A day in the life of Taylor

Taylor does a great job of keeping me on my toes! I am definitely earning my keep as a stay-at-home with this little girl. The biggest challenge I am facing right now is her desire to do things that she isn't quite old enough to do. She wants to be like her brother and climb and stand on everything. Today, I decided to keep the camera on me and try to capture her climbing moments. (Disclaimer: Normally, I stop her before she climbs and stands on all these things, but I wanted to take a day to document these moments so I could remember them).

I was shocked that she actually made it up into the highchair and she looked at me and was like, "Okay mom, I'm ready to eat".
I brought out the play yard yesterday because I was having such a difficult time making dinner, helping Dylan with something or doing anything that took my attention off her for 2 seconds. She is so quick and will be on top of the dining room table before I know it, so it is helpful to have a safe place to put her for a few minutes. Today, Dylan and Chloe had fun playing in it while Taylor pushed the toy bin over to try and climb in.

Trying to climb into her booster seat.

Trying to get up on the couch.

I made it, YAY!!!

This has been her favorite chair to climb on for months. I don't think there has been a time that we have been playing upstairs that she doesn't stand up to look out the window.
Climbing on toys is fun too!

I can't believe mom is letting me stand on the train table, this is so cool!

Climbing up on the table is her latest favorite thing.

She loves to stand on this ottoman! Today, she fell off this for the first time. (No, it didn't happen because I took this picture =). It happened later in the day)

She really wanted to get into the bath!
These last two photos aren't from today, but I wanted to include them because they highlight her latest fashion statement, the helmet. She is now the proud owner of Dylan's old helmet and she wants to wear it all the time. She finds it, brings it to me and demands that I put it on her. I actually think it is good because it protects her head while she finds new things to climb.

The backpack has also been something she enjoys wearing around the house. The accessory obsession definitely continues.

Weekend at Nana and Papas

We spent the weekend down in Gig Harbor to celebrate Nana's birthday. Nana and Papa have a membership to the Point Defiance Zoo and Dylan was anxious to get there to see all the animals. The big cats are his favorite and it was so cool that he could be so close to the Tiger!

Dylan enjoyed touching all the animals in the touch tanks.

Taylor loves Uncle Eric and she spent a lot of time at the zoo hanging out with him. She was in the stroller for about 10 minutes and then she walked the rest of the time. I was surprised how well she kept up with us. She is such an active little lady and she wanted to be like a big kid.

The boys and Taylor at the zoo.


Taylor loved feeding the goats! I wish you could hear her laugh a little better. It was so sweet!

Aunt Lizzy is going to be such a great mom. She loves our kids so much and they love her!

Nana had one HUGE candle for her b-day and Dylan thought that was fun! You must be really old when you have candles that big =) Happy Birthday, Nana!

Nana getting some of her birthday honey from Dylan.

Dylan choose to not eat dinner, so he didn't get any dessert. He loves to try and be sneaky and he grabbed the lid to the ice cream cake and started licking the frosting off of it. He liked to tell us that he still got a treat. He loves to manipulate things in his favor =)

Thanks for a fun weekend, Nana and Papa!

Mommy's Weekend Away

I was so blessed to have an amazing weekend away with some wonderful ladies! I've met most of the women through Stroller Strides and we've become friends over the years. Last June we trained and ran the Rock 'N Roll half marathon together. Karma has a cabin in Easton and she invited us to have a fun weekend away. The weather was great and we had such a wonderful time!

We went to Suncadia a few times to hike, ice skate, wine taste and have dinner. So fun!!!

I came home to a clean house (thanks, babe!) and special note from my family. Bryan also wrote down a few of the things Dylan said while they were making me this note. Here a few quotes from Dylan:

1) You are so wonderful!

2) We missed you twice a day, but Daddy babysitted us.

3) I have fun spending time with my Daddy.

4) Mommy, you are so wonderful and we miss you so much!

I felt very loved when I walked in the door. Nothing like a weekend away to refresh the spirit and remind you how much you love your family!

Our house is a Zoo!

