Daily Life with the Taylors

Happy 5th Birthday, Sophia

2015-01-16T17:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Your Daddy and I are truly bewildered at how you are possibly 5 years old! You are such a sweetie, and we feel so blessed that God chose us to be your mom and dad.

Watching you grow into your roll as a big sister over the past two years has been pretty amazing. You are protective and loving, and you show unconditional love to Ryland. The love you have for him melts our hearts. The way you want to sing to him at bedtime. How you teach him how to do things, so patiently. And even though you sometimes need reminders that you are not his mom, we know that you do all these things with love.

This past year has not been without its challenges. You are a very strong willed young lady. You know what you want. Or don't want. And for that I am so thankful. I know that this characteristic will serve you well as you grow into an adult. But teaching you how to control these feelings has been a challenge for your dad and I. We are constantly researching and learning ways to help you, and trying to find strategies that you can use to learn this control on your own. Though you push us at times, we know that it is only because you feel so passionate in the moment. And the level to which you have matured in the past year has astounded us. You truly are growing up.

Your desire to learn and go to kindergarten in August is the cutest. You woke up on your birthday and looked at me wide eyed and asked "Now I get to go to Kindergarten, right?!" As much as I love that you are ready to start, I am also saddened. We can't believe that you are really at the age to start school. real school. We just want you to stay a kid. Forever. (Well, maybe not forever, but we do want this time to slow down.)

We love you, Sweetie. More than we can ever express. All of our love, Forever,

Momma and Daddy

Happy 1st Birthday Ry-Guy

2014-02-06T00:09:00.001-08:00

Dear Ryland,

Tomorrow when you wake up, you will be one year old. I've had many moments this week where I haven't been able to contain the tears when I think about your first year. We are in awe at how fast this year has gone by. We are shocked daily at the changes we notice with you. And you keep us on our toes, little climber. Every day you are learning new and exciting things and you are not afraid to take big risks, which sometimes scares your Daddy and me.

Having a little guy in the house has been an entirely different experience from having your big sister. From day one, we could tell that your temperament was different than hers. We are constantly amazed at how two children from the same parents can be so different. You are so curious about the way that things work. From the minute you could crawl you were trying to figure out how to open doors, how your sister's dolly stroller moved around on the floor. You'd flop it over and play with the wheels for the longest lengths of time, just taking it all in. And you've become our climber. We can not take our eyes off of you for one second. I'm amazed at the risks you will take and the speed at which you do !!

You are such a sweet boy. You are always ready for a hug, or a cuddle. And every time we pick you up, you snuggle your little head into the crook between my shoulder and my neck, and wrap your legs around my torso. Time stops. And I melt. Literally. I've always heard that there is a different kind of love between a mom and her son, and Ryland, you sure do know how to show it. I just want to hold on to these moments of time forever.

You have an amazing sister in Sophia. When she first met you in the hospital, there was some reservation on her end. She wasn't sure what to think about you all bundled up like a caterpillar, and seeing me in the hospital bed is still something she talks about. But from the moment you came home, she has done nothing but LOVE on you. I still remember sitting on the couch the afternoon we came home. Daddy picked her up from school and she ran. full speed. straight to you. I have always felt that the love a parent experiences is not something that can be explained. Especially since having children of my own. I also feel that the love is not something you understand until you hold your own child for the first time. It's bigger and deeper than anything. But watching Sophia makes me wonder if others do experience it? She shows love to you in such a big way. She tells me all the time that she loves you "this much", as she circles her arms in the air as big as they can possibly go. And the day you started walking, her world changed. Ryland, I can't wait until you can see this for yourself and feel her love.

But not every single minute is glorious. That wouldn't be honest. You hate teething. And it doesn't come easy for you. You drool. And go through several shirts a day. And everyone knows that you are in pain. Because you don't let us forget it. :( And it breaks our hearts. With only 4 of your teeth, your smile lights up the room. And while I enjoy each and every grin, sometimes I fear for the time that the next tooth will appear, and pray that it gets easier.

You are such a lovebug. Each and every kiss you give warms my soul. We have so enjoyed every moment of your first year, and watching the little man you are becoming. We know that you will do great things.

We love you more than we can say and we can't wait to see what this next year will bring.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Game On !!!

2014-01-19T13:20:00.001-08:00

And...he's off!! Ryland is officially a walker!

Sophia has been living for the day her brother would become a playmate. Ever since the day he was born she has tried to play with him. And it took some time for her to comprehend that he couldn't play with her the way all the kids at school can.

So it was only fitting that on her birthday, Ryland went from standing on his own, to taking 4 steps before melting into the ground. His legs would literally turn to jello an he'd slowly slide downwards :).

That Friday I picked Ryland up from daycare and Ms. Diane says "We've been on the go a lot today!" And smiled. When we got home we fully understood what she meant. Ryland was walking!! All by himself. And it's the cutest thing. Sometimes he heads straight for his intended goal. Others, it's almost like he sees what he wants, his balance gets a little off-course, and he looks straight but heads left. :). I love the early-walker stage!

From the ways that Sophia now interacts with Ryland, it's obvious that his walking was the best present she could have received.

4 years. Where Has the Time Gone?

2014-01-16T21:22:00.001-08:00

Dear Sophia,

Today is your 4th birthday. You chose a Tangled theme (Disney's Rapunzel). Your dad and I have spent the last 3 days cleaning, preparing decorations, and planning for your family dinner party. With every scrub of the counter or sweep of the broom, memories are flooding back.

How is it possible that 4 years have passed? How is it possible that 4 years ago we were in the hospital awaiting your arrival? Time flies. And you've grown so much, Sweetie. Your father and I are in amazement at the fun loving, beautiful, and sometimes challenging young lady you are turning into.

You love to sing and dance. And you are hilarious. Even when you don't mean to be. You make us smile in ways that we never knew. You are kind and loving. Watching you with your brother has been awesome. You love that little guy as much as your father and I. And that's a big love. Something I never knew children were capable of. And I can tell that you will always be there for your little brother. Forever.

If anyone could have told us four years ago, just how much we would love you, they would have been wrong...no one could possibly know the depth of our love for you. Our love for you is bigger than anything we can explain. You are our sweet, amazing, silly Sophia. And we wouldn't change a thing about you. Not even your stubborn nature. Which you get from your daddy, ok...maybe a little from me :). You continue to amaze us and surprise us everyday.

Happy 4th Birthday, Princess.

Love Mommy & Daddy

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Little Man

2013-08-06T22:17:00.001-07:00

Dear Ryland,

Happy 6 month birthday, Handsome little guy! You are six months old today and Dad and I are already amazed at how fast this time has gone by. It's been such an incredible time watching the dynamics of our family change since your arrival. It seems like each and every day something changes; You are able to do something new, or you are making new sounds, or trying new foods (and loving them!).

While you are not quite mobile yet, you are trying so hard. You so badly want to crawl around, and I’m sure it’s because you want to keep up with Sophia! You absolutely love her, and it’s so awesome as your parent to sit back and watch the love between you two. Sophia wastes no time in the morning waiting for you to wake up. She is up before the sunlight and the moment she hears you stirring around in your crib she announces “Brother’s waking up!” She is quite the lucky girl, as she gets to give you your very first kiss each morning. And she loves to be the 1^st one into your room, exclaiming almost every morning “Good Morling, Brother! Look at your smile!” It’s the perfect way to start each day.

Even While you are a very, very content little baby, we can tell that you are taking things in. When I wave at you, you get the biggest smile, and your little fingers start moving up and down on your leg…you haven’t quite figured out that your hand has to come up too!

While looking at you sometimes throws me into a moment of deja-vu, because of your amazing resemblance to your sister, you two couldn’t be more different. And it’s crazy how many differences we see already, at 6 months old.

Where Sophia was a tiny baby, always below the 50^th percentile for weight, you, buddy, are much bigger! I’ve always heard that a growing boy will eat you out of house and home, but I was sure that didn’t start until you were in your teens. Not you! Ryland, you eat every 3 hours. On the dot. I can tell time by your appetite! And now that we’ve started solids, I can see that you are going to be a much better eater than your sister. Where Sophia’s taste palate is more like your dad’s, limited to say the least, you enjoy a wide variety of foods.

Sophia has been your chef. She absolutely loves to make your foods for you, and I enjoy the help. You eat up all of your veggies and all of your fruits. Every last drop. Funny, but your favorite is absolutely butternut squash. You love to grab the spoon and try and feed yourself, but many times the squash ends up on your forehead instead of in your mouth.

You haven’t yet started talking, but you are the most vocal little guy! When we are in the car listening to music, I am certain that you are singing along, as you coo and babble nonstop!

And your laugh! Oh man is it the best sound. No one can make you laugh better than your sister. Your dad and I love to just sit back and watch these interactions. It’s as if you two are the only two in the world. You are mesmerized by her, and she loves the attention you give her. She plays peek a boo with you, tickles you, and just talks to you. And you laugh and laugh and laugh.

Ryland, You are the newest love of my life. And you complete our family. Each and every day we are so thankful for the smiles and laughs that you bring us. We are in awe of the love you and your sister share already. And we can’t wait for the adventures yet to come.

With all my love,

Momma

And....It's Summer!

2013-06-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

Looking back on the last 7 weeks I am amazed at how fast it has flown by! And now it's summer time.   Thank the Lord for that.   Being a working mommy is so hard. I have so much more compassion and understanding for working moms now that I've had to experience it myself.

