The big wedding!

Travis & Stephanie's wedding was beautiful! It was right on the water & a gorgeous evening! Seth was the ring bearer & Kallie was the flower girl. These two pictures are some of my favorite ever. They're the ones I'll pull out one day when they're fighting to show them how much they really do love each other. Won't they love that?!




Kallie threw one petal at a time...so probably about 5 (maybe?) the whole way down the aisle. But she was pretty doing it!

Do you know how much I love this picture? Almost as much as the next one...

What a sweet boy!
They drove away in a golf cart...so fun!

Five-out-of-five smiling & four-out-of-five looking at the camera...not bad for this group!

Okay, this is probably about when the giggling began. Travis said "I do" a little bit too early (well, about a phrase or two too early), which set everyone off...especially Stephanie. She never totally regained her composure, but she did make it through her own vows without laughing, so she did good.

The whole family!

Rehearsal Dinner

So the whole reason we went to Florida so early this year was because my brother got married! Here's some pictures from the rehearsal dinner.


Here's my child who's happy as long as he has a grown-up cup with a straw. Oh, and don't you dare try to put water in it. He knows better than that. He wants the good stuff. You know the stuff that gives toddlers all the energy they need to make it through long, grown-up events. We were more than happy to oblige if it kept his lips firmly mashed together (around the straw, of course).

This is my other brother, Brian, with his wife, Mary, and their daughter, Hannah. Hannah and Luke are only 3 months apart.

Travis and the future Mrs. Taylor!

Here's Shane trying to conduct a dress rehearsal in the foyer of the golf club.

I love this picture of my grandparents. Don't they look like they love each other so much?

Luke & Kallie's Christmas Program (well, sort-of)

Our plan was to leave for Florida on the very day of Kallie & Luke's Christmas program at their preschool. Bad timing. We hated to miss it, but couldn't really leave the next day and still make it in time for my brother's wedding. So Shane and I packed up the cameras and headed to the dress rehearsal, which was a few days before the actual program. It wasn't quite the same, but I think we definitely got the idea! Luke's class dressed up as penguins and marched around with as much cuteness as you've ever seen. At one point he decided to put on a show of his own...he ran to the front of the stage and did this little dance where he'd run forward and then backward, and over and over again. I think it was a you-had-to-be-there moment, but we sure were cracking up.

I must say it was kinda nice not to have to fight the mob of parents all scrambling to be at the front of the auditorium.

Don't those parents (you know, the ones with like 12 cameras) just drive you nuts?! (grin)



I'm not sure why he was upset here. Perhaps a fleeting shy moment for our little penguin/comedian?

How cute is that?

Sorry, Kallie. You're a head taller than the other kids in your class because of me. Okay, maybe a half-a-head.

Our Charlie Brown Tree

Since we left for Florida on December 12th, there really was no reason at all to drag out all of the Christmas decorations this year. Shane & the kids couldn't bear the thought of not having a tree to call our very own, so we picked up this little cutie at Kroger & let the kids make paper ornaments for it. It was actually really sweet, so I was glad I let them talk me into it.

I know, I know....

I'm really behind on this blog!! I have SO much to report...Christmas programs, our trip to Florida, the big wedding, Christmas morning, fun at the beach...

The problem is this - my external hard drive is not cooperating right now (which is where all my recent pictures are stored), so Shane is going to peform major surgery on the dumb thing this afternoon. Hopefully he can work his magic so that we can have lots & lots of bloggin' fun SOON.

Boo!

Well, I'm usually not in the habit of telling embarrassing stories about myself, but this one's just too funny.

Shane was off on his youth retreat last night and I was home alone with the kids (minus Seth who stayed with Shane...isn't he a big boy!!??) Anyway, it was about midnight and the kids had been asleep for a few hours, and I was sitting at my computer working on some pictures when I heard a really, REALLY loud crash inside my house. I mean, it was so loud that I did not even hesitate for a millisecond to pick up the phone and dial 9-1-1. I've been spooked before, but usually I just walk around and make sure everything's alright. But I just couldn't imagine a crash this big happening without someone causing it. The operator answered and I explained the situation and just told her I wanted her to be on the phone with me while I walked through the house. I decided that if there was a boogie man ready to snatch me, I wanted someone to hear me scream! I walked through every room, checked the doors and windows, checked on the kids, and finally told her that everything looked fine. I convinced myself that it had to have been the dogs outside (even though I KNEW it came from inside) and went to bed.

