Two Little Ladies

Tucson!

2011-09-02T19:16:00.000-07:00

During tax season, my mom and I had discussed taking a trip to Tucson to visit my sister. We began making plans and suddenly the plan was for me to take both the girls and fly with my mom and dad the first weekend in April! Katrina had no idea that Taylor, Cassidy and I were along for the ride. We were so afraid of letting the secret slip that we actually forgot to tell many people that I was going to visit too! It was pretty comical.
I was excited for Al to get a weekend home alone and then he ended coming down with a horrible flu-bug. It took him out for most of the weekend. It was too bad his weekend was "wasted" on being sick, but it was probably best because he got the rest he needed and didn't infect us!

When the weekend finally arrived, everything went as planned and we even rented a minivan to accomodate all of us for the long weekend.
We arrived at K's place and the girls and I hid in the back seat of the van while mom and dad went to the front door. They asked her to come help unload and this is the shot I got of her when she realized we were in the back. It was priceless!

The rest of the weekend was packed-full with fun. It was HOT though, even for Tucson's standards.
The first full day there, we headed to a zoo and checked some of the animals before taking advantage of a pool on the same property.

Taylor with her new shades posing with the tiger:

Cassie (just barely), me, Taylor, Bumpa and K:

Great animal shots!

Taylor having some lunch with Auntie (and Godmother) K:

Cassidy getting in touch with her inner squirrel:

Swim time! This pool was a lifesaver. The best part was, it was outdoors AND covered!

Cassidy LOVES the water:

Taylor was SO excited to be at the pool. She just kept walking around giggling and singing, "I'm swimming, I'm swimming". It was adorable.

Back at the house, some down time with mommy and the girls:

Unfortunately that day may have done in Taylor. She was out for the next day and a half with a super high fever and no appetite. At first I assumed she had caught what Al had, but in hindsight, she may had been suffering from heat related issues. I'm sure we should've been forcing fluids on her more than we did. Poor baby.

The next day I headed to an art fair with mom, Cassidy, K and Todd but had to leave Tay behind. She was pretty bummed, but at least got to stay home with grandpa.

The art fair was neat and reminded me a lot of the Austin Pecan Street festival.

Cassie was worn out as well:

Amazing owl that we saw during the fair:

Eventually Taylor was feeling a little better and able to take down some food. Poor baby took a trip to Tucson and spent most of the weekend laying on the couch with a cool washcloth on her head and belly. By our last night she got to go on a special trip to In and Out Burger and Putt-Putt golf with grandpa, mommy and auntie K. That made her day!

It was a super fun weekend despite the girls giving mommy a run for her money. No one slept well because of whatever bug or heat-related issues they were having and I was very sleep deprived. I did have a lot of fun moments of course though. Like a night out dancing with mom and K and a sister shopping trip with just Katrina. I'm so glad we made the trip. Looking back, I barely remember the sleep deprivation, but have a lot of fun memories of the family bonding!

March 2011 - Crawling and Baptism!

2011-08-01T00:17:00.000-07:00

March was another busy month for us and the girls! I thought winters were supposed to be boring? :)

We fit in a trip to Nickelodeon Universe with our friends the Noymans so the girls could play on some rides. It's fun that they are now old enough to enjoy these things! The babies just watched and slept.

Not sure how I managed to catch this picture, but it's an all time favorite now of my sweet Taylor girl.

Taylor and her Bestie hangin' out before a ride:

Cassidy was able to get in on some of the action too!

Some fun St. Patrick's Day pictures:

My adorable leprechauns!

The biggest event this month was Cassidy's baptism on March 20th. The Pastor was Father Cassidy, how fitting! It was a cool and wet spring day, but a wonderful event. Cassie's godparents, Libby & Lincoln and their boy TJ made the trip back from Virginia as well as Mimi making the trip from Texas! We also had great aunt and uncle Joan & Bryan as well as Mary & Joe to help celebrate with us.

Fun picture of TJ, Al, Cass and Tay.

If you can't tell, Cassidy had received her second haircut earlier in the week. She looks so old after they trim up her bangs!

Family with Father Cassidy:

The Godparents, Libby and Lincoln:

It was wonderful to have Mimi up with us to represent Al's side of the family:

This was near the end of the photo session and everyone was getting a little restless. I think the photo turned out pretty well considering!

Sweet face!

Great photo with the Godfather:

My bestie Libby. Thank you guys so much for making the trip back home!

Love this shot of Mimi, Tay and Al. So much love in one shot!

Cassie's latest, giving wide-open mouth kisses.

Al and TJ playing some guitar.

It was a wonderful day with so many loved ones. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it.

Some fun videos from the month.

Cassidy loves water and bathtime:

Another first this month, crawling!!

February 2011

2011-07-31T23:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a LOOOONG time since I posted last and I have run out of excuses. Time to start doing the monthly wrap-ups again before I get a year behind!

Some fun pictures of Cassie's 9th month.

Cassidy's stats and how surprisingly close they are to Taylor's at the same age!:
Weight: 19lb 10oz (60%) - Exact same as Tay
Length: 28.5in (80%) - One pound lighter than Tay
Head: 18in (90%) - Quarter inch smaller than Tay

LOVING her food. Doing our best to keep it out of her hair. It never works. Also notice how Chewy is never too far away during mealtimes. He and Cass are a sneaky team.

Miss Taylor

This was a preview of what to expect in about 5-10 years. Cute little blonde ponytail, complete with bow and checking out her cell phone at the dinner table. Fast forward a few months and we have actually had to give her cell phone etiquette lessons because her pretend use is getting a little out of hand. :)

Another exciting first for Miss Tay this winter. Gymnastics!

We had no idea what to expect because quite honestly, the child is a bit trip and fall-prone. To our surprise, she was a natural and loved it! We will have to do another session next year. Right now we're just trying out everything once. Next up is dance.

A video of our little jumper..only her second time going!

Another fun video of Taylor taking dance lessons from a toy monkey.

Wrapping up January

2011-03-10T18:53:00.000-08:00

Well I jinxed it in my last post. I thought I would be catching up before our busy summer started, but alas, I'm back to being MONTHs behind. Somehow gets harder and harder to have those free moments with the two kids keeping us on our toes.

Back to January.
One of the fun things we did with our good friends, the Noymans, was a stay-cation at a Holiday Inn 20 minutes from our place with an indoor water park. Not a huge one by any means, but a couple of slides and a swimming pool. It was our little (afordable) getaway in the middle of winter. We got adjoining rooms so we could be together as much as possible during our one-night stay.

Cassie was almost 8 months and her buddy Gabriel 6 months. They play every day at daycare and apparently Gabriel thinks it's so funny when Cassie crawls all over him. He better not let that become a habit! I can see Miss Cass taking advantage of that one. ;)

A little pool time with our water baby. It was actually a bit chilly though so she didn't stay in too long.

A fun picture of Taylor and the indoor pool area. They made it look like a twilight Venice scene.

It was a fun trip with some eating out at restaurants and fun hotel-room jumping on beds. Without all the hassle of traveling far and packing too much! We will definitely do it again sometime. Perhaps for TWO nights next time.

To wrap up January, here are some fun miscellaneous photos of the girls.

Classic Cassie face. I seem to remember Taylor making a lot of these faces too though.

Always wanting to reach out to things with that mouth! Love those big blue eyes too.

Ta-da!

Some meal-time fun visiting Great-Grandma for her 91st birthday!

Cassie and Taylor wrestling with Grandma. Not sure who's winning...

It just makes great-grandma's day when she gets to see those great-grandchildren. So many to love and snuggle!

Pump It Up!

2011-03-10T18:45:00.000-08:00

I made it to January finally! Thank goodness I'll be catching up in the next couple of posts. :)

In mid-January we had another fun birthday party at Pump It Up for Taylor's buddy Elijah. There were a lot of kids there, mostly from daycare, so it was a fun little hang out for the parents too.
Taylor was a lot braver this year (our first time was last year for another friend's birthday when Tay was 2.5).
Al and Taylor braving the slide. Mommy went once too with one of Taylor's buddies and was scared out of my mind! Those suckers are fast!

Elijah's mom (Raechael) was very creative and put together this awesome dinasour cake. I had to take a few pictures.

Chowin' some pizza.

Of course Cassidy wants in on this pizza party. ;)

Love those big blue eyes.

Some of Taylor's friends. I can make out Owen (far left), Olivia (next to Taylor of course) and Cleo.

Close up of the BFFs enjoying some ice cream.

It was an awesome party and only one injury when Taylor and Olivia collided on one of the slides. They learned that rules (going one at a time) are there for a reason! :)

Christmas Morning

2011-03-10T18:25:00.000-08:00

On Christmas morning, we got to see what Santa brought for everyone! Taylor's big gift was a "hard" Buzz Lightyear doll. It was a hit!
Santa brought some plush Disney dolls (Eeyore and Roo) for Cassidy, but she was more into eating the boxes that everything came in.

And the M&Ms. That's my girl!

Taylor finally getting to play with Buzz after we almost had to use dynamite to get it out of the box. Seriously, in this day and age you think they could find a way to make toys EASIER to get out, not harder.

You can see Cassie in the lower corner chewing on one of the boxes again...

Quick picture of our small, fake tree in the family room. All the gifts sent to Cassie and Tay got put under there per Taylor's instruction. :)

More present opening and more things in Cassie's mouth.

Fun picture of the girls in their Christmas get-ups to go see Great-Grandma!

Love these hams of mine:

Christmas Eve 2010

2011-02-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

This year we stayed in town for Christmas and as per tradition, headed to mass on Christmas Eve before dinner. We got there 45 minutes early and barely got enough seats!
Quick family photo before mass:

It has always been my family's tradition to open up our immediate family gifts on Christmas Eve. After church and dinner, we got right to it!
Not before trying to get a cute sister pic in with their sweet dresses.

Taylor showing off her pretty dress:

Opening up a fun present from Grandma. The Night Before Christmas with Grandma's voice reading it to her! This was a favorite for weeks after Christmas.

Pretty pretty dress from Auntie Katrina. Can't wait for summertime so she can wear it, so excited!

Both Cassie and Taylor got Longhorn piggy banks with their names on them from Kolin and Alexis. Fun! Taylor now loves putting change in both of their piggy banks. She thinks the change in Al's pocket every day is "her" money and she splits it between her and Cassie's banks. So funny.

Pretty pumped about the bank!

Big present from mommy, daddy, grandma and grandpa! Perfect size too, fits great in our family room without taking up a ton of space!

Stay tuned for Christmas-day pictures!

Cassidy's First Haircut!

2011-02-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

It was inevitable. Our baby girl Cassidy was going to have her first haircut before she even started crawling. Her mane had become out of control and while cute, it was getting in her face way too much. When Taylor's hair was getting to this stage, she was a toddler and it was a lot easier to put into pigtails. It's a little harder with a 7 month old. Especially to do it every day.

Fortunately for us, Cassie's godparents (Libby and Lincoln) came to the rescue and made an appointment for her while they were in town for Christmas. Of course her first haircut could not be at any old kid's hair place so Libby made an appointment at her favorite salon, Salon Lili. It was fabulous. :)

Before-shot of Libby and Cassie, look at that mess of hair!

During the haircut. I was impressed with both Cassie and the stylist. I can't imagine how difficult it was to get a decent trim with a wiggling baby. Cassie seemed content for most of it, then got fussy towards the end and wanted to be done.

Finished product! Overall experience was really great!
I was a little sad that her messy locks were gone, but it looked SO much better and when it started growing out again, it was more even.

Big BLUE eyes:

Cassie's other fans, Lincoln and TJ, came along for the show:

Thank you Libby and Lincoln for a wonderful first haircut! It was great to see her eyes again! :)

Macy's 8th Floor

2011-02-18T19:21:00.001-08:00

Short post today, just want to document another fun Christmastime tradition.

Every year, the Macy's downtown has a fun display on their 8th floor. This has been a tradition for years, back when it used to be Dayton's and before then..
This year the theme was Elf Workshop. This was very fitting for Taylor since we had just introduced our Elf on a Shelf to her this year. At the end we got to see Santa and get Taylor and Cassie's pictures taken! I don't have a picture of that here..unfortunately I would need to scan what we had taken and we don't have a scanner! Maybe an idea for next Christmas?? :)

Taylor and Al walking down the corridor:

Cute opening picture before we entered:

Singing Christmas trees. Taylor was not a big fan of these. Honestly, I don't blame her, they were a little creepy!

