A Little Training and a Little Life

The time has come...

2012-01-27T16:53:00.000-08:00

To share what's been going on in the Taylor household! Big things have been happening and I've been anxious to share but waiting for what I felt like was the appropriate time & I feel the time is appropriate!

Why waste another minute, right? If the most sophisticated test you'll ever pee on said it's so....it must be so, right? Ha! That commercial cracks me up!

I know what your thinking, because I was thinking it too (that is after I stopped crying long enough to even process a thought!) It went a little something like this: can't.breathe....need air...or paper bag....whichever will come first....how did this happen (wait I know that part) snort sniffle, blow, choke! oh my word oh my word OH.MY.WORD.Y'ALL!

I mean - I ALREADY HAVE A BABY!

And then I told my sweet "rock of a husband" who replied with this: "Lindsy - God's going to take care of us" (enter instance one (following the positive test) where the Lord showed himself in our circumstance) "Besides" Tim said: "what can we do now?" and that became my attitude. Right...what can we do now? This is happening so...I guess we need to embrace it, right?

So...I smiled when I told my closest of friends in that most immediate time of knowing, but truthfully....I was still processing. We knew we wanted more kids, we just didn't intentionally plan to have them quite this close together, but God - he had other plans. Unfortunately his plans included me getting back into my pre-Avery jeans about a week before that blessed positive test...oh how short lived that little grace period was. Thank you Jesus....thank you so much for that. ;)

It was, however, a HUGE blessing to discover early on that two of my closest friends were not only pregnant as well but due IN THE SAME WEEK (instance two - thank you Lord).

We shared with our pastor and his wife pretty early on too and their reaction was amazing - pure ecstatic joy (seriously!) followed by the most confident and re-assuring "What a blessing" and "God will provide" as if they were stating the sky was blue - LOVE THAT.

Instance three.

So I called my midwife who responded as I thought she would but was ever so kind and excited for us and she scheduled an ultrasound for 7 weeks and of all of my ultrasounds I do believe this is the tiniest little beginning of life I've ever seen. When we (Kennedy and I) went for the appointment I hadn't shared the news with her yet. Once you have a miscarriage you find yourself MUCH more reluctant to share pregnancy news before it's confirmed in some shape or form. So... once the picture was clear and heartbeat audible, the ultrasound tech said "well, there's your baby's heartbeat" to which of course I felt what all Mom's feel - "wow, Lord - you're amazing" huge sigh of relief. (Insert instance four) Kennedy looked up at the ultrasound screen and said "where is that?" and the tech said "that's in your Mommy's belly honey" and her look....oh her look when she turned to me with her big blue eyes and said "Momma....we are going to have ANOTHER baby?". *I wish I had it on camera! I swallowed back my emotion and then laughed a little and said "yeah, honey - what do you think of that?" and she took a moment wide-eyed and then smiled a sweet smile and said "a baby for Avery" because she still calls Avery her baby. It's one of those moments... you know Mommy moments that I'll remember FOREVER.

The weekend we celebrated Christmas with the Taylors, Dad delivered one of those sermons that Sunday where you JUST KNOW that God is reaching into your soul saying ever so gently "I'm talking to you my child...hear me and listen...let me help you and carry you". I was so emotional the entire time because I just felt that Holy Spirit stirring and my "circumstance" changed in that very instant to my blessing from God in which I was to have no fear or worry. God was going to provide and be with us every.single.step.of.the.way. I don't remember all that was said but I do remember that he gave illustration after illustration where God was with people in the Bible and he was impressing upon the congregation that if he did it then he will do it now and he talked about how much parents love their children and how much more our Heavenly Father loves us. It was a turning point and I'm so very thankful for that turn. Instance five.

We decided to share the news with our families over Christmas because we'd be seeing all of them. When we told the Taylors (by way of a card with the ultrasound enclosed) their first response to our clear apprehension was "God's gonna provide...he'll help you and bless you". Instance six. My Mom wept tears of joy and my sisters gave me confidence and reassurance that it would be wonderful and although it would be crazy we would make it and it would be fun along the way. Instance seven.

Since Abby is one of those closest friends I mentioned earlier who is due the same week, we decided to share with our other close friends in town simultaneously on New Years Eve. Well, I guess I should say the "big sisters" shared. So fun!

It took them a minute to process what was happening but once they did there was joy and hugs abound. So much to be thankful for...

Not a very BIG Big Sister, but a Big Sister nonetheless.

This week marked our 12th week and the week we'd be sharing with my employers and everyone else (thankyouverymuchblogandFacebook). I was REALLY nervous about telling my employers just because, well..I just did this and all, you know?

Well, our church has been reading through Proverbs and on Monday morning I was reading through Chapter 23 and verse 7 really stuck out to me: "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he". In essence - we become what we think and I realized I had become so preoccupied with the reactions I knew were to come like: "was that planned", "were you not on birth control" "are you kidding me". etc. etc. that I had begun to expect the negative and it was making me BE negative rather than joyous. God wants our minds to be renewed according to his word and I automatically thought of a few verses that could renew my mind:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it." Genesis 9:7

Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. Psalm 127:3

The LORD says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Psalm 32:8

That sweet quiet time - instance eight.

I had a lot of friends just praying for peace for me and for the right words to say and just over the whole situation. I also had some grace-filled mentors just speak truth into me and help to prepare me for all that lies ahead.

My 12 week ultrasound was scheduled for 10 AM Monday morning and Tim surprised me at the appointment and when we got to see our little peanut and how much it changed......oh....

Instance 9

Instance ten

all looked healthy, perfectly healthy - thank you Lord and look at our little baby! No more unrecognizable object - there are fingers, toes and a perfect little nose!

Bring on the sharing! Sharing with my employers was hard, but it's past me and the Lord was definitely with me during that meeting...I felt every single prayer. When I left work that Monday evening and all this week I've just been in awe - in awe of God's goodness. In awe of how he has woven himself in every little instance. I mean, as believers we know that to be true but I feel like there are times in life when we feel it and are more apt to recognize it and I am so incredibly thankful for those times of nearness, aren't you? Now is one of those times in our lives and I couldn't feel more abundantly blessed and happy to share that "Baby Taylor Tres" as I've begun to call him/her is on his/her way, due to arrive the first week in August.

Sweet Old Friend

2012-01-21T09:33:00.000-08:00

On Monday of last week our family said "goodbye" to my first baby - my first four-legged baby: Annie. I adopted Annie from my Veterinary Technician Program/School about 12 years ago and she and I lived in a little efficiency - just the two of us for quite a while so she really was like my child. She's been the BEST cat over the years - always friendly and social, great with my kids, healthy her whole life until as of late.

We found out prior to Christmas that she had cancer and it was very aggressively acting so we knew she wasn't going to have much longer with us after we received the diagnosis. We (including Kennedy) were just simply heartbroken. We shared a ton of tears after finding out initially and then again this past Monday. I'm not talking about freely flowing graceful tears either y'all - I'm talking like the sobbing, gut wrenching, shoulder shaking, snotty cry! We just ADORED her - our whole family and extended family! I don't know what hurt worse - saying "goodbye" to Annie myself or watching how gut wrenching it was for Kennedy to say "goodbye" to her - those two were thick as thieves. I will say, it opened up great conversation between our family about Jesus and Heaven and just processing through some things that we've never had to do with Kennedy before. We got to talk about how once we get to Heaven, Jesus restores us and we have no more pain, no more cancer (in Annie's sake), she would get a new/healthy body and be with Hampton and Felicity and Grandpa and all those we know who are there. We discussed how Jesus probably has the best cat beds EVER and how he would probably love petting her and snuggling her just like she herself did. Precious moments for sure. We got to talk about what a blessing Annie had been to us and how much joy she brought us over the years. She was such a sweet, social, loving and precious part of our family. She and Kennedy had a special bond and I just savored all of the pictures I found of the two of them when getting ready to post this blog.

Every morning....EVERY.SINGLE.MORNING ~ within moments of Kennedy getting cozy to watch some cartoons while I made her breakfast - Annie sat with her. It was a predictable part of our routine. Kennedy often used the excuse of delaying getting ready because: "Mom, Annie and I are snuggling and she's comfy!"

Even Avery's gotten some of her snuggling.

Kennedy would cover her up like a baby...

Dress her up in silly bands....

"Decorate" her for holidays....

& even involve her in quiet play.

She never once tried to scratch either of my girls no matter the roughness that the curiosity caused.

The day we said our "goodbyes" she developed a nose bleed that would not cease and until Tim could get home from work we put her in the bathroom with a comfy set up and spent lots of time with her. Tim came home from work early and I had him take some pictures of Kennedy and I with her.

Oh how we miss her already, but oh how thankful I am to have had her all this time.

Better late than never

2012-01-18T13:32:00.000-08:00

Like I was saying in my previous posts, (yes, this is the 3rd Christmas posting!) we alternate families for holidays and it was the year to have Christmas with my sisters. My oldest sister graciously agreed to host at their home outside of DC. When I started thinking about the logistics of that trip (though I was super excited to go and see their new home) I really began to stress. That is a crazy long car ride and with the unpredictability of weather and traffic it could be an even longer ride...yikes. I had this horrific vision of a 13 hour trip with lots of crying and drama, so we looked into flights immediately. Almost as quickly as we looked, flying was vetoed because we couldn't spend that kind of $$ for this trip. On a whim I decided to check Amtrak. I've never traveled by train before but I knew my sister and her husband did it often so I figured it was worth a look see. Upon first search I figured I had to be doing something wrong because it looked SUPER affordable and sadly I just knew there was an error somewhere. I called my sister and asked for her assistance since it wasn't her first rodeo and all you know? Well, she basically responded something like this: "It's crazy but it's accurate - BOOK IT NOW SISTER" and so we did...that very same day. I was really excited and OH.MY.WORD. so was Kennedy. We left out of Charleston, WV and arrived in Alexandria, VA. It was a gorgeous ride and the girls did EXCELLENT. We were able to walk around and eat in the cafe car and the seat area was not only comfortable but really spacious. Each passenger was allowed 3 checked bags 50 lbs or less and 2 carry ons so we had more than enough allowance there. I really have no complaints except that maybe the restrooms could've been a bit better maintained.

Here we are pre-departure:

When she wasn't reading or watching DVD's - this is how Kennedy spent her train time:

Dinner in the cafe car:

Avery just enjoyed some squash:

I really wasn't sure how nap time was going to work on the train because this child WILL NOT sleep anywhere but in her crib. She does ok in the car when we take trips so all I knew to do was load the car seat on the train and hope she'd nap on the train like she does in the car. It was a 10 hour train ride - naps HAD to happen.The kids always do better than what I think ~ the car seat idea worked like a charm:

Sweet little sleeper:

We were the first guests to arrive after my Mom and Jim but Melissa, Steve and Declan (aka super cool Baby Santa followed shortly after):

I'm so thankful that in this "girls world" that is our family - the brothers manage to work in their "man time":

Uncle Steve reading "The Night Before Christmas" to the kiddos on Christmas Eve:

Um...not real sure what to say here except seriously!?!?!? We kept saying it reminded us of the outfits the elfs wear in the JibJab Elf Yourself videos that come out during the holidays.

Too funny!:

Let the Christmas fun begin: stockings!

Avery even got into it:

The one thing that Kennedy kept repeatedly asking for was a bed for Kitters. Well, Aunt Catina and family delivered because check out Kitters' stellar bed:

She got some super sweet slippers too. She's been wearing these like every day and talking about how fancy they are and how she can only wear sparkly things with them because they are so beautiful. Such a girlie girl.

Sweet cousin Maggie made Avery a present and I just love it. I'm a sucker for thoughtful home made items of any kind and I just think this is precious. It's currently propped up in her bedroom but I really want to frame it somehow because it's the sweetest thing ever!

Catherine and Maggie got a Wii, which the adults promptly set up and proceeded to hog for the remainder of our vacay. ;)

Big Jim and Honey with Kennedy. She loves her Honey!

I had a big Christmas this year because two of my most desired items were a camera (check check thanks to Tim's parents) and a stand mixer which I had just discovered I was getting when my dear husband snapped this fantastic photo:

Wait, wait - it gets better: Don't you love how my big sister there (who also had just discovered she was getting the same) is all calm, cool and collected while I epitomize the "I'm the baby of the family" behavior. Nice! Thanks Mom - I'm LOVING it already.

The boys all got scarves and they couldn't resist the urge to ham it up for a photo op:

The babies. Yes, he is like 6 months younger than Avery. Tim and I produce growth stunted offspring. =)

The Christmas dinner table was beautiful and the food was amazing. My big sister Angel - she goes ALL OUT and is just an incredible hostess - period! Her husband Carl fried us up a turkey that was deeelicious and Tim kind of got a bit crazy on the picture taking of said turkey (not sure why - he's a man?)

When we were younger and had big holiday gatherings there was always a "kiddie table" and now our kiddos are carrying on that tradition with a kiddie table of their own.

My Mom likes to purchase my sisters and I matching PJ's on our Christmas's together. She found these super cute and super comfy Lily PJ's at TJ Maxx

No exaggeration - there were probably like 20 pictures taken and this is the best of what we've got:

I love this one - this is us - everything about it is us and I LOVE it!

Christmas wouldn't be complete without some sugar cookie makin':

It was really hard to go - it always is, but getting back to reality always sobers me up a bit and just makes me kind of mind over matter before my emotions get the best of me. The train ride back was a nice distraction - lots to look at and Avery was more interested and MUCH more needy on the ride home so there wasn't really time for lots of tears:

We all napped a little on the way home - even my non-napping "big girl":

There's nothing sweeter than a sleeping child!

Christmas at our house

2012-01-07T13:32:00.000-08:00

After our Christmas with the Taylor's we celebrated Christmas as a family at our house. After picking our tree out at the tree farm (of course), another part of our annual celebrating and tradition involves baking. I am blessed to have one of THE MOST AMAZING friends ever who joins me not only for crack of dawn morning runs but all my ambitious baking endeavors as well. I'm pretty sure that the only people who may love her more than me (well...her hubby but he doesn't count) are my children...two legged and four legged sort.