Going back to work when we just had Sophia was a natural transition from having our first kid, to getting life back on a roll.   We made it work. And it seemed pretty easy.    There were two adults, and one baby, so there was always someone to stop what they were doing and tend to her every need. But now, with two kids, things have gotten exponentially more difficult.   :)   But not in a "We can't do this!" kind of way.   More like a "Now I get why (fill in the name of your perpetually late family member here) is ALWAYS late"   :) Always.

Now the day is longer.   We wake up at 5, shower, maybe sneak in 1/2 cup of coffee while putting make up on, drying hair, and getting dressed. Then Sophia is up.   She doesn't wake up as happy and chipper as her mom. No, she's more like her dad.   She likes to take her time waking up, and getting dressed, and doing her hair, and picking out her snack. And arguing over what color vitamin she had yesterday, and what shoes she wants to wear to school that day. And if she should wear pink socks like the ones we picked out the night before, or orange ones. No, wait. The orange ones will NOT match. So blue it is. If we're lucky, then Ryland is just starting to stir awake. Which means we need to fix him a bottle and feed him.   And hopefully he doesn't have a diaper explosion like yesterday.   Because then we're changing clothes again, before work.   Pack up the diaper bag, make sure the lunch bags get ice packs, grab our waters, my school bag.   And my purse.   Carry all of this, and Ryland out to the car. That's right, one trip!   And we're off. On days where we time it perfectly, which are few and far between, I am leaving with Ryland the same time Matthew is leaving with Sophia. We both have a drop off, and take a deep breath. Off to work.   8 hours later, head home, and the never ending movement continues. It's a wonder I haven't worked off the baby weight yet. Oh wait, let's be honest here...Take-out happens more than it ever has. (Horrible, I know...) There are snacks, and more bottles, and diapers, and laundry. Oh Laundry. The never-ending chore! Dinner, packing of lunches for the next day, dishes, bedtime baths, story & songs. And Sophia's in bed.   If we're lucky, it's not 9pm yet!

Where does the time go?   It's so easy to lose track of.   And how do families fit homework in? Are we going to survive once the kids start school? Or will I be "that" mom...the kind that is the teacher, but her kids still don't manage to get all of their homework done?

The balance is the hardest part. It's so easy to make it look like we have it all together. But if you come to our house on any given weeknight, I can't gaurantee that the dishes were done. Or the dishwasher emptied. And there may be a pile of clothes in my hallway, waiting to be the next laundry load.

But, we are all loved.   We are all happy. and things get done. Just not on the time table I may expect of myself...But if I've taken some time in the evening to spend time building Lego's with Sophia, or helping Ryland roll, and actually having a conversation with Matthew, then I feel full. I feel refreshed; Like I can take this all on again the next day. And that makes it all worth it.

Quick Updates on the Fam:

Matthew:
GRADUATION!!! Yep! Matthew finished his Master's Degree! We are so proud of him and how hard he worked to get through his classes. And he finally is finished! In the midst of end of school year stuff, and yard projects, and going back to work, Sue and I planned a surprise party to celebrate his big accomplishment. I don't know how we ever pulled it off, as he always knows when something is up, but we did! And it was great!

He's also been busy in the yard this month. The Back-Back is taking on it's intended dream: a play-yard! The sod is down, the curb is in. Matthew's been busy!

Matthew was also offered a full time position: His 6 month contract led its way into a full time position, after many prayers.   Matthew was offered a full time position with Oracle that will begin in July! We are so thankful that he loves his new job, he's home earlier than when he worked in town, and he's been brought on full time!   MANY answered Prayers.

Katie:
Summer is here. Not only is school done, but I'm done in 1st grade too.   After many contributing factors were considered, I decided to make a move.   And back to 6th grade I go!

I'm LOVING my time at home (I know, it's only day 3!) with both Sophia and Ryland!

Sophia:
Sophia will be at home with me all summer, as opposed to going to preschool part-time. She is so eager to learn right now.   We are working on her letter names, she knows all her colors, how to count to 20-teen, and will be taking private swim lessons in the next couple weeks. We've been going swimming over at Grandpa Whit and Grandma Sue's house every couple of days, and she does great with her floaties on.   We're just really hoping she can become an independent swimmer and gain some confidence in the water alone.

Ryland:
Our growing boy. Growing so much and so fast. We have his 4 month appointment on Monday and I am so anxious to see how much he weighs. We are used to our petite little Sophia. Who was always tall on the height charts and low on the weight charts. Ryland however, is a bigger boy. He keeps down 99% of his food, and every oz sticks to his bones. In comparison, we looked at Sophia's baby book and his last weight (at 3 1/2 months) was 6 oz more than what Sophia weighed at 5 months! It won't be long before he's bigger than his big sister if he keeps up this growing pattern!    He finally found the strength to move all of his body and he's rolling over.   A celebration, and a challenge.   Now nap-time is a struggle, as he flops over, wiggles out of his swaddle-wrap, and lays there laughing and squealing for help! He's a HAPPY boy. All of the time. Well, unless he's hungry. But honestly, he smiles and talks more than any baby I've ever been around. Just a constant chatter box when he's not napping. We love it!

Ryland's first book from an online book exchange! :)

First time he didn't cry and scream in the bath. It took about 3 months! :)

Our sleepy Big Sis. She is such a great sister.

Ryland's best bud. We've named him Patches. He LOVES this dog! It's adorable!

Sophia and Mommy cuddles

Thought maybe Ryland had an ear infection.

Poor boy just wasn't himself. But luckily, no ear infection!

Sophia and Daddy at Mini-Golf on our Miranda Memorial Day Weekend trip

Ryland wrapped up. He loves to be held against our chest, and will fall asleep almost instantly.

My Favorite Pictures. Nothing better than a walk through the Redwoods.

Big Boy, starting to try out holding his own bottle.

Our Cool Dude.

Sophia's first harvest from her garden. She grew dinner this night. Green beans!

Our creative little artist.

From dirt, to lawn. Messy job!

Little Miss likes to pick out her own outfits. I pick my battles.

Our Happy Kiddos

Last day of school; Popsicles in the grass.

Sibling cuddles. They have my heart.

Happy kids on the 1st day of summer!

Floor time. Loving his precious little face.

Our boy is growing. And Sophia is a proud Sister.

I'm hoping that I am better about updates now that I'm home for the summer, but I'm not making many promises. My days are kid filled, which leads to unpredictable schedules lots of times!

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's off to work we go...

2013-04-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

I can not believe how incredibly fast my time at home has gone by. Ryland is now 8 weeks old, and is SUCH a good baby! He truly makes parenthood seem like a breeze.

Life has become quite different around the Taylor home in the last few weeks! Here are some updates:

Matthew
After months of job-hunting & working with a job-recruiter, Matthew got a new job!   :)   It has been a long-awaited move for him.   He is now commuting down to Rocklin (about a 40 min drive), working with Oracle, a big software company.   His job is in the corporate offices, where he calculates the commissions earned by the sales reps. The biggest change for Matthew is that his mornings now start MUCH earlier! Despite the lack of extra sleep, he is coming home much more relaxed and much happier at the end of the day. And even though there is a commute, he's home earlier than when he worked in town!

Katie
Monday brings work again. It is absolutely a bittersweet change for me. I have LOVED every second that I've been at home with Ryland and Sophia over the last 8 weeks. I love my job as a mommy more than anything. Sophia is such a silly girl right now. Her little personality is really, really blossoming. She is so creative and imaginative. It's amazing to watch her mimic us, and to be a "little mommy" herself. She continues to love, love, love her brother. I just want to bottle it up!

But I do miss my silly 1st graders too. Especially this time of year. Spring is when you see the hard-work that you've put in all year really paying off with the students. So many of them come into 1st grade knowing letter names, but maybe not knowing all of the sounds. But at this point in the year, they are READING! Such a rewarding moment to see!

I have been LOVING the recent AT&T commercials, because they absolutely remind me of the fun moments in the classroom. If you're in for a giggle, watch these:

Faster or Slower

Nicky Flash

Pickle Roll

Sophia
Going back to work for me, means Sophia goes back to preschool full time. We know how much she is a creature of routine, so we started her back full time this week. We figured with 2 kids to get out the door each morning, we would start her early.   By having this week to "practice" being ready each morning, hopefully next week will run a little more smoothly. She is already loving that she has "a school day every day!"   :)    It's such a relief to know that she is happy, well cared for, and excelling while she is there!

Ryland
We had a bit of a health scare with Ryland in the last few weeks. Long story short...We noticed that his pupils were different sizes. Dr. Midha, our pediatrician, wanted to see him right away. And after a long exam, decided that this was definitely something he wanted explored further. He explained that often times when this happens in babies it can be a brain tumor. When he said tumor, I didn't hear anything else. I just stood crying, holding my little man, and wanting to make everything ok. So he made us a referral for a pediatric ophthalmologist. The referral however, would not get us an appointment until May. When you tell a parent their child "may have" a tumor, it is very scary. We really didn't want to wait so long to get answers. Carly made a phone call to Fran, her mother-in-law, who works for an eye doctor, and asked her if she'd seen anything like that before. The doctor she worked for said that he probably wouldn't wait that long to get things checked. this created another level of fear. If the doctor wouldn't wait, then we needed to get an appointment soon. Fran called a former employer, and he was willing to get us in sooner. We had our appointment this last week, and everything checked out fine. Big sigh of relief. We know that lots of people were praying for Ryland and we thank you so much.