An elf bakery!

Elf workshop. All the characters were animatronic so it gave every little scene some life.

It was a great outing and one that we will definitely repeat in the future. It's free and the only item we paid for were the pictures of Santa. He was a great Santa too! Cassie was in awe and Taylor even told him what she wanted. A "hard" Buzz Lightyear doll. :)

Miscellaneous December

2011-02-06T09:41:00.000-08:00

Some fun miscellaneous pictures of the girls from December.

Cassie is growing like a weed and such a happy baby. She will definitely be a handful though. VERY curious and short attention span (with most items). She likes to check out the next thing the second she gets her hands on the first. I have a feeling she will be keep us and her big sister busy! I honestly have found myself treating her like a rabid dog when I see her bee-lining to something I don't want her to get into, I will quickly toss another toy somewhere on the floor and her attention will be temporarily diverted. Like throwing a raw steak at an attack dog! LOL. She is a fast one!

Taylor is still SO sweet with her little sister and loves to "hold" her and give her lots of hugs and kisses. We couldn't be more proud of our sweetTay and how she has embraced the big sister role.

Cuddle time on the couch:

Taylor is also growing into an amazing little girl. She is so mature at times and says the sweetest things. One of her favorite responses if we ask her to do something is, "Oh, sure." Very adult-like. At first I wondered where she picked that up, but soon realized that we both say that a lot. ;)
Some things that Taylor is into right now: She likes to have dance parties and most recently, likes to have mock-rave parties with daddy. This involves listening to some DJ music and turning off the lights in the family room and jumping around with flashlights. It's hilarous.
She also loves to play "going to work" and "meetings". For obvious reasons this is not our favorite game, but we humor her "magical thinking" since it seems so fun to her. She will find out later on that they are not what they are cracked up to be!

Taylor cheesin' it up after coloring some thank-you card pictures.

Sister bath! This is a new favorite with Taylor. Cassidy is now big enough to sit up by herself pretty well, but it's still a little challenge bathing her in the big tub. She loves the water though so that's good!

Taylor likes to get into Cassidy's crib with her and lay by her side. It's the sweetest thing.

Fun times in the crib! This is one of Cassie's classic expressions. I made a face like that when I was a baby, "the hippo face". :)

Sweet baby in her headband. Need a haircut??

More sister-bath fun.

A present from Libby (Cassie's godmother/my BFF). She altered her bridesmaid dress from our wedding 6 years ago and made it into a dress-up gown for Taylor, with a matching shawl! Taylor was in heaven. She has shown a recent interest in our wedding pictures and video and loves seeing all the people she knows in our video. This made her day.

Libby had originally cut the dress short DURING our reception because she was hot. Amazingly enough, she saved every piece and was able to make thick straps and a shawl with the piece that had been cut off 6 years ago. So resourceful!

More holiday fun to come soon!

Christmas Cookies!

2011-02-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

Happy February! Seems like a perfect time to post about our busy holiday season, right?

I am going to struggle to stay current the next few months (more than usual I guess) as Al will be in tax season and hogging the computer every night. Guess I need to make the most of our weekend then, right?

So let's travel back in time a couple of months and relive our very busy and very fun holiday season.

One of our favorite annual traditions is making Christmas cookies with my parents and godparents. Every year, my mom and I both make a quadruple batch of cookie dough the night before and then the next day we take over Joan and Bryan's kitchen and set up shop! We have the whole process down and always have a lot of fun.

We had one teeny-tiny kink in the plan this year. Friday evening we got hit with the beginning of a very long snow storm. It was horrible conditions outside and we were expecting 12-18 inches in the first 24 hours. Thankfully J&B only live about 7 miles away so we decided to make the (slow) trek and not let a little snow get in our way of our annual tradition. Besides, what else was I going to do with a quadruple batch of cookie dough?!

The night before Taylor got to help mommy with the dough prep. She loves to help me bake!

Or maybe she just loves to reap the benefits of "cleaning" up.

Get every last bit....

Getting set up the next day after we made it to Joan and Bryan's!

Cassie is ready to go!

We have all the sprinkles ready....(have no idea what Cassie is doing here):

And all the gear...but we're missing something pretty important...

Cookie sheets!!!
Funny story: in all the preparation, mom and I forgot to bring our nice baking sheets over so Joan called some of the neighbors in their cul-de-sac and we were able to scrounge up 4 or 5. Thank goodness! No one was wanting to drive in the weather to pick up some.

Here is a picture of Al and Bryan all bundled up to walk 4 houses away to get some cookie sheets from 2 different neighbors. It was quite the sight.

Our heros!!!

Finally we were able to start. The assembly works well. Mom and I roll out the dough and prepare the sheets with cookies. Then they are ready for decorating. Bryan and Al get pretty creative, sometimes too much so. We have to nudge them to move a little quicker at times. But their cookies are pretty! The decorators are usually dad, Bryan, Taylor and Al, but there is some rotation if someone needs to do some playtime with the toddler, or tend to baby!

Then Joan normally mans the two convection ovens to make sure all the cookies are being tended to. Great group effort! Of course the final product is always delicious.

Stay tuned for more holiday fun, we squeezed in a bunch this year!

Cassie is 6 Months Old!

2010-12-30T09:43:00.000-08:00

The title of this post is a little misleading since in "real time" Cassie is now 7 months. Big surprise, I'm behind! Hopefully once I get through December updates things will settle down a bit so I can keep up better.
Time is flying by faster and faster. I look back at my maternity leave and it was such a flash. I loved having the summer off with our new bundle of joy!
Cassie is full of personality and action. Before I get to her stats, I wanted to note some things we want to remember about her at this age:

- She loves her bouncer and can stay and jump in it forever! Makes her so happy to be upright.

- She LOVES her food! She is now eating three meals a day plus a few bottles. Her favorites seem to be green beans and sweet potatoes! Apples are still hard for her to do, but she's getting better.

- Doesn't sleep through the night persay, but most nights she is only waking up at 4:00am for a feeding. Technically that is "sleeping through the night" since she is doing 8+ hours, but I am looking forward to when it is 12 hours straight! We get that once in a blue moon.

- At around 6.5 months she started scootching around. She is definitely mobile and that has added some complexity to our world. She really likes to investigate her surroundings (i.e. get into everything)!

- She is still such a happy, mellow baby. Very active and aware, but takes everything in stride and is easy to make smile.

- Her witching hour is still right around 7pm. It's hard to keep her awake much past that unless we are out and there is a lot of action for her to take in. She is very social. She also tends to have her "angry" moments in the middle of the night if she wakes up.

- Her hair is hilarious. She has SO much of it! Future posts will cover her first haircut that happened right before Christmas

- When you go get her in the morning from her crib, she is pushing herself up and starts kicking like crazy because she is so excited to see you.

- She is still a tummy sleeper and rubs her face on you or her sheet when she is really tired.

- Doesn't take a paci and doesn't suck her thumb

- She gives "kisses", especially to daddy. Just grabs his face and gives him a big open-mouth "kiss".

- She loves her big sister and the feeling is mutual. They are very sweet together even when Cassie pulls Taylor's hair.

6 Month Stats:

Weight - 18.2 pounds (92%)
Length - 28in (100%)

Head - 17.5in (93%)

The first weekend in December we had her 6 month photos taken and included some Christmas dress poses. They turned out so great! Such a happy girl.

We have a fun video of her in her bouncer and giving kisses to Al, but I will have to try and add that later. Having technical difficulties right now!

Thanksgiving in Kansas

2010-12-30T07:56:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving this year we headed down to Kansas to visit Al's family. Our plan was to leave Wednesday evening and drive through the night, but a huge snow storm (the first of many this year) was going to be moving through so we decided to head out Tuesday night. It was nice to have the extra day to relax before Thanksgiving day and to extend our trip a little.
We picked up the girls from daycare, stopped for dinner down the road a bit, and arrived in Lenexa around 2am. The weather was uneventful so we are very glad we left when we did! The girls did amazing. They slept the entire way down and only woke up when we arrived. They do not transfer well when they are sleeping. We can never seem to move them from car to bed without them waking! We got to bed in the wee hours of the morning and begun our vacation Wednesday when we all woke up.

Taylor was able to enjoy some fun quality time with Nana, Papa and Mimi Wednesday evening. Nana found some fun, easy candies to make and Taylor did a lot of the work! Here she is meticulously laying out each pretzel.

After all the Rolos were placed and put in the oven for a few minutes, she was in charge of placing the pecan on top of each one. So careful with her work!

Next task, help Nana mix up some Pecan pies! Yum!

On Thursday (Thanksgiving), Al's sisters and their families arrived for Thanksgiving dinner. It was quite the feast as usual! Taylor was excited to play with her cousins and was so much more willing to jump in and play this time compared to our last visit. She and Baily really hit it off again.

She and Cassie were also able to open up some early Christmas presents from Aunt DeeDee. Here is Taylor in her Flapper outfit complete with heels. The "fingernails" were part of a game she had been playing.

All of the girl cousins! Baily, Cassidy and Taylor:

Friday Al took Taylor to go play at an indoor gym in Lawrence with a highschool friend and his family. Unfortunately I caught some bug and was laid out for most of the day so Cassie and I stayed back with Nana, Papa and Mimi in Lenexa. That evening we all headed out to see Al's aunt, uncle and cousins for an extended family gathering. A Tex-Mex potluck with lots of yummy food that I couldn't even touch. Thankfully by bug only lasted for that day!

Saturday was cousin Caleb's 2nd birthday party! We all heade dout to the indoor pool facility where the party was.

Caleb (aka Little Bubba) really getting into his cake!

Taylor getting into the cake action too!

Pool time! This place was really neat and had a few different places to swim and play with things to climb on and slides to go down.

Here is Uncle Bubba (Al) with Tavaris:

Cassie was even able to get into the pool and try it out. She LOVED it! I figured she would since she gets so excited in the bathtub. I included a short video below to show her "swimming" around.

Saturday night Al and I were able to have some fun adult time and hang out with a few of his high school friends again. We watched Jayhawks basketball game and then headed back to Lenexa for our last night.
We hit the road Sunday morning for the long drive home. It always takes a lot longer on the way back since everyone else is also traveling and we have to make more stops since the girls are awake most of the time. They did great again though. Some mild fussing from Cassie a couple times, but nothing to complain about!

One last picture from the weekend, the four generations:

The videos:
Cassie in the pool!

Some fun action from Cassie. She is a lot more "grabby" than we remember Taylor being. She is so curious and active. Love her tenacity!

Austin, TX - November 2010

2010-12-12T13:13:00.000-08:00

Over the November 11-14th weekend, the Voigt family ventured back to our second home, Austin, TX! With Cassie being born at the end of May, we hadn't been back to Texas since the previous September. That's the longest stretch being away from Austin since we moved back to MN 5 years ago.
It was Cassie's first trip and our first time traveling with the two of them by airplane. We managed well and the girls did great. We really ran them ragged and every night was a late night for them. They were such troopers! I think one evening Taylor was up until 1am since we had been hanging out at a friend's house all night! So amazed that we seem to have been blessed with two easy-going travelers. I think we may have seen some direct "bad" behavior for a few nights after we were back in MN, but all in all the girls did amazing.
On to the pictures!

Catching some grub in the Dallas airport on our way to Austin. Taylors first soft pretzel.

The next day (Friday), catching some lunch and shopping at the University Co-op at Daddy's school.
Cassie enjoying the stroll:

Taking a break near the UT Tower:

Al and his little ladies in front of the Tower:

Always need to take a picture with the larger-than-life Bevo! Taylor sporting her brand new UT shirt that she needed for the game Saturday.

Friday night our friends Scott and Tanya (and their daughters Samantha and Sidney) were gracious enough to have some friends over at their new place and grill some burgers. We got to spend some quality time with a handful of friends and Cassidy got to meet her fellow Gemini friend, Addison, who is only 10 days younger than her.

They hit it right off, Addison felt so comfortable with Cassie that she promptly started to eat her foot. Now that's love! I know Addison, I know, I can't help it either...

