December 2009 (Part 2) - Christmas

Hello again blog followers! If there are any left anyway. I know, I know, I was supposed to be better once school was over, but for some reason, we are consumed with prepping for baby #2. Which includes moving Taylor to her new big girl room. There has been painting, carpet installation, purging of stuff, rearranging, etc. Not sure where all my free time was supposed to come from!
Anyway, I am now up to Christmas and not sure how I will squeeze in the next 5 months before baby girl arrives in the next week or two! All in time though. Need to make sure we document what we can.

So without further delay, onto Christmas in Kansas! Yes, it does feel weird to blog about Christmas when the lilacs are blooming...oh well!

Taylor making herself at home with all the fun toys at Nana and Papa's house:

Having some grub with cousin Tavaris:

Christmas morning! Taylor was able to open Santa gifts at Nana and Papa's house, how fun!

Mommy and Tay-Tay:

Taylor loving her cousin Caleb. She was so doting to him and always wanted to give him hugs. Big sister in training!

Christmas lunch with cousins Tavaris and Baily!

Story time with Nana:

Taylor and Caleb checking out some new goods:

Playing the organ at Great Grandpa Voigt's house. This has been an attraction since Al and his sisters were little kids.

Grandpa Voigt with his grandkids (Kelly, Al and DeeDee) and great-grandkids (Tavaris, Baily, Caleb, Taylor, Logan - one of the cousins, Deidric)

We are so blessed to have been able to see Grandpa Voigt over Christmas. Sadly, we lost him on St. Patricks' Day this year. He will be greatly missed.

Taylor tuckered out from all the action and too cool for school:

It was another wonderful visit to Kansas to see Al's family. Taylor loves to see her cousins, Nana, Papa and Mimi. Just wish we could make it happen more!

Coming up, our chilly trip to Florida in January!

December 2009 (Part 1)

December! I had to break up the month because Christmas alone is worth a separate posting. That will be coming soon.

For now, here are some other tid-bits from our winter wonderland month.

This was/is a common sight at our house. Both the dogs and Taylor love to check out the action in our front yard. Taylor was also very helpful in putting up all of the window stickies for Christmas. Every time I would give her one to put up, she would say "thank you mommy!". EVERY single time. It was very sweet.

It has been fun to get Taylor to help out with what she can. She loves to watch/help us cook and bake. This was us preparing for our annual Christmas cookie baking session that we have at my godparent's house (Joan and Bryan). I make a quadruple batch and so does my mom and then we have a little factory going at Joan and Bryan's. They have a great kitchen with two convection ovens so it works out perfectly!

Fun miscellaneous shot of Taylor hanging out with Lobo. He and Chewy are so good and patient with her. Taylor loves to help herself to Lobo's bed and he is very tolerant of her. I think right now he is pleading with us to help him out though.

Waiting for Santa! We weren't sure how Tay would do this year because she tends to be wary of anyone dressed up...especially mascots. We did some prep work for this outting though. We were at a different mall the night before and I let her watch the process with other kids. We then asked her if she wanted to do it and she replied, "maybe later". So we told her we would go the next morning. That following morning we talked about it the whole time and had about 30 minutes to wait in line before it got started. All in all, it went pretty well! We didn't get a smile out of her, but she sat on Santa's lap and didn't cry, success! I think she even told him what she wanted for Christmas, a dinasour puzzle. It's so great at this age when the "big" present is a $7 puzzle from Target. ;)

Christmas Cookies!

Here are some pictures from this year's christmas cookie baking session.

Grandpa helping Taylor decorate with sprinkes. It went pretty well!

Taylor testing out some of the goods:

My mom and I were the ones rolling and cutting and getting the cookies ready for the sprinling crew!

Uncle/Godfather Bryan showing off some of his work:

Mommy taking a break with Tay and trying out some decorating:

Tree Decorating!

We took some fun pictures of Taylor taking part in decorating our two trees. We have a small, artificial one in the family room that we put little ornaments on. She really liked helping with that one.

Our little tree:

Now we started decorating the bigger, real tree in the living room. She was such a great helper!

Taylor really engrossed in her work. She loved helping decorate this year!

Birthday Parties!