On a lighter note, Ryland will be having a big schedule change this week. As much as I'd love to be able to take Ryland to work with me every day...that just isn't an option!   I only have 7 weeks of school before Summer Vacation! 7 weeks!!! So my mom has offered to watch him during that time.   I am so thankful for her offer to watch him for us.   And I know she is so excited to have her time with him, too!     Even though I'll be leaving him with my mom, I'm pretty sure I'll still be shedding some tears on Monday morning.   Hopefully the next 7 weeks fly by. I keep telling myself "7 Mondays"   and somehow it makes my time away seem so much more manageable! Then this summer we'll start the hunt for daycare. So Ryland won't officially start daycare until August. At that point he'll be 6 months old. So crazy how the time flies!

So here are some pictures of life over the past 8 weeks!

Our Smily Little Guy!

Gardening Day! Sophia tells us "We're growing dinner!" Squash and Green Beans, yummy!

SUCH a happy little guy!

Saturday Morning Cuddles!

Newborn Photos

2013-03-14T09:37:00.004-07:00

While Carly was in town she came over during Ryland's 1st week and put her photographer skills to use! She took amazing newborn photos for us! :) We love them!

Here are just a few for your viewing!

Life With Ryland

2013-03-14T09:22:00.001-07:00

It's so hard to believe that Ryland is already over a month old. Most days it is seems like he has forever been a part of our family because of what a good baby he is. He truly is a mellow baby; crying only when he is hungry, and occasionally for a gassy tummy or if he's tired.

We were all very curious how our family dynamics would change once Ryland arrived, and truth be told, not much has changed.   Sophia is an AMAZING big sister. So much better than I thought she would be. I was truly worried about how she would handle the change, being that she had our 100% undivieded attention for the past 3 years. But she is great. She LOVES her brother so much more than I could ever think, and it really goes to show me what her capacity for love is. She runs to us 1st thing each morning when she hears Ryland and me awake. And she asks, every morning, if she can give him his "1st kiss"   :)    How sweet is that?    And she loves to be there when I get him dressed. She doesn't care so much for helping to pick out his clothes each day, but loves to pick out what socks he wears. So funny!

I was worried about my capacity to love two children. I know that sounds crazy, but I just couldn't imagine loving another child as much as I loved Sophia. But I do. And there is absolutely no way to describe how your heart grows.   It just does.

And I know that Matthew might not admit it right away, but he was worried about how having a new baby would interfere with his work towards his Master's degree. And it has been more of a challenge, there's no denying that, but he has been amazing at balancing life as hubby, daddy & student.

Not to say that every second has been blissfully perfect. There is definetely a transition that has taken place. And sometimes I find myself slipping into my expectations of the ways that things "should" be going, instead of being understanding of the ways that things actually are; We have a 3 year old, she is going to slip up and have tantrums, she is going to push our buttons a little more than she used to. And we have an infant.   We won't always get to eat our dinner together, or eat while it is hot. We won't always get to do bath-time as a family anymore, we have 2 baths to coordinate now. But a quick look around gives me a reality check, and I see how blessed we truly are to have our amazing kids, a great partnership in our marriage, and a fantastic family.

Below are some pictures that have captured our life in the last month!

Addie's 1st Birthday Party was while they were here! She was so cute & LOVED her giant cupcake! :)

We enjoyed an amazing month of cuddles while Tita & Addie were visiting for February.

Ryland met Auntie Al! :) And they loved to cuddle together!

Sleepy Ryland

Matthew & Sophia had a Daddy Daughter Date! It was the cutest thing ever. He took her to see Disney on Ice. She insisted that she wear her princess dress & got all dressed up! I honestly think I fell in love with Matthew all over again this day. What other grown man looks forward to Disney on Ice and has a good time while he is there? He is such a good Daddy!

After-work cuddles on Valentines Day

Sleepy Boy Again

(I don't know why it won't let me turn this picture...)

Anyway...It's the cousins on our last night before they had to go home :(

Mommy & Ryland

1 Month Already!

(Again unsure why I can't turn the picture...)

But Uncle made it! And Ryland loved his cuddles with Uncle too!

Introducing Ryland Joseph Taylor

2013-02-11T11:22:00.001-08:00

Ryland Joseph Taylor
Born 2/6/13
10:11 am
7lbs and 10oz

Proud Daddy, 1st night in the hospital

Cuddled up

Sleepy Daddy, Night 2 in the hospital

Mommy giving Ryland lots of love

Big Sister Sophia loving on her brother

Birth Story:

We were scheduled for an induction for Tuesday morning. I was told to call the Labor and Delivery floor at 630am. I got up early (after a restless and anxious night) and called right away. We were told all beds were full, and to call back later, closer to 11am. Finding it hard to rest, I double checked the hospital bag, made sure that Sophia's overnight bag was packed for the night with Grandma and Grandpa. And tried to busy myself to pass the time. We called at 11am and were told the same thing. That all the beds were full and to try again at 4:30pm. At this point, my nerves were going crazy. Matthew was getting anxious and frustrated and wanted to know if we were ever going to get into the hospital. So we decided to rest as much as possible, not knowing what kind of evening or night lay ahead of us. Called back at 4:30 and were told that they would call us when the next bed opened. And if we hadn't heard from them by 7pm, call again. So we waited. And we called again at 7. By this point, the nurse at the desk knew me by name and was probably getting quite irritated. So again, we tried to pass some time. Grandma Sue came and picked up Sophia and Matthew and I decided to grab some dinner. I think my phone was glued to my hand in the event that we got a call at any second. At this point, Matthew and I were both worried that we'd be facing another night at home and then going through the same thing on Wednesday, and we didn't want Matthew exhausting all of his sick leave before Ryland even arrived. So I called the nurse. Again. :) This time I explained that we were trying to plan the next day and I asked if my husband should plan on going to work, or not? The nurse explained that 3 beds had opened up and that they were waiting on their one housekeeper to come clean them. She assured me I would be the next phone call. And we were! At 12:45AM (Wednesday morning) the hospital called and said they were ready for us! Finally!!!

Once we got settled into our room, and began answering all the health questions for our nurse, my OB came by and started my pitocin drip (the medicine used via IV to jump-start contractions). By this time it was about 2:30am...(since he'd been delivering babies). So once the pitocin started I immediately started having regular contractions every 3 mins. The weird part was they were measuring SO big on the monitors and I was hardly feeling much. But I wasn't going to complain. Matthew and I were able to rest most of the early morning.

By 630am, there was a nurse shift change, so my midnight nurse came in to do the last of her charts and I noticed that my contractions were almost gone...like they just stopped. So I mentioned it to her before she left. She just looked at me and was like "oh honey, that's because you are not in labor." And left. I was pretty confused, as I had been having regular contractions from 2:30 to 6:30. I felt frustrated that we'd been sitting there for nearly 6 hours and for her to tell me that the contractions on the monitor meant nothing. (It IS possible for a woman to have contractions and not feel them, and if I know this, then the nurse should know this too...)

At this point, though there was NOTHING going on, we decided to call our moms and my sister and tell them to head on down. If we were just going to sit around, we might as well all wait together. They all arrived about the same time, and we were all anxious to see if things might pick up after breaking my water.

Not long after that my new nurse, Cathy came in and introduced herself. She said she'd just been up at the desk reviewing my action from the night and she's noticed that my contractions have almost stopped. (Thankfully, someone who was attentive to what was going on!) She had already called Dr. Nordeen and he was on his way over to break my water. Around 8:20am Dr. Nordeen arrived and he broke my water. He did an internal check and tells me I've progressed from 3cm (when I was admitted) the night before to 5.5cm. (Again, proving that my painless contractions were indeed labor, thank you very much!) Immediately the contractions picked up and became very painful. Though looking at them on the monitor looked otherwise. They were about 1/2 the size but 5x the pain. After about an hour I asked for some pain meds, but didnt feel ready enough for the epidural. Cathy gave me fentenol and it helped to take the edge off, but not really take away the pain. I endured through more contractions for about an hour more, just trying to relax my body through each one. The pain was so intense it flowed all the way down my thighs and took my breath away each time. After about an hour of this, I decided it was epidural time. The contractions kept coming as we waited for the anesthesiologist. (And here's where things get crazy!)

The anesthesiologist finally came, and asked mom, Carly, Sue and Matthew to leave the room. I looked at him and told him I needed Matthew to stay. So they had him move across the room from me, but facing me. My nurse got me my pillow and asked me to sit up as the anthestisiologist set up his sanitized area on my bed. The SECOND I sat up my contractions multiplied by 100, stopping only for a second in between each one, and I felt a huge amount of pressure " fall." I looked at Matthew with panic and pain and didn't know what to do... I started crying so hard and looked at Matthew, shaking and said, "I need to push NOW". (Which is a totally weird sensation, I had never experienced this with Sophia's birth bc I had gotten the epidural early and my body was numbed.)

At this point, the anthestisiologist, got all huffy with me telling me that he had already set up his sterile area and if I touched it, he'd have to start all over...blah, blah, blah...my nurse runs to the end of the bed pulls my legs up and runs back to the door, all the while I am shaking and screaming at Matthew that I am scared, and that I don't want to do it this way, and I can't stop my body from pushing. I push two times and try to stop (even though you CAN'T really stop it...). as I'm trying to stop my pushing because I dont really know what I'm supposed to be doing, I can hear a group of nurses run in and one says, "Oh! Call the Dr, but he's not going to make it." The nurses surround my bed, I let my body do what it needs. I push once, and Ryland's head comes out, I push again and his body comes out! It was amazing and shocking and unbelievable all at once. Matthew was amazing letting me grab his arm and squeeze him so hard all the while telling me I could do it. And that's how Ryland arrived, Dr. free...!