Pajama time at the Bradley house!

I'm surprised I don't have more pictures of Taylor playing with Samantha, they had a riot all night long. It even spilled into the street (or sidewalk) as we were leaving at 11:30 that night, Taylor and Sam decided it was a good time to take a midnight run in the neighborhood. It was a little hard to "yell" after them when you don't want to disturb the peace!

We're just happy they had so much fun.

The next morning we tried to sleep in, but that hardly happens. We got ready and made a stop at our old tailgate to see some of the early risers.
It wasn't long before Taylor wanted to take a quick cat nap:

Cassie seemed to be a natural, helping herself to mommy's Miller Lite immediately. ;)

Party animal!!!

I love this picture because I know it's a face I used to make as a baby as well. It was sweetly named my "hippo" face.

Taylor being the seasoned tailgater now knew how to get right into it. Daddy even made her a little "thrown" in someone's tailgate. Inappropriate? Probably. Funny? Definitely.

Cassie hanging out with Kolin's fiance (as of yesterday!), Alexis. She borrowed the shades from her fashionable friend Addison.

After lunch and a late nap, Al and Taylor actually got to go to the 7:00 football game. The Longhorns had a horrible year and this game was no different, but Taylor was blissfully unaware. There is a short video at the bottom that shows some of her enthusiasm. Gotta love her spirit!

The best part was after I picked them up from the game around 10:00pm, she told me that she saw "a lot of first downs!" and seemed genuinely excited about that. :)

On our last day in Austin, we decided to hit up some Austin favorite hot-spots. Fortunately Taylor and Cassidy both decided to do a little sleeping in.

Taylor in her fun outfit posing with Alexis, I swear she is made for this city. :)

For lunch, Daddy's favorite burrito place, Freebirds. Taylor not sure what all the hype is about yet.

Next stop, Amy's ice cream! It was actually chilly that day, but that didn't stop Taylor from diving right into her chocolate ice cream with sprinkles!

Mommy and Tay having some fun. Taylor actually took this picture! Not bad for a 3 year old!

Taylor playing with the cow statues:

And doing her best to imitate them...MOOOOOO!!!!

And a little fun for mommy and daddy, making the toddler dizzy:

Game video:

This one is my favorite. I'm sure when Al was attending the University of Texas as a social 18 year old, he never imagined that he would be back there someday as a 33 year old with his 3-year old daughter, being told to "walk like a birdy" amongst all the other students. I had a good laugh at his expense. :)

As usual, our trip to Austin was way too short, but we hope to make a longer one out of it next time around. It's always a blast to see everyone and we miss the city (and all of our friends there) terribly. Thank goodness we are able to visit as much as we have been!

Until next time, keep it weird Austin! :)

Cassie's First Trip and Halloween

2010-11-29T16:54:00.000-08:00

On October 28th, Cassie took her first plane ride with mommy to go visit Al while he was attending a conference in D.C. Taylor stayed back and had a fun two-night sleepover with her buddy and classmate Elijah. I was so proud of her. She was homesick by night 2, but I'm not surprised. That's a lot to take on for a 3 year old!

I was a little nervous traveling with Cassie for her first flight by myself, but there was no need. She was a superstar and charmed her fellow passengers. I think they were just relieved that she was in such a good mood for the flight and didn't cry! We are very fortunate to have two kids that are great travelers so far. I hope it continues this way!

When we arrived at the hotel Thursday afternoon, Al was on break and greeted us. He had late conferences that day which worked in my favor so I could get some work done in the hotel room after Cassie went to bed. He was staying at the Gaylord Convention Center which was beautiful. Nice to have a little getaway for free!

Friday I did my best to work from the hotel with Cassie and would take some breaks to walk around on the hotel grounds so she didn't get too bored. It worked out pretty well!
Friday evening we got to hang out with Libby, Lincoln and TJ at their place (thanks for dinner guys!) and then went back to hang out with them all day Saturday.

Al with Cassie and TJ:

Cassie enjoying some outside time while TJ rode on his new big wheel from us. We were practicing with her hair for her Halloween costume. :)

Great profile shot of her hair and CHEEKS!!

Always SO happy and smiley. Such a sweet baby.

It was a quick visit, but so fun to get a chance to see the Winzeler/Zahlers on their turf in Virginia. It was also really sweet to have some mommy/daddy time with just Cassie. We were excited to get back to see Taylor though, it just wasn't quite the same without her.

Funny enough, when we arrived home, I think Cassie got more of greeting than either Al or I! She loves that baby sister of hers.

Halloween!!

On Halloween night, we had three of Taylor's friends from school come over with their parents and we had pizza before we got the kiddos dressed and ready for trick or treating. It was a great night!

Cassie getting ready with her punk outfit. You should all be impressed with the wrist cuffs since Al actually made a trip to Michaels and crafted those himself with velcro strips. He was having a lot of fun making those and some cuffs for Taylors costume. Who knew he was so crafty!

Prepping the hair. Again...those CHEEKS!

The final product (hard to see, not sure why these appear so dark):

View from the top:

First trick or treating outing together! Taylor was a very cute Buzz Lightyear. :) She refused to wear the cuffs that Al slaved over since she didn't want to get them dirty. So funny.

The 3 year olds: Rowan, Elijah, Taylor and Olivia

First house. Taylor did much better this year with actually saying "trick or treat" and running up to the doors. Probably helped that she had 3 friends who she was trying to beat to the doorbell every time!

Cassie along for the ride too!

This is my favorite picture of the set. The morning after. Looks like she had a rough night!

Coming up next, Cassie's first trip to Texas, Thanksgiving in Kansas and 6-month stats. Hopefully all before Christmas!!

Fall catch-up

2010-11-29T16:24:00.001-08:00

Well now that Christmas is around the corner, I have a lot of catch up to do since August!
Fall was beautiful this year so we had lots of chance for outdoor fall outings. I won't get to post everything, but wanted to highlight a few pictures.
Next post will highlight Halloween!

Cassidy is growing so fast and is such a fun addition to our family. Taylor loves being a big sister and is so great at making Cassie smile. They are so sweet together.

Here are some fun random moments:

This is one of my favorites of the girls. I love Cassie's sly grin and Taylor's adoring gaze. They really have a strong bond already.

This was the day of Cassidy's first UT football game! Unfortunately, her first season as a UT football fan was beyond dismal. Oh well, there will be many more to come!

The girls and I visiting with Great Grandma Kneeskern in mid-October.

Cassie striking a post at great-grandma's. I can't get enough of those chunky little legs!!!

A fun family Friday afternoon at the corn maze. The pit of corn seed was worth every penny of admission:

Even Cassie enjoyed it!

Taylor's First Sleepover!

Another first in our family. Taylor's first sleepover.

Honestly, we didn't have high expectations for how this would go. Her best friend Olivia came over and we expected to have to call Gal and Marni late in the evening. Boy were we wrong! The night went great!

The girls cuddling with Al on the couch (notice the monkey pajamas on both of them):

Getting ready for bed with mommy's old Strawberry Shortcake sleeping bag:

Olivia reading a story to Cassidy:

The night was a success! They went to bed well (Olivia in the bed and Taylor in a sleeping bag) and I think they slept ok. I'm pretty sure they were awake a lot of the night, but they were quiet!

The next morning, Taylor and I joined Olivia, Marni, Gal and baby Gabe at the fair. Taylor had gone with us the prior weekend and LOVED it. What's not to love? Footlong corn dogs, all-you-can-drink chocolate milk, strawberry smoothies and rides!

The girls had a blast going on more rides together.
Here they are downing their respective chocolate milk cups:

One of many shots of them on the rides:

On an airplane:

It was another fun day at the fair while Al and Cassidy had some much needed daddy/daughter bonding time.

Stay tuned for Halloween pics soon!

Taylor Turns Three!

2010-10-06T19:21:00.000-07:00

I heard somewhere that if you have a blog, you should be updating it once or twice a week. Leave it to me to completely break out of that mold. Here I am again, almost two months behind. I would like to blame it on a busy summer, but alas, I think we will be busy no matter the season and I will want to record every minute of it!

So on August 16th, our oldest baby girl turned 3. I can't believe it. I was looking at her the other day as she danced around and was making up songs and just wondered to myself what happened to the last three years. I know this is cliche, but I was so amazed that it had passed by so quickly. I can only imagine how this will be a common thought as each year passes. At the same time, I also love seeing her turn into her own little person, even when some days we see a lot more of the stubborn, sassy streak than we want to.

Anyway, this year we had a couple of birthday parties. One with all of her friends and then one the following day with family. To make it extra special, Al's mom and Mimi made the trip up here!

For her friend-party, we rented out a party room at Davanni's and hired Abrakadoodle to come and do arts and crafts with the kids. This was the BEST idea we've had so far. They ran the party from start to (almost) end. I just had to order the pizza and cake. No clean up or planning. It was the most relaxed I've been hosting anything!

Getting the room all set up for the party. The individual balloons were already there when we arrived (the restaurant did it) and Abrakadoodle set up the tables!

Sweet birthday girl with daddy:

Keeping the kids preoccupied when they first arrive:

Mimi meeting Cassie-Bear for the first time this weekend:

Story time to get everyone in a painting mood:

Mimi and Dalenette with Cassie:

The project we picked out was "Jackson Pollock". Of course we couldn't sling paint around in the restaurant, so they improvised with using boxes and other "tools" to paint. Like golf balls....

and cars....

and other items. The parents were almost as excited (if not more) as the kids were.

Pizza time!

Then Dora ice cream cake!

Birthday girl with her hand-made crown.

It was a great time with all of Taylor's friends!

The next day, we invited over my aunts and uncles and had a more intimate family gathering. The weather was a little cooler, but still a nice evening for eating outside.

Taylor cheesin' it up with her crown:

Family shot (minus Cassidy) with grandma and grandpa. Grandma made Taylor's cake this year!

This time we remembered to include Cassidy and had a nice family shot with Nana and Mimi. Too bad my eyes were closed, but it was the best picture of everyone else!

One of Taylor's favorite gifts from Great Aunt Joan and Uncle Bryan:

Her absolute favorite though was the tricycle from grandma and grandpa!

Leave it to my daughter to check out the storage features on her new vehicle:

The next day at school, Taylor was able to bring cupcakes to celebrate her birthday with her classmates. It was so sweet that she was cognizant of the fact that she got THREE birthday parties this year. Happy Birthday Sweet Taylor Jean, we love you!

Cassie's 2 month stats and miscellaneous

2010-09-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

To wrap up July we have a hodge-podge of pictures.

Here on some fun miscellaneous shots at Taylor's best friend, Olivia's birthday party on July 23rd.
The two of them are so close and really egg each other on when they are together. Al was able to catch some fun shots of the two of them running around.

Funny action shot of the two girls:

Sweet face that I hardly get a photo of. Taylor about to get some hand-painting done (she didn't want it on her face):

Two best friends, taking a stroll after a fun day at the park:

Later that same day, Al and I got to take off for a mini-getaway. For my birthday present (and Cassie's birth present) Al planned a night at a Bed and Breakfast in Hastings, MN (cute river town along the Mississippi) and concert tickets to see the Jack Johnson show in Somerset, WI on Sunday night. My mom and dad were wonderful enough to watch the girls at our place for Saturday night into late Sunday night.

To round out the weekend, we did some shopping in Hudson, WI (another town along the river) and even caught a matinee movie! Such an indulgence for us!

Thank you to my mom and dad for watching the girls for us. We were thankful that they both behaved and slept well while we were gone!

Here are a few pictures. View from the American Legion restaurant where we had dinner in Hastings. It was funny to say we had dinner at the American Legion on our romantic getaway, but the food was good, drinks were cheap and the view was the best in town!

Happy and relaxed parents!

Yummy breakfast delivered to our door at the Classic Rosewood Inn & Spa (built in 1880):

The weekend was only one night and one long day, but we felt rejuvenated and had such a great time. Amazing how fun and renewing it can be to travel just an hour away from home.

In other news, our baby girl Cassidy turned two months on July 30th!