Here she is with big helper Kennedy.

What we had to show after our annual holiday bake-a-thon.

Mmmm...cinnamon rolls & peanut butter fudge (both recipes courtesy of Pioneer Woman)

For the past two years and this year making our third - we take rolls to the local fire station and explain to Kennedy that those men and women work even on our holidays to keep us safe. Both years prior I've gotten pictures of her delivering the goodies, but I didn't get one this year sadly. For memory and documenting purposes though - we did it! =)

I'm still toying with my camera whenever I can. I love this picture of Avery in front of our tree:

This is our tree with all the presents wrapped underneath the evening we let the girls open their gifts. I just didn't think we could take them all with us to DC for them to open on Christmas day so we did it a few days before we left on our trip. A lot of people like for their kids to be home on Christmas day for that reason, but traveling to my family members' homes takes an entire day and I wouldn't want to sacrifice time with them just to be home. I hope that one day we aren't so far and maybe we can have some time with them waking up in our home on Christmas morning.

They had a big ole' time opening gifts! Avery mostly just wanted to eat all the wrappings.

This little piano was a big hit. It's funny how you notice things about your kids at an early age...Avery LOVES music. I mean singing, instrumental, anything and she loves it even more when she realizes she's the one creating it so I just knew she'd get a kick out of this little piano. Kennedy never showed interest in music like that...she was however always skipping, jumping, hopping, running, dancing, etc.....I swore she'd be a gymnast or a ballerina...the verdict is still out.

This was a B.I.G H.I.T.....I'm not about character clothing, but I knew she'd love it so I bit the bullet and got in on clearance at Old Navy for like $2...made it not seem so bad at that price. ;)

This was an item she asked Santa for so she was very pleased she received it.

Very, very pleased indeed...

She opened her presents from her Grandaddy and Gigi too and she was very excited about all of her new Story Reader books. These were awesome on our train trip to DC a few days later.

I think I was more excited about this book than they were, but once they realize we've got the dolls to go with it and they get a little older I think they will be ALL ABOUT it!

Courtesy of Aunt Janine and Uncle Joshie, we now own Elf on the Shelf. It was big fun the remaining days we were home prior to Christmas.

She chose one of the names out of the book for our little elf: Criddle.

Miss Avery got some very cute cloth diapers. We have been cloth diapering for a while but I've been basically on one day off the next because we needed more and they aren't inexpensive. We made sure to put those on her Christmas list (poor kid, right?) and family members delivered because we are in full swing cloth diapering every day now. I'm just happy to be saving money on diapers and now that I have a system down pat it's really nowhere near as hard...or gross as I thought it would be.

Our Christmas at home with the girls was fun. It was nice to just relax and watch them open their gifts from us...not too much fuss and not too many presents...just nice and calm. It was a nice time of just being thankful for them and all the joy they bring to our lives.

The day we left town we had a visitor stay with us for the day. Abby's normal sitter had vacation planned so I was HAPPY to keep Adalyn for the day. The girls had a ton of fun and she got me seriously thinking about how quickly I need to be child-proofing my home because she's moving EVERYWHERE and I know Avery will be soon!

My Grandmother bought this snow globe for my girls a couple of years ago and Adalyn was as big of a fan of it as my girls are. I swear the thing probably cost $5 but you would think it was THE BEST THING EVER! So funny.

It was kind of hard to pack with three kiddoes but I did o.k. between naps and managed to get us out by the kids bedtime that night. More to come about Christmas with my side of the family and the train we took there and back.

Christmas with the Taylors

2011-12-31T11:20:00.000-08:00

Each year Tim and I rotate holidays with our families. My older sisters already had a system in place for dividing their time equally between our family and their in-laws so I just hopped on. Last year we spent Christmas with Tim's family, so this year we spent Christmas with my family. On the years that we have Christmas with my family we still reserve a few days to celebrate Christmas with the Taylors too ~ we are blessed in that they are close enough to do so.

This was the first gift Kennedy opened from Nana and Pawpaw - how over the top is this dress up outfit?!

Check the shoes:

After we got it all on and the little shoes laced up, she then proceeded to open her other gifts while wearing it.

This was Avery's first gift opened and it was a hit!

The Taylors gave Kennedy her first doll house...BIG doll house. She LOVES it - it is complete with all kinds of furniture and accessories that function (tea pot, stereo, television, etc.) so it has kept her really busy! Here are some pictures of her the next morning after opening it - she is positioning things "just so"...she's totally my daughter in that way.

It even has a "Mom, Dad, and two babies".

We always enjoy going to their home church when we are there. Tim grew up in that church so the church family really does treat us like we are their family - it's really endearing. It's nice to hear his Dad preach and his message was especially touching that Sunday - just spoke to me where I was and I was thankful we were there. Here's a good picture I snapped beforehand of the girls with their Nana.

After church we had a traditional Christmas dinner and Great Aunt Kathryn and Grandma joined us. I'm thankful my girls are always loving with them. I can tell they just cherish those moments. Here's Kathryn holding Avery.

and Grandma

Both Grandma and Kathryn contributed "rooms" to Kennedy's doll house.

Each year I struggle with what to get them for Christmas. I mean, let's be honest - at that age you have most of what you need so anything else is just additional stuff. Sometimes we do pictures or calendars, candles or baked goodies, last year I did a plant for both of them but this year I really wanted to get Kennedy involved. My sister Catina taught us how to do knot blankets for my grandparents one year and so we decided to do that for them this year. They REALLY seemed to like them so I was glad.

I have so few family pictures anymore, so I was thankful with Rita offered to take some following church on Sunday. They turned out really cute.

Next up: pictures of my family Christmas...we were there for several days so I'll have to sift through the 300 pictures first. Oh my!

Finally! & The "JB Santa"

2011-12-23T18:49:00.000-08:00

Christmas has begun for our family - we celebrated with the Taylors last weekend and left today for DC to celebrate with my family. The Taylors gifted our Christmas present early and I COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE EXCITED about what they generously gave us this year! It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I have a passion for photography - I took photography in college, I'm a scrapbooker and pretty much the token picture taker at all events. The problem with all of that, is that until now I've not owned a very nice camera. Nowadays every average Joe and or SAHM has an incredible camera. Taking good pictures isn't as much of a skill or art form anymore because DSLR cameras are so awesome now they do a lot of the work for you. I can finally join the ranks of those camera owners as we now own a Canon Rebel T3 DSLR. I've been using it like crazy and trying to familiarize myself with all the lenses and functionalities, etc. I can already tell it's going to take me a while to get used to it - lots has changed since my film Canon Rebel. I have managed to get some pictures that just put my trusty ole powershot images to shame despite my lack of expertise with my new camera:

With this face, you'd never know that she is a neurotic head case of a dog who requires daily Prozac to live among us in a normal co-habitative state.

Why are baby bellies so cute? And on that note - why can't they be cute when we're in our 30's...just sayin'

Tim took the girls to have Breakfast with Santa this year while I was at work. As it turns out, every time we've taken Kennedy to see Santa....it has been THIS VERY Santa. Kinda funny....

These dresses made perfect Breakfast with Santa attire - thanks to Nana.

Because I like to reminisce, here is Kennedy with "The Joseph Beth Santa" last year

and the year before...sniff, sniff...my baby is growing up!

So, I'm happy that our VERY documented life will be documented a little bit more vividly now thanks to the Taylors. Hey, maybe one day I'll start taking pictures that are as amazing as the ones Jes Meeker takes for me. Ones like these 9 month shots she recently took of Avery.

Oh these sweet little faces!

I can dream about taking pictures like that...maybe one day!

Y'all have a blessed and Merry Christmas! I hope you eat until you hurt and watch Elf enough times that you memorize some of it because it's just that funny!

Tannenbaum & Advent

2011-12-17T09:41:00.000-08:00

The first weekend in December we had a visitor - one of Kennedy's favorite visitors: Chelsea! She drove down to visit but also because there was a special occasion - Kennedy's first dance performance. We had such a good time but as usual it wasn't long enough and I HATED seeing her go. Kennedy still adores her as much now as she did when she spent every day with her as a little one and I love watching their relationship grow - it's just really special. Avery doesn't quite know her yet, but she will. In the short amount of time Chelsea was here she got some of the best belly laughs out of her that I've heard in her 9 months of life.

While she was in town - we drug her along on our annual Griswald-like family trek through the Christmas tree farm to pick out THE BEST tree for the season! We went to the same tree farm that we went to last year and I loved it just as much. It is owned by a retired UK professor and his wife and they are so sweet. She hands out candy canes and they have UK Ag students chop the trees down and tie them on your car. All around it's just a really cool experience. Because we'd been last year and they'd gotten our address then, we got a sweet little hand written note from them in November telling us what kind of trees they had and when they opened, etc. I mean...what more can you ask for: seriously!? Not sure why this posted sideways...but you get the idea:

When Chelsea is town I'm virtually non-existent so Kennedy pretty much did her tree searching with Chels.

I value Kennedy's opinion, but she picks out trees like this:

perfect size for her...not so perfect for our family tree. I found one Avery's size too...

~sweet little cheeser~

Posing by our tree...

I was pretty much in love with it, but Tim wanted to walk the ENTIRE tree farm to make sure it was "the one". We were there on their opening day so there were a lot of people walking around and I was a little scared someone would get it while we were walking around. Tim decided his hat was a sufficient marker for the tree while we "made sure" it was the one. Turns out...Momma knows best - this here tree is in our living room all lit up and fancy as I type this.

The girls were intrigued with the chopping down process.

And up it goes...thankyouverymuch nice little UK Ag student - we appreciate you!

After the tree was all decorated it was time to get Kennedy ready for her Advent Dance performance. I have loved Wilmore Christian Ballet - I love that they teach them to teach for Jesus and that they are little princesses of the King...precious! She was most excited about her performance, but you know how kids are...you just never really know how they'll do.

We got a few quick snapshots prior to the performance:

~Pretty in pink~

~Daddy's little ballerina~

The performance was SO good - it was honestly moving. It told the story of Jesus' birth beginning with the Angel appearing to Mary to tell her she would be having the son of God and on through different periods in his life. The music was wonderfully powerful and just good! Kennedy played the part of a stable sheep...here she is during the performance:

We were very proud because she did exactly what she was supposed to do and I was impressed because honestly there were SO MANY girls and her part was so small but she hung in there for the entire performance. We snagged her in costume to get a couple of pictures after the cast completed their bows. Clearly she was less than thrilled about this photo op - she was "itchy and hot and wanted the nose off her face" ha!

Even though Nana had just been here for Thanksgiving she came right back for the performance - she didn't want to miss it and we were so glad she came.

Our neighbors from our old neighborhood are part of this studio too - here are the two Kennedy's after the performance. She was a star - so pretty.

I told Tim he needed to have her some flowers for after the performance and he delivered: pink roses! She wasn't as excited about getting flowers as I thought she would be, but I still say "Good job Daddy!"

She seemed to have so much fun with ballet this semester I just knew she'd want to do it again, but when I asked her if she wanted to dance again she said she'd rather try gymnastics again. I'm really surprised, because on any given day you can step into our house and witness a scene that looks a little bit like this:

I'm all about her doing what it is she wants to do, so if she wants gymnastics - gymnastics here we come...again.

Gobble Gobble

2011-12-08T18:45:00.000-08:00

Nothing like a good ole' Thanksgiving post almost a week into December, right? *Sigh* It just IS my life right now....late to everything and late with everything...I'm trying to embrace it and I cannot.tell.a.lie - it hurts but I'm trying.

Tim's parents joined us for Thanksgiving this year and we hosted because I was scheduled to work so a trip to WV was virtually impossible. I'm thankful they were able to make the trip and we could all be together for a few days.

Clearly my kiddos were thrilled too:

I actually prepared several things ahead of time (Praise the Lord) so Thanksgiving day cooking wasn't nearly as overwhelming as I had anticipated. Kennedy even got in the kitchen and helped me cook...of course, her version of "helping" me cook looks pretty much like this:

She was a big help when it came to prepping this beauty (Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle) - it

was DEELICIOSO and didn't it turn out real purdy?!

She wanted to try cutting the potatoes as well and although it caused a bit of Mommy anxiety, she successfully helped me quarter 5 pounds of potatoes for our mashed potato recipe.

Here are my girls with their grandparents - don't you love Kennedy's expression? It's practically angelic, right? Oh my - the effort it takes to get a picture of those two turkeys - it's unbelievable really.

Our spread - YUMMO! We had a TON of food but don't you worry...we polished those leftovers off real quick like. I have been so excited to use our Christmas china this year. We registered for Christmas china when we got married but have NEVER used it (one word: L.A.Z.Y.) My Grandmother pretty much solely made my collection what it is - she'd have been so proud of my table!

My girls ready to dig in. Avery was about the mashed potatoes....of course, who wouldn't be?

This little one just turned 9 months on December 1st...it's hard to believe. Time is just zooming on by. She's such a joy - just happy and easy going (Thank you Jesus!).

She officially has four teeth (which Daddy perfectly captured here) and one coming in next to her top two. She's had some rough nights due to discomfort but nothing a little Orajel and Tylenol can't fix.

So big!

Better late than never, right?

2011-11-26T09:40:00.000-08:00

Early in October, the Moms group that I am a part of planned a day to go to the pumpkin patch. When the day arrived to go, it was cold and drizzling - not exactly ideal for a nice fall trip to the patch. The trip was cancelled and it was not re-scheduled. I was really bummed because we get a really nice group rate where the hayride, play area access, petting zoo, selected pumpkin, and snack are all included (way cheaper than you could do it on your own). Kennedy always loves it and I do too - I'm a HUGE fan of traditions so I just figured Tim and I would pick a weekend and take her but then our October was gone before I could blink and we never made it out there. I kept seeing people post pictures on Facebook and or blogs from their family trips to the pumpkin patch and I was just flat upset that we hadn't made it happen. So...the first Sunday in November was a beautiful one and we figured better late than never and packed up after Avery's nap and headed on out to Boyd's. Unfortunately their website hours were incorrect and when we got there, they notified us they were closing in an hour! Fortunately for us, however, they let us in with access to the play area and patch for free! Yay!

