolute favorite part of Christmas this year was seeing my dad be Santa. 

 His face literally glowed when he sat in that chair! It was so cool to see how the little smiles from the kids made his smile even bigger. He definitely found his calling and I'm so proud of him.

 I didn't get pictures from actual Christmas Day when the kids opened their presents and I'm kind of bummed but I got so caught up enjoying watching them open them that it just didn't happen. But here they are in their pajamas Christmas Eve.

 We also already had some snow and the kids loved playing in it of course.

Payzlee and daddy even got to build a good snowman. 

 Paxton loved making little snowballs and throwing them at us.

And Payson loved sitting in the snow all bundled up and also the sled ride.

That was our year. Tons of good memories. I always hate to see a good year end but can't wait to see what happens in 2016. Looks to be a big year here at the Polk house and we are super excited! Hope everyone has a safe New Years and that 2016 brings great things for everyone!

Payzlee in the Nutcracker!

     I have thought of a million posts I could start this blog with and decided what better way to start off our family blog than with our oldest little P's Nutcracker performance! She has looked forward to being in the Nutcracker since her first year of ballet and she was finally old enough to be a tiny angel this year.

Nothing makes me prouder than to see her dancing. She loves to be a ballerina!

Unfortunately daddy didn't get to make it due to a last minute job in New Mexico. But luckily the theater had wifi and we were able to FaceTime so he was able to see our girls big performance. 

She had beautiful arabesques and was the most perfect little angel! Can't wait till her recital in May but glad we have a little break for Thanksgiving to let us catch up from the last couple weeks of nonstop going. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving with tons of food!

Welcome To Our Blog!

I have wanted to try to blog for a long time and finally got the guts to just do it! Can't guarantee there will be regular posts but I'm going to try my hardest to blog at least once a week. I will have plenty to blog about since, as most of you know, we are expecting our fourth little one in March! Yes, our youngest two will only be eleven months apart and yes we will have four kids 5 and under but we are so excited! We are hoping they will always be close to each other being so close in age. I won't have a spotless house and toys will be the main decorations for a few years but thinking about having a spotless house all the time and no toys laying around is really sad to me. I enjoy being a mom to these kiddos. Even though some days are hard and trying, I wouldn't trade any of it. So stay tuned to see what's going on in the Polk house! I promise it's never boring around here!

                                                                       Caitlin