Statistics:

Weight: 12lbs 1oz (80th %)

Length: 24in (95th %)

Head: 15.75 (75th %)

Funny enough, her stats are identical to Taylor's except she is one pound heavier at this age than Taylor was.
Here's a quick snapshot I took of our little munchkin on July 31st.

I went back to work in early August and it wasn't as bad as I was dreading. Things just seemed to get even busier with both of us at work. It's been challenging to get into the groove again, but both girls are doing so great. Cassidy is doing great at daycare and Taylor loves that her sister is at the same school with her. She even gets to go downstairs to visit her sometimes.

It's just amazing how quickly the days go by just doing the mundane things like laundry, washing bottles, making dinner, etc. No complaining from us though, we are truly blessed to have such wonderful daughters! We wouldn't trade this hectic life for anything.

North Shore July 15-18

2010-09-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

Time for the third annual Voigt/Shepard summer vacation! These annual trips all began on a whim when we traveled to Seattle with our friend Kolin (Taylor's godfather) in 2008. Our friends Jon and Michelle came up from Austin as well and our friend Delia came out from Spokane for a couple of nights while she was in law school up there. For the remainder of the week, we headed up to Vancouver with Jon and Michelle and it became evident that we had to do this every year. So began the tradition.

In 2009, the same crew (minus Kolin) went to Estes Park, CO for a friend's wedding. Now this year, Jon and Michelle were great enough to come up to Minnesota since Cassidy was so little and we all took a trip up to the North Shore. Even though we have lived back here for 4.5 years, Al still has yet to be up there so it was fun to show everyone some beautiful Minnesota landscape.
For those not familiar, the North Shore in MN is the shoreline of Lake Superior. There are many small towns along the way with hiking, kayaking, camping, etc. and even a ski resort.
The weekend we went we had beautiful weather and we rented a great house right on the water.

First stop along the way, Duluth! Duluth is a harbor town on Lake Superior. One of my favorite moments was when we drove into town, we crested over the hill and you could suddenly see Duluth and the great lake below. Al, Jon and Michelle all were shocked at the sight. I joked, "Yeah, you were wondering which lake we were vacationing on? It's that one, the GREAT one." :)
Family photo (minus Cassie who was sleeping in the stroller) on the lighthouse pier. Don't worry, the wall that Taylor is propped on is above a spot with shallow water. It just looks a little scary in this photo.

First full day we headed out to one of the many state parks and took a hike. Trying to find some waterfalls at Temperance State Park!
Reminiscent of our Colorado trip, Jon and Al figuring out the hiking pack. Best bargain of the weekend, renting a hiking backpack for $5 a day!

Michelle, Cassidy and I. Cassie was such a trooper during this trip. She slept through most of the hiking and all the fresh air helped her sleep great at night!

It was surprisingly hot that day (especially for the north shore) so we came across some wading pools and ate our picnic lunch and cooled off. We basically had the place to ourselves for a couple of hours, it was great!

Jon, Michelle and I relaxing and taking in the scenery:

This is a picture taken from the house. I spotted a loon (the MN state bird!) floating out in the water around 5:30am. The same loon was still seen floating later in the day. Wish I had an even stronger zoom lense!

Day 2 of hiking. Little bit cooler weather and some more beautiful scenery at Judge C. R. Magney State Park.

Taylor (hiding), Al, Michelle and Jon:

Viewing some waterfalls after a lunch pit stop:

One of the features of this trail was a staircase with MANY stairs. Can't recall how many, but it was a lot. Taylor did most of it by herself. In fact, she insisted! The uphill part was on the way back to the car, not a fun way to end a hike!

Michelle, Cassie and I taking a strategic break about half-way up:

Some pictures from our rental house. Beautiful Lake Superior:

View from the bedroom that Cassie and I stayed in. Al stayed in another room with Taylor since she was a little nervous to be by herself in a new house.

Taylor hanging out and Joni packing on the morning of our drive home

Group photo!

One last stop on the way out, Gooseberry Falls:

As beautiful as all of our last three trips have been, Michelle and I asked the guys if we could do a beach trip next time. Need to take a break from hiking. :)

Fourth of July

2010-08-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

Over Fourth of July weekend our wonderful friends, Libby and Lincoln came home to Minnesota with their new son they recently adopted from Ethiopia. It was a day of introductions. Cassidy got to meet her godparents and we all got to meet sweet TJ.

Cassie with Godfather Lincoln:

Godmother Libby:

Sweet TJ:

It was a beautiful Minnesota day and the kids (big and little) got into the water toys. This picture made me laugh, poor Taylor was getting teamed up on by the daddies and TJ!

Cassie taking in all the action with her fabulous hair, gotta love humidity!

This cracked me up. Libby LOVES Fourth of July. It's "her" holiday and likes to go all out. We feel honored that they invite us over every year to partake in the festivities. Early on, she did some fun smaller fireworks in the driveway. Taylor wasn't too keen and wanted to hide behind daddy. This picture just is what resulted:

Danbury June 25-29

2010-08-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

Looks like I am getting behind again! What on earth could be filling up those hours I used to spend studying?? Hm.

At the end of June, we got to go on our annual summer trip to my aunt and uncle's cabin in Danbury, WI. It was so fun to bring Cassie with too. We think that in the history of family gatherings up there, Cassie is the youngest (at 3 weeks) to make the trek. It was especially nice because I stayed up with the girls for an extra couple of days (with my mom's help) since I was on maternity leave. SO nice. Al's mom also was able to come up for the weekend. She had heard so much about our cabin weekends and we're so glad she chose this weekend (and wait to see her newest granddaughter for a few weeks) so she could finally partake. I think she's glad she did!

To start off the weekend though, we had a birthday celebration for yours truly. The big 3-2! Per tradition, we gathered at my parent's house with my godparents and special guest, Dale (Al's mom) for my favorite meal of Beef Burgundy and chocolate mousse cake for dessert. Yum!

Sweet pictures of the girls in their first matching outfit. I'm sure there will be many more matching outfits to come. As long as they are young enough to not care anyway!

Birthday mama with her two girls:

Now onto the weekend!

Taylor getting some play time in before the sun came out.

Cassidy hanging out with great-grandchild #21, Hazel. Hazel was born in March of this year.

Some more of the great-grandchildren. Princess Annika, Mia, Benaysay and Taylor with Prince Frankie. It was so cute to have some the younger great-grandkids up there this time. So many generations have enjoyed cabin time in Danbury!

Breakfast time:

Hanging out with cousin Benaysay on the porch. These two really bonded over the weekend. It was nice they had each other since all the other younger kids left Sunday.

Beach time:

Snack time:

Followed up with more beach/water time. It was beautiful everyday and we spent most of our time down at the water.

One of the boat toys is a huge inflatable shoe. Taylor just liked hanging out in it while on shore. She, Cassie and I even took a nap in it one day. All the rules change when you're on vacation!

This is one of my favorite shots. Taylors favorite activity was to run all the way down the dock and have someone catch her in the water. She would walk back to shore and do it over and over and over....

More fun in the sun, throwing sand back into the water.

We are having quite the busy summer so lots to catch up on. Working on getting these posts complete and back on track. Can't believe summer is almost over, it sped by way too fast this year.

Father's Day

2010-07-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day this year we went and played putt-putt at one of our favorite little gems west of Minneapolis. It's called Big Stone mini golf and is created by a local sculptor. He has made 13 holes so far and took some time off for other projects but will be creating more holes in the future. Each hole is a work of art that can be climbed on and played around. It's always a fun time!

Taylor sporting her cool shades and ready to take on the course:

Grandpa helping Tay line up her shot:

Cassie helping out mommy:

One of our favorite holes is a boat that is upside down and has big holes drilled into it!

Taylor lining up her shot:

We had to take a photo of Taylor sitting on one of the metal pumpkin leafs since we had done it when she was about 9 months old on our Mother's Day trip here in 2008.

Taylor 2 years, 10 months:

Taylor 9 months:

Catching a ride on a mini horse! Such a little goofball.

After lunch and nap, the family headed to watch Al play soccer. This was Cassie's first soccer game! Taylor was giving her all the ins and outs to the game:

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband and dad! We don't know what we would do without you guys. Hope you had a great day with your littlest ladies. :)

Cassie's First Few Weeks

2010-07-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

Trying to stay on top of our blogging, especially since my maternity leave is quickly coming to an end. Lots going on for us this summer, it's been so nice not having school work!

Cassie has been such a seamless addition to our family, she is so sweet and mellow. Taylor loves being a big sister and is such a HUGE helper. She calls herself "Big Sister Helper" sometimes. Everyday after school, she comes running into the house and asks where Cassie is. She knows she can't touch her until she washes up, but she has to see her and give her a kiss before she does anything else. So sweet.
Here are some pictures from the first few weeks:

Taylor laying down with Cassidy in the crib/toddler bed. It's amazing how big Taylor seemed all of a sudden.

Another shot of the sisters snuggling. This is a common event:

Chewy even likes to get in on the action. He just loves his little humans:

We had a lot of nice visits.

Great-aunt Mary:

Great-uncle Joe:

Taylor being a super helper and feeding Cassie for the first time:

One of Cassie's first baths. She loves them. Taylor wasn't a fan when she was a baby so we took to showering with her. So far, Cassie loves being in the water.

Naptime for daddy and Cassie:

Visiting great-grandma Kneeskern. Cassie is great grandma's 22nd great-grandchild! Funny enough, 20 years ago, grandma didn't think she would have ANY!

Great-aunt Ann:

Cute picture of Taylor on her field trip to Underwater World at the Mall of American. Cassie and I surprised her and showed up right when her class got there. It was so cute to be along for a field trip.

Up next...Father's Day!

Follow up pictures of Taylor's room

2010-07-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

Following up from the last posting...I wish I had taken some "before" pictures of our very crowded, white-walled, boring, guest room/office before we cleared it out. This room seems huge after the fact!

We still have some things to do...like shelving in the closet, headboard for the bed and some wall art that I want to try my hand at, but it's looking pretty good so far!

For the first week or so, Taylor loved playing in here and loved the idea of her new room, but still insisted in sleeping in the nursery in her toddler bed. Over time, she eventually warmed up to sleeping in the much bigger bed (we kept the full-size bed for when we have visitors) and bigger room.

April-May 2010

2010-06-18T14:48:00.001-07:00

Alrighty, I am taking one last step into the past to wrap up the "pre-Cassie" time. I am knocking out April and May in one big posting. Then I can focus on the summertime with my sweet girls!

Easter!

We had an amazing spring this year weather-wise. It was unseasonably warm which actually allowed the little girls all over MN to not be freezing in their Easter dresses. That's unusual! As we always do, we headed down to Rochester to my Grandma Kneeskern's place to join the extended family for Easter festivities. Because it was so warm out, my Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe planned an OUTDOOR easter egg hunt for all the great-grandkids. So much fun!

Taylor getting into the groove of things and finding the colorful eggs:

The youngest of the great-grandkids that were in attendance.

Mia, Benaysay, Madelyn, Taylor, Annika, Owen and Ryan:

Since we had to get up early to go to church and then Rochester, we didn't do our Easter egg hunt at home until after we got back that evening.

Reaching up on tippy-toes:

She even wanted us to hide some outside for her. We did this a few times.

They're everywhere!

Colorado Springs

April 30 - May 2

In May we headed to Colorado Springs for Al's cousin Kristi's wedding. I'm glad we were able to make it, always looking for an excuse to get back to Colorado!

The first night they hosted a party at the Air Force Academy press box. Very cool!

Taylor trying on some football gear.

Took a quick trip to Garden of the Gods park. Nice view of Pike's Peak:

Great shot of Al's family, nephew Deidric, sister DeeDee and mom Dalenette:

Taylor enjoying her nature walk:

Family shot with me being VERY pregnant. :)

At the wedding:

Graduation

May 6th

I finally did it! Finished my MBA and it feels so great. There were times that I felt like I would not get through some semesters, but overall it flew by really fast. I met great people and have a bond with 9 other people who made every other Saturday classes very bearable.

It's so great to be done and know that I don't have to read anything that isn't for "fun" anymore.

Prepping the big girl room

Before Cassidy was born, we worked a lot of hours to get the old office/guest room ready for Taylor to move into. It was chaos in our house for awhile as we figured out where to put our office and all the stuff (like a lot of my clothes) in the rest of the house. We recarpeted the room and painted it yellow. It looks so great now and our new office is now in the living room until we someday get our basement finished. I will have to add some "after" pictures..