Even writing this all out, I am in shock at how it all happened. Our shocking little guy has our hearts already!

10 Days and Waiting...

2013-01-28T23:36:00.004-08:00

We only have 10 days until our due date!   We are so incredibly excited to meet our Little Guy, we're all on pins and needles. Sophia talks endlessly about being a big sister and what that will mean. And she's so silly about it too. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about how that transition will go, but as Matthew reminds me, "We're not the first family to have a 2nd child. We'll get through it." I know he's right. One part of me is sad to lose the special "only child" bond we have with her, while the other part is SO excited to see how she grows as a big sister.

Part of the reason that we've been so bad about our Blog updates this year is because we've been busy getting ready for Ryland's arrival. And in true Taylor form, we created a giant project. One that wouldn't have been too bad, had we done something to the office when we first moved in to our house. But we didn't.   We knew that the only purpose for that room was going to be an office for quite some time, so we didn't waste any time or money of changing it. Until now.

And what a list of changes it has gone through. The office was cleaned up and moved into a corner of our room (which is fine, being that our room is very large). The poop-brown baseboards, door frame, closet door frames, and window sill all had to be replaced and painted. The neutral color walls were not the neutral color we wanted now. And the ceiling fan had to be replaced.   And none of the things on THIS list had to do with the nursery theme. SO...for the past 2 months Matthew and his parents have been BUSY in that room! So busy.

I'm not going to bore you with all of the details, just provide you with a snapshot timeline of the events that took place from beginning to end of our Little Guy's Nursery. And we LOVE the way it turned out.

It looks like he's being lazy here...but let me tell you something we learned about painting stripes...You tape, you paint your under cover (tan wall color for us), you let it dry, you paint some more (the grey primer since we chose a dark red), and let it dry, you paint some more (1st coat of red) and let it dry, you paint the last coat (again more red) and let it dry...you see all that

"let it dry" time...and that is JUST for the red...we still had blue to do...!

HONESTLY! A very time consuming project....!

Dad finished the dresser well before the time the stripes were finished. So here is the finished project, ready and waiting for us! LOVE this dresser!

Old Fashioned Pennants to make a window valance

Dad cut and installed our baseboards! Here's the finished touch after I puttied up the nail holes and filled in the corners. (This was about all I was allowed to do, being that I had been restricted to "low activity"...thanks a lot blood pressure...)

Oh I forgot! I got the crafty projects too! Valance is almost done!

and I got to touch the paint! Getting the letters to match the wall!

Yep, we're both perfectionists...Matthew's just extreme about it...some call it OCD???!!!

But I wouldn't have it any other way, because nothing turns out less than perfect when he's involved!

Crib Assembly...somehow this looks familiar??? Yep! Sophia's old crib, 2nd time around!

We had tons of fun shopping for this room! Ebay was a big hit for all of the old baseballs. Who would have thought that getting old baseballs would be a difficult thing???

Thanks to Hobby Lobby, we were able to find all of the vintage signage for the walls. Date-Night turned shopping spree was a big success!

Close up of the dresser/changing table in Ryland's room.

So now we wait. My due date is technically 10 days away. (And as Matthew doesn't let me forget, that means I only have 10 days left in my 20's!!!) BUT we're taking, and trying, all of the self-induction ideas we come across! So far, nothing has proven successful. I have my 39 week apt tomorrow and we're hoping that I've made enough progress for him to tell us it's Baby Time! But we're also not holding our breath. Just pray with us that Ryland makes his appearance sooner, rather than later, and that he is a healthy, happy little guy.

We can't wait to introduce him to all of our family and friends who are anxiously awaiting his arrival as well! Check back often for updates! (We'll do our best this year!!!)

(and if you want email updates to tell you when we finish a new post, on the right-hand side of this page, there is a place for you to sign up for updates...1) enter your email, 2) check your email for the confirmation that you want to be added to our update list, and 3) you're all set!)

Happy 3rd Birthday to You

2013-01-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Sophia,

Today you turn three years old. Three. I used to scoff at parents who got teary eyed when they would talk about their child turning another year older. But now I am that mom. It actually makes me a little heart-broken to know that you are getting older.   But at the same time, you are becoming your own person.

You continue to amaze your father and I everyday. You are a bright and funny little girl. You love your cuddle time with both Daddy and I; which melts our hearts completely. You speak so clearly and communicate in actual conversations that sometimes we forget that we are talking to a toddler. You tell us stories about your adventures at preschool. You have stories memorized so you know when we are rushing bedtime along (and you don't let us get away with it!).

You are trying your best to be an independent little thing. And it just makes us feel like we are already nearing the days when you don't need us as much. This is what breaks your Momma's heart. The little girl who needed her Mommy and Daddy for everything is suddenly becoming her own person. One who can do things herself, which is only going to continue as you grow.

This has been such a big year for you. And just like I told you last year, I may not have documented it all in your baby book or on here, but here are some things that we want to remember about you at 3 years old:

**You started preschool this year. And you love it. Everyday you come home with a new project, a new story about the fun things you did. And you talk about your two friends Sky (though you pronounce it Ky) and Maddison. Maddison taught you the song "On a Pontoon" by Little Big Town and it is hilarious to listen to you sing this song.   (We joke about how this is the song you come home singing after attending a Christian Preschool...)

**You got a big girl bed this year. We knew that at some point we'd need the crib and thought we had better transition you to your own bed before the need arose. And you have done so well in your big twin-sized bed. You have recently decided that after we are done with our story, prayers and bedtime songs that it still isn't time for bed. So you lay in bed with your stuffed animals and sing to them. Or we awake to a big pile of books in your bed.   We love that your independence is carrying over at this time. You are so self sufficient that you entertain yourself quietly until you fall asleep. (Though I really, really miss the days of cuddling you to sleep, and the challenge of getting you into bed without waking you up.)

**You are potty-trained! It took quite some time for you to fully commit. But like all things in your world, you were waiting until you were ready. We gave it several shots this year, and each time you let us know that it was not time yet. So we'd go back to the pull-ups (a bank-breaker!) and keep working with you. Then it almost seemed like overnight you decided we were there. We would come home from preschool, take the pullup off, and put on big girl panties. Both Grandma Sue and Mae-Mae got you the cutest panties to choose from each time, and you were very thoughtful in which pair you were going to wear that afternoon. But we made it!   And you've been so successful with it that most times, I don't even grab your backpack for those "just in case" moments...

**You became a cousin this year!   Tita and Uncle had your first cousin, Addison just a few short weeks after your birthday. And you LOVE her. "Baby Addison" is the first real baby that you had much contact with. You are great with her. You absolutely love to hold her (with assistance), hold her hand, or sit next to her.   Now that she is more mobile you have a harder time understanding that she can move and not sit on your lap as easily, but you are still interested in playing with her, showing her how to play with your toys, and read books to her. Which really makes us excited for the upcoming change this year because...

**You are going to be a Big Sister! You absolutely love to talk about "Baby Ryland Joseph" and all the things we are doing in preparation for his arrival in a few short weeks. Sometimes your pronouns still get confused and you refer to him as "her" or "she" but we are pretty certain that you understand you'll have a brother. And you genuinely seem excited about having a baby around.

**But we're not going to pretend that every second of our time with you is perfect. You are three! And sometimes that brings challenges to our lives that we really have to work through.   It seems like you are so grown up with your amazing communication and your need for independence that we forget that you really are still a toddler. Tantrums happen. You tell us "no". You have started talking-back to us. And sometimes you plain just don't listen. And even though this article had your Daddy and I laughing until I had tears streaming down my face, we still love you. SO MUCH.

We are constantly amazed by how much you can seem to change and grow in just a few days time. We absolutely love being your parents and feel so blessed that God has given you to us. We know that the challenges we experience now are making you the person you are, and are forming us into the parents that we need to be for you. It's a balancing act that we are still teetering on, and just when we think we've got you figured out, you teach us something new.

I found this quote tonight, and I think it sums up pretty clearly what you do to our lives:

"While we try to teach our children all about life. Often, it's our children who teach us what life is all about." ~Angela Schwindt

We Love you Forever Sophia,
Mommy and Daddy

And we're starting fresh...

2013-01-02T15:08:00.000-08:00

So I tried to do updates for each month, but as I finished one, another month passed and I kept falling more and more behind...so we're just going to start from here!
(BUT PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR THE UPDATES I DID COMPLETE!!!)

We've been so busy these days getting everything squared away for our Little Guy! He will be here in about 5 weeks. I know, it's been almost 9 months since I last posted and I haven't shared hardly anything with this pregnancy...but we are on pins and needles waiting his arrival.

We've had SO much help getting his room ready, and we are so thankful for our family and all of their hard work. So here is a preview of the work so far...still far from complete, but it's getting there! Thanks to Pinterest we've got tons of ideas of things that we'd like to do, or try...but as we're finding out, some of them will just have to wait!

We took this spare room/office and we're converting into the new nursery.

(By the way, Sophia loves listening to her Daddy's favorite band Linkin Park, so that's what's happening here! Notice the smile on her Daddy's face?!?)

Empty Room, ready for stripes! (Tan walls already painted)

More Measuring...

Taping 1/2 way complete (for the red...)

Red before tape is taken off

And...Red complete...now onto the blue!

Red and Blue! LOVE how they turned out!

Another shot with the window

While Whit and Sue have been so helpful IN the room, my dad has been super busy out in his garage building us this beautiful dresser! Here's a picture of some of the progress (actually at this stage it's almost done!)

