Good Times

Yesterday morning was Kennedy's first soccer "practice". Since this is our first soccer experience with her, I wasn't really sure what to expect but it was cute and she seemed to really enjoy herself.

They started out just letting all the kids have a turn kicking the ball in the goal and then they practiced throw-ins and finished with some dribbling. Aside from her not being prepared for the whole "don't use your hands to stop the ball" thing I think she did really good. She was up for each new task and did it with enthusiasm. At times like those I am so thankful that she just jumps right in and goes with the flow because it's neat to watch her have new experiences and just be eager to "play".

Here are some pictures and videos:



*Please note the way she puts her hands on her hips after making her goal and then the way she looks over for parental approval. Too cute!

*I came out for the assist during the dribbling exercise - I was worried we may have some broken bones at the end of it if I didn't intercede. =)

After soccer, we stopped by and saw Matt, Sara Beth and baby Ruthie. She is so tiny and so precious and we were glad we could drop them a meal by because Lord knows that whole infant stage is exhausting and the LAST thing you want to do is cook but you sure do wanna eat, Amen? Their little family is doing well! I wish we'd taken pictures but I was too busy talking to remember to get the camera out while I was there. Figures!

Last night, Tim went and hung out with Jonathan and Derek and all three kiddos while Billie, Abby and I went out for some shopping and dinner. The two of them graciously invited me to go out and celebrate the upcoming arrival of our family addition. We hit up Old Navy and got some super good deals and then had dinner at Saul Good where it's literally ALL GOOD. So yummy! We had a really nice time talking about life in general, labor, babies, being working mommies, etc...it was just a good time. They gave me a super nice and thoughtful gift basket full of all kinds of goodies for the baby. The two things I'm most excited about - the precious green lovey and the giraffe. The box itself is going to really handy in the nursery as well. They even paid for my dinner and our delicious desert pizza! Thanks girls - it really was so very kind of you both and I'm most appreciative!

Of course, after dinner I needed to get my Adayln snuggling fix because Lord knows I love me some baby lovin'. She is so good and so sweet and I could just eat her up. Kennedy was most intrigued with Adayln's paci  (shocking to all who know Kennedy, right?) and the following two things regarding that particular brand of paci seemed to further her intrigue:
1. you can see down into Adalyn's mouth when she is sucking on it
2. you can insert your finger into the nipple part and feel her little mouth
Both aforementioned facts were motivation enough for Kennedy to firmly plant herself next to me on the couch and proceed to hold the paci in Adalyns mouth......with some serious vigilance I might add. Adalyn didn't mind and in fact seemed to be quite in awe of Kennedy. She just stared at her and it was precious! See for yourself:

*Excuse my daughters hair - I suppose a few hours in a house full of boys (minus Miss Adalyn of course) = hair that is a HOT MESS!

Today we had church, a church luncheon and then small group tonight so it's been pretty busy but fun and full of lots of folks that we love! Our morning started out with some snuggling and just when I thought the Kennedy + Annie moments couldn't get any cuter.....they did:

Um...they're practically holding hands! Seriously?!?!? Love it!

33 Weeks

I had intended to take a 32 week picture and that weekend we had company and I totally forgot. So...here's my 33 week picture. Although everyone close to me is nice enough to say "you're all belly", it's clear to me in these pictures the pregnancy is showing in more places than my belly but oh well. Par for the course, right ladies? We took the picture in the baby's room which is far from complete but I have a feeling it might stay partially incomplete until we know what the baby is. We did take a rocking chair that will go in the baby's room to be reupholstered this week and I am excited to see how it turns out. Other than that we're still in the market for several items to wrap the room up. 7 more weeks to go.....

Just for giggles...here I am at 32 weeks with Kennedy:

BIG things happened between week 32-36 with Kennedy...stay tuned. =)

Best Friends and Pics

We are at home sick today and it's dreadfully cold and snowy outside, so I figured I'd catch up on a bit of blogging. It's a random assortment really but there's lots of pictures :). 

My youngest (two-legged) and oldest (four-legged) have become the best of friends...and I mean BFF kind of friends - they snuggle, they watch cartoons, they "read" books, they put on makeup, they roam the halls playing follow the leader - it's adorable. I've tried to catch them doing all these things together on camera but it's a bit harder than you think because the four-legged feels the need to be pressed right up against you the minute you show your face in her near vicinity (purring and face rubbing as it were). Such a need to be near makes it difficult to catch these playful moments between she and Kennedy. I'm going to share the ones I have caught though...because they are just too sweet for words.

Did you say "awwww" several times? I know...me too. Clearly the force is strong with this young one - the force of animal magnetism that is. I'd like to say "she got it from her momma".

