It's the little things...

Q: What stops 5 kids from blazing through the neighborhood at full speed?


A: A baby bird falling out of its nest...they sat there forever just watching him.


Well, I'm a little behind on the blog. Okay, alot behind. After several trips, a computer crash, a broken arm, and other craziness, I think we're back to normal. Look for more posts soon!

Spring Break - Part 4 (a day at Disney)

Kallie, Luke, Mom, Dad & I went to the Magic Kingdom for a last hoorah before we headed home. We'd planned this trip a while ago, and the hotel was already booked and everything. The plan was to leave that morning at 6:00 to drive to Orlando. Dad woke me up at 5:30 and asked me to come upstairs so that we could talk. Not good. Mom had been running a high fever all night and was very sick. After much discussion, she INSISTED that we go on without her. As I was downstairs getting ready, Dad came down to tell me that Mom was up and getting dressed & had decided to try it. She took ibuprofen all day long, but in the end she was so glad she came with us! She was the ultimate trooper!!!! A little strep couldn't keep her down! Thanks, Mom!




Mickey definitely wasn't feelin' the love from Luke. Let's just say he wasn't opening his mouth in excitement, it was more like terror.


This was the only group picture we took, and it's not even that good. I think there's a conspiracy among the character photographers, and when you hand them your camera they take really lousy pictures so that you'll buy their overpriced ones. Look at poor Luke. He really wanted to get away from the giant mouse.


The carousel was by far Luke's FAVORITE thing to do all day! Luckily for us, there was no line. I mean, who would stand in line for a carousel at Disney when you can hop on one at the mall any old day? Except this time we didn't have to pay $2 per ride. Luke LOVED the "horsie" and would cry hysterically when it was time to get off. He'd get a death grip on that pole. When we weren't riding, he was screaming, "Ride it! Ride it!" over and over. For part of the day Papa just took him on it over & over again. (I think the carousel was Papa's favorite too.)




Luke on the train.


Kallie on Snow White's Scary Adventure...(scary being the key word)




I love her face in this picture. This was on It's a Small World. She loved all the dolls and the song.


At the end of the day they were SOOOOOO pooped. The park stayed open that day until 1:00 am! Can you believe that?? We didn't make it that long...



Oops...I think we forgot about sunscreen!

Spring Break - Part 3 (Princess Kallie)

I used to be one of those people who would look at the poor souls in the ridiculously long character lines and wonder what they were thinking. Now I know what they were thinking. Kallie was so excited to meet the princesses. It's all she had talked about for months. I gave her a cute little sticker book, and each time she met a princess she'd put their sticker on the page & have them sign it.

First up was Princess Aurora...aka Sleeping Beauty.
(I think Kallie could be Sleeping Beauty when she grows up, don't you?)


Next was Cinderella. This was the most anticipated meeting of all! In fact, this mommy really didn't have a plan B if Cinderella wasn't in the Judge's Tent on that day. We would have had one very upset little princess.


After Cinderella signed her book, I gave her a Cinderella doll that I'd been hiding all morning.


Kallie didn't put her down all day. In fact, she rode all of the rides with her...strapped in and all.


Belle was next. This Belle was alright, but our favorite Belle was yet to come...


Halfway through the day Kallie decided that Ariel was her favorite princess (poor Cinderella). It's only fitting since Ariel's line was the longest of the day at 45 minutes.


Okay, this next part was far and away the very best part of the day! We decided to go to Storytime with Belle, one of the few Magic Kingdom attractions that I'd never experienced. During the performance, Belle chooses five children from the audience to help her tell the story. Kallie didn't get picked, and as we were leaving she was just sobbing. So....of course we had to go again and try harder! We're not quitters! Luckily there was one more show, and this time we sat on the end of the row in the exact spot where the last girls got picked. When Belle's helpers walked out on stage they did a double take when they saw us. Whew! They recognized that Kallie had come back and knew why! This time Kallie got chosen to be Mrs. Potts. She sure makes a cute teapot!!

Spring Break - Part 2

Day two started at the park. Florida's got the beach, but you really just can't beat Texas parks. The kids didn't notice the difference though.




And then we headed over to Grandma & Grandpa's house for Grandpa's 80th birthday party!



Would you believe that my baby lost his very first tooth while his mommy was OUT OF TOWN?? Shane sent me this picture that he took with his camera phone. They were standing in line at Taco Bueno when Seth got a panicked look on his face and ran off to the bathroom. I think it's highly appropriate that Seth lost his tooth in Bueno, since that's pretty much the top of the food pyramid as far as he is concerned. I mean, chips & queso...that's like dairy, calcium, & grains all in one!! (I know, it's a bit of a stretch since they're flour tortilla chips, not corn. And I'm sure the cheese is more like processed-cheese-food-product. But hey, we'll ignore it.)

