Princess Taylor

During the week, we don't have a lot of time in the mornings to do anything more than pigtails to her hair. On the weekends though, we often spend a little more time. While doing her hair we talk and sing. I think most of the time she really enjoys the extra attention. Here is our latest creation

Do you struggle too?

Every night we struggle with putting Taylor to bed. Since she was just little she has not wanted to go to bed. She hasn't wanted to miss out on all the fun she's sure we're having. Consequently, most nights there are tears and fights about getting in bed. Tonight, like every night before, we do the bedtime routine and at the end I tell her, like always, that I don't want to see her eyes. Well, she didn't stay in bed but at least I didn't see her eyes. I guess this counts for getting a reward. Any suggestions for getting her to go to bed without a fight?

Taylor's first 'accident'

Taylor will be three January 30th. She has been coloring and 'writing' for quite some time now. Well, today she did it. She decided she would 'write' somewhere other than on the approved surfaces. That would be paper only. Here is her latest artwork. Her mom does not approve!

Yet another bit of fun for 2008

As if the 'fun' and 'adventures' we have already had this year hasn't been enough we have yet another to add to the list. Last night, we had a record cold kind of night. The kind where the heater runs all night long because it is -16 degrees F outside. We wouldn't know about the heater part since our furnace motor went south for the winter. So, it looks like we'll be investing in a new one. Merry Christmas Michael! Just what you always wanted!

(Even better, we had to replace this part only 2 years ago. Is there such thing as a 'lemon' furnace? ANd get this, it was the week before Christmas as well. Perhaps this is a sign we should not be going to Washington for Christmas since the last two times have resulted in $600 furnace repairs. It would be much cheaper to stay home!)

Snow Fun

Recently, we had enough snow to play in. Taylor insisted on spending as much time out there as possible. In the last picture, she is not making a snow angel... she is making a snow Tink! And those snowballs... are headed towards me!

School Program

This last week Taylor and Jordan had their school program. Jordan's class had a fashion show and Taylor's class sang Jingle Bells. They attempted to sing Jingle Bells but not many of them came and those that did sort of looked a little more than scared. If I knew how to post a video, I would, but since I don't, you'll just have to take my word for it. Here are a few pictures from the evening.

Catching up

Jordan just turned 8 months old and she is not even crawling. Taylor started at about 6 1/2 months. By 8 months Taylor was pulling herself up to the furniture and walking along it. I guess we won't need to worry about Jordan climbing up the stairs anytime soon! Despite not crawling it does not mean she isn't getting around. She can roll pretty fast and get pretty much what she wants. Perhaps the reason she isn't crawling yet is due to the fact that when she is on her stomach and fussing to get something her handy dandy older sister gets the object of her desire for her.. hmm...

No Tears for Santa

Tonight we decided to take the girls to see Santa. I've been talking about it with Taylor and hoped that when we went to see him I could persuade her to sit on his lap with no tears. She is just the type of little girl to burst into tears or turn so shy with strangers you don't get a word out of her. Well, that was not the case tonight. She sat on his lap and looked at him with big eyes and even told him what she wanted for Christmas. Since she's no good at keeping secrets I'll keep what she whispered to Santa a secret for her!! (Although if you know her, you know she has not been too shy about what she wants).

Jordan joins the ranks ...

With all the 'fun' we've been having in our extended family I think Jordan was feeling a little left out. Other than Taylor's little 'bump' we've been relatively healthy. That is until Jordan starts throwing up at school (daycare) on Thursday. First time they called and let me know I figured it was just from being on her tummy on the floor. she didn't have a fever and she wasn't acting sick so she stayed. The second time, obviously something is up. Still no fever and not acting sick. Shortly thereafter I go and pick her up. She threw up AGAIN that night. She has now shared her sympathy pains with me. I spent the night running to the bathroom too. Jordan recovered quickly... so I hope I do too!fs

Hopefully it will end soon....