Taylor jumping in to help a little with the painting. It helped knowing that the carpet would be removed. :)

Tay loving her new big girl bed and PURPLE comforter set.

Cassidy Aileen Voigt - May 30, 2010

2010-06-04T07:48:00.001-07:00

Born May 30th, 2010 at 8:39am
8lb 15oz
21 inches

Sisters Tay and Cassie

First family photo

Happy big sister!

February 2010

2010-05-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

We had much to celebrate in early February. My grandma Kneeskern turned 90! We had a good portion of the family celebrate with her in Rochester the first weekend of February.

We had 8 cousins and significant others:

And about half of the great-grandkids! Quite the crew:

It was a great day with everyone celebrating the woman who started it all (from our perspective anyway)! We are so blessed to have had her around for this many years. Looking forward to every birthday with her!

Some fun miscellaneous shots:

Taylor getting in some cuddle time with mommy and loving on her baby sister. For some reason the shirt I'm wearing (and the position I'm in) really accentuates the bump. I don't think it was THAT big in February. :)

Valentine's Day!

Taylor's school had a Valentine's Day celebration in the afternoon. They made necklaces, cookies, exchanged cards and did some coloring. Quite the party!

Taylor anticipating her first bit of her yummy cupcake. Olivia (her BFF) has a head start on her:

Taking her time decorating her cookie. Had to make it JUST right:

After the festivities, an impromptu dinner out with Olivia's family. One of our favorite places, the Convention Grill! Yum!

Such hams they are:

A fun shot of Taylor geared up for outdoor time. As I write this, it's 90 degrees in May..this seems so long ago!

She wanted to help daddy shovel the front and lasted about 10 minutes before she decided it was too cold. I don't blame her!

Another big milestone, potty training! She was picking it back up in February and doing pretty well. Al caught her in this "big kid" pose on the pot one day.

Florida Keys - January 2010

2010-05-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

Since baby girl #2 is giving me more time, I might as well take advantage of it and keep updating our blog! This will most likely be the longest blog post of the year since it covers our family vacation to Florida in January. I tried to narrow down the pictures as best as possible, but there were still a lot of winners!

Our trip was during the first week in January and included Al, Taylor, me, my mom, dad and sister Katrina. It was supposed to be our warm weather getaway from Minnesota (except for K who lives in Tucson now), but ended up being a lot cooler than we anticipated. Even though we were missing -15 degree weather in MN, 55 degrees in Florida did not feel too nice. Next time we'll opt for Mexico to play it safe!

The trip began a little rocky with some frozen pipes in the plane we were supposed to fly in. For those not in MN, this should normally not be an issue. We are used to sub-freezing temperatures and planes fly all the time after some defrosting. We were a bit puzzled that they hadn't begun the defrosting process a lot sooner. Of course, it was a 6am flight, so that was probably the problem. After all, other flights were able to fly out...
After sitting on the plane for awhile, they let us all get off to stretch until they found alternatives. We (the MN travelers) were supposed to have a connection in Atlanta on our way to Miami, but it was evident that we were missing that flight. We were lucky though, the plane we were on was supposed to be routed to Fort Lauderdale via Atlanta. So we just changed our tickets and got back on when the plane was ready. Always the trooper, Taylor did great with the delays and changes. She is such a great traveler!
Katrina was still arriving in Miami and waited for us there while we figured out the best way to get ourselves to Miami once we arrived in Fort Lauderdale (about 30 miles away). It all worked out and the next step was to get our rental car (in Miami) and wait for our luggage to arrive (arriving around 11pm). It was a VERY long day, but luckily didn't interfere with our travel plans since we had slotted that day for travel anyway. The next morning our vacation would truly begin as we made our way to the Keys.

On to the pictures!

Al and Taylor hung out in the hotel room while my mom and I went to get one of the cars and luggage. Since she needed to get ready for bedtime long before our luggage arrived, she got to wear daddy's t-shirt as pajamas. She thought that was pretty great. This is her practicing some ballet moves to some music on the TV.

The next morning we got going and Al, Taylor, Katrina and I made our way to Monkey Jungle while mom and dad went to grab a second rental car at the airport.
This place was really neat. The monkeys are all around you as you walk under netting and through the man-made jungle. Taylor was excited to see all the little monkeys running around.

Feeding time!

Taylor practicing her monkey face:

This part was a lot of fun. You could buy berries and nuts and put them in these metal bowls. If there was a monkey nearby, they would pull the bowl up and eat all the food and drop it back down for you to fill again. Lots of quarters spent on feeding monkeys!!

After we had our time at monkey jungle (Al could've stayed there forever, he was in heaven), we all caravaned our way to Tavernier to check into our rental house. Since this was our Christmas, we also planned on doing our family gift exchange that first evening too.

While mom, K and I went grocery shopping, Al, dad and Tay had some fun exploring the property. This is one of my favorite all time pictures. It looks fake, but this is the outside of the house near the dock at sunset. Taylor loved this new place!

Time for Christmas!

This was our make-shift Christmas tree before we did our gift exchange. :)

The following morning. All the ladies having breakfast and planning out the day:

We decided to have a low-key day and stay nearby. We ventured out to the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key. My mom, Taylor and I decided to sign up for "touch a dolphin". I had originally wanted to swim with the dolphins but a) it was way too cold to consider getting in the water and b) you can't do it when pregnant.

Some fun before seeing some dolphins:

Some great close shots of the dolphins, Taylor was in awe. Unfortunately, when it came down to the reality of getting on the platform to touch the dolphins, she had a panic attack and was NOT ok with it. So that was $20 down the drain. ;)

Great shot of mom shaking flippers with one of the dolphins:

Taylor and Al staying warm while they watch us play with dolphins. My jeans were SOAKED afterwards. I couldn't wait to get back to the house to warm up. So glad we did it though.

Back at the ranch, Taylor amusing herself with some dominoes she found. Hmmm, a little Type A??

On the warmest day of the week (I think it reached 60), Al, Taylor, Katrina, mom and I ventured out to go on a glass-bottom boat ride.

Taylor loved this little look-out area on the front of the boat:

Picnic on the upper deck of the boat:

A family tradition, puzzles! Growing up, we always did a lot of puzzles and many times during Christmas break. Mom brought one with and Taylor got to help put in the final pieces:

One of our last days of the week, we took the long drive all the way to Key West to spend a day there. The weather was mostly sunny, but very windy and could get chilly again when that sun hid behind the clouds. We will definitely have to go back and see KW again under better weather circumstances!

Taylor getting ready for some lunch at Blue Heaven:

Had to take a family photo at the southermost point!

A photo of just Al and I! It's amazing how few of these we get nowadays. :)

Despite the cooler weather, we still saw an amazing sunset in KW:

Everyone say, "Hoodies"!

Dinner before we head back to Tavernier. Taylor chowing on a jumbo shrimp. She liked it!

One morning, Al, Taylor and dad headed to a nearby beach and park. Unfortunately, this is the only beach time Taylor had. No swimsuit!

Al caught some great shots of sunrise at the same park the next morning with mom and Katrina.

One more excursion of the week. We went to another place to see dolphins, sea turtles, sea lions, etc. It was pretty neat!
Boat ride with dolphins riding along with us. They would actually jump through the gap in the middle of the boat too.

My little funny-face girl:

During the sea lion show, Katrina was one of the handful that got to get a kiss from the star:

Some views of our beautiful rental house. We never used the pool or tiki bar hut so we definitely need to go back during warmer weather and check it out again. Beautiful place!

View from the second floor deck:

View of the back of the house. We had the top floor which was 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. The bottom level was mostly garage, laundry and a small apartment.

Al couldn't leave our place without taking advantage of the kayaks. He actually made his way out to the ocean by himself. Then he came back and took Taylor for a short ride around the marina.

She was pretty ok with it, but was fine with being done too.

Overall a great trip despite the weather and not being able to wear the shorts, t-shirts and swimsuits that we packed! It was a great location and a great house to get away. We are all agreeing that next family trip may have to be in Mexico though to get a better chance at warmer weather.

December 2009 (Part 2) - Christmas

2010-03-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

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)

2010-03-30T19:17:00.001-07:00

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

2010-03-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-05T07:08:00.001-08:00

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!

Al and Joni Plus TWO! It's another girl!

2010-01-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

Taking a break from updating the past few months and giving an update on the past week. As most everyone knows by now, Al and I are expecting bambino #2 at the end of May (dates range from May 26 - June 1). Just this past week, we were surprised to find out we were having another girl! And judging from the ultrasound and the constant acrobatics in the evenings, a very active one! For some reason we both thought it would be a boy, but Taylor started telling us the week prior that it was a girl. So funny. Now we just need to start thinking of names!
Can't wait to begin another adventure with another precious miracle. :)

September 2009

2009-12-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

Per usual, all of my goals of catching up with blogging went out the window during my time off from school. Blame the holidays! I thought I would try to do a seasonal update and just do "Fall 2009", but we had A LOT going on. So I will do monthly updates until we are caught up. Maybe by May we will have Christmas and our trip to Florida (currently sitting in the Keys right now) posted.

Visit from the Dudergeils!

Our September continued to be a fun month after our Labor Day trip to Austin. In mid-September, we had a fun visit from the Dudergeils (Duderstadts)! I met Suzanne when I first moved down to Austin in 2001. She was the first friend that I made and didn't just know through Al. She and I worked together at a mortgage servicing company and then she left to work at Guaranty Bank and later found an opening for me there. We have become very close friends and continue to talk almost every day through email. She, Keith (her husband) and Nicholas (2 year old son) live in the Fort Worth area and we get to see them a couple times a year on average. They are also expecting (a girl) and are about 10 weeks ahead of Al and I. So fun!

Taylor loves "her Nick" and they had a great time playing together.

Here are the trouble makers helping me make breakfast the first morning. Look at those sweet and innocent faces!

That day we headed to the Como Zoo in St. Paul. It was actually pretty warm for a mid-September day!

Sweetie-pies holding hands.

Checking out the cute baby monkey.

Later that night, two peas in a pod.

Double trouble trying to get out of the backyard.

Thanks for making the trip up north guys, we loved having you!!

Taylor's Falls

For those non-Minnesotans, yes, this place is really called Taylor's Falls. We didn't just call it that because Taylor loved it. :)

On one of my many Saturdays in class, Al took Taylor a little north to do some hiking and exploring. He always thinks of such fun activities for the two of them to do while I am gone.

Cute self-portrait:

Taylor exploring every nook and cranny:

Happy girl, loving the great outdoors (must have been a game day too):

Checking out the fallen pine needles:

Up next, continuing the fall festivities in October!

Taylor's First Football Game!

2009-11-19T19:00:00.000-08:00

Once again we find ourselves more "behind" in our family blogging than we'd like to be, but better late than never, right? In early September we made the trek back to Austin, with our sights set on Taylor's first trip to Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium to see her beloved Longhorns open the 2009 football season. From the get-go, Miss Tay was ready to roll (and this time with her own travel bag).

Quality breakfast tacos are a must before a long day of tailgating and cheering for the Horns.

She chowed-down too! I think she has a new favorite breakfast.

The Godfather had no problems taking the reigns of the stroller and making the mile long trek from the parking spot to the tailgate (although Taylor's purple backpack may have thrown off his balance, which explains why her hair had a faint smell of Miller Lite).

......nap and rally!!!

With the escalator line stretching all the way out of the stadium, we decided to take the ramp up all 10 flights to our seats. But Taylor was loving every minute of it. Not counting a 2 level carrying stretch by Daddy, Taylor made the entire walk by herself.

Come on Daddy, we don't want to miss the Boys running out of the tunnel.

Once we were there, she was very engaged, and ALWAYS on the lookout for Bevo. Actually, we think she was calling out "BBEEEEVOOO" when this picture was taken. For those of you not in the know - Bevo is the live longhorn mascot

Taylor and Daddy taking in all the action.

As if we weren't high enough, Taylor gets an even better and more fun vantage point.

Loud and proud, baby!