On Tuesdays and Thursdays when I'm home with her - she'll go missing for a few minutes and I'll find her on her bed and when I open the door she'll say "Um...I'm just playing with Annie Momma - can you close the door?". There's no diss like one from your kid - especially when you're being dissed for a geriatric cat. Oh well.....

The next few pictures are from an event held at UK called Excite Night. It was the gymnastics team season opener and a mommy friend told me about it so we took Kennedy. The tickets were totally free from Chick-fil-A and hey - you can't beat free kid entertainment. It was really fun to watch and she was more into than I thought she'd be, being that she's in gymnastics classes herself she enjoyed watching the "big girl gymnasts". Of course she wanted every concession item that came by on a tray so we figured we'd try some cotton candy (she has quite the sweet tooth). The texture was a bit much for her though so I ended up rolling it into little balls and putting it into her mouth - the things you do as a Mommy, right? *you like my big pregnant belly in the picture - Tim said it was hard not to get it in the pictures - thanks honey.

These last two pics are from excite night too but she is rocking an adorable hat that my cousins friend hand-made. How precious is it? She needs to go into business, doesn't she?

On days that we are home, we get creative with what we do for entertainment. If it were up to Kennedy we'd watch Tom and Jerry ALL DAY LONG and clearly that's just not good so I normally try to play a few games and do a few crafts, sometimes we bake, etc. This day we bowled and she's in a phase where she likes to rock her princess heels for EVERYTHING and I do mean EVERYTHING.

She's a bit competitive - he he: (I don't know where she gets that;) so games can at times be short lived unless she's literally beating me to a pulp. I think we made it through 4 turns each on this day. You like the heel action?

I usually try to get outside with her when we can too - fresh air is good for the soul. She was having fun pushing "baby Avery" around on this day in her stroller. Chelsea gave her this baby for Christmas and when I told her she could name her whatever she wanted, she elected to name her what we plan to name our baby if it's a girl. So...we may have 2 baby Avery's in the Taylor household come my due date. =)

This last picture is one we took this week. A friend of mine told me about a little soccer class being given by the YMCA in Jessamine County. I was thrilled to hear about it because I started playing soccer when I was 3 and I am really hopeful that she will enjoy it as much as I did. I can see now how parents get a bit over exuberant with their kids athletic choices because I am PUMPED for her first practice. I promise not to be one of those parents if she doesn't like it but all my appendages will be crossed that she does - just keepin' it real folks! Her first practice is next Saturday and she is supposed to come with shin guards. Well - we got em':

Convincing her to leave the glass slippers at home....well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Happy Friday!

5

This past weekend, Tim and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary. Tim's Mom graciously agreed to come in to stay with us and keep sweet Kennedy so we could have some time away with each other to celebrate.

Friday night we went to see the Harlem Globetrotters at Rupp Arena. I am sure that sounds like a funny thing to do to celebrate your 5 year anniversary, but I have wanted to see them since I was in middle school and Tim and I have talked about it on multiple occasions but the tickets are always so outrageously expensive that I've never been able to justify the purchase. Well - these tickets were given to us by a friend who got them free in a round about way. Knowing my husband loves all things sports - even more so when we can experience sports together - I knew he'd be all about it. It was fun and we both really enjoyed ourselves. Here are some pictures.

*Sadly, I don't have a picture of us together but that tends to happen when we go places alone and don't know anyone around us. Oh well!

Saturday was spent running errands. Tim's parents gave us a HUGE and incredible gift for Christmas - a washer and dryer. They gave us a certain amount of funds towards that purchase and all that was left was for us to pick them out. Tim has been doing all kinds of research online (bless his little analytical heart), but we really needed to just get out and look at em', you know? So...since we had childcare - Saturday was the day and Oh My Word - we looked and looked and number crunched and number crunched and negotiated and...well you get it. We ended up at Best Buy and were able to purchase a washer and dryer as well as a new fridge which is super exciting because our current refrigerator came with the house and proportionally doesn't fit in the space where it is so you can't fully open it which has caused many a not nice word to escape these lips let me just tell you! All appliances are to be delivered this coming Saturday and I am so super jazzed - it would be impossible for me to share with you quite how jazzed exactly but just know - it's MAJOR! We had a laundry list of baby/nursery prep errands to run too, so needless to say when it was all said and done I was worn slap out. Tim had been thoughtful enough to make reservations at a nice restaraunt but the last thing I wanted to do come 4:30  was to even think about showering, getting ready and going back out - I was TIRED and swollen and just DONE. He thankfully took pity on me and complied with my desire to cancel our reservations and just go have a yummy, simple meal at a comfortable and favorite restaraunt of ours (Johnny Carinos). The food was delicious and we spent the time at dinner looking over my gift to Tim (photo albums which included all of our pictures together as a couple beginning the day we met to this past Christmas). It was nice reflecting - lots of laughter and just - awe at how far we've come in these 5 years. I wouldn't have changed one thing about our time together - it was just what we needed. Thanks Mom, for keeping Kennedy!