And the completed project! It's hard to tell from far away, but the handles are actually baseball bats, a mit and a baseball. LOVE the way it turned out and can not wait to have it in the room!

Here's a close-up of the handles on the dresser

A collage of the progress thus far. More pictures to come!

And my mom has been busy too! My doctor has had me on a higher watch the past week due to higher blood pressure and has told me to take it easy and stay off my feet. So mom, doing what she does best, cooked us meals. Tons of meals. Two days of cooking and our freezer is stocked.

We are seriously very loved to have so many family members watching over us and helping with every step along the way.

THANK YOU TO BOTH OF OUR FAMILIES!!!!

August Updates

2012-11-14T12:57:00.000-08:00

School began. Hard to believe how early it came this year. :( Sophia went back to preschool full time.

Sophia, soaking in the last few summer nights with dinner outside

Giving Daddy a homework break and listening to one of the newest Linkin Park songs. Yes, she knows some of them, and has a favorite...!

Josh and Carly got word that they would be making a move to Oregon. A move that still makes me tear up at times.

While dog sitting Molly and Zoe, on one of Carly and Josh's home-hunting trips in Oregon, Dad found a cute little pup on their porch. We watched for the weekend and no one claimed her, so we scooped her up, in hopes of finding her family. We put up notices on craigslist, in the local paper, checked with the SPCA and the pet stores, and had no leads. So after 2 months of having her here, we registered her as ours. Meet Sadie. The newest member of the Taylor family!

Speaking of the newest addition! Baby is growing right on track! We got a more clear picture of the growth, and if you look carefully ( and know what you are looking for!) you can can see the baby's head on the upper left part of the ultra-sound.

And while Baby grew, so did I. :) It's amazing to me how 2 pregnancies in the same body can feel SO different. With Sophia I never got sick once. I only had a smell-aversion to Bandit's dog food, nothing else bothered me. And I felt like I gained my weight all over my whole body. This pregnancy is so different. I had morning sickness that started very late in the pregnancy, and lasted until about 23-24 weeks! I feel different in the way I am carrying the baby too...all belly compared to to last time...!

And my only real craving: Sugar Snap Peas...at least it's a healthy one, right!?!

I honestly have these on every grocery list I make.

And as quickly as school started, we got a 3 day weekend for Labor Day. We decided to take advantage of the extra day off and take Matthew's family up to the cabin. They had never experienced the beauty of Miranda and all it's surroundings, so we packed up and headed up to Miranda.

Little Miss Independent walking through the redwoods.

Continued...July Updates

2012-11-14T10:53:00.002-08:00

July came and went so fast. The whole summer did actually.

Carly and Josh hosted the 4th of July this year. It was a relaxing evening; swimming, bbq, and fireworks.

Sophia and I spent most of our summer days the same. We started the mornings with a walk before the heat set in, we'd color, paint, go outside and play with Bandit, and get our errands done all before lunch and a nap. After nap we'd usually head over to Tita and Uncle's house for a refreshing swim with Tita and Addison.

Most mornings Sophia would help me with my "cake up" and hair :)

I think we're in trouble in 12 years!

Monday's were our designated "Picnic Park" days. Tita came up with the idea to try a new park each Monday of the summer. So we'd pack up a lunch, and then play until Sophia was out of steam. It was a fun weekly tradition to look forward to!

Sophia LOVES her cousin. She's always wanting to hold her "Baby Addison" so we sit EXTRA close on the couch and help her hold Addie tight.

Sophia got her Big Girl Bed this summer! It was a big deal! We'd had the crib converted to a toddler bed for a while, and she was doing great! So we told her if we could get 3 weeks of her staying in bed, she'd earn a big girl bed. She did it!

So we took a big shopping trip to pick out the new bedding. Sophia picked princess sheets & an adorable comforter.

Happy Girl in her new bed!

During a visit to GG and Papa's, GG helped Sophia do her make up. She LOVED lipstick, wanting to put on more and more!

At the end of July I took Sophia on a mini-vacation up to Miranda. Matthew had to work, so it was just us girls. It was a ton of fun! We went to the Eureka Zoo, had a picnic lunch in Sequoia Park, strolled around Old Town Eureka, and took several walks down the hill. Aunt Pam and Uncle Bill had the cabin looking so good, it felt like old times. And I was so excited to be able to share that with Sophia.

The Tree Slide at Sequoia Park

More Lovin' on Baby Addison

And it wouldn't be summer without an appearance at the Bass Annual. We decided to spend our Family Vacation time with the Taylor's this year, but we did take a couple days to make an appearance at the lake too. Matthew and Josh both had work so Carly and I did the "single mom" thing for a couple days and headed up to the lake on Thursday. It was such a tough time without the guys. Sophia was testing every last limit. Addison was teething (or so we thought...) And I don't know that either of us will ever do it without the guys again! :)

However, it was great to be there for a couple nights. On Thursday we had the Dutch Oven Cook-Off. Everyone created a dutch oven recipe to contribute to dinner. And of course, it was a competition. Everyone's dishes were amazing! Such a good feast!

Matt and Josh made it up on Friday night (after the Bass Feed ) :( But it was good to have them there for the weekend. The resort was supposed to have wifi available, which meant that Matthew could still get his school work done while we were there, but it was down. Of course. So we got an early start home. And even though it was a quick trip, it was great to be there. All of the cousins were there this year, and it was so fun to watch Sophia play with her cousins Maya and Isaac. Fun times for sure! It does make me a little nervous about how it will go next year with 3 year old Sophia and an infant....but I'm sure we'll manage!

Weeeee're Baaaaaack!

2012-11-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the question is...who still checks our blog?

I've been terrible about updating. Seriously. And I don't really have a great excuse.

So instead of writing for 4 hours to update you on the happenings in the Taylor house since June (JUNE???!!!!) I'm going to do a picture update, with as many captions as possible.

And I vow to get better at this...especially since I have a feeling some of you will be looking for updates again come February!

***I tried last week to do an update that included over 120 pictures from June until now and it would not load...So I'm going to do several updates to get you up to speed!***

JUNE

Sophia and Auntie Al in the Gingerbread Man's House!

Mid June we took our first family vacation with the Taylors. For years we have been spending one week out of our summer with my side of the family at our annual camping trip at Trinity Lake. But last year we started thinking about our summer vacations a little differently. We have Sophia now, which means that we need to be establishing traditions and memories for her, so we decided to alternate each summer vacation with both families.

So this year, we planned a trip to Tahoe. We were really unsure where to stay at first, but we got online and started searching for places to rent and we found an adorable cabin. After getting the cars all packed, Sophia insisted that she wanted to ride with Grandma and Bocka. In fact, the very FIRST thing she said to me when she woke up that morning was, "Mom? I ride with Grandma and Bocka today? You ask them?" It was so cute. And of course they said yes. So we hooked up the lifesaving DVD player and she did great.

When we finally arrived in Tahoe, and pulled up to the house, we were in for a little surprise. New Construction. Right next door. :) Honestly though, it wasn't so bad at all. The noises were barely audible once inside the house. (But showering and using the bathrooms created a whole different problem as the bathrooms had no window coverings! And there were construction workers on the roof....! Thankfully, Whit engineered some towels to work as window coverings during our stay!)

Sophia helping make (or eating??) the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

We spent the time in Tahoe going on picnics, taking Sophia to the park, watching her ride her trike around the big deck on the front of the house. Watching the birds eat left-over crumbs, hunting for "pine-pones", taking a visit to the lake, and going on a mini-golf adventure.

Sophia swinging with Grandma and Bocka on the playground.

Daddy teaching Sophia how to swing her mini-golf club!

Taking a stroll down to the lake with Grandma and Bocka.

It was a nice time. For us. I'm not sure that Whit and Sue will want to go on a vacation with us again....Sophia wanted NOTHING to do with Matthew and I. So everything fell on Grandma's lap. I know that she enjoyed every second, but I'm certain that this was a vacation that she needed a vacation from!

We discovered Sophia's LOVE for baseball after a night to a Sacramento Rivercats game with Whit and Sue. She was SO funny! She watched the crowd and mimicked whatever they were doing. She got into the wave, (a little delayed each time it came around), she LOVED the cat, Dinger. She wanted to watch him dance and said she wanted to talk to him, but when he came near, or we saw him at the Dugout Store, she did not want to get close at all.

And like all summer's in good ol' YC, it was HOT. Sophia loved to spend her time in the pool or running around the backyard in the sprinklers before dinner. We took a "Mommy and Me" swimming lesson class the 1st week of summer and Sophia's confidence in the pool grew this year! Look at our little water bug! She swam with her swimmies and no help all summer! Hopefully she'll take after her water-lovin' momma!

And...We found out in early June that we are expecting Baby #2 in February!

This was the 1st ultrasound picture, so we were able to confirm the pregnancy, but it was much to early to see the shape of a baby in there. SO EXCITED!

And Sophia is so excited to be a BIG SISTER!

Our 100th Post! and time for some updates

2012-06-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

Oh April feels so long ago, and I'm feeling horrible about not getting on here sooner. But now that summer is upon us, I'll have more time for the updates....or so I plan! :)

May:
May brought Mother's Day. And this year Matthew and Sophia spoiled me silly. Thursday morning as I was mid-teaching, 2 office-aide's walked into my room with a large purple box. "Is today your birthday?" One of the teens asked me. "No...?" I answered, and as she handed over the box, I understood the question. It was flowers! I opened the box to find 2 dozen beautiful bright pink roses and what must have been 2 more dozen lilies. Gorgeous. My students were so excited to see the beautiful flowers and hear the message on the card that our lesson stopped. :) Matthew and Sophia had surprised me, big time!