It was a gorgeous afternoon - sunny and cloudless - weren't the trees beautiful? Surprisingly there were still quite a few pumpkins left.

I only had to take this picture about 10 times to get one that was decent. No smile from Avery but at least they were all three looking at me. I have to act CAH-RAZY to get the girls looking at the same time - seriously...C.R.A.Z.Y!

After I can't even remember how many attempts to get one of just the girls I gave up - pick your battles, right?

We hadn't really planned to pick out a pumpkin since Halloween aka jack-o-lantern season was over, but Kennedy really wanted one and I figured it'd be cute on the porch until Thanksgiving was over so we went on a hunt for what Kennedy thought was the perfect pumpkin:

In the end, she and her Daddy thought this was the best Taylor porch pumpkin:

I've decided that after Halloween is THE TIME TO GO to the patch from now on- we were literally almost THE ONLY ones there so Kennedy went up and down each slide all she wanted. I'm pretty sure in kid world it = best day ever!

There is one slide out there that is super big and the line is always ridiculously long when we go out there. It's a slide that makes me all nervous and well, kind of "special" because big kids like this slide and there's no monitoring at the top by staff so the big kids will just cut in front of the little kids (sometimes pushing and sometimes not) and Kennedy will stand up there for 10 minutes sometimes - not exaggerating. It's one of those moments where it tests your Mommy patience because I know it's important that she learns to exert herself if necessary and I know waiting in line skills are important too, but when an overweight 13 year old named Billy Bob the 5th goes up for his 10th time down the slide and pushes my baby back when it was her turn - LAWD help me, I just can't take it! I digress....there were no crowds this time (insert hallelujah chorus here)So...it was BIG fun that she could just run up and down and her Daddy could help her - no pushing, no cutting, no impatient kids behind her and no anxiety ridden Mommy - it was seriously wonderful.

seriously - wonderful:

After she finally had enough of sliding, we climbed up to the top of the haystack. The view was so pretty with the sun setting and I was just happy we made it happen even though it was late in the season!

Next year, Avery will be running around too - hard to believe but I'm sure it'll be back around before I know it!

I've enjoyed having a warmer than usual November because it's given me some outside time with my girls. Avery loves her swing and she's started to prefer the "hanging on" position which just makes me laugh for some reason because she literally is barely moving.

Kennedy's been all about throwing the leaves whenever she can. I'm hoping her Daddy decides they'd look better in a lawn bag than all over our yard and play set soon (;hint hint Daddy).

Before I jump into my Thanksgiving posting (which will likely come in December sometime: ha!) I must share this super cute picture that I got of "Uncle Jonathan" with my girls at Adayln's 1st birthday party (that still seems strange even typing it - how is she 1???) Kennedy LOVES him to pieces and I thought this picture was super sweet.

Look at this sweet little peanut - I mean, really? She and her party were just over the top cute and Abby's done a whole series of birthday posts if you'd like to see the details. I was particularly fond of her sitting pretty in her little party hat.

Abby and Jonathan worked really hard on the party and it turned out just as sweet as it could be. Adalyn handled it all really well and even took interest in opening her presents.

Well, hopefully it won't be December before I post again because I have some cute pictures of our Thanksgiving and it was so nice to have Tim's parents in to join us. Tim and I can now officially say we've tackled our first preparing of the Thanksgiving Turkey and it was good! I've had to work some over the holiday but it's still had it's moments of relaxation and time to just be truly thankful for all we have. Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to start thinking of Christmas and what better way to do so than with some good ole' Christmas movies? A friend of mine shared this incredible TV schedule and I straight up printed it out. I'm a sucker for all Christmas music and all Christmas movies! Bring em' on!

In my mind I'm going to Carolina...

2011-11-08T13:43:00.000-08:00

Although I've grown to love Kentucky, "home" to me is always going to be South Carolina. My Mom is in SC, my high school friends are in SC, and it's where I grew up...thus - it's home. Unfortunately, because it is SO FAR AWAY - I don't get to go very often (as in until recently it had been over 2 years since II had been there). I've been to the beach each summer which is close, but I've not actually stayed with my Momma and been to see friends in over 2 years which just boggles my mind - it's crazy really. With the way my work schedule had been (M, W, F) it was virtually impossible to make it down there and usually for holidays we all meet in the middle so I never quite made it down until a couple of weeks ago. My big sister Melissa is on maternity leave and she and I decided that since my schedule allows me to take a long weekend and since she is off on leave - we'd go together. Once we picked the time we'd go, we both contacted our friends and planned when we could get together, but mostly we wanted to just spend time with Mom. It was a crazy trip down which included a broken GPS, rain almost the whole way and a minor fender bender (no one was injured thankfully) so needless to say I was more than thrilled when I stopped in Charlotte to pick Melissa up and she offered to drive. Hallelujah! We were a bit apprehensive about all three kiddos fitting in the back of my Jeep, but fit they did:

I always wondered if Tim and I added to Team Taylor would we have room in our present vehicle and now I know ~ we most certainly would. Now...packing all their gear for any trip longer than a few days (jury's still out because holy moly at the stuff):

Kennedy proved to be an excellent paci-putter-inner and Declan was thankful:

The fair was in town while we were there and my Mom really wanted to take Kennedy. This was Kennedy's first experience with a fair this size, but let me just tell you that intimidated she WAS NOT - she was ALL ABOUT IT! This was her first ride and oh.my.word.the.joy!

We went pretty early so she virtually walked right up and onto each ride of her choice. It was so funny watching her because she'd basically finish with one ride, then go sprinting to another ride while we all tried to keep up behind her. I kept telling her not to run off like that but then the excitement would just overtake her and she'd do it over again. Thankfully, because the crowd was slim when we went it wasn't too big of a deal and we mostly just laughed at how exhilarating it all was for her. Oh to be 4 again!

She tried her first elephant ear and fair corn dog. Melissa and I decided there seems to be no future fear of "carnies" in her future as she took to each ride operator as if they were family. God love all those people - they could have been the stereotypical minimum wage worker - agitated by their job and life in general, but they weren't. Most of them acted as if it was opening night and would hold her hand and ask her which car, animal or swing she wanted to sit in as if it was their life's work not only to make her happy but make it the best experience EVER! As a Mom - you just appreciate that kind of attention and attitude. Now, I can't say if they really were excited about their job or if they were just smitten by her fair permagrin. Either way, I don't really care -I'm just thankful because she had a blast. She was asleep before leaving the fair ground parking lot.

I have not been to the fair in FOREVER before this and let me just tell you it was some excellent people watching - excellent I tell you. I must confess that for some reason I kept envisioning the scene from Joe Dirt where he operates the fair ride. Do y'all remember that? Well, if you don't: no worries....for your viewing pleasure -

I know right? Bahahahahah - it kept making me laugh while I was there. Hee hee hee........

I got some excellent snuggle time with my one and only nephew Declan. Seriously - look at that handsome mug!

Most of the snuggles were reserved for Honey - oh how my kids love her and oh how I love that they love her - there's just nothing like family. Because our time together is always so limited, it's just precious.

Melissa and I got to visit with some of our Charleston friends while we were home. Crispin met us for breakfast one morning at the IHOP. Kudos to him - he braved breakfast with two women and three children and he is newly married with no children so that's something to brag about in my opinion!

I got together with several of my girlfriends from high school too. Every time I go home I make a point to see these girls. I'm so thankful that we have stayed friends all these years. We've been friends since middle school. I switched from private to public school in 7th grade and that is when I met these girls so that is over 20 years (that is insane - I kept re-calculating that in my head thinking I had to have messed up...nope, just gettin' old!) We've obviously matured, married and had kids but the friendships have stayed the same and I'm so grateful for that! Kaye isn't pictured here unfortunately because she'd already left for the night but pictured are Jennifer, Kelly and Casey. Kaye and Kelly don't have children so it was a bit high octane for them I'm sure, but I'm glad they joined in the chaos because I loved getting to catch up with them.

All our kiddo's. It was an act of God (and bribery with Halloween candy) that they all sat still for this.

Just us gals!

After Jennifer and Casey posted the above pictures on Facebook I just kept thinking about how long we'd all been friends and in lieu of my reminiscing (Kennedy and Jackson) in my last posting I decided it would be fun to try to find some old pictures of us girls. Well, let me just say first that I have always been a big scrapbooker so I knew right where to go to find old pictures. My "scrapbooking" hasn't always been fancy though -

Oh my word - it had been a long time since I'd opened that scrapbook and it gave me lots of laughs and smiles. I think the main picture there was taken at a Beta (honors society) club event our freshman year? I'm in the red dress. To my left is Kelly and to my right are Jennifer and Kaye. Below that big picture and in the middle is a cut out picture of Casey and I. I know you're lovin' that vest and pant combo I'm rockin' - just let my Mom know because I think she sewed it: aww yeeeahhh! I'm not sure who of all my friends reads this blog but Kelly and Jennifer if y'all read this: I love your hair in your high school yearbook pictures! Ha!

Once visiting with friends was done it was all Honey time from there on out....just what Kennedy wanted clearly:

Declan too (nobody can rock a colic hold like a Grandma and don't you forget it!)

I may have had to shake a maraca and act like a crazy idiot to get them all to look...of course my Mom isn't. Oh well - I tried! =)

oh, but wait for it...wait for it - Yes! Score Mommy/Aunt Lindsy! Totally frame worthy.....

There was absolutely NO way we were going to make trip down South and not see Kennedy's other cousins. She kept asking..."Mom, we are going to see Catherine and Maggie, right?" I may have answered that question 242 times or at least like 10 - she LOVES those girls. We broke up the trip on the way home with a night stay in Winston to see my other sister and the girls.

We tried to rise as early as humanly possible and get ready for our drive home on Halloween day - we were desperately trying to make it in time for trick-or-treat and clearly from my last post - we made it. I wanted a few pictures of the girls in their festive outies but Avery was the only cooperative one. She's a pretty cute cooperative one though:

Not sure when I'll get to make another trip home, so I'm so thankful we were able to make this one. I had so much fun getting to just be home. Hopefully it won't be two years before I return ;)

Seasonal Fun

2011-11-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago Billie, Abby and I made applesauce. It's something they've done annually, but I've yet to join in on the fun until this year and I'm so glad I did because the product of our "labor" is oh so yummy! Each year I've heard Abby talk about the little machine thingy they use that makes the whole process seamless and tons easier (not that I would know regardless because I was an applesauce making virgin...if you will) but this year I got to see it in action. Said little machine thingy is called a victorio. Online it looks like they cost about $60.00 and now that I know what it does, I'd say that $60 is well worth every penny if applesauce makin' is something you're interested in! We purchased the apples at a local orchard at about $18.00 a bushel (please know that when I say we...what I mean is Billie's husband Derek was nice enough to swing by on his day off and pick em' all up for us - thanks Derek!). The apples were washed and cut into quarters (with no regard to dark spots, skin, seeds, stem, etc.) and then placed into big pots of boiling water until they became soft. The apples then go straight from the pot into the victorio and that fancy little machine basically does the rest. You mash the apples down with the red plunger-like device (don't y'all love all my fancy schmancy terminology?) like Billie is doing here:

Then you turn the crank on the side like this sweet little helper was doing:

She was completely into it!

On one side the victorio spits out the seeds, skin and stems and on the other side of a filter it spits out the applesauce - ahhhmazing right? I don't know exactly how many bags of applesauce each bushel made, but I'm thinking about 15 quart size freezer bags of applesauce. In other words - I'm thinking I won't need to be spending money on Mott's anytime soon thank you very much. Thanks for letting me join you girls - it was so fun and team Taylor is pretty pumped about our applesauce stock pile.

Halloween kind of snuck up on me this year. We still haven't been to the pumpkin patch (gasp! - I know!). I just feel like we've been crazy busy and once my scheduled Moms group outing to the patch got cancelled I just didn't work it back in anywhere and now Halloween is over - bummer! I was thinking I should still go though - I mean, I hate to not have any pics of the girls with pumpkins....that just seems wrong, doesn't it? Anyhow, I digress - Halloween snuck up on me but luckily we had the items necessary for the girls' costumes. Kennedy said she wanted to be a ballerina: check on all ballerina paraphernalia...no purchases necessary = score! I did buy a little canvas bag and ironed on some applique stuff for her to carry as her trick or treat bag, but otherwise we had all we needed and then some truthfully. It's a girls world over here! Avery's little outfit has been in our family hand me down collection for quite some time. Is she the cutest little Clemson cheerleader you've ever seen or what?

Don't you love how I'm hiding in the above picture. I'd been in the car for like 8 hours on my way back from Charleston (details in another post) - I wasn't feeling very kodak momenty...I love that the final product is a perfect shot of my mid-section: nice...real nice honey. Speaking of my honey...how sweet is this picture of him with his baby girl. I'm kind of in love with it.