Spring Break - Part 1

Oh how we love Florida!!!!!

So this year for Spring Break we decided to head to Florida to be with our family. Shane had to stay in Texas to be the fabulous youth pastor that he is. We gave Seth the option to stay or go, and being the Daddy's boy that he is, he decided that Shane was the cooler option. We even told him that we were going to Disney World. Yep, he picked Dad over Disney. That is true devotion. And, of course, they had a total blast. Fishing...bowling...movies...it was all the father/son/youth group fun a six-year-old could ever want. If Shane had taken pictures I'd dedicate a post to it, but do you think he did that?

Luke & Kallie were thrilled to be back on the beach. They didn't mind at all that they had to be in long sleeves.





This picture is entitled, "watch how long it takes for us to attract 500 birds within 500 miles with just a few pieces of bread." Not long at all.

Update

I owe you LOTS of pictures...Spring Break, Easter, etc. I haven't even pulled them off my memory card yet, but I promise I'll get to it soon!

In the meantime, here's a cute Kallie story. We had just gotten back from Florida and Kallie was especially whiny at dinner one night. She was pouting about having to sit at the table, I think. Finally, Shane looked at her and said, "Little girl, you're not on vacation anymore. I suggest you wipe that frown off your face." Kallie then proceeded (with all the seriousness a four-year-old can possibly have) to take her napkin and wipe her mouth with it. The frown went away. Ah, sweet Kallie.

I guess I should give you updates on the boys too. Luke is pure joy these days. He is a little ball of energy. He is ridiculously happy. He doesn't walk...he doesn't run...he skips. Everywhere. It's so cute. His language is exploding. I don't think there's much he can't say. He communicates very well. His favorite things to do are read books (he is a bit obsessive with his books), eat chocolate (yep, obsessive with that too), empty drawers, color (obsessive with this too...LOVES to color...and loves to have us color things for him...these are his regular demands: sun, doggie, moon, flower, heart), and he really, really enjoys his class at preschool. He loves it when Daddy comes home & screams "Daddy! Hi Daddy!" everytime. He's been coloring on walls, doors and furniture lately too. He is very messy. He crushes food and somehow distributes it all over the house. He is a super-duper sleeper. I mean, the boy can sleep. (Thank you Lord!)

Seth is getting so big. He had his first oral report at school. He talked about the poison dart frog that lives in the rainforest. He is such a sweet kid. He is reading like a champ. It really is an amazing thing to watch a child learn to read. We are so proud of him.

Well, that's all for now. Check back soon for pictures!

Chocolate Monster

I found Luke up on the counter tonight eating all the Hershey Kisses out of the snack basket. This was after he found and finished a box of Junior Mints that were leftover from Amanda's baby shower. This was the cute part, by the way. The not-so-cute part was when I turned the camera off and made him get down. It wasn't pretty.

Some cute pics

Okay, here's a few random pictures from the last few weeks that I've been meaning to post.

All three kids have had fevers off and on for the past two weeks. I really, truly hate it when they're sick, but if I had to pick a sickness, this would be it. Luke would run a fever and just let me hold him and rock him. He was so mellow. And his cheeks would turn bright red.


I had a meeting after church a few weeks ago. When I came home, this is how I found my family. A Sunday nap with Daddy...it doesn't get any better than that!


This was Kallie after school the other day. Her teacher tells me that the boys really like it when she wears her hair like this.



The other day Shane took Luke out for their first (of MANY) father-son outings. They went to Chick-fil-a and to the mall playground. Aren't they cute?

How do you spell stir-crazy?

Three letters...F-L-U. We've been hit. Seth's about over it, Shane's right in the middle of it, and I think mine has just begun. (Kallie's words at dinner were, "Mommy you're not sick. Your eyes don't look like Daddy's.") Shane is pretty miserable. Luckily Kallie & Luke had their flu shots. Although I think they even had a touch of it, because they ran fevers off and on all week last week.

So the kids are now on day three of not leaving the house. Where-oh-where's a grandma when you need one? Oh yeah, in Florida, that's where. Boo-hoo. Okay, I promise I won't whine anymore.

Luke apparently decided the best way to deal with the boredom was to sleep the day away. He just woke up today at ONE-THIRTY. No, that is not a typo. I kept going in and checking on him, but he was just snoozing away. He was in bed before 9:00 last night too. This may seem odd, but if you know us well, you know we have all this "Taylor sleep gene" that is heaven-sent to a mom's sanity. (Shane doesn't have it, obviously, but it is rubbing off on him more and more.)