During the month we also had Taylor's friend, Rowan's, 3rd birthday party. We went to a fun place called Pump It Up with giant inflatable toys. This first slide was a bit intimidating and it took Taylor quite awhile to work up the courage to go down. Of course she needed one of us to go with her. I think I was more scared than she was!

Fun with daddy trying to stick velcro strips on the colored squares. It looked tough!

Not really sure what this face was about, she probably just didn't want to be interrupted to take a picture!

Another fun game, a big inflatable house with balls to toss around. I think the parents got more into it than the kids. We were definitely over-capacity!

An attempt at getting all the kids together for a photo. Somehow Taylor managed to get front and center with her other daycare buddies while Rowan, the birthday girl, barely made it in the picture. I think we have one pink leg of hers at the top of the picture.

Last but not least, cake time! Look at all of them practically trembling with anticipation!

Coming up next, Christmas in Kansas!

November 2009

We are slowly catching up, two posts in three weeks! By the time baby girl is here, we will be caught up to February. ;)

I'll make this post short and sweet.

Here are some fun miscellaneous pictures of our hammy Miss Tay.

Loving her Minnesota Vikings jumpsuit:

Our sweet baby with all of her favorite animals and babies. Their names? "Big Baby", "Purple Rabbit" (which is actually a kangaroo), "Hippo", and "Little Baby". She's not big on giving her animals and babies names yet.

She loves being surrounded with her stuffed animals!

Cutie patootie. Love those pig-tails!

Raking Leaves - November 7, 2009

It wouldn't be Fall without a good leaf-raking session. This was Taylor's first time really being able to jump around in some leaf piles. I think overall she enjoyed it, but she wasn't keen on having the leaves on her when she would get dumped in the pile. Silly runt.

Loving the leaves being tossed around.

Christmas Lights - November 22, 2009

Taylor had a fun time helping daddy with sorting the Christmas lights this year!

Our little Christmas tree. :)

Trip to Ohio - November 26-28, 2009

The day after Thanksgiving, Taylor, Joni and Grandma & Grandpa traveled out to Akron/Barberton, Ohio to visit with Grandpa's family. Growing up, we never made it out there on holidays, but we found out about a surprise 69th birthday party for my aunt Judie and thought it would be fun to go out, see some family and introduce Taylor.

It was a great trip and so fun to catch up with family that we don't get to see too often. I realize I only have pictures of Taylor for the most part since she was a little too shy to pose with anyone.

Excited for the plane ride. Sitting with grandpa on the shuttle to the airport.

While mommy had to do some studying in the hotel room, Taylor got to spend some pool time with grandma and grandpa at the hotel.

I was impressed that she even got in, she hasn't shown much interest in swimming yet.

Drying off with Grandpa.

One of the big family outings was a trip to the bowling alley. It was cute to see the kids play with the big "kids". Taylor hanging out with some of Joni's cousin's daughters.

Taylor learning the rules from Joni's cousin Stefanie.

Such a great trip visiting with my dad's side of the family. So wonderful to see everyone!

October 2009

Hi Everyone,

Back to blogging and now tackling October 2009. I know it seems silly to be looking back 5 months (eek!), but if I don't document this stuff here, it will be lost in my brain forever!


October was a busy month for us, lots to report!


Bert and Ernie
October 4th

Taylor and I joined her buddy Olivia and her mommy Marni to go see a Children's Theater production of Bert and Ernie. We decided to buy tickets in the front row and because the girls are young enough, we just had to buy "lap passes" for them. Great deal!

Overall the experience went ok, but Taylor was a little freaked out and was ready to go after 15 minutes into the show. There were a few other loud moments in the show that totally freaked her out and she spent most of the performance sitting facing me looking over her shoulder at the crazy actors on the stage. Poor baby. I don't think the front row was the best choice, but now we know!
Since then, we went to see Cinderella and sat in the balcony. That show went really well and Taylor kept telling me "I didn't cry!". She was very proud of herself. :)



Picking out pumpkins
October 9th


While mommy was in class, Al, Grandpa and Taylor went to an annual activity hosted by our realty company that we used to buy our house. The weather was freakishly cold for early October and we actually had some frost/snow on the ground. NOT fun. October is my favorite month and I do not appreciate the early winter weather. That is NOT Fall!