It's so hard to believe that it was five years ago. We both discussed over the weekend how in some ways it felt like it had been five years but in others it just doesn't. I know when I think back on our wedding day, those thoughts go more with that initial feeling of - really, five years ago? I remember everything about that day!

 My handsome groom to be

 My emotional and profusely sweating father walking me down to give me away.

 It's ok Dad - (I was sweating too). ;)

 Lighting the unity candle and for the first time - really understanding the symbolism there.

 The first time I heard our names together....Mr. and Mrs. Taylor!

 The oddly proud feeling I had seeing Tim with a ring on his finger - he's definitely mine ladies!

 Signing our marriage license and the fiasco that ensued after becuase we forgot to date it in the appropriate year ~ after all, we were only 14 days in!

I feel like we've grown a lot since that day....changed alot, matured alot and just frankly learned alot about what it really means to be married. Each year has been good, but each year has been hard too. I am happy to say I feel although it's hard - it's rewarding and it gets easier - you learn more and you sacrifice more for each other and there is such reward in that. God honors each sacrifice and the more I learn to lean on him for strength and understanding where our marriage is concerned - the more enjoyable it is and the easier it gets. I know we are going to keep learning and continue to be challenged and I by no means think we have it "figured out", but boy how far we've come and I am so thankful for that! Because of those things - I look forward with much anticipation for what the next five years will bring. Thankfully - I know no matter what, we'll be holding on to God and to each other, and that makes me one happy wife!

Cheers to the next 5 + years honey! I love you.

I am happy to say we are home and have had a normal (well, routine-wise) week this week. Our post - holiday schedule was a bit nutty. I had an uncle pass away on Christmas Eve and as soon as we returned from Christmas I worked Monday-Wednesday and then hit the road for Alabama where the funeral was. The funeral was very nice and I am so glad I was able to go and just be there for the ceremony. He was a Veteran and a hero and I'm just thankful that he's with Jesus now....knowing a peace he's never known.

It was such a blessing that the Sunday before departing WV our little one went to stay with one of her favorite people in the whole world ~ CHELSEA!! The daycare was going to be closed on New Years Eve and Tim and I were both scheduled to work (clearly this was before my plans shifted for the AL trip). Anyhow - Chelsea was off work that entire week and offered to meet us between her house and my in-laws and take Kennedy back with her to Pennsylvania for the entire week. At first I was really unsure about being away from her all week but Tim and I quickly decided it would give us an incredible opportunity to get some things done around the house without a toddler underfoot and she'd be off having a blast so it was a win-win.

Thankfully, despite how chaotic that week became for us we were still able to get the crib set up in the nursery and move some furniture around to accomodate the upcoming need to transform our once guest room into the baby's room. Meanwhile Kennedy was living it up PA style:

She loves "exploring"

I swear her fascination with any body of water: creek, pond, lake, ocean, etc. never ends!

Holy Icicle!

I got daily updates from Chelsea while Kennedy was there and apparently she took quite a liking to Chelsea's brother-in-law Tyler. Gee....ya think? I'd say she looks down right smitten.

She loves Grandma Barb too - of course that love began way before this visit. She's spoiled her as if she's her own grandchild for quite some time now. :) Chelsea said in the morning she'd ask her where Barb and Dave were. Hilarious! You think she's won over some hearts or what?

It wouldn't be a proper trip to the farm without some fun in the mud I suppose.....

Oh...and a romp on some hay bales too....

She even made Jello Jigglers...a first for Kennedy.

Most of all I think she got some R&R with Chelsea!

Tim and I joked driving away from dropping her off with Chelsea that we better take advantage of the child-free time it would give us because with #2 on the way who knows when we'll get that opportunity again! We knew that she was not only in good hands but that she was having a blast and to the Rearick Family - we feel blessed to have you all in our lives. Thank you for taking in our baby for a week.

She seemingly didn't miss a beat - stayed on schedule and didn't cry for Mommy (much to my dismay - hee hee). She did, however, hug me tightly and stroke my arm all during luch after we picked her up. She let me know in her way that she had missed me and I treasured it!

The Sunday morning after we picked her up and were snuggling her in bed she said "Momma, where does Chelsea live again" and I answered "Pennsylvania". She said "oh...can I go back there tomorrow". I said - "no" and when she asked "why not" I replied "because I would miss you too much" and she said "oh...ok". I am glad that she has the bond she has with Chelsea...I couldn't feel more thankful for that relationship.  

We are looking forward to Chelsea being here to stay with Kennedy when we go into deliver this new little one. I knew there is no one else she'd rather be with and thankfully Chelsea is willing. It's hard to believe thats only 9 short weeks away! It'll be here before we know it.