I was all pumped about trick or treating this year because last year she "got it" and this year I figured she' be all out sprinting between houses to get as much candy as possible (not that I ever felt that feeling myself as a child ;) but instead she just wanted to stay at our church's fall festival and go up and down the blow up slides as much as humanly possible. My original plan had been to go trick or treating for about 30 minutes in a nearby neighborhood and then head to our church for the festival. Well....my trip home took longer than expected and once we got them changed and fed I had a small window before I was ready to collapse so we headed straight to church. Once she'd "made her rounds" I asked her if she was ready to go and trick or treat and she basically didn't seem to care about trick or treating (I seriously couldn't fathom that she'd not trick or treat AT ALL...I just couldn't do it). I kept telling her it was going to get too dark and too late and if we didn't leave she wouldn't get any candy (our church was so overrun with kids and activity that the candy basically wasn't the star of the show if you can imagine that on Halloween night). Ultimately Avery started melting down so we had to leave and when we got in the car we gave her the option to go back to the festival with Daddy or trick or treat in our neighborhood with Daddy once Avery and I were home and I could tell it was very hard for her. Truthfully, I'm so glad that she loves to be with our church family so much because we do too, but I'm such a traditionalist when it comes to holiday happenings that I really wanted her to get a few trick or treating visits in. She did decide to trick or treat down our street rather than returning to the festival and she was very pleased with her treats that she was given. This is she and Jackson at the festival. Jackson goes to school with her and she just adores him. We've been in small groups with his parents and we just love their whole family. I'm glad these two are such buddies.

When they were smiling for the picture above I kept thinking...we took this same picture at Trunk-or-Treat two years ago but I didn't think I'd be able to find it and then I did:

My how they've changed...sure am glad their little friendship has grown with them. Sweetness.

"A Whole New Animal"

2011-10-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago my super talented photographer friend Jes took pictures of my girls. I wanted to document Kennedy at 4 and Avery at 6 months. We met up at Waveland Historic Site and honestly I didn't know how the pictures would turn out because Avery was fussier than usual and I didn't get as many outfit changes in as I had planned, etc.

Well, let's just say that when Jes dropped my CD off I was pleasantly surprised because these are some of my favorites Jes has ever done. Just when I think she can't get any better.......

It really is a miracle there are ANY good ones of Avery because bless her little heart she just wasn't herself that day. I had chalked her fussiness up to lack of sleep...that is until the next day a tooth shot through and then two days later another followed - poor baby didn't feel good!

One of my favorite things about Jes's photography style is that she catches my girls' personality. Don't get my wrong: I love a staged and cheesy picture just as much as the next Mommy, but I LOVE even more the photographs of them in action. You know - where she manages to get pictures of little faces or actions that are part of our every day existense but that I love and want to treasure forever. It's almost like in some of the pictures Kennedy was just playing in her own little world with no regard to Jes taking pictures and it's just natural. Does that make sense? Well, anyhow - I adore that part of her talent as a photographer and there are a great deal of those with Kennedy especially. Jes summed it up perfectly (this being the third year in a row she's photographed Kennedy) when she said "whew - she's a whole new animal this year". That she is: ;)

Oh my sweet little girls....the pictures of them together just turn me into a mushy mess!

I just know I'm going to blink and it will be time to do Avery's one year photographs. Oh my.

For those of you wondering - I faired well in my race this past weekend. The weather was amazing and the course was beautiful. My IPOD was loaded down with good praise and worship songs and I watched the sun come up over dewey horse pastures thankful to be out running and just having that time to BE. I finished in about two hours and ten minutes which isn't my best time but it isn't my worst either. I really wanted to be done at 11 miles, but I kept telling myself it was only 2 more and if I walked it would take me that much longer. I was SUPER sore after but am pretty much back to normal now so I'm really happy I did it. Courtney got some before and after pics but I've not seen them yet. When I do - I'll share....I'm sure we were all lookin' smokin' after. Ha! =)

Fun Times

2011-10-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

I know I've said this before, but I seriously can't believe how hard it is for me to find time to blog anymore. It is in part due to our slow internet connection, in part due to the fact that I must be sitting at the desk rather than somewhere comfortable or with my husband on the couch after work (subtly stating that I wish we had a laptop), but also majorly due to just having two kids and working part time...there's not much time left! I know there isn't anyone waiting with baited breath for me to post or anything, but I LOVE looking back over old posts and reading where we've been so I really want to keep blogging but man it's hard to find the time!

Speaking of working part time I really haven't said much about how much I am adoring being home with the girls more. You know, when I first went from full time to part time I was working all day M, W, and F with some fill-in shifts when others needed off. Then, after I had Avery and our daycare bill began costing more than my mortgage payment (yep, that's right!) I cut my hours in some more so now I only work part of T, all day W and every other Saturday. So...I have WAY more time with my girls than I used to and I am really enjoying it and feeling blessed by that time. I can tell that Kennedy is enjoying having more time together and Avery has become quite the Momma's girl so in her own way she's showing me she enjoys it too. We've been swinging:

Exploring new things:

Swinging some more:

My girls love to swing!

We've been baking ~

She doesn't really get the whole "less is more" thing ~ oh well!

So proud!

Despite being home more, I still have a hard time finding time to clean the house as well as I'd like. Last Thursday I cleaned ALL DAY (I'd like to state for the record that from the looks of our house now - YOU'D NEVER KNOW! So frustrating) so my girls kind of had to entertain themselves. At one point when I was vacuuming I turned it off to run and check on them real quick and this is what I found:

Love these sweet smiles!

In Avery news: she is sitting up on her own, eating all sorts of Mommy-made solids and using a straw cup ~ it's so cute seeing her hold that little cup up and use it.

When I was taking these pictures of her the other day playing in the floor in this dress I had serious dejavue of Kennedy and a picture I took of Kennedy in this very dress playing in the floor so I went on a mad hunt for it. It was a seriously odd feeling! Above and below are Avery...

This is Kennedy:

Kennedy is a little older than Avery in the above picture so I went looking for one where they were about the same age and here is Kennedy at Avery's age now - I am still seeing LOTS of similarities. What do y'all think?

Kennedy's Aunt sent this fun little flip flop wood cut out in the mail and we had fun paiting it on one of my days off last week. It challenged me to the MAXIMUM to totally let her paint it - WHEW! She was so proud when it was all said and done though...

Thanks Aunt A!

I've been so thankful lately for Kennedy's ability to self-entertain. I mean, this girl can play ALL DAY by herself: seriously! I try to do stuff with her every day that I'm home but sometimes I gotta clean or work on the computer or do dishes or whatever and before I realize it half the days gone and she's still in her jammies (sad, but true). She'a all in to playing with her "babies" lately. I thought this particular picture of her playing with Funshine Bear was so funny:

Thankfully when Tim gets home, he plays with Kennedy and allows me to have some time with just Avery or vice versa. Not sure what they were up to in this particular evening - but I love the picture.

This past weekend we all went to see Janine and Josh for Josh's 30th birthday. I'm going to go ahead and admit to myself that Lord knows when I'll be able to blog about it so if you want to see all the bday pics - check out Janine's postings here and here. Janine's been doing some really cool things with photography lately after taking a class that taught her bunches so she snapped some pics of Avery that turned out really cute...I'll share those soon...hopefully along with Avery's six month and Kennedy's 4 year pics from Jes.

For a total subject change - I'm running in my first 1/2 marathon since having Avery - THIS SUNDAY! Oh.my.word. I like to think I'm ready but we'll see about that. Hopefully I'll get to post about that soon too. So much to say...so little time. Ha!

2011-10-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I flew to Charlotte, NC to meet my sweet new little nephew Declan. Tim's Mom and Dad were nice enough to keep the girls while I was away. This was my longest time away from Avery so it was hard, but I know they were spoiled rotten (proof in the pics below) while I was gone. Kennedy LOVES going to Nana and Pawpaws and had been asking when she was going to get to go again prior to this trip so although I miss her when she's away it's easier knowing she wants to go and enjoys herself so much when she's there. Now that Avery is sitting up more, she is ALL ABOUT a swing. I had first tried her in a baby swing not long before they went to stay with Nana so I had told her she'd love their swing and clearly: she did!

She enjoyed the swing so much that Nana sent it back with us afterwards so it's on our swingset in our yard now and we've been using the heck out of it while the weather is still nice. Avery says "thank you Nana!"

Aside from the girls having alone time with Nana and Pawpaw I love that while they are there (or while the family is there all together) they get some quality time with their Great Aunt Kahtryn and Great Grandma. Those ladies love these little girls and the feeling is mutual!

Great Aunt Kathryn and Avery

Smiles with Great Granmda

Crafts with Nana: my girl loves a craft

Tim and I always said that if we had kids they better be willing to seek Pawpaw out because he kind of lives in his study (praying, preparing sermons, etc.). I'm sure part of the reason we feel like he's always in his study is because we are always there on the weekends (his crunch time). Well, Kennedy doesn't let that deter her...she just spends time with him there. We have so many pictures like this and I love it. I love that she'll just plop herself down up there with him amongst the MILLION books and just entertain herself and be close to him....it's really sweet.

So while the girls were away having tons of fun with their grandparents, I was getting some AMAZING snuggle time with this little man:

Whenever Melissa wasn't feeding him or getting some snuggles of her own, I pretty much just loved all over him while I was there so she could get some things done. You quickly forget how all consuming having a newborn is - it's a tired like no other so my main priority in "helping" was to allow her to get some rest (which I think she did). She and her husband Steve are doing exceptionally well as first time parents and he is one loved little boy.

Cheese!

Melissa and I laughed because although there was much accomplished in my short visit: we basically stayed in our PJ's all day every day. We did (thankfully) manage to get a couple of pics of he and I while I wasn't in my PJ's. =)

Leaving was bittersweet as it always is when I leave family, but I was so excited to see my girls and Tim too. I was really glad that Tim could get off work early to ride with me to meet his Mom in Morehead. I had this nervous, giddy energy when we were leaving to meet her and pick the girls up. It was like Christmas! Clearly the feelings were mutual:

Once we returned we tried to get back to our normal routine and for whatever reason Kennedy is showing more and more of an interest in her baby sister. Avery started cereal about a week before I left for NC and Kennedy has been ALL ABOUT helping to feed her (which I love and think is the most precious thing e.v.e.r!). Avery adores her big sister!

They were so cute this night that I captured some video. Love these sweet interactions between the two of them.

It's been a little

2011-09-25T17:39:00.000-07:00

Cah-razy in the Taylor household. Tim just returned from being in Idaho for two weeks. Yes - I said two weeks! Shew! Usually I do o.k. when he is gone but this time....with two kids and that length of time I kind of wasn't o.k. by the end (just keepin' it real). Avery ended up getting a chest cold two days after he left and that coupled with just the regular stresses of parenting two vs. one and doing so solo was just tough! Let's just say I'm super happy that he's back! I had several friends offer to help me while he was away and I took them up on it. Courtney kept the girls one day so I could go to a Dr.'s appointment and when I returned this adorableness was happening...

Last weekend my Dad and Kathy decided to come to visit and I was so glad they did because a prior co-worker of mine was getting married and I really wanted to go but hated to leave the girls. I had arranged for a friend to keep them, but Grandaddy and Gigi were happy to take that responsibility over. The wedding was so cute. It was at this little white country church in a town not far outside of Lexington called Owenton. I kept singing that country song "Take me down to the little white church" the whole time. Can you see why:

Dawn, Michelle and I.

Friday the praise and worship director texted me to see if I would be willing to sing on Sunday so there again it was wonderful to have help with the kids. I loved their expressions when they came rushing into the sanctuary just in time after getting the kids to their rooms and said "we're getting old"! =) What's my excuse for being frazzled every Sunday?

My Dad (ever the super handy Mr. fix-it) offered to work on any odd jobs I had around the house so I took him up on it. Tim and I have been meaning to transition the training wheels from an old bike someone gave us onto Kennedy's bike. Well, those wheels didn't fit but Grandaddy went out and got the ones that did fit and put them on.

Kennedy was super interested in the entire process.

Do you love how she's all in her pink polo dress with princess slippers and pink hair bow but playing with the tools? The girl loves some tools!

She was so excited to get on her "big girl" bike and try it out.

Do you love the concentration face - tongue and all?

So proud!

This sweet girl had her six month check up last week. It was a little late (she'll be 7 months on October 1st) but the Dr.'s summer schedule was nutty. She's getting so big!

Two kids at the pediatric office (so fun! ~ a tiny bit of sarcasm). Kennedy ended up needing to use the restroom - like...really use the restroom and of course that occurred right after Avery finally stopped crying and fell asleep on my shoulder which happened right before the nurses came in with three shots - oh my.....Mommy was sweatin'!

Avery is 15% in height and weight and her head circumference is 51%. ;)

I always took a picture of Kennedy with her band-aids on after her well check appointments so of course I wanted Avery's too. Well, the day just got away from me and by the time I could get her in a position to snap her picture she wasn't happy because it was almost bead time. Poor baby!

The Dr. gave us the green light on trying rice cereal with Avery so we began that night (my fingers were crossed it would = more sleep). The jury is still out on whether or not more sleep is going to be a result of beginning some food but I sure hope so! She does seem to like it though!

Although Tim is home and I am so super happy about it - I haven't seen him yet. I flew out to visit my sister and her new little baby on Thursday and he flew back in from Idaho on Friday. The girls are with his Mom and Dad (no doubt having a blast and getting super spoiled) so they've not seen him yet either. I fly back to KY tomorrow evening and we pick the girls up on Tuesday. It will be nice to all be together and back to or normal again.

Kennedy Turns 4 ~ Part Two

2011-09-23T20:32:00.000-07:00

So, I left off talking about plan pacifier cessation at Build-a-bear. Kennedy has never had paci prejudice - she would pretty much take any type, shape and/or make of pacifier. She just loved a paci. So...we had several in and around the house that we bagged up in preparation for the "stuffing ceremony".

Unfortunately I had to work on this Saturday but I wanted her to go in then because the same worker who helped her stuff and make Kitters was going to be in on that Saturday. So...Daddy took both girls (I know right? - Impressive!) back so that Kitters could have her surgery. He said they were so awesome about the whole thing....talking Kennedy through it and even having her chant "I'm a big girl and I don't need my pacifiers anymore!" After the BAB worker opened Kitters back up, Kennedy kissed the pacifiers and then stuffed them inside.

Kennedy was then instructed to hold Kitters hand through the surgery so that Kitters could be brave (seriously? Genius!). How sweet is this?

Almost good as new with "Mommy" by her side.