Poor Taylor bundled up in the wagon to go pick out pumpkins.

It looks like a Fall event, right?

Taylor posing with the snowy flowers. They did get some good pumpkins at least!

Nana Visit

October 16th-19th

In mid-October we had a nice weekend visit from Al's mom, Nana. We don't get down to Kansas as much as we would like so we love having his family come up to see us when they can.

This picture was taken right before heading to the park with Nana and daddy. You can tell by the gear that it actually warmed up a bit by mid-Oct compared to the pumpkin outing.

Our little J Crew tot, ha!

In cold MN, it's all about the layers! Trying on a new onesie that Taylor's Aunt DeeDee (Al's sister) and her cousins made for her. Wish we could've been with you guys for the fun!

Nana was able to be in town for Joni's family's annual tradition of a fall walk followed by a trip to the Apple House. We've been doing this for as long as I can remember and is one of my reasons for loving Fall.

Al, Taylor and Nana

Mommy and Grandpa helping Taylor check out some berries.

Taylor with mommy's glasses. We had forgotten hers and little Miss really dislikes the sun. It's so funny! She always complains about it being too bright and needing her sunglasses. So mommy sacrificed and let her wear mine. Our poor little Minnesota girl is so sensitive to the sunlight! Hm, wonder if she will ever be a "beach" girl?

Family shot

Towards the end of the walk and Taylor was needing some lunch. I think she was all done with the annual walking trip.

Group photo! Al, Joni, Grandpa, Grandma, Taylor and Nana.

Great shot of Al and his mom, Taylor was not really in the mood.

My two favorite people. :)

Apple Orchard

October 24th

It wouldn't be Fall without at least a couple of outings to do hay rides, pick apples, etc. We met with our friends Gal, Marni and Olivia and a couple other families for some fall fun south of the Twin Cities.

Taylor was really brave and decided she was ready to ride a pony. I was SO proud of her! She is not one to take risks on anything and you can't force her to do it if she doesn't want to. She did like it despite the look on her face in this photo:

There's a smile!

There was a petting zoo, but unfortunately it was way too muddy to let people in so we peaked over the wall and someone was there to greet us! Taylor thought this Llama was pretty fun.

Having a good time on the tractor ride through the apple orchard. Man, when we get a good smile out of her it just makes the picture!

The dynamic duo, Olivia and Taylor. These two are so fun together. Squealing in delight when they see each other (even though they see each other EVERY day at daycare) and making each other giggle. They are also like sisters in the sense that they can get tired of each other and are not shy in telling the other to bug off. Both have strong personalities and that shows in both good and not so good ways. They continue to be best of friends though and have been since they were infants!

Family shot.

First Hair Cut

October 30th

So for her first two years, I had just trimmed Taylor's bangs myself. Well then we decided over the summer to begin growing out her bangs and it finally got to a point where we needed to tame those locks. Nothing drastic, but just some clean up.

She did pretty good, but wasn't excited about getting in the chair. Finally after a bribe with a sucker and Dora on the little TV, she was ok.

The place we went was all decked out for Halloween and all the sylists were dressed up. After her hair cut, Taylor got to decorate a goody bag and fill it with candy and prizes. A great first experience!

Love those locks, we've been asked a couple times if we curl her hair, but it's all natural! It's even more springy in the summer when it's humid. Love those curls. That was my biggest fear about getting her hair cut, losing the curls, but so far we still have them!

Halloween!

October 31st

This year Taylor went as a kangaroo. It was SO cute! The costume even came with a baby kangaroo that would fit in her pouch, but it kept falling out. She preferred to carry it anyway.

We started the evening in my mom's neighborhood so she could meet some of the neighbors. She never quite said the "Trick or Treat" part, but was very good at the "Thank yous".

When we arrived back in our neighborhood, we met up with Taylor's buddy Elijah from daycare who just happened to move in 5 houses down from us in September! They were such good trick-or-treating buddies.

That's it for now. We still have many months to catch up on and hope to do so quickly so we can be on time when Baby Girl #2 arrives! Only 3 months away!