For Mother's Day, this year we had the boys plan the morning. At first, none of them were excited by the idea. But as Carly, Mom and I reminded them, we shouldn't be planning our OWN Mother's day...right? Josh took the lead and designated Matthew with a coffee cake. Matthew, the non-cook that he is, was a little apprehensive about finding a recipe, so I did help with that detail, finding an overnight coffee cake, which I thought might take some of the pressure off the busy morning if we made it the night before. Or if HE made it the night before :) It was DE-LI-CIOUS! My mom has already called for the recipe, and coming from my mom, the master chef, that's a HUGE compliment! :) So we had brunch at mom and dad's and it was so fun to celebrate with Carly on her 1st Mother's Day. We were all some spoiled Momma's; All 3 of us getting gorgeous jewelry.

Sophia had her first school performance. Noah's Ark held their annual Preschool Graduation, and though Sophia is not graduating (Thank Goodness!! Time is going by so fast that we know this day will come soon enough), all the preschool classes participated. Well, kind of. Sophia's class was up there, but in true Sophia form, she stood up at the front and did not say a word. Not one. :) She did so good though, I thought for sure she would be running to us in the audience when she saw us, or she would start bawling her eyes out, but she did so good. She stood with all of her classmates and watched the audience so intently. At one point she was craning her neck so high to see where we were, that she almost fell off of the step...! After the performance we came home and had a bbq. Or as Sophia calls them "Party!"

At school, Open House fell on one of our busiest weeks at school, but it was fun! I love having the kids take ownership for their learning, and showing their parents and families everything that we have done through the year. We raised frogs again this year so we had a Frog Map that families followed to make sure they saw everything there was to see about 1st grade. It was so much fun.

Matthew actually got a little break from his school this month. With the Tee Up For The Huskies Annual Golf Tournament, he was maxed out. So it worked out well that he got some time off to focus on the tournament, without having to worry about keeping up with his course work. We are less than a year away from his completion. It's going so fast! April 2013 will be here before we even realize it!

And a new car! After Matt's beloved Jeep took a dump back in 2009, we replaced it with the Nissan Pathfind with the intention that it would be our "family car" since Sophia was on her way. This meant that Matthew inherited my Nissan Altima. My 1998 Nissan Altima. It was a good car. Matthew would probably argue otherwise because he was the one who had to drive it everyday. And notice how I said "had to" drive it. Matthew did not think that this inheritance was so great. It was 14 years old. It was getting to the point where the repairs and parts that were needed were going to cost more than the car was worth. So, in true Matthew fashion, we did research and we found a great deal at CarMax and a great car-loan rate at Golden 1. So we got a new car. Or Matthew got a new car. You might laugh, but it's also a Nissan Altima. Only this one has all the bells and whistles. Leather seats, a moon roof, and a Bose sound system.

And with this school break came yard work too. :) Of course. So we're on to more work and more plans and as it happens, we'll post pictures. Basically, we're finally working on the Back-Back Yard. The space that appears to be dirt. Soon to be leveled/graded, treated so weeds won't grow, and ready for actual space planning. Turning our vision into a reality...one step at a time.

Sophia got her 1st set of wheels! A new tricycle. She tried it out in Target and did AMAZING! And we haven't been able to get her off of her "motorcycle" ever since. She LOVES it!

June

SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMERTIME! It's finally time! I am SO looking forward to my summer with Sophia. This year we will have Tita Carly and Addison to spend our time with too. It will be great! Pinterest has given me several ideas of things that I can do with Sophia, crafts I can do, recipes to try, and ideas for school.

We're starting our summer off with a celebration for Matthew's birthday. (Just after Little Miss wakes up from her nap,) We'll be heading up to Chico to do some Mini-Golfing and then eating dinner at a place we used to frequent when we lived there, Smokin' Mo's. Yummy, southern style BBQ with all the fixin's; Cornbread with honey butter, beans, and coleslaw. Good Stuff.

Our Tahoe vacation with the Taylor family just happened too, so as I promise all the time, another update will be up soon! Only this time I mean it! I'm going to get better at this!

Easter Pictures, VERY Belated!

2012-05-09T19:54:00.002-07:00

I Know...These are very late...But we still think they are cute and thought we'd share anyway!

We had a very busy Easter this year. We had our own egg hunt at home, went to Mae Mae & Grandpa's for a 2nd egg hunt. Sophia enjoyed the egg hunting so much that she collected eggs for Addison too! in the next few years I'm sure the girls will be running around together racing for the eggs!

and then headed to Colusa for the traditional Easter gathering, where Sophia had her 3rd egg hunt. This year Auntie Al joined us!

We came back to town early evening and spent some time with Granny & Papa Joe as well as GG & Papa.

We had every intention of driving down to the airport with Sophia to pick up Grandma & Bocka, BUT their flight home kept getting delayed. We were having gorgeous weather, but Texas was not. So Matthew made the night time trek down to Sacramento while I got Shpia to bed. After a VERY long & sugar filled day.

It was a fun day, but we missed Grandma & Bocka.

Sophia was a PRO egg-hunter this year and insisted on doing every bit of it all by herself. Then we had about 1,000 more egg hunts during spring break. :) Honestly.

It's that time of year again....Spring is here!

2012-04-16T16:00:00.002-07:00

Which means.....Yard Work

We're at it again. Well, Matthew's at it again. I help where I can... Mostly, Sophia and I rummage through the weeds as I pull them and she looks for worms. or lady bugs, or my personal favorite, "Rolly Puppies" :)

So, if you've ever heard us talk about our yard, you know there's a lot of things that we wanted to change when we bought the house. And ever since the very second that we got our lawn mower and Matthew started mowing the lawn he has HATED the tree in our back yard. It drops these "berry" things that are horrible. We can't walk barefoot in the yard because stepping on one of those things is like stepping on on a pebble. Horrible. Makes you bend over in pain horrible.

Once we had Sophia, it got even worse. Playing in the yard meant going out to sweep it first. And during the "put everything in your mouth" phase, we were constantly on the lookout...who knows what damage these thing can do!

So...After almost 4 years in the house, and almost 4 years of talking about it's non-existence in our yard, the tree is going.

I don't know if I will miss it more this summer when the shade is gone, or if Bandit will. He LOVES running circles around that thing! Here's the last picture we have of Bandit making his run around the tree!

And down a little further is a picture of the yard after the tree was taken out. It really opens it up. Now if you know anything about Yuba summers, you know they are hot. And shade is a necessity. So while we won't have a tree for the shade this summer, a new one will replace it soon. One that absolutely does NOT drop anything. Except it's leaves in the fall of course.

This year, like most years, I had projects planned for my Spring Break. Matthew thinks that sometimes I create a project just because he knows I can't sit around for a week and do nothing. I don't deny that. If there is something I can do that makes something look better than it already does, then I'm on it. I love projects! And some people might think I'm crazy but I like painting too. So that's how I started the week. The weather didn't make for that many days outside anyhow.

Thursday night after getting home from school we had a quick and cold rain pass over the neighborhood. It was one of those small storms where your house might get rain, but 2 blocks away they are as dry as can be. And since it was a small one, Sophia and I ran outside to do some rainbow hunting. :) What a fun way to start Spring Break. We ran around in the sprinkling rain searching the sky for colors. We didn't find a single one, but Sophia melted my heart as she stood in the driest part of our yard singing, "I'm catching rain, I'm catching rain" with her palms out. She sure has a way of making us smile.

After our big rainbow hunting adventure, we ran to Home Depot to get paint for my bathroom painting project. Paint turned into yard supplies, and painting supplies. I guess that's what happens in the spring. After getting Sophia into bed, I taped the bathroom up so I would be ready for painting in the morning.

I'm proud to say that Friday morning, I started painting the hall bathroom at 8:30 and was DONE by 10:30. A personal best! (This is what happens when you dedicate all your school breaks to house projects. Sometimes I think I could work for HGTV and show them a thing or two!)

Sophia and I had some fun projects this week too. We did some art with Shaving cream. Of all things! But it turned out awesome! And we had MANY egg hunts after Easter. Many. She couldn't get enough of me hiding the eggs and her finding them.

And we hung out with Tita and Addison as much as we could. Until the germs hit our house. Then we went into Addison withdraws. We can't get enough of that little sweetie. Here is a picture I stole on one of her many afternoon naps in my arms. Love that little girl!

And just as we started break with a rain storm. We ended with a hail storm. A big hail storm. It almost looked like it had snowed in the backyard!

And for those of you dying for Easter pictures, an Easter update will be next! As soon as I get all my project-clutter cleaned up!

Introducing Addison!!!

2012-03-07T16:54:00.007-08:00

Our precious little niece made her debut! And while I was DYING to announce it to all of our blog followers, I had to use my self control to wait until my sister announced it on hers first. Finally! ( You know I'm joking Carly....I remember those first few weeks in a blur, trying to stay awake, and wondering if I would EVER set hands on a keyboard again, let alone update the blog...!)

Carly and Josh have fallen into the parenting role so naturally. It's been amazing to watch them during their first few moments, days and (already!) a week. Watching them go through all of these things makes it all seem like it wasn't that long ago that we were experiencing them too. The nights without sleep. The celebration of a 3 hour sleep-stretch. The phone calls to mom. The feeling of being a human pacifier. But it's been so fun to watch and be a part of, and they are champs. I like to think that all of their babysitting Sophia was practice for them, but it's obvious that it just comes naturally to both of them.