Taylor was definitely feeling it. We swear, we don't practice this stuff at home

Here's our final parting shot from the stadium. Taylor was having such a great time, we were pretty much the last to leave the stadium. If you can believe it, this shot was taken around 10:00pm, and we entered the stadium around 5:30. She was such a trooper, but she felt so at home with the other 100,000 Longhorn fans that crankiness never entered her mind.

The next day we went to the Salt Lick for the best BBQ on the planet. This picture is Taylor's first public "time out". Note the amount of remorse on her face for not listening. But that's ok, she can't be perfect during each and every Austin related excursion.

Our sweet princess in her warrior paint after a long, but well loved, very successful, and thoroughly enjoyed trip to Austin.

Taylor's 2nd Birthday!

2009-09-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!
It's back to delayed posts, I have so much to catch up on. For startes, Taylor's birthday which was over a month ago! Good thing my mothering skills aren't measured by how quickly I post updates, that wouldn't be good. ;)

First things first, the stats!

Weight: 27lb 13oz (60th percentile)
Length: 35" (77th percentile) Sidebar: I wonder when they start calling it "height"? Hm.
Head: 19.75" (99th percentile!) We are very conscious about the neck holes in shirts. :)

Taylor Jean turned two on August 16th and had quite the week of parties, presents, cake and lots of love. She is starting to understand what birthdays are all about now. I think she was claiming it was her birthday for at least 3 weeks. Al's was on Sept 22nd and I think that finally broke the cycle. Now she's all about, "It's MY daddy's birthday!". So precious.

To start us off on the birthday celebrating, "Yibby" and "Yincon" (Libby and Lincoln) were in town before her birthday and came by to give a fun present to her.

Hmmm, tissue paper and a box. I'm not really getting it.

Oh! I see! A fun bumble-bee ride! She was in love. Good thing for hard-wood floors.

On Sunday, August 16th, we had Taylor's birthday party. The weather was teasing us all day and we were really worried that it would rain. I didn't even want to think about it because we had close to 40 people show up for the day! Our house is not equipped for a party of that size indoors. Maybe someday when we redo the basement!

Anyway, by the time the party started at 4:00, the clouds had parted and the sun was shining. It was pretty windy, but we weren't going to complain. We got to have all the tots (all 8 of them) outside!

Taylor Jean first thing in the morning. She wanted milk, water AND juice that morning. Why not, it's her birthday!

Love those locks!

Party time!

Even as her friends start showing up, Taylor is obsessed with the baby. They were making each other giggle, it was so sweet.

We had to have three water tables with the amout of kids that came over. Thank goodness we were able to borrow a couple from Taylor's friends! Notice that they still crowd around one.

Some of Joni's family, Uncle Joe, Aunt Ann, and Uncle/Godfather Bryan

Some daycare parents and Joni:

Organized chaos:

Had to put in this picture so the Texas crew can see the Longhorns decked out for the party. ;)

Birthday Princess:

Birthday cake! Notice the sneaky little finger coming closer to the cake:

Time for some girl chat, the Three Musketeers (daycare buddies):

Who knew that they most exciting gift (for ALL the tots) was the mini-table and chairs from great aunt Joan and uncle Bryan???

These three had a riot sitting at the table and banging their hands. Too funny to hear their little giggles.

Post party bliss, another fun one, a new stroller and baby doll from Jon and Priya!

Later in the week, Taylor finally mustered up some energy to open more presents. This was the grandparent and parent round. She opened present from us, my parents, Al's parents and great-grandma, Mimi.

A Vet kit from Amma and Bumpa (Joni's parents)!

A Bevo book from Mimi!! Taylor loves to read books, but this was the FIRST book she ever insisted on reading more than one or two times A NIGHT. It was perfect timing too because we were headed to Austin in a couple weeks. She loves that Bevo now.

Cheesin' for the camera while we open Nana and Papa's gift:

Awww, a stuffed Hippo! Taylor giving some love:

I can't believe our baby girl is two! She is such a little adult and makes us laugh constantly. Such a little comedian. Everything from mimicking our expressions to running around the house in a silly way. She is also really into pretend play. She loves making meals with her play-food and dishes, has conversation with her stuffed animals and dolls (and answers for them), talks on the phone and tells us who it is (Nana/Aama/Mimi/Bumpa).

Some recent Taylorisms:

After I put her into her carseat after picking her up from daycare, she looked up at me and said, "How YOU doin'?" HAHA!

"Beep! Beep! Ya!" when she wants to listen to the Beatles, "Baby You Can Drive My Car"

"I scare me!" When one of us startles her.

"Oh my gosh!" To just about anything, but lately it's every time she sees our UT flag hanging on the garage, "Mommy, oh my gosh!"

"Settle down ba-bas! No-no Chewy!" She likes to take control of the situation when the dogs are playing or are in her space. She absolutely loves them though, lots of hugs and kisses and we can't leave the house in the morning without her saying bye-bye to them.

"Yay mommy/daddy!" When one of US goes potty.

"My do it." Very independent little lady.

And finally...when Al or I say, "You're such a big girl!" she replies, "No, I'm a big BOY!" ;)

Coming up, summer wrap-up of some micellaneous outtings, first UT game over Labor Day, and a visit from Suzanne, Keith and Nicholas!

Happy Fall everyone!

Colorado June 21-27

2009-08-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

In June, we took a six day trip out to Estes Park, CO. The original intent of the trip was to go to our friend from Austin, Jane's wedding, but we decided to make it "the" trip of the year and extend our time. After all, I had never been to Colorado amazingly enough! It also happened to be the second of what we hope will be annual trips with our other friends from Austin, Jon and Michelle. We found out about Jane's choice of wedding location when we were in Vancouver last year! It was then that we decided that our 2009 vacation would be Colorado. Thanks Jane!
Later in the week, we were also joined by yet another great Austin friend, Delia, who now lives in Spokane, WA going to law school. You go girl!
Our trip was filled with beautiful scenery, wonderful weather, great company, a fun birthday celebration, family love from Al's brothers and a wonderful wedding to end the week.
Lots of pictures!

Sunday:
We made it!! Taylor is very excited to be in a big minivan! Look at all the space, woo!! Sorry Taylor, mommy and daddy aren't QUITE ready to be minivan owners. Need to take baby-steps with that one.

On our way to Estes Park, we made a pit-stop in Boulder to visit Al's brother Orion, his wife Kristin and their 2-year old daughter, Maisie. They lent us a pack n' play, a hiking backpack, booster seat, and our favorite item, a GPS!
Sweet picture of the cousins, Maisie and Taylor. Maisie is almost exactly 3 months older than Tay. I think the last time they were together was Christmas 2007! Dig back in the archives to see them in their tu-tus!

The little ladies eating at their table.

Taylor playing with some of Maisie's toys, sitting on the front porch.

Monday

Finally made it to Estes! One of our first elk sightings! These guys were not shy! Just hanging out around the visitor's center:

Lunch in Estes. Thankfully this is one of the few weeks that Taylor was really into smiling at the camera. Yay Tay!

First trip out with the hiking backpack. I think the hike was supposed to be about 3 miles.

This is about 1.3 miles into it, hehe. Poor Al, it was a steep climb and we hadn't gotten adjusted to the altitude yet. First full day in Estes and first hike. Taylor was doing ok though so don't worry. ;)

Beautiful views during the hike:

Jon taking a turn with Taylor. Why is SHE so tired??

A fun rock shaped like a foot that Al wanted to climb.

Unfortunately he didn't think through the exit strategy. In the end, Jon had to help him get down...and I was offering support by videotaping it. Hehe. Unfortunately it didn't turn out so great otherwise I would post it. ;)

Taylor taking a little break too while daddy is goofing around. One of my favorite pictures of her.

Gorgeous sunset view from our rental house:

Breakfast on one of the balconies.

Little Diva at lunch in Boulder:

Later that day having dinner with Maisie before daddy plays soccer with uncle Ross. Al's other brothers (Lucas and Ross) met us in Boulder on Tuesday.

How about some chicken??

Don't mind if I do!

Al and his brothers, Lucas, Ross and Orion.

Al (the goalie) playing soccer with Ross (in background) just like old times. The other guys on the team asked if Al could play again the following week. Wish we could!!

Taylor having fun and going a little bonkers watching the game.

The next day we decided to make our way up to Trail Ridge Drive in Rocky Mountain National Park. Look, another elk!

Beautiful mountain views:

One of my favorite family photos. Such pretty scenery!

Sweet Taylor Jean:

Back at the house, Taylor giving some 'tude after a bath.

Out for mommy's birthday dinner! Taylor trying some of daddy's spaghetti. Yum!

Taylor and Mommy...I think we took 10 shots like this and in every one, I look the same and Taylor is either a blur or making faces like this. Such a nut.

Taylor with her buddy Michelle!

Another hiking trip! This time just Al, Taylor and Jon.

One day we checked out the arial tram on the other side of the mountain we were staying on (Prospect Mountain).

The top of the hill was over-run by Chipmunks because you could buy peanuts to feed them! Even Taylor got in on the action. How cute is this??

Michelle got super brave after a couple of bags of peanuts!!

On the tram:

View from the top, beautiful even in drizzly weather:

The next day (Thursday) we had Delia in town and took another hike. The ladies (minus Taylor) me, Delia and Michelle:

Friday evening was the wedding. Michelle was a bridesmaid and Jane had asked me months ago to be her day-of coordinator. I don't know how many people know this about me, but I actually considered (albeit briefly) looking into becoming a wedding planner. I had so much fun planning my own and loved all of the coordination and organizing. I decided quickly though that I didn't want to work weekends or deal with crazy brides. ;) Anyway, I had SO much fun living out my dream for one evening. It was an ideal wedding to be coordinating, a laid-back bride and groom, a fun group of friends, and a low-maintenance wedding. The hardest thing I had to do was keep track of the time for toasts and the Ipod playlists! It was a blast!

They had the wedding at the historic Stanley Hotel (and no, the Shining was NOT filmed there, Stephen King just got the idea of the book while staying there).

Beautiful scenery and weather for the back-drop:

The ladies all dolled-up:

Me and my honey, before he had to take the nugget home to bed and let mommy stay out late. :)

Great friends, Michelle, Jane and Delia

Our home for the week, what a fabulous place!

Quick video of Taylor dancing the night away at the wedding, dress undone and all:

Firsts and Father's Day

2009-08-09T18:28:00.001-07:00

I'm baaaack! My last day of the semester was Saturday so I am frantically catching up on some blog posts! Afterall, we have a certain someone's 2nd birthday coming up in a week. On top of that, I need to get to our Colorado vacation that happened in June too! Baby steps...

To start, here is Father's Day which we celebrated with my parents on June 20th since we left for Colorado on the 21st.

In the suburb we live in (St. Louis Park), they have a "Parktacular" celebration every year which spans a few days. On Saturday we decided to partake in the days events starting with a morning bike ride!

Here is Miss Taylor all geared up and ready for the ride. Ponytail and everything!

After the ride, Taylor was pooped! She looks cranky, but she really was just zoning out while we were at the park. I think it was time to go home to have lunch, and rejuvenate with a nap!

Sweet picture with Taylor and her daddy.

Ok, we did manage to get a smile out of her while playing at the playground. She loves little houses!

After we rested up at home, it was back to the Parktacular! We went to check out the petting zoo and it was awesome! They even had a zebra (which we couldn't pet, but she was excited about).

Taylor feeding some goats, so much fun!

In action:

Another first for her, face painting!! She really wasn't sure what was going on during the painting, but sat there SO patiently and still. She loved her bumble-bee! She's a big fan lately which is why her birthday party theme will be ladybugs and bumble-bees. A garden theme of sorts. :)

The finished product:

Taylor donating $1 to the Great Dane rescue group. At least I think she was giving.... ;)

These dogs were so sweet and Taylor was in heaven! Such big doggies!

Having fun with grandpa (or Bumppa):

Not sure about Taylor, but Al sure looks excited about something. We saw this group with fire hoses and some tarp. Take a look at what they were doing at the next picture:

Fun!!! Al said that if he had known about it, he would've worn his swimsuit. The guy responded that Al was too big to partake anyway. Sorry honey!

Family dinner at an old favorite, The Convention Grill. We've been going there since I was 2!