They told Kennedy that now whenever she felt sad or missed her pacifiers to squeeze Kitters tight and now that they were with her and she could be brave (I really could kiss those people!). They showed her exactly where they were in Kitters's body so she could actually squeeze them. Tim said Kennedy was completely committed to the entire process. Such a big girl.

Once I got home from work, I started making Kennedy's birthday cake. She had mentioned really wanting a Sleeping Beauty birthday cake. Well, let me just tell you that when I obliged I had NO idea how hard it was going to be to deliver. You CANNOT find a sleeping beauty form pan which is what I had planned on doing...I figured that would be the easiest way. Well - who knew that it would be a completely unavailable item. So...plan two: make Sleeping Beauty's birthday cake. We watch princess movies on the regular in our house but for you people who may not remember, in the movie Sleeping Beauty - Flora, Fauna and Merriweather make Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty a 16th birthday cake and therein I found my creative inspiration.

Sadly, you can't even find an image online but I did find this French version clip that shows a still frame of it. At casa de la Taylor we pretty much had this scene frozen on our TV from the DVD so I could run back and forth from the kitchen trying to get it just right. Yes - I am that OCD perfectionist (at least I own it).

Although it was challenging to make a stacked layer cake (a first for me) - it was SO fun! Kennedy stood beside me on the chair and she just had this look of awe and wonder that I wish I could have bottled up. She kept saying "you're doing so good Mommy" and it just solidified that it was indeed a special thing to make my baby's birthday cake. She patiently awaited the chance to place Aurora gently on the top of the cake.

I was really pleased with how it turned out. I'm pretty sure Kennedy was thrilled too.

We had her bestie Matthew over along with his brothers and parents. We had a nice dinner followed by present opening and cake. It was a perfectly special and low-key evening for my big 4 year olds birthday. Don't get me wrong - I love a BIG OLE SHINDIG, but with two kids and both of us working it just wasn't the year. At first I was feeling guilty and sad about not doing a big party, but in the end it was obvious she had a blast and it was a really special evening.

She is a loved little girl and got lots of birthday presents from friends and family. In this picture she had just opened a gift from Chelsea. It is a book about princesses and as she turns the pages, the book is read aloud to her. Kennedy was several pages in before I realized it was Chelseas voice that she had pre-recorded before mailing it to Kennedy for her birthday. Chelsea is like part of our family so I was all emotional hearing her voice....Kennedy wasn't about to shut the book before she listened to the entire thing read aloud though. She wanted to read the book again before bedtime...it has been really sweet because at the end Chelsea says "I love you Kennedy" and Kennedy always shouts back "I love you too Chelsea!"

The birthday girl and her guest Matthew.

We have so few pictures of the four of us but I'm glad Justin snapped this one.

These two are so incredibly sweet to each other and they love spending time together:

I suppose they love each other so because it all began.........

way back when...they are growing up!

Kennedy hasn't paci-relapsed and is totally in LOVE with Kitters:

look at all of her birthday loot:

It was a pretty awesome 4th birthday. It's hard for me to believe that this time next year she will be in Kindergarten - OH.MY.WORD!

Kennedy Turns 4 ~ Part One

2011-09-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Before I launch full force into what was Kennedy's three day birthday celebration - let's focus on lil' sis for a moment, shall we? This little peanut has had an awful cough/cold. I'm so not used to dealing with sick babies. Kennedy didn't really get sick like Avery has been sick and she certainly didn't get sick at Avery's age. I suppose she was spared being sick so early because she didn't begin daycare until she was 18 months old. Poor little Avery though - she's let me just say - "building up her immunity". Thank heavens she and Kennedy are both troopers when they are sick so aside from not sleeping a ton in this household and dealing with some extra fussiness - it's not been terrible.

Anyhow, other than being sick not much is new with Avery other than she's been trying out some cloth diapers. How cute is she sporting them? These are Bum Genius diapers that Chelsea gave me when I was pregnant (knowing that I really wanted to try it). It has been challenging at times but thankfully I've got friends like Billie who have been cloth diapering for a while to guide me through it. Once you get a system down it's not bad at all...I actually wish I'd known how easy it could be and I would have tried it with Kennedy. I've learned they are super expensive new, but there are cloth diaper consignment sales where you can get some really quality diapers for a much lesser price (again -knowledge I gleaned from Billie). She and I went to such a sale last week and I can now say my arsenal is full enough that I can cloth diaper for the majority of the time from this point forward. Yay! Happy planet...happy wallet...happy Mom and baby. Messy at times - yeah, but considering the positives I'm game.

Look at those little rolls....

Kennedy's actual 4th birthday was Thursday week before last and it was full of craziness. I had a MUMS meeting followed by a work meeting and it was just plain nutty but we did manage to squeeze in some fancy cupcakes that she picked out from Gigi's. Aunt Abby and Uncle Jonathan came over to celebrate with us and we sang and shared yummy cupcakes with mile high frosting. Yum!

They were super thoughtful and purchased a gift for Kennedy. She was very excited to see what it was.....

Cheesing with Team Burns and her new manicure set they gave her...Oh Lawd - I see lots of nail painting in our future!

Love watching men putting together pink plastic toys...what can I say? This is good practice for Jonathan - there's lots of this in his future!

Precious...and this is why she LOVES him so:

We practically had to peel her off of this thing to go to bed that night. I foresee hours of nail entertainment in our future.

On Friday I had made some special birthday plans with/for Kennedy since I had more free time than on her actual birthday. First up was a trip to Chick-fil-a to use our free breakfast pass. Well....little did we know my car had been broken into the night prior and rather than starting our morning with coffee and yummy chicken we started with an officer and a police report. Fun, fun. Thankfully, from what we could tell the only thing stolen was some cash I had in my car. Since Kennedy's sweet little heart was set on breakfast with Daddy, I am grateful that Chick-fil-a let use our passes despite being way past our assigned time slot that morning. After breakfast I ran to Walmart to get some cake preparation materials and don't you know my day needed more drama and my flippin' car battery died in the parking lot and there I sat with my two kids and lots of things to do! *sigh* Did I mention that Courtney and I had gone running that morning and due to rushing to get to breakfast I didn't shower before departing. Awesome!

Long story longer - after phoning a friend and trying to jump the car ourselves, I ended up needing Walmart automotive's assistance to get my car back to normal. While they worked on my car, I called the friend who I had plans with to let her know what my morning had been like. Luckily she was super understanding and completely went with the flow so we all loaded up into her car and our first stop was lunch at Jimmy Johns (one of my and Kennedy's favorites!).
She was more excited by the gift they brought her than the sandwich we had just ordered. Oh well - I couldn't really blame her.

Next up was Build-a-bear. My sister Catina had given Kennedy a gift certificate and little outfit for Christmas but we hadn't used it yet. I figured it a perfect birthday activity. It was so cute and so fun to watch. After Kennedy picked out her animal (kitty - shocking, I know!) - next up was picking out a sound to go inside the kitty (appropriately she chose the meow).

Then she stuffed the kitty.

After both girls animals were stuffed they then went through a whole little ritual of preparing the hearts to go inside their new babies. They made wishes...

Jumped up and down to make their animals playful, they hugged the hearts and on and on it went - it was precious.

The hearts were then ready to be put in their animals.

After they were sewed up they were told to hug them tight.

Testing the meower...

Bathing, combing, fluffing

All done - SO MUCH FUN!!! I present Daisy the Bunny and Kitters the Cat (in her box).

I don't know if Build-a-bear is always that amazing, but our experience sure was. They were so great with the girls and so upbeat and fun and Kennedy really enjoyed herself. It was the perfect special birthday event.

No Birthday celebration would be complete without some type of treat, right? Here are the girls with their frozen yogurt masterpieces at Menchies. Notice Kennedy wanted Kitters to join her. :)

For weeks I've been talking to Kennedy about the need to stop sleeping with a pacifier. It's been a LONG time coming (plan pacifier cessation) and I felt like her turning 4 was a good catalyst for making it happen. My sister had mentioned that Build-a-bear would allow us to stuff her animal of choice with her pacifiers and I thought that was an awesome idea but in all my crazy morning drama I forgot the pacifiers at home (double bummer!). The BAB employee that worked with us told me that we could bring them back the following day and they could open Kitters back up in order to place the pacifiers inside (which Kennedy really wanted to do). So..in preparation for that coming the following day I asked Kennedy to try to sleep without her pacifier that night. It wasn't easy and there were tears shed (by she and I both), but she made it ALL NIGHT long and awoke VERY proud of herself. I just had to snap a picture to commemorate this monumentous occasion. BIG GIRL! We are now pacifier free....whoopee.

To be continued....

6 months and some catching up

2011-09-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

Guess who is 6 months old today? This little smiley peanut! It's so hard to believe that 6 months has passed already. It's a blur sadly.....but a good blur. She's so good natured and happy - we just feel blessed!

I don't have any 6 month stats (her appointment is later this month) but I'm pretty sure she's low on the percentile scale in size. This is her little friend Andrew who is about two months younger than her, but you can't really tell - can you? Aren't they cute lying next to each other. It's just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. You know Kennedy's little BFF Matthew? This is his little brother.

My sweet girls all dressed up for church one Sunday. I love that Kennedy was wiping something off of her face...just one more way it's apparent she's my child!

Our church had a little neighborhood carnival a while back and Kennedy asked the face painting girl to do a princess crown. Boy did she deliver! Check this out. It accents the elephant hair ties nicely, don't you think?

Most of the pools around here are closed or opening later in the afternoons now, but I'm glad I drug myself out (it was a bit overwhelming with two kids and one of them being little bitty) a few times this summer because Kennedy LOVED it. Always the brave one:

Thank goodness again for Avery being such a "go with the flow" baby, because this is what she'd end up doing on most pool days.

They are beginning to interact more and I love it. Whenever Avery starts crying, Kennedy will say "no, Mommy - don't move her I'll make her happy". Precious! Usually...she's right.

Thank goodness for peoples status updates on Facebook (there's a sentence I never thought I'd say) because I find out about some cool things going on around Lexington - like this Princess Night at Chick-fil-A. We went with our friend A and Mrs. Kentucky was there...aka...a "real princess"

There were carriage rides:

Manicures:

You like the way that teal fingernail polish coordinates with the lime green Tinkerbell necklace and pink Sleeping Beauty dress?

I love doing fun stuff like that with Kennedy - I just treasure her reactions to things: such minor things can trigger such fascination....it's priceless. Kennedy went home with her Nana on Saturday after Tim and I concluded a marital conference here in Lexington that she and Pawpaw had come in to babysit for. She was so excited to go and kept telling them "come on Nana, come on Pawpaw" as I asked for the 3rd or 4th hug bye bye. It sounds like she's had a great time but man has it been quiet in our household. We miss her terribly so I'm excited to be picking her up tomorrow. Tim and I have been able to watch some movies and eat dinner without being interrupted...it's been wonderful but just unusual and we've become accustomed to the daily chaos with two kids so we're happy she'll be home soon. The silver lining: I finished a family photo book on Mixbook, I've been able to post two blogs, I've gotten a little more sleep than usual and have checked off some other "to do's". Too bad I didn't deep clean my house or organize their next season wardrobe and playroom like I intended. Oh well...another day!

Warriors & Ballerinas

2011-08-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago I ran a race called Warrior Dash. I'm happy to throw my running buddy Courtney under the bus on this one...she made me do it. Love her heart - she walked with me, stopped at multiple gas stations with me and plain tolerated me through my hormonal hell aka pregnancy so when she expressed her desire to do this race I obliged (after much convincing with a dash of peer pressure on the side). Because the first glance at the website thoroughly freaked me out I didn't return to it after I registered. I figured I'd be educated on the course soon enough!

Don't you know, as fate would have it - the ENTIRE week prior to the race I had some sort of stomach bug. I don't take stomach bugs lightly. For whatever reason they almost always wipe me out to the point of needing professional assistance to normalize (i.e. IV catheter and fluids). This sweet little stomach bug was no different and on Wednesday I got myself some re-hydration - IV catheter style. Come Thursday, I still wasn't sure if I was going to be able to handle the dash. After all our scheming to pick the perfect warrior goddess names and shirts (and please know that when I say "our" I mean Courtney) it was KILLING me to even consider the I might not be well enough to run this thing option. So, on Friday I packed my bag and loaded up with Courtney to head to Louisville to meet up with the 3rd goddess in our group. I figured even if I couldn't run I could attempt to be the most obnoxious fan there (that was before I saw the types of fans that were at this particular race of course). That night at dinner I couldn't even eat and I kept thinking "oh.my.word.....must.feel.better.soon! Well, the Lord Almighty must have heard me out because by some miracle I inhaled my supper that I'd taken home in a doggy bag that night and was feeling a bit energized for the next morning. I went to bed insanely early and was hoping for even more good feelings the next morning. I woke with my appetite firmly back in place: hallelujah and was feeling all "carpe-diem-like" about the race!

Here we are in our Warrior Goddess attire. I chose the name Rhea meaning Goddess of Fertility (the other gals don't have kids so I thought it a perfect fit). Tammy was Nemesis, Goddess of revenge & Courtney was Eos, Goddess of the sunrise which is perfect for her seeing as how she's been known to wake at 4:30 AM before to get in a before work run with yours truly (nuts.....buta good nuts!)

So, remember how I said I didn't look back at the website after that initial time? Well...I probably should have becuase I was COMPLETELY UNPREPARED for what was ahead. I take comfort in knowing that I couldn't have been prepared though, because - who gets prepared for jumping over boats in the middle of a race course? Right....no one.

Oh and then there's the giant wall that we climbed over - where would one even go to find one of these to practice on? Um...pretty sure a military base would be your only option and I don't think our running skorts and pink shirt would have gained us entry. Good thing we conquered all our obstacles without practice!