This morning I had forgotten about it, but I was getting the kids ready for church, and we went in their bathroom to fix Kallie's hair. And wouldn't you know the whole, huge shower rod...curtain, rings & all...was lying smack dab in the middle of the tile floor. I felt better knowing I didn't imagine it, but then also giggled to myself (or maybe at myself). I'm just glad I didn't let them send a police officer out here to check it out...that would have been embarrassing.

It reminds me of when I was pregnant with Kallie, and one night there was a loud noise in the middle of the night, and I sat up in bed and screamed. Shane got up and discovered the metal razor suction-cup holder thingy had fallen in the shower. We went back to sleep but a few hours later I rolled over and my water broke. Shane is convined to his day that I scared Kallie out. That probably explains why she lives for the dramatic. ;)

It's sad, but I actually have a few other similar stories I could share, but I think I'll just stop now.

Luke's First Haircut

Here's the BEFORE picture. Yikes! It was definitely time for a trim!

My friend Amanda cut it over at her house. He barely has any hair so I couldn't justify even a $10 Supercuts style! We strapped him in a booster seat and bribed him with a snack and a cartoon.

He sat there like such a big man!

Is that a good-lookin' head or what?? SOOOOO much better!

Here's the AFTER shot. How cute are those eyes??

My little turkeys!!

Luke & Kallie's little school had a Thanksgiving feast yesterday. They had turkey dinners from Boston Market with corn and macaroni & cheese. Can you tell he enjoyed it? This kid loves to eat. He had seconds. They were the cutest bunch of turkeys you've ever seen. And all of their placemats had their pictures on them. So precious.

Here's the one-year-old table...

This is Kallie's best buddy Connor...
And here's a few random pictures. This was Luke on Sunday morning. He woke up that morning with a crick in his neck and literally lay in the same spot for TWO HOURS. At the time I was worried there was something wrong with him, but it was really sweet to have a calm, still baby for once.

I snapped this right before he saw me the other day at school. I think it's so cute how they walk around in a line with their arms through these little rings. As soon as he saw me he dropped it and ran. The teachers started singing, "and another one's down, and another one's down..." Apparently the moms kept showing up. :)

Oh, and here's my new haircut. I think I'm 5 pounds lighter.

We've got spirit, yes we do!

So we decided to go with the football theme for the costumes this year. We went to Trunk or Treat at church & the kids had a blast. Every single time I turned around Luke had a different sucker in his mouth that someone had unwrapped & given to him. After you watch the videos of the kids, be sure to watch the videos at the end of the post. Our children's pastor is a professional illusionist, and this year he decided to use someone new as his assistant. Be sure to listen to Kallie screaming "Daddy" in the background of the second one. You'd think my kids would have been traumatized by the whole thing, but they thought it was hilarious. No sympathy at all for the Great Ape.

THE FOOTBALL PLAYER

THE CHEERLEADER

THE REFEREE

DADDY'S MONKEY DEBUT

part 1: "There's a monkey in my church!"

part 2: "Who is that masked man?"

part 3: "Tu-tu be or not to be?"

As my friend Emily said so perfectly, HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!

A Johns Saturday

We took some cute pictures on Saturday that I wanted to share. Kallie went to another baby shower with me this week. I think she's enjoying getting to do girl stuff. This time she wanted to wear a dress & wanted me to braid her hair.

She brought baby Emma along with her. Here she is swinging her around.

Seth is quite the daddy's boy these days. He thinks his daddy can do anything. Here was the conversation at the table during our after-school snack today:

Seth: It's really good that we have Daddy, isn't it?

Me: Yes, he's a good daddy.

Seth: We need him, because you can't even drill.

Me: Nope, I can't drill.

(He then proceeds to name all of the other things I can't do that Daddy can do.)

Me: Well, it's a good thing you have me, too, because there are things Daddy can't do, right?

Seth: Yeah, like...(he stops to think for a really, really, really long time)...like you can touch the ceiling & Daddy can't.

Me: Yep.

Not quite what I was going for but true nonetheless. But I can't blame him. We do have a good daddy. He gets Seth up every morning & gets him ready for school. They walk everyday & sometimes take the dogs along. And then Shane does homework and reading with Seth every afternoon. They also throw a lot of footballs together. It sure does make this mommy's life just a little easier. And hey, I'm always there to save the day when there's a light bulb to change. On a side note, Shane's response to all this was, "Well, not every daddy can be a legend." Hilarious.

Luke was trying to throw the football at the park on Saturday. This was after he watched Daddy & Seth for a while. It was so funny, because he kept trying to get it over his shoulder and it would just fall back behind him every time.

Look Mom, no hands!

What a sweet boy.

I love this picture. He looks like such a big man. And no, Mom, I'm not pregnant. It's just the shirt.