(Sorry for the quality of these pictures, I had to mess with the sizes and now they all look pixilated. Need to reload a couple I think.)

Some Firsts and Miscellaneous Moments!

In May, Al scored a practically new "In Step" bike trailer for Taylor. He also invested a little in himself and bought his first ever NEW bike. We all bought new helmets and gear and headed out on our first bike riding adventure. Despite the fact that Taylor loves hats, she wasn't too crazy about her helmet. She obviously didn't have a choice in the matter and was a good sport. When we stopped at our destination though, she was quick to say "Off." to her helmet. Silly girl.

Here is our big girl posing with her trailer, a little moody because of the helmet:

Posing with daddy!

Happy as can be with her "Eeet-za!"

Another major first in our household, potty on the toilet! This was June 20th (22 months), the day we were celebrating Father's Day and we had gotten into the habit of putting her on the pot pretty frequently. Most times she would sit there and say "all done" after a few seconds. This day however, she looked at me and started going! Such a proud little girl. Since then, we have had moments here and there but are still a little while away from no diapers. Congratulations Taylor Jean! We're so proud of you! You go girl! :)

Some other miscellaneous moments and fun tid-bits.

Taylor is such a sweet and silly little girl. She is also independent and not a pushover. We love every single bit of it. She is such a little lover too. Always big on the hugs and kisses, even if she initially says, "no!", she will come right around and give in. It's all in the name of it being HER decision. Like I said, independent (and a little stubborn). ;)

Most things are "I do it" or "My do it". When she actually is able to do something by herself..like walk down our outside cement back stairs with no rail or help from us, we watch on with a mix of pride and a little bit of heartache that our little (almost) 2-year-old is already breaking into her own person.

One of her favorite things to do, hands in pockets. And yes, to our Kansas and Texas family/friends reading this, she was wearing a jacket in May. It took us awhile to get summer!

We love seeing how tender-hearted she is with everything and everyone. Including her "ba-bas" (Chew-Chew and Bobo as she calls them). Lots of hugs for those boys. Even if they get in her way when she's eating, "Chewy bahk-up!" she squeals, there is always a hug for them later.

Taylor loves her friends at school and is always so excited to see them, especially if it is outside of daycare!

She is also at the stage of being OBSESSED with babies. My cousin Ryan and his family stayed with us from San Antonio a couple weekends ago and they have a 3 and a half-year old (Abigail) and a 1 year-old (Mily). I honestly don't know if Taylor knew that Abigail was around much, silly girl was all about Mily. From the moment she woke up to any time we were not around her, Taylor would ask "Where baby go??". After they were gone that weekend, Al asked Taylor, "Taylor, would you like a baby to stay at your house all the time?". She said, "Yeah!". So then he keeps talking to her about it and asks if she would like a boy baby or a girl baby. She responded, "A boy baby.". Very matter-of-fact as if she had been thinking of it.

Ok, Taylor, we'll do what we can....just have to wait a little bit. :)

At the same time, she loves to be wrapped up like a baby in her bath towel after bath. She'll just sit there and cuddle for a little bit which hardly happens anymore. Then we'll ask, "Are you Mama's baby??" and she'll respond, "No, Dada's baby!" or vice versa. She is very into opposites. Such a little smartie.

She still loves to sign and loves learning new ones. One of her favorite things to do is sit in daddy's lap in front of the computer and look up a new sign. She will watch and do it after a few times. Not 100% accurately, but enough so that we know what she wants. It helps too because she isn't the most articulate yet with her speech.

Miss Taylor on her great aunt and uncle Joan and Bryan's bed. Looking at herself in the mirror. Such a precious face!

Reading to her two stuffed animals of the week. So far she's not overly attached to any particular thing, just needs a blanket of some sort and a few of her stuffed friends. The one she is particular to lately is the stuffed baby that fits into a peanut shell that her Nana bought her. It's her "baby".

Last picture, a little summer fun with our nextdoor neighbor's daughter, Jersey. We brought our water table over and the girls got to play on warm Saturday. Unfortunately they will be moving soon, we will miss you guys!

More fun to come, trip to Colorado, 4th of July cabin weekend, and a 2nd birthday on August 16th!!

Family Trip to Kansas

2009-07-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

In May, Al and Taylor made a special trip to Kansas to attend Al's cousin Jake's wedding. Poor Joni was stuck in class, so Daddy and Tay Tay had to make the trip without Mommy. Taylor did very, very well on both flights (much to Al's relief), and she even scored her very own seat on the flight down, thanks to the generous and thoughtful flight crew.

Although the trip was barely 3 days, we still were able to catch up with a lot of family.

Taylor and Nana hanging out at the farmers' market, catching some tunes:

The wedding was set on Jake and Megan's property, and the ceremony was very sweet and we were really happy to have made it :) Unfortunately, the ceremony pics didn't really work out, but we do have a couple of good posed shots:

(Daddy still hadn't mastered the art of the barrette, so Taylor just winged it...)

Aunt Dee Dee and cousin Deidric

After the ceremony, we all made a quick detour for ice cream. Cousins Deidric and Baily couldn't help but enjoy themselves.

Then Baily came back to Nana's house to stay with Taylor. These two really bonded over the weekend:

Just before we left to head home, we were able to stop at Aunt Kelly's house for a quick visit. Taylor finally got to meet her newest cousin Caleb.

One final goodbye with Nana before boarding the plane. We had a great time!!

We're still catching up the blog, so the Father's Day, 1st Bike Ride, Potty Training, and Colorado blog posts should be coming soon :)

Mother's Day and Play Dates!

2009-06-16T13:23:00.001-07:00

I'm catching up! Now I'm up to Memorial Day weekend with this post. ;)

Upcoming topics for later posts: first bike ride, Taylor and Al's trip to Kansas and some fun miscellaneous shots and videos.

PLUS, we are going to Colorado next week so expect to hear about that trip in, um, August?? ;)

Ok, here's Mother's Day first.

We started out the day meeting my parents for a wonderful brunch and then headed to one of the city lakes to walk around the rose garden. It was a little chilly that day and the roses weren't blooming yet, but they had beautiful tulips blooming and some other spring flowers.

Best Mother's Day present ever, a little cuddle from my sweet baby girl.

Sharing a kiss with grandma at brunch:

Then being a little goofball:

The "moms" and Taylor:

Family shot at the Japanese rock garden:

Our little monkey with grandpa:

Taylor checking out the bright flowers, I'm so glad my camera picked up the color!

Grandma and Tay:

The moms and Tay with the tulips:

Another family shot with more tulips:

A kiss from my "baby":

Riding the trolley with grandma and grandpa!

Alrighty, now to fast forward to Memorial Day weekend. I was visiting my sister in Tuscon this weekend so Al and Taylor had a busy and fun weekend with some buddies.

On Saturday, Al and Taylor drove up a north a little to hang out with Al's coworker and her family. Her daughters are such sweethearts and were so good with Taylor. They all loved the trampoline at the cabin!

Here is Taylor with Olivia (O-ie) and Bella.

Then on Sunday, they met up with Taylor's best bud from daycare, Olivia (Taylor calls her "E-a"). They had a lot of fun with Olivia's new summer toys! These two are so cute together. Whenever we get them together outside of daycare, their eyes light up and they call out each other's names. Tay says "E-a!" and Olivia says, "Tay-tay!". It's so cute. They've been buds since the infant room and even transitioned to the toddler room together since the teachers knew it would make it easier for each of them. It seems they do everything at the same time (developmentally) and feed off of each other all the time (monkey-see, monkey-do). Both Marni (Olivia's mom) and I have visions of their first sleepover years down the road. I sure hope this becomes a long-lasting friendship, it's so sweet.

The girls on the slide, "airplane!":

Taking a stroll down the sidewalk. They took turns pushing each other. They even tried to both sit in it at first. This ended up being more fun.

Check out how they both learned to put their feet up to make the ride "smoother":

Taylor's turn to push:

Now E-a's turn:

Taking a water break and telling secrets, at least it looks like that, doesn't it??

This is my favorite picture ever, I can see us using it on their highschool graduation photo collages. ;)

The little ladies with Olivia's daddy, Gal:

Here are some fun videos. Marni had them mimicking her like a pro, so glad they have video of this!

A little car action:

Austin fun!

2009-05-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

Many apologies for the long absence. We have A LOT to catch up on. First, I need to post about our trip to Austin back in April. I know it's almost June, but since this is the closest thing I have to scrapbooking right now, I want to make sure everything is covered. Coming up later...Mother's Day, play dates, first bike ride.....stay tuned!

In April, after tax season and in between semesters for Joni, we took a long weekend trip to DFW and Austin. On these extended weekends, we fly into DFW since we have a lot of friends there now and it's a lot cheaper! We spend one night there and drive down to Austin. It was a great trip as usual, but much too fast as usual. We miss all of our friends and family down there dearly and really cherish these trips that we try to do twice a year. Thanks to everyone for their hospitality and good fun!

On to the pictures!

I had to post these first two because they were just too funny. Poor Taylor, she was over-tired after the flight (past her bedtime) and became really upset because Daddy was in her car seat. Al was installing it and sat in the seat to make sure it was tight enough and she was not happy. She kept saying, "Dada out!" and swiping at the seat. She started bawling....so what do good, kind and sympathetic parents do? They take pictures of course!

Our first night there, we headed over to our good friends, Keith and Suzanne's house so Taylor could see her buddy Nicholas. Suzanne was still out of town, but fortunately we caught her at the tail end of our trip.

Here are the two little monkeys trying to break their way into the staircase:

The next morning, before we headed to Austin, we stopped by our friends Shane and Whitney's house for breakfast. Their sweet boy, Austin, was very kind to let Taylor take over his toys that morning.

Here is Taylor trying to find a way to get closer to their cat, Max:

Taylor thought it was really exciting that Austin had the same barn yard magnet toy that she had!

Taylor and Austin sharing a puzzle:

On our way to Austin, we stopped at an outlet mall and hit up three different kids-clothing stores. Our best buy? A $2 purple baseball cap that Taylor insisted on wearing backwards. She was practically strutting! She still loves it and will say "Puple hah" when she sees it. Such a funny little girl:

Once we were in Austin, we met Kolin, Alexis, Kevin and Amanda at Chuy's for some good Tex Mex. I noticed after this trip that we didn't get many pictures of other people besides the kids. Partly because Taylor was being shy around EVERYONE and partly because we just plain forget when we have a clown to keep our camera busy!

Here's Taylor checking out the menu:

I think she liked what she ordered!

And even shared a bite with Daddy!

On the way back to the Bradley house (Scott, Tanya and Samantha's place) we stopped by Shady Grove to meet the Bradley fam for a few minutes of live music on the lawn. Al took Taylor up to the front and she was mesmerized by the singer/guitarist. He even gave her a little shout-out!

The following day, we headed to Dripping Springs to visit with Mimi and Mawlene (Al's grandma and great-grandma). Taylor with one of her only pictures WITH someone else. And she smiled! ;)

On Friday evening, we had a really fun night planned. Kolin's family was all in town including his mom (Karol), dad (Steve) and brother (and our other great friend), Kacey. They were celebrating Steve's 60th birthday with a crawfish boil. It was both mine and Taylor's first time and it was a lot of fun! We both tried it and actually liked it. That's a huge deal for me especially since I hate shellfish!

Miss Taylor Jean in her skull & bones outfit (from Kolin):

The Howell boys, Momma Howell and Alexis preping the crawfish that was going to be frozen for future use:

It was such a treat to see all of them for the first time in years. Aside from Kolin, none of them had met Taylor yet so that was pretty special. Al and I consider them our Texas parents/siblings so it's always great to spend time with them. It's one of the many things we miss about living there. :)

Cute shot of Taylor and Samantha primping in the morning:

Playing around at Austin Java Co. after brunch:

We decided to take Taylor to Eeyore's birthday festival. This is a shot of the drum circle. I don't think she was really into it (even though there was a live donkey there!), but now we can say she's been once. ;)

Saturday night we met our great friends Jon, Michelle, Mike and Ann Marie for a nice night out. Mike and Ann Marie just had a baby girl, Gracie, this past November. Again, no pictures of anyone else except the babies...and Al of course.