I was showing off some adorable Addison pictures to my classroom parents this week, and one of them asked if she was my first niece. I told her that she was and then asked how she could tell. "You've got that, ' I wanna do this again' look on your face." she laughed and then said, "It was the same look I got before my 2nd and 3rd kids arrived!" :) So funny. Someday we plan on it happening again, just not right now...

But it's true. I do have baby fever. I hold Addison and I feel so much love for her. It's the same kind of protective, "I will do anything for you" kind of love that I have for my own daughter.
But for now, just as Carly told me waaaaaaay back in her 1st few days as an Auntie, "I'm having fun holding her, but I get to go home and sleep." :)

Sophia Updates

Sophia has blossomed since her change to the new preschool. She asks me EVERY day, after getting piggies in her hair, "Go to 'cool Mommy?" And all the talking we thought she was doing before was NOTHING compared to the conversations we have now. From the minute she gets in the car she sings new songs, shows me new art projects, and tells me countless things that she did at school that day. We could not be happier with the outcome.

We have been experiencing so many spring-like days lately that we've already made several trips down to the park to play. We especially like the weekends when Daddy can come with us too.

Anticipation for Addison (And the new Hogue Blog!)

2012-02-23T18:26:00.005-08:00

Our little niece is almost here!

Here are just some thoughts I have for you Sister as you head into the most amazing adventure of motherhood...

One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given was to listen to yourself. You will know Addison better than anyone else. People will want to give you their advice and their "expertise". You will learn her personality faster than anyone else, and you will know what she needs and when she needs it.

It's okay if you have nights where her tears bring you to tears. It's okay if you need help. It's okay if you need a break.

I know that we've shared with you that the biggest surprise for Matthew and I was how hard a new baby can be on a marriage. So don't worry if it is hard. You both will grow and you both will change, and it will be incredible in the end.

This amazing little miracle is making the two of you a family. :) And we are so excited for you.

On a side note: Carly and Josh have created a blog to keep everyone updated with their lives too! Here is the link, be sure to save it to your favorites to keep updated!

http://the-hogues.blogspot.com/

2nd Birthday and Lessons Learned

2012-02-21T20:35:00.017-08:00

Mickey and Minnie Cupcakes

Opening her first present!

Cuddling with Daddy before everyone arrives

The day before her birthday...what a happy girl!

(and a healthy breakfast!) Seriously, I think she could live off of grapes and bananas, but we're not arguing about that!

Sophia's Birthday Banner
***Many Thanks to Sue for the use of her Cricut! :) I LOVE that machine!***

The banner hanging in place. I am SO happy with the way it turned out, just as I had pictured!

The Birthday Girl while we were singing "Happy Birthday" to her! She was such a ham, looking and grinning at each person as we sang! :) It was such a nice and laid-back evening, just dinner with the family! LOVED it!

In just the short month that it's been since our last post, Sophia has made some big changes. So here's the catch-up version for you:

Goodbye #1: Binky Bye-Bye
Just after her birthday ( and I mean days...) Sophia got rid of her binky. We thought for sure this would be something that would cause nights, if not weeks, of no sleep in the Taylor home. We thought this would be the ultimate melt-down of melt-downs. But just in Sophia spirit, she took it like a champ.

For weeks Sophia had been into Barney. To the point where Matthew and I know ALL the songs, and if you ask Matthew, he'll tell you he doesn't but he DOES know some of the dance moves too! :) (Sorry to sell you out babe, it just cracks me up!) So we resorted to telling her that "Barney was broken". I'm not sure what that meant in her head, but she processed that to mean that we could not watch Barney. (YAY!!!). So while cooking dinner a few nights after her birthday, I got to thinking about all the strategies I'd heard about for getting rid of the binky. And that's when it hit me. It would break.

(Disclaimer to Sophia: Years from now when you are reading this, you have to understand that your Dad and I were not playing a trick on you, simply making the transition easy for you to understand!)

So that night, while Sophia was in the bath, and cluelessly playing with her Daddy, I "trimmed" the tip off of her binky. Now the theory behind this is that it loses it's suction and doesn't feel the same.

We were fully prepared that she wouldn't be ready to go through the night without it. After bath, we brought her into her room and got her jammies on. After jammies is when she ALWAYS asked for her bink. So she did, and I pulled it from the same shelf we always keep it on. Only this time it was cut. She put it in her mouth and then pulled it out and looked at it. She looked at it for a few moments and then handed it to me, saying "Mommy, here." I asked what was wrong and she tilted her head, furrowed her brows and told me, "Binky broken." At that point we asked her what we do with something that is broken and she told us, "throw away." So we told her that was something she had to do. We set her on the ground and she walked up to the kitchen, opened the trash and threw it away. She started to walk away, but we had her look at it one more time and tell it, "Bye-Bye, Binky." We were a little astonished that it was that easy. How could she be SO attached to it, but simply throw it away?!

We went back to her room to continue the routine of story and bed, and we had some tears. She burrowed her head into Matthew's shoulder for about 10 minutes and all the while we talked about what had happened. That the binky broke and she had to throw it away. After she calmed down she went right to bed, and didn't wake up once. :)

The next two nights she asked for it, and each time we just asked her questions. "What happened to your binky?" "Oh it broke, what did you do with it?" "That's right you had to say 'bye-bye' because it was broken" and that was that. Easy Peasy.

Goodbye #2: Diapers
That's right! We are on to Pull-Ups ladies and gentlemen! :) I think that this is an exciting announcement because it means that our budget is about to get a break! There's really not much to expand on this news, other than the fact that she's working so hard on using the "polly" every time she needs to go. (except for poo...if anyone has tips on how to make her use the potty for poo's, we'll take 'em!)
Sitting here reading this, I'm thinking this might be the strangest request I've ever made!

Hellllloooo Preschool (And a lesson for Mommy & Daddy)
Last week Matthew and I got one of our biggest lessons in parenthood to date. We learned the value of making tough decisions for your child, even if that means putting yourself in situations that you are not comfortable with. Sometimes being a parent means sticking to what you know is best for your child, and following through. Long story short, Sophia is now at a new preschool. And just as all parents can remember the jitters in the stomach feeling they had for their kiddos on the first day of school, we had it this morning. But she did amazing. She played some puzzles with us for a few moments and after kids started arriving she played with them while we talked with the director for a few minutes. When it was time for us to go, she gave us our hugs and kisses and happily went back to playing. We got out the door with no tears. When I went back at the end of the day, she had a fantastic report! So we are confident that despite the stress over the weekend, she is in the right place. She was so happy tonight telling us SO much about her day. I honestly hadn't seen her act this way in a long time. And she happily sang us the whole song of the ABC's! We'd been working on this, it was such an amazing surprise to hear!

For your viewing pleasure: Sophia and the ABC's!

Happy Birthday Sophia

2012-01-11T07:35:00.000-08:00

Sophia,

Tomorrow morning, you will wake up like you do any other morning. You will probably chat with your Minnie Mouse or your Lala, maybe even sing us some Jingle Bells or parts of the ABC's. You may even climb out of your big-girl bed and wait at your baby gate with your favorite book (of the day). For you the day will feel the same as any other.

But tomorrow will feel different for your Daddy and I. Why? Because you are turning two. Two!

We are so surprised by the little girl you are becoming, and each and every day we thank God that he gave us you. You are so perfect for us, and we know that God gave you to us to take care of, watch grown, and help us to become more patient. And our patience is something you have been testing for some time now.

You've perfected the art of whining. But, when we tell you that you need to ask or talk like a big girl, you can snap right out of it. You amaze us with your communication skills. You ask for the things you want, (usually with manners) you tell us about all of the things that you see in our environment, you show us your understanding of the world and the way things work with your simple sentences. (When we come to a red light in the car, you'll tell us 'Red means stop!' and when the car begins moving again you tell us 'Green means GO!') You take experiences you have had and apply them in a million other places. (Like when Uncle Jim took us on a walk through the pasture to see an owl house, and then Aunt Pam and Uncle Bill took us on an owl hunt out at the cabin, you talked about owls for weeks...every time we found a bird house you would tell us it was an owl house, every time there was a notch in a tree you would point and tell us "shhhh, owl sleeping." )

I'll admit that we're not so great about documenting everything that you do, and maybe in the past two years we've forgotten to write down a milestone or two...but there is just something so real about experiencing your growth in the moment. Not taking a moment to stop and think "Oh, we have to remember this..." but actually sitting and enjoying the seconds that matter. Because that's how they feel. Like seconds. Ticking by so quickly, and we don't ever want to forget them.

So here are some of the things that we want to remember about you at two years old;

You are such a sweet, sweet girl. You interact with us on such a level that sometimes we forget you are a toddler. When we sneeze you tell us "Bless you Mommy" though sometimes it sounds more like "bess you Mommy". If we are coughing you will ask us, "You okay Daddy?" And helpful. Oh my gosh are you helpful. When we tell you that it's time to clean up, or that we need some help with something you are right there ready and willing to help. Laundry is a favorite weekend chore. You will haul out the laundry baskets so they are all in the hallway. You will help us separate it into piles and then hand each piece to us, one at time, as we load the washer. At night time when we clean up before bath, you will even sing your cleanup song from daycare "Clean up, Clean up, Everybody, Everywhere. Clean up, Clean up, Everybody Do Your Share!" :)

You LOVE books. Each morning when we come to your room, if you're out of bed before us, you have a book in your hands. When we sit down on the floor cross legged you immediately grab the nearest book and plop right down in our laps ready to read.