This week has not been a 'fun' week for our family. Carrie goes in for another MRI on her foot and finds a tendon is torn. Most likely, it got torn as she dashed to the basement moments ahead of the tornado. The only fix is surgery. My cousin Amanda goes in for ACL surgery on Nov 20. My sister Jamie got to visit the ER AGAIN for the same pain she had while she was pregnant. Turns out she has to have her gall bladder removed and then she gets pancreatitis. On Saturday night, Nov 15th Taylor rips her frenulum. You know, that little piece of skin that connects your upper lip to your gum. And the icing on the cake ... my Grandpa codes during physical therapy. He has been on life support for almost 6 days. The doctors say he didn't get enough oxygen and is brain dead. The decision is made to take him off the ventilator. Surprisingly, he is holding his own but he'll soon be pushing up daisies! (Funerals are to be treated like PARTIES! You get to see all sorts of family you hadn't seen in awhile1)

I think out of everyone Taylor has already forgotten her pain and moved on! She did shed lots of tears and was a little frightened of the blood but all is well.

So, with all this trouble we've had in the family ... we are very careful not to do anything extra stupid. I do wonder why Michael thinks he ought to be allowed to go duck hunting. Perhaps he should just hang his license up on the wall and leave it there! He might shoot his eye out with the luck we seem to be having!

New update: Another one bites the dust!
Nashon has added himself to the family crisis, yesterday he broke his wisdom tooth and is now looking at oral surgery.

Fall Pictures

Michael and I had planned to have a night away from the girls this weekend while my mom was in-town visiting. Well, with my Grandpa coding in Missouri my mom rushed off to be with him and her sisters that were also flying out there. So, since Michael had already asked Dr. Mackey if he could take the day off nothing much had been scheduled. We took advantage of this and went for a drive. Here are the results!

Tinks New Do's!

Some of the things we have done when Taylor will sit still!

The night before Halloween

As you can see... we are still building up to Halloween night. On Thursday we went to a school party. Taylor was excited to take us to school with her. She did reassure us that she would not be sleeping there tonight.

We had a donut on a string game... Me showing Taylor how to do it... (Notice Super Jordan in the background!)
Taylor giving it a try now:A little more than boring for the parents but Taylor really had fun. She wanted to keep going back to her class to get cookies!

Raggedy Ann makes headlines!

Every year the town of Windsor has trick-or-treating the Saturday before Halloween down main street. Last year we saw it going on but didn't participate. This year, Taylor was all excited to do some trick-or-treating. She dressed up in her adorable costume (Raggedy Ann) and walked up and down main street all by herself. Not once did she complain. She was having a great time. Apparently a few others thought she looked pretty cute because both of the local Windsor papers wanted to take her picture for their paper. Here they are ... what do you think?

The Windsor Beacon

The Windsor Now

Stay tuned for pictures from her school party and Halloween night!

A day that is hard to forget....

I was reading a friends blog this evening and ran across her post of the tornado that came through our neighborhood on May 22. Taylor saw the picture and we preceeded to have this conversation...

Me: Look, a picture of the tornado that hit our house

Taylor: It came in our house

Me: Yep, it did.

Taylor: It made our house dirty. It made our windows dirty. We had to hide. And then we got goldfish. And then the workers came and our house is better. And you went upstairs to get me goldfish.

Well, at least she remembers it a little nicer now. It definitely beats all the crying we had about needing a new house because her house was broken. That's all she could say about it for weeks afterwards.

We are now officially done with the help we have hired. The last check has cleared. By no means does that mean that the work is done though. We now get to 'fix' all the stuff that got broken by the workers in our home. This should take us all winter at the rate we're going. Anyone feel like doing a little handy work for us??

Thing2 goes for Gold (or the binkie)

Thing2 earned a gold medal tonight in baby olympics. Tonight, she rolled twice from her back to her stomach. At first, I thought, how did she do that? Was it a coincidence? Then she did it again! yeah!

Just for me

Most of those running across this website won't care about what is written but I am going to use it to keep a log of all the happenings with the girls. So, for what it is worth, enjoy the reading and pictures!