This is another classic torture picture. For some reason, Taylor was NOT happy about bath time with Samantha. I don't know if it was too deep, or she was cranky, or what, but I had to take a picture of course. The best part is Samantha having a good ol' time in the background, ha!

Brunch our last day in Austin at one of our favorite places, Hickory Street, with a little live music action:

Back in Fort Worth Sunday night and we met our old neighbors, the Overman's, my cousin Ryan, and Keith, Suzanne and Nicholas for dinner. Here's a picture of Nicholas, Evrett (Taylor's old buddy from daycare in Minneapolis) and Taylor. Not pictured, Brenden, Evrett's new baby brother.

Hey, there IS a picture of me and Taylor with someone else! Me and Taylor with my cousin Ryan. He, his wife Angie and 2 daugters live in San Antonio now, but Ryan just happened to be in Dallas for a month while we were passing through. So great to see him! Hopefully next time we'll see the whole family. :)

One last time to play before we leave in the morning. These two were having a good ol' time before bedtime!

Hope that helps give everyone a fix for a little while. Mother's Day photos are next!! :)

Happy Earth Day and Easter!

2009-04-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

In honor of Earth Day on April 22nd, we wanted to do a quick post to document Taylor's first movie experience "Earth" by Disney. Al and I had heard about this movie coming out and really wanted to see it. It chronicles three "families" (Polar Bears, Whales, and Elephants) as they go through a year in our ever-changing environment. It also has many co-stars of birds, monkeys, lions, penguins, etc. My dad happened to win some sneak preview passes for Sunday morning, so we took advantage of them!

Side note: Disney will plant a tree in your honor for every ticket purchased opening week. The movie comes out April 22nd and is a great one for kids of all ages! :)

Taylor was so tired when we got there even though it was a 10am movie. She had too much fun partying with Great Aunt Joan and Great Uncle Bryan the night before! Thanks again for watching her, she had a blast!!
She became alert though the minute we walked into the theater and saw grandma and grandpa. When the movie started, she was a little nervous (because of some loud music), but she soon got really into it. She would do her signs and call out the animal names. Luckily there were other babies and kids in the theater so no one was annoyed. Actually, I think grandma and grandpa were louder than Taylor making funny noises at her and calling out the animals. I actually "shushed" them more! Too funny. :)

She made it through the whole movie and traded laps between everyone. She would tend to go into Al's lap during parts where there was intense music, but seemed to enjoy it. She ended up passing out with about 20 minutes left and woke up right at the end. We really had no idea how she would do since she doesn't watch much t.v. right now, but overall, it was a great experience!

Relaxing in daddy's lap after her quick snooze. We actually gave her the Nuk for two reasons, 1) it quieted her down a little and 2) we kind of wanted her to nap a tiny bit.

Not the best picture of everyone, but we had to capture the moment.

Family shot at Mall of America (outside the movie theaters):

For those of you who have never been to MOA, here is the indoor amusement park. Taylor was in awe the minute we walked in. I think it was too much for her to take in, maybe in a year we'll check it out.

Now for Easter!

We started the morning with grandma and grandpa and had breakfast out:

Then headed to Rochester to spend Easter with great-grandma and extended family.

Sweet face..one of the rare times that we get a smile out of her for the camera!

Taylor Jean with her cousin Benaysay (Joni's cousin's daughter) who will be 3 in May:

Frankie (Joni's cousin Matt's son), Taylor and Benaysay..guess who the loud one is??

Sweet hug after sharing the eggs from the egg hunt:

Common face she makes...I think I have some like this when I was her age...

Family shot, it was hard to get a good one with Tay, but this works!

Four generation picture:

Funny video of a duck that does the funky chicken (how does that make any sense?). My aunt Ann bought it for Benaysay (her granddaughter) and Taylor was really riveted by it. You see Benaysay coming in at the end to reclaim her toy. Hehe.

Ok, just for fun, I had to add this photo that my aunt Mary found of me a little while ago. I was about 2 and could really see Taylor in this photo...we have the same glazed look apparently. ;)

Coming up....our trip to Austin happening this weekend!!

18 Months....and 3 weeks

2009-02-26T15:41:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Now that Taylor is almost 19 months (will be on March 16th) I decided it was about time to post her 18-month stats and some pictures. ;)

You guys will love the "mom" moment I had at the doctor. While the nurse tried to measure Taylor the first time, Taylor was being fiesty and the nurse kind of rushed it. When the doctor came in, she noted that Taylor's height had dropped off from her normal 95th percentile. I didn't think anything of it because I figured it would happen someday. Then after she had finished her exam and left the room, I looked at the sheet and it said she was in the 55th percentile! That just didn't jive with me considering 3 months prior she was in the high-90s still. So at first I was going to let it go, but then knew that it would bug me. I know these things aren't an exact science, but that seemed way off to me.

When the nurse came back into the room to give Taylor her shots, I asked her if she could measure Taylor again. She kind of looked at me surprised, but did it anyway. Sure enough, she had shorted (no pun intended) Taylor by 3/4 of an inch! I know, I'm being one of "those" moms, but I had to. 3/4 of an inch is a lot in 3 months! So here are Taylor's stats after I made the change on our take-home sheet and looked up infant height stats online. Hehe.

Weight 25 lb 10 oz (70th %ile)

Height 32.75in (75th %ile) (was noted as 32 inches and 55th %ile on the doctor sheet)

Head 19.25in (96th %ile)

Other than that, we had a pretty good appointment. She still had an ear infection that was left over from her double ear infection two weeks prior, but everything else looked great and we got her some more antibiotics for that ear!

Some little tid-bits of Taylor at 18 months:
- She is still very much a daddy's girl. I think that will be a permanent trait and I find it endearing now. Unless she is pushing me away from Al as I try to hug him, then daddy has to let her know that's not cool...which he does. ;)
- Her favorite foods are fruit (especially bananas and strawberries) and cooked carrots and cheeeeese! Oh and of course bread. She eats at least a half of a piece on the way to daycare because she sees Al give the dogs their medicine in bread. When she eats her fruits and carrots, she sometimes sounds like the Tazmanian devil because she is so frantic to get them all eaten.
- She is giving "real" hugs and kisses now. It's so sweet to watch her give her daycare buddies big hugs when she greets them in the morning. They all greet her too, "Tay-Tay!"
- LOVES saying "No". I guess that's just her age though.

I have to admit, it’s been increasingly difficult to get good pictures of Taylor. She is not camera friendly lately and will not “ham it up” for us. Silly girl. So here’s what we have!

One day after a nap, Al started putting her stuffed animals in her crib. She loved it!

Ok, this is not the most attractive picture of Taylor, but I had to show you her "No" face when she is really emphatic. It's kind of funny. You'll also notice her new couch from Aunt Joan and Uncle Bryan. She loves it because it's her size! Oh, and the hat is a clown hat she made in daycare and wanted to wear around the house:

Climbing into the laundry basket, another favorite pasttime:

Taylor with her buddy Chewy:

We have also been going out for breakfast on Sundays a couple times a month. Taylor does pretty good and chows down on her fruit and pancakes:

Funny girl:

I LOVE this video. Taylor loves putting on gloves, especially if they aren't hers. She apparently walked into the bedroom with one of Al's goalie gloves on and asked him to put on the other. This made her night!

Here's one more quick video. We really don't let Taylor watch much t.v. unless it's Texas football or KU basketball. There is the occassional "Jack's Big Music Show" for a few minutes in the morning, but she normally turns off the t.v. which is funny. Anyway, this past Saturday, Al recorded the KU/UT basketball game and we thought it would be fun family bonding to watch some of it with Taylor before her bedtime. She even got to stay up a little late!

Poor girl is going to be so confused with her daddy's college sport teams. For basketball, he will always be a KU supporter, even if they play his Longhorns. So for those non-Jayhawk followers, whenever KU has free-throws, the fans hold their hands in the air and if the basket is made, they bring their arms down and make a "Woosh!" sound. Here is Al teaching Taylor this very important move. You can't hear it, but she actually tries to make the sound too.

Some "firsts" - Basketball and Pigtails

2009-01-24T17:57:00.000-08:00

I should be doing homework right now, but I started this post a couple of weeks ago so I want to get it finished!
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago Al's firm received a lot of free tickets to the Timberwolves game. We decided to try to take Taylor even though the game was at 7:00 and her bedtime is usually 7:30. As usual, she did great. She really likes the environment of places like this! As long as there is action, she is up for it.

Here is a picture of daddy and Tay...yes, the Lakers were a MN team back in the day (see the statue)..hence the name "Lakers". ;)

Our good friends Matt and Stef were able to come with us. Taylor was loving Stef's lap!

Here are some fun videos from the night.

Our seats were great because the stairs ended at our row so Taylor couldn't really go anywhere. She had a blast sitting on the bottom step because it was just her height.
There was a set of grandparents in some rows up top who were enamored with Tay. They had thrown her their program so this is her retrieving it and being a bit perplexed. :)

First walk through the skyway! These are lifesavers in MN!!

Now for the other "first". Pigtails!!! I had just gotten done trimming Taylor's bangs (not an easy feat) and decided her hair was long enough to try the piggies.
She LOVED it! She likes looking in the mirror when she has pretty things in her hair.

And LOVES to chew on her toothbrush.

Tagged!

2009-01-19T21:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is just a quick post because I was "tagged" by my friend Jane in her blog. The rule is, you have to pick the fourth picture out of your fourth picture file and post it.

Surprise, surprise, my picture is one of Taylor! It was fun to look back about 8 months ago and see these pictures. This one was taken on May 29th in our backyard. She was about 9 months old. You could see one small curl forming on the right side of her head. Who knew that would turn into a whole mop of curls on her head!

Ok, so if you haven't done it yet, it's your turn Suzanne, Beth & Whitney!

Christmas Day

2009-01-10T17:51:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! I started class again today so before the semester gets out of control and Al gets crazy busy with tax season, I thought I would at least get our Christmas pictures posted!
Christmas was in MN this year and we realized it was the first time we have had Christmas in our house even though we moved into it in 2006. It was a relatively nice and quiet holiday break for us which was good. We all needed some R&R and time to recoup for the new year!

A quick festive picture of our fireplace with Santa toys laid out (the Nutcrackers are not for Taylor..those are part of our collection). Even though our family room is decked out in wood paneling and old-school ceiling tiles, it's actually our favorite room in the house. It is so cozy in the winter with all the Christmas decorations up. Al and I were commenting the other day that our house looks best during Christmas. ;)

Taylor with her first taste of present opening since her birthday in August. She was pretty excited about it for the first couple of presents.

Her big Santa present was set up in the basement. Our basement is actually not ideal for hanging out in. We plan on refinishing it in the next few years, but until then, Al did a great job of clearing out some space and cleaning up a good spot for Taylor to have a play space. That's where her new tunnel toy was set up. It's four tunnels, an intersecting part and two tents. It's so big that we couldn't put it all in the same space. She LOVED it. I wish we had taken a picture of the whole contraption put together!

Later that morning, we made the 90-mile drive to spend Christmas day with most of my mom's side of the family in Rochester. Not everyone lives in MN, but we had a pretty good number show up.

Four-generation photo with both Grandma Kneeskern's:

Taylor loving her Santa hat that great-aunt Mary let her wear!

The Kneeskern/Voigt women, Grandma, Taylor, Joni and Katrina:

Some of the great-granddaughters, Taylor, Bianca, Mia, Megan and Benaysay:

Almost 50% of the great-grandchildren with great-grandma:

The day after Christmas, we had our immediate family's Christmas dinner and present opening.

Here's daddy helping Taylor clean off her fingers! These two are always cracking me up!

Taylor helping Grandma clean up the turkey. The outfits were a coincidence!

Here a just a couple of additional fun photos of Taylor post-Christmas.

I just bought her some barrettes for her bangs because she won't let me trim them. She looks like such a big girl when she wears them! This is also another classic "cheese" face of hers. ;)

Taylor loves her "ba-bas" and they seem to like her a little too. Here's a picture of her and Chewy hanging out one morning while we were trying to get her dressed.

One of Taylor's most recent Christmas gifts from Mimi (Al's grandma). She bought Taylor her own rocking chair and the first one we received wouldn't go together correctly. So we had them send us another one and just received it on Friday. She loves it!