You are learning so much so quickly. You know the melody to the whole ABC song, and when we sing you know almost all of the letters! It scares us sometimes how quickly you are learning and the things you are taking in.

Barney is your absolute favorite right now. sigh. It's become another one of those words we have to spell, or endure for at least 30 minutes. Although we are not as big of fans as you are, at least we know you are learning from it. You take in everything he says and does and talk about it non stop.

You LOVE to help me in the kitchen. Which is adorable. You just have to have your "coffee" when you see Daddy and I getting ours. So we've come up with a solution to tantrums by pouring milk in your cup the same time we add it to our coffee. So sometimes milk is "milk" and sometimes milk is "coffee"! :)

You are truly Daddy’s girl. You tell me all the time where your Daddy is. “Daddy’s sleeping” on mornings when we make it up before him, which are most! “Daddy at work” when I pick you up from daycare. And often, “Daddy, I luuh you” is the first thing you tell him to wake him up in the mornings. I know that he’s not a morning person in the least, but I do know that this melts his heart every single time. You also are starting to become quite the football fan. You would find Daddy’s Bronco’s ornament on the tree and tell us, “Daddy’s football”. And if a sporting event is on TV, whether it be basketball, baseball or hockey, you will stand, hands raised and yell “Touchdown!” We wouldn’t be surprised if your next new word is “Teebow.”

You are becoming quite an individual. You are your own person, and we all know it. You have spunk, you are funny and we think you are so smart. But you challenge us too. You challenge our parenting skills. And let me tell you…you are stubborn. I spend the whole day with 22 students who test me constantly, and hands-down your little, tiny self gives me the biggest run for my money.

I heard a short saying this morning on the way to school from a mom who sometimes missed the little moments in her kids’ lives, and it brought me to tears (particularly because last night was a very challenging one with you!) So I want to share it, so that I can be held accountable to it. She said, “Remember to make time for the little things in your kids lives. Today they are little things, but as time goes on and you look back, they will be the big things.”

So on this note we just want to say, “Happy Birthday Sweet Sophia”.

We love you much.

Mommy & Daddy

Christmas Magic

2012-01-02T19:18:00.000-08:00

This year Christmas was so magical and fun. Sophia was so interested in every part of it, and was so fun to establish some of our traditions with her.

Decorating the Christmas tree was a big adventure this year! We separated the ornaments into two categories, "breakable" and "Sophia" :) We gave Sophia her box and let her go to town. It was adorable to see her try and hang them on the branch. Branch, not branches, because when she was done they were all clumped together! We decided to finish the tree with the breakable ornaments after she was in bed, and we were sure to space all of ours out! :)

Exploring the Christmas Tree

close up with the tree....love the look of wonder on her face here!

Okay, maybe not all on one branch, but surely clumped together

getting into a little mischief while we were busy with all the Christmas to-do's...yet she's so good at cleaning up that it's hard to be mad...!

Christmas carols were heard at all times of the day (and night!) around our home. Not only did we play them since the beginning of December, but our little sleep-talker would even sing them in her sleep! Her most popular saying this month; "Better watch out! Santa Cause is comin' town!" and "Jingle Bells". Adorable.

Sophia absolutely LOVED that her daddy put the Christmas lights up on the house. EVERY time we would go outside, or drive up to the house she would exclaim, "Daddy did the hoooouse!!!!" in her sweet little voice it was the cutest thing EVER. And I'm pretty sure that it made climbing up and down the ladder to hang them seem like it was worth the effort for Matthew. (And a big thanks to the Grandpa's too! Don for the ladder and Whit for the non-fear of heights!)

Sophia and her daddy with the Christmas lights!

Sophia tried her best to help out when Auntie Carly and I did our Christmas baking. She was such a good girl to stand on the stool and watch, and we took full advantage of her nap time as well!

Cooking coffee on her spot in the kitchen

Just some of the goodies we were baking...

We went on our annual Christmas Lights Tour and Sophia LOVED it. "More Christmas lights please, Daddy!" is what we heard from the back seat all evening. We were certain that she'd fall asleep at some point in the evening, but she was so interested in everything she was seeing. She'd point out each and every snowman, Santa, the occasional Mickey Mouse, and baby Jesus. She was totally into it. :)

We watched Polar Express and every time that we mention the word "movie" she's convinced that we are watching Polar Express, and is sometimes disappointed to find out that there are other movies!

We sent my dad a message to wish him a happy Eve of Christmas Eve (on December 23rd!) since that was something we used to say when we were kids, and something he and his brother used to say when they were kids! Way to start the anticipation 2 days before the big day! Sophia tried so hard and said "Eve Christmas Eve" :)

This year we did something a little different for Christmas. We generally jump from family to family on Christmas day since we are so blessed to have all of our family in town. But it gets to be so much packing, unpacking, and clock watching that it's hard to really enjoy ourselves in one place. With Christmas being such an important holiday and the family time so crucial for making memories this year we made a decision to split our time over two days. We spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas day with Matthew's family. It was so nice to not have to pack up everything several times through out the day, and just enjoy our time with family.

Christmas Eve was great. We went over to my parent's house early in the day and just hung out. Mom made amazing appetizers and had all the makings for delicious croissant sandwiches to munch on throughout the day. We took our time opening our stockings, our gifts, and then went to church. After church we went back to mom and dad's and had dinner. Mom and I had made her grandmother's recipe of homemade chili in individual pie crusts. It was delicious, just as I remembered having as a kid on Christmas Eve. Sophia conked out before we went home, and slept in the back room until it was time to go. Such a relaxing day.

Sophia and I on Christmas Eve.

Our Santa Claus delivering gifts from under the tree

So happy to get her own baby doll. Named, "Baby Doll"

Reindeer footies on her Christmas PJ's

Santa Claus came to our house!

Sophia and I opening our stockings

We were so excited to see Sophia's reaction on Christmas morning. The anticipation was almost as much as waiting to see what Santa Clause had brought when we were kids! So much so that we were actually up, AND out of bed BEFORE Sophia on Christmas morning. For the first time in her 23 months, we were up before her! Go figure! So we got up, got the coffee going and turned on the Christmas tree as we waited for our little sleepy head to wake up. I'm certain that next year will be the end of that.

Waiting for our little sleepy head to wake up!

Sophia was so cute. We got her up and explained that Santa Clause had come to bring her a present because she had been a good girl all year. Before we brought her out we asked her if she wanted to see her toy and she nodded her head yes. So we headed out to the living room and she was able to see her new kitchen! She looked at it for a long time, apprehensive as she is most new things. So I asked her if she wanted to make me some coffee? She said yes and jumped down ready to play. Ever since she's been cooking more than I do. I'll be in my kitchen while she's in hers, and it's so cute to listen to her play.

Playing with her new kitchen!

Just the other night I was doing the dishes and I was eavesdropping on Sophia and Matthew playing together. It was the best;
Sophia: Daddy want coffee?
Matthew: Sure. Can I get a mocha-latte-hazelnut-basilnut-nonfat-grande coffee?
S: oh! Yeah! Daddy want milk? (With her head tilted and eyebrows raised!)
M: Sure. And breakfast. Can you make me some breakfast?
S: bekfast. yep. (goes to her stove and stirs her pots and pans)
Here Daddy. bekfast.
M: Oooh, this looks good, what did you make me?
S: bekfast.

It went on and on for almost half an hour. It was the best dishes washing time I've ever had, listening to my two loves playing kitchen together.

After our Christmas morning as a family, we traveled over to (great) Granny and Papa Joe's house for Christmas with the Taylor family. It was cute to watch the kids play together this year, as they are all starting to become aware of "play" and actually playing with others instead of just playing near others! It worked out perfectly that after a big lunch with the Taylor clan we opened our gifts and enjoyed the family time. We stayed until late afternoon, when Sophia could no longer keep her eyes open and headed home for nap-time. Sophia took a good nap while we got everything ready for the afternoon/evening Christmas with Matthew's family. Whit, Sue and Alisha came, with car loaded, over to us. It was the first time in all of our Christmases together that we had Christmas at our house. And it was amazing. It was so nice to have Sophia in her own environment (especially considering she woke up from her nap in a less-than-stellar mood, and she was able to get back to herself in her own home). We enjoyed an evening of family time, gifts, stockings, and dinner. After getting Sophia down for bed we spent the evening playing some new games and laughed more than we had in a really long time. (Matthew and Alisha both make it a rule of thumb to say things in games that make their mom uncomfortable, so you can only imagine the topics that were coming up!)

Christmas day with Grandma Sue!

She asked me to come in for coffee...or Matthew suggested I get in there and then the asking began...how do you say no to a face like that???!

And to finish up our Christmas celebrations, we had a 3rd Chrsitmas celebration the following day with GG & Papa. It was great to be with family for 3 whole days celebrating such an important day. Somehow, Christmas with a child of your own just takes on a whole new level of emotion as you think about God sending his son to Earth to die for us. Thinking about the day of Jesus's birth and what God had planned for his son on that day makes it even more an event to be thankful for.

And then New Years....Carly and I took on a whole new cooking challenge; Tamales. And for a couple of white girls, they turned out perfect!

Merry Christmas from the Taylor Family

2012-01-01T14:27:00.000-08:00

Updates and pics from our holiday adventures will be up soon!

Hope everyone had a very magical, merry Christmas and a fun and safe New Year!