So here we are on Sunday afternoon, and not one of us were at church today. As far as I can remember this is the first time in the ten years we've been at our church that we haven't been there for sickness. I mean, I've stayed home with a sick child a few times, but if it's Shane or me, we just take our medicine, suck it up & go anyway. I assumed that's what we'd do today. Shane reminded me that would be pretty irresponsible considering how contagious this year's flu seems to be. I'd hate for some unsuspecting soul who takes the mic after me to be home in bed next week.

So we are home. There's a million things I could do, like laundry, sorting garage sale junk, etc, but my body is not cooperating. So back to bed I go. Today I am thankful for Mucinex, TLC, and a four-year-old who can play all day with my toddler who clearly will not be napping.

Our V-Day!

Seth, Kallie & Luke all had school on Valentine's Day...which, of course, meant lots of parties! And sugar. And more sugar. In fact, I picked Kallie up from school and she was literally bouncing up and down and in circles all over the classroom. Her teacher said she'd been that way all day. God bless her (the teacher, that is). Here's a few of her friends from school:

This is Mariana. She is so sweet and so quiet. Can you believe she & Kallie are in the same school grade?


This is Connor. Connor has professed his love for Kallie and says that she will be his wife (despite Samuel's objections). We've put a stop to the kissing, and Connor now says they will wait for that until they're 16. Connor is adorable.


Daddy met us at home right after school so that we could all exchange treats. Between all the stuff from us and all the stuff from school, there was a whole lotta stuff.


We always laugh at Kallie on holidays that revolve around candy. She consumes hers within just a few days. It probably would be hours if we'd allow it. Seth, on the other hand, keeps his for months, which would probably stretch into years if Kallie didn't sneak one piece at a time and very slowly deplete his supply.


This was the first year Seth could read his own cards. It was sweet. We still aren't used to hearing him read so well.


Luke loved his puppy, but he definitely loved his candy more. In fact, I may as well get this out in the open...he is a chocoholic. It has really become an issue lately. He stands in the middle of the kitchen and WAILS....Kau-ket!!!....Kau-ket!!!....Kau-ket!!!....all day long. Over and over. He cries and cries if I won't give it to him. He wants Hershey Kisses. And he knows we have them. Even if I give him 2 or 3 it never satisfies him. Needless to say he enjoyed his M&M's.


After we shared our treats, we got dressed to go to a friend's birthday party. It was a Jumping Party and the kids had a blast. But once we were dressed we still had about 20 minutes before it was time to leave, so the kids ran off some energy outside. They ran up and down the street over and over holding hands. Luke loved it.






This picture cracks me up! When it was finally time to go I told Kallie to grab Luke's hand and bring him to the car. Do you see her face? Do you think she took her job seriously? Yes. Do you think she was sassy about it? Yes. Do you think Luke was even a little compliant? No. Neither of these two are followers in any shape or form, so they frequently butt heads. You'd think the age and gender differences would keep them from fighting. Nope.


Happy Valentine's Day!

Scary is definitely relative.

Both Seth & Kallie have woken up in the middle of the night with bad dreams this week. Seth was first. He called for me and I (half-asleep) stumbled into his room and found my way under his covers. He was going on about some scary men or something...enough to creep me out & quickly tell him that it was all a dream and to go back to sleep.

Two nights later Kallie yelled for me, but she was a bit more hysterical (okay, alot more). I snuggled up with her, too, and asked what her bad dream was about. One word....Swiper! (That sneaky fox!) I giggled quietly to myself before falling asleep with her. The next morning I asked her why Swiper was so scary. She said that Swiper took her little lamb, and when she tried to yell, "Swiper no swiping!" her voice wouldn't work. Now that's a nightmare, don't you think?

This is a perfect example of the difference between Seth and Kallie. It's reality versus the-world-of-Kallie-make-believe-fantasyland. I hope she doesn't grow out of it for a long time. She has an innocence about her that Seth never really had, or not for long anyway. It is so cute and so sweet.

Luke's First Sentence!

Did you catch it? THAT'S COLD! He was shivering & his lips were turning purple. Why do kids think it's fun to be freezing? (On the blog there was a precious video of Luke standing at the outside faucet near the beach, and he was just in his diaper. He very clearly says his first little sentence, and Nana and Mommy were witnesses! So cute!)

What a bunch of beach bums...

What a perfect beach day this was! The kids had a total blast. It was warm enough for shorts, but chilly enough to need long sleeves. I assumed they'd probably end up all wet, and I was right. Nothing beats a day at the beach with Nana & Papa.

Luke was fascinated with the bubbles that surfaced when the little beach critters burrowed into the sand.

Kallie & Seth had so much fun with these ropes they found on the beach. Sometimes it's the simple things...

Bye-bye beach. See ya in the summer...