There was also wading through creeks, climbing across and up and down cargo nets, climbing up and down seriously steep and slippery hills, jumping over fire (yes, fire) and all sorts of other crazy challenges.The cherry on top of the sundae, icing on the cake, or whathaveyou was the last "obstacle". We had to army crawl through a mud pit under barb wires to get to the finish line. So.Very.Gross & so very un-anticipated because again (didn't look at the website to see what was ahead). I dove in though. Clearly - we all did:

To see a video of said mud pit diving (because a picture and description simply doesn't do it justice...click here).

It was a super fun race. I hope there are more in our future. Challenging? Yes! A little insane? Yes! It was probably the most fun I've ever had in a race (though my pale face and chain smoker like cough likely didn't demonstrate that to my fellow goddesses). I think the reason it was so much fun is because EVERYONE was out to have a good time. Almost everyone was in costume. No one was running laps and stretching and setting their watches before hand like at most races (well...there were a few but they were seriously in the minority). It was just a laid back, lets get dirty and have fun group and it made for a low pressure, super upbeat environment. At each ostacle everyone was cheering other runners on. It was just a really neat race. Plus...if you finished you were rewarded with a turkey leg and beer. Not kidding! I wasn't really "up" for that, but Courtney's husband Brett was:

Now for a drastic change in subject matter - Kennedy started ballet last week. She was so excited words cannot even describe the sheer joy that was busting out of her leading up to her first class.

This is her showing me her learned "first position"...clearly we need a little work. :) She LOVED it and I'm looking forward to her having class every Friday.

I figured Kennedy's first ballet class was the perfect time for Avery to wear her little ballet onesie from Auntie Janine. It was so cute I had to take one or 42 pictures. ;)

I can't believe in a few short days this lil' bit will be 6 months old. *Sigh*

I started this post on July 31st....Ha!

2011-08-08T12:30:00.000-07:00

Kennedy has been ALL INTO dance lately. Well...if you can call it that. It's kind of like interpretive movement with a toddler slant (if you will). I'm not sure why she's gotten so interested in it but it totally reaffirmed my decision to put her in a dance class for the fall. She's been saying she wants to dance, but you know: with kids you want to be certain before you invest the time and money into something. So...a friend had told me great things about Wilmore Christian Ballet, so I signed her up for a class called Creative Movement which is their version of beginner ballet. She is REALLY excited and has proceeded to put on her "dance outfits" daily and choreograph beautiful pieces like this one:

Avery is changing so much lately. I can't believe she is five months old and rapidly approaching 6 months. It just goes by so much quicker with the second. I don't know if it's just the business of two or what but man it just seems to be flying by and I want it to slow down. She is giggling now, but as with her smiles - the best giggles are for Kennedy alone. Moments like these, I cherish more than I can even describe - they are just simply precious:

I've taken the girls to the city pool a few times within the last couple of weeks. It's something I couldn't do prior to my decrease in working hours but I am SO thankful that I can do things with them like that now that I have some more "home time" to accomplish my other responsibilities.

Truthfully, it totally messes with our "schedule", but if I didn't throw caution and said schedule to the wind - we'd never leave the house! I feel bad for Kennedy when she spends her entire day in her playroom and I can tell she's not expended enough energy with active play. It's so stinkin' hot - our only outdoor option pretty much IS the pool. It always surprises me when I "let it go" (my need for routine that is) how well the girls do. For example:

Avery will thankfully fall asleep if she's tired enough (no matter where we are). I think the pool and fountains function as a real life "noise machine" and lull her to sleep, allowing Kennedy to do more of this:

Lately, it's pretty much pool or more "dancing" and striking poses in her plethora of leotards. Poses such as this:

Avery had her 4 month check up here recently (due to our and the Dr.'s vacationing, we were a bit behind). She weighed 14 lbs and is now 25 inches long. Growing girl! Kennedy looked on and said "it's ok Avery" as she got her shots. Such a good big sister!

She was pretty much just happy she didn't have to get any. I told her when she turns 4 next month she'll be getting more than Avery and she asked me if it will hurt. It's those moments when you kinda wish you didn't have to be honest.

I told her it would hurt, but that she could be brave just like Avery and get some super sweet band aids to ease the pain.

Tim's Mom came in last weekend to help us out. It was a CRAZY weekend. I had an overnight retreat with some Mommy friends and Tim had some responsibilities both Saturday and Sunday at the church. Thank heavens she is always willing when we need her. Kennedy loves her to pieces and I'm pretty sure if Avery could communicate she'd say she does too! Kennedy loves to snuggle up with her Nana and on this a afternoon the whole non-napping thing...totally got trumped by the snuggle time!

So sweet!

Our church had VBS last week, so Kennedy had her first VBS experience. I remember going to VBS as a child and I remember LOVING it so I was so excited she got to go this year. Here she is getting ready to head out. She was so excited and she ended up loving it!

Some more pictures from our trip to the pool: This is a friend from church's little boy. His name is Hudson. We had these babies within a week of each other and she has an older son close in age to Kennedy too. The pictures I took of the babies together in the shade were too cute.This

is one of my favorites!

Kennedy & Hayden having a snack

then back in the pool!

It's hard to believe the summer is quickly coming to an end. We went to the pool again today because city pools start closing on Wednesday and I feel like we need to take advantage of the time we have left to have summer fun!

OIB oh how I miss you

2011-07-28T04:50:00.000-07:00

The remaining Ocean Isle Beach pics to share...oh how I miss it!

Fun times at the pool ~ we've all agreed there's no going back to non-pool status now!

Kennedy and her Aunt Melissa:

She did this approximately 2,135 times while we were there:

oh yeah...incoming!

Cheese!

We weren't all four in once place much this year, you better believe the one time we were - I got a picture!

Tim brought along his water proof work camera and took this cool picture of Maggie:

Clearly he couldn't resist snapping this oh.so.wonderful.and.flattering self portrait! Ha! That's my man for ya...ladies: I'm sorry, but - he's taken!

I put Avery in the pool twice and she was pretty much just like "ok..whatever". She soooo doesn't appear to have my personality. I suppose it's only fair since Kennedy is my mini-me.

Some pool time with Daddy.

Check out the little bitty board shorts with the fat leg rolls oozing out of the bottom. Too cute! My mom got this little swimsuit at a consignment sale and it was precious on her.

Catherine, Aunt Melissa & Kennedy...according to Catherine..she's the "cool aunt".

Speaking of cool...this is what I got when I asked these girls to pose. Too funny! You like Kennedy's pointed finger...apparently it was crucial to the posing.

Maggie is a baby lovin' fool - she wanted to feed Avery, hold Avery and love, love, love on her while we were there.

COUSINS! These girls are the best of friends and I adore that they love each other so much.

It wasn't the best bottle feeding experience (note the flailing arm), but at least Maggie got to try.

Uncle Steve gettin' some practice. Avery was SMITTEN with him. I think he's got the MOJO. Good thing because Declan will be here in September.

Matching shirts from Nana. Sweet sisters.

Grandmomma aka "Honey" getting some one on one smile-time with Avery.

My Mom checked out some library books for the kids and this was a Skippyjon Jones book - it had a bit of "Latin flair" (if you will) so we put the Spanish teacher on reading duty. He did such a fine job that the kids and the adults were laughing.

My Mom and my girls. They do love their Honey.

This is pretty much what the majority of us did on vacation. I looked up at one point when I was on the beach and thought "I've got to have a picture of this". So: Jim snapped one for me.

My baby girl was and still is "pre-teething" if there even is such a thing. She is gnawing on EVERYTHING and drooling and on an off running a low grade fever. She wasn't too interested in the beach what with all the not being able to sit up, extremely bright sunshine in her face and sand blowing in her direction...what's not to love when you're a little bitty lump, right? So after this one day of taking her to the shore, she did not return. She got in the pool a couple of times but mainly she napped, ate and slept with some playing and cuddling in between. I'm glad we got these pics when we did. :)

On our last night in Ocean Isle we went on a double date with Melissa and Steve. It was really nice to be out with just adults (thanks Mom for keeping the kiddos) and the seafood restaraunt where we ate was yummy. Since dates are seemingly now a thing of the past I had Melissa take a picture. Who knows when we'll have another.

If Kennedy could sum up her time at the beach with cousins she would say BEST.WEEK.EVER and then she would yawn and fall flat over out of sheer exhaustion. Something a little like this:

She played her little heart out. Two separate times while we were there she fell asleep WHILE I was blowdrying her hair...like slipping off my lap fell asleep. As soon as we pulled away from her cousins house where we stopped to break up the trip on the return she looked at me and said "Mom, when we will see cousins again?" *Sigh*..."I'm not sure honey...soon, I hope!"

Ocean Isle Beach

2011-07-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

On July 8th we headed south to Ocean Isle Beach for the week with my family. It's become an annual tradition and I look forward to it ALL YEAR ROUND! Because I knew that this year was going to be a tad more...let's say..."involved" due to having sweet little Avery - we decided splitting the trip up was a must. We left Kentucky on Friday and stopped in Greenville, SC to stay with my friend Leslie. I started planning that stopping point a few weeks back when I realized it was practically on the way and new that as a bonus I'd get to see some friends I hadn't seen in a while.
Leslie and Hollis are two friends of mine from Veterinary Technology school. There was a time when we spent almost every moment together...most of those moments filled with studying, talking about veterinary stuff and even more of those moments being filled with laughing so hard our cheeks and abs were sore afterwards. We've kept in touch which is something I'm so incredibly thankful for, however, they are both in SC so I don't see them nearly as often as I'd like. I got to see Leslie not too long ago when her husband was doing some work in WV. It had been too long since I'd seen Hollis - it was at her wedding! So...we were all thrilled that my stop in Greenville would allow us to all get together for a bit. Leslie was kind enough to host and cook a yummy mexican supper and Hollis drove to Greenville from Columbia to join us. It was such a great time and we all hope to do it again soon. My how times have changed...if I had a scanner, I would add an old pic from vet tech school...here we are with our kiddos.

Leslie & Brady Hollis & Benton

Kennedy had been so excited about going to the beach! I am happy that she loves it so much and even happier that this year she could assist in getting the "gear" to and from the beach. Hello back pack chairs - I do so love you!

Clearly we have some Tiger fans in this family - Maggie, Catina and Melissa representin' Clemson...beach style. ;)

I think if Kennedy could have slept and ate in the water she would have.

Again with the Tiger support....this is my sister Catina and her family..minus her older daughter.

A little wave jumping

and waiting for the next...

so tickled

Each of my sisters, my Mom, and I take a night to prepare dinner, but we leave some nights for going out. One night we went to a place called the Provision Company..it was right on the water and the view was beautiful. I was kind of tickled by the signs over the bathrooms so I took a pic ~(4u2pn)~

Catina and her family:

My Mom and Jim

Melissa, Steve..and Baby Declan (making his arrival sometime in early September).

Mags and Catina...it kills me how big my nieces are getting!

There are so many more pictures to share. We had such a good time...it's just always so hard to go. To be continued...

Our Holiday Weekend

2011-07-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

We had a fun filled fourth of July weekend. Busy, but fun! First up was canoeing down the Elkhorn river. It was a birthday/fathers day gift to Tim and he and I were excited to share our love of canoeing with Kennedy for the first time. Not that you would have known it was her first time though - she acted as though it wasn't her first roday-o. She's such a turkey!

Now that she's had swiiming lessons, she thinks she's Michael Phelps and therefore wanted to spend the ENTIRE time swimming rather than canoeing. I kept trying to remind her that Avery would be waiting for us, so we needed to keep going but she couldn't be bothered with such nonsense...not with all the paddling and kicking and whatehaveyou to be done. I kindly obliged and let me tell you that is something because Momma...she doesn't like being in her bathing suit so much right now thank you very much.

Daddy showed her crawdads and water bugs and a snake (oh yeah...totally didn't deter her from wanting to swim) and she loved every.single.minute.of.it!

We had a really good time and we are so thankful that we have a little outdoors girlie - she fits right in!

Abby and Jonathan kindly kept Avery for us while we took Kennedy canoeing. According to them, she was a good girl. We were so grateful they were willing to keep her. Two babies is no joke but they handled it like pros, though I hear they got some strange glances when they took the pair out to Kroger. They had a little impromptu photo session with Avery and Adalyn in their matching outfits that I got them at the Bella Bliss Warehouse sale that was held here in Lexington recently. How cute are they?

Oh my holy sweetness - this one of them looking at each other. Sigh!

Once we returned home from canoeing we basically showered and headed straight back out to a 4th of July party at a friends house. For once, I got Avery to wear a bow and not cry her eyes out. I mean, let's just face it - despite LOVING bows there is really no reason to make your kid cry over it so I had basically given up. On Saturday I really wanted her to have some red, white, and blue on for the party so I thought "what the heck, I'll try one more time" and for whatever reason she totally didn't care. So..because of that fact, we've worn a bow every day since because Momma like's bows and as it turns out Momma's in charge. ;)

All dressed up for the partay!

Can we talk about the fact that both girls are looking and smiling in this picture. Amazing!

Oh yeah...snapped this one too.

He was totally "dancing" with her at the party. Sweet!

This next picture was taken before the fireworks started and we were sweating because it was SOOO hot. Much to my shock, Avery totally watched the entire fireworks show while laying in my lap, but Kennedy went inside because it was "too loud". Thanks to "Auntie Courtney" for sitting with Kennedy while Tim, Avery and I watched the show outside.

Speaking of Courtney.....so good to hang out with her and Tammy again so soon to our last outing together. Tammy hosted the party at her house and it had wonderful yummy food and an AMAZING fireworks show. Her husband pulled out all the fireworks stops.

Sunday was spent catching up on rest and running errands. Kennedy got a little hair cut too. The swimming lessons totally fried her hair so we were in need of a trim to get things back to normal.

On Monday we woke up and went berry picking at Reed Valley Orchard in Paris. A friend told me about the place and we LOVED it. It wasn't commercialized and crawling with people like some of the other local orchards. It was just good ole country people and a really big farm. Their prices were really reasonable too. Here are Tim and Kennedy picking blueberries.