Literally, our house is like a zoo or an African safari. The fireman obsession has been replaced by a wild animal obsession (mostly African animals - lions, tigers, and cheetahs top the list). It is so interesting to me how once Dylan finds something he enjoys he dives in full throttle. His bed has been turned into the lion's den and we crawl around like we are tigers. We've cleared the library out of every book about these animals and he saves up his money to buy animal families. Normally at night I tell him stories about Firemen Dylan and Wendy the rescue hero. Now he wants me to tell him stories about lions, cheetahs and zookeeper Dylan. I was really good at the firemen stories and I am still getting into my groove with these new stories. He corrects me a lot and tells me how the story is supposed to go. He has such an amazing memory and he can quote statistics from his books. Tonight he wanted me to pray that the people who cut down trees in the animal's habitats will have some of their money taken away so they can't make the animals extinct. It was really cute!!

Here is his current selection of animals. He is hoping his collection grows on his birthday!

He has been setting up the zoo on his mat. All the animals have their own habitats.

His sand box is now an African desert. There are trucks that carry the tourists on safaris and the animals roam around the sand looking for water and food. Too cute!!!

Valentine's Day Treats

Love was flowing from our house on Valentine's day!

My two special guys surprised me with lillies and yummy candy, Mommy's favorite!!!

Dylan and I made a special banner for Dad. In the middle I wrote down reasons why we love Dad. Here are just a few things Dylan said he loved about his dad. He is strong and buff, he wrestles with me, he takes me to MacDonald's, he is silly when he dresses up like Jim Bob Jim Bob, and he lets me look at lion videos and pictures on the computer. We love you, Daddy!

A few days after Valentine's Day and my flower still look amazing. I love lillies!

Valentines Day Playdate

We have been so blessed by our neighborhood and the families that live here. We've met wonderful friends and it is so special our kids are similar ages. During the summer we are outside all the time playing together, but in the winter we don't see our friends as often because everyone is inside. Since they miss hanging out we've scheduled a few themed playdates. In November we had a fall theme playdate and we just had a Valentines Day playdate.

Here is Dylan, Chloe and Sawyer showing off their string hearts.

They made candy necklaces and they were so excited about jewelery they could eat. Chloe was so patient at stringing them and Dylan wanted a lot of help because he just wanted it done so he could eat it.

I love Family Fun magazine, they give me so many great idea! We have candy cane heart lollipops with white chocolate in the middle and tortillas cut into heart shapes and baked with sprinkles on top. YUM!!!

Taylor was looking so cute in her heart dress. She actually had a clip in for more than 10 seconds, YEAH!

Dylan and I tested out the tortilla hearts to see if they were any good. Check out how pink his hands and mouth are. He kept dipping his hand in the sprinkles on the cookie sheet. He definitely has a sweet tooth like his mama.

Here are some photos from our fall playdate. They made animals out of apples. This is when Dylan was going through his phase of not liking having his picture taken.

Here were their final animal creations. Such artists!!!

Mommy's 31st Birthday

Wow, another year has gone by. This past year definitely seemed like the fastest year of my life. It has been an amazing year, watching Taylor and Dylan grow and mature. Dylan is becoming such a young man and I am so proud of him. Taylor keeps me on my toes and she amazes me with all the things she is learning.

On my actual birthday, February 2nd, we had a family dinner at Red Robin. Earlier in the day my mom brought over this cake and we came home from the restaurant and they sang happy birthday to me. Dylan still loves singing and helping blow out the candles.

A few days later we had a family party at my parents. Grandma, Grandpa, Gramps, Nana, Papa, Aunt Lizzy and Uncle Eric were there. Dylan was excited that he got to help me blow out the candles twice. We were celebrating Grandpa's birthday too (his 64th) and so we clapped 95 times. Taylor was a little confused by the clapping but soon she joined in on our fun family tradition. Thanks Nana for making the yummy cake and pie!

Taylor was playing it up for the camera during some snuggle time!!!

Auntie Lizzy played a silly game of spinning the kids around in the box. Taylor was having so much fun!!

Auntie Lizzy always has time to do something special with her little man.

Our family has never broken out into a spontaneous song before, but it happened on my birthday. Dylan is really into animals right now and so some how the song "In the Jungle" started being sung. It turned into quite a production. I made them try and recreate it so I could capture it on tape. I love seeing Uncle Eric's face in the back looking at everyone like they are crazy.