Poor Avery couldn't hang on but I didn't want to miss out on the fruit picking action! She slept pretty much through the entire outing. Sweet baby.

We picked some serious fruit loot...get it? Ha ha...like fruit loop? It's late...

We had planned to only pick blueberries but they had raspberries and blackberries ready to be picked too, so while we were there we picked those too. None of us had picked those before so it was cool to get to do that together. Kennedy was a bit too rough with the raspberries and blackberries so Tim had to really help her be gentle with them.

Inside the little country store where (they sold everything canned you could imagine) we checked out they had a little cafe that made homemade no sugar added ice cream with their in season fruit. Kennedy decided she wanted to try the blueberry ice cream and she shared some with Tim and I - YUM!

It was a fun trip and cool experience. We will definitely go back there in the future. Thankfully the weather was overcast too so it wasn't too dreadfully hot.

Monday night we went over to Billie and Derek's for a little Independence Day celebration. Billie had set out the pool for the kids and had the deck all ready to just hang out, eat and socialize. We took a homemade blueberry pie (made from our pickin's) and banana pudding. In all my rush to get two kids and two desserts out the door, I totally forgot to grab Kennedy's bathing suit. Luckily, Eli was willing to share some of his clothes with her:

They seemed to have a big ole' time together. I can't believe how big Eli is getting.

I think this picture is funny. Here all the Mom's are bending over the pool while the Dad's sit around and drink beer and watch. Every now and then (with our prompting) one would snap a picture but other than that we were all sweating and getting wet while they relaxed. Hey, no one said parenting was always glamorous right? I just think this sums it up in a funny way:

Avery's first time in a swimsuit and first swim:

She was just chillaxin'

You know Adalyn would be rockin' something totally appropriate for the holiday. This girl is a doll!

And then there's my crazy almost 4 year old. Real lady-like, right? *Sigh* She's crazy!

...but she's real sweet too...

Tim had purchased some sparklers for her to play with when we got home that night and when I put her to bed and we were re-living the weekend in bedtime talk she told me that the sparklers were her FAVORITE thing from the weekend. It's the little things.....

It has been operation pack as much as you can as fast as you can around here tonight. We are prepping for our trip to Ocean Isle Beach, NC. I'm so tired I'm about to fall asleep on the keyboard, but I'm so excited to be going to see family! I'm sure to have lots of beachy goodness to share when I return so I wanted to get this posting finished. It was an awesome weekend...fun with family and fun with friends. The only downside was that it ended. ;)

Growing girl

2011-07-03T07:43:00.000-07:00

I'd like to report that the poor internet connection is putting a serious damper on any blogging intentions I have. It is so super mega slow at home, that I've been uploading my pictures during my lunch break at work and then filling in the text at home. So, so sad. Not sure how long I'll be able to keep that routine up, especially in light of the fact that I lessen my hours next week and will be there less than I am now which will = nose to the grindstone work, work, double work while I'm there. The lessening of the hours is the reason for the disconnection of the ole internet...stinky budgets! Despite it being uber frustrating to have slow internet (my we are spoiled, aren't we?) it is a necessary spending cut in the Taylor abode. Anyhow...enough of the boring accounting talk...onward with the latest goings on.

My baby turned 4 months old on the 1st of July - GASP! I CANNOT believe 4 months have gone by. It is absolutely incomprehensible. Luckily, I have an amazing little blue-eyed beauty to show for whatever has been going on these past 4 months because I really can't recall anything else productive. She is such a content baby and she is happy, happy, happy. Jesus knew I couldn't handle another high maintenance crier (like Kennedy was as an infant) and boy am I thankful because life with her as a baby is precious. If Kennedy had Avery's temperament as a baby I might be like the 18 kids and counting lady. Ha! Totally kidding by the way.....sort of. ;-)

She is still totally enthralled with all things Kennedy. Is is precious to see her staring at her "big sister".

Kennedy is such a good big sister too. She reads to her, hands her toys and makes sure I know that I need to go and get her if she's fussing or crying.

Here's my little Murray State Racer baby. A friend of mine who is currently in school there gave me this onesie as a baby gift. Go Racers!

Unfortunately with increasing age has come the early signs of teething. She is drooling like crazy, chewing on her fist, stuffed animals, blankets, burp rags and pretty much anything else she can get in her mouth...intro Sophie the giraffe (a teething toy). Thanks Aunt Neenie and Uncle Joshie - she LOVES this little thing and truthfully I'd rather a wet giraffe than a soggy burp cloth. Ick!

When we disconnected our internet, we disconnected our cable television too. Because of that we lost our precious DVR box (I know, I know - devastating). The DVR box had approximately 957 Disney movies on it that Kennedy had access to whenever she wanted. Now we have about 5 channels, one of which is some lame music station and one of which is a 24/7 weather radar. In other words, when I want some kiddie TV for Kennedy because I need to cook dinner or because I need her to rest for a bit or what have you...here is none to be found amongst our bargain basement cable selection. So....we've gotten out the car DVD player as of late so she can watch some of her dvd's when she wants to. Clearly Avery is going to have the same love of all things glowing from the little plastic box thingy that Kennedy has had.

I had dinner out with my Moms group gals this week and when I returned home...this is what I found. Seriously - how precious is this? Avery was clearly more interested in the milk machines arrival back home than the book. Nice to be needed I suppose.

We had dinner with some sweet new friends from church one day this week after work and Kennedy and their little boy had a big ole time. Here they are at their own little table.

Kennedy had her first VBS experience this past week. It was a one day VBS which is a bit different than traditional VBS's but they packed a stellar VBS punch in that one night. It was kind of under the sea themed and it was called "Off the Hook"...as in Jesus always lets us off the hook if we ask him to. Too cute. We went with John Tyler and Lily. The three of them looked so cute walking in that I snapped a phone pic. I love it when kids hold hands, especially when they aren't prompted to. It's precious!

Kennedy finished her last week of swimming lessons on Thursday. She had so much fun with Lily that I'm fairly certain we will be having withdrawals. She learned so much this year and had such a good time. We'll be sure to take lessons at Asbury again next year - they were awesome! How funny are these goggle faces?

This is another pic from the phone that I thought was cute. Avery and her Sophie. She just hung out in her car seat while swim lessons went on. Again...super content baby. So thankful.

Lily and Kennedy walking in on their last day. Another un-prompted holding hands moment. I can't take it.

Dressed and ready to SWIM.

On Friday of last week, Tim and I were able to have a date-night to the Legends game. We got the tickets through Groupon so we got a great deal and then there were 10 hits during the game so we got a buy one get one deal at Cane's chicken with our ticket stubs. That Groupon was seriously worth it.

Thanks to Courtney for watching both kiddos so we could get away. They love their Auntie Courtney!

Yesterday we took Kennedy on her first canoe trip down the Elkhorn River. I got the cutest pictures. Hopefully I will be able to blog about it before next year! Abby and Jonathan kept Avery for us and she and Adalyn were dressed alike. Can't wait to see those pictures and share some of those too...I'm sure they are ridiculously sweet. Matching kiddos always are!

Taylor Highlight Reel Numero Dos

2011-06-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

Kennedy has been enjoying swim lessons for the past three weeks at Asbury College. Their swim team is really good and some of the swimmers teach the camps. The teacher:student ratio is waaaayyy better than what we've had at the Y so she's been getting LOTS of pool time and she's loving it. This week will be her last week and I know she'll be sad but she has learned so much...just in time for our upcoming trip to the beach!

Kennedy and Lily poolside

Look at my big swimmer! So brave!

This past weekend we had some visitors in the Taylor house: Chelsea and her new furry friend Dewey the Goldendoodle. It was SOOOO good to see Chels (as always) and we loved getting to know Dewey too..who doesn't love a puppy?

Isn't he precious?

We Kennedy wore him out good every day!

Chelsea had mailed these sweet matching outfits a while back and the girls wore them while she was here so she could witness the cuteness.

Laura took this picture of me and my sweet Avery at swim while "big sister" was in the water.

Look at that mug!

Sara Beth came over for a play date while Chelsea was here. It was so good visiting. I can't believe they both used to babysit for me and now we are all good friends and one has a kid of her own. Oh my! Here are our sweet babies Ruthie & Avery:

I am so glad that I convinced Elizabeth to come over that day too because all the kids had a big time and we adults just sat on the patio and visited. Props to Elizabeth for venturing out with not one...not two...but all three of her boys!

I bathed Avery in the sink last week while Mom bathed Kennedy in the tub. She looked too cute with her strategically placed rag not to take a picture.

Chelsea is part of the family and just fits right in and rolls with the punches. Kennedy ADORES time with her (as do I). I'm sure Avery will love her just as much as her big sister does.

We got to go out for a fun girls night (thanks to Tim for keeping the babies) to celebrate Courtney's birthday. It was such a good time! Tammy came in from Louisville to surprise Courtney and surprised she was. ;)

I put aside some of the strawberries I had picked at Boyd's just to make this cake. I made it last year for Courtney's birthday and it was so amazing I figured I'd make it again this year for Chelsea's visit and for Tim's birthday too. It was just as delicious the second time around.

Courtney was clearly jazzed about it's reappearance.

A friend of mine from college (Jentrie) sent me these cute matching dresses for Kennedy and Avery. We snapped some pictures before church on Father's Day Sunday.

If there is anything I can brag on my man about...it is his Daddy skills. He loves his girls and I couldn't ask for a better Father for them. Our power went out at church the morning of Fathers Day. Instead of it ruining the service it gave it a really intimate feel and I loved it. It was really special with the acoustic instruments and singing and I was just thankful to be there.

Me and my girls.

Check this little cheeser out. She's such a sweet thing...smiling all the time.

I'm officially caught up...in pictures anyway. Hopefully there's no more 50 + picture highlight reels in our near future. Maybe I can get back on the blogging bandwagon. We had our cable disconnected and adjusting to life with a much slower Internet connection has been quite interesting! Thank heavens we can run WIFI off my smart phone..these things are amazing! Now...if they would just cook and clean EVERYONE would own them.

Taylor Highlight Reel Numero Uno

2011-06-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

Because I'm so far behind on my blogging due to a crazy hectic schedule as of late - I figured I'd pump out what I'm referring to as a highlight reel because it's just gonna document the highlights...in none other than photo form! I know you faithful followers are wondering where I've been and no worries Mom...I'm right here. ;)

Let's begin with strawberry picking...shall we? Okay then...meet my friend A and her daughter A. Aren't they precious? A is expecting another and despite that, she came out in the heat and got down on her knees and picked strawberries with us. We had such a good time. God crossed mine and A's paths in a very quirky albeit intentional way and I couldn't be happier about it. We have tons in common and I feel so blessed to know her and call her friend. Here we are with our girls outside of Boyd's Orchard.

Praise all that is holy in this universe...Kennedy was way more into the actual picking process this year rather than whining and complaining about how it was hot and how she wanted to play on the Boyd's play equipment. I'm also glad to report that we had much less smushed and brown berries in our basket...she grasped the concept that she was to pick them off the bush...not just grab whatever was closest and most convenient. We've grown a great deal in a year...see for yourself. Time really is flying...Tim and I couldn't believe the difference in a year when we looked back at that post.

Just as A and I thought - these girls were fast friends. I hope there are a great deal more play dates orchestrated for the pair in the future!

Thanks for joining us girls ~ we had such a wonderful time!

Avery turned 16 weeks today but a couple of weeks ago we received her 12 week photos back from Jes. They turned out wonderfully as usual. Here are some of my favorites:

The little dress is a gift that was given to my eldest niece Catherine by my sister Melissa. I've always thought it was really pretty and different so that is what I chose to put her in. Isn't it cute?

This hat (which I love) was given to Avery from my Aunt Kay and I was super excited to get some pictures in it. Avery, on the other hand...not so thrilled. Jes had to be quick!

Call me Southern or girlie or what have you, but I LOVE a bloomer. These were like $10 off Zulily. Sweet!

Not this past weekend but the one prior, our church had a 5K to raise money for some upcoming missions work in Joplin and in Honduras. Since Courtney and I had been running, I figured it was a great way for me to get back into the swing of things and donate to a great cause while we were at it. Jes and Billie joined us too.

Kennedy has always been quite intrigued with me running and on occasion expresses interest in coming with me. Since I knew it would be a relatively small run I told her I'd push her in the jogger if she wanted to go. She said she wanted to run it herself. Well...clearly that needed some explaining and ultimately we compromised by deciding I would push her and she could run at the end. Here we all are in the beginning...this was when I could form a complete sentence and breath. Kennedy made sure to tell me about .25 miles into the 3.2 mile run: "Mommy, we aren't winning". Yikes...the competitiveness begins.

Kennedy's time to shine. She kept telling me her legs were getting tired but let me just tell you that when the sweet folks on the side started cheering for her she caught her second wind and practically sprinted to the finish. Yeah....she's totally my kid!

Oh yeah...eye on the prize!

So..our first of what I hope will be many Mother/Daughter runs.

Courtney, Billie, and Jes. Thanks so much for supporting my church girls! So fun running with y'all. Props to Billie who is preggers (though you can't tell) and Jes who rode a bike from Nicholasville to Wilmore before running the 5K. Y'all are rockstars! Court - you already know you are a rockstar without me telling you. ;)

The best part of the race was that no female under the age of 12 ran in the race, so by default (and because it's our church and the awards thing was super relaxed) Kennedy won her age division. Ha! She got a medal. Although she was all shy with the group photo she was totally stoked and has shown it to everyone who has come over since hte race. So funny.

My little award winner:

The Sunday following the race I gave Tim an early birthday present:

We've had the trailer for a while, but it doesn't fit correctly on my road bike so we don't get to use it much. Hopefully now that I found him a bike, we will get to use it and go out as a family on bike rides. His Mom came in on this particular Sunday so that we could try out the new Legacy Trail here in Lexington. It was an awesome trail and we had such a good time. We even stopped and took some time for a picnic along the side of the trail. It was really nice.

*So...bike helmets: they aren't really condusive to a pony tail per se. I decided to try some braids as a way to keep my hair off of me while not giving me a major headache. Well, when Kennedy came in the bathroom while I was braiding it she looked at me as if I'd turned into a Disney Princess and said (in a really drawn out fashion) "Woooowwww Mommy...what are you doing to your hair?!" Ha! It's the little things....

Note to self: when you're hauling a 32 lb. toddler...be sure to pump up the trailer tires BEFORE the ride and not after. Poor Tim...despite liking his bike it was a bit of a challenging ride. We'll be sure to be prepared next time.

I hope next time comes really soon!

I'm so not even close to being caught up! Stay tuned for Taylor Highlight Reel Numero Dos.

Sisterly Love

2011-06-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

This post is entirely made up of photos of my girls. I'm trying to do better about taking pictures of them but oh my word it's hard because life is flying by at an incredible rate these days and half the time the camera is not on my mind (shocking, I know!)

I took these first few pictures before church last week. Chelsea bought them these precious matching dresses and I really wanted their picture in them. I'm pretty sure Kennedy only sat still because she wanted the christening of her jelly shoes to be documented in some way. Seriously - she's OBSESSED with them and was OVER THE TOP excited about wearing them for the first time last Sunday. She's pretty much asked me every day since if she can wear them. They are cute - I cannot lie, however, there's the whole it's hot and she's barefoot + jelly shoe material action = sweat and smell and ew - you follow me? So..I must limit the wear time on those bad boys.

My sweet little Avery is growing so fast that I actually had to pack away some newborn clothes (insert audible awwww, sniff, sniff here). I can't believe she's three months old already....wear is the time going? I want it to stop already. Anyhow - while I packed away the clothes there were some seriously precious interaction between the girls going on so I grabbed the camera:

You would think the next picture is all motherly and sweet and it is, but mostly Kennedy is my daughter and is totally grossed out by spit-up. It is gross, but let's face it: spit happens!

I've been trying to be more intentional about getting Avery on her belly for some tummy time. She pretty much isn't fond of it and because she has reflux there is a narrow window in which to make it happen, however I'm trying and now that she is grabbing things, she's a bit more open to the whole idea:

Um, can we talk about the ruffle please?

Kennedy was running around the room "mothering" all of her babies while I finished the clothes swapping. Out of like 10 pictures, she's blurred in each of them because THE CHILD NEVER STOPS MOVING.......OR TALKING FOR THAT MATTER. She was talking to her babies just like I talk to Avery...such the sponge.

We got out the Bumbo seat last week too but she's still a bit small for it. Her expression is funny. "Mom...whats the deal here?!?"

Tim's Mom was in last week to help take Kennedy to her little swim camp on the days that I had to work. She kept both girls all week too so we could take advantage of some vacation days at daycare. Because the girls are in our spare rooms it doesn't leave much room for guests. Kennedy has been sleeping on a little bed on the floor in Avery's room so Mom can have her bed while she's here. Kennedy actually really likes sleeping in there surprisingly and the two of them sharing a room for the week went better than I thought it would. Here they are getting some snuggles on Kennedy's bed.

So much else has been going on around here lately:

*I got Avery's 12 week photos back from Jes @ Jes Meeker Photography & they are awesome!

*We went strawberry picking at Boyd's Orchard last weekend with some friends.

*We started hosting a small group from church and the first meeting was last week.

*I ran my first (post-Avery's birth) 5K on Saturday to benefit missions at our church & Kennedy ran some of it too.

*Today, Tim got the first of his birthday presents - a bike. We biked a new trail in Lexington called the Legacy trail with Kennedy in the bike trailer and even stopped to have a picnic: so fun!

Sadly I can't seem to find time to blog about any of the above but hopefully I will be able to soon because I actually have pictures of most of it. Like I said...I'm trying.

Tons of Fun

2011-06-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we decided to get the pool out since it was a long weekend and the weather was expected to be nice but HOT. I mentioned said intention to Kennedy around 8:00 PM on Saturday night and I'm fairly certain that is the ONLY thing she talked about until we walked in from church and she ran directly to her room to don her Princess bathing suit. Never mind the fact that she had tons of LL Bean, Gap and Old Navy suits in the very same basket...I mean, c'mon people - she wanted the "fancy" one.

Since that very afternoon she's pretty much wanted to spend every waking moment in that pool. Tim and I have thus agreed - best $10 spent...E.V.E.R!!! *End of season clearance. Gotta love that!

I can't explain why, but there seems to be an incredible fascination with working on getting as much of the water out of the pool possible once she's in it???? "Mr. Squirty" is one device used to accomplish aforementioned fascination.

Oh the look on her face when she gets in - it's like it's the best day of her life! Too funny! I would like to again state.....$10 people - totally worth it.

Behold: The Fancy princess suit:

It's all you thought it would be, and more - right? ;)

On this particular day we were in our suit before 9 AM and although the pic is with my phone I found it super funny that she was that stoked about getting in her pool. I told her when the sun shined on it we would go out..thinking that might give me until at least 10. She stood in front of the glass patio slider at like 10 minute intervals until she saw the sun glimmering on that water and then announced it as loud as possible.....so I obliged. What else could I do. Ergo..she was in the pool by 9:15 AM. Awesome.

Just for giggles......

I just sit out there in the shade with Avery and belly laugh because you should hear her squeals of excitement and bubbling over laughter. Then she pours more water out of the pool and then there is more uproarious laughter followed by more pouring out of pool water and the cycle continues and I just laugh.

She even has her snack in the pool

Oh, and an update on the whole not napping thing:

Clearly - it couldn't be going any better.

Amidst all the Kennedy pool time has been some Avery having new experiences time. It's so fun watching her discover and observe new things.

I've decided that not only my kiddos but my pets have a seriously posh existence around here. If I could/would ever die and come back as something (cause you know, all logical thinking people consider such things: right?) - it would totally be one of my pets. I mean, Kennedy loves on them

and plays with them:

Wouldn't you enjoy a plastic goose and chicken functioning as head bookends while you rest? I know right - me too! Ha ha

They treat each other as equals...sharing the sunbathing yard space:

They get fresh vittles before said vittles have the chance to hit the floor...that is, when they aren't sleeping. Of course - that would only take up like 10% of their day because they are ALWAYS sleeping! Exhibit A:

Speaking of sleeping, I snapped this picture of Kirby sleeping in the playset while Kennedy squealed and shrieked and carried on in the pool nearby - never phased him. Must be nice! I have altered the photo a bit (as well as the photos that follow) with my new app I'm currently obsessed with. It's called LittlePhoto and it's the Android equivalent of the Iphone Instagram app. It's so cool. You can take a pic and then do all kinds of treatments and edits to them. I'm having lots of fun with it...as you'll see. The best part - it's totally free.

Sweet little happy Avery. She's getting that sweet baby pudge to her. I love it!

I also love that I can finally say I have a baby that will sleep just about anywhere. For example at a public park full of screaming children...that's where I snapped this.

Can I get a hallelujah and an amen?

Kennedy's been helping me more and more lately when I need her to entertain her sister or "talk" to her for me to keep her content. Here's a couple sweet "big sis" moments:

I hope that they grow up to be the best of friends. I'm already telling Kennedy that she'll never have a best friend like her sister. I hope it sinks in!

She's Crafty

2011-05-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

I decided a while back that there was NO WAY I could keep hanging on to every little craft that Kennedy made. I would if I could because they are all just so precious and she's always so proud, but seriously - I just can't! So I purchased a craft box to save my absolute favorites and I take pictures of all the others before I toss em'. Gasp! I know, I know...it's hard - but it's necessary. I take pictures of my favorites too and then when I create our family Snapfish photo book I can include her artwork in the album. Here are some of her latest and greatest:

The above totally tickled me - shirt and shoes: done! Glad she's easy to please. Maile is a little friend in her class that she is clearly thankful for.

I am a sucker for anything made with her hands - aren't all Moms? The above and below were both made for Mother's Day. One was made by the MUMS childcare workers and below was made in Sunday school at church. Love it!

She's been bringing me home more and more drawing-esque projects lately. This is a first though - her attempt at a family portrait. So thoughtful...yet a bit humorous.

Apparently I have a giant fang or tongue (whichever you prefer) and when holding Avery I do so by dangling her by an arm - nice! Too funny!

This next item is not one she herself created, rather her teacher Miss Emily did - but it was awarded to Kennedy. Details below

It says: Mr. and Mrs. Taylor,

This picture was the example for a collage we did last week. I didn't want to throw it out and neither did the children. They all wanted to keep it. So, we had a competition, and the child who could write the words the fastest (and correctly) got this as their prize! Kennedy won this price (she is so smart!) I didn't know she could write words until now - we will work on this more now! ;) I hope you are all as proud of her as I am. Miss Emily

Isn't that awesome? I made such a super huge deal over that. My baby wrote a word! Oh my. I asked her today what word she wrote and she said "bat". She then proceeded to sound the word out and spell it for me. When did this happen? I'm not sure truthfully but I'm proud!

On another subject matter entirely - we've been having a heck of a time with Kennedy waking up at night. In all honesty - Avery sleeps better some nights than Kennedy does and Avery's only 12 weeks old. That's just wrong isn't it? Well...I've been contemplating dropping Kennedy's nap but some days it seems as if she really needs it and so I'm torn. When I can, I try to ensure we've significantly worn her out in the hopes that regardless of what happens at nap time, she'll be ready to go to sleep at night. Enter the glorious contraption my neighbors recently purchased at a yard sale. It's free fun people and bonus: she gets a work out. Clearly - a workout:

I thought today I'd go ahead and tell her she needed to have quiet time but if she didn't fall asleep that was ok. If she gets no midday rest we have a melting ball of emotion by bath time and I cannot handle the drama of that so quiet time must occur! I told her she could sit in her room and watch a movie and I'd come and check on her in a bit. Well of course, I got busy (because the stars had aligned perfectly and Avery was napping too) and by the time I went to check on her this is what I found:

Herein lies my confusion about whether she needs the nap or not.

and don't even get me started on that blasted pacifier!

She spent the remainder of her afternoon helping Daddy do yard work and playing on her play set so my fingers are crossed that we will all sleep well tonight. Tim said when they were in the yard working she was cracking him up. Mainly because she's 3.5 going on 13. I'm not kidding. Even her mannerisms are proof:

Um...she didn't even realize I was taking those people! Heaven help me....

I suppose it was bound to happen....

2011-05-26T05:18:00.000-07:00

As you all know - I am an office manager at a veterinary clinic. I am passionate about our clinic and even more passionate about my role in managing it. I have a lot of responsibilities and wear many hats as manager but one of the hats I wear is the "marketing" one.

Because we are a small practice in a somewhat still rural area we don't have tons of funds allocated to marketing; however, it is still something I know to be valuable and important for attracting new clientele.

Several months back, in my peer group of office managers we discussed ways to market our practices in an affordable way. As I'm sure you can imagine, Facebook was one of the things mentioned and they had a ton of ideas on how to creatively use your clinic Facebook page...one clinic's office cat even had a page. Seriously!

I was resistant to creating a clinic page because I myself am not on Facebook and opening up that avenue (not knowing much about it) made me a little nervous. Enter this past months Journal of Veterinary Medicine article regarding having a social network presence in order to communicate more effectively with existing clients as well as appealing to prospective new clients. On the heels of that article came a study done by Bayer Animal Health stating that annual client visits are dropping and most practitioners aren't aware. The study encouraged each practice to do an "inventory" of their client visits which we did and our numbers were in support of the study. So...it kind of was "HIGH TIME" if you will for me to "manage" this need to increase client visits and ensure our current clientele knows how valuable they are to us.

Obviously I wanted to make sure that we did this correctly and as such I ordered a book written by an Office Manager called "Social Media for Veterinary Professionals". Yes people - there is such a book. It is a good book too - I devoured it in one day!

The Author, Brenda Tassava stated the following in one of the early pages of her book: You need to spend some time using Facebook on a personal level before attempting to manage a business profile for your practice. You will need to get used to common social media etiquette and spend several weeks, if not months simply observing, listening, and conversing on a personal level before taking it to the next level. Search out other veterinary practices and "like" these pages in order to stream them into your newsfeed. Search for your local animal shelters, the American Animal Hospital Association, the American Veterinary Medical Associations, and even your state's medical association. You will find most, if not all to already have a presence on Facebook. Search for friends and family members and build your list of Facebook friends, interacting with people with whom you already have relationships before striking them up with existing and potential clients. The more you "practice" social media, the better you will become at communicating in this venue."

So...as a result, I officially have a Facebook page people! Now, I would like to address the fact that the reason I was not on Facebook prior to now (personally) was simply because I feared I would not have the time to allocate to it. Would it take me away from my kiddos, would I get too wrapped up in others lives, etc. etc. I can't say yet whether or not those things will occur. I can say that I've gotten a lot of good advice from those who have gone before me which pretty much includes EVERYONE aside from two of my three sisters. So...that's a lot of great advice! Furthermore, to not explore this avenue on a professional level for my clinic is kind of neglecting a potentially very valuable means of communication between us and our clients. It's truthfully an added bonus that I'll actually see pictures of my friends kids now and get to connect with people I've not talked to in ages. I'll know when everyone else knows now that my child's daycare closes due to inclement weather and I'll even be more up to date on my Mom's group happenings and church goings on. It is a MAJOR means of communication anymore - it cannot be denied. To be completely candid, it was getting harder and harder to not be a member. So..for those of you who have said to me "whatever you gotta tell yourself, you're using this whole work/marketing thing as an excuse to finally join the rest of us": well, it surely was a catalyst, you're right about that.

I'm already totally overwhelmed but I'm sure it'll get easier the more familiar I get with it. So...if we aren't already: let's be friends!